My nails over the past few weeks

So these past few weeks, I've been noticing an onslaught in nail art on blogs. Now I myself have a very shaky hand so I can't draw straight lines nor perfectly rounded dots. Ask my various art teachers, the only thing I'm really good at is abstract! 

Anyway, one thing I've ALWAYS wanted to try is nail marbling. I've watched loads of tutorials on youtube and I even tried it once, but the results were disastrous. About two weeks ago, I tried again and I suppose it was halfway successful. I used my Barry M pastel colours and whilst it is very tedious, I found it sort of relaxing, strange enough as it sounds. 

There were a few gloopy areas but it's a massive improvement from the last time. Hopefully next time, they'll end up better!

Next up, following one of Gem Fatale's Tuesday tips with dotting with a kerby grip, I managed to get another halfway decent look. 

So there were a few dodgy dots, but mostly they seemed to go well. These lasted for ages as well, I'd say about a week with minimal chipping.

Here are the products I used, the no7 Topcoat that my sister left behind hehe and the Barry M Boots LE nail varnish and then Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream.

Barry M and No7 Lipglosses

Well, hello there!

This is a very rare thing for me to be updating on a Monday night (ok, I can't finish this in 10 minutes, so probably Tuesday/Wednesday), but as I didn't update this weekend (has not been a fantastic one, that's all I'll give it), I felt compelled to update tonight.

I really need to stop using words that you generally use for essays in stuff like this, it makes people laugh when I use them in sentences and then that makes me, in turn, feel stupid.


So now it is Wednesday and I still haven't updated. I feel awful and I know that if you made a pie chart of my blog, 25% would be apologies and that. Theoretically, I have plenty of time, but it just goes away so quickly and then I realise I have no time to get on the computer. Ok, so moving on...

This post was originally going to be just the two Barry M lipglosses I acquired over the holidays, but then I realised I hadn't actually mentioned my No7 lipgloss in the previous lipgloss post, so I added that to it.


Soo...the first lipgloss is Barry M's Lipgloss Wand in Cherry Glitter was a Christmas present from Steph, the second was a Christmas present from the year before from my granny and has no shade name on it, so after a bit of investigating *coughgooglingcough*, I discovered that it is No 7's High Shine Lipgloss in Dream and then thirdly, we have Barry M's Lipgloss Wand in LE4, I believe, which was a limited edition Spend £6 pounds and get this LE lipgloss for free! in Boots.

First up is the Barry M Lip Gloss Wand in Cherry Glitter. I feel a bit stupid describing this, as the name is spot on. It's cherry red and full of glitter, but the glitter is not silverish glitter that you get in most glittery glosses, but RED glitter. Which is pretty and makes me feel like staring at it for hours on end going 'prettyyyy...' and acting like my sister in front of the Chanel counter. I jest, dani, I jest. (No seriously, she is like that.)

So the tube itself is actually quite misleading. One would think that it would be chock a block full of big glitter pieces, but as the photo shows, they're quite diddy. As usual, it's a typical lip gloss applicator, nothing special but it does the job. Another thing about this lip gloss is THE SMELL! Oh my god, it's definitely cherries and it makes me feel so hungry and just smells so good *drools*

I have swatches of all three lipglosses towards the end of the post, but as I like seeing lip swatches myself, here's one of me wearing the lip gloss.

And I'm actually wearing my glasses here, don't I look sexy?(!)

Excuse the bit of a silly pout, I'm not entirely sure why I was doing that. Anyway, it's quite a cool toned lipgloss and the glitter is a lot subtler than you think, so if the glitter puts you off this lip gloss, don't worry, because it's not that bad! You do have to watch out to apply it evenly, as it can be rather patchy, but that gets sorted out pretty quickly.

Next up is No 7 High Shine lip gloss in Dream. This is more of a shimmery nude gloss with a few sparkles.

So again, another standard applicator. This hasn't really got a scent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing of course, as sometimes lipglosses without scents can be a nice change.

So, another geeky pic from me. Here you can see that, despite looking quite thick and pigmented, it still shows your lip colour and just gives it more of a shine and nude gloss look. Well, duh, considering it's a nude gloss..

Last but not least, we have the Barry M Lip Gloss Wand in LE4, which was a LE lip gloss that you could get free in Boots if you spent £6 or over. I'm not sure if it's still going on, but it if is, it's certainly a great deal, as this is a lovely colour. It's quite unfortunate that this isn't in the permanent line.

Same as the previous one, this also has a standard applicator and funnily enough, also smells of cherries, although not quite as much as the other one. This is more of a sheer red, which is subtle to begin with, but can be built up if you want a bit more of a bold look, although it's not way out there, as it is just a gloss. It's quite decently pigmented and isn't patchy, unlike Cherry Glitter. I suspect that has something to do with the glitter, though. (Thanks, Sherlock!)

Here it's quite red on my lips, but it still has that sheer quality. The photo doesn't really do it justice, it's a lot redder in reality!



Et finalement, the swatches! From left in the order I reviewed them, the first two look a lot more glittery/shimmery than they are on the lips, so I suppose it's just as well I posted the pics with them all on my lips. These are all glosses that I really like, especially the Barry M ones and I would definitely recommend all of them!

