Do Not Refreeze: February 2010

Friday, 26 February 2010

The Dupe Hunt is on! China Glaze Up & Away

*Sigh* so as expected, I have reasonable dupes for most of the colours I hauled already. Hahaaa woops! Let's take a look:

L-R China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Sportsgirl Nail It! Apple, George @ Asda Streamer, Barry M Mint Green. Same order thumb - ring finger!

As I expected from comparing the bottles, Mint Green is a lot more blue and Apple is a lot more dusty and muted. Streamer is just a touch lighter than Re-Fresh Mint but these two are close enough that I'd have to say you don't really need both.

L-R China Glaze Something Sweet, George @ Asda Sherbet Fizz, Eyeko Pretty Polish. Same order thumb - middle finger!

Sherbet Fizz is a totally different colour. I orginally bought Something Sweet with the hopes it would be an exact colour dupe of Pretty Polish which I love so much but we all know about the crap brush and formula on the original Eyekos. They aren't exact matches, the Eyeko is a liiittle more on the white side but I love them both.

L-R China Glaze Light As Air, George @ Asda Be Mine, Collection 2000 Dynasty. Same order thumb - middle finger!

Dynasty is immediately noticeable as having much more of a pink tint to it than the other two. Be Mine is a bit brighter whereas Light As Air is more muted but they're still very similar. But, as a lilac lover, I'm happy to own them all ;P

L-R China Glaze Peachy Keen, Guppy #33. Thumb & middle = Peachy Keen, index & ring = #33

Noticeably different, both totally gorgeous. Peachy Keen is leaning a bit more orange and #33 is leaning a bit more coral. Love them both though and think that pairing this could make for a really subtle Konad! I'll have to try it out.

L-R China Glaze Sugar High, Collection 2000 Hoola Hoop. Thumb & middle = Sugar High, index & ring = Hoola Hoop.

Not much of a difference here at all 'cept Sugar High is a bit more 'bubblegum'.

L-R China Glaze Lemon Fizz, NYC i114A (this is ancient, they don't do it anymore). Thumb & middle = Lemon Fizz, index & ring = NYC.

I knew these wouldn't be similar at all since the old NYC one is a shimmer and Lemon Fizz is a creme. But it's the only other yellow I have in my collection apart from Barielle Lemon Drops which is briiight. This was kinda just done especially for Halifax who asked if I knew of a dupe for Lemon Fizz. Well, I don't have it but I'm suspecting that Model's Own Lemon Merinque is VERY similar from all the pictures I've seen.

Hope this is helpful in some way, to someone. ;D

Free Love Friday 06

Owing to the absence of Free Love Friday last week, here's some of my favourite posts from the last two weeks.

:: Zoe @ The London Lipgloss tells us why every girl should own MAC's All That Glitters eyeshadow.

:: Cucumpear rocks a surprisingly gorgeous brown and gold mani!

:: Kris @ Kris Pimps hunts for a dupe for NARS Purple Rain nail polish.

:: Here's a gorrrgeous French mani with flowers from BabyD @ Polish & Powder

:: I've been trying to avoid the UD Alice hype, but I must say this EOTD from Lovely Things is exactly that; lovely!

:: I absolutely love my holos, and Daph @ Daph's Nails blew me away with this stunning holo KOTD!

:: I've been a fan of Jangsara's blog since forever, and this EOTD (plus tutorial) is amazing.

:: Check out Luce @ Get Lippie's experience at London Fashion Week!

:: Michele @ Lacquerized has a brilliant tutorial for perfect nail polish cleanup.

Thursday, 25 February 2010

Make Up Time Bomb? Pah!

(Image from abcnews.go.com)

So last night I received an email entitled 'The Make Up Time Bomb' from a guy at Debenhams, about makeup expiry dates and the terrible habits of UK women. The first thing that sprang to mind was this post by Lipglossiping, check that out if you want!

Anyway, the general gist of this email was that the average UK female's makeup bag is approximately 4 years past it's use by date. There were some interesting facts and quotes in there, actually..

