A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ll admit that when I first saw this shade in the bottle… I thought it looked a bit mauve/rose-granny-chic.  I’m still not sure it feels very Spring/Summer to me but it thankfully has enough raspberry in it to keep it looking modern.

Dahling *air kisses* is a pleasant enough shade.  It doesn’t knock my socks off but it does look good with most outfits and is conservative enough to wear whenever a red might be considered a touch too saucy!  It’s one of those shades that you’d reach for when you want a neat/polished look with little thought.

Application was solid with no issues to report… wear was average too… it’s an all round average kinda polish that will fulfil all your polish needs without blowing your mind.  And let’s be honest, we all need something we can depend on sometimes!

Dahling is available online from PowderRooms priced at £11.95.

Are there any polish shades that you can’t get excited over?

From the upcoming Fall 2011 collection, Touring America…

Personally, I eat Mainely everything but if you want your nails to look like the inside of a ripe, juicy watermelon this Autumn, you’re gonna need a bit of OPI’s I Eat Mainely Lobster* in your life.

I Eat Mainely Lobster is a shimmering almost-neon coral with enough pink in it to keep it looking good on cool skin tones.  It has a pretty under-stated shimmer that catches beautifully in the sunlight.

The image above is underexposed so don’t trust it for shade depth but I wanted to be able to capture the almost molten shimmer particles in this polish… aren’t they pretty?

Formula is quite thin for OPI but it packs enough pigment to have your nailbed covered in two coats.  It dries quickly but lacks glossiness which I’m putting down to the intense brightness of the shade… a quick lick of top coat rectifies that issue.

Overall, I Eat Mainely Lobster is an unusual but winning choice for Autumn/Fall 2011 and I can envisage many toes catching the last few rays of Summer sunshine whilst flashing this shade!

O.P.I – I Eat Mainely Lobster will be available on our shores this August from LenaWhite.

* press sample

From their Spring 2011 Collection, this is SpaRitual: Circle of Life

A very bright, blue creme which benefits from a top coat to boost the gloss factor.  Applies beautifully with no nail staining either (woohoo!)

I do wish SpaRitual polishes were a little easier to come by because they makes some beautiful shades.

As it is, you can purchase this online from their website priced at £8.50 for a 15ml bottle.

I’ve featured vegan, polish brand SpaRitual on the blog before and thought you might like to take a peek at their 2011 Spring Collection, Truth.

6 Spring shades, 6 pretty cremes (do I spy an uber trendy yellow?!)

Knowledge is Power: Hot Pink Creme
Reveal Yourself: Pastel Lilac Creme
Circle of Life: Vibrant Blue Creme
Enlightened Soul: Yellow Creme
Eye of the Beholder: Grassy Green Creme
Face of Destiny: Peach Creme

Are you liking the look of any of these?  I’ve got swatches of Knowledge is Power and Circle of Life coming up soon!

SpaRitual polishes are priced at £8.50 each and available to buy online.

OK, enough with Spring/Summer… here’s my favourite season (in terms of colour – definitely NOT weather!).

OPI have previewed their Autumn/Fall collection, titled Touring America and it looks a little something like this:

It’s a large, 12-piece collection which can be split into the usual sophisticated yet dirgy, autumnal shades and rather awesomely, some fall-toned brights too!  From the bottle shots, the brights look like they may be metallics but I’m not 100% on this – I’ll have to wait to see some swatches before I can confirm!

Let’s have a breakdown:

Are We There Yet?: Melon
I Eat Mainely Lobster: Luminous Coral
My Address is “Hollywood”: Vivid Rose
Color to Diner For: Iconic Red
Honk if You Love OPI: Rich Raisin
Road House Blues: Deep Sapphire

Suzi Takes the Wheel: Grey
French Quarter for Your Thoughts: Sexy Grey
Uh-oh Roll Down the Window: Chic Olive
A-taupe the Space Needle: Creamy-Rich Taupe
Get in the Expresso Lane: Amped-Up Dark Brown
I Brake for Manicures: Eggplant-Plum

I’m pretty divided on this Touring America collection.

