NOTD: Illamasqua "Rampage"

Do you have a nail polish you have a LOVE / HATE relationship with?.. I bet you do! This is mine. I bought this as soon as it launches some years ago now, for a premium price directly off Illamasqua's website. I LOVE the colour, but I HATE the formula... It has put me off forking out for any other polishes from this brand, no matter how gorgeous other beauty bloggers' swatches look.

This polish is marketed as a 'dark green jelly, glossy finish'. First part I agree with, second part not. It dries to a satin finish!? The formula is also very thin and I made a few careless brush overloads so it's not as pristine as it should be application wise. As all jelly polishes this requires care to apply; I find two careful thin coats followed by a thicker coat makes it look best. It will still be see-thru so if you can't hack VNL, this is not for you. I put on a slick of Seche Vite over this to seal the layers and dry it quickly, and add shine, as it's not glossy...

I wonder if I have a duff bottle or if anyone else had this problem with this polish? They may have updated the formula since I bought my bottle 'back in the day'.

Looking at the photos I took, I still can't decide whether I LOVE or HATE this polish? Maybe I LOVE it out of guilt as I spent a lot of money on it? I don't want to over-analyze, I just wanna put the bottle back in my Helmer and forget the whole thing.

Happy Factor 

♥ ♥  +

Price
£15

Where?
Illamasqua's website

Quality
Average - a bit on the thin side even for a jelly and I already have tipwear after 24 hrs

Coverage
Good - Jelly

Packaging
Good

NOTD: Barry M Gelly "Prickly Pear"

I got this polish the other day in Boots - it's one of those very rare times when I see something and go 'I need it because I have nothing like that'. I've been drawn to lilac lately, and it is not a colour I have ever had much love for. But after today I will definitely be making this year a 'Lilac Challenge' :)

I am not sure it suits me but it is extremely pretty! As with most pastels this can be tricky to apply - I find that a thickish layer that is left to dry for 5 min followed by another thickish layer usually avoids bald patches and streakiness (depending on the individual polish formula). And it worked for this polish. I topped it with my usual Seche Vite!

I had to Google 'prickly pear' because I don't understand the name?.. It's a cactus with a fruit but it's not like it's lilac? Anyway it doesn't matter because this is a super pretty polish for spring and it has definitely cheered me up for going back to work tomorrow! When looking at this polish I can almost smell my favourite scented flower - the lilac! I can't wait for mine to flower this spring! :)

Happy Factor

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

REVIEW: Makeup Revolution The ONE Foundation

I don't normally buy foundations on a 'oooh look, a cool little bottle and it's cheap'. OK so I have been known to do that in the past but not often. Not TOO often.

Well, I did it again. I didn't even check the ingredients - there's a lot of silicones in there (can you say 'contact dermatitis'?). Oh well. The sales pitch is;

This will be Your ONE Foundation. ONE shade for everyone. Using revolutionary fusion technology The ONE Foundation adapts to your skin tone and texture to give a flawless finish. Due to it's liquid formula, it is easily build-able and applied The ONE Foundation gives full coverage resulting in a matte finish. Available in 16 shades to suit every skin tone.

A big promise for a small bottle :) Now to the shade selection. There are 16 shades but there isn't very good shade descriptors on the website. I had to Google a lot to find decent swatches of the shades - I figured out I might be between Shade 5 (which I got) and Shade 7, but not as yellow based as Shade 6. It blends really well with my skin tone. The colour won't be any good once spring's over but then I can always move up in the shades. There are 16 shades to choose from and I would definitely advise Googling swatches.

Shade 5 - straight out of the bottle

Shade 5 - lightly blended with fingers

So what's the low-down? Well, it is certainly a liquid foundation! You need to shake this up before applying it. Having tried various ways of putting this on including with a buffing brush and a traditional foundation brush my recommendation is to smooth it on with your fingers then lightly buff it with a kabuki/buffing brush. I dropped this directly onto the area to be covered and rubbed it in with fingers; put it on your hand and your carpet is doomed within seconds!! Coverage? Certainly buildable without caking but definitely not to full coverage. Nice satin finish but not matte as described, but my skin is currently covered in Soap & Glory Wish Upon A Jar 21 Day Collagen Overhaul Cream (the good, OLD version!) so I might be getting a dewier result. The wear test was a Saturday of exciting Boots perusal and some computer gaming followed by my Mother-In-Law's Burns Night dinner. It wore OK without blotching but did transfer a bit onto my jacket collar and by the end of the night I looked a bit slick in my T-zone. Again this might be down to wearing a heavier moisturiser. It feels nice and light on the skin and doesn't have any noticeable smell.

Definitely worth the money if you are a younger beauty that is looking for a light to medium coverage with a satin finish! This is touted as a dupe for MAC Face and Body Foundation - it's been a while since I used that but I would say that from memory it seems very similar. As I am past the 20-somethings now and require a bit more of a dewy finish most days to radiate, I may not buy this again but it's definitely worth trying for the price and will be great for occasional wear when I want something more matte!

