My Resolutions for 2012

I'm feeling unusually glum today. Despite my glass half full nature, I always make an effort to and see the positive in thing. I've read a lot of interesting and inspiring posts over the last couple of days (Tali's post on Glossy's Wardrobe and Everyday Beauty in particular spring to mind) so, although I am feeling a bit down in the dumps and disappointed in myself, I know I can turn it around and learn from my mistakes. I don't normally make New Year's resolutions but it feels like the right thing to do his year.

Healthy 2012: The main source of glum today is my weight. I realise now that I really shouldn't have let my lack of weight loss on the scales bother me. I feel at my heaviest right now and I KNOW I've put on weight over Christmas; my clothes feel tighter and I can see it in the mirror. Yet the scales haven't budged at all. I think it's time to give up taking any notice of what the scales say and get back on track with the Slimpod. I really enjoyed doing more exercise and I'd like to keep that up. I want to focus on improving my eating habits too. To this end I'm going to set myself a challenge to routinely get my five a day. Shamefully my fruit and veg consumption has reached an all time low and increasing my intake will no doubt help with achieving a healthier body.

The Domestic Goddess Challenge: Now, I will admit that I'm not a natural when it comes to all things domestic. I used to be a devotee of FlyLady for keeping the house tidy but between looking after my three children and blogging, polishing the skirting boards and dusting has taken a bit of a back seat! It's not just the cleaning that needs to be tackled. We've been in our current house for over eighteen months and I definitely need to devote more time to adding those extra touches that turn a house into a home. It's a shame that I don't find interior decorating quite as enjoyable as choosing cosmetics.

My husband does a lot of the cooking for us but I'm keen to start injecting a bit more variety into our mealtimes. I think this might be Twitters influence at work. I'm not a great cook but I think it would be fun to try at least one new recipe a week. I may even blog about things that turns out particularly well. At the top of my list of things to try are the Moroccan spiced dishes that The Non-Blonde's husband shared here and the delicious sounding cod and chorizo dish that Helen of Just Nice Things has tweeted about.

A Better Blog/Life Balance: There are so many things I don't do as much as I would like to or used to. I have a stack of books building up that I want to read and there is always a list of films that I have yet to watch. In order to find the time to do all these things, as well as the cooking, cleaning and exercise, I need to decrease the amount of time I sit at the computer a little (okay, maybe a lot but these are baby steps!). This doesn't necessarily mean fewer posts but I may continue to add more variety. It's fun to write about different things every so often and I have learned about much more than makeup from my favourite beauty bloggers.

And with that, I shall stop. It has been cathartic to write this post and I already feel more positive about the New Year ahead. Here's a little something sunny so that we end on a cheery note.

Have you set yourself any resolutions for the New Year? Are you looking forward to a fresh start in 2012?

My Swap with Lipstick Rules

I recently took part in an international swap with the very lovely Michelle of Lipstick Rules. I love swaps and find it to be a great way to try new products and brands that aren't available in the UK. Also, exchanging products with someone you've got to know through blogging means that you tend to have a good insight into the sorts of products and colours they would like. When you see the eyeshadows and liners below you'll realise that Michelle has a very good sense of my taste. Do I spy taupe?!

Thanks to Michelle I have already tried a couple of things from Annabelle and Lise Watier and really like the brands. I'm very excited to try the chunky Annabelle eye pencils as the Annabelle smoothliner that I've posted about previously is of an excellent quality. Joe Fresh is a totally new brand to me but I am thrilled with the bits I have. The eyeshadows have already been cracked open and I can't wait to try both of the blushers. Something of the packaging reminds me a little of the Topshop cosmetics line. I have yet to try any of the Topshop cosmetics but always here great things about their cream blushers.

I couldn't resist including an extra look at that Tokidoki blusher brush. My little girls eyes lit up when she spotted it and I'm pretty sure she has decided this is hers!

Missing from the main picture is one item I was extremely excited to try. So excited in fact that I broke my 'no touching pre-photos' rule. What can I say, with a name like Sludge, I wanted in! Michelle posted about the Annabelle Smudge paints here and they are a really interesting formula. Somewhere between a cream eyeshadow and a gel liner, these will function as both. You can use all over the lid smudged out, as a base for eyeshadow or just as a liner. The packaging is interesting too. There's a brush hidden inside the lid for convenient application. Sludge is a great colour and darker than it appears through the glass pot. I've used it quite a few times already and I think it makes an excellent quick smudgy eye look. I especially like layering taupe eyeshadows over the top.

