Little Red Riding Hood met Barry M ...

I can't say I am a very charitable person. I don't give enough money to charity really. But there is one charity which always dear to my heart Breast cancer Research Campaign. As every year, I like to force encourage my office to wear pink on pink Friday. It was so much fun. I didn't take photos of my outrageous pink eyes but I managed to take some pictures of the pink manicure I had for the occasion.

I chose to wear my little red riding hood nails (limited edition 2true nail polish in shade 2) with a fresh coat of Barry M pink crackle which got me lots of compliments. I hope you like them too.

and now with ambient lighting :)

Did you also 'celebrate' pink Friday and did pink things on the day?

Hopefully more exciting posts will be coming soon. Please bear with me xx

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Daring Pink Nails

If you were releasing a nail polish called 'daring pink', what would it look like? what shade of pink would it be? Today, I am covering for Jade while she's on holidays and guest blogging on  'Fashion and Beauty Disaster' blog where I am wearing and reviewing 'Daring Pink' from Mavala.


Click here or on the picture below to read my post.

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Flapinko eyes and a reminder…

How do you remind your readers that your blog giveaway is ending soon, while all the violence and vandalism has been going on in the streets of England? Not without a degree of uneasiness and awkwardness, that's for sure. I hope you will excuse this frivolous post while all this is still unravelling.

This is to remind you to my international ‘flamingo’ blog giveaway has been extended by one day and will be ending on Thursday 11 August, at 23.59 BST (UK time) If you haven’t yet entered this is your chance.


For about a year now, I had been wanting to do a fun and bright makeup look mainly using pink and blue. I had forgotten about it, until I saw the Miami Pop Collection Palm Beach (pink) polish from 17 Cosmetics (see it worn on my nails here). So I decided to inspire myself from the packaging of the bottle to create this makeup look today. I had fun doing it and I hope you like it :)











To create this look, I used mainly 3 eyeshadows: the 2 pinks from the  BeautyUK Night and Day palette, and Vanilla from Mac. The blue eyeliner is Ben Nye Magicolor Liquid Paint in Blue ML07.

I also wanted to use some fancy fluttery and feathery eyelashes to try to mimic the feather on the flamingo. It’s a combination of Ardell 131 and Eldora Lashes (S203). They are very hard to photograph but in real life, they are so much fun. I love them!





and now for the obligatory picture of the full face, decidedly grumpy, and wearing with my usual black photograph t-shirt. On my lips, I am wearing ‘Cotton Candy’ Cream Puff from Collection 2000 which I am absolutely obsessed about at the moment.

That’s it. Thank you very much for reading.
Please click on the flamingo picture below to enter the giveaway.

 

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Flamingo Inspired Giveaway :: OPEN ::

Hello my lovely readers :)


As promised earlier on this week, I have a small giveaway for you. Since the release of the Miami Pop Collection and its cute flamingo imagery, I had fun collecting a few makeup items, in shades of pink and orange, reminiscent of the flamingo bird.


  


The flamingo pack contains:


- 17 Cosmetics Nail Polish (Limited Edition) Miami Pop, in Palm Beach (pink) (see my post here)
- Boots No.7 Nail Polish in Tangy (orange)
- Girls with Attitude 'Glamour' False Eye Lashes
- Barry M 'Wink' Black Marker for eyes (eyeliner in black)
- Rimmel  Glam'Eyes Day 2 Night Mascara
- Barry M Lipstick (shade 151)
- 17 Cosmetics Lipstick (pink power)





Above, the 2 lipsticks and the eyeliner swatched, using testers from the shop. Your prize has been unopened and remains brand new.

 

How to enter:

This giveaway is for all my blog readers from all over the world. It will end on Thursday 11 August 2011, 23.59 BST (UK). All I would like you to do, to enter in this comment giveaway is to tell me:


Where would you like to go on holiday? or Tell me about a past holiday which you have really enjoyed --- your name
--- your email address
--- how you found out about this giveaway
(any additional entries you may ask? nah! I won't ask you to tweet about it. I'll be in charge of the pimping promoting. You don't need  to do it.)

Rules:

1.This comment giveaway is opened to all my blog readers, from anywhere around the world who follow me through  Google connect reader, bloglovin or by email
2.Please make sure to answer the comment giveaway question: 

Where would you like to go on holiday? 
Or tell me about a past holiday which you have really enjoyed?

3. This giveaway will end on Thursday 11 August 2011, 23.59 BST (UK)
4. There will be 1 winner and the winner will be sent the whole Flamingo Pack
5. Winner will be chosen at random with random.org

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Palm Beached Nails

Do I mention the twitter drama which caught my attention last night, while my intention was to write about this little pink number? Nah… Let's just go right ahead and dive into nail polish world. Today, I am happy to show you 'Palm Beach', the latest irresistible offering from 17 Cosmetics, as part of the Limited Edition Miami Pop Collection.





