Christmas/New Year update

Hello everyone,

Sorry for being away for so long, as I'm sure you are all aware Christmas is a very busy time, and I have been enjoying spending time with my family and friends, so my blog has taken a bit of  back seat. However with the new year just over the horizon I felt it was time i got back on it, since there are so many beautiful new products out there to try out and review.

Christmas time is always a great time to be a beauty blogger especially if your friends and family know, as you get loads of things that you maybe wouldn't buy for yourself or maybe stuff you would but couldn't really afford. Well this year I have been a very lucky girl as I got so many beautiful gifts I could barely fit them into one photograph.

As you can see I got quite a selection of different things, and I can't wait to start reviewing these all for you. Did you get anything that you are really please with this year? Let me know in the comments below I'd love to hear from you.

In the new year I am also looking to start making videos to go along side my blog, and I'd love to hear from you would like to see in them? Do you want to see product reviews, make-up tutorials, nail art designs, hauls, outfit of the day or maybe something else entirely? 

As this is likely to be my last blog of 2012 I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has checked out my little blog, and for my 5 followers a special thank you for taking the time to keep coming back for more. I know 5 doesn't seem like a big number to most people but to me it means so much that you have chosen my blog out of all of the hundreds of thousands out there. If you would like to join this special group of people and follow my blog, I would welcome you with open arms.

So in brief I am really grateful for all of you who have checked out my blog so far and I hope you will return for more in the new year.

I hope you all have an amazing new year's eve whatever you are doing, and I'll see you all in 2013!

Love

Jude xxxx

Review: Topshop Dark side of the Nude collection Eye Palette in Prism

Hiya,

Topshop are becoming very well known for their gorgeous make-up collections, and this year’s winter/Christmas collection is no different. It’s called “Dark side of the Nude” and on the website they describe it as:

“Gothic goes glamorous with our decadent capsule make-up collection, Dark Side of Nude. Vampy-claret lips are teamed with metallic mushroom eyes and an icy pale base for a high shine and high impact look.”

Collections like this are one of the reasons I love winter, as it brings out all the deep, dark sultry colours of the spectrum and with all the Christmas and New Year parties just around the corner it’s a great excuse to get all glammed up. So when I saw this palette in my local Topshop I couldn't resist trying it out.

The outer packaging is the usual matte cardboard we have come to love from Topshop, with the diamond/cracked ice style design and the essential information all in glossy black printed over the top. This gives a very sophisticated feel to the product and this continues inside the box.

The smooth matt and glossy accents again add elegance, although I would worry that every bit of eyeshadow is going to stick to it but I’m sure that’s nothing a baby wipe won’t fix.

Inside is a 3 inch mirror and 3 eyeshadows that are embossed with the same diamond/cut glass pattern from the outside, which makes them catch the light and glisten.

There is a matte black, a rose gold/copper and a pewter/silver colour. The look so pretty next to each other in the palette I hope they look just as good on my skin.

The matt black is pretty highly pigmented and goes on smoothly.

The rose gold/copper is filled with micro glitter which makes it really
 sparkle under bright light and shimmer in daylight. It is very
 pigmented and is going to look gorgeous layered on top
 of the matt black or on its own.

The silver/pewter colour is also packed full with micro-glitter
 and shimmer particles and is so beautifully pigmented.

Swatched dry with no primer or base

 

Over all I’m really pleased with this compact, really bright shimmer metallic colours can often be very sheer and difficult to get real impact from. However these are very highly pigmented and especially when used with a damp brush are so opaque and sparkly they are sure to create an impact this party season.

This compact along with the rest of the Dark Side of the Nude collection is available online at Topshop.com or in your local Topshop store. I’d highly recommend you go and check it out.

Have to tried this compact out? or anything else from Topshop's winter collection? I'd love to hear what you think about it, so please leave your comments or questions below.

Love Jude xxx

Review: MUA Nail Constellations

Hi,

When I first saw the micro beads trend on nails I thought it look so cool and different but not wanting to pay the hefty price of the Ciate sets I became a bit stuck as to how to achieve the look myself. I tried EBay for a cheaper alternative but besides buying lots of different colours and mixing them myself I thought maybe I will just have to give this trend a miss. However once again one of my favourite drug store brands MUA (make up academy) has come up with a solution, and they have called them their “Nail Constellations”.

Gemini, Leo, Libra, Scopio & Pisces

Pisces, Gemini, Scorpio, Leo & Libra

There are 5 in the shades to choose from in the collection and they are each named after a different star sign. After several trips to Superdrug I now have all 5, from my experience these have been selling very fast so if you like them you had better get your boots on now!

