Nail Polish Exchange Haul

I don't know what it is about mail, but it's just so exciting.  A huge part of why I join these online gift exchanges is purely for the joy of opening up a mystery package.  I present to you a package that I got yesterday :)

Love the wrapping!

 

My secret exchange buddy hooked me up with my favourite american candy! Oh god the inner kid in me jumped for joy lol

 

So happy to have a back up of the Bourjois magic nail polish remover!

 

China Glaze Luxe n Lush

My favourite out of this whole lot had to be the China Glaze Luxe n Lush. 

Thank you kezza30! really had a good time opening up my box and playing with the polishes xx

NEW Barry M Chameleon Colours

Barry M really surprises me sometimes. They really know how to make their presence known in the nail polish world.  Chameleon Colours - wow! what an exciting concept for us nail polish junkies.  A clear topcoat changes the colour making it instant nail art easy peasy.

I can't get over how cheap they are, while keeping their product standards extremely high.  Barry M makes some of the best nail polishes that's currently on the market.  You just can't fault them...well maybe they could do with revamping their ads as they look cheap, but if that means cheap ads but good quality nail polishes, then I'll just deal with these cheapy looking ads lol.

They come in 3 colours.  An online friend sent me the photo of the colour change and boy is it neato!  These are out now.

So who's going to pick one up?

Nail RAOK Package - Barry M Indigo, Mint Green, and Max Factor Odyssey Blue

There is nothing as fun as nail mail.  I have three awesome nail polishes to show you due to a very sweet friend of mine.  I'm excited, so I'm just going to go ahead and stop talking and show them to you.

Max Factor - Odyssy Blue

Barry M - Indigo Blue

Barry M - Mint Green

 

Barry M's Indigo is my favourite of all the Barry M colours, and yet I never pulled the trigger to purchase it for myself.  My friend said that this was fantastic and she had to get it for me.  She was right.  It's a true indigo and completely opaque with one coat.  Just brillant.

 

Mint Green is the perfect colour for this season.  I actually already owned a bottle, and I welcome this back up bottle to my collection :) This is a two coat opaque polish.

Odyssy Blue is the under-appreciated polish from Max Factor.  It came out the same time as Fantasy Fire, and it doesn't get the love it deserves.  This is a gorgeous teal duochrome polish that flashes purple.  It is a beauty and holds its own up against Fantasy Fire.

I wasn't able to grab a good photo and the sun was going down and I just couldn't capture it's beauty.  I will have to do a NOTD shortly.  

I really loved my raok package and a huge THANK YOU to my friend xx

*********************

TUNE OF THE DAY

Keyshia Cole - I remember

 

30 Day Beauty Challenge: Day 23 Best bargain makeup item

The best bargain makeup item is hands down Barry M nail polishes (£2.99).  You can get them on their website here, Boots, superdrugs, and various other shops online.  It can also be cheaper with many offers throughout the year.  Their colour range is impressive as well as the quality of the nail varnish.  I just can't say enough good things about their polishes.  Cheap doesn't mean crappy when it comes to Barry M nail varnishes. That's why they are my top pick for the best bargain makeup items.

I only have a couple in my stash (Hologram hexagram, Grey, and Mint Apple).

 I'm planning on getting Indigo, Peach Melba, Vivid Purple, and something from the neon range.

Which Barry M's do you have and which ones do you recommend?

New Barry M Nail Effect CROC

What do you all think of this? I'm kinda liking it...much more than the crackle, but then again I'm afraid I'll just get sick of this as well in a few months.  I'm on the fence, what do you think?

Photo from barry m email

Holy Hologram!

Yeah I was stuffed, and sat here and decided to layer holo after holo on top of my nails..just for the hell of it. So enjoy!

 

What I used:

Essie fill in the gap base coat

Color Club Worth the Risque

Models Own Juicy Jules

Verity G11

Barry M Hologram Hexagram

no top coat

:)xx

Grey Nail Polish Comparison

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Dior Gris Montiagne, and a couple of people said they loved it, but the price was too steep.  Well, I'm a grey polish lover, so I pulled out the other greys that I had and did a comparison swap.  Although, I didn't have a dupe for the Dior, the others were definitely in the same colour family and pretty close. 

