MAC Quite Cute Collection Review

Hi all! Hope you have had a good weekend. It has been really nice in London and I've been busy in the garden planting, sowing and pruning.

I'm going to review the items I got from the Quite Cute collection. I've had these for a couple of weeks now and whilst I haven't really worn much of it yet I really like what I got. I think the lipsticks especially are perfect Summery shades.

First up, the lipsticks...
Playtime.

I really like violet/purple lipsticks. I find they make my eyes appear greener and they work well on my skin tone. I also like that not everyone wears purple on their lips. It is so easy to get a red or a pink or a nude but purple is harder to come by. I find it hard to wear purple on my eyes due to having such dark circles and it makes me look very tired so a lipstick is a nice way of wearing purple for me. The finish of this lipstick is a creamsheen, not my favorite finish but in this lipstick it is very nice and feel smooth and slightly moisturising on my lips. It is similar to Style Curve but is more purple, Style Curve is more magenta. It is buildable and in real life it looks a bit more purple on my lips but I found it hard to capture with my camera. Temptalia has a very good swatch of it but on my lips it is a bit pinker due to my natural lip colour being more pigmented than Christine's. Hopefully that gives you an idea of the colour. I originally didn't want this colour as I have Style Curve and Violetta (much more purple and opaque, amplified finish) but once I saw swatches of it I decided I wanted it because it was a sheer purple and Style Curve doesn't look purple on me. It is also sheerer than Style Curve and I think it makes it a bit more wearable. I love it.

Candy Yum-Yum.

This is just amazing. The colour is so stunning and shocking, I know my boyfriend will hate it and not want me anywhere near his face with this on haha. It is a bright neon pink which is blue based but it really is a universal colour. I have seen this on so many skin tones and it looks fantastic on everyone. You can go lighter with it if you are scared by tapping it on and adding a gloss or balm on top. It is a matte finish which I have found can be drying but this is not at all. The formula is perfect, it stays put and doesn't dry your lips out and goes on so evenly. It is a really flattering colour even though it is so bright and I think it is the must have from this collection. I have bright pinks like Show Orchid and Full Fuchsia but this one amps it up to another level. Another love from this collection. It will look amazing with brightly patterned maxi dresses and floaty tops during the summer.

Lipliners.

There were three lip liners in this collection. I chose two of them, Naked Liner and In Synch. I'd seen these before and wondered why they weren't permanent colours because they are so versatile and really should be in the permanent line. Everyone can wear a nude liner and it can go under any lip colour. I was really thrilled when I saw they were being repromoted in this collection as I was looking for the perfect nude shade and not finding it and also something to go under coral. These liners are now permanent as of this collection so that is brilliant.

Naked Liner is a very light peachy beige. It completely blanks out my lips like a concealer would for me except I don't get the dryness I would from a concealer. You can use it lightly so it doesn't completely erase your lips too but if you have a colour which you find difficult to see on your lips, you could use this under it to make it show up better. This colour is perfect for any shade at all especially nude shades as light colours don't tend to last as long as brights do.

In Synch is a peachy light pink, another great colour to the range. MAC were lacking a liner shade for pinks and corals and this is very good as one. A colour that I can use a lot. You could of course just add a bit of sheer gloss on top and the liner colour will add to the gloss shade for a nice light pink lip colour.



Top: Naked Liner, bottom: In Synch



Top to bottom: Candy Yum-Yum, Playtime, In Synch and Naked Liner

Lastly I got Mischievous Mint nail lacquer. I don't have a nail swatch for this but if you look at my Retro Flowers Nail Art, I have used it as the base colour in that. I wanted a nice mint green so thought this would fit the bill. It is really nice but it doesn't really look green on nails, instead looking more blue. The formula was quite good, not the best though but I did achieve opacity with two coats, no problem. The brush is just bloody awful though. Mine was splayed out in different directions and it made it difficult to apply the polish as there was constantly a couple of bristles sticking up and getting in the way. MAC really need to sort their brushes out, I've never had any other polish with a brush like it and I'm not the only person to receive a rubbish brush in a MAC polish. Colour good, brush not good. Shame really.

- Jennifer

MAC Jeanius Collection Picks and Review

I know I've been really slow getting this review up, I suck haha. Sorry. Some of this collection is still available under the Going, Going, Gone section of MAC's website and may possibly be still in stock in some stores. I bought Pink Cult Blush and Indigo Pink Lipglass from this collection. I wasn't too thrilled with the whole thing but thought these were both nice products. I also already had Docile Lipglass which was repromoted from the Fabulous Felines collection last year. I don't have a product photo of this because I forgot but I do have a swatch photo.

