Rimmel London Super Gel Nail Polish in 071 Guilty Pleasure and Jack Wills Charcoal Nail Polish product reviews

I was in Boots recently, purchasing things that I didn't really need and of course took advantage of a 3 for 2 offer that was on. I had actually ran out of foundation but ever a sucker for an offer, I thought I would take up the offer and get some more nail varnishes, (not that I need anymore of course, I have every colour tenfold). Obviously the new Kate Moss range drew me in and I bought colours 071 Guilty Pleasure 015 Boho-licious which are both fairly similar in colour. 071 Guilty Pleasure is a metallic gold colour whereas 015 Boho-licious appears to be a duller version of the gold. There doesn't seem to be a noticeable difference in the colours but as I have only tried 071 Guilty Pleasure, I can't be sure of this.

I don't typically like gel nail varnishes as they tend to make my nails very brittle and fine. After too many applications or leaving the colour on for too long, my nails start to bend and peel. This happens with non-gel nail varnish but it's more noticeable with the gels. I have quite strong, hard nails as it is (which incidentally are long now which they never used to be as I used to bite them), so it's surprising that my nails react this way to gel nail varnish. I was however looking forward to trying out the 071 Guilty Pleasure by Kate Moss as I really like her Rimmel Collection and I have several items from this range. Not only did I buy 071 Guilty Pleasure for the name, but I mainly bought it as it was the 15th Anniversary range which I thought it was cool that it's been going that long.

I really liked the colour of 071 Guilty Pleasure as it goes on as a dull metallic sheen. Although I have long nails now, it's probably a colour that looks better on shorter nails but I still liked the colour. The brush makes applications really easy and I painted my nails in just two strokes! What I didn't like however, was that the colour chipped straight away. Granted I had only applied a very thin layer to my nails but as 071 Guilty Pleasure provided even coverage, I didn't think I needed to apply another layer. Unfortunately, as soon as I applied 071 Guilty Pleasure I chipped the thumb nail as I was too impatient to let it dry properly. After this it was a downward spiral and the remainder of the nails chipped relatively quickly afterwards. 071 Guilty Pleasure did dry quite quickly despite me chipping it straight away but unfortunately it will not become a firm favourite. Despite this though, I have finally found a gel nail varnish that doesn't chip or peel my nails although the colour doesn't last very long (despite stating 14 days on the bottle).

The Jack Wills Charcoal nail varnish however is a different story. Retailing at £4 for the duo pack from Boots, (I actually received it in a gift set for my birthday) it's a perfectly suitable nail varnish. The colour and the bottle is quite deceiving however as it looks like it should be a charcoal colour but when applied it has more of a lilac/grey tone to it. This colour difference didn't particularly bother me but I had wanted to apply a true grey colour rather than a shade. Unlike the 071 Guilty Pleasure nail varnish, the Jack Wills Charcoal nail varnish has stayed on my toes far longer and hasn't chipped yet! I realise that my hands are constantly busy and in water etc. and my toes are not but I also think it has something to do with the composition of the nail varnish. Overall, I really like the Jack Wills Charcoal nail varnish and I haven't tried it's counterpart in Crimson which I also received in the gift set. I haven't tried the 015 Boho-licious nail varnish yet either but hopefully I will get around to it and let you know my thoughts.

Let me know what you thought of this review and the colours in the comments below xx

Cosmetics Fairy products review

I went a little bit crazy this week and bought several items from the Cosmetics Fairy website. I don't particularly need any new make up but I couldn't resist. If you spend over £5 you get a free black eyeliner pencil which is something I use a lot. I love the care and attention they take to packaging the items. The nail varnishes were wrapped in bubble wrap and the items carefully placed in a brown padded envelope. That was then wrapped up and placed in another brown padded envelope. The second envelope was then wrapped over again and placed into another brown padded envelope. It was like pass-the-parcel without the music. With every purchase they pop in a business card to thank you for your custom which I always think is a sweet idea.

