re.view: Anastasia lavish palette

A bit later than promised, but after a really good road test - a review on the Anastasia Lavish Palette!

re.commend: The (REAL!) Urban Decay Naked 2 palette

WARNING - Naked 2 fakes!

In the run up to Christmas, if you are thinking of treating someone special to that Naked 2 palette that they've had their eye on, please read this post first! 

re.commend: Top coats

A little review of my selection of top coats for you today! 

Seche Vite ('sesh veet') is my top coat of choice if I'm rushing to get ready, or more likely, I'm painting my nails in front of the TV before bed. It is a gloopy-textured nail varnish that does as it says - dries quickly! It does also give a nice gel-like shine to the nails, but I'd say that if this is your primary goal that there are other cheaper top coats available that will give you a good shine (see below).  

re.commed: Miss Sporty metals nail varnishes!

You might not know this about me yet, but I LOVE a good Miss Sporty nail varnish! Available in the UK (not sure about the rest of the world? let me know!), these are cheap and cheerful nail varnishes. I'll have a review of more of the range soon but suffice to say that they are (with the exception of a couple of duds) a nice opaque-in-one-coat formula and come with a good wide brush for neat and quick application. 

re.view: Del Sol Changing colour nail varnish!

A very quick review today on a novel little item! 

Del Sol, which I came across in Canada when I visited recently, makes a set of colour-changing nail varnishes that react to sunlight. Fun huh? I chose this little light pink number that changes to a light purple when in the sun, and picked out a green-to-cream version for a friend of mine.

It works very well and the colour change isn't so fast that you can't appreciate the magic, but fast enough that it will transform even if you're just popping outside.

I would say though that the formula is quite thin and requires a few coats to get an opaque layer, which is best for the colour-changing effect. I have found that the best way to achieve this is to apply a cream or white colour as a base then follow with two thin coats of this.

re.commend: Urban Decay 'haul'!

A new Debenhams store opened up recently in my local area and I (just happened to be) passing by it so I thought I'd pop in to have a peruse of the beauty counters. I ended up buying a faux-leather jacket from Star by Julian MacDonald (not my usual content but can tell you more about this if you like - leave me a comment if you do!) and spending quite a bit of time at the Urban Decay counter. I was treated to a free makeover that was being offered that day and was given a lovely little makeup bag with free samples when I purchased the Naked 2 palette and a Revolution lipstick.