NYX Lipsticks

Argh I need to think of better names for my posts!

I did some swatches of these last year but they were actually awful so I’ve tried again. These are a bit better…..only slightly though. Dammit! I thought I’d swatch these as the swatches on website where UK ladies can get these, such as Cherry Culture, are awful.

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I have 7 of these lipsticks in total and I have already shown you Fig. I got mine from eBay US for a great price, they have deals where you can pick 6 colours for a set price. I got Fig with a separate order.

Thalia looks brown in the tube but as you can see it isn’t that brown on the lips. When I received it I was shocked by the colour and a little disappointed but it is more wearable than I anticipated.

SO CHALKY!!!!! This shade looks pretty ludicrous on me but topped with some gloss I can get away with this though only when I have a tan. I’d say this one is probably better suited to darker skins. The formula is hard to work with too, the application looks so bad in those pictures and that’s with me trying to work it, not just a slap on and go!

This one is 90’s frosty madness! All I need is some brown lipliner! Again this one needs gloss to take the edge off! Otherwise it’s a really nice colour, shame about the frosty overload really.

I really like this colour, it’s a really nice bright pop that isn’t too overbearing. If you didn’t work in a too conservative office I’d say this is safe for work. The formula leaves a lot to be desired again. This one isn’t chalky but there isn’t a silky even application, bald patches galore!

This one is for me a my lips but better shade and by far my most worn of the lot. This one has a great formula and I think is pretty universally wearable.

This is what I mean when I talk about finding gems in my collection! I have hardly touched this since I got it and I really like it! A bubblegum barbie pink! I will try and swatch this next to Viva Glam Gaga and All Styled Up by MAC, I think these are the two shades I own that are closest to this. The formula on this one is quite nice too.

I think these lipsticks are great for the price, they were only a couple of pounds each including postage. I don’t like how the formula can vary wildly between shades and that Jupiter is ludicrously frosty, I don’t like frost anyhow but this is wild!

What do you think? Have you tried any of these? Or do you have any recommendations?

Nail Of Last Weekend–Color Club Revvvolution

I’m on one today, you have to have a nail post too, I ordered some polishes from eBay US from seller beautyzone2007, I’m sure some of you have heard of this seller, a wide selection of polishes with a good shipping rate and mine have always arrived a week to the day since dispatch. Since I had been working a good few hours considering I’m also studying (or attempting to) I thought I’d order a cheeky haul before I spend all my money on crap and/or curry.

I’d never tried any Color Club polishes before and I understand they are pretty cheap in the US and I’ve seen some pretty awesome and unique colours floating around on people’s blogs. I had seen this on a blog quite a while ago and fell in love!

I forgot that holos and top coat don’t always go hand in hand. Hmm. You can see the difference between my little, ring and middle finger which have top-coat and my index which doesn’t. It did dull down a little but I still prefer the vibrancy of the polish without the top coat. Bah I’ll try and remember next time!

This is a beautiful dark grey holo. I love dark grey polishes anyway and the holo awesomeness is just beautiful!

So beautiful! Just looking at these pictures makes me want to take off my fresh polish and put this one back on! I know people say they can never use a whole bottle of nail polish but I am going to try with this one! This is 3 coats though 2 would have probably done and it lasted 3 days which is good for me!

I got this for around £2 or so from the eBay seller beautyzone2007. Who I am not affiliated with, I have just ordered several times and been very pleased with the service.

Have you ever tried any Color Club polishes? Does anyone know any UK suppliers? Can you recommend any more holos? I love them!

(Eye) Primer Vs Primer

Hello ladies! How are your weekends going? I was expecting some actual sunlight but over Bristol it is grey and grey with a paler grey mixed in. Bum.

I tried this little experiment last week at work and I did do it the week before but I forgot to take pictures towards the end of the day doh! I always thought until recently that with all the raves about Urban Decay I wasn’t sure what the alternatives were aside from Too Faced. With one of my No7 vouchers a few months ago I had no designs on I plumped for the Stay Perfect Smoothing and Brightening Eye Base. I thought I’d pit it against my trusty UDPP.