Sara Stern, Director of Cosmetics at Debenhams said, "We wouldn’t hesitate to chuck out mouldy or bacteria-ridden food and the same standards should apply to the lotions and potions and that we put on our skin. Beauty is timeless but unfortunately, products are not." Well, food isn't as ridiculously sodding expensive as makeup, is it? *Grumble*

We all know about the little open pot symbol with a number on it, on the packaging of all our makeup which denotes the shelf life, right? Apparently, 89% of women don't. But us 11% who do know, don't tend to pay much attention to it, right? I know it's not just me. I pay a freaking bucketload of money for my cosmetics and I'll be damned if I'm gonna throw out a mascara after 6 months because some legal guidelines to state a use-by date say so. If it hasn't dried up and still smells okay and works the same, I'll use it, thanks!

60% of women admitted they shared make-up with friends and family. Okay, that's something I DON'T do. If only for the reason that it's MINE. Haha, and on the odd occasion that I do my sister's makeup or something it's fine since I always use clean brushes.

68% of women only replace make-up and skincare when they run out, however long that might take. TOO RIGHT!

72% of women never wash their make-up sponges or brushes. Seriously, never? Okay I'm pretty lazy with my brushes but that's kinda gross. And even worse...

81% of British women also regularly (at least once a week) go to sleep without removing make up. I don't think I've EVER done that!

Bevis Man of the British Skin Foundation seems to have a vague understanding of our position: "Cost is probably a major factor in why people do not replace out-of-date cosmetics. However, products can dry out and become less effective as they age." We know that, spazz. We all know that if something changes texture or starts smelling a bit off, it's time to bin it. But I'll be damned if I'm throwing anything away that still functions properly.

Perhaps my stubbornness will lead to me one day having to learn the hard way about expiry dates on cosmetics. But until that day comes and I get a lovely case of pinkeye or something, I will continue to hoard and keep.

The last line of the email made me laugh. Check it:

Sarah Stern concludes, "Hopefully this call to action will encourage women to have a ruthless spring clean of their cosmetics collections. All our Beauty Hall staff members are on hand to advise customers of the use-by dates of their current items and help replenish any empty cosmetic bags."

OHHH, so that's what this is about! Sod off Debenhams. 'Replenishing' any self respecting makeup addict's makeup bag would probably end up in three figures within the first few items. I don't know about you lot, but I think I'm capable of judging for myself whether or not a product is usable. They're all chocka with preservatives anyway! Although, that raises another point - health nuts using organic, preservative free products would obviously need to be more vigilant. But I like my chemicals and my preservatives. I don't like throwing out perfectly good makeup that cost me a lot of money! That's all.

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Quick Heads Up - Jolie Beauty Store

Hello my lovelies, just a quick heads up! I just read on Lollipop26's blog that Jolie Beauty Store is back!

For anyone who's not familiar, Jolie Beauty Store was a store on eBay which was pretty much THE OPI resource for anyone outside the USA because we get totally ripped off over here. Anyway, for some reason, RIGHT on the day I was going to actually make my first order with them, they disappeared off of eBay. Something to do with copyright issues or something, apparently.

But anyway, the good news is THEY'RE BACK! Albeit with a new name but still with the same jaw-droppingly good (for us, anyway) prices.

Go take a looksie at Enchanted Beauty Store, formerly known as Jolie Beauty Store.

Unfortunately, I'm literally skint right now but rest assured it is bookmarked for later! Let me know if any of you haul anything! :D

China Glaze Up & Away - The Pastels

I'm not overly fond of super-bright and neon nail polishes so I skipped that part of China Glaze's Up & Away collection, but as soon as I saw the promo image back in like, November or something ridiculous like that I knew I HAD to have the pastels! I also picked out Sugar High, which obviously isn't a pastel but it's much less in-your-face than the rest of the brights.

L-R: Something Sweet, Re-Fresh Mint, Light As Air, Peachy Keen, Lemon Fizz, Sugar High.

For now I'll just show you swatches but I'm working on creating a different KOTD for each polish - so far I've done Something Sweet and Re-Fresh Mint, once I've done them all I'll post them up together :)

Something Sweet, Re-Fresh Mint, Light As Air

Sugar High, Lemon Fizz, Peachy Keen

The formula of these seems lovely when you look at the brush out of the bottle, but I think they're just a tiiiny bit more runny than I'm used to which made application a little bit difficult on my first go but once I got the hang of a polish that's more fluid than I normally use it was a breeze. As always, no complaints!

