Some Autumn Favourites

Today's post features some of my favourite products for lips and tips that I've been wearing a lot of during these past autumnal months. The perfume I included is Flower by Kenzo and it is one of my all-time favourite perfumes. It's a heavier floral scent, perfect for this time of year.

Nail polish wise, I have loved wearing these 5 shades - when I'm not trying out new polishes of course! I'll link to previous post swatches if I have them. 

• China Glaze Riveting is the ultimate orange polish.
• OPI Vampsterdam is a great, deep purple.
• Chanel Fantastic is a mauve pink with and intense shimmer undertone.
• Chanel Particulére is my favourite mushroom brown.
• Finally Essie Bahama Mama is a new but instant favourite of mine. A gorgeous plum-pink.

I have three lip colours that I have reached for over and over again these past few months and I can see this trend continuing for the next few! 

If I just want a quick wash of berry colour I've been using the Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie. Very easy to apply and is my current favourite daytime colour. Unfortunately Berry Smoothie is one of the lip butters unavailable here but I managed to get it for a good price on eBay (Brand new of course!!)

My next favourite is another Revlon lip product, this time one of their Just Bitten Kissable lip stains in the shade Crush. This is a highly pigmented berry colour and is perfect for wearing at night. I really like all of the Just Bitten lip products that I've tried, I'll do a review post soon. Very impressed with so many of their products releases this year.

The final product is a lipgloss by MAC in the shade Dreamy which is a purple/pink colour with slight gold reflects. It's a colour that I never would have gotten myself but my mum picked it up for me when she was away and I love it. It is beautiful layered over the berry shades. Although it does mute the berry shade slightly, the combination that it creates looks fantastic.

What have your favourite products been this Autumn?

OPI DS Magic

This is OPI DS Magic. It is my first polish from the DS (Designer Series) range and it is magnificent. 

It is a stunning royal blue with hints of purple shimmer in it. It definitely looks more blue on the nail though but it shimmers amazingly well in the sunlight. 

This was 2 coats. Very easily opaque.

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy

Coney Island Cotton Candy was one of the trio of polishes that were my first OPI purchases. (Bought from Amazon because I was scared of eBay back then. Heh how I laugh at myself now!)

I bought it because it seemed like the perfect base for a French Manicure. I don’t like it so much on it’s own, I have numerous other neutrals I prefer, but I do like how it work with white tips. I rarely wear French manicures anymore, but it’s always a good staple combination to have. If anything, I‘ll use it on my mum!

The white I used was a no name one from a Kiss manicure set I got quite some time ago. It works well.

OPI Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It

Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It was another polish released with the Vintage minnie mouse collection. This is it layered over yesterday's I'm All Ears.

It is a light shimmery pink with heart shaped pieces through out it. It's hard enough to get the hearts out but it's worth the effort because it looks really cute.

OPI I'm All Ears

I'm All Ears was released with the Vintage Minnie Mouse collection earlier this year.

It is a beautiful shimmery, deep pink. This was three coats but it is still sheer at the nail line which surprised me as I did not expect it to be sheer.

OPI Russian Navy

OPI Russian Navy is glorious. A very deep, deep navy with slight purple undertones. Hard to detect the purple on the nail though. 

It was opaque in 2 coats.

OPI Last Friday Night

I finally got to wear OPI's Last Friday Night properly! LFN was released as part of the Katy Perry collection in 2011. I layered it over yesterday’s polish, which was Chanel’s Coco Blue.

I think they are the perfect combination!

Essence Gagalectric

Gagalectric was part of the @Holographics collection from 2011, I believe. It’s a lilac with lots of blue tones. Duochrome and as I wrote in my swatch notes, gorge x 100! Haha.

It is surprisingly opaque so I think it would be buildable by itself in 3-4 coats but these photos are 2 coats of it layered over 2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow.

A unique looking polish, it’s one I definitely always get questioned about.

And this is 2 coats of OPI's Alpine Snow solo.

OPI Bikini Envy

Bikini Envy was an OPI lemming of mine that I scoured eBay for. It was from the Beach Party  collection and it is of course a green.

