Kiko Purple Constellation 354 (possibly Constellation Purple...)

Na na na na na na. I've got this and you probably haven't!
Oops, sorry. I'll stop gloating now. That wasn't very nice... :o(

• Same polish. This isn't a duochrome as such but it is very different in different lighting.
• I paid more for this on ebay than you would in the shop. I believe it's only available in Westfield in the UK (London???). But it's definitely worth £8. I think Kiko is quite an inexpensive brand. Extraordinary.
• Formula excellent.
• Longevity excellent.
• Brush pretty good.
• Max Factor FF was made to layer over this!
• I have worn this 3 times in 6 weeks and that NEVER happens.
• It's way better IRL than my cruddy pix.

Gratuitous grand-daughter photo taken on 'phone

Baby wants to stroke cat. Cat scarpers. Wise feline.

Do you have any Kiko? I think it's a dupe for a Zoya polish but can't remember which one.

Jenni

Catrice Dirty Berry - you have to love that name...

 

I nearly didn't get this one. The air-con in the shop was such a blessed relief that I couldn't concentrate on the cosmetics. But I'm jolly glad I took a better look. 2 coats of very subtle holo. And it applies like a dream. The kind of dream with meadows and a gentle stream - not the dream I usually have about school or exams or being in a room with someone lurking outside or doing the same thing over and over and over again. 

Catrice is a super brand. Really cheap. Round the £2 mark. Watch out for this in Croatia (if you ever go - I love it there) and Central Europe and wherever else it's sold. I like the bottle design and everything about Catrice.

Jenni

 

Revlon Rock + discount cosmetic websites

This was a great collection with 4 good creme colours and 4 glitter additions. This is 2 coats. 3 would be a tad better. It's VERY glossy IRL but I had oiled my hands so that dulled the finish. No, I don't have prosthetic hands - just dry skin.

 

Now, I rarely venture into the retail black hole that is plonked in the middle of my town because it simply isn't worth it. We have one poxy little Boots and one poxy little Superdrug (always want to call it Supadrug, dunno why). But I don't recall seeing this collection actually hit the shops. It was all over the nailiweb when it came out and I liked the swatches so HURRAH for me when I found it on my beloved discount sites for £1.50.

Those of you fortunate enough to reside in places where you can just go out and pick up Color Club and China Glaze and OPI and RBL and every damned brand you can think of as soon as they are released won't understand my delight at finding a few cheap Revlon. If you live in the UK you just may sympathise with my plight.

Here are a few sites (google and they'll be the first hits - my linking skills have deserted me):

raven cosmetics (free P&P)

cosmetics 4 less

half price perfumes

cheap smells

fragrance direct

cosmetic kingdom

You have to trawl through to find the gems but they are there. It's not as if every new collection doesn't contain some stinkers. I think Blue Iguana and Cha Cha Cha from the China Glaze Island Escape are pretty lame. Just because it's newly released doesn't make it good.

Just an example. Raven has China Glaze Sugar Plums for £3.95. That's a good buy IMO.

http://www.ravencosmetics.co.uk/epages/es114141.sf/en_AU/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es114141_shop/Products/CHINAG09POL2%5B38%5D

Just a thought for those of you who have got the time to search obsessively for bargains and/or refuse to pay list price for things!

Jenni

W7 Cosmic Purple - a V mani

First time I've done this. I think it's uneven because the glitter is lumpy bumpy and allows leakage beneath the sticky tape. So next time I'll do it over a smooth polish. I think that should work. And I didn't realise I had slapped it so comprehensively over the cuticles but I was so exhilarated by the sheer blingitude of the whole shebang that I snapped it straight off and didn't think to check the photos too closely.

The silver is Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade which covers the glitter very effectively.

Oh, and the cheapo W7 polish was much admired by the Illamasqua girl in Birmingham Selfridges!

I know it's not a Mad Hatter dupe but it can still give OPI glitters a run for their money. For £3.98 or less it ain't so shabby.

