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.

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So you're a brunette and want blue eyes, huh?

Many of you will know already about my passion of fancy dress and dramatic makeup transformation. About 2 years ago, I bought some blue contact lenses, I am not quite sure why, now come to think of it but I bought some. They were not suitable for Halloween (I needed yellow ones for the second year running) so I thought what a better time than New Year's Eve to wear them. The lenses I bought were from Colour Vue and the actual model is called 'Solar Blue'.     

 
 
     


I had seen plenty of people wearing some people with dark eyes like me wearing blue lenses but the result had always been a little underwhelming and screaming 'not blue and not dramatic enough.



Were Solar Blue going to turn the same way? Umm, it went pretty much the other way: too dramatic and too freaky looking frankly. In real life, and away from the strong camera flash they appear less bright but still definitely too bright for my liking. In case some of you are into colour contact lenses, here are some pictures of the transformation.




   



So there you go. If you wanted to have a dramatic colour change, this is what solar blue could look like on your dark eyes.










    
In case you’re not into contact lenses, here is an attempt at capturing my outfit of the night. My dress is a very simple dress from ASOS, bought in sale at £10 ages ago but it’s my mock stockings tights which I like the best. They were £4.99 and I bought from New Look. I hate my knees so this is perfect to hide them








The quest for dramatic but less freaky colour lenses carries on. Next I want green eyes



Are you into contact lenses? If you are, and blogged about them, please please please send me a link. Or if you have some funki tights, spam me with your link as well. I am nosy and I want to have a look.


x

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Pay Day Temptations

If I didn't know before today I was a nail polish addict, today I have one proof my love for nail polishes has reached uncontrollable heights. I've just indulged in a models own half price sale (my polishes have reached me safely 2 days afterwards!) I've not played with them yet and I want some more. Let me share with you what I've now got my heart on.


These polishes are from the Models Own Professional Range, which is a little bit pricier than the normal range: £8 per bottle as opposed to £ 5, for the traditional range


The Models Own Professional justifies their prices as it is "specially formulated to both assist nail growth and prolong colour, preventing any fading. Added benefits of the premium range include vitamin E and UV sun filters to protect the nail". The added benefits do sound very nice but at the end of the day it's still £8.


This another bootleg press release picture, showing of the very well kept stand of Models Own Professional range in the Boots shop in a town near me.



  



and these are the shades which got me drooling in particular.








I need to hang in my head in shame as I wrote the information about the first polish incorrectly and looking back at my notes, there is no way that this polish can be called 'Stark Naked' and be a nude beige with a golden shimmer. My guess is that this one is called ‘Lavender Blue’. ‘Pinky Pearl’ is a rather odd name for this sumptuous shade of shimmer reddy rusty orange shade. ‘Sunny Honey’ is a shimmery golden yellow and Clay Away is gorgeous shade of khaki.







If money grew on trees, those beauties would be what I would have loved to spend my pennies on. Boots have a got a special 'triple points 'offer on, especially for the bank holiday week end but I shall be good and resist... until there is hopefully another 3 for 2 offer on these polishes. If you do happen to know the name of pale lilac polish, please let me know!




Will you be splurging at Boots this week end?

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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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Pearl Eyeliners From BeautyUk – The whole collection swatched

Ever since I saw sneak peek(tures) of 3 shades of the Beautyuk pearl eyeliners on their facebook page, I've been really impatient to see all the 8 shade . I am a great fan of colour liquid eyeliner. My very first product swatches post on my blog was about glitter eyeliners, and I probably own pretty much everything Collection 2000 has done in terms of metallic and glitter eyeliners. If Gosh Cosmetics liquid eyeliners had been cheaper, I would have probably indulged and collect them all (and then I wonder how I got myself into debt)


*I am rambling already* Anyway, when Beautyuk  finally released their eyeliners, you bet I was very excited but I was very apprehensive too. My favourite type of eyeliner would ideally be really pigmented, not runny, not too thick, have a soft felt pen type of brush/applicator, long lasting and would not be a pain to remove. The very day of the release, I had to get myself down there to Superdrug. After checking their polishes, I just had to open one eyeliner and check out the brush, tester or no tester provider, I just had to see it for myself. Well, they did it: my ideal type of brush was in there, the only thing which was not so perfect with my beloved Gosh and Collection 2000 eyeliners.


Let's have a look at some swatches, shall we?