I love my greens and this was no exception. A mid tone, yellow based green, Bikini Envy was halfway between a sheer and an opaque polish. I have 3 coats here but it really could have done with 4, which is a pity. It was a little bit thin and watery and very smelly as it was one of the old formulas.

All that said, I love the colour!

OPI Teenage Dream

OPI Teenage Dream was one of the glitters from the Katy Perry collection in 2011.Yesterdays polish of Trouveille by NARS proved to be a perfect base for Teenage Dream. It’s pink glitter suspended in a slight pink base.

Glitter perfection.

My Autumn 2012 Nail Polish Picks

It's so hard to believe that it's Autumn again and time for my nail polish picks of the season! I decided to do Autumn and Winter separately this year unlike last year. 

I love Autumn. Early Autumn, late Autumn, turning into winter Autumn. The months September to December rock.

I've chosen 8 polishes that I plan to wear quite a lot over the next few months. (As always, I wear any colour polishes at any time of year but I'm still naturally drawn to seasonal colours).

This year's oranges are China Glaze's Riveting and Kiko 112. Riveting is unbelievable. The ultimate Halloween polish.

The greens are China Glaze Peace on Earth, one of my favourites greens (it was in last year's picks as well!) and a new Essie polish in Stylenomics. It's a deep, murky green, much darker than the photo is showing it to be.

What would an Autumn polish pick be without a brown. This year's choice is Chanel's Particulére. The ultimate, classy brown. Also in the photo is Orly's Rage. Even though it's a rose-gold kind of shade it just feels perfect to include.

And finally some vampy purples. OPI's Vampsterdam and No7's Blackberry are 2 that I cannot wait to keep on wearing.

What shades are you most drawn to this time of year?

Swatch Chaos

A chaos of swatches indeed. Various colours and various brands. This post also marks the end of all the older photos that have been stacked up in the 'must blog' folder on my computer. So from now on my photos should look more consistent, yay! 

Sally Hansen HD Wavelength.

A pink with golden shimmer, so summery.

Orly Terracotta

A very red toned orange. Intense.

OPI Sweet Memories

A delicate, yet reasonably opaque light pink.

Decades of Shades

An ugly brown I never should have bought.

OPI Glacier Bay Blues

OPI Glacier Bay Blues was a lemming of mine for quite a time as it looks like the most mesmerising polish in a bottle. I eventually found it on evilbay for a decent price. I can’t say I don’t like it because I do but it isn't quite as marvelous as I had anticipated.

You can see the purple and green undertones on the nail but certainly not to the same extent as in the bottle, sob! It also took 3 coats to look decent.

OPI A Dozen Rosas

OPI A Dozen Rosas is from the 2006 Mexican Collection. I seem to have picked up a number of pinks from that collection, they seem to be a favourite of my local Sally's!

A Dozen Rosas is a beautiful, soft dusky rose. It has a discreet shimmer to it. Enough to make it more than just a creme polish.

It's a good neutral pink to have as it is universally wearable.

OPI Glove You So Much

OPI Glove You So Much is one of the beautiful polishes that was released with the Holiday Wishes collection of 2009. That was the collection with the gem that is Merry Midnight which I still haven't managed to find for a decent price. I found this and Smitten With Mittens for a good price on eBay last winter and they are both wonderful winter reds to wear. I also managed to snap up Ginger Bells.

Glove You So Much is a deep, glossy, wine red. It also has a slight shimmer which my camera didn't pick up. It has great opacity and wear-time. 

I adored this last winter and can't wait to start wearing it again. Just fabulous.

OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection

I got two of the four polishes from this collection - Care To Danse? and My Pointe Exactly.

Care to Danse? Is a sheer polish with a seemingly lavender tint. Now I find it extremely difficult to detect this but if you strain very hard, you will see it. Regardless, I quite like this. It’s not your typical clean, classic, nude but it still looks good. My nails are slightly stained yellow so I do think it would be preferable to have nails in tip-top condition if wearing this.

My Pointe Exactly on the other hand (hah) is rotten! It actually looks dreadful on me. I can never see myself wearing this again. And the worst thing is I made sure to look at swatches before I bought it!  Maybe if I dress up as a zombie or ghoul for Halloween I could wear it.