Autumn is the pinnacle of nail polish collections for me, it rarely gets better and if this represents the best of what I have to look forward to from one of the biggest players in the polish world.  I’m just not sure I’m as excited as I hoped I would be.

Coming from someone who loves their grungy, dirty shades… I would have liked to see OPI mix things up a bit.  Get adventurous with the dirge!  Some different textures maybe?  I don’t know… as I said, I haven’t seen these in person so there may well be something about them that lifts from the standard cremes.  I hope so but at the moment I’m left with an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu.

Thinking back to last year’s Swiss Collection (of which I own the majority!), I’m just not getting the same buzz from this year’s offerings although I am pleased to see OPI carry over some Summer shades whilst giving them an interesting Autumn edge!

These will be available from LenaWhite, priced at £10.50 each.

What are your first impressions of OPI’s Touring America Collection?

It’s very pink isn’t it?

Play the Peonies: We’d put our money on this lovely soft-pink.
Come to Poppy: Surrender to shine with this shimmering coral-pink.
Be a Dahlia Won’t You?: Give the gift of fabulous fuchsia—to yourself!
I Lily Love You: Fall head over heels with this light pink sparkle.

Unusually for me, the only one that’s *really* calling to me is Come To Poppy, though I’d be willing to bet my dinner on I Lily Love You being a sell-out!

Will any of the offerings from OPI‘s upcoming Nice Stems collection be gracing your nails this Summer?

So, who’s for yellow nails this Summer?

Every year, the celebs get their banana polishes out of storage to threaten us with canary tips but this year… we’re in for some serious yellow fever!

image credit: MTV Style

We all knew we were in for a trend when we saw Chanel’s upcoming Mimosa polish set to launch next month but Mimosa is just the tip of the yellow-coloured iceberg!

image credit: Polish Police & Fashion Fame

1.  From NARS upcoming Summer collection, Kismet polish, described as a “shimmering sunflower”

2. Deborah Lippmann will be showing us which path to take… the jelly Yellow Brick Road of course!

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Will you be taking the plunge into the IT shade of the season or are you a bit yellow-bellied *groan* like me?

I haven’t explored Burberry’s beauty offerings before… I’m not really sure why but having seen this Spring/Summer’s campaign images – I think I’ve been given that much-needed push in the direction of Harrods.

Le Sigh.  A girl like me can only dream of brows like that.

The Burberry Spring/Summer 2011 collection is online and counter now and adds 3 new Light Glow Blushes and 3 new Lip Covers to the permanent line up.

The new blush shades shown above, from L-R: Tangerine (#6), Earthy (#7), Misty (#8) – £29.00 each.

The new Lip Cover shades shown above, from L-R: Delicate Rose (#22), English Rose (#23), Romantic Rose (#24) – £22.00 each.

“I wanted the Spring Summer 2011 runway collection to be a fusion of the classic trench coat and the biker jacket.  As with all the Burberry shows it’s this kind of relaxed feeling that you’ve thrown something on over something very precious.  I often describe the Burberry girl as someone who has this dishevelled elegance; she’s incredibly elegant, but she’s also very relaxed and comfortable in herself.  It’s a very, sexy, confident girl” – Christopher Bailey, Burberry Chief Creative Officer

Can you see anything even remotely dishevelled in those beautiful campaign images featuring Cara Delevingne?  If Christopher wants to see dishevelled, come round my house at 7.15am on a Monday morning.  I’ve got more dishevelled than he could handle.

Also set to go on counter from May is a collection of nine new Lip Covers with a “gelled” formula described as an everyday shine that reflects the “dewy glow of the British rain followed by the gentle glow of the sun”.  Or as I’d call it… “crap weather”.  Dodgy descriptions aside, I’m loving the sound of a “gelled structure” and look forward to seeing them!