Happy Factor 

♥ ♥ ♥

Price
£4

Where?
Available in some Superdrug stores, but best bet is the Makeup Revolution website

Quality
Good/As expected

Coverage
Medium - coverage given as 'full', however I would say it only stretches to Medium.

Packaging
Good

Other
This product comes in 16 different shades!

Obligatory 'foundation wearing' selfie - please do not judge the post-surgery/vicious cold eye bags! :O
And also I am 'old' and still don't really know how to do selfies...

NOTD: Formula X Celestials "Astrolady"

Finally nail polish again, yay!! The Husband got me some flu capsules so feeling a bit better even though I am still bunged. My knee is getting the sutures taken out of it tomorrow so I NEEDED a hilariously glittery polish to cheer me up.

I bought this polish when me and my Mum went to Sephora in Stockholm after Xmas :) Like the other Formula X I bought, was one of those polishes I pick up and never contemplate putting down again! And I was right. This is what it would be like if Seventeen Rock Hard Couture 'Bijoux Baby' and Isadora Sugar Crush 'Pink Crush' had a baby! :)

It's a soft pink and gold textured glitter. This is 1 coat. That's right, just the 1 coat *jumps up and down with joy* :) That means I can enjoy this polish for years to come as I've hardly used up any product. Thank you Sephora! And also, please open a store with online shopping capability in the UK :( I think this was rather expensive (about £14, 139 Swedish krona?) but I can't really judge as I bought it in the hilariously expensive Sweden. I love this polish, it was worth the money!

I am going to be bringing in some kind of rating system. If you check my new tab RATING SYSTEM it will explain the current criteria there :)

Happy Factor 
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Price: $12.50 in US
Where: Sephora stores, not available in the UK
Quality: Excellent
Coverage: Freakin' Awesome
Packaging: Good - I would have liked a different brush holder, I find these Chanel-esque pop-off tops with a little twiddly barrel brush holder quite annoying to deal with. But it looks the part for the branding they are going for. Apparently 'the brush design was engineered to complement the highly pigmented, three-free formula, giving you the most even and precise lacquer application'. For me, the brush totally works but wouldn't say it's the next best thing since sliced bread?..
Other: It is an amazing polish, I will be wearing this a lot :)

No NOTD?.. Let's have another video...

I'm still recovering from my knee surgery and this wretched cold virus I got post-surgery, so haven't been able to paint my nails decently. I tried this hideous white with opalescent flakes but it's all horribly dented so I won't embarrass myself and post a photo :( you can see the Tippex-like claws in the video below.

Instead I will show you the contents of the parcel I got today from Makeup Revolution! :) I am really excited to try my new foundation and blusher but think I am still too snotty for such things...

I will be doing a themed February with the lovely Cali at Polishtopia - stayed tuned for more news on that soon! :)

NEW VIDEO: ELF Birthday Haul

I made a new video where I give you the low-down on the ELF products I ordered fro my birthday :)

Enjoy!

COMPARISON AND REVIEW: Makeup Revolution VIVID Blush Lacquers vs ELF HD Blush

My skin seems to eat blusher. Which is a bit creepy. So I went on the hunt for something more long lasting. I have used cream blush in the past (MAC), and wanted to avoid another horrific incident of trying to use a blush stain (Benefit Benetint). So onto the new generation blush cremes in a pump bottle it was!

After looking across the internet I came across the ELF HD Blush, which was pretty much the reason for  my birthday ELF haul (I promptly got a replacement for the faulty blush I received by the way!).

I then by chance saw the Makeup Revolution ones in Superdrug the day after I'd ordered it! They are £3, so I picked up two shades I thought might suit me. I promptly went on to swatch and was taken aback with the pigmentation... What a mess :) Took me a couple of tries and some YouTube watching to learn to get it right on my face! I will do a tutorial next week on my 'everyday face' so you will be able to see my technique then. As I swatched these they came out too heavily applied but you get the shades anyway, the trick is to then blend, blend and blend to get it the right intensity on your cheeks :) These look great though and last all day on my skin. They come if easily with my Garnier Micellar Water as well!

I found that the Makeup Revolution blushes are a bit more fluid than the ELF but they blend out the same. The ELF has some shimmer too it but not enough to make you look like you're wearing glitter!

I made a little video for you, hope you enjoy - please stop by my new YouTube channel!

Video...

As promised, I have taken my first stab at this video thing. :) I am on holiday today before going for my knee surgery tomorrow so I am not wearing any makeup (you have been warned)...

You can go to the Pretty Perfect Beauty YouTube channel HERE!

NOTD: ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies "Electric Carnival"

YOWSER!!! Super-amazing in daylight (with new bridge camera)

I only bought one of the hyped ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies and this is it! I wanted to wear this several times but something else always caught my fancy instead?? It looks nice in most lights but is amazing in daylight (going by the swatch on my nail polish wheel). Now that Xmas is over I think that possibly I wanted spring colours and not dark ones?..

