The Sinful Colors Series: Dancing Nails

Bare with me if this a little rushed - I'm currently getting ready for work and remembered I had no Sinful Colors series ready for today! I'll come back and tidy this post up tonight after work.

This week it is Dancing Nails!

Dancing Nails was a polish I bought to go with a wine coloured dress I'm wearing for New Years Ever - and I think the shade name of this polish goes well with what I'll be doing tonight! What a coincidence that it was the perfect colour too! 

In the bottle it is a shimmer light wine colour with shimmers of pink and red running through it to give it some unique tones with the light hits it - sometimes giving it a copper feel to it.

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Succubus

A few weeks ago whilst having a mooch at Illamasqua online I came across something magical.. a few items were more than HALF PRICE! So, after work the next day I quickly made my way up to the Illamasqua counter and found the items that were half price - there were 6 intense lipglosses and 6 nail polishes. One of the nail polishes I also picked up in the shade Velocity, and can be seen here. 

One of the intense lipglosses I picked up is this shade, named Succubus.

The lipgloss comes in a black cardboard box with light cream/gold detailing and a small hole in Illamasqua's signature shape so you can see the product and colour inside. You get 7ml of product for your money - not bad for the 50% price tag!

Christmas FOTD

Hey guys!

So, I decided to do a FOTD on the makeup I was wearing Christmas day afternoon and Boxing Day - as I really liked it, it was simple as I was stopping in but I still wanted to look nice. Plus I got new make-up for Christmas and wanted to test it out! I got the Naked Basics palette by Urban Decay and a Ted Baker nail polish and lip stain set - so here is the look I came up with.

The Sinful Colors Series Festive Edition: Sugar Sugar

Welcome to the second to last Sinful Colors series of the year! Considering tomorrow is the big day, I thought I'd give you a sort of festive polish to tie in with the Christmas Period. So I present to you.. Sugar Sugar!

Sugar Sugar is a sparkly red lady. She is a classic pink toned red and in the bottle she had small red shimmer running through as well as large gold flecks of glitter that shine when the bottle catches the light. (You have no idea how hard it was to photograph them!) Although I'm doing this as a festive polish, Sugar Sugar is part of Sinful Colors permanent range so you don't have to worry about rushing out and snapping it up before it's over! 

A Quick FOTD... Work Make-up

Hey guys, so I decided on doing a quick FOTD this week. Just a simple one though! This is my make-up I usually wear to work - sorry about the low quality of the image, I was snapping these before I had to get changed and leave the house to get my bus. 

Rimmel London Glam Eyes HD palette in Brixton Brown

Today's review is a sneaky little purchase I made a few days ago whilst out buying Christmas presents. Oops? I don't think that's how shopping for Christmas presents works but oh well. It was hard work so this was my reward!

I spotted this little palette whilst having a sneaky peak at the make-up stands in Wilkinsons (they only have Rimmel, Collection and Maybelline) and I spotted this and thought it looked like a gorgeous little palette and I had heard some good things about it around the bloggersphere so I popped it in my basket and carried on with my shopping.

This little palette is small, it fits in the palm of my hand so it's easy to carry around if you need to apply your make-up on the go, however, it doesn't come with a mirror and it has a silly foam applicator that no-one ever uses - when will make-up brands stop using these and put something useful there instead? Like an eyeliner and an actual eyeshadow brush?

The Sinful Colors Series: Why Not

For this weeks Sinful Colors review, we have a gorgeous blue shade named Why Not.

Barry M Matte Nail Paint in Crush

I'll admit it now, this was an accidental buy. When I first spotted this shade I fell in love with it, it's a beautiful deep burgandy/wine colour and as soon as I saw it on the shelves I grabbed it with both hands and happily went and paid for it. It wasn't until I got home and realized it was actually a matte shade.

Sorry about the dull lighting in this photo - I was battling (and loosing!) with the horrible winter light.

