A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Whenever I get given one of those nifty till spits treating me to X amount off Boots No7, I make a beeline.  Well, two actually… my first port of call are the brushes, I must have a million No7 brushes that I always take with me on holidays.  You know the sort of thing… not so rubbish that they’re unusable, not so amazing/expensive that you’d cry if they got bent out of shape! Makeup bag staples.

My second stop-off is in front of the Boots No7 Stay Perfect nail polishes.  I’m a little bit reluctant to hand over full-price for the range but when you’ve got £3 off… well, things don’t seem quite so expensive after-all!

Especially when they look as pretty as this…

How lovely is that teal?  Next stop, it’s going on my toes!

I generally find the No7 formula to be a two-coater, the brushes have improved recently and now I can generally cover the nail in 3 strokes with an extra one thrown in to tidy up.  Drying time is average but the gloss is usually out of this world.  My biggest bug bear with the formula is that so many of the strong shades stain my skin and require more acetone in removal than I’d usually like to use.

Despite the moniker, Stay Perfect doesn’t actually stay all that perfect.  I usually get significant tip wear within a few days and the odd chip here and there, noteworthy for someone whose nails rarely suffer from chips!

That being said, I’m almost tempted to forgive it for being such a rich, glossy shade that looks as though it’s been poured on rather than painted.  Lush.

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Cruising is priced at £6 (without a voucher) and available to buy instore and online at boots.com

Are you a fan of the No7 Stay Perfect nail range?

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Look lively beauty-lovers, there’s a new holographic collection coming to town…

Leighton Denny is launching a trio of kaleidoscopic-dazzlers exclusively with The Urban Retreat Beautique and I’m delighted to have a genuine sneak peek* for you, so without further ado…

Hollo Rose

Hollo Skye

Hollo Silva

The new shades deliver a medium holographic effect from what is most interestingly, a matte nail.  Ignoring the press release (which describes these as high-gloss) the trio actually imparts a matte/suede finish that can be topped off with a top-coat should you require more shine.  The matte effect doesn’t do anything to downplay the light reflection and indeed, gives a really interesting twist on a tried and tested formula.

Talking of the formula, it’s an odd one although consistent across the three shades.  Laying down the first coat, the polish grabs to the surface of the nail almost too vigorously and has a tendency to leave bald patches.  I quickly surmised that the best way forward was a very thin bottom layer followed by a thicker second coat which helped smooth out any imperfections. The polish dries remarkably quickly and is touch dry within a couple of minutes.

Those of you who are familiar with matte nail formulas will understand the difficulties that can sometimes be had with these formulas, especially if your nails suffer with excessive ridging or chipping.  I would definitely consider pairing these with a ridge-filling base coat next time.  Either way by the third coat, you’re fully opaque and ready to go!

The Leighton Denny Holographic Collection will be coming online exclusively at The Urban Retreat Beautique in the next week or so priced at £13.25 each.

ETA: As of 12/06/13 – these polishes are now available via the above link.

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Why are some nail polishes so damn hard to capture on screen? In real life, they can be as pretty as a flower… but through my camera lens? We be talking cauliflower.

Powder Rooms sent me this polish to photograph for their site late last year, back in the murky depths of dark nights and well, even darker days.  It made for a frustrating assignment.  Butter London’s Trustafarian basically only sings in the sun, it needs strong daylight like I need intravenously feeding Pepsi Max.

Check it out.

indoors

outdoors

Ahhh, you beauty. You pain in the arse beauty.

It applies with three smooth coats and dries quickly enough not to give me any major application issues. You can see that the holographic effect, although fairly subtle, is still super-pretty in a pixie-esque, twinkly kind of way.

Do you need this in your life? Possibly, particularly if you live in a country whose weather patterns consist of more than just perma-drizzle.

Butter London Trustafarian holographic nail polish is priced at £11.95 and available to buy online from powderrooms.com

If you’re a fan of classic shades, Carolyn K’s Armineh is about as classic as it gets.  This beige-toned nude should work well on most skin-tones as it leans neither too cool nor too warm in tone.  I often find that nude shades (unless pink-toned) can pull orange against my colouring so a true neutral is most welcome.

