Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter Swatches

I've already reviewed the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters so I'm not going to repeat myself and tell you how much I love them but they finally reached the UK so I've had a chance to pick up a few more shades.
What I will say is that a few of the colour don't seem to be available outside of the US (Red Velvet, Gumdrop, Sugarplum, Creamsicle, Cherry Tart) so if you want to get your hand on them you might still have to use the ebay seller I talked about in my original post

These are the shades I have currently:

015 Tutti Frutti - a bright tangerine tint that will look great on people with a tan
025 Peach Parfait - a sheer peachy shade with golden shimmer
040 Red Velvet - a dark, deep morello cherry red
055 Cupcake - a pale, blue based sugary pink
080 Strawberry Shortcake - a medium neutral pink that very wearable
090 Sweet Tart - a bright coral pink and my favourite of the bunch

These retail at £7.99 but at the moment they are on 3 for 2 in Boots so there's no better time to pick a few up!

Nail Of The Day: Chanel Le Jeans Manicure

Chanel recently released a small collection of blue nail polishes to coincide with the release of the new Rouge Coco Lipsticks.

The collection is called "Le Jeans De Chanel" and was released in London last year and sold out on the first day, they have bought the collection back and this time it's available at every counter in the UK.
The best part is that two of the shades are going to be part of the permanent collection, Coco Blue is the only LE one so get it quickly if you want it.

Because I love all of the shades and couldn't decide which one to use first I decided to use all 3, I'm going to call this the: Le Jeans Manicure

The shades are:

Blue Rebel, a dark inky blue shade
Blue Boy, a medium, slightly faded out blue
Coco Blue, a pale clean pastel blue with a subtle white pearl

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Review & Swatches

One day while walking trough Boots on my lunch break I spotted a stand for these new Rouge Caresse lipstick and was intrigued as I actually hadn't seen or read anything about them online.
They were on 3 for 2 so I quickly picked the 3 shades that appealed to me the most.

These are basically L'Oreal's answer to the Revlon Lip Butters: sheer, shiny lip colour that feels light on the lips while still being moisturising, the texture is actually very similar to the Chanel Rouge Coco shine but with less pigment.
They have that typical raspberry scent that L'Oreal like to infuse all their lip products with, that I can't stand but luckily I only smell it in the tube and on the lips it's practically non existent.
I really like these and the only negative point is that they don't last very long on the lips so I constantly feel like I'm reapplying.

left to right: Aphrodite Scarlet, Cheeky Magenta, Nude Ingenue

06 Aphrodite Scarlet - a gorgeous coral/red shade that looks borderline neon in the tube but applies really sheer
07 Cheeky Magenta - a bright, blue based magenta pink that as decent pigmentation and leaves the lips with a nice stain
501 Nude Ingenue - a creamy nude beige shade with a little bit of shimmer

Did you pick up any of the new L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks? What do you think of them?

Chanel Rouge Carat: Chanel Holiday 2011

You can always count on Chanel to bring out a gorgeous red during Christmas time and this year they have absolutely got it spot on with their new Rouge Carat Nail Colour.

It's a stunning cherry red with hot pink shimmer, it is simply beautiful and somehow manages to catch the light so that sometimes it looks like like a metallic red and other times it looks like a sparkly pinky red.

The consistency is flawless, it went on smooth in one quick coat but I still did two out of habit.

I believe this is limited edition (as is the rest of the collection) so if you want it get it now before it sells out.

Speaking of the rest of the collection there's a matching lipstick in Famous and a gloss in Triomphal that are equally amazing and I'm kicking myself for not buying them.

Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish in Blue & OPI in Crown Me Already

Here are today's nails, Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish in Blue and OPI in Crown Me Already on the ring fingers.

The pictures were taken of my Iphone so they aren't as clear as usual, sorry.

The Boots 17 Magnetized polish is actually really good and at the moment it's on special offer for £4.99 (normal price £5.99). It's the cheapest of the magnet polishes out at the moment and goes on really smooth and the magnet is nice and strong so it works quickly, I can see myself getting more of these.

OPI Crown Me Already is a polish I've wanted for a while now (since Lorraine at TheCurrentCustom showed it in one of her videos) I finally broke down and bought it the other day and it's amazingly beautiful and perfect for the upcoming party season.

What are you wearing on you nails today?

Illamasqua Theater of the Nameless Haul & Review

As soon as I saw Illamasqua's new collection I knew which Items I was going to get, these 3 jumped at me straight away!

