A-England Lady of the Lake swatch and Autumnal nailart

Autumn is coming! Yay!  And with that comes the darker colours, which I don't wear haha...

However having said that, I do go slightly darker, and incorporate those vampy colours in my nailart rather than painting them as full nails.

So for my first "less than summery" mani of the season, I decided to use A-Englands Lady of the Lake.  It is from their Mythicals Collection, and of course because I live in the lovely Lake District, how could I resist?  I'm surprised I haven't reviewed this before now, as I've had it quite some time, and I have worn it a few times too, strange...

Well never mind, here it is now.  No sunshine, and I did struggle with shadows in my photos today, but that can't be helped.  Here it is outside:

The formula was ok, a bit thicker than I'm used to, but it lay down to a nice smooth finish.  Because of this, the coats I used were quite thick, so dry time was just medium.  It felt like it would be quite a fast drying polish if I thinned it a bit, but I wasn't in any rush, so I just waited for it to dry.  The brush was co-operative, quite soft, but just right for the formula of the polish.  I didn't need to clean up round my cuticles and as you can see the cuticle line is quite nice and even.

The silver sparkles you see here in the daylight are actually small holographic particles, but out of direct sun they're quite hard to see.  I find this with alot of scattered holos, and it's the reason I usually prefer linear holos for that 'bam' of holo goodness.  However, scattered holos do have their place, and are much more appropriate for places like work, where you can still angle your nails and enjoy them without them being too much in peoples faces.  Also they can be seen as a bit more grown up, but hey, you're as young as you feel that's what I say.  There shouldn't be age restrictions on what polish you can wear no-sirree!

So here it is under the kitchen lights, captured as best I could:

So then I had to decide what nailart to put over this lovely purple.  There was only one colour that came to mind, which I have used it before in THIS post, and that was Estee Lauders Pure Colour polish in Smashed.

So now I had my combo, what design to do?  Well, I was at a bit of a loss.  So I had a google about and I found one that was perfect on Polish You Pretty and I had to give it a try.  Here's the LINK to their tutorial, totally different colours than mine, but I followed the tut pretty much brush for brush.

I used the polish straight from the brush in the bottle to apply half moons of Smashed on my nails:

And then on their tutorial, they use a contrasting colour to make dots.  Well, I wasn't sure what colour to use, and while I was deciding, my lovely childhood bestie got in touch.  Her favourite colour is turquoise, and that also goes well with purple, so there we go, decision made!

So, as per the tutorial, I dotted around where the two colours meet, and this is what I got:

The turquoise I used is Maybelline Express Finish in Turquoise Lagoon.  I've used it in the past on my sunflower nailart tutorial HERE as a base, but not as an accent until now.  I topped it all off with a coat of Seche.

Here's another pic:

The dots on my other hand (which I did first) were larger, and I don't think they look as good, so I do recommend using a smaller dotter, or a toothpick, if you're going to have a go at this look:

I did then make an effort to capture the holo of Lady of the Lake, and lovely glittery depth of the juicy blackberry colour of Smashed.  I didn't like Smashed as a full nail colour, it's a jelly-like finish, and as such I couldn't get it as opaque as I liked, but I love it layered like this.

Here's the close up:

Pretty hey?  Even still I'm frustrated at not being able to capture the sparkliness, but it's close!

Here's the super-closeup:

Hooray!  At last I showed the holo!  I know that Adina, who produces A-England polish, does so with alot of care and attention, and I really wanted to show its true beauty.  Admirably for the creator of a thriving company, she is still taking a hands-on approach with both her customer service and product feedback, and it really shows.

I bought Lady of the Lake from the A-England website LINK which currently only ships to the UK due to Royal Mail postage restrictions, but if you're international you can still order HERE to get your lovely A-England.

As much as I'll miss summer and its long lazy days, I'm happy to see Autumn arrive.  It's my favourite season, with its vibrant colours and crisp mornings.  I'm chosing to ignore the thought of dull rainy days for now!

Are you an Autumn lover like me?

Thanks for reading, and until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

Striped Nailart Feat. Estee Lauder Smashed and Pretty Jelly Grape Escape

Hi everyone, happy Monday

I hope you're all well, and that you've had a fab weekend.  I've had my first day back to work today after my week off, shock to my system!

Still, I do feel all nicely refreshed, and I had a lovely time in Torquay.  I think once is enough though, there was quite a bit to do, but it was all driving distance rather than walking distance, and Torquay is hilly!  I didn't feel like I'd missed any gym time that's for sure.

The weather was so-so, we had some sunny/showery days, and a couple of miserable days.  I still managed to get sunburned on the Dartmouth ferry crossing, but only on my face because I was all wrapped up in my coat, as it was freezing.  It wasn't even a sunny day, I've been told since that if you're going on the ocean to always wear extra sun protection, as even when it's cloudy the suns rays bounce back off the water and you get twice as many rays.  Live and learn.  Well, I do anyway.

