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Although we seem to be experiencing an Indian Summer in the UK at the moment, it’s officially Autumn. Taking full advantage of the lovely weather, I decided to snap a quick outdoor picture of my makeup on my iPod Touch (the Instagram app is proving highly addictive!) – Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera on hand.

The products I used are as follows:

Revlon Colorstay Foundation (For Normal/Dry Skin) in the shade 110 Ivory, applied with the ELF Studio Line Powder Brush

Revlon PhotoReady Concealer in Light

Topshop Neon Rose Cream Blush

Accessorize Baked Bronzer in California

Benefit High Beam

Urban Decay Primer Potion

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil – Milk

Boots No17 Solo Eye Shadow – Ivory Coast (applied to the lid and blended above the crease)

Shimmery white eyeshadow from the Milani Domino Quad (inner corner of eye)

Rimmel Glam’Eyes Professional Liquid Liner (for my winged cat liner)

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil – Bourbon (blended into the lower lash line)

Urban Decay Twice Baked and YDK eyeshadows (Blended over the Bourbon liner on the lower lash line for added dimension and depth)

Boots No7 Extreme Length Mascara – Black

MAC Eyeshadows - Copperplate mixed with a little Brun (to fill in brows, using an angled brush)

Barry M Lip Liner – Red (#3)

MAC Lipstick – Russian Red (Matte)

On a more random note, if anyone is also interested in anything cute and panda shaped, I picked up this adorable makeup bag for just £2.50 from Primark this week:

I also found a photograph of a makeup look I did earlier this year, but never posted. It’s based on My Chemical Romance’s Killjoy looks (Gerard’s specifically, but with a slight change to colour and shape) from the Na Na Na music video. If anyone’s interested I’m thinking about re-doing this look as a Halloween makeup post. It was my first attempt at covering my brows and creating a makeup mask. 

 

And now everyone is sick of Instagram images, that's it!

Thanks,

Rachel

xx

Hi Everyone, 

I finally recieved my MAC Wonder Woman order from Selfridges today, I missed my delivery on Monday but luckily had it re-delivered today when I had the morning off. I was really excited when I saw the information about his collection, so much so I skipped the Peacocky collection entirely. Personally, I'm fan of Wonder Woman, particularly the 70s TV show starring Lynda Carter, my DVD box sets have been well and truly watched! I actually have a framed photo of Lynda in full Wonder Woman attire hanging on my bedroom wall that was my dad's.

Apologies for the slight blur on the photos I took, I didn't realise my camera batteries were about to die!

I ended up purchasing 3 things from the collection; Pink Power Mineralize Skinfinish, Blush Duo in Mighty Aphrodite and Russian Red lipstick.

For me the star of the collection is Pink Power Mineralize Skinfinish, I honestly didn't think I'd love it as much as I do. The pigmentation of all 3 shades is really nice, I also like that it's large enough to use each shade separately which is how I intend on using it.

Mighty Aphrodite Blush Duo looks exactly how I expected it to, I personally love the lighter peach shade alone as a blush but it looks nice mixed with the deeper pink also. When swatching the deeper pink lower half of the blush I found the shade to be a lot sheerer and had to be built up a lot. That's no issue for me however as I wouldn't use that shade alone, I'd mix it with the lighter peach shade.

(left to right: both shades mixed, top peach half of blush, lower deep pink half of blush)

My final purchase was Russian Red lipstick which has a matte finish. This is an item I definitely bought for the packaging as I'd been planning on purchasing it from the permanent range. I didn't swatch this as I'm sure most people are familiar with it, I will be featuring it in a look soon however :)

Overall, I didn't end up purchasing as much from the collection as I thought I would, but I'm really happy with what I did get. There are some pretty polarised views about the packaging, I personally love it. I've heard a few people mention the MSF packaging looks a little cheap, I disagree with this, the MSF packaging is actually my favourite!

Even though the blush duos come with a mirror, to me they look a little cheaper than the rest of the products.I think that's beause the lid is just the solid red plastic, the gold band isn't visible until you open the compact which stands out from the other products. The raised section of the lid also seems to have a visible seam if you look at it closely, I personally would have loved a domed lid like the MSFs - but that's just my opinion!  

-LadyDanger

xxx

 Hi Everyone,

 I really liked the third makeup look Nicki Minaj wore in her music video for Moment 4 Life. In the video I couldn't really see if her crease was defined or how far her liner extended so I added my own twist.

