Accessorize Wyoming Nails

Third nail post in a row? Yes. I should mix things up a bit but when I am excited about something, I find it very difficult to wait. I want to share with you my latest acquisition from Accessorize Makeup. I was in the Accessorize shop, stumbled onto this nail polish and it had to come home with me. It's called Wyoming, like the American state famous for its national parks and nature in general and I couldn't think of a better name for it.






The creamy formula was such pleasure to work with and the coverage was superb and almost good enough to be a one coater. This is now the 4th creme finish type of polish I have from Accessorize which I am absolutely delighted with and Accessorize, yet again surpassed themselves with the quality. You can read more about mink, heart beat, and passion nail polishes here.



Long gone are the days of the first generation of accessorize polishes which were seriously patchy and a bit too bit runny to be honest. How do you know which polish is first generation or not, will you ask? I have summarised all the first generation polishes here. I am not saying they are all bad but from my little experience (I have tried 5 polishes from the first generation) I have not been happy enough to want to repurchase. Truffle was adequate and the best of the lot but Notorious, Superstar, Mermaid, and Electric Blue have given me patchiness.


Back to the majestic Wyoming. If you are looking for your ultimate shade of khaki, and for a price which doesn't break the bank, you might want to try it. I hope my pictures will give you a taste for it. Can I just add as well, that no clean up whatsoever was required for this. I am so impressed.













The best bit?






Yes, it was on half price sale in my shopping and only cost me £2. I was about to indulge in the new khaki shade (Lazy Green) from Gosh but now that I've got Wyoming at home, I don't need to anymore.


what: Accessorize Makeup nail polish in shade Wyoming
how much: £4 (special offer, half price at £2 in my shop)
where: Accessorize Shops and selected Superdrug nationwide
disclosure: bought by me

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*Bargain Alert* and Fearnesque Lime Green Nails {notd}

To say that it's been a while since I have not blogged properly and share my nail colour adventures is an understatement. I’ll spare you the drama about my computer woes. My nails have been in a bad condition since the beginning of November and everytime they grew a little, they shortly lived and broke and grew and broke etc.. The nail on my little finger is way too small compared to the rest of my hand, my index looks it's been filed with in pitch black but hey ho, I really want to get back into the swing of things and get to blogging again more frequently.




Today's manicure was not planned. I happened to visit a big boots shop (well bigger than my local one) on Tuesday and they had all the Fearne Cotton nail polishes on half price, reduced from £5.50 to £2.75. (It should really be £2.25, Boots, tut tut). Lime Green is one of my favourite colour, I fancied this particular polish for ages so it was too good an occasion to be missed.




So how did Fearne 'Lime Green' perform? I found the polish a little bit too runny for my liking but managed to get the coverage that you see in 2 generous coats which I am really pleased about. The colour is absolutely divine. If I had to come up with a shade of lime green, this would be exactly how I would like it to be.








Application wise, I don't like it as much as my other 2 lime green polishes the Superdrug 2true ‘Shade 4’ and 'Early Green' from Gosh, but the application remained very easy nevertheless. Colour wise, this is now my favourite lime green. The 2true is too 'apple' and not lime enough  while I find 'Early Green' from Gosh a bit too neon. Below an attempt a comparing the 3 polishes, in a bid to show the nuances in colour.



All the individual polishes from Fearne Cotton are at half price.
Snap them up here online in your local boots store before they're all gone.




What? Fearne Cotton Lime Green Nail Polish, 9ml
How much? £2.75 reduced from £5.50
Where? Larger Boots.

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Early Green Nails and new releases from Gosh

Another day and another little trip to Superdrug. Today, I am taking you to the gosh corner of my little Superdrug to show you an amazing lime green polish by Gosh. This is Early Green, shade 606 (£4.99) It's bright, it's in your face and I love it.






Despite to what the noticeable booboos I've made on my index and middle finger might suggest, this polish was a delight to apply. All my photos show 2 coats of Early Green with no clean up whatsoever. Well, considering the massive gap I’ve left around the cuticle, it’s no wonder I didn’t need any clean up. I am working to reduce that gap. The amount of coverage delivered just after one coat really impressed me.










