NOTD: No7 Cheeky Chops

The gorgeous weather in South Wales last week had me craving bright and happy colours, especially on my nails.

I am not a fan of No7 at all, I'll be honest - I've had horrendous results with their skincare and the make up just doesn't appeal. However, their Spring 2012 display caught my eye recently on a trip Boots.  I had a quick glance and really liked the look of the bright pink/coral nail polish with the adorable name 'Cheeky Chops'.

I had accumulated a £5 off No7 voucher which meant this cost just £2 - bargain.

 As gorgeous as this colour is, I don't really like the formula. It was not the easiest polish to apply and went on very streaky. Whilst the polish is nice and opaque, each coat streaked so I ended up applying 3 rather thick coats and then patching up th streaks.

I noticed that the polish was starting to appear a bit gloopy as I was applying it too, so I'm not sure how long the bottle itself will last. 

With a basecoat of Orly Bonder, three thick coats of Cheeky Chops and a top coat of INM Out The Door, this polish lasted just a mere 12 hours before starting to peel off in the shower...this has never happened before with other polishes and it's not the fault of the base or top coat which are tried and tested favourites of mine, so I can only blame this polish - or rather the fact that there was just so much of it on my nail.

Such a shame because the colour is absolutely stunning, but luckily Barry M's Pink Flamingo is almost identical and the formula is SO much better.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain 9 - Rouge Lacque FOTN & Review

Not long after they launched, I picked up one of the new YSL's Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains in number 9, Rouge Lacque- a gorgeous 'true' red.The Glossy Stains are, as the name suggests a gloss/stain hybrid - a really fantastic concept that I was desperate to try. I love longwearing lip products but tend to find that the more longwearing they are, the more matte they appear.

One thing I felt let this product down was the tube. YSL cosmetics usually look so luxurious in gold, but this one is totally let down by the black tube. To me, this looks like a tester from the counter and not a luxury lip stain.

That aside, I loved the concept of a gloss that was supposedly long wearing and couldn't wait to put it to the test. I swatched on my hand and was amazed at how long the swatch stayed on my hand - it left a noticeable mark on my hand that lasted through a shower, a bath and some heavy duty scrubbing.

I also tested it on my lips and as expected it lasted an entire day, fading from a high gloss, highly pigmented lip colour to a rich stain.

The shaped applicator is fantastic at working with the contour of my lips and I find it glides on and is easy to manouevre.

I had purchased this with the intent of wearing it on a pretty important night out (Wales Grandslam - waaah!) so couldn't wait to really put it to the test on a boozy, 12 hour night out.
Here is the FOTD/N that I wore. I kept it pretty simple and used only the following products:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation 2W1 Sand

Daniel Sandler Waterblush 'Cherub'

NARS Blush 'Deep Throat'

Tom Ford Eyebrow Sculptor 'Taupe'

Shiseido Automatic Fine Eyeliner black

Mac Powersurge Eye kohl

Lancome Doll Eyes Mascara

Red Cherry DW lashes

Clinique Bottom Lash mascara

YSL Glossy Stain '9 - rouge lacque'

Fast forward to 2am on Saturday night/Sunday morning after 12 hours of solid drinking, dancing, singing and celebrating - I actually have little recollection of this but I am assured I went to bed without removing any of my make up and it was all still in tact bright red lips included (don't judge!) I do remember topping up this lip colour throughout the night, not because the colour had faded, but more as a top up of the glossiness. I would hazard a guess at maybe 2-3 reapplications which weren't even really needed.

Fast forward another 10 hours and here is where it all goes a bit downhill. I woke up with false lashes and lipstick still perfectly applied - I would have taken a photo as proof but a) I think I was still drunk b) the flash would have finished me off and c) it wasn't really a pretty sight.
I couldn't believe this lipstick had lasted 24 hours - very impressive even if somewhat skanky, but we'll gloss over these minor details (ha!)


