Guest Post: Mai Couture Lipglosses

Today we have a guest post from Debra of An Imperfect Life. Debra has kindly been trying out a few products for me that I haven't had opportunity to review myself (one of the limitations of only having one face to shmush it all on) and these are her thoughts on the Social Gloss lipglosses from Mai Couture.

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The very lovely Jane from Modesty Brown sent me a parcel of goodies to try and amongst them were these two glosses. I had not come across Mai Couture before – they are a US brand that is not widely stocked in the UK.

Left - Femme Fatale, Right - Sake Sunrise

The two glosses that I was sent were Femme Fatale and Sake Sunrise. Femme Fatale (on the left in the photos and as modelled by me) looks almost baby pink in the tube but comes out on the lips as a softer pink. Sake Sunrise (on the right in the photos) is more of a beige pink.

Application on bare lips took a little while to get even. I found that I needed to put on a little more than I thought I might need to get it smooth and even coverage. Once on though, it stayed nicely, lasting a good 3 – 4 hours before needing topping up, and there was no hint of the tacky feeling that you can get with some glosses.

Purely because of my age (mid 40s) I probably wouldn’t wear these glosses on their own. I think my lips need a little more coverage than they offer, so I’d layer them over a lipstick for a fresh, summery look. They are a nice quality gloss, and these two are very versatile colours. A brand worth exploring, Mai Couture is available from beautybay.com in the UK, the lipglosses cost £15.50 each.

Disclosure: PR Samples

Guest Reviewing on A Model Recommends

Today I am very honoured to be guesting for Ruth on A Model Recommends. The subject of the post is a review of the Perricone MD Radiant Skin Collection pictured above, and includes my thoughts on the (rather marvellous) Advanced Face Firming Activator. I'd love it if you went along for a read, although you might want to put the kettle on first, it is a bit of an epic!

For anyone interested in the product ingredients you can click on the image below to enlarge. 

Guest Post: Why Avene Thermal Water is not just water in a spray bottle, and other miracle skincare stories

We have a guest post today from the very lovely Musing about Beauty. Mariella lives in Belgium and I secretly hoped she would pick a European pharmacy favourite as her subject. She hasn't disappointed! I've got a cup of tea on hand and I'm about to settle down for an interesting read.

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I was thrilled when our lovely host invited me to guest post here, and my first question was: what shall I tell them about. «The world is your oyster, subject wise» she said. There, I had a learned a new English expression, yet I was still subject free. Until I remembered one of my pet peeves that regularly comes up in YouTube videos and beauty blog: people saying that Avène Thermal Water is just water in a spray bottle.

Actually, people will say that about pretty much any thermal water in spray bottle, and I don’t know about all the others, but if we’re speaking about Avene, they’re wrong. And I thought it would be good to explain why, given that I’m currently using that product myself at this very moment and it is my saviour in a time of very upset skin.

So, what is «thermal water» exactly.

In order to be declared thermal, a spring water must be naturally mineralized and suitable for therapeutic use. It has a particular content in minerals and trace elements, as well as a particular temperature and flow, which all contribute to the healing properties. It must also have verified results on particular skin disorders.

The Avene Spring Water comes from very deep in the ground and is from very ancient rainfalls, yet there is still a huge quantity available (good for us). It undergoes no chemical treatment so its composition is not altered.

What is the Avene Spring Water good for?

Avène is a little thermal city in France, and each year, thousands of people go there to treat their skin issues. The Avene water is proven to reduce inflammation and irritation (itching), and to accelerate healing. It is particularly useful for:
- burn-related scarring
- follow-up to dermatological treatments
- psoriasis
- eczema and dermatitis
- ichtyosis (a hereditary condition of dry skin with lots of itching)

The Avène water has been used for over 200 years in skin healing treatments and has been declared of public benefit in 1874; it is well-known by dermatologists and cures at the Avène Thermal Stations are mostly prescribed by a doctor.

Ok, but what’s in it for me?

If you get Avene Thermal Water Spray just to set your makeup, clearly, you’re spending unnecessary money on something that you won’t find special.
However, if you suffer from dryness, sensitivity or eczema, you can definitely include this water in your daily skincare routine to help relieve your skin.
Simply spray the water on your face after your cleansing routine, and gently pat a towel to dry your skin (no rubbing, ladies, it’s irritating!), then follow with your skincare products (and if necessary, use the Avene products recommended for your skintype and condition: these also contain the Avene Spring Water)

Being seriously addicted to trying new beauty products, it is bound to happen that I, once in a while, would get a reaction to something new that I am trying. Every time that happens, I remove the culprit from my face and spray with Avene Thermal water - it always helps my skin calm down really quickly.