Dior Gris Montaigne, No 7 Grey Skies, Barry M Grey, Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy

  

 

 

Of course I forgot one, because right now all my nail polishes are hidden inside a drawer, but luckily I remembered I had this one.  So another close one, but still no dupe.

Models Own Grey Day

 

I'm glad I did this comparison post for many reasons.  First, I can show this to DH and show him how different my grey polishes are, because I'm tired of hearing him say, "You already have a grey nail polish" LOL. Lastly, because this makes me feel better about spending the money that I did on the Dior LOL xx

Which one do you guys like the best?

Also, did you know I'm hosting a blog giveaway that is sponsored by Incoco?

You can find all the details at

BLOG GIVEAWAY SPONSORED BY INCOCO

Take care everyone xx

September Swaps Reveal - Armani, China Glaze, Illamasqua and Barry M

I do like the sound of that...September swaps. Well here is my next installation of the monthly swap reveals.  This month has been very quiet.  I find myself quite annoyed with all the request on makeupalley for money.  It is a forum for swapping only, so it seems like a mute point to try to shift your items on there. Oh well, but I did manage to get some goodies this month.  On another note, I am not swapping with buttonboxx this month, we decided to do it every 2 months, instead of every month, especially with the holidays coming up and all.  

So onto my September Swaps!!

 

Armani eyeshadow in #53

A beautiful neutral peachy pink shimmery colour.

Perfect for base or highlighting

Barry M nail polish in Grey

Another grey creme polish :) :) :)

China Glaze Flying Dragon (Neon)

I am in love with the finish!

Illamasqua Nail varnish in Propaganda

You all know how much I love me some Illamasqua!!!

Closer up pic

Flying Dragon - Grey - Propaganda

Oh the finish on the China Glaze Flying Dragon is so awesome!! 

These are polishes that I have always liked, but just kept getting bumped on my "to buy" list. So I'm happy to get them in swaps.

Have you done any swapping?

Show n tell please :)

Barry M New Special Effects Foil Nail Polishes

This just in! Barry M has added new special effects nail polishes to the already popular crackle nail polishes.  These two are 2 foil nail polishes that claim to have all the shine and allure of the expensive salon foils (minx). 

What do you think of these? Will you take the plunge?

They retail for £3.99

You can purchase them at Boots, Superdrugs, or online at www.barrym.com

Barry M Lavender Hexagram, Hologram Hexagram, Silver Cascade

I got inspired by a thread on a forum dedicated to Barry M.  I have purchased a lot of Barry M as gifts since moving here, but I still haven't bought a creme for myself. The Barry M's that I do have are Lavender Hexagram, Hologram Hexagram, Silver Cascade, and Black Magic.

I'm sure people are tired of the crackle polish (well maybe it's just me :p), so I didn't photograph that since I already did a comparison between Black Magic and OPI Shatter.

Instead I wanted to show you all the lovely glitters that Barry M does.

These are all very hard to find in stores and you can definitely get them online anywhere from 99p - £4.

L-R

Lavender Hexagram

Silver Cascade

Hologram Hexagram

 

Lavender Hexagram and Hologram Hexagram were put over Rimmel's Midnight Blue, since they have a clear base.

All the 3, Hologram Hexagram was the most difficult to work with, because the holographic glitter was very sparse.

But overall, I love Barry M in general.  I've heard nothing but great things about their other colours, and it is quite good quality for a drugstore brand.

Highly recommend :)

What's that in the sky? It's.....SPACE NAILS!

OK. So I have a bit of an obsession about space things right now.  First it started with a gift exchange on a forum themed as "Secret Astronaut", then it was watching this movie called "Sunshine", playing with left over glow and dark star stickers (yep I regress to a child some days :p), and now it's SPACE NAILS!

