If you like to franken polishes but are at a loss for empty bottles...

I've cleaned out (to the best of my ability, as I lack pure acetone) five polish bottles. UK postage is 50p, international is £1. Will be sent with lots of bubble wrap, lol.



From left to right:

Sally Hansen bottle (red) will protect your frankens from UV rays, holds 13.3 ml, 75p
Sally Hansen bottle (green) wide mouth for easy pouring/glitter and whatnot, flat cap too (reminiscent of the Man Glaze Franken Juggs) holds 13.3ml, £1
Cylinderal bottle, volume unknown, 50p
Sally Hansen bottle (clear) holds 13.3ml, 75p
Boots mini bottles with rings, volume unknown, 60p each, £1 for the pair.

It's a bit of a composite haul, as I bought three polishes in one session and two in the other, but Boots were doing 3 for 2 on Barry M Nail Paints - would have been rude not to! So two Barry M polishes - basically £6, which means this haul (minus the one polish that went into the giveaway) cost me £12? Not bad at all, for six Barry M nail polishes. Boots can actually be rather generous at times - compare this to Superdrug, who were doing 2 for £5 - only after you've spent £6 instore. Nowhere near as good - and these are offers running simultaneously!



From left to right: Dusky Mauve (Chanel Particuliere - how do you even spell that? - dupe) Lemon (from the Ice Cream Paints collection) Mushroom, Base/Top/Nail Strengthener and Black.

Lemon's formula isn't actually horrendous - shock horror - and Mushroom is the most GORGEOUS nude on me and people with my skin tone. Love love love. But obviously, there will be full swatches and reviews coming up.

But I LOVE Mushroom.

The culmination of a very long story is that I basically need to purchase Sleek palettes in:

Curious
Chaos
Bohemian *pending*
Graphite *pending*
Jewels
Safari
Paraguaya
Primer *pending*

Yeah, I know. Don't ask.
However, they can be in a completely disgusting condition. As in, hit pan on every single shadow and little bits of dust all over the mirror. Used is entirely fine. In fact, the more used, the better, as long as this reflects on the price :) So if anyone out there has some completely used and abused Sleek palettes off that list that they are happy to swap for or sell, or knows of any etailers that sell these as cheaply as you can get them, livejournal sellers, MUA swappers, anyone, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I have exactly one month. *salutes*

After my pretty horrific experience with a certain eyelash glue, I really needed an alternative. It came to my mind that a while ago, I'd saved and bookmarked a review by the lovely Agnes of Beauty Vibes on a random Asian brand of eyelash glue, and on a whim, I saw it in the BornPrettyStore and bought it.


My full order - the stamping plate was free - was pretty damn cheap. Around three dollars for the glue, free shipping to the UK? Yes please!

First off, this glue comes with a nice, thin brush. An infinite improvement on a poxy stick. You get a really decent amount of product, and I didn't have any problems with application (it dried in good time, and held very well) or wear time. I'm pretty pleased with it, all in all. No complaints.



The order from BornPretty came in pretty decent time, I think about two weeks? Around that. I don't mind waiting a while if the shipping is free. I only turn into an impatient monster if I've paid, then I want it NAOW plz. 

Favourite or current lash glue, anyone?

