Layering: OPI Italian Love Affair + Silver Shatter

I tried to conjure up a cheesy title for this post such as,  "An Italian Love Affair with Silver...blah, blah..." but obviously didn't feel witty enough to come up with anything amusing tonight.

I think this is one of my more successful, wearable Silver Shatter pairings.  SS looked quite subtle over the pastel pink Italian Love Affair and I actually wore this mani to the office last Friday:

Lamplight

What do you think?

Until next time.

Vita :)

Haul post: Lips, eyes & nails...

A few weeks ago the Australian online discount sales site Catch Of The Day held a 48 hour cosmetics sale.  My Hubby was kind enough to let me use his subscription to pick up a few things. 

My selections were:   OPI polish in Vodka and Caviar from the Russian Collection,  Revlon Colorburst Lipstick (Lilac) and L'Oreal Shadow Minerals eyeshadow (Gold).

I chose Vodka and Caviar because it looked like such a classic crimson red and it didn't disappoint when I ripped open the post pack.  It's a great mid-toned red that can be worn all year round. 

I've got a few Colorburst lippies creeping into my collection these days. I chose Lilac as I'll wear lilac and mauve lipstick shades as a more muted alternative to pink and I find they complement my natural lip colour.

Now, I haven't tried L'Oreal's Shadow Minerals before so I bought the gold shade just because I was curious and figured why not try some at the discounted price.  I'm not sure if this one's a winner because these little pots of loose eyeshadow can end up as a shimmery mess on me and I hate fallout!

Here are some quick swatches shown in natural daylight:

  
Have any of you tried these L'Oreal Shadow Minerals pots?  What's your opinion on them?

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Ooh! Blue glitter! Asai (50)

Last weekend I finally had the chance to try one of the gorgeous glitter polishes I won from The Polish Haven.

This is a single coat of Asai (50), a vivid azure blue glitter layered over a deep navy blue creme (Essence - Just Rock It!).  I added top coat to give it a glassy finish and I was absolutely in love with the resulting look.  I don't need to say any more so here are lots of pictures:

Full sun

 

Indoors natural daylight

Until my next post.

Vita :)

What my nails wore to work: OPI - Italian Love Affair

I was inspired by the spring blossoms suddenly blooming everywhere last week.

Italian Love Affair is one of my old black label OPI's.  This shade originated from OPI's Italian Collection launched back in 2001 and I think it's still available in OPI's core line.  It's a very opaque pale pink with a subtle shimmer that makes it look like pink silk on the nails so it's very soft and pretty.

If you're interested in nail polish trivia I remember reading that Madonna actually wore this shade on her nails when she married Guy Ritchie.

Indoors natural light

Full sun

 

Outdoors shade

 

I love how this shade makes my hands look tanned!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Until my next post.

Vita :)

Random bling: Latest additions

My dinner date outfit last weekend was a little black woollen knit dress.  I wore it with thick black tights and boots as it was still cold and I didn't want to freeze!  The dress is a very simple above the knee design with a polo neck and I wanted needed a statement piece to glam it up.

I bought this pendant and earrings from Lovisa to accessorize my outfit:

As they had a 3 for 2 sale I also bought this necklace to dress up my spring/summer outfits:

On a random note this bracelet was a recent belated birthday present my sister-in-law brought back from Istanbul.  She chose it because of the deco design.  I love it and had to share it with you too:

Have a great weekend and have fun whatever you do!

Vita :)

Date night mani: Chanel - Peridot

This was a special splurge just because I couldn't resist! I wore Chanel's AMAZING Peridot polish for my date night mani to celebrate Hubby's birthday last weekend.

There are a gazillion posts out there about this polish and no doubt better pictures as well but these are mine.  You can see the amazing beetle wing duochrome in the bottle and on my nails.  This polish is predominantly gold but shifts to green and blue at different angles.   Behold this beauty in my humble pictures...

Okay, now I'm going to be controversial and say that for the $39AUD I spent on this luxury product I was disappointed by the brush.   Actually, I'm going to go right out there and say that I hated the brush!  It was thin, flimsy and floppy so it made application more difficult than normal.  I seriously wished I had a clean OPI brush, or China Glaze, or Revlon or something a bit sturdier and easier to control.  Thank goodness the polish itself stood up to my shoddy application.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Until next time

Vita :)

BYS: Hot Corals

Be warned - this is a bit of a crap-tastic swatch!

