Hi there again,
A happy Sunday to you. I hope you're having a good day. Mine has mainly involved driving round car sales garages looking at cars for other half. He's finally decided which one he wants now and my taxi-ing days will soon be over. It's not been too bad actually because he doesn't work too far from home and it's just meant getting up 15 or 20 minutes earlier so no big deal.
Unfortunately for me, now I've seen a car I want too! Typically it's just slightly outside my budget and they won't budge on the price. I could stretch to it, but am not sure if I should. I know that my current car is getting pretty decrepit, and it's at the stage now where it's going to need some pretty serious money spending on it if I want to keep it, so I'm wondering if I'm just better off putting that money towards this new(er) car instead.... decisions decisions!
The sun has finally put in an appearance today so I can come up with some decent nail swatches. Luckily for me this has coincided with my most bargainous nail find ever! I was in TK Maxx (unsurprisingly) yesterday, and was lamenting again about how they've hardly had any polishes in since Christmas. My TX Maxx was always awesome for polishes, with Nails Inc, Orly, OPI, and Color Club collections all knocking about, and the occasional Leighton Denny in there as well. So, as recently usual there was hardly anything, so I went to the tweezers and brushes section, and was just having a root about, when I realised my nose was nearly touching a plastic wallet with three Nails Inc polishes in. So I had a look and it was priced at £4.99!! Well, of course I had it off that hook quicker than you can say 'bargain'. It must have been marked up wrong as the RRP was £18, and as we all know Nails Incs sell for £11 each.
To be honest, I knew I already owned one of these. That was the light pink Elizabeth Street, because I got that when it was free on the front of Glamour Magazine, and I knew I didn't like it. But hey ho, it's still £4.99 for 2 polishes and the other two were nice. It wasn't until I got them home I thought, hey, they look similar to the two Barry M polishes I bought a couple of weeks ago, and when I came to check, lo and behold, pretty much dupes! So I thought I'd make this a comparison/Barry M swatch fest too. Hence this is a pretty picture heavy post.
So without further ado, let's get on with it. I'll show them in the order I swatched them, so here's Elizabeth Street in sunlight:
This is a pale pink sheer with a pearly shimmer. The first coat was streaky. It strikes me as a very 'there but not there' office appropriate colour which would be good for french manicures. The dry time was medium, and it was self levelling. Still slightly patchy at coat two. Maybe at three I could get away with it VNL-wise, but I didn't try as I know that if it needs three coats I'll never bother with it.
Here's how it looked in the shade:
So, I knew I wouldn't like this, and I don't haha.
Onto the next one, All Saints Road. A vibrant cobalt blue. Here it is in sunshine:
It's the usual nice glossy nails inc formula. With careful application this could be a one coat wonder. I did two coats though for all of these swatches. Dry time was medium/fast. It dries slightly darker than the bottle colour and did require a little bit of clean up.
Here it is in the shade:
A lovely colour, but I realised when I got it home, I already had Barry M Cobalt Blue. So how does it compare? Well let's see:
Almost the same! So let's get it onto my nails and see how it fares, is it still a dupe?
Yep! The Barry M is sliiiiiightly darker, but there's hardly anything in it. As you can see, my index and middle still have the Nails Inc on, and I took it off my ring and little finger to put the Barry M on. Formula wise, Barry M Cobalt Blue has a thinner formula, but similar opacity. A bit more difficult to get neat with one swipe. It has a slower medium-ish drying time. This is 2 coats. Here's a comparison of the brushes:
So which did I prefer? Well I found the Nails Inc slightly easier to apply and a little bit faster drying, so if they were the same price I'd go for the Nails Inc. But seeing as the usual price for a Nails Inc is £11 and the usual price for a Barry M is £2.99 I would definitely recommend the Barry M. Unless of course you got the deal of the week like I did and got your Nails Inc for £1.67 haha.
So, onto the third and final Nails Inc polish I got in my set, Belgrave Place. A royal bluey purple (blurple?). Here's the sunshine swatch (try saying that after a few G&T's!):
It was a thinner than usual formula, but still opaque and could be a one coater. My thumb got bubbles as I'd shaken bottle vigorously, this is not usually an issue with Nails Inc because of the thicker formula. In some lights it looks inky blue, and in other lights it looks like a rich purple. The dry time was medium/medium-fast. a lovely glossy finish, but it did stain my cuticles on removal. Here's a shade pic:
So, when I was getting my Barry M Cobalt Blue out of my stash, I came across a dupe for this one as well! Barry M Indigo. Here's the bottles side by side:
Pretty similar right? Here they are on my nail. Again I took the Nails Inc off my ring and little finger and put the Barry M on. In sunshine:
And shade:
The Barry M was a slightly less opaque formula, and I got some bubbling on my little finger. Indigo is faster drying than Cobalt, med/fast dry time with a whisper of VNL at two coats. Colour wise it's virtually a spot on dupe. So which do I prefer? There's so little to choose between them, that again I would recommend the Barry M purely on price.
