MAC Shop Cook Collection - Tendertones

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THESE! There... review done! No seriously, they are just amazing, best lip balm I've tried. These are little pots of wonder with a little tint or sparkle added into the mix. You just need to try them, they are so moisturising and feel so good on the lips. They have a kiwi-strawberry scent which smells slightly like watermelon and considering I hate the smell of watermelon, I don't find these offensive smelling at all. The only gripe is the pot packaging, it would be nice if they were in tubes but never mind, just make sure fingers are clean before dipping in or use a brush if it really bothers you. They are all sheer colours, giving only a hint of colour and/or sparkle but that's okay, sometimes I don't want much colour on my lips and it means that they wont interfere with any lip colour I put on top.

Tread Gently is a yellowish green sparkle which sounds horrid but it is actually pretty and can be used over lipsticks to add sparkle as well as moisture.

Hush Hush is a golden-toffee toned shimmer which gives a very slight hint of toffee colour but is mostly sparkle. It is one of my favourites of the four colours released in this collection.

Purring is a tangerine shade which gives the lips a subtle hint of colour. It would be nice to add some shine and maybe some more warmth to a coral lipstick too.

Hot 'n' Saucy is a red tint on the lips. It is the most pigmented shade and my other favourite from the collection.

These pictures aren't the best to show them, I always find capturing sparkle really hard. Just go see them for yourself, they are lovely. I want them to bring out a hot pink and a sparkly pink oh and maybe a violet haha!

Jennifer x

Leighton Denny Friends of Dorothy Collection

I am a HUGE Leighton Denny fan, I simply love his range and have the majority of his colours. They are a pleasure to work with, they glide on effortlessly, wear well and are super shiny. There is a new kit available on QVC called the Friends of Dorothy Collection, it is a collection designed by one of Leighton's QVC viewers for a competition to come up with a theme for a QVC exclusive collection. This was the winner, inspired by the Wizard of Oz which I think is a great idea.

There are four shades in the kit, a chunky rainbow party style glitter, a deep shimmery green with blue micro shimmer shot through it, a yellow cream and a red glitter with green glitter mixed in. It all comes in a nice box so would be a perfect present for any nail polish or Wizard of Oz fan.

The colours themselves are the same great formulation I expect from Leighton. I'm never disappointed with his polish. The green and yellow are two coaters. The glitters work best with three coats to make sure there are no gaps between the particles.

Ruby Slippers (red glitter) works as a full coverage glitter or can be used over another colour. It is not sparse however so it will still be quite dense over another shade so might be best to pair is with a red or even a green to go with the green glitter that is in it. Maybe a white or a gold would look good too. It would be a great colour for Christmas.

Over the Rainbow (rainbow glitter) is a little harder to work with, you do need to make sure it is dry between coats or you will end up dragging the coat beneath around. It is best to pat the glitter on and you can go to touch up any gaps at the end.  I didn't manage to get the glitter to stick to the tips of my nail because I was being inpatient so I went back later and added it there to get full coverage. It is very forgiving to would be good for ridged nails. It can also be used as a topper for other colours if applied thinly.

This is a little comparison between other multi coloured glitters I have.

L-R: Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Leighton Denny Over the Rainbow, OPI Mad as a Hatter

Emerald City (shimmery green) is my favourite from the collection. It is simply beautiful. You could get away with just one coat but I always use two for longevity and to get the full depth of colour.

Brick Road (yellow cream) is a core shade in Leighton's line so can be bought at any time. This is probably my least favourite in the kit. I found it harder to wear against my skin tone. The awful manicure I did wasn't helping either. It is still a nice shade of yellow, it isn't too garish (think the shade of yellow that is hot dog mustard... ewww) is is more pastel but still remains bright. If you are familiar with Chanel's Mimosa, is it along the same lines of that but minus the shimmer. I think this would work better when I have a bit of a tan, it is definitely a Summer shade.

Here are a couple of manicures I've done with these shades. I liked the green and rainbow one but hated the yellow and red one, I removed it the next day :(

Jennifer x

OPI Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday & Save Me

Just a quick post to show this mani I wore not long ago. It is OPI Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday and Save Me glitter over the top. Two coats of Pink Friday, one coat of Save Me and a thick coat of Seche Vite over the top.

Jennifer x

MAC Naturally Swatches & Review

MAC's latest collection to hit UK and European shores is Naturally. It consists of well... natural shades really. Nude lipsticks, golden and beige tones with some browns and pinks thrown in. It is a lovely collection and is great to pick up some basic tones but still be interesting for makeup fanatics as they are all still interesting.

