Collection: Neon Nail Varnishes

Summer might well be over but who says you need to start wearing darker colours on your nails?!  I'm not really one for following seasonal nail colour trends, especially as I don't like having my nails very dark.  I will maybe have a couple of shades which would be particularly suited to that season but other than that I just go for whatever I feel like at the time.

Over the past year I have become a big neon fan and built up quite a nice wee collection!  I'll go through the colours I've got and add in any comments and full posts if available.

From left to right:

Nina Ultra Pro in Punki Pink - probably not CF.

Models Own Bubblegum - loved this in the summer!

Models Own Hedonist - at first I wasn't sure about this colour but saw it on someone's nails and loved it!

China Glaze Orange Knockout - I found the China Glaze ones didn't have as nice a finish as Models Own ones.

Models Own Beach Party - the brush came off so they sent me a new one which is actually darker, how odd!  My dad fixed the brush for me so now I have two...  I wonder if they look different colours on the nail?

Models Own Luis Lemon - love this, but haven't actually worn it yet...

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise - An unusual neon, you don't often see turquoise.

Neons are notoriously difficult to try photograph but I've tried my best!  Swatched in the same order as above.

What are your favourite neon polishes?

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Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet

I've had my Lime Crime Velvetine in Red Velvet for quite a few months now and I am really enjoying it.  I was very kindly sent it by the lovely people at cutECOsmetics so that I could feature it in a post on their blog but due to the shortage of the Velvetines at that time it wasn't posted!  So I've decided instead to do a quick review on here.

I love the packaging!  As always, Lime Crime has really cute designs for all their products, with such nice attention to detail even to the box, I felt bad about binning it...  I also love the frosted glass, I think it makes it a bit different and nice to touch - bit creepy? :/

When you open Red Velvet there is a doe foot applicator and usually a lot of product already on it.  I made the mistake of applying it straight to my lips when I first got it - not good, a little goes a long way!  I prefer using a small lip brush to apply it but if I'm feeling lazy I just wipe of any excess product from the applicator onto the side of the tube before applying.  I found the Velvetine really strange to apply, quite liquidy - sort of like a thick stain.  It dries pretty quickly to a lovely matte finish and lasts for hours!  It also comes off relatively evenly but if you were eating it would probably need a wee touch up after in the centre, drinks however seem fine!  

I photographed these swatches of Lime Crime Velvetine back in February and my lips were quite dry but surprisingly I did not find them drying on the lips and I don't think it shows up too badly either.  I often suffer from dry lips and putting lipstick over them can look horrible sometimes so I'm glad this one is okay!

I love the formula of these and really want Suedeberry too which is referred to as a "vibrant, strawberry red", as opposed to Red Velvet which is a "rich, velvety red".  You can buy them from cutECOsmetics for £11.50 which I don't think is unreasonable, I think the product will last for ages as well.  Lime Crime are cruelty free and vegan!

Have you tried any Lime Crime products; got anything on your wish list?

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Illamasqua Nail Varnish 'Haul' with Swatches

So remember I said I wasn't going to buy any more nail varnishes until I completed my nail varnish challenge?  Well, I lied.  It was an offer I couldn't resist!!

 

In case you hadn't noticed, over the Easter Weekend, Illamasqua carried out an 'Easter Hunt' game on their website where each day certain colours would be up to 50% off.  I really wanted them to do blushers but unfortunately they only did eyeshadows, nail varnish, pure pigments and lipsticks.  I took advantage of the nail varnish and pigment offers getting Hemlock (shown above) and Beguile.  I also really wanted (full price of course!) Pink Raindrops so I stuck that in the basket too!  Luckily I get student discount so I didn't pay full price for any items and paid just over £25 for the 3 bits - with free delivery.

I've never tried nail varnishes from Illamasqua before so I wasn't sure what they would be like.  I still haven't tried them on my nails yet but below are swatches of them both on a nail wheel.  I was a bit disappointed by Pink Raindrops to be honest, but maybe the sparkles will come to life with a top coat.  Hemlock is really pretty but obviously very sheer - I used two coats for each colour.  After first use I decided I hate the packaging!!  When I tighten up the square lids, they don't sit on straight and it makes me irrationally angry!  I love the Butter London packaging cos the lid comes off and there's a separate one underneath so the square lid always sits neatly - I think Illamasqua should consider that idea!

