Nails Of The Day: Topshop Gypsy Night

Topshop never cease to amaze me with their beautiful array of shades, many of those are pretty unusual and unique. Gypsy Night was calling my name, just look at this shade how can you not love it. I wore this over a black polish, however you can get the same results by layering up. The only problem i have with layering is that it takes a long time to try and can become incredibly gloopy. The durability isn't bad but rather than chip it is more easily squashed into a big gooey mess (this still happens much after the nails are dry). This isn't the best quality in comparison with other Topshop varnishes although i have yet to compare it to another of their glittery ones.

Selfridges Exclusive: Azature Canary Diamond Lacquer

Luxury diamond jeweller Azature have recently hit the fashion headlines for creating two of the worlds most expensive nail polishes. The first was the stunning Black Diamond manicure which cost a whopping $250,000 dollars and contained 267 carats of real crushed black diamonds. Black Diamond was then made to look cheap by the eye watering Million Dollar Manicure which was worn by one of my fashion idol's Kelly Osbourne. The Million Dollar Manicure contains 98 of Azature white diamonds as well as 1,400 hand chosen diamonds set into the platinum cap. Azature more recently created a more affordable yet still luxurious range for the everyday woman.

I purchased the Azature Canary Diamond polish which is exclusive to Selfridges and is available for $25 or £17 for us Brits and each bottle contains a real black diamond, hows that for luxurious. The bottle is beautiful and the golden yellow liquid looks divine. I can see the tiny little diamond in the bottom of the bottle which excites me even more, i'm a sucker for luxury. The polish itself is very sheer and takes a lot of coats to get a nice opaque covering like the picture below. Once enough coats are applied it looks stunning and there is plenty of shimmer. Due to the amount of polish needed i would definitely consider this a luxury product, but one that is certainly worth the treat. I was lucky enough to find it in the Selfridges sale for just £5 a bottle, so i got it for a steal. I'd love to know what you all think, would you pay £17 for a nail polish or do you think it is all just one big gimmick?

Nails Of The Day: Ciate Mini Caviar Mani (Frost Yourself and Ferris Wheel

I recently picked up this months Marie Claire which came with a set of Ciat'e Caviar Nails. I have previously used other nail caviar's/ pearls but this is my first time trying the Ciat'e version. The set contains a gorgeous pastel candy coloured pale blue named "Ferris Wheel" and "Frost Yourself" which is a mixture of blue, silver and pearlescent beads.

The consistency of Ferris Wheel was quite thick and gloopy, i think the bottle may have been a dud as i have never had any Ciat'e polishes like this before. The consistency made it quite difficult to get a really smooth looking nail, i think i just about managed it. Texture aside, i absolutely adore the colour, it is just perfect for a spring/summer pastel look. A then applied the beads to a wet nail as instructed. Warning this can get pretty messy, i used a small tray to catch the beads and they still ended up everywhere. I added a topcoat to preserve the beads a little longer which ended disastrously, the blue beads bled colour and my whole nail ended up an inky dark blue. 

I'm happy with the finished look, i really can't get enough of that Ferris Wheel blue though, just beautiful. A couple of handy tips are to use a thin layer of beads as they look best and stick better, also pat down the beads as they are drying to get them to stick well. 

I couldn't finish this post without talking about the new Dior Addict It Collection featured in this months Marie Claire. Dior have created a range of high impact coloured mascaras and liners (exactly what i have been craving lately), the pink liner is absolutely stunning. It retails for £24.50 which is a little steep but i think this is one that will be worth my money.

Skulls and Kisses

Luna x

Revlon Parfumerie

Nailgasm! I'v never had much of an interest in Revlon makeup until now, they have brought out a range of scented polishes! Revlon Parfumerie have combined two of my biggest loves (beautiful nails and fine fragrance) to create a gorgeous range of shades. They have created 20 scents (24 in the US) which like perfumes are divided into catagories; fresh scents, fruit and florals and sweets and spices. The bottles would certainly look at home on my dressing table among my perfume bottles, although i'm unsure if the spherical stoppers will affect application. I love the idea of trying different scents as well as the variety of shades, i'm really looking forward to testing them out for myself. These retail at £6.49 although they are often included in 3 for 2 offers at Boots. Keep your eyes peeled for an exciting review.

Skulls & Kisses

Luna x

Sweet & Spicy

 Autumn Spice

Bordeaux

Chocolate Truffle

Espresso

Italian Leather

Moonlit Woods

Spun Sugar

Fruit & Floral

African Tea Rose

Apricot Nectar

China Flower

Ginger Melon

Lime Basil

Orange Blossom

Pink Pineapple

Wild Violets

 Fresh

Beachy

Fresh Linen

Lavender Soap

Surf Spray

Wintermint

Nails Of The Day: Illamasqua in shade Jan

High end cosmetics company Illamasqua have been creating a gorgeous array of highly pigmented cosmetics since 2008. The brand encourages people to express their individuality and creativity by using some more unusual shades. My polish of the day, Jan (lovely name for my January nails) is the perfect subtle shade for me to wear to work as its a neutral pink. Jan dries seriously quickly, my first hand is always dry by the time i have finished the second. I usually find that a single coat gives a good coverage but i often add a second to prevent chipping. My only criticism is that for the price of £14.50 it should have a much better chip resistance.