So there you have it, a post that took a few days to come out. I hope you all like it and as I'm getting into lipgloss a bit more now, if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know!

My lipgloss collection

Finally! I managed to get all my pictures on photobucket after all, as Picasa turned out to be fully incompetent and turns out it wasn't Photobucket itself that wasn't working, but the ads weren't and cause they've changed the layout, I thought the ads were the uploader and there we have it.


So this is my entire lipgloss collection, barring the squeezy tubes. Rather pitiful, isn't it? Although now that I'm looking at it, I just realised I forgot my Boots No7 lipgloss, which was probably only forgotten as I have my makeup box colour coordinated and all the pinks and reds are together and this one happens to be neutral, so it got forgotten, whoops!

So from l-r we have Rimmel Twist and Shine Lip Polish in 070 Twist Up, p2 Hawaiian Spirit Lip Gloss in 020 Exotic Blossom (LE), Barry M Lip Gloss Wand in Bubblegum Pink, Sephora Gloss Repulpant and two unknown glosses.


So starting with the Rimmel Twist and Shine lip polish, I bought this a couple of years ago in Poundland for...well, guess the price. I think it's probably the darkest lip colour I have and when I bought this, I wore it quite often and here's an (old) pic where you can see me wearing it. As it's a lip polish and not really a gloss, it's very pigmented, although still quite sticky.





So the applicator on thsi is kind of funny. You twist it (...duh, nat) and then the gloss comes out of little holes in the applicator so you have to be careful that you don't twist too much.



Next up is the p2 Hawaiian Spirit Hula lipgloss in Exotic Blossom. Now I don't believe p2 is well known in the UK, as it's a German brand, and available in German drugstores (as well as luxembourgish ones!). It's qutie a cheap brand, which is good but I find that not all the products are great, which is to be expected. I even believe that p2 have an equivalent to Barry M's Nail Effects, except also in white, so I may have to investigate that.


Now, this is quite pigmented and the scent is quite vanilla-esque, which makes it smell lovely. Unfortunately it was limited edition when I bought it last year, which is a shame. It's not got much, if any sparkles in it which ticks my boxes!


Here's a picture from October last year with me wearing it and as you can say, although it looks quite warm in the tube, the actualy colour is more of a pink with blue undertones.

Next up is the Barry M Lip gloss wand in Bubblegum Pink.

Now, I believe this, most of the UK readers will have heard of, although the shade 'Toffee' is more popular, from the various reviews I've read. You can see by looking at the tube that this has sparkles, but with this one I don't really mind (it's really more the Claire's lipglosses that annoy me!)


So this is pigmented, but not as pigmented as you would be lead to believe, looking at it in the tube. It's quite sheer, but not too sheer, even though that sounds confusing to imagine. You'll all see in the swatches :) The scent is...three guesses...bubblegum, which I don't mind but I've read that quite a few people aren't keen on that.



So...Sephora's plumping lip gloss. I bought this is 2008 at the braderie sale in town (last time I saw Sephora have a sale like that:( ) but I didn't realise it was a plumping lip gloss until I tried it on at home, resulting to a scene that had me shouting something along the lines of: "ARGH! My lips They're stinging, what's happening????!!!" and my best friend laughing her head off after investigating the gloss and concluding that it was a plumping gloss.


Now I don't think this has any particular scent different from the standard lip gloss scent and it's quite sheer, this. Your lips will tingle a lot when you first apply it but it wears off a bit afterwards, but the colour itself is incredibly sheer which is a little bit of a shame, as it looks so lovely in the tube.


So the final two are samples of an unknown brand that I found lying round the house and decided to put in my makeup box( cause no one else seemed to want them haha happens with a lot of the makeup in my house!)



Oh yeah, that pale pink is pigmented, although not very consistent. The other one is rather see through, which you wouldnt' expect, judging on the pinker one and the tube itself.
And now, finally on to the swatches!


So, they're in the order that I listed them, but I'll do it again just in case you girls can't be bothered to read the whole post again ( I know I sometimes don't feel like it).
From l-r: Rimmel Twist and Shine Lip Polish in 070 Twist Up, p2 Hawaiian Spirit Lip Gloss in 020 Exotic Blossom (LE), Barry M Lip Gloss Wand in Bubblegum Pink, Sephora Gloss Repulpant and two unknown glosses.
It's also funny because they look like they go from the most pigmented to the least pigmented, barring the last one, which was entirely coincidental!
Hope you all liked this and don't forget to enter my giveaway, if you haven't already, as it ends tomorrow night xxxx

Making my own nail varnish!

Yeah, I'm not a pro in a lab, I just did as many other beauty bloggers did and mixed some pigment with clear nail varnish, as you can do by following this nifty tutorial although this's a pretty good post as well!

So basically I did it using Barry M's Pink Gold (3) and a random french manicure clear nail varnish and this....was the result.



The colour is definitely gorgeous, but I think I used too much pigment and not enough nail varnish so the consistency isn't fantastic and it's chipping already, so note to all you people ready to try this: Don't use too much pigment!


