A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

This glass-flecked, foil shimmer is a new finish to me… but when I saw swatches online, I knew I had to hunt down this beautiful green polish from the Nubar Autumn collection.

I don’t usually go for green polishes… infact, it’s the only drawer in my collection that has any room for more.  I’m so glad I decided to fill the space with this little number.

Nubar Verde is a blue-based green that makes it a good choice for cooler skintones… it’s almost gunmetal in certain lighting.  What really lifts this from the ordinary are the beautiful golden glasslike flecks of glitter that run through the formula.

Because the photo above was taken on such an overcast day, I’m afraid that the gold is far more apparent in the bottle than it is on the nail, but trust me… it’s there… being all beautiful and foil-like.

Tip wear was a bit of an issue with this polish as it was apparent by the end of the first full day of wear.  Such a shame because I could have happily worn this one for weeks.  On the plus side, pigmentation for Verde is magnificent and I was able to top up with a single coat to disguise the worn tips and get a few more days wear from this manicure.

If you’re a fan of green polishes or even just looking for something slightly different to the current plethora of standard (but beautiful) glitters, do check out the Nubar Venetian Glass collection, it’s really very pretty.

Nubar’s Venetian Glass collection is priced at £8 each and available to buy online from BeautyShed.

Blimey do I ever love these Accessorize duochromes.

If wealthy Elizabethan women wore nail polishes, they’d look something like this.  I think I need a sumptuous velvet gown to go with it no?  There’s something so rich and luxurious about this polish.  It’s smooth and almost creamy.

It flashes between pink, bronze, gold, amber, green.  Spell-binding.

Application was three coats but each dried fairly quickly so didn’t cause much annoyance.  The whole mani was done in half an hour from base coat to top coat (INM Out The Door).

The last Accessorize polish I picked up from the new range is called Pink Spice and I think I’m gonna save that one for Christmas Day.  Here’s a link to my other Accessorize polish, Aztec.

Am I missing any from the range that I absolutely must have?

Today’s NOTD is dedicated to the lovely Jen from NailPolishUK simply because I know that this is one of her favourite polishes.

How outrageously girly is that?  The thing about this polish is that it’s more than just pink glitter.  Well, it’s not… it IS just pink glitter… but it’s not stereotypical.  It has an edge to it that steers it away from being Barbie.  I think it’s the hint of rose gold.

I love it.  I hate removing it.  But… God, I love it.

It wears like Teflon too… I can keep this on my tips for a week solid.  Which is just aswell really ‘cos it takes that long to remove the bugger.

Butter London Rosie Lee is available to buy online from PowderRooms priced at £9.75 – A Christmas Cracker if ever I saw one!

ETA: I forgot to say! It’s pretty simillar to the infinitely more affordable Eyeko Chi Chi… differences: Rosie Lee is more opaque, the finish is smoother and it’s more sparkly.  But they’re both beautiful Rose/Pink Gold glitters!

Easily my most expensive bottle ml for ml… Le Metier de Beaute’s Magic at Dusk was released alongside their autumn/fall collection this year and I couldn’t resist picking it up.

It’s an exquisite mix of blue and purple that looks positively electric on the nails but for all that… I don’t have a huge amount of love for this polish.

It’s a 3/4 coater and for this depth of colour… we should be able to achieve opacity in 2 coats.

You also only get 4ml of product for £10, so I’m estimating that the manicure shown above has cost me at least a quid.  It’s a very fast drying polish but the tiny brush is difficult to wield with any grace which resulted in drag marks across the nail bed and the need for a 4th coat.

I pretty much dislike everything about this polish except for the colour.

Ready for a Bobby Dazzler?  (does anyone under the age of 75 (apart from me) ever say that?)

Check out Butter London’s Big Smoke!

*dies*

It’s almost denimy in it’s loveliness.  It’s a beautiful shimmery toned-down blue that totally has that smoky twilight vibe about it.

I flippin’ adore Butter London for their shade range and since they sorted out their initial teething problems with the formula and bottles… they’re remaining my favourite brand.

Some people have issues with wear… I never have but they also do a marvellous base coat that is (apparently) an absolute MUST if you’re the type of person who gets polish chips within the day.

Big Smoke applied beautifully for me and is a must-have for blue polish lovers everywhere.

Is it just me or are we experiencing some rather good deals at the moment?  My bank balance has been taking a serious hit the past couple of weeks!