The packaging is very cute but also very practical. The glass bottle in keeps them safe from damage while the rubber funnel on the top makes them very easy to use, as you can slowly pour as much as you want out, but can also be taken off and reversed to aid returning the excess to the bottle. The colours are very different to what I have seen of the Ciate collections, they appear to be staying true to the traditional ideas of the star signs and at the price of £2.99 they are a fraction of the cost.

Gemini: talkative, adaptable, flexible, changeable, responsive, sociable, superficial

Gemini is a very girlie pale mix of colours; it includes baby pink, silver mostly with smaller amounts of purple and teal. I swatched this over Barry M’s fuschia pink and I think it complements the beads perfectly and creates a real feminine, girlie but kick ass feel.

Leo: magnanimous, generous, hospitable, caring, warm,
authoritative, active, open

 

Leo is quite a bold mix made up of mostly purple beads with the occasional teal bead to break it up. To make the intense colours stand out I put this mix on a Barry M’s Gelly Polish in the deep purple colour which is called Blackberry.

 Libra: just, sociable, refined, accommodating, kind, fair,
 diplomatic, likable, indecisive, respectful, artistic

Libra is very similar to Leo in way the colours are mixed but the black and the teal of this shade create a very dark, mysterious look. This colour looks the most like the night sky to me with the teal beads appearing sporadically amongst the black. I swatched this mix over Barry M’s mint green polish, I’m not sure this works too well and would probably look better over a darker colour, as it would make the teal sound out more.

Scorpio: passionate, perceptive, resourceful, possessive, psychological,
 prowling, determined, probing, fixed, focused

 

Scorpio is a beautiful mix of 4 shades that create a warm more autumnal feel to the nails. The only shade to contain gold beads, they are mixed with purple, a deep reddish brown and a dark forest green. I swatched this over Barry M’s Mushroom polish and this works really well at showing off all the gorgeous shades collected in this mix.

 Pisces: intuitive, dreamy, artistic, humane, sympathetic, sensitive, compassionate, perceptive, tender, impressionable

Pisces is a pretty even mix of silver, pale pink and teal. It makes it look very ethereal and sea like so I can see why it is given the name Pisces. I originally thought this would look good over a silver or pale teal colour but on seeing it in real life I have decided to swatch it over Barry M’s Watermelon polish which is from their Gelly polish collection. It really makes the colours pop and adds a sense of depth to the whole mix.

Although you do get a lot of beads for your buck in these little jars (15g to be precise) I still think I will use these on an accent nail rather than all at once. Just because I also think the impact will be higher if it just on my ring finger and/or thumb.

Overall these micro beads are super easy to use and stick really well. I wouldn’t recommend putting a topcoat over them as it may remove the colour from the beads but if you have put a nice thick coat of polish on underneath and patted them into the wet polish firmly enough they should last you at least a few days before they start to come loose.

Have you tried these out yet? Do you like them or any other products from MUA? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or message me on my facebook page.

See you again soon

Love Jude xxx

Review: Barry M Limited Edition Christmas Nail Polish

Hi,

Like I'm sure many other avid Barry M fans I was really excited when I saw their post on Facebook about their limited edition Christmas nail polishes that they are bringing out this winter. Two are to be released in Superdrug stores on the December 5th and another two are released in Boots stores only on November 28th, so I was making sure I saved my penny's so that I could get them as soon as they arrived in my local stores.

Today I went into my local Superdrug on my lunch hour as I had just been paid and thought i would treat myself to some new make-up (like I need any more) since i would be spending most of my pay on other people's Christmas presents.  And much to my surprise in the Barry M section of the store, there sat the 2 new Barry M limited edition Christmas polishes that weren't due out for another 10 days! This can't be i thought to myself? but sure enough there they were, and before anyone could take them back of the shelves i ran to the till and purchased them both!

They are gorgeous colours if not very inventively named. The bottles just say "SLE 2012 A" and "SLE 2012 B" although on their Facebook page they refer to them as "Christmas blue" and "Christmas Glitter" which I much prefer.

"Christmas Blue" is a pale silvery teal blue in colour and a very sparkly, shimmery foil in consistency.  It applies opaque in 1 coat but I think 2 coats gives it more lustre. It's a super pretty alternative to the traditional reds greens and golds that you get this time of year and will go great with the aqua/teal eye shadow trend which seems to be hot this season.

