Holographic Polish Flash Giveaway: Win 1 of 2 Holo Polishes (Boots 17)

Guess what I’ve found lying in the secret cupboards of my ickle Boots Store today? 2 bottles of 17 Cosmetics holo polishes (reviewed in detail here). I am giving them away to celebrate my more frequent return back to blogging and the fact that you have not forgotten me despite the tumbleweeds growing on my little jardin.

   





All I need from you to enter this mini giveaway is to tell me a nail polish colour which you have repurchased basically. Simples. The rules are the same for every of my giveaway. Open internationally. You just need to be a follower of my blog (Google Connect, Google Reader, Hellocotton, Blog Lovin, email)

   
How to enter: This giveaway is for all my blog readers from all over the world.
It will end this week end: Sunday 14 October 2012, 23:59 BST (UK).
All I would like you to do, to enter in this comment giveaway is to tell me:

Tell the name of a nail polish colour which you have repurchased (or that you would like to repurchase if this hasn’t happened yet)      
     
     

--- your name
--- your email address
--- how you found out about this giveaway
--- how are you following me? google connect? Blog lovin? hello cotton…? 


Additional Information: - There will be 2 winners and the winners will be sent one 17 cosmetics holo nail polish each 
- Winner will be chosen at random with random.org
- The prizes are new, unswatched and unopened and were bought by me.


Full review and additional pictures of the sumptuous 17 Cosmetics Holo polish here.
Good luck

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Hello Holo :)

What? Another nail post. Yes. I really need to mix things up a bit before this blog turns into a nail polish blog but I am trying to get back into the habit of updating my blog more frequently and nail polish is the only thing I can stick my teeth into at the moment. I hope the little beauty I have to share with you will make up for it.





Hot from the Boots oven, this is 'Silver' 17's take on the holographic trend. About time the high street gave Gosh Holographic a little bit of competition. The Silver Holo is much more subtle that the legendary holographic from Gosh, recently renamed 'one night only'.It also doesn't quite have the 'metallic wave' effect which you find on your typical holographic craft paper, but it still just as hypnotising.

   

  




Like the Gosh Holo, you just can't quite comprehend what's on your fingers, the effect is just so magical. Application was far more superior than the Gosh Holo: effortless, smooth, with the added bonus of being fast drying.
   







You need this in your life.









The end.


what: 'Silver' Holo Nail Polish from Boots 17 Cosmetics
where: erm, Boots.
how much: £2.99 or £3.99 (I don't remember)
bought by me

A big wave to my blogging friends Claire (Eyelining Obsessions) and Liz (Cappuccino Lace) for joining me tonight for a #bloggingdate.

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Freebie Fursday: Festival Fhemed

Why is it always cold, raining and miserable outside when I want to write about something summery? Go figure. If you've always wanted to try one of the 'Instant Glow' body bronzers recently released by 17 Cosmetics brand now is your chance to try it for free or almost. You’ve guessed it: It's time for a long overdue 'gift with purchase' from 17.

Buy £6 or more of 17 products and get your free 'Fest of all' kit including:


- a perfect definition black khol eyeliner (full size)
- a nail polish in Tropical Island (corally orange with a hint of gold shimmer) already part of the permanent collection
- and a handbag size of Instant Glow wash off body bronzer.





I am personally not too fussed about Tropical Island but I really want to try the body bronzer.
Ooo I do love a gift with purchase, me! :)

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Mascara Monday: The Battle of Mascaras. 17 Cosmetics Special

Today, I am super excited to introduce you to Jennifer, from The Makeup Journal who has kindly volunteered to review 2 mascaras for me. Jennifer’s blog is a joy to read: great reviews, great photography, fantastic nail art, gorgeous makeup looks and to top it all off, the most beautiful green eyes which I have totally fallen for, and which may have influenced my choice as a mascara guest blogger :)  




Over to you, Jennifer!

