Category: Nails and beauty

3 Dec: Ciate Mini Mani Month – Halo

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Third of December already! Today, it’s Halo! The website description reads: “Let this beautiful colour see the light and you are sure to see the rainbow. A delicate pearl that can be built up or left for a natural irridescent glow on the nail. Perfect for those who like a barely there look with a smile-inducing twist.”

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It’s a beautiful, ethereal and girly colour, with flecks of shimmery pink and blue embedded in it – I wore it with three layers to create a stronger look.

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It’s a very subtle festive look – I’m definitely feeling in the Christmas mood now!

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2 Dec: Ciate Mini Mani Month – Dangerous Affair

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2 Dec Dangerous Affair Ciate Mini Mani Month (1) 2 Dec Dangerous Affair Ciate Mini Mani Month (2)

Ooo, I love this red! Red nail varnish is definitely my thing!

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Dangerous Affair is a very rich, dark red creme – the website describes it as: “Stunningly beautiful burgundy colour. Looks fabulous with a crisp white shirt and light blue skinny jeans.”2 Dec Dangerous Affair Ciate Mini Mani Month (6)

Love that style idea – in my imagination, this is the kind of thing a glossy, carefree gal would wear on a casual lunch date with her friends, perhaps with her hair pulled into a high pony tail, minimal make-up, and a great big leather tote. I think I have an overactive imagination, maybe…

What do you guys think? I’m only two days in to this advent calendar project, and loving it!

1 Dec: Ciate Mini Mani Month – Cupcake Queen

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It’s 1 December, and that can only mean one thing!

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It’s day one of my Mini Mani Month!

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Today, it’s Cupcake Queen. The website describes it like this: “A loveable Barbie pink shade with a very subtle blue shimmer. Reach for this bright colour to exude feel good vibes to the world. Team this with a sunny vibrant personality.”

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That blue shimmer might be hard to see on film, but it adds an intriguing edge to this bubblegum pink colour.

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I have to say, I never would have chosen this shade myself, but that was kind of the point of getting this set – to try new things and different colours, and see if I can find some new favourites. 1 Dec Cupcake Queen Ciate Mini Mani Month (1)

They do look snazzy up against my black keyboard, though! It’s been fun having pink nails for the day, and the blue shimmer gives it an extra dimension – but I can’t wait for tomorrow… I’m like a kid in a sweet shop!

Ho ho ho, it’s a Ciate Mini Mani Month ahead!

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Well, well, well – look what got delivered to my house today!

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I decided to treat myself to an advent calendar with a difference this year, and the Ciate Mini Mani Month looked so enticing I couldn’t resist! (Especially as I was lusting after the Caviar pearls – four colours inside!) Expect an update every day in December (well, up until Christmas Eve!) with a brand new shade…

Nailed it: OPI’s GoldenEye

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Ever wondered what happened to the golden nail varnish of my dreams? I’d been too afraid to try it on properly until yesterday, keeping myself to just a one nail swatch to try it out. Why, you ask? Well, because I didn’t think I could handle all that awesome at once. Who knows what could have happened? One minute, you’re painting your nails, and the next minute, you’re standing in the garden, holding your hands up to the sun, shrieking “EUREKA!” and doing a special nail varnish dance*. (Don’t look at me like that, you know which one I mean.) Frankly, my neighbours think I’m weird enough as it is. Anyway, I finally tried it out last night, and here are the glorious results:

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Here it is in the daylight:
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Ahhh, so beautiful and shiny! The colour is actually glitter suspended in a clear varnish, I think, and you layer it up over several coats (this is three). This is the perfect way to get a complex, ultra sparkly colour, without it being overly girly or glittery (nothing wrong with glitter! But I wanted GOLD!). This, to me, is the perfect festive shade! Has anyone else planned some festive colours this holiday season?

* Actually, the real reason I haven’t worn it yet was because I was saving it for post-Thanksgiving/birthdays Christmassyness… WHICH IS NOW!

In search of: the perfect gold nail varnish

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You know, sometimes you get an idea in your head, and you just can’t shake it out. I was like that with gold nail varnish for the past year and a half. I got it in my head that what I really NEEDED for the holidays was gold nail varnish. Proper bright, sparkly, beautiful, rich gold nail varnish, varnish that would say “HELLO CHRISTMAS! Yes, indeed, I am ready to party!”

People, I am pleased to say, my search is over.

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Please excuse the hasty rush job on these nails, I got over-excited when they were drying… Sigh. Anyway, I hope you can see that gorgeous shade on the bottom thumb there – that is the gold of my dreams! What is this exotic metallic varnish called, I hear you cry?! Why, it’s OPI’s Goldeneye! The MUST-HAVE gold varnish for 2012, I reckon!

In a clockwise fashion from the bottom, these are the ‘gold’ varnishes I am wearing: Goldeneye (OPI, the clear winner), Gold Coin (Revlon, just not at all what I hoped for, it’s basically just silver!) Glimmer (TopShop, my second favourite, but more of a bronze), Gold (GOSH, another tame looking gold), then Star Dust (Rimmel, another bronzy one).

Here, though, is the clear winner. Isn’t it beautiful? You can purchase this shade from HQHair for £11.

My first GlossyBox: November 2012

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I recently heard about GlossyBox after trawling through lots of different beauty blogs, so I had to try it out myself! The company offers a monthly delivery of a range of beauty samples for a set price (£12.95 per month, but there are a range of cheaper options for longer subscription times), with different themes and random contents every month. I love surprises, and I love trying new things, so it sounded right up my street!

