Beauty Blog
I wanted to feel like I could conquer the world. What’s my world-conquering colour? It’s red! There was a time when I would never wear red at all, whether it be clothing or makeup but once I discovered the power of red, I knew it was here to stay in my life.
Continue reading “Power dressing for your face”
I’m really liking this grey hair trend at the moment. Why wait until I’m going naturally grey when I can have it now? The question is, how does this work with non-elderly skin without making it look washed out?
The answer has been showcased by several celebrities – bold and bright lips! Mirina Diamandis wears her grey hair with bright orange or Barbie pink lips (two colours I love) and Lady Gaga wore hers with dark blue glitter lips which is clearly not for the faint-hearted.
I love bright lips so here are the colours I think will go best with grey hair:
Orange – opposites attract!
Pastel blue – it’s only a few shades away from grey – take inspiration from Jourdan Dunn
Pastel pink and purple – I can imagine a grey/pastel pink ombre for lips and hair!
Barbie pink – because it’s fun.
Bold purple – grey and purple make a gorgeous combination
Hot Pink – hot pink and grey is just, well, hot!
And of course, grey hair looks great with red lips which works for all ages. It will go with all of my shades of red because they are all so bright but I’ve picked out MUA shade 13 for a red crème and Rimmel Apocalips Lips Velvet in Burning Lava for a matte finish:
Will you be rocking grey hair with bright lips this summer?
Barry M Nail Paint in Moonlight is so bright and bold I just had to turn up the drama and try it over OPI Push and Shove from the 2013 Gwen Stefani collection.
Moonlight is a silver glitter topcoat made up of silver stars, tiny silver circles of different sizes, silver rectangle pieces like tinsel, medium sized silver hexagonal pieces and the odd piece of randomly shaped red glitter which resembles torn papers. (See it over red here).
OPI Push and Shove is a silver chrome shade so you can tell I was really going for the “look at me” effect. I naughtily did not use the designated base coat which came with it – Lay Down That Base so it painted on a little lumpy. You can’t tell however as so much is going on with Moonlight – something I love about glitter. Glitter polishes hide a multitude of nail issues!
It’s so difficult to capture the effect of glitter over chrome in a photo. The smaller silver pieces of glitter add texture, the stars and the hexagons are holographic so they give flashes of rainbow in certain light and the red pieces of glitter randomly scattered on my nails add that little bit extra to make my nails look even more special. The chrome base colour makes the whole look quite spectacular.
All of this is achieved with only two bottles of polish and minimal effort. Who would have thought that it would be so easy to get such dramatic nails?
If you cannot get hold of Push and Shove anymore, you might be able to get the same effect using the Barry M Nail Effects Foils in Silver 319. I haven’t yet tried the Barry M foils but if you have I would love to see it!
Barry M Nail Paint in Moonlight 439 is a limited edition glitter topcoat that I picked up from Boots. This little bottle packs in so much – I couldn’t decide which base colour to use so I tried it over two.
Moonlight is mainly silver glitter made up of silver stars, tiny silver circles of different sizes, silver rectangle pieces like tinsel, medium sized silver hexagonal pieces and the odd piece of randomly shaped red glitter which resembles torn papers. In certain light I’m sure the hexagons and stars a holographic. In all it’s very Christmassy!
I first tried this over OPI Nail Lacquer in Red Fingers & Mistletoes, a deep red nail polish with what looks like red and gold micro glitter which gives off a deep three-dimensional shimmer rather than a chunky glitter effect.
The smaller Moonlight particles paint on quite easily but a little bit of dabbing was needed to deposit the stars and hexagons. The silver bits come up nice and bold against the red but the red pieces cannot be seen at all.
Overall, the effect is multi-dimensional with the depth of the red underneath and the variety of different shaped glitter on top. This is definitely not for the faint-hearted!
I bought this Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Moisturizing Lipsticks Christmas Gift Set for several reasons:
I already have Red Door Red 02 and decided it would be nice to add to the collection. The best thing with gift sets from any brand is that they offer good value for money, provided you can use the products. I say that as the gift sets are put together to appeal to the majority and in the UK, black skin is not in the majority! Having said that, I think I can easily wear 3 out of 4 of shades so I commend Elizabeth Arden for putting together this collection.