 

 

First up is the Sally Hansen Colour Quick Fast Dry Nail Pen in Gold Chrome. There were mixed reviews for this product some really liked it, others were really disappointed. I was slightly apprehensive at first, after all nail varnish normally comes in a small glass bottle so why change it? The pen is small enough to fit in your hand and is really comfortable to use. The instructions specify to click the pen 5-7 times but I lost count how many clicks eventually pushed the liquid out. It reminded me of Rimmel's Twist & Shimmer eye colours as it's a similar sort of design. You can speedily put your nail varnish on and it dries super quick. At first I thought this product was great and would quickly become a staple favourite. Sadly this is not the case. A day later and the nail varnish chipped off straight away. If you apply multiple coats it also dries rough in places. It's a great idea in theory and is brilliant for convenience but the actual nail varnish wasn't great. At 99p I can't really complain though. It's probably better suited to doing pedicures as it chips really easily.

 

I didn't hold much hope for the Sally Hansen French manicure pen in La Bon Bon either. It's quite a thin nail varnish and dries clear instead of pink. If you look closely at your nails it looks a pale pink colour but from afar it looks shiny and colourless. It did however emphasise the white under my nails and made them look healthy. Sadly it doesn't quite cut it for a French manicure and multiple coats are essential. It also takes a little longer to dry than the Fast Dry Nail pen which was a little irritating.

 

I decided to try a different eye shadow to my normal Isa Dora preference and went for the Mauve colour along the far right of the Rimmel palette. This was a really deep and rich colour which I quite liked. It's a little darker then what I normally use but it complimented the rest of my make up. I'd read a couple of reviews online and they seemed positive. Mainly they commented on the colour and how long lasting it was. I however was very disappointed with this eye shadow. It definitely doesn't stay put and transferred to underneath my eyes which made my dark circles even more prominent. I don't think I'll be using the other colours in the palette as they're all of a similar powder. A disappointing start to my make up bundle so far. 

Unfortunately, the same could be said for the Isa Dora Mauve eye shadow as well. I'm a huge fan of Isa Dora but the mauve eyeshadow transfers to the skin around the eyes. I was a little sceptical of buying a dark purple colour especially with my pale skin. It didn't make me look too washed out and the colour actually looked really nice paired with black eyeliner. Usually my make up stays put all day even if I've been exercising, but the mauve Isa Dora dulled throughout the day and transferred to under my brows. I felt like I was permanently surprised all day. It's such as shame as I've bought three other colours from the Isa Dora range and can't fault them. If I decide to persevere with this I think a primer is in order. [Since publishing this review I've since found that if I apply the white Isa Dora eye shadow and cover the entire eyelid and then apply the Isa Dore Mauve eye shadow, it stays put all day long].

As I had a fancy event to go to recently, I decided to experiment with the rest of the makeup. French manicured nails are elegant and simple enough that complimented my dress. The beading on my dress was gold so I decided to go for Owl's Night 290 nail varnish by L'Oreal Paris on my toes. It looks green in the bottle which is originally why I purchased it as I don't have many in green. It goes on quite a dark metallic gold colour which was surprising and I didn't immediately love it. It's a grower however but I think it would look better on the hands rather than the feet. It dries super quick which is brilliant but it did chip a little and needed a quick reapplication before going out.

 

I haven't forgotten about the eyeliner and the purple nail varnish. I've left those till last to try them out together. In my next review I'll post about the nail varnish and something else that I've been looking forwards to trying out.

 

Stay tuned x

The latest trends

I would never describe myself as being on trend or particularly fashionable. I wear what I like and usually I wear what suits my shape, rather than wearing what's in fashion. Having said that I picked up a copy of a recent edition of the Boots magazine (free with an Advantage card or £1 without). Three things that are now in fashion are trends I've already tried out. The latest jewellery craze of course are plastic stretchy tattoo choker necklaces. Personally, I think they look quite cool but I thought that when I was 11 when unfortunately they weren't in fashion. Now that they are I would feel like I would be regressing back to my childhood and my Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen obsession if I were to indulge in it. (I collected all of their videos and you got free tattoo choker necklaces with some of them).

I recently decided to chop off my long hair. I'd spent years growing it out from a short bob to decide to have it all chopped off again. It was something that I felt I needed to do but apparently it's the hairstyle of choice this season. As well as this, I was quite surprised to see that blue eyeliner is back in, again when I wore it I thought I looked cool and the start of a fashion trend. (Apparently, I was 8 years early on that front).

I found my three favourite blue eyeliners that I used to wear religiously and thought I would post them on here. It's up to you if you want to follow the new blue craze. I'll be giving it a miss this time around.

