Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Collection
Top Ten Posts of 2014
1Hello everyone!
To welcome in 2015, I thought I would post a roundup of the most popular Bewitchery posts of 2014. Despite the fact that I was less active on my blog, 2014 was another successful blogging year, so I’d like to thank all of my readers for their continued support. The following ten posts were my most read of the year that were actually published in 2014, and I’m pleased to see a couple of my personal favourite posts in there!
10. Collective Haul: Thrifted, H&M, La Senza, Primark
One of several haul/thrifty posts of 2014, this one features a lot of clothes that I bought for work, as well as a few carboot bargains.
9. CheckoutSmart App
CheckoutSmart is still one of my most used apps, and to date I’ve got £67.63 back from it, which isn’t bad for a free app! Definitely worth downloading.
8. Urban Outfitters Leicester Press Preview
I had a great time checking out the new Urban Outfitters store in Leicester back in September, and I got some awesome photos. See them at the link above.
7. Degustabox April 2014
This was my second Degustabox and was definitely one of the best. Visit the post for my recipe for Chocolate Ginger Tiffin!
6. Primark PS Love Lip Gloss
Primark’s PS Love lip glosses are surprisingly good quality for only £1.50. Perfect for Spring/Summer.
5. What I Wore: Rat Face
Because who doesn’t love a slightly naff, oversized, animal face t-shirt?
4. What I Wore: Victorianesque
I am so glad this What I Wore post reached the Top 10 as it is probably my favourite outfit post of 2014. Check it out if you want to see more pics and find out where everything’s from!
3. Collection Gothic Glam Lipstick in ‘Revenge’
Collection’s Gothic Glam Lipstick in ‘Revenge’ is a classic deep red, and an absolute steal at £2.99.
2. 2True 3 in 1 Concealer
I use this concealer on a daily basis and I still swear by it. Fantastic at only £1.99.
1. Swap & Save with Aldi – Lacura Skincare
In January 2014, Aldi challenged me to Swap & Save my usual lotions and potions for their Lacura skincare products. Find out my thoughts by visiting the link above.
Naomi x
Collection Gothic Glam Lipstick in ‘Revenge’
3
7 years
by Naomi in Lips
After seeing a few reviews of Collection’s new Gothic Glam lipsticks popping up on other blogs, last weekend I decided to nip into Superdrug and pick one up so I could give it a try myself. I’ve always loved a dark lipstick, ever since my teenage Goth days, and the Gothic Glam range features three beautiful deep shades that are just my thing, so I had high hopes from the start.
The three shades are 1 Seduction, a lovely pinky red, 2 Scorned, a dark purple, and 3 Revenge, a deep berry red, which is the shade I went for, and they’re all perfect for Autumn/Winter. All three lipsticks have Collection’s signature black packaging, but rather than pink it is embellished with gold, which I think gives it a more luxe look.
The lipstick itself has a very creamy texture, so it glides on easily and evenly. It’s also quite moisturising, however, I would still recommend using a lip balm underneath, or exfoliating your lips before use, as after a while it tends to show up darker on any dry patches/creases. Not ideal in winter I must say!
‘Revenge’ is a stunning, vampy, almost maroon red, and is very highly pigmented, or as Collection says, ‘deeply intense’. The colour lasts well on the lips and it stays bold for several hours after application, but it does eventually start to wear off, and needs touching up every now and then. But I tend to expect that of dark shades anyway. I have noticed that it acts almost like a lip tint though, as even after I’ve removed it my lips look slightly stained with a hint of berry red.
Collection’s Gothic Glam lipsticks retail for £2.99 each, which is just so affordable, and for a budget product ‘Revenge’ is really quite impressive. The colour and staying power could even rival some of my more expensive lipsticks! It reminds me a little bit of Dainty Doll’s 001 Couture, which is another of my favourites. So, if you love dark shades and are willing to moisturise/exfoliate before applying lipstick, then Collection Gothic Glam Lipsticks could be for you. You can find them in Superdrug and Boots!
