A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I always remember my Mum accusing me of ‘gilding the lily’ – taking something that was already lovely and needlessly attempting to improve it.  I can’t remember what the context would have been, I’ve never been a crafty/arty person so I’m assuming it was probably something silly like decorating biscuits.  No doubt, I was pouring sprinkles ontop of silver balls on top of pink icing.

Anyway, that phrase came to mind when I had to physically restrain myself from adding MOAR pigments/polishes/sparkles to my first polish Franken – and so the name has stuck.

For my first, I used some stuffs that I didn’t mind wasting.  An old ASOS by Ciate paint called Pixie… a jade creme that is infinitely dupable.  A Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Night Lights that looks amazing in the bottle (holo) but is watery and pretty crappy on the nails.  Then I decided I wanted to give the green a warm, golden edge and dug out a pair of pigments that I hoped would do just that.

The result works.  Almost.  The BellaPierre pigment in Celebration (the copper one) isn’t as finely-milled as I would have hoped and gives the polish a lumpy feel which is a shame.  The other, golden-olive pigment which I believe was from a now-defunct indie brand worked beautifully in the polish and gave it a mossy, golden sheen.

The above shows two coats and a layer of top coat.  The scattered holo is really understated and gives more of a multi-dimensional, multi-coloured sparkle than any holo ‘effect’.  Now, I need to do some more!  I want some Spectraflair pigment!  Oh God, not another addiction!

What do you think?  Be kind, it’s my first!

As part of Nicki Minaj’s collaboration with OPI this month, her collection features the infamous pale, bubblegum-esque Pink Friday* shade that first reared its head with last year’s MAC partnership.  It’s not pepto-bright but the chalky pink will stand out against most skintones – it’s not one for shrinking violets.

The formula was thick and you’ll need a little patience to ensure a smooth finish unless you’re willing to go the 3-coat option which will obscure any streakiness from the first two coats.  I’m sure the shade isn’t massively unique but I don’t actually own any dupes and infact, only two others that are remotely similar – I don’t usually go in for these finger-popping pale shades but I do like how this one looks once applied.

Pink Friday (and the rest of the Nicki Minaj collection) is available to buy online priced at £10.50 from official stockists, Lena White.

While I was comparing pinks, I thought I’d paint up a nail wheel showing some of my favourite pinks…

1. ByTerry Terrybly Nail Laque – #2
2. Nails Inc. – China Town
3. Spa Ritual – Knowledge Is Power
4. Orly – Flirty
5. Butter London – Primrose Hill Picnic
6. George at Asda – Groove
7. Mavala – Sweety
8. Nails Inc. – Pelham Crescent
9. Barry M – Fuchsia
10. Eyeko – Punk Polish
11. Mavala – Graphic
12. H&M – Sinful Senorita (holo)
13. Ciate – Plastic Fantastic
14. Butter London – Twee (layering polish)
15. Ciate – Main Stage
16. Accessorize – Pink Spice
17. China Glaze – Ahoy!
18. OPI – Pink Friday
19. Mavala – Miami
20. Ciate – Fun Fair

What are your favourite pink nail picks for Spring?

* press sample

I’m going all demure and sophistimicated with today’s nails courtesy of Butter London…

Hoorah Henri is a pale, creamy nude that would make a beautiful French mani with clean, white tips.  The above photo shows three coats because I wanted to see how it built up – not too badly as it happens because three coats were just about enough to disguise the ‘orrible stains on my nails.  The formula was good and drying time perfectly adequate.  What do you think, too pale?  I don’t actually own anything quite like this and it may well inspire me to attempt a Frenchie before the month is out.

Butter London Hoorah Henri is priced at £11.95 and available online from PowderRooms

I prefer my wintery brights over summery brights.  My skintone loves raspberry, purples and red shades and I have to feel a little more ‘brave’ to wear skintone repel-ing orange, green and turquoise shades on my fingers.  This is one of the main reasons for my love of Ciate’s Talent Scout.  It’s a bold purple that reminds me of juicy damsons!

A little unforgiving to ridged nails, though probably nothing a basecoat wouldn’t have prevented – Talent Scout is a two-coater with a creme finish.  Drying time was also good.

Ciate Talent Scout is available to purchase online at PowderRooms, priced at £9.00

This pretty caught my eye during that mind-numbing lull between Christmas and New Year.  I was browsing through the beauty stuffs in my local John Lewis, knuckles dragging the ground ‘cos I couldn’t find anything I really wanted, when all of a sudden an angel appeared beside me and thrust this tiny bottle into my hand*.

* this may not have actually happened

Anyway, here’s Mavala Platinum Marble, it’s quite nice no?