Indigo Pink Lipglass and Pink Cult Blush

First up, Docile. This is a very light milky pink with iridescent sparkles. It is very subtle when worn but the sparkle effect is nice. I like this with a smokey eye as it pales my lips a little without going nude. Not a must have item in my opinion but it is still nice. In the Lightfully Bright collection at the beginning of this year, similar type glosses were released.

Next, Indigo Pink Lipglass.

This is a very pretty colour and unlike anything else I have. It is a reddened berry pink and has blue flecks in it which I really like. I think it is a nice take on red if you don't want a postbox shade. I also think it is a year round colour. I'd wear it with the sort of eye makeup I'm wearing in the full face photo, a nude eye.

Top: Docile, bottom: Indigo Pink

Lastly, Pink Cult Blush. I can't see this on the website so hopefully you can get hold of it in store or already have it. It is a neutral rosey pink. It is very pigmented and a perfect barely there flushed shade. It would work so well on a pale skintone especially.



- Jennifer

Kiss Full Cover Nails - Short Square

I banged one on my nails a couple of weeks ago and it tore in the nail plate area, slightly peeling away. I carried on painting it as normal and it seemed fine but gradually it got worse. Usually I would cut it but due to where the tear was, I couldn't very easily and it would end up looking manky. I bought some nail glue from Superdrug at the weekend to repair it until it grew out enough to be cut. It did a good job at first but while I was playing outside with Harvey (boyfriend's dog), I broke it again while catching a football. It broke almost all the way across so I decided to cut it this time even though it was peeling up from the nail plate and would look horrible. After doing this I filed it down as much as I could and went to buy some false nails so it wouldn't keep catching on things.

I bought the Kiss Full Cover Nails, they come in a pack of 100 in different sizes and are meant to be painted on top as they are a translucent white. Superdrug only had the short square type in stock so I made so with them. My nails are more rounded and a bit longer but there was nothing else that was suitable and plain and I figured I could use the other nails to practice nail art on. Here is a link to ones I bought, they are also available in Active Square and Active Oval, oval would have been better for my nail shape.

They were super easy to apply. I chose the size that fitted best and then filed it to fit just right and made the tip more of an oval shape. Glue is supplied with the nails and you put some onto the nail (make sure you only put it on the area which is going to be stuck down otherwise it will be sticky on the free edge) and some on your natural nail. Then you just position the nail and hold down for 5 seconds, ta da! I filed the edge a little more so I was happy with the shape and then painted it.

Here are some step by step photos.

Manky nail... ewww.

Left: a false nail straight out of the box,
right: shaped to fit my nail bed and the edge made more oval shaped.

Nail applied



Finished!



The colour I used is Deborah Lippmann Love Shack. It is a bit more peachy in real life.

Kiss say you can leave the nails on for up to 7 days and then you should remove them with an artificial nail remover or by soaking them in acetone nail polish remover so the plastic dissolves. I have some artificial nail remover so I will see how it goes and let you know. I will probably take it off for the weekend so it can breathe and then put another on for work next week.

So far, I highly recommend them, hopefully removal is easy too. They feel very strong on and you can only tell if you know it is there.

- Jennifer

Glitter In The Air... Frenchie

I really love Deborah Lippmann's nail polishes. Yes they are expensive but she brings our such pretty and unique colours and the cream polishes have a really good formula. They feel decadent to wear and last really well with only minor tip wear. I also really like the bottles (I will do a review of my Lippmann polishes at some point in the future so you will see them there).

One of her new polishes for the Spring is Glitter In The Air, the other being Naked which is a nude colour. I've been eagerly waiting for Glitter In The Air to come out in the UK as I think the Lippmann glitters are really special, you rarely see anything like them. A lot of them have different sized glitter particles as well as hexagonal glitter shapes. This one is one of those. It is in a very sheer baby blue base and has light blue and pink glitter particles in it and light blue iridescent micro shimmer which I didn't even notice until it was sparkling in the light so was a nice surprise.

When you apply it you do need to be careful as the hex glitters need to be positioned where you want them to make them look even. The effect is so worth the effort though. The polish is very sheer so is best used as a top coat but you can use a few layers and get a semi sheer effect if you want. To get the bottle colour you would need to pick a similar shade of baby blue and then layer the glitter over the top.

