Festive Christmas Nails and Swatches - Part 1

I've been thinking about doing this post for a while.  However, when I was putting it together, I noticed that one of my favourite YouTubers Carah Amelie had just done a very similar post.  It must be a case of great minds think alike!

Anyway, I've put together a collection of nail polishes that I think are very festive.  I'm going to hold a little competition to determine which is the most festive nail polish I have in my collection and I'll wear that one on Christmas Day!  All the polishes shown are ones I own and unfortunately, some are limited edition and no longer widely available.  However, some are still around, so hopefully they'll be the ones you like!

From left to right, the polishes are Max Factore Nailfinity in Midnight Bronze, OPI Ali's Big Break from the Burlesque Collection, Illamasqua Veridian, Chanel Black Pearl and Butter London's All Hail McQueen (now available as All Hail The Queen).  I've chosen some reds and greens as well as some golden and silvery tones to balance them out.  Here are the swatches:

L-R, Max Factor Midnight Bronze, OPI Ali's Big Break, Illamasqua Veridian and Butter London All Hail McQueen

L-R - Chanel Black Pearl, Butter London All Hail McQueen, Illamasqua Veridian, OPI Ali's Big Break and Max Factor Midnight Bronze

I've linked to NOTD posts where I've done them for these polishes.  You will see that I actually wore Ali's Big Break for Christmas last year.  Seeing them swatched, I'm thinking that Black Pearl, All Hail McQueen (The Queen) and Midnight Bronze aren't as festive as I first thought.  However, Illamasqua's Veridian and Ali's Big Break both seem to me to be perfect Christmas colours.

Please comment and let me know which of these you think is your favourite festive Christmas colour!

Thanks for reading! xx

Nails Inc Gossip Girl Inspired NOTD - Chanel Black Pearl and GOSH Rainbow

I've seen quite a few posts over the last few days about the new Nails Inc Gossip Girl collection.  Basically, these are a nail colour with a sparkly, foiled over-glaze, sold at an eye-watering £20 for a set with the two polishes.  There are three colours to choose from, although I think they all look pretty similar to me!

I was reading Le Petit Jardin de Liloo's post on the new collection, where she mentioned that the over-glazes are very similar to Rainbow by GOSH (which is sadly now discontinued).  I do own Rainbow (I think I got one of the last bottles in the country), and I decided to use it to create my own Nails Inc Gossip Girl inspired/dupe nail look.

All the Gossip Girl colours are dark, in blue, black and deep maroon.  I don't own a pure black nail colour, but I do have Black Pearl by Chanel which is blackish/dark green/petrol, so I used this as a base colour.  I used two coats of Black Pearl and then put on a coat of Rainbow.

I'd not used Rainbow for ages and had forgotten how lovely it is - it has large flakes of foiled glitter in green, yellow and red depending on the light - you can see all the colours on the same nail.  It also dries smoothly (unlike some other foiled glitter polishes) and for some reason, I think it dries very quickly and speeds up all the undercoats drying as well.  It acts as a tough top coat, lasting for ages.

If you've got Rainbow, you can easily recreate the Gossip Girl Nails Inc polishes look using cheaper nail polishes - you definitely don't need to spend £20 to get this look!

Other than these sets, has anyone found a good dupe for Rainbow?  I'd be really interested to find out!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - Chanel Peridot

Hi Ladies!  You know that I can't resist a bit of Chanel bling, especially when it comes to nail polish.  With the launch of their A/W collection today, I had to get my hands on Peridot...  Luckily, with a bit of forward planning, I had rung John Lewis in advance and got them to put one aside for me.  I'm very glad they did, as apparently, after all the reserved Peridots had gone, there were only two left, and they were both sold out by the time I got there!

It's a kind of stunning, shimmery green and yellow polish with blue tones as well.  It's a surprisingly wearable colour, and I can see myself wearing it a lot over the next few months.  However, I do see it as more of a summer colour, rather than A/W, but I'll see how I feel about it as the nights draw in.