If the water is particularly hard where you live, you can use the Avene Water to rinse off your face after you’ve washed it with tap water: it will help your skin restore its balance. If you suffer from dryness a lot, you can even skip tap water altogether and cleanse your skin using micellar water then Avene Water, and you’re good to go!
I have actually been doing that myself lately, as my skin was seriously dehydrated after Winter and the tap water was really giving me a hard (no pun intended) time. It made such a difference over the course of 3-4 days, it is truly amazing!

It’s a kind of magic.

The composition of the Avene Thermal Water being well-known, scientists have recreated it artificially, which is actually pretty easy to do.
It turned out the copycat water just didn’t do the job.
It looks like, when it comes to thermal water, the real deal is more than the addition of its components. How interesting is that?

Guest Post: Give your skin a break

I'm pleased to be able to let a really lovely lady take over today, with such an excellent choice of topic too. Nic of Strawberry Blonde Beauty Blog has been inspiring my beauty purchases for a long time now (we go back beyond the blogging days). Nic is more than just a great beauty blogger, she's an all round good egg and has held my hands through some difficult parenting moments, for which I am extremely grateful. Anyway, without further ado, I will leave you in Nic's very capable hands.

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Thank you Jane for inviting me to guest blog… I am honoured!

Sometimes I lie in bed at night mentally listing the number of skincare and beauty products I use daily… a number which, unsurprisingly, has increased since I started beauty blogging.

I’m passionate about skincare and have used it religiously since my late teens. I care about what I put on my skin, research it thoroughly, and spend as much as I can afford on what I believe are the best products for me. I’m fickle too… I get bored easily and even if something is working for me, I always want to try the latest wonder product I’ve heard about. At times I’ve used poor quality products (for financial reasons) and while I know quality doesn’t always equate with cost, my skin has suffered as a result – and improved when I returned to ‘the good stuff’!

What has never occurred to me until recently, is that maybe all this goodness I’m applying to my face twice daily isn’t always so good for me. Maybe my skin feels overworked, or perhaps there really can be too much of a good thing? Hormone fluctuations can occur throughout key stages of our lives, like puberty, pregnancy and menopause, but factors such as contraception, diet and stress can play a big part too and it’s definitely true that our skin reflects what’s going on inside.

Several months ago I tweeted about a skin flare up and Pai Skincare responded. I’d previously had no contact with Pai, though I was familiar with the brand through reading reviews by some of my favourite bloggers.

Sarah Brown, founder and owner of Pai asked me about the exact condition of my skin and requested a list of every product I used at the time. She then researched potential allergens or irritants within the product ingredients and came back to me with some advice.

The main thing she thought I ought to do was give my skin a complete break from complicated skincare. When the owner of a highly respected skincare brand suggests this, you sit up and listen! I was both surprised and humbled by Sarah’s advice and would like to personally thank her for the time she took to advise someone who at that point, had never even tried her products. (I since have and love them, though Pai held off sending them until my skin was back to normal!)
This was Sarah’s advice, which she agreed to let me share in this post…

“Even the most robust of skin can develop sensitivities to ingredients that it may have previously been tolerant to. These sensitivities can be caused by hormone fluctuations, stress, illness, tiredness or overuse of particularly harsh or active cosmetics.



In all cases I'd recommend first giving your skin a rest.



While all beauty lovers want to sample a wide variety of skincare classics & new innovations, chopping and changing products regularly can leave skin very confused and out of balance.



As it responds to the varying oil levels in each, your skin adjusts its own oil production to reach an equilibrium. If this happens too often, your skin simply can't keep up, and can breakout, dry-out or develop a red reaction.



Allow your skin to rediscover its natural balance, and protect this with gentle products.



Increasing your intake of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3,6&9) can also help calm and condition your skin from the inside out, as they are powerful anti-inflammatories. Oily fish, seeds and nuts are great dietary sources, or you can opt for 1-2 tsps of organic Hemp or Flaxseed oil a day.”

Sarah Brown, Pai Skincare

With the EFA (omega oils), try and buy out of a fridge in your health food store and store it the same way at home. If they're on a shelf in a shop it's not a good sign and are best avoided. These oils are very prone to degradation and you want to take them in their most 'active' fresh form.

Obviously I had to keep cleansing and moisturising my skin at the time, so I used the most simple products I had, which at that time were Purity organic cleanser and moisturiser. Next time I’ll use a gentle natural oil, such as Jojoba; Pai products or Neal’s Yard Calendula Cleanser. 

I also minimised the amount of makeup I wore at the time, so that my skin could breathe. Products such as Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint or Estee Lauder’s new BB cream are perfect for this, along with a slick of mascara and gloss. My skin definitely benefited from this whole process. The sore spots and under-skin bumps cleared up and my face returned to normal.

