Feeling the sunshine with Lunasol's Summer 2013 release

Lunasol have a summer release out from the 17th May just in time for summer with some bright and lovely limited editions.

Eyeshadow (Vivid Clear Eyes ヴィヴィッドクリアアイズ)

Two limited edition eyeshadow quad palettes: EX01 Bronze Brown Collection and EX02 Colorful Collection.

Lipgloss (Full Glamour Gloss  フルグラマーグロスa)

New gloss colours includes 3 regular additions: 01 Shining Pink, 02 Soft Pink, and 03 Soft Coral and two limited editions: EX01 Shiny Beige and EX02 Shiny Pink.


Blush (Modelling Cheeks モデリングチークス)

A limited edition EX05 Coral Beige blusher.


Nail polish (Nail Finish N ネイルフィニッシュN)

Two limited edition sparkle nail polishes in EX14 Shining Orange and EX15 Shining Silver.

Base or Primer (Control base コントロールベース)

A limited edition base or primer perfect for summer in EX01 Light

OPI's Wooden shoe like to know

Another nail polish post from me! I'm catching up on my colours now :) This one is Wooden Shoe Like To Know from OPI's Holland range.

It's a lovely warm brown with goldish shimmer. Weirdly, in the bright sunlight it looks kinda dark mauvey purple colour.

I also had trouble with the lighting, so some shots are too dark, and some are too light. Sorry about that.

Sorry for the sloppy application. I would say I was being lazy, but actually I was just being my usual self :P

What colours are you painting your nails at the moment?

Gouda Gouda Two Shoes I can paint my nails again!

This was a looooong time coming for me. I finally painted my nails! The last time I painted my nails was back in November, just before I had a heinous finger infection that lead to a Spanish doctor (while on holiday, boo) cutting into my poor finger. Well, only 5 months later and my finger is almost back to normal! ¬_¬ So yes, I am very excited to bring this nail polish post today :)

This is OPI's Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, a mauve with coral shimmer from OPI's Holland collection. I bought this in a January sale and it's just been waiting for me to use it!

Sorry for the untidy paint job. I'm out of practice.

But seriously, this was a typical OPI nail polish. Wide brush applicator and the polish applied smoothly. This was a two coater for me with my usual OPI Nail Envy as a base and Seche Vite for a top coat.

The shimmer is subtle, and you can only really see it if you look up close, but it's what attracted me to this colour. It's a lovely and easy to wear shade for work tho.

Pantone colour of the year: Emerald nail polishes

This year's Pantone colour is emerald which happens to be one of my favourite colours! Can ya tell? How about a series of posts for us emerald lovers?  What better opportunity than to look at nail polishes in this lovely shade!

Essie Going Incognito

Essie Pretty Edgy

OPI Jade Is the New Black

Revlon Emerald City

China Glaze Paper Chasing

China Glaze Starboard

Nails Inc Picadilly Arcade

Barry M Emerald Green

A-England Dragon

Personally, I'm a green fiend when it comes to nail polish, so I have to admit quite of few of these feature in my collection. Sadly, I still can't wear nail polish just yet. Darn you, finger infection. Nails take a long time to heal. What do you think?

New Covergirl Pink's rocking nails

I saw this advert featuring the latest Covergirl, Pink in my January Allure magazine and am really digging her nails.

This look can be created combining 3 shades from Covergirl's outlast stay brilliant nail gloss: Black Diamond, Perfect Penny, and Midnight Magic.

These nail polishes come in 45 shades and Covergirl claim you don't need a topcoat.

As soon as I can paint my nails again, I'd love to give this look a go!

Broke the spending ban for an OPI sale

My wallet has been hard hit by the holiday season last year, so I've been trying to be good with my spending. This means that I really have to be careful with my beauty purchases. In fact, I'm even being so good that as long as I have something similar that I can use, I won't allow myself to buy something new. For example, I have a tonne of eyeshadows, so I can't buy any more until I use them up. Harsh, but sensible.

Well... at least for now. We'll see how long I can last.