Palm Beach gives you the most amazing bright and feel good blue toned pink colour on your nails despite a formula which was a little bit on the thick side for my liking. Had the formula been a bit thinner, I think I would have felt a little bit more in control and not left such a huge gap around the cuticles. That or I've been waiting for so long for my nails to grow that I've lost the knack of applying nail polish - if I ever had a knack that is.





My photos show just 2 coats of nail polish. In retrospect, and looking back at the pictures, three coats would have showcased this polish better and given a more even finish. That's one more coat that I usually apply but with the most gorgeous pink colour, a cuter flamingo on the bottle and an even cuter price tag (£2.99 or £3.99, I honestly don't remember) I can't possibly complain. My toes can't wait to have a little taste of Palm Beach too!




As usual, it's the photos under the artificial lighting of my camera which show the most accurate colour. The ones above make it look like a bit neon, I blame the lovely glow from summer evening sunlight.





I believe you can't buy this polish anymore in the shops. But fear not, I've grabbed a spare one which one of you can have, along with a few bits in a modest giveaway, open to all you, my dear readers, wherever you are in the world. And hell, I'd even send it to Miami if you happen to live there, you jammy thing.

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A pop of pink {Work FOTD}

I don't know what possessed me this morning but I wanted to wear pink eyeshadow ... for work. Bright eyeshadow to be more precise. The most bizarre thing in is that work never sees me with makeup on and I usually get there with a heavy slap of foundation and that's it: no concealer, mascara, liptisck, lip balm, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blusher. Just foundation. They know I like makeup and it's a hobby of mine but they don't actually see me with makeup on.



So this is what I had on my eyes today: Mainly 2 colours. The bright pink from the Soho Bright (the Eyeshadow (or rainbow as I like to call it) palette from BeautyUK blended into my favourite highlighter eyeshadow: Vanilla from Mac. I wore my trademark stark white eyeliner on the lower lashline and some heavy black eyeliner from H&M. I had no mascara on (why bother with these non existent lashes, I despair at times) but added a pair of falsies for the purpose of this blog post.  None of the eyeshadows was touched up but I added a fresh coat of white on the waterline, for the purpose of this photo.




I don't think work was ready for it. I think it was too bright for them. We had a team meeting today and they went suspiciously quiet about it. I guess it's better than 'oh dear, what's that on your eyes?'


When I came back from work, I wanted to set my challenge to see how long it would take me to write a quick blog post about it. 20 minutes should it, right?  





It is surprising how long such a simple task as posting a photo of your look of the day, and commenting briefly about it takes and I need to declare my out of the blue (or pink should I say) a big fat FAIL.






It was fun trying though :)

What’s the boldest eyeshadow look/colour you’ve ever worn at the workplace?

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Shattered but happy ^_^

Earlier on this week, BeautyUK proudly celebrated the launch of their range of shatter polishes. It came out a little later than expected but boy it was worth the wait. Here they are in their full glory, from left to right: PUNK (bright neon pink shatter) GLAM ROCK (bright shimmery metallic silver shatter) and GOTH (well, the black one).


 


When BeautyUK contacted me and asked me if I wanted to play with them and give my thoughts on them, it was a no brainer and I was thrilled to bits to accept the privilege. And so I played, played and played some more.

First off, we have 'Punk' a neon pink so bright you could almost incarnate the lollipop lady on the zebra crossing without having to wear the lollipop and the light reflecting jacket. The consistency feels so weird but it gives you a strong, powerful and bright shatter. I personally prefer to apply a thick coat of shatter to see a bigger shatter pattern on my nail. Let's have a look at on the nails, shall we? 


This is Beautyuk Punk Shatter applied over Beautyuk Black (I am going to have to do a separate little post for this bad boy. I bought it especially to pair it with my shatter polishes and I just couldn't be happier with it. wow, and that was only £1.99)








This is Beautyuk Punk Shatter applied over one of my favourite polishes at the moment, Pulsating from Rimmel. You can see it on its own here. The picture on the black background was taken indoors, with flash lighting.  My flash, I think, is pretty chuffing great :) Thank you flash x






Try to imagine the setting of this photo: It’s sunny outside, blowing gale, I am in the park and the homeless are stopping me to ask why the hell I am waving a my hand in the air and taking photos of my hand. ‘It’s for a project’ I always say. ‘Are you at Uni’. ‘Yeah, that’s right, it’s for my university project’. I would look so much better if I had a proper king kong dlslrlslrlr camera. Alas I look like a muppet with a small digital camera. Hey Ho, such is the life of a girl with blogging about beauty as a hobby.


Where was I?


And last but not least, this is Punk shatter over Beautyuk Yellow Peril (see it worn on its own here) on my wrinkly hand. I love the sunlight around 6pm. It’s gorgeous.





Glam Rock (the silver shatter) gives you a more subtle shatter but it's beautiful nonetheless. I was a bit worried, it would take a bit longer to dry, given its thicker consistency but I was proven wrong. Like its pink brother, it dries in an instant. I did a manicure on black covering most of the nail, but I prefer to leave more of the black showing. What do you mean some of the pink from earlier manicure are showing? *cough* I can’t see anything











I think that the best time to play with shatter/crackle polishes is when you have already an old manicure on which starts chipping. There is nothing quite like a shatter to quickly transform your manicure, when you’ve been invited on a night out last minute and your nails look a state.  If you want  your shattered manicure to last, it's best to apply to a top coat but I don't bother with that, I much prefer the rough texture and look of it.


