Pahlish - Fire in the Taco Bell

First off, the name of this polish is so funny! In case you don't know, it is a reference to the song Danger High Voltage by Electric Six (video link at the end). I always find the song funny.

Anyway, this polish by Pahlish on Etsy and Llarowe is a gorgeous jelly glitter. It has a tangerine orange jelly base filled with fuchsia squares, fuchsia holographic hex, pink/gold shimmer, fine pink microglitter and sheer purple iridescent hex glitters.

As it is a jelly, it is sheer so you can either apply 2-3 coats (I used 3 in these swatches) or apply over another polish such as a creme to make it more opaque. It is supposed to look squishy and give the glitter depth through the layers of colour. It is such a pretty colour and the glitter just glows. I love all the different colours. It is easy to apply but do leave it to dry a bit between coats so not to drag any glitter or move the base.

Pahlish is a really lovely brand too. Shannon's shipping was fast and it was packed really well. Obviously there was a little wait as Pahlish is a US based company and I live in the UK but some indie companies I have ordered from have taken a while to actually send my parcel, making it take ages to arrive. I also like that the Pahlish Etsy store is often well stocked so you don't need to wait long between restocks and you can quite easily get what you are after rather than it be a race to get in first with only 2 bottles of the same colour available.

Pahlish colours are $9 each (£5.73 approx at time of writing) and available from Etsy and Llarowe

Jennifer xx

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Jennifer xx

A little... long awaited update

Hi everyone!

Long time, no posting. I've had to put blogging to one side because I've simply not had time to think about it let alone write or take photos. I'm moving house you see, out of my parents and into a flat I am renting with my boyfriend. I've got so much stuff whirling around in my head and the whole thing is just so stressful.

Being people who have never lived away from home, we have had to buy all of the normal household stuff and we are still not finished! It's crazy to think about how much stuff us humans surround ourselves with which back when our cavemen ancestors were around, they didn't have any of it and managed to live.

Because of all of this, my makeup spending has been very very low. Since finding out that our offer had been accepted, I haven't spent anything on makeup. And actually, if I am truthful, it is quite refreshing... oddly. I've got so much makeup and the like that I really need to sort it out and use up what I can. I think once I've moved it will be easier to do so because I will have my own space and can make things to my liking whereas at home in a shared bedroom it is very hard to keep things organised.

The packing... oh my gosh! ARGHHHHHHH!!!!! I've not got any furniture to take as that is with my boyfriend apart from pieces that we have bought and are already at the flat. But what I thought would be a simple task is actually a nightmare. I said before that I've not got much room in my parents house and this is so much worse when you have boxes to stuff. You would think it would be easy to take stuff from one place, pack it up and then put it in another place ready for loading into the car. Nope. So not what I thought.

Also, because I can't drive, I am relying on my Mum to take my stuff to the flat. Luckily it is Summer holidays at the moment so she is not working... I however am so I've not had much time to sort things. And even though our car is quite big, it is going to take at least two trips. Thankfully I'm only moving about a 25 minute drive away.

So I've got to be sorted and packed by Saturday morning, then I am off. Then I have to unpack it all and assemble the flat pack furniture. Can't wait...

I am so glad that I am doing this with my boyfriend though, if I was on my own I would be going crazy. Or crazier than I am going anyway haha.

Soooooo.... Once I've moved in and sorted all of the unpacking and adjusting, I still wont be able to post as I wont have any internet until we sort that out.

Anyway, if you managed to get to the end of my waffle and moaning, thanks and I will get a post up as soon as I can :)

Jennifer xx

Leighton Denny Shipwrecked and Drama on the Dancefloor

The base colour here is Leighton Denny Shipwrecked - a beautiful pistachio green creme finish from Leighton's S/S 2012 Castaway collection. It is a lovely colour with the same fantastic formula as the rest of Leighton's nail colours. Over the top I added Leighton Denny Drama on the Dancefloor (QVC exclusive) which is a chunky gold hex glitter with gold micro glitter thrown in. I used one easy coat and as you can see, it is easy to get even glitter distribution.

Please excuse the state of my nails in these photos, they were taken a few weeks ago when my nails were very dry. I also managed to knock my middle finger while the polish was drying so it has a mark near the free edge.

Jennifer xx

MAC Heavenly Creature - Mineralize Skinfinish Review

Clockwise from top left: Earthshine, Centre of the Universe, Light Year, Star Wonder

I love Mineralize Skinfinishes. Ever since I discovered them, I've been a bit of a collector so I get quite excited for new ones to come out. Heavenly Creature brought four new swirly pans of goodness and of course, I purchased them all.