What are your thoughts on this range?
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own Jack Frost
8
8 years
by Naomi in Nails
It’s been a while since I last posted a Nail of the Day, what with only swatching varnishes from my Ciaté Mini Mani Month throughout December, so today I thought I’d show you one of my favourite glitters from Models Own – Jack Frost. Jack Frost is part of the Wonderland Collection which was launched during Autumn 2012, from which I own three of the five colours, as I posted about here.
Jack Frost is made up of a pale, iridescent glitter which changes from blue to purple in different lights, and is suspended in a cloudy varnish. The formula is rather thick and gloopy, but it applies easily and evenly despite this, and dries quickly too. The glitter is so densely packed in you only need one coat over the top of a dark base for amazing coverage. I haven’t used this on its own, but as a top coat it looks incredible and really comes alive. Here it is over two coats of Ciaté’s Power Dressing…
Isn’t it beautiful? Once on the nail, the glitter transforms and bursts with colour, not what you’d expect when looking at it in the bottle! I chose to use Power Dressing as a base as it is a deep navy shade, which really brings out the blue tones in the glitter. It reminds me of a starry sky on a clear, cold night, and the icy colours are perfect for winter. I found it really difficult to capture the true beauty of the varnish on camera, but it changes from blue to indigo to violet with the movement of your fingers, in both natural light and indoor light. I can’t put into words how much I adore this varnish.
If you want to add Models Own Jack Frost to your collection (and why wouldn’t you?), it is available online or in Boots stores, and costs just £5 for a large bottle.
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own ‘Northern Lights’
30
9 years
by Naomi in Nails
Welcome to my first long-awaited, much requested review of one of the beautiful nail varnish shades from the new Models Own Wonderland Collection. The Wonderland Collection features five sparkly shades, all of which are perfect for the festive season and have particularly wintry names, including Jack Frost, Southern Lights, Snow Flake, Northern Lights and Blizzard. They can all be used as a top coat for a hint of shimmer, or can be layered up to create a bold glitter look! The three varnishes I currently own and will be reviewing over the coming weeks are Jack Frost, Southern Lights and Northern Lights, with Northern Lights being featured today.
Northern Lights consists of a very fine dusky pink glitter, and is studded with delicate flakes of holographic glitter which shine purple, blue, orange, yellow and green in most lights. Even in the bottle, the varnish is breathtaking, and I have never seen anything quite like it before. Northern Lights is an extremely suitable name for such a shade, as it has so much depth of colour and appears to have a fluidity to it that alters the colour at every glance – it’s just SO pretty! I really can’t do it justice with words.
Like all Models Own nail varnishes, Northern Lights applies easily and evenly due to the long, wide brush. The glitter might be fine but it is also very dense, so it only took me two coats of varnish to achieve a completely opaque look, and as with most dense glitter varnishes it dries very quickly. The varnish doesn’t have a smooth finish and actually feels slightly rough due to the density of the glitter, but I suppose that’s to be expected. I added one layer of top coat over the top to see whether it would make it feel smoother, but it didn’t make much difference in all honesty.
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Swatches! I found it quite difficult to capture the true beauty of Northern Lights, so since it looks different in different lights anyway, I decided to take several different swatch photos.
Inside with Flash
Inside without Flash
Outside with Flash
Outside without Flash
Close Ups
See, I told you, it’s amazingly stunning! Right? You can see the holographic shine in some of the pictures above, but none of them really show it in all its twinkly glory. You just have to see it to believe it really (which is a great excuse to go shopping in Boots if you ask me!). Northern Lights is worth absolutely every penny of the £5 I paid for it, although I did get it in a 3 for 2 offer which makes it that little bit sweeter. It’s perfect for this time of year too… It makes me feel so Christmassy and I’ve had countless compliments whilst wearing it, even from people I don’t know.
