Sheswai Nail Lacquer in Winesnob

Thanks to the sun putting in an appearance this morning, I finally managed to get a picture of this lovely nail polish. The Sheswai Lacquers are a range of 3-Free nail polishes and the formula is a good based on my experience with Winesnob.

I love this polish for the colour, the name and the fact that I can get away with a single coat if I'm pushed. In fact, I think the only thing I'm not struck on is the wooden handle. It's an aesthetic/textural thing too rather than it being difficult to use.

The colour is a beautiful, deep claret colour with a glossy finish. It reminds me a little of Chanel Rouge Noir but I find the Sheswai formula easier to apply. Edit: It looks slightly translucent on the nail wheel but two coats on my nails is completely opaque. Wear time is average but my weak and uneven nails make it very hard for any nail polish to last well, so I don't consider myself a very good barometer of this sort of thing. The current state of my nails is the reason why the colour has been swatched on a nail wheel rather than my finger nails. I draw the line at photographing pedicures!

The Sheswai Nail Lacquers are available from Mise Beauty and cost £12.50 each. They have a really nice selection of colours and they range is well worth a look if you're a fan of 3-Free formulas. You can find a review of the colour Rootsy here on London MakeUp Girl.

Disclosure: This item was sent to me without cost for consideration for review.

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Tinted Balm

The Kevyn Aucoin base products are very popular within the beauty community and although I've tried quite a few of the colour products, this is my first experience of a base product from the line. I had read Visionary Beauty's review a little while ago and what initially struck by the ingredients list. It is a rather silicone heavy formulation and talc features high on the INCI, and I guess I was a little surprised by this from what I consider to be a premium brand.

Considering my reservations about the formula, you may wonder why I accepted a sample for review. Well, I will admit to being curious as I've been impressed with all the other Kevyn Aucoin products I've tried so far and I do have a penchant for tinted moisturiser type bases. I also thought it would be good to challenge my silicone snootiness for once.

I have surprised myself by really liking this tinted moisturiser and I have worn if almost constantly for the last three weeks. It offers good coverage (it's similar to the NARS Pure Radiant tinted moisturiser) and it evens out my skin tone without looking like I'm wearing foundation. It has a cream rather than fluid texture but feels very light on my skin. It provides a more satin finish than either the BECCA or NARS, but as with all tinted moisurisers, I do get a bit of breakthrough on my T-zone by mid-afternoon.

One thing I don't love so much about it is that it seems to accentuate the sebaceous filaments on the sides of my nose as it leaves an 'empty hole' over them. I have a feeling this is something to do with the silicone base.

Blended

I have been using the Sensual Tinted Balm in the shade SB02. There are a total of four shades and although I hesitated between the SB01 and SB02, the SB02 is a good match for me. You can see swatches of all four shades side by side on the Beauty Professor. From these swatches, I would suggest the range is currently suitable for only fair to medium skintones.

As I've mentioned the BECCA Luminous Skin and NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturisers, I thought it would be useful to include some comparison swatches. The BECCA Luminous Skin I have is in the shade Sand and the NARS tinted moisturiser is in the shade Finland.

Left to right: NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser in Finland, Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Tinted Balm in SB02 and BECCA Luminous Skin Colour in Sand.

One final word of caution about the packaging. Don't be a heavy handed klutz like me. I broke the plastic casing on my first use, mistakenly assuming this to be a twist off cap. It's not, it's a pull off cap. Oops! 

The Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Tinted Balm costs £35 for and is available from Mise Beauty.

Disclosure: PR sample

Ilia Arabian Knights compared to RBR Murmurings

About a month ago I showed you Ilia Arabian Knights applied. I have worn this lipstick a lot since I purchased it. Ilia lipsticks have a nourishing balm texture which makes them very comfortable to wear. I'm also a fan of these sorts of sheer berry shades for easy wear so this was really the perfect choice for me. If you're a fan of the Clinique Almost Lipsticks you'll enjoy the sheer Ilia.

Swatch of Arabian Knights

Whilst on holiday, I wore Rouge Bunny Rouge Murmurings and Ilia Arabian Knights a lot. Murmurings is one of the Rouge Bunny Rouge's Succulence of Dew lipsticks, so like Arabian Knights, this has a sheer finish. By eye these quite similar colours but I didn't get round to swatching them side by side until I returned home (my apologies for failing to get the swatches in the same order in both lighting conditions).

Top - Murmurings, Bottom - Arabian Knights (direct sunlight)

Top - Arabian Knights, Bottom - Murmurings (overcast lighting)

I was relieved to see that the lipsticks are similar but not identical. Murmurings is more brown toned and plummy whereas Arabian Knights is a brighter, cooler berry. The colours look more similar on my lips than in the swatches because of the sheer quality but Arabian Knights still looks the brighter of the two. 

I cannot choose between these lipsticks, both are lovely in terms of colour and texture. It can be difficult to find really comfortable lipsticks and I would happily recommend either of these formulas. RBR Murmurings costs £21 is available from Zuneta. Ilia Arabian Knights costs £20 and is available from Content Beauty and Mise Beauty.

HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations

The HIPP x RGB collection is a collaboration between RGB and celebrity 'green manicurist' Jenna Hipp. The Nail Foundations are designed to match your skin tone just like regular foundation to give the perfect nude manicure. There are four shades: F1, F2, F3 and F4, where F1 is the lightest and F4 is the darkest.

From left to right; F1, F2, F3 and F4

F3 and F4 are darker than my skin tone but I have applied them all to my nails so you can get an idea of the colours and coverage. Two coats gives good opaque coverage with all four foundations. I find the size and shape of both the bottle and brush easy to handle. I did experience some dragging if I had to go back over an area whilst applying a coat, so it helps to be precise first time. The RGB formula is free of formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), in fact I recall London Makeup Girl mentioning that they are in fact 4-free as they are also free from camphor. The polish lasted well on my (notoriously difficult) nails. I'm not sure if the fact that I used my BECCA 2-in-1 as a base coat helped with the lasting power, this is also a 4-free formula so it's probably a good match as a base coat.

F1

F2

I have to admit that I'm not sure whether I prefer F1 or F2 on my hands. F2 is a bit too dark to truly give the effect of mannequin hands but the undertone blends in better with my skin, whereas F1 seems to highlight the redness in my skin. F1 will probably be more flattering when my hands are less winter abused.

F3

Although the idea of the nail foundations is for them to match your skin tone, I really like the colour of F3. In the top picture, I think it looks unfairly.....erm, dungy which is why I have included the whole hand picture to give you a better idea of the colour.

F4

F4 is a really rich deep brown and I think it has the most glossy finish of the Nail Foundations.

As well as the Nail Foundation, there are four Nail Tints available which offer similar skin matching shades but in a sheer finish. I actually think I will get on better with these for finding my perfect skin match and I always thing that sheer fleshy colours are a good choice if you struggle to keep a manicure looking perfect.

The HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations cost £11.50 each and are available from Mise Beauty, who ship worldwide.


Disclosure: These items were sent to me without cost for review purposes.