OPI: And This Little Piggy...

I did this layered mani a few weeks ago when I was unhappy with the finish of Rimmel's Portobello Pink (see here).

To pretty Portobello Pink up I added two coats of the sparkly And This Little Piggy... from one of OPI's old Brights collections.  This polish is very sheer when applied over bare nails but becomes the star of the show when used for layering.  It's a deep rosy pink with loads of orange, pink and blue microglitter.  This turned my average pink mani into something special:

Outdoors shade

Full sun



This was hyper-feminine and I just loved looking at it in the sun.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

That's all for now.

Vita :)

EOTD: Natio Soft Berry palette

I'd realised that I haven't put up an EOTD for ages, so I thought I'd post one using the colours from my new Natio Soft Berry palette (see here).  I have to admit the reason EOTD posts are so few and far between is because I have issues getting the pictures to look halfway decent.  I end up taking lots of photos before I get the result I want.  Until now I've taken all my pictures indoors in natural daylight with my little Sony Cybershot DSC-W320 camera.  I got a new camera for my birthday (Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1) so that should mean better results once I master it! In any case if any of you can give me some useful tips for what works for your makeup photography I'll happily take them!

Onto my EOTD:

 

I used all of the eye colours in the palette to create this look (picture cropped to show eyeshadows only):

I applied:

• Bloom Eye Base all over lid
• Beige eyeshadow brushed over lid
• Pink eyeshadow on inner corner of eyes and on brow bone
• Brown eyeshadow on outer V and blended in crease
• MAC Powerpoint eye pencil (Duck) on outer upper lash line
• MAC Powerpoint eye pencil (Hand Forged) on lower lash line
• Rimmel Volume Flash x 10 Mascara (Black) on upper lashes only

The Natio eyeshadows blend well and the colours are buildable so you could create a brown smoky eye look with this palette.

I'm looking forward to photographing more makeup looks with my new camera!

Sorry about the break between posts.  Blogger problems didn't let me do anything yesterday...

Until my next post.

Vita :)



Revlon: Get Golden

Blogger's been having some hiccups so this is why my post is a little later than usual...It's been a bit of a bummer as I haven't been able to post or comment on anyone else's posts either this evening.

Well, the weather's been unusually cold, gloomy and wet down here in Melbourne so I searched through my picture archives for something with a warm tone to cheer me up.  Revlon's Get Golden is one of my oldies I picked up at a discount store.  This is a very warm, almost orange toned gold with a shimmery glow.  This applied smoothly with only slightly visible brushstrokes and was done in two coats.

These pictures were taken when I had nubbins:

Lamplight

Outdoors daylight

Until my next post.

Vita :)



REVIEW: Luxe lipstick love - Tom Ford

*Sings* "Happy birthday to me!..."

I always like to spoil myself for my birthday with a little something extravagant.  This year it was the most expensive lipstick I had in my sights:

Is this my HG lipstick?

Yes, I went and bought myself my first Tom Ford Lip Color!  At $65 this could be a little impractical (the Husband laughed when I told him the price) but a girl's got to spoil herself at least once a year! The sales assistant was a gorgeous man clad in a chic velvet blazer who was very attentive in assessing my colouring and outfit and steered me to the perfect all year round "...very Tom Ford" shade of True Coral.  This vivid coral-red creme colour lights up my face and I can get away with base and mascara as my only other makeup. 

Onto the picture fest:

Chic understated white box...

The architectural lipstick case with the clean lines and gold tipped lid...

The embossed gorgeousness inside...*drooling now*...

And the swatch in natural light

So what can I say about this lipstick?  First impression after admiring its chicness is the sheer weight of the packaging.  According to the box this weighs .10oz/3g but it's weighted so substantially in the lid and the lipstick bullet itself that it seems to weigh a ton (as you'd expect with an expensive lipstick).  Of course the lid also snaps or clicks resoundingly into place (another sign of a prestige lipstick). 

