Nails Of The Week - Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

We had a secret santa at work last week, it didn't end up being secret at all as we all confessed who had bought what after we had all opened them! I was very happy when I opened my present and pretty much guessed that it had been picked by Kitty's Claws she had picked out two Orly mini's for me! I only have one other Orly colour and it's a matte that I am not that keen on to be honest but I absolutely love the ones she picked out for me. She got me two colours from the Christmas collection, Naughty or Nice which is a very dark purple and Meet Me Under The Mistletoe which is a gorgeous sparkly green and the one I am showing you now. In the bottle it looks like a dark green with Gold glitter but on the nail the gold doesn't really show, the glitter just looks like a lighter shade of green. This is 3 coats with Seche Vite top coat.

With Flash

Without Flash

I really do love this colour, the only thing I am not keen on is the wear of it, I have only had this on for a day and I already have tip wear! Do you have any of the other colours from this collection?

Face of the day, my current favourite!

I'm slowly working my way through all the looks I had photographed but not got round to posting over the last few months! This has become one of my favourite eye shadows combo's lately. Its subtle enough for the daytime but works well for the evenings too! Please ignore the state of my eyebrows, this was just before I got them threaded.

Products Used

Face:
Make Up Forever HD Foundation
Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque
Make Up Forever HD Powder
Nars Laguna Bronzer
Nars Orgasm Blush
Eyes:
UDPP
MAC Vex On Lid
MAC Smoke & Diamonds on outer corners and crease
MAC Blanc Type as Highlight
MAC Black Russian Pearlglide on upper lashline
Covergirl Lashblast Mascara
Lips:
MAC Hot Gossip Lipstick

Mac Tartan Tale haul and face of the day

Hey!

Long time no post! Have had a bit of a mad year and blogging has kind of taken a back burner for awhile. Since I last posted I have completed a foundation course at The Academy Of Freelance Makeup and have got a couple of freelance jobs lined up for next year, fingers crossed it leads on to more.

Anyway on to the subject of this post!! MAC's winter collection "A Tartan Tale" was released in the UK last week and me and my friend headed into Selfridges to take a look. This year they are releasing the collection in two parts so I will be heading back when they bring out the mini pigment sets as there are a couple I want but from chapter 1 I picked up two pearlglide liners in Blackline and Black Swan and The Family Crest pigment.
Here is a quick face of the day I did using two of the new products, please ignore the eyebrows, they are in dire need of threading!

Products Used:

Face:

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Make Up Forever HD Powder

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Illamasqua Hussy Blush

Eyes:

UDPP

MAC Bare Study Paint Pot

MAC The Family Crest on lid,darkest on outer corner and blended across and lightly in the crease

MAC Quarry Eyeshadow blended in to crease

MAC Blanc Type as highlight

MAC Blackline Pearlglide on upper and lower lashline

Covergirl Lashblast Mascara

Lips:
Mac Hot Gossip Lipstick

I am absolutely in love with The Family Crest pigment, it isn't as dark as it looks when swatched and it makes a gorgeous shimmery smokey eye! Have you picked up anything from this collection, what have been your favourites?

Illamasqua Art Of Darkness Collection & Nails Of The Week - Illamasqua Viridian

On Saturday I was one of the lucky bloggers that were invited to attend the launch of the new Illamasqua Art of Darkness Collection. The launch was held at the new Illamasqua store on Beak Street 3 days before the doors opened to the public so it was lovely to be one of the first to look round the shop! It was great to catch up with other bloggers that I haven't really seen since IMATS!

So onto the collection, I absolutely love the imagery used in this collection, I think its my favourite from Illamasqua so far.

The products available in this collection are:
Nail Varnish in Scarab (Deep Metallic Red) & Viridian (Deep Metallic Green)
Pure Pigments in Ore (Golden Bronze) & Alluvium (Golden Lilac Blue)
Powdered Metal in Ether (Pale Gold)
Liquid Metal in Stoic (Gleaming Emerald), Superior (Deep Lapis Lazuli) & Resolute (Rich Russet). These are also available in a 4 colour palette with Solstice.
Precision Ink in Alchemy (Spun Gold) & Abyss (Pure Black)
Intense Lipgloss in Hermetic (Deep Pearl Red)
Lipstick in Disciple (Matte Navy Blue)
Flase Eyelashes No 26 & 27

I absolutely love both the pigments available in this collection and will definately be picking them up.
As we were leaving we were given a goody bag and I received the Nail Varnish in Viridian and Lipgloss in Hermetic.