I would have also loved to get the lipgloss in Belladonna as I adore the colour but as I've decided I no longer like lipgloss (far to sticky) I decided to give it a miss.
Here's what I got:

Powder Blusher in Ambition

This as replaced the vast majority of my blushers,with the exception of MAC Well Dressed and The Balm Frat Boy! It's the most perfect neutral peachy shade with an hint of shimmer and it perfect for pale, yellow toned skin like mine as it seems to lift the complexion.
Worth every penny and the must have item of the collection!

Pure Pigment in Berber

(Berber on the left, Ambition on the right)
I love this but haven't had a chance to wear it out yet, I find it quite hard to pull off a it can make my eyes look sore.
It's a beautiful burnt cranberry shade with loads of fine golden shimmer, it almost looks wet when it's on.
I think the best way to wear it would be with loads of black eyeliner and lashing of mascara.

Nail Varnish in Vice

A lovely rich cranberry shade with a cool satin finish, really pretty and unusual.
Goes on nice a smooth and pretty much covered fully in one coat however, because of the finish it showed up the scratches a lot faster than normal.
Not sure how I feel about these new dull finishes on nail polish, I don't dislike it but I much prefer the classic, shiny finish a top coat gives.

What did you think of the new Illamasqua Collection? What items did you get?

Essie Angora Cardi Swatch

Essie Angora Cardi is one of those shades that instantly make you think of autumn, it's a deep, dusty plum with an hint of brown and looks very flattering on pale skin.
It's a colour thats quite versatile and goes with a lot of different outfits and is suitable for both day and night time.

Angora Cardi is the perfect example of a good Essie polish, the consistency is perfect and I could have got away with one coat, if only they got it spot on with the rest of the range.

What are you favourite autumn polishes?

Essie Spring 2011 French Affair Collection - Swatch & Review

I'm very late with this collection but I love the colours so much I felt the urge to blog about them, it's took me a while to work my way trough all the shades anyways.
I have a love/hate relationship with Essie, love the shade selection but the application can be tricky, the brush isn't quite thick or flat enough to allow for a streak free finish, particularly with the more pastel or lighter shades.

French Affair
Very pretty cool toned pink, almost lavender in undertone,  this is similar to OPI's Mod About You but better as it's not so light and applies easier. I got so many compliment while wearing this shade and for me one of the must have of the collection.

Day Light 

Artificial Light 

Nice Is Nice
A soft pastel lavender with a pink undertone, compared to Essie Lilacism it's a lot warmer toned and more flattering on my skin tone.
Nice but not very unique, I have quite a few similar shades.

Day Light 

Artificial Light

Coat Azure

A muted cornflour blue shade with silver microshimmer, not a colour I've seen elsewere.
I like it and I'm normally not a fan of blue nails, the consistency of this one was quite thick so I managed to make do with two coats.

Day Light

Artificial Light

Topless and Barefoot
My favourite of the whole collection, I love it! I've searched high and low for the perfect nude polish and this is it, I still want to try Ciate Sugared Almonds though.
It's a flesh toned nude but with a peach undertone that stops it looking flat, and one of the few nudes that does not give me the "corpse hands" look.
It is a little streaky so it's best with 3 coats and a little patience.

Day Light

Artificial Light

Sand Tropez
The other nude in the collection, a light grey toned nude almost in the taupe territory but not quite.
I can imagine this would look best on someone with a cool toned skin toned, on me it just doesn't look quite right.

Day Light

Artificial Light

Kisses & Bisses
(not pictured)

Tried it and didn't like it so I never got it, kinda boring on it's own but I guess it would look okay layered on top of other shades.
Think slightly cloudy cream base with a duochrome pink/gold pearl finish.

Did you get anything from the Essie French Affair collection? What are you're favourite summer nail polishes?

Illamasqua Rare - Swatch & Review

The most amazing yellow polish ever!! I love the idea of yellow nails but the reality is usually it looks bad on me and makes my hands look sickly.

Rare is a neon highlighter yellow that look much more vibrant in real life than on camera, it almost hurts your eyes to look at it, I had a real hard time trying to get accurate pictures of it as the light seem to just want to bounce of it. 

Application can be tricky, it dries incredibly fast so it can apply streaky I find 3 thin coats better than 2 thicker coats as the results are more even and you need to use a top coat as it dries matte.

Day Light

Artificial Light

Illamasqua Collide - Swatch & Review

Collide is the perfect summer color, a neon pink cream with a satin finish.

It paints like a dream, I have 3 thin coats on here (and a top coat) but I could have got away with 2 and it wears amazingly well, it lasted 5 days with minimal chipping.

The best bright pink I've ever tried.

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Artificial Light

Essie Van D'Go - Swatch & Review

I've wanted Essie's Van D'Go for ages and for one reason or another I kept forgetting to actually buy it, now that it's finally in my possession I'm not that keen on it.

