Saturday 29 October 2011

Review and FOTD- MUA Glitter Ball Eyeshadow palette

Something has been playing on my mind for a while now. At the risk of being ostracised from the makeup blogger community, I’ve got to admit it. I’m not a huge fan of the MUA palettes. I love a lot of the singles and I agree that the palettes are cheap as chips but while everyone else was gushing about how marvellous these were, I was decidedly less impressed.  I bought Glitter Ball a few months ago, so I’ve given it a good go.

I can see lots of good with the Glitter Ball palette, apart from the low price of £4 for 12 shadows. The colour family is good; all the shades can be worn together and they are all very wearable. It’s a great mix of neutral with bright. The packaging is not bad; it’s nicely compact and sturdy enough to carry around. I love the concept of the mix of glittery shades. There are a few colours that I think are amazing. However, there are more than a few negatives.

Friday 21 October 2011

Mini Haul- Boots No7, 17 and Benefit

I’ve not bought much makeup recently. Christmas is coming and my family are demanding presents. Selfish! These are the few bits and pieces I’ve picked up since my last haul.

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnishes in Violetta and Oyster
Oyster and Violetta
Now I know I said after my last nail haul that wasn’t going to buy any more nail varnishes… But I lied. I had Boots £5 vouchers burning a hole in my pocket. These shades are Oyster and Violetta. As with all No7 Stay Perfect polishes, they are easy to apply and last reasonably well on me with OPI Rapidry. Violetta covers in only two coats and is a dark blue/purple cream; this used to be a Speed Dry shade and have zero lasting power but they've improved it. Oyster takes three and is a neutral pink with a little shimmer. They aren’t worth £7 but definitely worth using your £5 vouchers on.

17 Wild Metallic Eyes Cream Eye Shadow in Wild Nude
17 Wild Nude

Thursday 20 October 2011

Review- Max Factor Ageless Elixir

Let me begin by giving you a disclaimer; I did not buy this- I was sent it by Super Savvy Me for the purposes of trial and marketing. The fact that I have received this for free has not influenced my opinion at all.


Max Factor describes Ageless Elixir as a 2 in 1 foundation and serum, with the aim of protecting the skin from aging. It contains SPF15 which they claim will reduce melanin exposure thus reducing further age spots and wrinkles caused by UV damage. Max Factor also claims that this helps care for your skin with anti-oxidants and moisturisers. The foundation is supposed to help even the skin tone without clogging in fine lines and wrinkles and diffusing their appearance with light reflecting particles.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

FOTD and Review- Sleek Oh So Special Palette

Shades L to R from top: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate, Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir

I’ve bought a few of the new Sleek palettes in the past week. I managed to get hold of one of the last Oh So Special palettes from the website. There are loads of swatches out there, so I’m not going to pollute Google images with my inferior swatch photography. I’m just going to tell you what I think. 

Monday 3 October 2011

NOTD and Review- Pink and orange with 17 Crackle Top Coat


Natural Light
 A few months ago I promised Eyelining Obsessions (check her page- she’s one of my favourite beauty bloggers) that I would show how I use Boots 17 crackle polish. My nails are a mess at the moment due to cutting down conifers and digging up weeds but here you go, pink and orange with gold crackly divide.
Natural Light
 I got Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink a few years ago as a GWP and I love it. It’s a creamy hot pink and it lasts for ages on fingers and toes. It applies without streaking or drag and is opaque within 2 coats on a normal nail. Using it this way, it covers over the orange in a single coat. I heartily recommend buying it.
Natural Light
I bought the orange Mememe Laura polish from Poundland. You’ve got to love those Famous Brands bags although I feel a bit of a cheapskate rifling through the rickety and dishevelled displays. Mememe’s Laura isn’t available anymore, as the brand has recently gone through a rebranding. This is a bright tangerine orange cream, very vibrant. I can’t say I’m overly impressed beyond loving the colour. It stains, even with a basecoat. It also chips and peels within 24 hours. However, the colour is lovely and it perfectly complements the hot pink. I hope the Mememe rebranding has including improving their polishes.
Flash
 17 Nail Xtras Crackle Polish is a gorgeous colour- a pale cool toned shimmery champagne gold. However, that is where the good stops. For a start, it doesn’t crackle as much as other brands and tends to obscure the base colour. It seems to cling to the wide brush so it’s hard to get a thin coat. Because of this it tends to wrinkle when the top coat is applied. I can only get it to work as a colour partition as the amount it crackles matters less and it doesn’t seem to wrinkle with a small amount on the nail. I much prefer the MUA Nail Quake and the W7 crackle polishes but it looks very pretty here. If you are having trouble finding ways to use your crackle polishes, try it this way!

 
Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink costs from £2 if you shop around.
Mememe Laura costs £1 from Poundland (if you can bear to hunt through plastic packets)
17 Nail Xtras Crackle costs £3.99 from Boots
Nail Decorations cost £1 from Poundland

Friday 23 September 2011

Bargain Nail Haul

As I said on my last post, you evil nasty bloggers have been forcing me, yes FORCING me! to buy more nail varnishes! So here are some more swatches and mini reviews of what I have bought over the past month from bargain shops.



Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in Glow: This has quickly become one of my favourite polishes. It is a shimmery bright green, almost lime, with a metallic gold shine to it when it catches the light. The photos do not do this polish justice. It lasts for 3 days without chipping or peeling, which is almost miraculous on my nails with the amount of gardening I’ve been doing. The skinny brush doesn’t leave streaks and it dries quickly. It takes 3 coats to become fully opaque, although you can get away with 2. You can pick this up from Ebay for around £2-£3. I urge you to (and don’t confuse it with the Hard as Nail’s product also called Glow, which is an insipid pink). I got it for £2 from The Factory Warehouse in Stourport-on-Severn.

Revlon Nail Enamel in Strawberry Electric: This is a bright, almost metallic pink. It’s what Barbie would wear in the future. The shimmer is intense. It has a thin brush and sometimes streaks slightly. It also can take a long time to dry. However, the wear is fairly good and the colour is amazing. You can buy this from Ebay for around £3. I got mine from Savers for £1.50-ish.

W7 Nail Polish in Purple Paradise: W7 Nail Crackle is amazing, so I decided to try the regular polishes. This, I do not love. It is a shimmery plum purple. The wear is terrible, it streaks, the drying time is ludicrously long and the gold iridescence that the bottle shows (which the camera couldn’t pick up properly) doesn’t transfer to the nails. It’s not the worst polish I’ve tried but it’s put me off the regular polishes by W7. Disappointing nail polish can be yours for £2 from Amazon. I got this for £1 from The Factory Warehouse.

Thursday 22 September 2011

OPI Irre-swiss-ables Swatches and Review


It's been a long time since I last did a post. However, just because I haven't been writing about makeup it doesn't mean I haven't been buying any. Thanks to all you lovely makeup bloggers, I have started buying nail varnish in such quantities, I could paint my house with them. Naughty bloggers! No more enabling my new addiction!

Anyway, one of the things I bought recently was the OPI. Irre-swissables mini polishes. The set was released last August and I was lucky enough to find it at my local Sally's Beauty Supplies in Kidderminster for £6. The marketing for the set sums it up quite nicely. Supposedly OPI took inspiration 'from a backdrop of snow-peaked mountains, lush glacial valleys, and glittering lakes'. Fancy! My nails are having a winter holiday.


In the set you get four 3.75ml bottles, all of which seem to be part of the permanent collection. To some it may seem better to buy the larger bottles if the shades aren't limited edition but I love mini sets to try out new shades. You get Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous (pewter), Yodel Me On My Cell (dark teal blue), So Hot It Burns (red) and the OPI RapiDry Top Coat (clear).

Monday 5 September 2011

Return of the Smurfette

I thought I'd better let the blogging world know I'm still alive as I've been neglectful due to being on holiday. So today, instead of pretty makeup and my ramblings, I give you a picture of Bonnie the bonkers black lab and her first trip to the seaside.


Mmmmm, sand is so tasty when you're sitting in a hole you've just dug!

I'll be posting again soon with a look from the Sleek Carribbean palette, swatches and review of Collection 2000's smoky eye palette and possibly some NOTD from my recent hauling (if my nails have recovered from playing on the beach and falling over in the sea).

Tuesday 16 August 2011

FOTD- Barry M Tan and Plum


For a few years Barry M makeup was being hyped all over the net. It seems to have been slightly forgotten recently, by me also. I regularly used to buy the Dazzle Dust pigments and used them almost every day.  I realised a few days ago that I haven’t bought one for ages and hadn’t used them for quite a while, so it was time to show them some love.




Friday 12 August 2011

Haul and 1st Impressions- Boots, Collection 2000, MUA and W7

Ah, bargain shopping and the wonder that is the Boots No7 vouchers! I went to see Mr Popper’s Penguin’s yesterday and went for a wander around the shops afterwards. Of course I couldn’t resist dropping into Boots- the hypnotic allure of £5 off vouchers cannot be denied. Also, my local TJ Hughes is closing down so I picked up some W7 makeup, one of my favourite budget brands.

Thanks to vouchers and special offers I spent the grand total of… £7.67! So what did I buy?

Monday 8 August 2011

FOTD- Shimmery Pastels


First of all, let me just say a big helllooooo to my new followers. I really appreciate knowing that people are reading and that my ramblings might have a point (for once in my life!)

I keep trying to make pastels work for me and, after trying numerous combinations, I’m coming to the conclusion that they never will. Anyway, after a few tries with various shades I decided to stick with this look for the day, paring it with the bright pink Ciate Ibiza gloss. I think this EOTD would look great on someone with a better tan than mine (what tan, right?), lighter hair and a less hooded eye. Mine need more contouring than pastel shades seem to provide. 


Thursday 4 August 2011

July favourites

It is a few days late, but here are my favourites from July. There are a few new buys and a few that are long time loves.