I put Viridian straight on my nails on Sunday and it's still going strong 4 days later.

With Flash

In Direct Sunlight

I am completely in love with this colour, it was the one thing from the collection I was desperate for so was really happy it was in my goody bag! Is there anything you will be picking up from this collection?

Nars Haul

Slowly starting to catch up all the posts I've been meaning to do for the last couple of months!
I am a sucker for Nars eyeshadow duo's and after a particularly bad day at work I headed into John Lewis and picked up Tzarine & Rajasthan eyeshadow duos and Palladium soft touch shadow pencil. The guy on the counter convinced me into letting him try a few things on me which resulted in me standing outside John Lewis with a tissue trying to rub it all off, I never have much luck with Nars counter staff! So anyway on to the swatches

Left to Right: Tzarine, Rajasthan, Blackened green from Rajasthan over Palladium, Palladium

I absolutely love Tzarine and have used it loads since I picked it up, it looks gorgeous with the champagne colour over the inner half of the lid and the darker colour blended on the rest of the lid and crease.

Did you pick up anything from this collection?

Nails Of The Week - OPI Catch Me In Your Net

First post in a long time!! I am going to be back to normal soon I promise!
This is OPI's Catch Me In Your Net which in the bottle looks like a beautiful blue with green sparkles. On the nails it's a bit odd. In some lights it looks a flat blue, in others the green sparkle shows through and in some lights it just looks green!
Here are a few pictures in different lighting conditions.

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight (You can see the green shimmer more here)

In the shade, here it just looks green with shimmer.

I am really not sure how much I like this, it is pretty in some lights but not all the time and it really stained my nails and was a nightmare to remove. I think this one might be relegated to the back of the draw!

Mac In The Groove Haul

This is the first MAC collection I have been interested in for ages, I was really tempted to pick up a blush and MSF but in the end I settled for two of the eyeshadow trios.

I picked Togetherness and Calm, Cool & Collected.

Togetherness is a pale lavender, dark purple with blue shimmer and a shimmery grey.

Calm, Cool & Collected is a gorgeous trio of greens, I had no intention of buying this one but once I had swatched it I fell in love! It's a pale white/green, frosty mint green and a darker forest green.

Both of these trios are nicely pigmented and apply really nicely. Will post a face of the day using these in the next week! Did you pick up anything from this collection?

Nails Of The Week - OPI Funky Dunkey

My first nails of the week in a long time is one that I received as a gift from a friend. This is OPI's Funky Dunkey which came out as part of the Shrek Collection.
It's an absolutely gorgeous purple cream but its an absolute nightmare to photograph!
Neither of these photos are 100% true to colour. The first one is in natural light and makes it look a lot more blue than it does in reality.

The second is taken indoors with flash and this is more true to colour but still a tad lighter.

Wear on this was great, I had it on for 5 days and only had minor tip wear. I have been testing out the Sally Hansen quick dry top coat, will review it properly once I've given it a fair try!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

The American haul!

Hey!

I am so sorry that I have taken so long to post this, life has been kinda hectic since I got back from holiday! I promise that I will be back to my regular posting schedule by the end of this week!
Anyway lets get straight on to the good stuff, here are the goodies I brought back with me from the States!

The Nail Polish

 

Milani Holos, OPI Suedes and my first Essie's

Some MAC goodies from the CCO, Mineralise blush duo, Eyeshadow and Metal X cream shadow

 

Lots of Macara, Covergirl lipstains, Revlon lipstick, ELF lipstain and Jessie's Girl pigments

Kat Von D Sinner perfume, Korres set, Make Up Forever HD Blush, Laura Mercier Concealer and the freebies!

Just a quick overview of what I brought back, I will review the products properly once I have had a chance to use them all. If there is anything you would particularly like to see a review off please let me know!

