Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on eyeliner in Desperation

I posted about the new Urban Decay colours the other day and I couldn't resist popping into Debenhams to pick one up.  I chose Desperation, a matte grey sort of shade.

 

 

It's described on the Urban Decay site as a deep taupe / grey matte in a satin finish (satin is apparently almost matte, a hint of sheen, no glitter) and I would say that's pretty spot on, although I'd just call it a plain old matte if it were me. :)

 

There's not much to say about this pencil that hasn't already been posted a million times over in online reviews, including my own, it really does glide on and the staying power is fantastic, there's a reason why these pencils are so popular, and not just with me.

 

 

You can see the satin finish they talk about in this swatch photo, it isn't totally matte when applied, although I think it appears more matte than that when you wear it just as a liner rather than in a large swatch like the one above, as you can see below.

 

Desperation is a great every day neutral, a bit more interesting than a plain grey and quite different to a brown which is often the stand by neutral shade for eyeliners.  I've been getting loads of wear out of it since I picked it up.

 

One more freaky eye picture for good luck...

 

 

I can see me getting loads of wear from this colour, it's great for work and is still dark enough that with different shadow it would make a great smoky eye for a night out.  Have you tried out any of the new colours from Urban Decay yet?

Spotted Nicole by OPI at Superdrug!

Look what I spotted in Superdrug yesterday!  Nicole by OPI!

 

Previously these have been pretty hard to track down in store in the UK so they're definitely a welcome addition to Superdrug, although at £7.99 each I think I'll be waiting for a must have colour before I make my first purchase.

 

There are some lovely shade though and the latest Modern Family collection was included in the display so it looks like we're pretty up to date, which is brilliant.

 

So, any must have Nicole by OPI polishes I should be keeping my eyes out for, it's not a brand I have ever really used, except for one lovely glitter I got as a gift a while back and another glitter my brother brought me back from America.

 

It's so nice that finally we are getting some of the brands that have been available in the US for years!

Maybelline Polka Dots

More and more gorgeous indie alike polishes are sneaking their way onto the high street and the Polka Dots collection from Maybelline are the latest.  Four polishes, three coloured and one clear base, packed full of large and small black and white glitter.

Park of the Color Show line the Polka Dots come in 4 shades Chalk Dust (black and white), Shooting Stars (blue), Rain Forest Canopy (emerald), and Speckled Pink (fuchsia).   They're £2.99 each but I was lucky enough to snag mine on a buy one get one half price deal making them under £10 for all 4!

I've used a base of Lychee (thumb) and Prickly Pear (pinkie) Gelly Hi Shine polishes to show off Chalk Dust as it's a clear base unlike the other three polishes.  It's also, in my eyes, the star of the collection. 

It's been touted as a dupe for L'Oreal's Confetti polish which has become increasingly hard to find of late and although it's very similar Maybelline have crammed in much more glitter which makes it a total winner in my eyes. 

Of the other three Speckled Pink shows off the glitter best, Rain Forest Canopy and Shooting Stars give a more subtle glitter effect.

My favourite nail from this manicure was my thumb, I just love how chalk dust looks over Lychee, like little eggs, I can't wait to try this one out over other colours, I'm thinking baby blue for starters.

Money Saver! Iseree Cotton Wool Pads at LIDL

I go through LOADS of cotton wool pads, what with taking of my nail polish so often and using them to cleanse and tone my face I feel like I am forever having to stock up.  Usually I use Superdrug's own version which are the best reasonably priced ones I have found.  They're generally on offer at 2 for £2.50 making them £1.25 for a pack of 100.

The other day however I noticed LIDL's own brand and picked up a packet to try them out, they retail at just 55p for 120, making them less than 0.5p each compared to 1.25p for Superdrug's.

I've taken a comparison photo and posted it below, the Superdrug pads feel slightly thicker and more sturdy but overall there is not a huge difference, they both have two different textures; one side fairly smooth and the other slightly more textured and they both have sewn up edges.

 

They are a very similar product, with not so similar prices.

