Review - Eyelid Primer

Hello!

Last part of the ELF trilogy (for now).

This is an eyelid primer in the shade 'sheer' (not much of a shade as such lol) and it retails for £1.95. Yes. £1.95. So good I had to repeat myself!

Now, if you know me/read my blog you'll know that I don't really need an eyelid primer. But I wanted to get this for my friend who does like using an eyelid primer and I somehow got one for myself too :)

This is another item that is hyped up in the beauty blogger community so that may be why I ended up with one myself. I've been using it for a few weeks and honestly, I can't tell you if its helpingmy eye make up last longer because mine already lasts for about a week lol but it doesn't make it last any less time which I was genuinely worried about. I remember the first day I put it on and was worried all day my indestructible eye make up might slide off my lids or crumble, but I'm glad to say that me and my eye make up made it home safely that day, and every day since :)

The eyelid primer is presented in a typical concealer like tube and has a doe foot applicator. As with everything I pop it onto my clean finger or the back of my hand. I never apply directly from the applicator if it can be avoided. 

Apologies for the awful camera quality but it was kind of hard to photograph. In the tube it looks like it would be a typical concealer like consistency but the name is actually a good pick - it is what might be considered 'skin coloured' but it is definitely sheer and has a slight (teeny tiny I don't even want to mention it) shimmer. Once you pat it onto your eyelid it doesn't really offer much coverage but from the texture I imagine it works well. People compare it to the infamous Urban Decay's primer potion so for £1.95 you're laughing innit!!

I'm definitely not going to repurchase it for myself but if I get good feedback from my friend (and my mummy, I got her one too!) then I'll update you guys. I'm strangely excited even though I have no real use for this product lol
Beauty addict!

Review - ELF Powder Brush

Hi Guys!

The other day I shared with you my love for the ELF Flawless Concealer Brush and today I'm sharing with you one of ELF's bestselling brushes - the Powder Brush.

This retails for £3.95 and as the name would suggest, is a powder brush (!).

The online community love this brush and i cannot believe I waites so long to get my hands on one. 

Its dense and has a completely flat top. Its great for patting powder on to set make up, and I also find it useful to give my face a brush to get rid of evidence of my heavy applciation and any streaks/harsh lines.

There's not much to say here because this is as simple as it gets. Just believe me when I say its great. I have a $50 MAC kabuki brush which I've been using since 2009 but I much prefer this now. Also,  I didn't mention this about the concealer brush, but ELF brushes wash really well. No shedding and dries really fast.

Thumbs up from me!

Haul and Review - ELF Flawless Concealer Brush

Hi Guys,

I made an ELF order a while back and will share three of my favourite products with you in the next few posts.

First up, let's talk about ELF. Eyes, Lip, Face. An online make up line (with a new lone physical store somewhere that isn't London....) I've liked this brand for a long time. They are affordable and have some real good stuff, and they often do great promotions like 30-50% off codes.

FYI - 50% off orders over £30 until April 22nd using code 500414

Something I've been trying to get my grubby mitts on for ages is the Flawless Concealer Brush. RRP £3.75 and I love it. 

(Sorry it's dirty - not make up brush laundry day until Sunday!)

Its nice and dense and slightly dome shaped. I use it to sort out my under eye area and for me its the perfect size to get every bright and tidy without taking up too much time and messy up the rest of my face. 

I usually use some powder to dust under my eyes and depending on what I'm Looking like that day I might also use this to apply liquid products.

The only tiny tiny 'bad' thing is that the brush could be a tiny bit softer - sometimes I feel its a bit scratchy? But tbh, for £3.95 of which I paid half, I need to shut up!

I'm fighting the need to bulk buy.....

May and June - Nail of the Day

Holy crabsticks!!!!

Ahoy there blog readers!

Woah it's been a long time - how is everyone doing? Apologies apologies - I've lost my blogging mojo. I haven't really found it but I'm suppose to be doing something and so I've decided to procrastinate and blog. Makes sense to me!

Let's just keep it simple and talk nail polish. I love nail polish. I remember being in primary school and Mrs Flowers' saying to my mum that I had prostitute nails (my fav at the time were baby blue with rainbow glitter and a neon orange). Anyways, just wanted to share my nail of the days for May and June.

[Above - Claire's polishes]

I was walking past Claire's (formally Claire's Accessories) and there was a massive poster in the window proclaiming that the nail polishes were all £1. I felt very awkward (OLD) when I walked into the crapped and messy store but nothing will keep me away from £1 polishes!!! I've not tried Claire's polishes before but I am not fussy so was happy to pick up a few. Aren't I exciting and brave?! These polishes didn't have an official name or product number (that I can see) so I'm just going to call it as I see it... and please forgive my nasty naked nails; I was really excited to swatch (two coats).