 (click image to enlarge)

Revlon Colorstay and L'Oreal True Match foundations mixed

Accessorize With Love California Baked Bronzer

Mixed light pink eyeshadows from 120 palette as blush.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

Eyeko Grafitti Liner - Black

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner - Zero (waterline)

120 Palette - matte white eyeshadow

MAC Copperplate shadow (mixed with No7 matte bronzer in crease, brows)
Urban Decay - Jinx (lower lash line)

MAC Saint Germain mixed with a bit of Impassioned.

I'm also wearing quite large false lashes but they're not visible in the photo with the angle my eyes are closed, oops!

- Rachel

x

Hi Everyone,

I took a bit of a break from blogging, I felt like I had lost my mojo a bit and was leaving a long time between each blog post. I do think this break did me some good though, I'm feeling a lot more inspired and already have a few blog posts lined up, so hopefully the gap between each one will be reduced. 

(click to enlarge image - it's big!)

I actually did this look tonight, I was really excited to finally find some high quality images of Jessie J's makeup from the Brit Awards launch party. I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw her performance, so I didn't hesitate to give it a try. She wore black lipstick for the performance, but I cannot pull a black lip off at all so went for the bright matte red lip she sported on the red carpet. I also bronzed up my cheeks unlike Jessie who had a light contour, this was just personal preference as I'm already really pale I like a bit of colour in my cheeks :)

I realised her dotted liner was actually rhinestones in the close up images and interviews from the night, they really looked nice as they reflected the light. I used leftover black swarovski crystals from 'blinging' my phone a while ago... hehe.

Revlon Colorstay and L'Oreal True Match foundations mixed together. 

Accessorize With Love California Baked Bronzer

Eyes:

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils - Milk and Black Bean

Urban Decay 24/7 liner - Zero

120 Palette  - matte white (brow bone, inner corner and inner part of lid)

120 Palette - matte black

No7 Contour Powder (to blend out shadow, from limited edition christmas compact)

MAC Penultimate Liner - Rapidblack

False lashes - no brand name, very natural looking. 

Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara - lots of it.

MAC Copperplate Shadow - Brows

Barry M Lip Liner - Red

Superdrug MUA Lipstick - Shade 13 (AMAZING red lipstick for £1)

120 Palette - matte red eyeshadow (applied on top to mattify lip)

Hi Guys,

It's been more than a while since my last post, but my college coursework is all done now so I have a lot more free time to update regularly. I really hope everyone is having great time over the holiday period :) 

I've had this idea in my head for a few days now and finally got around to doing it. Revvvolution is a holographic deep charcoal polish that's extremely opaque, when my nails are shorter I can use just 1 coat however I like to use 2 when my nails are longer. I thought it was quite suitable for New Years - I tend to associate any celebration with glitter! My birthday is also on New Year's day so I tend to go all out :)

 After applying 2 coats of Color Club Revvvolution, whilst it was still wet I applied Stargazer holographic glitter using an ELF concealer brush which is extremely small. I concentrated the glitter at the tips, then feathered it down the nail to give a bit of a gradient effect.  I topped it off with Barry M's 3 in 1 nail paint as a top coat.

 Close-up of the glitter.

 - LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

Last month I purchased Eyeko's cult classics nail polish set which doesn't seem to be on the Eyeko website anymore. The set was £14 and included Nude Polish, Vintage Polish, Lilac Polish, Cosmic Polish and Indigo Polish. I also recieved a free Vampira Polish which was the gift of the month for Halloween.

 Close-up of shimmer.

Indigo Polish is a deep navy with a light blue shimmer running through it. Compared to my favourite navy polish, Barry M's Navy (292), they both look very similar in the bottle and the shimmer seems identical. However, upon swatching Indigo Polish is a deeper blue with a more prominent sparkly shimmer, whereas Navy has more of a royal blue tone and the shimmer is more finely milled giving the polish more of a frosted look. 

The polish was even with 2 coats, however I did go back and do a third coat on my ring finger as it looked a little uneven.Topcoat is the usual Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint. 

Comparison of Barry M Navy and Eyeko Indigo polishes, 2 coats of each, no topcoat. It's clear just how shimmery Eyeko's is!

The rapidly expanding Eyeko family!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

The PR for the new Sugababes fragrances kindly contacted me and asked if I would like to try one of their new fragrances. I accepted as in all honesty, I really like the Sugababes, I have most of their albums I've collected over the years in my CD collection!

Their new range consists of 3 fragrances – Tempt, Tease and Touch, I decided to try Tempt which described as being ' a fragrance in tune with the Sugababes vibe'. Tempt has top notes of iced tea and blackcurrant, heart notes of purple orchid, sweet rose and berries, with base notes of musk and vanilla. The packaging is a sleek black, and comes packaged in a matching black box with a reflective sihlouette of the 3 girls. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrance when it first arrived, it's not your typical overly sweet floral fragrance, it has a bit of a mature edge to it. I think this makes the fragrance versatile, I've worn this for both day and night wear.