 







Photos show 2 coats of eyeliners. My instant favourite was purple haze, which I would personally call 'electric purple'. Application on hand was very easy, and dried fast. Once it's there, it's there and it won't budge.







Removal was easy. None of the shades stained my skin and it wasn't as hard work as the extreme art liners from Gosh to remove. I've come to think that the Gosh ones are too long lasting for their own good, and that I need to remove them with baby oil and lots of scrubbing.



So on the hand it's awesome, but how is it on the eye?







The felt tip applicator made a world of a difference. I was able to be so much in control. I had however to apply 3 coats to achieve the opacity I wanted. The first coat was more about tracing the shape, and the 2 others about filling that shape and tapping the product on rather than dragging it along. No baby oil was needed to remove the eyeliner. I used my simple eye makeup remover to moisten it, then I was able to peel off the product off my eyes.


In a an ideal world, this eyeliner would have given a opaque result in 2 coats, but with a brush like that, I am more than happy to compromise.



where to buy: superdrug, internationale or online.
price: £3.49
disclaimer: I purchased the product myself

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Caribbean Blue Nails. NOTD (Nina Ultra Pro)

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I can’t believe how sunny and warm it has been today. It really felt like I was on holidays abroad and there couldn’t have been a better time to play with nail polish in the park and take millions of photos of my hand, to get the passers by talk and assume I am a weirdo. I’ve gone past caring now and if people stop and ask ‘you’ve been spending the past 15 minutes photographing your left hand, why?’ I go ‘Oh it’s for a photography project, experiment and challenge and that usually shuts them up.






Today, holiday weather, I am wearing CARIBBEAN BLUE from Nina Ultra Pro, exclusively sold at Sally’s stores and online. It’s your average shimmery turquoise nail polish but with a difference: It applies very well, perfectly opaque in 2 coats, and is good for value for money: £3.89 for 15 ml of product.






It doesn’t blow me away as my other nail polish from Nina Ultra Pro, Last Call but I like it a lot. I also own ‘Purple Pizzazz’ from Nina Ultra Pro, which is probably my favourite purple. I wanted to do a dual post and show it to you at the same time as Caribbean Blue, but I have given up on trying to capture it: no matter how many times I try to photograph its purple gorgeousness and annoyingness, all I can capture is blue. Oh well.









Name: Caribbean Blue 709063 (Nina Ultra Pro) Nail Polish
How much: £3.89
Sally’s Stores or Sally’s Express online: http://www.sallyexpress.com/

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I'll have 2 Blue Lagoon & 1 Peach Melba, please Barry...

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How dare you Barry M tempting me with a whole host of mouth watering products, when I am in the middle of a spending ban? Barry M has just released 2 new shades of nail polishes on their website: Blue Moon 317 {Blue Lagoon totally sounds way cooler :P} and Peach Melba 318.






I am not sure when they will be available from your local Boots and Superdrug, but you can order them online at its usual bargain price of £2.99 each.






Also, hot from the oven, the Wink Marker Pen (£4.59)
A chunky marker pen style eyeliner that makes lining your eyes easy. In simple strokes you can create instense, bold lines and flicks. Quick drying and long lasting as the perfect eyeliner should be! £4.59

Love the design and the bulkyness of it but is that going to dry up in 2 minutes like lots of other pen-style eyeliner? (hinting at you Eyeko)


2. Imperfection Correction (£5.99)


Our NEW Imperfection Correction concealer pen has been developed to conceal blemishes, dark circles and signs of fatigue from the eye area, whilst illuminating the skin and adding a touch of radiance.
It is available in 3 shades to suit all skin tones (Ivory, Almond & Peach)  and the enriched formulation provides smooth and long lasting wear. Simply twist the pen for the liquid to appear and brush onto your face for a flawless finish.

There is no way I would buy this without first swatching in the shop. The applicator reminds me of  Touche Eclat. I wonder what the texture is like.


3. Finally, the 3 recent colourful additions to the Instant Nail Effects (£3.99) hitting the 'physical stores' with no more precise date than "in a month or so". I must admit the future release of 8 the Models Own crackle polishes has excited me more but I cannot deny that the colours are absolutely gorgeous, from the photos I have seen so far. I've seen a girl wearing a girl wearing pink crackle on bright fuchsia and it looks so cool. I am very tempted and you can 2 Barry M crackle polishes for the price of one Models own. But since Beautyuk will also be releasing a pink crackle polish in May, I might just as well wait for that one, since the polishes there usually cost £1.99 (maybe it will be £2.99 for that special one?)