I'll start with the mineralize eye shadows that I got:

L-R: Summer Haze, In The Sun, Twilight Falls

Summer Haze L-R: dry, over UDPP, wet, over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Summer Haze is a gorgeous light gold and I can also get a peachy beige out of my pan too. It is super smooth and gorgeously pigmented. It makes a lovely lid brightening shade and the lighter shade in the pan is good for a highlight. It looks really metallic when used wet or patted over Pixie Epoxy which is very good for helping it stick all day long.

In The Sun L-R: dry, over UDPP, wet, over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

In the Sun is a hot burnt copper. The veining in my pan isn't as nice as other pans I have seen where there is more fuchsia to pick from. If you pick a pan with more fuchsia, the colour variant would be a bit different as mine mainly has deep gold in it. There is some shimmer in this shade which can fall out so a sticky base such as Pixie Epoxy is best, plus it helps to give it even more intense colour payoff. The sparkle looks really pretty on the lid when the light catches it and the particles aren't too chunky.

Twilight Falls L-R: dry, over UDPP, wet, over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Twilight Falls is a beautiful shade of mauvey brown. I really love this one. It works fantastically with the other two shades I got and is a very good yet interesting every day brown. You may see in the image there is a blueish sheen, this makes it more than the average brown eye shadow. It is so smooth and buttery. The pigmentation even when dry is very good and would be great as a quick wash or to smudge along the lash lines for a smokey look. I wear browns and golds a lot so this is going to get a good amount of love from me.


There were three shades of mineralize blush in this collection but only this one stood out to me. It is Subtle Breeze. I also wanted to stay on the safer side because I'd never tried the mineralize blushes before so didn't entirely know what to expect and wanted something more wearable to me.

Subtle Breeze mineralize blush

Subtle Breeze is amazing, it really is. It is soooo pigmented, I swirled my brush into it as normal and ended up with way too much product on my face. A couple of taps into the pan is all that is needed to a lovely pink flush. The finish is beautiful, it has a slight sheen so isn't completely matte but has no shimmer in it either. I really like it, it gives such a pretty glow. I find that it lasts really nicely on me too although I do have dry skin so not sure how oily skin would fare but it is worth a try.

There are two mineralize skinfinishes in this collections, these are some of my favourite products from MAC so I was pleased to see these. They are both repromotes from the  Blonde, Brunette, Redhead collection.

L-R: Redhead, Blonde

Redhead Mineralize Skinfinish - first four as the different shades,
last two are mixed, swatched heavily and then blended.

Redhead is the warmer shade of the two. It is more golden toned. It is very smooth, so much smoother than I expected it to be and than of any other of my MSFs. I think it would be flattering on a wide variety of skin tones. It gives a lovely golden sheen to the skin but like all MSFs it is quite shimmery so may emphasise pores. 

Blonde Mineralize Skinfinish - first four as the different shades,
last two are mixed, swatched heavily and then blended.

Blonde is a cooler shade, more pink based. It is still a flattering shade and works nicely over the top of Subtle Breeze blush. This is just as smooth as Redhead and also shimmery.

Perfect Day lipstick

Perfect Day lipstick



This is the only lipstick which appealed to me, it is a lovely pinky nude which I find far more wearable than most nudes. It doesn't look stark against my skin tone and would work on a lot of different skin tones. It is an amplified finish so applies a good amount of colour in one swipe. It lasts pretty nicely for a nude shade, probably due to the finish which seems to stick to lips better than a lustre or cremesheen lipstick does. I haven't got a lip swatch because my lips are far too dry for photographing at the moment... I hate what this cold weather does to my skin!

So that is what I picked up from Naturally, all very nice wearable colours which can be paired with lots of different shades to make really nice looks from neutrals to brighter. Anyone else pick anything up? What did you think of the collection?

Jennifer x

Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman - Soon to be available at Boots!

I am well made up about this, I think they so deserve to be available in the high street for everyone to buy. They are fantastic brushes and I am sure they will do well. I am especially glad that they will be available at Boots (selected stores) so should be easy for most people to get hold of as you can get things delivered to your local store online if you want.

Here is the Boots blog where I found out and gives a little review on some of the brushes.

Real Techniques brushes will be available to buy from the 15th February at selected stores and online at www.boots.com

YAY!

Jennifer x