Honestly, I have been pretty successful. Partially due to bad luck (I had various illnesses in the lead-up to the holiday season) and maybe a bit of good luck, it turns out I hadn't bought any makeup purchases since ...  October maybe? I can only say I didn't buy any makeup cos I did buy some beauty products, but only as needed. And I bought some clothes, and shoes... which weren't needed. I'm only human. *shrug*

Did I mention it was my birthday a couple weeks ago? Yeah, well that and the fact that Lena White was having a sale on OPI lead me down the path to my first gratuitous beauty purchase this year.

A little aside: I haven't been using much nail polish lately as I've had a finger infection that is still clearing up. In anticipation of being able to wear nail polish again, nail polish seemed like the perfect treat.

Also, did I mention there's a January sale on OPI at Lena White? Yeah, that helped!

Especially as I really wanted a couple of polishes from OPI's Holland collection (Spring/Summer 2012), and why not pick up one not on sale, from the Germany collection (Autumn 2012).

The colours I bought (from left to right):

• Gouda Gouda Two Shoes 
• Wooden Shoe Like To Know?
• Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! 

I can't wait to try them. Sadly that won't be for another month at least.

But I do recommend the sale, especially since they have my favourite greens on sale: Don't Mess With OPI and Jade is the New Black.

Actually I might be tempted back to try Avoplex High Intensity Hand and Nail Cream. Ah, how much money is in my account again? ;) 

Selena Gomez collection by Nicole OPI

I can't believe I've been so outta the loop that I only just discovered this a few days ago! The latest celeb to be treated to a inspired nail polish collection from Nicole by OPI is Selena Gomez!

Selena at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012

I couldn't think of a better celebrity! Honestly, the girl has a heart of gold. Not only is she the youngest ambassador for Unicef and a complete sweetheart, she's also a popstar and actress and has a large following of young girls that she actively encourages to be themselves.

I also really like her style. She always looks very well put-together and I've been meaning to blog about how much I love her style. Girl is busy, she even has her own line at Kmart! Ah well.

Interesting that it wasn't that long ago that her famous ex/on-off boyfriend, Justin Bieber got a collection from Nicole, which had quite a few treasures in it, so I have high hopes for the Selena Gomez collection. After all, and no offence to Biebs, but I'd much rather look like Selena.

It's also perfect timing for a Selena collection as we're awaiting the Disney original Wizards of Waverly Place Reunion that is due to grace the Disney channel in early 2013. I'm hoping Disney will cash in and release it on DVD here in the UK, as sadly, I do not have the Disney channel! 

But you wanna hear more about the nail polishes, so let's move on.

Nicole by OPI describe this collection as:

These 14 shades inspired by actress & singer Selena Gomez capture her sweet yet spunky personality, from soft pink and peach hues to bright glitter and confetti lacquers. This diverse palette offers the perfect color for any occasion!

Wow, look at all those glitters! Very young and bright. A perfect collection for this spring when we're really seeing these bright vibrant colours on the runways.  It also looks like a perfect collection for Selena's core fanbase of adolescent to teenage girls, and also us older gals who are still young at heart.

I can't decide what my favourite of the collection is. Sadly I can't offer you swatches, but the  Lacquered Lover has swatched and reviewed all 14 shades for our viewing pleasure.

I think I may have to get my hands on Scarlett. How about you?

Jill Stuart Spring 2013 Makeup Preview

The concept for Jill Stuart's Spring 2013 makeup release is Innocent Sexy. 

This is one doozy of a release! Be warned, it will be hard to read this post without getting a major case of the lemmings!

Layer Blush Compact (5 shades) 4,725 yen

• 01 baby berry
• 02 pop sorbet
• 03 relax smile
• 04 juicy tint
• 05 eternal femininity

Wow, eternal femininity is quite the name for a blush!

