A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

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 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.