 

 

The Superdrug pads feel a little bit nicer to use for facial stuff, they're a bit more solid and thicker feeling where as the LIDL pads can become a little thin when saturated with cleanser or toner and lose any sort of texture when they're covered in anything oily, for nails stuff they are totally fine though, thick enough to hold together and not too fluffy so they leave your fingers covered in fibres.

 

This isn't the first nail or beauty bargain I've picked up in LIDL, I've previously posted about the nail polish remover I got from there so if you have one nearby it's definitely worth popping in and having a look.  Rumour has it that they will soon be launching a proper make up line so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that, in the meantime I know where to go when I need to stock up on cotton pads, if you use as many as I do then it might be worth a visit for you too.

 

 

Rainbow Stamping!

I am so pleased with how this turned out, it looks like a lot of effort but in reality it's a fairly simple technique to master which looks much more time consuming that it actually is.

Here's what I used, a whole load of Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine polishes and Cheeky plate CH12.

I used the base of Kiko 417 from yesterday and stamped the Gellys over the top.

I love how these turned out, they're so bright and cheerful.

From a distance they look a bit like nail wraps which I love.

I was really sad to take these off but needs must there were other things to be trying out. ;)

Kiko Celebration Nail Lacquer - 417 Blush

Today I am wearing another Kiko polish, this one is from the Colours in the World Collection, it's a Celebration Nail Lacquer in 417 Blush.  Another lovely nude, I do love a good nude.

 

Blush is a perfect nail for this polish, it's the softest delicate blush pink shade.  These pictures are two coats so for a pale colour it applies amazingly well.

 

I love a nude nail on it's own but what I love them for even more is a soft clean base for stamping and I have something I am really pleased with, on that very theme, coming up tomorrow!

Stamped Running In Circles

I did a very quick stamp over the top of yesterday's glitter base using Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquer in green, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out considering it only took 5 minutes.

 

 

Yet again, I can't stress enough how well the Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquers stamp, if you like stamping then definitely get your hands on some!

 

You can see another example of the Mirror polishes stamping here.

China Glaze - Running In Circles

I had a sudden urge to wear Running In Circles when I was painting my nails last night, you've seen it before here, so here it is:

I'm still loving this polish, it's such a bright, fresh green colour.

Application is great too, this is two coats.

Perfect for spring, pity the Scottish weather doesn't feel the same way!

Sinful Colors Snow Me White - Stamping

I decided to try out Sinful Colors Snow Me White to see how well it stamped.

 

The answer is, reasonably well, while it's not totally opaque it does give fairly good coverage and for £1.99 it would be hard to complain about it.

 

Now I just need to try it out and see how it is as a base colour, by the way it stamps I'm hoping it'll be an opaque in two coats kind of polish which will provide a nice clean base for other polishes.

New Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eyeliner Shades

I'm fairly obsessive about Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner, they are pretty much all I use, in fact they are all I use 99.9% of the time.  I really love them.  I've posted about them on here a few times but not so much recently, I still use them every single day though.

 

In the past I tried fairly hard to have every colour they released, I'm a stickler for a full collection, but sense set in some hat I now I tend to avoid the brighter, wilder shades that I know I won't get much use out of, no matter how pretty they look.

 

Urban Decay seem to have got round this by releasing a whole load of new shades many of them much safer neutral shades, wearable every day, so needless to say I, yet again, have a wishlist the length of my arm.

 

You can check out all the new colours, wild and neutral, on the US Urban Decay site but today I am going to show you a few of the more neutral shades that are definitely going on my wishlist.

First up, a sneaky snap of the testers I was messing about with.

 

And the official pictures from the Urban Decay site:

 

 

Despite my best intentions to only buy the most wearable a few brighter colours I really love.

 

 

And here, for completeness - we all know how I like a complete collection, is the rest of the range of 24/7 liners, if it's not pictured here then it means it's been discontinued so now would be a good time to stock up if an old favourite is likely to disappear.  There are a few older colours left but most are being swapped out.

 

 

 

 

When I checked in my local Debenhams yesterday they had all the colours available but they weren't out on display yet, I assume they need to get rid of old stock and rearrange before they can go out on sale properly but if you ask there's a chance your counter may already have the new colours in stock like mine did.  Now, which to buy first...