Stacie was inspired by Prada S/S 2011 http://kawaiinailart.blogspot.com/2011/05/blue-and-white-china-pattern.html
Lena is having a clear out – fancy grabbing a bargain? http://thestudentsguidetonailpolish.blogspot.com/2011/05/updated-blog-sale-barry-m-nails-inc-no7.html
The Nail Addict created this juicy water marble design http://thenailaddict.blogspot.com/2011/05/orange-water-marble-design.html
Sharon had fun with smashing her rainbow http://polishinfatuated.blogspot.com/2011/05/shattered-rainbow.html
Grace was inspired by Lagerfeld to create this design http://ooooohpretty.blogspot.com/2011/05/nails-fit-for-harvey-nichols.html
Nic was absolutely besotted with Absolutely Alice http://nicnacksnails.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-finally-tried-it.html
Jen let her sunny disposition show with her new Zoya http://moondancerjen.blogspot.com/2011/05/pippa-my-new-obsession.html
Theresa explains exactly what Shellac and Gelish semi-permanent polishes are http://theresabloor.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-are-shellac-and-gelish-nails.html
Ling Ling tried a cool tie-dye manicure http://wuliaonails.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-haul-and-tie-die-haulter-top-mani.html
Avast me hearties! Claire tried out OPI pirates’ collection and the wicked silver shatter http://toptwentynails.blogspot.com/2011/05/opi-pirates-of-caribbean-with-silver.html
Ari use pastels for a cute nail art manicure http://ari-sweetdelight.blogspot.com/2011/05/pastel-cute.html#more

Twitter for follow Friday : #FF @kawaiinailart, @toptwentynails, @EmilysNailFiles, @pamperedbygrace, @moondancerjen, @nicnacksnails, @SeptemberLena

 EDIT: Now open to International buyers as well. If your country is NOT Italy (sorry guys, nothing ever seems to get there!) then you have a flat postage rate of £2 for the first item, 50p for the second and beyond that you don't pay. Packages will be sent by Airmail to keep costs down. If something gets lost, I'll keep the receipt so that it can be recovered your end, but by buying you accept that risk. Sorry guys :P

Never thought I'd do one of these, but I'm seriously cash strapped at the moment and lots of brands are releasing some awesome things so I thought I'd get rid of some of my surplus makeup to buy...more makeup. My logic. It makes sense. :/

UK: I'll post everything second class, postage is FREE. If you want it sent by recorded delivery (which I'm happy to do) it's a pound.
Comment below to reserve anything (24 hours) and my paypal address is lenatallina@googlemail.com - same as my blog one! Please send as a gift or send enough to cover the fees, whichever. All sanitation and what not is up to you.
Click the links to see swatches!



Nails Inc 'Paris' used twice, £3.50
Urban Decay 'Zero' liner, mini size, sharpened once, £3


Left to right - Nails Inc 'Shoreditch' £3
No7 'Beautiful Black' £2
Barry M Lip gloss - used twice on finger £1
MUA Eyeliners, black and blue. 50p each or 75p for both.



Nine glittery eBay Nail art pens, each with a good amount left in each, £4 for the lot or nearest offer. If you want to buy them individually, 70p each.



Primark Eye Dusts: £3.50 for the lot, or £0.75p each.



Discontinued Urban Decay pigments in Graffiti (green) and Asphyxia (duochrome pink/purple flash) £3.50 each or £6 together, or nearest offer.


Completely new, unused Hello Kitty stamping plate. £2.50 or nearest offer. You know what, the nearest offer thing applies to everything here so I'm going to stop writing it. Haggle plz.


BeautyUK Glam Nails Nail Polish in 'Slate', swatched twice, £1



No7 Exquisite Curl mascara in Black, never opened and completely unused. £5
No7 Amazing Eyes pencil in Brown, used three or four times but never sharpened. £2
No7 Amazing Eyes pencil in Blue Grey, used once, again never sharpened. £2
No7 Stay Perfect Eye pencil in Blackest, sharpened once, still lots of pencil left. £1




No7 Speed Dry Nail Polish in "Berrylicious" about 90% left. £1.00
Funky Fingers "Elephunk" swatched once. £2.00


Eye Candy False Nails, all nails are present but glue is missing. These are smaller and more curved than my own nails, so if you think you fit that profile, then go ahead. Those with wider/flatter nails or similar nails to mine should probably steer clear :( £1
It looks like there's one missing from the front, but I just put it inside the box after testing it and it didn't fit.