I really get the heady floral sweetness first from the fragrance, but it has depth from the musk, vanilla and iced tea that takes the sweetness down slightly, making it more of a complex scent which I really enjoy. As it begins to dry down the sweetness subsides slightly and really gives way to the musk and vanilla base notes which is why I'd wear this fragrance at night too.

The fragrances, released exclusively to The Perfume Shop are priced at £19.99 for 100ml which is what really won me over, I already have my eye on Touch which I will be picking up in the near future! Touch has heart notes of intense violet and damascus rose which sounds like a match made in heaven – I have a serious love of violet and rose scents. 

Along with the number of Sugababes fragrance giveaways taking place, if you'd like to be in with another chance of winning one of the new fragrances be sure to check out their current facebook competition HERE  All you have to do is enter a Touching, Tempting or Teasing photo relating to the weeks theme to be in with a chance!

Thanks for reading everyone :)

-Rachel

xxx

Hi guys!

I generally don't go for really bright colours, but after seeing both versions of Rihanna's video for Who's That Chick I really fell in love with the bright look she's wearing in the day version of the video. I definitely wouldn't go around wearing this - the blush is a bit too crazy for my liking! But it was still fun to re-create. 

I actually did this look yesterday, but was wearing the black wig from my Elphaba look - I'm not sure what posessed me but I really didn't like how the photos turned out - though I did like the eye makeup better so I'll include a photo of that. 

I used an iridescent green shadow for the highlight as in some angles of the music video you can see a definite green cast on the brow bone and slightly above the brow.

Maybelline - Dream Satin Liquid Foundation  (really been liking this foundation lately)

Boujoir Healthy Mix Concealer

Revlon Skinlights (discontinued - liquid hilighter/bronzer depending on shade) bronze shade applied lightly

Super pink blush - mixed bright pink shades from 120 palette,contoured with a deeper pink mixed with a deep purple.

**I did forget to powder hence the slightly overly-dewy skin

Cut crease - MAC Brun and Copperplate

Lid - matte bright yellow from 120 palette

Lower lashline - lined with black shadow, neon green shadow from 120 palette. 

Benefit Bad Gal Liner - lower lashline 

Eyeko Grafitti Liner - Black

Milani Loose Eyeshadow Powder - 07 Mint Green
2 sets of eBay lashes (sorry no name on them!)
MAC Zoomlash mascara

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick - Indulgence

Illamasqua Intense Lip Gloss - Indulge

Barry M Lip Liner - #12 Fuchsia

Eye makeup from yesterday's version.

Hope you liked it!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hello again everyone!

I don't usually post twice in one day but I'll make an exception for Venomous Villains ;)

I was really unsure of what I was going to get from the collection, so seeing it in person definitely helped. I didn't pick up as much as I had initally planned but I'm happy with everything I got.

The first thing I decided on purchasing was My Dark Magic Mineralize Eye Shadow from Maleficent's part of the collection, it certainly lived up to the promotional images. The sales assistant was wearing this foiled along with She Who Dares and it looked amazing.

The second item I got was Revenge Is Sweet Lipglass, again from Maleficent's part of the collection. I really like the sheer jelly consistensy of this - not too sheer that it doesn't have any colour payoff at all. It looks a bit of an intimidating deeper shimmery purple in the tube but it's a really nice sheer magenta shade. Perfect for layering over lipstick. I'm really considering going back for Violetta lipstick to wear under this.

And finally Strange Potion Lipglass from The Evil Queen's part of the collection. It's a shimmery milky pale peach with some pink tones to it. The colour payoff is quite opaque however I'd love to try layering this over Costa Chic lipstick, or even Barry M's Peachy Pink lipstick (which I have a slight obsession with).

I don't think the swatches give justice to the products in person, however here they are;

(Left to right, indoor lighting with flash , natural lighting with no flash)

My Dark Magic, applied foiled, left and right side swatched separately - you can definitely see the difference in the colours more in the second image. Strange Potion lipglass is above Revenge Is Sweet Lipglass.

Apologies for the shoddy swatches!

