Monday, November 29, 2010

OPI X Factor Nails (Cher & Rebecca) - From 20th November 2010 Show!


If you’ve been following OPI on Twitter then you may know that they are the official manicurists on the X Factor, and if you don’t follow them well then now you know!

I’ve been receiving emails with details of the X Factor girls’ nails for the last few weeks and I’ve now received a few of the colours so that I can swatch and show you!

The first swatch I am showing you is Cher’s nail from last week’s X Factor (that is the 20th November) where she wore 3, yes THREE OPI colours in one go!

Now there was some confusion over her nails after the show, with some people being led to believe that they were leopard print nails, done with a nail art pen – and whilst I can see why they’d think that was the case (as from a distance you could be forgiven for thinking it), I can actually say 100% that the nail was created using OPI Glitzerland (Swiss Collection, which I’ll swatch very soon), Bring On The Bling (Burlesque Collection – swatched here!) and the new Black Shatter (Katy Perry Collection, due out in January 2011).

With flash:


I’ve done this nail using 3 coats of Glitzerland as a base as it applies quite sheer, 2 coats of Bring On The Bling and 1 coat of Black Shatter over the top – so quite easy to remember really.

Without flash (with the use of a day lamp though):


I’ve also done a few photo’s of Rebeccas nails, done in OPI ‘Royal Rajah Ruby’ although they’re not really done justice by the photo’s so I’ll try and put some more up shortly (in better light) but I’ve tried to show how the light catches the tiny shimmery flecks that this polish has. It was a dream to apply and this is showing just 2 coats of it – fab!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Swatches: OPI & Katy Perry 'Sparkle and Shatter' Collection - Pic Heavy!

I’m so lucky, today I received a package containing 3 of the OPI and Katy Perry nail polishes (yes, post on a Sunday – definitely getting near Christmas now)!

The colours I have are: Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night and Black Shatter; and I have spent all day taking pictures, trying to get the best lighting and generally failing.





I’ve even swatched on my fingers this time, since I’ve already shown you swatches on false nails previously (my fingers look weird on every picture I took (which is why I usually use the nail wheel), I don’t know why this happens so please excuse them). I also haven’t cleaned up my cuticles where I’ve accidently brushed the polish on – this is because I wanted to get them up asap for you!

As ever, I’ve tried to get different angles and lighting to show the polish to you in the best way that I can, so this is picture heavy.

Enjoy.

Last Friday Night:






^ (the last picture had 3 coats, the rest had 2 decent coats)

Teenage Dream:

^ (the third picture has 3 coats, the rest just 2 good coats)



 With Black Shatter (over 3 coats of the glitter, no topcoat):





I've taken the pictures below as I was hoping to show you the consistancy of the polish, it's very thick and quite gel-like but it applies well and dries reasonably quickly too.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Sleek Molten Metal Cream Eye Shadow Duo!

I’ve just seen this amazing new eye duo from Sleek MakeUP on FashionInsight, it grabbed my attention right away as I am a big fan of metallic eyes, and metals are hotter than ever right now (yay)!

Two cream shades are included in the duo, pewter and toasty gold and are said to be highly pigmented (as to be expected with Sleek), show up on all skin tones and can also be used on the cheek bones, lips and as a highlighter too, if you like!

They’re also said to be long lasting and crease free, unlike a lot of other cream eye shadows that are available.

Unfortunately it’s not out until January 9th 2011 (which seems a bit odd as I think this would be perfect for Christmas and New Year), but it is said to be a permanent addition to the range and will be sold on the Sleek MakeUP website and in Superdrug stores (UK) and will either be £5.99 or £6.99 (a bit of confusion here as the release states both prices).

Personally I cannot wait to get my hands on these, especially to see if they truly are long lasting and crease free as I’ve avoided a lot of cream shadows for this precise reason – could Sleek MakeUP have perfected the cream formula enough to win me over? I hope so!

OPI Spring/Summer 2011 Polish Collection!


I’ve had this in my inbox for a while and rather embarrassingly I forgot all about it, until now; but with all the excitement over Burlesque and the Katy Perry ranges that I’ve had – I can be forgiven, surely?