Application was smooth but this one did unfortunately need a full three coats before it even considered becoming opaque on the nails.  The formula has been infused with Pro Vitamin B5 for stronger, healthier nails and employs a flat brush for an easy (and speedy) application.

Carolyn K’s Armineh is part of a three-piece set, available online from www.powderrooms.com, priced at £12.99

Ice Cream.  That’s all I’ve been able to think of since painting my nails in these pastel hues from Eve Snow London’s new range of nail polishes.  It’s not as if I need much motivation to daydream all day about a 99 with a flake, but this is just silly.  I can’t look down without wanting to lick my nails, send help!

I’m missing my favourite flavour from my “nearly neopolitan” though.  Sad face.

British-made Eve Snow London launched last month, and is the work of Yvette Snowden who wanted to create a range of beauty products with added blends of vitamins and nourishing ingredients.  These added ingredients include: vitamin E, argan oil, and ginkgo biloba whilst the formula remains free of formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate.  It should be noted, however, that this isn’t a Big Three Free formula as these nail polishes unfortunately contain both toluene and formaldehyde resin.

I found that both of the colours I tried (Opium & Pixie*) applied smoothly and dried quickly to a shiny finish.  The 10ml polishes also behaved kindly to my attempts at a bit of nail art without dragging and achieved opacity in a couple of coats.

Eve Snow London colour nail polishes are priced at £12 each and available to buy online at www.evesnow.com

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Hello lovely readers, if you remember my post from the beginning of last week, I introduced Clinique’s new range of nail polishes. In summary, I was feeling a little iffy about Clinique’s claims of a “revolutionary” hypo-allergenic formula. I won’t go over it again… but the original post is here if you need to remind yourself.

Well, I promised you an update… and here it is:

The PR team at Clinique listened to my concerns and promised to find out what they could for us with regards to how the formula differs from the already-established Big 3/4 Free formulas available on the market.

Here’s the statement that they were able to provide me with:

The concept for Clinique’s nail collection for sensitive skins came about when Janet Pardo, Senior Vice President, Global Product Development, Clinique, visited both Clinique’s Guiding Dermatologist and an independent dermatologist for an allergic reaction around the eye area. Both dermatologists advised Janet to remove her nail polish as this is often a common cause for an allergic reaction around the eye area. Following this, Janet started the process of creating a nail line in the Clinique way – Allergy tested, Fragrance Free, Ophthalmologist Tested and Dermatologist Tested.

This was a 6 year process that involved extensive testing with women diagnosed with sensitive skin. The formula was tested for one month on women with sensitive skin and sensitive eyes. It was vital that Clinique did not compromise on the finish, shade offering or formula and that the collection ticked all the boxes for a great polish that was suitable and safe for women with sensitive skins.

Let’s be honest… it doesn’t quite answer my question but the PR team were also eager to point out that retail versions of the nail enamel will come boxed with a full ingredient list and they kindly provided one for me to include on the blog, perhaps some of you eagle-eyed ingredients spotters will be able to deduce any missing toxins.

I don’t see any of the Big 3 (formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate) or even the Big 5 (+ formaldehyde resin and camphor) on the list. Can you see any other formula differences that might class this as a “revolutionary” update to the world of nail polish?

Either way, when there’s a lot of this going on in the beauty industry, it’s good to see a brand who deliver a full ingredient list at the point of sale and a PR team who are happy (and quick) to respond to questions and concerns.

… but to be honest, I’m not entirely convinced.

You see, Clinique have released (as of last week) a new line of nail polishes with an impressive marketing angle.

Allow me to introduce you to it:

Clinique conducted extensive research to ensure that A Different Nail Enamel for Sensitive Skins meets Clinique’s standards of utmost quality.  In fact, three years of research and three years of product development stand behind A Different Nail Enamel for Senstive Skins.  The final revolutionary formula was tested for one month on women with sensitive skin and sensitive eyes. 

