Collective Haul, Benefit, Too Faced, OPI, Sleek, MUA, Barry M, Accessorize

Finally the last of my October hauls! These are just the last few things I picked up, it was worth cashing in those Boots Advantage card points!

OPI Muppet's Collection Fresh Frog of Bel Air - I picked this up from eBay. For swatches and blabberings I have already talked about this little beauty here and here!

Barry M Raspberry Nail Paint - I think this must be one of the last Barry M nail paints I didn't own. A gorgeous berry colour, perfect for winter. Its photographed much brighter then it really is, I need to do a nail of the day on this one to show you guys the true colour.

Sleek Monte Carlo Pout Polish Mediterranean Collection - I know this collection is quite old now but I found this in Boots in Sutton and had to pick it up. I would say these are a combination of a lip balm and a lip gloss, not sticky at all. I absolutely love this bright pink colour, as you can see I've already created a dent in it. If you can find this in your local Boots pick it up, you won't regret it. 

 

MUA Heaven and Earth Palette - There was a LOT of hype about this eyeshadow palette from Superdrug's budget make up range MUA. At £4 it is a great alternative to Urban Decay's Naked palette. The downside for me is that there are no matte shades in this palette, they all contain shimmer but these are really lovely colours and for £4 you can't really complain. My mum took quite the shine to this and I ended up going back to pick her one up too. With Christmas coming up I think this would make a great stocking filler or, at under £5 an even better Secret Santa present.

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer - This could possibly be the best bronzer I have ever used, it's that good. This is another product that gets rave reviews and as I had just finished up my Chanel Bronze Universal I decided to finally give this a try and now I'm thinking what took me so long! This bronzer is completely matte, which is what you want as shimmer bronzers give your skin that "muddy" colour. There is no orange in this at all, it really is the perfect chocolate colour and it blends on the skin beautifully. I have used this everyday since I got it. I really would recommend sticking this one on your Christmas list, its one of my finds of the year! Plus it smells delicious!

Benefit Carmella Perfume - I am a big fan of of Gracie aka Ugly face of beauty on YouTube and she always raves about this perfume so I was interested to try it and I have to say its gorgeous. I love the smell of coconuts and am obsessed with any perfume that smells remotely coconutty! Carmella is no exception, if like me you have a coconut obsession go smell this!

Accessorize Aztex Nail Polish - There is one reason and one reason alone I got this. My friend at work was wearing it and it was a perfect dupe for one of my favourite colours of all time, MAC's Mean and Green from the Venomous Villains collection. Again I'll post a nail of the day pic so you can see what you think.

Nars Haul

I picked up these items back in October before I went on holiday. I got these in the sale and I would really recommend checking out the beauty sections on ASOS, Debenhams and House of Fraser when they are having sale events because you can often get good bargains on make up too.

Nars Cactus Flower Cream Blush - Blushes are Nars stand out products. I cannot recommend them enough, highly pigmented, beautiful, unique colours that are definitely worth the money. This is my first Nars cream blush and I am in love with it. Its a gorgeous red with gold shimmer that when blended gives a beautiful coral sheen to the skin. Don't be scared by the glitter, it's not overpowering and once blended it just gives you that "glow"

Nars Schiap Nail Polish - If you are lucky enough to own Nars Schiap lipstick then you will know what I was hoping for with this nail polish. The lipstick is the most gorgeous bright pink, I hear that it has been making the round on several of the X Factor contestants this year. I was hoping the nail polish would be the same but in the bottle the colour is duller then I hoped for. I haven't tried it yet though so can't really give my opinion. When I do though I'll put some pics up so you can see.

Nars Hot Wired Lip Lacquer - This is a regret! Not based on the colour, the colour is beautiful. A bright fuchsia pink with blue iridescence. The problem is the smell. This smells horrendous, I actually can't bear to have it on my lips (too close to my nose!) I think this must be off, it certainly smells like it is. I read a post on The Gloss Goss where the same problem was mentioned.