The reason I was drawn to this colour was because I love wine shades and berry colours so this polish just screamed me! But when I realized it was a matte shade, my love for this polish faded - i've never been a fan of matte nail polishes but I bit the bullet and went ahead and applied it and hoped for the best.

Illamasqua Nail Polish in Velocity

Velocity with Barry M Limited Edition polish on my ring finger - review coming soon!

This is my first polish from Illamasqua - and I will say this now, I WILL be buying more! 

I'll admit now, the only reason I bought this polish was because it was on sale - at half price! It would be rude not too! Because of the sale, this polish was only £6.75 and because I work in the store that sells them, I got 20% off that price! Making this polish a grand total of £5.50! I don't know why it was in the sale at that price, but there were 5 others in the sale and 5 intense lipglosses in the sale at £6.75 too (so I maybe, possibly.. accidentally bought two of them too!)

The Sinful Colors Series: Pink Forever

This week for the Sinful Colors series is a lovely lady named Forever Pink.

Pink Forever is what I would describe a Barbie Pink or a Bubblegum Pink. It's a bright, blue toned pink that screams girly girl. It makes you feel very girly and feminine when wearing it, and I think it's one of those polishes that will suit most skin tones. I'm not usually a fan of pink nail polishes as I'm not a super girly girl, but this is one of those rare ones that I like and I think suits my skin tones. I would say this polish is definitely suited more to Spring/Summer because of it's bright colour. This is definitely the pinkest pink in my collection!

MUA Luxe Powerbrow in Mid Brown

I have no doubt that the last few weeks have been covered in images of the latest collection from budget make-up brand MUA. Their latest collection named Luxe, has been flying off the shelves since it's launch and I have geniunly struggled to get my hands on this collection, but I finally have so let's start off with the reviews! First up we have the Powerbrow shape and highlighter in mid brown.

A new feature of this collection is the packaging, normally MUA products are very simple with the packing and just come loose, but this time around they have sleek black cardboard packaging with gold letting, which makes them look a lot more fancy than the actual £3 price tag! I like this as I prefer to keep products in the packaging where I can just because I wouldn't want anything to get damaged! 

The Body Shop Christmas Collection: Smokey Plum 4 Colour Eye Palette

You might remember me talking about the Smokey Plum eye shadow palette and my search to find it, in my post reviewing The Body Shop's Colour Crush eyeshadow in Grape Expectations, if you didn't see that post.. this is what happened:

In a recent post about freebies in December magazines, I mentioned that I got a Gift Card in Glamour magazine for The Body Shop. I ventured into The Body Shop before work one afternoon to see how much mine was for (they come in three amounts, you get either £3, £15 or £100!), my one was worth £3, so I couldn't go nuts in the shop like I really wanted too. But the good thing was I knew what I wanted and you could use your Love Your Body card at the same time and get your 10% off to make it even cheaper!

The product I was on a mission to get was the Eye Palette in Smokey Plum which was part of the Prepare to Party which is this years Special Edition winter trend make-up range. As you probably know, The Body Shop release a limited edition range of make-up, kabuki brush and body shimmer over the Winter period and as always, are super popular. So, as you can image I couldn't find the Eye Palette. I could find it in the other shade, Smokey Brown - but I had bought that palette a year or two ago, but every Body Shop I tried didn't stock the Smokey Plum palette and multiple employees told me the entire company had sold out. So I asked if I could order it online, and they said no that they weren't getting any in stock and my best bet of getting it would be waiting until next year and see if, because it's been so popular this year, they might bring it out again. Safe to say I wasn't happy! So on my way home, I checked the Body Shop website straight away, and what do I find? The Smokey Plum palette! Even better, they honour my Love Your Body card so I go 10% off, plus they had a promotion going at the time so I got another 35% off, free delivery AND a free gift worth £10! If I was paying full price, plus p&p, it should have cost me just shy of £18, but with all the discounts, it cost me £9! Bargain! So I quickly placed an order and I'm expecting it to arrive within the next few days. 