I decided to do a french manicure and then add this on top. Here is what I came up with!

More pictures and what I used...

Zebra Funky French Nail Art

I was inspired by something I saw on another blog but can't remember where it was now but I went home and did this. It took me a little while to do it but I was quite pleased with it. I wasn't overly happy with the colours I chose, I thought it was a bit too much and ended up only wearing it for a couple of days, I think it would have been really nice with a bright and a more muted colour to go with it, say two shades of blue.

Butter London Spring 2011 Review

Butter London is a relatively new brand to me and it was this collection that grabbed me. All of their nail polishes have names which relate to London or 'British-ness' and this collection is made up of five colours:
Blagger (bright colbolt blue), Hen Party (sheer opalescent baby pink), Teddy Girl (retro bubblegum pink), Dosh (green apple with gold shimmer) and Lady Muck (periwinkle blue-grey with micro shimmer). I picked out Blagger, Dosh and Lady Muck. As soon as I saw these shades I couldn't wait for them to come out, I thought they were so beautiful.

When I got them, I loved the bottles. They are rectangular and have rectangle caps which you pull off to use revealing a circular grip cap underneath with a little bird on the top. They are very practical for storage considering their shape, they can be closely packed together into my box easily. I like that about squared bottles as they take up less space.

The lacquer was a great consitency, so easy to apply and it just glided onto my nails. The brush isn't too small but isn't a wide brush like an OPI lacquer which I find easier. Still, due to the perfect consitency of the lacquer, the brush is easy to control it with and you get fantastic coverage even with one coat. I always use at least two coats when I paint my nails as you get true depth of colour which one coat doesn't usually achieve. The finish is lovely, glossy and smooth. The two colours with the shimmer don't feel gritty, and I really like the size of the shimmer in them as it is subtle but at the same time large enough to notice it.

The colours themselves are beautiful, I love them all. I did find that once I recieved them that Blagger is quite similar to OPI Ogre The Top Blue which I already had and is another of my favourite polishes. Just goes to show that I am obviously attracted to that particular shade of colbolt blue. I've seen that some bloggers have been comparing Lady Muck with a China Glaze shade, Sea Spray I think but I don't have any shades which are similar, same with Dosh.

Read on for swatches...

OPI Touring America Collection - Autumn 2011

OPI are set to release a collection inspired by American culture and cities. There are twelve shades, featuring the season's trend colours - taupe and grey in different variations and also a couple of neutrals, an iconic red and coral-orange shades to reflect the U.S landscape.

Here are the shades:

Suzi Takes The Wheel
Buckle up—she’s not stopping until she gets to gray!

French Quarter For Your Thoughts
Want beads? Then show us your sexy gray nails!

Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window
You’re gonna wanna pull over for this “unexpected” olive green.

A-taupe The Space Needle
You’ll climb to new heights with this creamy-rich taupe.

Get In The Expresso Lane
An amped-up dark brown that’ll never letcha down!

I Break For Manicures
This gorgeous eggplant-plum has our full attention.

Honk If You Love OPI
Don’t let this gorgeous dark grape pass you by.

Road House Blues
In this case…R&B stands for “Really Blue.”

Color To Diner For
I’ll take the rosy-red with a side of “awesome.”

My Address Is "Hollywood"
We put this pretty rose-pink on the map.

I Eat Mainely Lobster
We “clawed” through crowds to catch this coral for you.

Are We There Yet?
Don’t make me reach back there and take that perfect melon shade!

What do you make of this collection? I think some of the colours are quite interesting, the greys/taupes and the olive green.

- Jennifer

Retro Flowers Nail Art

I hadn't done any nail art in a little while so I decided to give it another go. I'd wanted to try doing flowers using a dotting tool so thought I'd do that. I got one of the new MAC Quite Cute nail polishes (Mischievous Mint - review to come) and thought it would look really good with a bright pink, quite retro and kitchy.

I used MAC Mischeivious Mint for the base colour, Model's Own Bubblegum for the flower petals and OPI Panda-Monium Pink for the flower centres. I used a couple of different sized dotting tools (mine are actually embossing tools from a paper crafting company called Papermania, I got them from a local craft store but can't remember how much they were), the larger for the petals and the smaller for the middles. I haven't actually bothered to clean them so you can tell which I used for which. Then I topped it all off with a thick coat of Seche Vite.

