Butter LONDON Victoriana

When asked to choose a Butter LONDON polish to review, I set to pouring through many swatches online. I initially looked at a couple from the current collection: I rather like the look of Disco Biscuit and Knackered, but after some Twitter advice, I opted for a colour I had been interested in a while ago. Victoriana was first introduced in Autumn 2010 at the same time as All Hail McQueen.

Victoriana is a beautiful green-tinged blue packed with silver microglitter. On the Butter LONDON website it is described as metallic but I don't really see this as metallic personally. Mind you, the colour doesn't really say Syphilis to me either! Instead, the colour reminds me a lot of the Irish Sea at the height of summer. Would you judge me if said this brings to mind mermaids? What can I say, it's the Piscean in me! Should we experience a proper summer in the UK this year, I will be wearing this on my toes and pretending I'm Madison*.

In these picture I'm wearing two coats over a base of BECCA 2 in 1 Base/Top Coat. Victoriana is quite a thick polish so it was almost fully opaque on this first coat but I required a second coat for a more even finish. The finish isn't completely level on my uneven tips but I don't think this is visible other than in close up photos. The wear time was reasonable on my (rubbish) nails.

Because of the glitter, it did take a couple of extra swipes with a cotton ball to remove it but it's not a big problem. Like all nail polishes with green pigment, I find this has a tendency to stain so be sure to use a base coat.

Butter LONDON polishes cost £12 each and are available from Zuneta, Powder Rooms and www.butterlondon.com.

Disclosure: PR Sample

* How many of you are going to admit to knowing who I'm talking about? Hmmm...

Beauty Spotlight Roundup 17/03/12

Over at Pretty in Dayton, did Styrch choose to be "Beauty" or the "Beast" for her avant garde photo shoot with local photographer Kidtee Hello?

There's a new girl in town and her name is Sunday Riley. Beauty Info Zone has the first of several posts about Sunday Riley eyeshadows. Come see what the fuss is about.

Perilously Pale has found the most mouthwatering blush that she thinks will flatter almost every skin tone from fair to deep with Rouge Bunny Rouge Original Skin Blush in Orpheline.

Modesty Brown share the beautiful and very versatile Le Metier de Beaute Aurora Lip Kaleidoscope. There's also some exciting news for European LMdB fans!

Trip to London planned? London Makeup Girl tells you where to find some British beauty bargains in her Guide to Less Expensive Beauty Shopping in London.

In an attempt to simplify her routine, Zuzu's Petals at Everyday Beauty tries in vain to find a single brand that meets all her needs and wonders if you've found yours.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed is ready for spring already and has the nails to prove it! Check out her swatches from the Sephora by OPI Bohemian Brights Spring collection and see if you don't get a touch of spring fever too!

Paula, from Older Girl Beauty, talks about the new product line from Burt's Bees called "güd" that has scents so good it made her act like a fool in Target.

The Pink Sith has made her justification to get the Chantecaille Coral Reef Palette. Can she provide one for you?

At Lipstick Musings, Shannon's found the coolest eyeliner collection EVER with the new Ultraflesh Black Magic palette!

Prime Beauty fell in amour with Lancôme's new Rouge In Love High Potency Lip Color in In Corail, see why it completes her.

Are you ready to embrace your inner Tinkerbell? Then you *must* check out Pixi's new Disney collaboration palette: The PixiGlow Fairy Face Palette. It is a must have for an enchanted Spring!

Jo Malone Blooms: Iris & Lady Moore Cologne

The Jo Malone London Blooms collection is a limited edition release of three fragrances inspired by British gardens. The three colognes are: White Lilac & Rhubarb, Peony & Moss and the one I have here, Iris & Lady Moore. The bottles are decorated with beautiful illustrations and would make a nice addition to any dressing table.

Iris & Lady Moore is a bit of a tricky fragrance to describe. I'm not the most adept at picking out individual notes and I still tend to work on the basis of 'do I like it or not?'. In this case, I like it very much but it does skate pretty close to being too 'old lady floral' for my tastes, and it took a discussion on Twitter and a breakdown from Lipglossiping for me to better understand what I like about it.

What stops Iris & Lady Moore from being the kind of floral fragrance I wouldn't wear, is what I perceive as a masculine edge to it. This masculine note is apparently thanks to the inclusion of vetiver (cheers Charlotte). The fragrance notes are officially Iris, Geranium (Lady Moore) and Vetiver. What my nose detects is floral mixed with peppery masculine. It is a strong fragrance and although it a mellows over the day, I can still smell it in the evening. The most predominant note on my skin is the pollen pepperiness. It has reasonable sillage and by that I mean that other people around me would be able to smell it without having to stand particularly close.