So next time I try this, I'll try and do it a little better (and neater!) and I'm looking forward to it as Barry M has some lovely colours with hints of different ones, so I'm anxious to try out some other colours.

WANT: Barry M new Trio Eyeshadow

My sister and I are browsing Barry M's site when I notice they have a new eye product :trio eyeshadows. Priced at £5.95 each, it's quite decent considering how much one dazzle dust costs.

The Pretty Pastels (above) has caught my eye and is now on my wishlist. Oh well, I'll have to wait a while though!

Eyebrows, such pesky things...

Until recently, I never really cared much about my eyebrows. Ok, yeah, I pluck 'em, but filling them in? Neatening them? Never. Until I read this post by the marvelous Beauty's Bad Habit
(love that blog, it's amazing!) and realised :'Oh, my eyebrows are crazy and untamed. I better get them sorted out'.

See that's where my problem is. I can't just buy an eyeliner pencil. Black? I'll look like a transvestite. So in reality, I have no clue what to buy.

Anyway, here's a picture of my untamed and completely make up free eyebrow.



Urgh, nasty, isn't it?

So last week, I went into Sephora with €30 and was immediately asked by a MUA standing near the Benefit and Urban Decay stuff whether I needed help, which I did. I said I did and that I wanted some eyebrow powder which would make my eyebrows look natural and not wayy too dramatic. So she immediately showed me the Benefit Brow-zings and then ent and looked for an angled brush so she could show me how to apply it (turns out someone had stolen one from the tester's box). Then she showed me how to use it and she made my eyebrows look quite good so I decided to buy it.

€29. Pricey stuff, but I suppose in the long run, it's worth it. And the Make Up Alley reviews of it seem impressive, so I'm happy.

Now this is how I've decided to do my brows, after some experimenting over the last week.



As the picture's slightly blurred, I've decided I'll just post a pic of my look today, where you can see my eyebrow more clearly.



Today I used Too Faced's Natural Eye Palette doing the Day look, which I really really loove :D

And now for yesterday's look, which is actually a recreation of this lovely look I saw in a very old Sugar magazine I used to have lying around, which I still remembered (at least the basics I remembered)



Yeah, you can see a bit of the fallout on my cheek there, whoopsy. I used Barry M Peony, Sleek Ink Pot and Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Dazzling Gel Liner in Retro Chic.


So that's all from me today, it's getting late and I'm getting tired :) Night night

Barry M Dazzle Dusts and Lip Paints

Oh Barry M...one of my favourite brands ever. I remember when I first saw all the dazzle dusts. At the time I was going through a very colourful and loud phrase and the colours were just like heaven to me. Amazingly I started out with only two dazzle dusts, because every time I'd go to Boots or Superdrug, I would never come to a decision and I would leave empty handed. that all changed when I ordered five different dazzle dusts for my birthday.

back row from l-r: Aqua Gold, Copper, Peony, Neon Pink
front row from l-r: Pale Pink, Fawn, Pink Gold, Pearly Mauve and Crimson/Pink

First of all, not only are these things absolutely gorgeous in terms of shades, but they're pigmented really well as well. They stay on for ages, even in the days when I didn't have UDPP, and the colours look just as good on the lid as in the tub. The only con with these is that they're a bit too long lasting, especially Aqua Gold and Neon Pink. Usually, there'll be a stain of the colour after I've wiped it off, which isn't actually that bad.

top row from l-r: Fawn(49), Aqua Gold(92), Pearly Mauve(90) and Copper(47)
bottom row from l-r: Neon Pink(85), Peony(32), Pale Pink(2), Pink Gold(3) and Crimson Pink(GD7)

Crimson Pink is actually a Glitter Dust, but I decided to swatch it with the Dazzle Dusts. My favourites have got to be Pink Gold, Aqua Gold and Peony, because they all have lovely undertones, gold for the two former and purple for the latter. In fact Peony reminds me a little bit of Urban Decay's Fishnet, which is also a stunning colour.

Now moving on to the Lip Paints. Again there's also an incredible choice of shades to choose from with these.

from l-r: Vibrant Pink(100), Coral(55), Touch Of Magic, Baby Pink(52)

As with the dazzle dusts, these are incredibly pigmented and stay on for quite some time. Unfortunately, they feel a little dry once applied and they look it a bit too (well Vibrant and Baby Pink look it) so I use lipgloss with those. Coral is actually quite a bit sheerer than I expected, but still lovely. And Touch of Magic is just great. I don't have the dryness problem with this one and it seriously will not fade at all, which is brilliant. On me, the colour goes a darkishy pink, a bit like the lip gloss from the Sephora Green Idylle Palette.

Here's a picture of me back in February wearing Touch of Magic when my family went skiing. It faded a bit, but you can still see it.

And now onto swatches...

from l-r: Baby Pink, Touch of Magic, Coral, Vibrant Pink

So that's it from me for today! I'll try and post tomorrow if I have time, I'm not entirely sure I'll manage it as I have to pack and everything for my trip to England on Wednesday!