While I still test new skincare products for my blog, I’m now much more careful about how I introduce them, adding one new product to my regime at a time, so that if I have a negative reaction, it’s easier to figure out what’s caused it. And in between switching to a new range, I’ll stick to basic, gentle products for a week or two, to avoid throwing my skin out of balance.

Have you given your skin a break recently or is it something you’d consider?

I hope this has been helpful… thank you for reading – and thanks again to Jane for letting me post on one of my favourite beauty blogs!
Nic x

TheTenBest.co.uk & Zuneta's Vlogger Contest

I'm moonlighting on thetenbest.co.uk today talking about my pick of The Ten Best Makeup Brushes. My collection of brushes has grown considerably over the last couple of years so it was interesting to muse on which brushes I would consider to be must-haves. I was rather shocked by how heavily MAC featured in my top ten. I do have a great many brushes that I love but in terms of accessibility and function, I think that MAC brushes are hard to beat. Particularly their eyeshadow brushes.

I'd really love to know what you would pick as your top ten brushes. Would you disagree with any of my choices? Have I missed any essentials?

Now I'm about to do something I have never done on my blog before and mention that I have entered a contest. In a fit of weekend madness I entered my BECCA Professional Brush Soap demo video into Zuneta's Vlogger Contest. I'm not under any illusions about winning but you might find the video interesting if you haven't already seen it before. It's amazing how a soap in a tin has revolutionised my brush washing!

More BECCA Lost Weekend

I've been mean meaning to return to the BECCA Lost Weekend collection for a couple of weeks now. I have already shown the palette and my recreation of the promo look. As well as the Lost Weekend palette the collection includes three new nail colours, two new mineral blushers, a lip balm and Fig Beach Tint.

The Fig Beach Tint is actually part of the permanent line and I have reviewed this in a guest post on Zuneta previously. The Beach Tints are somewhere between a cream and gel formula and are water-resitant. I find they last very well as a cheek colour but I can always feel it on my skin. Fig is a mauve-pink colour and fits very well with the other colours in this collection.

From the moment I clapped eyes on Billy Tea, I knew I had to have it. Whilst the other items I have shown you were press samples, Billy Tea is something I bought for myself. Billy Tea is a chocolate brown creme, it reminds me of OPI's Over The Taupe. I have a number of similar colours and I can do a colour comparison if this would be of use to anyone. As with Tangerine Dreams, I like the brush and the rubberised handles of the BECCA polishes. The fact that they are free from formaldehyde, toluene, camphor and dibutyl phthalate is good news too. The two other colours from this collection are Saddle Up, a caramel nude and Toasted Marshmellow, a pinky brown.

I do not have any of the mineral blushes to show you. Both colours are quite muted, nude shades and fit well with the natural look of the collection. I did get opportunity to swatch these and they have a nice finely milled texture. Sweet Pea is described as a rosy plum nude and Wild Honey, a peachy nude. I may cave on one of these as I love a neutral blusher to sculpt the cheek.

I love the lip butter balm that was released with the collection. I'm not ashamed to admit that my favourite things about it are the fact that it's a stick so there's no need to get my fingers sticky and the packaging is sleeker than your average balm. It's packaged as a lipstick with a screw down lid and I'm assuming this is the same packaging as their sheer lipsticks. The balm also smells and feels very good. It has good staying power and no petroleum.

The Lost Weekend collection is available from BECCA counters now. If you don't have a counter nearby it is also available online from their website, Zuneta and other online stockists.



Disclosure: I bought the nail polish, the other items shown are press samples.

Guesting on Escentual.com

I'm over on the Escentual.com blog today giving my answers to the Pick & Mix Beauty questions. I'd be thrilled if you went and had a little read!

In the next couple of days I will also be a posting my answers to some non-beauty related questions that people were kind enough to pose via Twitter. If there's anything you've always wondered about Modesty Brown, now is your chance to ask. Let's keep it clean though...

BECCA Manicure Tips from Session Manicurist Katie Hughes

I don't usually post press releases but I think this one is a little different. When I visited the BECCA Boutique earlier this year, I had the pleasure of a manicure with the gorgeous Katie Jane Hughes (for Twitter fans, you can find Katie tweeting here). I know some of you met Katie at the TOWIB Blogger event recently and she is a great Makeup Artist but she's also a bit of whizz with a nail brush. Katie gave me a manicure with one of the BECCA colours coming out in September called Billy Tea and hopefully I won't get in trouble for giving you a sneaky peek.

This manicure lasted really well. Longer even than my Shellac which I think says great things about both the BECCA formula and Katie's skills. With this in mind I thought you'd like to hear Katie's thoughts on the nail varnish and hear hear tips for a lasting, home manicure.

