MAC - Iris Apfel Shadows

Five new shadows out with the Iris Apfel collection, Silver Gull, Diamond Dove, Howzat, Robin's Egg & Early Bird.

Silver Gull

Despite its name, Silver Gull is a grey shade. The Velvet finish means it has silver sparkles, although you may end up losing the majority of them when you blend this shadow. I found Silver Gull one of the harder of the five shadows to swatch/use, I needed to pick up more of the shadow to be able to get a good swatch.

Illamasqua - Pure Pigment in Ore

Although I'm not a huge fan of gold, I'd been eyeing Illamasqua's Pure Pigment in Ore for some time. This week, I decided to spend some Xmas money & finally pick it up.

Ore is more of a bronze-gold than a bright, yellow gold. For a vivid, bright gold, my first choice is Sugarpill's Chromalust in Goldilux .

What drew me to Ore initially is the shimmer; in certain lights, there's tiny hints of green & a peachy shade that  contrast beautifully with the base shade.

Nails - Northern Lights

I've recently seen a number of mani's that were done using a sponge to apply colours. I thought the effect looked really pretty & decided to give it a go myself.

This is my first attempt; the Northern Lights mani.

Daphne Guinness for MAC Haul

My small haul from the Daphne Guinness collection; the Interior Life quad & two pigments. Although only Nebula & Aurora are shown above, I already had Circa Plum & have swatches to include in this post.

Interior Life eyeshadow quad

Interior Life is comprised of four shades in a pink, purple & grey scheme. Three different finishes are included, Matte, Satin & Veluxe.

Urban Decay - Naked 2 Palette

Urban Decay's latest palette offering; the Naked 2 palette follows on from where the original Naked palette left off.
Both boast an array of neutral shades that can take you from daytime to full-on smoky looks with just the one (or two, if you have both) palette.

So, what's the difference and is it worth buying Naked 2 if you've already got Naked? Read on to find out.

Nail Tutorial - Holo Animal

This is for sugarbumpkin, who asked me to do a tutorial after my Holiday Mani's post. Although it's not a replication of those particular mani's, the technique is the same.
Since this is my first tutorial, please bear with me. I'm not sure if I'm doing this right but I hope it's clear enough.


For these nails you'll need a base shade, a darker complimentary shade, a black nail art pen, a contrasting nail art pen, a Konad plate & a bottle of the black Special Polish.

Step 1.

Apply your chosen base shade. I settled on China Glaze's OMG & applied two coats to get good coverage.

Base shade - OMG

Rock 'n' Roll Challenge - Eye of the Storm

The second part of my Rock 'n' Roll challenge & this was also my New Year's Eve look. This particular eye was based upon the Smashed Gladys song, Eye of the Storm.

Three Holiday Season Mani's

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all had a great time over Christmas & on New Year's Eve.

To kick off 2012, here's three mani's I did over the holidays. The reoccurring theme being holo polishes!

The first one is the most messy, sadly. I have quite small finger nails & this required a bit of fiddling around with the polish & remover on cotton buds. I think I may need to invest in a fine brush specifically for this purpose.

For this one, I used the following:

• China Glaze IDK- base shade
• Konad plate M69
• Special Polish in black
• Glitter Gal Black
• Metallic silver nail art pen