So here are the culprits. On the left Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Original, on the right No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing and Brightening Eye Base.

They say for UDPP Provides ‘eyeshadow that lasts, colour that stays vibrant all day and absolutely no creasing!’

They say for No7 ‘Creates an even base for a colour to float on smoothly and stay true all day.’

So pretty much the same core claims in different ways, the No7 doesn’t explicitly say no creasing I suppose but you could interpret what you want from ‘stay true all day’, first thoughts to me mean fading but I suppose it means that your eyeshadow should look the same at the end of the day as when you applied it, i.e. crease free.

UDPP has a doe foot applicator which I don’t mind, I apply it to my eyelid with this then manoeuvre it around with my fingers, No7 I apply to my eyelid with my fingers straight from the pot. I know some people don’t like this but I know where my hands have been so I’m not too fussed with pots as packaging. The less said about UDPP packaging the better, though I have heard it is changing.

Swatched on my hand you can see the No7 is peachier and does appear smoother. It is stickier than UDPP and on my arm took longer to dry or set.

Onto the eyeshadows…

Wet n Wild Fine Wine and MUA Shade 12. When looking through my collection I wanted to use those that would be accessible and people might own. The kind I have most of is Urban Decay as I have a few palettes but I didn’t want to use those as they don’t crease that much on me anyway. These shades I use most days when I want something simple and quick, Fine Wine over the lid and MUA in the crease.

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You can see Shade 12 is kinda duochrome with a greeny hint on the bottom picture. I LOVE it!

This is a comparison picture to start and it is crap I appreciate this. I was in a rush and took 6 or 7 and this was the best. My camera skills leave a lot to be desired! The No7 one looks a tiny bit creasy already, this is a combination of my eyelids and it can do this anyway, you really have to use it very sparingly for this not to happen and the majority of the time if I’m not paying attention this isn’t the case.

I went to work for a bit and pootled around the house making a conscious effort not to touch my eyes and trying to remember when to take photographs.

UDPP after 3 and a half hours

No7 after 3 and a half hours

These pictures are shite. I appreciate that. However you can still see that the UDPP has kept that eyeshadow intact but on the No7 eye creasing and migrating is already happening. After 3 and a half hours!

UDPP after 6 hours

No7 after 6 hours

This is the last set of photos I have, I did take some at 9 hours too but my phone is missing a load of pictures for some reason, either me or the rabbit leaned on the wrong button I guess, he does that all the time with my laptop!

Here you can see the UDPP has kept the eyeshadow pretty much intact, you can see some light creasing here but this was invisible in real life. However the No7 eye appears much worse in real life with hardly any eyeshadow remaining apart from on my lash line and above the crease. Bah.

In conclusion, this is the only other primer I have used apart from UDPP and I am quite happy to leave it that way for the time being at least. I got a standard sized UDPP in New York last April which is still going strong and a small size with my Naked palette so I am practically rolling in the stuff it lasts so long! When they get a bit low I might look elsewhere as I have heard good things about the ELF primer. Maybe another day.

Urban Decay Primer Potion is £12 and available from House of Fraser and Debenhams among other places, apparently it is withdrawing from Boots BOO!!! No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing & Brightening Eye Base is £7.75 from Boots though I used a £5 off voucher and they are doing the rounds again at the moment.

The Wet n Wild eyeshadow is from either Tesco or Poundland, either way it was around the £1 mark, I have used up two of these and have another two backups after this one I love it so much! The MUA shadow was £1 from Superdrug.

What do you think? What eye primer do you use? Would you recommend any?

Max Factor Vibrant Curve Lipgloss

My oh my am I late writing about this one! Especially as I got it agggges ago when it first came out! I can’t remember exactly when it came out but it was some time last year. A big deal was made about the applicator of this which supposedly makes your lips appear plumper or something, there’s a curved applicator which gives this product it’s name. I was hovering around these for a few weeks waiting for a introductory offer as one was clearly going to appear.

