A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’m such a dumbass, it took me ages to get the Oh Tiff reference!

Oh Tiff! is a beautiful “Tiffany Blue”… at least as close as you can get to it without infringing their colour trademark (yes, really!)

For me, it’s a 3 coater… 2 just doesn’t quite give that smooth clean finish that you need to achieve with creme polishes.  It applies well with only a touch of drag and wears even better! 3 days before I even noticed tip wear, that’s impressive.

I buy my Diamond Cosmetics polishes from Flashy Nails and they range in price from £2 to £3.50 depending on whether or not they’re in the sale.  If you’re interested in buying any shades, don’t delay too long as I heard that Jenny (the owner) may be thinking of shutting up shop soon to have her baby!

Do you like this one?

Shade 1…. catchy…

Naming them must have ran the risk of breaking the budget for this new £1 line of makeup from Superdrug

Ok, enough sarcasm…

Shade 1 is a blackened blue.  The best way to describe it is opalescent… a darker-than-navy base with royal blue glitter particles.  The glitter isn’t chunky and a top coat isn’t necessary to smooth the finish.  I had to go and stand in direct sunlight to capture the sparkles for the photo which is why you can see my conservatory roof reflected in my tips!

For a £1 polish it’s a good looking finish.  Formula isn’t the best… it dragged at the cuticles and if I look carefully there’s still a couple of streaks visible after two coats.  However, it’s not horribly gloopy or difficult to actually paint with which is an irritation I often experience with high street polishes.  Yes, I’m a nail polish snob I know (bar Asda!) *hangs head*

Ohh that’s a good comparison actually…. I’ve tried two from the MUA line so far and quality isn’t as good as the George formula.  The MUA polishes that I’ve tried have a denser, thicker formula, but they are fairly quick-drying.

Tip wear is a little worse than average, not by too much though and I haven’t experienced any chipping after 2 days, so I’m very pleased with that.

I think I’ve covered most things… for a £1, you know you’re not gonna get OPI quality… but I think this is a stonking shade and if you like your blues, definitely check it out next time you’re passing Superdrug!  Alternatively, the entire range is now available to purchase from the website.

Do you like it?

Boots No7 Summer 2010 collection will be hitting counters nationwide next month I believe and here’s what it should look like!

MizzWorthy and BeautyJunkieLondon have got sneak peeks of the collection, so go check them out!

I’m definitely gonna be checking out the silvery looking nail polish, the eye shadow quad and the bronzer.  I really like the look of the shadow quad, gold and silver are a lovely pairing to spice up those two neutrals.  I’m still useless with bronzers, always look like I’ve gone and rubbed my face on the garden.

The rest I probably won’t bother with… gloss in a pot?  Hate getting anything under my nails…  down with pots.  The other nail colour looks a bit of a snore too no?

Anything take your fancy?

Ringing up the till at £3.99, one of Sleek MakeUP‘s latest product releases is the Kajal.  A deeply pigmented eyeliner made with smudgy smoky looks in mind.

Based on the traditional Southern Asian kohl… Sleek MakeUP’s kajal is a much waxier, crayony affair.  It’s an eyeliner that never needs sharpening and is ready to go with a quick twist of the tube.  Compared to PURE’s now discontinued version, I find Sleek MakeUP’s version a little waxier… not quite so soft to apply but perhaps a touch more waterproof as a result.

I was sent the version in matte Black (Nocturnal).  The Kajal is also available in purple (Odyssey).

As already mentioned, the eyeliner twists up to reveal it’s full length.  It tapers to a smooth point, which is great for applying along the waterline and depending on how you angle the eyeliner during application… you can achieve different effects and amounts of ‘smokiness’.

The swatch on the left shows the Kajal applied directly from the tube, whilst on the right… I’ve smudged the line.  It smudges readily and thus I would only recommend this eyeliner for when precision is not important.  I don’t have particularly watery eyes and found that the Kajal remained happily on my waterline for many hours.

If you’re wanting something soft, easy to apply and richly pigmented for a ‘rock chick’ look (I hate that expression)… then beat your way down to your local Superdrug and pick one of these babies up!

I hear that the new Superdrug MUA £1 range *should* be landing in around 80 of Superdrug’s brick and mortar stores on Thursday, I’m not sure which ones will be getting stock… but if you’re passing, pop in and let me know if yours is one of the lucky ones!

