A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

To complete the Fall collection, Lancome will release two new nail polishes in classic red and edgy black.

The red – #22 Rouge St Honore is a classic, vixen red creme with great single-coat opacity and a high gloss finish.  The brush on these polishes is wide and allows for 3-stroke coverage, meaning that I was completely done with the red in less than 5 minutes from start to finish (not allowing for drying time of course).

The black – #29 Noir is a little more unusual in that the inky base  is infused with mini, multi-coloured flecks.  Sadly, these don’t quite translate as vividly on the nail as they do in the bottle.  Also a little sheerer than the red, this one took a respectable 2 coats to achieve opacity.

See below for swatches…

Lancome’s Le Vernis in #22 Rouge Saint Honore & #29 Noir 29 are priced at £12.50 each and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

The OPI Miss Universe collection features four sparkling shades ranging from full-on glitterbomb (Crown Me Already) to a relatively more demure pink (Congeniality is my Middle Name).

From the collection, I’m wearing It’s My Year, an exquisite purple/gold shimmer (or is it a foil?) that stopped 3 people dead in their tracks today as they demanded to know what was on my nails!

It applies smoothly, if a little sheer thus needing 3 coats to reach opacity.  It gave me no application issues and simply SINGS when it catches the light.

I wish OPI would release a full collection of variations on this theme, that would make my year.

OPI Nail Polishes are priced at £10.50 each available from Lena White

* press sample

I liked this delicate combo of Beauty UK’s Smokey Lilac with OPI Golden Rainbow on top.  A dusting of holographic sparkle always goes a long way to brightening my day!

Of course, the Beauty UK polish is a bargainous snip at only £2.49 a bottle, though I believe that OPI’s Golden Rainbow might be a little harder to come by I’m sure that the effect can be reproduced with something like Northern Lights Holographic Top Coat.

The above mani shows three coats of the Beauty UK and a single coat of OPI Golden Rainbow.  Pretty!

What are you wearing on your nails today?

I got the heads up on this deal the other day, head on over to Zuneta and add three Essie nail polishes to your basket… but only pay for two!

Don’t forget the promo code NAILS and be aware that the offer ends on the 21st!

If you want some inspiration on choosing some shades for your next nail polish splurge, check this link for my previously swatched Essies!

What’s your favourite Essie shade?

I was sticky beaking along the bargain shelves in Boots (as you do… frequently) and spotted this rather pretty nail polish that had been reduced down to something ridiculous like 75p.  This probably means it’s discontinued and you won’t be able to find it but humour me anway.

Rimmel London 60 Seconds isn’t a formula I’ve played with before.  I’ve previously tried and disliked the Lycra Pro range so have gently steered myself away from Rimmel polishes on that basis which makes me very glad that this bargain price sticker turned my head.

The polish is packed full of fine red sparkle, turning what was essentially a blue base into purple once worn on the nails. This makes the name Blue Me Away rather redundant when looking down at what is clearly a warm-toned purple polish.

Application wasn’t too shady, fairly smooth but I did get a bit of drag around the edges of the nail bed and the polish doesn’t apply kindly unless the brush is well loaded.  Other than that, I was done in two (fairly easy) coats.

I have to take issue with the whole “60 seconds” thing too, seeing as this was one of the slowest-drying polishes I’ve worn in months.  You’re definitely going to need a quick dry top coat with this one.

Other than those niggles, for £3.469 (or less if you can find them on offer), I’m pleased to be reintroduced to a brand I’d avoided when it came to nails.

Rimmel London 60 Seconds polishes can be found instore and online at Boots et al.

Now… this is more like it!

After some mild disappointment after seeing the Deborah Lippmann Autumn offerings this year, I’m glad to be back on cloud nine with one her beautiful glitters from last Autumn, Bad Romance (£14.00).

Purple glitter hexagons and regular glitter suspended in a black jelly base makes for an eye-catching combination!  Sure, it’s a little vampy for this time of year but rules are there to be broken yes?!

Opaque in three coats, it needs some careful placement to ensure even distribution of the glitter, thankfully not too tedious with this one as the particles moved around quite happily without causing any drag whilst still wet.  The only negative is that with such a dark shade, the tipwear becomes noticeable after the 2nd day.  No chipping on me though!

In the UK, Deborah Lippmann polishes are exclusively available online and instore at House of Fraser.

