Quick! Paint the town ... pink and win £250 of beauty products.

To say that I am not in the mood for blogging is an understatement. I am still very much excited about beauty products and very much still into keeping up with my blog subscriptions but I seem to have lost the drive to blog about my beauty experiences. But sometimes, events take precedence and I need to make exceptions. October is not only the month holding my favourite day of the year (Halloween) but it's also the month where beauty brands around the world unite, go pink and do their bit to raise awareness about breast cancer and raise money for the cause.



You will perhaps recall me posting about 'Paint for Life' the cute nail polish trio that Beautyuk released in support of Cancer Research UK and the moving story behind its creation. This week, BeautyUK is doing something pretty special: they are holding a pretty fabulous competition over on Facebook:





Post a photo of you wearing pink nails on their facebook page and you could be on your way to win £250 of beautyuk products.

For the chance to win the MASSIVE £250 BEAUTYUK HAUL simply paint your nails pink, strike a pose, upload a photo anytime before 11.59pm on the 7th October. Up for it? Get more details on Beautyuk's facebook page, get painting, strike a pose, snap and have fun most of all.




I am not taking part in the competition, I am too involved in the creation of this set and I think it wouldn’t be fair if I won the competition, but if I won, i’d be wanting to spend some of my prize stash on the whole special effects glitte nail polish collection, so glitter-tastic Models Own Mirror Ball doesn’t want you to see it  This stock photo doesn't do it justice really. In real life, these £3.49 babies are out of this world!



disclosure: I am not affiliated with Beautyuk and didn’t receive any compensation to write about this post and the facebook competition.

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Candy Crazy

The world of cakes & confectionery seem to have unleashed the  creativity of nail companies in a big way, this year. We have seen  NailsInc released their sprinkle collection, MUA won the heart of the  nation with their loveheart collection and now it's the turn of  Beautyuk to have been inspired to release a candy collection: a range of candy coloured nail polishes at the sweet price of £1.99 each.





The first 'candy' I couldn't wait to sample with was Bonbon, a  gorgeous shade of sunflower yellow. I am a big fan of yellow nail  polishes. My favourite yellow nail polish is actually another polish  from Beautyuk, called yellow peril which is absolutely flawless and  opaque in 2 coats. So I was a bit nervous to wear Bonbon in case it  wouldn't be as good as yellow peril.


Bonbon applied very well, with  absolutely no sign of streaks or patchiness, the common problems which  you usually encounter with yellow polishes. My photos (please forgive me for the state of the awfully short nail of my index finger) show 2 coats of  bonbon applied very hastily. Three coats would have been better to  conceal the 'white line' perfectly, but I am quite content with the  coverage that 2 coats provided me.







Dolly Mixture is a bright, luminous {and almost neon in certain lightings} shade of coral mango orange and it's just utterly gorgeous.  Again, only 2 very easy coats were applied on my nails. A little bit  of white edge can be seen on the ring finger but it doesn't bother me  too much.











Lollilop excited me a lot. The opacity is fantastic, this is a true 2  coater, like the nail polishes Beautyuk used to do up to the release  of their urban jungle collection. If you were to buy a beautyuk nail  polish, I would still prefer it if you chose to purchase the set their paint for life set, the set they released in support of Cancer  Research but if you wanted just one shade of pink, lollilop would be a  great option.  










The pieces de resistance of this collection, in my opinion are the  last two shades which feature Beautyuk's new matte finish technology.  I wouldn't define the finish as pure matte and my photos still show  quite a bit of shine but in real life, the finish reminded me a little  bit of the rubber finish from Illamasqua's Theatre of the Nameless  Collection mixed with a glazed cherry appearance. The cherry on the  top is the coverage: they are both opaque in one coat.









When I apply a nail polish, my first coat is usually the sloppiest and  the second coat is there to even everything out, especially the edges.  So if I had known that Jelly Bean (the bright purple) was going to be  opaque in one coat, I would have definitely tried to be neater the  first time round. So even though, the 'white line' was totally  concealed, I felt the need to apply a second coat, just to even out  the edges and even out my sloppy mess.