Many thanks to Michelle for all the lovely items. I anticipate hours of fun playing with all of these new things! Have you tried any of these Canadian brands? Which brands do you wish you had access to where you live?

RMK Cheek Brush

I've had the RMK Cheek brush for a couple of months but it's taken me a while to get around to reviewing it. I seem to have expanded my blusher brush collection quite a lot recently with the addition of my Hakuhodo Yachiyo, Illamasqua blusher brush, the RMK and also a new Rouge Bunny Rouge Blusher brush (review to come) which means that I have more brushes to rotate through these days. I like to have a good play with an item before attempting a review and I also I like to have washed the brush at least once, hence my delay. I'm still a procrastinator when it comes to brush washing!

Top to bottom: RBR Face Contour 012, RBR Blusher 002, RMK Cheek brush

I washed the RMK brush for the first time yesterday. As I had anticipated with the squirrel hair, wetting the brush released a bit of an animal pong. This always seems to happen with squirrel hair brushes and I mention it only as it might bother some. The smell does dissipate once the brush is dry. The brush washed well and dried quite rapidly. It fluffed up a little which is again quite normal but retained it's tapered shape nicely. I didn't notice any bleeding or shedding of hairs.

The RMK is a beautifully soft brush. It has a short handle but I quite like this in a blusher brush and as my lovely blogger friend Dempeaux pointed out, this actually quite a good thing for us short-sighted gals! I also think it makes it an ideal brush for travel and this is the one I packed for my recent Christmas jaunt.

The brush hairs form a flat paddle shape. The hairs pick up pigment well (though not so well with very compacted powders) and deposit the colour in a sweep: the tips of the hairs feel grippy yet super soft on the skin. In the course of expanding my collection, I have come to realise that I favour a more densely packed fluffy or domed shaped brush for blusher application. I think I tend to buff in colour rather than just sweep. The RMK has fluffed up significantly with washing so I may be able to apply colour with the tip more so now as well as just the side.

I think this is a lovely brush and has a very luxurious feel at a lower price point than similar squirrel hair brushes. I bought mine from Selfridges in London and I believe it cost around £35 (annoyingly I have mislaid the receipt in one my cleaning escapades). For those living in the US, you can get hold of RMK brushes through BonBonCosmetics.com.


Disclosure: The Rouge Bunny Rouge bushes shown here were PR samples, I bought the RMK myself.

Illamasqua Vice Nail Polish

I'm being lazy today with a nail polish post. I'm going to blame my laziness on my lack of sleep. I'm also somewhat distracted this morning trying to decide whether a trip to Henley to look at the SpaceNK sale is a good idea. Henley is a lovely place to visit but my trips to SpaceNK are often brief as makeup shopping with three small children and my husband looking on isn't the most enjoyable experience. But shopping sounds a lot more appealing than staying at home and finding new homes for all the new toys and Christmas presents. Anyway, I digress....

Vice nail polish was released with the Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless collection and has an unusual rubberised finish. This rubberised texture was inspired by the Boots girls of Berlin who wore different coloured rubber boots to advertise their specialty. I quite like the unusual finish, the only issue I had is that, unless you don't mind spoiling the effect, you cannot use a top coat and for me this led to a few dents in the polish as I was waiting for it to dry.

Vice is my favourite colour of the four Theatre of the Nameless polishes. This kind of reddy plum/wine colour is quite vampy and I think the rubberised finish adds a little interest. It makes a nice change from shimmer too. You can see the other three nail colours in my original post about the collection here.

The Illamasqua nail polishes cost £13.50 and all four nail colours from the collection are still available. As an aside, Illamasqua has a sale on at the moment with quite a lot of items reduced in price so it's worth a little browse if you're in the mood for a bargain.

Disclosure: PR Sample.

Enrapture Extremity Heated Rollers

This post has sat in draft awaiting extra pictures* for months. Today I made the executive decision to cease waiting and post my review having spotted that the Extremity Heated Rollers are currently reduced in price from £75 to £65 in the Debenhams sale. I think all of the Enrapture products are excellent but as they're a little on the expensive side, I'm happier to be able to share them when I know I can save you a little money too!