 


Now would it have been great, like Elf always does, to have free postage and packing a as a little incentive to order these new products from the Barry M website :)

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Makeup Shopping Trip in Asda, swatches galore and dazzling NOTD

*FOREWORD* This is another of these ‘put the kettle on’ posts, in other words, it’s a long one.





It's your lucky day. Tonight I am taking you shopping to Asda, Morecambe (North of England) with me and we're going to have a look at the makeup section. No need to move from your computer chair / sofa / bed, I'll come and pick you up. I had been hearing the British blogosphere talking a lot about the range of makeup products Asda supermarket was doing and wanted to check for myself.
Put your seat belt on baby, I am driving ^_^

 





So what did I buy? Well, you should know me by now:
Eyeshadows and nail polishes of course!

One dip of my fat finger into the testers for the VELVET individual eyeshadows and it was love at first sight. Really nice pigmentation but most of all, a texture to die for.The shadows definitely deserve their 'velvet' name. Are the shades unique? Nothing that you haven't seen before but I find them very good value for money. So I got home with 'jungle eyeshadow' (£1.50) in my bag.





Was it a necessary purchase? Of course not. It turns out I owned already 2 shadows which have more or less the same emerald shade. I think it's probably fair to point out that I like emerald.


 


Out of my 3 existing eyeshadows incidentally, it's the packaging 'Pesto' from MeMeMe that I prefer the most, it's the texture of 'Jungle' which I like the most. Green Glimmer (Natural Collection) is the shadow which is in the worst condition, with the pan falling out of its case, and the lid not even closing properly. Which shadow do I reach out the most instinctively? The shameful battered and bruised 'green glimmer' of course. (See the rock witch look I recreated here using the shadow).






Then, it's the 'Dancing Queen' Quad Eyeshadow palette at the bargain price of £3 which caught my eye. The packaging will remind you of some Chanel or Avon palettes. I am very impressed with the colour combination and the colour pay of of this palette. All my thumbs up ... well nearly. I have used this palette only once as I've really struggled to actually open it and it feels like everytime it shuts the palette close, that it jams itself shut? It is so bad that I thought I was never going to be able to use it.










Last but not least, I couldn't resist and got home with a lovely midnight blue polish, called 'Dazzle'. I absolutely love the colour and I can't take my eyes off my nails when I wear.

  

You absolutely must wear a generous layer of base coat beforehand as this nail polish as this nail polish will stain your hands really badly! The colour is too gorgeous for words but the staining left a really sour taste in my mouth. So much so that I am scared to wear it again and it made me a little bit paranoid. Maybe I'll wear with 2 coats of base coats to be on the safe side?





 

 


























So that's it. I hope you enjoyed this little virtual trip with me to the George Makeup section at Asda. Do you own anything from George Makeup and do you use it regularly?

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Electric Smokes NOTD featuring Beauty UK

I am a happy bunny. After endless week ends of rain, the sun finally came out today and I was able to take some pictures for my blog. I am still very busy with my YouTube contest at the moment but you should be able to see some more posts from me on here. Boy, I have such a backlog.
Today, I want to show you my latest acquisitions in nail polishes: Electric Blue and Smokey Lilac both from Beauty UK (£1.99 each) bought with my own pennies.







Move over beloved Eyeko indigo blue, here comes Beauty UK Electric Blue. I can't believe this is only £1.99. It applied very smoothly, the formula was very easy to work with. I was a bit apprehensive I would have a streaky results due to the intense shimmer but it didn't happen. These are my nails with 2 sloppy coats on it. Ooo I love it when I can apply a nail polish without too much effort. I am in love. I've taken millions of pictures, indoors and in the sun. Am I spoiling you or what?











and under the sun.








The other polish I got was smoky lilac. I am a big fan of purple taupy shades but I was scared it would end up a little bit too 'lilac', like Berry Ice Cream from Barry M, which I ended up giving to a friend. At £1.99, I was happy to take the risk and I am glad I did it.








The colour reminds me of nails inc london (my no.1 polish in the whole world) and a hint of berries a la Barry M. My photos don't justice to the lovely colour but I hope you get the idea. 'Smoky Lilac' was also very easy to apply and because of its pale colour, I could even go even more sloppy than with the blue. Don’t my nails look so elegant, prime and proper here!






 

I want more! Which shades should I get? I am tempted by these already:

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