Yknow... now that I've finally got these after lemming them so for long, I think I've got dupes for a few of them already in my collection. Off the top of my head, Light As Air looks super similar to Collection 2000 Dynasty and George @ Asda Be Mine. Peachy Keen looks like a dead ringer for Guppy #33, and Something Sweet looks pretty similar to Eyeko Pretty Polish although I've been looking for one like that for ages 'cause the application was a nightmare. I've got a handful of different mint greens but I think Re-Fresh Mint might be quite a bit lighter and brighter than my others. Oh, and Sugar High looks an awful lot like Collection 2000 Hoola Hoop!

So how about it... dupe hunter post? Yes, no?

Did you haul any of this collection?

Thanks for the suggestions some of you gave my in my last post, by the way - I'm feeling a bit more back on track now!

Monday, 22 February 2010

Question of the Week: What do you want to see on Do Not Refreeze?

~~Last Week's~~ Answers From A Fortnight Ago!

Out of all the comments replying to my last Question of the Week post about skincare routines, I can confirm that only Nik, Jo and Jules stick to good, strict skincare routines unlike me - congrats on your lovely faces girls, the rest of us will just hang our heads in shame! ;P

This week's question...

What do you want to see on Do Not Refreeze?

It can't have escaped your attention if you're normally a regular reader that I've really been lacking in inspiration and motivation recently. I need you lovely ladies to help me out! What do you want to see here? I'm not gonna stick a poll in my sidebar for you to answer 'cause they're never descriptive enough, I'd just like a tiny bit of input on what made you hit the follow button in the first place and if you'd like to see more of what brought you here!

Please help me out girls. I hope to be back in full swing ASAP!

Thursday, 18 February 2010

Sorry, I am alive I promise!

I'm really sorry about the lack of updates from me in the last week. I'll leave it at 'personal reasons'. I'll be away this weekend also but please expect normal service to resume on Monday!

Haha, ironically, I've noticed that I've gained a few followers since I went quiet. Perhaps I should shut up more often? ;P

Hope you're all okay, and that you all like my current manicure!

2 coats Sally Hansen Hard as Nails
2 coats Guppy #25
Flowers from Konad plate M54 with Color Club Dark Romance, plus rhinestones
OPI Designer Series topcoat

There won't be a Free Love Friday tomorrow I'm afraid. I wonder if I should even continue with them? I don't seem to have gotten anything in the way of feedback. What do you ladies reckon?

Let me know how you all are and what you've been up to and stuff, please? :) Hit me up on Twitter if you like.

See you on Monday! xoxo

Friday, 12 February 2010

Free Love Friday 05

:: Shifa @ Get Gawjus reviews the Mehron Concealer Ring. Great, now I want one!

:: Maxime @ Antique Coral discusses GHDs - are they really all that?

:: Eve @ Lovely Makeup gets her hands on the Viva Glam Gaga and Cyndi lipsticks!

:: You can see THE cutest Valentine's Day mani over at Polish Hoarder Disorder.

:: Cat @ Reaching for the Stars has a rant about BeneFit's Georgia blush.

:: My lovely little Foshoozley (Jools) is back with a Model's Own haul!

:: Jo @ Beautylicious Love reviews the No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser.

:: Charlotte @ Lipglossiping shows us an absolutely beautiful metallic red Butter London polish. And she also has a HILARIOUS hairdo post which I guarantee you will love. ;D

:: Phoebe @ Peluxe had a circus night at work and went as a mime - super cool!

:: Christy @ Kronicles of a Konader has a gorgeous series of V Day manis on her blog, check them out!

Have a lovely weekend ladies, and don't hesitate to share your favourite posts in the comments! :)

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Review: Eye Candy by Linda Mason

I asked my dad for this book as a Christmas present (along with Look Like A Star by Lauren Luke which I also intend to review shortly). Having previously read and enjoyed The Art Of Makeup by Linda Mason I was expecting to love this book. But I won't beat around the bush - I was very, very disappointed.

