The best red eyeshadow in the world

If there is one party eye makeup I love is glittery red eyes. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet, but I have found nothing gets you as many compliments as red glittery eyes. Once, I was coming back from a night out, was a bit naughty, didn't remove my eye makeup (don't sleep in your makeup, it gives you spots) and was stopped (the following day) by the Boots Makeup woman whose makeup is always absolutely flawless and she went 'woah, what's that you on your eyes'. I must say, I loved that moment as for once I was a getting a compliment from a makeup professional.


But my beloved red glittery eyes demand a pigmented red eyeshadow and good quality and inexpnsive eye shadows are VERY hard to find in the high street.

 
When I finished the teeny tiny little red eyeshadow part of famous 'ebay' 88 matte eyeshadow palette (the only shadow I used out of that palette, I had never liked that palette at all actually) I realised how difficult it was to find an inexpensive and good quality red eyeshadow on the high street. Matte shadows in general are harder to find, but blooming heck finding a matte red one really felt like mission impossible.


No point going to Boots or Superdrug, you'd be wasting your time. If you don't want to go through the expensive Mac route, Illamasqua does a gorgeous one (@LizzumsBB aka benebelle has some gorgeous swatches for you) but I'd rather not spend £16 in a eyeshadow if I could and would rather pay £1 more and purchase a pair of stunning lashes. Topshop does a lovely red shadow but 1) it's more a raspberry pink shade of red and 2) topshop annoys me, being so pretentious only selling their makeup in the poshest and biggest shops in England. Sleek finally released a red eyeshadow in one of their eyeshadow palettes but the palette was only a limited edition item, in honour of the Olympics and you still had to fork out £7.99 for it.

  
Ebay once again came to my rescue and you have no idea how excited I was to find a super pigmented red eyeshadow for just £1.76. Now for the confusing part. The shadow is made from the lovely folks at Stargazer. They have, I believe, 2 red eyeshadows. One is disappointing, and is called the 'fluorescent' one. Don't get that one, because it's dry and not that pigmented. You want to get the other one, also called the red velvet one by some sellers. I always wear a primer and a white base to maximise the duration and pigmentation of my eyeshadows but I took some photos for you, without any primer or anything to show you how pigmented this little bad boy is. POW!





I hope you will excuse the abysmally bad outdoor lighting. That’s England for you!









This shadow is everything you want from a eyeshadow: very good pigmentation, soft but not too much fall out, very easy to blend and is £1.76. Why get anything else?






I told you people liked it

It’s Sunday and that means it’s Blogging Date with Sirvinya. If you have a few minutes to spare, please do check Sirvinya’s beauty blog. Thank you for reading xx

What: Stargazer Red (velvet) eyeshadow
How much: £1.76 (+£1.44 postage)
Where: Ebay. Seller is called Supply me Beauty.
Link to product here.

Read more ...

Crushed Grape, whatever the season. Free Leighton Denny Manicures

There are times when I spend ages trying to find that first sentence on how to start a blog post and others, like tonight where billions of way to start a blog post comes bustling in my head and I am overwhelmed. Please excuse me for I am very excited tonight. It's been a while since I've played with a Leighton Denny nail polish and I forgot how good it was.

When the gorgeous Nic, from Strawberry Blonde Beauty Blog told us informed us about the Magazine Freebies offers in March 2012, I got a bit hot under the collar: 3 shades of Leighton Denny nail polishes can be yours for free, if you purchase a copy of the March 2012 edition of Red Magazine (£3.80)





Nic warned us that the actual magazine with the free polishes would be hard to track down but being a massive fan of Leighton Denny, I was not going to give up so easily. I was lucky, they had some in my local Marks and Spencer and I managed to get my hands on 'Crushed Grape' a dark berry polish and a lilac polish annoyingly called 'Whatever'.





I can't explain in words the delight it was to experience 'Crushed Grape' and 'Whatever' on my nails: smooth, creamy, easy peasy to apply, opaque in one coat, dries fast, only £3.80. What more can a girl want? Well perhaps spending some time en-tête-à-tête with Leighton Denny himself.


I didn't do any clean up whatsoever on my manicures, (it probably shows but I would be quite happy to parade with my nails like that) I went really sloppy with it so much so that it felt like that the polish applied itself. I am in love, totally in love. As a consequence of my infatuation, I am going to leave you with an avalanche of photos.