So when the time came to play with Gobstopper, the semi matte  turquoise, I felt I was more ready to apply it properly and tried to be as neat as I could in just one coat. Gobstopper is a stunner, so much  so that I had to give it more exposure (3 photos instead of 2) and I  can't believe this is only £1.99.












A candy collection wouldn't be complete without its very own skittle manicure, right? So please allow me :)






And what the heck, I have added some 'smarties' dots on top.







what: Beautyuk Candy Collection of nail polishes
how much: £1.99 each
where: Beautyuk online and Superdrug stores nationwide
disclosure: polishes were offered for review purposes

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‘Tabasco’ Nails

Hello, my name is Liloo and I am addicted to Tabasco Sauce. It's not my fault, it's the way I've been brought up, we are raised to like spicy food and there is always some king of spicy sauce to accompany a dish. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't eat a vindaloo or something like that but I enjoy spicy food. Tabasco sauce is the just perfect way to add a spice to anything and I even carry a bottle in my handbag, and use it at work to accompany a bland diet soup, to spice up a big mac and all sorts. When I am invited to eat at someone's place (I don't remember the last time this happened though) the bottle stays in my bag as I think it would be a bit rude for the host, like the host didn't prepare a food which is tasty enough. In my country, it wouldn't be rude to pile up the spicy sauce on the side of your plate, but at the same time, the host would be offended if you ask for salt.






Anyway, back to Tabasco: I absolutely love it and when I saw this 'spicy' red nail polish from Beautyuk, it instantly reminded of Tabasco Sauce and I just had to have it. There is one problem straight away with this polish: I don't know what it's called and I don't know if it comes in a separate bottle. I could have sworn it was released in their recent collection but I can't find it anywhere. I found 'Tabasco red' in the 'west end girl' £4.99 miniature set and it's without a doubt my favourite nail polish of the set. Trust me to like the polish which isn't sold separately and doesn't exist in a full size version.









Tabasco was lovely to apply and took 3 coats to reach the opacity you see on my pictures. This is one more coat that I would normally like to apply but the colour is just so divine, I am happy to forgive that. 'Tabasco Red' screams summer for me. If your outfit allows for it, it would accessorize your hands perfectly at a barbecue, when you are about to tuck in that big fat juicy burger on a limited edition sunny day. The set is definitely worth getting for this colour alone.





What: 'Tabasco Red' in Beautyuk Nail Polish Gift Set (no.4)
Where: Superdrug shops nationwide and beautyuk online store.
How much: £4.99 for 6 mini polishes
Disclaimer: Purchased with my own pennies

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Hope on my fingers

This is proving harder than I thought to write. How on earth am I supposed to  objectively and critically review a product which I am so passionate about and  which little ol' me has helped creating? It is not without a certain degree of emotion that I would like to share with you my swatches of 'Hope', 'Love' and Strength' the  nail polishes part of the Beautyuk 'Paint for life' box set.







Moved by one of their fans' wishes, Beautyuk Cosmetics took the pledge to raise  £50,000 for Cancer Research UK and designed a range of nail polishes to help them  reach their target. While thousands of women are undertaking the annual 'race for  life' race throughout the country, BeautyUK is inviting you to support the Cancer  Research UK charity and to 'paint for life'. For each £5.99 'paint for life' trio  set sold, they are donating £1 directly to the charity.


The shades are gorgeous. Hope is a delicate pastel pink which could double up as  French manicure base if applied sheerly. I would describe Love as a shade of  carnation pink and Strength, the deeper of the set as a bright hot pink. The  formulation was very easy to work with, although they needed 3 coats instead of the  2 I am usually used to. Before playing with my paint for life set, I had a pre  conceived idea about Hope. For me, it looked too pale and it was not going to work with my skin tone. 3 coats later and I was in love!

*cue avalanche of photos*

 

You know what’s handy? it’s the names on the bottles

and last but not least this is strength. At this point, I would like to thank my spell check as I always always spell it wrong!

I think Beautyuk did a marvellous job with the paint for life trio. The shades are  lovely and would suit a wide range of people, from the shy and who only want a hint  of pink to the lovers of bold and bright talons.

Which is your favourite shade?
Will you be ‘painting for life’?