Left to Right:
Nails Inc Caramel, never used. £4.50 SOLD
Nails Inc Kabaret, swatched once. £3.50 SOLD
Barry M Coral, used twice. £1.50
Ciate for ASOS Paints (Megan) 90% left. £2

I know Brits generally shy away from haggling, but please do. I'm not British so feel free. :P

For some mad reason I now have over 300 people that want to read my nonsensical rants and general insanity. Can't think why. Anyway, to reward you guys for supporting such a weird person, I've been collecting bits and bobs for a Barry M themed giveaway.



I have for you:

The limited edition Barry M Nail Paint
Barry M Kohl Eyeliner in Black
Barry M Nail Paint in Blueberry Ice Cream
Barry M Lip Gloss
Barry M Glitter Dust (like the Dazzle Dusts, but mega glittery) in Shade 18.

If you're interested in seeing swatches of some of the products (my own products, yours are be clean and untainted) then follow this link.

I know it's only little, but I hope it makes someone out there happy. I know Barry M are basically cult now, so it will hopefully give someone the opportunity to try them out or add to their collection!

This is open to the international lovelies as well! It runs from today until around the end of my exams, so 20th of June.
One extra entry for taking the time to blog about it, and one if you tweet about it.

If you fancy tweeting, just copy and paste this phrase:

@BarryMCosmetics giveaway over at The Student's Guide to Nail Polish! http://tinyurl.com/barrymtsg

No need for comments, just fill in this form!



But seriously, thanks so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate it SO much.

Jen created a gorgeous gradient manicure http://moondancerjen.blogspot.com/2011/05/gorgeous-glitter-gradient.html
Claire’s tutorial shows the simple way to do a half moon manicure http://toptwentynails.blogspot.com/2011/05/moon-manicure-tutorial.html
Nic celebrated finishing the school year with some swatches http://nicnacksnails.blogspot.com/2011/05/recent-notd-swatches.html
Sharon showed us her adventures in drag marbling http://polishinfatuated.blogspot.com/2011/05/drag-marbling-take-two.html
Grace had some fun with glitter to great effect http://ooooohpretty.blogspot.com/2011/05/oooooh-glitzy.html
Ladyluck took a break from her nails this week and created an eye look http://ladyluckbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-makeup.html

And finally introducing Erin to the blog world http://sugarstar.host-ed.net/blog/
Twitter for follow Friday : #FF @kawaiinailart, @toptwentynails, @EmilysNailFiles, @pamperedbygrace, @moondancerjen, @nicnacksnails

Don't care if it's been name-jacked, I'm posting anyway. *childish tongue gesture*

The now discontinued Earth and Cocoa, perfect nudes for women of colour...I posted about it here. Not impressed. Ah well. Apparantly, there will be some brown type shades being launched later in the year, but they'll be on the website only - we'll see if Sleek keep to that. I hope they do, because I don't see these sort of shades often.

Cocoa is lighter than Earth, and it's a nude for me. I like to team it with really dark, dramatic eyes, and walk into school and be told to take the eye makeup off by lunchtime. BUT THE LIPSTICK IS SAFE. FOR IT IS NUDE.
*satisfied pose*

Seriously, I walk in with something that isn't brown and I get told to take it off. Mildly jealous of my lighter skinned friends for being able to get away with what is essentially fuschia because their lips are red to begin with.

Earth has a lot more red in it, I suppose that's reminiscent of like clay in the earth or something. I dunno. You can tell how in touch with nature I am...


Swatches - Cocoa is far right, then Earth.


 What I really dislike about these is the fact that you get so little product. Even the MUA lipsticks, which are only a pound each, give you a full sized product - these don't even fill up the tube and I always worry about them breaking.
Thoughts?

 So I don't sound like a complete bitch (which I what I probably look like to my new followers, lol! Sorry. Exams make me angry) I'll start with the good/mediocre/'eh' before I start to rant.

First off - the false nails don't fit. I couldn't find a single nail that was remotely similar to my own nails - they all seemed a lot smaller, and a lot more curved than mine. I've never had that problem before, so to tell you the truth I was a bit baffled.