Crushed Grape in all its glory, one coat only:







Now with slightly warmer lighting





and this is, ‘Whatever’. I am not going to lie. I feel the name doesn’t do justice to the beautiful shade and finish. Again, this is one coat. I know!!







Now with warmer lighting







If you have not yet tried a Leighton Denny polish and can hunt a Red Magazine with freebies in, you will not regret it. It will probably be the best £3.80 you've ever spent   








Needless to say, if the third free shade ‘Vamp’ had also been available at my local Marks and Spencer, I would have also bought it. Let me know if you managed to get your hands on it, I would love to see!  
      

 
Leighton Denny, will you marry me?      

 

What? Leighton Denny nail polishes in 'Crushed Grape' and 'Whatever
How much? Free on purchase of Red Magazine, March 2012 edition, £3.80
Where? I don't know. In some Marks and Spencers. xx

     

Read more ...

Little Red Riding Hood Sparkly Red Nails

I am really excited to present to you this little beauty of nail polish. As part  of their brand new 'crystal' collection, Superdrug owned brand 2true has  released 4 gorgeous ultra sparkly and ultra festive nail polishes. Ditch the 'crystal'  name, they scream 'party' all over, so much so that I have decided to rename this  collection, the 'party' collection as I feel it's much more appropriate and more fun.

For those of you new to 2true polishes, these eyeko lookalike bottles polishes are exclusively sold at Superdrug, for the price of £1.99 and they have a permanent offer,  whereby you can get 3 polishes for £4.99. Thank goodness my store only had the red polish  in as otherwise, I think I would have bought the whole blooming lot.


For you today, I have stunning shade 2, which is described on the website as VAMPISH RED and about 10 billion pictures. I just couldn’t narrow it down any further. The shine and the richness of the finely milled sparkle/glitter inside is  absolutely incredible and I can't believe how pretty it is.








Application was ok. Not a fairy tale, but not your worst nightmare also. The  polish is a liiiittle bit too thick for my liking but other than that this polish is a little stunner. On the budget side of 'party red' polishes, I still would prefer ELF red velvet, but the advantage with 2true vampish red is that you can find in any Superdrug, whereas Elf is a bit faffy and you need to place an order online and before you know it you end up with £30 in your basket because they have an offer on.





What I like the most about this polish is that it almost gives the illusion of a very  rich glitter polish, but without the grittiness and removal nightmare of a real  glitter polish (I am looking at you Barry M). The finish is very smooth and removal  was a doddle. Had the formula been a little bit thinner, 'Vampish Red'  would have  easily beaten my ultimate favourite nail polish from 2true, the gorgeous lime green. For now Vampish sits comfortably at spot no.2





This polish would be ideal to compliment a vampire, a little red devil, a little red riding hood etc halloween outfit on a  budget. Make sure to apply a base (I had some staining with the lime green polish from  2true), make a point not to overload the brush during application and you'll love it. Vampish Red is a limited edition. I would imagine it'd be gone after Christmas so grab it now while you can.


Oh did I say it was £1.99? s-weet!






p.s
I wouldn't wish to be fussy, but a sparkly green nail polish would have been a lovely addition to the collection my wallet is not complaining though.

Read more ...

Champagnes and Roses NOTD

.
What a fancy title for something which is not really exciting. Please forgive me. About 2 weeks ago, I shared with you my own knock off version of Models Own 'Golden Peach', a miniature polish part of an ridiculous cheap set of 3 polishes (£1.49 to be precise).





I was never going to play with the other 2 polishes from the set, until my friend Sinead from Dainty Dolly Mix asked how I went along with them. So I thought I would quickly swatch them for you.


The first one is a lovely champagne gold. As with Golden Peach, this polish absolutely pongs (is that the right word) but the colour makes up for it. Application was tedious, as it took 4 coats to achieve the coverage you see on the pictures. overall, this polish is definitely worth £0.49p but I would love to find a better quality equivalent for it. The scent is so strong and going through 4 coats of this is not what I would call a pleasurable experience.









The red is not my favourite kind of shade. This is a browny red and I much prefer my red to be brighter. Streaky application, strong scent added to a colour which is just decent would probably lead this polish straight into the bin. I have more delightful red polishes in my collection and I don't really this one.




 


All in all, Champagne Gold and Browny Red didn't even measure up to the beauty of Golden Peach and the latter will always be my favourite from the set.

Read more ...

Christmas Eve Party Makeup and Outfit of the … night

Some of you will know that I’m not too big on Christmas but I do love the parties around it. For me, it’s a blatant excuse to wear extravagant makeup and a bit of fancy dress too. Last night I went out and was a little miss santa for the night.





