Nails Of The Week - Ombre With OPI

This was my first attempt at Ombre nails and I really like how it turned out, I had put on two coats of OPI Designer..De Better the day before and I had managed to chip the tips on a couple of nails so decided to give ombre a try using OPI Schnapps Out Of It. I used a washing up sponge cut into 4 pieces and then painted a strip of the base colour and the tip colour next to each other on a plastic wallet and used a cocktail stick to blend the middle. I then pressed the sponge on to the polish then dabbed it on the nail. I think this combination actually went together quite well.

I am definitely going to try this again, I think I will use 3 shades of the same colour and see how that turns out.

Day Out At London Zoo

Last week we went to London Zoo, I hadn't been there for about 4 years and I couldn't wait to see what had changed. I very much have a love/hate relationship with zoos as I know they are incredibly important for conservation but I also feel bad that these amazing wild animals are stuck in cages. I am happy to say that a lot of the cages are bigger now and the animals seemed happier than when I was there before. There is a new bigger Tiger enclosure opening next year so I will definitely be going back to see that. Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day.

The Zebra's had been given a ball filled with food that they had to knock round to get the pellets out of. It did look like they were playing football at one point!

The Meerkats are my favourite, they are just so cute. They all stopped and looked up every time an aeroplane went over, it was so funny, I would have thought they would be used to them!

The new Penguin beach is awesome! Such a nice space for them and so much better than what they had before. If you haven't had a chance to go and see it yet then I highly recommend it.

There are a lot of new "open" enclosures now where you actually get to go in with the animals, it means you can get some great photos without the bars getting in the way. You do have to be careful though, especially with the monkeys as they bite!

It really was a great day, we got there not long after it opened and stayed till closing time and still didn't manage to see everything so you really do get a full day out which makes it worth the money. We are taking my Dad to Colchester zoo next week so will post some photos from there. Do you have a favourite zoo animal?

Urban Decay Smoked Palette Look 3 - Rock Star

Here is the third look from the Urban Decay Smoked Palette Look Book, the first two looks you can see here and here, this was the one that I couldn't wait to do as purple is my favourite colour and I definitely consider myself a rock chic! Urban Decay describe it as "There's a wanna-be groupie in all of us and this is the makeup she wears...drop-dead gorgeous, sexy and alluring" Again I skipped lining my waterline as I was going out and I didn't want to take my liner with me.

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Products Used:
Face:

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Peach

Shu Uemura Colourless Setting Powder

Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment as Contour

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Mac Posey Blushcreme

Benefit Highbeam Highlighter

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

24/7 Glide On Pencil in Perversion on outer thirds of upper and lower lash lines then smudged

Rockstar on lid and under lower lashes

Asphalt in crease

Freestyle to blend out crease

Blackout blended tightly into the crease

Kinky as highlight

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Lips:

Clinique Chubby Stick in Whopping Watermelon

I am loving trying out all these looks so far, the book is so detailed and easy to follow. There are 9 more looks still to go!

Urban Decay Smoked Palette Look 2 - Smoldering

This is the second look from the Urban Decay Smoked Palette look book, check out the first one here, this one was really easy to apply. Urban Decay describe this one as "Great for a sexy look that works at the office and transitions right into after-hours activities." The only step I didn't follow was to line my waterlines with black liner, as I was wearing this in the daytime I decided to skip this step as I find it can look a bit too heavy on my eyes for during the day.

 With Flash

Without Flash

Products Used:

Face:

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

Benefit Erase Paste

Shu Uemura Colourless Setting Powder

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Mac Fleur Power Blush

Mac Emphasise Highlighter

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion

Barlust on lids, crease and under lower lashes

Freestyle to blend out the crease

Kinky as highlight

24/7 Glide On Pencil in Perversion smudged on outer thirds of upper and lower lash lines

17 Blow Out Mascara

Lips:

Clinique Chubby Stick in Whopping Watermelon

Urban Decay Smoked Palette Look 1 - Iconic

One of the best things about the new Urban Decay Smoked palette is the look book that comes with it. As I said in my initial review I am going to try and work my way through the book and post the looks as I do them. I am not sure on the rules regarding posting photos of the actual book so I have listed what I used and where, obviously in the book itself the instructions are much more detailed and are very easy to follow. This is the Iconic look which Urban Decay describe as "The gold standard UD smoky look: Dramatic, Gorgeous, Statement Making."

