Bits and Bobs

I picked up a few things in town during the week and a few things came in the post so I thought I would do a quick post.

Firstly is some Duo lash glue and false eyelashes from Ardell. I’ve tried wearing false lashes on a few occasions but I just never seem to be able to do them right. When I spied the Duo lash glue in Sally’s last week, I decided to get it to see if a decent lash glue would make any difference to my false lash applying abilities. It probably won’t but I’ve heard quite a bit about it, so it’s worth a shot.

I also got a backcombing brush because it was cheap and I didn’t have a proper one.

Next are two things from Chanel. I was in need of a new summer perfume and I’ve being sniffing a lot in preparation for getting a new one but the one I kept coming back to was the Chance Eau Tendre. It is a lovely light scent, perfect summer.

I also got a nail polish from the new summer line, which was released last week. I got Delight, which is a kind of rose gold/bronzey type colour.

I also got YSL Rouge Volupte in no 7 Lingerie Pink. It is a gorgeous milky pink. It’s my first time trying any of the YSL lipsticks.

I also got one of the new Maybelline Colour Sensational popsticks in Citrus Slice.

It is a bright orange but it is tinted balm like. Not exactly full of pigmentation!

Finally I managed to get around to going to TK Maxx to check out the Essie that everybody was raving about being there. There was quite a few left and the ones that I got were Capri, Bordeaux and Lovie Dovie. At €12.99 for 3, it really is a good deal for Essie. I think I’ll be going back for more! 

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

Metro Chic did the rounds a couple of years back as the must-have grungy purple brown nail polish.

When I spied it in Sephora last summer I quickly picked it up.

Is it the ground-breaking polish I was led to believe it was? Eh, that would be a no. Don't get me wrong, I like it, it's fine but it's not a 'omg I'm never going to remove this from my fingers' polish.

Did you get Metro Chic? What did you think?

OPI Happy Anniversary

 

OPI Happy Anniversary is a gorgeous pearly, shimmery white. It is sheer so I layered it over OPI's Alpine Snow and I found that it creates a cool, kind of icy effect.

I can't decide if I prefer to wear this combination in the Winter or Summer. If you have a deep tan in the Summer I think it would look great against it. But the iciness reminds me of Winter. Mmm, I guess that makes it a year round colour!

Make-Up Wishlist

If I can't sleep, one of my favourite things to do to pass the time is to find things to add to my never-ending wishlists. (I ended up on the Harrods website - don't you just want to live there!) More recently I've been working on my make-up wishlists and as it's been a while since my last wishlist post I decided to show you some of the make-up I'm coveting.

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner 

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I've heard so many things about this eyeliner. Gel is definitely my go-to formula for eyeliner so I'm eager to try this one out. I think I'll try it in black first but they have such a great colour range that I think I'll have to a coloured one too. The Ivy Shimmer colour is stunning.

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I've been using the Laura Mercier Primer for the past few months and I love it. I'm dying to try her Silk Creme Foundation, I've swatched it numerous times so I think I just need to get it! I'd also like to try the tinted mosituriser for summertime . I think it would be perfect on holidays, I rarely put on a full face of foundation when I'm on holidays, especially if it's somewhere hot!!

Laura Mercier Mini Lip Glacé Set

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I got my make-up done at the Laura Mercier counter before and they used one of the lipglosses. It was divine. I've never used a lipgloss before that has tasted so good. And it had zero stickiness! I think I'm going to get one as a summer treat. It's a necessity to get get non sticky lipgloss, right?! I love this little set of mini glosses, so cute.

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This is the Laura Mercier Almond Coconut Milk Body and Bath Trio. Doesn't need too much of an explanation. Sheer Luxury. Want. Now.

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The final thing on today's wishlist is a mascara. I've used the normal Lancome Hypnose mascara but I want to try the Doll Eyes version. 

That's just a snippet of whats on my (dun dun dun) Ultimate Wishlist excel sheet. I think I'll do another bag and shoe wishlist soon. Or maybe a jewelary one. 

