FOTD and An Experiment

So lets start off with a very quick face of the day.

Products used

L'Oreal Collagen Eye Filler

No7 Protect & Perfect Day Cream

Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation in 100 (very light ivory)

Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer 01 (nude beige)

Bourjois Mineral Radiance Pressed Powder 02 (vanille)

Eyebrows - Natural Collection eyeshadow in Midnight

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Eyeshadow - Boy Crazy all over the lid, Azuki bean in crease and under lower lashes, Moshi Moshi to high light in the centre of the lid.

Cheeks - Mac Sakura Blush

Lips - Poppy King for No7 in Confidence

Mascara - Collection 200 Big Fake in 17 (ultra black)

Now on to the experiment!

I blogged a few days ago about the amazing staying power of the Integrate nail polish I had tried and how I was unsure if it was the polish or the Orly Bonder that cause the phenomenal wear. I decided to set up an experiment I gave myself a new manicure using a cheapy Polish (actually it was free with the big fake mascara) from Collection 2000, it's one of their new "hot looks" and the colour is 43 fruit salad.

The experiment is as follows, the left hand is Orly Bonder and the right hand is OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.

Right Hand - OPI

Left Hand - Orly

Pretty colour huh. Both were topped with my normal Seche Vitte, Let see the damage from Saturday morning to Tuesday night.

Right Hand - OPI

Left Hand - Orly

As you can see the thumb and the index finger on the OPI have chipped a little but but considering I am right handed thats not bad going.

Right thumb

Right index

I am a little bit bummed about this to honest I wanted the exceptional wear to be down to the Orly Bonder (I have decided there was no clear winner they both wore about the same) but it does seem to look like the Integrate is just a really really good polish. Is it crazy that I would consider flying back to Japan just to get my hands on some more bottles of this.

nail of the day - Integrate RD701

Integrate is a Japanese brand which comes under the Shiseido umbrella. So no surprise this was part of my mini Japanese haul, I had hoped to haul more but shopping was cancelled due to the abrupt nature of our departure. This was picked up in a 7/11 very late on the night before we left in a last ditch attempt to find some souvenirs. As you can imagine I was not expecting it to be up to much but what an absolute gem this little nail polish is.

The colour can only be described as a warm toned version of Paradoxal by Chanel. It is a slightly pinker beige purple and with a very light champagne flash instead of the lilac of Paradoxal. It is an absolutely beautiful shade, subtle but definitely interesting I am now wishing I had bought a back up.

On a second note this is the first time I had used Orly Bonder as an undercoat so I don't know if the longevity of this polish is down to the polish itself or the base (an experiment to follow) but I painted these on monday night and these photos were taken on Saturday morning. Check out the wear only minimal tip wear and a slight chip about to happen on the index finger. I can't believe how long it lasted and still looked pretty much perfect.

Indirect sunlight

direct sunlight - beautiful shimmer

indirect sunlight again

If anyone know where I can buy back ups of this online please drop me a line and let me know because I can't be without this in my life ;)

Mammoth Nail Round Up

So here we are at the end of another year and again I haven't got nearly as much blogging done as I had wanted. So with the purchase of a new camera for Christmas we are going to change it up a gear and there will be more vlogging and hopefully better pictures.

So without further ado heres what I have been sporting recently

I went to Finland at the start of December and picked myself up a few new polishes, this is Orly Ou Of This World (deep purple with a gold shimmer) and it is from their Cosmic FX collection, you have seen this swatched a million times I guess but it is a lovely colour. Application is fairly good, it does not play well with the old Seche though and as you can see I suffered some shrink and horrendous tip wear. It didn't chip though and lasted quite well. The Duo tone wasn't as nice as I expected but hey still love it!

with flash

inside light

Next up is another from the same collection and the formulation is the same this is Lunar Eclipse, Looks more Purple in the bottle but comes out electric blue again the duo tone isn't all the but a nice polish none the less.

no flash

with flash

Nails Inc have been at it again with their free giveaways, this was on the front of some magazine which I can't remember the name of now. The colour is Saville Row deep aubergine purple and not a lot to be said about Nails Inc really. I don't think I have ever had a bad one the polishes are a great formulation and last really really well.

flash

no flash

Up next is Mac from the Venomous Villains and it's Bad Fairy. This was the only unique polish from the collection and it's a beauty, I wasn't sure at first it;s a coppery pink and not really my style but once on it is mesmerising and not as garish as I thought. This seems to be the same formulation as the Orly Cosmic FX (with the other two polishes being direct dupes) so you do get a bit of tip wear.

no flash

flash

Again you have seen this a billion times but it is the Barry M Dusky Mauve which is a direct dupe of the Chanel Paradoxal which was a big hit back in the summer. I have to say I like this more if you remember my review of the Chanel I wasn't all that impressed but the shimmer in this is just a little stronger and the formulation is a little better not to mention the price.

flash

natural light

I can never resist a Mavala release their polishes are always quality and they are trying really hard with the colours even if they are still a heartbeat behind. This is Blue Smoke, smokey blue with blue glitter. I actually liked this more than I thought but I just never seem to feel comfortable with blue polishes.

natural light

natural light

This is from the same collection and it is called Rococo Red. I can say hands down this is the best red nail polish I have ever tried the colour is so vibrant and it is a one coater, two if you are a perfectionist like me. It just glides on thin, precise and opaque I love it. I will be buying lots of back ups of this.

flash

indoor light

This was a polish from my New York trip in October It's OPI for Sephora and the colour is 212. I think it is exclusive to online and in the times square store and it is such a hard colour to describe. it's a blackened brown jelly with glitter (gold and holographic) and kind of coppery flakies. Sounds complex, looks stunning!

natural light

The final polish I have for you today is a little gem from Accessorize. They have dabbled in polishes and cosmetics before but their recent major release was a tour de force by them and this duo chrome polish is outstanding.

It's called Aztec and is a passable dupe for Mean and Green from Mac. Having them both I would say the glitter in the Accessorize is chunkier and the duo chrome slightly better, in fact I preferred this one to the Mac I think. Formulation and wear were the same you still need loads of coats but for £4 you can't complain.

natural light