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China Glaze Chiaroscuro

A little known fact about me is that I studied History of Art for two years (and thoroughly enjoyed it). It didn’t really serve any more purpose than being a bit handy in a pub quiz, or if there’s a crossword on the go, but hey – I enjoyed myself. And something that appears to have stuck, is the meaning of “chiaroscuro”, which is Italian for “light and dark”. So there you go. Fact of the day.

And now onto the polish of the day. Hailing from China Glaze’s core line, this is a really delicate pink with a hint of beige and a fantastic amount of greeny gold duochrome flash. I’ve heard this described as a dupe for Nars Orgasm, but seeing as that is still lurking in the untrieds, I’ll have to come back to that.

I like this because it’s work appropriate yet not boring. It’s peachy and ladylike enough to pass for an everyday shade, but the greeny gold hue (that so many others have described well as looking like the inside of a seashell) keeps it interesting and modern.

By the way, you’re seeing two coats of Chiaroscuro over a base of China Glaze Magical because this is mega sheer and not easily buildable.

So what do you think? Would you wear this? And do you have any art facts for me?

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hand creams

As the temperatures drop, it means paying extra attention to areas in need of therapy.  One of them are your hands and I don’t know about you, but mine feel particularly dry during the cold months and so I depend on hand creams to keep my mitts soft and moisturised.

I’ve been trialling a few hand creams over the past six months, and hope that by sharing my experience of using these products, you might have suggestions of your own as well.

First up is Liz Earle’s Hand Repair.  On the back of the Cleanse & Polish routine, I was expecting big things when I was  sent this product to try.  It comes in a 150ml bottle (but a smaller tube size is available).  The pump action on the large bottle allows you to dispense the desired amount.

Containing  echinacea, toning hops, antioxidants beta-carotene and natural source vitamin E, the hand cream is non-greasy and very thick in consistency.  It absorbs into the skin quickly but the effect is temporary and my hands don’t feel completely moisturised.  Also the scent of lavender is quite powerful so for those who aren’t keen on this shrub (and I know a few), avoid at all costs.

Liz Earle’s Hand Repair is available in three sizes: 150ml (£20.25), 100 ml (15.25), 50ml tube (£9.25).  For more information, visit http://uk.lizearle.com/hands-and-feet/hand-repair.html.

*PR sample*

Crabtree & Evelyn is a name I’m familiar with but never tried, mostly because it strikes me as something for the blue rinse brigade.  So when I was given their Citron, Honey & Coriander hand cream as a present by a friend who swore it’s the reason why he has such soft hands, I decided to be open minded and allow Crabtree & Evelyn into my life.  (By the way, my friend has enviably soft hands…for a man!)

This one is a shea butter-rich moisturiser with Ceramides 3 and 6 II which claims to reduce moisture loss for softness and hydration. Ingredients are myrrh extract to condition nails, and Hyaluronic Acid to hold moisture close to the skin.  Crabtree & Evelyn’s hand cream is also free of parabens, lauryl sulfates, mineral oil and propylene glycol.

The thought of coriander makes a lot of people retch so combined with honey sounds horrendous except it’s not.  Although the scent is described as “vibrant lemon and fresh coriander with a touch of sweet honey” I can’t pick up any hint of coriander or honey.  It is a very pleasant scent, however and keeps the hands divinely moisturised and supple.  The tube size is also perfect to slip into the handbag or pocket.  

100ml tube costs £14.00.  For more information, visit http://www.crabtree-evelyn.co.uk/eng/products/hands-feet/hand-care/hand-care-offers/hand_cream?79481.

Next up is L’Occitane’s Shea Butter Hand Cream, voted ‘best hand cream’ by She and Harpers Bazaar magazine.  Designed for dry skin, it smells beautiful and feels luxurious when you use it, but best of all, the results are lasting.

With shea butter, honey, almond extracts and coconut oil blended the cream absorbs into the skin effortlessly, leaving my hands soft and smooth and there is no greasy residue left over.  Out of the products I’ve used, this is by far the best one but it’s also the priciest.

