Purple Heaven – Sirvinya Sunday #1

I am on a Rimmel phase at the moment. The same day I purchased 'Pearly Queen', I also came home with Purple Reign nail polish. Purple Reign might not be as duo chrome as the rest of the Rimmel Metal Rush collection but it remains a stunning multi dimensional purple, with vivid flashes of blue shimmer.

  





Did I need yet another purple polish in my collection? No I didn't but if if I have an urge for purple, it's Purple Reign that I would want to reach first as the application was a doddle. The wide and flat brush should win an award and makes my life so much easier.





The smooth formula had the perfect consistency and allowed me to take all the time I need to guide the polish along the nail. Coverage is flawless and gave me the opacity you see on the photos in 2 fast drying coats. The finish is fantastic. No hint of streaks in sight, it almost reminded me of a foil effect nail polish.

   







They should have called it purple heaven.


   

  





Don’t ask me to choose my favourite rimmel polish. I can’t decide. What I do know is that there is only one which has let me down of all the ones I have tried: beige babe. Below, if you have a few minutes to kill, a summary of all the rimmel polishes I have reviewed to date on my blog.


   

 

 

what: Purple Reign nail polish from the Rimmel Metal Rush Collection
how much: £3.99
where: Boots and Superdrug
bought with my own pennies

Last but not least, I wanted to finish this post by giving a special shout to Sirvinya. We decided to go on a blogging date every Sunday at 8pm. I don’t know for how long I will be able to keep this up but for now I am enjoying the challenge and it’s a lot of fun.

  
Never visited her blog before? I would recommend her tutorial on how to make an eyeliner with any shadow of your choice.

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Diamond Dust

I have just the right thing to jazz up your Saturday night. Meet Diamond Dust, one of the 2 releases from Rimmel latest 'Precious Stones' collection.





Rimmel were not kidding when they wrote 'high coverage' on the bottle: What you see is just two coats of Diamond Dust with nothing more than a transparent base coat underneath. not bad, huh?





I would still like to wear a dark blue or black base coat underneath but I just couldn't fault the handy flat brush allowing a very quick application ad the superb coverage. Lasting power is below average (1 day and I saw some tip wear) but then again, I didn't wear a top coat and I didn't have high expectations. This is, for me, very much a 'party polish' and a rather stunning one!




Expect all eyes on your nails when you wear Diamond Dust, a gritty finish if you don't apply a top coat,a typical troublesome removal process and you'll enjoy this polish as much I did. I loved it. Want to wear this polish 2 or 3 nights in a row? Apply the ‘lazy cow’ method: Just apply some polish on the tips. No one will ever know. 




  



If 'Ruby Crush' is anything like Diamond Dust, then I am in for a heck of a (sleigh) ride as I couldn't think of any more festive and convenient nail polish to rock at a Christmas party! Dang. Looks like I have just convinced myself to purchase the red one now





what: Rimmel Precious Stones Nail Polish in shade Diamond Dust
how much: £3.99
bought by me on a 3 for 2 mix and match deal at boots
where: Boots and Superdrug.
credit: last photo belongs was borrowed from Llymlrs blog.

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Dreamt of Neverland {notd}

There are so many exciting nail polishes releases at the moment, it's  hard to keep track and buying them all just for the pleasure of  sharing them with you would lead me to bankruptcy. Today, I have  photos and quick impressions of one the 4 duochrome polishes Rimmel  released as part of their Metal Rush collection. The one I have today  is called 'pearly queen' but I find that the name lacks a little bit of originality, you see.






For me 'Pearly Queen' screams  tinkerbell because of its stunning and vibrant pink/lilac and green  duochrome effect. I can't help it: as soon as I see a green/pink  duochrome, my minds wanders in the land of Peter Pan.






However dreamy this polish, the reality is that it's a very sheer  polish. You'll die of boredom if you try to achieve opacity with this  nail polish alone. So I chose to apply 'Dreamt of Neverland' as I  decided to rename it over my trusted opaque-in-one-coat nude polish. You can see the brushtrokes a little bit, but the flat brush is such a delight and the duochrome is so mesmerising, you don’t even notice the faint brushstrokes when it’s dry.








The duochrome effect is absolutely phenomenal and you'll find it hard  to resist looking at your nails and flicking them in the light to  appreciate its depth. Even more phenomenal is its bargain £3.99 price  tag. 'Dreamt of Neverland' is sheer, way too sheer but so are the  wings of Tinkerbell and the organza which adorns her little outfit.

   




There are 3 more polishes in the Metal Rush collection and I hope Essie Button won't mind I borrowed a picture from her blog to show you the other colours also available.

  




Finally, I would like to dedicate this blog post to Becky, also known as Sirvinya, very talented beauty blogger who I am very lucky to count as a friend. As you will have noticed, I have been struggling to update my blog lately, tumbleweeds have been growing in this abandoned little jardin like it’s going out of fashion, and my mojo has gone awol. Hadn't it been Sirvinya and her little blogging date tonight, I don't think I would have got out of the sofa and done anything from my day (long story) and made the best of the precious sunshine we had today. Thanks a million Becky

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Wake me up before you glo glo

You are now most probably familiar with the Rimmel Wake up foundation and the wakeup concealer but have you come across the Rimmel wakeup illuminator yet? It's called instant radiance shimmer touch. I only saw this a few days ago on the Superdrug website and I couldn't wait to check it in store.