My makeup is very similar to my little devil makeup from last year (main ingredient being red loose glitter and my splash proof sealer – see tutorial-ish here). 






I wish I could go back and fix the blending on one eye. To be honest, no one noticed it really, and the red glitter distracted the attention. Aww there was this one guy and he went ‘ hey, your red… err… thing (making gestures at this point, pointing towards my eye) is cool. I went ‘did you mean my eyeshadow?’ Bless, they don’t have a clue, don’t they? :)











As for outfit, it was very much recycled: I wore a red top from Jane Norman (bought from ebay years ago), an A-line skirt from Marks and Spencer from 10 years hacked up with scissors to vamp it up a little bit, just one over the knee sock on one legs, fishnets tights from wilkinson’s (seriously, they are the best – don’t bother buying some from posher brands as they are too stretchy) and knee high boots from eBay. The white fluff is a christmas fluffy decoration from BHS stuck on the top with tit tape :) This outfit is a bit on the tarty side, but there so much flesh shown around last night that I actually felt classy haha. I don’t like this picture, i look like I got no neck whatsoever.






Oh and my hat is from eBay. It’s genius, it’s made with a invisible rubber band. Love it.

Read more ...

Festive Nails with Barry M Emerald & Bright Red NOTD

When I think of Christmas, the first colours I think off straight away are red and green. I love Barry M polishes but I have never noticed their shade of 'Emerald Green' (284) before until last week. I nearly bought it and it turned out my colleague owned it and she lent it to me to play around with me for the week end. Of course, I had to show it to you. As usual, with Barry M, the application is a dream and my photos show 2 sloppy coats of polish.







The shimmer in it is to die for. I like the polish applied on its own, but I think the nails look even more lovely  with some kind of Christmassy white or red nail art on it. Don't you think? To achieve full opacity, the nails would benefit with 3 coats, but I don't mind too much showing my white bits on my nails. I can't help but marvel at the pleasure of the Barry M formula on my nails. I really wish they would come up with more shades, more often, as for me the range is predominantly dominated by creme finishes. ( I keep on using the word creme not knowing really what it is, it is when there is no shimmer, effect or duochrome reflects is it?)









Ever wondered what the Barry M bright red (262) feels and looks like applied on the nails? Here are some quick photos. The shine on this is incredible, the polish is super easy to apply but you will need at least 4 coats to achieve full opacity. Here it is with 3 coats and the white still shows through. I usually don’t mind a bit of white tip but with this colour and this finish, I really think it needs 4 coats.






How do I feel with this polish on? This colour is not me at all: too flat (yet super shiny) too loud, too orangey red. I feel a bit like a cheap hooker wearing it really :S







What are your favourite Barry M polishes? Feel free to leave me a link to a blog post featuring Barry M.

Read more ...

Poll & Chrismas Party Nails - Elf 'Red Velvet' NOTD

After my huge disappointment with my first nail polish from ELF (I am convinced I got a dodgy bottle) I didn't expect much at all from £1.50 'Red Velvet' Nail polish from Elf, recently released a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised. The colour and the application is a dream and I can't stop looking at my nails. I love it. Just look at this baby here and look at me in the eyes and tell me it's not gorgeous! Excuse the overdose of pictures, please stay till the end for the poll on elf products and your responses. The following photos show 2 coats of red velvet and 1 coat of seche vite.





I genuinely can't believe how this is only £1.50 and I really want to get some more polishes from elf. I am thinking of moonlight, twinkle and glitter glam, as beautifully swatched by drew692 here.





 


and now for the obligatory claw pose…






While I was having fun playing with Red Velvet, I was asking myself a question and I wanted to know your opinion about it: If Elf products were to be made available in high street shops, let's say superdrug or boots if you live in the UK, do you think you would buy more products from the range? This is what some of my lovely followers on twitter had to say about it. I hope you can read it. If not, click on the picture to enlarge it.





Talking of internet swatches I wanted to show you the reality of 'red velvet' compared to the swatch on internet. Now I have never been more grateful for the beauty community to share their swatches with the world.





Have you blogged about an elf polish yourself? Feel free to leave me the link to your blog post about it, then I can have a nosy ^_^
What about you? If Elf products were to be made available in high street shops, let's say superdrug or boots if you live in the UK, do you think you would buy more products from the range?

Read more ...