A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I alluded to my recent dabble in buying too. much. polish in my last post but I thought I’d offer up a sneaky pic of my Pro Beauty haulage.  I didn’t go there with the intention of shopping (much), infact – I didn’t even know what I was going to find at the event.  I will say this…

Praise the lord I am not a professional in the nail industry.  If I had attended Pro Beauty with a legitimate excuse to buy nail polish, I would have returned home a divorced woman. (Just. one. more. bottle.)

Spa Ritual, Zoya, Misa, Nubar and some brands I’d never heard of before…

I will do a Pro Beauty post v. soon but if there are any polish swatches you wanna see from that little lot up there *points*, let me know and I’ll get posting!

The soon-to-be released Hunger Games collection from China Glaze has been setting the nail polish blogs alight with swatches and banter about the names and how they relate to the book and upcoming film.  I’ve got two shades to show you today; Agro – a metallic olive shot through with a heap of gold flecks and Dress Me Up – a dusty rose creme.

Agro* is a beautiful shade, not hugely unique but the formula is beautifully done.  If I’d been a little bit more careful in application, this could have squeezed through as a single-coater but the photo above demonstrates two coats to cover a couple of thin patches.  There’s not too many golden greens that look good against my cool skintone but thankfully this one doesn’t give me any issues at all.

Dress Me Up* is a simple dusty rose creme, I’m not a huge fan of these shades though I know many are.  Personally, I’d rename it Dress Me Up… Grandma.  The formula on this one is a little off – thick but runny, almost like it’s overcompensating for being on the thick side.  Again, this is a two-coater and the coverage is incidentally, pretty great.

There are a total of 12 colours in the collection, I’ve already placed my order for Fast Track and Harvest Moon as my next permanent additions to my beloved Helmer.

China Glaze is available to buy at Sallys or Beauty4Nails-Body (which has to be the worst name for a shop, ever).

Are you tempted by any of the shades in the new Hunger Games collection?

* press sample

China Glaze & Hunger Games Collection: Colours from the Capitol (Agro and Dress Me Up)

I really loved the softness on display in this year’s Orly’s spring Cool Romance collection (click here if you haven’t seen it yet) but sometimes, a girl needs to do what a girl needs to do.  What does a girl need to do?  Add a crap-ton of glitter to the proceedings.

Hello fluffy and delightfully squishy mushroom nails.  You’re all chic and sophistimacated, I could totally wear you to the office if I had one.  But I only have a desk, in a dark corner.  I don’t even have a water cooler or a filing cabinet.  Well, I lie… ‘cos I do have a filing cabinet but I keep it topped up with expired MOT test certificates, the instructions to my brother’s betamax and the menu from the Chinese takeaway from where we used to live two houses ago.  You never know when these things might come in handy.

So, you see… as much as I will always adore your demure but edgy… er… edge.  I can totally wear what I want on my nails at work.  Don’t believe me?  Watch, I can do THIS.

…and no one would blink an eye.  No dodgy looks or stark reminders about dress codes, I can just sit happily staring at my disco fingers while I type.  Sometimes I’m very happy in my little dark corner all by myself.

If you want to do this too, you’ll need Orly Faint of Heart* and POP Twinkle* (that’s one coat btw).

Glitter or no glitter – what say you?

* press sample

It’s more than I can do to write this post without pointing out the horrible spelling of a beautiful name.  It’s only my opinion so cool it with the evils oh “Layla’s” of the world.  But just so you know, it’s L.E.I.L.A.  Ok?

Anyway, back to the polishes… I’m just gonna let the pictures do the talking here.

Coral Glam

Mercury Twilight

Flash Black

Layla is an Italian brand of which I know practically nothing about.  Each shade shown above was a quick-drying three coater.  Wear was fairly crappy despite the nail prep (you’re supposed to buff the nail beds to a ridge-free shine before applying).  Admittedly, I didn’t experience chipping but I did have tip wear by the end of the first day (tried both with and without a top coat).  Still, when something is this beautiful – you tend to be a little more lenient on it no?

The bottles are 10ml each and the holographic effect is beautifully dramatic in each of them.  You should note that although Flash Black looks a touch duller than the other two, it’s only because the sun was starting to set by the time I was able to take photos.  Poor Flash Black, it’s just as a vibrantly blingy in real life.

Do you like these?

I paid £11.25 for each of these and bought them online from Simply Occasions, who I believe is the only UK stockist.

I thought I might have outgrown my Breton phase by now but it shows no signs of abating. Growing up, my Mum always told me that big girls can’t wear horizontal stripes without looking somewhat like a barrel.  Or a lot like a barrel.  Either way, I didn’t dare wear them until last Summer – I’m so not over them.  I even have a Pinterest board dedication, I’m sure it has more than a little something to do with the inimitable Jean Seberg’s styling.

I need to employ some sticky tape to get straight lines!  Here’s my rather messy attempt at a Breton-inspired mani.  Do you like it?!  I used my new KIKO white nail polish (designed for french tips), over two coats of Nails Inc. Hanover Square.  It may be a little early in the year to get all nautical but it puts a smile on my face!