Apologies and Excuses!!!

Firstly I want to apologise for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, things have been incredibly hectic and I just haven't been able to get online!
I am actually on holiday at the moment, I'm typing this from my friends house in San Diego!
Expect a big haul post when I get back and then hopefully service will return to normal!!

Beauty Blog Link Love - Sunday 25th April

Curious about the new Balanciaga Paris fragrance? So was Rae, over at theNotice -- but she's since quenched that curiosity. (And fallen in love while doing so!)

Beautyjunkielondon finds a perfect coral nail shade for spring, by Rimmel.



Sarah has found a new anti-aging moisturizer and eye cream and shockingly... they actually work!

It's a plane, no, it's a monster (well actually, yes), no -- it's just Jeweled Thumb's enormous coiffure! Be scared, be very scared.

Red lips are always high on The Lip Print's agenda - check out her latest obsession, Lipstick Queen Medieval.

Louise takes a look at the Guerlain Summer Limited Editions this week, and is surprised at what she sees.

Phyrra's Indie Spotlight for April is Glamour Doll Eyes. Find out all about Vee, the owner of GDE!

As Lime Crime's ultra bright lipsticks finally hit the UK high street, Lipglossiping puts them under the spotlight!



Krasey Beauty tours the exclusive Tokidoki collection for Sephora, and has the swatches to prove it!



Madame B Fatale shows you how to create an up-do suitable for day and night



Might as well face it -- Cindy from Prime Beauty is addicted to Dior .

Amy Antoinette tries epilating for the first time.

PinkSith talks taupe with MAC Greasepaint Stick in Dirty.


In the hunt for a wasabi green nail polish? Hell Candy Make Up discovered a new shade by Barry M. Like it or loathe it?


Yinnie reviews the unsuspecting formula that is the Estee Lauder Total Make-up Remover.




***


Win a full set of ELLIS FAAS makeup, no strings attached, on beautywoome this month.

Want to win Audrey Dao's April Reader of the Month Giveaway? Just leave a comment and you're entered!

Face Of The Day - Neutral Eye With Urban Decay

This is actually the face of Sunday and the eye makeup is a look that I do regularly when I don't have a huge amount of time. I used the Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow palette. These photos were taken in the hotel bathroom again so are with flash which has washed out the colours a little bit.

Products Used

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

MAC MSF Natural

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Illamasqua Hussy Blusher

Eyes:

UDPP
UD Scratch on inner third of lid

UD Shag on rest of lid

UD Underground on outer corner and crease

UD Peace under lower lashline

MAC Shroom as highlight (It's the only thing missing in the palette!)

MAC Blitz & Glitz Fluidline

Covergirl Lashblast Luxe Mascara

Lips:
MAC Viva Glam Gaga

The lipstick suffered the most in these pictures, its much brighter in reality. This is the first pale pink that I think I can actually pull off and felt comfortable wearing.
I really love the Urban Decay Deluxe Palette, I have had it for about a year and I use it all the time, there is a really nice selection of colours and none of them have any glitter just a lovely shimmer/sheen. This is a great way of trying out the Deluxe formula without shelling out £12.50 on one colour!
Do you have this palette? Any colour combinations you love?

Face of Saturday Night using Mac Shadowy Lady Quad

Me and my Mum went to Nottingham for the weekend, it was so nice just to have a change of scene and the opportunity to just chill out! I had a holostic facial while I was there which was lovely.
The Shadowy Lady quad is another thing that I picked up from the CCO, I had a couple of comments asking where CCO's are in the UK, the one I went to was at Gunn Wharf in Portsmouth but there are a few around, they tend to be in outlet malls, some of the McarthurGlen ones have a Cosmetic Company Store, click here to visit their website and you can check the locations, not all malls have a Cosmetic Company Store so make sure you check the particular mall before you head out there!
These photos were taken in my hotel bathroom and the light was awful so these are with flash.