 




I leave you with some cheeky snapshots of the latest nail polishes from Gosh. Gosh released 4 gorgeous limited edition nail polishes (£4.99) with a very cute artwork on the bottle. You can hop along to Kelly’s aka Jellyminx Thinks Blog: she has some gorgeous swatches for you.  The 4th colour appears to be black on my dodgy bootleg quick_before_anyone_sees_me  photo but it turns out to be a very dark and elegant bottle green.








Last but not least, Gosh has hopped on the crackle bandwagon and has released 4 shades of 'cracked' nail polishes. The shades looks very nice, the design on the bottle cap too and the promotional picture delicious and inviting. However, I feel that, personally they will struggle to sell their shades of crackled polish (£5.49) which is such a shame.




*cue uncontrolled rambling*



 



On average, each company which I have seen doing crackle polish sell the product for £1 more than the normal polish. Beautyuk usually sells their polishes at £1.99 so their shatter polish is sold at £2.99. Barry M would usually sell their traditional polishes at £2.99 and the crackle version at £3.99. Gosh, by contrast has only amped their prices by £0.50 which is really generous but the competition they're facing is too hard.

To give you an example, my tiny little Superdrug has a permanent table put out, with chairs and white towel on which could almost look like a nail technician work station. On this improvised station, 3 plaquettes displaying a multitude of nails, showcasing Barry M crackles and the various colour combinations you can get.


This workstation is there all the time, from the minute they open the store till 5.30pm when they close it. Client goes in, see the 'exhibition' and no one sees the MUA crackles, the Beautyuk nor the Gosh ones. I feel a bit sorry for the other brands really. Do you think, in the case of my shop, Barry M felt suddenly threatened and decided on this tactical approach? I was a bit rude one day. Shop assistant was demonstrating the Barry M polishes and I barged in and went: It's the gold crackle you want, it's better :) I am not sure which one she bought in the end.


I couldn't work in Superdrug, I'd be wanting to push the underdogs forward and would get fired for it... I am surprised they even let me in as a customer. I bet they think 'Oh that's the weirdo which comes in every Saturday...

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Orange and Lime makeup look {fotd}

About time, I put more makeup looks in this blog, don't you think? This is, after all, what this blog is essentially about.


Once upon a time, there was a little girl who gifted another little girl, obsessed with the colour orange, a fabulous bright orange lipstick and a lip pencil to go with it. And obsessed with orange I am. I feel there is nothing like orange eyeshadow to bring my brown eyes to life and make them pretty. I buy oranges (the fruit) by the bucket, my favourite mobile phone network is orange and I can't see myself moving anytime soon. Favourite perfume of the moment is Hugo Boss orange and I could go on and on and on. I was born to wear, eat, smell and live orange.


Today, I would like to show you the most amazing shade of lipstick: It's called 'my beautiful rocket' from Lime Crime. I wanted to do a simple eye makeup look to incorporate the lipstick and I went for lime green eyes, inspired by Hot and Cold video from Katy Perry.





Essentially, for the main lid colour, I use 'acid lime' from accessorize and in the crease the darker green from L'oreal Hip Colour duo eyeshadow called 'riotous'. To line my lips, 'thrash' the perfect lip pencil from Illamasqua which is nothing trashy: just pure undiluted orange.








You don't want to know what i have on my skin, since as usual it's my magic camera and its very forgiving flash who does all the work.  Highlight colour (Mac vanilla) brows (gosh brown trio) white  pencil on the waterline (Revlon matte white) have been used as per usual.Zzzz





Did I wear this look out? Yes. I wore it to the park to take the picture of the products I used for this look. I stayed there about 1 hour, catching some sun while photographing other things for the blog. This guy stopped me (he looked homeless and sounded drunk to me) and told me I looked beautiful. I should have given him money for the compliment.

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My favourite palette and a tropical fruity makeup look

It's about time I wrote about my ultimate favourite eyeshadow palette. I must confess, I feel a bit embarrassed to write about it: everybody must know someone who owns the 'Ebay 120 palette'. My palette looks awful, bruised, battered but at the  time I bought it, the thought of taking a photo in its pristine condition never crossed my head. I didn't have  a blog back then. It was my best friend Jo who suggested me to buy it, and I couldn't be happier about my investment. Thank you twinnie babes <3





I was just starting out with watching YouTube videos, experimenting with makeup. I didn't know where to start.  I wanted to participate in all sorts of makeup challenges (just for the sake of practising) but I just didn't  have the colours. First palette (containing more than 3 shadows in it) I have ever bought was the urban decay  deluxe palette but that didn't leave me very far: I just wanted all the colours in the rainbow.


