OPI - 007 Bond Girls Liquid Sands

I've mentioned a few times how obsessed I am with James Bond. And how obsessed i am with nail collections.

Obviously when the Bond Girls Liquid Sands collection came out I had to snap it up.

I only picked up the mini collection though (slightly redeeming myself...) which contains 4 out of the 6 polishes. This leaves me wondering why on earth they didn't just do a mini set of all 6, or split it into 3?

I'd have still bought it and most others would too. I love some of them so much I've requested my Americna friend to send some over for me, assuming they get through the post GODDAMN INTERNAITONAL MAIL RULES.

This mini collection contains Jinx (Halle Berry), Vesper (Eva Green), Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and Solitaire (Jane Seymour) and all are Liquid Sands, the latest in nail decoration to hit the masses.

First up is Jinx.

This is my absolute favourite and request number one from my friend.

Just LOOK at it.

It's corally, with a gold shimmer and a beautiful texture.

It looks like fire, and part of me wishes that Hunger Games could get a few of these liquid sand polishes out for the next film as seriously, wouldn't Catching Fire make a great liquid sand polish??

Wondering aside, this beautiful polish was the first Liquid Sand polish that i have tried and subsequently have fallen in love with them all. Sometimes a fad just hits the part where you were wondering why on earth so many variations of nail art existed and you totally understand.

It actually mesmerises me and I've put my order in for a full size so I can continue to coo over my own nails like a weirdo!

Below shows the first image of Solitaire.

Solitaire is a shimmery white liquid sand polish that is described as being a 'diamond white'

Please excuse my appalling application in these pictures as I was far too excited to concentrate.

Diamond White is definitely the correct description for this polish as the silver glitter in it perfectly sets it off.

I'm not one to wear a shimmery white polish as it reminds me too much of my nan who thinks she's very cool for wearing it, but i will take all of that back for this beauty. If only i had a tan to set it off with! It would look even better then!

Pussy Galore is as you would expect, a cute baby pink shimmer.

This was super easy to apply and was completely foolproof. The others were easy to apply too and mostly I only needed 2 coats for each, but this polish applied like a dream and instantly looked great.

I'm also not much of a baby pink girl, I prefer hot pinks and reds but this is a very welcome addition to my collection and will certainly get a lot of use over the summer.

I've even worn these to work and haven't had any comments, which is good as my neon colours have caused quite a stir! The Bond colours are clearly more acceptable ha.

Below is the final in the collection, Vesper.

In the films, Vesper is one of my favourites. She's so British and I think Eva Green is beautiful, she's also in the first film with Daniel Craig as Bond, which means I love Casino Royale more ;)

This purple perfectly matches the dress she wears in the film.

This one was a little harder to apply and I think 3 coats would have been preferable for the perfect finish.

Having said that it is a beautiful aubergine purple and will be perfect for autumn and winter when berry colours take over (possibly my favourite time of year!)

You can see in the picture above where the polish looks thinner. It's not so apparent in reality but you can just see it, which means in my opinion that a third coat is needed.

This one is also not glittery which is probably why it shows up flaws more as the light is being diffracted all over place distracting your eyes!

Overall as my first mini OPI collection I was very impressed. I also bought the OPI Oz mini collection too which will be in an upcoming post.

Jinx was my ultimate favourite and as I've mentioned I will be getting it in the full size. Pussy Galore and Solitaire are the shock likes in this collection as I didn't think they'd be anything more than pretty nude colours, but I was proved wrong. Vesper will have to be brought back out at winter time as its such a deep purple, but then it will definitely be used and I'm looking forward to it.

Also in the collection is a gold called Honey Ryder (also on my list to come from America!) and Tiffany Case, a really pretty baby blue. I won't be trying Tiffany Case as I'd have to buy the full size to try it, but you never know, I'm a sucker for owning a full collection!

I hadn't thought to try nail art with these yet, but Polish You Pretty did the most amazing ombre effect with Vesper and Honey Ryder that I had to show you....AMAZING!!

What do you think of the Bond Girl collection? Do you like the Liquid Sand effect?