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Session Manicurist, Katie Jane Hughes, details unique features of BECCA Nail Colour

“I love the new BECCA nail polish - not only are they great colours, but the highly pigmented formula is

excellent and really easy to apply without streaks. After nearly 10 years in the business I'm very fussy and always searching for the next best formula, and BECCA have it. It's exciting for me as a pro because I know I can rely on these to perform...

They dry amazingly quick which is essential when working on shoots as things can change at the drop of a hat…

And clothes are always flying around so you need dry nails to avoid ruining couture garments!

I’ve been using the 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat to seal the colour and add extra shine. I love that it contains the little silver balls – unusual for a top coat – as this keeps the polish texture so thin, which not only makes it easy to apply but also means it won’t chip as quickly.”

PRODUCT FEATURES + BENEFITS, as noted by session manicurist Katie Jane Hughes

• Brush is perfect length for ultimate control and easy application.

• Brush has a sleek, flat end designed for optimum application and product placement; ensuring it splays across the nail for an even coat that doesn’t streak.

• Ultra gloss finish; even pastel shades look expensive.

• Long lasting, for up to five days.

• Superior nail adhesion to protect against chipping.

• Smooth, self-levelling pigment for ease of application.

• Fast-drying.

• Easily removed with Acetone or Non-Acetone remover.

INGREDIENTS

Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Phthalic Anhydride/Trimellitic, Anhydride/Glycols, Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Hectorite , Adipic Acid/Fumaric Acid/Phthalic Acid/Tricyclodecane, Dimethanol Copolymer, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Citric Acid, and may contain Talc, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491 (Iron Oxide), CI 77499 (Iron Oxide), CI 15850 (Red 6 Lake, Red 7 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake)

Session Manicurist, Katie Jane Hughes,

shares her tips for the perfect
20 minute manicure at home
in eight simple steps…

WHAT YOU NEED

Gentle nail file, buffing block, cuticle oil, small lip brush, cuticle pusher, nail polish

remover, BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat, BECCA Nail Colour.

STEP ONE

Gently file the length of your nails to shape or shorten.

 

STEP TWO

If necessary, gently push back any over grown cuticles with a cuticle pusher. 

 

STEP THREE

Lightly buff the nail surface to remove any old build up and create a smooth surface for the polish.

 

STEP FOUR

Coat each nail with one thin, even coat of BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat.

 

STEP FIVE

With your chosen shade of BECCA Nail Colour, paint two very thin coats of polish over the nails. Ensure you always gently touch the tip of the nail with the colour – this seals the end and adds longevity to the polish as any typing or manual work with not chip the nails instantly.

 

STEP SIX

Dip the small lip brush into the nail polish remover, then very carefully sweep the brush around the cuticle area. This cleans up any uneven mess around the edges. 

 

STEP SEVEN

Finish with a thin, even coat of BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat to seal and add gloss to the nails. Don't forget to cap the edges by painting the tip of the nail.

STEP EIGHT

Wait for about one minute, then carefully apply cuticle oil around the cuticle and sides of the nail. 

TIPS

• Don't soak your nails in water before you do your nails, as the nail soaks up the water and swells. This can lead to premature chipping when the swelling goes down.

• Always use a good cuticle oil after you polish to help nails dry.

• File your nails in one direction only.

• For the most natural looking nail, the shape should mimic the cuticle.

• Don't overload the brush or nail with polish.

BECCA Stockist details: 

BECCA Boutique 91a Pelham Street, South Kensington SW7 2NJ

Online www.beccacosmetics.com 

Phone Mail Order 020 7225 2501

Guest review of Le Metier de Beaute Nail Colour in Hera

Once again I've enlisted the help of Helen of Just Nice Things to give you a nail bloggers thoughts on nail colour from one of my favourite brands. I'm especially appreciative as Helen took on this task in the midst of moving house. I don't think you can get more dedicated than that! Let's see what she has to say about Le Metier de Beaute's Hera nail colour.

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Le Métier de Beaute isn’t really a brand that had registered much on my radar. Of course, I have read about it on a number of blogs, nodded sagely as Jane waxed lyrical about it (more than once!) but still for some reason I hadn’t been tempted to explore the brand further. However, this might all be about to change, as Jane obviously couldn’t cope with my ignorance any longer, and generously lent me her bottle of Hera to test out.

First things first, the bottle is tiny. Like tiny weeeeeeny. The kind of size you might expect to find in a dolls house. A bit odd really. Its only 4ml and will set you back the best part of £6.50. Erm, that’s kind of ludicrous. So you’d expect a sample sized bottle to contain polish that covers in one coat, right? Nope. This was two. Ok, so two isn’t bad, but it won’t take you long to use this up. Not long at all. Are they having a little joke with us? I mean, it’s one thing to be an aspirational and exclusive brand, but another to expect people to pay £1.62 for 1ml of nail varnish. Even Chanel (the most expensive nail varnish around, although Nails Inc are giving them a run for their money…but that’s a whole other blog post) only charges £1.38 per 1ml of polish.

