I'll have 2 Blue Lagoon & 1 Peach Melba, please Barry...

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How dare you Barry M tempting me with a whole host of mouth watering products, when I am in the middle of a spending ban? Barry M has just released 2 new shades of nail polishes on their website: Blue Moon 317 {Blue Lagoon totally sounds way cooler :P} and Peach Melba 318.






I am not sure when they will be available from your local Boots and Superdrug, but you can order them online at its usual bargain price of £2.99 each.






Also, hot from the oven, the Wink Marker Pen (£4.59)
A chunky marker pen style eyeliner that makes lining your eyes easy. In simple strokes you can create instense, bold lines and flicks. Quick drying and long lasting as the perfect eyeliner should be! £4.59

Love the design and the bulkyness of it but is that going to dry up in 2 minutes like lots of other pen-style eyeliner? (hinting at you Eyeko)


2. Imperfection Correction (£5.99)


Our NEW Imperfection Correction concealer pen has been developed to conceal blemishes, dark circles and signs of fatigue from the eye area, whilst illuminating the skin and adding a touch of radiance.
It is available in 3 shades to suit all skin tones (Ivory, Almond & Peach)  and the enriched formulation provides smooth and long lasting wear. Simply twist the pen for the liquid to appear and brush onto your face for a flawless finish.

There is no way I would buy this without first swatching in the shop. The applicator reminds me of  Touche Eclat. I wonder what the texture is like.


3. Finally, the 3 recent colourful additions to the Instant Nail Effects (£3.99) hitting the 'physical stores' with no more precise date than "in a month or so". I must admit the future release of 8 the Models Own crackle polishes has excited me more but I cannot deny that the colours are absolutely gorgeous, from the photos I have seen so far. I've seen a girl wearing a girl wearing pink crackle on bright fuchsia and it looks so cool. I am very tempted and you can 2 Barry M crackle polishes for the price of one Models own. But since Beautyuk will also be releasing a pink crackle polish in May, I might just as well wait for that one, since the polishes there usually cost £1.99 (maybe it will be £2.99 for that special one?)



 


Now would it have been great, like Elf always does, to have free postage and packing a as a little incentive to order these new products from the Barry M website :)

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The Dusk about Barry M : Hype and Sensitivity around dupes

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When someone decides to make a remix of a popular track and commercialise it, they usually need to ask permission to the author and pay some rights. From this alone, I reckon, ABBA must be absolutely minted and probably never have to work again. But how does it work when a makeup company decides to recreate a popular makeup product from a very well known brand? How did it work for example, when Models Own recreated 3 shades from Chanel Khaki Collection and many companies (Barry M, Models Own, Revlon, and lately Asda to name a few) took their take on Chanel Paradoxal? Did they need to pay rights to Chanel? Did they need to ask permission beforehand? If this is the case, how long after the public release of the original brand do they need to wait before the release of their duplicate? Is this detrimental to brand or highlighting the pure genius of a brand, who ‘inspired’ so many companies. 



When Chanel released their Paradoxal Nail Polish on that Friday 13 August, I am not sure anybody was ready for the stir it was going to create among the blogosphere and makeup lovers around the globe. For the purpose of this blogpost, and by curiosity, I wanted to track down the actual date when Barry M released their version of Chanel Paradoxal, their 'Dusky Mauve' but I hurt a brick wall. I googled first of all in the hope to find an answer, but alas with no success. Then I tried to see which blogger blogged about it first to see if they had the answer, again no luck there.


So I bit the bullet, the horn and everything (however the expression goes) and decided to ring Barry M to see if they would tell me. Another brick wall. The lady was nice enough but terribly protective of the information: 


'Why do you want this information' she asked.
Me: 'Oh just by curiosity' Her: 'Please give me a moment'.
At her return: 'We're not able to give you this information'.
Me: 'Oh, is that because you don't know or you are not allowed to tell me'?.
She goes: 'Well it depends why you need this information for'.
I went 'Oh i have this small blog on internet and I wanted to provide this information for my readers'.
'Oh' she says (tone of voice changes as it is now more acceptable to ask)

So this is when I asked myself 'what does it matter why i want to know this information for? The date is not to going to change depending on what I know to know it more, does it?