And that's everyhing! I recieved all of the characters postcards with my purchase along with some Viva Glam stickers which I was rather excited about hehe. I went to MAC around 3pm and already everything I was purchasing was nearly sold out despite it only being released today!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

I've been lemming over various red glitter polishes in a black jellly base (Like China Glaze's Lubu Heels or Eyeko's Vampira) for a while now, but never got round to purchasing. Last night whilst looking through my polish stash for a new colour the idea of layering China Glaze's Ruby Pumps over black popped into my head. I wasn't too sure how it would turn out but I'm glad I gave it a go -  I think this could be my new favourite nail polish combination!

I applied 2 coats of Rimmel 60 Seconds - Black Out, 1 coat of China Glaze - Ruby Pumps and 1 coat of Barry M 3 in 1 Nail Paint as a topcoat. As Ruby Pumps is densely packed full of glitter 1 coat works great for this. I've never been able to get a good photo of Ruby Pumps as my camera hates glitter but I think these photos do it justice for once :)

Hope you like it! Definitely got me in the mood for Halloween :)

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

 

Illamasqua's Powdered Metal in Ether was the second item from the new Art Of Darkness collection that Alex kindly sent to me. The powder is a pale gold shade and extremely finely milled, it applies to the skin like butter. It's quite versatile and easily built up, a quick sweep across the skin adds a subtle glow, whereas when built up you can achieve a full-on metallic sheen (I like that it's not glittery, it's really unique that it provides a metallic effect). As the gold is so pale it seems a little cool toned to me, which doesn't look as stark against my pale complexion. This would look beautiful on darker skin tones too. I've actually worn this as an eyeshadow a few times also, it looks great on the lid paired with just winged liner. I have yet to try mixing a little with my foundation for a glowing effect but I will definitely be giving it a go! I love anything that brightens the skin.

Let all Oz be agreed, I'm WICKED through and through!

Hi Everyone,

I was going to wait until the beginning of October to start posting Halloween looks but I could wait no longer! I thought I'd start out with Elphaba as I've been listening to the Wicked soundtrack all day (what can I say, I have a serious love of all things Idina Menzel). I think this has to be my favourite look I've ever done!

I thought I'd go for the makeup that's seen more in the second act where she has more of a heavy contoured look. Watching lots of backstage broadway videos on youtube helped a lot! One thing I did change was the lip, it's a green lip on stage however I added a twist with the red lip which is seen on all of the promotional images for the show;

How I greenified myself:

For the green skin I mixed Barry M Dazzle Dust in Emerald with 6 pumps of foundation (as I knew I would be covering my neck, chest and tops of shoulders and arms). Though the pigment was sparkly when mixed with the foundation it became matte, a little iridescence was apparent on the skin.

I then set the foundation using mixed matte green shadows from my ebay 120 palette to alter the colour a little (it ran a little blue toned, I wanted more of a warmer deeper green). To add dimension I heavily contoured my cheekbones, nose, jawline and collar bones with black shadow.

For highlighted areas of the face (cheekbones, nose, forhead and chin I applied a bright chartreuse green shadow (120 palette). After all this was done I powdered my face using Milani translucent powder to remove any shimmer.

Products Used for rest of look:

Eyes:

Milani Domino Quad - slightly frosted white shadow for browbone, lid and inner corner.

Ebay 120 palette - matte black for crease and under eye, also used applied wet for brows.

MAC Penultimate Liner - Rapidblack - for winged liner

Benefit Eye Bright - Waterline

Lips:

Barry M Liner in Red

No7 Lipstick in Cherry

MAC Lady Danger lipstick

Black shadow applied with angled brush and blended around edges of mouth.

And that's it! I highly suggest everyone turns themselves green at least one time in their life, it's so strange looking at yourself! ;)

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone, 

It's been a while since my last nail polish post, mainly due to snapping a few of my nails which led to cutting them all of and painstakingly waiting for them to grow back- which they have now :)

A while ago I was invited to the Illamasqua Art Of Darkness event, but sadly couldn't make it which I was very disappointed about! Alex from Illamasqua offered to send me some information post event, but much to my surprise a few days after the event an unexpected package arrived on my doorstep! 

One of the products kindly sent to me by Illamasqua was one of the new nail polishes, Viridian. It's a beautiful multidimensional emerald green. It looks different depending on how the light hits it, a brighter emerald shimmer is illuminated within the deep forest green base. I'm not usually one for green toned polishes however I found the shade worked quite well with my skin tone - so I think Illamasqua may have converted me into a green lover. The photos of these run a bit darker and more blue based than it looks in daylight, it's definitely more of a true emerald colour.

The polish took 2 coats for me, I don't think I'd reccomend 1 coat for this polish as the layering of the colour really gives a more dazzling effect. It does dry a little matte compared to how it looked wet so I applied a glossy top coat to bring out the reflective effects of the polish.