--------------

Hi everyone :) I'd like to thank Liloo for picking me as one of her guest bloggers, I've really enjoyed testing these mascaras.

First up, 17 Wild Curls Mascara in Black:






Wild Curls mascara is described as creating 'sexy, smouldering and sultry eyes that are loaded with volume and curl for a feline finish.' Strong claims eh... Well I think it does a pretty good job at doing just those things!


So what do I look for in a mascara? I know we all want different things from our mascaras but for me it must:

• Be dark black.
• Give plenty of lift and curl to my lashes and keep it there for at least until I get home from work.
• Volume, volume and more volume. I want BIG lashes without falsies because I'm rubbish at applying them.
• NO flaking or smudging! I don't want panda eyes - I have dark enough circles under my eyes thank you very much!
• Water resistant. I don't tend to use waterproof - too hard to remove for lazy people such as myself.

So does Wild Curls tick all the boxes? Yep! I'm rather impressed with this mascara.
It is really easy to apply, the brush is thin and has lots of different sized bristles to catch all lashes. It gives me lots of volume but also some length which is a bonus. It looks quite nice with just one coat - sort of natural with added oomph but with two coats, it is lovely and glamorous. 17 claim that is will last up to 10 hours and it does. I applied it at 7am and it wore all through work until I got home at 6pm. It started to go a bit meh by bedtime but looked okay. If I was going out in the evening I would start again with the mascara so it was fresh. I also like the packaging, it is really fun. Now the price, £6.29 for 9ml - I can't fault that at all and I will definitely purchase this when the tube is finished.
Wild Curls is also available in brown, waterproof and a new 'Wildest Black'.







The other mascara Liloo sent me to review was 17 Va Va Voom Mascara in Black:






Va Va Voom mascara is described as 'creating big, dramatic eyes or subtle barely-there.' 17 claim that you can 'apply as many coats as you like without your lashes becoming clumpy.'
This mascara didn't impress me as much as Wild Curls did. For starters, the brush is huge, way too big for my tastes. I found it quite hard to apply without getting mascara under my bottom lashes. The bristles are also quite dense which I found didn't apply enough in one sweep and didn't get through my lashes to separate them, leaving them a bit clumpy in the roots.


With a second coat my lashes appeared slightly better from having more product in them. They had more volume and were much darker. They still had clumps in the roots although I don't think it is as bad as some mascaras can be and could be fixed by combing the lashes through. As 17 stated that lots of coats can be applied to build up the volume, I applied a third coat. This was too clumpy for my liking and there was still not enough curl. Va Va Voom just does not compare to Wild Curls in it's curling ability, my lashes were only lifted a little with Va Va Voom. On the plus side, this mascara didn't flake or smudge either. Va Va Voom is an okay mascara, it just doesn't hit all the points with me personally.
Va Va Voom is also available in Black Brown and retails for £6.29 for 8ml.







Out of the two mascaras, Wild Curls wins hands down for me.
Thanks for reading!
Jennifer, The Makeup Journal xx

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Win a £80 Goodie Bag crammed with 17 Cosmetics Makeup

To celebrate the launch of their Peep Show Mascara, 17 Cosmetics is giving loads of goodie bags crammed with full size 17 Cosmetics products. (£80 value each). Rather than doing a boring blog giveaway, 17 wanted to liven things a little a bit and is doing an interactive competwition instead, under the form of a twitter party.





The 1-hour event is planned for Sunday 11 March, 19:00.-20:00, that's just before #bbloggers chat, and is hosted by 17 Cosmetics aka @official17, their makeup artist @vanesaguallar, @reallyree and @maysmooch and a very special guest, @becadreams, the star of the latest 17 MakeUp Songs promo, ’Who’s Checking Out Who’.     


When: Sunday 11th March
Time: 7pm - 8pm
Where: Twitter
How: Follow @official17, @vanesaguallar, @reallyree, @maysmooch
and @becadreams to get involved and look out for any tweets with the
hashtag #17cosmetics

Every 10 minutes, they will be giving away a goodie bag crammed full of fabulous 17 products (£80 value) to the best tweeters. Make sure to include the hashtag #17cosmetics with every tweet you send for a chance to win. Make sure you’re following @official17 too so they can DM you if you win.