So far, everyone that I have spoken to likes this fragrance, with the exception of Mr. MB, but I do get the impression that everyone finds it a little curious. It's a certainly a perfume that I would recommend sniffing in person before buying.

The London Blooms collection is available now from Jo Malone shops and concessions as well as online. The colognes cost £72 each which I appreciate is expensive but the bottles contain 100ml of fragrance, so they will last a good while.

Disclosure: PR Sample.

Adesign Brush Review

I think it's well established by now that I like my brushes so when I was offered some new brushes to try, I jumped at the chance! Adesign in an American brand and some of you may have come across their exhibit at IMATS.

From top to bottom: short handle flat top foundation, angled concealer, cream blusher, flat top foundation

My apologies in advance for not including a comparison with other brushes. I didn't have anything similar in my collection but, in retrospect, it would have been useful to have a sizing reference.

I've not had any experience of flat top brushes before and wasn't quite sure what to expect but I discovered that I get on very well with them. I've used both the large Kabuki-style flat top and the long handled flat topped brush to buff in foundation. They work well with liquids and creams and I've already mentioned how much I like them for buffing in my W3LL People Narcissist foundation. I also really like the long handled flat topped foundation for creating a subtle blush effect with the W3LL People Universalist stick. Now this is where a sizing reference would have been useful as the diameter of the long handled foundation brush is probably a little smaller than you might expect from my photographs. The diameter is roughly the same as a 10p piece.

The two flat top foundation brushes

The pouch on the left contains the large flat top foundation brush

I normally use my fingers to apply more emollient cream blushers but the Adesign cream blusher brush is actually very useful. Because of it's small size it is easy to control the area of application and I find it especially good if I only want to apply colour to the apple of my cheeks. Unusually for a brush designed for cream product, this is made from real hair (the other three brushes are made from synthetic fibre). I actually contacted Adesign to confirm this as the information wasn't on their website and I learned that they are in the process of switching this brush from real hair to synthetic fibre. I know for hygiene reasons that makes more sense but I like this brush very well as it is. It gives good resistance and doesn't splay yet still feels soft on the skin. I will be interested to see how the synthetic version compares.

I've probably had the least use from the angled concealer brush. There is no problem with it in terms of texture and function, I simply prefer the shape and fibres of my Le Metier de Beaute brush for concealer application.

These brushes are a pleasure to use, they feel soft and the fibres are of good quality. I do wish the handles were wooden rather than plastic but it's a minor gripe really. They wash well although, as you might expect, the large flat top foundation brush takes a bit of effort to rinse clean. Even with my trusty BECCA brush soap. The flat top foundation brushes take a while to dry which is unsurprising for such densely packed synthetic fibres and I find they benefit from running a hand over the top to separate the fibres once dry.

Adesign brushes are available from www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk. These brushes aren't available individually on Cocktails Cosmetics but the Skincare Brush Set contains a similar selection of brushes and costs £44.95. You can find more detail about the Adesign brushes on their website.


Disclosure: These items were sent to me without cost for review purposes.

Modesty Brown turns Two

I've dithered over whether or not to let this day go unmarked. But after seeing my time travelling content thief celebrating Modesty Brown's 1st birthday (I kid you not), I thought it was silly not to.

So, another year on and I'm still here. There have been ups and downs but most importantly for me, lots of giggles. Major highlights for me were meeting Rebecca Morrice Williams of Becca Cosmetics, having my makeup done by Gina Brooke at Hourglass and also releasing one of my makeup heroes, Caroline Barnes, from the loos in the The Dorchster. My trip to Boots HQ with Charlotte Lipglossiping is an occasion I will never forget either. From getting to see the inner working of Boots to chatting till the small hours like a teenager on a sleepover, I had the most amazing time. I bored some poor guy on the day, rabbiting on about superglue only to discover recently that said 'poor bloke' was most probably Mike Pocock of Illamasqua Nail Quills and Adele's Louboutin mani fame. Yes, I am indeed morphing into someone's embarrassing Mum......

Things are still a little quieter of late as I continue to establish a new pace. This time last week I was certain that my love affair with blogging was over but I'm hopeful that I can find my feet again. I need to dedicate more time to family things and I just can't maintain daily posts anymore but this doesn't necessarily mean the end. I feel I should apologies for the glut of posts reviewing PR samples at the moment but I'm trying very hard to clear the decks. I'm always strict about what I will accept and have recently turned down events and samples, so I hope you that you don't feel I am compromising my integrity and honesty, as that is something that means a lot to me.

Anyway, I think that more than enough self-indulgent wibbling. Thank you very much for reading and thank you for all the support. Keep on smiling xx

HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations

The HIPP x RGB collection is a collaboration between RGB and celebrity 'green manicurist' Jenna Hipp. The Nail Foundations are designed to match your skin tone just like regular foundation to give the perfect nude manicure. There are four shades: F1, F2, F3 and F4, where F1 is the lightest and F4 is the darkest.