And it did! I ordered it on the Friday evening, and in the e-mail it said expect up to five working days.. and it arrived on the Tuesday! 

MAC Eyeshadow - Trax

Last week I took advantage of Debenhams' Christmas Spectacular and their 10% off beauty and fragrance, and picked up two items from the MAC counter. One of those items is this lovely eyeshadow named Trax! This was the first time I had swatched it and as soon as I stumbled across it I fell in love with this unusual shade.

As usual, the eyeshadow comes in sleek black packaging that MAC is known for, with a round hole in the top so you can make sure it's the right shade before you take it home with you. The shadow itself is encased in sturdy black plastic with a clear lid so you can see the colour without having to open it which is always handy.

On the back it says the name of the shade, in this case Trax, and the type of eyeshadow. Trax is a velvet eyeshadow. Velvet eyeshadow's aren't super super pigmented and a great for a wash of colour over the lid or to be used as a blending shade, they are the soft and sheer shades. They have some shimmer, but not a lot or enough to make the shadow look wet. However, MAC describes this shade as 'highly pigmented powder. It applies evenly, and blends well', But I have to disagree...

 

Trax is a gorgeous yellow based purple shade with flecks of gold shimmer running through it, it's so unsual and that's what made me love it straight away! It so soft and buttery as well, making it apply absolutely beautifully. The shimmer is slightly chunkier than usual but that doesn't matter and doesn't make the shade look over shimmery and instead gives it a duo chrome appearance when applied over the lids.

The eyeshadow is so unusual - depending on the light, there are golds, purples and brown tones in this shade. As it is a velvet eyeshadow it isn't highly pigmented even though the website suggests it is, so it takes several applications to build up a good amount of colour, and is at it's best when it's used as a blending shade or as a base for other eyeshadows, but as I said, it applies smoothly and feels soft and light on. This great thing about the different tones in this eyeshadow is that it can be used with SO many other shades, so you have endless options. A great thing is that even though this is a shimmer shade, there isn't any fall out.

This is a great eyeshadow, but if you are looking for a well pigmented shade then this isn't for you, even though MAC claims it is highly pigmented, this would be perfect as a blending shade against other eyeshadows though.

The Sinful Colors Series: Pistache

For this week's Sinful Colors series it is a light green shade name Pistache!

Pistache is a cool toned, pastel green shade. Like some of the shades in the series, this polish is one of the few shades from Sinful Colors that doesn't have any kind of shimmer or sparkle running through it. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love shimmery polishes, but not all the time! I prefer simple, glossy polishes 80% of the time.

Sinful Colors describe this polish as one of their Cream nail polishes and I would definitely agree with this as it is definitely one of their thicket polishes - but as I have said before, thicker doesn't mean better! With it being a thick polish it does take a very long time to dry.

Apologies for the polish smudge in the first image - I applied it too thick and was rushing so didn't give it enough time to dry.

Pistache is a rather thick polish and you can 100% definitely get away with just one coat of this green shade, but out of habit and to doubly make sure no nail is peaking through the polish, I always have a second coat just to be on the safe side.This shade is lovely and glossy and I think I would definitely say this is a spring shade as it reminds me of grass and fresh flowers. I don't wear this polish much though, because as with blue polish as I've mentioned before, I have pink toned pale skin and I don't think blue or green tones go well with my skin tone so I normally stay clear of such shades and stick to my reds and berry shades. 

However, this is a gorgeous little polish and you get a lot of polish in a big sturdy glass bottle for just £1.99 so you can't go wrong really, even if you don't wear it much like me, it hasn't broken the bank and it is a lovely polish to have in your collection.

The Body Shop Colour Crush Eyeshadow in Grape Expectations.

