Royal wedding nails!

Unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you know that the royal wedding is on today! I don't care too much about the royals (OK maybe I secretly do have a fascination with them) but I am such a hopeless romantic and I absolutely adore a good royal wedding. Weddings are such beautiful events and especially with all the pomp and ceremony it's such a show! Of course I had to do a mani to celebrate the wedding of the year!


I've wanted to do a Union Jack mani for ages so of course this was the perfect opportunity! My mani was a huge hit at work today which was a nice way to brighten up my day =) My British workmate ABSOLUTELY adored it and even took a pic to send home to friends and family which was awesome! xp

I started off with 1 coat of "underwear polish" in Icing Rebellious to prevent staining. I then applied 2 coats of Orly Royal Navy to all fingers except my ring finger.


For my ring finger I wanted to replicate the gorgeous engagement ring. I used 3 coats of Ulta 3 lily white as a base and used Born Pretty dotting tool to dot an oval using China Glaze Up All Night for the sapphire. I then applied silver rhinestones to replicate the diamonds.


For the Union Jack I used Kiss nail art paint striper in white to freehand the white lines and CM nail art striper in red glitter over the white.



I've recently discovered the joys of Instagram so here's a bonus pic which I tweeted last night. Follow me on Twitter for preview pics of my manis as I don't always post about them straight away ;)


Obviously royal weddings aren't for everyone but who doesn't love a fairytale love story?!! Off to watch the ceremony now!! Will you be watching?

Thanks for looking!!

BYS Bright Pink Colour Change nail polish

I am so buzzed up and high right now from meds it's not funny so this will just be a short post. I seriously can barely sit still at the moment! The weather here in Sydney has been miserable so I decided to try out one of the new BYS Colour Change polishes to brighten my mood. I was soooo excited to hear that BYS were bringing out mood polishes and in some fantastic colours too. As I'm going to Hong Kong next week (again yes!) I only picked up 2 but there are 7 colours in the collection. One of the ones I bought was Bright Pink which I have for you today.


Bright Pink is exactly as the name describes - a bright pink and it is gorgeous! I prefer it when warm as it becomes this beautiful almost neon pink. When cold, it's a darker pink that's every bit as lovely but a little muted. It applied nicely and 2 coats were needed for opacity and it dried to a satin finish.

When cold:

I have particularly cold hands so I had to run my hands under warm water to make the colour change last so I could take photos =p Ignore the drops of water!

When warm:


I couldn't resist adding topcoat (I used Poshe today if you're wondering) and WOW!! It just takes it to a whole new level, just stunning. I could not stop staring at my nails all day - I kept admiring the cool colour change haha. I also added a floral nail sticker for some quick nail art!

It was very difficult to capture the colour change on camera (it's more noticeable in real life) but in the pics below you can sort of see the tips are darker.



I'm off to paint my nails/eat/bounce off the walls. Thanks for looking ladies!! Don't forget to enter my Glitter Gal giveaway!

Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Spring 2011 swatches and review

The Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Spring 2011 collection brings us 16 beautiful nail colours in classical hues and I'm very excited to show you 2 of the gorgeous colours today. I have no preferences when it comes to nail polishes but there is something oh so very exciting about a luxury lacquer!


What they say:

"Avant-garde glamour coats the nails in chic, shiny splendor with the NEW Pure Color Nail Lacquer by Estée Lauder and Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux. A luxurious range of hues from perfect neutrals to smoky charcoals to romantic purples and riveting reds, delight the senses and turn nails into mini accessories to match any look.

There are 8 in-line shades that set the stage for classic and sophisticated beauty while 8 additional, limited edition shades amp up the brilliance of the colour. The blendable coating stretches across the nail to create an even and smooth finish that stays true to colour throughout the duration of the wear and the high-performance formula does not dull, fade or streak."

Estée Lauder nail polishes are Big 4 Free meaning they are free from formaldehyde, toluene, DBT, AND formaldehyde resin which is fantastic. They are packaged beautifully too in weighty square bottles with gold caps, very very luxurious and appealing. I love the elegance of all Estée Lauder packaging actually. On to the swatches now!

Purple Passion: A bright purple creme. You all know I love a good purple creme and Purple Passion is no exception! 2 coats pictured.


Close-up:




Sizzling Taupe: A gorgeous rich frosty taupe with a twist. There's a lovely shimmer through it making it unique from other taupes and I think a must have for any collection. It's very flattering and the perfect work appropriate shade. 2 coats pictured.


Close-up:


(I have no idea what the bumps on my middle and ring fingers are in these 2! They weren't there in real life haha.)