Rimmel Desire

This is Rimmel's Desire. It's a reddy brown shade.

It looks epic in the bottle, although it doesn't quite transfer like that onto the nail. It comes off slighlty flat looking on the nail although you can still detect some of that murkiness coming through.

Nail Polish Organisation: Nail Wheels

I love organising. I really do. And lists. I love making lists.  I like to keep track of things. So to me, it's only natural that I keep track of my nail polish, especially with the rate it is expanding at.

When I found out about nail wheels, I knew it was exactly what I needed. I got my first lot of them last September or so and the initial process of painting the wheels with my entire collection was quite a daunting task. I did it over a few days (the fumes!!) and since then I've tried to keep up to date with them, not letting too many build up. I had to order some more nail wheels and when they arrived last week, I decided that it was about time that I did a post on them.

So why go to the effort of nail wheels? My purpose behind them is to be able to see exactly what the colour looks like when applied and how opaque it is. It is also invaluable when trying to pick a colour to suit an outfit. You can hold up a bunch of colours against the item at once and it really assists in picking the most appropriate shade.

So this is what a typical nail wheel of mine looks like. This one is my 2nd Purple wheel. I number the nails 1-20. This all co-ordinates with an excel sheet.

This is how the excel sheet looks. The numbers on the left co-ordinate with the actual nail wheel. Then I include information such as what brand it is, the name of the polish, how many coats is on the nail wheel and whether or not I have a photo of the polish on my nails.

The number of coats is a great thing to keep track of. It means if I'm in a rush and I want to put on green nail polish, I can just go to the green wheels section of the excel sheet and scan the list for polishes that are opaque in 1 coat.

From this picture you can see that in the excel document there is another sheet which I have called the database. 

In the database tab, I keep track of my nail polish by brand. In this I include information such as the name of the polish, the collection it's from (if any), the colour of the polish, whether I have tried it (this also doubles as whether I have swatch photos of it) and whether or not it has been included in a blog post.

 Finally this is where I keep my nail wheels. Nothing fancy, just in a little basket in a drawer.

Is all this necessary? Probably not. But it makes me happy. It's not like I have loads of time on my hands to do all this excessive orgainsing but once the initial work is done, it really isn't that much effort. 

Wait until you see my make-up inventory post in a week or so, then you'll think I'm really crazy, ha.

Greys and Browns

It's been a while since I've done a collective colour post and for this one I decided to combine some of my greys and browns. I love both of these type of colours but I'm finding it difficult to want to wear them this time of year what with all the beautiful bright and pastel summery colours! 

Hopefully doing this post will renew my love of these colours!

Catrice's London's Weather Forecast

No7 Grey Skies

Barry M Grey

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

No7 Beanie

OPI Over The Taupe

Barry M Mushroom

Favourite MAC Eyeshadows: Colour Edition

Clockwise from top: Shimmermoss, Sumptuous Olive, Humid, Satellite Dreams and Contrast.

Following on from my recent post on my favourite neutral MAC eyeshadows, this is the coloured edition.

Contrast is a deep navy blue, not quite as purple-toned as the photo is showing it to be. A great choice for deepening any eye look. 

Satellite Dreams is one of my favourite purples. Fantastic pigmentation combined with the veluxe pearl formula makes this shadow a dream to use. 

Humid is a forest green. It has a hint of yellow tones to it but I would consider it to be quite a true green. 

Sumptuous Olive, dare I say, is my favourite MAC eyeshadow and that includes neutrals. It is the most glorious golden-green shade and is a staple in many of my eye looks. Such a great clour. Definitely my main recommendation.

Shimmermoss is one of my 'ocean' shades. Its a bluey-greenie sea colour and very bright. A fantastic pop of colour, especially in the Summer. 

                          So those are my top 5 favourite MAC coloured eyeshadows. What are your favourites?

No7 Very Petal

Just looking at this polish makes me smile! This is Very Petal from No7 and it's a super bright, happy pink.