Anyway, she comes back and says something like

'It was in September'.
Me 'Thank you, would you have the exact date please?'
She goes 'We can't give you this information'.
Me again 'Is that because you don't know or you're not allowed to say'.
Her: We're not allowed to say.

I thanked her, and ended the conversation.

My google researches already led me to end of September, all I wanted to know was the exact date. Why so much secrecy? Maybe the lady didn't know and didn't have the courage to say 'To be honest, I haven't got a clue'.
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's a dupe of Chanel Paradoxal and there is some senstivity there?
Meh, I don't know.


Very late after the party, these are my swatches of the much talked about and very difficult to source, Barry M, Dusky Mauve released at some undefined date at the very end of September but which really took the blogosphere by a storm during the month of October.






Is it worth the hype?

As my friend ellie said, I think this polish has been a bit too overhyped. It is nonetheless a gorgeous colour on the following conditions: If you're after this polish to admire this gorgeous & precious light purple shimmer shining through it, then don't bother. You'll have a nightmare to:

1. capture it on photos, and facing a dilemma trying to share with others its elusive beauty.
2. actually see that shimmer for yourself.
   

The reality of this polish is that it's a dusky mauve and that's that. Buying this polish to see the gorgeous shimmer in it, it's like going to the cinema to see a 3 hours movie to see a fleeting 2 seconds appearance of your favourite actor. I saw that shimmer, and it really fascinated me, but the following day it was gone, in the same manner as the freshly polished lustre of any polish would go after 1 day. Even during that one day, I was failing to see that gorgeous shimmer, in most lighting conditions my nails were exposed to.




 

Am I glad I bought this polish? Hell yeah. I am 500% happy with it and I love it to bits, but I accept it for what it is: a greyish purple, a stunning one, but with not much chance to see that most talked about shimmer in it. I am a big fan of Barry M polishes (their formula, ease of application and amazing bargain price {£2.99} and value for money) but there are not many shades for me (too many cremes, not enough shimmers and duochromes) so Dusky Mauve for me is a delight and was a very welcome and unique addition to my growing collection of nail polishes.





Is it worth ruining a friendship? Definitely not. If you see it in your local Boots or Superdrug, get it, this polish will enchant you. I am totally under the charm.

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Catwalk False Lashes by BeautyUK

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False Lashes are probably definitely my favourite 'makeup item'. I've been trying lots of Beautyuk products lately and when I heard they were releasing some false lashes, I couldn't wait to try some and purchased the 'catwalk' set of false lashes at £3.99 from the website.





This was the first time I ordered some beautyuk items from the website. I paid £1.75 for first class delivery and my order reached me in no time at all. I was pleasantly surprised and received a discount voucher for a future purchase. The second surprise was the size of the box of lashes: I bet you could actually fit one of their eyeshadow palettes in there, the box was huge, complete with fully detailed instructions on how to apply them on. Did I read the instructions? Of course, not. I was too impatient to put them on.



 



The second thing I've noticed is how slightly uneven they are. You'll see that the right hand side differ a bit from the left hand side and vice versa. What you lose in symmetry is gained however in 'natural looking effect' of the lashes. The lashes are very long (perhaps longer than the lashes I am used to wear) but also very light, and once they're on and you can hardly feel they are there.







As for the application, as with 99% most of the false lashes I needed to trim them from the outside corner so that they can fit my small eyes. The lash band is very thin and very flexible and you'll have no problem putting them on. The vertical curl on these lashes is absolutely superb and they instantly lift your eyes. I bought many lashes before (corner eye lashes from nyx from the top of my head) that just won't cut it: as they're so straight, you wonder why you put them on in the first place.








how ridiculous do my bare lashes look, seriously. If nothing else, this should boost your self esteem ^_^





However, the fussy false eyelash lover in me was slightly disappointed with the horizontal curvature of the lashes. When I took them off from their support, they felt a bit straight and not as curvy as my beloved eylure 101. This was not a problem because the lashline is very thin and very flexible but if the lashline had been a bit thicker, I could have seen myself having to spend a bit more time trying to make them 'marry' the curve of my lashline.







