Model's Own Magenta Pearl

This nail polish is my most recent purchase from Model's Own. It's called Magenta Pearl and it's SO pretty.



Here it is, with a base coat and a top coat. I applied this on Sunday. As usual, no problems applying. This was, I think, three coats.

Now, I work with children. Right now I'm working in a créche. As I'm sure you can imagine this isn't really a nail polish friendly environment. What with the heavy lifting, form filling in, play-dough, ball pond, giant connect four, etc etc.

This is what it looks like today.

I'm really impressed. Normally nail polishes chip loads more than this, this is all on my dominant hand and I've got virtually no chipping on my left hand.

So, Model's Own seems to stand up to the '6 hours in a sweaty, no air conditioning, busy créche' test very well!

Front Cover Rainbow Eyes

A little while ago in Boots I spotted a book of lovely looking eyeshadows in a whole range of colours.



It was the Rainbow Eyes book by Front Cover Cosmetics. Now, I'd never heard of this brand before, and the Rainbow Eyes book was quite expensive, so I decided to get one of the much smaller pallets to test it out. I got the Easy On The Eye Hot pallet.

Model's Own

One day, not so long ago, I was in my local (quite large) Boots and I nearly had a heart attack. Where had the Urban Decay counter gone?! Fortunately, it had just been moved, and to my delight there were loads of new counters of stuff for me to play with. One of these was a Model's Own counter. I'd seen loads of stuff written about them on various beauty blogs, so I decided to pick up a few things. I got a free 6 way buffer too, which was cool.

The lovely Bicky over at Tastes Like Glitter did a post on the brand today, which prompted me to get all of my stuff out of my drawer and look at it.

Here's my, admittedly quite small, but well loved Model's Own collection.



I have just realised I do, in fact, own another polish that isn't shown. It's called 'Snow White', which is a pretty accurate description. So that one isn't pictured.

What is pictured is five polishes, one lipgloss and one lipstick.



From left to right there is 'Magenta Pearl', '25 Carat Gold', 'Top Turquoise', 'Coral Reef' and 'Golden Peach'. These are great polishes, and there are loads more colours. The only ones I haven't tried yet are 'Magenta Pearl' and '25 Carat Gold' because they're new and I'm still in love with the yellow Barry M polish I'm sporting at the moment.

Like I said, these are great. They take about two coats to get good coverage. And I use a base coat and a top coat. They usually last for about three days before they start to chip. But I do an extremely physical job (with 5 year olds) so nail polishes always chip for me.

The 'Top Turquoise' looks a bit funny in the bottle though. A little unmixed. It doesn't seem to go away when you shake it either, which is annoying. It doesn't seem to have any affect on the polish on the nails though.

Here are some macro shots. 'Coral Reef' looks really pink in the pictures, it is in fact more of an orangy red than a pink.











Next up is the lipstick. I bought this because I have lipstick phobia and I didn't want to invest loads in a lipstick I wasn't going to wear. I LOVE the packaging. It's funky and I think it's perfect for their target demographic (assuming that's younger people, which I am). It's also great if you have more than one. You don't have to take the lids off to see what colour it is.

I haven't worn this out in public yet (I'm not 100% sure it suits me, and I'm still a lipstick phobe) but it stays on for a while in my bedroom and it goes on nicely. I've also just noticed in the photos it has a slight gold shimmer. You can't see this AT ALL when you look at the product. This colour is called 'Coral Pink'.







The swatch picture is out of focus but I'm too lazy to go and take another one.

The last product I have is my least favourite. The lipgloss I have is called 'Ballet Pink' as none of the other colours really appealed to me. It looks like a very pale pink, but I don't see any trace of the colour on my lips. It looks like a clear gloss with a bit of shimmer. It smells weird and doesn't taste very nice either. You can really feel the glitter on your lips and it doesn't stay on very long. It's quite sticky too.





So overall, I rate the nail polishes quite highly, and I'll definitely be buying some more of them. I might invest in some more wearable shades of the lipsticks too, because I like the packaging so much. I won't be going back for any glosses though.

Bobbi Brown Basics Eye Pallet

The star of today's post is the Bobbi Brown Basics Eye Pallet.



The website describes it as "the ideal starter set for a makeup novice". That's me in a nutshell, so I bought it. I have a hard time resisting anything with Bobbi Brown's name on it.