They are all lovely and have very good textures. There's no chunky glitter in them like some MSFs have. They apply smoothly and look so beautiful on the skin.

Centre of the Universe

Centre of the Universe is a gorgeous golden glowy shade and works nicely as a bronzey blush. It looks really flattering, love it.

Earthshine

Earthshine is the only one that I'm just not sure on. I'm not sure how to use it really as it is quite dark and muddy on my skin tone. I might end up using it as an eyeshadow. I've tried it as a bronzer and I'm not quite convinced it works for me. I need to do more testing with it to find a way to make it work for me

L-R: Earthshine,  Earthshine blended, Centre of the Universe, Centre of the Universe blended

Star Wonder

This is a pretty pink shade which works well as a blush. It gives a soft glow and golden sheen to the skin. It would work on most skin tones.

Light Year

Light Year is a light peach shade with gold shimmer. It works more as a highlighter on me but can also be layered over blush. It is super pretty and is not a glittery highlight.

L-R: Star Wonder, Star Wonder blended, Light Year, Light Year blended

I really like these. Some people say that they find MSFs hard to wear because they can enhance pores due to the glitter in them. Try these, they might be easier to wear. I don't have noticeable pores so I can't say for myself. If I had to pick one only, I'd pick Star Wonder as the pink is very easy to wear and is the smoothest and most pigmented.

Jennifer xx

MAC Heavenly Creatures - Sky & Universal Appeal Eyeshadows

L-R: Sky, Universal Appeal

Every year MAC bring out a mineralize collection for the Summer, after their main Summer collection. They are always so beautiful with the swirls in the products and there are always lovely shades. I like mineralize products but I had to be practical with the eye shadows this year because I simply don't pull them out enough to get a bunch of them, no matter how much I like them. I chose two shades which I thought were quite unique compared to what I have already.

Sky

Universal Appeal

The things I like about the mineralize eye shadows are that you can use them wet or dry and when you apply them over different bases you get multidimensional effects which look pretty cool. I also like these swirly eye shadows because you can pick out different areas to use. Some people say you can't but I always use them like this so I know you can. You might not be able to pick out an individual colour but I do pick areas to swirl my brush in to change the shade of the shadow. Eg. In Universal Appeal, there is a dark purple, violet and gold. If I want it to be very dark purple, I choose an area which has more of the dark purple or if I want more violet, I choose those areas. 

L-RL Sky, Universal Appeal. Complete mixed colours swatched dry, no primer/base.

These two colours are quite well pigmented for mineral eye shadows when used dry, when used wet they are much better and yield plenty of pigment. Universal Appeal also appears more purple when used this way compared to the browner tone it has used wet. Sky is such a pretty shade of blue and has a teal undertone which makes it easier for me to wear, blue is not the best colour on me so I have to pair it well to work. Both colours apply smoothly and evenly and don't drop lots of fallout although all mineralize eye shadows have some fallout so care should be taken when using them. These have a much nicer texture compared to the chunky mineralize eye shadows MAC has released previously.

Jennifer xx

My current go-to neutral makeup

I am a creature of habit... and laziness. I really can't be bothered to search out different products every morning before work so I tend to use the same things for a few days and leave them in my makeup bag. Then I switch them out and try other products. This is probably because I have so much makeup and it is poorly organised to grab it as needed.

I've been wearing this makeup a lot lately and I often wear something similar to this. Gold is my favourite eyeshadow colour, I find it really flattering and brightens and opens up my eyes which is so needed when I'm tired. It also works well on most people. If you are curious, my favourite gold eyeshadow is Urban Decay Baked. It is a beautifully soft and pigmented gold which isn't too yellow or brassy, just perfect.

For this makeup, I wanted to make use of my pigments which don't often get much attention from me - they are harder to use than pressed eyeshadow and make a mess. I loved how it turned out and I need to use pigments more often.

What I used:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
MAC Water Based Mixing Medium
Illamasqua Marvel Pure Pigment
MAC Cocomotion Pigment
Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword
MAC Twilight Falls Mineralize Eyeshadow
a highlight shade (can't remember what I had in my makeup bag now)
MAC Superslick Liquid Liner in On The Hunt (black)
No7 Fanomonal Mascara
Illamasqua Thunder Brow Cake (eyebrows)

Jennifer xx