Best of Beauty 2011

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When two unloved shades collide

I’m not normally one for glittery nails, or Katy Perry if I’m honest, but when OPI launched their Katy Perry range earlier this year, my head turned. I couldn’t decide between Teenage Dream – the baby pink glitter ball shade or Last Friday Night – the bright blue glitter fantastic shade. So I opted for the full collection in the form of the OPI mini nail lacquers, which included The One That Got Away and Not Like the Movies. I do love OPI minis!

They’re a great way to try new shades. The 3.75ml bottles may be mini, but they’re very handy and in reality I rarely use a full bottle of nail polish, at least not before it’s all dried up or turned into sticky syrup. I’ve had these a while now but I was so disappointed by them I didn’t bother breaking my neck to blog about them. The two stand-out, glittery shades did not live up to my expectations. I wanted them to look exactly like they do in the bottle, unfortunately it’d take about five coats and maybe not even then! The colour is far too translucent, it’s more like a glitter top coat!

This is last Friday Night by itself – more like a wet Wednesday!

Until I teamed it with another unloved shade in my collection… I picked up this Nails Inc Electric Teal polish free with Instyle magazine a couple months ago. To say it’s unloved is perhaps too strong but it’s not really MY colour.

Although put the two together and……

I applied 2 coats of the Nails Inc and one top coat of the OPI and Voille! The slight blue  pigmentation in Last Friday Night turned the dull teal into a gorgeous two tone peakcock shade and of course the sparkle makes it really burst! I love it, now I need to find a perfect partner for teenage dream.

Kardashians for OPI – Colours and names revealed

Here we have it Kardashian fans… a sneak peak at Kardashian Kolours, the sisters’ first nail polish collaboration with OPI’s baby sister brand Nicole by OPI. Images from Khloe K’s website.

As predicted the names are cheeky and the colors, sorry Kolours are kick-ass!

 

Top row (l-r)

All Kendall-ed Up

 Sealed with a Kris

Kim-pletely In Love

Khloé Had a Little Lam-Lam

Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi

Rainbow in the S-kylie.

Bottom row (l-r)

Disco Dolls

Listen to Your Momager!

Wear Something Spar-kylie

It’s All About the Glam

Follow Me on Glitter

Kendall on the Katwalk

My Empire… My Rules

There are so many colours I want to get my hands and apparently this is only half of the range! I love the look of Rainbow in the S-kylie and Kendall on the Katwalk.

Launched in the US in November 2011, hopefully they’ll hit the UK soon after.

Bye dolls!

Beauty Waitlist… The Kardashians for OPI

Next in their quest for World domination the Kardashian sisters are set to follow in the footsteps of, er Shrek and Justin Beiber and launch their own range for nail giant OPI.

Kim confirmed the news on twitter last week after reportedly shooting the promo material with Khloe and Kourtney. She said “For the nail polish colors…just think glitz and glam. You guys are gonna faint when u see our new polish.”

OPI, famed for their quirky names like “My private jet” (believed to be Kim’s favourite) ,“Dating a Royal”  and “What’s with the catitude”, the mind is on overdrive trying to imagine what those cheeky Kardashian’s will come up with. Perhaps something like “Kim’s sex tape” or “Khloe loves sauseege”??? Unfortunately we’ll have to wait until Christmas time to find out.

Khloe Kardashian

Proof positive that the Kardashian sisters really do have it nailed!

UPDATED: CHECK OUT THE COLOURS AND NAME HERE

Barry M Crackle Paint… How to

I have to admit to being quite taken with this new nail art trend. It’s cute, it’s novel and all the brands are doing it BUT I’m not sure it’s for adults? With that in mind, I bravely tested it out… on my 12 year old sister.

Crackle polish is available in a rainbow of colours – gold, green, WHITE you name it. For your first time I’d recommend a black, plus it goes with everything. Barry M’s crackle paint is available in black,white, pink and blue and priced at £3.99 it’s very reasonable.