Allergy tested and safe to use for sensitive skins, helps reduce the chances that eyes will burn, itch or water with contact.

Amazing.

Except for one thing.

We already have this.  It’s called Big Three Free and has been a “revolutionary thing” since 2007.

If you’re unaware, Big Three Free nail brands (including Butter London, Zoya, SpaRitual, Barry M and many more) offer nail polish formulations that are free of: dibutyl phthalate, toluene and formaldehyde/formaldehyde resin and they have done for many years now.

So what?  Well, it’s this last ingredient (formaldehyde resin) in particular that causes most of the dermatological problems for those of us with sensitive skin, particularly around the eye area where (according to Clinique’s research) we touch, on average, 200 times a day.

So, the reason I’m so unconvinced by the “revolutionary” aspect of Clinique’s new release is simple.

There is no mention, either in the two-page press release, or on the website… exactly what has been removed from or added to a traditional Big Three Free nail polish formula to further reduce the risk of skin irritations.

If you’re selling your product on the basis of it being a “pioneering innovation” (their words), that’s kind of a big deal, congratulations… but as a consumer, I want to know exactly what’s in it (or lacking from it!) that makes it so Different, and I want this information readily available at the point of purchase.

I’ll enquire and if/when I hear more, I’ll be back to tell you about it.

Having said that, the polishes – taken solely on the merits of painting your nails – are quite, quite lovely.  The shades I received went on smoothly with a nicely cut, flat(ish) brush and didn’t give me any application issues.  I’ve included swatches of the four shades below for your reference.

The 12 shades are available in slightly maller-than-average 9ml bottles, available exclusively online at www.clinique.co.uk and nationwide at Clinique counters from 31 May 2013. RRP £12.00

UPDATE 07/05/2013: Clinique have released a statement in response to my concerns and a full ingredient list, click here to read the update.

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Last week, I received a couple of samples from online beauty haunt, MyBeautyEmporium and one of them caught my eye instantly.  Priti NYC is a nail polish brand that have been around for a couple of years and I remember they caused some controversy back in the day when it was revealed that their collection (allegedly) consisted entirely of repackaged Diamond Cosmetics nail polishes.

For those of you who aren’t aware, Diamond Cosmetics are an inexpensive brand who offer a private label division for just such a thing.  There’s nothing wrong with this, nothing at all.  Private label cosmetics is a huge market and a huge amount of the cosmetics we buy aren’t made by the company on the label.  So what’s the issue?

Well, the problem was that Diamond Cosmetics polishes retail to the public at less than half the price of Priti NYC polishes.  The blogger Polish or Perish wrote a post on which polishes from the two brands crossover so-to-speak.  It would be foolish to spend more on an identical polish no?

Well, this isn’t really an issue for us in the UK anymore.  With the new Royal Mail restrictions, we’ve never been more of an island than we are today.  The only UK retailer of Diamond Cosmetics polishes packed up her online store a couple of years ago and if you want to get hold of some of the stunning polishes that DC used to offer… Priti NYC may be the only way you can achieve this nowadays.

If you haven’t already discovered the brand for yourself, I really recommend you pick up Lambstail Cactus – a beautiful, scattered holographic charcoal black.  Snapdragon* shown above is also a bit of a Summer must-have with it’s warm opaque-in-just-one-coat, jelly-esque squishiness that reminds me of a Jolly Rancher.  No top coat in that picture by the way.

Priti NYC polishes retail at £8.95 each online at MyBeautyEmporium

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Avon’s popular Speed Dry+ range has recently undergone a revamp with a new formula and colour update.  I received a selection of shades* from the 25-strong lineup for review and I was curious to put their 30-second drying time to the test!