Jenni

Star Gazer 131

Sorry for the poor quality of the application. It was quite thick and gloopy and I wasn't paying much attention. Not too gloopy and, if it were, a drop or two of Seche Restore could easily make it more malleable. 2 coats.

Crikey, those rhinestones are teeny. But this combo has a nice flash to it and works really well when you gesture extravagantly. A colleague admired them and that rarely happens.

My daughter (numero 2) uses Star Gazer quite a bit and bought me some. Pleasantly surprised.

I've decided I'm going to analyse (psycho-analyse?) the data from the silly survey and see if I can make any generalisations about blog-readers/bloggers or just make random penetrating insights into your various quirks and fascinating personalities. Stand by your beds!

Jenni

The colour purple - Lancome Brillant Bluebird

My latest lipstick!
I have loved purple since 1971 when it was THE fashion colour.

1971 magazine spread. Purple. And see those shoes? Ankle straps, block heels and platforms. Love.

OK, I have the tights and some shoes. Purple.

All I need is the lippie. The lippie at the top. It's Lancome. It's purple. It must be gorgeous. Lancome? Je l'adore depuis plusieurs d'annees! And did I mention the purple thing?

 Well.....In the tube it was a riot of colour and texture. And after using up half a tube on my lips (on and on I pressed and slathered) it ended up like............this. Thank the Lord it was an internet bargain and not full price. I could have spat!

If I'd wanted a lipgloss I'd have bought a ruddy lipgloss. What a cheek.

Good news though!
TJ Hughes have a bunch of Urban Decay stuff at £2.99 each. Today was also 20% off and I got a bostin' lipstick and eyeliner.

Jennifer
PS You have any bargain tips?

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost

I know. I know. We can all be blase about purple shimmer with pronounced blue flash. Yawn. Been there, done that.......
But for £1.95?????? Not so much.And this is magnificent.

Hot, shiny, metallic paint in a bottle.
Unfortunately I only just noticed the PRC in the picture when I uploaded the pic. What a shame. I assumed this was a US brand and made in the US. For that price I should have guessed...

Eggplant? Or rather - aubergine. Bear with me.

US sidewalk UK pavement - sidewalk makes a lot of sense, descriptive, accurate. Yep, good word.
US elevator UK lift - lift wins, fewer syllables, a prosaic piece of kit, doesn't need 4 syllables
US eggplant UK aubergine - we imported our word from the French as we didn't really even acknowledge such a thing until...1974 (I'm guessing)

But eggplant? Egg? Some hens you have there! Except when I googled the dear ol' aubergine.

Yes, there are white varieties.
So I'm letting the US retain eggplant as a valid word. I'll wager you're relieved. Won't have to rewrite all those recipes.

Factoids
China is by far the largest producer
A popular Provencal recipe is called caviar d'aubergine
Aubergines feature as indestructible enemies in a video game called 'Adventure Island'

What's your favourite vegetable or favourite vegetable story or favourite vegetable fact?

Jenni

Nubar Petunia Sparkle + Accessorize Pin-Up

First the pic.

Now. Does the accent nail colour closely resemble the remaining nails? No.

You can see why I thought they might be similar? Yes?

Accessorize PU
2 coats - opaque as the depths of Hades
Dark base with very fine added glitter
Easy to apply

Nubar PS
3, 4 coats and still not right
Streaky application - you seek it here, you seek it there, it's gone bloomin' everywhere and then it's nowhere
One of the messiest, least satisfying polishes I have used in a long while
Quite matte, quite uneven finish, needs plenty topcoat

However the OH noticed (!) and likes (!!) the Petunia. And it is undoubtedly a shamelessly fun colour. And would be an outright 10/10 were it not for its beastly application.

I also love petunias. Especially the dark purple ones which are the only ones to smell good.

Favourite flower fragrance? I've just ordered some cheapo Yardley Peony as I love peonies too.