Further Information
Availability: The paint for life trio is available in Superdrug shops nationwide and online (£5.99)
BeautyUK Cosmetics Aid for Cancer Research UK: http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/paint-for-life
Beautyuk twitter: @beautyuktweets
Paint for Life Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/paintforlifeuk
Paint for Life Twitter: @paintforlifeuk #paintforlife


Disclaimer:    
The box set was purchased by myself.

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Painting for Life

Just over a year ago, there was a blog competition where participants had to create  a nail polish just for fun to win some BeautyUK Cosmetics makeup. One fan of the  brand, Sam, expressed a wish to have a range of pink polishes designed to raise  money for a Breast Cancer Charity. Sam's inspiration was her mum, going through the  ordeal of cancer but who 'still wanted to look nice and have painted nails'. Beautyuk Cosmetics was so touched by the idea that they have been working hard for  the past year to help Sam's idea see the day.



The day has come and with the help of  a beauty blogger, BeautyUK went on to develop and release a 'Paint for Life' trio nail boxset with the aim of raising £50,000 for Cancer Research UK.  I feel really moved by this initiative, there is so much more I wish to say.  Perhaps I’ll share more when I show you my swatches. For now, I just want to keep it short and sweet. It is so heart warming to see, how an everyday girl next door, fan of a cosmetic brand can touch a cosmetic brand so much so that they take a pledge to raise £50,000 for a good cause.








The Paint for Life boxset consists of three shades of pink nail polish. Each bottle is individually named with ‘hope’, ‘strength’ and ‘love’. From every £5.99 set sold, £1 will be donated directly to breast cancer research.

************ updated on Monday 14 May ***********

Please click here or on the picture below to see my swatches:

Further Information:Availability: The paint for life trio is available online and in superdrug shops nationwide (£5.99)
BeautyUK Cosmetics Aid for Cancer Research UK: http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/paint-for-life
Beautyuk twitter: @beautyuktweets
Paint for Life Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/paintforlifeuk
Paint for Life Twitter:  @paintforlifeuk


Disclaimer
The box set was purchased by myself and I received no incentive to write about this. This post is just driven by intense joy and emotion to have been part of the creative process of this initiative.http://bit.ly/hopenlifehttp://bit.ly/hopenlife

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Mascara Monday. The Battle of Mascaras. L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes versus BeautyUK Lash-Fx

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to Jade, blogging at Beauty Butterfly Blog, who has kindly volunteered to review not one but 2 mascaras for me. I love Jade’s blog, I love her honesty and her clear in depth reviews.
Take it away, Jade!






I’m a bit of a mascara junkie if I’m honest, I’ve been searching for the perfect lengthening mascara for absolutely ages and so far I’ve found a few that I like but I’m just not sure they’re perfect; in the meantime I’ve been testing two mascaras which Liloo very kindly sent to me. I’ve given them a good few weeks so hopefully my views are as balanced and honest as possible!

I’ll start with the L’oréal Volume Million mascara in the shade Amethyst (a purple/plum shade), what I’ll start by saying is that this is meant for hazel eyes and as you can see mine are more blue/green but I don’t think it affects my review in terms of the aspects I’m going to address; colour is irrelevant to me, in my mind the product should be exactly the same no matter what colour.







As you can see the tube is quite fat but squared at the top which I have to admit doesn’t make for the most comfortable application; I like something I can get a good grip of and I found it a bit difficult with this! Nevertheless to look at the wand itself it’s made up of lots of tiny little plastic knobbles; presumably to catch every lash humanly possible upon application. I have to admit I do prefer brushes rather than the little knobbles but I’m willing to work with whatever if it works!








The above photos are a before and after of what my lashes look like with this product; L'Oreal claim that Volume Million Lashes should make your lashes up to 3 times thicker, what do you think?
I’m not convinced; although it is obvious that I have used some form of mascara the product hasn’t separated my lashes as much as I hoped it would and it was really quite difficult to apply enough to get a good coverage over each lash. Admittedly it’s not a clumpy mascara and it didn’t smudge all over the place through the day but still the wand is just a bit too bulky for me and didn’t create the desired effect, yes it did separate the lashes at the ends but I just feel like it clumped them up nearer the waterline and it was a little too difficult to remove for my liking considering it isn’t a waterproof mascara!