* press sample

Deborah Lippmann’s Autumn / Fall shades have been slated for a September UK launch with sadly no word yet on whether we’ll be seeing the glorious glitters that make up the Nordstrom Anniversary set (unless, they’re re-released in a different format, I very much doubt it).

But anyway, wipe away the tears and check out these infinitely more sensible shades instead.

Stormy Weather: an edgy granite shade created in collaboration with Narciso Rodriguez
Brick House: a shimmering rust
Billionaire: a moody, dark olive green

I can’t say that any of them are really shouting my name… Billionaire looks interesting but I just wanna chuck some sparkle in there.  Brick House has the potential to be better on the nail than in the promo and Stormy Weather just does nothing for me I’m afraid.

The Deborah Lippmann Autumn shades are set to launch in the UK exclusively at House of Fraser on the 19th September priced at £14 each.

I only received these Mavala/Elle polishes yesterday* but thought I’d better get them swatched and up on here ASAP as many of you were unsure about whether the shades were unique enough to warrant multiple magazine purchases.

Well, they’re standard cremes, no hidden fireworks but they are all formulated beautifully.  Two coats is shown for each swatch below which is impressive when you consider that I didn’t bother with a top coat and they were touch dry within a couple of minutes.

In other words… if you have 100 reds, oranges and greys already, you’re not gonna need these but if you’re looking for fuss-free, handbag-sized backups of some of your most used and ‘go with everything’ shades, you could do far worse than picking them up.  Oh and don’t forget the free magazine 😉 (sorry Elle)

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Elle magazine goes on sale from the 3rd August, cover price is £3.70

* PR sample

Hands up if you remember the last time Elle collaborated with Mavala on an exclusive nail polish?  That would be me, it was pretty unforgettable after all.

Well, they’ve been putting their heads together again and this time have come up with not one, not two… but THREE exclusive polish shades that ELLE will be giving away free with next month’s magazine!

The magazine goes on sale from the 3rd August and I foretell them flying off the shelves quicker than you can get them in your baskets so if any of the shades take your fancy… be quick.

Will you be picking one (or three) up next week?

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it once or twice already but did you know I turned 30 yesterday? 😉

I had a marvy day and despite spending the entire day looking rather, well… makeup-less, I did put some effort into making my nails as bling-tastic as possible!  Wanna see?

What with it being in focus n’ all, you don’t really get the true OMGGLITTERYGOODNESS effect.  But trust me, it was super blinging!

I used two polishes… one was an Urban Decay oldie from my youth (ok, 5 years ago) called Cult and the other was my brand new Color Club spangly holographic top coat called Starry Temptress.

Do you have any favourite combos for the ultimate in nail bling?

…you see, the Mary Quant store is next to the Liz Earle flagship store just off the Kings Road and I was mooching around killing some time before a facial.  I’d done Zara, drooled over the pastries in Pat. Val and there was really only Mary Quant left.  I would make a rubbish defence lawyer.

The first thing I was drawn to was the display cabinet filled with (mostly) eyeshadows.  They come packaged as pans, the palettes are sold separately for around £7 upwards.  Sadly, even the largest palettes didn’t really hold a great deal so I decided to just buy the pan and work out what the heck I was going to do with the shadow later.

S-36 is a pretty, neutral taupe jam packed with multicoloured sparkle.  The sparkle is smooth… simillar to what you’d find in a well-milled pigment rather than something like an UD eyeshadow.

My swatch doesn’t show the multi-coloured sparkle at all sadly.  I believe this shade is limited edition (Spring 2011) and was priced at around £7-£9 (I’ve lost my receipt, sorry!).

The second item I gravitated towards was this nail polish that charmed my inner magpie for all things sparkly.

The image above shows two coats layered over a black creme.  The glitter particles are holographic and the clear base is packed with a pink/red pearl which turns the black base a lovely aubergine/purple shade.

This is a small 5ml bottle and it set me back around the same amount as the eye shadow.

There’s only one store in the UK but you can order from them through a mail order system by giving them a call on 0207 881 9833 or emailing them at mq.shop@maryquant.co.uk

… an accidental case of perfect timing.

As the death knell sounds for the final issue of Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper The News of The World today, this newspaper manicure couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

China Glaze Pelican Gray provided the foundation for this one.

You can watch a tutorial on Newspaper nails below from Cutepolish, they’re SO easy!