Contents of the goodie bag:
Photo Flawless Primer (£4.99)
Miracle Matte Foundation (£5.99)
Peep Show Mascara (£6.29)
Supreme Shine Lipstick – Bella (£4.99)
Spring Limited Edition Palettes – Hazy Days & Spring Fling (£5.99 x2)
Berry Kiss Lip Stain – Berry Crush (£4.59)
Instant Glow – Oversized Animal Print Bronzer (£5.99)
Magnetized nail polish – 4 different shades (£5.99 x 4)
Perfect Definition Eye Liner – Onyx (£2.89)
Blush and Glow – Bloom (£3.99)
Trio Eyeshadow – Smoky Quartz (£5.49)

  

Not quite sure what 17 Cosmetics will be quizing up about but the word on the street is that they are planning a whole hour of tweets about makeup and music. In case, they’re going to quiz us about the peep show mascara song, here’s the video.

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Spring has arrived at 17 Cosmetics

Many are excited by Valentine's Day and Pancake Day. For me, the main event after Christmas which I always look forward to is the arrival of warmer weather and double figures in temperatures. Today was lovely, temperature in my little neck of the wood has reached 10 degrees and it has been giving hope that the worst of winter, might be over. The cherry on my cake today was to discover a new collection at the 17 Cosmetics 'Counter'.

*cue improvised ghetto press release*





To complement the relatively recent release of their amazing coverage bb cream, 17 Cosmetics has just released a range of bright and summery nail polishes at the usual bargain price of £2.99. The colours are absolutely gorgeous. Two in particular have grabbed my attention: Glisten, a golden peach polish, and Juicy, a happy, bright lime shade.








Temptation to indulge in the polishes is going to be incredibly difficult, especially since there is a 3 for 2 offer on...




Edit: 21:49
Resistance is futile. No point even trying, is there? :P

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Fury, Sulk and Revenge

Can anger ever be a good thing and lead to positive things? I'm never going to be  proud of the countless times I've lost my temper and said outrageous things in the  heat of the moment but I do feel that, if channelled properly, anger can lead to good  things, such as getting over a past boyfriend or help produce great pieces of  writing. 17 Cosmetics took inspiration from strong feelings and emotions a woman can go  through and produced a great collection of eyeshadows and nail polishes. They named  their collection 'A woman Scorned' after 'Hell has no fury like a woman scorned' a  verse from The Mourning Bride, a poem from William Congreve.


Today, I would love love  share with you my impressions on the nail polishes from the collection.









Emotional indeed I was when I first held the bottle of 'Fury' in my hand. After  rolling it in my hands, I felt my heart skipped a beat as I thought 17 Cosmetics  produced a dupe of Chanel Peridot. Well, Chanel Peridot it isn't but deep rich bronzy perfect gold it is, with specks of green and red shining though: red and green, incidentally echoing the 2 others shades of the nail collection.








'Fury' was a delight to apply and  opacity was achieved in 2 coats. The colour reminded me of my favourite gold nail polish from Avon mixed with a little stinker from Bodycare, which I had to throw away as the  smell was too bad. I was very impressed with Fury.







Revenge reminded me straight away of Chanel Paradoxal but redder and better. I only  own a dupe of Chanel Paradoxal but one things which annoys me is the elusive subtle  shimmer, which unless shown under the right lighting, won't show at all.






Revenge is  not moody as Paradoxal and will more readily show you its gorgeous shimmer inside.  Application was a doddle, required no clean up whatsoever (then again, I do apply my  polish 1 mile away from the edges) and dried very quickly.





