Gold earthquake nails {quick look}

I  was only meant to twitpic about this so I hope you will excuse the briefness of this post. Call it express review or sneak peak ;) I was a TJ Hughes today. As usual, I am not sure what appalled me the most: The bootleg music or the sorry state of the displays. I arrived in the middle of a clean up session, where a poor girl had to clean a gooey mess of polishes. Not such a bad thing for me as it allowed me test the gold crackle from W7. Its official name is 'Earthquake' Crackle Polish, which is a bit ironic as the state of the display looks like it had actually been ravaged by an earthquake.






First impressions after a quick swatch on on finger? It's ok. In most lighting situations, the polish would look more like a shade of mustard yellow rather than a true true gold which is I would want from a gold crackle polish. Only bright sunshine and strong flash will make it vibrant. I suppose it's ok considering the £1.99 price tag.

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Budget Bronze Boogie Nails

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Carrying on with the theme of budget cheap polish and in my search for the gold polish of my dreams I stumbled upon this golden / bronzy nail polish 'Bronze Boogie' from Technic at bodycare. The colour looked nice enough in the bottle, it was only £0.99 so I went ahead and buy it. Now, this is such a budget nail polish that even the label is not stuck properly and I had to look for a label which was not too wonky.


  


As with my Technic golden peachy nail polish bought the same day, this polish has a really really strong smell, very distinct from any polish you have ever tried in your life. Despite the smell though, the polish is a very gorgeous colour, and applies very easily, offers amazing coverage even in one coat. Photos are shown with 2 coats.








Such a shame about the smell. Could I get used to it? Maybe, but definitely not today, as I feel it’s given me a bit of a headache lol. Do they look cheap and nasty once applied? I bet no one wouldn’t even tell the difference with a more pricey alternative. I feel like an Arabian Princess … well I wear nose clippers that is { @Lisforlois ;) }





I really like the way Yinka from Vex in the City finishes her posts by summarises price and where to buy it information, so pinching the idea from her:


How much?: £0.99
Where to buy it: Bodycare Shops (UK) or online at  Love Thy Makeup (£1.50 for delivery in the UK. also delivers worldwide)

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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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Russet Eye Glitter Dust (Beauty UK) and EOTD

What can I say. I think I might have a little crush on Beauty UK. After Lily from Beauty’s Bad Habit was raving about the metallic eye sparks, I wanted to get some for myself. Alas there was none in my Superdrug: instead 2 little pots (the last ones) of  glitter eye dust were begging me to grab them: Russet and Green. The glitter lover in me couldn’t resist at £2.99 each.




Let’s cut to chase and go right into it: the packaging is far from ideal but let it not deter you as the product it contains it’s gorgeous. It is like your traditional loose glitter but more finely milled to look almost like an eyeshadow. With this product, you get the best of both worlds: vibrancy, glitter and drama which you would get with a loose glitter, but a product very similar to eyeshadow as far as the removal goes: a cotton dampened with eye make up remover will take it off very easily, while traditional glitter would be more tedious (I usually resort to sellotape to remove the excess first)





Talking of packaging, this is what it looks like inside. I feel like the product dissipates itself around its little opening at the top.

 



You can actually remove the whole plastic protector inside and just use the lid. I happened to have some mini jars (5ml) left so I decided to depot them.



 
Are you still with me yet?
Now for the look. This is not very elaborate at all. Look at it more like it’s a swatch of the product but made directly on the eyelid.

 





To create this look, I used 3 colours from the Day and Night Palette (reviewed and fotd’ed here) and the russet glitter eye dust. Eyepencil and eyeliner are the same usual ones, I won’t bore you with it :P Again, I must point out that you won’t usually see me using shimmery shadows in my crease.  But the shimmery burgundy from this palette as well as the other colours don’t have an overpowering shimmer at all, it’s more of a mix between subtle sheen and shimmer.

I treated the glitter eye dust exactly like it was chunky loose glitter and applied it with my beloved and trusty splash proof sealer. In retrospect, I wish I had darkened the crease a bit more with a bit of black. Never mind.


 


Now what am I going to do with 2 jars of the same glitter, huh? ;)
Oh, anyone want to have a guess at the nail polish I am wearing? answer tomorrow. I know, you just can't contain yourself ... and I need to get out more

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Purple 2True NOTD – Budget Nail Polish

So I accidentally found myself in Superdrug today and this little nail polish from Superdrug fell into my basket: Shade no.12 (Shimmery Purple) from 2True (Superdrug Own Budget Brand of Makeup). For once, I am not feeling guilty this fell into my basket *cough* as it only cost me £1.99, or the equivalent of a regular coffee at Nero.





So what exactly can you expect from a nail polish at £1.99?  I expected an extremely troublesome application but I was pleasantly surprised. Admittedly, this little baby took 4 coats to reach full opacity, but the layers were very easy to apply (no streaks whatsoever which totally gobsmacked me) the sheer formula glided on my nail and I was able to take my time whilst applying it. I’ve had in the past problems with nail polish where the formula dries so fast, it feels as if you only have one chance to apply it and you can’t go back on it, not with this one.


 

In real life, this polish is much more plummy than on the photos. I am sorry I could not capture it very well. 






You can take all the time in the world to apply it, but all the time in the world it will take for 4 coats. This was not a problem for me today. I was bored, was waiting for the X Factor to watch, and was quite applying nail polish, chilling at the same time and tweeting of course. I can’t comment on durability and nail tip wear as I only put it today. My guess is that it will probably last 2 days and then it will start to chip, like all my nail polishes, which is again not a problem as I get bored easily of the same colour and that I enjoy the relaxing process of nail polish application.






All in all, this is not a nail polish I would pick if I am in a hurry as it would take quite a while for the multiple coats to dry but it’s really pretty decent for the £1.99 price tag. I really like the colour on my nails. Will the formula become gloopy quickly? We shall see, but it will certainly last me longer than a regular decaf skinny latte with 2 sweeteners.

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