Mix Blush Compact N (5 shades) 4,725 yen

• 01 baby blush
• 02 fresh apricot
• 03 milky strawberry
• 04 candy orange
• 05 sunny holiday

Okay... some of these look familiar to me.... like oh, say shades 01-04! They appear to be reissues of Mix Blush Compact in this new series called Mix Blush Compact N. Hmm... I dunno if we can really count this as a 'new release', but since there are a whopping 10 blushers in this lineup, I can let it slide.

Velvet Crystal Eyes (5 shades) 5,250 yen

• 01 nudy venus
• 02 first wink
• 03 calm glance
• 04 loved one
• 05 mischievous girl

Oooooo. A new eye palette collection. Oh dear. This may be the death of my budget! Lots of lovely dark brown. Yay! Also intrigued by the 'velvet' aspect. Could these be matt? N'ah... or .... n'ah. Oh, I need to find out. 01 nudy venus I'm looking at you. Such easy to wear colours.

Update: Swatches of 01 nudy venus over on Kirei no Otomo. 

Jewel Crystal Eyes N (5 shades) 5,250 yen

• 01 sweet amethyst
• 02 pink cameo
• 03 princess sapphire
• 04 romantic onyx
• 05 peridot harmony

Another reissue series, so most of these shades aren't new, again forgiven due to the sheer volume in this collection. 05 peridot harmony is at least a new shade and looks very intriguing. The second shade looks like a gold but does it have a hint of green as the name implies. I'd like to see some swatches of this one.

Nail Lacquer R (20 shades) 1,575 yen

20 shades? That's incredible. Yeah, it's another reissue series it seems. There may be some new colours but I'm not as familiar with the nail varnishes as they're hard purchase outside of Asia.

Lip Jewel (3 shades) 2,940 yen

• 20 tropical beryl
• 21 romantic grossular
• 22 poetic almandine

Wow, really digging in the bottom of the beryl... ahem barrel for these names. Actually, I've heard of beryl, but grossular and almandine I have to admit I had to look up! Both in the garnet family... and garnet's my birth stone. Hm.. maybe I should have known!

Eye Brow Powder (3 shades) 3,360 yen - available 15th February

• 01 light brown
• 02 natural brown
• 03 olive brown

And last but not least a new collection of eye brow shades. Interesting.


Yes, that's right, we have 10 blushes, 10 eyeshadow palettes, 20 nail polishes, 3 lip glosses, and 3 brow shades. Phew, even I'm exhausted! That's a lot of makeup.

They will be available from the 11th January, except for the Eye Brow Powders which release from the 15th February.

I can't wait for the release tho. I'm most looking forward to the Velvet Crystal Eyes. How about you?

Love at first coat... Seche Vite top coat

Okay, so Seche Vite's top coat is no secret, but that's not a good reason for not mentioning it.

It's my favourite top coat nail varnish. It dries quickly, and leaves my nails shiny and strong. I really adore this stuff, and haven't found anything better.

The only criticisms I can think about it, is that it can dry out (I sometimes I have to chuck the bottle towards the bottom cos it's gotten goppie. Of course, Seche sell a softener, but I was too lazy to try this, and just bought a new bottle instead). When I say it dries out, I mean, after a tonne of uses, and not any more drastically than any other nail varnish.

Also, I find that it pulls the polish away from the edges of the nail or shrinks when you apply it to already polished nails. Wait, let me explain. So, when I paint my nails fresh, it's fine and dandy and perfect. But in order to keep polish looking nice or prevent chipping, I've heard it's a good idea to apply top coat every day, but when I do this (i.e. apply Seche Vite a day or more later), I find it actually makes the shelf-life of my nail polish worse than if I'd left it alone. Anyone else find this happening to them too?

China Glaze Ingrid swatches

I've had this colour for ages, but only just now had the chance to use it.

It's a dark, sparkly warm brown however I found it a bit too runny and thin. I used two coats, but still found some patches where the colour had thinned so much so that I could see my nail underneath. :/ Not ideal.  Excuse my messy application... I was feeling lazy.

I don't think this will be a favourite for me...

Something that is a favourite of mine...

a classic from Green Day

China Glaze Westside Warrior Nail Polish

Finally had a chance to try this polish - China Glaze's Westside Warrior which is a lovely dark green. I really love China Glaze nail polishes. They are such great value and have such a selection of colours.