Save your money don't buy this.

It is pretty though!

MAC Haul (Posh Paradise Collection and Randoms!)

I was bad in October! I have been meaning to post these hauls for a while now but got side tracked with sparkly nail varnish and Ed Sheeran Lego House. How much do you love that video? I have it on whilst I'm typing this, how adorable is Rupert Grint....anyway onto the first of the hauls!

MAC In Anticipation Pro Longwear Lip Pencil - I think this could be from the Style Driven collection? I could be completely wrong though, MAC did have about 4 collections going on at once! A lovely bright pink colour and very long wearing, as the name suggests.

MAC Immortal Gold Nail Polish - From the Posh Paradise collection (told you there were a few collections floating around at once!).  I picked this up at the airport on the way back from my holiday with my last few euros! This looks gorgeous in the bottle, like a golden version of olive oil. On the nails I don't love it though. You can see every brush stroke and it definitely looked better when I had a bit of a tan going on. Although, staring at these pictures now is making me want to give it another go!

MAC Summer Stash Pigments - Kinda random in the middle of winter but anywho! These are from the summer collection, Surf Baby. Little tip for you, Debenhams website sells MAC make up and they tend to have a lot of old collection stuff floating around on there, stuff that's long gone from the MAC website and store. Last time I looked they had still had some Surf Baby items, Semi Precious, Wonder Woman and the Jeans/Denim collection. 

I think I only own one MAC pigment now as I sold the rest. I just find them a bit messy and I'm never going to get through one of those pots and the thought of that really annoys me! But I thought I would give these a trial as the colours are beautiful and you get just the right amount of each pigment. These pigments aren't as finely milled so you do need to be a bit careful with them, but they are definitely worth it!

 

MAC Show Orchid Lipstick - I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS LIPSTICK AND I FEEL THE USE OF CAPS LOCK TO REPRESENT THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

I REALLY LOVE IT AND HAVE BEEN WEARING IT AT ANY GIVEN OPPORTUNITY!

An example of one of the opportunites...(Just before bed, hence the smudged makeup!) This was released with the Posh Paradise collection but is permanent at MAC Pro. I also saw this at the airport and my friend was like "You have to get it!" but my euros would only stretch to the paint pot and nail polish so I left it but I could not get it out my head! (I am sad like that) and the next day I headed to MAC to buy it! I really can't recommend this highly enough, this is possibly my favourite ever lipstick!

MAC Genuine Treasure Paint Pot - This is the other item I picked up at the airport and like Show Orchid I cannot get enough of it! You can already see its got quite a dent in it! This is also from the Posh Paradise collection, which I have to say had a lovely mix of beautiful colours which fitted the theme perfectly, it all seemed very well thought out. Thumbs up MAC! I have seen some bad reviews on this paint pot and it made me a little bit defensive! Its a gorgeous golden glittery cream. When you blend it out it gives a lovely golden wash of colour. Now this isn't opaque and with the glitter and sheen it kind of gives you that lived in look. The only thing I can think to describe it to, is the effect you get if you put Vaseline over your eyeshadow, that greasy rocker look. I love the look of lived in make up so I adore this. My favourite paint pot yet!

MAC Hush Cream Colour Base - I used up my cream colour base in shell and decided I wanted to try a new shade. This is a lovely peachy colour, more subtle then shell but gives a lovely glow to the skin.

MAC Improper Copper Cream Colour Base - If you have olive skin or just a tan I can't recommend this enough! This is the most gorgeous highlighter on tanned skin. The name describes the colour perfectly and I will be slapping this on until my tan fades :(

Models Own Beetle Juice Collection Swatches

On Tuesday Models Own released their much anticipated new Beetle Juice collection. After seeing the promo pictures online way back I was really excited to try these. Models Own are currently running an offer on their website where you can buy all 5 polishes for £18

The colours look really beautiful in the bottles and in sunlight. I received these on Thursday but had to wait till the weekend to take pictures as its now pitch black by the time I get home from work in the week :(

From left to right around the fingers: Aqua Violet, Golden Green, Purple Blue, Pinky Brown and Emerald Black.