The book is divided into sections, and headed with a foreword by Linda's daughter Daisy who across these two pages is sporting a pair of unflattering eye looks. There are introductory sections to different types of products which offer nothing other than common sense observations. The section on eyebrows is quite a good read but in actual fact it's mostly just regurgitated generic information you can find anywhere such as the age-old 'never pluck above the brow' and how to groom brows that are sparse or uneven. And now I'm probably just being pedantic, but at one point in the book there's an annoying typo when 'flase eyelashes' are mentioned.

As for the looks themselves... I hate to say it but they're crap. In the introduction, Linda says 'This book is not only intended as a technical guide, but also as a source for inspiration'. I was not inspired by any of the look, which range on a scale from boring to laughable. I realise you may be thinking 'what right have you got to criticise her, Leanne? She's a professional makeup artist and you're just a beauty blogger!' - but those of you who own this book will probably be in agreement with me. I just can't stress how disappointed I was at the shoddiness of the work in this book, especially after being impressed by some of her older stuff.

It's not all bad - there are some looks that are certainly wearable and reasonably pretty, they're just boring and nothing interesting and these ones wouldn't even be very helpful to a beginner as the explanations are quite bad; a beginner would be better off with YouTube tutorials anyday. At the other end of the scale there are some truly, truly shit looks. For example, there's one called Galaxy Girl which features a dark magenta colour spread over (not blended) the inner part of the crease whilst the rest of the look is based on lighter colours, which makes the model look tired or bruised! Another one I hate is Playful. This look is made up of a nice combination of blue and silver on the lid but is completely ruined by steps 3 and 4 - 'apply a large dot of violet above the crease' and 'apply a small dot of violet below the centre of the eye'. Yeah, seriously. This one is pictured further down. I feel sorry for the model Ming, who is wearing my two least favourite looks in the whole book, Beatnik and Abstraction. These literally just feature blocks of unblended colours thrown haphazardly onto the lid.

In short, I hated this book. Do yourself a favour and don't part with your money. Most public libraries carry copies if you really must satisfy any curiosity but flicking through it will help you see what I mean. I honestly would not recommend this book to anyone. :(

Daisy Mason in the foreword 'rocking' some fugly chunky glitter. GET IT OFF!

One of the only looks I liked in the book, called Neon.

Here's Playful. What the HELL was Mason thinking with those dots?

Abstraction. I am going to mail Linda a MAC 217 brush asap! Seriously though, this one is a failed attempt at being arty, I think.

Does anyone else have this book? Does anyone actually like it?

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

How generous are you feeling today, ladies?

I was so excited to open my inbox this afternoon to an email informing me that I have been nominated for the BeautyJudge UK Beauty Blog Awards 2010!

I have been nominated in the Everyday Woman Award category, which is for bloggers/YouTubers with under 500 followers/subscribers. The awards were thought out with regards to the idea of quality over quantity - it's not about who's got the most followers, it's about who's followers actually vote for them!

I also want to make you aware of The Voter's Prize. Everyone who votes (yes, international readers can most certainly vote) is entered into a drawer to win a fantastic hamper of cult beauty items worth over £100, including MAC, Elizabeth Arden, Urban Decay and more! So you have no reason not to vote, even if you decide not to vote for me.

I'm nervous as I'm up against some amazing bloggers like Jo from Beautylicious Love, Bicky from Tastes Like Glitter, and Carla from The Girl With The Golden Touch to name but a few. I know that if you follow me, it's likely that you follow one or more of these girls too so I don't want anyone to feel forced into voting for me. Don't forget the other amazing bloggers out there!

But, if you do want to vote for me (for which I would be so grateful.. even if I just get one vote I'll be happy as Larry!), you can do so by clicking here and entering my voting ID, which is:

EWA1046

(If the link above does not work, please go here and scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the purple 'Vote Now' button)

I'm very happy to have been nominated - I'm not sure how the nominees are chosen (i.e. whether BeautyJudge.com choose the blogs themselves or if they are nominated by other pepole), but if it's the latter then a huge thank you to whoever nominated me.

