NOTD: Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze over Happy Go Lucky (China Glaze)...

Crackle coat polishes were briefly trendy several years ago but since then they've fallen back out of favour and can now be cheaply picked up online, which is how I got today's Spotlight Crackle Coat [deal two is here].

As you can tell by my photo, Crushed Candy is the same colour as China Glaze's cult favourite polish For Audrey, so I was really keen on trying it out. 

As soon as I got it I knew I wanted to pair it with a yellow polish, which is why it's taken me so long to get round to using it - I'm not a lover of yellow polish so only had one bottle; a Ciate mini (Big Yellow Taxi) from last year's Advent calendar & whilst it swatches really nicely, it is really streaky and uneven when applied to nails, so I ended up giving up on it and tossing it in the bin. I then looked in my local Pound World as I remembered seeing some yellow polish there, and ended up buying a bottle of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (Lemon Zest). Guess what? It was as streaky and uneven as the Ciate was.

Anyway, in the meantime I'd ordered another 12-for-£12 China Glaze deal (I'd already given 5 of the bottles to my sister before remembering that I hadn't taken photos and swatches for the blog), and one of the polishes I got is Happy Go Lucky - a cheery yellow creme.

Will it be third time lucky... or another unusable mess?

Geek chic with (not that) Makeup Geek palette by I ❤️ Makeup...

I choose this palette to play around with as it has some shades in that are reminiscent to those found in the bright, fun-looking Urban Decay Electric palette, but it also has plenty of easier to wear colourful shades in it - plus there are a variety of shades that I'd class as 'everyday' types of neutral basics to help pull everything together.

So let's take a quick look at the shadows...

FOTD: Supreme remix, with I ❤️ Makeup...

I'll be posting a review for my latest I ❤️ Makeup palette- Makeup Geek - in a few days, so thought that I'd give a little preview of what it can do...

I've posted before about this No7 70's inspired cosmetics poster image from their Decades of Beauty cosmetics range, and how I recreated the eye look using Urban Decay eyeshadows. 

Well since I bought the Makeup Geek palette because the colours in it reminded me of ones that I'd find in Urban Decay palettes, I thought I'd have a go at reattempting the eyeshadow look from the No7 campaign and it's look-a-like from my old blog post.

I had to have it: Cupcakes and Unicorns FX polish by Orly...

I'm not a fan of bar glitter, but come on... look at the name...

Cupcakes and Unicorns is a polish in Orly's FX line; think of the FX polishes as glittery toppers to transform creme ones. I've not come across any FX polishes that are opaque on their own, so don't be surprised when they apply a lot sheerer then the appearance of the polish in the bottle.

As well as the red bar glitter, Cupcakes and Unicorns has a pink shimmer in the base (that flashes purple) that doesn't photograph very well, but looks stunning in natural daylight.

When I was googling for pics of this polish in action to see if I really had to have it I found that there are hundreds of photos showing Cupcakes and Unicorns over black nail polish, a few of it over pink, and nothing else. Layering the polish over black (or grey) is stunning and gives the most dramatic effects, but I wanted to be a little different, so I thought that I'd put my spare nail wheel to use and post some more colour options. 

In my mind cupcakes + unicorns = My Little Ponies, so what better way to test my bottle of Cupcakes and Unicorns then over a selection of polish shades that remind me of my childhood collection of My Little Pony figurines?

NOTD: Cracked Concrete by China Glaze, over Cole by Zoya...

I've been keen to use my new Crackle Glaze polishes, and I started to mentally list which colours I wanted to try underneath the grey one as soon as I saw it, so here we are.

Today's Spotlight combo turned into a mellow tiger effect: peach, covered with my grey crackle...

First impression: Toy edt by Moschino...

As soon as I saw the press release for Toy I knew that it would be mine, it was just a question of when I would be able to get my hands on it.

At the minute Toy is exclusive to Harrods in London, but some smaller stores have begun to sell it - it's all down to the dealers they know (which is how I got mine).

So the moment has arrived. Was I pleased or disappointed?

Is Illamasqua Cameo a dupe for the original formulation of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue?

... That was the question that went through my mind when I saw the Illamasqua polish on the shelf in my local TK Maxx store (selected stores now sell Illamasqua polishes for £3.99). 

Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear line isn't officially sold in the UK (sometimes the odd bottle turns up in Pound World & Pound Land), so us Brits can't rummage through store displays to try to find remaining older polish bottles. Amazon and EBay sell various shades, however my favourite one - Pacific Blue - was reformulated last year and I can't find bottles of the original formula on UK sites.

Will Cameo fill the gap left by the formulation change to Pacific Blue?

Will I be at risk of becoming addicted? ColorStay eyeshadow quad in Addictive [500] by Revlon...

Revlon makes my favourite foundations (Photoready & Nearly Naked). In addition I also love their Photoready primer, their Nearly Naked pressed powder, their Gel Envy Diamond topcoat, and their crayon lipstick/balm/stains. So I felt that it was time for me to branch out in their brand a bit and see how some of their other products work for me...

... and so here we are. A nice 'everyday, any situation' type of product and shade selection.

The swatches failed to blow me away pigmentation-wise, but I love the feel of the shadows & as my face is paper-white, I figured that maybe the shades will show up better on my eyes then they did on my arm?