My Haul: Collection 2000

I know I said that there would be some review posts in quick succession, buut as you can tell that didn't happen. Needless to say, I've been really busy.

So this post is about my recent short shopping trip. I only went out for hair dye and makeup....and that's exactly what I bought.

Hair dye and makeup. =]

Can you guess how much this haul cost? Guess! It cost £14.99 ....bet you didn't think it was going to be that cheap!

Normally I get Revlon hair dye which you can only buy online and in certain salon supplier shops (not Sally's unfortunately). But since I am going away tomorrow, I didn't have time to order any. So Live XXL shall have to do. And yes, it does take 3 boxes to do my hair. It's a little long and extremely thick!

Luckily, Superdrug were doing 3 boxes for £9.99 so that was good.

The makeup is all Collection 2000. Their old stuff, mind you. I've found out that at least one of the shades of Dazzle Me! dust is discontinued, and I'd bet probably a few of the others are too. They were all from poundland in packs of 2. Poundland! So basically, I got these beauties for 50 pence a piece.

 Mystery: A dark shade with greeny-blue shimmer. This is a discontinued shade. Very pretty though, so I'm glad to have found it.

 Tinkerbell: Green. Not very shimmery at all, but lovely and bright. Exactly how I like my eyeshadows to be.

Spellbound: Blue. Not shimmery at all. I wore this one to college because it matched the trim on my uniform. People complimented it. Personally, I love it. So vibrant. Lush.

Enigma: Very green. Very shimmery. I accidentally bought 2 of these because there was one in a pack with "Spellbound" and one with "Tinkerbell". I couldn't choose between the two, so I ended up with double of these. Lovely shade though so I don't mind one bit.

 Jaffa: Speaks for itself. Orange. Not that shimmery, but I want to eat it. Mmmm...Jaffa cake...

 Inky: A dark shade with blue-purple shimmer. Very similar to "Mystery", just with a different colour shimmer. I love it so so much!

Paradise: Quite pale. Quite shimmery. Pretty much just shimmer. Pretty.

 Fairy Dust: It's purple shimmer. What more can I say?

Groupie: A blue-turquoise liquid eyeliner. It's really nice. Goes on easily and fairly thickly (in a good way) and stays on. The only issue with that is it means it's a little hard to get off when you want to remove it. But in general it's an awesome coloured eyeliner. I'd go so far as to say one of the best I have ever bought!

Not the best lighting or angle, and it's only a very fine layer of each product, but you get the point. From top to bottom: Paradise, Jaffa, Fairy Dust, Spellbound, Inky, Tinkerbell, Enigma, Mystery.

So there you have it. My £5 makeup and my 3 boxes of hair dye.

Good haul do you think?

Love B xxxxx

P.S. Photographing at a festival this weekend, so no posts until Monday at the earliest. But when the photos go up when I get back, they'll be here. So go check it out and "like" my page =D

Helen E: Review

This is my first of a selection of product reviews. Because it has been over a week since my last post, I may end up doing a few in quick succession.

A short while ago, a representative from Helen E came into our college salon to do a few demos, let us try out their products, and buy some for ourselves.

I bought a set of products specific for creating a smokey eye look. It contained: white shimmer powder, silver shimmer powder, black shimmer powder, black glitter pot, clear fixing gel, black pencil eyeliner & smudger, black mascara and a tutorial DVD.

The three shimmer powders and the black mascara.

The mascara: One of the best mascaras I have ever owned. No lies. It makes your eyelashes very thick, long and dark without clumping or sticking your eyelashes together (too much. Every mascara does it to some extent, but this does it much less than any I have ever tried before.)

The glitter pot: Well it sure is glittery. Too much so for day-to-day wear, but as far as evening wear it's quite nice. My main issue is applying it though. When you put some on your brush and then attempt to apply it to the eyes, it tends to drop over the skin and, if your makeup has even a slight amount of dampness, will stick. 

The clear fixing gel: The only real use for this is to help to precisely apply the glitter. It does work, but if you get any on the brush then it can really muck up the application.

The shimmer powders: First, the pots. They look really nice and they are very secure when closed. The power itself is rather nice too. It applies well and has a nice amount of shimmer: enough to be seen, but subtle enough for everyday wear. The black is my absolute favourite, as it really is very black, unlike any other eyeshadow-type products which always go on the skin in more of a grey tone.

The black pencil eyeliner: The only product I have a real issue with. It isn't very black and instead goes on the skin in more of a dark grey colour. In terms of how use, I like it. The pencil material doesn't split when sharpened, like some, and the colour slides on smoothly. But if you want a very black colour, then this is definitely not the product for you.

The three shimmer powders. I think you can guess which colour is which.