I used the glue instead. It's quite a nice pink colour. Performance wise, was pretty bog standard. Took a little longer to dry, strength was passable. I just like the pink colour, basically. And the application was decent.

The actual false eyelashes are a nice, natural design. The band makes them a little hard to apply, but nothing impossible.

The glue included. Oh god, the glue. RAGE.
As I mentioned in my previous eyelashes post, I am a bit of a false lashes noob, so when I first used this tube of glue to apply anything I was convinced it was my fault. It's this clear, tiny tube of white glue, and the only applicator supplied is a short white stick. Removing the cap from the glue is like defusing a bomb. It requires extreme force to actually get it out, but in doing so, glue shoots violently out of the now free applicator and you're covered with the substance. It ended up all up my wall. Poorly designed and also gross.

You apply the glue to the lash (messily, because the applicator is a bit of a fail) wait for say, a minute. Oh wait, it's not tacky yet. Wait another minute, and employ hand waving motions. Still not tacky. Wait thirty seconds. It's rock hard. Sigh, remove lash glue, repeat process ad infinitum, become twenty minutes late for school because you eventually had to give up and redo all your makeup. Still, better than rolling up looking like a 80s impersonater (ah, the memories).

Give up and apply lashes at liquid stage, lashes slip all around your eyelid, destroying carefully applied eye makeup, refuse to stick at one or both corners, adhesive balls up all around your eyelid, puppies fall from the sky etc. SUCH a pain in the butt. I'd rather they came with no glue at all like the KKCenterHK ones, at least that way I don't end up with glue all up the walls and on my bed.

I recently got the opportunity to try some false eyeslashes from KKCenterHK. (Not an affliate link. There are no affliate links on my blog)



 Being somewhat of a newb to false lashes, I went with one of the more natural looking pairs. There are literally hundreds and hundreds on the website - in all different colours and styles, so there's something to suit everyone. I wanted some that I could wear to school without having the Head of Year asking me to remove my wall of lashes on the off chance that I blinked.


They're made of like a fine, plasticky material, and are very easy to put on (once you have the hang of it, that is...whole other story involving the worst eyelash glue I've ever used in my life, but that's another review) but I find the lash band can be slightly too long for my eye, so I trim them a little bit at the end depending on how close to my tear duct I've decided to place them. They're reusable, too, which is great. For the entire box (10 ~ 12 lash pairs) it's a pretty cheap price, I think around five to ten dollars? Depends which designs you choose. These were really cheap, like $5.



And some pictures of the lashes in action. Blurry, naturally. Sorry :P



The gold eyeliner is by BeautyUK (their Metallic Eye Sparks) and the black is Sleek's Ink Pot. I like the way it looks on, and it doesn't flake - but melting in the corner of my eyes is an issue...
I didn't mascara my natural eyelashes before I applied these ones, but they seemed to blend in quite nicely. To reuse them, I remove them carefully and then rub gently with some olive oil - this removes any persistant lash glue. Wipe down and replace in the container, and that way you can get quite a few uses. All in all, I think these are really good value for money.

I've recently opened up to the world of Asian webstores, and also have some stuff I purchased from a couple of others to show you at some point - BornPrettyStore, anyone? Wanted to see what all the hype was about...

And that statement is about to become a lie in three, two, one...

Well. Technically it's not even a press release, I just pinched some pictures off their Facebook and am posting because I am pretty excited about this launch! It's a lot of new stuff, all in one go, and I have some money so it's basically GOGOGO.

Long time followers will know that I am slightly in love with budget brand MUA, but I'll quickly recap for my lovely newer people too:

MUA are Superdrug's own brand. It stands for 'Make Up Academy' and basically, everything is a quid. Pretty fantastic, right?
Click the 'MUA' tag on this post to find examples of me praising them endlessly, but for a quick round up, I adore the eyeshadows, love the nail polishes, love the eyeshadow dusts but would like some more colours, 'eh' on the liquid eyeliner save the metallic ones and am yet to try the rest of the range. They've been around for about a year or so - soon after I started blogging, I remember being excited about their launch.