Flower fragrance? I can think of dozens.

Jenni

Illamasqua Poison

From the sale. Going vampy/dark these days.

Plus a bit of lipgloss in the centre. Looked at my other lip-pix and was shocked by how meagre my lips now appear. Plus the odd angles I seem to have achieved in error. So went a little beyond the lipline with this.

 

The flash has thoroughly washed this out. It's dark and matte. I don't think I'm going to develop a major lipstick addiction akin to my passion for polish. Even lip products I really like don't absorb my interest the way polish does. My account seems to haemorrhage money as it is!

So here's the pic from the Illamasqua website. Cool, huh?

CBA now.

I know not what it may mean to you. Perhaps it's an acronym for Chartered Business Accountant. But I care not for such things. I should as I do have an accountant but his qualifications are his own affair. As long as I don't get into trouble with the taxman (could be a woman, I don't doubt it) I am a happy bunny. Cute Baby Animal.

Newborn at Paignton Zoo. The keepers hoped the mother was pregnant but weren't sure. Arrived at work to find this! Great way to start your working day.


Jenni

BB Couture Spellbound

Now this is seriously hot.

And I persevered with my camera (only had it a coupla years!) until I got a reasonable snap.
This is a deep and abiding love.
Usually I have no time for 'so dark they might as well be black' vampy shades but this is incredible. 2 coats over Ravager. This one makes me feel so good. My hands are winter-dry and cracked but this polish turns me into a femme fatale. In my dreams.....

I have some obsessive-compulsive issues - hence my ruined skin due to excessive hand-washing.
You have any OCD? Or rather, as I believe we ALL have these traits, WHAT are your compulsions?

Jenni

BB Couture Ravager

Got a 5 for the price of 3 on BB and chose some less well known ones. This one poses a huge question. Why is it plain creme when it is quite clearly sparkly in the bottle? How do they DO that? It was a complete s0d to photograph like most purples. And I'd also like to know why my camera seems to have gone all 'grainy'. Admittedly I have tinkered with the settings so I may have to tinker them right back again.

Very highly pigmented. Very shiny. Oozed onto the nail and could have been a single coat if I'd been paying attention. Lovely jubbly. Will probably not remove this but use it as a base for a couple of darker BBs.

What's your favourite purple?

Jenni

Accessorize Purple Dream

Also the purple curse has been visited upon me. Can't get an accurate shot of this. It's fabolicious!

From the Illusion range with a coat of Merry Midnight on the middle finger. Think it's 3 coats.
Definitely one of those 'Were you saying something important, darling? I must have missed it as I was looking at my nails.' It is both purple and blue depending upon the available light and has the finest blue glitter. Looks as if it might be a bit like one of the Orly FX.

I love the Accessorize polishes and I think they're still free P&P at the moment.
I must resist though as I have 6 BB Couture on order and 4 Barielle.

Plus car mats and mudguards for my new car. I am so enamoured of my new vehicle I may have to post a pic. Feel free to ignore it. I know you will.

What is making you smile this autumn day?

Jenni

OPI Pamplona Midnight (sounds better than Merry Purple)

Started with 2 coats (should have been 3) of Pamplona Purple.
Then ring finger had 1 coat Merry Midnight.
Middle had 2 and index 3.

So it's a very subtle (boring/ineffective) gradient.
The idea was to layer MM over something and thus reduce the amount of MM I used (it being more sheer than I'd imagined).
But I ended up with 5 coats of polish on one finger! Hope it dries.

I'm purple-potty at present. A few months ago I thought I was permanently off purple and nearly cleared my stash of purple. Glad I didn't.

Is there one colour you can live without/never bother with or even outright HATE?

Jenni

OPI Pamplona Purple

Another one that's been on for a few days with a top-up coat to make it last longer.
Just yer standard purple.
Purple is quite dear to my heart as it was THE fashion colour in the early 70s when I was a lass. Purple velvet and purple corduroy. Those were the days...

