Wednesday 21 March 2012

NOTD OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

Hi Guys!

Another OPI NOTD today! This is one of my favourite polishes from OPI, as I am a big fan of darker coloured nails.  This is a very dark, inky aubergine colour which looks practically black on the nails but when the light hits it you can see the reddish-purple tones through it.  The photos with the flash show this best.

Without Flash
With Flash

Close up with Flash
 As usual with OPI, this wears excellently.  The application of this is also brilliant - it's almost opaque with 1 coat but I always put on 2 coats anyway! Love it! :-)

Thursday 8 March 2012

GOSH Bargains

Hi Guys!

I was in my local pharmacy the other day and found a few good bargains in a little sale basket there, so I thought I would share!




First up, I finally got my hands on a bottle of Gosh Holographic Nail Polish.  I have been keeping an eye out for ages for a stray bottle of this but could never get one until now!  I can't wait to try it out and I'll pop up a little nail of the day when I do!

I also got a lipliner pencil and an eyeliner pencil:

The eyeliner is in Copper Girl and the lipliner is in the shade Nougat Crisp.  Now I have been after Nougat Crisp for a while as the Irish YouTuber LittleKiva always uses it (check out her channel here), and I thought it looked like a good neutral shade.  Coppergirl is a gorgeous metallic coppery brown which is a really good colour with my blue eyes, and the consistency of this is so soft and velvety. Swatch time:

Top is Copper Girl, middle is Nougat Crisp heavily swatched and bottom is a normal thin line of Nougat Crisp.

I don't know why these were in a bargain basket, maybe they have been discontinued (I know Holographic is), but I saw both liners in another shop today at full price so I'm not sure what it's all about! Anyway, they all cost me £2 each so quite the bargain! Let me know if any of you see any GOSH items on sale like this anywhere near you!

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Fake Bake Spray Tan

For todays post, I want to tell you all about my favourite spray tan ever!

Now I have tried plenty of fake tan brands in the past, and if I'm doing my own fake tan at home I currently tend to use Xen Tan, which I love (I will do a review in a future post).  If I am getting a spray tan done though I always go for Fake Bake because it suits me so well and never lets me down!  Last weekend, I had a spray tan done and I thought I would share the results with you.
This tan is quite moist on the skin for about 3 to 5 mins after application but at that stage it is dry enough to get dressed again and after about half an hour it is totally dry.  The guide colour is quite dark but not at all 'dirty' looking like some brands can be and to be honest you can go about your daily business without looking ridiculous! The next morning I showered off the guide colour et voila I was left with a gorgeous olive coloured tan - no streaks or patchiness in sight!  I thought I would show you the results on my arm and leg:




 

I've tried a few other brands of spray tans but none have the same end result as this.  It also fades really well and I think I might try the lotion for home application soon to how I get on with it!

Monday 5 March 2012

Collective Beauty Haul

Hi Guys!

I have purchased a few beauty related items over the last few weeks so I thought I would show you them all together in a collective haul.  I'm just going to list them with prices and where I bought them in today's post, and I will follow up with reviews once I've used them for a little while!



Left to right, I bought:

Real Techniques stippling brush £11.99 and Eco Tools eyeshadow brush which was around £7, both from Boots.  First impressions of both of these brushes is good - they are very soft and dense and I can't wait to use them!

OPI Muppets Collection mini set of 4 polishes from the collection. I got this from Sallys and it cost me around £10.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 3W1 Tawny.  I love the finish and lasting power of Double Wear.  I have this in 3N1 Ivory Beige but it was too pink for me so I got it in Tawny as it is the warmer toned colour of the same intensity and it seems to be a far better match for me so far! This was £26.50 in Debenhams.

I also bought myself a new bottle of my favourite perfume, Armani Code, from The Perfume Shop.  I want to take a little time to tell you about the offer the Perfume Shop have on at the moment.  They have this thing called a Viva Box, which includes samples of 7 different popular fragrances and a little perfume atomiser:


Also in the box is a voucher which you can then exchange for a full size bottle of any of the sampled fragrances.  The box costs £34.99 and considering that you are getting a full-sized bottle of perfume plus 6 other samples and an atomiser bottle, this is great value!  Especially since Armani Code is normally £39.99 for this size of a bottle.  I'm pretty sure they have a couple of different boxes too, with different samples in each one.

Finally in the far right of the top picture, I got a new tube of Lancome Hypnose mascara.  This is my favourite mascara at the moment and I have bought it 3 or 4 times before so it is a long time favourite as well. I'm a bit of a mascara junkie and buy too many of them but this is the only one I have repurchased so many times!

Saturday 3 March 2012

Primark Eye Make Up Remover Pads

Today I thought I would write a post on these Primark fragrance free eye make-up remover pads that I picked up last week.


I was wandering through Penneys/Primark when I spotted these and decided to try them out seeing that they were only €1.50 for a twin pack.  Well I'm sorry to say I should have kept my €1.50 in my pocket.  I've tried them out on a few different occasions now and while they are OK at removing eyeshadow, after that their capabilities end.  All they seem to do is smear eyeliner and mascara (and not even waterproof eyeliner or mascara at that) around my face with not a chance of actually removing it.  They also get quite fluffy with lint coming off them and sticking to my eyelashes.

There are 1 or 2 positive things to say about them though - they are really moist and they are not at all irritating or drying on the eyes, so I guess you could use them for something like freshening up your eyes in the morning.

Overall though, not a good buy.  I have heard positive things about Primark's larger makeup remover wipes for the face but I haven't tried them yet myself - have any of you got any opinions on them?

Thursday 1 March 2012

NOTD OPI Nicki Minaj Collection

Hey guys

Today I thought I would show you a little Nail of the Day with one of the offerings from OPI's Nicki Minaj Collection.  This is Pink Friday:

Without Flash


Without Flash

With Flash
This is a lovely creamy bubblegum pink.  The first coat went on a bit streaky, which I find to be quite common with the lighter OPI colours.  However, a second coat sorts this problem out.  It dries fairly quickly and wears well - I had it on for three days with no sign of a chip which is good for me!

In case you're wondering, here's a stock photo of the entire collection:


I also had planned to pick up 'Metallic for Life' which is a black with silver glitter but when I saw it in the flesh I wasn't so sure as it was more silver looking than black and just didn't match up to what I thought it was.  I'm not usually one for shatter polishes but the Super Bass Shatter actually looks gorgeous and I may just purchase it next!