A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Woah… neon lip & face paint.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this when it popped through my letterbox courtesy of Models Own last week.

Once I had re-read the pot and realised that I could use it on my lips, I set straight to work!

I really didn’t expect very much from this product… languishing in the knowledge that in general, multi-use cosmetics are pretty cruddy, I was expecting to have a total fail of a product on my hands.

Not so.

This is smoooooooth and lends itself beautifully to a lip product.  I’m not gonna tell you if this works well on your face ‘cos I haven’t got a clue… I’m not a face painter and I have nothing to compare it to.  It’s one hell of a lip paint though.

Bright and true to it’s neon credentials, it applies more like a cream than a paint.  I think that’s what I was most impressed with… I really expected something quite dry and difficult to work with and got the opposite.

Combined with a flick of black liquid liner and not much else, Models Own Neon Pink Lip & Face Paint is a winner.  It dries matte on my lips and does leave them a touch drier which to be fair, I expected.  As with any matte lip product I’d make sure your lips were well exfoliated and possibly combine this with a slick of balm before applying.

I love how completley weightless the product feels on my lips, one thin layer gives great colour payoff and when it fades, it leaves a naturally bitten stain.

Priced at a bargainous £5, if only the other colours were more lip friendly!

New out this week is Bourjois’ Elastic Mascara… complete with rather funky packaging!

They were putting these out on the shelves of my local Superdrug last Friday but I couldn’t see any testers so was unable to check out the wand and brush – boo!

I was also on my way back from my sk:n appt so I didn’t wanna hang around too long with my uber-flushed red bits on show, but I’m going back into town this afternoon to check it out.

They say…

The new Elastic Mascara achieves 130% more visible length to the lashes with its innovative, ultra-lengthening elastic formula and lash-extending brush.

The brush is the essential partner to the mascara and has two parts: the reservoirs which release the formula along the whole length of the lash, and the long, fine bristles to stretch the formula and visually increase the length of every single lash.  All lashes, even the shortest and finest, are stretched to the maximum leaving them intensely smoothed and coated from root to tip.
I do love me a bit of lengthening mascara, there haven’t been too many new high street mascara releases recently have there?

Boots are currently offering a 3for2 on all Bourjois or you can head to Superdrug for £2 off!

Price: £8.99 / €12.99

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I’ve recently had a bit of a mascara purge (threw away 7 of the damn things)… so I think I can treat myself to some new mascara love.

In other mascara news, I keep reaching for my YSL Singulier in an attempt to finish it off…  I’m just not that keen on it especially considering it’s price tag.   I’m kinda loving my L’oreal Telescopic Explosion (controversial choice?) but it’s a bit of a faff to apply…

I think I should get back on my ‘mascara series‘ wagon, I’ve been through so many tubes and forgotten to review them – bad blogger!

What are your current mascara favourites and will you be checking out this latest offering from Bourjois?

Another mini splurge from last week!  I know you’ve seen these 100 times now, sorry!

I only bought two things from the range though, aren’t I good?

I was tempted by the chunky lip pencils and the LE eyeshadow trio too (gold,blue,red one)… but I resisted!

At £6 each, I think these blushes are brilliant value for money and there are some lovely shades available.

Flush is a warm pink… I would say Guava, but I keep going on about Guava shades… *whispers* Guava.

Butterscotch is a natural neutral shade… it’s warm without being orange… lovely!

This is heavily swatched and unblended.

My favourite thing about these blushes is the finish… they’re cream to powder and they blend soooooooo smoothly.  I’m crap at blending and I can blend these with my eyes closed.  They’re completely forgiving to makeup incompetence.

I really hope that Topshop bring out some more shades in the blushers… is there a cool-toned pink in the range? I don’t remember seeing one and I want one!

If you don’t have a Topshop that stocks the range nearby, you can purchase online. Prices start from £4.

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…

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?

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!

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?

I picked this Paris Berlin Eyeliner Pen up sometime late last year when I made an online Kryolan order.  I can’t remember where I bought it from, but I paid less than £5 for it.

I like to have a “felt tip” type eyeliner pen available to me as I find them my favourite to work with when I’m attempting a more structured look.  By structured, I mean one that usually involves a flick, lots of mascara and a bright lip!

The packaging is plain, simple and functional and the pen is solidly constructed with a standard, easy to hold barrel.  The tip is beautifully precise without being too sharp.  I love the way the fibres of the tip flex under pressure which avoids dragging or scratching over the eyelid.  However, they hold together with no splaying… keeping the line straight and true.

I think the formula could do with being just a touch darker, it’s so close to being a true oily black… but close isn’t quite good enough.

Pigmentation is pretty solid, I usually go over twice to build up colour to an optimum level.  I haven’t found a problem with this liner smudging at all – it fades quite evenly over time.

Overall, it’s a great liner for less than a fiver and better than any of the high-street branded versions that I’ve tried.  It’s a pro product which you should be able to find online with a quick google search.  I’ve had this about 6 months now and it’s showing no signs of drying out.

Do you have a favourite liquid liner pen?

I picked this up from the clearance shelves in Boots a couple of weeks ago for around £1.60.  Bright Blue is a super smarties shade, a proper bright blue cream.  Coverage was fab, I was done in two easy to apply coats.  I think it looks a little bit chalky but I am a fan of the shade.

Have you ever tried any Pure polishes? It’s a shame the brand is being discontinued, have a look in your local boots for any remaining stock – I love their Kajal liners too!

Looking for an amazing holo with more sparkle than should be legal?

Look no further…

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm is an awesome display of holographic loveliness set in a dark charcoal base.  Think OPI My Private Jet but kick the holo up a notch and lower the price by about £5.

Application was fabulous, 2 coats will work very well, but I did three for a flawless finish.  Despite being full of sparkle, the polish is smooth to the touch and has a beautiful glossy finish without need for a top coat.  If this weren’t enough, longevity is a little bit mind blowing.  I’m on the 5th day and I have barely noticeable tip wear.

Seriously, just buy this polish.

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm is available in the UK from FlashyNails and will set you back a measly £3.00