Orly’s Spring 2012 Collection is out and pays homage to some of the gentlest pastels around.  We’re not talking sweet-shop pastels here, these are the slightly edgier, grungier cousins of the pastel world.  Just about.

I don’t generally go much on pastels, so Cool Romance’s dirtier take on the trend is right up my street.  Infact, I love the look of all of them except Steel Your Heart, the non pastel that gives me the “Geez, it’s Spring not Autumn/Winter!” feeling.

Prelude to a Kiss* is a pretty pale pink creme with a hint of peach.  It feels like it should be opaque in two coats but needed a third to even out a little bit of streakiness.  It’s a little bit thick in formula, like many pastels, but applies without too many frustrations.  I love these shades for lazy weeks when I can get away with a whole heap of tip wear!

Orly Cool Romance Collection is available to buy in two sizes: 18ml are £6.95 each from www.beautybay.com and the mini 5.3ml are £5 each at www.boots.com

Do you have a favourite from the collection?

* press sample

I think there’s an unwritten law that allows only this much red glitter on two days of the year: Christmas Day and Valentine’s Day.  Pixi nail polish in #20 is a dense red glitter suspended in a pink/red jelly base… it’s a proper pow-pow bling-fest on the nails and needs 2/3 coats to ensure even distribution.

If you don’t like the rough finish, you’re gonna need a couple of coats of topper to smooth out that much of a glitter party but those brighter flakes sing out loud in the sunshine!

Pixi Nail Polishes are priced at £10 each and available instore or online from Pixi Beauty

Want the latest nail trends without the price tags?  Tesco have released their Spring/Summer shades, and all for a recession-busting 99p a-piece!

Which one is your favourite and will any be landing in your shopping trolley this weekend?

I think that when a girl is born, she’s born with two things: 1). girly bits and 2). a unwaivering adoration for “Cadbury’s purple”.  Butter London’s HRH fulfills that need to have a beautifully shiny Dairy Milk wrapper on your nails.

Perfect in three thin coats, though I would have preferred two – HRH looks indulgent, decadent and totally makes me want to lick my nails.  Priced at £11.95 and available online from PowderRooms.

What’s your favourite Cadbury’s purple shade?

…it would probably be a lot less stinky/toxic than this one!

However, I was bored and looking at a bottle of Instant Boost Skin Tonic when I decided that I wanted to do another franken polish.  The British brand are known for the packaging’s calming hue and I thought I’d have a go at replicating the iconic shade.  I think I did rather well (if I do say so myself!)

Mine is just a hint less green, a tiny hint – but enough to annoy me. (YOU’VE DONE IT WRONG!)

Still, it looks very pretty and now I’ve totally accessorised my skincare!

Sad?  Me?  Sod off.  You know that Liz Earle-coloured nail polish is the coolest thing you’ve seen all week (ignore the fact it’s Monday).

I thought that this Color Club shade was going to be sheerer than it turned out…

Three coats gave me full coverage and results in a beautiful pink-violet with a strong blue/green flash.  My photograph hasn’t picked up the green but you should be able to see the strong blue hues lurking where the light reflects off the nail bed.  For a bargain brand, this shade is a cracker – I just wish it were more accessible in the UK.

I bought Color Club’s Ultra Violet on eBay and paid around £5 inc. postage (from the U.S.) – which nail polish brands do you wish had better availability in the UK?

I don’t do nail art very often, or even… ever, you just need to look back through my ‘nail of the day’ archives to see that.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, I look longingly on tumblr at all the cool kids and their striping brushes but the problem is that I’ve got an essential familial tremor.  It’s genetic – you can hear my Dad carrying a tea tray from the other side of town.  Because I’m still (fairly) young, you’d be hard pushed to notice it in everyday tasks but when it comes to something that takes skill, precision and a delicate touch… I get the shakey jakes and the more I concentrate, the worse it gets.

Which is why, I’m pretty damn impressed with my attempt at some Valentine’s themed nail art.  It’s not massively complicated and thank God for being able to play dot-to-dot with a dotting tool BUT, it took me about 3 hours to finish (stop laughing), and I feel like ronseal-ing it to my nail beds to last for all eternity.

So why on Earth am I spending frankly ridiculous amounts of time drawing not very symmetrical hearts on my nails?  Well, because John Lewis sent an email out to some bloggers, challenging them to create some eye-catching nail art using a selection of shades that they would send out for this purpose.  Here are the shades they sent me:

YSL La Laque in Sparkling Garnet | Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in Trafalgar Square | NARS Space Odyssey | YSL La Laque in Copyright Red

Dudes, I even tried to magnetize the hearts.  Dedication.  Not that it worked very well.

I’m not sure who else is taking part in the challenge (Sophy Robson’s blogging twin knowing my luck) but the participants stand a chance at winning a £150 John Lewis voucher so I am totally trying to bring my a-game!

Good luck to my fellow nail art(istes) taking part and cheers to John Lewis (and the makeup and beauty team) for the polishes and the opportunity to play along.

Do you ‘do’ nail art?  Who are your biggest sources of inspiration?