The lipsticks are of a creamy texture which gives a little shine. It also means that they don’t last as long as matte lipsticks so to extend the life of the lipstick on the lips, it’s probably best to use lip liner. I usually use lip liner however after getting such a good deal on the lipsticks, I couldn’t bring myself to spend 4 x £17 on lip liners. In the photos I have applied the lipstick straight from the bullet without lip liner.
Clockwise from the top left I am wearing:
Wildberry actually comes up quite bright on me so I think it is a night-time shade for me. It is very pink so I’m not sure where the berry aspect comes in!
I would like better coverage with Sweet Pink, a light pink which looks quite pale on my dark lips but not so pale in the tube. I’m sure I can achieve the opaque look I want with lip liner.
With Mocha Shimmer, again I would probably prefer it with a matching lip liner but because it is the most neutral shade in the collection for me, I can do without the lip liner for a natural look. As well as being creamy, it has the tiniest hint of gold running through it to give it a metallic shine.
Finally, I always wear lip liner with red lipstick otherwise it ends up all over my face and Red Door Red is no exception! It’s lovely and bold and I think I can wear it day and night.
As with many premium brands, we pay for nice packaging. The gold and silver cases feel luxurious and have a nice weight to them. Plus Red Door Red has the signature red door carved into the bullet which I think is a nice touch.
Overall I am pleased with my purchase. I wonder what will be in the Boxing Day sales!
I now have two Red Door Reds and I really don’t wear enough red lipstick to justify keeping both. I’m thinking about a mini giveaway – what do you think?
Happy Easter!
This gorgeous orange-toned red nail polish is Seventeen Supreme Shine Nail Colour in Risky Red! Unlike the creamy Seventeen Supreme Shine Nail Colour in Love, this really is very shiny! It reminds me of Barry M Hi-Shine Gelly Nail Paint in Blood Orange, another favourite nail colour of mine. It actually shares a few similarities.
Risky Red needs two coats as a minimum but to get it completely opaque I think you’ll need three coats. The shine is quite plastic, for want of a better word. I quite liked the effect. My nails looked like they had been coated in something more special than a high street nail polish! I also found it to be fairly flexibly which helped it to stay on my nails for longer.
The only downside is the tiny brush but then I did get this as part of a set. I’m glad this was is in the set because I wouldn’t usually buy reds, especially orange-reds. The lean towards orange makes this quite fun, and the shine is striking so I enjoy wearing it.
I’ve been desperate to try one of these infamous £1 lipsticks since December last but it took a while for Superdrug to begin to restock the MUA shelves.
I went for Shade 13 because try as I might, I struggle with matte as it is so drying. I’m into my glosses and I have only just started trying mattes since starting this blog.
This is a true creamy red. I actually love this £1 gem! It glides on easily and has good staying power. It stays put and does not bleed so there’s no need for lip liner. It produces the bold colour I want with minimal effort and it actually brightened my mood when I wore it! It perfectly suits my skin tone and is not drying in the slightest.
Thanks to Beauty in Beta I now know that the coloured part at the bottom comes off so I can use a lip brush to apply colour without messing up the bullet.
This is my new favourite red!
I got this Barry M Nail Paint in Tinsel free at Christmas with the purchase of two other Barry M nail polishes. I thought it would make the perfect Christmas top coat for the burgundy Shellac manicure I had at the time. I think it was supposed to be limited edition but I actually saw this in Boots a little while ago so you might still be able to get one!
This is a quick post just to show you what the Barry M Limited Edition “tinsel” polish looks like without a colour underneath. You can really see the dark pink-red, blue-purple and green tinsel pieces. As much as a tried, I couldn’t get the tinsel to cover the whole nail with gaps so if you don’t like to see bare nail, you’ll need another colour underneath. I’ve tried it with burgundy here and navy blue here. I prefer it over blue. Which is your favourite? Which colours have you tried this with? I’d love to see!