I feel really special to have even been nominated, hehe. I know it's a total cliche in the blogosphere but this blog just started as a way to kill time during my old college breaks when I was just starting to delve into the wonderful world of makeup. To be up for an actual award because of it really is something else! So thank you very much. :)

Christ I feel like I'm accepting an Emmy or something XD

Monday, 8 February 2010

Question of the Week: Skincare Routines

~~Last Week's~~ Answers from a Fornight ago!

Zoe said... "I keep my makeup brushes in a decorated plant pot..HAHA. It works, it looks cute..it cost me 50p from a bootsale. Bargainus!"
Haha, my brushes are in an old shiny purple plant pot and a charity shop square vase, bargains are better then shelling out for proper brush holders!

Carla said... "Um...I hardly ever clean my brushes. After a bad mishap ruining all of mine a while ago I don't really clean them now at all...I rarely use brushes anyway and if I do I am the only one who uses them...I'd prefer to never clean them and just re-buy them occasionally."
That's sort of my philosophy.. if you're the only one who uses them it can't be that bad, right?

Nathalie said... "I clean my brushes after every use. I do that for hygienic reason and they make a better job when they're clean, anyway. It's a fast and automatic routine just as easy and usual as washing my hands. I use classical Marseille soap bar and water and so far it is working fine. I remove the excess of water and reshape them with a towel and let them dry in a pencil metal pot in the bathroom. They're generally dry before the night."
You're in better habits than most of us, then! I should wash my foundation brush every day, I think, 'cause I notice that on it's first use after I've washed it it makes SUCH a difference!

This week we turn the question to skincare...

(Image from looksbuddy.com)

Walk us through your skincare routine. Are you religious about it, or are you a bit lazy? What are your favourite products, and which ones have you not liked so much? Are you just a cleanse/moisturise-and-go kinda girl or do you go the whole hog with face masks, toner and all that jazz?

I don't think I have much of a 'routine' as such when it comes to skincare... the only thing I really use on a daily basis is moisturiser. I take my makeup off with Nivea cleansing wipes, and I exfoliate my face in the shower a couple of times a week with whatever's on hand. I very rarely use face masks or anything like that, mainly because I'm too lazy! The only thing I do every morning and every night without fail is moisturise. My ultimate favourite moisturiser is Garnier UltraLift but it's so bloody hard to find now, they seem to be phasing it out and replacing it with UltraLift Pro which I don't like nearly as much. Currently, though, I'm using Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion and am liking it more than I expected (yes there'll be a review at some point in the future, I'm not rushing though, I'm sure you've seen plenty on it!).

Yknow, I'm trying to think of more I can write but there's really not much else to say... my 'skincare routine' basically consists of twice-daily moisturising! Although I have to confess that every now and then I'm either too tired or I forget to moisturise before bed - this typically happens when I'm staying with the boy!

So, what about you? Are you a skincare nut or are you blessed enough that you don't need to worry too much? Spill!

Sunday, 7 February 2010

My Inglot Freedom Palette

(Spot Charly having a mooch ;P)

Unforunately, there isn't a whole wealth of information about Inglot on the internet - the website's been 'under construction' just about forever. Regardless, after having heard a little bit about it from a few fellow beauty bloggers, Charly, Sarah and I decided to check out the Inglot store at Westfield shopping centre.

Honestly, they have absolutely tons and tons of stuff. I really wanted to get some of their nail polishes but nothing jumped out at me.. I really wanted some of their lipsticks too but I was trying to be sensible with my money. I plan to drag Colin there sometime soon to pick up a couple of lip products and take some more pictures. As for this visit, though, I just customised a 'Freedom' palette for myself.

Inglot's Freedom system comprises of empty palettes which you fill up using colours of your choice (no shit), but the bonus is that the palette is included in the price, unlike MAC's pro palettes for example. They have several different options for your palettes - you can have 3 eyeshadows, 5 eyeshadows, 4 blushes, 4 eyeshadows and a blush... the list goes on, and one of the types (I think it's just the 5 eyeshadow one) can become stackable so you have many layers to the same palette. Pretty clever!

Anyway, I originally wanted a blush palette but I couldn't pick four of the blushes - there were only 2 I really liked! In the end I went for the combination of one blush and 4 eyeshadows. The small rectangular space you see at the bottom of the palette is meant to house a brush which is offered to you for an extra £3, but I said no. This cost me £22.

