Manicure: Is it by mistake or design?

I stumbled upon a picture of a manicure very similar to this last week - I can't remember where now, so I apologise! - and thought that I'd have a go at recreating it myself. Anything to get out of writing my dissertation!

FYI my fingers look really shiny throughout because I use a quick dry spray (from Avon) that's really oily and gross! Also, I suck at painting nails lol.

Firstly, I applied Barry M Silver Foil Instant Nail Effects. I think I used two coats just to get rid of the streaks a bit.

Then I applied Barry M Blue Moon (317) to three fingers on one hand and two on the other. Leaving a little bit at the bottom for the silver to show through.

Then I used Barry M Peach Melba (318) on the remaining fingers, again leaving a bit at the bottom for the silver.

After that I applied elf Matte Finisher to all nails except for the silver parts. 

I love the colours and I love the way I've alternated them on each hand. However, I don't think I'll be doing it with the silver again. It looks strange. And people keep asking me why I've left a bit at the bottom - not cool. Still, better to have tried it in the first place! 

Whats your current manicure? Link to any posts below, I'd love to check them out :) 

Fail.

I love ELF and have never had any issues with anything I've ordered... until now. 

This is the second shimmering facial whip I've had, and both have done the same thing!

Has this happened to anyone else? 

Do I risk buying another one?

Review: ELF Beauty School Palette - Natural

This gorgeous little palette from ELF has been in my collection for quite a while now - so long I've actually forgotten when I got it, woops! I'm 99% certain seeing as I can't find an invoice for it, it was a free gift with an order I placed around Christmas time. 

It's a collection of shimmery, neutral tones - golds, browns and a creamy/white colour. All shades have a reasonable level of pigmentation although some took a few swipes to achieve the swatches below:

Without flash

With flash

They all contain little specks of glitter which I actually find quite annoying. Although I am a fan of eyeshadows like this, there is a LOT of fall out. In fact, when I took this out my drawer to use the other day, the casing was in such a state I had to wipe it down before use. You can imagine what it's like to use if it's doing that whilst in storage. And glitter is a royal pain in the arse to get off your face! 

I also found that the darker shades did need some building up to achieve a true to pan shade on the lid. I would definitely recommend patting the colour on more than blending it on. Otherwise you will just end up blending it all away really easily. 

 Here is a look I achieved using this palette: 

I think I only used the gold in the centre on the top row and the gold/brown in the centre of the bottom row. Possibly a little of the brown in the bottom right of the palette. (Terrible memory, I know)

And for the first time ever, a full face shot! I wasn't sure whether to include this as you can't actually see my eyeshadow due to hooded eyelids/glasses, grr. Nevertheless, here it is :) 

Other products used:

• Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation - Ivory (£8.19, LINK)
• ELF Corrective Concealer (£3.50, LINK)
• ELF Complexion Perfection Powder (£3.50, LINK)
• MUA Face Primer (£4.00, LINK)
• Urban Decay Primer Potion (£14.50, LINK) 
• ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder - Luminance (£1.50, LINK)
• Benefit Sugarbomb Blusher (£23.50, LINK) 
• MUA Extreme Curl Mascara - Black (£2.00, LINK)
• ELF Makeup Mist & Set (£3.50, LINK)

The ELF Beauty School Palette is available in Natural and Smokey online at:

LINK

and is £3.50.

Review: E.L.F. Studio Matte Lip Colour

What better thing to do at 9pm on a cold, dreary English evening than review your latest favourite make up product? 

This is my first review of anything on my blog so please be gentle with me! I'm still practising :).

Recently ELF did a 50% off sale and not one to pass up an opportunity this amazing, I decided to place a substantially large order. I got quite a few products but I think by far this is my favourite out the lot. It's a product that I think is quite new to the Studio range and one that caught my eye straight away. 

If you have not heard of ELF, they are an online only (unless you live in the USA in which case I think their products can be purchased from somewhere like Walgreens or CVS or something.) based cosmetics company selling a wide variety of cosmetics for between £1 and £20 - although the majority of their products are either £1.50 or £3.50. Their products are generally quite brilliant quality and I have only ever had one fault with a product I have purchased from them.

Back to the review:

I've never been a keen lipstick wearer. I wear glasses that have a dark frame and have a very pale complexion, so I tend to find that a lot of the time when I apply something to my lips it looks really strange. This may all just be in my head but I don't know. I feel like I'm missing out on owning so many pretty lipsticks because of this so I'm attempting to ease myself into wearing them more often.

I chose this product as my first lip colour for two reasons:

1. It's a matte lip product. The product will sit nicer on my lips and the lack of shine will ensure that not much attention is drawn to them. I wanted my first foray into lip products to be a subtle change. 

2. The colour. It's what you might refer to as a "my lips but better" kind of shade. So again, it's going to be a subtle transition into wearing lip colour. 

Image courtesy of www.eyeslipsface.co.uk

This particular product is taken from the Studio line and is priced at £3.50. There are a few other colours available on their website: LINK

Here are some swatches I took:

Taken with my iPhone without flash

Taken with my iPhone with flash.

The flash on my phone makes the colour appear very different to what it actually is like in real life. The top picture clearly shows what I mean about the "my lips but better" shade. It barely even looks like I have anything on my lips - some might say this is disappointing but I love it! 

The product itself has a really creamy consistency and glides onto the lips easily. It also has a lot of pigmentation and provides a good coverage of colour. You get a lot of product for your money too and don't need to use a lot on your lips for it to look good.

My only issue would be that the actual pencil of product has a fair bit of room to wobble around inside the tube. This means that when you're applying it to your lips it's quite easy to press up against the top of the tube causing it to make a dent in the product and make the tube messy.

I would definitely recommend this product to anybody looking for something like it and am looking forward to trying out some of the other colours they have! 

Sneak Peek

To be continued...