Review: Rimmel Matte Topcoat (+NOTD)

3 coats of NYC Long-Wearing Nail Enamel in 'Purple Pizzazz Frost'

Please excuse the messy paint job, the photo was taken pre-cleanup!

I picked this nail polish up in Superdrug recently for a bargainous 99p! I thought it was such a unique colour that it was too good to miss and this is the second thing I've bought with my February Project Empties allowance. The colour is a super pretty purple/blue colour with a slight iridescent/shimmery finish. It looks different colours in different lights, which I think is super cool. The first two coats were really streaky and I wasn't expecting much with the third coat, but upon applying the third coat, it became this opaque lovely colour.

'Purple Pizzazz Frost' with 1 coat of Rimmel Matte Topcoat (£4.59)

I've had this topcoat for a while now, but hadn't gotten round to writing a review on it. This polish turns nails matte pretty much instantly. By the time I'd finished my right hand, the topcoat on my left hand had already turned matte and dried. I was really impressed by this and I've decided that I really like the look of matte nails. Unfortunately, I found that this topcoat chipped ridiculously quickly! If you're looking for a long lasting matte topcoat, then this isn't it - I don't know if it's just this brand or matte topcoats in general that don't prolong the longevity of the polish beneath it. Although it's quite an expensive topcoat, it is worthwhile because it pretty much doubles your nail polish collection and is good for a quick fix for a unique nail.

What do you think of matte nails?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Pearls & Poodles Giveaway + DIY Projects

I found out earlier this week that I had won Milly's 1 year blog birthday giveaway of a MAC lipstick and an eyeshadow. I was over the moon and could not believe how lucky I was! Thank you so much again, Milly :D If you don't already follow Milly's blog, why not?! It's amazing, with a mix of beauty, fashion and lots of gorgeous cupcakes, you should all go and take a look!

I was able to choose which lipstick and eyeshadow I wanted, so I opted for Viva Glam Cyndi lipstick which I've wanted for a while now and Brun eyeshadow to fill in my eyebrows.

I've been at home for reading week this past week and when I got back to uni last night, I saw a little parcel from MAC outside my room and actually squeed before running into my room and ripping the box open.



As soon as I got into my room, I whipped Viva Glam Cyndi out of the box and applied it. It is a perfect coral-red, which is suitable for day and night. I love it! Brun is a lovely matte dark brown. It blends in perfectly with my brows and I can also see myself using this in my crease with some of the colours from my Naked Palette.

Since I've been back, I've also been inspired to do a little bit of DIY.

I made myself an eyeshadow primer, following Ingrid/MissGlamorazzi's tutorial here. I was surprised at how easy it was to make! All you need is foundation, concealer and moisturiser!

I forgot to take a picture before I mixed everything together!

L-R: On its own, over Urban Decay Primer Potion, over DIY Primer

In her video, Ingrid showed swatches of the DIY primer in comparison to other high end primers. I decided to do this as well to show how good the DIY primer is! The black eyeshadow is by BeautyUK and on its own, it looks like a washed out black/grey. With UDPP and the DIY primer, you can see how pigmented/intense it becomes. Surprisingly, the DIY primer makes the shadow pretty much as intense as the UDPP does! I don't think it'll help to delay creasing, but it's definitely a good alternative to forking out for the high end primers or if you run out of your favourite primer.

I also decided to make my own palette using Fee/MakeupSavvy's tutorial here on using a sanitary towel protective tin that came free with packs of Bodyform. I've had this box since I was in year 7, where everyone tried to be discreet and slide their towel up their school jumper sleeve without anyone noticing (Or was it just the girls in my school that did that?). It's been sat in my drawer for years now, so I decided to make use of it and turn it into a palette.


The MUA eyeshadows were super easy to depot. All I did was slide my knife between the pan and the plastic and lever it out. I was expecting to need to use my straightners to melt the glue a little, but no heat was required. Trying to depot the Beauty UK shadow was another story! I managed to flick a massive chunk of it out, dent the pan and in the end, didn't even end up depotting it. Bad times.


I still have some space in the tin, so I might depot some of my other random eyeshadows at a later date.