L xxx

Review: MAC Sheen Supreme Lipstick in 'Insanely It'

This was a sneaky purchase from CCO in Swindon's designer outlet, and one I do not regret in the slightest!!

Not that I often regret my purchases, but they can sometimes be a little rushed with the 'product rush' I get, you know, too many endorphins etc.




Insanely It is a Sheen Supreme lipstick and one of the first of that kind that I've owned. There was a tester in the shop so after swatching it on my hand I did like how moisturising it felt and still had a decent wash of colour.





I love the sleek black packaging as always and love that this type of lipstick is slightly different to the bullet shape of other MAC lipsticks.

The cap closes nice and tightly with a satisfying click so you know that the lid isn't going anywhere at the bottom of your hand bag.

The lipstick is lightweight and according to MAC is the perfect combination between a lipstick and a lipglass.

Insanely It is a beautiful pink colour that looks bright but doesn't look overly shocking when on. It has a slight shimmer running through it but this doesn't translate to a shimmery lipstick, more like just giving it the lipglass effect that is the entire 'Sheer' point of the lipstick!

It has a slight blue tone which means it's great for paler individuals and for making your teeth appear brighter, win win!

You can easily build this up or use it as a wash of colour, and it lasts for around 4 hours. It's quite moisturising but I do feel the need to use lip balm, mainly as my lips crave moisture 24/7.

You can see it in the picture below where I've applied it as I normally would. This is a full application, though you could build it up a bit more if you wanted to.

I absolutely love it and it has become a firm favourite in my hand bag!

It's bright and summery but flattering too and I've worn it to work, lunches and nights out. What's best about it is the fact that due to its slightly darker pink as opposed to something like MAC's Nicki Minaj lipstick is you could wear this in Autumn/Winter too where you want to brighten up the dreary weather!

What do you think of the Sheen Supreme range? I'm very interested in trying more of them....

What do you think of Insanely It?


L xxx

Review: Good Things Deep Pore Anti Blemish Cleanser

Hi there!

A bright and early post from me today, it's apparently summer so I thought I'd get in early with this very fruity and summery cleanser from 'Good Things'.


Good Things is a brand that I have funnily enough, heard good things about. But having never tried a product from them I didn't know this for myself and just had to believe the hype.

Whilst picking up presents for an American friend (for a swap) Boots conveniently had a 3 for 2 deal on skincare so I obviously got something for myself in the 'free' part.

As I'm on a ban this was debatable as to whether I'd broken it...but as it was free and I ensured this product was cheaper than the ones I was getting for a friend I considered it acceptable...do you agree??

What shocked me most was the price of this one!

Review: Avon Always On Point Eyeliner in Teal

Today's post is another coloured liner. I'm sure you'll be able to tell from my recent posts I'm loving coloured liners. This one is the Always on Point liner in Teal from Avon. It retails for £7 but is currently on offer for 2 for £8 here

The eye liner comes boxed which I always like with make up. I guess it is a waste but a boxed product always feels more special.

The packaging of the liner it's self if a sparkly grey with a colour coded part at the bottom to easily identify the colour. The lid is also really secure so is a great one to keep in your make up bag. 

The colour is a very blue toned teal. It's a creamy formula that glides on easily without tugging but isn't so soft you use a lot of product.

The very unique part of this eye liner is that it has a built in sharpener in the lid. When you twist the lid on the tip of the liner become sharpened again. This makes it really easy to always have precise liner and points for cat eye type looks.

As the first photo shows the blunt top to the eye liner and the second shows it freshly pointed. I love how this makes application easy every time and it doesn't waste product as I expected it too. I'm not fully sure how the sharpener works but no product comes out of the lid so I assume it's more of a reshape.

This is how I love wear the liner most and I wear this for every day with a soft lip as shown above. I blend a gold nude shade all over the lid and define my crease with a soft brown. I then lightly blend a black into my outer v. I then add the teal eye liner. I like to blend it so it's softer and add a small about of black to darker and intensify the colour.

What are your thoughts on coloured liner? Is it something you wear? I really want the black always on point now as I think it will make my make up easier and quicker to do when I'm in a rush.