Anyway, the break has done me the power of good, and I'm back and raring to go.  The mani I'm sharing with you today was actually done before I went away, but I ran out of time to write up the post.  Usually when this happens, I lose the love for the mani, and end up not writing the post.  But this one came out so awesomely I'm eager to share.  Check out this little beauty:

I took ALOT of pictures of this, but you'll be glad to hear I whittled it down to just my favourites.  Funny enough, this Estee Lauder purple polish is one I loved when I first tried it, then never really bonded with it.  I reviewed it originally (here) and that's actually the only time I wore it.  I don't wear many darks anyway, and being a three-coater, it's never going to climb high up my pile.  That sounds wrong haha.

However, during some recent experimentations, I've discovered that its slight sheer-ness makes it ideal for doing layered stripey looks like this. 

The base for this mani is my awesome bottle of Pretty Jelly Grape Escape, which I loooooovvveee:

You can just see on my thumb the holo loveliness peeking through.  In real life this is super-holo, and a fab formula.  I reviewed it in full (here) where you can see the full holo in the sunshine, and fall in love with it like I did haha.

Happy news is that the plan is for some Pretty Jelly polishes to be available to buy internationally outside of the US via http://meimeisignatures.com/ and you'll know when this happens as I'll have new polishes to show you.  Thanks to the beautiful and talented Amy at Gotham Polish for the heads up!

Then I used striping tape to mask off my nails, and then applied the Estee Lauder.  Here's another pic, I tried to capture the holo at the same time as catching the flecks in the Estee Lauder:

I loved this so much I kept it on for the best part of a week, until some chipping made me take it off, and I wasn't bored of it, always a good sign!

Here's one last pic, in the sunshine this time:

Pretty Jelly polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and can be bought (if you're in the US) (here) at $10 each for the large size and $5 for the small size.

You can get the Estee Lauder polish from Boots (here) like I did, it's now £14.50.  Not cruelty free sadly.

I think this has given me new hope in my too-large collection of sheer polishes.  At some point, I will separate them from the lovely opaque 2-coat polishes that I love, and put them in their own section to be used for things like this, and sponged gradients.

What do you think, is this a look you would try? 

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Estee Lauder Pure Colour - Smashed - Review & Swatches

Hi again!

I was in Boots today looking for a lipgloss, and I got talking to the Estee Lauder woman.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some random blingy-ness, which turned out to be a range of their polishes I hadn't seen before.  This one caught my eye:

Well, I had a base coat already on my nails (I always go shopping with base coat on in case I want to try some), so I tried a few out.  They weren't all as brill as I thought they would be.  These are all just one coat:

The purple on my thumb I especially didn't like, it managed somehow to give me pink-finger when it wasn't even a red!  But the purple that had caught my eye in the first place still had potential, so I bought it.  It cost me £14.50:

It's worth bearing this very pretty packaging in mind, as it means it would make a brill xmas present which would be very easy to wrap indeed!

So lets get on to the swatches, I took quite a few pictures.  These are all 2 coats with no top coat.  I wish I'd done one more coat really.  Formulation was quite thin and workable and highly pigmented.  I found the brush ever so slightly too bendy.  It's a little bit self deleting if you go over the same spot too many times.

First one's at the window:

Next we have under the craft (l.e.d.) lighting:

Next we have under the kitchen lights:

And then, the obligatory bottle shot, which I took while I was in the window:

I'm starting to wonder if I should put a watermark on my pictures, what do you think, is picture theft a big problem these days?  Anyway, I digress.....

All in all, I loved this, the pink microglitter showed up even in low light, and under most lighting it looked like a blackberry colour foil.  I don't own anything like this, and although I don't wear dark colours alot I think this will be this winters party colour for me!  What do you think of it?

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Lotions, Potions & Perfumes

Hits, Misses & Maybes

So, for this weeks blog, which has turned out MUCH longer than I thought it was going to, I thought I would share with you some of the items in my beauty arsenal that you might be interested in seeing.  As we're going from spring to summer, some of my heavier duty products are starting to take a back seat, and the lighter more summery stuff is coming back into use.  Also am starting to think about legs and feet coming out to play, so they're getting a bit of TLC now too, after a winter of neglect (sorry feet!).

So, the first section is Desert Island Heroes.  Obviously my first choice would have to be Ray Mears, for so many, many, reasons...... BUT! He doesn't really fit in with the theme of this weeks blog, so on to the first lot of goodies...

From left to right:

Estee Lauder perfume Youth Dew - I love this! I wear it pretty much every day, its spicy and sexy, a bit floral, and it's easy to put a bit on for daytime without overpowering a room.  In my opinion, day time perfume should just be the right amount of smell so that if someone stands close to you they say 'you smell nice', but otherwise not really noticeable.  I can't stand it when someone walks past me and nearly knocks me out with their perfume!  As you see I have the body lotion there too.  I'm a sucker for buying lots of stuff in the same range if I find something I like.

Decleor Experience De L'Age rich face cream - another must have, and another product I use every day, but this is one I hate buying as it's so expensive!  Am not surprised it has 'rich' in it's name, because you'd have to be to buy the big pot!  I got this little selection from Ebay for about £15, which is a bargain.  Not hugely blown away by Aromessence Iris, but will still use it until its gone as I did with the Tonilastil Oil from the same range.

