New Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail Polish Review

 

 

When it comes to nail polish there is one brand I turn to who I know will always offer the best colour selection at an incredibly affordable cost. It is of course Barry M. Whenever Barry M launch a new range of polishes to their collection I have to admit I get that bit excited at seeing the new shades they have on offer. After hearing of their latest launch, it is safe to say I got pretty excited.

This time it wasn’t particularly just the shades, there was a winning formula. Introducing the Barry M Speedy Quick Dry range. I am sure you can tell from the name what these polishes are set out to do. As the most impatient person when it comes to nail polish drying these definitely are the best thing Barry M could offer on the table. There is also a broad shade range adored by a range of pretty pastels perfect for Spring.

I popped into Boots not too long ago to pick up some and unfortunately they only had two shades left which came in the form of Road Rage and Full Throttle. Road Rage is a pretty duck egg shaded blue with slight green undertones, a polish that is pretty unique to my collection. A notable feature of the new polishes is the updated brush which is now much thicker meaning it is now much easier to apply polish over the nail. The other shade I picked up is Full Throttle, an apricot like soft orange shade which if I’m honest wasn’t a stand out colour in the collection, I was stuck with it though. However after applying it I have fell in love with this shade, Its such a different but pretty soft tone that will look perfect in spring alongside some fresh white clothing.

The formula is definitely a winner. After applying Full Throttle at the last minute before heading out into town and rushing around non-stop to get ready it definitely lives up to the speedy dry claim. The lasting power of these polishes is also pretty decent. Barry M polishes usually suffer a weakness in the lasting power but these have lasted pretty well on my nails lasting nearly a week with hardly any chipping.

Probably my favourite range from Barry M without a doubt. If you are impatient like me when it comes to nail polish then these deserve a try. Now what shade should I get next?

Are you a fan of Barry M nail polishes?

 

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette: Review/Swatches

Now you may recall seeing the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette in my Christmas wish-list and I’m sure by now looking at this post you can tell that Santa was very good to me this year. This now means that I have completed my collection of the Urban Decay Naked palettes, how exciting! This palette has mainly taupe shades with silvers and greys and like the other two palettes it has a selection of both matte and shimmer shadows. Quite similar to the Naked 3, this palette comes in hard casing packaging and features a full sized mirror along with the usual double ended brush. Again like the other two palettes this retails for £37 but there is always plenty of deals on so keep a look out if you are after one of these beauties.

Like the other palettes, the quality of these shadows is up there *stretches arm as high as possible*, they are so incredibly pigmented and so easy to work with. The shades are perfect and so versatile so this palette is great for going from day to night. The taupe shades are the perfect addition to my collection as I don’t have anything similar and they can work for anyone. Being a shimmer gal, I have swayed my heart towards the sparkly shadows with Verve, Pistol and YDK being just a few favourites. Of course I also have to mention Half Baked which also appears in the original palette and has to be one of my favourite ever eye shadows so having another is pretty beneficial in my eyes!

In comparison to the other palettes, the first one is probably my overall fave just because the colour selection is varied and spot on. I do love this palette and the Naked 3 though and can see myself reaching for this one a lot!

You can check out my previous Naked palette reviews here:

Naked 1 review/swatches

Naked 3 review/swatches

Are you a fan of the Urban Decay Naked palettes? 

 

Autumn Maybelline Colour Tattoos

It’s been a while since I last talked about the Maybelline Colour Tattoos but if you read my previous review post you may recall that I am a huge fan of these gel eyeshadows. Since then I picked up a couple more and my love for them continues to grow. I do apologize for the swatch image, my pictures never really picked up the colour right.

Metallic Pomegranate – This was the main colour I was wanting to purchase, it simply screams autumn. It does look quite daunting in the jar as it is quite dark but when applied its a beautiful purple/pink shimmery shade. Again like the other colour tattoos I have used its very pigmented and lasts really well.