THE COMPLETE GODS & GODDESSES COLLECTION

Anyway, all that aside, what’s the stuff actually like?

It’s very nice. However, Hera, a metallic shade, absolutely loathed being applied over a base coat. It went on ok, but dried totally bumpy and strange. So I had to remove my first application and start again, on bare and dry nails with no base coat, not even matte Nail Envy. This annoyed me as that was £1.62 down the drain straight away! But once I’d realized that this was no friend to base coat, it applied absolutely beautifully. Two easy coats, applied with a great brush that didn’t cause pooling or dragging at all. Marvellous. I was left with burnished gold nails that looked totally smooth and flawless. Usually, metallics highlight every ridge and lump and bump and I was pleased to say that Hera was an exception to the rule. I thought that Hera was going to be a gold foil, but it wasn’t. The finish is unlike any I’ve seen before and I really like it.

The ultimate test was moving house. How did it stand up to a few days of packing boxes, messing around with tape, moving and shunting things around? Well, the answer is very well. Hera looked great for a couple of days before starting to chip, but I must point out that my nails were under a lot of stress during this time (as was I – moving house is HELL). I would imagine that it would fare perfectly well using it in a normal week where the most strain you’ll be putting on your hands is doing some typing or washing up.

So, what’s my feeling? It’s a nice polish. The finish is different and it is a lovely shade. It applies perfectly and seems to go the distance. But they’d have to come up with a really original colour to get me to part with £6.50 for such a tiny bottle. OK so storage would be less of an issue than it is with my larger 15ml polishes, but I’m still not convinced.

On a side note, I always felt really sorry for Hera, having to stay at home and be all gracious and ladylike whilst her husband was off misbehaving in the form of a swan or a golden shower (look it up if you don’t believe me). At least she’s had a nice nail varnish named after her now though, hey?

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Thank you so much again to Helen for giving lending her hands and of course sharing some illuminating facts about poor Hera!


Le Metier de Beaute's nail colours cost $10 (they reduced the prices earlier this year). The Gods and Goddesses nail collection is still available on the Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom websites. Nordstrom also ships internationally. Since my last LMdB post, I learned that you actually pay the customs fees as part of the shipping costs from Nordstrom. This does add a significant amount to the cost of course but at least there are no nasty surprises this end! 


Disclosure: The nail varnish was sent to me without cost for review purposes.

BECCA Tangerine Dreams Nail Polish

BECCA Tangerine Dreams nail colour was released with the Halcyon Days collection along with two other colours, Summerdaze which Helen reviewed for me and Dancing Barefoot. Tangerine Dreams is soft coral shade, I see something of the salmon pink about this colour too. It has a super glossy finish: in the pictures below I am wearing two coats with no top coat. It is slightly translucent as the free nail edge is visible if you look very closely.

I really like the handle on these bottles. The rubberised material makes it easy to open and grip. The brush has a nice size and shape too. I found I had wear with this manicure quite quickly but this was probably an error on my part missing out a top coat. Not to mention the uneven surface of my nails. The colour and finish was a delight to wear though. I think this is a great holiday colour as it looks really nice against tanned skin and it also makes a lovely pedicure shade.

From bottom left, clockwise: Pink Grapefruit, Coralicious, Tangerine Dream, Gamma, Bright Orange.

Thumb - MF Bright Orange, Index - Gamma, Middle - Tangerine Dream, Ring - Coralicious, Pinky - Pink Grapefruit

I compared the colour to a few oranges and corals to put the colour in to context. In the pictures above, you can see the colour compared to Illamasqua Gamma*, Max Factor Bright Orange*, Rimmel Coralicious and 17 Pink Grapefruit. Hopefully you can see from the comparison that Tangerine Dreams is quite a light and muted coral-orange shade.

The Becca nail polishes cost £12 and I bought this particular bottle from Zuneta.


*Both the Max Factor and Illamasqua polishes were PR Samples.

Guesting on Get Lippie

Today I'm guesting on one of my favourite blogs, Get Lippie. I love writing guest posts for Louise as it gives me opportunity to show you a slightly different side of Modesty Brown (you wait till you see the pictures!). The subject of today's post is a musing on cosmeceuticals and their claims. I'd love it if you had a read and would be really interested to hear your thoughts.

Pimping My Top Ten Makeup Tricks for Tired Mums

I was approached to write my Top Ten Makeup Tricks for Tired Mums. This was actually quite a lot of fun to do, as this is essentially the reason my love affair with makeup started. There's no doubting my credentials as a tired Mum! It was really interesting to see what tricks I had adopted without even realising. Some of them are obvious and some are just my own personal favourites.