Products Used:
Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

Maybelline Mineral Concealer

MAC MSF Natural

Illamasqua Hussy Blush

Nars Laguna Bronzer

MAC Shell Cream Colour Base

Eyes:

UDPP

MAC Smudged Violet on Lid

MAC Shadowy Lady in crease and outer corner

MAC Shroom as highlight

MAC Deep Truth under lower lashes

Smashbox brow powder

MAC Blitz & Glitz Fluidline

Covergirl Lashblast Luxe

Lips

MAC Viva Glam Cyndi

I absolutely love Viva Glam Cyndi, its such a gorgeous colour and I can see myself using this all the time. As always if there is anything in that list you want to see a review of then please let me know!

Beauty Blog Link Love - Saturday 20th March

Over at theNotice, Rae shares an amazingly pigmented bright blue eye -- done with shadows from the drugstore!



This week, Louise gets an (almost!) exclusive look at a Lancome mascara that has them queuing down the aisles in Harrods, and promises better lashes in a month.



Yinnie Dances with the fairies with her fairy inspired EOTD.



Phyrra dishes with Britton from Haus of Gloi for this month's Indie Spotlight at Fresco Phyrra.


Blaq Vixen Beauty decides to treat her skin to a Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector Regimen!



Retrodiva checks out three new innovative drugstore foundations. See which ones she would recommend!


Krasey Beauty takes a trip across the pond to bring you complete swatches and a review of MAC's newest, Give Me Liberty of London.



Looking for a great cream eyeliner that won't break the bank? Lipglossiping may have just the thing...



Sophie from melovemakeup talks about how much she loves Trilogy's Everything Balm.

TheLipPrint adds a little more Allure to her life with Chanel.

Michelle at Lipstick Rules laments her Liberty Of London lipstick purchases... but then finds a way to make it work!

Check out the swatches of Yummy Mummy by butter LONDON at Makeup4All.


Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed falls in love with the 10 year anniverary editions of Lancôme Juicy Tubes!

Follow Jellyminx's step-by-step tutorial for a pinky-coral look for Spring.


Over at Music and Make Up, Jo celebrates her birthday with a purple smokey eye courtesy of MAC's Violet Pigment.



***


Beautywoome has a giveaway with Europe's coolest new beauty brand. Win 1 of 10 Ellis Faas Ellis Red lipsticks.

Audrey Dao is giving away $89 worth of Napolean Perdis makeup as part of her 1 year blog anniversary.

Mz More at The Glamorous Gleam is having a giveaway in honor of her 200+ Followers. Check out the goodies galore!


Cindy from Prime Beauty gives you the Golden Ticket to win a Bliss "Best of Bliss Set".



Hope you enjoyed this week's Link Love! See you soon :)

-------------------------------------------------------

Nails Of The Week - H&M My Favourite Jeans

This is the other colour I picked up from H&M last week. This is a gorgeous grey/blue with multicoloured shimmer, there is pink, green, blue, silver and probably more that I can't pick up in this lighting! Altogether it gives a lovely effect. This one took 3 coats and I did put a layer of Leighton Denny top coat on. I have had it on for the last 3 days and have no chips and not even any real tip wear!

Without Flash

With Flash

You can see the effect of the shimmer here but not really all the colours that are in there, this really is a colour that you need to see for yourself.

Face Of My Birthday - Purple Smokey Eyes

It was my birthday last Thursday, it was an incredibly weird birthday as it was the first major date since I seperated from my husband (That's the reason I haven't been around much). But I still had a nice day with my Family and was spoilt.
On Friday night me and my friend Penny went to TGI Fridays and had a bit of a bar crawl around Covent Garden, I decided on a purple smokey eye and I pulled out MAC Violet Pigment which is a colour I love but I have never really used.
I really love this pigment and I can see myself doing this look regularly for a night out.
As this look was really all about the eyes I kept the rest of my face pretty neutral. All photos with flash.

Products Used:
Face:

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

Make Up Forever HD Foundation

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Babara Daly for Tesco Concealer

Make Up Forever HD Powder

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Nars Orgasm Blush

MAC Shell CCB as highlight

Eyes:

UDPP

MAC Violet Pigment on lid, in crease and under lower lashes

MAC Black Tied Eyeshadow blended in crease and outer third

MAC Blanc Type as highlight

MAC Black Russian Eyeliner

Mac Lashes (Have no idea of the number!)

