Red Carpet is Hard Work

Imagine a cute little bottle of red nail polish, tiny enough to fit into the tiniest of handbag, ready to whip out at any occasions, on the go, packed with a vibrant punch of colour to give you red carpet glam nails in one coat. Well, if this is what you're after, you might want to give Max Factor Red Carpet Glam nail polish a miss. The colour is undeniably cute, its orangey red shade is a breath of fresh air from all the blue toned red nail polishes I own and its application was easy.





But there is one problem: it's sheer, extremely sheer and you would need extreme amounts of patience to achieve full opacity wearing it on its own. I cheated and applied too coats of this over my trusty nude polish and I got the result I wanted.











You can still have fun with this polish and still apply it on the go, and make the most of its ultra portable size but to enjoy it, you'll have to remember to pack your favourite opaque-in-one-coat nude polish. Who said that red carpet glamour was going to be achieved in an instant anyway?





what: Max Factor Nail Polish in colour 'Red Carpet Glam'
how much: £3.99
where: Superdrug, Boots and everywhere really
disclaimer: this polish was offered for review purposes

Read more ...

Dazzled by blue

Can you tell I am a little restless at the moment? Are ready for another little ride? Today, I am spreading my wings again, leaving the cold north, and going to london... metaphorically. I have been featured on London Beauty Queen, where I am waxing lyrical about a certain little blue polish which has melted my heart. Will it melt yours too? Please hop on the magic carpet with me and come and read me at London Beauty Queen.

Read more ...

Flipping Beautiful!

As if Fire Fantasy was not exciting enough, Mac Factor has expanded their  Colour Effect range with a line of new lipsticks called 'Flipsticks'. Colour  Effect Flipsticks are double ended lipsticks: One end features a rich and  creamy colour, the other a lighter lipstick shade.






You can wear each colour alone, blended together, one on each lip, or apply  the lighter/brighter shade just to the centre of your lip to give a highlight  effect to your lip.








Max Factor says:
To add a new dimension to lip colour, you can sweep one shade over your upper  lip and "flip it" to apply the second shade to your lower lip. Another way to customise lip colour is by outlining lips in one colour, then  "flip it" and apply the second shade to the centre, giving a graphic texturised lip.


I don't think I will ever wear the upper lip with one colour and the lower lip  with the other colour but I absolutely love the 'highlight' effect with the  brighter/lighter in the centre of the lips or 'graffiti' effect as Max Factor  calls it. The model wears Gipsy Red all over the lips and then flipped the  lipstick over and dabbed the gold colour in the centre area of the lips.

Let's have a look at some swatches, shall we? From what I can gather from the  website, there are 6 (double) shades available. My local Superdrug is only  storing 5 shades and I missing 'Salsa Red'.




Bloomy and Swingy leave me indifferent but Folky, Boreal amd Gipsy are to die  for! I don't know if I could pull off gipsy with my yellow teeth but I totally  understand why they chose that shade on the promotion picture. It is simply stunning and most of all, so much fun and has so much more depth than just a lipstick with a bit of gloss on.








The Flipsticks are sold exclusively in Superdrug and are on special offer at  the moment. Buy them before by 10th April and you get them at £2 off: £6.49 instead  of £8.49

Will you be flipping it?

Read more ...

Cappuccinos, Moon Dust and Fantasy Fire Nails {notds}

I should really spread out my nail polish posts, add a bit of variety but I am  too excited a-gain and I am dying to tell you about my latest nail polish  acquisitions. I didn't plan to buy a nail polish for a long time. A giant tidy up  over Christmas made me come to terms with my nail polish collection and see the  madness of it all. I didn't plan even less to buy a Max Effect mini polishes from  Max Factor. My first experience with a mini polish from Max Factor was absolutely diabolical, and cloudy blue is probably the worst polish I have ever played with.






But when I saw the little firecracker of 'Fire Fantasy' on Benebelle.com, it was  love at first sight and I couldn't rest until I, too, get my hands on it. Both  Superdrug and Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on Max Factor products about 2 weeks ago,  so I decided to treat myself with 3 mini polishes. I'll spare you the details of  how tricky it was to find a shop which had at the same time the 3 shades I  wanted. In the manner of 3 for 2, I would like to show you three manicures today.






First of all, this is Cappuccino. No hint of creamy brown beige coffee shade here,  this polish, to me, looks like a dirty grey purple and I absolutely love it.  Application was to my biggest disbelief very easy and I achieved opacity in 2  coats.








