Things I am loving - nails

I finally feel like I might be back into the swing of blogging!

I have bought a fair bit recently and each time thought that maybe I should blog and then either not had the time or the inclination so this is a bit of a catch up.

First up, still obsessing over my nails.  I have a vertical split in the nail on my middle finger on my right hand which I cannot grow out - all the while the nail doesn't flake it holds itself together but when the nail flakes, as it always eventually does, the split appears.  This last time I actually clipped my nail as short as possible to get below the split and it hasn't really worked.  Because I can not abide nails of differing lengths I have taken all the others back to very short too, not that they were any great talons to begin with.  I actually prefer them very short, especially if I am wearing a dark polish, which is handy given how much they flake!  So nail purchases:

Love that its now possible to buy Essie in Boots.  On a recent 3 for 2 promotion I picked up Good to Go top coat and Nourish Me base coat.  The base coat is the blue bottle, its a nice thin liquid base which works for me as I am not a fan of goopy base coats.  The top coat is thicker and dries to that touchably glossy finish that makes your nails feel really smooth - ideal for nails that have flaked.

Recent trip to a larger Boots store saw me standing pretty much open mouthed in front of a massive Revlon Colourstay stand.  So much pretty all in one place!  In the end I managed to pick up just two colours but I have my eye on, oh, about 30 more. 

I didn't read up on these until after I had purchased, apparently used with the Colourstay base and top coat they are supposed to last up to 10 days and are a diy shellac sort of thing.  I only have the polishes which I am using with the Essie top and base and wear is good - I get bored after about 2 days so longevity in my mani is not top priority. Really great colour is however and this range is falling down with stunners.  Rain Forest is a dark green jelly with lighter green glitter it is stunning on the nail, opaque in 3 coats and dark dark green, but still distincly green, not erring into that territory where it could be black.  I think it could be similar to a China Glaze polish, Emerald City, which I have always loved the look of.  Pics of it on the nail to follow.  Midnight is a beautiful teal - purchased before the whole colour exploration of this week, yet another example of having around me the colours that work without realising!  I love this because I have red hands and the teal makes them look like alabaster!  Pics of that mani to follow too.  The polishes are pretty thick and have a self levelling property that is an absolute blessing if you are cursed with peeling nails - currently my thumb nail is in tatters but you'd never know with this on.  On the downside I hate the brushes, never had a Revlon polish with a rubbish brush and now I have two! The shaft of the brush is flat and wide which made me think the brush would be a bit like the lovely Rimmel curved, wide xpress Flat Brush, sadly not. The brushes do have a longer bit but rather than it being in the middle to create a curve its on one side which makes getting neat cuticles a complete mare. But the colours and the self-levelling are so fab I will be buying more!  

Have you tried these and if so what do you think?

EOTD - GOSH Green & Revlon Blue

When I bought the GOSH green eye shadow I had always intended it to go with the Revlon matt blue.  This morning seemed as good a time as any to give it a whirl!

Really pleased with how this one turned out, it was exactly what I had in mind - always nice when that happens!

Gad knows why I appear to have a jaunty eye in this pic!

Have to say I do think the Revlon orange lip gloss I quite fancied would have been good with this, although when I mentioned it to Em this morning she rolled her eyes and said "you aren't starting that whole orange thing again are you?" so maybe not!

GOSH - Golden Green & Coral single eye shadow.

Have been a crap blogger of late and its not for want of things to post! As I have the attention span of a slug and always love my newest thing most I am starting with my newest thing, which means there are lots of week old things on my bedside table which are currently feeling a tad disgruntled. So be it.

Em and I went to the Trafford Centre yesterday and I found my Summer perfume, I think - fell in love with Acqua Di Parma Colonia Edc although at the mo its a toss up between that and Eau de Sisley 1, so going to have to drag him to TC and do a squirt on each arm and let him decide, suspect he will think the Colonia is too strident and masculine, whilst I think the Sisley might be too floral, will keep you posted!

Newest thing; have had a craving for a lime eye shadow since I bought the matt blue Revlon one, just knew the lime would ramp things up a bit and make sure the blue never managed to look frosty and frumpy, which is a permanent terror.  Not sure if the GOSH single eye shadows are new, they looked it?  Fell instantly in love with Golden Green, which whilst not lime is a bright but wearable green.  Have also been going through a massive orange phase of late and had an urge for a peachy coral eye shadow, on the basis that it could lift my beloved UD Naked palette into new heights for Spring Summer, see how much thought I give this stuff?!  For one brief moment I hemmed and hawed; green or coral? Then gave myself a mental slap - at £4.99 each whats to decide!

Love the shiny boxes, packaging magpie that I am! Love whats inside them even more.

At the mo the offer is a free velvet eye liner with each mono shadow so I picked up Ocean Mist for me and a black to give to Em.

