Rimmel Super Gel Colour review: Rock N Roll

*Rimmel is not listed as a cruelty free brand*

Now for the first nail post of 2016 and it's a product which was sent to me for review.  Rimmel have finally launched their own patented two-step gel nail "system" which comprises a Super Gel nail colour and Super Gel Top Coat.

It's as simple as applying 1 or 2 coats of the Super Gel colour, followed by the Super Gel topcoat to activate curing without the need for a UV lamp.  Rimmel says this should provide "up to 14 days of gel colour and shine" with easy removal using your usual nail polish remover.

My impressions:

Now for whatever silly reason the "two-step" method went over my head and - obviously on autopilot the first time I tried these polishes - I applied a base coat as I normally do.  My finished manicure bubbled so horribly I had to remove it -  take it from me and DON'T USE A BASE COAT!  The second time was a lot more successful as I stuck to the script, applying two coats of colour followed by the Super Gel topcoat.  I had no issues at all once I did as I was told!  Application of both colour and topcoat were smooth and even and the result was a super glassy finish.  The shade I received, Rock N Roll, isn't unique but is a gorgeously classic red cream and I enjoyed wearing it.  Unfortunately I can't report that this manicure had exceptional lasting power and I started noticing chips at around day 4, which is what I get with most manicures.  Removal was as easy as they say and the polish dissolved away easily with my favourite remover. Now for some pictures...

Full sun:

Indirect daylight:

The Super Gel Colour range offers 15 shades and is available from Priceline stores and pharmacies nationally.  

Until next time.

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

A classic Essie red: Fifth Avenue

The one thing I didn't mention in my last post was my manicure.  Dressing up as a 1940's dame for an evening meant that my mani had to be era appropriate too - and that means bright red - so I set about hunting/rummaging/ransacking through my collection and came up with Essie's Fifth Avenue as my perfect choice...

My mini sized bottle was one of a trio of Essie favourites in their Color Icons set that I snapped up a few months ago.  Fifth Avenue was "born in 2003" and has apparently thrived in Essie's lineup since! This polish is a classic orange-red cream with a high shine finish and the application has to be the best I've experienced with an Essie polish - perfectly smooth and not too thick (and goopy) or too thin (and watery) so it was very easy to control.  Though not really needed, I added my habitual quick drying top coat to get me out the door and on the way to the party with no mishaps.

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

Until next time!

Vintage OPI: Guy Meets Gal-veston

Why or why didn't I realize how good jelly polishes were when they were everywhere??? Now they're so hard to find...

Oh well at least I have one or two in my collection from back when they were popular so I didn't turn my back on the trend altogether although it's taken me all this time to realize what the fuss was about.  I bought OPI's Guy Meets Gal-veston back in 2011 from their Texas collection and here I am enjoying it 4 years later.  GMG is a vibrant coral jelly and just the thing for the transition into warmer, brighter days.  I applied two coats and added a top coat for an even more juicy jelly finish - you might barely make out the visible white tips of the very edges of my nails so these pictures aren't a dead giveaway that I'm wearing a jelly but...Oh. My. Goodness...This was so gorgeously squishy looking in real life!  Honestly I should stop gushing because this damn polish is only available from Amazon etc these days...

Full sun

Indirect daylight

Did you ever get into the jelly trend?

Fuso Nail Enamel: Number 56

Hello and here I am back again from my mini-break!

I've been playing more with indoor lighting for my nail swatches and sometimes it just doesn't work but sometimes it works splendidly, especially when showcasing glitters and shimmers in their true glory - case in point is this budget nail polish from Fuso.  

Fuso is a brand I came across in Singapore a few years ago and this polish, simply called 56 is a vampilicious stunner.  It's a deep black-red jelly with tiny bits of glitter swimming about, giving it that little bit of extra dimension and considering this is a jelly it offered completely opaque coverage in two coats. This wore really well too and I loved it so much it ended up on my toes for my vacation pedi!