It's a very opaque, creme polish. Definitely a pink I want to wear lots of this summer!

NARS Eyeshadow Duo: Kalahari

NARS Kalahari eyeshadow duo is a beautiful duo made up of two satiny taupe/brown colours.

They work very well together but I found that you can really alter them depending on what base you apply them over. 

If you apply them over Mac's paintpot in Bare Study or Nubile they remain quite true to colour. However, if you put them over Mac's Genuine Treasure or Benefit's Sippin n' Dippin you can really make the colours pop.

I found that it is a surprisingly versatile duo and not just more neutral shadows

As for the shadows themselves, I love them. They are very smooth and easy to apply with good colour pay-off. They are also long-wearing. 

For the eye look below I used the duo with Mac's Nubile as I wanted to show the shadows in their truest form.

Do you like NARS eyeshadows?

Catrice Beam Me Scotty

This is Catrice's Beam Me Scotty which came out with a collection late last year, the Out of Space collection I believe.

 Beam Me Scotty is a great dark, not quite blackened green.

It also dries kind of matte, which is kind of cool I suppose - you can see more of the texture because of it.

Mac Phloof!

I was watching a YouTube video a few months back and the girl was wearing just Mac Phloof! on her eyes. I thought it looked great so I thought I would give it a shot.

To get this look I:

• Primed with UDPP in Original.
• Applied Mac Phloof! all over lid to brow
• Put the tiniest amount of Urban Decay Naked e/s above the crease to add some dimension
• Used Maybelline Gel Eyeliner on the upper lashline
• Finally some Maybelline Falsies mascara

I really liked how this looked. It is very simple and quick but offers a great bright eye look.

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

OPI's Suzi Says Feng Shui is another of my very first OPI polishes. It was released with the Hong Kong collection in Spring 2012.

It is a medium toned blue and is very opaque in one coat.

I haven't given this polish enough love at all. Sometimes I think I overlook the plain cremes way too much!

My Favourite MAC Eyeshadows - Neutral Edition

It's no surprise that I love my MAC eyeshadows so I thought I would do a post showing some of my favourites. I've broken it up into two parts - this first post will feature on neutrals whilst the second post will cover the colours.

I love wearing coloured eyeshadow but you can never go wrong with a neutral brown eye look!

The five shadows I'm going to show you are not in any order preference.

Clockwise from Top - Brulé, All That Glitters, Wedge, Woodwinked and Satin Taupe.

Brulé is a pale skin colour shadow that brightens without adding shimmer. It is the perfect 'eraser' colour. It can be used to tone down other colours if you have been over-zealous with their application. It's great for use around the brow area.

All That Glitters is a light brown glitter. It is great to apply all over the lid and above the crease. It's good to use as a base for an extreme look but will just as easily look great all by itself.

Wedge is a matte light taupe, probably the most versatile of all the shadows. It can be used to darken a crease here, smudge a lash line there, all the while without adding any shimmer. It's like a little magic shadow working away behind the scenes to add that something extra to each eye look.

Woodwinked is a beautiful, softly bronzed, brown. It's of the veluxe pearl formula which results in it being the smoothest bronze to apply. It's a great addition to the lid area as it really brightens the area and makes it sparkle.

Satin Taupe is a darker brown with a subtle sheen. it's one of my favourite shadows to use in the crease as it just darkens it wonderfully. It is also great to use on both the upper and lower lash line.

Do you have any favourite MAC neutrals?

A Few Random Swatches!

As I was going through my nail photo albums on my computer, I came across some lovely Essie and Catrice polishes. As you know every so often I like to do posts of random swatches but the one thing these all have in common? My stubby nails lol!

Essie Angora Cardi

                            

A deep dusky rose.

Catrice Forget-Me-Not

A violet glitter fest.

Essie Sew Psyched

A khaki green.

Catrice I Wear Sunglasses

A load of multi-glitter immersed in black.

Catrice Amazonian Gold

A beautiful liquid gold.

Essie School of Hard Rocks

A dirty teal.