Zovirax Cold Sore Cream - speaks for itself really, does the job if you catch the tingle fast enough.  If you catch it a bit late you can still avert the worst of the attack.  Have tried all kinds of chemist own brands, and for me, this really does work better than the rest.

Liz Earle Eyebright Lotion - fabulous for dry or tired eyes.  You pop it on a couple of cotton pads, and put those on your eyes.  Lie back for 10 mins and daydream (about Ray Mears, but maybe thats just me haha), and when you take the cotton pads off you'll have bright sparkling eyes!  I keep this on my bedside table so its always to hand.  It's supposed to reduce puffiness too, but so far have been lucky and don't have a problem with that, so can't tell you if it works.  Also in a Liz Earle vein, her muslin cloths are brill.

Boots Sparkling Eyes eye drops - I bought these because I've been using Bare Minerals powder foundation, and despite the fact that I love the coverage and ease of use, I found it was getting in my eyes and irritating them.  No point having lovely skin if your eyes look like you've been up drinking all night!  So I apply the powder, and my eyeliner, then I pop the eyedrops in to wash out any powder that might have got in there, and this seems to be working for me. No more red eyes!  There were two in Boots side by side and I bought this one as it has a blue colour in to make your eyes look whiter.

Dove Beauty Finish Deodorant - smells nice and seems to reduce shaving dryness

Burts Bees Lemon Cuticle Balm - loving the smell of this, and love anything to do with Bees so a double winner!  Have only had it a week or so, so can't give proper verdict on results, but have used it alot without hardly anything missing from the pot, and have noticed a possible positive change in cuticles.  My cuticles are super-stubborn and am having a problem with dermatitis on my hands (which I always get when the sun comes out), so its not fair to give it judgement right now.  Will save judging for another day, but it made it into this pic so must have something going for it!

Next section - thumbs up - ther things I like, but could leave at home if I only had a tiny baggage allowance.... will try not to rattle on too long about these ones

Decleor Prolagene Gel - I use this as a barrier between my moisturiser and my powder foundation.  I do have the Bare Minerals primer, but it makes my hands too slippy to open the pots.  Can't do with faffing about when I'm getting ready for work so this works for me.

Jessica Phenomen Oil - working well on my dermatitis, supposed to be good for nails but not seen a big difference

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish - good for getting off make up with the minimum of fuss after a night out, love how it takes off even waterproof mascara

Vanderbilt eau de toilette - lovely for when the day is too sunny for Youth Dew and I want to smell summery, somehow smells cheerful - once again note how I can't just buy ONE thing out of the range, tut at myself

Gliss Corimist spray - makes your hair smell nice & makes it shiny - have been using it for years and never found a shine spray that I like better

Flexitol Cuticle Cream - once again, the big cuticle problem - this one actually definitely made my cuticles better, but I don't like how sticky it feels - I may buy more though when this tube runs out

Boots Softening Foot Balm - it does work to soften feet but I didn't get the drastic results I wanted when I slathered it on & went to bed in cotton socks

Ojon hair treatment - got this from QVC when they had it on special offer P&P free, it did make my permed hair less frizzy but wasn't as amazing as they claimed - I will use it all but probably not repurchase

Next up - things I'm not that keen on - thumbs down products!

John Frieda Frizz Ease - I so want to like this, I do have frizzy hair and would love to tame it... being a naturally optimistic person I keep buying different Frizz Ease products, and have never yet found one that makes me completely frizz free

Tigi Rockaholic Born to Rock detangler & defrizzer - this one actually did detangle & defrizz a bit, but I HATE the smell! Kind of like apples or grapes that are going bad

Batiste dry shampoo - really wanted to like this too, used it a couple of times when my fringe was greasy but the rest of my hair was ok.... my hair felt dirty afterwards, and by lunchtime my fringe was just as bad (if not worse) than it had been in the morning when I applied it

How funny that 3 of my 4 thumbs down products are hair ones!

Last but not least in the disappointment stakes is Elemis Pro-Collagen Radiantly Smooth Body Cream.  This was a Christmas present and I was chuffed to bits when I got it, but its got so many shimmery gold bits in it, it almost makes it unusable!  Lets say you put some of this cream on your arms, ta-daa! they're all nice n shimmery, then you have to immediately go and wash your hands or you will get shimmery gold glitter EVERYWHERE!!!  And even then, it doesn't all come off your hands, and it will eventually make its way to your nose where it will distract you all day.... sigh.... rant over...

One bonus thumbs down not pictured, because I threw it away, is Benefits Dr Feelgood Balm - it didn't do anything, it was expensive, and any bit of fluff in the atmosphere would stick to the sponge - yuk!

Soooooooo there we have it, my favourite and not-so-favourite lotions & potions, what do you think?  What's your number one must have, and number one thumbs down?

On closing, I will wish you all a happy Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday (if you get it), and show you the nail art I did to celebrate it!  The base colour is Orly Lollipop, then a coat of Nails Inc Electric Lane holographic glitter, then I drew the bunting with Color Club nail art polish, and a top coat of Seche Vite, all done!  I tried a few different colour combo's but this was my favourite:

Until next week, take care and whatever you do, have fun!

- MASPOOASE x x x