(For a picture with flash, this is surprisingly colour accurate)

Now I've had more time to think about the choices I made in my palette, I could have forgone the brown in the middle of the top row and substituted it for a highlight colour - I think that would have been a little more convenient! But I'm bound to make another palette at some point :) The shadows are all wonderfully pigmented, soft and blendable as I expected. The peachy colour (which I picked up 'cause it looked a little similar to MAC's Paradisco, which I've wanted for a while) doesn't photo brilliantly, just trust me when I say it looks much more vibrant in person. Wanna see the swatches? Of course you do! First one's with flash, second is without.

These are all swiped once with my finger onto bare skin. They look lovely, don't they? But they're particularly gorgeous and blendable when used over Kryolan Eyeshadow Base, which I will review soon.

If you live in or near London and ever take a trip to Westfield, I highly recommend getting yourself a palette made up. It's not expensive at all for the quality and amounts of product you're getting. The blush is 7g and the eyeshadows are 2.7g each. Compare that to 6g and 1.5g for MAC equivalents and I think it's a bit of a no brainer, don't you? This particular Freedom palette also houses a huge mirror. If I'd have thought to put a highlight colour in rather than the middle brown shade, I would have created a super convenient palette! And of course, here's a quick EOTD with the palette.

Do you own any Inglot products? If not, do you want to?

Giveaway Winner Announced!

I ended up receiving 101 entries into my giveaway - thank you, that's way more than I was expecting! I began that giveaway to celebrate reaching 300 followers, I'm now on 415.. I'm overwhelmed! Thank you :)

Those 101 entries were not including the comments on that post that weren't valid entries - I made sure I went through and did it properly to make it fair!

The 4th entry was...

Ellie @ Barbie's Glitter!

Congrats Ellie :) I've emailed you!

(If I receive no reply from Ellie by Monday evening I shall draw another winner)

Do you wanna know what Ellie's 5 items were?

"1. Revlon colourstay foundation
2. YSL faux cils mascara number 1
3. Chanel nail polish in pimpant
4. Ruby and millie face brush, it's so multi purpose :)
5. Borjois bronzer"

One of the most popular tools that people chose in the contest was Shu Uemura's Eyelash Curler - it must be pretty amazing, almost half the total entries chose that for their tool!

I think I'd probably pick tweezers over curlers for my tool... I'd rather have poker straight lashes than bushy brows!

Thanks so much to everyone took part, I hope you had fun whittling down your favourite items to 5! No worries if you didn't win, I shall be hosting another giveaway soon thanks to Skin MD Natural.

P.S... Like my new layout? I thought my new domain name deserved a new look. :)

Friday, 5 February 2010

Is it just me...

...When your enthusiasm for something is waning, if you buy something related to it, your enthusiasm is instantly restored?

I feel like that. I'd gotten really bored of playing with makeup - I used to do it aaaall the time but in the last couple of months I'd got so bored with eyeshadow play and had just got into the routine of only wearing eyeliner and mascara on my eyes.

But then, I went to IMATS ;P I didn't buy any eyeshadows (well, I bought that Inglot palette but it wasn't technically at IMATS so shh), but I did buy a whole bunch of eye brushes. I felt immediately like if I had better tools, I'd be able to do a better job - I'll be honest, most of the eye brushes I had before were crap. If anyone's actually interested in seeing the brushes I got in a bit more detail, please let me know.

So yeah... armed with my new brushes, this morning I broke out my negelected 120 palette and set about creating a look I wouldn't normally do. I guess it's not too bad, but it certainly needs a lot of improvement.