I am so happy with how this came out, I actally impressed myself because I thought it would look a bit crap. Even my right hand looks good and normally it looks so bad when I've done nail art. I got quite a few compliments at work and I am going to do one of my colleague's nails next week in the same design.



This is colour accurate.



Sorry about the colour in this photo, neons do strange things to cameras.
My cuticles and the skin around my fingers is gross too.



Like?

- Jennifer

March Favourites and Harvey Dog!

Happy April! I hope everyone had a good month, it was my boyfriend's birthday at the end of it and we had a great weekend doing things around the town he lives in and in Eastbourne :) I got to see the gorgeous Harvey dog who kept us both very occupied playing with him in the garden, he likes to jump on the trampoline! (photo at the end) I made birthday cupcakes and we went out for a yummy Sunday lunch.

Here are five products that I've liked over March.

First, in the top left, we have Sally Hansen nail polish remover for dry brittle nails. You might be thinking that it is just a nail polish remover but it is a really good'n. My nails like to peel and break and since using this my nails have been pretty good... apart from the one I banged so it bled and now has a lovely crack in it. Other than being very gentle on my nails and conditioning them when I use it, it makes removing nail polish a doddle. Even glitter comes off easier than any other bottled remover I've used. I got it from the 99p Store. BARGAIN! I'm going to stock up on a few bottles as they are so cheap in case they stop stocking it. It is also sold in Superdrug (along with other removers for different types of nails) for £2 odd.

Next to that is Batiste Dry Shampoo in Dark and Deep Brown Hair. I bought this before I got my hair dyed to see if I could get on with it as I didn't want to wash my hair as often as I used to. It is pretty good. It comes out an ashy black/dark brown so completely dissappears into my hair which is great. I've always been put off dry shampoo as they are usually white and having dark hair it would show. This is good for me to get an extra day before shampooing again. I don't know if I'd get any more than that because my hair can get quite lank if left longer than two days when using normal shampoo, so I get three days before the next wash out of this. It doesn't make my hair feel as nice as when it has been washed but it is fine, it looks okay and I can put it up and it wont look greasy. Thumbs up.

Underneath is the Urban Decay Naked Palete. I'm not going to bother saying much about this, it has been reviewed so many times all over the place. If you want swatches, Temptalia always has good ones. I've been reaching for this more often than usual, just to get quick neutral eyeshadow done. It is great if I'm in a rush to get to work (always happens) and has some beautiful colours. There are so many possibilities in this palete and you can add a single brighter colour to change it up a bit. I like to use green... surprise surprise. I love Virgin for my brow bone and Sin is one of my favourite eyeshadows, it goes with everything and great for brightening the inner corner. I also really like Baked and Darkhorse, I use them a lot.

Bottom left is MAC My Highland Honey Blush from the Tartan Tale collection. This has been a bit neglected so I decided to pull it out one day and then ended up wearing it pretty much all month. It looks a bit orangy but isn't, it gives a nice warmth so my cheeks.

Finally, Bobbi Brown Longwear Gel Liner in Espresso Ink. I absolutely love this. I'd wanted a brown eyeliner for ages but browns are often too light for my taste, I wanted something very dark, verging on black but wouldn't look so harsh if I wanted more subtle makeup. This is perfect. I love BB gel liners, the formula is great and they last so well. I often use this with neutral makeup, like in the Naked palete and also with greens as it looks more subtle. Definately a staple for me.

...

Anyway, here is the photo of Harvey on the trampoline that I promised. He is a seven month old Springer Spaniel and is just crazy. He loves to get in everything and since he discovered the trampoline you can't go on it without him trying to climb up haha. He runs in circles and pounces on you if you sit down and he likes to catch balls on it.

And here is one where he isn't leaping into the air so you can see his pretty face. I love him. This is his favourite spot in the garden. He is holding his newest toy, the peanut.

- Jennifer

Sparkly Lollypop

I'm so rubbish with titles haha. This is what I had on my nails over the last few days before I decided to pick at the glitter and ended up peeling half of it off one nail so wanted to change it. The base colour is Leighton Denny Lollypop and the glitter is Deborah Lippmann Today was a Fairytale. This glitter is so pretty, it has small circular glitter particles and larger hexagonal glitter shapes. It can also be layered up to wear alone - although not perfectly opaque, it still looks good.

Close up - hopefully you can make out the hexagonal glitter shapes.

Like? I have a nail art post coming up which I am really proud of, hopefully it should appear over the weekend :)

- Jennifer