My Nail Polish Collection - The Purples, Lilacs and Mauves

Right, time for another fascinating installment of my nail polish collection!  Today it's the turn of the purples, lilacs and mauves.

Top row left - right: YLS Belle de Nuit (one of a set), Barry M Dusky Mauve, Chanel Paradoxal, Revlon Plum Night (I think), Nails Inc St Johns Wood, Eyeko Lilac Polish, Avon - not sure what this is called.

Bottom Row left - right: ELF Mod Mauve, Elf - not sure of the name, Barry M Berry (I think), Mac - again not sure of the name, Mabelline - not sure of the name, Marvala Elle.

I've done NOTD posts on Belle de Nuit, Dusky Mauve, Paradoxal and Elle - not many really, as purples form the largest colour group in my collection

I've never worn the Avon or Elf polishes.  I love the colour of the Revlon polish in the pot, but it's really dark in reality - almost black.  I might try it over the top of a white polish to see how that looks.  The Barry M Berry colour is really difficult to work with - really bubbly and takes ages to dry.  The Nails St Johns Wood is really bright - almost fluorescent really!  I've had the Mabelline polish forever - it's probably the oldest in my collection.  It's a pretty sheer glitter, but more of a top coat rather than a full colour, as is the Mac polish.

Let me know if you have any requests for NOTDs or swatches!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - YSL Manicure Couture Duo - Belle de Nuit

I bought this a while ago, but I've been going crazy with nail polish at the moment, so I've only got round to doing this manicure now.  It took me ages to decide whether to go to the Belle de Nuit or Belle de Jour.  But I went for Belle de Nuit in the end.  I decided that the gold was more Christmasy and I was looking for a winter polish.  I do love the colours of Belle de Jour though, so I might ask for it for Christmas!

You must excuse the fact that my application is so rubbish and my cuticles are awful!  I just can't get French manicures straight!

I'm not sure about the formula or application.  It's quite thick and only one coat is needed. In fact, I think the gold was slightly too thick and it took absolutely ages to dry.  It has an angled brush, which I don't really like - I'd prefer just a normal one. It's lasted pretty well - 4 days later and only a couple of chips, although I did apply a top coat.

Since I've been blogging I've become much bolder with my day to day nails.  Before, I'd wear a traditional French manicure or very pale colour.  If I was feeling adventurous, I'd wear a red.  Now I wear loads of different colours - last week it was Khaki Vert, before, Paradoxal, I've gone for very dark plums and lots of other colours!  I'm sure that my colleagues are used to my crazy nails now, so no one turned a hair about my nails this week.  I dress quite smartly for work, so I think I'm allowed wild nails!

Thanks for reading! xx

Haul!!! And have busted by Beauty Diet!

Hello all!  Confession time!  I've been naughty and have spent all of the £100 budget on random make-up I set myself - it was supposed to last until the end of November!  So unless I'm VERY good until then, I've failed the challenge I set myself - about 3 weeks ago!  I might have a bit of a problem...  I've also bought a few other bits and pieces as well.

First of all today I went shoe shopping!  Well a girl can never have enough shoes can she?  I'm planning to wear one pair of these for a Burlesque/Circus night I'm going to in October, so I really needed them!  I haven't decided which pair to wear yet.

These were on sale from Nine West - aren't they gorgeous?

These were on offer from Miss KG - I love them!

So, that's about £100 lighter on two pairs of shoes that caught my eye in Debenhams.  Hmmmm.

Next, I bought the High Street 'It' bag of the season, this fabulous satchel from River Island.  I can see myself using it every day, and it's also a practical style, so I didn't mind shelling out £34.99 too much!

I also spotted this great scarf with skeleton faces on it in River Island - at about £15, I thought it was lovely and quite Alexander McQueen-like, so I picked it up.

It has heart beads sewn onto the ends!

Moving onto makeup, I stopped by the MAC counter at Debenhams and bought this Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in 'Desires and Devices' from the Fabulous Felines Collection.  I was tempted by this, or by 'Treat me nice' which is a slightly more teal type green, but I went for this one in the end.

I also ventured into Superdrug to look at the GOSH range of nail polishes, as I'd been hearing such good things about it!  I wanted to buy Rainbow, and got the only bottle they had there.  I also bought Gypsy Blue, as it looked so pretty.

Rainbow (L), Gypsy Blue (R)

I also went shopping last weekend (I know, I know I'm so bad) and got the YSL Manicure Couture Duo in Belle De Nuit that I've been coveting for ages.  I only bought it as I was waiting to get served at the No 7 counter, and my attention wandered to the YSL counter... dangerous!

Is this a typo on the box?  ManUcure Couture?

The photo doesn't do the colours justice.

Finally, I did get served at No 7, and bought the limited edition Smoky Eye Liner.  So far, I love this product, it's so easy to apply.  The only draw-back is a slight transferance to my upper lids, but nothing I can't live with! I can see it being a firm favourite all through the autumn and winter.  Let's hope they make it permanent and introduce more colours!

So that's it for my confessional - make-up budget all spent!  I've also got a lot of products from Revlon's autumn collection, but I'll post these separately.  It's not all bad though - I'm doing well with the non-makeup related products in my Beauty Diet.

Thanks for reading!  xx