I grabbed the bioderma and cotton pads to remove it and panicked a bit when the cotton pad remained pure white and my lips remained bright red. This just wasn't budging from my lips.
I swiped more bioderma soaked cotton pads over it and still - it stayed on my lips and not one trace on the cotton pads.
Next I cleansed (triple cleansed to negate the skank factor) with a balm cleanser and muslin cloth. Whilst my face returned to it's normal pre-skank state, my lips remained BRIGHT red and felt as though there was a glaze covering my lips. It felt hard and uncomfortable and as show in the photograph below, it felt as though little blisters had appeared on my lips

By now sheer panic had set in so I grabbed a soft toothbrush and started buffing away in an attempt to exfoliate the stain away - it worked to some extent but a lot of colour remained.
The stain remained until Monday evening and instead this is what I am left with as of today...

Dry, peeling, cracked and incredibly sore lips. These photographs are after constant reapplication of burts bees and blistex cream in an attempt to return my poor lips to normal.

To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I can't even see what went wrong. I paid £22 for a product that has caused severe pain and I am too afraid to use again. This review started off so well and I genuinely loved this product but for some reason it didn't love me!

I am curious to know if you have tried these and what you thought of them, let me know!

NOTD: All Kendall-ed Up - Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors

In my 'Kourt is red-y for a pedi' NOTD post I mentioned that I had purchased another of the Kardashian Kolor polishes...and here it is - All Kendall-ed up (I don't 'get' this name- just me?) which is a bright fuschia creme polish.

 

The formula of this one was even better than Kourt is red-y for a pedi- opaque in two coats and amazingly glossy without a top coat. I did however use a topcoat (Nubar Diamont) out of habit.

The formula is on the thick side which personally I prefer. It was easy to apply and possibly one of the tidiest manicures I've ever given myself!
Longevity was great- 4 days in with only minimal tip wear and no chipping.

As for the colour itself, as with Kourt is red-y for a pedi, this is nothing new or groundbreaking and easily dupe-able. If you already own NARS schiap nail polish- you don't need this! I own both and they are totally identical - I even swatched them side by side on my nail and couldn't distinguish between the two.

Guerlain Rouge G - Georgia FOTD

As promised in my previous post about Guerlain Rouge G 'Georgia' here is a FOTD with this lipstick. This look is the epitome of lazy sunday, I'm afraid. You can probably tell by my bed-head hair and minimal make up!

Here are the products I used to get this 'look' - I use the term look VERY loosely!

Armani Luminous Silk Foundation Shade 4

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer lightly applied to warm up the foundation

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush 'Pop'

Avon Supershock Gel Eyeliner 'Bronze' (which I am pretty sure I am allergic to - red, sore and leaky eyes ALL day)

Laura Mercier Topaz Eyeshadow to smoke out and set the liner

Dior Extase Mascara

Dior Skinflash Radiance Booster 002 Candlelight under eyes

Guerlain Rouge G 'Georgia' on lips.

As much as I love this lipstick I can't help but wonder if my skintone does funny things to it...looking at swatches online, particularly Temptalia's here, the colour appears totally different. Much lighter and more pink. On me it is much more a 'my lips but better' kind of lipstick. I noticed this more after purchasing my second tube of Georgia. This one certainly appears to be a touch darker.

I'd be very interested to hear if you own or have tried this and how it works for you!

My Favourite Lipstick & Namesake: Guerlain Rouge G - Georgia

I like to pretend that Guerlain named this lipstick after me. Truth is, they didn't. But I really wish they had. 

This lipstick is so gorgeous I'm already on my second one.

As I purchased my replacement in John Lewis last week it struck me that I've never blogged about this baby before, which came as quite a shock as it is a much used and much loved part of my make up collection.

For someone with a make up (and especially lipstick) collection so big it's incredibly rare that anything ever gets used up to the point of needing to be replaced.

It's easy to get caught up with new releases and seasonal colours and forget about the staples of our collection that we rely heavily upon.

Let me start with the divine packaging. This is luxury with a capital L. The lipstick is housed within a sleek (but oh so heavy)  futuristic looking silver case. When you pull the case apart, a soft moving mechanism flips to reveal a mirror inside the 'lid'. Unnecessary, maybe. But this feels oh-so-decadent and is a pleasure to whip out of my handbag to use.

Guerlain's Rouge G formula is amongst my all time favourite. Soft, creamy and incredibly comfortable on the lips, these are some of the finest lipsticks I have ever worn.

Georgia is perhaps not the most exciting lipstick but it's my failsafe. A creamy, medium rosy pink with the most divine texture, this lipstick is perfect for almost any look, occasion or season. It brightens my face and can often mean the difference between a tired looking face and a made up, wide awake face.