The rollers were the surprise hit of the three Enrapture tools. They're actually much easier and faster to use than I had expected. The rollers and clamps heat up in their storage box. You just plug in and they're ready to use in a matter of minutes. The rollers have a velvet coating and grip the hair very easily and the clamps cover the whole section of hair so they're not in the least bit fiddly to use. You heat the rollers, wrap a section of hair, clamp and then leave to cool. To curl my hair using these takes approximately half and hour from start to finish. The rollers heat from the inside out so they're just warm to the touch as you apply them. I felt these were probably the most gentle on my hair in terms of heat damage.

There are a selection of large and small rollers in the box and you can either use just the large rollers on the crown for volume or do a full head. Placement also affects the style. The first time I used these I opted for large rollers on the crown and smaller ones on the rest of my head but I found small ones all over work better for me. Curls tend to drop quickly from my hair so that soft waves return to straight hair within an few hours. I admit that I am overly cautious of curling it too tightly to begin with after the time I put in bendy foam rollers overnight and woke up looking like I was auditioning for Annie! These heated rollers are great for creating soft, glamourous curls so there's really no fear of an Annie accident here.

This is my final Enrapture tool review and I talked about the Jumbo Waver and Totem Stylers earlier in the year. As I mentioned above, I think these tools are not cheap but having struggled with styling tools before, I was impressed that even I could create curls with them. I do not think it's necessary to have all three. With my mid-length hair, I found some overlap in the styles I could achieve. For ease of use, I'd probably recommend for the Jumbo Wavers but both the Totem Styler and Heated Rollers may offer slightly more flexibility.

The Enrapture styling tools are available from Debenhams, Argos and Boots. The usual RRP for the Heated Rollers is £74.99 but if you're interested in these I would definitely recommend taking advantage of the sale price of £65 whilst you can.


* The missing pictures I mentioned are ones of me modelling hair curled with the rollers. I confess that I forgot to take pictures on each occasion that I used them. Yes, I am an idiot!!


Disclosure: I won all of the Enrapture tools in a competition.

Clariol Nice'n Easy Root Touch Up

I had planned to write a bit of a rave review of this product. I've used it before and been very impressed. I bought this pack and merrily took before pictures in anticipation of being able to show you how great my hair looked afterwards. Unfortunately my stubborn greys had other ideas on this occasion so the before and after pictures would only serve to show you how resistant they are!

Despite the issue with my resistant greys (and they are very stubborn, the wiry little blighters), I still think this is an impressive products and worth mentioning. I know that not everyone has grey to cover but plenty of you other DIYers struggle with the same overdye problem that I do. I *know* that it's better not to dye the full length of my hair every time and this will lead to the ends of my hair getting overloaded with colour but I've always been very nervous of just doing the roots for fear that the colour won't match. I was also very sceptical about the Nice'n Easy Root Touch-up and thought it seemed rather expensive: it's £4.28 for the small touch up packet which is not much different to the box for a full application.

Included in the box is a small plastic trough, a brush for application, the obligatory pair of protective gloves and 15ml of colourant and 15ml of activator which need to be mixed together in the trough before application. It is a little tricky to mix the two products in the plastic trough because of both the consistency and the size of the container. Mixing the creme and the lotion together you go through a lumpy stage before it returns to a smooth, even paste. I am tempted to get a proper plastic bowl to mix it in in future to provide more space in which to whisk it around.

Application is relatively easy with the brush provided. You are instructed to apply to areas of obvious regrowth i.e. along your parting and hairline. I tend to apply either side of my parting quite a way and go as far towards the back of my head as I can for maximum root coverage. You wouldn't want to accidentally give the game away when going for a different parting. There isn't a huge amount of product provided and I used up all of the colourant the other day as I had left it a little while between applications. I shouldn't imagine you would have any issue if you've left it the standard 6-8 weeks.

In the instructions it tells you to leave the dye on for 10 minutes but recommends that you extend this time to 15 minutes to cover stubborn greys. I left it a little longer than 15 minutes this time but still didn't get full grey coverage. Fortunately, leaving the dye on slightly longer doesn't result in the colour becoming darker. Something which has been an issue for me with full head colouring. Once the time is up, you rinse away and style as normal. As it's only a root application, I find the rinsing part much less of a hassle.