We may not even have got through Christmas yet, but this is OPI’s Texan themed Spring/Summer 2011 collection, and it's ready and waiting to get on your nails in 2011. I couldn’t make it to the press launch unfortunately, but I do hope to have some swatches for you as soon as I can; until then here are some official images for you to feast your eyes on.

The stand-out colours for me are: It’s totally fort worth it, Guy meets Gal-veston, Austin-tatious, Don’t mess with OPI and Houston we have a purple... but I actually like most of the collection, can’t wait to try them for myself.

What do you make of the collection? Is there a stand out colour in there for you?

Available from Lena White, priced £9.95 each.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Elle & MoroccanOil Subscription Offer!


MoroccanOil has been popping up all over the place lately, with people singing its praises from every corner; and if like me, you have been dying to try this then now is your time to bag yourself a bottle in an amazing offer from the fantastic Elle magazine.

For just £6 you will receive a trial subscription of Elle magazine, which let's be fair is a great price and offer in itself when you consider the £16.20 saving on the cover price. However if you get yourself over there before the 8th of December and sign up for the trial, you will also get a full sized bottle of MoroccanOil Hair Treatment worth £29.85 included at the same price – how fantastic is this?!

http://www.elleuk.com/subscribe



From The Elle site:

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Offer is valid for UK subscriptions only (excluding BFPO addresses), when paying by Direct Debit, and closes on 8 December 2010. *After the first six months, your subscription will run at the low rate of £17.76 every six months, a cost of £2.96 per issue – still saving 20 per cent on the full rate of £44.40 for 12 issues. Free gift is available while stocks last, and may vary from product shown. Please allow 28 days for delivery of your gift. You will be advised of commencement issue within 14 days. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Minimum subscription term is 12 issues. For overseas rates, please call (00 44 1858) 438880. Order lines are open weekdays 8am-9pm and weekends 8am-4pm.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Competition - Win a Sleek Bad Girl Palette & Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner!


I've been so impressed by the Sleek ‘Bad Girl’ palette (here), and the Avon ‘SuperShock Gel Eyeliner’ in black (here) that I decided to go and buy one of each and run a competition so that one of you, my lovely readers can win both.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning, is follow/be following my blog via Google Friend Connect (to the right) and leave me a comment below with your contact details. Your contact details can be your email, or your twitter name (but you must be following me on Twitter also, so that I can DM you if you win) but remember, you *must* be following on Google Friend Connect in order to be entered.

I’ll pick a winner in about 4 weeks time, so let's say that the competition will close on Wednesday 22nd December 2010 at 23:59PM (UK time).   Sunday 2nd January 2011 at 23:59pm UK Time.

I'll choose the winner using random.org.

Edit: I'm extending the competition until the New Year, firstly as I've had a couple of people email to tell me of difficulties in subscribing via GFC (so giving it a bit more time should enable these people to subscribe in time) and also because of the bad weather, I think it would take longer for me to post the prize out so I would rather draw the winner later so there's not so much of a gap between winning and receiving your prize.

The competition will now end on Sunday 2nd January 2011 at 23:59pm UK Time.

 

Monday, November 22, 2010

Aveda Scalp Benefits Shampoo & Conditioner!

I have psoriasis, I’ve had it since I was a child and it’s bothered me non-stop since then and I’ve tried all kinds of shampoos and treatments to try and ease, or preferably get rid of it. I’ve tried everything from those prescribed by the doctor, to shampoos like T-Gel and even head and shoulders (I thought it might work well for the scalp even though it’s for a different condition) and nothing has ever done it any good. I settled on using whatever shampoo I fancied that would benefit my hair at that time, since nothing was helping my scalp.

I noticed this on the Aveda website and was sent some to try out – I thought it couldn’t hurt and I do have a degree of trust in the brand from many years ago when I used to pinch my sisters Aveda shampoo when I was a teenager (I hope she’s not reading this now)! The website blurb says:


"Healthy hair begins with a healthy scalp. That's why our Scalp Benefits™ Shampoo is formulated to:
• cleans down to the root
• removes excess sebum and buildup
• creates the ideal foundation for healthy hair"


My first thought is one on the smell, and that that it is a million times better than anything the doctor has prescribed me and certainly better than T-Gel too. It’s quite herbal and whilst this isn’t the usual kind of scent I would go for, it’s actually quite nice – certainly not offensive.