Overall, I am quite happy with my purchase. The Catwalk lashes are a bit longer than I would personally usually go for but oh boy, they gave me such drama, I can't wait to wear them again. I hope beautyuk will make them available in Superdrug soon.


how much: £3.99
where to buy: online at http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/ (accessories section)
disclaimer: I bought these lashes myself.

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Maybe she's born with it …

… Maybe she’s swatched it in the shop.





I was excited to see these new lip products today from my Boots store on special introductory offer: Meet the new Maybelline New York Superstay 24hr Lipcolor.

They say:

”Stretches your limits of longwear. No crumbling, no fading, no transferring, no drying, no smudging, Maybelline New York's longest wear. Flex formula keeps Maybelline New York Superstay 24hr Lipcolor gorgeous for up to 24 hours.

Why you'll love Maybelline New York Superstay 24hr Lipcolor:
- Micro-Flex formula glides on and looks gorgeous all day
- No crumbling, no caking, no fading, no feathering, no transferring
- 2-step lip colour in one pack.
For best results:
Apply the liquid color to your clean, bare lips. Allow a full two minutes to dry, then apply ultra-conditioning balm to seal in softness. Reapply balm as needed. Remove with an oil-based makeup remover"

Now this is where it all gets a bit complicated.
The official american website boasts to offer 30 shades in the range, the official british website holds 18 shades,  the boots website holds 18 shades, and my little poxy boots offers 8 shades. Here are my 3 favourite:




from left to right: Absolute Plum, Rose Dust and Soft Taupe. These are sold at £7.99 for a short period only (normal RRP: £8.99) 




Rose dust is gorgeouuuuus! Why do we get only 18 shades when 30 have been released, huh?

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Lusting over Spring Offerings from Gosh

Gosh Cosmetics has decided to celebrate Spring with a bang and has released lots of funky new products. A new foundation primer (now cream instead of a yukkygreasy gel) a cute brow kit, lip marker pens, mono eyeshadows, limited editi0ns nail polishes, and last but not least a range of long lasting eyeliners. As if this was not good news enough, Gosh is on 3 for 2 at the moment, so there could not be a better time to pop down to your local Superdrug and sample/get some Gosh.


I am personally on a forced 'stop buying everything that you see' ban at moment and until further notice but that doesn't mean I can't lust and blog about it, right?

Feast your eyes on these new limited edition nail polishes. I absolutely love the design on the bottle and the colours of course. If money was not so tight at the moment, I would have definitely indulged and got home with 'groovy grey'. Misty Mauve is good idea, but I am wondering if it's just your average lilac, and if it's too clean and not greyish enough to tempt me. All these are priced at £4.99. They also released a matte top coat (Matt 604 - non photographed) but my Superdrug had none of them in stock.  


 

I wanted to show you quick swatches of the brand new mono shadows Gosh has released here. The colours seem to be a bit more pigmented than your average trio from Gosh but I am not too blown away. From what I gathered these shades just have boring numbers for names (from 001 to 008). My favourites are the lime green (001) the golden brown (003) and the golden peach (007)







And last but not least, and my favourite from all the gosh new releases, these new "Super long wear long lasting eyeliners" priced at £5.99. They feel a bit runny on application, but once they're on, they're on and they don't budge. The colours are great despite once again, very unimaginative names and the applicator nib makes the application like an easy walk in the park .

If you are a fan of the Gosh extreme art liner already, you'll definitely want to try those and you’ll probably like these better, precisely because of the great pointy nib, rather than the brush of the art liners.  (Man, how bad was the English of that sentence, I hope you understand what I mean) x






Some selected swatches for you:
From left to right: the green, turquoise, brown and grey, photographed in natural daylight.






I could have seen myself going home with these four amazing shades but if I had to pick just one, it would have been the turquoise, which a is a lovely mix of turquoise and hints of copper running through it. Here you see it in mid afternoon light, in the shade, without flash.





Any of these new products from Gosh tempt you? I am very curious to try the new cream face primer. I really really disliked their existing primer, it felt so greasy!


Where to buy: Superdrug
How much: eyeliner £5.99, nail polish £4.99, eyeshadow:?