Recently, there have been mutterings of a Pro line (where the most expensive product is £4 - still pretty damn decent!) and we're finally making some headway because there are *images*. Ooh, exciting.

Teasing you with an old one, first - eyeliner pencils. These aren't in the new launch, but these are relatively new and I still haven't tried them, yet. Bagsie the white and the orange!


Foundation primer. This'll be £4, apparantly.


Crackle Nail Polish! I think this will probably be the cheapest on the market, depending how much BeautyUK are going to sell theirs for, and I'm loving the huge range of colours. I think this could be the 'ace' of the new releases, the crackle trend isn't showing signs of dying out as of yet.


Apparantly, there was a Superdrug event earlier this month (I hadn't seen details or coverage of it on a SINGLE blog, so had no idea they even did one, lol) and while I was randomly searching, I came across these photos of MUA's new products. This blogger takes great photographs, just saying.



That brown palette looks like an amazing nude. I. am. there. I also see some glitter shadows? Talk about something for everybody...I'm up for buying every single palette, even at the max price of £4. This is providing the pigmentation is good. I'll be really upset if it lets them down!



Eyeshadow trios. I'm not so enamoured with these, to be honest - not very much a fan of the baked formula, and the colours are so so, but I'll swatch them and make my mind up then.




I'm not entirely sure what the other items on the table are, but I'm speculating mascara, new lipstick or concealer shades, new blushers, bronzers...eyeshadow quads? Either way, loving the sleek and sturdier looking new packaging.


Can't wait for this to launch (1st of June, everyone! That's like, next week) and will sprint to Superdrug to check it out. Providing my local one gets it. If it doesn't, I may have to kick a small, furry animal.

TOO MUCH ANGER, NOT ENOUGH VICTIMS

Superdrug Beauty Card. 

 I was just chilling in my local Superdrug (buying nail polish, naturally) when we were accosted by about three shop assistants at the same time, each brandishing this card. I came in for it anyway, so I took one and read the leaflet. It's currently languishing at the bottom of my bag because I couldn't even be arsed to take a photograph.
One "point" = one penny. Contrast with Boots, who do four points per pound (though they do have a very generous scheme, to be fair...)

You can only redeem once you get to one hundred points.
100 points = 1 pound
You get a point per pound, ordinarily (unless they're doing a special promotion) So to get a quid back, on average, you'd spend £100. And surrender all the intimate personal and contact details of your life for the privilege.

 ...

I don't have time for this.

Thanks, observant company.

Noticed another blogger has possibly borrowed my "Sleek Week" Twitter promotional term for her own series. Which was retweeted and blogged about by Sleek. Thanks, guys. Not that you reply to my emails or anything...not even to the ones that YOU sent ME...

rage.

In honour of the #bbloggers discussion last night...

Recently, more and more brands (British ones, especially) have been beginning to interact with the consumer and blogging world via. social networking - Facebook, Twitter and the like.This is good - it makes customers feel more connected with the brand, gives a platform on which enquiries and complaints can be answered (unless you're Sleek) and I'm just plain more likely to buy from a brand that I know more about.

Unfortunately, this seems to have opened the door for sheer ignorance like this:

And this:

Nothing else I can say to this.

I don't even know why you'd advertise the fact you were reselling a company's products ON THEIR OWN PAGE. WTF. That...words cannot comprehend...

The finest in ghetto ass behaviour



et finalement



Ignore my piss poor photo editing and focus on the matter at hand :P

Honestly. Really? You want to publically beg? You don't see anything wrong with that?

At least, if you're going to be too cheap to buy from a line where everything is a pound, do your research first. A company that sells only in the UK and Ireland, and I mean only in the UK and Ireland, for example, is not going to be interested in sponsoring a US vlogger. That doesn't make any sense. If a customer from the US can't physically order, then why would you market to that consumer base via YouTubers? If a brand already has a program directed at makeup artists, why would you not try and enter through that channel instead of making yourself look unprofessional by begging on Facebook. Someone, please explain to me because I can't even comprehend this, on a thousand different levels.

