So sorry about the gap in posts!

I'm really sorry there haven't been any posts for nearly a week, as I may have mentioned in my last post I moved house on Wednesday and not only have I been mad busy (packing/unpacking/sleeping) but there's not yet internet in my house! So I've packed self and laptop off to the Brink and their wonderful free WiFi, and am writing and queueing four posts for your amusement over the next few days!

(For those who are interested, whilst at the Brink I will also be partaking of chocolate and beetroot cake, some posh tea and The Thick Of It on iPlayer)

Alison xxx

This is honestly like pornography to me

These are my lip products. Well. Most of them. I know there's at least five missing...However, luckily for you guys, they ARE organised by brand. Top row is Revlon, Benefit, Sleek, Tarina Tarantino, Sephora, Kat Von D, Missguided, Chanel. Middle row is MAC, NYC, Soap & Glory, Cargo, Bourjois, No. 7, Yves Rocher. Bottom row is Yves Rocher, Collection 2000, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, SOME FRENCH BRAND THAT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE SODDING NAME OF AND THE LIPSTICKS ARE NOW BURIED IN A SUITCASE, Make Up Forever, Illamasqua, Boots 17. As far as I'm concerned it's a fine collection ^_^

You'll see that I don't discriminate in terms of cost. Drugstore products are just as appealing to me as high-end, and as I face up to life as an unemployed graduate, they become frankly ever more appealing. I was looking at my MAC lipsticks today and realising they are a luxury I will not be indulging in for a good long while. However, I think I would have to be actually dead to stop buying Illamasqua. I'll save a pound a week if I have to, I do not care, I will continue to drop insane amounts of cash on their BEAUTIFUL products.

(This has given me an idea: if I use my biscuit tin as a penny box, I could lose weight AND buy lipstick. Hmmmmmm.....)

Swatches and more pictures, after the jump...

My Illamasqua & OPI Polishes

I'm packing up all my stuff because I'm moving house TOMORROW God save us all - so I had an idea to take a few pictures of my stash because whenever I go on a blog I am a stash pervert and want to see their collection.

This first picture is my OPI and Illamasqua nail polishes. Missing from this picture is OPI Warm & Fozzie and Illamasqua Hemlock because I know I own them but for the life of me I cannot find them. Weirdly I wore them both in the last two weeks. The Illamasqua polishes from the left: Force (electric blue), Jo'Mina (electric lilac), Scarab (metallic burgundy), Boosh (glossy black), Viridian (metallic teal), Spartan (gold glitter), Bacterium (no description other than AWESOME) and Kink (rubberised finish cerise). The back row is Nicole by OPI - Wear Something Spar-Kylie, Daffy-Dill, Follow Me On Glitter, A Really Awesome Pink I Can't Find On Google and Sephora by OPI Blasted Indigo. I just found out on Google that Blasted is a shatter polish, which is why every time I have tried to use it as part of a manicure the texture has been horrendous. The OPIs on either side of the Illamasqua polishes are: Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em, I Juggle Men, Sparkle-icious and Do You Think I'm Tex-Y? The bottom row of OPIs: Black Shatter, Fly, Pink Friday, Excuse Moi!, OPI on Collins Ave, Mod-Ern Girl, Here Today Aragon Tomorrow, Designer Series Reflection (silver cap), Save Me, Take The Stage.

When I unpack I'm sure I'll take more pics, I even have a couple more coming in the next few days! I got to 500 hits on my blog today, I am very grateful!

Alison xx

Tuesday Tumblr Roundup!

So here it is again, another roundup of fun beauty stuff I have found on tumblr this week...

The main reason I have never tried galaxy nails

Sophy Robson's new autumn nail designs. I love the baby pink with glitter (bottom left) and the taupe with stripes (bottom right).

Neon mani that is fierce as f***!

Keeping it simple and ladylike with some Essie and glitter. Adore this!!

I don't know what movie this is from but something about it just really appeals to me

A neutral eye and a pop of neon on the lip is always perfection

Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the things that have inspired me this week!