Here's my first try on space nails. I found the tutorial on nails by asami and I loved the idea.  I did however deviate from her rules a bit to get different effects.

just testing out different options with different polishes

Here's a set I made for a friend:

Materials used:

Kitchen towel/paper towel

and 

Polishes:

Chanel Black Satin

George - Twister (matt finish)

Sally Hansen - DVD

Funky Fingers - Baby Baby Baby

OPI - Original DS

Revlon - Belle

Barry M - Hologram hexagram

Color Club - Worth the risque

Color Club - Revvvolution

Now Asami's rules were very clear and easy:

1. First apply matte black nail polish. Any dark colour works on the bottom, if you really want to make it matte, you can just get a matte finisher as well.  My recommendation is going to Asda and picking up their black nail polish and matte finisher for only £2 combined.

2. Take a holographic polish and place onto a patterened napkin/paper towel and in a sponging effect start dabbing the nails.

3.  Take a duochrome polish and do the same as above

Step 2 and 3 will give that misty floating space mass effect

4. Apply any glitter polish.  This will mimick the stars. I was lucky to have a hologram glitter, so I placed the Barry M hologram hexagram first and then topped it again with Revlon Belle.

What I love the best about Space nails is that, no 2 nails will look the same.  It's an easy and very cool looking nail art.  As much as I like nail art, I find a lot of it is too "kawaii" inspired, and some of the more extreme kawaii just isn't my style. So this type of nail art is just what I like.

I'll be doing a lot more of these space nails. I need to find a cheap black polish, since I don't want to use up my entire bottle of Chanel just for this haha.  I'll be going to Asda and picking up my £1 black polish from the George line soon.

Have you guys tried space nails? What techniques and/or polishes do you use?

My Swap Haul For June

My DH is looking at me and giving me this face, because he thinks that the products surrounding me are products that I purchased.  I quickly put him out of his misery and told him that they were all swaps, so he leaves the room.  Why do men not understand our obsession? Well I guess it's in the same manner that I don't understand his electronics or dvd obsession.  I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about swapping again.  It's been way too long, and it really has saved me so much money, and I will continue to swap until I have swapped out everything on my swaplist.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm talking about makeupalley right now.  I've also met a lot of nice English girls on there as well, so overall it's been a great experience.  Now onto the haul reveal!

* Mac false eyelashes - These are the older packaging, but since it's not makeup, it doesn't matter.  I love falsies for when I go out, so I can never get enough

* Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 11 -

 Ok, I am a freaking idiot. When I agreed to swap for this, I must have looked at the wrong swatch, because I thought it would be my colour, obviously it is not.  It is for dark skinned girls, so that was clearly a dumb mistake on my part, but I did find a very clever way to use this.  I have placed 2 drops in my face lotion and have created a tinted moisturizer out of it, so this won't go to complete waste.

* Armani Fluid Sheer 13

This is a meant for an all over face colour, but clearly it is too dark, it is like a dark Burgundy tone which I plan to use mixed with some other cheek blush and blended, or even to use as a contour

Both formulas ARE amazing, and it just solidified in my head that I need an Armani foundation (in my shade lol) in my life.

* Bare Minerals - medium beige

This is my favourite mineral foundation, so I jumped on the swap when it was in my colour.  I love how it gives a great luminous day time look without looking cakey or overly done.  Sure you'll need a concealer for any blemishes, but this is quick and effective.  I just hate their infomercials so much though lol

LIPPIES GALORE

* YSL - Rouge Pure Shine Sheer Lipstick 1

* Guerlain Matte kiss kiss lipgloss in 03

* Clinique superbalm moisturizing gloss in 10 Grapefruit

* Chanel Glossimer in 117

* Edward Bess lipstick in Night Orchid

* 17 - Shine on lipstick in Flirty

YSL, Guerlain, Clinique, Chanel, 17, Edward Bess

Out of all of these, I am so excited to have the Edward Bess lipstick. I am definitely obsessing hardcore over all his stuff at the moment, 

I'm quite pleased with all of them, but the one that shocked me the most was the 17 lipstick. I did not expect it to be that nice and creamy. Wow! I'm a fan now.

* Rimmel - Lash Maxxx mascara

Something about the brush won me over. I heard this doesn't last long, but I'll be holding onto the brush for sure.

* Barry M - Glitter lashes

A little litter on the lashes - sounded too fun to turn away

It's actually not a mascara, but looks like a lipgloss and you just brush it onto your lashes.