[Above - nasty swatches ;)]

 First up we have a leather look polish in black (RRP £4). As you can see from the horrendous swatch, ,it's grainy. That's the best word I can think of. I don't know what sort of leather they were aiming for - a cow's bumhole?! Definitely not Chanel lambskin. It's black and matt and grainy. You wouldn't think it was an in-your-face nail look but a lot of people stopped and asked about my nasty nails. It probably didn't help that I was sporting talons when I decided to wear this look. It's very cool and I swayed back and forth between love and hate. At times I hated the texture; the graininess made me want to puke and sent shivers up my spine, but the 'on trend' look had me waking up at 2am googling for more leather look polishes. Overall? For £1 I am happy enough and glad I got to try it out.

Next we have blue (RRP £2.25). Blue isn't really a colour I like to incorporate into my clothes or nail wardrobe - but I am on a hunt for a dupe of Nails Inc's Baker Street. I've gotten to the point where I've purchased so much crap that I should have splashed out the £11 but that's easy to say in retrospect isn't it. I haven't worn this properly but the swatch impressed me. The first coat was horribly watery and sheer but as you can see the second coat made it beautifully deep and glossy, and true to the bottle colour. As a nail polish it's good - not great but not at all bad - but probably not something I needed for my collection at all.

Lastly we have...a nude with bits in it. I can't describe it but I love it. I wore this to a wedding and it was a perfect mix of lady like with an edge. The 'bits' are not glittery at all which for someone my age (OMG have I reached that age where I can say that?!) is great. RRP is only £2.50 and after using it I would be happy to pay the full price. This polish was definitely the bet out of the bunch and worth the trip into Claire's.

[Above - Leighton Denny in Just Perfect]

[Above - Leighton Denny in Zero Gravity]

The above two Leighton Denny polishes were gifted to me by my lovely buddy N (same N who gave me a shit load of BB creams which I posted about maybe 1-2 years ago!)). I got loads more of Leighton Denny goodies from her but there's only so many hours in a day to paint my nails lol

As I've said earlier, I am not fussy about nail polish - as long as I like the colour I'm happy - but OMG I have to say that Leighton Denny's polishes are on point. Colour-wise, love the two colours above but that's not what I am head over heels about. I am in love with the formula. I think these retail around the £11 price point which is the same as Nails Inc and Ciate but that's where the similarities end. Nails Inc chips like a bitch and Ciate is not as opaque after 2 coats that I would expect for the price. But LD? Wow wow wow. As soon as I painted my first nail my heart was doing back flips. It's thick but not gloopy. It's smooth and opaque. And it dries super duper fast. This is a lady's polish - all glossy and grown up. Just Perfect (a gorgeous pinky peachy apricot?) got me so many compliments. I wore it for about 2 weeks (I did have to touch up but 2 weeks?!) because I didn't want to take it off. I am in a horrible dilemma now (hash tag firstworldproblems) - the bottle of Just Perfect is a tiny 4.6ml (the full size zero gravity is 12ml) - do I seriously purchase a full sized? How could I not?

[Above - LA Colors in Pink Bubbles]

[Above - LA Colors in Summertime]

Back to Earth now. My Cinderella moment has come to an end and the coach is now a pumpkin again. Went out with Cee and ended up in Beauty Base (despite me begging her not to let me go inside). I said I was there to repurchase my fav shade Moody Red but I ended up with 4 polishes (at 99p each dude come on!!!). 

First one I tried out last week was Pink Bubbles and I love it. The picture does it absolutely no justice at all - this is a young and bright pink, almost neon, but not as neon as Lightning (Cee finds it funny that I know the names of polishes but these are my babies and parents remember their babies names). Pink bubbles got a lot of attention and compliments from random strangers but I think the fact that my nails were in a really good shape contributed to that. This is definitely one of my favs. 

The polish I am wearing right now was chosen by Cee and it's Summertime (bit of a slap in the face considering it's raining as I type) - its a pretty bubble gum pink; very similar to Rimmel's Urban Princess and ELF's bubble gum. I'm really glad with this purchase because the two aforementioned polishes are getting dry and gloopy so I found this at just the right time. My nails were getting so long that I couldn't do stuff (put in my contact lenses, type, open bottles or jars) so I had to cut them. Even though I like my nails long, shorter nails allow me to wear brighter colours and one of the other colours waiting to be tested out is a neon green so I look forward to sharing that with you all soon. 

Wishing everyone a great week xoxox

Things I've been loving in May

Hey Guys, Just wanted to share with you some stuff I've been liking in May. First up is this elf lipstick. It was £1.50 and is in the colour 'posh', it's a red colour and it is amazing. The consistency is smooth and the colour is true to the bullet. Staying power is good and it's not drying at all. Really impressed, especially for the price!

My favourite time of the year? Happy hour at starbucks! Once a year they do a week or so of 1/2 price frappucino's, what I like to call 'frappy hour'. I'm not a starbucks drinker, even when it's full price and snowing I stick to a chcolate cream frappuccino. This year I've been enjoying (too) many the new mocha cookie crumble and also had vanilla for the first time (holy cow my teeth were aching!). I love the name taking thing, in east london with the foreign staff and foreign customers it's fun seeing what they will re-name you. I am Heny.