Alison xxx

NOTD - W7 Salt'n'Pepper

This is a nail varnish that is simultaneously bizarre and awesome. It looks kind of like frogspawn, and the texture manages to be patchy but too thick at the same time. It takes three coats to be even and is messy as hell (I'm still picking black glitter off my arms). However, this was another of my bargain purchases at only £1.99 and it's actually pretty cool, especially from a distance. It's the kind of nail polish that people are going to comment on. I like that because I love attention. It's a white polish base that is basically a creme but has an almost jelly-like translucency that allows the square black glitter to show through. It's not glittery in a super-sparkly kind of way, it's pretty subtle and muted...if black and white speckles can be subtle! I don't know if it'll become a favourite but it's a nice, quick and effective manicure. It has an advantage - similar to crackle polishes - of looking like hella complicated nail art when in fact it's just in a bottle. Being the poor and lazy graduate that I am, I appreciate the crap out of that. I never usually match nail polish to outfits but I think this would look lovely if you were wearing all-black - I was wearing a leopard print dress today and it just looked *wrong*. So I'll give it another shot when my maxi-dress doesn't clash :)
Enjoy!
Alison xxx

Technic Electric Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

So today I went bargain hunting. I got this palette from a really random shop in St John's Precinct called "Facial Attractions". What a bizarre name! I really only picked this up for three reasons: 1) the off-chance of more neon pink eyeshadow in my life 2) it was £1.99 3) I need to practice buying makeup I can actually afford. Like I said, I only have a a phone camera, so I just have to make do picture-wise, but it really is an incredible palette for the price! In case you can't tell from the price of the palette and the name of the shop, it was WELL dodgy. However they had some brilliant little finds, such as W7's Salt n Pepper nail polish (post coming soon!) and some Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes that I've never seen in the UK before.

It's called the Electric Eyes Palette, which seems to be made by EITHER "Technic" or "Badgequo", I can't really tell from the back of the package! There was a big old mess on this palette when I opened it, which is basically because the shadows are so so soft. They are really soft, smooth and buttery, almost like a cream shadow. They really do have a beautiful texture. I've only had a little swatch with them but they feel absolutely gorgeous. The top row of the palette has a soft champagne gold shimmer, a rose pink shimmer, a neon pink matte, a pinky-copper shimmer, a grass green shimmer and a sky blue shimmer. You can see from my pictures that the pigmentation on the last three shadows isn't brilliant. The grass green is so exciting in the pan, (not colour accurate in my pic - sorry!) but swatches really disappointingly. The same happens with the really vibrant blue.

However, the first three shades - the golds and the neon pink - are absolutely beautiful. The lovely texture comes into its own combined with a lot of shimmer and is really even to apply. The matte pink is a little patchier to apply but blends easily and I can imagine used with a brush over primer it would be gorgeous! The picture on the left is the first row. The picture on the right is the second row. You can see there are a couple of very similar shades in this palette - oddly enough they are very different in the pan but on the skin seem very similar. In the pan, the first shade on the bottom row seems very bright orange but swatches a muted orange with gold. Still very pretty though - if a little bit sheer. The second shade is a lovely bronze, and probably a dupe for Urban Decay Half Baked! The third shade is a definite dupe for MAC Cranberry, a very nice reddish shade with lots of shimmer. Love it.

These next couple of shades essentially make this palette worth the absolute PENNIES I paid for it. It makes it cheap at twice the price. Now, I know it looks horrendous on this picture. It's actually a really pretty teal shimmer that leans blue. The last two are beautiful: a gorgeous blue indigo and a reddish-purple. The buttery-softness of these shades bring out a beautiful sheen. I did a little googling and found the palette on Amazon for £3.49 here. Nearly twice as much as I spent on it, but still pretty cheap! I'd definitely recommend giving this a go if you like shimmers and brights as much as I do :)

Alison xx

Nails Of The Day

You'll forgive me for the poor camera quality: I haven't got even a point-and-shoot, which I guess I should have considered before starting a beauty blog! However, here's a pic of my mani today. I absolutely adore this combination: it's Illamasqua Jo'Mina (three coats) and Models Own Indian Ocean (one coat). Jo'Mina usually only needs two coats maximum but I wasn't really concentrating so it was a little bit streaky! This  is actually pretty colour accurate, Jo'Mina is a gorgeous neon lilac. I absolutely adore this colour: it's good quality, eye-catching and works in all weathers. Because I love using holographics and duochromes when we have a little bit of sun, I put one coat of Indian Ocean over Jo'Mina today, which gives it a beautiful pinky-gold shimmer without taking away from the awesomeness of the base colour. Hope you enjoy!
Alison xxx