Kiko 341 NOTD

Rubbish photo again, in person this has a much more turquoise colour to it.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipstick - Lovely Rose

As well documented, here here and here, I have developed a bit of an obsession with the Rouge Caresse lipsticks of late.  While I was in Superdrug the other day making the most of their 3 for 2 offer I decided to pick up one final colour to complete my collection.  That colour was Lovely Rose.

Lovely Rose is a soft shimmery pink shade, it's slightly lighter when applied than I had hoped for but still a very pretty colour.

As with all the lipsticks in this range the product applies beautifully and feels very light and soft on the lips.



I think my purchase of Lovely Rose has completed my collection of Rouge Caresse shades and although I am not as in love with the colour as some of the others in the range it's still very wearable and will be nice for lighter spring make up looks.

Cien Nail Polish Remover

While I was in Lidl recently I grabbed a bottle of Cien Nail Polish Remover, mainly because of it's special cap.  I've previously seen caps like this available on more high end remover so when I saw it on this little bottle for a bargain £1.49 I couldn't resist.

There are apparently two versions, the one I have - acetone free - and a regular one with acetone which comes in a blue liquid / bottle.  Given the choice I would have gone with the regular one containing acetone as I find non-acetone removers aren't quite as effective but they only had one option in my store.

The main draw was definitely the cap which allows you to press down on the plastic disk under the cap and soak your cotton wool pad, this means you don't have to invert the bottle and risk pouring remover everywhere.  It also means I shouldn't have any more incidents when I leave the bottle sitting somewhere with the lid off!

I'm really looking forward to trying this out and if the bottle is effective re-filling it with my own favourite brand of remover.

Sleek Ultra Matte Palette - V2 Darks

I love matte shadows and I love i-Divine palettes so when I saw that Sleek were releasing two all matte palettes I knew I had to have at least one, although I am still very tempted by the brights too.

The palette consists of 12 matte shadows in a variety of (darker) colours.

I am a big fan of Sleek shadows and in particular their palettes.  The colours in this one are great and I love the fact that all the shadows are matte, sometimes I find shimmery and glittery shadows a bit too bling for daily work wear. 

Unfortunately I am finding the formula a little difficult to work with so far.  The shadows seem to go a bit muddy if you blend them too much and being darker colours they do need blending.

I've only used the palette a couple of times so far so i am hoping it's more to do with my cack handed, rushed attempts than the quality of the product as I really like the colours and think I could get a lot of use out of the palette.

Sleek Blush by 3 - Lace

I have been keen to try one of these Blush by 3 palettes since they were released a few weeks ago and when Superdrug's 3 for 2 offer came back on I decided it was time.  I'd recently seen a mention of the Lace version on a YouTube video saying that the middle colour was a dupe of Orgasm by Nars and since I had been considering trying a few darker and bolder blush colours and have always wondered about Orgasm I thought that Lace would be a good option.

My initial impression was that the colours were very dark and bold, and seemed to have great colour pay off.  Just from swatching them on my hands they were very vibrant.

The palette comprises of a bright orange, crochet, the shimmery peach Orgasm dupe, Guipure, and a cherry red, Chantilly.

Swatches on my arm.  The colours are quite a way away from the sort of blush I tend to use and I think they will take some getting used to.

The colour pay off is incredible, they are so highly pigmented that only the tiniest amout is required.  So far I am still a little scared of the colours as they are vwey bright and I'm a bit of a blusher newbie but hopefully in time with a bit of practice these will make a great addition to my collection.

I'm definitely tempted to try out another at some point in the future as the quality of the product is excellent for the price (£9.99).

Holo Nails!

This is 2 coats of China Glaze, Cheers to you, with two coats of Maybelline Colorama, Ice Princess, over the top.  Ice Princess is my favourite holo glitter, it looks great over so many colours.  I just wish it was a little easier to photograph!  These pictures really don't do the holographic goodness any favours.

My first ever jelly sandwich!

This is something I have been meaning to try for a while, sandwiching glitter in between coats of a jelly finish nail varnish.  After my Kiko manicure the other day I decided to try it out and I am very pleased with the results:

I then decided to mattify it and see how it looked:

Overall I am really pleased with the results, although I'm not sure about the matte finish, and can't wait to try out some other colour combinations, I'm hoping I might be able to create something which will look similar to Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air. *fingers crossed*

Kiko 281 & 237

For this look I used Kiko 281 on all my nails and added a couple of accent fingers in 237.  237 is a sparkle touch finish.  281 is a fantastic jelly polish.

Here's the finished look:

Illamasqua Radium

Radium was released as part of the Toxic Nature Collection.  I would call it a chartreuse green colour with greeny blue shimmer through it (which is impossible to see in my photos unfortunately).  It applies beautifully and is a very eye catching colour.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipstick - Sweet Berry & Tempting Lilac

While Superdrug had it's buy one get one half price offer on I had to grab another couple to add to my collection (posts here & here), this time I went for Sweet Berry and Tempting Lilac.

Sweet Berry is a rich, dark berry colour with verging on brown tones, Tempting Lilac is a light, cool, lilac-based pink.  Neither of these colours are my usual lip shade but since I love the others so much I couldn't resist adding to my collection.

Swatches on my arm which show the colour difference better than the sticks in the tube do.

I have been totally blown away by these lipsticks, after initially being torn between these and the Revlon Lip Butters (talked about here & here) I am now leaning towards Rouge Caresse as being my preferred of the two, I think I might do a comparison post at some point to show the differences and say why I prefer these to the Lip Butters.