And the product itself?  The formula is lovely and glides on - very velvety and creamy, quite heavily pigmented and doesn't bleed.  Although fragrance is on the ingredient list there is no detectable lipsticky smell or taste either.  The list of ingredients in this lipstick is so long that it takes up two full sides of the packaging.  The ingredients include:  castor seed oil, lanolin oil, wheatgerm extract, soybean seed extract, and shea butter. 

What's the colour range like?  There are 12 colours in the range from pale pinks and nudes, going down the colour spectrum to deep plums.

Would I buy this again?  Sure, at least for my next birthday or any other special occasion I can dream up ;)

Australian readers can purchase Tom Ford Lip Colors from David Jones stores.

That's all for now.

Vita :)

NOTD: China Glaze - Draped in Velvet

Hi!

 

 

Draped in Velvet is a beautiful blue based purple shade from China Glaze's We Adorn You collection.  While I really liked how this colour looked in the bottle, it blew me away when I saw it on the nail!  This is a gorgeous multidimensional purple with a blue and pink sparkly micro-shimmer throughout. Draped in Velvet has got to take top ranking in my purple collection.  It's luxuriously stunning!

These pictures were all taken outdoors:

 

 

 

China Glaze, you've done it again!

 

Until my next post.

 

Vita :)

Haul post: Natio goodies + gift with purchase

Hello again and a happy Monday to you :)

Here's a little purchase I made at David Jones in the city last week for a pre-birthday treat.

I'd had my eye on this Natio palette for a little while, and at $24.95 AUD I thought it was pretty good value for money and within my budget. As part of its new Berry Beautiful colour collection Natio has two different colour palettes to choose from, Soft Berry and Deep Berry. These palettes contain three complimentary eyeshadows, two lip glows, a mineral lipgloss, bronzer, an enhancer/blush and three makeup applicators. I selected Soft Berry because it will work for every day wear and I'll get more mileage out of it:

Whilst I was comparing the palettes I noticed a gift with purchase available with any Natio purchase over $38, so I selected this lipstick (also part of the new colour collection) in Baby Berry for $15.95. This lipstick looks quite dark in the tube but is actually a very sheer berry on the lips:

Gift with Purchase - This cosmetic bag filled with lots of goodies...

L - R from back row:

Intensive Moisturising Night Cream (20ml)

Ageless Cleansing Milk (30ml)

Glow Skin Brightening Face Balm (50g)

Wellness Hand Cream SPF 15 (100ml)

Mineral Eyeshadow Trio Subtle Glamour (3g)

Eye Contour Treatment Gel (10ml)

Nail Colour (Brandy)

This gift with purchase is available at David Jones Australia stores currently while stocks last.

Until next time.

Vita :)

OPI Silver Shatter + For Audrey = Fail!

Note to self:  Do NOT apply Silver Shatter with a heavy hand if you want to see lots of cracks!

See Example 1:  This was Silver Shatter over China Glaze's For Audrey and it should have looked gorgeous.  Unfortunately I felt like I'd spoiled a perfectly good manicure.  10 points for the colour combo idea, 4 points for execution:

Thumb close-up because

 this almost worked

Now for the rest:

Shade

Lamplight

Natural light indoors

Now for the utter disaster!!!  This should be Example 1 because I did this as the first mani last night.  I used OPI on Collins Ave, a hot orange/red as the base shade.  This just did not work at all.  It looked a little like my nails were bleeding and I took it off straight after I photographed it for posterity (and a laugh)...

I haven't given up yet.  I'll reswatch Silver Shatter THINLY over For Audrey to see if that looks how it does in my imagination.  The silver & duck egg blue combo should be lovely if I can get it to actually work.

I hope all mums who are celebrating are enjoying their Mother's Day today!  I had warm croissants with jam brought up for breakfast in bed this morning and the Husband is cooking a special dinner tonight - Lovely :)

Until next time.

Vita :)