Covergirl Lashblast Luxe Mascara

Lips:
Estee Lauder Crystal Pink Lipstick

What do you think? I am always drawn to purple shadows/pigments but find I don't use them as much as I should! I have to say my eyes were so tired by the end of the night, contact lenses and false lashes when I don't regularly wear either were driving me mad! Things are starting to calm down a bit now so hopefully I will be back to my regular posting!

Nails Of The Week - H&M Goddess On Stage

I have posted about the H&M Holo polishes before but I hadn't tried the regular line until I picked up this and one other colour last week, they were £2.99 each.
This is a gorgeous purple shot through with a very fine pink and blue shimmer. It's absolutely gorgeous and I got so many compliments on it. This is two coats and it's completely opaque. I wore this for 3 days with no top coat and had no chips and only minor tip wear.

This picture is with flash but is pretty true to colour, all the ones I took without flash looked black and it doesn't look that way in reality at all. It doesn't look black in any lights but the shimmer is more noticable in sunlight or bright artifical light.

This one shows of the shimmer quite well.

Have you tried any H&M Polishes?

Mac Haul - Viva Glam Cyndi & Gaga Lip Swatches

I haven't bought anything from the last few mac collections as nothing really caught my eye, I did look at the blush ombres but I didn't take any home. But as soon as I saw the promo images for the new Viva Glams I knew I needed them! I was very dissapointed when I went to MAC on the first Thursday and they didn't have them! So Monday lunch time I headed straight there to pick them up. I was given a high five by the MA which was slightly odd but it was launch day! There is also a competition to win tickets to see Lady Gaga in Paris you can enter when you purchase. All the money from the sale of these lipsticks goes to the MAC AIDS fund so I felt justified buying yet more lipstick!
These photos are taken under artifical light without flash so look slightly lighter than they are in reality.

First up Viva Glam Gaga

I am surprised how wearable this is for me. I have pretty pigmented lips and most pale pinks look awful on my skintone. I have Colour Crafted and never wear it as it looks horriblel! This is a gorgeous milky pink, because its a lustre formula you can build up the colour or just one or two swipes for a subtle colour. This has a lovely sheen to it so doesn't really need a gloss on top.

Viva Glam Cyndi

This is the one I was most looking forward to. It's a gorgeous coral red and I absolutely love it! This is two layers of colour and I think it is so wearable. It's a colour that I think would suit most skin tones. If you are not brave enough for a full on red this is a great alternative. Again it has a gorgeous sheen to it so no gloss required.

Viva Glam Cyndi & Gaga Mixed

 

Together these lipsticks make a gorgeous light coral. I think this is perfect for daytime if you want a bit of colour but nothing to over the top. They mixed together really easily.

Have you picked up either of these? Any thoughts?

Face of Sunday - Bronze and Burgundy

On Sunday I decided to straighten my hair for the first time in about a year, honestly I don't like it straight! I used to do this everyday and I really have no idea why! My hair is so fine that when I straighten it it's just so flat, I prefer my curls! Anyway on to the makeup, I decided I wanted to use products I don't always reach for and so this is the result, I'm not sure about it actually. I changed the lip product before the photos as once again I couldn't find the one I was wearing earlier and I fancied playing with the Lip Tars but the look would have been better with a more neutral lip.

With Flash

Without Flash

Products Used:

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation shade 1 Vanilla (Full review to come but first impressions are not good!)

Mac Prep & Prime Powder transparent finishing powder

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Illamasqua Hussy Blush (Absolutely love this, review to come!)

Eyes:
UDPP

MAC Sable Eyeshadow On Lid and lower lash line

MAC Heritage Rouge Pigment in crease and outer third of lid and lower lash line

MAC Shroom to highlight

Stila Smudge Pot in Black on upper lash line

Covergirl Lashblast Mascara

Lips:

Occ Lip Tars in NSFW & Hush mixed together

Hope everyone's week is going well, its my birthday tomorrow and I'm going to see Alice In Wonderland, really looking forward to it! Have you seen it?