I'd love it if you went along for a read. Of course, it doesn't just apply to Mums. I know plenty of you survive on a bare minimum of sleep without the help of small people. Feel free to share your top tips for faking human too!

Guest Review of BECCA Summerdaze Nail Varnish

I've mentioned a few (million) times before that my nails are not up to much. As a self-confessed destroyer of nail polish, I do struggle to review polish in terms of wear time and general performance. Nail polish is very new to the Becca line up so I really wanted to get an expert opinion. Helen from Just Nice Things, nail blogger extraordinaire and my go to for all things nail related, was kind enough to offer to test it out properly for us.

It’s pretty fair to say that I know a lot about nail varnish. Enough to state that “hard to find OPIs” would probably be my Mastermind subject. Well, either that or “the tattoos of Nikki Sixx”, but that’s a whole different blog post.

Yet for some reason, Becca products had never really featured on my radar. Perhaps because they are new to nail varnish? I’d heard a lot about their make-up, mainly from Modesty Brown here, but I have to be honest and say that I’d never tried any myself. So when I was given the option to test out Summerdaze, from Becca’s new nail varnish range, I jumped at the chance.

First impressions were good. It’s always nice when something comes packaged in a box. Makes it feel more exclusive and expensive somehow. The Becca packaging is nice as well. The varnish itself is in a rectangular bottle, with (joy of joys!) a rubberized cap. Nail fanatics love a good rubberized cap. It’s one of the reasons I own so much Orly – because the handle is a joy to work with. It doesn’t slip or slide, and it makes it easier to open the bottle after a few uses as well, when it can often become sticky and creaky.

Application was brilliant. I have large nails but the brush covered really well and I had no pooling, dragging or bubbling whatsoever. This is a really thick crème though so you do need to work fast – it dries ridiculously quickly as well. What you’re seeing here is two coats with a base coat of OPI Nail Envy and a topcoat of CND Air Dry. I’m always amazed when companies can get their paler crèmes to be so pigmented, and it makes me very happy. The formula is also TFCDF free; free from Formaldehyde, Toluene, Camphor and Di Butyl Phthalate (or in nail lingo, Big4 free = A Very Good Thing).

A note on the colour. Summerdaze itself did me no favours whatsoever. It is a salmon pink shade that really only the coolest of cool skintones can get away with. Salmon polish gives me lobster hands. Interesting simile but true. Also, it’s a heck of a lot brighter than my camera picked up on. Neon salmon. Hmmm.

It’s a shame the colour didn’t work better with me really as this polish was going nowhere. It stayed put through several showers, cooking sessions, and a little Chuckle Brothers inspired incident in the Focus Do It All car park (you try putting a table and four stackable chairs in the back of an Audi A3 and not lose your patience or any of your nail varnish). And so for that, I hail Becca polish as something of a hero. It still looked as good on the fourth day, when I took these photos, as it did the moment I applied it. I only took it off as I couldn’t cope with the colour any more, otherwise I think it would have gone a good week and still looked smart.

So thankyou Jane for allowing me to road test this one for you – I am a definite convert and will be keeping my eye out for other shades. Less fishy ones perhaps though.

Thank you so much for the fantastic review Helen. It sounds like it had a really thorough road testing at Focus! You'll be pleased to know that there will be some more subdued colours coming out with the A/W collection later this year.

Summerdaze is part of the current BECCA Halcyon Days collection. The polish costs £12 and I bought this particular bottle from Zuneta.

Le Métier de Beauté Nail Varnish in Dionysus

As a child I was pretty fascinated by Greek Mythology so I rather like the idea of a collection of nail varnishes named after Gods and Goddesses. The four nail varnishes from the Le Métier de Beauté summer collection are all beautiful but the one that demanded my attention first was Dionysus, a stunning deep, turquoise blue shimmering with fine glitter. No one needs to comment on the fact that Dionysus is the God of winemaking......

I'm a Pisces and really do feel drawn to all things to all things water related. I studied in Marseille for a year and would often take a walk down to the craggy beaches of the Calanques nearby to my University accommodation. Dionysus reminds me of how the sea looked as the bright sunlight bounced off the turquoise blue of the Mediterranean. I honestly don't think my 21 year old self really appreciated how lucky I was!

The LMdB nail varnishes are 3-free and are fortified with strengthening proteins and hydrators. The bottles are very small and the brush is quite narrow. It doesn't splay like the pro-brushes that I'm used to but I experienced no difficulties in applying. The polish goes on nicely and only requires two coats. It seemed to level up the uneven surface of my nail a little to give a nice looking manicure even with my scrappy nails. It lasted well but I think some of this may be down to 'capping' the tips which I've only just learned. I did find my nails stained a little, even with Nail Envy as a base coat.