One coat is sheer, but with two it becomes opaque and I think two is enough.  I've made a mess of the application, largely because my nails are in terrible condition at the moment, and because I couldn't wait to put it on and didn't use a base coat.  However, I'm somewhat impressed with the formula.  There are some brush marks, but it wasn't too thick and it didn't bubble, something I've had issues with with every other Chanel polish I've tried before.

By the way, this is a shimmery polish, with none of the "hidden shimmer" Chanel trademark so well.  So, I think it'll be an easily dupe-able polish.  I shall wait to see who can make the closest dupe!

What do you think?  Will you be shelling out £17.50 on it?

Thanks for reading!  xx

CLOSED....Blog Birthday Giveaway! Chanel, Deborah Lippmann, Body America and Avon

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Hi  Ladies!  Well, it's my blog's first birthday today, so to celebrate I thought I'd have a little giveaway...  I've collected some products by some of the brands I've really liked over the past year and you can win them all!

First up, there's Astonishing Lengths Mascara by Avon.  I've recently been buying bits from Avon and I'm impressed!  Good quality products at very reasonable prices.

I bought some lip butters from Body America earlier this year and I've really enjoyed using them.  I've not tried Toast to the Coast, but I'm curious to know what it tastes/smells like - if you win, you'll have to let me know!

You may know that I've become slightly obsessed with Deborah Lippmann polishes over the past 6 months.  I went to House of Fraser to buy Across the Universe for this giveaway, but unfortunately, it was sold out!  However, I spotted Wicked Games and I snapped it up instead.  It's been a challenge not to keep it for myself, but somehow I've resisted!

This is the second sample I've had of Inimitable Intense Mascara by Chanel.  I loved the first sample so much, that I bought a full sized one!  However, I have so many unused mascaras, I thought I'd put this sample in my giveaway.  My first sample lasted about a month, so it's a reasonable sample.

Finally, I thought I'd get one of my favourite lipsticks... It's Coco Rouge by Chanel in Mademoiselle.  This was my first Chanel purchase, and it's still one of my favourite colours.  It's a pinky shade, but pretty neutral, so I think it will suit most skin colours.

Well, that's what's on offer.  So how do you enter?  Well, firstly, you MUST be a follower via Google Friends Connect.  New followers are very welcome, but not if you've only set up an account to enter giveaways.  Then leave me a comment saying 'enter me'.  Please either make sure you leave your email address, or have it easy to find on your blog so that I can contact you if you win.

You can have a second entry by tweeting a link to my giveaway, making sure you mention @bristolbeauty in your tweet.

The giveaway closes at Midnight on Friday 12th August 2011, afterwhich I will pick a winner at random using Random.org.

The giveaway is open to international followers as well!

Please note that I have opened the lipstick to photograph, as my own is now a bit yucky.  I haven't swatched it or used it though. 

Thank you very much followers - good luck to all!  xxx

Possible Dupe for Chanel Mimosa? Avon Arabian Glow Nailwear Pro in Sunshine

After I bought Chanel Mimosa Le Vernis nail polish, I realised that I already had a potential dupe for it, and one that I had bought and totally forgotten about - Avon Arabian Glow Nailwear Pro in Sunshine.

I decided to compare the two to see how much of a dupe Sunshine really is.

Hmmm - can see the Chanel shimmer here, lacking in Sunshine

L-R Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine

L-R Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine

L-R Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa

So, they don't seem to be quite as much as a dupe as I had first thought.  Sunshine is brighter and more, well, sunshiney, whereas Mimosa has a more lemon colour.  Sunshine also doesn't have the hidden shimmer trademark that all Chanel polishes have.  Saying that, you'd have to be a nail polish expert to know that Sunshine isn't Mimosa - they are close enough to fool most people!

I liked Sunshine a lot.  I've not really used many Avon polishes before, and this had a lovely formula, nearly opaque after one application, a good brush, easy to apply and dries relatively quickly.  However, I think it's a bit bright for me. Mimosa is slightly more subtle (although not much) and I just prefer the colour.