I love the green beetle (I'm wanting to say it's a scarab beetle) featured on all of the packaging, the 2 items I recieved featured a decorative slip cover unique to the collection over the traditional black Illamasqua packaging - I'm really liking the attention to detail Illamasqua have put into the whole collection.

I did pull off the larger square cap when applying, as it reveals the smaller cap underneath which is much easier to hold. The brush for the polish is quite thin in comparison to most polishes in my collection, but I found it very easy to control. As I've only just applied it today I can't say how well it wears, I'll update through the week!

*Update* The nail polish lasted 4 days without chipping, I didn't use a base coat (naughty!) and the topcoat was my usual Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint. It definitely lasted a lot longer than I can normally get away with! I had a little tip wear today on the 5th day and 1 small chip on my index finger, very impressed!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

Eyeko recently sent me their new limited edition Cream With Extra Glow which essentially is a multi-purpose illuminating cream. I've had a chance to use this cream now around 4 times and I'm very impressed, it certainly does live up to Eyeko's statements of it being 'loaded with micro light reflecting pigments perfect for creating a soft focus sheen'. I've been using this cream for 2 things: adding a pea sized amount to my moisturiser to create an illiminating base for my makeup, and of course a cheek bone highlight. I've also used a little on the cupids bow and bridge of my nose. I'm certainly a fan when it comes to highlighters as they can brighten any tired or dull looking skin up in a second, being so pale I do like to add a little glow to my complexion.

I wouldn't use this cream directly on the face as a moisturiser as it is so shimmery and glowing it would look a bit too stark and sparkly, diluting it with a regular facial moisturiser adds a subltle glow that's suitable for both day and night wear.

As for the consistensy, it's a rich cream loaded full of light reflective shimmery particles - a little goes a long way. You get a lot of product too so this would be great for using on other areas of the body such as the decolletage (it looks beautiful on collar bones) or even arms and legs if you're a fan of glowing skin. It's very lightweight on the skin despite the cream being so rich. In the pot the cream is a shimmering golden pale pink, but once blended into the skin appears to add a silver sheen - but looking closer in different lighting a pale golden champagne and pink shimmer is visible. It's packaged in pearlescent pink pot with a screw top, it also has a protective white inner lid to prevent the cream from coating the main lid and creating a mess. 

(Skin swatches, blended and unblended in natural lighting)

Overall I'm very happy with the quality of the cream and will be purchasing a back-up. I'd also like to see how this compares to the original Eyeko 3 in 1 Cream which doens't have the 'Extra Glow'. I think this is ideal for those days when I don't feel like wearing foundation or just tinted moisturiser, however it works perfectly as an illuminating foundation base and highlighter over foundation too.

The cream is £8 for 28ml of product.

*This product was sent to me by Eyeko for review purposes, however all opinions are my own. I wouldn't feel comfortable featuring a product on my blog that I dislike or wouldn't buy as a consumer.*

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

I'm finally back home so I'm going to be able to post a lot more :) Today I went to MAC knowing both the Digi-Dazzle lipsticks and Dare To Wear collection were being released. I actually had to ask where they were in the store, only to be pointed to a tiny display next to the permanent lipsticks - the Dare To Wear lipglasses weren't even on a display stand as they'd only received them that morning.

I swatched all of the Dazzle lipsticks, they're packed full of glitter. I used a MAC wipe to remove them but still have some glitter left on the back of my hand. Naughty You is one of the colours I knew I was going to instantly like so I just picked that one up.

 As the lipsticks are packed full of micro glitter, they can seem a little frosty at first glance but definitely are sparkly. It's quite odd to look at a lipstick that's basically a tube of bright pink glitter. The pigmentation I found was similar to a Lustre finish, sheer on first swipe but quite buildable. The more unusual colours like Liquid Lurex and Hellraiser were a little more sheer than the other colours.

(close-up of glitter - being glitter it's really hard to photograph!)

MAC described the colour as a 'Neon Pink':

And it certainly is very bright, boarderline neon. It's a warm toned pink which is a nice change as most of the pinks I own are quite cool. The glitter gives a lighter pink-y silver sheen to the lipstick.

As for the swatches:

This is around 3 swipes and it's basically full coverage, I photographed my lips before to give you an idea of how the colour payoff is with my regular lip pigmentation which is quite pale. I only have a clear lip balm on my lips which I wiped off prior to application.

(natural lip pigmentation)

The formulation is really nice and creamy, definitely not matte. When I rubbed my lips together I couldn't feel the glitter particles at all. These are a bit of a pain to take off however, if you just wipe your mouth you're going to end up with glitter everywhere so I used a wet baby wipe which got nearly all of it off.

