Here come the gems…

Look at them, standing next to each other, like angels with a halo over their tops. I am happy to present to you the Gemstone Collection, the latest Special Effects Nail Polishes from BeautyUK. To complement the foils of the Olympics, BeautyUK launched 6 delicate pastel shades, all with a metalized pearl finish to give you glorious and shimmery nails. From left to right, these are Amethyst, Elfstone, Moonstone, Silmaril, Topaz and Sunstone.





Where are my swatches, will you ask? Like their Olympics sisters, the Gemstone polishes are extremely light reflecting. Capture them with the flash of a standard point and shoot camera, and they will wash away. Capture them indoor with no flash, and you lose the depth of the glittery effect. I need the sun basically, and I have been needing it last Thursday, when I stole all its rays to capture Olympic Bronze. These polishes are so stunning that I refuse to do a half hearted slap dash job in the confines of my poorly lit poxy flat.








So please bear with me, as for now, my hands are tied and I am only able show you these 'teaser' pictures. Like the Olympic Collection, the Special Effects Gemstone Posh Polishes are available from the website, at the bargain price of £3.49 and are soon to be released in your local Superdrug. 

    

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Olympic Foils - BeautyUk Nail Polishes Collection {notds}

Inspired by the Olympics Games, BeautyUK Cosmetics has created a beautiful collection of 'Special Effects' nail polishes. Like the medals you get at the Olympics, the polishes come out in 3 shades: gold, silver and bronze. The finish is absolutely incredible: a stunning highly metallic/foil finish with almost a chrome effect to them.





Olympic Silver (the one in the middle) is the first shade I was dying to show you. I just couldn't believe the coverage. My pictures show just one coat of polish. I was expecting streaks galore and my nail imperfections and ridges to be on the foreground. Instead I see an almost minx foil effect to my nail. The polish contains so much drama that it looks pretty in dark lighting situation, gorgeous when there's a bit more light and just out of this world when the sun hits it.









Olympic Bronze is the shade that I tried next and which earned me the most compliments at work. Again, I only needed one coat. My colleagues loved the delicate pink tone to it and found it subtle. I am not quite sure how a highly metallic polish can be subtle but there you go.











Last but not least, is Olympic Gold. Sadly, I was not able to capture its beauty under the sun rays, but I hope you will be able to get the idea. Whilst the coverage was as impressive as the silver and bronze, I just played too much with the polish whilst I was applying it and felt I needed to apply a second coat to even the mess I did.







I am not sure when the release date for these polishes and the exact price. Being a 'special effect' polish, I would imagine these will be retailing at £2.99 (or £3.99 at the absolute most). All three polishes are gorgeous but the winning shade for me? The silver! By 400 meters, easily  



Any shades from this collection which have won your heart?

Disclosure: The polishes were kindly sent to me for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own.

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MUA Monday: Broken Arrow Nails

There is this brand of high street makeup making its resurgence on the scene: MUA, as in MakeUP Academy. MUA came to the Beauty Scene about a year ago, launching a makeup brand where every item costs only £1. They came back a few weeks ago, in full force, with the release of a Pro range.

One of the items I wanted to get my hands on is this little beauty of crackle polish called Nail Quake, Broken Arrow. I thought I had enough crackle polishes in my collection until I saw Broken Arrow. It's a gorgeous unique bright metallic purple crackle polish.





Here it is over a yellow nail polish (click here to see it worn on its own) with FLASH





Don’t ask me why but I feel like a radioactive mutant ninja turtle wearing this, which is cool, right?



 

I can’t fault this polish: the crackle effect is gorgeous, and the colour is simply stunning.






MUA Nail Quake polishes are part of the MUA Pro range and are available in Selected Superdrug Stores (please enquire before visiting the store to avoid tears, tantrum and splitting up with the boyfriend) They cost £2.99 for 10ml of product.

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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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Metallics & Makeup Storage on a shoestring

After I played with my Collection 2000 Gold Glam Metallics eyeliner (see my “Queen for a Day” look here) ,  I just could not get over how bright and pigmented it was . So I could not wait to purchase some more. At £2.99 from Superdrug, it was hardly going to break the bank. So I bought  3 more! Recently, and about the same time, I was thrilled to bits to find a tiny little of set of drawers perfect to to store lots of small items, like eyeliners, lipsticks and individual shadows. It looks cheap as chips, but that’s because it *was* cheap: £1 from my local Pound Shop. So I thought I would share it you and swatch my new Glam Metallics side by side. 





The set of drawers is about the size of a cd case. It looks cheap and tacky but it’s perfect for my needs. I am surprised how quickly I filled the drawers so I went ahead to buy 2 more and definitely looks 100 times better than a multitude of categorised plastic carrier bags in the bedroom.
And here my new little babies: My little collection of ‘Glam Metallics’ eyeliners from Collection 2000. You can see all the shades here on the official collection 2000 website. I got them in 4 shades:
green(grunge), gold(fierce), blue(groupie), and purple(ripped)


 




They say a picture is a 1000 words: good job, because I am not quite sure to review them other than saying that they are super pigmented, and very long lasting. Here I have applied too thin layers, as I usually apply 2 when I put on my eyelids.




The brush is a bit rubbish, and it would take some practice to get it right. The best is to really take your time with it and try your best to apply as thin as you can: you can always go back on it afterwards and make it thicker to your taste. Or you can apply thick and uneven straight away and say it was totally intended and it's part of the concept of the look :D




I hope you like the pictures: I took them tonight in the park and it was freezing.
The things I do for you, hey? :) So what do you think? Do you fancy them? Are there any other coloured eyeliners you would recommend with a better applicator?

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