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In love with the Amazon: Review of the Amazon Combo Palette (Beautyuk) and Eotd (makeup look)

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Forget everything I have said before about my favourite eyeshadow palette from BeautyUK, this 'Amazon' combo eye shadow and eyeliner palette is my new unexpected favourite of them all. Unexpected as I never planned to buy this palette at all. For one, I never use cream/gel liner. Segundo, the photos from the website had never been very appealing to me. I knew I liked what I thought to be the red eyeshadow in the palette, but other than that, I was not too bothered to be honest.



 



This was until I saw the palette in real life in Superdrug and I just had to have it. What I thought to be the red eyeshadow - the sole object of my desire from this palette - turned out to be the most gorgeous orangey coppery shadow and had my name on it. It was also the first time I had ever seen this palette in real life, they only had that one, looking at me with its puppy eyes and it was no brainer: get it before nobody else does. I am glad I didn't have to use force.






So this palette boasts 6 soft eyeshadows with a soft and not overpowering shimmer, 2 cream eyeliners and a double ended applicator thingy: on one end a fluffy brush and on the other an eyeliner brush, all this packed all neatly in the usual beautyuk palette.






And now swatches time. How gorgeous is this! Yes, I was a bit disappointed at first that there was no red eyeshadow, but this was until I saw what is the star of this palette for me: this orangey copper shadow. no other word to describe it other than WOW. My second favourite eyeshadow is the gold, and then all the others which complement each other very well.

I need to stress out again that the shimmer of all these shadows is very easy to work with and that droopy eyelids like me can ever wear in and above the crease. 


  


Now for the liners. Let's not beat around the bush. They are hardly going to replace my trusty liquid eyeliner from H&M. I like my upper lid eyeliner to be very black and sharp, which I don't think I will achieve with these. However, these would be good if you want to achieve a softer or even smokey eyeliner look. 






The other surprise from the palette was the brush. I was ready to ignore it completely as most of the time, the little applicators/brush which come with palettes are just, well, a bit useless to be blunt. The eyeliner side is actually really good and I used it in my look today to apply some eyeliner on my bottom lash line. As for the fluffy brush, it is actually really soft and I used it to define my crease and I am beyond chuffed with that.






For the look today, I used all the eyeshadows in the palette apart from the brown on the right hand side and the black eyeliner on the lower lashline, applied with the eyeliner brush provided.





 
 



I absolutely love this palette and at £3.99 what a bargain. The copper eyeshadow alone is worth £3.99 and more.






Oh and this is the first picture I have taken with my shorter hair. I had a hair cut last Thursday and had about 10 to 15 cms removed!





Edit. Addendum. OMG. Where has my head gone? I can't believe I nearly forgot to post this. You will know from my blog that I am a big fan of beautyuk nail polishes. Check out these new babies due to be released on April 13th. If you're impatient like me, you might want to follow @blissmag on twitter as they were sent these exclusive polishes before anybody else. A little bird tells me they might want to paint and tweet soon...

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The best eye makeup remover chosen by… You! :) Mini Poll

.I am running out of eye makeup remover (It seems like I'm going through gallons of eye makeup remover so quickly) and I need to buy a new one.  At the moment, I am using a eye makeup remover from Simple, a decent alternative I had to find to replace my ultimate favourite eye makeup remover product, which I can’t find in England, Cils Demasq, a bi-phase product from Gemey/Maybelline.





I was really curious to see what is everyone's favourite eye makeup remover to have ideas of what to buy and also to find out if I've been missing out on real gems. So this is what, you, my lovely twitter followers have answered, 34 of you to be precise:


 




I messed up my imagemap on the previous picture, so if you want to access cosmetic candy’s links, here are they are, this is her review of her beloved Softymo and this is where she buys it.




and last but certainly not least:


 

I would like to say a massive thank you to all of you for your replies. It is really really interesting what everyone is using, from the high street product to the high end ones, with some ‘homemade’ simple ones thrown in too.


  


I have learnt so much and I think I have been really missing out on the wonder of what the ‘Botanics’ seems to be. I didn’t even know that Boots Botanics did an eye makeup remover, as I was judgemental about all the metallic lid of their bottles but @loulou699 reassured me and nothing is stopping me now :)

I also really really want to try a product I’ve never tried before: the Bioderma product raved about by @lipglossiping and @mylipsbutbetter, as I love the concept of water removing makeup and leaving no residues.