I'm tempted to keep taking my swatch pictures this way but what are your thoughts on these indoor-lit pictures?

The hunt for the perfect brown-red lipstick (shopping my stash)

Here's a fun post for Hump Day!

So, I alluded to my change of hair colour in my last post and how it's influenced my taste in other things - namely makeup! It's amazing (pretty logical really) how a new hair colour can get you out of a makeup rut.  Taking advantage of that brief window before the red tint fades from my lightened hair - as it inevitably does and is already - I'm suddenly all about wearing complimentary warmer shades of lipstick and that had me zeroing in on brown-red.

My knee-jerk reaction was to go out and buy a new tube of lippy (Great excuse right?) but I've done the sensible thing first - this time - and gone on a treasure hunt in my lipstick collection to see what I have in brown-red.  Brown-red...is that Pantone's Marsala?? Hmmm...  Before I let myself muse any more on that point, here are the three lipsticks I came up with...
  
L - R: 
MAC - Dubonnet, Natio - Flame, Revlon - Wine With Everything

• MAC Dubonnet was the first lipstick I specifically dove into my collection for, as this Amplified formula lipstick is almost the colour of dried blood.  It definitely leans more to red but has the hint of brown to give it the warmth I'm looking for. This lipstick is by far the deepest shade in this trio and with its rich pigment and slight sheen it makes for a strong statement lip.  My only issue with this lipstick is because it's so dramatic and not a matte it requires more care to ensure it doesn't end up everywhere but on my lips when drinking and eating!

• Natio Flame is a shade lighter and brighter than Dubonnet and sits more in the middle of red and brown so is the true brown-red.  This shade looks like terracotta on my lips and has more of a low maintenance semi-matte finish.  This is the newest of the three lipsticks, which I bought on an unsuspecting whim a few months ago and is my favourite of the bunch because it is exactly what I was looking for in terms of colour and finish for a daytime lipstick. Success!

• Revlon Wine With Everything is an old tube (as you can see by the outdated packaging above) but this colour is a Revlon classic and still available in their core range of Super Lustrous lipsticks. This leans more towards the cooler end of the red spectrum as a plummier red, so kind of misses the brown-red mark although it still flatters strawberry-blonde hair, and is an appropriately classic rediscovery for a winter lip.

The swatches (top to bottom in the same order as above):

Besides having obvious fun playing in my own little makeup pit, the end result of this exercise were the realisations that:

I actually do have the perfect brown-red lipstick in my collection;
I don't need to go lipstick shopping after all;
I've embraced Pantone's colour of the year....maybe???
My own stash is the first place to shop!

When did you last shop your own makeup collection?

Covergirl: Inferno

I changed my hair colour a week ago and now that it's a warmer, strawberry blonde I've been inspired to go with warmer shades all round!

I bought Covergirl's Inferno from a Walgreen's store in Hawaii as I hadn't seen this polish colour available in Australia (my research has since informed this was from the LE Capitol Collection released in 2013) and Covergirl do some of the most amazing flecked polishes.  This polish lived up to the promise in the bottle with a fiery mix of gold flecks peeking through the deep red base and full coverage was easily achieved in 2 coats.  The obligatory top coat provided a glassier shine to seal it off.  Even a gloomy winter's day couldn't hide dull the fiery glow of this one...

I think this shade will be staying in my collection for the long haul because it's so unique.

Until next time!

My (eclectic) MAC lipstick collection...

This post has been sitting around patiently, waiting to be written for so long that I've literally finished one of my MAC lipsticks in the meantime!  It's just that combination of being busy, feeling obliged to do PR posts first (beauty blogger problems clearly!) AND suffering three internet outages in as many weeks, but now I finally have that window of opportunity to do one of my just for fun posts. 

 

Let me open up my MAC lipstick wardrobe and share - I love reading other people's lipstick posts (lipstick is my other obsession besides nails) so this was definitely fun to do!  It did actually serve another, "practical" purpose too because I was well and truly ready for a Back 2 MAC lipstick so I wanted to do a bit of a colour inventory first and see where the gap is in my own collection.  Read on and you shall see!