 With Flash

Without flash

Products Used:

Face:

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

Benefit Erase Paste

Shu Uemura Colourless Setting Powder

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Nars Orgasm Blush

No7 Highlighter

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Mushroom on lid, crease and under lower lashes

Backdoor blended on outer third, crease and outer corner of lower lashes

Freestyle used to blend the crease

Blackout blended on half of upper and lower lash lines

Kinky as brow highlight

Perversion 24/7 Liner smudged on upper and lower lash lines and waterlines

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Lips:
Mac Hue Lipstick

Mac Bubble Tea Plush Glass

Urban Decay Smoked Palette Review and Swatches

My Mum got this palette for me last week and I have to say I love it! It makes such a change to the Naked palette and I love smokey colours. I was slightly put off getting it at first as a I already have 4 of the colours from other palettes but I am glad I did as I did some comparison swatches and they are different.
Anyway on to the pictures

The palette comes in a zip case which is different from previous ones but I actually really like it, it's safe and secure. There is a decent sized mirror in the lid. You also get a mini primer potion, a full size 24/7 glide on pencil in Perversion and an amazing look book, the instructions are so detailed. I am going to try and work through the book and post the looks as I do them. All of the swatches below are dry without primer.

 From left to right Kinky, Freestyle and Mushroom

 Mushroom, Backdoor and Blackout

 Barlust, Rockstar and Evidence

Evidence, Loaded and Asphalt

Kinky: A gorgeous highlight shade, this is a matte colour but isn't chalky at all.

Freestyle: A subtle matte brown, great for blending

Mushroom: An absolutely stunning taupe, incredibly pigmented and blends like a dream

Backdoor: A matte dark brown, it's slightly more powdery than the other mattes but still nicely pigmented and blendable.

Blackout: One of the most intense matte blacks I have tried.

Barlust: A gorgeous medium bronzey brown, very pigmented and absolutely gorgeous.

Rockstar: A slightly red toned purple, again very pigmented.

Evidence: A navy blue shimmer shade, this is the least pigmented of all the colours but is still decent.

Loaded: A blackened green, this is stunning and blends beautifully.

Asphalt: A gunmetal shade with gorgeous multicoloured shimmer.

I already had Mushroom, Rockstar, Evidence and Loaded from previous palettes so did some comparison swatches, Smoked palette on the left and older ones on the right

There is a huge difference between these two, the swatch on the right is from one of the BOS and as you can see it is much lighter and browner. The new version of this shadow is more intense and a lot more pigmented.

 Not much difference between these two although the newer version was a tad more pigmented.

 Again no real difference here, it felt as though the new version applied a bit easier but the end result is pretty much the same.

This was the only shade that is not as good as a previous release. The swatch on the right is from the 15th Anniversary palette and it is much more pigmented.

Overall I am very happy with this palette, it's such a nice mix of colours and will be perfect for travelling. Have you been tempted by this palette?

Olympic Themed Nails

I don't know about you but I have been totally caught up with Olympic Fever! I live very near to the Olympic Park and to be honest I was dreading it as I thought it would be chaos but actually it hasn't been too bad and I have loved every minute of watching the games, unfortunately just on the TV but I have tickets to 4 Paralympic events so at least I have that to look forward to.
After all the Gold medals Team GB managed to get over the weekend I was inspired to do some Olympic themed nails. Now these were free handed so are not perfect but I am really happy with the way they turned out.

I really struggled doing my left hand but it turned out okay. I used Illamasqua Propaganda as a base on my thumbs and little fingers and Illamasqua Caress on the other fingers. I then used the 17 Cosmetics Best Of British nail art set to do the Union Jacks and the ribbons for the medals and the Hot Metals nail art set for the gold, silver and bronze medals. These are great kits as the bottles of polish have a really fine striper brush which is perfect for nail art and the best thing is these sets are only £5! They are limited edition so if you see them I definitely recommend picking them up.

If you have done an Olympic themed manicure please leave me your links below as I would love to see them!