Overall: These are my first Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquers and I am unbelievably impressed with them. The formula on these lacquers is one of the best (if not the best) I have ever have had the pleasure of trying. These applied like BUTTER. Oh so smooth and creamy melt in your mouth BUTTER!!!! They are highly pigmented only needing 2 coats for opacity and had I been more careful I would have only needed 1. They dry to a glossy finish and dry time is extremely quick - I was putting away groceries literally 10 minuntes after application and no dents whatsoever! I really enjoyed using the brush as it's firm but flexible and easy to control. The size gives excellent coverage with no cleanup needed whatsoever also.

Like my wardrobe, I appreciate investing in a few classical pieces that work every time and these are the lacquer equivalent. They are well made, luxurious and they give you the ultimate confidence boost! Not everyone likes a bold colour so these shades are great for a more conservative yet still colourful look. While I would have liked to see a few more unique shades in the mix, they are a great basis for any nail collection.

Unfortunately the disappointment is the price in Australia. These lacquers are amazing but at $38 a bottle it is a little more than what I can afford to purchase regularly. However you pay for quality and these are DEFINITELY worth every penny for the excellent pigmentation and formula.

Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquers can be purchased online from the Estée Lauder store or at Myer and David Jones counters instore for $38.


A huge thank you to Angela for sending me the above polishes to sample! I was sent the above products for my consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion.

What do you think of the Estée Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Spring 2011 collection?

Thanks for looking as always!

Easter manicure

Hi ladies! HAPPY EASTER! Once again a lack of posts from me unfortunately as I'm still unwell - I felt fine until Wednesday and then BAM! the hearing went and the vertigo hit again ARGH. I haven't been up to doing much but I got so sick of having bare nails I had to do some Easter nail art!! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to break out my pastel colours (not that I need any excuse too haha!) so here's my Easter manicure for you all. Please excuse my dry cuticles as I've been lazy to apply my cuticle creams and hand lotions.


Here's what I used:


Pinky: 1 coat of OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and 1 coat of China Glaze Empowerment. I then konaded diagonal design from Konad plate m65 using China Glaze Admire.

Ring finger: 3 coats of Face of Australia Lemon Sorbet. I then konaded the duck image from Konad plate s10 using Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Kook-a-Mango. I used a dotting tool from Born Pretty Store (review to come) to add a black dot for the eye.

Middle finger: 2 coats of Face of Australia Minty Mojito. I then used Sinful Colors Snow Me White and dotting tool from Born Pretty Store to add white dots.

Index finger: 2 coats of OPI What's With the Cattitude. I then used Essence french manicure and pedicure pen pearly rose tip painter to draw the zigzag lines and Kiss nail artist paint striper in black for the horizontal lines.

Thumb: 2 coats of Barry M Berry Ice-cream as base colour. For the freehanded bunny design, I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the face and Kiss nail artist paint striper in white for the ears. I used Essence french manicure and pedicure pen pearly rose tip painter for the ears, nose and cheeks and a black creme with Born Pretty dotting tool for the eyes and white for the eye detail.



I asked D to not bother giving me any chocolate this year as I'm "trying" to cut back on my sugar intake but of course he didn't listen! Ahem you will notice that the packet of Cadbury creme eggs is already nearly half devoured before I even took the photo - I totally fail at resisting chocolate! xD Especially creme eggs OMG.


On another note, I've been included in a list of the Top 50 Chic Beauty Blogs which is so awesome!! I'm honoured to be in such great company.

I hope you are all having a happy and safe Easter weekend =) Let me know how you're spending your weekend!

Thanks for looking as always! Don't forget to enter my Glitter Gal giveaway!

Illamasqua makeup class

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending an Illamasqua master makeup class at Myer Sydney with Tara from Keeping up with me and Angie from An Obsession With the Fabulous after attending the Schwarzkopf event. Tara had originally organised transformations for us both however Mikele offered a lesson to all 3 of us on the day which worked out just perfectly! I am always very eager to improve my makeup application skills because they aren't very good unfortunately.

Tara has written a fantastic post on the particulars of our lesson here so I won't double up as she writes far more eloquently than I do! Go now and read it!! I thought I'd share some of my pics with you and show the look we created =)


I haven't had the opportunity to experience many Illamasqua products besides their awesome nail polishes so I was VERY excited to play and learn about them! When it comes to makeup I am not very adventurous with colour. For my nails I will happily rock any colour under the sun but for my eyes and lips I almost always stick to neutrals, pinks, purple and more pink! I do have bright colours but I very rarely wear them unfortunately so I took this opportunity to try out a bolder look. Who wouldn't with the ah-mazing range of colours Illamasqua has on offer?