Vintage Plum – While I was there to purchase the Pomegranate shade, I also picked up another fall inspired shade called Vintage Plum. This is a new addition to the range and has a ‘leather effect’ so is more of a matte formula. Today was actually my first day wearing this and I have to admit this probably my least favorite from my collection, I am more of a shimmer person rather than matte but I also felt the shade wasn’t as pigmented as the others and didn’t last as long. However its still a nice fall shade which would work in creating a plum-purple smokey eye.

Are you a fan of the colour tattoos? 

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette: Review/Swatches

You may have seen a few weeks ago I picked up the Urban Decay Naked palette, in which you can see my review here. It was safe to say after a few days of using the naked palette it was love at first sight and of course that meant I needed to get my hands on the other two in the naked collection. While both Naked 2 and Naked 3 looked amazing I was needing a little pink in my life and thought the warm rose tones would be nice for autumn. So.. House of Fraser had a fabulous offer on where you buy any beauty product and you get £10 off one of their favourite products and included in that list was all three naked palettes so I really couldn’t resist in picking up this bundle of a joy at a discounted rate of £27 *pops confetti* after also picking up a lipstick from Mac.

I only got my hands on this beauty yesterday so I haven’t properly used it yet so this is more of my first impressions. The packaging has improved since the original Naked palette a lot, the mirror now takes up the entire side of the palette rather than a small mirror in the center and is in a more sturdy plastic container which makes it easier to keep it clean than the softer original palette. The palette is made of rose pink tones which are perfect for everyday wear and night wear. Like the other palettes there is a variety of types of shadows with mattes, metallics and shimmery shades. If you do not own any of the naked palettes then you are missing out they are the perfect neutral shades, all well pigmented and easy to blend to create so many different looks.

As you can see some of the shades are incredibly light so it is quite hard to see them in this picture, sorry for that. The shades are so beautiful with a variety of light shades including a lovely highlighting tone ‘Strange’ as well as some lovely light pinks and also some darker tones which are quite brown-hued in colour to then the darkest shade ‘Blackheart’ which has red undertones. As I say I haven’t properly used this palette yet so I can’t really say what my favourite shades are but from looking at it I am loving the look of buzz, trick, liar and blackheart which all of course are shimmery shadows. Looking forward to using this 🙂

 

Topshop Nevada/Whimsical Lipstick: Review/Swatches

 

 

Hello, If you have checked out my blog recently you may seen some changes I made to it so if you haven’t already go check it out 🙂 Also I am now on Bloglovin and if you are too it would be great if you could give me a follow and I will do the same for you 🙂 Anyway I have heard so many great reviews on the Topshop lipstick and while I was online shopping a while back I discovered a 2 for £12 deal on Topshop lip products so I quickly snapped them up! I am quite the lover of nude lipsticks so I picked up Nevada and Whimsical, both nude and light shades.

Topshop lipsticks retail at £8 each which some people may think is a tad pricey for a high-street lipstick compared to for example Rimmel which sell lipsticks at around £5 however I don’t think its too bad and considering the special offer I really picked them up for £6 each saving £4 altogether.

First up is the Nevada shade which has a velvet finish and is the lighter of the two. Nevada is an incredibly nude shade in which I did have difficulty with. I am very pale skinned so at first when applying this I did look a little washed out and as if I was embracing the ‘foundation lips’ look which isn’t entirely great. Today in particular when wearing this I did feel as though you could see the cracks in my lips despite using lip scrub and balm before hand however I am suffering from a bit of the cold so my lips are pretty chapped right now. When wearing a light shade like this I think its important to add gloss in which I did (below) just to shine up my lips a bit and make them stand out rather than blend in with my face. I used Bourjois Effect 3D Gloss in a clear shade. This lipstick isn’t my favorite however it can be workable with gloss and is good for a neutral look.