How to…

Firstly paint your nails as you would normally. You can use any colour, any brand. I think black works well with bright colours, so we chose No7’s Foxglove – a hot pink. Apply one or two coats, BUT make sure they’re bone dry before you start with the crackle.

Then on top of your painted nails apply with the crackle varnish, BUT and here’s the tricky part, you cannot overlap the crackle, which is difficult because the brush isn’t wide enough to do just one stroke, yet it’s wider than half your nail meaning some overlapping is inevitable. The other difficulty is it DRIES  very quickly but once on you will be impressed by the instant crackling effect – it’s like magic. My only criticism with this Barry M version is it gets very glupey very quickly. Be careful not to apply too much.

I’d say practice makes perfect with this one, by the time I got to the last nails I felt like I was finding my stride, but for a first attempt, I’d say we didn’t do too bad…..

What’s amazing is, you get a different result everytime and can vary the effect by doing faster or slower strokes.

My sister was really happy with the results and her friends were green with envy, which I think answers the question, is it for adults? Probably not, unless your name is Lady GaGa.

Coming soon: 17 Gold Shatter Nail Polish

They’re all at it, Barry M, OPI, China Glaze and now purse friendly 17 want us to shatter, crackle and smash our nails.

Granted, most of us over the age of 16 might want to give trendy nail art a wide berth, but the gold is very summery and less dramatic than the black ones on the market and with an estimated price tag of around £4, I’d say it’s worth a go. Although be careful not to be too heavy handed, in this picture taken from 17’s Facebook page, the product looks a little thicker than it’s pricier competitors.

Set for release later this month, have some fun creating weird and wonderful patterns.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

It was my birthday yesterday…

Birthday Goodies

Bobbi Brown Make up manual

Mac Wonder Woman Opulash Mascara – Victorious

Mac Blush Brush 116

Topshop Cream Blush – Flush

OPI Mini Nail Lacquers Katy Perry

Barry M Nail Paint – Mushroom

Didn’t I do well! I might be another year older, booo, but I’m well stocked up. Watch this space, new reviews coming your way soon, just as soon as the hangover wears off.

And a special thanks to my little sister…

An accurate respresentation of how I’m looking this morning!

LUST HAVE: China Glaze Crackle Nail Varnish in the UK

Don’t just paint your nails, CRACKLE them!

Give your nails an edgy yet fabulous look with China Glaze’s Crackle nail polish. Following in the footsteps of OPI’s Katy Perry Shatter collection, these amazing nail varnishes make nail art easy and accessible, what’s more they’re now available in the UK.

Now I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea and it does look a little like the highlighter/varnish/Tip ex experiments my friends and I concocted when we were ten, but there’s no denying they’re fun, clever and pretty edgy.

China Glaze is known for providing high quality, trendy and innovative nail care products which are meant to help your nails look amazing without any damage. The Crackle Collection comes in 6 colours including broken hearted and crushed candy. Simply apply over any base colour and watch the cracks appear.

Available from The Beauty Partnership £9.96. I’ve got my order in.

Review: OPI Burlesque Little Teasers Mini Nail Varnishes

Release your inner showgirl with these fabulous limited edition nail lacquers from OPI.  

Don’t let Cher and Christina put you off, these nail colours are top class. The colours are extremely vibrant, glossy and glittery. As you’d expect from nail giant OPI, they’re high quality and long lasting plus the mini brushes give more application control. You will however need two to three coats to get the best results; a single coat is too sheer.

Available in 4 limited shades in a burlesque colour palette….

Rising Star – Lustrous glimmering gold

Take the Stage – A warm Orange spotlight shimmers

Ali’s Big Break – This glowing red shimmer breaks through in styleq

The Show Must Go On! – With this deep pink shimmer on your nails!

Snap yours up before it’s too late – available now from asos.com for £12.50.

If only the film was as good as the nail varnishes!