Mimosa costs £17, whereas Sunshine is currently on offer on the Avon website at £3.  
 

Which is your favourite?

Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Mimosa - Summer 2011 - NOTD

Well, this colour really didn't appeal to me, until I saw it in the flesh and it screamed "BUY ME" at me.  I think I need to get over my Chanel addiction, as it's hurting my wallet A Lot.  Anyway, I was sold, so this little beauty came home with me.

I actually think that I can get away with yellow nail polish - I didn't think I could, but it looks OK and not too sallow.  I think it will look better on my toes, but you really don't want to see them!  The sales assistant asked me if I was going to wear it on my toes, so I think this is how it is designed to be worn, or maybe how most non-beauty blogger will wear it.  She clearly wasn't aware that most of us bloggers think nothing of wearing outlandish nail polish and changing colours several times a week.

Evidence of some bubbling - apologies for my cuticles

This took 3 coats to give me the finish I liked.  Like all my other Chanel polishes, the application is pretty sucky, with the polish being too thick and gloopy, prone to bubbling, spreading onto the cuticles and taking ages to dry.  I finishes painting my nails 2 hours before I went to bed.  I thought they were dry... but I woke up in the morning with duvet prints on my nails - great.  I put on another top coat to disguise this, but I'm not happy with the finish - particularly on my little finger.  I also managed to get red fibres from my throw stuck onto the final top coat, so apologies for this.

Some sparkle...

Enlarge for a hint of sparkle - and terrible cuticles

The shade looks really bright in some lights, and more lemony in others.  It's certainly unusual, but I have seen a lot of yellow polishes around (indeed I own one by Avon that I've not tried yet), so you should be able to find a closeish dupe to this if you don't want to fork out nearly £17 for this.  The trademark hidden shimmer, which I always think veers towards red sparkle, is of course present in this polish. I can see it quite clearly in artificial light and very bright sunlight, but not in normal daytime conditions - you would probably be able to see it on the beach.  I've tried to take a photo showing it in the bottle and you might just be able to see it on my nails.

So all in all, another unusual colour from Chanel that will have us all wearing yellow on our fingers this summer.  I'm not sure if it's special enough for the pricetag, but I do quite like it - even my Mum said I had "trendy nails".  She of the 45 year old makeup that is...

Thanks for reading! xx

Vintage and Chanel Birthday Goodies and FOTD

I just thought I'd post about a few things I got for my birthday today, as I'm thrilled with them!

Kicking off the French theme, the first is a piece of 1920s antique jewellery that my friend found for me in an antique market in France.  She knows me so well, as I absolutely love it!  It's a very long beaded piece, with knots in it and tassels.  It's basically a cross between a long necklace and a scarf - I love necklaces and scarves, so it's perfect for me!  It's so beautiful! Scroll down for a picture of me wearing it

Secondly I got some Chanel makeup from my boyfriend ooh la la!  Naturally, I sent him the website links and even told him that Boots would deliver it to our neighbourhood shop!  I asked him for Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow in Murano and Le Vernis Nail Colour in Black Pearl.  Here are the pictures and swatches...

I must apologise for my FOTD post - I don't look at my best and my hair decided to go 'rock-chick'!

Here's the makeup I used:

Mac Studio Fix Concealer
Lancome Teinte Miracle Foundation
Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil
Nars Blusher in Deep Throat
UDPP
Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow in Murano - pink all over the lid, the darker silver at the outer corners and the crease, the darkish green in the outer v and the pale blueish green as a highlight.
Mac Smoulder
Lancome Hypnose Mascara
Nars Carthage Matte Lipstick, mostly wiped off with lipbalm applied on top

I picked up the pink swirly top from Next last week for £18.  I really love all the prints that are around at the moment! It works well with my antique French scarf/necklace non?

I can't wait to play around more with this palette and the nail polish!

Thanks for reading!  xx