I just thought I'd throw in some swatches of the MUA eyeshadows. They're so pigmented and soft. I love them and for only £1 (90p if you have an NUS card or fill out a survey online - See the back of the receipt!), they're great value for money! I really like the MUA brand - It's affordable and great quality.

L-R: Shade 12, Shade 1, Shade 11

Sorry for the lengthy post. If you read it all, I congratulate you :)

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Review: No7 Gel Eyeliner

What they say: (From Boots.com) For instant allure paint on your colour of choice with the brush applicator and flick out at the ends. “Fabulous gel eye liners to focus your Bardot Kitten eyed look. Gel formulations are so much easier than liquids because their creamy texture allows for a longer application time…so time to perfect your flick!” - Lisa Eldridge, No7 make-up artist and creative director.

Price: £10


Swatches:

One swipe of No. 7 Gel Eyeliner in Black

What I Think: I've wanted to try a gel eyeliner for ages. I was tempted to pick up MAC Fluidline, but I didn't want to spend £13.50 on something that I might not like. So when I saw that No7 was releasing a range of gel eyeliners in their SS11 collection and I got a £5 off voucher, I knew I had to pick this up. I ended up paying only £5 for this.

I think I have been converted. I normally wear liquid eyeliner everyday, but since I bought this, I've been wearing it everyday. Considering I'd never used a gel eyeliner before, I found this really easy to use. I tried using my ELF Small Angled Brush with it, but I found it easier to use a MAC 210 style brush to apply this. I love how easy it is to do thin, precise lines or thick, winged flicks, depending on what you fancy.

I really like the packaging of the eyeliner. The frosted glass pot feels really sturdy and expensive. The gel eyeliner is so pigmented and creamy. It lasts all day and doesn't smudge at all. I like to set it with a black eyeshadow, so I think that helps too. The little brush that came with it was a little useless at applying the gel eyeliner, but I found it was good for applying the black eyeshadow over the top.

If you're an avid eyeliner wearer, I would definitely recommend that you pick one of these up while Boots still sell them - The collection has 3 colours (Black, Navy and Turquoise) and is available until March 22. This No7 one is cheaper than high end brands, such as MAC, Clinique and Bobbi Brown, who are all well known for their gel eyeliners. However if you're just wanting to try a gel eyeliner and don't mind so much about the brand, you could try some cheaper alternatives, such as the ones by ELF (£3.50), Sleek (£4.29) or the new one by Maybelline which is now available in Superdrug - I have never tried any of these, so can't give an opinion on them.

Have you ever tried gel eyeliner?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

P.S. Just so you know, the £5 off Boots Vouchers are back and they're around till March 27! :)

Versatile Blogger Award

I got a pleasant surprise a week or so back when I was told that the lovely Pretty in the Desert had given me a blog award! Thank you so much!! I would definitely recommend you guys to check out her blog, which is fantastic! :D

The rules for this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Tell us 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered new bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know they've received the award.

7 things about me:

1. I'm a really organised person.
   
2. I've recently become obsessed with candles. The one I'm currently burning 24/7 is a 'Christmas Cookie' Yankee Candle and I love it. I know Christmas has passed, but I don't care, I'm going to continue burning it!
   
3. One of my favourite perfumes is Chanel 'Coco Mademoiselle'.
   
4. I got a blackberry recently and am obsessed!
   
5. I've recently been going to the gym a few times a week. Earlier this week, I managed to run for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I was so proud of myself, since when I joined in November, I don't think I could even run 5 minutes!
   
6. I wish I was good at sport so that I could have joined a sports society at university.
   
7. I'm 20 years old and I still get id'd when buying the lottery :/ (You have to be 16 to buy the lottery, lol).
   

I decided not to tag another blogs, because I did one of these recently (Here) and I follow so many amazing blogs that I wouldn't even know where to begin! I just wanted to say another massive thank you to Pretty in the Desert for giving me this award, I really appreciate it! :D

xoxo, Joy

Glitter Shoes

Photo: Hazel Jane (Here)

When I first saw the picture above on Flickr, I squeed a little at how gorgeous the shoes are. Since then I've wanted a pair of glittery shoes to channel my inner Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz). I knew that Christian Louboutin make a gorgeous pair, but unfortunately they're way beyond my reach. I recently bought a pair of gorgeous purple peeptoes in the Next sale for £12. Despite the lovely colour, I decided that glitter was the way forward. This resulted in me taking a trip to Wilkinson and buying a vat of glitter.

