DIY Wearable Version of the Super-Embellished Libertine Fall 2013 Nails

So after I went all out and blinged out my nails for my DIY version of the Libertine Fall 2013 look, I decided to try and come up with a more everyday-wear-friendly version of it. Basically, it didn't seem realistic to carry that much rhinestones on my nails, so I thought - what if I replaced them with glitter? And so, I proceeded to see how I could flatten out all the awesome 3D bling into a 2D version, while hopefully keeping the original look! And I eventually came up with this:

NYFW-inspired nail art - a much more wearable version of Libertine's Fall nails!

First, I had to choose the appropriate glitter. I thought of mixing various bits of glitter, but then I got lazy and settled on Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, which I've previously featured in this post, and as a jelly sandwich! Anyway, I settled on Lippmann Happy Birthday because it had the same multi-coloured, jewel-y effect that the original gemstones had.


A 2D version of Libertine's NYFW 3D nail art, embellished with colourful jewels: here, sequins are used instead.

Benefit Gimme Brow Swatches and Quick Review

Benefit Cosmetics will launch Gimme Brow, its latest brow product, in October. But until then, I thought I'd show you guys a few quick sneak peeks! Gimme Brow is meant to give you fuller brows with volume, so if you like a bit of drama for your brows, then this product is a good one.

Benefit's Gimme Brow: A brow mascara to give your lashes colour and volume!

Gimme Brow is essentially a brow mascara, a product which is quite popular in the West. As you might guess, it naturally comes in mascara-like packaging - there is a small tube, and a small, sharp mascara-like brush and wand for application.


Benefit's Gimme Brow comes with a mascara-like tube and brush packaging.

Libertine Fall 2013-Inspired Nail Art: Gold and Gems (AKA So Much Bling!)

As a total fashion noob, I've never heard of Libertine, but when I saw their nail art for NYFW (New York Fashion Week) Fall 2013, I just KNEW I had to try it. It was gold. It was full of gems. It had bling. And, it didn't require a heck-lot of precision. And look at what I came up with!

Libertine-inspired embellished manicure on gold base with gems!

Isn't it lovely and all blingy and stuff? This might make better sense if I showed you the original, at the runways of NYFW. The polish looks kinda gold-olive-muddy-a-bit-brown here, but it's described as gold (and it looks more gold) in the comments and in some other photos.

Libertine's Embellished manicure at NYFW Fall 2013 (Source)

When I saw this manicure, I thought, hmmm...blingy gems and jewels and stuff over a gold base. I can do this! So I decided to check out my stash of gold polish to see which one looked the most similar to the polish in the photos I was seeing.

Elizabeth Arden Untold Perfume Review: A Modern, Well-Rounded Fragrance

Elizabeth Arden's new fragrance, Untold, is no-doubt going to be a crowd-pleaser. After all, this is the same brand that is also known for its other perfume classics, Red Door and Green Tea. Unlike Red Door and Green Tea though, which trade heavily on the brand's well-known heritage and legacy, Untold aims for a scent and feel that is a little more contemporary, while still retaining the company's brand name.

Untold: A modern, soft, and feminine fragrance that isn't too sweet or cloying.

In that way, the drive towards modernity for this particular perfume launch means that it will be its own fragrance, and nothing quite like Red Door or Green Tea. Red Door was powdery and heavier, perhaps a reflection of how perfumes were in the 80's, while Green Tea was a lighter, citrus-y wisp of a fragrance. Untold, while different, is by no means a bad fragrance at all. In fact, I have to say, after a few weeks of sniffing, I quite like it - it is indeed modern, soft and feminine without being cloying, or annoying.

Canmake Lip Concealer Swatches

So these swatches are a little old, but hey, better late than never right? One of Canmake's items sold (not sure if it's still current stock, but I'm sure you can find it online via eBay and such) are their Lip Concealers. The idea is that if you want an all-out nude lip, or need to blank out your lip for artistic makeup, then you can use these Lip Concealers.

Canmake Lip Concealer Swatches

There are only two shades, so this is a short post.

01 White Pink is a pale beige that has some pink in it. A pale, cool-toned beige. A concealer shade, really.
02 Nude Beige is a tan beige, also with pink. Also a concealer shade.