Why should I care? Because it doesn't just reflect badly on the blogger, it makes all of us look bad. It feeds into the stereotype that beauty bloggers are grasping, cheapasses who are stealing money from print media and are unprofessional. Yes, the stereotype is highly undeserved, but it doesn't help when people behave like this and vindicate journalists and magazine editors who think this way about bloggers. If you've got to do it, at least take it to email? 

As soon as a brand becomes reasonably 'talked about', you get a million and one harpies harrasing their Facebook and Twitter looking for free swag, or to obtain free swag by posting swatches or a review of the cheapest product in the line and then spamming the PR rep with it as if to say "Oooh, look at me. Aren't I such a good customer? SUBSIDISE MY FUTURE SHOPPING TRIPS."

Don't even get me started on the fools that can't type correctly.

Shame that a ranty post was required to bring me out of hiatus, but eh. I enjoy releasing pent up exam frustration through the medium of text. I have like five rants lined up so be prepared for anger.

Hi everyone,


I've been officially MIA since like the 7th of May, when GCSE revision started. I'm afraid that you won't be seeing much from me for at least another three weeks while I revise and finish my exams! Sorry guys. I also haven't sent out some giveaway prizes, I'll try and get those done in the week. Again, seriously sorry! Hope to be back commenting on your blogs very soon.

Lena x

Long awaited, much coveted...for me, at least. This came out in like November and I NEEDED it but I've only just got my hands on it. It's pretty worth the wait, I'll tell you that.

This palette seems to be more "ordered" compared to the usual Sleek mashup of completely different colours and finishes. It's almost as if each shimmer colour has a matte counterpart, and the highlights have a cooler and warmer partner. It's quite cool, actually. That doesn't mean that I like the highlights, though. They're too glittery for me, not to mention pretty much the exact same as the ones in the Good Girl palette.

Innocence, Gullible, Blade, Gun Metal (gunmetal is one word, Sleek, FYI)

Pigmentation wise, there were only a couple of flubs. Envy was pretty pants. On the whole, the standards of their mattes seems to have been raised, which is only a good thing (Acid palette, anyone?) Lets hope future matte releases can be as pigmented.

Underground, Noir, Intoxicated, Envy, Obnoxious


Obnoxious (again) Abyss, Twilight (minus two points) Rebel.

Anyone else out there own this one?

I bought Storm, Bad Girl and Sunset.



Sunset:

 
Storm


Bad Girl


As always, stick around for individual reviews!

Title is slightly misleading as I ran a mile from that eyeshadow palette. Ewww palette full of weird peach shades and unpigmented mattes. No thank you.
I did pick up Pan Tao blush and Sugar May Pout Polish.
I like the names (don't know what Pan Tao means, but it sounds cool) and the blush seems easier to open than the average Sleek blush, which can only be a good thing. I love my Scandalous blush but it such a pain in the bum to open I don't reach for it as often as I'd like. Which is a shame, because it's a really unique shade.

It's a light peach blush, not as pigmented as I expected but that's not a bad thing - Scandalous was incredibly pigmented and needed to be used with a /very/ light hand. I think you could afford to make a few more mistakes with this one, making it more beginner friendly.

Sugar May Pout Polish was my first Pout Polish, so I wasn't too sure as to what to expect.  The first thing I noticed, it has to be said, was the smell. If you're sensitive to scents in your cosmetics, you might want to pass this up - it's a very obvious artificial vanilla smell. I don't mind the smell, but it leaves an almost bitter, chemical taste even though you haven't licked it...weird. It does moisturise really well though, so I guess it's good if you're willing to overlook that aspect. (bad) Lip swatch:

It's not that pigmented at all, makes my lips look slightly peach with an average application. Good for school.
Swatches of the Pout Polish, three swipes of blush in the middle, one swipe at the end.

Blush absolutely smothered onto my arm: