Multi-coloured Mani

Some of you eagle-eyed readers may have already spotted my bright nails in my last post, so here’s a close-up.

L-R: Bourjois Bleu model 44, Revlon Pretty in Papaya 315, Nails Inc Candy Orange 121, Bourjois Lime catwalk 38, Revlon Passion Fruit 375.

After i saw Fee from MakeupSavvy post on the new Bourjois nail colours, i couldn’t wait to pick up some the neon shades. Currently on 3 for 2 in Superdrug (remember to use your Beautycard) i selected Lime Catwalk 38, Bleu model 44 and Jaune trendy 39 (not shown).

These are my first Bourjois polishes and i am impressed, all you need is two coats for full even coverage. They boast an ultra shine and hold finish which lasts for 7 days. I’m currently on day 4 and there are no signs of chipping or wear, unlike the Nails Inc and Revlon colours. So a big thumbs up from me!

In the Pink

I've been experimenting with my manicure recently and trying different colour combos. For the first time I tried a graduation colour manicure where you paint your nails using one shade from light to dark. What do you reckon?

The colours used from thumb to pinky are: Revlon Passion Fruit, Nails Inc Strawberry Hill, Nails Inc Brompton Place, Nails Inc InStyle Candy and Barry M Berry Ice Cream.

I did get a lot of admiring glances and comments so will be doing this again soon, but which colour palette should i choose next?

Smartie nails

I've been meaning to try this trend for different colour nails for a while now after spying twitpics from Fearne Cotton and Rochelle Wiseman (below).

I wish i could accessorise with that YSL ring - jealous!

With such a huge collection of polishes I'm so indecisive on which colour to paint my nails next, so choosing five solves that and it's also a great way to use up my old polishes. Before anyone complains of plagiarism i want to say credit does go to Make Up Savvy and 25Flondon who blogged about it first.

Seriously you don't know how many attempts it took to try and hold five polishes in one hand and get an alright picture!

Trying to get a bit artistic!

And the polishes in question i used are:
- Barry M Berry Ice Cream (lilac)
- Revlon Blue Lagoon (pale blue)
- Rimmel Apricot Punch (coral)
- Revlon Minted (mint green)
- Nails Inc Spitalfields (yellow)

I really liked the effect and it definitely stops me from getting bored too quickly i can't wait to try it on my toes for summer. Next up i think I'll do graduation nail colours if i can round up enough of the same shade.

What I've been wearing recently...

I think i may over the pastels that are all around at the moment and moving onto the brights and have been looking at ways to inject some colour into my working wardrobe.


Heels or flats? Flats or heels? Can you guess which one i went with?

Top - Topshop
Camel Hareems - Topshop
Jacket - H&M
Belt - Borrowed
Heels - River Island
Flats - New Look

Ah yes, well I've always been a heels girl...

Still feeling the brights i chose Revlon's Passion Fruit as the polish of choice, a vibrant purple from their limited edition scented collection.

My picture shows the colour as a reddy plum but i wanted to show you how it actually looks in normal light, so here's a pic from Chic Beauty Blog.

Don't you just love the purple against that cyan stone ring, the colour compliments perfectly!

Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stains

I did miss the bandwagon on those Maxfactor lip stain pens that have been doing the rounds in blogsphere but Revlon have gone one better introducing a lip stain and balm combo - now i bet Maxfactor wished they thought of that eh?

Revlon's Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm are designed to give you that just bitten lip look hence the name (not to mention cashing in on the vampire thing) - it's not rocket! The applicator is a marker pen which you use to line the lips first and then you just colour in the rest using the side of the nib.

As i said before the clever people at Revlon HQ have realised that lip stains can be quite drying on the lips so they have also included a lip balm which you can either use underneath to keep the lips moisturised or over the top to create a glossy finish.

The only problem with the balm is that it's not retractable so it can break easily, as you can see above that's happened to mine but you can push it together to stay put for the time being.

I bought Passion, which is a bright/neon pink and in fact is the brightest shade in the tube, but don't be too alarmed as the pigmentation doesn't quite match up to the packaging.

