A coffee break with Yankee: Vanilla Chai candles...

As you can see, the fragrance of the new for autumn 2013 Vanilla Chai candle is described as "the perfect accompaniment to "me" time - a supremely satisfyingly rich and spicy recipe of ginger, cinnamon and vanilla." There's nothing that I can add to that - thee fragrance fits the description exactly.

NOTD: Bump In The Night by China Glaze...

 

Bump In The Night is one of the five new shades for the Halloween 2013 [Monsters Ball] range, and is the sole texture polish in the collection. A plain black texture polish. Wow, right? Well this polish is a bit different to the rest - it dries to a wet look finish, that looks as though I've just dribbled tar over my nails. All of my other texture polishes are matt, so Bump In The Night stands out for me.

 

It does take a little bit longer to dry than China Glaze's regular polishes, but it is hard wearing, so protective top coats aren't necessary. I use a self-powered wheelchair, so I'm thrilled by how well it holds up - this polish is more resistant to chipping than their regular polishes on me, so this is something that I'll happily wear all year round.

 

OPI's Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 @ Amazon UK: All I Want For Christmas Is...the full range.

There's not much to say here, other than buy, buy, buy. The formula for OPI is unrivalled; so smooth, streak and bubble free, fast to dry, and long lasting. This set in particular is ridiculously good value; OPI polishes have a RRP of £11.50 each, so you are buying two and getting another two free here. With the price in mind, I did suspect that Faith Cosmetics would be bundling four of the least appealing colours together and selling them, but as the festive is fast approaching and I don't own any red creme polishes, I decided to risk the purchase in the hope of getting at least one wearable shade...

NOTD: China Glaze Fang-tastic, over OPI Candlelight...

Fang-tastic is one of the five new shades for the Halloween 2013 [Monsters Ball] range, and is one of the four glitter shades. It is one of the two scattered polishes in a clear base, so is made for layering over other polishes.

 

Fang-tastic is filled with small green, pink and purple hex glitters and some larger blue hex glitters. I've worn this shade when I had every finger painted a different colour, and think that all of the 'Halloweeny' colour combinations I wore Fang-tastic over [black, dark grey, navy, blood red and orange] looked great. Beige or pastel blues, pinks, yellows and greens also made for pretty combinations, so I think that you can wear this shade the whole year round too.

 

Despite the glitter this polish is easy to apply, leaving no bubbles or streaks and I was impressed with the drying time. Being a glitter polish means that it does take a little bit more effort to remove, but it seems easier than my other glitter polishes.

 

I got my mini bottle of Candlelight in OPI's  Halloween 2012 So So Skullicious polish set, and think that it was a repackaged version of the OPI Brights shade Need Sunglasses?, but I don't own that shade so can't be sure.

I have found this polish to be the most disappointing OPI shade I've used, as the formula is so streaky and watery. After three coats of it and a topcoat that is good for erasing steaks and bumps in polish [China Glaze Fast Forward], it's about passable for wearing underneath a glitter or crackle, but I'd never wear this polish alone as it just looks messy.

NOTD: OPI Can't Let Go, with Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom pow...

 

 

Get Your Number isn't what I expected; it is meant to be the purple shade that Mariah Carey wore in the ads for this polish range, and before I applied it I swatched it onto card to make sure I'd picked up the right mini and the shade was definitely purple, but once it's on my nail it is blue. The shade looks great on my shorter nails and is a all-seasons shade, so I still like it.

 

 

What the colour should be like...

 

 

This polish takes at least two coats for the effects of the textured finish; sometimes two coats doesn't look fully opaque, but I don't mind the semi-sheer look.

 

 

I love the look and feel of the matt texture and light spattering of glitter, that is the formula of the OPI 'liquid sand' finish. It is made to be worn without a topcoat for the gritty, matt finish, but as there are glitter articles in the polish it looks good with topcoat too. I prefer the matt look of this polish, so I do fin it will chip faster then normal OPI polishes, but as it has a textured finish touch ups are easy to do and are largely seamless.

 

 

 

I found a trio of Deborah Lippmann polishes in TK Maxx the other week, so was testing the glitter shade in the trio, Boom Boom Pow, to see what the formula is like and layered it over Can't Let Go. I was playing around so the results aren't neat, but I love the combination of the two polishes, so I took a few snaps...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yankee Candle: New fragrances for Christmas 2013

I haven't been as keen on scented candles as much as I usually am lately, so I was surprised to see that Yankee Candle have already released their four new UK fragrances for Christmas 2013.