I seem to be on a bit of a vanilla kick! But I'm loving vanilla candles. I've tried the generic vanilla candles and last time picked up m&m vanilla candles and now I've got vanilla cupcake and betty crocker's creamy vanilla. I've burn them in the bathroom and living room hoping that penny palace looks and smells like the inside of a cupcake - I can't smell anything but any smell must be better than the bins right!?

These are olive that I purchased at a stall set up in Stratford Mall. They were delicious but omg I got ripped off. Bowls and bowls and bowls of olives with no indication of price. So I point at the above and the guys packs up a clear container and demands £11 off me. £11?!?!?!?!?!?! I was too scared to say anything so i paid up and did my best to hold back tears. So angry with myself. I need to stay clear of unmarked goods.

Sorry for this nasty looking pic but don't worry it's only guacamole! I made it myself. This is the second time this month that I've been squishing avocados and I did much better this time round. i miss being at L's house; her salsa and guac are amazing. I always think of her when i see an avocado lol Mine wasn't as nice but still an enjoyable and refreshing snack (eaten with some really nasty tortilla chips).

First NOTD 2012 :)

[Elf desert haze, 2 coats, no flash]

Hi Guys, first NOTD for 2012 woo hoo!

I've had my nails quite 'moody' for a while, savile row and plum wine being my new loves so I was going to brighten up my nails with a bright red but after I took off the existing polish I had to go for a nude.

Elf's desert haze is one of the colours I got in my big elf haul and omg I love it more than I thought I was going to. I knew I loved the colour but was worried the consistency would be streaky and gloopy (as pastels often are) but this was a dream to apply.

Understated and classy (the nails, not so much me lol), I find it quite alluring in a different way to the sexy vampy reds I've been favouring.

Wow I am a lame. Oh well.

Hope 2012 is going well so far, ciao xxx

NOTD: half and half (plus sneak peek elf nail polishes)

Hi Guys!

A nail of the day for you all; probably nail of the week since the glitter is a b*tch to get off (sometimes I'm too lazy to use the foil method and just pick away at the polish naughty naughty)

Since it is my birthday week I've gone for a half nude and half glitter look.

I started off with a base coat and then once dried applied 3 layers of my new Elf nail polish in 'innocent'.

Once everything was dry (you need time and a lot of patience for this look as in total I've got on 8 layers of polish on) I painted half my nail freehand with a glitter polish (my fav sparkling diamonds by LA Colors).

On my left hand I painted the right side of each nail and on my right hand I painted the left side of each nail.

And that's it, really easy to do if you've got the time, and a festive look if it's not your birthday week ;)

Also!! A sneak peek at the polishes I got in my big elf haul the other day:

Innocent

Nude

Desert Haze

Mod Mauve

Smoky Brown

and

Mango Madness (shock horror it's not from the nude/beige/brown family!!!)

I shall slowly introduce them to my blog via NOTD's as I'm a bit too lazy to paint my nails, blog, clean my nails, paint my blogs etc etc

Ok..........bye!!!

NOTD: Dark skies and palm trees

Hi Guys!

Just did my nails; please forgive the messy edges but I thought I'd quickly post before I tidied them up.

For the first time I used a base coat - to be honest I don't usually bother, I don't see the point but for some reason my last nail polish (Nails Inc's London) stained my nails so thought I'd be safe rather than sorry with this dark nail choice.

So anyway!! I've got on Elf's Dark Navy. I've had this for maybe a year but only just used it now. I thought it was shimmery but it's actually a gorgeous deep, dark navy with a sheen but no glitter. When I first painted in on I thought it was black but once tried it is def navy.

On a random finger per hand I've also used LA Colors palm trees for a bit of fun and I also think it helps the navy to 'pop'.

In real life the contrast is lovely and represents the weather we should be having vs the sunshine we have been having. No idea what outfit this is going to go with tomorrow which is another reason why I've been avoiding the navy polish. I guess I could wear a yellow dress and red lippy and I'd be like a colour wheel!

NOTD: Green & Pink matte leopard

[ABOVE photo with flash - LA Colors in Palm Tree]

Hi Guys!

I've finally chopped off my talons and given them some love.

My friend at work sweetly left me a gift on my desk Friday; LA Colors in 'palm tree'. Pic above is 2 coats. LA Colors is a bargain at £1 and I have a few colours from them already and most of them are really good for the price (my beloved silver glitter is from LA Colors).

I wanted to do a strawberry or watermelon design on my nail (I like to optimise my short nails before they turn back into talons) but.....too lazy and stuck with what I knew.

[ABOVE photo L-R 12345] These are the polishes I used and the order I used them in:

1) Painted all my nails in palm tree, 2 coats

2) As you can see I've progressed from using toothpicks and blu tack. This time I used a bobby pin (photo BELOW) to draw on my uber messy leopard pattern . I poured collection 2000's ebony into a vaseline tin lid and dipped a bent out bobby pin to use as my tool. I used the yellow bobby pin for the next step...

3) I used Elf's 'fluorescent pink' to make little blobs inside my leopard pattern.

4) I then used Elf's 'clear' to seal

[ABOVE photo with flash - without matte finish]

and then

5) My new baby, rimmel's matte finish to make everything matte

[BELOW with flash - with matte finish - the final NOTD]