Just Nice Things

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?

Helen

Zoya Austine

Last night I was prowling eBay in my usual style, seeking hard to find or discontinued OPI polishes. I came across one called Taupeless Showgirls (got to love that name) but when I Google-imaged it, the pictures I saw looked practically identical to this, Zoya’s Austine.

Austine was a gift to me from the fabulous Ms Nixxy. About two years ago. *blushes* But hey, like I always say, I’m ever grateful and just because something takes a while to crop up on here doesn’t mean I don’t love it. Promise. Thankyou, Nix!

Having said that, just because I like Austine doesn’t necessarily mean that she likes me. I’m suffering from some pretty bad ridges in certain nails right now (gee, thanks, psoriasis) and these foily metallic shades just seem to show these up in all their – ahem – glory. What looks like visible nail line are actually deep ridges and no amount of buffing is going to eliminate these totally unfortunately. Ridge Filling products help a lot but they take so long to dry that a lot of the time I really can’t be bothered.

However, the colour is a pretty one. A kind of fawny-gold, it is a perfect foil that sparkles a little bit and covers absolutely beautifully. Forgive me the ridges and it’s actually perfectly smooth.

So, is it an actual dupe for the OPI that I was contemplating buying? I’ll have to get back to you on that one… I’m still on a blasted no-buy.

Helen

Jo Malone Vitamin E Day Creme

Ohhhh readers, I have been under the weather recently. If you follow me on Twitter (and you haven’t just unfollowed due to my relentless moaning) then you’ll know that I’m recovering from a particularly vile bout of the flu. Full on aches, pains, dehydration, listlessness, the works. During this time, two things developed.

1) I became somewhat addicted to Miss Glamorazzi & Fleur De Force‘s VlogAngeles videos. When I was in bed with flu, watching the antics of Fleur, Ingrid and their friends was extremely entertaining and cheered me up no end.

2) My skin went to pot. There’s nothing like a combination of dehydration, flu and central heating to really mess up your face. Ugh. Plus the totally attractive tell-tale peeling nostrils. Nice.

Photo courtesy of http://www.jomalone.co.uk/

So, at this point, I was rather grateful to receive a sample of Jo Malone’s new release from the brand’s core Vitamin E range. Usually I don’t put anything on my face until I’ve done a range of patch tests (sensitive, psoriasis -ridden skin) but I figured I was ill enough that a burning face wouldn’t make much difference to my woes, and slapped some of this on.

The creme (aka moisturiser) is super rich. Despite having dry skin, this was a bit slippy for me. I think it is seriously heavy-duty and anyone with greasy or oily skin might struggle here. For example, even though it absorbs well, my skin was left feeling freshly moisturised for about an hour afterwards. Not a problem per se, until you remember that I use powdered mineral foundation, and it doesn’t really apply well on damp skin.

So, for £50 of your hard-earned pennies, you get a 50ml tub of product. Yes, that’s £1.00 per ml. Probably the most expensive thing that’s ever been on my face <insert smutty joke here>. However, this is so rich that I think it will last a seriously long time. It took me three days alone just to use the product that attached itself  to the little internal lid that lifts off. And yes, the jar will look lovely on a dressing table or bathroom shelf. The product smells relatively strong, of something quite pleasant, that I can’t quite identify. Almonds, I think. It’s not too obtrusive though.

But is it worth it? Well, here’s the conundrum. As a day creme, for me personally, no. Despite the fact that it has SPF15, I just can’t use it during the day. It’s too heavy for my face and takes too long to regualte to the point that I can apply my make-up. However, when I apply this before bed (the lightest layer possible), I wake up to super-soft, bouncy and velvety skin. It’s definitely doing something right. Even now, 20 hours since my last application, my skin feels magically smooth and soft. My foundation is going on easier in the morning, and isn’t looking crusty by the end of the day. And those awkward dry red nostrils? Gone, with two applications. Plus, so far, my skin hasn’t protested or reacted.

Now, I don’t know a lot about skincare or moisturiser so I don’t really have much basis for comparison here. I don’t know how this would stand up against a budget brand, or even against a more expensive one. But what I can tell you is that I like this a lot, and will continue to use this on a regular basis. I suspect the pot will last me for several months, and may well make its way on to my birthday list for later in the year.

What do you think? What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a skincare item? Are you tempted to try this out?