More beauty blogging to come, but in the mean time, I'm going to share another fav song. This time it's Hong Dou (Red Bean/Longing) by Wong Faye.

A-England Nail Polish in Tristam

I finally got my first A-England nail polish! I went with Tristam and it's so lovely! 

Apologies for the messiness of my nails, it's a reflection on me, rather than the polish!

I found this heavenly. It applied very well, and I almost didn't want to use a top coat as it was so shiny. I also found this lasted a while before chipping (I believe it was 4 days before minor chips, but with touching up, or if I'd topped up the top coat it probably would have been longer).

Tristam and other amazing colours are available from A-England for £9.00 each.

I couldn't review a nail polish called Tristan without some music from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Love this song!

Chanel Vernis Peridot Nail Polish Review

When I saw Chanel was releasing a goldy green nail polish called Peridot, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

Wait, I did however. I ended up ordering it from Chanel.com because it was released there first. Since it's limited edition, I was concerned about trying to get my hands on it in the UK - especially since we can't order directly from Chanel's UK website, and I can't always get to the shops in order to secure a limited edition purchase. So I ordered it and sent it to my mom's house (I also ordered the limited edition eyeshadow palette Topaki at the same time!). Sadly my mom wasn't able to send Peridot on to me because of all sorts of crazy restrictions regarding posting nail polish ¬_¬

So I waited. Then finally in November my mom came to visit me in the UK and brought over Peridot, along with some other Essie and China Glaze polishes I'd ordered in the US.

It was finally in my hands!

But then, Christmas holidays came and all of December went by in a whirl of red, green, and flu. So it's only now that I've really had the chance to check Peridot out.

OMG, it was all I was expecting and more!

In the bottle, Peridot looks like a very green gold with a dark green/blue at the edges. This is how the light catches it. It's so beautiful, it's almost worth the purchase just to look at in the bottle. Erm, yeah maybe not.

It's worth purchasing if you love unique colours like this, or are a Chanel nail varnish fan. I don't have any colours like this. It applied really well in two thin layers. My pics show two coats and a clear top coat (NB: not my normal topcoat, so I'm not expecting the wear to go down too well.)

On my nails it looks like a gold with green shimmer or a green-gold, if that makes sense. I think it looks really elegant and lovely. I would definitely recommend it, although as always, Chanel polish is not for the faint-hearted.

A-England Nail Polishes are on my Christmas Wishlist

I know Christmas is fast approaching, but I am hoping that Santa still has some room in his sleigh for some of these polishes for me!

A-England is a brand of nail polishes that just scream beauty and fantasy. So far, their collection of polishes, called the Mythicals are named after English legendary characters and places such as: King Arthur, Excalibur, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Iseult, Guinevere, Elaine, Lady of the Lake, Tristam, Lancelot, Camelot, Avalon, Perceval, Galahad, Holy Grail, The Knight (basecoat), and The Shield (topcoat).

The website also has a glossary of all the names which I also totally love!

Iseult

When I saw they have Iseult I could barely contain myself! *MUST HAVE* Iseult is another version of Isolde for those not in the know. A-England's Iseult is a light pink which they describe as 'delicate romantic pink with opalescent pearly reflection.' Hm... while that sounds pretty, it's not usually what I go for on my nails. I do like the sound of the opalescent pearly reflection though. I think I really need to see this in person before I'm convinced, but I *love* the name!

Guinevere

I do love Guinevere as well, such a gorgeous colour! That's actually one of my favourite names and it's on my secret list of names I'd love to name my children! There's also an Elaine, which is my mom's name, but sadly it's a bright purple and well, that's not really her colour either, otherwise I would have been totally tempted to get it for her! 

Tristam

I couldn't end this post without looking at Tristam (get it? Tristam and Iseult?) I think this is my favourite of them all. It just looks so lovely!

Update: I finally got my hands on Tristam! 

So Santa Baby, I've been pretty good this year!