And last but not least, this is Sulk, a gorgeous shimmery green nail, with bright  specks of lime green and blue shining through it. Don't be fooled by the apparent  brushstrokes on my pictures. Application was very easy, so easy that I rushed through  it, taken by the moment and forgetting that I should probably make more of an effort  knowing full well I was going to blog about it.






If you like one of the best seller  from 17 Cosmetics (Peacock) , Sulk ... won't leave you sulking *badum, pssh*

The best about this collection: the prices. Each polish costs £2.99, and if you buy 2  polishes at the moment, you get rewarded twice: a gorgeous festive gift with 17  cosmetics (containing a glittery eyeshadow, a black eyeliner and a lipgloss)  and a  no.7 voucher expiring in November. Be quick, the gift with purchase is flying off the  shelves. I went to Boots earlier on (yes, because no week end is complete with a  visit to Boots and Superdrug) and there was only one box left!

Fury, Revenge and Sulk: which one gives you envy?

What? 17 Cosmetics 'A Woman Scorned' Collection, Nail Polishes
How much? £2.99 each
Where? Boots
Disclosure: Samples provided by the company. I know I can't believe it myself! ^_^

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Crackle me madly notdees

If you're tired of the crackle nail polish trend, you might want to turn away now. If you still enjoy playing with crackle polishes, these might interest you. When 17 cosmetics released their gold crackle, I was only midly interested. It was not bright and in-your-face gold enough for my liking and I happily skipped it. A little bit more recently 17 cosmetics came back with 2 new additions to their crackle family and released these 2 babies: a vibrant purple crackle and a really original crackle: a mixture of gold, glitter and black crackle.






I think I've already found my perfect purple crackle. It's BROKEN ARROW from MUA Cosmetics and it's perfect on every aspect. I like Broken Arrow so much that not only it's my favourite purple crackle but it might be my favourite crackle polish of all. So I didn't have much hope for the Boots 17 purple crackle to impress me.

I decided to use GAMMA from Illamasqua as a base  for my first play and I was really taken by surprise. The vibrancy of the purple is absolutely amazing. It is not as metallic intense as Broken Arrow (but this is turn makes it easier to photograph) but it has the most gorgeous blue undertone which comes to life when a powerful light hit it.




I love the way the crackle created this x shape on my middle finger





Application was easy, even though I have found the formula a bit thick. I like my crackle to be quite chunky so I had to make a point to load the brush to the max before applying the crackle polish onto my nails.

I have yet to ascertain if using a nail polish thinner would alter the crackle formulation or whether it would still crackle? Does anyone of you know?

I was quite excited to try the gold/black/and glitter polish. I decided to use a nude polish underneath: NUDE CHAMPAGNE by Gosh which I am absolutely obsessed with at the moment. This crackle is very unique. In fact, it's so different from any crackle polish that I've known that I would like NOT to call it crackle. Whilst the finished effect is gorgeous and give you ultimate party nails in an instant, the crackle effect is much more subtle. It doesn't crackle as much as 'normal crackles'. Could it be because of the chunky glitter inside it?







I couldn't stop looking at my nails whilst I was wearing this combo but I kept on wishing the glitter had been more fine. Removal as expected was quite laborious because of the chunky glitter. This polish presents the usual glitter dilemma for me. Is it gorgeous enough for me to put up with the removal process.

If you're expecting this polish to be a true crackle, you'll be disappointed. If you're in a rush, and have 2 minutes to jazz up your chipped nude nails before a party: you'll be in love with this and all eyes will be on you too.

I am lucky. I didn’t have to buy these 2 polishes as my friend from work bought them 2 days ago. Me thinks she should leave them in the office all the time :)

As far as I know, these crackle polishes don't have a name.
How would you call them?

What? 17 Cosmetics Nail Extras Crackle Top Coat
How much? £3.99
Where: any boots, even the 'crap' little ones :)

Related posts:
Mua Cosmetics Purple Crackle Nail Polish (Broken Arrow).
Gosh ohmygosh Nude Champagne Nail Polish.
Illamasqua Gamma Nail Polish.

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