17 Berry Crush in Bombshell

I have a bit of an obsession with lip stains, in particular the pen forms that are popping up everywhere at the moment, so I decided to try one of the new 17 ones to compare to the others I have.

I chose Bombshell, a soft pink shade:

 

On first sight it seems very similar to most of the others available, and pretty much a straight copy of Revlon's Just Bitten stains as it also contains a balm at one end to apply after you've used the pen end to apply the stain.

After trying out the lip stain though I think I prefer it to a lot of the others I have tried, partly because of the gorgeous wearable colour which is an almost Barbie pink on the lips, bright and pretty without being too in your face, but also because it seems to last really well and the lip balm on the end is actually quite nice and wearable unlike some that I've tried.

I'm definitely tempted to try out another shade from this collection as so far Bombshell is one of my favourite lip stain shades.  Unlike some of the darker colours which seem a bit too bold for daytime wear this one is lovely for every day and very easy to wear.

Kiko 331

Another Kiko nail of the day, unfortunately this polish is showing up quite a bit darker than it is in real life in these photos, it's a touch paler in reality.

Barry M for a Baby Shower

I was attending a Baby Shower on Saturday, who knew we even did that sort of thing in the UK, so I decided to do my nails in baby appropriate colours. Barry M Blue Moon and Peach Melba.

Sally Hansen Amber Ruby & Stamping

Another Sally Hansen Prism today, Amber Ruby.

And then stamped with Barry M Gold Foil.

Mobile Blogger Test

Just checking my new Blogger app works ok...

Kiko 339 & Sally Hansen Fire Opal

This is one of my favourite Kiko polishes (although I probably have about 20 'favourites'), number 339 Cornflower Blue.  It really is the perfect cornflower blue, although my pictures don't really show it as such.

This is a bit closer to the actual shade but an awfully dark photo.

Although I love this shade on it's own I put it on to try out a new polish I have recently acquired, Sally Hansen Nail Prism in Fire Opal, although the polish is a pinky colour in the bottle it's shot through with turquoise / baby blue duochrome that I thought would look amazing over 339.

So I added one coat over the top, turning the cornflower cream finish into a lilac tinged blue / pink duochrome.  I love it!  It's another that is nearly impossible to photograph so there are loads of pictures here to try and catch the beautiful colour and the shifting shades of the duochrome.

This shot shows how much space I leave at the edges of my nails when I paint them, it's not so obvious in person, I promise!!

I adore this polish and can't wait to try it out over some other colours, weirdly I am thinking a dull army green might look amazing with the blue / pink duochrome over it so I think that will be the next experiment.  I am so pleased I managed to find this hard to find polish, it's definitely a winner!



New Kiko!

A while ago Kiko launched 40 new shades for Spring / Summer 2012. I am a huge fan of Kiko polishes and have been buying them for the last few years while visiting my parents house in Spain.  So I was excited to see even more colours being released in their fantastic formula.

After having a look online I chose the ones I felt that my collection most needed, not that my collection really needs anymore polish!  I picked my favourite 12 and sent the list to my parents so they could pick them up for me until my next visit, the varnishes are slightly cheaper in Spain and I don't have to pay P&P so it works out better value.  These were my picks.

It's always difficult choosing from online swatches but Kiko's polishes tend to be pretty good matches so I was fairly confident that I would like what I'd chosen.  On Friday of last week I got an email to say that the UK Kiko site had all polishes on offer at £2.50 each so I messaged my parents to check if their stores were the same and soon got these pictures back...



My lovely dad is very well trained in taking nail polish pictures!  The polishes are €2,50 in Spain at the moment, so even more of a saving.  I can't wait to see them in person, I am going out there in about a months time or my parents have friends coming back sooner than that so I may even get them before I visit, if not I just have to work out how to get them into my hand luggage for the flight. 

If you haven't tried Kiko polishes now is a great time to do so, as I said they are all down to £2.50 on the Kiko website and if you register with them you get your first order with free P&P which is a big saving (P&P is normally pretty expensive).  The polishes come in a great selection of colours and are one of the best formulas I have tried so definitely worth trying now they're available in the UK.

Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal

I've known about and lusted after this polish for years after seeing pictures of it online so I couldn't beleive my luck when I found a bottle of it while wasting time in a random Glasgow shop recently!  Accidental dusty hunting in the extreme!

Here's the bottle, pretty but nothing compared to what this polish looks like on the nail.

And now for 432 (not quite) pictures to try and capture all the different colour shifts in this gorgeous polish, this is one coat of Turquoise Opal over black polish.

Sally Hansen Mandarin Garnet

Today's nails are Sally Hansen Mandarin Garnet, a polish which I found lurking with a few other Nail Prisms in the back of a shop.  In regular light it's a pretty, slightly shimmery colour.

But in the 5 minutes of sunshine Glasgow saw today you can see why it's still a much desired polish despite being from a collection released 10 years ago, it's holographic!

This is a really pretty polish and a good dupe for the, also very hard to find, China Glaze OMG collection, I just wish people would bring out more polishes like these now instead of them only being available through hunting high and low or paying loads on eBay.



L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipstick - Rebel Red, Nude Ingenue & Impulsive Fuschia

Boots 3 for 2 will most definitely push me over the edge into bankruptcy some time very soon, it makes everything seem like such a good deal!

This time I took the opportunity to add another three of the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks to the two I already have, and I chose Rebel Red, Nude Ingenue & Impulsive Fuchsia.

I love the packaging on these, they are so sturdy and well made feeling and the lids seem to really clip on well so no worries about them popping off in your make up bag.

I'm really pleased with all three colours, a perfect neutral nude, a lovely sheer red and a bright pop of vivid fuchsia I will definitely be wearing them all a lot.

The colours seem slightly more sheer than their Revlon Lip Butter counterparts which may be good or bad depending on what you're after, for more coverage I would definitely lean towards Revlon but for a sheer wash of colour the L'Oreals are perfect.

 Some quick swatches on my arm

Overall I am really impressed with these so far, the wear on them isn't amazing, I tend to get around 3 hours maximum before I like to top up but they're so light feeling and quick to apply that it isn't a hassle to have to apply them fairly regularly.

As someone who doesn't get on very well with proper lipsticks these are ideal for me and I may have to add a couple more shades to my collection in the future.