The shampoo lathers well, and you don’t need to use gallons of the stuff in order to do so – so whilst it costs more than your average supermarket brand, you may find you go through less bottles for the same amount of uses.

I've used this in the same way that I use any other shampoo, always massaging into the scalp and giving it a good massage and I have to say, I noticed a difference after the first use; I can honestly say that my scalp feels much smoother with every use. It’s not completely cleared up, but I am impressed that with such relative ease and speed that it does feel much better.

My hair feels nice and clean when I’ve used it; it’s even dealt with my hair perfectly when I’ve been a lazy bum/running late and have used dry shampoo instead of washing it so that it’s had 2 or 3 days worth of product and dirt in it. This is without having to do any extra ‘washes’ or use any extra product – very impressive.

My hair also feels in great condition whilst I've been using this, so it isn’t suffering from the shampoo being aimed at helping the scalp – something that always bothered me about being prescribed shampoos from the doctor (that neither helped my hair, or my scalp and that stunk to high heaven – errgh) as my hair was always at its worst when using that stuff.

I always use some form of styling product when doing my hair after I’ve washed it, even if it’s just heat protection spray so I can’t say if it’s helped with being able to style my hair any better, but it has certainly not made it any worse to do so.

All in all, I would completely recommend this shampoo to anybody who has any kind of scalp problem or irritation, and even to those who just want to maintain a healthy scalp since this product also seems to work brilliantly for the hair, and not just the scalp.

I used this shampoo with the Scalp Benefits conditioner by Aveda, which is a lovely product in itself. It’s not too heavy and not too light (at least not for my hair), I was even able to massage that into my scalp without it making my hair limp or greasy; and once dry I found that it left my hair feeling lovely and soft, without any flyaway - bliss!

The website says about the conditioner:

"This daily formula nourishes and balances all hair and scalp types to:
• hydrate the hair
• soothe the scalp
• create the ideal foundation for healthy hair"

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Swatches: Boots No7 'Precious Metals' Mini Nail Polish Set!

Part of the No7 limited edition Christmas range this year is a mini set of nail polishes. They’re 4mls each and there are 4 in the set. I am so impressed with the colours, they are amazing; they do need a few coats to get good coverage (copper and gold especially) but they do apply nicely, not quite on par with Essie but still great for the money.

I've posted a lot of similar pictures due to slight different angles/light showing the details in the polishes (especially the black and copper) and how they look against different backgrounds, so apologies for how picture-heavy the post is. 

Without Flash:
 
 

It’s a real shame they’re only mini bottles as I would happily buy full sized ones of at least 2 of them (but most likely all of them) individually or a gift pack containing them all as full sized products.

My opinion on each of the colours:

Gold – This is a real classy gold – not at all brash and with a satiny metallic effect.

Copper – Love this, it’s also got a slight satiny effect but also has shimmer included which emphasises the metallic finish. The copper colour is also very flattering to skin, something I didn’t think it would be. I’ve been pleasantly surprised here.

Black with gold shimmer – Possibly one of my favourite colours, the black works so well with the gold flecks, they reflect the light beautifully and the black provides the perfect background for them to stand out against.

Deep red-purple – This is the one shade that confused me with this set, as I can’t see the metal reference; am I missing something here? Anyway the colour is lovely regardless of its link to the metal theme. It is almost an exact dupe (but seems a touch darker) against my Essie Velvet Voyeur (autumn 2010 collection) polish.

With Flash:




Anyway, they’re £8 for the set from Boots stores and also online, however they are currently out of stock on the boots.com website; and there appears to be 2 choices of colour available, precious metals as shown here and smoky jewels ('swatch' below from boots website).


This set is perfect for a stocking filler gift, or even a secret santa – but is even more perfect if you want to keep them all to yourself (I don’t blame you at all for this decision).
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