Anyway...

Is there a fashion colour which speaks to you of youth? You have to be over 40 to answer this btw!

Jenni

More Quirius including Harlem Passion and Belmont Garden

These colours dry matte. But I applied top coat to the index and little fingers. 3 coats. The middle and ring have no top coat but I'd just oiled my hands so the green is generally more matte than it appears here. Look, I know what I mean.

I just adore the bottles. In the middle is Rainbow Glitter. I tried to show the holo characteristics of this but failed. In addition the purple Harlem Passion is accurate in this pic but the green is far too pale! How can this be? One colour is spot-on and the other quite wrong! There's no sense in it.

I have a weird predilection for purple and green. What's that all about? Thank goodness the asylum doesn't let me choose my own clothes. I'd frighten the horses with my bizarre combinations.

Which is worse?
Blue and green together OR pink and yellow?

Jenni

Confetti Happy Birthday

Cursed. By the purple-curse. Or rather the "it's purple but it looks blue in my photo" curse.

Shockingly inaccurate but the best I could do. It is a purple polish. I put one coat over the Orly Amethyst Decadence and it is clearly purple IRL. Very much in the vein of Milani Totally Cool and Sinful Daddy's Girl.

Good polish. Got this as a RAOK from the very busy Rebekah of For the love of nails.... Thanks, m'dear!

Yardley from 1968. Awful, terrible nails but LOOK at that purple jacket. Now that IS purple.

What RAOKs have you perpetrated or been lucky enough to receive?

Jenni

Orly Amethyst Decadence - February

1 very disappointing
2 looks better in the pix than I am finding it IRL

Sunlight. Garden.

3 coats but needs more. Looks very wishy-washy.
Had the weirdest consistency EVER. Thin but not runny. And dry! How is that possible?
Doesn't adhere to the tips well.
Comes over as old-lady pinkish tbh.

Inside. It's just feeble. Promising in the bottle but  all "fur coat and no knickers" on the nail. Boo.

So let's go for something far more ballsy.

From 1950. Big hat. Bling. A small stuffed bird. Hypo-allergenic. 

How often do YOU sport the classic red lips'n'nails combo?

Jenni

Claire's Mood calm/wild

He he he.
Rebekah in an act of great kindness sent me 3 polishes (see yesterday). You blogger lot are a great bunch. You obviously read your comments and take mental notes because that's what prompted Rebekah to give me the these little bottles of delight. I'm an avid commenter and spend more time reading and commenting than doing my own blog. So thank you to everyone who reads my remarks!

3 coats + base and top on all except the middle nail because this dries fairly matte and I wanted to preserve that on one nail at least. You can't really see it in the pic but I can tell the difference. The tips on me (and I've only just put this on) remain darker than the body of the nail. It's much more interesting than I thought it was going to be! It's foil-y and rather complex. This is the one that made me squeal when I opened the package. Well, the dog had made a start with his teeth and I just carried on. I save all the envelopes/jiffy bags to reuse them but I shall have to bin this one. Ruddy dog!

I've added "bats about nails" because I love cricket (bats) and I spotted some bats (mammalian variety) the other evening. I think they're in our loft. You only tend to see them at this time of year so you have to make the most of it. I don't know why I like bats but I do. In French they are /souris volant/ = flying mouse. Cute, non? Tres sympa. I'm trying to make myself a photo-collage header of cricket bats, flying mice and nail polish and I managed that bit by downloading some free software but when I imported it the page went a bit screwy. I'll keep at it.

Commercial break
Thinking this is Fifties. Look at the sales-lady in the hat in the small pic! I think the main model looks like Audrey Tautou. Maybe her mother/grandmother? Pale blue was obviously very "in". A slightly nautical look? Notice there's a powder compact. I don't remember bottled foundation until the 60s. Every woman had a compact - even MY mother - but I think liquid foundation was very unusual.