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure most people are familiar with Marlena (Makeup Geek) on YouTube. A few weeks a go I entered one of her Weekly Challenges on the Makeup Geek forum, the theme happened to be Lady Gaga and I was very shocked to be chosen as one of the winners. The quality of makeup everyone produced was amazing. The makeup look I entered that won was the Telephone makeup look I posted here back in March.

One of the prizes I chose was the Make Up For Ever HD Blush in #6 - Quickie. As Make Up For Ever is a bit of a pain to get hold of in the UK this is one of the first things I've tried from Make Up For Ever. The blush retails for £20.50 on www.makeup-provisions.com (PAM) for 10ml of product. On the Sephora website the colour is described as a 'Salmon Pink' which I agree with to an extent, it just seems to be a little deeper than expected.

Wayne (Gossmakeupartist on YouTube) noted in his review that you don't need to press the pump very hard or you're going to be left with too much product - and this is very true. The blush is very pigmented so the pump only needs the lightest touch. I do like the fact that it's a pump applicator, but it definitely releases way too much product.

The product sets to more of a satin finish as my foundation has more of a dewy finish without powder. Swatched on bare skin it definitely has more of a matte finish for me. I expected the formula to be somewhat runny, but I was surprised that it is thicker than expected but very light and easily blended. Lasting power is great, it lasts all day and I've even wore it for nights out without any problems.

Although the colour is gorgeous, I'm not sure if I'm in love with it on myself - I feel it could be a little too dark and stark against my pale skin. I think it would look beautiful against more olive or deeper skin tones.

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

I'm spending my summer away from home but luckily I found internet access, and brought my camera. Hopefully I can keep the blog updated, but apologies in advance if blog posts are a bit sparse!

(Natural Daylight)

I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with French manicures, however I decided to give it another go after re-purchasing Barry M's Nail Paint - 66 Matte White (which isn't matte, it's a flat bright shade of white which definitely has a glossy finish). I painted my tips as neatly as I could and then corrected any mistakes and shaped the smile line using a small brush and nail polish remover.

I'm happy with the way the manicure turned out - I'm just not sure if I like it on my own nails as it makes them look very false, like I've gone out and had acrylic nails applied. I think it's a combination of the length and how glossy the topcoat is. If the white was a more off-white colour I'm sure it would look slightly more natural.

(Indoor Lighting)

The photographs with the clear bottle of polish are my first attempt, but I wasn't happy with some of the smile lines as they looked a bit wonky - the photographs with the white polish are the 2nd version which I was much happier with.

One thing I have noticed is how high maintenance it is to keep them looking nice! I'm currently on the second day of wear and did have a tiny bit of tip wear which I touched up, then added a second layer of topcoat. I'm not sure if it's the polish I used - but when I've painted my nails with Barry M's Matte White before I've never had any tip wear issues. 

All photos are 2 coats of Barry M - Matte White Nail Paint on the tips, and 2 coats of Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint as a topcoat.

I'd love to know if any of you ladies (or boys!) have had an experience with a French Manicure and what you thought of it!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone!

Pixiwoo's latest video completely reminded me of the face chart I drew up and never got round to doing. I love red lips with a strong eye, and I think this look is definitely one of my favourites! Kat likes to play around with colour a lot but I thought I'd go with her more signature look of blacks, greys and taupe browns with a pearlescent shadow on the lid. Kat seems to be going for more toned down makeup at the moment with her bright red hair.

I went for a heavier bronzed contour as it's quite prominent in a lot of photographs I've seen of her (and on TV, I'm a total LA Ink addict ;). The stars I individually drew onto paper and cut them out with scissors, coloured them in with a black felt tip pen and stuck them on with Duo lash glue - I knew I would become a little OCD about them if I had to draw them all on. I'm bad enough at stars at it is! I counted 18 stars on that side of Kat's face but I only did 14 because they became a bit tiresome after a while haha. My hair covered a few though, oops!

-Maybelline Superstay 24H foundation - 10 Porcelain Ivory (I'm loving this at the moment)

-MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base (highlight)

-ELF Blush/Bronzing Duo (bronzer for contour, I contoured my nose with this a little too)

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Black Bean (base for outer V)

MAC - Copperplate

MAC - Print

MAC - Brun + a little Sleek black (brows)

Sleek Storm Palette - Matte Black

Milani Domino Quad - lid and brow highlight

MAC - #7 lashes

MAC - Lady Danger (of course! hehe)

Kat Von D

Whenever I have to type her name 'Kat Von Delayed' always pops into my head from that episode of LA Ink... but that's just me being weird haha.

