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.

Kiko 279 & 269

YELLOW!  Two yellow polishes today, a lovely sunshine yellow cream topped with am egg yolk yellow glittery sparkle touch top coat.

Red

I picked this up while waiting for a prescription in my local pharmacy, I have never heard of the brand before and can't see anything about it online, it's a very pretty polish though.  Bright red jelly!  This is 3 coats and you can still see my nail line in some lights so i am quite keen to try using this for a jelly sandwich at some point as you could definitely see glitter through it.

Barry M Lilac Foil Stamping

A very quick post to show the stamping I updated my Kiko nails from yesterday with. I used Barry M Lilac Foil and a BM plate. Unfortunatel,y I seem to have been suffering from shaky hands and it's not very well done at all, the rubbish photo skills don't help either!

I do love these Nail Foils for stamping with and I really hope they bring out more LE versions to go with the Gold and Silver that are in the core line.

Miss Sporty - Dr Balm - Heartbreaker Kiss 04 & Honey Moon Kiss 05

I previous posted about trying Gossip Kiss 03 from this range and while I was in Superdrug today I noticed two more, darker, shades which I thought looked interesting.

Honey Moon Kiss is a berry shade and Heartbreaker Kiss is a red, both are very sheer and only leave a hint of colour on the lips but like Gossip Kiss they're a nice texture and have a pleasant, sweet sort of watermelon-y smell.

They are not very different when swatched, or even on the lips but there is a subtle difference in the tint.  Overall I am pretty pleased with these, I have been using 03 quite a lot when I don't want to wear any lip colour at all and the additional two I purchased today will give me a little more variety on non-lip colour days.

They're handy to chuck in my handbag too for days when I don't know what sort of make up I'll be wearing but want to have something to stick on my lips.

There are two further, lighter, shades in the range but they didn't appeal to me quite so much, although given my love for completing collections I may end up with them at some point.