It contains four great colours for a neutral, every day look. It also comes with a dual ended brush. One end is a fluffy shadow brush and the other end is a liner brush. I am in love with the liner brush. I intend to buy a full size one eventually.





The colours are 'Navajo' the lightest, 'Cement'a lighter brownish grey colour (as the name would suggest), 'Heather Mauve' which is a shimmery glittery colour that I like to put in the crease and then 'Mahogany' which is the darkest brown and I use it as an eyeliner.









I would definitely recommend this pallet. It's great for beginners and people who generally have no idea what they're doing (like me!). It's pretty hard to screw this up, and it looks very pretty and natural. It can be adapted to be a little more glamorous by adding more liner or more shimmer.





Here's what I look like wearing it.



Summer Flutter Minis

I saw, on one of the many many blogs I read, a beautiful nail polish colour. It's called 'Catch Me In Your Net' and it's by OPI. It was a beautiful glittery blue and I had to have it!! I went looking for it in ebay and found these instead.



This is the OPI Summer Flutter Minis set. It contains all four of the Summer Flutter colours. From left to right they are 'Wing It', 'Flower-to-Flower' 'Catch Me In Your Net' and 'Flit A Bit'.



This shows their size in comparison to a normal sized OPI bottle. ('Coronation', my favourite nail polish I have ever owned.) They are so adorably tiny and cute!! I knew they were mini, but not quite that mini. But I don't think I've ever finished a bottle of nail polish, so I'm not too fussed about the size.



I couldn't decide which colour to wear first, so I went for all four with OPI's 'Lucky Lucky Lavender'(to continue the floral theme) on my thumbs. The wear is really great, as per usual with OPI polishes. No chipping or flaking. I used a base and a top coat as well.









'Catch Me In Your Net' is the colour I bought the set for, and still my favourite. I really like the pink and the orange as well though. The pink has little sparkles in it which I really like. The orange is matte and kind of boring, but orange so automatically love it.

Mac Mineralize eyeshadow duos.

Okay, so, my first real post. Today I'm going to talk a little about the Mac Mineralize eyeshadow duos, not the new trios that have just come out.


These are the bad boys I'm talking about.

My local Mac counter is right by the door of the Debenhams. It's lethal. I will sometimes walk the long way to TopShop just so I don't walk past and go in and spend money I don't have.

So, I walked past, head held high, not intending to buy anything. But then I got sucked in and spotted these, not with the other eyeshadows, but with some foundations.

They're so pretty! I couldn't resist. And I couldn't decide which colour I wanted, so I bought two.

First up is 'Odd Couple'. One side is a solid purple colour, and the other is a swirled mix of lilac, gold and bronze.


'Odd Couple'




It's quite sheer, but I like it like that. It can be quite subtle, but built up for a more dramatic effect. I like to use it with my Urban Decay deluxe shadows in 'Honey' and 'Underground'.

The other one I bought is 'Sea and Sky'. This one is a dark navy blue, with the other side of lighter blues and purple. It goes really well with silver eyeliner, and my Urban Decay silver glitter liner.





This one is more pigmented, but again it the colour builds up really well, especially over a primer. I really like these shadows, I wear them a lot, especially 'Sea and Sky'.

Thanks for reading!

Perhaps 'novice' is the wrong word.

The dictionary definition for 'novice' is "a person who is new to the circumstances, work, etc., in which he or she is placed; beginner; tyro:" (from www.dictionary.com).

I'm certainly not a beginner when it comes to make up. I've been using some kind of make up since I was about 13 and bought my first cheapy powder from some stand in Boots. I've bought a lot of make up over the years.

It wasn't until January this year when I decided that I'd had enough of spending money on cheap products that don't work. I discussed it with my best friend and fellow shopaholic and we came to the conclusion that, as with most things in life, when it comes to make up you get what you pay for.

So I followed in the footsteps of my mother, and headed to my local Bobbi Brown counter. It was this decision that changed my make up life quite dramatically.

The girl at the Bobbi Brown counter, Lauren, was incredible (Lauren seems to have the incredible talent of making me buy things that I find I really do need). She found me my foundation shade (Porcelain) and found me a foundation that suited my (very bad) skin type. She then set me up with their skincare line, which I am in love with.

It was all downhill from there. And I now boast quite a full make up drawer.





So perhaps 'novice' is the wrong word, but I'm far far from an expert. I'm just a girl experimenting and trying things out.