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

When Eyeko first sent me the press release images of the new Rain Polish and Saucy Polish I instantly knew I would like them. Rain Polish is a really beautiful grey toned blue with silver shimmer (Saucy Polish is a nice red creme which I find a little vampy). The shimmer in Rain Polish is subtle at first glance but adds a really nice dimension when you look at it closely.

 (taken indoors with synthetic lighting)

The consistency is good, I found the first coat to be just a tad too sheer as I could see my smile line slightly, but I didn't experience any streakiness. Another thin second coat and I was finished. I find that with longer nails I generally will need an extra coat just to block out any transparency from my nail tip.

All nail swatches were taken without a topcoat.

(photograph taken outdoors in natural light)

(close-up of shimmer, indoors)


I did recently see MissChievous' youtube review of Eyeko polishes and she seemed to have an issue with some of the brushes in her polishes which I was quite shocked to see- I personally have had no issues with the brushes in my polishes, they're all well aligned with no splaying.

I haven't featured any of the polishes Eyeko have sent me in the past, so I thought I'd include a photo of the shades I own for comparison. Coral Polish has been on my toes for around 2 weeks now (re-painted each week of course!), it's a really nice red toned coral that's perfect for sandals in the summer.

Hi everyone,

I posted a NOTD featuring this polish quite a while ago now, however the picture quality was awful and the colour looked off  so I thought I'd do it again after painting my nails this colour :) I actually haven't worn this polish in a while, despite being nearly half way through the bottle! I was only reminded I have it when I did a little swap with Phylicia from Expensive Pink as this is one of the polishes I sent her (a new bottle of course not my one!).

To me this colour's a bit funny, I think it's just my skin tone but it's a little more of a muted colour than I thought it would be. Most pale colours are quite stark and vibrant, this seems quite soft to me. I'm pretty sure it's just down to how pale I am :) It certainly doesn't distract me from noticing how gorgeous this colour is!

Like most Barry M polishes this is easy to apply, and took just 2 coats. I do think this is one of Barry M's more sheer polishes however. Base coat and topcoat was the usual Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint.

-Lady Danger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

Today I originally went into MAC with every intention of purchasing Jazzed lipstick from the In The Groove collection amongst other things, however after swatching it it was more of a darker coral than I was hoping, I wanted something more vibrant. Needless to say I didn't end up getting anything from the collection that I had been planning on getting and left with Costa Chic instead which I have been wanting to get for a while.

I'm sure most people have seen it before, but it's the most gorgeous peach-y coral with pink tones to it. For a frost finish I don't find it to be overly frosty, but there's a bit of frost there that seems to be a lighter silver shimmer. The colour payoff for this is good, I found I only needed one swipe to get the tube colour.

I picked out the pictures I found to be the best representation of the colour, however depending on the light source it can look a lot pinker and a lot more orange toned. In store I thought this looked a lot more orange and saturated. Against my pale skin the colour stays pretty neutral and doesn't become too orange toned. 

I've been wearing coral and peach lipsticks constantly now it's summer so I'm sure I'm going to be using this a lot! I think this would look gorgeous with Pink Lemonade lipglass over it too. 

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick side note on my blog pictures, they're down again at the moment again as my Photobucket bandwidth has gone, I'm upgrading to a full year account tomorrow so please bare with me :)  They'll be back soon.

A little while back Illamasqua kindly contacted me and offered to send me some brushes to try out. I made my first Illamasqua purchase a few months ago which was the Intense Lipgloss in the shade Indulge and I was beyond happy with the quality of the gloss – the pigmentation is amazing and the colour was perfect! After getting over the initial excitement I of course accepted as I had been planning on trying out Illamasqua's brushes among their other products.

As this is the first product review I'm featuring on my blog I do want to say that I wouldn't ever accept a product to review that I wouldn't be willing to purchase and try myself. Illamasqua offered to send me the brushes, not for a blog post in return for them – I just wanted to share my opinion of them.

Anyway, on to the brushes!

(click to enlarge image)

Alex from Illamasqua was beyond helpful as there was a mix up with the first package sent to me, so she sent out a second which I received in 2 days. I received 3 brushes which were the Kabuki Body Brush, Blending Brush 2 and the Lip Brush. All of the brushes are synthetic so I was surprised with how soft they all are, I've cleaned them around 8 times now and have literally only lost about 3 hairs from the Kabuki, none from the others. Shedding is a major issue for me with brushes – most recently my MAC 109 began shedding horrendously when using cream or liquid products, despite taking good care of it. As for the packaging, I really do love the fact that they're a uniform glossy black colour, with the Illamasqua logo printed on each one making them look very sleek and timeless. All of the brush bristles are densely packed and are very sturdy. I've been testing out the brushes for nearly 3 weeks now and so far I'm very impressed with them.

