Zoya Ali

It was love at first swipe

This is NEON PINK. Neon's are really hard to photograph and in real life the colour is more orange toned then its coming out on camera. All pictures are in natural light FYI (oh any excuse to use that abbreviation)

Not only is this a gorgeous colour but also unlike other neon polishes this applied beautifully. Not streaky or patchy.

As with all neon's you need a top coat as the finish is matte. 

This is my second Zoya polish and they I have found the quality of them to be the best out there, over all other brands. I picked this up from eBay for £9.99

Now I'm off to eat Smarties :)

September Haulin'

Ooooh new things! I thought I would do a round up of the things I've bought in September

Ardell Enchanting False Lashes - Ardell make my favourite lashes, the Demi Wispies. They are so easy to apply and look really natural. My Best Friend bought these and they looked amazing on so I had to try them. Obviously they aren't natural looking but I can't wait to try these! I picked these up in Boots.

Bourjois Delice de Soleil - Basically a spray bronzer, the blurb on the back says " For a beautiful natural-looking tan, spray the product about 30cm from the skin "
I got this in Fair/Medium and I've only tried it once but I wasn't impressed, the colour was very orange and the spray wasn't a fine mist, some bits spurted out so I was left with unattractive orange spots. I'm going to Spain for a few days next week so I'm hoping it will look better with a tan, but so far not impressed. Avoid! - Boots £7.99

Garnier BB Cream - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff, can't recommend it enough! I originally bought the medium because I was worried the "Light" would be too light but it turns out the medium was a bit too dark so I ended up buying both shades. I'm sure you have heard all the hype about this product already but all I can say is that it feels lovely on your skin, gives a good level of coverage. It doesn't leave your skin looking flawless unless you are lucky enough to have flawless skin in the first place but it makes you look glowy and healthy and I would recommend this to anyone - Boots £9.99

Too Faced Glitter Glue - Not my most sensible of purchases! I recently bought the most amazing Make Up For Ever glitter and was struggling to get it to stick to my eyelids. I saw MakeupbyTiffanyD talking about this product on YouTube and it became my impulse purchase! I haven't tried it yet but will let you know how it fairs the next time I break out the glitter. - Boots

Boots Cucumber Cleansing Wipes - Really nothing special but I just love the smell of these!

Beyonce Pulse Perfume - B has done it again, gorgeous smelling perfume, hideous bottle! I mentioned in my latest beauty graveyard post how much I love Beyonces perfumes and Pulse is no exception. I highly recommend you give it a sniff, its one of those perfume that i cant stop sniffing! - Superdrug - £21.99 for 30ml

Too Faced Glamour Dust Glitter Pigment in "Glampire" - Not going to lie, I think I bought this mostly based on the name! I'm watching True Blood as we speak ;) - Boots

Stila Eyeshadow in "Kitten" - I have wanted this eyeshadow since I first started watching YouTube videos and Kande Johnson used it. Now with Stila coming back to the UK I thought I would finally pick it up. Its a beautiful champagne colour and really buttery to touch not at all gritty (yay!) The only thing I did notice, looking at the Stila stand in Boots is how expensive their products are. This eyeshadow was £12, their price point is too high. If the prices were lower I might consider checking out other items in the range. I think if they want to stay in the UK and be successful they should really reconsider their pricing - Boots £12.00

Chanel Peridot - Sometimes I really annoy myself! When I saw the swatches of this online I thought no, its one of those colours that looks so much better in the bottle. But then everyone started talking about it and I got sucked in! This started a mad hunt for it, only to find everywhere was sold out. Eventually I found this little guy on the Harrods website, which is where I ordered it from. I would like to add that I had to pay the ridiculous delivery charge of £5! So I finally got it and guess what, I don't love it, for all the reasons I didn't want it in the first place. You can see every brush stoke, it doesn't make your nails look good you can see every ridge and on the nails it just appears gold, you don't pick up any of the beautiful teal beetle colours :( If you missed this don't worry - www.harrods.com