First up is the Bourjois Paris eyeliner in 46 bleu neon. Evidently I really liked this colour as it's half the size that it should be. I bought this when I was first experimenting with kohl eyeliner and it goes on really well. As my eyes are mainly blue (they're different colours, but for the purpose of this review they're more blue than the other colours), the royal blue colour really sets off my eyes. I found that this stays on the eyes well and doesn't slip off which is great. No re-applications needed. Unfortunately, I can't find a price for this so it might be discontinued now.

Bought around the same time at Boots, I have the Metallise Metallic Eyeliner in 54 Bleu Clinquant by Bourjois Paris. This is a really bright metallic turquoise which unfortunately does not look great with pale skin. I used to wear eyeliner on the bottom of my eyelids but now I just use it to define the top of my eye and set my eye shadow off. I think the clincher for me buying this was that it's waterproof which is always a bonus in make up. It's currently unavailable from Amazon or Boots but is advertised at £5.99 when it comes back into stock.

Lastly by Rimmel I have the Soft Kohl Kajal eyeliner in 02 Denim Blue. As kohl eyeliners go this one isn't the best. It has the texture and appearance of a wax crayon and doesn't go on smoothly. It's quite an unusual colour which is a pale navy blue rather than a denim colour. It looks good on pale skin and compliments grey eye shadows in particular. This was about £2.99 when I bought it from Wilkinson's so again it's cheap and convenient to pick up when you're shopping. 

My top four lipsticks

I love wearing lipstick, (much to my boyfriend's dismay) and I always used to live by the rule of the brighter the better. Having experimented for a few years with makeup I've since begun to realise what suits my pale complexion. In college I used to wear a bright bubble gum glittery pink lipstick which I loved but did not suit me at all. (I'm still reluctant to throw it out though even though it's now mushy and unwearable, slightly nostalgic). My four favourite shades have lasted me a long time (this habit of not wanting to throw anything out strikes again), and I thought I would share them here.

In the rather appealing shiny purple case on the left of the picture is the one that I've had the longest. I think I bought this about 5 years ago and I love it. The colour is shocking pink and dries as a matt finish on the lips but is quite a greasy formula so it doesn't dry the lips out. I used to use Rimmel a lot when I first started using makeup and I've found their lipsticks to be really reliable. This one in particular is Lily Extase 340 and stays put all day long. It's one of my favourites for this reason and I love the colour. You can still buy it from Amazon and it's priced at £4.99.

The second in the picture is by Avon and is called Red Kiss. Despite the name however it has more of a pink undertone than red. It's quite a deep colour and although it goes on red on the lips, there's a hint of a pink hue to it. It's not too dark and doesn't wash my already pale skin out. It's my favourite red lipstick and I wear it a lot. It's quite a creamy formula but unfortunately it does dry and crack my lips throughout the day. It also stays put all day long but this isn't ideal when my lips are cracking underneath it. (I'll explain in my next review how to combat this). I often apply Lipcote after the lipstick which helps it stay put for longer and stops the lips from cracking. (It can be quite disconcerting when you first use Lipcote as it does have a burning sensation when first applied but it soon passes). I think I received this lipstick as a free sample but it's available to buy at £3.50 online or from your local Avon representative.

The third lipstick is a 2 in 1 formula with a built in mirrored compartment in the lid. It's great for keeping in your handbag and you won't waste time looking for a mirror, which is handy. Again this one is from Avon (most of my makeup is) and called Pink Rose. Unfortunately I think this is now a discontinued product which is a shame. It's quite a greasy pink lipstick but it doesn't dry your lips out. The downside to it being greasy is that it slides off the lips really quickly. The lipstick is quite shimmery and creates the illusion of light reflecting off the lips. In the lid of the tube (where the mirror is kept) is a small gold lip balm that you're supposed to use alongside the lipstick. As the lipstick and the balm are both shimmery I personally think using the two together distorts the colour. I don't really use the balm but I love the convenient mirror and the colour of the lipstick.

The final and rather luxurious looking lipstick is from the ANEW by Avon range. This range is a little bit more expensive and is marketed as being an upper class product. I think I paid about £7 for it and I think it might be another discontinued product. It has a really creamy formula and coats the lips in a really pretty pale pink colour. As it's quite a light lipstick it doesn't dry the lips out and helps to moisturise them. Similar to the Pink Rose lipstick however it slips off the lips easily so re-applications are essential.