So, I started with Kryolan Eyeshadow Base over the entire lid, followed by a touch of NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk, blended out with a finger. Using a kind of dark magenta sort of colour from the 120 palette (I used all matte shadows by the way, except for the highlight) and a soft, fluffy blending brush I used windshield wiper motions through my crease until I'd built up a colour intensity I was happy with. Next, using an angled brush, I took a tiiiny bit of a matte black colour and drew the outline shape for how I wanted the makeup to look when it was finished, and blended this in well with the pink. On the lid I applied a light blue, then a slightly darker blue on the outer part of the lid. I didn't really like how the blue and pink looked so start next to each other so I took a soft pencil brush and blended a matte purple between the two colours. I applied a vanilla colour with a slight shimmer as a brow highlight and around the inner tear duct area, then used GOSH Velvet Touch eyeliner in Purple Stain along the lower lashline. This tied in well with the purple in my crease, although you can't see it in the pictures. I took a flat, synthetic concealer brush and used my Fero Cosmetics cream concealer to neaten up the sharp edge, then applied my usual Maybelline Line Definer on the upper lashline and GOSH Velvet Touch in Black Ink on my upper and lower waterlines. Finished off with a pair of crappy false lashes from the pound shop. ;D

I think the thing I need to work on most is creating different shapes with my eye makeup and figuring out what looks best with my eye shape. I think that next time I create an eye with a sharp edge, I will pull it up further and have it at more of an upwards angle - I feel the way I did it this time makes my eyes look a little droopy!

Tips and all that good stuff greatly appreciated, ladies :) just don't be mean - I don't claim to be any good at this stuff!

Free Love Friday 04

:: Raw_VeganLonder has an awesome polkadot mani featuring Barry M Grey.

:: Rebecca from Panda Does Makeup reviews the Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation - I'm tempted!

:: If you can't get enough of flakies (I know I can't), get yourself over to AllYouDesire to drool over Nfu-Oh 50.

:: Sinead of Dainty Dollymix shows us her makeup storage.

:: Toxin @ Toxic Lipstick reminds me that freehand nail art can be even more rewarding that Konad.

:: Nikki of Visual Aspect '87 gives us a look at her enviable blush collection - phwooar, do want!

:: Jo @ Beautylicious Love shows us her current top 5 nail polishes.

:: Pyxie reviews the ELF Mineral Infused primer - is it up to much?

:: Nefertari got her makeup done by Koren of EnKore Makeup at the IMATS - lucky!

:: I had no idea that H&M did nail polish, let alone how gorgeous they are. Michele of Lacquerized shows us one - it's amazing!

What have been some of your favourite posts this week? Do share!

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Mismatched Monochrome Mani (and dot com!)

So I finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought my own domain name! As far as I've been made aware by Blogger, this doesn't affect my followers at all, my posts will still appear in your reader but my old URL (Freeze3006.blogspot.com) will now redirect here (donotrefreeze.com).

I also have a new email address which I would prefer to be contacted on: leanne@donotrefreeze.com :)

***

Now, I've never, ever been a fan of mismatched nails. I always thought it looked sooo tacky and horrible when girls at school used to do alternating colours on their nails and all that junk. But, since I've been reading so many nail blogs I've become a bit of a fan of the accent nail, and also I think that being into nail art can make mismatched nails look a little more interesting rather than lazy and tacky like I used to always think.

For those reasons, plus extreme boredom last night, I created my first mismatched mani in about 8 years. I called it monochrome in the title but there's a flash of pink in there too. Hope you like:

Left hand (you can see the broken middle nail I told you about in my last post... *hums funeral march):

Thumb & ring: Color Club Smoke & Mirrors, stamping with M57 and Color Club Dark Romance, pink rhinestones
Index: Dark Romance, stamping with M60 and Smoke & Mirrors
Middle: Smoke & Mirrors, stamping with M64 and Dark Romance
Pinkie: Color Club Alabaster, stamping with M60 and Dark Romance and BYS Pink Panic

Right hand:

Thumb: Dark Romance, stamping with M64 and Smoke & Mirrors (had to try double stamping for this one since my thumbnails have gotten pretty long... didn't turn out too bad I don't think!)
Index: Smoke & Mirrors, stamping with M60 and Dark Romance
Middle & pinkie: Smoke & Mirrors, stamping with M57 and Dark Romance, pink rhinestones
Ring: Alabaster, stamping with M60 and Dark Romance and BYS Pink Panic

And a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic to finish!

What do you think of mismatched nails?