When we left Superdrug I had a dab of coral and a dab of golden green on my hand with a slick of the blue eye liner and they were tweaking something in my memory but I struggled to place it, and then it came to me - Butter London Spring Summer 2011 collection! Bright green that looks like new leaves, pinky shade for blossom and grey blue for April showery skies - I had bought the eye equivalent! 

I had originally planed to pair these with blue and browns, but once the Butter London collection planted itself in my head I felt the need to do an eye using all three!

Excuse the shocking eye brows!  I was really pleased with how this turned out and was feeling fab til I was in Co-op with OH and he turned to speak to me and said "god, with the light on  your eyes I can really see that eye shadow. I didn't realise quite how much you had put on".  Try as I might I struggled to find a positive in that to be honest! As he knows nothing about anything I decided just to ignore him!

The shadows are lovely to work with, nicely pigmented, soft and blendable without being crumbly and not at all chalky.  They both have some gold in them, I hesitate to use the word shimmer, I don't think either really shimmer, more of a satin finish maybe?

You can see the gold in both quite well in this photo.   I put the shadows over UDPP and they have lasted all day, no creasing or fading and I am really pleased with them and plan to add some more colours to my collection next time I am shopping.


A quick note on the velvet pencils - wow. These are £4.99 if you aren't buying a shadow and again they are fab, really creamy soft and smudgeable if thats your wish. The range of colours is exactly what we have come to expect of GOSH, was really torn between the blue and a darker purple that was gorgeous but in the end was glad I went for the blue, have a hankering for a nice bright violet too now! Em loved the black one and has gone out tonight with it smudged all round her eyes and damn sexy it looks too!


As if all that wasn't enough I have found that Coral makes the most fantastic blush! Had a swoop round with a big brush and Robert is your dad's brother, lovely! 

 

Filthy Gorgeous - Blah

Isn't this lush?!  The lovely Jane at Modesty Brown very kindly offered to post this to me when I commented on her post about the Filthy Gorgeous nail varnishes, she had tried this and whilst she liked the application it wasn't a colour she felt she would wear.  I have recently bought a black and lime dress from Wallis and had thought a lime polish with it would look fab!

Tiny dress pic borrowed from Wallis.co.uk

Black leggings and heels complete the look!  Steve was aghast when he saw the dress but liked it on.  Jane and I negotiated a swop - her lime polish for a Botanics face brush, I bought a spare last time I was in Boots and I am really glad I did - Jane was more than happy just to post the polish but I was much happier to do it as a swop.

I absolutely love the colour of this although I know its not going to be everyones cup of tea - Em thinks its vile!  What I really like is that it has that slightly murky look to it so its not lime in your face its more of a light swampy green.  I may not be selling this to you!

Even if you don't like the colour you have to love the lace on the bottle top.

Application is pretty good - streaky on 1st coat, a bit more level on 2nd but does need a 3rd at that point it is nice and opaque and very glossy, although I suspect I may regret my decision to apply without a base coat, strongly suspect I am going to have seriously yellow nails to deal with when I take this off.  The top photo is very colour accurate.

This one is taken in bright light when the polish does look more lime than swamp.

 Back in shade - almost more glowingly neon than my nails are my rather red hands, lurvely!  I do think this would look amazing with a tan and perhaps when I am not wearing my lime and black dress it might be best on toe rather than finger nails, although I am wearing it today with an all black outfit - what Steve calls my Italian widow look! - and really like the flash of colour it gives.

Just to show you how well it sits with my usual make up, one last photo - lol!!!

NOTD - Art of Darkness mani!

My asos delivery arrived this morning. £11.50 with free next day delivery for Scarab (Red) and Viridian (Green).  These are two luscious nail varnishes that are going to get some serious wear and for some reason they cry out to be used in a slightly off the wall kind of a way, hence the little green nail on the end - doing them all in Scarab seemed a bit of a waste!  Am now considering Viridian nail with Scarab tip.

Maybe asos had run out of really big boxes?!

Am going to take some pics with my proper camera this eve but wanted to get these up asap.

Both with top coat

 With regard to application, smooth and opaque in 2 thin coats.  Scarab brush is fantastic; narrow, straight, firm but flexible.  Viridian's is a bit crap tbh it is really really long - will try and get pic of how much longer and as a result errs on the side of moppy, would not have been impressed had I paid £13 for Viridian and got this brush, as I paid less than I would have for a Revlon polish and the colour is so stunning I am going to overlook it!  These dry to a lovely satin finish but its not til you add a top coat that they really come to life.  These feel like they are going to wear really well, I think thats down to being able to apply 2 thin coats, much less chippy than great wodges of polish.
Today is a happy nail day!

UNE - Khaki eye shadow

Getting into this whole eye shadow thing now! Decided to dig out the UNE Khaki that I bought ages ago to see how that would work as a subtle day look. Very pleased, it's enough to look made up without looking over done. That said having seen the photos not sure that matt eye shadow is the way to go on aged crepe'y eye lids!