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lip Liner "338 Midnight Plum" - I was looking for a plummy colour lipstick for Autumn/Winter. I have a couple of very dark plummy lipsticks and I wanted one that was a bit lighter, more day time appropriate. I couldn't find a lipstick that I liked but I did find this lipliner. I have just been filling my entire lips in with this. This will do for now but I think I may check out Chanel Vamp Lipliner in Duty Free next week! - Boots

MAC Eyeshadow in "Moleskin" - This is from the new MAC Me Over collection. I love this colour and I will get a lot of wear from it. Its just a matte light brown shade similar to Wedge by MAC or Naked by Urban Decay, great for wearing all over the lid. If you can still get this I would really recommend picking it up. - MAC £11.50

MAC Lipstick in "Blankety" (Amplified) - I have been looking for the perfect nude lipstick but I don't like concealer lips, I like my nudes more on the brown side and Blankety is perfect. I just picked this up after randomly swatching half the lipsticks on the counter, I haven't heard much about this lipstick online but I really like this! I also think Amplified are my favourite MAC lipstick finishes. - MAC £13.50

Orly Nail Varnish "Shine on Crazy Diamond" - I love this holo glitter polish. Its definitely a layering glitter but its perfect for my galaxy print nails which I have been obsessed with lately. I painted 2 coats over some black varnish to show you how cool this looks. - eBay

OPI "Get in the Expresso Lane" - This is from the new Touring America collection, a gorgeous deep, dark brown. I'll make sure I get a pic for you when I next wear it. - eBay

OPI "Unripened"- Another eBay buy! Repeat after me, I must stop buying nail varnish on eBay! Sorry about the sloppy application, this colour didn't stay on long. This is a big regret! Its another one of those colours that looks so much better in the bottle, on the nails it just looks flat and I really don't like it :( - eBay


Is it bad I already have a mental list for next month?!

Galaxy Nails

Having been obsessed with Christopher Kane's galaxy creations and heart broken that I missed out on his exclusive to Liberty galaxy print scarfs, I have been consoling myself by obsessing over galaxy print nails. This is one nail art trend that I love and when bandwagon I'm happily jumping all over!

Its time consuming but I love painting my nails and I actually really enjoyed the process. Here is the link to the tutorial I used. Once you've mastered it, you can then play around. In the first picture I used more yellow and in the second I used more of the pink. (I prefer more yellow)

http://youtu.be/3EMgt4_jW5U

Oh and don't go out and buy a load of new colours for this! I am so guilty of doing things like this and you really don't need to for this one. If like me you are a nail varnish whore you will be able to find the colours you need!

FYI, I used:

Chanel - Black Satin

Revlon - White on White

Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream

Ruby and Millie - Pink 450c

O.P.I - Yoga-ta get this blue!

Revlon - Galaxy

Barry M - Hologram

P.S. Yep I love Buffy!

The Beauty Graveyard

Sad to admit, but I feel so proud of myself when I finally use up a product! Here's a round up of the products I've finally finished.

LiLash - This is the second tube I have now got through. This stuff works there's no doubt about it. You can see before and after pictures on my previous LiLash post. I love this stuff but I hate the price, it will set you back £80 a tube! As much as I love it, I cannot justify shelling out that much money again. Which is why I have converted to Rapidlash, its half the price (£41) and easily available in Boots. The results take a little longer to notice and are slightly less dramatic but I am still highly impressed. Rapidlash is my new staple.

Dove Summer Glow Daily Face Moisturiser - Yonks old, I don't even know if you can still buy this! A good moisturiser though and it gives me a really nice subtle colour (no orange!) I now have my St Tropez Everyday Moisturiser to use but I would definitely repurchase this in the future.