Northern Lights is also very durable and long-lasting. I applied it on Monday this week, and only yesterday (Friday) did it start to show wear at the tips of my nails. Today it has chipped slightly, but it stayed looking close to perfect for five whole days, and survived four long, hard days at work – impressive! Unfortunately, like most glitter varnishes, it is a massive pain in the bum to remove, so you need to have a lot of patience when taking it off.
Northern Lights is available separately or as part of the Wonderland Collection Box Set on the Models Own website, or can be found in most Boots stores for just £5. If you’re thinking of getting it but can’t decide then my advice is to go for it… I can guarantee you will NOT be disappointed!
Naomi x
Mini Nail Varnish Haul featuring Models Own and Barry M
20Hi everyone,
Just a quick post from me today as I want to share with you my recent nail varnish buys. As well as the Models Own sale items I ordered a few weeks ago, I have acquired a few more shiny pretties lately. In fact, they’re ALL glittery! It must be the time of year, what with the party season and Christmas just around the corner.
The most exciting new varnishes in my collection are three from the new Models Own Wonderland range. The range features five sparkly, wintery glitters, all of which give a different stunning effect. The three I went for are…
From Left to Right:
- Northern Lights (pink micro holographic glitter)
- Southern Lights (purple micro holographic glitter)
- Jack Frost (Blue micro glitter in clear varnish)
Aren’t they ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL?? The photos really don’t do them justice. I can’t wait to try them on! I nipped into Boots to buy these yesterday and was extremely pleased to find them included in a 3 for 2 offer, so I got all three for a total of £10, saving £5. If you want the whole set I recommend you grab these whilst they’re on offer as it works out cheaper than buying the full boxed set from the Models Own website!
The next varnish in my little haul is a new one from Barry M – Ruby Glitter.
Barry M released this shade along with a few other glitters a few weeks ago. There are quite a few in the range that I would like (especially Amethyst Glitter), but I went for this one first because I instantly fell in love with it. It consists of different sized flecks of black glitter, studded with red/magenta glitter. It reminds me of Valentines Day (my birthday) for some reason… It just has an air of passion and luxury about it! Like most Barry M Nail Paints, Ruby Glitter retails for an affordable £2.99.
The final little gem in this haul is one that my mum brought back from Portugal last week – a lush purple shade from a range called ‘Yes Love’.
This varnish is Cadbury purple with a delicate golden shimmer running through it. I’m wearing this at the minute and it looks really lovely on. Apparently it only cost a bargainous 1 euro as well, which is a miniscule price tag for such a good quality varnish.
I’ll be reviewing all of these varnishes over the coming days and weeks, starting tomorrow with the ‘Yes Love’ purple so keep an eye out. Which is your favourite so far?
Naomi x
Chocolate Treat Week: Makeup
8
9 years
My third Chocolate Treat Week post is all about make up. Believe it or not, I had to search high and low for chocolate scented and coloured make up products, but I found a couple of great ones in the end. I’ve also created a yummy eyeshadow look to share with you, which uses three different shades of chocolate brown. Enjoy!
For Lips… Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter
In my high and low search for chocolate lip products I discovered a myriad of chocolate lip balms, but none of them seemed to cut the mustard as a gloss, rather than just a protective balm. In all honesty I was close to giving up, but then I found this… Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter.
The Lip Butter has a lovely creamy formula which feels amazing on the lips. You can tell from how it feels that it is intensely enriching, and because it’s a butter and not a gloss it feels smooth and moisturising rather than sticky. It is also light in colour so doesn’t leave a tint on the lips, but as the packaging states it adds a ‘subtle gloss’, which is what makes it makeup in my eyes. The glossy shine it adds lasts for a long time, and can be worn over lipstick as well as directly on the lips.