"Christmas Glitter" is super pretty with large and small hexagon glitters in a clear base. The glitter is in 3 colours, deep blue, forest green and bright red, which seem quite traditional colours but a modern way somehow.  The consistency is quite runny and this is definitely a glitter you have to place rather than just brush on, and the drying time is a litter longer than normal Barry M polishes but on top of black this polish looks stunning! I don't think you would ever be able to place this well enough for it to be opaque and you would waste a lot of polish trying, but I am quite happy to try this out with other colours underneath as I think its going to give you lots of different effects of different colours.

I'm so glad I managed to get these early so you can see just how stunning they are, and i have tried my local boots but no such luck with the other two Christmas colours as yet, but I will let you see swatches as soon as I have them in my mitts!

Let me know what you think of these new polishes in the comments below, and I'd love to know if your local Superdrug has got them on the shelves early too!

More to come soon

Love Jude xxx

Review: China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection: All That Glitters set

Hello,

Recently whilst waiting for an appointment that I was early for, I noticed that I was right next to my local Sally store. I thought what better way to waste my time then to go in and browse through all the latest collections of polish they have. To my delight and surprise they had China Glaze’s complete Holiday Joy collection in and even better a 3 for 2 offer on them all.

When I saw the mini sets meant I would get 8 of the polishes and then a full size one free, it was a deal I couldn't pass up and nearly ran across the store to the till to check if it was true. Sure enough I was right so I am now the proud owner of 9 of the Holiday joy collection polishes and I couldn't be happier with the selection this year.

The first box set I want to show you is “All That Glitters”. It contains 4 beautiful glitter polishes that have most certainly put me in the Christmas spirit.

Despite being smaller bottles than the full size you still get a lot of product, compared to other brands. For instance OPI mini polishes contain 3.75ml compared to the full size 15ml. These China Glaze “mini’s” contain 9.6ml nearly 3 times more than OPI. So to me I was quite happy with not getting them all full size because it meant I got a bigger selection of colours.

3 coats photographed in sunlight

3 coats photographed in the shade

Pure joy is a clear base glitter polish with a large proportion of red micro glitter interspersed with bright gold hexagon glitter. On swatching it lies really smooth and was almost opaque at 2 coats so I think 3 would make it totally opaque. I think this would look stunning layered over a deep red so that both glitters could shine through, or if you wanted to go all burlesque/vamp style it would look hot layered over an opaque black with a matte topcoat.

2 coats photographed in the sunlight

2 coats photographed in the shade

Glitter all the way is a fun bright multi coloured glitter which makes me think of walking though my city centre in the evening when the Christmas lights are all up and the whole place seems to radiate this warm glow. The polish has a clear base with gold, red and deep purple micro glitter mixed with hexagon glitter in a rich forest green. It was opaque in 3 coats and would look fabulous by itself but I think would work beautifully layered on top of most colours, but my favourite would be a deep holly green.

Here you can just about see the holographic sparkle

2 coats photographed in the sunlight

2 coats photographed in the shade

Champagne Kisses is a classy rose gold/coppery glitter which will definitely brighten up any outfit you wear this Christmas and beyond. It is a very dense mix of yellow and rose gold micro glitter in a clear base. They are only just noticeable in the bottle but more so on the nail when in bright lights, but I think there is also a smidgen of iridescent glitter in there too, as occasionally I catch sight of a bright blue, purple or green sparkle. The polish is completely opaque in 2 coats (thus showing you how dense the glitter is) and it dries beautifully smooth.

2 coats photographed in the sunlight, you can just see the holographic glitter

2 coats photographed in the shade, still can just make out the holographic glitter

Angel wings is the star of this set for me as it is a stunning gold holographic glitter that is opaque in 2 coats as well. What I love about this polish apart from the obvious super holographic sparkly gorgeousness is the shade of gold they have chosen to use. It is not your typical bright yellow gold but instead a slight antique, dirty gold which I think just sings Christmas to me. It makes me think of the 3 wise men bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh, and although baby Jesus might not have been too happy with a bottle of nail polish as his gift I’m pretty sure Mary would have loved it as much as I do!

So if you get the chance to purchase this set before the festive season properly arrives I would defiantly advice you do, as I don’t think you will be disappointed. But stay tuned for my second box set which I will be reviewing soon.

Have you got any of the polishes from this collection yet? If so what are your favourite shades? Let me know if the comments box below.

Sorry its been such a long time since I have written, life has been getting in the way again, but I promise to try harder to stay on top of things. 

Love Jude x