Can you shatter a shatter polish? It would be rude not to try :) Here's my glam rock shattered manicure with some punk shattered tips on top.









I think BeautyUK has done an amazing job with these. The packaging, the labels, the vibrancy of the silver (sorry 17 cosmetics) is superb. My only regret is that the range doesn't include a gold shatter. If you wait till the 6 July, you can purchase the shatter range (£2.99 each, can any other company beat that?) from your local Superdrug. Otherwise, you can get your paws on it from the website, in the special effects section) Thank you very much again Beautyuk for letting me play with these all week end. I am truly shattered but I am happy :)

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Get shattered for £2.99! The shatter shuttle has landed…

When OPI released their crackle/shatter polishes, I was thinking to myself  'yeah but why would I indulge in a OPI shatter polish when I can have the effect with Barry M for cheaper'? When Barry M released additional colours to their trend setting black crackle top coat, it was really hard not to give in and resist the temptation of buying the pink one but I had heard some news at the time that BeautyUK were going to release their own family of shatter polishes and I instinctively knew that BeautyUK would offer them a even more competitive price that Barry M.





And they did. If you miss the wave of excitement on twitter earlier, BeautyUK released today on their website (in their special effects section) 3 shades of shatter polishes at the amazing price of £2.99 and a little matte top coat with it because it would be rude not to.



 

'It's the way it shatters' BeautyUK called their ‘tease trailer’ press release. For me, it's more a case of 'It's for how much you can get the shattered nail look for that matters' :) The shatter polishes are due to hit Superdrug Stores on 6 July. I don’t know if I will be able to wait then. One thing I know is that I'm going to shamelessly talking some twitter accounts to see what it looks like before I can get my hands on it!


Will you be hopping on to the shatter shuttle?

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Your Pulsating Majesty Nails {notd}

My introduction with Rimmel Polishes didn't start very well. I couldn't handle the 'nail tip' whitener and I  didn't get on well with Beige Babe. 




However when I first saw a friend of mine wearing Rimmel in Pulsating (619) I just couldn't sit still until I got my hands on it. Pulsating is the most gorgeous pink with a strong blue  iridescence. Just look at it and tell me in the eyes it's not gorgeous. You can't. It's just too beautiful for words. Yes, I am  aware that I already own 2 bright pink with also a strong flashing blue iridescence, Nails Inc Montrose Place,  and NYC Love Me Red Creme but none of the former sport the amazing wide 'Xpress Brush 1 Sec' brush.


I know for fact that this polish will become a little bit thick half way through the bottle: when I first painted  it on my nails, I borrowed my friend's nail polish, it was a little bit thicker than I would have liked. But it's  nowhere near as unusable as Gloope Vite (Seche Vite) or as Collection 2000 hot polishes who separate into oil, even if you  haven't opened the bottle!!


My photos show 2 coats of pulsating. A third coat would have made the tip a little bit more covered but with this  colour (incidentally as with the 2 other pinks I own) I didn't mind a little bit of tip showing. How many times  can you say 'a little bit' in a blog post? Because I think I have broken the record here.


PULSATING WITH FLASH







I hope you will also excuse the overdose abundance of photos. The colour is so gorgeous that it was impossible to  narrow my selection any further.


NATURAL SUNLIGHT
 


 





I have a few dark metallic / gunmetal grey polishes in my collection but I have never actually purchased a real  silver polish. I am more of a golden girl really. Not that you can't both like silver and gold, but I have always  preferred gold over silver. I find gold to be warmer and more complimentary to my skin tone. Rimmel, Your Majesty  (shade 239) is exactly what you would think of if you imagined a typical silver polish. In fact, they should have  just called it 'Silver' or 'Majestic Silver' as it is so representative of the silver colour, I doubt anyone will  be remembering its fancy name shade. Boring,  moi?


PHOTOS WITH FLASH:








Your Majesty didn't have a wide brush but its application was easy. I found the formula to be just perfect and I  was able to apply it very sloppily and still happy with the results. What I was most impressed about was its  drying time. I was scared the polish would be too brushstroky (i.e when you see all the brushstrokes, is the word for that ‘streaky’?) but ‘Her Majesty’ proved me wrong. Is the colour ‘me’ though? I sincerely don’t know. I think I like it under certain lightings. Fans of  silver would love this polish though and at only £2.99, I can't see why you should hold back: Get it!











Overall, I am super delighted about my Rimmel Purchases and would recommend these polishes in a (pulsating) heart  beat.






Names: Rimmel Pulsating 619 (Pink) £3.69 and Rimmel Your Makesty 239 (Silver) £2.99
Where to buy: Most Chemists, including Superdrug and Boots

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