Autumn/Fall… Pavement/Sidewalk… Bonnet/Hood… Tomato… um… er.. TomAto…. whatever you wanna call it, I was going back through some emails before archiving and came across this press release that included some images from the Marc Jacobs Fall 2011 Runway Show.

It looks like Autumn might be all about the blush.  Yes, that’s me you can hear me fist-pumping and whooping from thousands of miles away…

INSPIRATION & LOOK: “The look started with a picture that Marc had of Christy Turlington with really fresh skin and rosy cheeks,” said François Nars, Founder & Creative Director of NARS Cosmetics. “Marc wanted ‘icy cold cheeks’ and so the blush is drawn down in such a way that’s unusual…unusual, but decadent. Like a Renaissance painting.”

Look at those proper Autumnal colours!  Warm reds and ambers… God, it makes me grateful it’s still only April and we have the whole Summer stretching ahead of us!

The key products used in the looks featured here are:

FACE

• Concealer (NEW for Fall 2011; for now, try the existing Concealer £17.50)

• Lokoum Cream Blush £20.50

EYES

• Grand Palais Duo Eyeshadow (for now, try using Lokoum Cream Blush £20.50)

• Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Via Veneto (NEW for Fall 2011; for now try Black Moon Eyeliner Pencil £16.50 )

• Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara £18.50

LIPS

• Greta Pure Sheer SPF Lip Treatment £18.50

Interrrrestingggg…. so, it looks like we’re getting (at least) a newly formulated concealer range, duo eyeshadow (orange-based?), a new long-wear eyeliner range?  I’m speculating a little bit….

Not too sure on that blush placement… but that’s fashion for you (darling) and I love the heavy liner… oooooh, I’ll be a happy Lipglossiping if we’re all about the heavy liner this Autumn!

But in the meantime, let’s have some bloody sunshine first eh?!

If pastel pinks are your thing, you’re in for a treat!

Now… I don’t wanna get too cultural about things (says the lady with the degree in Cultural Studies) but DUDE! What’s with calling a Mod Pink “Teddy Girl”… tsk.

Names aside, Teddy Girl is a very striking pepto-bismol pink creme that needs a few coats to rescue it from streaksville.  This isn’t uncommon with these ‘white-out’ shades but it is irritating nonetheless when you get pretty good cover from the first coat.

Once any patches have been evened out, wear is perfectly adequate and the shade is super-striking.  I love combining it with a black outfit to really make my nails POP!

Butter London – Teddy Girl is is available to buy online now from PowderRooms priced at £11.95

I told you I had some rather special Butter Londons to show you – how about this one from the new Spring/Summer collection?

Lady Muck is described as a powdery periwinkle blue, slightly on the grey side and infused with pearl pigment for a soft, sexy sheen.

It’s a gorgeous alternative shade for those of us who don’t go for the screaming brights and Easter Egg pastels that are on offer.  Yes, it’s quite a toned-down shade that wouldn’t look out of place in a Winter collection but the silver pearl really lifts the dustiness and gives it a more floaty, ethereal look.

No complaints with either application or wear… there’s something about these greyed-out shades that seem to give me ridiculously good wear.  Very strange but always welcome!

Butter London’s Lady Muck is priced at £11.95 and available to buy online from PowderRooms

Ahhh, now wouldn’t we all like a little more dosh to see us through this Spring/Summer?

Described by Butter London as a molten apple green shot through with metallic gold, I’m happy with that description.  On my skintone, it’s not as vulgar as OPI’s Sit Under The Apple Tree which still gives me nightmares when I think back to it.

DOSH is a far crisper, punkier and more vibrant affair.  The metallic shimmer is micro and v. pretty in a gentle non-chunky way.  No chips but a bit of tip wear by the third day and the above photo shows two coats.

If you’re a fan of greens, you’ll probably want to add this to your collection… if not?  Hold out for a peek of some of the others because there’s some surprising stunners.

Butter London DOSH is available to buy online now from PowderRooms priced at £11.95