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Here’s my first delivery! The first thing I noticed is that these things really are packaged incredibly beautifully – in a patterned cardboard box for postage, and inside, a tough gift box, tied with a ribbon. Gorgeous!

I got the Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (which I actually used to use, so am very happy to receive again to see whether it still works on my skin), the Alison Clare mango body butter (used already, very nice smell, and thick formula – although you need to squeeze quite  hard to get it out of the bottle!), the Dr. Jart Water Fuse Beauty Balm (never would have tried this product, but I’m very intrigued to see whether it’ll work for me), the Porchester Square Nails Inc varnish, and the Wei Beauty face treatment pad! Looking online, it seems like not many people got the face treatment pad, so I’m very honoured (especially as this is a full sized product, and very pricey).

Check back another day for my review of the Wei Black Soy treatment pad, and my thoughts on the other products in the box.

Much love for the Powderpuff Girls: my vintage makeover

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I love the vintage look, but I don’t indulge myself very often. See my post on Hush – I work from home, and the postman just isn’t as ready with the compliments as she should be, so I generally slob around with no makeup on, wearing comfy clothes and a dressing gown (actually a Wonder Woman dressing gown – she’s glam, right?).

But when I do go all out, I like to do it properly, and one of my favourite indulgences is a makeover at The Powder Room!

This company offers a selection of reasonably priced beauty and hair services, and I’ve been there twice for makeovers since I found out about them. The first time was for my hen party, and the second was recently, when I had to attend a party for work.

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The salon isn’t that easy to get to on the Tube to be honest, you have to walk about 15-20 minutes from the nearest station, but once you get there it is totally worth it! There’s a lovely atmosphere, cocktails on hand (for £5, not bad!), and everyone is beautiful and happy. Heaven!

When you get your makeover from The Powder Room, they offer you a look book to go through with different hair styles or make up. Both times I’ve chosen the same thing – a pony tail with a quiff, and a cat-eye with red lip for my make up.
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Looks pretty snazzy in front of that Tube sign, doesn’t it? Totally unintentional, but I love it!

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The great thing about this make up is, it lasts so much longer than when I do it – and I can NEVER get my eye liner to flick like that, no matter how hard I try… Sigh. They also use lip liner, which is great – I so need to get one of those. It just makes everything look neater and last longer.

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Here’s a photo of the detail at the back – I’d never be able to get my hair looking like this in a million years… (And this is back at the hotel, after the party, about 12 hours later!)

Has anyone else been to this parlour of perfection? What did you get done? Anyone planning to go in the future? And, has anyone tried the ‘tricks of the trade’ lesson for £60? I would love to try that out!

Visit the boutique’s website here, or check out main site here – they also do events and parties, and they have an online shop as well!

Clarins Odyssey Eye Palette

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One of the hottest beauty products for 2012 is the Clarins Odyssey Eye Palette, four beautiful shades to see you through the festive season! As soon as I saw it, I had to bag one, because I’m a huge fan of blending gold eyeshadow in with a smokey eye during winter, to glam up a classic look for parties. Usually I achieve this with Pixi’s Nude Shade Wardrobe and a tap of MAC golden lemon in the corner of my eye, but I was eager to try something new!

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I had originally wanted to get this from my local John Lewis, but when I walked up to the counter, the Clarins’ lady shook her head ruefully at my enquiry as to the stock – seems like this is a real best-seller!

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It’s not hard to see why – these shades are MADE for the winter party season!

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Adding a touch of glamour and luxury, the palette comes in a pretty little red velvet pouch.

UntitledAlthough I was expecting the case to be metal, it was actually plastic – I guess it’s more practical in the long run and less prone to scratching or denting… The palette itself features a beautiful etched design on gold. Truly a beautiful Christmas item.

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Inside you get four pretty shades – three fairly standard for the ‘smokey eye’ look, and one rather special gold one! There are also two applicators.

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That gold is so complex and beautiful! Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

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I’d heard this had great staying power, but I was still surprised at how smoothly this went on, and how well it stuck to my skin! The shimmer is fantastic, and I cannot wait to try out the smokey eye look with gold featured on the card that came with the set.
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The palette is still available online at Clarins for £30 – but get in there quickly, because this seems to be selling like hotcakes! As an added bonus, if you order from Clarins’ site, you get to pick some free samples with your order – perfect!

Glitter and glimmer: Effie Trinket’s reaping nails

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I’ve always been a tad lazy when it comes to nail varnish – if you call lazy sticking to plain colours! Nail art and decorations always felt a bit beyond me, but when I saw Effie Trinket’s amazing reaping nails in The Hunger Games, I knew I had to try and replicate it for my Hunger Games party costume! While my finished nails look nothing at all like Ms. Trinket’s, I am actually really pleased with the effect that I came up with – glittery gold over festive fuchsia, just right for the holiday and party season coming up! Glitter and Glimmer nails

To achieve this effect, I layered two coats of Fuchsia Hype nail varnish by Bourjois, and allowed to dry. Then, using a makeup sponge, I patted over bronze Glimmer by Topshop three times – once over the whole nail, second just the top half, and the third time, just the tips – making a graduated effect where the bronze shade was much thicker towards the end of the nail. Then I covered the whole lot with Saffron London’s gold glitter, and finished with a top coat. Honestly, this is probably the most complicated thing I’ve ever done to my nails – but it definitely wasn’t difficult, it just involved a lot of stages and layers. I used to find that my nails took so long to dry if I applied more than one coat, but these days it seems like formulas dry quicker, so it’s not as much of a pain as it used to be…

Anyone else tried to do an Effie on their nails? What did your end results look like? And, if anyone gives this a whirl, let me know!