Mine doesn’t even have a Sleek MakeUP stand, so I’m not gonna hold my breath!

Also… the entire MUA range will be available to purchase online from Superdrug.com, perhaps this means that they will start adding the full ranges from other brands to the website… I live in hope!

The ladies at MUABoutique have slashed the prices of Yaby Lip Colours by 33% for one day only!

Get your order in by midnight tonight if you want to take advantage of the deal.

Touted as the best priced cosmetics collection available in the country, Makeup Academy is set to launch exclusively at Superdrug this month!

The range includes lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadows, mascaras, eye liners, blush, powder and nail polish in shades from neutrals to brights and every shade in between.

I’m really excited to head down to Superdrug and pick some bits up… anything in the promo images caught your eye?

Regular reader Julia couldn’t resist emailing me this link after she saw my January feature on the Chanel tattoo sensation that was “Les Trompe L’œil de Chanel”.

The original Chanel set was priced at £49 and I’m not sure if they’re still available?

The looky-likes (they also have swallows and other what-nots) from ‘Ink Wear’ are a less eye-watering £6.99

I haven’t bought from Ink Wear, so can’t personally recommend them… I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long for “inspired by” versions to put in an appearance!

What do you reckon? Thrifty Alternatives or Tacky El-Fake-O’s?

Edit: credit to the lovely Lisa Eldridge who first featured the inspired-by alternatives here!

I haven’t got a side by side swatch comparison and I’m not claiming this dupe discovery as my own (a quick Google search threw this up) but it’s been said that Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Rose is a colour dupe for Chanel’s Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle.

Is it?

It’s pretty darn close!

I’ve got a full lip swatch post coming soon(ish) of all the new Revlon Colorburst shades… I’ll try and get it live by the end of the week.  I don’t believe the Colorbursts are out in the UK yet… so cool your heels lovely ladies, they’re a-coming!

What d’ya think?  Close enough?

If I said I didn’t like this polish very much… I’d be being kind.

I actually don’t usually dislike polishes, I can make most formulas work for me with a bit of adjustment in how I paint… either that or the colour is so lovely that it redeems itself once on my nails.

I’ve fallen out with this Eyeko Purple polish and no amount of chocolates or flowers is gonna smooth over the cracks in our relationship.  So what’s wrong with it?

It drags at the cuticles quite heavily… it’s painfully slow drying… it’s gloopy gloop city… it bubbled on the second coat and after all that, the colour is blah and easily dupable in a better formula.

Actually, this feels like Eyeko polishes of old… if I were you, I’d stick to the pastels.

Ever since reading a recommendation by the lovely MakeupByKaty, I’ve been intrigued by these little pots of shimmering shadows.

Bourjois have always been my favourite high street brand and I knew that as soon as I’d read about them… I was going to be parting with some of my hard earned cash at the very next opportunity!

I picked up three shades for around £6 each:

#31 Molecule D’or – A true gold

#37 Blanc Chrome – Iridescent White with pink reflects

#35 Gris Platine – A dark steel grey

I’m not much of a fan of the applicator, it’s quite tricky to wield and apply with any precision… but it’ll do in a pinch, otherise I recommend swiping some of the product onto the back of your hand before using a brush to transfer onto your eyelids.

The product dries very quickly to a budge-proof finish, so you need to work quickly… I haven’t managed any great successes with using this anywhere other than on the lids for a metallic look.  If I try to blend the shades out into the crease, I find the overall effect to be a bit patchy.  Probably because of that fast drying time the product ends up setting more opaque in the areas I’m slower at reaching.  Does that make sense?

Overall, I do love these… and I have my eye on two more… I can’t remember the names, but one is more chocolate-y and the other is what looks like it would be a lovely beige lid wash (especially if I can sheer it out quickly!).

Have you tried these and do you have a favourite high street brand?

Available until midnight tonight, Nails Inc. are offering a lucky dip.  5 polishes for £15, that works out at £3 a polish!

I’m very tempted, but a bit worried about getting a envelope full of ‘wine’ coloured polishes… I don’t like maroony, clarety shades.

Are you tempted?  The 4 year old in me loves lucky dips!