The colour and sparkle of Dionysus is spectacular. I kept admiring my nails the whole time I was wearing it and I don't think my pictures (or nails) do it sufficient justice. In terms of a dupe, the closest I have to this is Barry M Racing Green but Dionysus is definitely more 'peacock-y' in comparison.

Les Calanques de Marseille

Le Metier is currently only available in the US and the nail polishes are priced $10. 


Disclosure: PR Sample

Guest Post: Eyeshadow - There and Back Again

Today I'm handing over the reins to the lovely and fabulously funny Debbie from This week I have mostly been loving. I was thrilled when Debbie accepted my offer to do a guest post, I knew she would write something entertaining and she hasn't disappointed me at all! Get ready for a journey to the 80's!

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When Jane suggested I might like to write a guest post for her blog on my eye shadow journey I was very excited, I hope I have done her terrific blog justice with this!

I was first interested in make up when I was 14, which was in 1980 (I am 44 to save you the math!) Even if you aren’t old enough to have been around in the 80’s you will know them as the decade of bad taste, big hair and stupid excess. My make up collection was no exception. My face was my canvas and there was no limit; a rainbow of eye shadow, bright pink blush and lashings of lippy – the whole dark eye, light lip or vice versa message had never even been thought of, more was more and less was pointless.

It is also worth mentioning that in the 1980’s I wore glasses. And had a perm. Does the name “Deirdre Rachid” mean anything to you?

Hot damn this is like looking in a mirror back in the 80’s!

Only I wasn’t happy with just having massive frames that covered my entire face, I had the whole beyond trendy “dropped” arm thing going on a la Dennis Taylor, snooker player!

Brace yourselves folks.

Yikes! This is my sister and I. Check out the nylon, plastic and hair spray, ladies I give you The Flammable Sisters! The very very good thing about this pic is that my sister looks just a teeny hint chubbier than me which is awesome as 10 minutes after this was taken she became a size 8 which she has retained through 3 pregnancies and into her 40’s. I think the least said about those glasses the better tbh.

My mum dug another pic out too that she thought I’d like to share:

Contact lenses now, phew. That eye shadow is from a Lancome duo that I bought when I was at sea and was earning a fortune, god I loved it. The lipstick would have been Lancome as I was always very matchy matchy. The eyebrows and ‘tache were all mine. Quite clearly before the idea of threading had taken off, working that perm too.

You will be glad to hear that in spite of all of this I still managed to get myself married and have a couple of kids. This is where I entered the wilderness years. I wore very little make up and pretty much gave up on how I looked which frankly I could ill afford to do!

In my 30’s I got back into make up and was a big fan of foundation and lipstick but as I was wearing glasses I just had a dash about with the mascara and left it at that most mornings. When I did get drawn to an eye shadow in Boots I generally wore it once before deciding that it just didn’t work and giving up. Oh the wasted years.

When I started reading beauty blogs there were lots of lovely photos of incredibly beautiful eye make up done on people that looked like Nicole Scherzinger and whilst they were stunning to look at they bore no resemblance to anything that I could ever have done on my eyes. Now on the odd occasion that I wore eye shadow I felt that I looked like a transvestite version of myself and had resigned myself to not bothering with eye shadow.

Then I found Modesty Brown and was immediately impressed by the fact that Jane’s choice of eye shadows were generally soft muted shades in a very wearable matt finish that was subtle, flattering and most importantly something I felt I could copy! It took me a while to realize that most of those soft muted shades were variations on a theme – browney taupe, plumey taupe, greyey taupe, taupey taupe. Jane is the Queen of Taupe!! I also liked that Jane tended to only apply her shadow to the mobile lid and this was the look that I first copied. Then I decided to be really out there and add a hint of dark liner to my upper lash line woah, getting totally carried away now! Immediately could see the improvement as my lashes are sparse and this helped give that area more impact. Then there was the whole UD NAKED palette thing – I drove everyone around me mad with my need for this palette and when I finally got it my eye shadow experimentation soared to new heights and I have recently had as many as four colours on one eye, check me out!

Two fantastic bits of eye advice that I have been given, firstly with regard to brows remember they are sisters, not twins – I was so glad to give up the battle for identical, symmetrical brows! And that adding a dark shadow into the crease and blending instantly makes your eyes look 10 years younger, I swear by this and after starting off copying Jane’s colour only on mobile lid tend now to keep my mobile lid pale and put the colour into the socket line. UDPP is fantastic and once my little bit from the NAKED palette is gone will be purchasing full size. Have a great eye liner brush, long with a very straight flat edge, which is terrific for applying shadow as liner which equals endless possibilities, also have a small liner brush which I really like for softening a pencil line drawn tight to top lashes, UD 24/7 pencil in Whisky is current fave for this as its much more wearable than black for my colouring, and age!