From left to right; F1, F2, F3 and F4

F3 and F4 are darker than my skin tone but I have applied them all to my nails so you can get an idea of the colours and coverage. Two coats gives good opaque coverage with all four foundations. I find the size and shape of both the bottle and brush easy to handle. I did experience some dragging if I had to go back over an area whilst applying a coat, so it helps to be precise first time. The RGB formula is free of formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), in fact I recall London Makeup Girl mentioning that they are in fact 4-free as they are also free from camphor. The polish lasted well on my (notoriously difficult) nails. I'm not sure if the fact that I used my BECCA 2-in-1 as a base coat helped with the lasting power, this is also a 4-free formula so it's probably a good match as a base coat.

F1

F2

I have to admit that I'm not sure whether I prefer F1 or F2 on my hands. F2 is a bit too dark to truly give the effect of mannequin hands but the undertone blends in better with my skin, whereas F1 seems to highlight the redness in my skin. F1 will probably be more flattering when my hands are less winter abused.

F3

Although the idea of the nail foundations is for them to match your skin tone, I really like the colour of F3. In the top picture, I think it looks unfairly.....erm, dungy which is why I have included the whole hand picture to give you a better idea of the colour.

F4

F4 is a really rich deep brown and I think it has the most glossy finish of the Nail Foundations.

As well as the Nail Foundation, there are four Nail Tints available which offer similar skin matching shades but in a sheer finish. I actually think I will get on better with these for finding my perfect skin match and I always thing that sheer fleshy colours are a good choice if you struggle to keep a manicure looking perfect.

The HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations cost £11.50 each and are available from Mise Beauty, who ship worldwide.


Disclosure: These items were sent to me without cost for review purposes.

Le Métier de Beauté Aurora Kaleidoscope Lip Kit

I feel like I'm starting this post in reverse order but what the heck, this information will not wait till the end! Normally I end my Le Métier de Beauté posts by bemoaning the fact that they are no longer available in the UK & Europe. But not anymore because LE MÉTIER DE BEAUTÉ ARE COMING BACK!! A little birdie (aka Beauty Mouth) tells me they will be available from Zuneta soon. I'm not sure on dates yet but it's worth signing up for their newsletter to be in the know.

Right, on to the pretties. Le Métier de Beauté's Northern Lights collection was inspired, as you might guess, by the colours of the Aurora Borealis. The collection consists of the Northern Lights Kaleidoscope Eye Kit, the Aurora Kaleidoscope Lip Kit and three nail polishes; Aurora, Solar Flare & (my favourite) Faraday. I've never had one of the lip kits before but I was captivated by the colours when I spotted The Non-Blonde post a first look picture on Twitter.

As with all the kaleidoscopes, the colours are designed to be layered but they can also be worn alone. The colours in the kit are, from top to bottom: Illuminate - a sheer sparkling 'Barbie' pink with hints of pretty blue shimmer, Voltaic - an opaque nude mauve with subtle golden shimmer, Dynamos - a sheer juicy coral packed with shimmer and Eos - a hot pink cream. 

ILLUMINATE

VOLTAIC

DYNAMOS

EOS

All of these colours are very pretty on their own but they combine to make beautiful shades too. I think the palette is quite versatile as it includes everyday colours as well as a fairly dramatic shade (Eos) and mixing allows you to produce everything else in between.

L-R: Eos, Dynamos, Voltaic, Illuminate

Eos

The lipglosses are slightly scented. Oddly, I think the scent is more obvious when applied than it is in the pan. They texture isn't sticky but it has enough grip to last on the lips for quite a while. Even when layered they don't feel gloopy, although I have a tendency to apply too much and I have to blot the edge of my bottom lip as the gloss pools. I remember being surprised when I had my makeover in Selfridges almost 18 months ago now, that four lipglosses layered on top of each other felt surprisingly comfortable and moisturising. The Aurora kit feels just the same.

The four colours layered from top to bottom of the lip kit

I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this palette. So far, my favourite combination has been Dynamos layered over Voltaic and I have enjoyed wearing both Voltaic and Illuminate on their own. As always, Le Métier de Beauté has helped push my makeup boundaries. In this case I'm overcoming my lipgloss and lip products from a pan issue! I figure when it's this pretty, it's worth it.

The Aurora Lip Kit costs $95 and is available from Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman (for those of you in the States, you can find your nearest store on the Le Métier de Beauté website). I've heard on the grapevine that Zuneta will be stocking it too!


Disclosure: This item was sent to me without cost for review purposes.