Are you surprised by the answers?
Were they predictable to you?
Any product from above which you want to try?
What is your holy grail eye makeup remover?

liloo/@tsunimee on twitter--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like this type of post? Here are some more polls from the past:
- Elf products and high street availability
- Restaurants dates and who should pay the bill
- 3 Essential Makeup items for a night out

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Last Call nails from Nina Ultra Pro

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Put a gold shimmer in any nail polish and it's a thumbs up for me. Put a gold shimmer in an amazing easy to apply and smooth formula and wrap it in a 15ml bottle and sell it at £3.89 and I am in love. Meet my latest addition to my little nail polish collection: Last Call from Nina Ultra Pro.





Until a few days ago, I had not even heard of Nina Ultra Pro. When looking for a China Glaze nail polish (one of the gems of the discontinued OMG holographic collection) on Sallys Express website, I came across the brand Nina ultra pro. A quick search into google brought me to a picture of someone's nails wearing 'Last Call'. I was sold right away and I just had to pop down to my local Sallys and get it.








'Last call' is delightful purply wine polish infused with gold. The application is just so easy, not a bubble, streak, patch in sight and I can't believe this has not been talked about more in the blogosphere. Needless to say that I've got my eyes on many more polishes from the brand. 'Mossy Britches' and 'Maple Syrup' are now on my lust list. 






Have you tried anything from the brand?

How much: £3.89
Where to buy: Sallys Stores, or online http://www.sallyexpress.com/

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Rant for petite posh pastel perfectly p*ssed off nails

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If you are a die hard fan of Eyeko, you might want to turn away now. I have had a truly horrible day today, and today might not the right moment to have a rant when I am all fuelled up and worked up, but I need to let it out. 







As I was in the middle of an eyeko project (I was in the process of swatching all the 4 four nail polishes I had and make a little collection post) I wanted to double check the prices of the nail polishes. To my horror, I found that all the polishes (tiny bottles of 7 ml) are now sold at £5 (very recently previously priced at £3.50)


Now bad enough the absolute rip-off scandal about commissions, but now this sudden increase and without any warning? Now it would have been courteous to be advised of the price raise, and then I could have stocked up on polishes as I absolutely ADORE the polishes to bits (well the 4 I have tried anyway)


Then, to top it all up, we have their new policy on delivery.

UK and EU orders will be delivered FREE of charge by Royal Mail standard service if you have chosen FREE SHIPPING. This type of order won't have a tracking code available and claims for loss or damage cannot be entertained. 
We would highly recommend the use of registered shipping for all orders. Registered shipping to UK costs £2.50 and Europe costs 5 EUROS.

Maybe the rise in price of the products is to cover free delivery? It doesn't seem fair to me when all the polishes have gone up by £1.50 each to pay for a “free delivery”. And then, they strongly recommend you not to choose the free delivery service as they will refuse to accept any responsibility if it gets lost. Are we being screwed or are we being screwed here or what?

I once bought some concert tickets with normal first class post delivery at £1.50, where there was a similar warning about refusal to take responsibility in parcel gets lost. Other service available was Next Day delivery at something like £7. Of course there was no way I was going to pay for a concert ticket, worth £12 and pay an additional half of that in postage. So what do you know, I never received the tickets. Fortunately I was able to have another re issued and was able to go to my gig.


If you didn't know before 'eyeko' in Japanese, means 'love'. What's the Japanese for 'taking the p*ss'? Because I think this would be a more appropriate name.

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OPI – My Private Jet Nails

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Why did I buy this again? Oh yeah. It was part of a blog sale held by a lovely girl, and as I am a sucker for blog sales, I succumbed and bought My Private Jet from Opi.






This is a lovely shade of dark brown with very delicate and intense micro glitter in it. It’s very pretty. Application as with most OPI polishes I’ve tried is a breeze, albeit a little bit runny. No hint of patchiness, or streakiness, the polish glided on my nails effortlessly. After my recent experiences with ‘bronze boogie’ the cheapest nail polish which has ever graced my nails, applying My Private Jet on my nails felt like a luxurious experience.






Happy purchase then? Well yes and no. My nails looks very elegant and very sparkly. Yet they feel as elegant with funky cosmic polish from eyeko and with my ’Missfit’  freebie from Misssguided and Cosmopolitan at half the price.

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