In the bottle Hot Corals is an outrageously kitsch coral shade with a smattering of orange glitter and I couldn't wait to swatch it.  I was expecting the formula to be the same smooth squishy jelly as my other recently swatched BYS polish, Phantom (here) so I decided to skip the top coat before taking my pictures.  Result:  I ended up with a bumpy textured manicure which isn't too photogenic at all :(    See the evidence here...

Outdoors shade

Full sun

I didn't do this polish justice at all!  I think it would make a mad summer mani with a slurp of top coat.  I really loved the colour too.  Ah well, I think this one will call for a reswatch.

Until next time.

Vita :)

REVIEW: Concealer pen comparison

At the start of the year I'd declared YSL's Touche Eclat as my long-standing desert island concealer pen. However, when I thought more about it I realised I'd narrowed my options by sticking with one (expensive) product for such a long time - we're talking years here - without trying some of the less expensive alternatives available.

I've had three concealer pens on rotation over the last month to do a comparison - YSL Touche Eclat (01) as my benchmark, L'Oreal Touche Magique (Rose Beige), and Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer (01 Light).

Swatched and blended on the back of my hand from top to bottom:

 YSL Touche Eclat

L'Oreal Touche Magique

Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer

 

YSL Touche Eclat

The original iconic concealer/illuminator pen created by Terry de Gunzburg, now known for her own prestige cosmetic brand By Terry.  This product has a light texture that blends easily into the skin, and provides good  coverage for my undereye circles, as it illluminates the skin and it doesn't cake or crease.  Of course there is the gorgeous gold packaging, the pen click application which delivers a precise amount of product into the brush and the brush itself is very soft on the skin.  The downside is the $$$ cost at $55AUD.

L'Oreal Touche Magique

I'd read lots of great reviews about this product as the budget version of Touche Eclat so this was a logical cheaper alternative to try.  This is also a concealer/highlighter which effectively reflects light and covers my dark circles and other minor skin blemishes and shadows.  I was pleased to find the coverage is actually slightly heavier on the skin than YSL so it conceals more effectively and at around $27AUD this is half the price of YSL.  This pen is a twist up applicator to deliver the product to the brush.  What I didn't like - but this is something I can live with - is the stiff bristles of the brush.  Overall I was really pleased with this and I'd definitely repurchase.

 Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer

This isn't an illuminator but it is a moisturising concealer which blended easily into my skin and provided medium coverage.  It was the most yellow-toned but as my skin has yellow undertones it provided pretty close coverage for my undereye area.  The brush in this tube is as soft as YSL's and the applicator is a twist up like L'Oreal's Touche Magique.  The price is in the same range as L'Oreal at around $27AUD.  Although this is a good product and reasonably priced it was not my favourite because it doesn't have the light-reflecting properties of the other two.

So to sum up, although I still love YSL's Touche Eclat I've found a great budget alternative in L'Oreal's Touche Magique at half the price.

**EDIT - I've since found a great, cheaper alternative.  See my recent review of Maybelline's Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer here .**

Until next time.

 Vita :)

Haul post: I won a giveaway!

Hi everyone!

I was so excited to win The Polish Haven's glitter giveaway last week!  Kristy is another Aussie Gum Leaf Mafiette and her polish pictures will launch a thousand lemmings.  Be sure to check out her blog!

I took a quick flash photo of the gorgeous glitters I was lucky enough to win, and can't wait to try.  From left to right these are:  England (Merlin), Asai (48), Asai (53), Asai, (50), BYS (Through the Looking Glass), BYS (Adventures of Alice) and OPI (Glow Up Already!)

This was the perfect prize for a middle-aged glitter fanatic like me.  I'm doing another happy dance!

Enjoy your week.

Vita :)

A little bit of colour blocking...

...on my nails!

Colour blocking is one of  the upcoming trends in fashion as we move into Spring/Summer in the southern hemisphere. Here's my first basic colour blocking manicure experiment.  I used a hot orange for my overall mani (On the Same Paige by OPI) with a deep fuschia as a colour accent on my ring finger (Fuschia by Love & Beauty) with the following result.

The possible combos are endless with cool and warm colours making perfect partners for these manis. 

If you have any ideas for colour combos you'd like to see let me know!

Until my next post.

Vita :)

Layering: China Glaze - White Cap + OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

A quickie post tonight showing my love for China Glaze White Cap.

Here she is doing magical things to yesterday's OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window.  Even khaki green can look pretty with a bit of sparkle :

That's all for now.

Vita :)

What my nails wore to work: OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

Wow, another weekend, another birthday to celebrate.  This time it's my Hubby's birthday.  The festivities will start with a dinner with friends tonight, followed by our own dinner date tomorrow night, then a family gathering on Sunday.  Whew...