 

Reds

I'll start with classic reds because that's where my MAC obsession started all those years ago - as you might have spotted in the picture one of these is very old too (original packaging!) but I've been keeping it for sentimental value and because it - amazingly - hasn't gone bad otherwise it would be going Back 2 MAC for sure! I'm going to list everything throughout the post from left to right so here we go...

• Lady Danger (Matte) - Described by MAC as a vivid bright coral-red.  I've been fixated with orangey reds over the past year and this was my most recent addition to my MAC family by way of Back 2 MAC actually! It's screechingly bright to the point I have to be feeling confident to wear it but it adds confidence once it's on so it's worth that first step.  While some of my MAC matte lipsticks are dry and apply with a lot of dragging across the lips Lady Danger positively glides on in one swipe.

• RiRi Woo (Matte) - Matte cool red with a retro matte finish.  Now this one literally is a drag unfortunately so it needs the help of balm to get it onto my lips without tearing them up. I love the blue red but it doesn't love me back.  I've hung onto this lipstick mostly because of the rose gold limited edition packaging.

• Russian Red (Matte) - I'm not sure what the official shade description is but to me this is probably the truest red lipstick in my entire lipstick collection! It's obviously old judging by the packaging and I've only worn it a couple of times a year on average because again it's a serious red and unfortunately that powdery matte formula dries out my lips.

• Dubonnet (Amplified) - The deepest red in my MAC collection and my favourite of the four.  This is brownish slightly vampy red which adds impact in a more toned down way than my brighter shades.  Being a fan of the Amplified formula I love how this piles on the colour in a single swipe and has a slight creamy sheen. Best of all it's the one red which doesn't dry out my lips! Without sounding depressing Dubonnet is the perfect austere red for autumn and winter in Melbourne when I wear my black clothes in all their glory.

 

Now for some rather messy swatches in the same order as above!

Nudes

One of these nudes has literally been worn to death since I took these pictures because I loved it to death...

• Peach Blossom (Cremesheen) - A soft pink-nude with a shiny finish.  I've been enjoying this as my nude of choice over the summer because it's a swipe and go kind of colour.  Cremesheens are up there as being one of my favourite finishes in the MAC family for their shiny formula but for one significant drawback:  a lot of mine have snapped at the stub.

• Modesty (Cremesheen) - This was the nude lipstick I loved to death and finished off.  The mauve-nude tone perfectly emulated and embellished my natural lip colour so it was the 'my lips but better' lipstick of choice and I can definitely see it being repurchased.  Despite being a Cremesheen the bullet held fast without snapping so that's another reason it was/is a favourite. 

• Brave (Satin) - This is the 'other' Modesty if you like as it has a very similar, ever so slightly more mauve nude tone and is my current MLBB choice.  Being a satin it can look a bit flat and lifeless on my lips worn on its own so I prefer to top it with a bit of gloss. I've just been reading this is one of the shades for the Kylie Jenner lip if you're into that look although I bought this lipstick a couple of years before the craze.  Apparently I was ahead of the trend!

• Plastique (Frost) - Caramel frost.  I bought this one more than a couple of years ago and it only comes out to play as a topper these days because it's just a little too beigey on its own.  I'm considering putting this lipstick in my Back 2 MAC pile.

 

The swatches:



 Pink & Purples

 

This is a bit of a motley grouping of colours but close enough for me...

 

• Impassioned (Amplified) - Described by MAC as a bright warm pink this - HOT coral pink in my words - is the most screamingly bright MAC lipstick in my collection hands down!!!  I jumped on the bandwagon with this one when it felt like everyone was raving about it.  Honestly whenever I wear this statement shade my lips enter the room before I do! I really need to pluck up every ounce of courage to put it on - although right now I can feel my little inner voice daring me to again!