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Product Rave: GOSH Rainbow

Flakies are hot sauce in the polish blogging world right now. I really wanted to try Inglot's flakies whilst I was there but I couldn't quite justify paying £7 each for tiiiny little bottles (I'm gonna guess they were 5ml?) when I'd just bought this lovely GOSH one at £5 for 8ml. I'd been lemming this for ages and I'm so glad I finally got it. It looks very modest and cutesy in the bottle, and over light colours, but stick it over a dark base colour and BAM!

Here's one coat of Rainbow over plain black polish (an old NYC one). I'd already learnt my lesson about interesting layering polishes needing to be tried over black immediately after my session with the BYS Glam Glitters. This is truly beautiful, it flashes all different shades of red, orange, pink, green and gold depending on the angle you catch it from. I guarantee you it's impossible to capture how amazing this polish is in photos. YOU NEED IT.

I've also swatched this on a nail wheel over some other colours but can't get a good photo at the moment without natural light. I'll edit this to include it if anyone's interested? I can confirm that it looks AMAZING over dark purple :) it's cute and pretty over light, nude shades but it really comes alive over dark shades.

GOSH nail polishes are available in the UK from most Superdrug stores (although this one normally seems to be a bit of a bugger to find!)

P.S. The observant among you may have noticed you're seeing my right hand in these pictures instead of my left like usual... I've broken a nail for the first time since early December D: devastated! The middle finger on my left hand. Fortunately it's not too low and stumpy, and my left hand will be returning to it's modelling career with my next nail post!

Monday, 1 February 2010

IMATS Haul

Yknow... now I've photographed everything, I didn't actually do THAT much damage. My bag just felt super heavy! Be aware that these pics aren't in any chronological order of purchase! Haha.

The first items to find their way into my bag were three George @ Asda nail polishes courtesy of Charlotte - thanks! Also pictured here is GOSH Rainbow nail polish which I've been wanting for quite a while and ended up grabbing whilst at Westfield. I was glad for these small polish provisions since there was a severe lack of nail stuff at the show. Was especially disappointed that Obsessive Compulsive didn't have any of their polishes at the show! Ah well. Anyway, you can also see my wristband, a small paint palette I picked up for £1 for convenience when mixing products, Kryolan eyeshadow base, and a few bits from Fero Cosmetics - a green concealer, a regular concealer and a synthetic concealer brush. These items were particularly cheap so I thought I may as well give them a go!

#

Yay for brushes! Aside from the kabuki, which was £5 from Royal brush, the rest were from Crown Brush and cost £2-3 each! Amazing, right? I have plenty of face brushes but knew I could definitely do with stocking up on eye brushes, particularly blending/crease brushes. I also grabbed a couple of synthetic flat brushes (one angled) for liner.

These are the bits I picked up from Illamasqua at a super discounted rate! I got the sealing gel, medium pencil in Hex (will use this as a nude lipliner and as a flesh toned eye pencil for the waterline, I think), and powder blushes in Hussy and Mischief. The Mischief pictured here is actually the one that I owned beforehand, not the one from the show - I didn't realise until I got home that I'd been given the wrong one to what I asked for! I asked for Rumour and was given Mischief, which I already own - sucks. I can understand why as they are somewhat similar colours at a glance, and I can also understand why it took me so long to notice - if you were there you would have seen how claustrophobic the Illamasqua counter was. I'm hoping to get it exchanged but I cannot find my receipt ANYWHERE! Haha.

I was very excited to literally be one of the first people to hit the OCC stall and grab a few Lip Tars while I could. I bought Hush, Pageant and Feathered, and because I was told by one of the people on the stall that they only had 20 tubes of Tarred, I HAD to get one of those just because. Haha. Today I wore a lovely mix of Hush and Feathered with the tiniest touch of Pageant, it was gorgeous! I don't plan on reviewing these straight away though since I assume a lot of people will do so - unless one of you asks me to of course! Also pictured is my GORGEOUS palette from Inglot. Will definitely post on this soon so won't say much now.

Lastly, I picked up these three old issues of Make Up International magazine (from 2007, 8 and 9) at £3.50 each 'cause a quick flick through ensured me that there were enough gorgeous and inspirational pictures in there to justify it!

So yeah, not too much damage right? I went home with a good portion of my cash left, believe it or not!

If you were there, please link me to your hauls! And please, let me know if there's anything you would like to see a post on :)