(Click to enlarge image)

Kabuki Body Brush retails for £38.00

The Kabuki Body Brush was the brush I expected to use the least as it is quite large (it's the same size as the palm of my hand) but I have found myself using it whenever I apply my makeup. I've been using bronzer a lot more now it's summer and I adore this brush for blending a little bronzer across my neck, collar bones and chest for a bit of a summer glow – perfect for a night out too. It's also amazing for blending out any overly-intense bronzer or blush on the face too as it's so large it really does blend anything effortlessly, taking only a few seconds to do.


(click to enlarge image)
Blending Brush 2 retails for £25.00

Hi Everyone,

Today I finally removed Flip Flop Fantasy which lasted really well, I only noticed slight tip wear this morning which was the 4th day of wear - pretty good in my book!

I decided to go for another bright pink shade to cheer myself up a bit, going for Pink Voltage which is another one of my new purchases. I think I really do have a soft spot for pink neons! This is definitely a straight up bright pink neon, it leans towards being more cool toned which I think is more flattering on my skintone as opposed to the orange tones of Flip Flop Fantasy - which I still love!

This is a really gorgeous colour, it's somewhat of a jelly consistency and has a subtle blue duochrome which adds some shimmer, it's definitely not a flat colour. It's quite sheer so it took 3 coats, 4 on my pinky finger because I smudged it! This dries semi-matte so was touch-dry in around 2 minutes, I used my Barry M 3 in 1 base coat and topcoat as usual.


 

I think the top image is a better representation of the actual colour, this one's a smidgen too light. 

And here's a somewhat pixelated super zoomed in version of the top image which shows the blue flash across the nail - I really do recommend enlarging the image to see it properly ;)

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I finally got to pop into Sally's, the nearest one to me is located in a different city where I usually don't shop so this would be the second visit I've ever made. The China Glaze and OPI polishes that they do stock is fairly limited and a couple of the colours I wanted were out of stock so I shall be ordering those from Ebay- which works out slightly cheaper anyway.

Flip Flop Fantasy is a neon which looks very different depending on the light source, when I put this on last night it looked more of a pink toned coral, while today in natural light it's a way more orange toned coral that is quite milky looking. I think that my skin tone makes it look a bit more orange toned as in the bottle it is slightly more pink. So this is pretty much a milky pink/coral neon which is a colour I haven't seen before- I think this would look absolutely beautiful against a darker skin tone.

Taking pictures of neons is always a challenge as the glare does alter the colour making it look in most cases drastically different. All of my indoor pictures came out as a neon bright pink, with the exception of one which looked like a pastel orange... so I settled for taking them outside with my camera's 'Flower' setting on which is just a slow shutter speed with no flash and it managed to capture a good representation of the colour. Looking at it in person it is a lot more glow-y and bright.

 (click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

This is 3 coats of Flip Flop Fantasy with the usual base coat and topcoat of Barry M 3 In 1 nail paint. My experience with creamy neons is generally that they take around 3 coats to be completely even, but they do dry matte making them dry extremely fast.

-LadyDanger

xxx

Hey everyone, 

I purchased this nail polish recently when it was part of a large Rimmel display in boots - I believe it was for a 3 for 2 promotional offer across the store (or something along those lines), I hadn't seen this colour before in my local Boots as they have a smaller selection compared to the larger stores in the city center. It instantly caught my eye and I picked it up straight away - it's a gorgeous bright warm purple with a  light blue shimmer.

I think the name is very cute and fitting too - it makes me wonder if they really did get inspiration from Prince or the naming is just a coincidnce! I kind of wish they could have got away with actually calling it 'Purple Rain' but I'll let Rimmel off; I thought it was one of their more inventive names as they usually tend to play it safe.

(click to enlarge)

I've purchased polishes from the Rimmel 60 Seconds range before and I've always been happy with them, and this one certainly didn't let me down. This is 2 coats of Purple Reign with a base coat and top coat of my usual Barry M 3 in 1 Nail Paint. 

I recently snapped my index finger nails on both hands so they are looking a bit awkward at the moment! They are starting to grow out slowly but surely though - I just didn't want to have to trim my others down to match, I can live with the growing out process of having 2 slightly awkward nails for a while ;)

-LadyDanger

xxx