Here's the brushes:
And there we have it! One swatchathon done and dusted. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Whats been your best nail polish bargain? Have you done a post on it? Post a link to it in the comments if you have, would love to see!
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
Hi everyone!
Happy Friday!
Today I have a slightly different post for you all. It's not really a review, but a run down of my recent purchase from QVC. Not long ago they had a 'Todays Special Value' from Liz Earle.
Now, not all QVC's TSV's are especially 'special'. Sometimes they've only knocked a fiver or so off, and sometimes you can still buy the product somewhere else cheaper, although of course you probably won't get the 30 no quibble money back guarantee like you do from QVC. Plus I find their P&P quite expensive. So as you can imagine, I'm not snapping up TSV's all the time.
But this one caught my eye. It came at exactly the right time, as my Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish has just about run out and I was considering getting some more.
I like Cleanse & Polish. I don't use cleanser much, and actually I usually just use a Liz Earle muslin cloth and warm water, no cleaning products at all on my face. However I don't usually wear mascara as my lashes are dark anyway, and thanks to Revitalash they're pretty long too, so I don't feel the need.
So, if I'm going out (which is when I do use mascara, and a waterproof one at that), when I get back I want to get all the make up off my face. That's when I get my C&P out. I can rub it right over my closed eyes and rub at my mascara-y eyelashes, and give then them a rub over with the cloth and warm water, and voila! Nice and clean. No stingy eyes, and no dry skin after.
It came in a plain white box, which was a little bit bashed, but makes it easy to wrap if you're thinking of buying it for someone as a gift. It would make a great valentines gift actually!
There was quite alot in the kit, and it was reasonably priced for this brand (although still pretty expensive really). This is what I got:
Here's a closer view of the big items:
And here's what it says on the blurb -
Step 1 Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser.
Has won over 80 awards, including the QVC Customer Beauty Award for Best Cleanser. Its gentle cleansing power is suitable for all skin types and delivers instantly visible results.
Step 2 Gentle Face Exfoliator.
Our smoothing trouble-shooter for congested skin gently buffs away dead skin cells with fine jojoba beads to reveal skin that looks fresh, smooth and radiant.
Step 3. Choose your treatment mask.
Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask. If your skin is dry or sensitive, our creamy intensive nourishing treatment mask is perfect for soothing parched, stressed and sensitive skin, when it's most needed.
Deep Cleansing Mask. If you have oily or combination skin, our deep cleansing mask can help draw out impurities and leave skin balanced and calm.
Brightening Treatment Mask. Our brightening treatment mask is a fast-acting pick me up which revitalises dull skin.
Here's a pic of the small stuff:
And a bit more blurb:
Step 4. Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spritzer.
Our instant boost skin tonic spritzer refreshes, revitalises and brightens while adding a fine layer of moisture to your skin. Gentle and alchohol free, it contains hydrating aloe vera, soothing calendula, conditioning natural source vitamin E and the heavenly fragrance of rose scented geranium.
Step 5. Superskin Concentrate.
Winner of the QVC Customer Beauty Award for Best Anti-aging Product, Superskin Concentrate is a rich blend of pureplant oils including argan and rosehip, plus aromatic neroli, lavender and chamomile, to soften and rebalance all skin types.
Step 6. Skin repair moisturiser.
Packed with naturally active skin-conditioning ingredients including borage seeds and avocado oils, toning echinacea and hops, plus antioxidants beta-carotene and natural source vitamin E, our three skin repair moisturisers help prevent moisture loss and leave skin feeling soft and smooth.
The booklet also gives you instructions on how to use each product. There are also some accessories. Two muslin cloths, a sponge for removing the face masks, and a hairband, which is supersoft and closed with a velcro fastener:
So for all this, and including the P&P I paid £50.95, which is alot, but I do feel like I got enough products to justify that price.
It is still available on the QVC website at the regular QVC price of £55.00 plus £5.95 P&P HERES the link theres more photos and reviews there too. The item number is 200281 if that link doesn't work for you. As you see, as a TSV I only got £4 off, but hey, that's better than nothing!
So what do you think? Too expensive? Or OK for what I got? Is there anything you'd like to see me review?
I normally wouldn't put up a post like this, because I always think to myself that I'll review all the individual products like some kind of super-blogger, but of course that ends up never happening, and things get ruined or thrown out (for a typical example of this, theres an up and coming Ojon review that perfectly illustrates my point haha), but for sure I will end up reviewing some of them.
As another positive, Liz Earle state on their website that they NEVER test on animals, and that they are completely cruelty free. Also their products are all vegetarian, although some formulas do contain animal-friendly products such as beeswax or manuka honey. Another reason to feel good while you're having a pamper :-)
Anyway, I'd better go, this post has ended up waaay longer than I intended!
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
So, I knew I wouldn't like this, and I don't haha.