To sum up:

PROS

Professional looking packaging

Good quality products

Best black eyeshadow product I've found

CONS

Not good colour on the black eyeliner

Fairly expensive

Not available on many high streets

Helen E's website can be seen here.

So that's my first ever review! If you have any comments/constructive critisism/etc, then go ahead and comment. If not then just look forward to more reviews over the coming weeks: Batiste, Beauty UK, Barry M, Lush and Nails Inc.

Love B xxx

P.S. go and take a look at my facebook photography page, and "like" if you want. I'd appreciate it! =]

Lace Nails

Now I like awesome nails almost as much as I love makeup, so I like having specific designs for different events.

The most recent nails I decorated were some lace nails. I'm going to post a little tutorial here, but bear in mind that this is my first attempt at these nails, so some of them aren't as good as they could be, but on the whole the overall outcome was rather good.

What You Need:

- Coloured nail polish that will go on the nails, under the lace. I chose white as it will perfectly contrast the black lace that I chose. But if you wanted to use white lace then you can have a black polish, it doesn't really matter. Choose whatever colour you'd like as the base. You'll also need some top coat.

- False nails. I'd suggest that you don't do this on your own nails. For one thing it would be very awkward. For another, when sticking the lace to the nails, if you get on the skin it will attatch itself firmly and burn. So false nails are the safest and easiest route. Also it means you can do them in advance! 

  

- Emery boards to smooth the false nails and shape them how you want them.

- Rhinestone picker-uppers. Not sure if these have a real name, but that's what I'm going to call them from now on. These will be used to place and hold down the lace. If you don't have any of these then pointed or even regular tweezers should do the job just as well.

-Lace. This is a dress I picked up for cheap in a charity shop. Any old lace clothing that you have at home and don't mind chopping up will do. If you haven't got any, then pop down to the chairty shops and you may find something that you can use.

- Nail clippers. I am using these to trim my lace, but if you have small sharp scissors you can use them instead.

- Nail glue. Important for attatching the lace to the false nails, and the false nails to your real nails.

- Orange wood sticks (and blue tack). Very important. You'll see why soon.

- Scissors. To cut the lace. Mine are very clumpy and blunt, so that's the only way that I'm going to use these.









How:

Preparation:

Attatch the false nails to the orange wood sticks using blue tack. You can do a couple at a time if you don't have enough sticks for all of them. Make sure that they are attatched firmly. This will help when painting or using nail glue on the nails as you won't have to touch them with your hands and instead can hold onto the stick.

 Step 1:

File the nails. Smooth out the edge and make them to the shape you'd like them. I like having mine fairly square.

 Step 2:

Paint the nails with the colour you have chosen. You may have to do a couple of layers, but that's fine. Wait for the nails to dry completely before you continue.

 [Just to show you, there was a point to painting the nails white, and that they don't actually look the same as before!]

 Step 3:

Cut a small amount of lace, a little bigger than the nail that you are planning to decorate.

 Step 4:

Apply the glue over then nail and place the lace where you want it. Be careful not to touch the glue. It's incredibly strong. It will stick your skin to whatever else it is touching, and it will burn. If you do get any on your skin, dont pull it off as you will just end up pulling your skin off. Instead, soak it in acetone based nail polish remover as this should help loosen it.

 Step 5:

Using the rhinestone picker-uppers or tweezers, pull the lace to cover the whole nail and press the lace onto the nail, specifically around the edges.
After a fair few seconds, I used my finger to push it onto the nails to make sure it all has stuck, but if you do that you must wait until it has dried enough not to stick to you. (You don't have to do this step. The lace should stick fine without) There's no exact time. In fact I used trial and error. The first time I stuck my thumb to the lace. It hurt. A lot.

 Step 6:

Using nail clippers or some small sharp scissors, trim the excess lace from around the nail. This will make the nails look neater and more professional.

Step 7:

Apply a top coat over the top of the lace. This will help the lace to stick more, will attatch any parts that didn't stick down with the glue, and will also make them a little more long wearing.

The final outcome. As I said, some worked out better than others, but I think that's something that you would get better at the more you practise it.











My Advice:

• If you want to wear lace nails for a specific reason, make sure to do them a few days in advance. They look easier to do than they actually are, and they take an awfully long time (a lot of waiting for things to dry, etc.)
• A thinner lace would probably work better, as I found the thicker parts of lace had more trouble sticking to the nails.
• Keep a bottle of acetone based nail polish remover next to you. Despite any precautions you may take, there is always a chance that you could get some nail glue on you.
• Make sure you're in a well ventilated room. The fumes from the glue are rather strong. They do make your eyes sting if you get too close.
• Just be sensible. It's nail glue. It can be dangerous if you misuse it.

And there you have it. Lace nails. =]

Love B xxxxx

P.S. I now have a facebook photography page. Go and "like" it: http://www.facebook.com/BLJohnsonPhotography