Just for fun I picked out a few colours I thought might look good with Hemlock on top, and I also put it over some of the ones which were already on the wheel so have a look below for those:

Nail Varnishes used in the first post were:

Nails Inc - The Southbank
Topshop - Hidden Treasure
Barry M - Silvery Lilac
Ciate - Skinny Jeans
Nails Inc - Haymarket

The other colours are from the neon Clubworks set I got for christmas.

I think it looks nice over the Ciate one, and the greens, orange and pink neon colours!  It adds an extra depth to the colour.

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Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Boost

I've had my eye on this lipgloss ever since it first came out in the Generation Q collection but as it was £14 and I'm not a huge lipgloss fan I decided to leave it.  However just before Christmas Illamasqua were offering 40% off full price items to make up students (it's usually 20%) so I just decided to get it as I probably won't get that opportunity again for a while! I also got the blusher in Kiss which I will be doing a post on too (when I can get a decent picture of it on my face!) and a medium pencil in Spell which is a bright pillar box red.  This cheeky wee discount brought the price down to £8.40 which isn't too bad although still pricey for a lipgloss!

The lipgloss is stunning, according to Illamasqua it's 'blueberry violet', but to be more exact it's a light purple with a shimmery blue duochrome to it.  Alone it isn't too opaque but it is still noticeable and looks really unusual, but over a purple lipstick it looks amazing.

I like that it comes with a brush rather than those ridiculous squeezy tubes or doe foot applicators, but I think that I got a dodgy one because it seems to have a bit of plastic sticking out from the bristles which isn't great!  It's only tiny but still annoying.

Onto the swatches!  Apologies for my gross dry lips... I tried to pick the best one out of a bad bunch haha!  In the bottom two I have applied it over Topshop Inhibition which is a combination I absolutely love!

Bare lips for comparison

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Clubworks: Got It Nailed Nail Decoration Set

I've mentioned this little set in a few posts.  I received this (along with another 2 sets) from my Secret Santa at work which is amazing because they are BUAV Approved so either it was lucky or they know me quite well!  As far as I can tell Clubworks is a Superdrug brand, although I have never actually seen it in store.  I think that it is a limited edition brand they bring out every Christmas, so apologies if you like the look of this and can't find it - you never know, it might be lurking around in a sale corner somewhere!

I have already worn the green on the far left which you can see here.  These colours are lovely and bright; this is with two coats, no topcoat.  They apply very well considering their price (the Secret Santa budget was £10).  My only complaint is with the two purpley shades, I think instead of the middle pink, they should have included a more neon pink to create more of a difference between the two.

Has anyone heard of this brand, or tried anything from them?

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Collection: Lipsticks & Storage

I wasn't happy with my lipstick storage which was basically them all just shoved in a box in a drawer and not very easy to reach for!  However I got a beautiful mirrored jewellery box for my birthday but as I have loads of jewellery boxes already, I decided to use it for my lipsticks!

This is where it sits usually as I keep all my makeup in my bathroom (weird? normal?), but for ease of taking clear photos I moved it to my hall!

In the top I have my purples.  Sadly I only have 3 - plenty of room for more!!  Also because there is space, my Lipcote is in here as well.

In the middle drawer are my pinks.

And in the last drawer are my orange/reds.

So that is my lipstick collection!  Pretty small but growing, I've only recently got into lipsticks and even then I only wear them on nights out/special occasions!  I am going to do a 'most used lip products' post too as I keep those in a separate, more accessible place.

Out of these, the following are not cruelty free: Avon, Lipcote (unknown), MAC and Revlon.

 <3

China Glaze Fast Track and Color Club Covered in Diamonds

These are the two nail varnishes I bought from eBay, I've got some swatches to show you.