Now to the bit that I think is the magic of this product and the reason I don't mind paying a lot for less product. The colour matches the rest of my hair seemlessly. I don't have any idea how it works but it is impossible for me to tell where my old colour ends and the new colour begins. I've checked too. Thoroughly! Admittedly, I used a Clairol Nice'n Easy hairdye as my regular all over colour so I haven't tested out the promise that it matches other leading brands.

Post application: still grey but the colour is a perfect match!

I know other people have suggested that you can achieve the same results by using a regular packet and mixing up a small amount to apply to the roots. I will have to try this sometime in order to make a fair comparison but having messed up many times before with box dyes, it's tempting to stick to the impressive colour matching of the Root Touch-Up. No matter what, I will continue to colour my roots only for the time being as it really is a lot less hassle than I had expected.

Stila Convertible Colour in Lilium

I want to start this post by saying that I really like the Stila Convertible Colours in general and I've posted about Stila CC in Orchid before. I was really excited to receive Lilium in an event bag and wanted to love it like my other cream blushers. It's a pretty petal pink shade with a hint of beige when swatched. On paper this sounds like the perfect shade for me. Unfortunately, I find the colour doesn't do much for me when applied.

I have quite high colour in my cheeks and as Lilium is quite pale and delicate, I find it doesn't really show up very well against my natural colouring. It's not light enough on my colouring to be a highlighter either. I find that it creates a sheen on my skin but because of the lack of obvious colour the sheen seems to accentuate the imperfections in this area (I really wish I could ignore those eye crease, can I pretend it's lack of sleep?).

This is simply a case of the colour not working for me. I still intend to add some more of the Convertible Colours to my collection and at £16 they're quite reasonably priced. Stila products are available from Boots, Escentual and BeautyBay.


Disclosure: Press sample

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you are having a wonderful time wherever you are and whatever you're doing. I will be spending the day with all of family in Yorkshire. With lots of small children in the house it's bound to be a fun and rather noisy day!

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Eve Beauty Spotlight Roundup

After all the running around, shopping, cooking, and headaches the holidays are actually here. The Beauty Spotlight Team wishes you a happy and very healthy Christmas, Chanukah and New Year. May 2012 be a beautiful year in every way.

Joeybunny took part in the O Tannenbaum! perfume blogging project - see what woody perfumes stole her heart over at Beauty, Bacon, Bunnies!

If you've looking for the perfect balance between moisture and colour for the cold winter months then check out the tinted balms that Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed has been loving lately!

Beauty Info Zone has a brand new look. We're putting on the Glitz with Tarte for the holidays. Come see what Tarte and Beauty Info Zone have to show you.

At Everyday Beauty, Zuzu did the unthinkable and chose her favorites from a year's worth of purchases. Many of these items were not necessarily released as new this year, but they were new to her. Come read about what made Zuzu's best-of list.

Over at Lipstick Musings, Shannon has found a not-quite-red (for a change) that will rock your world in Guerlain Rouge Automatique Lipstick #168, L'Heure Bleue!

London Makeup Girl asks if you are washing your hair properly? She was mortified to find that she wasn't! Read the post and watch her video here.

Modesty Brown has a Butter LONDON Knees Up and shares some perfect twinkly red nail colours for the festive season.

Paula, from Older Girl Beauty, talks with MAC MUA Romero Jennings about Daphne Guinness and her upcoming makeup collection with MAC.

Looking for some last minute gifts? Pammy Blogs Beauty continues her Holiday Palette reviews with Too Faced "In Your Dreams" Palette.

Perilously Pale shares a Face of the Day post that will have you hopping running to place an order for some Rouge Bunny Rouge. Come see why this is one of her favourite brands!

Over at Pretty in Dayton, Styrch falls in love with Cult Nails Power Thief.

Prime Beauty reviews Benefit's new Hervana blush; it’s spellbinding and will hypnotize you—she hopes!

Visionary Beauty shares her collection of the delightful Rouge Bunny Rouge loose glitter pigments, including the two new tantalising shades; Caress of Mink and Embrace of Cashmere.

How organised are you?

At this particular moment in time I'm attempting to pack my makeup bag for a few days away. Three days to be precise. Three days isn't very long but somehow I've picked out so much to take with me that I can't actually zip my makeup bag up. I fear I'm being a little excessive!