For one week only, Barielle are offering 20% off EVERYTHING… but… (and here’s the kicker)….

The Spring, Summer, Autumn AND new Winter polishes are still on BOGOF!!

Two Barielle’s for a grand total of £6.40?  Oh.. if you insist…

So, it seems that the UK is gearing up for the Spring release of Revlon‘s scented nail polishes… something that our cousins across the pond have had access to for a while now.

So, cousins… what’s the verdict?

I love me a bit of Revlon and these are indeed some v. pretty shades… but…

…the last time I dedicated any time to sniffing my fingers, I was about 6 years old and had just picked my bum.

And the thing is… If I saw someone partaking in a bit of finger-sniffing tomorrow… I wouldn’t be wondering what flavour they’d painted their nails.  I’d be making sure I didn’t shake hands with them.

I just don’t see how these are workable in our society.  Should we exercise our right to sniff proudly in public or will we become a nation of closet finger sniffers?  It’s not like we can even be surreptitious in the workplace ‘cos you know if you get caught with your fingers hovering near your nostrils and you’re being all clandestine about it, it’s only gonna look worse for you.

The only reason I could think of to justify making scented nail polish is to stop those stinky fumes from filling the room whilst painting your tips.  That would be worthwhile no?  Except this stuff stinks like regular nail polish until it’s dry.

Will you be rushing to buy these when they’re released next year?

Want something a little bit sexy for the party season?

Ciate Boudoir is a fire-cracker of a red!  It’s slight orange tones will make this shade positively sing on warmer skintones… and despite initial uncertainties it works it’s magic pretty effectively on mine too!

Two coats will give you an almost-opaque finish, you may be able to make out a hint of VNL (visible nail line) on my ring finger… but thanks to the shade’s vibrancy I didn’t feel that it especially needed a third coat.

Application was FAR better than I remember from Ciates of old.  I’m used to them being a bit thick, gloopy and tricky to work with.  Boudoir was a lot more fluid than I was expecting which resulted in a cuss-free application.

Wear was impressive… no tip wear until the 3rd day and I think I could have lasted 5 days without being bothered by the minimal wear.

Ciate Boudoir is available to buy online from PowderRooms, priced at £9.00

Are you a fan of classic red polishes? Which are your favourites?

Marrow was the shade that I had been looking forward to… the one that caught my attention back in February when it debuted on the catwalks at Vena Cava during New York Fashion Week.

It was finally released alongside the A/W collection and was one I didn’t pick up because swatch shots from the US girls hadn’t impressed me anywhere near as much as I hoped they would.

The Butter London Marrow that had been haunting my dreams (melodramatic, moi?) was this durgy purple and swatches had proven the release version to be a truer, safer shade.

And it just goes to show the value that great swatches has on my buying choices because they were right!  It’s not that Marrow is an unnattractive colour… far from it, it’s quite a striking blue hued purple… regal and perfect for winter.  It’s just different to what I had wanted it to be.

Marrow has a lovely subtle silver shimmer that was far too tricky for me to pick up in the above swatch… it’s touches like this that really set the brand apart from their rivals.  I am a big fan of Butter London and I get hugely excited at the rumblings of new releases to see if I can spot any emerging trends for future seasons.

Not the easiest brand to get hold of in the UK but you can pick them up online from Powder Rooms priced at £9.75 each.

Looking for something vampy, glossy and with just a hint of purple?

Precision Nails in shade R03 VIP Very Important Polish might be what you’ve been looking for…

Another great Winter shade and a winner for lovers of dark, vampy nails… VIP is a 3 coater that makes my fingernails look like black cherries!

Consistent with the other shades in the range, I’m really appreciating these dark polishes now that I’ve chopped my nails a little shorter.

Another polish  from the Precision Nails Glam Rock Collection, this time a little number called The After After Party (R04).

It’s a sophisticated midnight blue with shimmer that looks very clean and elegant against a cool, pale skintone.

I was concerned that the inky blue might stain my nails, so I doubled up on the base coat… but I’m pleased to report that it didn’t even so much as stain my cuticles.  Good job!

As with the other shimmers in the range, I wish that it had just a touch more sparkle.  In the bottle, the multi-coloured shimmer is very special and that doesn’t translate to the nail.  Having said that, it’s still a very beautiful midnight blue with just enough shimmer to keep it interesting.

Another three coater, it’s one of those polishes that need that last coat to really shine.  Application was good and wear has been fine.