A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I need to get my hands on more of these!  Especially Night Life and Hit That… but, they’re discontinued.  I’m stalking eBay… and I’m on a mission.

For now, I have this one to show you…

Rimmel Play Fast in Street Wear got picked up for obvious greige-y type reasons.  Please ignore the art stamp on my ring finger.  It’s where I got accosted at The Clothes Show by some bloke who didn’t know what he was doing and ruined my manicure with a shoddily applied topcoat and distinct lack of charm.  Dick.

Street Wear is a pale grey/beige which reminds me of Orly’s Country Club Khaki.  It’s a 3 coater and a little gloopy, possibly down to it’s age… I shall try adding a touch of thinner to the bottle before using it again.  It contains a subtle (but beautful) rose gold shimmer that picks up when the sunlight hits it.

Overall, it’s a nice addition to my collection… but ultimately not a must have.  Wear is good but once it sets in, the polish ages quickly and unevenly.

And that, my friends… is that!

Is it teal?  Is it blue?  Argh… can’t decide…

Petrol blue, that’s what I’m gonna call it.

Barielle’s A Bouquet for Ava is a stunning creme polish.  Opaque in 2 coats (as pictured), the formula is a beauty… smooth and thin but heavily pigmented.

I dislike the semi-matte finish once dried and was sure to top off with a coat of Seche Vite for the ultra-glossy look I love.  I’m on my 2nd full day of wear and I’ve no chips and only minimal tip wear, so far so good!

Barielle’s A Bouquet for Ava is available online from Barielle and priced at £8 (though they’re still currently offering BOGOF)

EDIT: Still love it, but you need to know… a base coat IS. A. MUST.  Trust me, this stains like a bitch.

Signed… Smurf Nails.

I’m having a bizarre relationship with this nail polish from the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail set… When I first saw Hashbury, I was a little bit in awe.  In the bottle, it looks ah-mazing.  Cadbury purple with masses of micro-shimmer…

Then I swatched it on one nail and couldn’t have been more disappointed.  It was watery, sheer and jelly-like.  It still is two of those things.  After 3 coats, I can get a pretty opaque finish, though it still looks more jelly than cream.  Nothing wrong with a jelly, but if you’re anticipating a nice opaque purple shimmer…. the effect is lessened with a jelly-ish finish.  I like it more than I did, but still not as much as that initial WOW factor.

Final verdict – Could have, should have been great but isn’t.

I know I’m being a tad harsh, it’s still a rather lovely purple… and although the formula is terribly thin, 3 coats isn’t bad and it has the most beautiful high gloss finish.

Anyway, I’m all up in the air about this shade… I can’t decide.  What do you ladies think?

Check out my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit
Psychedelic Sister
Magic Bus

Another from the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail kit (£17.50)

Magic Bus is a hot, firey orange creme.

3 coats… but for such a vibrant, bright colour… I’m a little disappointed that I can still make out my nail line… I think it could do with being a touch more opaque.  Despite this, in all other aspects… the formula was pleasing and easy to use.  Drying time was average and tip wear/chipping minimal.

A true summer shade that my fingernails will see again before Autumn descends.

Check out my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit
Psychedelic Sister

Sometimes… you come across something a little bit special in the nail polish world.

Surreal Violet from the upcoming Estee Lauder Pure Color Collection is a little bit special.

I’ll admit, I’m biased.  I love me a bit of greige… I also love me a bit of dirty purple… combining the 2 tips me over the edge.

But then… THEN… throw in a generous amount of amber shimmer that sparkles like fireflies when sunlight hits it, and you’ve got me foaming at the mouth.  2 coats to achieve opacity, the sample I received glides on beautifully with no problems to note.  I finished with a quick-dry top coat to really enhance the shimmer contained within.

Surreal Violet is a limited edition shade from the upcoming Estee Lauder Pure Color collection by Tom Pecheux which is due to be released in the UK in August.

The polish will retail at £12/€17 and frankly, you need it.

Taking advantage of Barielle‘s current ‘buy one get one free’ offer, I find myself the new owner of four new Barielle shades.  I should have behaved and gone for two… but I even had a hard time narrowing it down to four.

I chose two shades from the Spring Wildflowers Collection (which was WILDLY late to arrive in the UK) and two from the High Steppin’ Summer collection.

I’m being a bit of a kid in a sweet shop, because I still have a couple left from the Urban Decay Summer of Love set to show you, but I simply couldn’t resist cracking open June Bug (£8) first.  After all, I’ve been desperately desiring it for the last 5 months.

I’m delighted and annoyed with it all at the same time.

I mean, once applied… I love it and I’m very pleased that I bought it… It’s like nothing else that I own.  But my God I turned the air blue during application.

Gloop, gloop, gloop.  This polish is thick.

It spread like marmite on my nails and with the addition of the glitter gave me a horrible satin bumpy finish that needed two coats of quick dry to stop me from reaching for the nail varnish remover.

However, once all is said and done… it’s one of those polishes that ends up looking far neater and more uniform than you would have thought possible during application.