• Up The Amp (Amplified) - The official description for this shade is lavender violet - a pinkish purple!  I don't shy away from purple because it works with my complexion, whitens my teeth and it's an unexpected alternative to pink.  I've worn this lippy a lot but because the Amplified formula is a one-swipe wonder and super pigmented it's going to take forever to wear down the stub.

• Rebel (Satin) - This scary looking bullet wears as a bright pink plum on my lips and this is my favourite MAC lipstick shade of all time and the first MAC lipstick I have repurchased.  I love how this shade can be built up from a sheer raspberry to a deeply vibrant colour depending on my mood.  I opt for this in the cooler months as an alternative to dark red but I can also get away with it as an unexpected summer evening lipstick choice when I want to wear a statement lip.

 

And the vibrant swatches!





 

 ****************************

 

After going through all the lipstick shades in my collection I realised there was indeed a gap and I needed a soft pink lipstick to fill it.  My selection when I finally did go the MAC counter?  Angel!

 

What's your favourite MAC lipstick shade?



My Valentines Day manicure (featuring FABY Innocent Fantasy and Valentina's Day)

Hello beauties!

I've come back up for air after another hectic few days around here so I'm posting my Valentine's Day manicure a few days after the fact. To those who celebrated, I hope you had a good one! We had a crazy busy weekend and hubs and I actually went out for Valentines dinner the following evening, which is a deliberate way of celebrating our way on our own (slightly "rebellious") terms.  Every day is potentially Valentines Day right? Okay at least I did find the time for an appropriately themed manicure...

 

I received a duo set of nail lacquers from Italian brand FABY in Valentine shades just in time for my speedy manicure - and I even managed some simple nail art this year! The brand is new to me so I've grabbed some info from their Australian site:  Originally launching in Milan Italy early in 2013 FABY have recently arrived in Australia. The lacquer shades are styled and designed, "...working in partnership with Milan’s leading garment houses who design and produce all the exquisite fabrics and textures for the world’s more recognised fashion labels; including Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo and Fendi."  The lacquers are 5 Free so don't contain DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin or Camphor.

For my manicure I was going to keep it simple and stick with one colour so I applied two coats of the baby pink Innocent Fantasy for an understated look.  Application was smooth and easy to control with the medium sized brush and despite being a pastel this polish gave excellent opaque coverage.  I applied top coat as I was going to stop here...

Innocent Fantasy

...but the next morning I was inspired to take it just a little further with a little bit of simple nail art.  I cut a heart shape out of some tape to make a stencil and filled in my accent nail with a single coat of the pink toned red Valentina's Day...

Again I found the polish formula to be that smooth consistency, being neither too thick nor too watery so it was easy to get a controlled result.  I wore this manicure for two days so I can't comment on wear time but I have another colour to try for a weekday manicure so I'll put that to the test soon.

FABY nail lacquers come in a range of 205 shades and are priced at $19.90AUD. They are available from leading salons or the FABY website here.


(These products were provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)




OPI Fifty Shades of Grey collection: Romantically Involved

The last shade I've received from OPI's Fifty Shades of Grey collection is a...RED!

 

Romantically Involved is a classic blood red cream polish, deep enough to avoid being garish and skirting just on the edge of vamp - this is a sophisticated, 'don't mess with me' kind of red if you know what I mean. In terms of application this polish definitely needed two coats for opaque coverage but the end result was perfect gorgeousness and I'm in no hurry to remove this colour from my nails.  These swatches are two coats finished with a quick dry top coat.

Shade

 

 

Sun

 

 

I think I may just put Romantically Involved on my tootsies too because this is one seriously sexy red polish!

 

 

 

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Orly: Red Carpet

I'm still playing catch up around here so that will explain why I'm posting my Christmas Day manicure in the middle of January!
 