I've yet to find an eye look or cheek colour this doesn't work with. It seems to work well with any other cosmetics I pair it with - from an understated neutral eye to a full on smokey eye. I reach for this lipstick when I just can't decide what else to wear. If i'm not in the mood for bright, statement lips or a pale nude...this works for me.

I promise I will use this in a FOTD very soon, but today just wasn't a day for FOTD photographs! Here is Georgia on my lips...

Priced at £29.50 these are definitely a luxury but I cannot recommend them enough.

Lipstick Du Jour: MAC Lady Danger FOTD

This lipstick is one I have often wondered about buying but have always been afraid to. It is a matte lipstick that is desribed by MAC as 'vivid bright coral-red' and for once, MAC are spot on.

This lipstick is LOUD. I would usually be afraid of such bright statement lips but decided on a recent trip to MAC that I needed to take this home with me. It is the same colour I have been favouring on my nails as described in my recent NOTD post.

I photographed the lipstick in it's pristine condition before haphazardly slapping it on my lips on a bare, make-up less face. I glanced in the mirror and frightened myself. Loud is an understatement. I did have a brief moment of regret and wondered if I could ever make this work.

I revisited Lady Danger this afternoon armed with a bit of tinted moisturiser, bronzer and lashings of mascara and am pleased to report it looks much better. In fact, I am totally in love with it.

This lipstick is surprisingly easy to wear and looks great paired with minimal make up. The colour is incredibly flattering on my skin tone (warm, orange based reds have always suited me more than the cooler blue-based ones) and I can imagine this looking even better with a natural tan in the summer.

I regularly disregard MAC's matte lipsticks because I worry that they are too drying and will cling to imperfections but Lady Danger has the slightest sheen to it that stops it feeling too dry or looking too flat. This is definitely not as drying or matte looking as say, Ruby Woo.

Pigment-wise I personally believe this is as good as it gets. The formula is smooth, glides on easily, stays put for hours and is comfortable on the lips.

Comparing it to Ruby Woo again - Lady Danger wins by a country mile. As much as I love Ruby Woo I find it uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. It is very drying and feels so dry in the tube it pulls on my lips upon application, which puts me off wearing it. 

 Lady Danger FOTD

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser Oil Free

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer

MAC Stereo Rose blusher

YSL Effet Faux Cils Mascara

MAC Lady Danger Lipstick

Lady Danger is definitely one of MAC's better (if not the best) matte lipsticks and the colour is absolutely stunning. I thought I'd have to be feeling pretty brave to wear this but as soon as I apply it I feel instantly transformed and dare I say more confident. Even with my greasy hair and in-the-middle-of-being-grown-out fringe!
It looks stunning with my Nicole by OPI Kourt Is Red-y for a Pedi manicure as seen here.

Have you ever tried Lady Danger? What do you think?

NOTD: Kourt is red-y for a pedi - Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors

I make no secret of the fact that I am a fan of the Kardashians. I'll leave it there because this review isn't about them, rather their Kardashian Kolor range for Nicole by OPI. Whether you love them or hate them, their range has some pretty gorgeous, if not totally unique, shades.

I was very restrained and selected my two favourites - one being 'Kourt is red-y for a pedi'.

Described as an opaque hot coral-red this was the one I knew I had to have. I had googled swatches and this looked ideal - I am going through a bit of a coral-red nail, lip and clothes phase.

This polish has a lovely wide brush and the formula is just on the right side of thick. Easy to apply, it glides on to the nail beautifully.

Sadly, this took 3 generous coats to be totally opaque due to visible nail line. I have very white tips on my nails. Even though I prefer to keep my nails shorter, the nail line is still totally visible under most polishes. If you don't have a very visible nail line, I should imagine this would be perfect in two coats.

I used Orly's nail bonder as a base coat, 3 coats of Kourt is red-y for a pedi and topped it off with INM Out The Door topcoat.

I have been wearing this manicure for 3 days and it's still as good as when I applied it with minimal tip wear.

These polishes are my first foray into the Nicole by OPI range and I am very impressed. They are priced at £9 each and being a diffusion line by OPI, the quality is of an excellent standard.

I will be showing you the second purchase from this line in the next couple of days.