To find out more, and to place an order, please visit the Jo Malone website

Helen

*PR sample*

Nicole by OPI Star Of The Party

It was only recently that I discovered that actually, Nicole by OPI products were indeed available in the UK. Not a huge range, mind you, but the Lena White website should be able to cater to some of your Nicole lemmings.

I picked this up when Lena White were having their summer sale. Flogging off a lot of discontinued shades (which meant I managed to snag myself backups of some of my Burlesque favourites at a fraction of the original retail price, huzzah!) and I decided to pick up a couple of Nicole polishes at the same time. I’m not entirely sure who Nicole is, or where she features in the grand scheme of things, but I have heard good reports about these polishes, and indeed, enjoyed the previous few that I have tried, so Star Of The Party was added to my basket.

This is three coats of very vibrant gorgeous purple-ness. It is more of a magenta shade than a blue purple – indeed, the first coat looked more red than anything else. This is a lovely shimmery hot shade that would not be out of place in China Glaze’s Rodeo Diva collection. It has that glowy kind of quality to it that reminds me strongly of OPI Kinky In Helsinki.

I’m not overly enamoured with Nicole brushes. They are long, thin and a bit flippy. Having said that, I didn’t have a lot of cleanup, although it did take me longer than usual to slap it on. This is three coats and it dries lightening fast. Impressive. Still. I can’t help thinking that the bottle looks like a toilet. Oh well.

Helen

Chanel Magnolia Rose

I don’t really review a lot of Chanel on here. I know that people love it, and it always sells out whenever they release a new polish, but for me? Not so much. Its hefty price tag, plus poor staying power just makes me wonder what the point is? I mean, it’s not like joe public can see little designer labels on the end of your talons when you sport a shade like this, is it? Maybe with Mimosa, Rouge Noir, or Paradoxical or some of the more “cult” shades, but then again, they’ve all been duped to death now any way.

OK, I’m off my soapbox now. Some of my favourite nail bloggers are Chanel collectors…

Here we have Magnolia Rose, which hails from 2007, where it was released as a limited edition. It’s ok. And that’s about as excited as I can get about this, I’m afraid. I know 99% of people who wear nail varnishes absolutely love shades like this, and I have to keep reminding myself to get out of my microcosm and accept that the greater world like sheer pinks. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Actually, this one layered rather nicely. I think this was three or four coats in the end, but  can’t help thinking that it looks a bit thick and acrylic-esque. It’s a soft baby pink that is very pretty and delicate and also contains some very pretty silver and white shimmer. The shimmer is more pronounced than the average Chanel adornment and therefore it gets some more points as far as I am concerned.

Still. It’s pink. It’s soft. It’s girlie. It’s not really me. I wore this for a day before needing to take it off and reacquaint myself with my more out-there colours. I suppose its nice that I have a collectors edition here, as I know discontinued Chanels are highly sought after, but it’s not something I’m going to wear regularly I’m afraid. Probably a good thing, seeing as it costs a couple of quid per application…

Helen

OPI Chocolate Shake-speare

This is one of the oldest nail varnishes in my collection, and therefore it’s somewhat shocking that it’s taken so long to rock up here on the blog. I don’t know why. Maybe I get blinded by glitter and bright shades and forget to give the more unassuming polishes in my collection a place in the sun.

In general, I’m not sure about this. I have it because it’s from OPI’s long -discontinued British collection of 2003, and therefore something of a collectors item. It’s always listed as Hard To Find and Rare on eBay and that always creates an internal dilemma for me. Having said that, we often forget that sometimes polishes are discontinued because they weren’t all that good or popular in the first place. Hmmmm.

I’m really on the fence here. In the top picture, in direct sunlight, it looks pretty good. But whose nails look like that All The Time? Certainly not mine.

I can’t help thinking that this is kind of salmon-esque and not all that chocolatey. A very pale brown tinted peach, Chocolate Shake-speare is quite sheer and very frosty. I think of this one as something your nan would probably quite like. It looks OK on my skintone but there’s just something not quite right about it. Hmmmm.

What do you think?

Helen

Zoya Loredana

I first reviewed Loredana in July 2009. A while ago. And I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t been back to it since. Matte nail varnish just never really worked for me unfortunately, although looking at my new and improved photos, I have to say that I do think Loredana is something of a stunner. Here’s my original review.