The trouble is, I just pick stuff out at random. My clothes packing is much more organised as I plan what outfits I will wear and only take precisely what I need. I do the same thing with the children's clothes. As a family of five, space in the car is at a premium. I do wonder why I'm not as organised with my makeup. The idea of planning in advance what makeup I will wear each day is an alien concept to me. I'm not even sure I can get my head around it. Instead I tend to pick out some everyday staples along with a couple of more colourful items 'because it's Christmas'.

Do you plan what makeup you will wear the day before or for an event? Or are you like me and a prefer a more random approach to your makeup?

Update on Avon Wicked Pro Nail Enamel

I didn't manage to capture the red in Avon Nailwear Pro Nail Enamel in Wicked whilst taking the comparison photographs for my recent Butter LONDON Knees Up post. I spotted the nail wheel on my table a couple of days ago and noticed that in that particular spot with the just the right lighting, the red shimmer in the dark base showed up perfectly.

I hope you will forgive me for sharing these photographs with you. Winter in the UK can be lovely and festive but it's not so amazing for blog photography. I was so pleased that I managed to capture the hidden beauty of this nail polish, I couldn't resist the urge to post them! I do suspect the red shimmer in Wicked is similar to shimmer of Chanel Paradoxal in that you will only see it in certain lights at the right angle but you can see the true beauty of the colour when you finally do see it. At £3, it's not quite as upsetting that you can't see the red twinkle all the time!

Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wand in Manet

I was intrigued by Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wands for some time. I love cream formula blushers and stick packaging can make for very convenient application. It can be tricky to get the consistency right so that it applies easily from the wand without being to 'runny' to hold it's shape in the packaging. You'll be pleased to hear the Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wand has a good consistency.

Manet is one of those blusher colours that looks scary in the tube and when swatched but looks very pretty on the cheeks. It's easy to blend and has a sheer quality to it allowing the skin to show through a little. Colourwise, it reminded me of Illamasqua Rude but when swatched side by side, Rude is a brighter and more vivid coral to Manet's muted pinky-ginger.

Trying Manet has piqued my interest in the other Blush Wands. The Blush Wands costs £28 each and there are four colours altogether: Vermeer, a rose petal pink; Rubens, described as a medium sangria; Goya, a peachy coral and Manet. I can only see Rubes and Manet on the Zuneta website at the moment, no doubt because of the recent 20% off event!

Have you ever tried these blushers? Are you a fan of cream blush?


Disclosure: PR sample

Recommended Reads and a Ramble

I recently discovered a lovely blog thanks to one of my other favourite bloggers, The Non-Blonde. Glossed in Translation, written by Elizabeth, is a wonderful read and full of very lust-worthy and interesting Japanese brands that are completely new to me.

Elizabeth recently posted some wonderful comparisons and reviews of her Hakuhodo brush collection, especially to help those interested in making an order before the 1st January price increase. I'm extremely grateful for theses sort of review posts, especially as I know how time consuming they can be to put together. Taking good pictures at this time of the year is hard work!

I recently took part in an International swap with one of my favourite bloggers, Lipstick Rules. Michelle posted about our swap yesterday and I wanted to point you in the direction of her lovely post. Her kind words really touched me and, especially after reading some fairly harsh (and unfair) criticism of bloggers, it's good to be reminded how lovely the beauty blogging community is. I agree with Michelle that what we get out of it goes beyond the cosmetic(s). I tend to think that people who criticize beauty blogs for being unprofessional and containing 'hairy armed' swatches, aren't real blog readers and don't truly understand the space that blogs fill. Beauty blogs aren't a replacement or extension of magazines. They're written by real women who love makeup and want to share their passion and possibly help others. I have no journalistic aspirations but I love sharing my daily ramblings with you and will continue to do so, hairy armed swatches and all!

Couleur Infallible FOTD

Here are some pictures of my new L'Oreal Coleur Infallible colours applied. My apologies in advance for both the overly serious face (it was the best picture despite the expression) and the lack of blending. I slapped this on in a bit of a rush!

Sahara Treasure is more gold than I was expecting. Although it looks a little taupe-y in the pot, on my lid it's quite a bright gold. Fortunately it's not too yellow based. Time Resist White is quite stark and I wouldn't wear it like this to go out. I'll have to play with it a little more to work out how best to use it. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of how the colours look 'in action'.

I have included a breakdown of the rest of the makeup I used below.