Gorgeous blushes that are calling my name!
I NEED these eyeshadows in my life.. Xp
We were all very eager to improve our eye makeup skills so we decided on a bronzey eye and a different blush and lip colour each. My memory is a bit sketchy so the products I list may not be the actual ones we used on the day sorry!


First off was applying a good base! We started off with the Matt Primer and then applied the Cream Foundation for a flawless finish. Here's Tara applying foundation and making sure to buff well!


Angie doing the same! I am lazy when it comes to applying foundation and I usually just use my fingers - bad I know! - so I really need to get my act together and start using my brushes.


The SUPER lovely and talented Mikele doing Tara's eyes. It was great watching him demonstrate on one of us and then trying it out ourselves.

Some of the products used for the look -


Cream Pigment in Hollow (not pictured)
Power Eyeshadow in Synth, Bronx and Boomerang
Precision Ink in Alchemy - for upper lashline (not pictured)
Cream Pigment in Mould - for lower lashline
Volume Mascara in Harness (not pictured)
Fine Pencil in Eerie - to fill in my brows
Powder Blusher in Nymph
Lipstick in Encounter
Intense Lipgloss in Perform (I think..)

Here's the final look!


I LOVED the look and the girls loved theirs too! For me, the red lips was very different from what I usually wear and it was great to try it. I have much more confidence to wear bolder lip colours now! Unfortunately I didn't get to take a photo of both Tara and Angie with their final looks doh.

We had such a fabulous time and learning from Mikele was such a pleasure! I really enjoy learning this way - a makeup lesson where you're shown how to do it and then do yourself is the best way to learn application. Like Tara, I find the staff at Illamasqua very knowledgeable and friendly and I definitely recommend a makeup lesson or transformation from them!!

I now have so many new products on my wish list with the Powder Eyeshadows, Cream Pigments and Powder Blushers just to name a few! My wallet is not going to thank me lol. A huge thank you to Mikele and Illamasqua for a wonderful afternoon! And my girl Tara for organising it all!

Thanks for looking as always =)

*This makeup lesson was provided to me free of charge.

Glitter Gal 3D Holographic Purple

Today I have for you another awesome Glitter Gal 3D Holographic polish which is the last of the Glitter Gal polishes I hauled last year. I can't believe it took me so long to try out considering I LOVE purple!


Purple is another polish from Glitter Gal's 3D Holographic range. It's a wonderful glitter packed dark purple holographic that comes into it's own when it hits the sun. Purple + holo = WINNING in my book! Haha. In real life the colour is somewhat darker than what is shown in my pictures but it appears lighter in the sun.

Application was OK - the formula was a tiny bit thick but still easy to apply! I didn't get any balding or streaks even though I used basecoat. It applied smoothly and was opaque in 2 coats which is pictured, no topcoat needed for a glossy finish! The brush in my bottle is one of the older ones so it's a little smaller and more difficult to use than the brush of Marine Blue.


In artificial light:


Close-up:




Glitter Gal 3D holographic nail polishes can be purchased from their online store or selected stockists for $11.95. They also ship internationally so my international readers don't miss out!

What do you think of Glitter Gal 3D holographic Purple? Do you have a favourite purple holo?

You could win your very own bottle and another colour of your choice in my Glitter Gal giveaway! Thanks for looking =)

Schwarzkopf Extra Care Relaunch

On Wednesday I was very lucky to attend the relaunch of the Schwarzkopf Extra Care range and the debut of the Ultimate Repair collection. The concept for the event was to shop the "Schwarzkopf supermarket" and boy was it lots of fun!


They had plenty of baskets and even mini sized trolleys on hand for us to place our products in while we perused the "supermarket"!


Schwarzkopf have introduced the Ultimate Repair range which includes shampoo, conditioner, mask and a repair and gloss treatment. Schwarzkopf are the first to use Liquid Hair Technology with Liquid Keratin and the range contains 3 times the amount of Liquid Keratin in its formula and promises to repair even extreme hair damage. The range will be available in stores at the end of April.


The aisles of the supermarket were lined with hair products from the Extra Care range and tasty canapes, drinks and treats were mixed in for us to snack on while shopping. It was pure hair HEAVEN!!




I went home with so many wonderful products!! My arms ached from carrying them all home x) I now have no excuse whatsoever for not having fabulous hair!


I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend =) Thanks for looking as always and don't forget to enter my Glitter Gal giveaway!