* No 7 Amazing Eye Pencil in 05 Black

I can't say no to black eyeliners, and since I have never tried no 7 eyeliners, this was a great chance for me to try it out 

I will not need bath products for the next month.

I got 3 huge and i mean HUGE products to try

* FCUK Whipped Body Cream - 300 ml

* Sanctuary Body Milk Spray - 250ml

* Sanctuary Bath relaxer oil - 250ml

Let's see what all this Sanctuary hoopla is all about shall we....

Overall, great big items to last me this month :)

* Gosh stippling brush

I haven't used this yet, and quite impressed by the size. I'll have to give it a go and report back to you on how I feel about it.  I love collecting brushes hahaha, so glad to have swapped for this.

* MUA eyeshadow in shade 16 - Matt

So I have gone on and on about MUA eyeshadows only being £1 and being a good bargain, so I wanted to give another colour a chance. So far so good. 

* Chantecaille La Baleine Bleue

Eyeshadow Palette

OK....I never in my wildest dream would think I'd own a chantecaille limited edition item.

First, because they cost way too much.

We're looking at $95 in the states, and £85 in the UK

Who can pay that?!?! OK, I guess lots of people could, but not this person right here haha

So when the chance came to be able to swap for this, I did all I could to make it happen.

This is a gorgeous trio meant for a soft and subtle look, and that's what it delivers.

The shadow feels like SILK!!!! I think Dior just lost to the softest eyeshadows out there.

I'll do a separate post on this for sure, but I also love that 5% of the proceeds do go to the wild life foundation to help the animals that are featured in the palettes.

I love this so much.

* The Dior Travel palette (on the left) 

is gorgeous and you can find my review I did here

I have reached for this so many times this month and I just wish I had another one of this.

and last but definitely not least. 

* CHANTECAILLE BENGALI PALETTE

Coming in at a whopping $117/£110

I was floored to have made this swap happen.

I am in love with the size of this palette and the texture of the eyeshadows and blush.

They are just out of this world.  I know a lot of people probably didn't buy this due to the heavy sticker price, but if you did have the money to buy it, you won't be disappointed.  it is just so smooth, and with zero fall out, and it is honestly the best eyeshadow that I have ever tried.   I will be doing a separate post on this with better more accurate pictures, but just wanted to show you guys what was in the palette.

So that was my June swap.  I'll be doing this monthly to show you all can get some great items during a swap.  Why not right? Give away something that didn't work for you, in exchange for something that would work for you.  One gal's trash is another gal's treasure right?  Do you swap? What do you love or hate about it?






COME AND ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY HERE!!

Essie Big Spendor & Barry M Silver Cascade

I am slowly making it through all my untried polishes and I thought that these two would go well together, but it didn't LOL.
The base of Barry M Silver Cascade is actually a pink fuchsia color, so I thought that it would blend well with Essie's Big Spendor.

Big Spendor was gorgeous on it's own. I loved the playful glossy magenta color and honestly I should have left it at that.

With the first application of Silver Cascade, it was a huge glitter bomb just splattered all over my fingernails. don't get me wrong, I absolustely love glitter, but I was disappointed that the silver glitter overpowered all the other glitters. You could no longer see Big Spendor through all the glitter. Silver Cascade is a one coater and not meant for the shy. Next time I'll do a glitter tip, but honestly I can't handle the whole nail being this color.

Silver Cascade was also extremely hard to take off and it wasn't due to the glitter not budging, it had to do with the micro glitters sticking to the skin and not coming off. Quite annoying really. Even acetone was no match for this.

But I could see silver cascade being a huge hit at night and a perfect New years even manicure, i just couldn't handle it on a thursday morning when I was expecting a different finish to this.

Here is the blinding effect of the massive amounts of silver glitter that was in this polish

I'm going to try this on a naked nail and see if the pink polish peeks through on Silver Cascade.

The cost:
Essie Big Spendor - free for me, retail anywhere from 6 pounds and up
Barry M Silver Cascade - 1.99 pound, retail is 2.99 or 2.50 at boots when you buy 2.