“For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the last few months, matte varnish is the latest trend in the nail world. Most of the big brands are coming out with matte ranges this year. I’m a bit later to it than most of the American blogs as the Zoyas are the only ones to be available here now. But OPI, Nubar and the others are sure to follow soon.

Last weekend, a couple of “steins” found our way into the weekly shop. Litre-sized beer glasses, we dunked them in water and put them in the freezer so they came out all frosted, before having some strong continental lager poured in. This is exactly what the bottle of Loredana reminds me of. Cool frosted glass, filled with exciting goodness.

At first, I wasn’t sure about the matte craze. Surely nail varnish is meant to be glossy and spangly? But all in the name of research, I jumped on the bandwagon. When I put this on, I was worried as it was kind of shiny but it dried to a perfect satin finish.

I think Zoya is absolutely the best in terms of application. These are pre-clean up shots and the brush is absolutely perfect. I can’t explain what’s so good about the brush, other than it’s smaller than an OPI Pro-Wide but bigger than an Essie. It just hugs your nails perfectly and doesn’t spill over.

There are three colours in the Matte Velvet collection – a black, a dark rose pink, and this one – grey. It reminds me of new tarmac but with shimmer. I’m not sure how I’d feel about a total matte polish as the shimmer in this stops it from being completely flat and dry looking (as some pics of the OPI matte collection have appeared to me). Also, it doesn’t feel gritty or brittle, as I was expecting it to. It is smooth and clean.”

I still agree with all of this. I don’t think I’d like Loredana so much if I applied topcoat actually as it is the texture that makes it interesting. What do you think? Are you still rocking the mattes?

Helen

Twitter enablement

(this article was originally a guest post I did for Lauren Loves in August 2011)

I’ve been thinking for a while about writing a post about Twitter enablement. It is an interesting phenomenon – a little online space where bloggers and friends get together to basically egg each other on to buy things (or so it feels!). A lot of my makeup collection has stemmed from people recommending or selling things on Twitter and I love the fact that you can stick out a message saying “I need a new lipstick, discuss!” and many excitable ladies (and some chaps) will take it upon themselves to recommend or enable you with regard to certain items. I have to say as well, they generally get it right – I have not had that many disasters from Twitter enabling. Which makes it a very dangerous place. I’ve lost count of the times that someone has actually made me get off my sofa and to the garage to buy an ice cream, or some Monster Munch, or sent me into the kitchen to make a bacon sandwich. Not bad work from 140 characters, eh?

So here I am sharing some of my purchases that are a direct result of Twitter. I am certain there are loads more but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere!

Liz Earle
Any time someone on Twitter calls for a new addition to their skincare regime, I lose count of the number of responses they get from people recommending Liz Earle products. As bloggers, we like Liz Earle. Lovely products, excellent service and a really nice home grown brand. I keep buying this as it’s good stuff (this skin tonic is my absolute favorite) and I am certainly one of the Twitter enablers that recommends it on a regular basis.

Nars Zulu
OK so this isn’t strictly something that Twitter enabled – more blogging in general. I first started reading the big American nail blogs back at the end of 2008, and people were all calling for the return of Nars Zulu. Knowing very little about nail polish and blog lingo at the time, I rapidly started researching this mythical polish, and got to grips with what a “lemming” is (a product you desperately want due to the hype surrounding it)/. The original Nars Zulu was discontinued several years ago, but Nars finally bowed to the pressure and revived it last year. The formula is slightly different to the original, or so they tell me, but I am glad that I finally have it in my collection, after three years of bloggers, nail polish addicts telling me that I needed it. They were right-  it is gorgeous. A blackened green that looks sophisticated and interesting.

Ped Egg
Twitter opinion is divided on this one but I am a fan. It is the only thing that gets my feet ready for flip-flops and although it feels totally strange to be sawing away at your feet with an egg-shaped file, it works wonders, as long as you don’t get carried away as it can burn a little bit. I’ll never forget one lady I follow on Twitter informing the world that her cat ate the contents of her PedEgg – how gross is that?

Nars Albatross
Charlotte from Lipglossiping made me buy this. She told me it would give me instant cheekbones, and I was sold. I use this every day without fail as a brow bone highlighter and I also sweep it over Orgasm Illuminator to give my face a golden glow. Albatross is a true desert island product, and one that I definitely owe to Twitter. In fact, I even purchased my back up Albatross on Twitter as a (obviously mad) blogger wanted to sell hers so I snapped it up for a bargain price.