A 150 ml tube costs £17.50.  For more information, visit http://uk.loccitane.com/FO/shea-butter-hand-cream.htm.

*PR sample*

I’m curious to know what other hand cream products you’ve tried and would recommend.  Do let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

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China Glaze Knotty

Today I have a polish from early  2010. Knotty was released back in the Spring as part of China Glaze’s Anchors Away collection. There were only thee or four polishes that really called to me from this range, and thankfully I found this one lurking away on a shelf in Sally’s.

Knotty may be a strange name for a nail varnish but then again it is more or less the same colour as a piece of rope. It is a beige shade that won’t be for everyone, but I really like it. It is relatively sheer though -I ended up doing five coats with Knotty but it as a fast dryer and actually I didn’t really mind doing the coats as it applied so well. No cleanup or mess at all.

A shimmering beige jelly, I am aware that by that description alone, this should be gross. But I really like it. In some lights it has a fantastic silvery blue frosty sheen, and in others the glorious glass fleck really comes out to play. You can see it subtly pinging blue and orange and it looks ever so pretty and delicate.

I wore this for a few days during a “work appropriate” week of external meetings and so on. And I didn’t get bored of it at all. Also, it wore brilliantly which really pleased me as I was worried about using another polish from this collection after the chippiness of Ahoy. This is definitely one for the fingers though -I really don’t fancy it as a pedicure polish.

So what do you think?

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Ciate ASOS Sienna

A while ago, online retailer ASOS released a range of nail varnishes named (rather sycophantically) after their favourite British ladies of the moment. This gave me a bit of a dilemma as the only one that really caught my eye was this one, Sienna.

I’m not a mad fan of Sienna Miller I’m afraid. Whilst she doesn’t ignite the same raving irritation in me as she does in my friend London MakeUp Girl, she’s still an annoyance. All this boho wash and go glamour was annoying ten years ago, and is still annoying now. I don’t know why. She just isn’t a girls’ girl, is she? I wouldn’t trust her with my boyfriend, that’s for sure. Or my husband. You know what I mean.

It’s only a little bottle and it still has Ciate’s trademark twee bow on the side. The brush is excellent and I had no application issues whatsoever. I’ve found Ciate can be a bit hit and miss (althuogh the cremes are generally better than the jellies) but I don’t know if they tweaked the formula a bit with these “celebrity” polishes as this is far and away the best offering I’ve tried from them.

So I have a dilemma. Because this polish is absolutely flipping brilliant. Look. It’s amazing. This is two coats and we have opaque grurple perfection. If I saw this on someone else’s blog, I’d NEED it. It’s me all over and I love it. Damn you Sienna.

Now go and read London MakeUp Girl’s rant about Sienna Miller. It’s funny.

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OPI Purple-opolis

(EDIT: I cannot believe my nails were ever this long. What was I thinking?!)

Ever look back on a photo with fonder memories than you were accidentally experiencing at the time? Like that snap of you on the beach in Portugal, where looking back at that Kodak moment, you’ve already forgotten the sunburn, upset stomach and disco playing constant choruses of Agadoo below your room? No? Just me?

That goes some way to explain how I feel about Purple-Opolis. Looking at the photos there, that were taken a little while before I actually got round to writing this post (and a really long time before posting it – look how long my nails are here!) I think it looks rather nice. However…

Forget about the fact that I appear to have had more luck painting my fingers than my nails, I’m kind of confused about this one. A re-release from the Greek Isles collection, Purple-opolis was included in last summer’s Colorcopia collcction of some of OPI’s most popular shades. I remember several people commenting at the time that it seemed that the formula of these re-released polishes was different to the original. I never owned an original Purple-opolis but I have to say that the formula on this was dreadful. Thin, runny and not very sticky.

What you see here is at least five coats and it was still streaky, sheer and messy. I am wondering if I got a duff bottle, especially as the reviews on Make-Up Alley are an average of 4/5 for it. Hmm.

So, bad consistency aside, let’s look at the colour. It’s nice. I wouldn’t call it purple, necessarily – it’s more of a deep pink with some nice shimmer and shine. I am wondering if it might be nice as a pedicure polish.