And then there is Whimsical which is also of a nude/neutral shade however a lot more brighter than Nevada and is of a coral/pink hue. This lipstick has a matte finish and I prefer this one out of the two. The shade is still quite light however it doesn’t wash you out so is a lot better for pale skin than Nevada. Again I could see the cracks appear in my lips but again I am affected by the cold right now. I quite like the matte finish to it however I did add some clear gloss again and it creates a nice glossy nude lip which looks fab.

Basically on the whole, Whimsical is a better shade than Nevada and is a lot more wearable. I also think that both shades look better with a bit of gloss just so it doesn’t look so washed out. I have only wore these a couple of times so I can’t really say in particular how impressed I am with them however I probably will buy another lip shade from Topshop again but probably darker next time.

 

Urban Decay Naked Palette: Review/Swatches

Okay don’t judge me cause I am a bit late here on the whole Naked Palette ‘thing’ since I just bought this recently but I wanted to share my thoughts on the totally buzzed about eyeshadow palette in case any of you out there are in the same situation I was in: to buy or not to buy. I had wanted the naked palettes for such a long time and never really got round to buying one and then Feelunique.com had an amazing sale on with 10% off and then a further 10% off for a limited time only so I got my hands on this beauty at £29.97 (with free delivery!) rather than its usual £37 price tag which I thought was quite the bargain 🙂

You probably have all seen the pictures of this pride and joy in all its glory from its soft packaging and cute handy mirror and its double sided eye shadow brush which I really like (oh and its free eye primer samples!). Having the choice of 3 palettes was quite difficult for me cause they all look so pretty (I will own them all sometime anyway!) but I had been really into bronze-y shades recently and the original naked palette is based off of bronze and brown hues which is right up my street. Before I bought this I was mostly using the Maybelline colour tattoo eyeshadows which I love, in particular the On and On Bronze shade so I couldn’t help but compare them to this palette. While I totally love this palette for its amazing shades, being easy to blend and its great quality I did question whether it was worth the money if I can get just as good on the high street. However despite being quite apprehensive at first I have grown to love this palette and for 12 great shades that you can easily work with, its definitely worth it!

There is a nice variety of shades that can be easily blended to create many nice neutral looks that can take you from day to night and the shades are highly pigmented. The palette includes matte shades, glitter and shimmer shades – which I am particularly a big fan. As I say this palette is very versatile so you can create so many different looks that suit you and choose from different types of bases and shades for your skin tone. My favourite shades are probably Half baked, Toasted and Sidecar.. I wonder why 🙂

 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow: Review/Swatches

If you seen my recent Haul post you would have seen my new Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows that I purchased on a 3 for 2 deal. If you haven’t heard of these eyeshadows then you must have been living under a rock for ages since these have came to rave reviews and are one of the most of the popular drugustore eyeshadows. The shadows come in cute little glass containers and are gel-cream based which I particularly love. You can either use your finger or a brush when it comes to applying this product however I prefer using a brush just because I find it easier and with my long nails its easy for the product to gather in my nail rather than my finger but you may not have that problem. I purchased 3 different shades: Pink Gold, On and On Bronze and Timeless Black.

These eye-shadows have definitely lived up to their great reviews, each colour is highly pigmented and texture of these shadows is fab. They are incredibly easy to apply and blend and most importantly they have the long lasting factor. As you can tell from the swatches above the shades are quite shimmery particularly the Pink and the bronze so if you aren’t a fan of a little shimmer and shine these shades might not be for you but I love a little bit of shimmer so these shadows are perfect for me. I particularly love the On and On Bronze shade, I just think it has this warm and exquisite look about it, the same with Pink Gold, its always a great shade and this one is particular is great for wearing on a daily basis while the bronze and black are more suited to a night out look. The black is incredibly.. black so thats something to be aware of but if you are looking to create an intense smoky eye look this shadow is perfect and it can be easily blended with other shadows for a lighter alternative.

These shadows were £4.99 each (3 for 2 in boots) and I think thats a great deal considering the quality of these shadows. They are definitely one of the best shadows on the highstreet and are a great dupe for some of the more premium branded cream based eyeshadows.

 

5/5 for me 🙂