Face of Australia Amethyst gold rose manicure + a quick update

My apologies for the lack of posts this week and lax replying to comments and emails. If you follow me on Twitter then you might know that I haven't been feeling too well this week resulting in a trip to the emergency department yesterday to get checked out. It was not fun waiting 4 hours to be seen let me tell you! And that was after flashing my staff ID =( Of course I had to choose a crazy day in emergency to be unwell! Oh well it was an experience. I'm fine now but I have a cranial nerve infection (basically an inner ear infection) which is causing me hearing loss, dizziness and headaches. Not pleasant at all when you wake up and the whole room is spinning uncontrollably and your head is pounding. Not to mention decreased hearing in one ear =S The upside was I got meds to help with the dizziness and the emergency Dr was absolutely lovely and got me an urgent appointment on Monday since I was staff hehe. Thank you to to the lovely ladies on Twitter for your well wishes =)

Here's my manicure that I did on Tuesday night. Lots of ladies on Twitter were tweeting that they were using the fabulous Face of Australia Molten Metallics collection (which I swatched for you guys here - Part 1 & Part 2) for their manis which made me want to get my polishes out too! I am really loving the full roses Konad image so I went with Amethyst and the konading in gold to complement it.


I used 2 coats of Face of Australia Amethyst as a base colour on all fingers. I then stamped full roses image from Konad plate m65 using China Glaze Passion on all fingers except my thumb. For my thumb I wanted a bling accent (ie. Blackberry bling!) so I applied 2 coats of OPI Sparkle-icious over Amethyst.



Normal posting will resume as soon as I'm 100%! I have so many exciting posts to share including the awesome Schwarzkopf event I attended, an Illamasqua master class and swatches and products too!

Thanks for looking as always =) Don't forget to enter my Glitter Gal giveaway!

Benefit Bella Bamba swatches and review

My name is Michelle and I am a blush-aholic. I wake up and I NEED to have my blush fix - I can't leave the house without it! Does anyone else suffer from blush obsession? If I don't wear blush I look like a ghost so it's a must have in my makeup collection. I own about 18 which is a lot for some but compared to the makeup bloggers it's tiny! I'm always on the lookout for new blushes and I have yet to meet a blush I didn't like xD I've always wanted to try Benefit boxed powders as I've had good experiences with their other products so I was super excited when I was given the opportunity to try out 2 of their pretty powders recently. The 1st one I'll show you is their latest release and my favourite called Bella Bamba.


What they say:

"Release your Bella Bamba! The triple dimension of pink... brightening, sculpting & defining! Laced with shimmering gold undertones, this 3D watermelon blush is multidimensional to the naked eye... wear it on your cheeks or dust it lightly all over your face to look brighter, perkier, prettier!"

The packaging of these Benefit boxed powders is what sets them apart from the others. Bella Bamba comes in a square hinged box with a mirror and includes a brush. This packaging is new as the old boxed powders have removable lids.


Bella Bamba is a gorgeous watermelon pink with hints of gold shimmer. It is absolutely beautiful!! It reminds me of NARS Orgasm but much pinker and less peachy. I ADORE both pink and coral blushes but pink usually wins haha. Bella Bamba gives me just the right amount of glow when I apply it and goes wonderfully with my pale skin. It's very pigmented so I apply quite lightly but it blends easily creating a lovely soft pink pop of colour to my cheeks.


Swatch:


When applied:


Overall: I love pink/coral blushes and this is no exception! It's very pigmented and looks wonderful on me so I thoroughly enjoy using it. While the packaging is very cute it's not the most user friendly unfortunately. It's difficult to open and when open it doesn't want to stay up. Hopefully as I use it more often it will loosen up. I prefer to use my own brush to apply it (MAC 129) but the one included isn't too bad if you're travelling or on the go. I do find the packaging a little bulky to store with my other blushes but this is purely an OCD 'chelle thing so don't mind me =p


Would I repurchase?: Definitely! I've been reaching for Bella Bamba at least 3-4 times a week since I received it - I love it! It's wonderful for Spring/Summer It gives the right amount of shimmer and colour for a glowing look.

Where to buy:
Benefit Bella Bamba can be purchased from Myer Benefit counters in Australia for $51.
For US ladies, you can purchase it from Sephora or Benefit.com for $28US.

A big thank you to Renee for providing me with this product to sample! I was sent the above product for my consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion.

Have you tried Benefit boxed powders? What would you recommend?

Thanks for looking as always and don't forget to enter my Glitter Gal giveaway!