In a recent post about freebies in December magazines, I mentioned that I got a Gift Card in Glamour magazine for The Body Shop. I ventured into The Body Shop before work one afternoon to see how much mine was for (they come in three amounts, you get either £3, £15 or £100!), my one was worth £3, so I couldn't go nuts in the shop like I really wanted too. But the good thing was I knew what I wanted and you could use your Love Your Body card at the same time and get your 10% off to make it even cheaper!

The product I was on a mission to get was the Eye Palette in Smokey Plum which was part of the Prepare to Party which is this years Special Edition winter trend make-up range. As you probably know, The Body Shop release a limited edition range of make-up, kabuki brush and body shimmer over the Winter period and as always, are super popular. So, as you can image I couldn't find the Eye Palette. I could find it in the other shade, Smokey Brown but every Body Shop I tried didn't stock it and multiple employees told me the entire company had sold out. So I asked if I could order it online, and they said no that they weren't getting any in stock and my best bet of getting it would be waiting until next year and see if, because it's been so popular this year, they might bring it out again. Safe to say I wasn't happy! So on my way home, I checked the Body Shop website straight away, and what do I find? The Smokey Plum palette! Even better, they honour my Love Your Body card so I go 10% off, plus they had a promotion going at the time so I got another 35% off, free delivery AND a free gift worth £10! If I was paying full price, plus p&p, it should have cost me just shy of £18, but with all the discounts, it cost me £9! Bargain! So I quickly placed an order and I'm expecting it to arrive within the next few days. 

But what did I do with my £3 gift card? Well I wasn't walking away empty handed..

This was before I found out I could get the palette so I picked a shade from their Colour Crush eyeshadow range which I thought was closet to the palette, and I opted for the shade Grape Expectations. 

Benefit Lipgloss in Hoola

As mentioned in my post about freebies in December magazines, I got a free Benefit lipgloss with December's Elle magazine. I originally wanted the shade Coralista, which is a coral red (you could also get the shade Dandelion, which was a nude pink toned shade) but all the Elle magazines I could find only had the shade Hoola, so I bought that. It was something new and something I wouldn't usually go for, but i'm always up for something once!

The Sinful Colors Series: Verbena

This week in the Sinful Colors series is; Verbena - an interesting grey toned purple, that had an interesting side effect on my nails..

Let me introduce you to Verbena - she is a lovely little purple lady with subtle grey tones running through her in certain lights. She is also one of the shades from the Sinful Colors range that doesn't have some kind of sparkle or shimmer running through her - which makes me a happy lady.

I picked up this polish because I only have one light purple, and that is Berry Ice Cream polish by Barry M - and that is a light purple shade (quite a bit lighter than Verbena, think pastel purple/liliac) so I was on the look out for a beautiful and elegant purple shade. Enter one of Sinful Colors cream nail polishes, named Verbena...

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Shade 14 Pretty Prune

As I said in my recent mini haul post I picked up a Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick after seeing it on a look done by Sandra over on The Black Pearl Blog, whilst trying to find new ways to wear my Cranberry eyeshadow by MAC and falling in love with the shade she was wearing on her lips. The shade is shade 14 which is named Pretty Prune.

The bullet looks like a deep brown shade and at first I wasn't sure I had picked the right one up because it looked completely different in person that it did on Sandra so I was skeptical, but make-up was on 3 for 2 in Superdrug so with would have been rude not to pop it in my basket wouldn't it?

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

A few weeks ago I mentioned Sleek's Vintage Romance collection and mentioned their Antique blush that was in the collection, today I have brought you the other part of their collection - their Vintage Romance palette!

As i said before, I absolutely adore the packaging for the collection. The colours are just stunning and definitely fits the Autumn/Winter theme and the time of year it is. 