It's 100 days to Christmas, so it appears that it's time to plan what fragrance you prefer in your home over the festive period...

Reflect on the silently peaceful solitude of winter's snowfall, captured in this cool, enchanting white musk blend.

It's a marshmallow world at Christmas! Find happiness in a delightfully juscious and creamy soft concoction of marshmallow and vanilla.

A new Christmas tradition that is sure to charm: perfectly pretty holiday cookies, deliciously decorated with sugary pink icing.

From the heart of the kitchen, unforgettable holiday moment are brought home again with this comforting recipe of spices and sweets.

 

 

Tart
[A tart is a wickless wax patty, so you'll need to buy a tart burner to be able to use it]
6 - 8 hour burn time - £1.25

Sampler votive
15 - 20 hour burn time - £1.80

Small jar
25 -40 hour burn time - £8.39

Medium jar
65 - 90 hour burn time - £16.99

Large jar
110 - 150 hour burn time - £19.99

Tea lights [12 per pack]
4 - 6 hour burn time per candle - £6.75

NOTD: China Glaze Boo-gie Down, over Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme, OPI Hi Pumpkin, and a Rite-Aid Pumpkin Polish...

Boo-gie Down is one of the five new shades for the Halloween 2013 [Monsters Ball] range, and is one of the four glitter shades, where it is one of the two scattered polishes in a clear base. So this shade is made for layering over other polishes. This is probably my favourite shade out of this year's Halloween range.

Boo-gie Down is filled with small, medium and large black hex glitters, some white hex and larger copper gold hex glitters and some black bar glitters. The most 'Halloweeny' colour combination that I've tried so far and recommend wearing Boo-gie Down over is orange, as shown in this post.

The copper glitters don't photograph well, but they look lovely in real life :)

I've also seen photos of other people wearing Boo-gie Down over green, another great option for Halloween, and beige, where it looks like snake-skin. No doubt there'll be other great combinations too - I just haven't had the time to play around yet.

LT: Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme
HP: OPI Hi Pumpkin
PP: Rite-Aid Pumpkin Polish [unnamed shade]

Despite the glitter this polish is easy to apply, leaving no bubbles or streaks and I was impressed with the drying time. Being a it does take a little bit more effort to remove, but it seems easier than my other glitter polishes.

Continuing my hair colour journey; Schwarzkopf Color Mask in Dark Blonde [700]...

 

 

I'm already a fan of Schwarzkopf's XXL and Salon Style hair colourants, so it was only a matter of time before I tried their latest range: Color Mask. The main selling point of this range is that the formula of the dye is like a conditioning mask; it has a thick formula, so you apply it to your hair using your hands so it gets right to the hair roots, and there are no drips.

Was the application that easy, and was it mess-free? Yes, and yes again. Plus the dye was super easy to rinse from my hair, using only water. Plus it didn't have any harsh chemical smell, and my hair didn't feel dry after dying.

And how was the colour? I love it - it was exactly what I expected and wanted. A blonde that wasn't too light, or too warm. Check out the shine...

Then came the root touch up...

Guess what? This shade will not dye my roots the same shade as it dyes the lengths. Of course, if my hair were naturally dark I'd expect this, but it isn't. My natural hair colour is ash [not quite light enough to be truly blonde, but still too light and colourless to be classed as brown], and the box claims it will dye dark blonde and light brown the same shade...

To be fair the difference in the resulting shades between my hair root and lengths isn't too bad and is much less then with previous blonde home dye kits - most people I asked barely noticed the difference. So I could grow it out and keep using this shade for grey cover and shine if I wanted to.

But when you know it isn't quite right, you focus on it... So yeah, this shade has some good points, but was ultimately a bit of a disappointment for me.

I want to clarify that I do love the formula; it doesn't have a harsh smell, it doesn't stain or irritate skin, it covers my grey streaks perfectly, it is fade resistant and has a long lasting shine. For the last few weeks I've been washing my hair with Vosene and haven't been using a conditioner in a attempt to cause the dye to fade before I recolour it, but the shade hasn't noticeably faded. My hair is still silky smooth and shiny too.


As the formula has proven to be shade resistant and left my hair in good condition I've just recoloured my hair using the shade in Light Brown [600].

How will the slightly darker shade fare?

To be continued...