Illamasqua Quads
When I was originally thinking about doing this post, I wanted to include the Illamasqua liquid metal quad. You know the one, from Art of Darkness that contains the four coloured liquid metals? The blame for that one lays solely at the door of London MakeUp Girl, who totally convinced me that I needed red liquid metal in my life. And at the time, I really thought I did. It’s still unused in a box in my garage. I wasn’t able to get a photo of it as I am moving house, so here you have the cream eyeshadow quad instead, which I am pretty sure someone else enabled me to buy. A total waste of money. Illamasqua have recently reformulated their cream eyeshadows to a perfect formula which is great news, as this little quad did not work for me at all. 

Nars Sin
A bit more Nars for you. Are we spotting a theme here? As regular readers of my blog will know, I worship at the altar of Francois. I love Nars and when I put out a call for a new blusher, Caroline Hirons of Beauty Mouth told me that Nars Sin would make me “weep at its beauty”. OK, so it didn’t have quite that effect on me, but I do use this blusher practically every day. This was a double Twitter enablement as someone (I can’t remember who) started a vicious rumour that Sin was being discontinued, causing me to hot foot it to the Nars UK website and order a backup. Then Nars confirmed that in fact, it is not being discontinued after all. Oh. Never mind – at least I’ll never run out.

Tiger bread
Yes, really. It’s not always about make-up. I’d never even heard of tiger bread until someone tweeted that they were eating some, prompting pages and pages of “ohhh jealous” and “I wish I had some” and general tiger bread rapture. I mentioned that I had no idea what tiger bread was, and was instantly urged by several of my Twitter friends to buy a loaf, that Asda did the best version and that I would not regret it. And they were right. Toasted tiger bread now forms a regular Saturday breakfast in our house and I love it too.

Proof that Twitter is as bad for your waistline as it is for your bank balance! I’d love to know what you’ve bought as a result of Twitter enablement – do share!

China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada

This post is dedicated to all of the nail bloggers who strive day in and day out to obtain decent and colour accurate photos for you. It can be a challenge. Contrary to a lot of other bloggers out there, my camera loves purples. It can always be relied on for a decent shot of a purple shade. Yet it doesn’t like reds or corals. Eh? And I thought it liked greens – well, until today, anyway.

So here, we have a couple of photos of China Glaze’s Kiwi Cool-Ada from the 2010 Poolside collection. Yeah, it’s neon, as you can probably tell from the radioactive glow that my nails have.

But it is a million times darker than you see in the photos here. I thought I’d show them to you for comedy effect though. Could you imagine wearing something this shade?

My camera went nuts photographing this colour. I could hear it whirring and clicking and generally having a really hard time. Poor thing.

On a positive note though, the polish performed quite well. This is a couple of coats and it didn’t need the usual white or nude undercoat to make the neon pop. But I have to say, I didn’t keep it on long enough to judge the wear…

Helen

Illamasqua Snap

Every time I use an Illamasqua product, I always wonder where the name c0mes from, and think I must ask them!

“Snap” makes me think of…. those crisps you could buy in the 80s that were tomato flavoured and had a crocodile on the packet…..or the “Bend & Snap” from Legally Blonde (perhaps not in line with the Illamasqua ethos)….or the card game….or Snap’s “The Power”. I wonder which one it is.

Any way. This is a bit of a departure for me, for here have an Illamasqua polish where I did rather struggle with the application. Metallics can be tricky, and I learned from my experience with China Glaze’s Awaken that these types of polishes require their own special method of application.

You need to make sure that the first coat is completely and utterly dry before applying any more. Or it will drag. No exceptions. Metallics do dry fast but I always rush things and want to get my second coat on too soon. Ditto the second coat. My usual technique of applying fast drying topcoat over wet polish does not work here. It drags and frays the polish. Very frustrating. I found myself having to re-do a few of the nails. So go in warned!

Other than that, this is a gorgeous gunmetal shade. It is very very similar to the China Glaze one I already have though. However, it took less coats and I think that the Illamasqua formula is better. You can see my post on gunmetal comparisons here.

So what do you think? This is quite a wintery one, isn’t it? I do like it but I think I’ll just have to remember that the next time I want to use a metallic like this to take my time and not try and add topcoat whilst it is wet.

 Helen