See how bright it looks? This is the shade 04 Me Me Me. I’m not particularly interested in the supposed fuller lips effect as my lips are pretty full anyway but I fell in love with the colour! I thought it’d add a pretty pop of colour on my lips when I’m wearing my usual everyday boring makeup and as I’m a glitter fiend and this looks intensely shimmery I was sold.

Crazy fuller lips creating applicator. I’m not sure how much this worked, if at all. As I said I have full lips already and own one lip plumping product, this doesn’t have the fuzzy stinging feeling usually associated with plumping products I think this relies on the applicator alone. You can see it’s a doe foot, aside from the shape I’m not really sure what else sets it apart. It certainly doesn’t feel much different on the lips when applying.

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I took swatch pictures on my phone and camera, my camera tends to wash bright colours out slightly so the top picture is probably best for the colour but the bottom shows the amount of shimmer more.

A little deflated by the pigmentation?

What. The. Hell. It actually adds nothing, that is pretty much my natural lip colour. I was really disappointed with this in comparison to the colour in the tube. The shimmers don’t even appear, I know they are kinda fine but still, nothing! I wear this over lipstick instead of clear gloss as it pretty much does the same thing. The swatch on the Max Factor website shows this as fuchsia with no mention of the shimmer and the same with the Boots website.

The RRP for this is £7.99 according to the Boots website but I paid £5.99 for this I think. Not that I particularly recommend it. If it’s plumping your after, this isn’t the answer. As for pigmentation, same thing. My Barry M glosses have way more pigmentation and they are half the price!

Also Max Factor are owned by Procter & Gamble who as far as I am awaretest on animals according to this and other sites. This is something I have been trying to avoid since just before Christmas so though I will try and use this up I won’t be buying Max Factor products again.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these?

17 Limited Edition Vintage Love Palettes!!!

Hi guys! I have seen these on a few blogs and keep checking the shelves to catch them as soon as they appeared, I’ve been looking a while then I saw on Twitter it was today! (I think they said today anyway!) So after I dropped my sister in town I nipped to the Mall to have a gand. There wasn’t any testers open (BOO!) but as 17 was on 3 for 2 I thought I may as well just get both. They are named Perfect Pastels and Metallic Nudes and the pair of them sound right up my street!

The stands were already picked pretty bare so I pretty much ran home to swatch so no one else misses out!

The outside, how pretty! I love birds and the flowers, I think this is really cute packaging considering it’s such a bargain brand, 17 have really stepped up their game with these and the Wild Curl mascara tube!

It doesn’t stop there! Awww! As above L is Perfect Pastels and R is Metallic Nudes. The cream palette is nice, not as tacky as I would expect and they are pretty solid. Not so solid I would chuck them loose in my bag but sturdy enough for a place in my makeup bag.

First up Perfect Pastels…

The swatches aren’t great as it’s overcast as hell but I wanted to do these asap! I’ve numbered them and the swatches….

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Number 6 is more purple in the palette than it photographs but either way it is gorgeous! I can see myself getting a lot of wear from this palette. Each swatch is without primer and is two light swipes. Pretty great pigmentation I think!

Next up Metallic Nudes…

Orgasmic!

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Ahhh I love this! This is a little more pigmented and again without primer with two light swipes, I think this will be used a LOT! So handy for taking up to my boyfs without lugging the Naked palette about! As much as I love it, it is a big un!

These were £5.49 each and 17 is on 3 for 2 at the moment. They are limited edition so get them while you can!

Available from Boots.

I got a lipgloss as my third free item. God knows why, I’m practically swimming in the stuff. I’ll post pics later!

What do you think? Are you interested in these? Think you’ll be trying? Why is limited edition stuff normally so great!

ALSO - £5 No7 vouchers are back! Yay!