As far as I can tell, the main benefit of using a specialized Lip Concealer over a typical concealer meant for face is the taste. These don't have any taste, whereas using a real concealer would taste really nasty. Although these are lip concealers, I'm sure there will be those who are game enough to use them as actual lip colours.

Pond Manicure: My First Attempt at a Blue Pond Manicure

Recently, I saw a few pond manicures online, so I thought I'd give the pond manicure a try! For those who need an explanation, a pond manicure basically involves layers of a sheer polish, with designs (dots, flowers, or whatever you want) in between the layers. I'm not sure exactly how the pond manicure got its name, but to me, it's an apt name because the layering of sheer polish gives the designs on your nails the impression of being submerged in a pond. Kinda like they're underwater and you're viewing them from above the water.

My first ever attempt at a Pond Manicure!

For my first ever pond manicure, I decided to use Nicole by OPI Somebody Teal Love. OMG yes I have a Justin Bieber polish, and I bought it from TJMaxx when I was in California for a holiday! I bought it because it was cheap, but after I bought it, I didn't know what to do with it because it was so annoyingly sheer. The level of pigment in the polish was quite non-existent, kinda like Justin Bieber's musical talent, I guess. (Well, I guess since I'm above two decades old, I'm just too old and creaky to appreciate the wondrousness that is his singing.) But aging teen popstar jokes aside, this polish sat unused for a long, long time, because I couldn't bring myself to apply the 4-5 coats that was necessary for full opacity.


Using Nicole by OPI Somebody Teal Love (ugh, really bad name) as the "pond" colour.

Beauty Blog Link Love

Phyrra brings you the Urban Decay Holiday 2013 Collection. You don't want to miss this!

A pigmented lipgloss that's lighter that air? It exists! Head over the Makeup Morsels to get the scoop now.

Jenn from Spiced Beauty has swatches of the new, nude L'Oréal Paris Collection Privée by Colour Riche! Which set do you like?

Do you love a great glow? If you do, Rae's found two breathtaking baked bronzer/highlighter duos that you NEED to try. Find out what they are at theNotice!

Always been curious about epilators? Hop on over to melovemakeup to check out Sophie's first thoughts on the new Remington 4 in 1 epilator!

Have you ever been swept away by a makeup item? Have you ever wanted to wear one item and one only? See which is the item that has done that to Marcia of Beauty Info Zone. Hint: it might have the words Marc Jacobs in the title.

Fleurissante has the swatches of Essie's fall collection, For the Twill of It. Check out if she likes the collection.

Jenny blogs about her new favourite deep pink matte- Burberry Lip Velvet in Pink Azalea at My Funny Valentine.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed has done the worst nail art ever for the Nicole by OPI Perfect Prom Mani challenge but wants you to vote for her anyway - she understands that they will mostly be pity votes and is totally cool with it!

Wondering what's the difference between the Dior Lip Glow, Sephora Color Reveal Balm, and other colour-changing products? Musicalhouses analyzes the ingredients of ten different colour-changing lipbalms, lipsticks, and blushes to see exactly how these products work!

Who needs that expensive Dior Bonne Etoile Palette when you can get this more affordablemark On The Dot Eye Color Compact in Smoky/Sensuel? Check it out at Beauty Reflections!

Prime Beauty brings you her Top 10 Eyeliners along with 10 other bloggers on Top 10 Tuesday!

Thinking about trying one of the barrel-less curling irons everyone is talking about? Gouldylox created a tutorial that includes tips, tricks and what happens when it eats your hair.

Vanity Trove September: Just What My Skin Needed (in Full Size, too!)

I'm sure you know by now that you can choose your own samples for Vanity Trove. So let me cut to the chase and show you what I picked this month! There was this awesome serum that I just had to have! As always, I tend to choose my Vanity Trove items during my lunch on Mondays (because that's when they restock), for best results. Don't say I never share my tips with you! ;P

Vanity Trove for September

An Ingredients Analysis of Colour Changing Lipsticks, Lipglosses, Lipbalms, and Blushes

Ever since Smashbox put out its O-Glow blushes and lipglosses, Dior put out its Dior Lip Glow, and Sephora put out its Color Reveal Lip Balm, it seems like colour-changing lipglosses have been exploding over the blogosphere. There are so many breathless reviews on how it's changing into the "perfect shade of pink", or how it "reacts with the skin's pH" to give you a customized shade, and there are also equally many reviews disliking the pepto bismo pink it changes into on them. And, there are (of course) a lot of comparison swatches between the various types of colour-changing glosses.