Swatch

Forgive the blurry pic

As you can see the colour is quite sheer and you do need to build up the layers to get a more intense shade. Now I'm not sure if i got a duff pen but mine doesn't seem to apply as evenly as beauty gurus on YouTube and looks like it's already drying up. Also Revlon do claim it's streak-proof but i wouldn't agree with that considering the 2nd pic. I really like the matte finish which is very en vogue at the moment and i can certify this definitely has staying power, this beauty won't budge without a heavily moistened cotton pad of make-up remover!

Now the big question is would i buy again? Honestly I'm a bit hesitant just because of the price £7.99 approx and the fact my pen doesn't work too well, however i am keen to try one of the darker shades for that Twilight look, i think there even is one called twilight as well.

Has anyone had better results?

A week of nails

Colour blocking is one of my favourite trends for S/S 11 but it's not always a look that can transcend to the office.

Camilla Belle works the look perfectly in head-to-toe Gucci.

My take is to add a bright nail polish that clashes with your top and job done!

Monday - Nails Inc Brompton Place

Tuesday - Nails Inc Spitalfields

Wednesday - Revlon Pretty In Papaya

Thursday - Barry M Berry Ice Cream

Friday - Nails Inc Hanover Street

Hope you love the colours as much as i do!

Revlon Blue Lagoon NOTD

It seems Revlon have introduced a few new products recently including lip stains to rival Maxfactor and scented nail polishes to rival Rimmel.  I did pick up one of the Just Bitten Lip Stains and the nail polishes were on offer, 2 for £8. I chose a pale blue called Blue Lagoon and a bright coral/red called Pretty in Papaya from the limited edition scented range - reviews to come later.

As with all Revlon pastel shades you need time to get an opaque even application. You would probably need 3 coats over a base coat but my top tip is to paint a thin layer of white first and then 2 coats of the pastel shade - magic! This blue has a hint of silver glitter which you can pick up in the light. I've tried to show in the next picture the shimmer.


Can you see the shimmer?

Overall, i don't think it's one of my favourite colours and i'll only wear it during spring, but i did say that about Minted and now i love that so be prepared for a change of heart!

Blue Lagoon was one of two new spring colours, the other is called Sunshine Sparkle. Check out The Style Of Neighbourhood for Yi's review of Sunshine Sparkle.

Pastel shades meets OOTD's

Inspired by the Parma Violet nails the other day I've decided to keep with the pastel theme and show some love to my favourite polishes for spring.



Revlon - Minted

I really want to love this shade as much as i do in the bottle, but the consistency is very watery so the application goes streaky and you need at least 3 coats to achieve opaque coverage and then you lose the paleness. I think next time i will paint one coat of white underneath first.

Nails Inc - In Style Candy

Now this is my Barbie polish, a true bright but baby pink that's opaque after just one coat - yes only one coat application so great for on-the-go, i might even have to do the toes as well just in case it gets warm enough to show them off.

I seem to be in love with shorts at the moment as they're so versatile, work or play, day or night, cold or warm, they do the job. I've been meaning to do an OOTD wearing the Topshop blush shorts but not had chance to wear them out anywhere yet so played a little dress-up for you guys yesterday!

Again apologies for the iphone pic's but i keep forgetting to charge the camera!

Jacket - Topshop (image 1)
Fur gilet - Dorothy Perkins (image 2)
Shirt - Asos
Shorts - Topshop
Leggings - Primark
Boots - Office
Clutch - Warehouse

I was undecided whether the outfit look best with the aviator or fur gilet, what do you think?

Va Va Violet Lips

One of my favourite beauty trends this season is purple lips. I want to embrace my inner goth/rock-chick and work that mysterious sexy look that Rihanna is rocking so well right now.

These are of a few of the celebs who have managed to nail this tricky trend:





Rihanna looking fierrrrrce!



Leighton Meester teams bright lips with a nude palette

Agyness Dean - Maggie Thatcher icon lookalike?



The Hills girls sharing Tom Ford's Lip Colour in Bruise Plum £35 (Picture courtesy of Look magazine)



One of the models for Peter Som

Peter Som's catwalk make-up inspiration

 As readers may already know purple is my favourite colour and as my eye-shadow blending skills are up to scratch yet i do like to have lips as my main focus. I didn't want to stretch to the Tom Ford lippie favoured by The Hills girls for a very trend-led look so i ventured into Boots and picked up Revlon's Va Va Violet (663) lipstick. I think it was about £7.50 but i got it on the 3 for 2 offer.  Now i know many of you out there might shy away from such a bold dramatic look but i think this is perfect for the make-up novices who may not be that skillful with a brush but can definitely operate a bullet!