 
Suddenly Sunny: A vibrant, sparkle-infused yellow that suffers from a draggy application but looks stunning once on the nails.
Ballerina: A sheer babydoll pink that would work well for French manicures, unremarkable.
Orange You Quick: An eye-searingly bright orange that gives full opacity in one coat. A stonking Summer shade for sun-kissed tootsies!
Reddy To Go: A warm, vibrant red… bordering on the neon.  Another one-coater, Avon are knocking it out of the ballpark with the brights.
Strawberry: A berry pink, and at the risk of repeating myself, another one-coater.  Applies beautifully.
Fast Time Teal: A lovely shade but requires three coats to achieve opacity.
On Point Blue: A pretty blue which manages to keep a hint of dustiness despite the bold hue.  Sadly, it’s also a three-coater.
Pronto Purple: A true royal purple, another three-coater… looks sumptuous on the nails.
Smokey Plumes: Is it purple, is it brown? Brurple.  An unusual shade with a rich, creme finish.  Another three-coater.

Out of the nine polishes I’ve been trying, almost half of them had brushes that suffered from stray long hairs and a couple deposited foreign particles (dust/brush fibres) upon first application, the usual irritations that you can often expect from cheaper polishes.  That being said, these Avon Speed Dry+ polishes are currently priced at only £2.50-a-piece (usual price £6) and still represent amazing value for money.

At the current price, you should consider stashing: Orange You Quick, Reddy To Go, Strawberry, and Smokey Plumes.

And what about that 30-second drying claim?  Well… nearly, but not quite – they are faster than usual though.

Avon Speed Dry+ polishes are available to buy online at www.avonshop.co.uk, priced at £2.50 each for a limited time.

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I like grey nail polish. It’s edgy enough for old people to look at your nails like you must be satan’s lovechild but not so edgy that it makes your boss search for valid reasons to move your desk into a cupboard.

CarolynK’s Helga is a neutral, concrete grey creme with no discernible jazz about it.  A straight-forward what-you-see-is-what-you-get shade that applies smoothly in a couple of coats.  It’s part of the Carolyn K London Neutrals Nail Paint Set which offers a trio of work-appropriate shades.

The set is reasonably priced at £12.99 and available to buy online from www.powderrooms.com

Among an ever-increasing tide of Mother’s Day press releases, I spotted one subject line milliseconds after deleting (itchy trigger finger) that had me scrambling through the email bin to retrieve it.

Child-friendly nail polish brand Little BU will be holding an Easter sale extravaganza and all nail polishes will be reduced to a ridiculous £5 each.

Horrendous news for my wallet, with Leila’s 4th birthday coming up and four recently released shades to put a twinkle in her eye.  I can see myself having to sacrifice one of my Helmer drawers for her stash in the future, though I was hoping we’d hit teenage years first.

Incase you’re unfamilliar with the brand, Little BU offer non-toxic, water-based, and odourless nail polish formulas that wash away with a bit of soap and water.  For increased longevity, you can apply their special top-coat to seal the colour for extra wear.

Here’s Leila showing just how prepared she is to follow in her Mum’s footsteps.  Heaven help her.

Little BU in Sofia

If you have birthday gifts to buy throughout the year or stockings to fill at Christmas, I suggest you make a head-start and hide them away.  There’s nothing like a little prepared-ness in the face of a good sale.

Little BU in Olivia

The Little BU Easter Sale begins online at www.iluvlittlebu.com on the 18th March (date for the diary) and will run right through until Easter Sunday.  All polishes will be reduced from the regular price of £9.95 to £5.00 each.

If you’re anticipating the warmth of Spring as eagerly as me, you may be interested in pre-empting the vibrancy with a little treat from LVX.  The vegan nail brand’s products are formulated without the use of Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, DBP, Toluene, and Camphor making them not just 3-free, but 5-free!

Midori* is a retina-searing chartreuse creme that applies smoothly, if a little thinly, in two coats.  The chunky square lid removes to reveal a slim handle for painting.  I found the formula to be quick-drying but prone to pooling at the cuticles, thin layers are the way forward but thankfully the pigmented creme is opaque in two coats.

LVX Nail products are priced at £10.99 each and available to buy online from www.cloud10beauty.com

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