A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’d heard that Berry Ice Cream was a hard colour to track down, so I was really delighted to be able to waltz into my local Superdrug and whisk this and Mushroom off the shelves without any problems at all!  And I only paid a fiver for both!

Berry Ice Cream is a bright lilac pastel.  It’s not pastelly enough to be soft and floaty (if that makes sense!).  It has a bit o brightness to it that would endear it to most skintones.  Sometimes, lilacs can make darker skintones look kinda dead… zombie hands.  I can’t imagine you’d have the same issues with this one, it has enough punch to it!

Application was fair… 3 coats to cover any imperfections or patches from a small amount of cuticle drag.  Dried speedily and as with most BarryM shades I’ve tried, it has an impressive glossy finish.

Many people have issues with BarryM polishes chipping on them, but I never do… so although I can safely state that in 2 full days of wear I had no chipping, that doesn’t necessarily mean much.

If you’re looking for a colour to take you from Spring into Summer… this is a great choice.  However, I’m totally lagging in the ‘what’s hot’ stakes so this shade is probably already SO LAST SEASON.

Whatever bitches, I was rocking an Autumn colour last weekend… my fingers transcend fashion.

BarryM Nail polishes are still on a 2 for £5 offer in Superdrug, so get ’em while they’re hot! (or not).

The other evening, after painting my nails in Essie’s Wrapped im Rubies… it ddn’t take me long to decide that it was a dull, dull colour…

…but I’ve changed my mind.  It’s not dull, it’s just not Summery.

Application was a teeny bit awkward, it seemed to remain sheer in certain places on the nail and I experienced a tiny bit of bubbling on my thumb.  To be fair though, I was in more of a hurry than usual… so it could well be down to my application skills (or lack of them on this occassion).

I’m on my 2nd full day of wear and tip wear is barely noticeable.  I did dent one nail despite my quick dry top coat, so it seems to be a slow dryer… deffo crack open the seche or alternative.  Essie Wrapped in Rubies is a beautiful bronzed-red with flecks of gold from the Winter 2007 collection… perfect for Autumn.

Shame it’s May!

This time of year (especially with the mini heatwave we had yesterday) it’s tricky to decide which season we’re currently enjoying!

With that in mind, check out Miners Spring/Summer nail collection which comprises a bit of both!

A nifty combination of 2 seasons in one collection…

Rio Pink: Not to look out of place on a Brazilian beauty dancing her way down the main strip of Rio Carnival, this shade is perfect for the beach. With a pearlescent finish and bright pink tone Rio Pink is fun, flirty and fashionable – the perfect colour for a beached beauty, along with those who like to dream.

Jaffa: Inspired by bright African colours and prints, Jaffa is a muted orange shade with a pink pearlescent undertone giving an electric look without being over the top. Jaffa is perfect for a sunny adventurous look either adding a bit of sunshine to ware away the April showers or to enhance your beach bronzed tan.

Apricot Blush: Seen on the catwalks from London to New York this is a milky-pink shade with a silver pearlescent base. Apricot Blush is perfect to add a bit of sparkle and make this seasons 70s romance style rock!

Flamingo: Putting the fun back into girly, Flamingo is a gorgeous rosy shade of pink, with a slightly orange undertone – perfect to add a touch of glamour to an everyday feminine look.

Denim Shorts: Following the catwalk trendsetters Jeremy Scott and Giles we have added a blue hue to our nail collection. Denim Shorts is a washed out blue with light pink undertones, a perfect shade for the beach or to brighten up a natural, plain look.

I’m loving the look of all of these with the exception of Jaffa (which is ontop of the blue).  I have a Miners glitter polish that I love, so will have to see if I can hunt these down as stockists seem to be pretty thin on the ground.

Alternatively, retailing at £2.99 each – you can buy online from Miners.co.uk

Remember this post about the LCBT‘s attempt at a rather fabulous record-breaking attempt?

Well…

THEY DID IT!

The college set a new world record with an incredible 1897 manicures, setting the bar very high for any pretenders to the throne!

They sent many volunteers home happy with their manicures and raised the profile of the Wellbeing of Women charity.

All in all, not a bad day’s work!

One word sums this Eyeko Coral polish up… SUMMER!

No wait, I’ve got another one.  Longevity.  6 days, no chipping and minimal tip wear.

Application is ok… it’s the same as all the other Eyeko polishes, on the thick and gloopy side but not unworkable with a fairly slow drying time.  Top coat recommended.

The colour is lovely though, on my short nails it really ‘pops’ and makes my fingertips look like sweeties!  Or maybe I’m just hungry.

Either way, I like this one lots!  The new formulation is definitely an approvement on the old version.

£3.50 from Eyeko online with free UK delivery and cheap international shipping.

I broke ’em while bowling at the Sleek MakeUP do last week *sniff*

Still, every cloud and all that… it gave me the opportunity to break out a nice nude in an attempt to elongate my fingers.

Essie’s Jazz is just that.  A great nude!  It’s slightly ‘dirty’ toned which I love!  It just gives it an edge.

Formula was fabulous… 2 coats gave plently of coverage and the quick-dry glossy finish meant that I didn’t need to top coat it at all.  A super mani for lazy sods like me!