The Hills girls are going to be my make-up inspiration for the office party and i am going to attempt to recreate that nude eye with a flick of eyeliner and a dramatic lip. I'm not too sure what my colleagues may make of it but for our last night out i wore Revlon's Fuchsia lipstick so they should expect a bold look from me (i hope!).

Take a look at what it looks like on - honestly it's not that scary!

Yes - i have been playing around with photoshop!

My X Factor style photo no1!

and photo no2!

I've tried to show the colour of the lipstick in different lights and with flash and without. I've quite full lips and thought this might look too much on me but i love it!

Here's the eye make-up look i will be recreating to go with the lips:

I like the feline flicks, so will definitely need to practice this!

And if I'm feeling brave i might go ahead with a bold brow as well as seen in Grazia:

What do you think of purple lips - thumbs up or thumbs down?

And a quick how not to do purple lips from Taylor Momsem!

Working that Kevin the teenager angst

Don’t you just love a freebie?!

Today i set my alarm for 7.30am in preparation for snagging a freebie! When i say a freebie it’s kind of one of those offers where you have to buy something to get a freebie, but if you’re planning on flexing the plastic anyway it’s a win-win situation. 

The item in question is Pandora jewellery – now unless you’ve been living on another planet recently, you can’t have escaped the phenomenon of their charm bracelets. I first fell in love after seeing them advertised in Grazia a few years back, they were quite exclusive and not readily available.  Now it seems as they’ve gained more publicity, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and you can’t walk through my local town without a girl wearing one, forget Girl With the Pearl Earring, how about Girl With a Pandora Charm Bracelet?

My local family-owned jewellers Pearces were running the promotion – Spend £75 or more on Pandora jewellery and receive a free leather bracelet, now i know this has been running all over the country and i imagine has been very profitable! I’ve had my silver snake chain for over a year and have mostly silver charms but i was looking for some coloured beads inspired my newly painted nails!  After queuing for about 30 mins i purchased 2 charms, a pink Murano glass £28 and a Pink Opal £50 and picked a white single braided leather bracelet worth £35 for free!

Have a look at the goodies:

Along with my purchases and free bracelet, came some chocolates, polishing cloth to keep my silver super-shiny and brochure of Pandora’s full range of jewellery, ready for me to eye up my next buy.

Polishing cloth – missed off man pic.

 

Free leather bracelet!

Two new charms!

What my silver Pandora bracelet looks like with the new charms.

And need to show you my inspiration for the pink charms – my newly painted Revlon Pink Nude nails with Leighton Denny’s Angel Dust over the top for a sparkly finish.

With flash so you can see the glittery finish – best i could do with the camera after about 10 attempts!

Just to mention as my laptop has been slowly dying on me, not to mention the cracked screen after i stood on it oops – note to self don’t put laptops on the floor beside my bed, i bought a netbook from Curry’s. The one i got is advertised on TV, Packard Bell Dot something in the Bank Holiday sale until wed was £329.00 now £199.00 – complete bargain. It comes with a pouch to keep it safe and software including Photoshop so i can make my pics look better – (no cheating on beauty pics though!), Windows Home XP, webcam and a wonderful invention Windows Live Writer. A program that lets you upload your blog posts live to you blog – genius.

 

And it’s so dinky it can fit in your handbag – have a look compared to Glamour mag – now i just need to find a new handbag worthy of my netbook , get me I'm officially a proper blogger hehe! Soon to be found on my day off in Cafe Nero with a fruity frappe and a chocolate croissant (what calories?) – oh i do miss Starbucks please open in my town!

Well that’s about it for today, before i go a quick shout-out to my new hair – hardly new really but finally got my fringe cut so i can see again – also working the No7 Plum Rebel i got the other day with a bit of eyeliner (cheap & cheerful Collection 2000) and Clarins Eye shadow Colour Quartet Palette in Earth over the lid. Not gone into too much detail as you can’t really see the make-up – sorry, i will try harder in future!

What bargains have you got recently? Please share!