Face
Primed with Alaya Radiance Face oil*
Max Factor Second Skin*
YSL Touche Eclat* (review to come)
Shu Uemura brow pencil
NARS Laguna

Eyes
L'Oreal Couleur Infallible Sahara Treasure over the mobile lid
RBR Caress of Mink on the outer corner and into the crease
L'Oreal Couleur Infallible Time Resist White on the inner corner of the lid
RBR Raven Glaze Laquer Liner
MUFE Smoky Lash mascara

Lips
RBR Sweet Excess Glassy Gloss in Trifle Rich


*PR Samples. The links are provided for information only.

Thinking Slimmer Update

I started the Thinking Slimmer programme 8 number of weeks ago and although I'm reluctant to do an update, I think it's important to share. I'd really seen a big change to my behaviour, both in terms of my eating and the urge to exercise. I felt very positive when I wrote my initial post here. I felt better in myself but I saw no change on the scales. I tried to ignore the lack of change on the scales but after about six weeks with practically no change left me feeling disheartened. I should say I was only weighing myself once a week not obsessively checking everyday.

Once the negativity started creeping in, I found myself listening to the Slimpod less and the old ways have started to return. I've not done any exercise for a couple of weeks either. I've felt less able to ignore the Christmas goodies. Consequently, I feel disappointed in myself for failing to stick to it.

I'm determined not to let things get completely out of control. I'm not sure whether Thinking Slimmer will ultimately be the right thing for me but I've downloaded the free Christmas Slimpod to see if I can prevent myself from going overboard with festive eating and drinking. If you're interested in giving the Slimpod a try, it's worth downloading the free Christmas Slimpod from their Facebook page (all you need to do is Like their Facebook page and you will be offered the link for the free download).

I'm going to re-evaluate things in the New Year and decide whether to carry on with Slimpod or whether I need to return to more traditional dieting methods. I really like how Thinking Slimmer got me exercising again and stopped me eating for the sake of it but I know to stay motivated I need to see results. I keep wondering if setting myself a specific fitness goal or even training for a particular event might keep me on the straight and narrow? I have a school reunion next summer (it will be 20 years since we left school next year, nothing like a 20 years anniversary to make you feel ancient) and vanity says I would like to look my best for that!

Do you find it a struggle to stick to healthy eating over the festive period?


Disclosure: I received my original Slimpod as a PR sample. The desire to lose weight is all my very own!

Butter LONDON Knees Up

I won Butter LONDON Knees Up in the lucky dip at the Boots Children in Need event a few weeks ago. I was thrilled as it's such a beautiful colour and rather festive too. It's best described as a metallic red with very fine red microshimmer running through it. I often struggle with metallic nail polish on my crummy nails as they are less forgiving of uneven surfaces. I found this fared better than most. I had to take a little care to ensure there were no streaks whilst applying.

It's a stunning colour on the nail. I found it chipped quite quickly though, especially around the tip. This happens often with my nails so it may not be the nail polish at fault. Although it didn't last long, I really enjoyed the colour whilst it was on.

From bottom left hand corner clockwise: Lancome Rouge St. Honore, Avon Golden Wine, Knees Up, Avon Wicked, CG Ruby Pumps and LMdB Kontagious Koral

I'd quite like to wear Knees Up or China Girl's Ruby Pumps on Christmas Day. To help with my decision and also to put the colour in context, I pulled out a few of my reds for comparison. I don't have anything that similar in either the finish or the colour. My other reds are either cremes or shimmer finish rather than metallic. Knees Up is quite a deep red too.

L-R: Ruby Pumps, Knees Up and Golden Wine

0. Lancôme Rouge Saint Honoré*

1. Le Métier de Beauté Kontagious Koral*

2. China Glaze Ruby Pumps (3 coats)

3. Butter London Knees Up (3 coats)

4. Avon Golden Wine (3 coats)

5. Avon Wicked

On the nail wheel I applied three coats of Ruby Pumps, Knees Up and Golden Wine. All the rest were two coats and the Lancome nail varnish was opaque with one coat. Wicked is surprisingly dark when applied. In the bottle you can see much more of the red shimmer. I'm very taken with Avon Golden Wine seeing it applied on the nail wheel, the mix of gold and fuchsia shimmer is very pretty when it catches the light.

Butter LONDON nail polishes cost around £10 - £12 each and are available from Boots, Zuneta and Powder Rooms.  Do you have a favourite festive red?


Items labelled with * were received as PR samples