I saw a tutorial online about covering the whole shoe in glue and then sprinkling the glitter onto the shoe, however I decided that that would be WAY too messy! So I decided to do it a little differently.

What you'll need:

• A pair of shoes
• Loose glitter
• PVA glue
  
• A sponge brush or paintbrush
  
• Masking tape (If required)

1. Cover areas of your shoe that you don't want the glitter to be on. I used masking tape and covered the heel and inside with a plastic bag.
2. Mix the glitter and glue. There aren't any actual defined quantities to use, but I just mixed a load of coloured glitter until I got the colour I wanted and gradually mixed in the glue. The consistency should be pretty runny. If you have too much glitter in the mixture (like on the first coat I did), it will be chunky and hard to spread.
3. Paint the glitter/glue mixture onto your shoe in a thin layer. Allow this to dry completely (It takes approximately an hour) and apply another coat, specifically concentrating on areas that look sparse. I did 3 layers in total to get an opaque, glittery finish.
4. Once the shoe is dry, remove the masking tape carefully. Paint a thin layer of varnish over the top of the shoe to make sure the glitter doesn't fall off when you wear them. And finito, you're done! :) I don't think the last picture shows how pretty and glittery the shoes are. I decided to leave the heel purple so it's a little bit different. I might add more glitter to the heel sometime down the line if I feel like it or want a change.

What do you think of glittery shoes?

Hope you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Picture Tuesday

Photo: Danny Santos (Here)

Recent Purchases

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! ♥

I quickly popped into a couple of stores today whilst I was in town and bought a number of things. I decided to document it in a video, because I thought it would be fun to mix up my posts a bit and have something different to just posting pictures, like I normally do. I also thought it would be less time consuming since I didn't need to resize and tag all my photos, however I forgot that I'd have to edit the video, oops. Once I'd gotten the hang of iMovie, editing the video didn't take me as long as I thought.

I was a little hesitant in posting the video, but I thought I would to see what reaction I get and to ask if it's something that you guys would like to see more of.

As a pre-warning, please excuse the quality of the video (I just filmed it on my Macbook) and how jumpy the video is! (I will work on that if I make another video). Be kind, please!

Please let me know what you think, would you like to see more videos? If so, what would you like to see? I'm tempted to do a 'What's in my bag' video, since I love watching those and maybe do some OOTDs? I'd love to hear your thoughts - If you never want to see my face on your screen again, please feel free to tell me!

I just wanted to quickly add in, I noticed that my follower count has creeped up recently. Thank you all so much! :D I really appreciate it and I am glad that people are finding my blog interesting, since it makes me keep working hard to make it as best as it can be. When I hit 50 followers, I'm going to do a giveaway. :)

Thank you for reading/watching. xoxo, Joy

Review: L'Oreal Voluminous

Left: Naked lashes, Right: Curled and 1 coat of Voluminous (Only on the upper lashes)

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara is extremely hyped about in the beauty community. With comparisons to YSL Faux Cils but at less than half its price (Approx. £8), I knew I had to give it a go. I've been using this everyday for the past few months and I really like it, however I have one major gripe which is preventing me from repurchasing.

I really like the effect you get with this mascara. With 1 coat, you get a nice amount of lengthening. With more coats, you get a nice mix of lengthening and volumising. I wouldn't say that it lives up to the 5x more volume claim but it does do a really nice job of lengthening and volumising. I started to wear this along with a lengthening mascara and fell in love with how it looked.

The brush does sometimes get too much product on it, but it's easy to give it a quick wipe on the rim of the tube to get rid of some product to avoid clumpiness. The major disappointment I had with this mascara was that it smudges like crazy. I'd apply this in the morning and within a couple of hours, I would have major racoon eyes.