Love M

xxx

Wishlist

It's been so long since I've done a wishlist. I used to do them monthly but haven't for a while now. With my birthday coming up I've been trying to think of things I want as I've been asked by a few people. So here's some of things I'm eyeing up at the moment. There are definitely a few if only I had lots of money pieces in here!!

First up is this gorgeous bag from Folli Follie, I love the soft grey/nude shade which will go with everything. I love an everyday hangbag to be simple and classic so I can get lots of use out of it. I love the little gold detailing to the bag and the plated handle!

I've never really browsed Stella and Dot but at the Cardiff Bloggers Meet we were given a brochure from Stella and Dot. Since then I've been browsing the website I love their pieces. This statement necklace is definitely one that really caught my eye. I love the colours!!

I absolutely love the Macadamia Natural Oil range and have used the oil and mask on and off now for about 4 years. The healing oil is one of my favourites and I'm lusting after the oil and deep repair mask. Both can be got from here.

The next one is definitely a dream piece but after watching Ultimate Shopper it's not left my head. It's a beautiful colour, beautiful draping and I love that it has sleeves. I have a winter wedding early next year this would be amazing for but I know it won't happen. You can get it here. It's the Karolina Dress form Bernshaw.

I'm absolutely loving Bioderma. I didn't expect to like it and kind of didn't want to but I am a huge fan after getting a few samples from Escentual. My favourite is the Sebium H20 version. It's currently on offer here.

I'm really missing my pink hair I had last year so I'd love to brave a wig for days when I want to be a bit different. I love the colour and style of this one from Annabelle's Wigs.

Next up is loads of dresses!! Everyone needs a good birthday dress right!? Here are some of my top picks!!

I've been eyeing up this one for a while. I'm a huge fan of lace but only when it's not the shiny cheap lace you seen everywhere. This is the Elizabeth Dress from Lydia Rose Bright's collection. I love how simple it is and the colour. I definitely think I could get away with wearing this to one of next years weddings with opaque tights

Next up is more lace dresses from Lipsy. I love both of these as the lace doesn't look tacky on them in my opinion. I also love that they are classic dresses that will last!! The first on is the Lipsy VIP waxed lace pencil dress and the second is the Lipsy VIP Lace Shift Dress. This also comes in white and grey.

These two are from AX Paris. The New Look in my town carries this range and I can usually find a dress I love on the rack. There is always something I want. I love the first dress. I've tried this on in Navy with cream crochet. It fitted amazing and made my waist look tiny. I really love the print on this style. This is the Floral Crochet Neck Skater Dress it also has a great back to it. The next dress is something really simple. I sometimes think less is a more and would love this for a night out with a statement necklace. This is the Long Sleeve V Front Dress.

Lastly are some dresses from George at Asda. Lately they seem to have some amazing dresses whenever I go shopping there. The first dress I absolutely love the simplicity of it. This is another wedding contender dress for me. Best of all as it's from George it's an absolute bargain. This is the Lace Panelled Bodycon Dress. I absolutely love the colour of this dress. Next is an amazing green dress. I'd love this for a night out. It has some mesh panelling to it so I'm not sure if a bra would show. Lastly is a dress I've been after for a while. I think an illusion dress would be really flattering on me figure and I love this one. This is the Bodysculpt Panelled Midi Dress. This dress has hidden support so I think it would be great on my pear shaped body.

Lastly I really need a new Pro Longwear foundation. This will probably one of the first things I buy when I finish project 10 pan. I'm really working hard to use up make up and I'm slowly getting there.

That was a long wishlist. What are you lusting over at the moment?

Love M

xxx

Review: Benefit's Stay Flawless Primer

I previously mentioned that I had attended Benefit's 'Stay Flawless' event in Bristol, and you can read the original post here.

Luckily for me and M, we share the same foundation colour even though were opposite in hair colour and MUA's often think I will be much darker on account of my almost black hair.
So basically my point is over the past few weeks we have both tested it out in various situations and have come up with the following review, hope you enjoy!