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas beauty and so I'd always planned to go with a red (or gold, or green!) polish.  Red Carpet is one of the Orly polishes I chose at the Salon Melbourne event last year and it's a cherry red jelly with a subtle glitter sparkle. I'll tell you right now these pictures will not do justice to this little gem because it actually sparkles madly in the right light! This is two coats, finished with a single coat of top coat.

 

Sun:

 

 

Shade:

What did you choose for your Christmas mani?



Revitanail Triple Strength: Pomegranate

Revitanail is a local brand best known for their nail treatments - Revitanail's Nail Strengthener is their version of OPI's Nail Envy - but they also have a small range of Triple Strength nail colours in classic everyday shades.  I received one of them, Pomegranate, in a gift box last year and finally got around to trying it out a few weeks ago when I was digging around for a bright spring red. 

  

I was in the mood to do a bit of research on the Triple Strength line and true to Revitanail's emphasis on nailcare their colour polishes contain ingredients such as bamboo "to improve flexibility and strength", and calcium "for protection and growth". Sounds good so far and then they say the polish  "features a quick-dry gloss finish and streak–free smooth application...". 

I obviously had high hopes for this polish but ended up a little underwhelmed by all but the colour.  Pomegranate was exactly the colour I was looking for and I loved the vibrant pink/red but the application was average because of the thick formula and unfortunately the wear time was less than average, as despite wearing base and topcoat I experienced chipping after a few days.  Oh well, let's just admire the colour shall we?
 

Sun

 

 

Shade

 

Have you tried this line of polish?

 



OPI: Vodka & Caviar

Because I'm not doing quite as many nail polish posts these days I'm trying to mix it up so you don't just get the same shades over and over - like purple and more purple if I had my way...

 

Not true! I do get different colour cravings and I decided last week was a red week so I went hunting for one of the few classic red creams I have in my collection.  Vodka & Caviar is one of those classic OPI reds from their Russian Collection released years ago and it's a slightly translucent jelly so the finish is something a little special.  The formula was the perfect consistency to maintain control without any flooding or streaking so two coats applied super smoothly and the precision cut brush always helps too. Unfortunately I've found out this particular red has been discontinued - I know I'll be hanging onto it now!

All pictures taken in indirect daylight

 

 

This actually reminds me of toffee apples :)

 

Until next time!



Rimmel Salon Pro: Hip Hop

Red... 
Now when did I last wear a bright red? Or hot coral? A few months ago when the weather was still warm.  Now winter's finally hit and the weather's cold so why not "warm" myself up with a nice hot colour like Rimmel Hip Hop? 

 

I looked at this in the bottle and thought nice then put it on and went wow! Hip Hop is a very vibrant, glossy pinkish red cream.  The formula and wide brush meant great application in 2 coats and great longevity of wear all week.  Hip Hop's super cheerful and yet seasonally appropriate at the same time.  Somehow red is my biggest cheer me up colour so I really enjoyed wearing this one. 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

 

 What's your go-to cheer up colour?

 

 

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.) 

Scout 5 Free Nail Lacquer: Never Tear Us Apart

Let's just turn the colour dial all the way around from pastel nails shall we?

 

I received Never Tear Us Apart as part of a review package from cruelty free Australian brand Scout Cosmetics and I was drawn to it as a great autumn-winter manicure shade.  For those not familiar with Scout their nail lacquers are 5 free so they don't contain the following nasties:  Formaldehyde, DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor or Parabens.  Further they're 100% Vegan and, obviously, cruelty free. 

The formula of this polish was a little thicker than some, but very smooth and I found it easy to control the placement of colour on my nails without any risk of flooding.  The colour was super pigmented so two coats easily provided totally opaque coverage.  And the colour itself...I love oxblood at this time of year and Never Tear Us Apart is that classic warm oxblood I'm craving in all forms at the moment.  As per usual I finished my mani off with a quick dry topcoat to give it the high gloss lacquer finish. 

Sun:

 Shade:

Scout 5 Free Nail Lacquer is available in 21 shades.  Click here to view the range and purchase from the Scout Cosmetics online store.



(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)