Batiste Dry Shampoo in Diva- This refreshes my summer wilted hair, giving me amazing volume. It smells divine and perfectly complements the oriental perfumes I like. I used to stick to the Original but fancied a change and this is now my staple dry shampoo.

Head and Shoulders Itchy Scalp Care- One of my hayfever symptoms is itching. I’ve been ripping my skin apart including my scalp. I don’t suffer from dandruff so can’t comment on how well it works for that, but this helps me to stop ravaging my skin. I was worried that the menthol would be overpowering but it was just enough to calm my skin. Yes, this has dried my hair out at the ends and stripped the colour but it’s worth it for the blessed relief.
Boots Soltan SPF25- Lasts well, moisturising, avoids sunburn, doesn’t stink. What else is there to say? (I know the picture is SPF15- I couldn't find the SPF25 so had to use my winter suncream bottle)

Buff Revlon Colorstay - An old favourite making a return for summer as the yellowness works with my ever so slightly warmed skin.

Witch Primer Anti Blemish Skin Clearing Primer- I’m planning to do a proper review of this, as it has very quickly become a holy grail item.

ELF Cool Bronzer- The perfect matte bronzer for contouring and adding a light amount of colour to my pasty skin. Another holy grail item that I use every day.

Maybelline Falsies Black Drama- Gives me the over the top lash look that I love. 

Black Elf Cream Liner- Lasts even through the worst hayfever days.

Urban Decay Toasted Eye shadow- A shimmery metallic copper eye shadow. I’ve used this so much this month as it’s versatile enough to go with neutral and bright looks. I use it in the crease, as a lid shade, as an eyeliner- it’s superb. I tend to neglect this over the winter, as it’s too warm for my skintone when the sun doesn’t shine.

ELF Super Glossy Lipshine in Watermelon- lovely bright shade for the summer that works with almost any summer look. The SPF 15 it contains is a real bonus. It’s also proof that you can make an affordable lipgloss that works (I’m looking at you Malibu Babes LipSlick!)

W7 Crackle Polish- The best crackle polish I have used so far. See my review


What are your summer favourites?

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Review: Malibu Babes Lip Slick in Succulent Strawberry SPF20

I’ve been trying a lot of cheap products from Poundland recently. I’ve found some great bargains but I’ve also had some disappointments. Malibu Babes Lip Slicks is one of these. I was attracted to this because I’d used a Malibu Babes sunblock stick in the past and was happy with it as a budget handbag item. Also, the weird British summer we are having (lots of sunshine!) made the SPF level very appealing. I was hoping for a product similar to ELF’s Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF15, which I love.

I’m going to come out and say it immediately- I hate this. It’s a detestable waste of money. I don’t care if it’s only £1. I resent Malibu Babes Lip Slick’s very existence!

Monday 1 August 2011

FOTD- Bronze, Green and Browns


Okay, perhaps this isn't a proper Face of the Day and more of an Eyes of the Day but I'm still summoning the courage to inflict my entire face upon the blogging world.

Monday 25 July 2011

NOTD and Review- NYC East Village with W7 Crackle



This wasn't the nails of the day that I thought I would be sharing today. I'd promised an orange and gold crackle but I had to blog about this combination because I am so impressed. NYC and W7 aren't exactly what you would describe as high end products. In fact, it would be much fairer to say they are amongst the cheapest and most rubbishy of products. However, I am prepared to eat some humble pie because this combination has lasted on my nails for an incredible 4 days without chipping or showing tip wear. This may not seem remarkable to some but my nail varnish is usually chipped, peeling and chewed off within 24 hours of application. Even brands like OPI are ruined within a couple of days.

Friday 1 July 2011

Review and Swatches- Boots No7 Metallic Eye Pencils

I bought the No7 Metallic Eye Pencil Set in Smoky Jewels a few weeks ago from Boots in Merry Hill for the bargainous sum of £13.50. I've tried a couple of the No7 metallic pencils before and while I thought they were ok, I wasn't blown away. These have blown me away like a Kansas girl in a hurricane.


So why are they so good?

Thursday 30 June 2011

E.L.F. Haul from 50% off sale

Having gone back to a bit of guest blogging, I have yet again ignored my own. I've got tons of reviews to write up- which means a load of products are sitting around cluttering the house. Just because I haven't been writing, it doesn't mean I haven't been buying and my most recent haul was another huge purchase from ELF. So what did I get and what are my first impressions?

Tuesday 1 March 2011

ELF Haul from 20% sale

Wow, it's taken me so long to actually get on and write something for this blog. I promise (even if only to myself) that I will post regularly.

Anyway, I recently ordered a fair few things from ELF. I've had a couple of their products before and not been overly impressed. This time I decided to do my research and see what other bloggers thought. In most cases this has worked but not in all... 32 Basic Palette, I'm looking at you. I'm just going to list what I bought with my first impressions and later I'll do a more detailed posting of various items with swatches.