However, once you open the packaging it is the usual clean black plastic packaging (I always keep it and keep my palettes in them because it makes my makeup drawer look more colourful and I can easily see which palette is which, which is a hard thing to do when all Sleek palettes look the same!). However this is sturdy, however the problem I have with the matte black cases of sleek make-up is that is gets dirty easy! Especially considering I use my fingers to apply my foundation (I know, I know. It's a crime..), so a small bit always transfers to the palette casing! How very annoying!

I love the names of the shadows in this palette! All the shades in this collection are named after places and romantic things!

Top Row: Pretty in Paris, Meet in Madrid, Court in Cannes, Lust in LA, Romance in Rome, Propose in Prague.

Bottom Row: A Vow in Venice, Marry in Monte Carlo, Honeymoon in Hollywood, Bliss in Barcelona, Forever in Florence and Love in London.

Clockwise: Pretty in Paris, Meet in Madrid, A Vow in Venice and Marry in Monte Carlo.

Clockwise: Pretty in Paris, Meet in Madrid, A Vow in Venice and Marry in Monte Carlo.

Some of these are my least favourites of the palette. My least favourite of all the shades is Pretty in Paris which is a white eye shadow, and I found it's chalky and surprisingly for Sleek, doesn't seem that pigmented.

Pretty in Paris - A chalky white with limited pigmentation. Wouldn't be suitable covering large amounts of lid space but could work as a detailer colour.

Meet in Madrid - A yellow toned gold shade, quite pigmented but another light shade but is buildable and isn't as chalky as the white.

A Vow in Venice - A dark blue toned purple shade. Quite a pigmented matte shade and would be lovely as a crease colour or using on a smokey eye with a twist. I think this shade is trying to be a dupe of Cranberry my MAC.

Clockwise: Court in Cannes, Lust in LA, Honeymoon in Hollywood and Bliss in Barcelona.

Clockwise: Court in Cannes, Lust in LA, Honeymoon in Hollywood and Bliss in Barcelona.

Court in Cannes - A brown toned gold. Quite pigmented and a shimmery shade. Would be nice for the Christmas period or as an accent colour.

Lust in LA - A very pigmented Olive gold shade with gold shimmer running through it, almost has a metallic look to it when applied all over the eyelid.

Honeymoon in Hollywood - The most pigmented shade in this palette. A plum pink/purple shade with silver glitter running through it. Very pigmented and sparkly, and would go lovely if paired with Cranberry by MAC and perfect for the current red trend.

Bliss in Barcelona - A metallic blue/purple shade than is one of the shades that isn't true to colour. Rather than being a metallic purple/blue shade it's more of a toned down grey/purple shade rather than blue. It is quite pigmented and the metallic is there but it is toned down once applied.

Clockwise: Romance in Rome, Propose in Prague, Forever in Florence and Love in London.

Clockwise: Romance in Rome, Propose in Prague, Forever in Florence and Love in London.

Romance in Rome - Another metallic blue shade with sparkle running through it, however just like Bliss in Barcelona, it is not true to pan and it tones down and the shimmer doesn't transfer when applied. Would make a nice blending shade rather than applied as a base. Not very pigmented though which i have found is a running theme in metallic shades.

Propose in Prague - Once of the natural shades in this collection, it is one of the only matte shades as well so it would be useful for every day use or wearing it to work to give you a bit of colour but nothing dramatic. It is an orange toned brown and is highly pigmented.

Forever in Florence -  Very pigmented deep purple with silver sparkle running through it. The sparkle transfers well to the skin and the colour is true to pan.

Love in London - a gorgeous black shade with silver glitter running through it, which to me looks like stars in the night sky. One of the most pigmented shades in the palette and the glitter transfers well to the skin.

I have mixed opinions on this palette - several shades are disappointing to me, which is unusual for Sleek as their products are usually amazingly pigmented and very high quality. However for the most, the are good but and the shades are beautiful and definitely go well with the theme they are going for. But to be honest, as much as it pains me to say it, this palette isn't worth writing home about but I don't regret picking it up as the highly pigmented shades do make up for it.