It is a gorgeous shade, a light, creamy, milky peach but it's a streaky little bugger! I ended up having to use 4 coats so in turn it took forever to dry, I woke up to bed sheet marks on some of my nails and that does not make me happy! 

I've come to realise that while Essie makes lovely colors they have consistency issues, some are great and you can get away with two coats and some are an absolute pain in the arse to paint with and require loads of effort to look right.

Day Light

Artificial Light

MAC Semi Precious Haul

Semi Precious is the latest collection by MAC and one I wasn't all that intrested in, I knew I wanted one of the items and I ended up with 3.

I also got a cute little mini tube of strobe cream from the Sized To Go collection.

Semi Precious Rose Quartz 

Mineralize Skinfinish

This is the item I knew I would get, it's a soft rosy pink with a swirly centre of minty green, icy pink and copper.

It's a lot softer in pigmentation than I expected it too so I really have to layer it for it to show up on my (NC20) skin but it's very pretty and it just brightens the complexion.

A lot of people have compered it to Stereo Rose but they are nothing alike, Petticoat is actually closer but still too different to be called a dupe.

L-R Centre, Outer, Swirled 

Semi Precious Pearl

Mineralize Skinfinish

A soft champagne base surrounding a swirly centre of bronze, plum and white. 

Didn't think I would like this one as much as I do as I have tons of highlighters but this is actually gorgeous when swirled together, it's the most perfect peachy glow and I prefer it to Semi Precious Rose Quartz.

L-R Center, Outer, Swirled

Pressed Amber 

Mineralize Blush

This isn't a color I normally wear but I picked it up to use as a soft bronzer and contour color, turns out that when used very sparingly it makes a lovely warm blush too. I love the texture too it's so fine and silky. 

L-R Strobe Cream, Pressed Amber

L-R Petticoat, Semi Precious Rose Quartz, Stereo Rose

Stereo Rose is far to orange toned to be comparable to Rose Quartz, Petticoat is similar but a smidge warmer and darker.

What did you get from the new Semi Precious collection? 

OPI Tickle My Francey - Swatch & Review

I'm really loving nude nails at the moment and this one is probably my current favourite! It a creamy, taupe toned nude but it as an undertone of pink which stops it looking grey and flat.

It's a great nude for light skin tones as it's not too light so that it makes your nails disappear and your hands look dead.

Day Light 

Artificial Light

OPI Mod About You - Swatch & Review

Mod About you is a light, milky, pastel pink that reminds me of pink marshmallows and strawberry milkshake. It look great as a pedicure color but I do feel it looks best on skin with a bit of a tan, it's definitely I shade I would wear on holiday.
I do find the texture on this one quite streaky and thick, I did two coats and it was still uneven in places but once I put a top coat on it was okay.
This is similar to Essie Fiji but it's a little darker and more pink.

Day Light 

Artificial Light

Essie Turquoise and Caicos- Swatch & Review

I've wanted this shade for so long, ever since I saw it on a couple of youtube gurus earlier last year. I finally got my hands on it last month and I'm so happy I did.

It's a gorgeous turquoise blue shade that very much reminds me of clear blue seas but is a bit of a pain to paint with. 

It's actually quite smooth in texture but it's also quite watery meaning you need a few coats to get decent coverage.

What you see below is 3 coats but I actually could have done with 4 as my tips were still a little transparent on some nails. Despite that I still love this color and plan on wearing it a lot the in next couple of months.

Day Light

Artificial Light 

OPI Lincoln Park At Midnight - Swatch & Review

This as been on my "to buy" list for so long I'm really glad I finally got it, even though I wont really get a lot of wear out of it until autumn and winter come round.

It the perfect dark color for the colder months, it's a deep shade of purple with a plummy shimmer that looks almost straight up black in day light, the shimmer is really only noticeable in artificial light or direct sunlight.

Day Light 

Artificial Light

Leighton Denny Supermodel - Swatch & Review

This months issue of Harpers Bazaar Magazine is giving away a free Leighton Denny nail polish worth £11, having never tried Leighton Denny I decided to pick up a copy and see what is nail polishes are like.

Wish I hadn't have bothered! This is one of the worst formulas I've ever painted with, thick, gloopy and streaked like no other, the shade is pretty but it paints like a bitch!

Is it worth £11? Honestly it's not even worth the £4.20 the magazine cost as I normally don't read Harpers Bazaar. Could I have gotten a faulty bottle? Maybe, but I won't be in a rush to try any more Leighton Denny products any time soon.

Day Light 

Artificial Light