The first one I'm going to talk about is Fast Track by China Glaze, this is from The Hunger Games collection and represents District 6 which is transportation.  It is a soft beige with a lovely gold shimmer through it.  It actually doesn't suit my skin tone and looks a bit sickly against it but I am still going to wear it anyway, I love it!  It is opaque in 2 coats but on the nail wheel I have used 3 for good measure!

With flash

Without flash

The second one is Covered in Diamonds by Color Club which is a 'flaky' nail varnish, pieces of iridescent plastic mixed in with clear polish which makes an interesting top coat.  I had looked up swatches of this before I bought it so I didn't have high hopes for it and I was right, it is a wee bit shit compared to all the other wonderful ones out there!! However it was only about £4 including p&p - which cost more than the polish! - so for the money is isn't bad!

I applied it over 3 dark shades as I thought that would bring out the colour more, and then a light one:

With flash

Without flash

L to R: Nails Inc - Little Venice; Black; Sinful Colors - Rich in Heart; OPI - Russian Navy (not CF);

It does quite an interesting effect to a plain nail varnish but definitely not as good at the more expensive ones.  And it does indeed show up a lot more against a darker base, there are a lot of pretty colour reflects that show up as it moves in the light, the main ones being blue and orange.

Alone is it fairly unexciting but here is a swatch anyway!  For all the swatches I used 2 coats of Seche Vite over the top to try and smooth it out!

Application is kind of how you would expect when trying to apply little bits of plastic to your nail!  Some pieces stick up or hang off the side of the nail, and you need to be careful while applying so that they are nicely distributed and not all just stuck together in one area!

I've not tried removing this so not sure how that will go!

<3

Models Own Nail Swatches

Here are some swatches of the two nail varnishes I bought recently:

First is Mystic Mauve, a frosty light pink.  This is 2 coats but it is basically opaque in one, albeit slightly streaky.

Then Ibiza Mix from the Hed Kandi collection.  This is a multi-coloured and multi-sized glitter polish in a clear base.  On the left is just one coat then the other one is about 2/3 coats... I tried to build it up but I got bored.  There's not a chance in hell of this one being opaque!  I found the consistency to be much thinner than I expected and the glitter is very sparse.  I would only use it on top of other colours so this isn't really a problem but I would have preferred for there to be slightly more glitter and less clear nail varnish!

Finally I layered one coat of Mystic Mauve and one coat of Ibiza mix.  I probably wouldn't wear this but I was having a fun and just curious!  It gives you an idea of how it would look over another colour.

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Playing with my nail wheel...

Seriously such a fun purchase!  I am completely abusing them, layer over layer of nail varnish!  But hey, that's what they're for isn't it?!  Be warned: this is going to be very photo heavy...

It all began after wearing Not Like The Movies, I wondered what it would look like over black.  I will just say this now, please excuse the macro cat hairs in some of these photos, it's so gross!!! But that's what happens when you have cats - hairs everywhere!

This is one coat of Not Like The Movies over one coat of black:

I think it's rather nice!  It gives it a totally different look, much more edgy.

Then, I was wearing Luxe Lavender (Avon - not CF), and wondered what it would look like with Last Friday Night over the top, but I didn't want to put it over my newly done nails in case it was ugly!  I added LL to my nail wheel and applied Last Friday Night on top.  It was beside two other blue colours so I decided to give them a wee go too!  Here are how they turned out:

On the left is O.P.I. Russian Navy - I love this combination! - then the middle one is Barry M Navy (they may look familiar from my 8 favourite nail varnish swatches post!).

Also I wondered what Last Friday Night would look like by itself - meh!  It doesn't actually look too bad there, I think that is 3 coats, but I don't think it would look good on a bare nail.

While I was at it, I put one coat of Teenage Dream over Barry M Raspberry, it's quite pretty! Again using the colours from the previous post!

I am so proud of this one!  How lovely does it look!?  I used the majority of my cream finishes, by various different companies, and made a little colour chart thing!  If you want to know the names of any of these ones just let me know and I can find out for you.

There are a few other colour combinations I want to try out, especially after my wee haul, but I will leave it here for now and do another one later on!  Hope you've enjoyed looking at the pretty pictures/HD cat hairs...

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