I've had a few of these - you can see one that I reviewed here. Back then, I had written that I was suspicious of all those lipglosses claiming to know my body chemistry and pH, and I had written, "in my experience these turn into some generic shade of super-bright pink." So, since all the hype has been going on, I thought I'd do a little bit of the ingredients-analysing that you guys all know and love, and explain just how it is that these glosses/lipsticks/lipbalms/blushes do their work!

With these products, you'll always have a PH-relevant/skin-chemistry-relevant/hocus-pocus-magic-quality relevant shade!

Of course, as the nice little graphic summary I did above shows, we know that these types of lipglosses, lipsticks, and lipbalms have been around for quite awhile. In fact, there are so many of them - in addition to the Dior, Smashbox, and Sephora versions, Mark by Avon, Duwop, Jemma Kidd, and NYX Cosmetics have all jumped on the bandwagon at some point in time. And it's not just US brands that are donig it - Essence Cosmetics and Barry M from Europe have done it too. And even outside the West, other brands have done it - there's Lipice in Asia, and even a strange Morrocan Hare brand from (where else) Morroco! And it's not just lipgloss or lipstick! Cheek products have also been given the special treatment, with Stila, Smashbox and Givenchy all have blush versions to give you that pH-adjusted cheek colour.

So yes, we know everyone loves a colour-changing lipstick/balm/gloss/blush. And who can blame us for loving it? The novelty of seeing the colour change on your lips and cheeks is quite something, I'll admit. The thing is, are they really all that different from one another? How on earth are they even changing colour in the first place? You know that if this post involves some ingredients analysis, there's no better place to start than the ingredients list!

So, for this post, I'm going to look at as many ingredient lists of such colour changing products that I can dig up, including lipbalms, glosses, and lipsticks, and blushes, and see what we can learn from there! In true geek style, there are 10 of them (yes, TEN!), so buckle up!

China Glaze Swing Baby: Glamorous Gold Nails!

China Glaze Swing Baby is one of the untrieds in my stash. I bought it when it was a brand spanking new colour, and only just got around to wearing it! Swing Baby was a Fall or Winter (quite possible Christmas, in fact) release from 2010, I think. So given that this collection is a few years old, you can imagine that I've had it for a few years and have only just taken it out for a ride! Ah, such are the perils of beauty blogging when you have too much makeup and nail polish.

China Glaze Swing Baby: Look at all that gold on my nails!

Now that I'm wearing it, though, I wish I had taken it out sooner!

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color Eyeshadow Pencil Swatches

Remember back when I had a Laura Mercier makeover? It was a pretty darn awesome one, which actually hid my huge acne spots! If you haven't seen it, you really should, because the transformation is just impressive. Anyway, if you remembered, I promised to swatch the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color for you guys, and then...I didn't. Until now.

So behold, the uber-late (but better than never, right?) swatches. The Caviar Stick Eye Colour is really an eyeshadow pencil. I have one of the colours, and I've found it to be pretty easy to use. The eyeshadow is blendable, but sets fairly fast and doesn't move after that, which in my opinion is the best of both worlds. In my experience setting time is pretty important for a good eyeshadow pencil: too fast and it becomes impossible to blend (and makes you feel like you're really just colouring with an eyeliner pencil), too slow, and you get smudges.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color Swatches

You can read my thoughts on each individual colour below.

Kiehl's Skin Rescuer: Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Kiehl's Skin Rescuer was launched a few months ago during summer, as a daily moisturizer for stressed, sensitive skin. Stressed, sensitive skin, you say? Awesome! If you read my skincare posts with any regularity, you'll know that while acne is a major problem of mine, a secondary, related problem is that of skin sensitivity and redness. Although my skin isn't that sensitive, it does sometimes experience redness and irritation. So I was keen to try this to see if it would work for me. And although I was all, "Pfft, another moisturizer, how boring," now that I've been using this for a few months, I have to say, I am actually impressed!

Stressed, sensitive skin? The Kiehl's Skin Rescuer might help!

You guys know that in addition to my own experience with the product, I also like to start off my reviews with a little ingredient analysis. So let's begin!