Like I said these look beautiful in the bottles but I have to admit I am a bit disappointed. On the nails they look a bit flat (unless your holding your hand up in front of direct sunlight!) and I feel like there's nothing particularly exciting or new about these colours. I feel like I have seen them all before. Golden Green reminds me of Chanel Peridot which I also own and don't like either! Purple Blue I feel like I have seen a 100 times (MAC Formidabble, Orly Galaxy Girl to name a few) Pinky Brown is a nice colour and if you missed MAC's Bad Fairy then I would recommend this as a good dupe.

If like me you picked up the Nail Polishes in the MAC Venomous Villains collection I would recommend skipping this collection. 2 of the colours from Beetle Juice are dupes as I mentioned above and the MAC ones have more sparkle and duochrome.

Looking at these pictures and then looking at my nails makes me sad. I wonder if I could pay someone to hold a torch under my nails whenever I wear them! If you don't own any other duochrome polishes then I think you would like these but for those of us with a duchrome love I think you will find yourself itching for some colour combos you haven't seen before.

Removing Glitter Nail Polish: The Foil Method

I had heard about this method of removing glitter nail polish before but always thought it sounded like quite a palava and frankly I can't be arsed with that.

10 minutes into removing my OPI Muppet's glitter that all changed. Close to tears, half a packet of cotton pads down, glitter all over my hands and cotton wool stuck to my nails I saw the light.

You will need

Nail Polish Remover, Cotton Pads/Wool whatevs! Kitchen Foil and 10 minutes of your life

Step 1.

Soak the cotton pads with nail polish remover like you normally would and place onto your nail like so....

Step 2.

Wrap kitchen foil around the pad and your finger. Wrap it tightly so the soaked cotton pad stays on top of the nail.

Step 3.

Repeat on each finger, until your fingers look as cool as this....

Step 4.

Fully focus your attention on True Blood for 10 minutes

Step 5.

Press down on your nail (nothing wrong with a bit of firm pressure here) and as you press down, pull off the foil and cotton pad.

Step 6.

Rejoice and wipe away any excess glitter left around the edges of your nails

This is method is so much easier for getting rid of stubborn glitter and despite my initial hesitation I will be using it from now on!

OPI Muppets Collection Glitter Swatches!

Left to Right: Divine Swine, Gone Gonzo, Rainbow Connection, Fresh Frog of Bel Air, Gettin' Miss Piggy with it

For their Christmas collection, OPI have teamed up with The Muppet's (yep Kermit and co). Like most people I was very excited about this collection. On payday I was on eBay at 7am making my dreams come true ;)

I have 5 polishes from the collection and they are all glitters! I thought the non glitter polishes were nothing special hence my very camp selection!

Thumb (Blue) "Gone Gonzo", Index Finger (Green) "Fresh Frog of Bel Air" Middle Finger (Multi-colour) "Rainbow Connection" Ring Finger (Pink) "Divine Swine" Pinky Finger (Red) "Gettin' Miss Piggy With It"

This is 3 coats of each polish with a top coat (Seche Vite). These go on very sheer they do not have a coloured base, so I would recommend putting a base coat of colour down first. The sheerest of them all is "Gettin' Miss Piggy With It" I really had to blob this guy on.

I love these glitters and I think this is a fab collaboration. I really think these colours embody the Muppet's. When OPI do collaborations it feels like so much thought has gone into them, even down to the names of the shades (which I LOVE). When I look at my nails I completely envisage The Muppet's. 

OPI really show up brands like MAC which have been putting out a lot of half hearted collaborations lately.

I got these from eBay prices vary from £8 - £10.50 a quick google search and you will be able to find online stockists.

I will admit though, I am dreading getting this stuff off!