Now, this is Moon Dust, a very sheer polish which reminded of 'Not like the  movies' from OPI but without the green drama. This is very much a layering polish  really, and it would be in your best interest to treat it as that, as you will  have completely emptied the contents of this teeny weeny bottle if you were  trying to achieve opacity with Moon Dust alone. So I layered it over just one  coat of Cappuccino and the result really impressed me.








And now, ladies and gentlemen, the object of my latest obsession, this is Fantasy  Fire. I have no idea when this polish was first released, probably ages ago, as  Helen Nice Things suggested that people have been trying to find dupes for that  colour for years. Fantasy Fire reminded me straight away of my first time with a  holographic nail polish (read my review here if you're bored), not for the result  but for the emotions it provoked in me. It basically took my heart and did what  it wanted with it. Let's have a look at the bottle: Yes, this is the same bottle. 





Now try to imagine having all these shades at once on your fingers as you move them in the light: absolutely out of this world. Could this polish qualify as a polychrome? I don't know but what I do know is that I've never experienced anything like it. The richness of the red inside the purple is a like a firework burning on my fingers. Even just looking at the bottle, it feels like it contains a firework ready to pop, like a jack-in-the- box. Absolutely mesmerising!     



      





Again, like Moon Dust, this polish is very much a layering polish. If you were trying to achieve full opacity with Fantasy Fire, you would need about 7 coats which, I am sure you would agree wouldn't be the best use of your time and money (£3.99 for such a tiny bottle). However what is a major drawback could also be an advantage. Think of the limitless colour combinations Fantasy Fire could give you. I have wished to layer my fantasy fire over Cappuccino but I can't wait to try it over other colours. If you haven't guessed it by now, I am absolutely head over the heels about Fantasy Fire and it has not become one of my most special polishes.




  


What: Max Factor Max Effect Mini Polishes
How much: £3.99 a bottle
Where: Anywhere around the world which sells Max Factor. Be warned as Fantasy  Fire has become quite a sought after shade.

Do you own any Max Effect mini polishes? Please let me know in the comments below. I’d love to see your photos, if you have posted some xx

Read more ...

Tiggress Trio from Max Factor

Back in September, when Boots was doing an amazing 3 for 2 offer for a whole month, this little trio eyeshadow from Max Factor ended up in my basket. This is tiggress eyeshadow trio, which can be used dry or wet.

I need to confess I have never used an eyeshadow wet, I am scared of ruining it. I was hoping this would be the perfect opportunity to pop my 'wet eyeshadow cherry' but I just can't do it. I am scared I won't be able to blend the wet texture once on my eyes.

So what does it perform applied dry? It's ok. Definitely nothing to shout home about. The yellow is a nice shade but overall I was hoping the whole trio would deliver more pigmentation. I want my eyeshadow to have more punch, and sadly this screams more 'pussy cat' than 'tiggress'.


Before I fall asleep writing this review, a little picture on how it applies on the eyes.

Read more ...

Max Factor – Cloudy Blue: NOTD

I saw an array of 12 cute mini bottles of Max Factor nail polishes this week end  at Boots (one day, I’m going to count how many blogposts of mine don’t start with this sentence) and I couldn’t resist and I just had to buy one. Originally, I wanted to grab 4 of them, but I thought I’d be sensible, try one, see if I like the formula and maybe get some more. The tiny cute bottles are very affordable and they retail at £3.49.  I’d say they would be perfect for travelling.


I decided to get the Cloudy Blue (shade 18) which promised to be a lovely dark midnight blue with a delicate lighter blue shimmer. I won’t beat around the bush, I was disappointed by this polish. The shimmer was too delicate and in most lighting situations, it felt more like a creme midnight blue verging to black, with not enough shimmer for me. Most of all, it’s the application which I found problematic. 





I am very much a beginner at applying nail polish and this is not a nail polish for beginners. I found the formula a bit too watery and thin for my liking and the first coat was  a right mess. On top of that, I felt a bit stressed out when I was applying  it: the formula dried so fast, you really don’t have much time to muck about that’s for sure.





You’ll see the shimmer more apparent under strong camera flash, but don’t be fooled, as during the day this polish is really dark. I can see this shade and all the others appealing for more skilled nail polishers (the bottles are VERY cute) but it’s not for me. I didn’t feel confident when I was wearing it, I could see that the result application was very uneven and it was bugging me and I didn’t feel pretty in it and it stayed on for about half an day. I wonder how the other shades are like. Have you got any?
 

Read more ...