This week I've been sporting Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window from OPI's current Touring America collection.  I've gotta say this collection didn't exactly scream out to me, perhaps because I've already got the greys and darker colours covered and I'm not a fan of dupes.  The only colour that looked unique was UORDTW.  This is a khaki green creme.  It's a surprisingly interesting neutral shade that goes with everything so I didn't have any wardrobe crises this week! 

For some reason the polish looks weird and streaky in the bottle no matter how many times I shake it.  Of course it applied lovely and smoothly on the nails.  This was two coats:

Full Sun:

Shade:

 

Have a great weekend whatever you do.

Until my next post.

Vita :)

EOTD: Sepia Sparkle

Hi!

I had  few minutes to snap some pictures of the look I wore to go out for Sunday lunch last weekend.  This is a shimmery gold/copper/bronze shadow combo.

 

 

For this look I used:

• Bloom Eye Base all over lid
• L'Oreal  Sepia Sparkle (sparkly copper) brushed all over lid up to crease
• MAC Tempting (shimmery bronze) on outer V
• MAC Soft Force (sparkly gold) on inner corner of lid
• Revlon Not Quite White (matte ivory) on browbone
• MAC Duck Powerpoint eye pencil (grey/brown) on outer upper lash line
• MAC Hand Forged Powerpoint eye pencil (copper/gold) on lower lash line
• Christian Dior Diorshow Mascara (black) on upper lashes only

I liked how this looked IRL so this post is also pretty much a mental note for me so I don't forget how I created it.

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Embellishing with silver

A quick post with a bit of nail "art".

I used silver foil polish (Bionic from Nail It!) to play around with yesterday's green mani.  I applied some tape on my ring finger and painted over the free edge to create the diagonal.  I dabbed on a few small blobs of silver on the other nails, allowed them to partly dry, then used some more tape to stamp and spread the polish over the nails to look like imitation silver leaf.  This looks rough and abstract but I quite liked it - never mind that the Husband said I was "mad"!

Enough of my silliness for now.

Vita :)

OPI: Cuckoo For This Color

I'm Cuckoo For This Color indeed!

I debated over whether to buy this shade for the longest time.  While everyone was raving about it, it just didn't look that special in the bottle to me.  I've bought lots of shades from the Swiss collection (that I haven't worn yet *tsk, tsk*) but I hesitated over buying CFTC.   Well, I finally bought it and wore it last weekend - and - Wow! This colour is just amazing on the nails.  Love, love, love this one and now I understand what the fuss has been all about.  CFTC is a deep forest green with a velvety, glowy shimmer.  Another one of those amazing winter colours...

Full sun

Shade

Lamplight

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Haul post: All the way from the USA!

One of the lovely girls at the office (also very fondly known as The Disney Princess) kindly offered to do some beauty shopping for me while she was on holiday with her hubby in the US.  This was an offer too good to refuse!

MAC lipsticks retail at half the price we pay here in Australia so I requested these two lippies.

From left:  Speak Louder (cremesheen) and Impassioned (amplified creme)

Swatched:

I also asked Disney Princess to surprise me with some drugstore polishes and she brought me these pretties.

L - R:

Wet 'n' Wild (Hannah Pinktana)

Love & Beauty (Fuschia)

Love & Beauty (Magenta)

Wet 'n' Wild (Lady Luck)

Sinful Colors (Dancing Nails)

Finally here are some rough tape swatches in sunlight. 

From left to right these are:  Dancing Nails, Hannah Pinktana, Lady Luck, Fuschia and Magenta

These colours are making me impatient for spring and warmer weather!

Until next time.

Vita :)

What my nails wore to work: China Glaze - Stella

Happy Sunday!  I've just been enjoying a lazy lunch with the in-laws as it was my sis-in-law's birthday today.  Started off with a healthy grilled fish and salad, finished with raspberry mousse cake I generously shared with Hubby - yum *pats tummy, yawns*...

Okay, so this is the mani I sported to the office last week.  The weather was gloomy again and I knew I was going to go with a dark coloured wardrobe (again) so I chose China Glaze's Stella.  This is one of those 'lit from within', velvety shades.  Stella is a rich burgundy/plum shimmer which can lean towards deep red or purple depending on the colours it's worn with.  That's what makes it versatile and easy to wear - I loved wearing it last week.  My only complaint is I got a chipped nail by day four and it was extremely noticeable because of the dark colour.    Onto the pics:

Full sun:

 

Outdoors shade:

 

How do you choose your mani colours?

Until my next post.

Vita :)