Luna x

Nails Of The Day: Limited Collection in shade Rich Purple

It's a new year, time for change and resolutions which are of course made to be broken. I have two this year, the first to drink more water (seriously people joke about me being a camel) and to blog more often. So with the latter in mind i have created a new feature for my blog. I give you NAILS OF THE DAY! I won't be posting every day as painted nails on a work day is a no no for me, perhaps twice a week is a more realistic goal. Today's nails of the day are from the Limited Collection by M&S. I picked up a couple of these polishes before christmas because they had some beautiful duo chromes and metallics. Todays shade is Rich Purple.

I couldn't resist this shade it is just beautiful, although i will say that the name is a little misleading. The colour is obviously more of a pink than a rich purple. My favourite thing about this shade is the little blue flecks of shimmer that are visible when it catches the light. These polishes are available for £3.50 each instore and online at marksandspencer.com. Unfortunately this shade is now only available as part of this giftset.  

Topshop Mini Makeup Haul/Review

Hello my lovely viewers, today i'm giving you my thoughts and feelings on a couple of item's from Topshop's makeup range. I am a total Topshop makeup virgin so i figured it was time for me to give in to temptation and pick up a few goodies.

The first thing that caught my eye was this gorgeous eye shadow compact in the shade Nebula. I wear a combination of blacks and silvers as part of my every day look and have been after a small compact to pop in my handbag, the packaging is pretty unusual, the compact itself has a rubbery feel which i really love. Nebula contains a beautiful trio of shimmery black, smokey grey and a cool gold shade. After testing this out i can say i am seriously impressed, even after hearing good reviews i am still surprised at just how good this is. I have tried every black eye shadow under the sun and most of them don't meet my standards, this one is actually black, not some dark grey or deep brown, but a deep dark BLACK! The silver is actually much darker and more pigmented than i expected so it blends perfectly with the black but still has enough shimmer to lighten the inner corners of your eyes. I used black on my eyelids and the gold to highlight my brow bones. Nebula set me back £12 and was worth every penny and more.

Topshop have the most gorgeous array of nail polishes i have seen in a long time, Barry M comes a close second. I seriously had to restrain myself and bought just two of them (i will be back for more of course). The first one i picked was Plume, this gorgeous purple, blue shimmery beauty. I tried it on my nails and found that its more of a tinted glitter polish than a strong solid colour unless you really layer it up. I wore it as a top coat over the my favourite Barry M nail polish (Vivid Purple) and the combination of the two are stunning, and definitely eye catching. Plume is available for £6 online and in store

I also picked up Gypsy Night because it's made up of my two favourite things; the colour black and glamorous sparkles. This polish is perfectly named it really is like looking at the night sky, unlike Plume i found i needed less coats of this to get a beautiful solid colour. I also applied it over a tarnished gold polish and it looked even better. The drying times of these polishes are about average but on the plus side they are far less gloopy and tacky than other high street varnishes. Gypsy Night also costs £6

Finally i picked up a lipgloss in the shade Surf Luxe, I never wear lip gloss especially not this time of year (sticky hair lips is never a good look) but it was free when you spent £15 on cosmetics. There were a good range of shades but i stuck to a fairly neutral tone (how dull of me). The product has no scent or flavour which is a little disappointing but the formulation feels nice on the lip, not sticky at all. I can't say i would recommend this product but that's more to do with personal preference. I would choose a tinted balm or lipstick over gloss any day, although i wouldn't mind trying the purple one. This gloss and other shades are available for £4 

I have to say i am really happy with the makeup that i got, i would 100% recommend purchasing the compacts because the pigmentation really is fab. I love the polishes too but i would suggest pairing the shimmer and glitter shades with some of the block colours in their range. I will be re-visiting Topshop to splurge on some more varnishes and possibly some other bits.

(Nebula Smokey eye)

                                                As always thanks for reading my ramblings,
                                                                           Luna x

Gothic Beauties

Its no secret that i may have a small addiction to nail polish, which can't be blamed when they come in stunning deep dark shade like these three beauties. These are just three shades of the Gothic Beauties collection available from A-England. The British based company created by talented designer Adina Bodana offers colours inspired by fantasy, myths and novels of an era almost forgotten. Each gothic shade bares the name of a conflicted character taken from some of the greatest literary pieces written. The Gothic Beauties collection is perfect for gothic beauties (as its names suggests) or those who fancy dabbling in something a little dark and mysterious. 

These are three of my personal favorites from the collection; Tess D'urbervilles, Ophelia and Lady of Shalott
Other shades and collections are available for £9 a bottle at a-england.co.uk