What do you think? I can’t help feeling disappointed by this. It’s the old curse of an OPI polish seeming nice and opaque and full of promise in the bottle, only to be sheer and hard work once you actuallu try and apply it. I may revisit this as a layering polish over the top of a co-ordinating base coat but at the moment I’m not really sure I can be bothered. Humph.

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Inglot 996

What do we think of this one? It’s green. It’s very green in fact. But it’s a fabulous green, if you’re into this kind of thing. Not only is it a really gorgeous shade of emerald green, this also has tons and tons of green sparkle included in the recipe, meaning that when it catches the light, it pings and glimmers like a Christmas tree. OK, maybe a bit more subtle than that, but it’s not a bad analogy as the colour is really like a fir tree.

And now I’m thinking about Christmas again – that can’t be a good thing.

This polish was perfectly opaque in two coats. Inglot formula is great, other than the brush appears to act like a vacuum, and you have to be careful as tons of the wet polish runs down the stick of the brush, causing quite a lot of pooling and a thicker coat than you might otherwise want. I found myself running the brush along my nail to take polish off and drop it back into the bottle rather than to put iton. This is two coats, with a layer of CND Air Dry (my current favourite quick drying topcoat).

So what do you think? Is this a green that takes your fancy? And enough of the numbers, Inglot – lets at least give these lovely polishes a name. If you were naming this one, what would you call it?

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GOSH Metallic Purple

Ooh look at my nails. Doesn’t it look like they have been painted by a small, visually impaired child? (EDIT – and aren’t they long and horrid? You can tell I’m using up all of my scheduled posts that I wrote months and months ago).

It appears that I didn’t learn my lesson from GOSH’s Metallic Green, as I went straight out and bought this one not so long ago. In my defence, it just looks sooo pretty in the bottle. And I’d never seen it before so therefore I couldn’t just leave it there on its own. Justification, eh?

Any way. If you refer back to my post on Metallic Green (linked above) you will know that GOSH already said to us that the life of these polishes is not meant to be a long one. Even if you use GOSH’s own basecoat, which I did with Metallic Purple, they aren’t really designed to last longer than your hangover from the night before. Hmmm. This gives me reservations as I have no problem with changing my nail varnish frequently, but I know a lot of people who want to get as long as possible out of an application and so the fact that this has been acknowledged by the manufacturer to only last for a day or so, well…

Mind you, this cost me £5.00. And Chanel, which lasts about as long, costs about £16!

So. From a distance, this is stunning. A really lovely lilac chrome that is unlike anything I have ever seen before (except for those L’Oreal Chrome nail polishes from years ago, remember those?). Holding my hand out far, far away from my eyes, I liked the way this looked. Kind of soft yet hard at the same time (I expect that makes no sense).

This was three coats. And despite adding a layer of topcoat, the brushstrokes resolutely refused to even out. Hence the reason I think it looks like I have let a toddler loose on my nails. Were it longer lasting, I would chance it on my toes but I don’t really want a chippy pedicure that wants touching up at the first sign of contact.

I don’t know if GOSH make metallics in any other colours. But for now, if I see another one languishing in Superdrug, I think it’ll probably stay there. Maybe. I don’t quite trust myself not to buy one though, even though I should know better.

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OPI Suzi Says Da!

This was one of the first polishes I ever reviewed, back on the 9th April 2009! So, nearly three years on, I wanted to revisit this, as I only had really crappy photos of it (ie it was originally reviewed in the days before I discovered macro…the horrors!) , and so when I was looking for a final OPI creme to wear during the QuickDrying Topcoat Comparison post, I knew that this one needed to come out and play again.

Suzi Says Da! is from the Russian Collection – one of my favourite OPI collections of all time. It is a very close cousin to that Chanel classic Rouge Noir, although somewhat browner than red.

It’s described by many as a “chocolate” shade. If that’s the case, then it’s a really dark, dark chocolate with a very high cocoa content, as this is a so-brown-its almost-black polish.