The brush was fine, but the formula caught me out a couple of times (yeah, I was overloading the brush) but it goes on smooth and more opaque than I thought :) This is one coat over black (Sinful Color Black on Black, of course). I slicked on some Seche Vite and decided to go snappy-snappy. Not pleased with any of my photos :( the duochrome and flakies goodness just doesn't really translate in artificial light. I will take another photo for you tomorrow in daylight!

In other news, I have bought a new web cam and I am planning on branching out to some videos as well. I have been playing around with video editing software this weekend for some holiday snaps and would like to try my hand at doing more beauty videos :) But as I discovered the web cam I have is about 6 years old and to be honest, absolute sh*t. As my Mum said when we last spoke on Skype and I was using my Samsung Galaxy S5, "Oh I can actually see you!".... Ahem. Sooooo, I am hoping to get some videos done as soon as the magic gadget arrives later this week, if my leg isn't too sore (having surgery on my knee on Thursday - eeek!).

I'm working on a review of my new Makeup Revolution Vivid Blush Lacquers which I acquired last week. I have been road testing them and I am in love :) I will try and make a video to accompany the review, so keep an eye out!

UPDATE: With our new Nikon Coolpix L830 and daylight, this captured beautiful! Oh and by the way, this is 3 days of wear :)

E.L.F. Birthday Haul!

So I decided to treat myself for my birthday and there were some special offers on on the E.L.F website so I decided to get do some haulin'!

When I got the parcel on Friday I eagerly opened it but to my dismay I discovered that the product I was most looking forward to trying was faulty :( The pump on the HD Blush is broken; it seems possibly the bottom of the air pumping mechanism isn't sealed? As I tried to get product out it seeped into the bottom of the bottle (which it shouldn't do) and nothing came out.

I've heard good things about the Smudge Pots (left); they're supposed to be a cream eyeshadow/liner. I am wondering if they are as good as the Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoos?

I will review all the products separately, so keep an eye out. I'm especially excited to see just how different the Mineral Facial Cleanser is to Dermalogica's Daily Microfoliant! :) I will do a side by side comparison for you early this week.

Anyway, I'm off to finish off my birthday cake and watch a creature feature! :)

BIRTHDAY NOTD: Deborah Lippmann "Happy Birthday!"

It's really hard to get a decent shot of this manicure so here is a bottle shot,
in daylight, from when I got it

Happy birthday to me! :) I will be celebrating in style with this sparkler from Deborah Lippmann, my first Lippmann and bought in Harvey Nichols especially for my birthday! Although I have to go to work, I will mostly be taken out for my lunch AND dinner and then also having my eyebrows done for free at the Benefit Brow Bar :) *does a happy dance*

I did 2 layers here but doing a bit of patting down to lay a thick coat of glitter down so it's rather thick. I sealed it all with a coat of Seche Vite but think I might put on a second coat of top coat later as it's still rather rough! Insane glitteriness - I am loving it!! :) I knew when I saw this polish in Harvey Nichols, same as with the Shu Uemura 'Shupette' lip palette, that this is basically how I felt:

NOTD: Barry M "Ballerina" with Sephora Smart Roller stenciling

So I went for a January sales foray into Boots this morning, scored some primo stuff, and got a load of extra points (it's my birthday this month!). More on that at the end of the post.

In my foray I found this polish from Barry M. I am not sure why I decided it was the hottest thing I've seen for a while, because it really isn't?.. I would call this colour 'grandma pink' or something. But for some reason, I LOVE it!! Is it a reaction to all the sparkly polishes I got in my Depend Advent Calendar for Xmas?.. Anyway, it's HOT.

I used 2 coats here and a slick of Seche Vite. I got caught out by the formula a couple of times - it's rather thick and it doesn't self-level. It's definitely my perfect nude pink; it's almost indistinguishable on the nail...

I then decided I was going to try the Sephora Smart Roller nail stencil thing I bought in Stockholm! After a quick Google to see if there were any instructional videos I was off. It says let polish dry fully. Pfft!! *impatient* With Seche Vite that's a long 5 mins for me (it thankfully proved enough). The strip come in what I assume are nail sized sections. With my nails being so 'petite' I just cut one of those in half and it was perfect size. Stuck it on, painted a thick layer of Depend #2062 on. Carefully lifted the flat edge off my cuticle and pulled it straight off. Voila! Leopard print pink glittery 3D goodness :) I am SOOO going to make a rainbow gradient leopard nail with this stuff!!! If you can find this, Didoline's Nails has a good YouTube tutorial (pictorially anyway, I don't speak much French).

Wow, so much new stuff so little time :)

Bleach London Xmas gift set with 'Rose' colour as only £2.50! :) I can't
wait to try all my new stuff - I have a lot of it!!
I also bought Hibiscrub as I am going in for an operation on my knee on the 15th January :(
I might have time to try all this stuff as I recover...