Bottom Line: Would I buy?
No I wouldn’t, but for those of you who have quite sparse lashes this could be the one for you; I look for length rather than volume you see. This is £10.99 and can be purchased from Boots and Superdrug.


The second mascara I’m going to review is from the lower end of high street makeup; Beauty UK. This is an absolute bargain at £2.49 and I was excited to see if such a cheap mascara could offer me anything. The packaging isn’t anything sparkling just very simple; black with white writing. The one I’ve tried is called ‘Lash FX’ which supposedly helps achieve volume, length and lift; quite a bold statement for £2.49 I’d say!






I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by this product; the wand is the traditional wand which I’ve come to know and love using because I think it coats my lashes with ease and doesn’t get everywhere unlike some plastic wands. The thickness of the handle is also ideal for me; it fits really nice in my hand making this a pleasure to apply.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting great things from this because I’ve used a Beauty UK eyeshadow palette before and I really wasn’t impressed; I’m very much of the opinion that you ‘get what you pay for’ and there are very few products which go against that.

 



Although I wasn’t completely wowed by this mascara, I have found a very handy use for this product. You may know of Clinique’s Bottom Lash mascara, priced at around £20, well this has become my perfect bottom lash mascara. Because this doesn’t volumise the lashes that much it means that the product doesn’t clump your bottom lashes like some; I know when I use my usual mascaras I stay away from my bottom lashes because they end up looking spidery. Because the wand is so soft it really is a dream for my bottom lashes; I’d probably go as far as to wear this mascara on the top and bottom for a ‘no makeup’ makeup look. However, I stand by the fact that this for me is perfect for bottom lashes.

Bottom Line: Would I buy?

Yes I would, and so should you! At £2.49 it doesn’t break the bank and you never know you may also find that this is perfect for you and your bottom lashes. You can buy this from Superdrug or from the Beauty UK Website.

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by Jade, from Beauty Butterfly Blog.

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Cruelty-free beauty products shopping made easy

More and more of my friends are changing the way they buy beauty products and are turning into buying products which have not been tested on animals. I don't know much about at all about 'cruelty free' brands. What I do know is that it's a confusing uphill struggle for them to find out information about what is tested on animals or not.


What if there was an easier way? There is and it's called 'Cute Cosmetics', spelt cutECOsmetics, with the emphasis on eco, for ecologically friendly. Cute Cosmetics doesn't tell you, if say, I don't know Avon is a goodie or a baddie but they are an online eco, organic & cruelty free cosmetics specialist shopping website who ONLY features brands with a very strict cruelty free rule and guilt free conscience.


In one sentence, they do the leg work for you and also introduces you to less known cosmetics brands, who deserve to be better known, if only for their good ethics.





Bicky, Jen, Karris, and all my other bunny friendly readers, Cute Cosmetics is especially for you :)     xxx

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The wait is over. Nail Pops are here :)

Can there be anything more exciting than a 4-day long week end? Yes, there can. A 4-day long week end with the launch of Look Beauty online store. You've heard it from the brand themselves on twitter. I heard it from my friend Loulou who like me has been waiting for this moment for months on end.


This brand is nothing new but getting hold of their products is easy as getting products which are only sold ... outside the United Kingdom. Right from the very beginning, Look Beauty has suffered from a very poor presence in physical Superdrug shops. It's not their fault. Had it been up to them, they would have been in every Superdrug shop in the UK


What's so special about Look Beauty? In my eyes, a huge range of makeup products designed for people on a small budget, and (don't laugh) a cute font. I am ashamed to say that I am irresistibly drawn to the font and the packaging of the products. Most importantly, I have been obsessed with the brand since I've known that they created the most affordable dupe of Peridot nail polish, to date, in the shape of 'Kimono'.

As luck would have it, the very day I receive my bottle of Kimono from my friend Nicola, who kindly sold it to me, Look Beauty finally opens a web store *rolls eyes*

Anyway, the range of makeup products offered by Look Beauty is huge, very aesthetically and purse pleasing, postage and packing is low (£2.95) and they accept paypal.


Today I wanted to show you the whole range of Look Beauty Nail Pop nail polishes available, at £5 a pop. The watermarked flower will give you a clue on my favourites and I am hoping to play with Kimono as soon as I can.

What are your favourites?

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