It doesn’t shimmer, and is very work appropriate (if they let you get away with funky colours, thankfully mine does). This is soooo vampy and classic.

Bearing in mind that I’ve had this bottle for nearly two years, and the fact that I also lent it to a friend of mine for nine months or so (it is her go-to pedicure colour), it still applied really well. Perhaps the brush didnt pick up as much product as I’d like but that’s probably because this is a well loved and well-used bottle by now.

I urge you to use a good topcoat with a vampy creme like this. It doesn’t leave you much margin for error, as you can see here. These photos were taken at the time of my topcoat comparison post, and I don’t think this topcoat fared particularly well.

In terms of the shade though, it has certainly stood the test of time. Fantastic application even after a long time, and a deep colour that I don’t think is ever going to go out of fashion. Once again confirming to me that the Russian Collection is the best thing that OPI have ever come out with. Da!

*by the way, I wrote this post about a year ago and it has taken that long to make its way to the top of the scheduled posts pile. Hence why my nails look so long, and kind of icky*

Helen

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OPI Lighten Up, You’re Two Pence

OK, first things first. I do not understand the name of this nail varnish. I can only presume it is some kind of play on words from a popular (?) phrase that I have never heard of! Any ideas, readers?

Lighten Up, You’re Two Pence is from OPIs British collection of a few years ago. It almost looks like a precursor to some of the Burlesque shades that OPI released for Christmas 2010. It is a vibrant and shimmery orange with a hint of red duochrome, and a lot of gold. Certainly flamboyant and not for the faint hearted.

I see this suiting cool skinned ladies best as it is bright and warm, and well, orange. This was three coats and the application was spot on. It is very frosty as you’d expect with a metallic shade and there were some distinct brush strokes at the end of my application.

Now, here’s a weird confession. I’m a bit phobic about small change, particulary of the copper variety. It smells weird, is dirty, and I really don’t like touching it. It gives me the shivers. I hate it when people jangle coins in their pockets or worse still, put them in their mouth. Iactually can’t bear it – its worse than spiders to me. So, in all honesty, I’m not really down with the concept of painting my nails the colour of a two pence piece. Isn’t the mind a weird place? Or my mind anyway.

So, if you’re not totally hatstand, as I appear to have just outed myself to be, then actually, this is a pretty nice colour. It looks amazing and if you like these flashy metallics then this is one worth tracking down.

Now can someone please explain the name to me?

Helen

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Illamasqua Jo’Mina

Running a blog can be a pesky thing. Aside from keeping on top of posts, swatches, taking decent photographs and all the rest of it, there’s the admin side of things to think about as well. Sheenie and I have been quite happily pleased with WordPress and generally have no cause for complaint, unlike the constant moans I see on Twitter about Blogger playing up, or “being an arse” as most people seem to refer to it as.

However. There was an emergency WordPress update released a while back that needed doing immediately for security reasons. What happened was that it slapped about 90 of our posts back in the drafts section and has deleted all of the photos that we cannot retrieve no matter how hard we try. So it’ll be a process of gradually restoring them and republishing the old blog entries as we go along. 90 isn’t a lot in the whole scheme of things but it is three months’ work that needs repairing. Annoying.

So, here we have a nail varnish that has been about for a while. Jo’Mina is from Illamasqua’s Spring/Summer Body Electrics collection from 2010. I remember not being entirely sure about it when it first came out (although I can’t think why now), but I really rather like it now.

This is textbook Illamasqua creme formula and was opaque in two coats. It’s very very thick though and so was prone to a little dragging. It dried super-fast though. All in all though, pretty good for a quick and very long-lasting manicure. I can always rely on Illamasqua when I want a speedy and hard-wearing product.

I’ve yet to see a photo of this that doesn’t wash it out. This isn’t a pastel lilac in any way shape or form. It’s an almost-neon purple shade that is just so bright and eyecatching. Best seen in the flesh. It looks absolutely divine on darker skin or with a tan as well. I really like it on toes with silver sandals.

By the way I’ve just noticed that I appear to be missing the corner from one of my nails. No idea what happened there *inspects hands in confusion*

What do you think? Is this one for you?