While I really liked the effect of this mascara, I can't see myself repurchasing this again anytime soon unless I can get my hands on a waterproof version. I was really disappointed with how much it smudged. I'm a student and am on clinic a lot of the time, so I can't be constantly checking whether or not my mascara has smudged, so I want a mascara that won't leave me feeling paranoid or conscious about whether I have black marks under my eyes - Unfortunately, L'Oreal Voluminous is not it.

Have you ever tried L'Oreal Voluminous? What did you think?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Bargain Of The Week!

I just wanted to share this bargain I found in Urban Outfitters! While I love the clothes sold in Urban Outfitters, I normally only buy things from there in the sale, because otherwise I think I'd permanently be in debt!

This photo really doesn't do the playsuit any justice. It probably doesn't help that I didn't know where to put my arms for the photo, so I look really awkward. Also, please excuse the mess in the background!

The tag said £55, but it was on the sale rack so I decided to pick it up and try it on, just in case. After trying it on and liking it, I guessed that it would probably be around the £25/£30 mark, which I thought was reasonable. Upon getting to the tills, it scanned in at £20 - £18 with my student card! Better than half price (Doesn't that sound like some kind of supermarket offer?!). Score!

Have any of you found any bargains recently?

xoxo, Joy

NOTD: Jermyn Street

2 coats of Nails Inc. Nail Polish in 'Jermyn Street'

I got this free with the December issue of Glamour. They're not selling that issue anymore, but I'm pretty sure you can still buy the nail polish online and/or in stores.

The colour is a lovely mushroom colour. I would say that this colour is ideal for the workplace. When I first saw the bottle, I thought it was very similar to Nails Inc 'London', which was free with the Diet Coke promotion earlier this year. They look almost identical in the bottle, but 'Jermyn Street' is darker when applied onto the nails. If you mix 'Jermyn Street' with a little bit of white nail polish, I imagine that you could get something along the lines of 'London'... I might have to give that a try one day. (See my 'London' NOTD here). The formula was generally pretty easy to work with. If you're not careful, it can be a little thick, but it's still easy to work with. With two coats, you get a gorgeous opaque colour with a nice shiny finish.

xoxo, Joy

One Awesome Blog Award

I found out yesterday that I was lucky enough to have been awarded the "One Awesome Blog" award from Joy (WOO, same name!) at Happy-happy Joy-joy!! :D I was so excited to hear this, thank you so much! I really appreciate it. If you guys have a chance, check out Joy's blog which is full of great posts about beauty, among other things.

The rules that come along with this award are:

• Post about the award and copy the rules
• Link to the person who gave you the award
• Share 7 things about yourself
  
• Choose 3-5 blogs you would like to give the award to and link to them as well. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know! Important: The award is for unknown and/or new blogs only!

I was tagged in a "7 Things About Me" tag a while back, so I will try not to repeat myself.

1. My wardrobe mainly consists of black, grey and white.
   
2. I watch way too many American TV shows! Gossip Girl, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Hellcats, The Big Band Theory, Deperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother... The list could go on!
3. I am 5'4".
   
4. I can't wait for boot sale season to start again. I love going to boot sales to see what amazing bargains you can find there. Some of my best finds were a polaroid camera for £1, a Babyliss conical wand for £2 and a dress from Warehouse for 50p!
5. I love buying children's (well teen's) clothes. The clothes are usually the same as the adult ranges, except they're a lot cheaper! I normally buy the biggest age, which tend to be age 14-15 which is approximately the same as an 8/10.
6. While most Chinese people stereotypically have naturally poker straight hair, I have super wavy/curly hair.
7. I graduate from university next year... Scary!!

The blogs I choose are: (Although the award is supposed to be for unknown/new blogs, I've chosen blogs that aren't new or particularly unknown (They all have more followers than I do!), but I've chosen them because they're not heard about enough and need more recognition amongst the blogging community).

1. City Girl's Fashion Box
   
2. Little Love
   
3. The Doll on Fashion
   
4. P.S. It's Vida
   

I just wanted to say another massive thank you to Joy for giving me this award.

Before I go, I thought I'd let you know that you can now follow my blog on Bloglovin' :) I didn't add it myself, but came across it on there so I have now linked it to my account.

Follow my blog with bloglovin

xoxo, Joy

Picture Tuesday

Photo: Danske (Here)