I had heard all but good things about this 120 palette, but I just had to see it for myself to believe the huge buzz about  it. £17 later, and a few years after my purchase, I'd like to think it's my best makeup investment. I've  stopped counting the number of times I've used this palette. It's about the size of a small netbook, quite big  but I could not bear not having it with me when I go for a night out or a week end away.





Why I love it so much:  all the colours you could ever think off and the excellent pigmentation.

What I dislike the most about it is how fragile they are. Drop the palette and you can say bye bye to it. The shadows are extremely soft, some of  them too soft for their own good and you need to tap gently with your brush/applicator to take some colour from  it, rather than swiping the brush/applicator as you will only make a mess. If you think sleek makeup shadows are soft, the shadows from the 120 palette are even softer! The other drawback of this palette  is that many colours are way too shimmery, disco ball shimmery but then again, none of them have really chunky  glitter in them.





I have stopped counting the number of looks I've done with this palette and how much joy it has given me. I am  not going to swatch every colour but let me give you some swatches of my favourite colours.


The orange below in  my favourite orange of all times and whenever I am in need of orange, this is where I will go. It's not an  unique shade, but it's just how I want my orange, and how orange should be (scroll down to see the look I did with the orange) 
I've also 'hit the pan badly' on  the three gold you see below, and these are probably the colours I use the most in the palette. Again, these  are not unique. You could find them in other palettes, but when you have nothing, this is such a superb palette  to start with.






I am not quite sure what to do with myself when I will have run out with my favourite pinks in there (see  below) I love them so much. I used to use the bright purple a lot, but it is now replaced by the purple from  the acid sleek makeup palette, which is everything I want from a purple and hardly unlikely to fall from its  no.1 spot any time soon. The darkest purple you see below is so handy to darken a crease. Perfect in fact.









One of my looks entirely made with the 120 palette is my cut crease butterfly look actually (see post here) the very same  look I'm wearing on my banner. Pretty decent for a poxy palette from eBay, no?


While I reminisce the past, I hope you will forgive me posting this old look of mine. I actually never posted  on my blog, and at the moment it only exists on my YouTube channel. The look was born as a makeup contest  entry. The theme was 'juicy' and I decided to create a look inspired by a juicy papaya, reminding me of my native island.





The big black rhinestone stuck on the outside corner is bit odd, but let's just call it art,  shall we?
It's supposed to emulate the pips from the papaya fruit.









Looking back at it, some blush of some  description would have been nice but I didn't even know what it was back then (not sure if I do have more of a  clue now). Some fancier lashes with pips (sp?) stuck to them would have been a nice touch, and a highlight colour for the brow bone, did I even wear eyeliner?  But hey. This look  is very special to me. I actually won that contest (ok ok only 5 people entered) but it was my first YouTube  contest win and you have no idea how happy it made me.






120 palette from eBay? a big fat thumbs up for me.
A must buy for bright colours lovers and makeup enthusiasts who are starting out.

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{NOTD} A cat meows, a dog barks, a dragon roars...

.
... and a liloo swoons. Ever since I've laid my eyes on Golden Dragon Nail Polish from Gosh, I've been lusting for it, more than you could lust for chocolate and naughty things when you're a diet. Naturally and unsurprisingly my local Superdrug store never stores it, making me want it even more. Until a generous fairy in the name of Fee (Fée is the French for fairy) from MakeupSavvy came along and kindly donated to me.


*** pictures updated August 2012 ***

 

It's even more gorgeous than I imagined it and applies so smoothly and effortlessly. Coverage is excellent and full opacity is achieved in 2 coats. The colour is just stunning, and I am totally in love with my very own pet dragon.

They say a picture is a thousand words. So I'll end my unarticulated garbage and leave you with some more pictures. Thank you again ‘Fée’.






Name: Gosh, Golden Dragon (564)
How much: £4.99
Where: Superdrug Shops

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Miscellaneous Sorbet Nails - NOTD

I am sorry. This is going to be yet another of these posts showcasing a limited edition product from the past. Meet 'Sorbet', a mini (4ml instead of usual 10ml) nail polish from Boots No7, released ages ago as part of a gift set.





This is a very unusual polish which I think would divide the opinion. I'm actually on the fence myself. Sorbet is a nudy coral polish with a strong iridescence of green. I am not a fan of coral (although orange is one of my favourite colours) and I would not pair it together with green. Would you do a duo tone yellow and blue polish?: probably not, because it would be a rather odd mix. I think that’s why this polish confuses me.

But I cannot help myself from being mesmerised by this sorbet, moving my fingers from side to side and admiring the powerful green shimmer. This polish applies very very sheer, so I layered 2 (very hastily applied) coats of sorbet over a coat of missguided miscellaneous nude polish.



 







Which side of the fence are you? Likey or no likey?

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Tinkerbell in Streakiland

I have always been drawn to high street cheaper cosmetic brands but ever so at the moment as my finances have really seen better days. I blame my makeup addiction and my inability to cook. I saw the most gorgeous nail polish today at Superdrug 'Golden Dragon' from GOSH (£5) and really wanted to buy it, but I also saw this little beauty from No. 159 from Stargazer (£2.50) and my heart went with the cheapest price polish. Did I make the right choice?


  

The colour enchants me. It doesn't have a name. It's called 159. How boring. It reminds me of Peter Pan Tinkerbell and it's gorgeous.

 



Happy ending for this polish, then? No.
I am glad I bought it, I do not own anything remotely like this in my small polish collection but the finish is exactly the no.1 thing I don't like in a polish: when you can see all the brushstrokes, and when you need a perfect application.


You'll probably think 'what is she on about, you don't all the brushstrokes on the pictures'. Well this is because I've chosen the best pictures of the lot, when the light hits a certain angle and don't see the backstage action.





This is a such a crying shame for me: The colour is truly beautiful but I can't see myself wearing it again, as I personally feel too self conscious about the brushstrokes. This shall go to my little pea in the pod friend (well if she likes it that is) methinks.

I am now on the search for a similar colour with a more forgiving finish. Any suggestions girlies?

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Russet Eye Glitter Dust (Beauty UK) and EOTD

What can I say. I think I might have a little crush on Beauty UK. After Lily from Beauty’s Bad Habit was raving about the metallic eye sparks, I wanted to get some for myself. Alas there was none in my Superdrug: instead 2 little pots (the last ones) of  glitter eye dust were begging me to grab them: Russet and Green. The glitter lover in me couldn’t resist at £2.99 each.




Let’s cut to chase and go right into it: the packaging is far from ideal but let it not deter you as the product it contains it’s gorgeous. It is like your traditional loose glitter but more finely milled to look almost like an eyeshadow. With this product, you get the best of both worlds: vibrancy, glitter and drama which you would get with a loose glitter, but a product very similar to eyeshadow as far as the removal goes: a cotton dampened with eye make up remover will take it off very easily, while traditional glitter would be more tedious (I usually resort to sellotape to remove the excess first)





Talking of packaging, this is what it looks like inside. I feel like the product dissipates itself around its little opening at the top.

 



You can actually remove the whole plastic protector inside and just use the lid. I happened to have some mini jars (5ml) left so I decided to depot them.



 
Are you still with me yet?
Now for the look. This is not very elaborate at all. Look at it more like it’s a swatch of the product but made directly on the eyelid.

 





To create this look, I used 3 colours from the Day and Night Palette (reviewed and fotd’ed here) and the russet glitter eye dust. Eyepencil and eyeliner are the same usual ones, I won’t bore you with it :P Again, I must point out that you won’t usually see me using shimmery shadows in my crease.  But the shimmery burgundy from this palette as well as the other colours don’t have an overpowering shimmer at all, it’s more of a mix between subtle sheen and shimmer.

I treated the glitter eye dust exactly like it was chunky loose glitter and applied it with my beloved and trusty splash proof sealer. In retrospect, I wish I had darkened the crease a bit more with a bit of black. Never mind.


 


Now what am I going to do with 2 jars of the same glitter, huh? ;)
Oh, anyone want to have a guess at the nail polish I am wearing? answer tomorrow. I know, you just can't contain yourself ... and I need to get out more

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