The glitter is subtle and it mixes in beautifully with the shimmer that is present in the muted baby-blue base.  Mr. L couldn’t detect the fuchsia glitter from a distance of 4 foot until the sun caught my nails and it gave a litte sparkle.

I’m talking myself round as I’m writing this and casting glances at my fingertips.  I was cross with it as I was trying to work with that 2nd coat that was drying as quickly as I could put it on… but you simply have to forgive a polish that ends up looking as pretty as this does.

That pesky reflection below makes my nail bed look bumpy, it’s not… two layers of top coat sorted that out nicely.

Barielle are still offering BOGOF on their new Spring/Summer collections, but I’m not sure for how much longer.

What do you think?  Do you like it?

Oh, I wasn’t expecting not to like you.

You’re a little bit greige gone wrong… too much grey or maybe too much brown… I’m all confused and can’t pinpoint what it is that I don’t like about your colour.  But you’re just not quite right for me.

You were a bit patchy too.  Though I totally admire you pouncing on the latest trends and bringing us great colours at affordable prices… you disappointed me with this one.

I’m sad.  Did I get a duff bottle?  Mine did apply a lot darker than the bottle colour suggested… everyone else seems to love it?!

I suspected it from the moment I twirled the bottle between my fingers…

…Stargazer #155 (£2) is a very nice match for the cult O.P.I shade I’m Not Really A Waitress (£9.95)

INRAW was the first OPI I bought back in the day and is probably the only bottle of polish I’m even close to finishing.

If I look *really* closely, I’d say that Stargazer #155 is the teeniest bit more cherry toned than INRAW, but there’s barely anything in it.

#155 is opaque in two coats and applies smoothly with a decent brush… not too thin and no straggly long bits.  Quick drying but affording just enough time to work the polish to the edges of the nail bed.  It benefits from a glossy top coat to bring out the sparkle within the polish.

And a comparison with the OPI…

I prefer the Stargazer.  I’ve always had an issue with tip wear with this particular OPI (see my review from last May) and the Stargazer is outperforming INRAW in this instance by a huge amount.  No tip wear at all until the 3rd day.

Did I find a good dupe?  I’m usually pretty crappy at dupe hunting, so I’m kinda chuffed with myself!  Simple things and all that…

Slowly making my way through the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail kit (£17.50) and I’m currently sporting Psychedelic Sister!

Described as a bright coral, but it isn’t.  It’s far too red to qualify as coral.  However, it’s a beautiful shade of red meets salmon pink.  It shouldn’t work, but it does!

3 coats (as most of these seem to need) for a good finish, my one complaint is that I’ve got more tip wear than normal AND a chip *sharp intake of breath* on only my first full day of wear.  Can’t count, that’s two complaints… oh well.  You can see the chip on my index fingernail and the tip wear on the middle.

I don’t usually get chips, soooooooo it’s something that is noticeable when I do.

See my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit

Some of you ladies have your Summer of Love nail kits now, how are you liking them?  Have you spotted them in Debenhams yet or is it only some Boots that have put them up?

Here’s another Eyeko I was sent recently…

…don’t like it (said in the style of Lou & Andy).

Eyeko’s Petite Polish (£3.50) is a pale girly pink, and there’s nothing wrong with that…. infact, the idea appeals and I’m not sure I have anything similar.  However, it just didn’t work that well for me.  It took 4 coats to achieve opacity (so probably great if you’re looking for a sheer!) and once finished it just looked kinda “thick” and not very feminine at all.

Is it supposed to be a sheer?  I dunno… I guess maybe it’s a French Manicure polish, in which case I’m being a bit harsh… but I want an opaque baby pink that looks all delicate, and this isn’t it.

Can anyone recommend some nice baby pinks that are all feminine and floaty and stuff?

A stand out from the collection, Aquarius is a beautiful metallic mermaid teal that screams summer!

Application was sadly a bit of a PITA, you need at least 3 coats to achieve a good-looking finish owing to a slightly patchy formula that seems to apply extra-thinly in some areas despite care and concentration!

However, once applied… it’s a beautiful hybrid finish with just as much shimmer as metallic.  I doubt it’s a hugely unique shade, but I imagine it will be the jewel in the collection for many.

See my other swatches from the collection here and the Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Kit as a whole, here.

This is in proper “I can’t stop looking at how hot my nails are” territory.  A neon pink creme that lends itself fabulously to slightly cooler toned ladies.  This is three coats.  Application was fine if a little bit patchy.  I couldn’t have gotten away with less than three coats despite it’s apparent opaqueness.  You would also be wise to pair this with a topcoat as it dries somewhat matte.

All in all, there’s a few niggles… but it didn’t make me want to tear my hair out with frustration or anything extreme like that… and the colour… OH the colour.  I lurve.

Woodstock is from the Urban Decay Summer of Love collection which is supposed to be released on the 7th June in the UK, but I’ve heard a few people say that it’s already available in Boots and Debenhams.

See my other swatches from the collection here and the Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Kit as a whole, here.