Jenni
Do you like cricket, bats and Claire's MOOD polishes? Do you ever buy Avon? Can you see cute straw hats (small boaters not big floppies) coming back in fashion?

Sinful Daddy's Girl + Milani Totally Cool

On with the pic. Pic the first.

3 coats. You can't see the 24-hour tipwear and c0ck-ups in real life. I always say that, I know.

Now for a bottle comparison.

They look alike on the nail but not so much in the bottle. So the Milani will be off to a better home as I know I can easily replace the Sinful if ever I want to. It's a purple jelly and it's much more intense and sparkly and generally gorgeous when it's not washed out by flash. Like purple Quink. I love inky.

Sinful Colors UK - Nail Polish

Sinful don't do a big range in the UK but they're £2.99 and the P&P is 60p per polish. Sue me but I reckon that's not bad.




The history bit again


I have downloaded dozens of nail polish ads and they now litter my desktop but naughty blogger isn't letting me upload all these jpgs today and I don't know why. It usually bloomin' does! Oh, fixed it!!!!

http://emanicure.org/things-to-know-about-the-cuban-manicure/

OK, these are not my fingers (as if you were in any doubt!).

This 20s/30s manicure was known as the Gatsby.

(Great Gatsby published 1925.) Btw don't ever bother to rent the film. I saw it when it came out and it's soooooo boring.

It's also known as the Cuban. The manicure.
The nail shape above is authentic as you can see from this...(from an original advertising feature)

I really dislike it.

Here's another ad.

Just in case you need help with your colour coordination.

I must apologise. I got so excited by all these ads and the social history pertaining thereto that I just garnered as many as I could and now don't know what period they relate to. Oh, dear. I'm guessing Fifties for this. Maybe even Sixties? Polish at a dollar? So forgive me for getting everything out of sync but I'm going to carry on posting these ads because I want to.

Decadent day today. Raining. So I'm off back to bed. Read. Snooze. Cup of tea. 

Jen

YSL Black Tulip + Orly Purple Pleather + thanks to Karen

Karen, woo hoo!
Thank you for all the polishes.
Karen, I'll have you know, is she of Frazzle and Aniploish
We did a swap and I got my goodies first.
There are more polishes than you can shake a stick at, I tell ya! And I'm going to drip-feed the images over another 2 days. How I love a swap. Of course, I'm agonising now that she hasn't received her package. Especially since it's about a month since I sent Susie of Susie's Home and Hobbies her giveaway package and it still hasn't reached her. I am quaking slightly. Do hope the bloomin' Post Office (and I do love them really) get their finger out.

YSL is the one that look like aubergine (eggplant). But black tulip is just as appropriate an appellation.

The Orly is part of the Plastix collection. It's semi-matte/satin. Quite nice to stroke it with a fingertip, very soft.

This shows the value of  SHAMELESS BEGGING.

Karen intimated that she wasn't that keen on this when she showed it on her blog so I essentially asked if I could have it. Cheeky, huh. 

The YSL is 2 coats and also the Orly. 

The YSL really doesn't look this dark IRL but my camera couldn't handle the 2 differing finishes.

Purple Pleather.
I want it to mean..
Well, work it out from the context.
"Eh, lass, you've got yourself in a right pleather. Sit down wi' me and 'ave a cuppa tea."

That's not what it really means but I think my alternative is infinitely superior to the pedestrian "plastic leather" definition.

And a purple pleather is getting your knickers in an even bigger twist than an everyday pleather.

So, 2 more Karen polishes. Eye-popping goodies.

DVD and Spectrum. I swear to you that these are make-up-your-own-superlative.

Remember to check Lacquerized for her researches into polish and animal testing. I'm going to find out what British law (or more likely the EU) has to say on the matter. This could take a while. I haven't forgotten this but you know how it goes - you have to ask the right questions.

Goodbye from me and my dogs and my woodpecker and my bullfinches
Jenni