At the event I was lucky enough to be given not only the Stay Flawless Primer but also their infamous Hello Flawless foundation and their foundation brush, which was so exciting!



The brush is really light and your typical 'foundation' brush shape which I don't actually own at the moment. The brush was pretty good and easy to clean, it applied foundation quite easily but I did find it left a few brush marks on my face. I'm more used to using bigger brushes like RT's Buffing Brush, which probably just means I need to change my technique more than anything else!



So..onto the star of the show!



I loooooooooooooooooove the packaging of the primer and the foundation.

The primer, shown below, has beeeeeeeautiful monochrome polka dot packaging with silver and pink accents. With writing almost like a handwriting scrawl I'm in love and couldn't have designed it better myself. Fun but simple and very chic!



The primer is in a stick like product. I love this.

I like feeling like a 3 year old again stealing my mums lipstick and drawing on my face with it, which is basically what this feels like!

The instructions state that you draw all over your face in circular motions, then apply Hello Flawless as quickly as you can. This worried me initially as I wasn't sure what 'quickly' meant, but basically as long as you apply it straight after the primer you're fine and nothing crazy happens!



The primer is obviously easy to use and feels exactly like applying a balm or hydrating lipstick onto your face, if you get what I mean! It feels a little tacky but not too bad.

The shade that I was given was 'Believe in Me' Ivory. I think that giving shades names like this makes them so much more interesting and memorable, I've not forgotten the shade that I use after being colour matched for it!



Here's the blurb:



Lots of promises for a foundation!

After applying this over the primer I can agree that it is hydrating, luminous and brightening. You barely need anything from the bottle to apply to your entire face and I felt like it really did cover all of my flaws.

I also like that the foundation has SPF 25 so helps to protect against environmental effects.

You can see my pictures below where I only have the primer and foundation on. It applies pretty flawlessly and I think my skin looks brightened.

You can see in the pictures that the pores on my nose are only just visible, the bags under my eyes are covered and although I have scars on my face from acne you can't see them when this is applied.
As the foundation is so thin (runny if you like!) it blends without caking into your hairline and being blotchy.








This was all looking so promising for me and I was so impressed. Unfortunately for me however, after a few hours of wearing this the make up tended to slide and clump together on my face regardless of what i did. I always set my face with powder after and even used the Hello Flawless powder but this problem hasn't gone away.

I was full of hope when I wore it out to my first day at work but unfortunately I did have to sort my face out at lunch time where it had slid and I had to rebuff and repowder my base back to flawlessness. I think this is a lot to do with how my skin has changed and not necessarily just the primer/foundation combination.
When I wore it to the gym one day and did a body pump class, the make up actually fared pretty well, which just goes to show it can and does work! My make up honestly looked as fresh as it did when I applied it a few hours before and I was impressed as normally i come out looking like a sweaty tomato.

Having used it for a week before giving it to M to test, now I've got it back I plan on trying it out with different foundation and primer combos to see if it's just because of my skin (which is a constant issue for me anyway!) I feel that for my skin type I need a heavy duty absorbing primer for the foundation to stay for longer, and a drier foundation such as ColorStay for the primer to be at its best.

Fingers crossed this will solve my problems!

Have you tried Stay Flawless or Hello Flawless?? What did you think?


L xxx

The Hello Flawless foundation was one I'd wanted to try for a while. It seemed to boast everything you'd want from a foundation. SPF, oil free and brightening. When L told me she was lucky to get this at the event I was so disappointed my exams had meant I couldn't go.

She lent me the products to try for a couple of days to see how I got on with it. The foundation was a perfect match to my skin and blended in flawlessly. It has a really light texture and is quite a runny foundation, that provided a light natural coverage leaving my skin looking so healthy.

Unfortunately for me it just didn't last too well on my skin. I think me skin is too oily for this foundation even though it's oil free. I can see anyone with normal or dry skin absolutely loving the formula and finish of this. It left my skin with such a gorgeous healthy glow (without being glittery or shiny) I'm gutted it didn't last all day on me.

If any of you have found products to make this foundation last better on a oily complexion I'd love to know as I loved the finish.

Love M

xxx