Do you prefer nude polishes on long or short nails?  I can never decide which looks best!

…only a teeny haul!

It was 3 for £12… and there were 3 further colours I was tempted by, but I’m not convinced of the quality so held off splurging further until I’d given these a try!

L-R: Mouse, Peacock, Factory Grey.

I wore Peacock to the Sleek event, and whilst I love the colour… I wasn’t too enamoured of the formula which was a bit gloopy.

I would have a NOTD for you but I fractured 2 of my nails whilst bowling (of course) so have given them all a much needed prune instead!

Have you tried the American Apparel polishes yet?

I swear… I will stop doing “greige” soon… when HELL FREEZES OVER! Bwuhahahhaha!

Bored of reviewing Eyeko now…. are you bored of seeing ’em?  Thing is though… they’ve got some rather fashionable polish shades out now and this is one of them.

Also, this one’s got a formula comparable to that lilac that I liked, which means that I owe it to people who don’t like the thicker Eyeko formula to let them know that Eyeko Posh Polish might be a good’un for them!

Opaque in two coats and not only that… but this mani is lasting and lasting… I’m actually on my 4th day (at the time of writing this) and um… I don’t have any tip wear.  I don’t usually get much chipping with any polishes but as a chronic keyboard user… tip wear IS something that I usually suffer with.

Again… £3.50 from the Eyeko website, free UK shipping… cheap international shipping… yada yada yada…

Do you wanna see the rest of the shades (I’ve got a coral, tea rose and a pink sheer left) or are us bloggers doing Eyeko polishes to death now?  Be honest… I don’t mind and whilst it’s nice to feature new product releases, I don’t want you coming here rolling your eyes at reading your 16th Eyeko NOTD yano?

…introducing INM’s Out The Door quick-dry top coat.

Recommended to me by the lovely Jamilla from Makeup for Professional Asian Women which, btw is a must-read for her inspiring and regularly updated posts.

INM’s Out The Door is a serious contender to the Seche Vite crown… firstly, I’m gonna come right out and say that this stuff doesn’t dry my nails as fast as Seche Vite.  I’ll be surprised if anything does.  But, it does dry them respectably quickly.  I also find the texture of the product makes it far easier to apply.

I know that Seche Vite suffers from thickening, but even comparing this to a new bottle of the Seche, INM’s Out The Door applies beautifully smoothly… it’s as if I’m coating my manicure with water rather than polish.

In the time it takes me to ‘top coat’ all my nails, the first will be touch dry by the time I’m finished.  Not dent-dry however…  this takes about another 10-15 minutes to fully harden.  Which is fine for me, I just take a little more care and haven’t had any problems yet.

Where the INM Out The Door blows Seche outta the water is with shrinkage.  I haven’t experienced even a millimetre of unnecessary tip wear with this top coat.

Less pungent smelling and easier to apply makes for a happy Lipglossiping.  I often decide to paint my nails about half an hour before bed, and I haven’t had any problems with duvet imprints!

Availability and price is also an issue as this seems to be a little easier to get hold of in the UK than Seche Vite.  Price varies but I’ve found it here for a bargain price of £3.95.

Have you tried it?

Looking for some on-trend nail polishes to srpuce up your collection?

Then look no further!

Win these new Boots No7 Nail Polishes in must-have shades Beanie and Beautifully Black.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply “like” the Lipglossiping Facebook page and I’ll select a winner at random.

Open to my lovely international readers as always, winner will be chosen on the 20th May.

Channelesque is a discontinued China Glaze shade… it’s still available on eBay at the standard price so I thought I’d it share anyway.

It’s a dusky mauve with more than just a hint of grey.  Quite frankly, it’s gorgeous and one of my favourite China Glaze shades.  I *would* liken it to Sephora by OPI’s Metro Chic… but as I don’t have it to compare, I won’t 😉

My bottle is getting a bit old now and could do with thinning… despite this, application was still pretty dreamy.  Two coats to achieve a solid, glossy finish.

For those of you hatin’ on my beloved taupes 😉  Is this a bit less concrete for ya?! x

Moving on from the Eyeko pastels I was playing with earlier in the month…

The new Eyeko range features 5 new shades from sheer pink through to this rather gothic black with red glitter called Vampira.

As with all Eyeko polishes I’ve tried, the first coat applies streaky… my trick to achieving a good finish with these polishes is a thin first coat, followed by subsequent thicker coats.  Don’t worry how crap that first coat looks… just get some product onto the nails and map out the shape you want.  If you start thick then it’s gonna take longer to dry and will be more likely to drag at the cuticles when you lay down that 2nd or 3rd coat.

You can see that I got decent coverage with 2 coats following my method above.  Unfortunately I then needed to add a couple of coats of top coat to smooth out the rough, gritty surface thanks to the glitter.  This fnish might not bother everyone, but it kinda sets my teeth on edge.

Wear has been fine with no chipping (though I never seem to have a problem with chipping and I know other people do), average tip wear and when I did finally remove it (after 3 days) it didn’t give me a TOTAL nightmare considering how packed full of glitter it is.

Overall it’s not my favourite Eyeko polish I’ve tried… the black/red glitter mix is kinda chunky.  Still pretty good value for £3.50 though.

More NOTDS to come from the range soon…