DuWop Foundation of Youth - There were two things that made me buy this product:
1) On my last work experience at a magazine I was lucky enough to help out on a celebrity shoot. I got chatting to the make up artist and asked her for her foundation recommendations. She said she had two she swears by. One of them being DuWop foundation of youth.
2) After a quick google I found that Pixie Lott is also a fan and I'm that shallow that any celebrity association makes me immediately want a product!
I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed and would not bother buying this again. I also found the coverage too heavy and cakey for my liking. I hate the feel of heavy foundations and even though I probably need more coverage I only like to use light to medium coverage.
Oh and if you're wondering the second foundation recommended was Bourjois Healthy Mix. (Still need to try that one)
Also I highly recommend cutting packaging open where possible, theres normally a ton of product left in there. This lasted me for over a month after cutting it open.

Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Visible Skin Renewer - Have to be honest here, I was far too lazy with applying this and probably didn't use it often enough to give a true review! I have bought this product before though and really enjoyed it as it leaves your skin feeling very soft and smooth.

Beyonce Heat and Heat Rush Perfume - If you are wary of celebrity perfumes go out and smell these. Granted the bottles are absolutely hideous. House of Dereon anyone? But both these scents smell divine. I have not come across anyone who doesn't like the smell of these and they are also refreshingly different. As you can probably tell I'm currently trying to reduce my perfume collection but no doubt about it I will be buying these scents again. Oh and Beyonce has just released her 3rd fragrance, "Pulse" I caved and bought it and my review is exactly the same. Hideous bottle, amazing smell. Can't recommend enough!

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara - Love.this.mascara.holy.grail.material.end.of

No7 Sheer Temptation Lipstick "Attract 05"- I adore this lipstick as you can tell from it's battered appearance. It makes your lips gorgeously glossy without the horrible stickiness of lipgloss (ugh) and it's great for us lazy girls as its one of our beloved "my lips but better" colours so no mirror required! I have already repurchased this and unfortunately for me, they have repackaged and reformulated it (someone hold me!) the colour is now slightly different even though the name is exactly the same. Its still a vision of loveliness and I remain loyal but I am a little bit sad....why do companies do this to us!

Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat - Now this, this is holy grail. This is the only top coat I will use, no more smudges, bed sheet creases, your nails are dry almost immediately and extremely shiny. This is my third bottle. As brilliant as I think this little guy is, he does come with a few flaws:

1) If you look at the picture above you will see its not empty. Seche Vite does not last and theres no way you can get through the whole bottle. This is the furthest I have got before its gloopy beyond belief and unusable. 

2) Peeling, when I first started using this I loved it but found my nail varnish would just peel off my whole nail. I did a bit of research and found out this was a common problem, a side effect of the quick drying time but this is easily solved. When you paint your nails just make sure you leave a slight gap between the edges of your nail varnish and top coat. It might seem a bit of a hassle but you quickly get used to it and I now get no peeling. I would say its 100% worth it for the results. 

Avon Glimmersticks Eyeliner "Cosmic Brown" - Great eyeliner, great price cost me 99p!

Katy Perry Purr Perfume - I love Katy Perry but the theme continues, celebrity perfume - craptapular bottle! I.really.hate.it
The perfume itself is perfectly pleasant, but just that....pleasant. Quite generic and nothing special, not one I would buy again.

Christina Aguilera Inspire Perfume - Do I really need to address the packaging? OK then, if you insist! This bottle actually makes me cringe and that typeface *vom*

I'm ashamed to say this is the second time I have bought this. I cannot for the life of me understand why, maybe my tastes are maturing......hmmmm all I can say about this now is cheap cheap cheap. 

Zoya Remove (Nail Varnish Remover) - Like my beloved Seche Vite, this is also holy grail material for me and I have already repurchased. Its expensive, I buy mine off eBay costs roughly £10. I love painting my nails and change my nail varnish constantly. This doesn't dry out your nails at all like other cheap removers and it definitely extends the wear of my varnish so for me its worth the money. Also the bottle is pretty nifty. 

So there you have it, using up beauty products almost gives me the same amount of deep joy as buying them....almost!