So that’s where I am up to now, back loving eye shadow and having fun again. I am a big fan of neutral shadow for a polished, grown up day look but having just bought my daughter the UD Preen palette have half an eye on Mildew, a lovely sludgy, gilded green, so who knows what my next EOTD might look like!

Thanks for giving me this opportunity Jane, it is much appreciated

Guesting on Zuneta

I'm very excited to say that I am guesting over on Zuneta today. I am reviewing the new Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyes Wide Open Brightening liner duo. This duo pencil has actually made a few sneaky appearances in my FOTD posts over the past month or so. I would love it if you came along for a read and let me know what you think of it.

Beauty Bloggers Unwrapped Interview

I'm over on Makeup Savvy doing my Unwrapped interview today. I love Fee's blog and as a closet fan of Christmas it was very enjoyable. Of course, in true Modesty fashion I couldn't resist being a bit silly. I'm sure you'll all enjoy my very festive photoshopping.....

My 20 Questions over on Just Nice Things

Today, I'm answering 20 Questions on Just Nice Things. I'd love it if you went along for a read and if you're not already following Helen and Sheenie's lovely blog, I urge to take a browse. It's a great read but be warned, you will come away with some new nail varnish lemmings! I had the pleasure of an afternoons chat and shopping with Helen recently and I don't mind admitting that I made a serious increase to my nail varnish collection that day. Here's the evidence!

Guest Review of Tom Ford Private Blend Lipsticks

You may already realise that I would rather like a Tom Ford lipstick for Christmas. Of course when it comes to spending £35 on a lipstick you want to know you're making the right choice, so I often stalk other blogs as research. I feel very blessed as the gorgeous Lipstick Luvvie has agreed to do a guest post and share her thoughts on her Tom Ford collection. Jennifer has a lovely blog and I highly recommend popping along for read.

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Beauty lovers everywhere had something new to add to their wish lists in April this year when acclaimed fashion designer and recent film director Tom Ford branched into cosmetics, launching the perfect lipstick wardrobe of twelve universally flattering shades. Unfortunately for everyone's wallets, these luxurious delights cost a staggering £35. Granted, that is less than Serge Lutens, but they are a considered purchase.

If you are still catching your breath from the price, fear not, there is a chance to get the colour of your choice for free by entering my giveaway. For details see here. Now back to the product.

Tom Ford Private Blend Lipstick in True Coral - £35

They come in sleek and distinctive white and gold packaging and the first thing that struck me about them is their weight. They feel heavy and expensive, and unlike traditional black or metallic, don't show messy fingerprints - important when whipping them out of your handbag.

Said to encompass pure colour with just the right balance of luminosity, the 12 shades of lipstick are divided into 3 distinct colour families, nudes, bolds and dramatics. The colours are as follows:

Nudes

• Vanilla Suede
• Blush Nude
• Warm Sable
• Pink Dusk

Bolds

• Pure Pink
• Ginger Fawn
• True Coral
• Cherry Lush

Dramatics

• Smoke Red
• Moroccan Rouge
• Bruised Plum
• Black Orchid

The formula includes rich, natural ingredients like Saja seed extract, Brazilian Murumuru butter and Chamomilla flower oil, to give a highly pigmented but non drying finish. Although not specifically scented, when you use them a definite vanilla fragrance comes through.

Left to right: Pure Pink, Cherry Lush, True Coral, Bruised Plum, Pink Dusk

The bolds were the colour family that really called out to me and my first purchase was Pure Pink. It was everything I hoped and more. Great pigment, comforting on the lips but not so much that you would worry your lipstick had smeared, for me it was worth every penny. It is one of those colours that lights up my face even if I am not wearing any other makeup.

My Tom Ford love affair has developed into a bit of an addiction, and since February, four more shades have appeared on my dressing table. I now have a shade from each of the three colour groups, but the bolds remain my favourite and I think the most flattering.

I'll admit I didn't get on with the nude I bought, Pink Dusk. It is still the same quality as the others, but the colour tends to wash me out and I would need a lot of smokey eye makeup for it to work. I'm sure it would look great on somebody else, but it doesn't work with my colouring. Bruised Plum was my first foray into the dramatics and it is a lot more wearable than it looks in the photos. Perfect for a vampy autumn/winter.

Swatches Left to right: Pure Pink, Cherry Lush, True Coral, Bruised Plum, Pink Dusk

Hopefully the swatches will give you an idea of the vibrancy of the colours but they really need to be tried to be believed. For that reason I am offering someone the chance to win one Tom Ford Private Lipstick in the colour of their choice. All you need to do is become a follower of my blog, www.lipstickluvvies.com, and leave a comment under the original Giveaway Post stating which two shades (a first and second choice) you would most like to receive.

Good luck!

Tom Ford Private Blend Lipsticks are available online from Selfridges and Harrods for £35 each.