I’d describe it as a silvered taupe with a pearl-shimmer finish – it’s heading in the direction of frosty but minus the brushstrokes.  It’s a very pretty work appropriate shade that took three coats to achieve full opacity on my nails.

Currently priced at a bargainous £2.99 over on BeautyBay (I paid £4.10 for this one instore).

What are you wearing on your nails today?

The last of my W7 Metallic nail polish purchases from last month (promise!).  Metallic Neptune is a delightful teal/purple duochrome and another succesful 2-coater.

This one is still in stock (at the time of writing) at NailPolishDirect.co.uk priced at £1.95.

Which has been your favourite of the metallics I swatched and did you buy any yourself?

You thought you’d seen the last of these right? Wrong.

A thoroughly decent 2-coater, the duochrome effect is more apparent on this one in the bottle than it is on the nails but the lovely, almost flakie-effect makes up for any shortcomings.

It irks me that W7 are clearly capable of such lovely polishes… most of their shades are completely blah.  How awesome would it be if they stepped up their game in the shade stakes!

The site I bought mine from now appears to be out of stock on most of the shades, but W7 Metallic Mercury is still available to purchase from FragranceMad (albeit at inflated prices).  Make the most of the 3for2 and Free Delivery to soften the grumbles.

Are you ready? No, really… are you? I thought I’d save a particularly special one for Christmas Eve because in some ways, Christmas Eve is better than the big day right? All that anticipation… *shivers*

LOOK!

Ain’t she gorgeous? W7’s Metallic Jupiter is a delight… a true delight and brings me proper, proper joy when I look down at my fingernails.  It shifts from purple to blue in a whirlwind of psychedelic glory.

God damn do I ever love a good duochrome. If I had one wish for Christmas (aside from world peace, eternal happiness for Leila and an everlasting can of diet coke) it would be for more duochrome nail polishes in 2012.

I purchased W7 Metallic Jupiter online from www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk, priced at £1.95 – I believe that it’s a discontinued shade so don’t hang around if you fancy adding it to your collection!

What’s your Christmas wish? Both frivolous and meaningful..

Have magnetic polishes become the new crackle top coats yet? Are we bored of them? Nails Inc. hope not because they’ve just released their newest shade: Whitehall.

Whitehall is a teal green/blue that offers complete coverage in a single coat. Not, almost complete – fully complete. This was one of the quickest manicures I’ve done in ages, quick drying too – it literally took me around 10 minutes tops from start to finish.

I’m not sure if you can make out from the above photo but this one dried to a fairly matte finish compared to some of the other magnetic polishes I’ve tried in the past.  It’s a striking combination on the nails and I didn’t encounter any magnet mishaps – the results were pretty consistent from nail to nail.

Ultimately, this is one of the better magnetic polishes I’ve tried – I’m not sure if this shade is available cheaper from the other brands (17, FashionistA etc) but I haven’t got any moans about the Nails Inc. version!

Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in Whitehall is available to buy online from Nails Inc. priced at £13.00 (ouch).

* press sample

I’m back with another W7 cheapie for you!

Today’s is Metallic Saturn, one of those green/gold combos that come out all mossy/gold and beautifully patina’ed on the nail.

You’ll be pleased to hear that this one is a glorious 2-coater with smooth application and heaps of shine.  I haven’t used a top coat in the above photo, it just didn’t really need it!  I’m finding these W7 polishes quick-drying but very solvent-y and recommend ensuring you’re in a well-ventilated room when using them!

I purchased W7 Metallic Mars online from www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk, priced at £1.95 – I believe that it’s a discontinued shade so don’t hang around if you fancy adding it to your collection!

Orly Rock It is a sparkling sherry from the Mineral FX Collection that appeared earlier this year. It’s an impressive concoction that is packed full of dimension and light-play as the flecks dance on your fingertips.

In some ways, Orly Rock It reminds me of a flakie with it’s subtle golden duochrome and packed shimmer but without actually containing flakes… I know that makes better sense in my head than it does on the blog but hopefully the picture demonstrates a little of what I’m talking about.

You should also know that the picture makes it look less dimensional than it really is because of the flash lighting.  It’s December, sigh… it’s the best I can do when it gets dark so early!

Orly Rock It is available to buy online from BeautyBay.com, priced at £7.50

* press sample

Another humdinger of a polish today with W7’s duochrome delight that is Metallic Venus. A gorgeous purple/blue combination that sings on the nail and doesn’t do to badly in the bottle either!

This one is less sheer than the Metallic Mars I showed you last week, fully opaque in three coats with no application issues.  Again, I paid £1.95 for this shade, bargain of the year I reckon.

W7 Metallic Venus is available to buy online from www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk, priced at £1.95 – I believe that you may also be able to get these in Savers? (thanks Nargis)