This is what they say about it:

Rimmel's Wake Me Up Instant Radiance Instantly lifts from fatigue and illuminates any part of your complexion. It is an ultra blendable cream formula enhanced with radiance pearls instantly sculpts cheeks or highlights browbones. Available in 2 ultra-sheer highlighting shades: radiant rose 002 and shimmering sand 004.

In real life the tube is tiny. It contains 14ml of product and retails for £4.99. But as soon as you put the tiniest blob on your hand, you realise on how very little you need. I felt the illuminator was extremely concentrated in product, and perhaps too much.








To be honest with you, I am not really sure how to work with this. They say that it's ultra sheer but have you seen how dark and pigmented it is? The second photo shows my attempt at blending the tiniest blob I had put on. Umm, I am not sure I can work with this. Could you?

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Steamy Glow Makeup Look

Today I want to share with you a gorgeous little eye shadow I bought from Loulou in a past blog sale. This is Steamy, from Rimmel. Despite being all shimmery, the colours are absolutely gorgeous, very well pigmented and blend easily into the skin.








I've used this eyeshadow trio three times now but on all these occasions I've been unhappy with the pictures I took from my looks. This is the less worst of them. If I could go back, I'd change the lip colour wouldn't have had an orange lower lashline, made my brows darker and put less darn highlighter on my browbone.






I do love this lipstick (it’s called My Beautiful Rocket, from Limecrime - blogged in detail here) but not with this look. The lashes, if you are wondering are my beloved Ardell 131 which I just can’t get enough at the moment.





All in all, I am not happy at all with my look, I feel it does not give any justice to the look but I've promised Loulou to publish it anyway. It's best to consider this as an eye swatch rather than a look look.





To make your click on my blog more worthwhile, I've swatched the other item I bought from Loulou. Have a looks on this gorgeous blush and highlighter. Unlike Steamy from Rimmel, this is still available to buy from Boots. Don't ask me how much as I got this for peanuts but being a product from 17 Cosmetics, this won't break the bank. I am afraid I don't have any decent pictures of me wearing Blush and Glow but I hope the swatch below will be able to show you its potential.





Pretty, huh? So pretty that I've wearing the 'glow' part on top of a pale eyeshadow (vanilla from mac) and made up a pale champagne colour on my eyes.

What can I say? You can take the girl out of the high street, but you can't take the high street from the girl :)


I love loulou, she's a great friend on twitter, buys makeup I would want to buy myself and knows everything there is to know about census returns :P She's on holidays at the moment but she's having a blog giveaway at the moment, to celebrate her 500 blog followers. Click here on the picture below if you want to take part.

Oh, I might just as well remind you about my other blog. I've started this blog which is mainly about giveaways. It's updated every monday morning at 06.00am, before breakfast time, to brighten your monday morning. I called it 'Les Petits Cadeaux' (French for Little Presents) but I find myself referring to it as Giveaway Gazette. I update it once a week with giveaways I find whilst reading my blog subscriptions. Bloggers can also submit their giveaway there.

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Rimmel Kate Lipsticks – lipswatched

How do you passionately write about something you're not passionate about. You don't! I wouldn't blame you if you decided to skip straight to the swatches. Instead of just modelling for Rimmel Makeup, this time round, Kate Moss took the designing seat and created 7 shades of lipsticks. I wouldn't describe myself a lipstick kind of person but there has been so much hype about the Kate Moss range that I've been dying to see the lipsticks in the flesh and have a little play with the testers from the shop.






Isn't one of the perks of the job to be able to invent names for your creations? I can't hide the fact that I am disappointed that the shades only have numbers. Why didn't they give Kate one more zero to her pay cheque and give her more 'inspiration' to come up with names. Never mind. The shades which interested me the most were the 2 nudes (shades 3 and 8) and the goth purple (shade 4)







You can't really form an opinion of a lipstick before it's applied on your lips, right? Still from testers (I would not recommend anyone to do this) I went ahead and tried 4 lipsticks on my lips. First impression was the lovely fruity scent. The scent is quite strong, I love fruity smells but it might not be to the taste of everyone. Please make sure to have a good sniff and a hand swatch at least.

First lipstick I tried was the shade no.3 nude. I didn't notice much colour to be honest on my lips so I didn't bother taking a photo.

This is shade 8. The shade is much more my type of lipstick but it doesn't scream 'buy me, buy me' at all costs.









Shade 4 (goth purple) surprised me. I quite liked the dark colour on my lips. I think this would be a perfect shade for Halloween but I found the application to be a bit patchy. I can't help but starting to worry instantly about the lasting power and the upkeep of this lipstick, having had a bad experience with Barry M black lipstick. All that this lipstick is doing is making me wish that Sleek Makeup did a pout paint in black so that I could have created my own shade and be confident to wear something truly long lasting.









And last but not least this is shade 2, a lovely bright pink. This is, without a doubt the most flattering colour on my complexion. Application was easier, more satisfying than the nude, and much more creamy than the goth purple. Would I buy this? No. All this is doing is reminding how much I prefer the sleek pout paints in pinkini and rosette.







These lipsticks are all priced at £5.49 and there couldn't be a better moment to indulge if they take your fancy, as they are included in the 'autumn' 3 for 2 offer at Boots. I can't say anything negative about these lipsticks, the packaging is very cute and the colours are very nice but they don't excite me. I hope you have enjoyed the swatches.

I feel a bit bad, I bet a bloke could write more passionately about these lipsticks than me. On a normal basis, I wouldn’t bother posting at all, but the photographing and swatching was a such an adventure, I didn’t want it to go to waste.

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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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