The minty chocolate scent of the Lip Butter is absolutely divine. The fact that it is dark chocolate means that it isn’t too sickly sweet, and the freshness of the peppermint gives it a sharp edge. The mint also feels wonderful on the lips as it gives the lip butter a pleasant tingle. Though it doesn’t claim to be a plumping product I think it does have a slight, natural-looking plumping effect, but without the pain that some plumping glosses can cause!
Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter definitely does what it says on the tin. It ‘softens & soothes lips’ almost instantly and leaves them feeling protected, but it has a big advantage over most lip balms by adding that ‘subtle gloss’. The Lip Butter is available in lots of high street shops (there’s a list here), and usually retails for about £2.75, which is an excellent price considering it is a gloss AND a protective balm in one.
For Eyes… MUA Malt Chocolate Intense Glitter Eyeliner
MUA’s Malt Chocolate Intense Glitter Eyeliner is another quality MUA product. Like all of their glitter liners it costs just £1, which is outstanding value as there’s even a pencil sharpener incorporated into the lid! The eyeliner is very creamy so it applies like a dream to both your waterlines and your upper and lower lash lines without pulling the skin at all. The glitter is very fine too, so it adds a lovely shimmer without causing any irritation or heaviness on the eye.
Malt Chocolate is a pretty, highly pigmented shade with a bronze tinge to it, which gives it that ‘intense colour finish’ – far from the dull, uninspiring look of most brown eyeliners! What I like about this liner is that, once it dries, it doesn’t smudge and it lasts a good long while before it comes off, keeping its bold colour for the duration of wear.
The eyeliner is also impressively versatile. MUA state that it can be worn all over the eyelid, as a lip liner or as an all-over lip colour as well as an eyeliner, and due to its creaminess I think it would make a great lip product as it wouldn’t be drying at all. What a fab thing to throw into your suitcase for a holiday or into your clutch on a night out!
If you’d like to try any of MUA’s Glitter Intense Eyeliners they are available in Superdrug stores or online here.
Create the Look… Triple Chocolate Eyes
The above look was created using three different shades of chocolate coloured eyeshadow. MUA’s Chocolate Box Trio Eyeshadow would be perfect for this, but I actually used their Immaculate Collection Palette. All you need to use to copy this look is a white chocolate shade as a highlighter, a milk chocolate shade as your main colour, and a dark chocolate shade for shadows and creases. The shades I used from the Immaculate Collection were these…
- White Chocolate: Shade 12
- Milk Chocolate: Shade 23
- Dark Chocolate: Shade 21
And here’s how you get the look:
- Prepare your eyelids right up to the brow bone with your preferred eye primer.
- Apply your milk chocolate shade to your eyelid using a flat eyeshadow brush, from corner to corner and up to the crease.
- Using another flat eyeshadow brush sweep your white chocolate shade above the milk chocolate shade, up to the brown bone.
- Using a shading brush, apply the dark chocolate shade along the crease of your eye, thickening the line at the outer corner and taking it down to the corner of your lashes.
- Blend the dark chocolate shade into the edge of the milk chocolate shade with a clean eyeshadow brush.
- Using a fine brush, apply a small amount of the white chocolate shade to the inside corner of your eye and a third of the way under your lower lash line. Fill in the rest of your lower lash line with the dark chocolate shade.
- Brush any loose eyeshadow from your face using a clean brush and finish with a generous coat of your favourite mascara, preferably brown.
The Last Rolo…
The Last Rolo is where I hand over the last few words of each Chocolate Treat Week blog post to another blogger. In the run up to Chocolate Treat Week I asked five of my favourite bloggers a couple of questions about their favourite chocolate treats, and today’s answers come from Claire of Nocturnal Beauty.
Can you recommend any chocolate scented, flavoured or themed beauty/fashion products?
I can definitely recommend the Whipstick lip balm from Lush. It’s my by far my favourite chocolate scented product that I’ve tried. It smells just like chocolate orange, and it isn’t overly sickly or too sweet, it smells absolutely divine. I do catch myself smelling the tin quite a lot! It feels lovely too and leaves a bit of a brown tint to the lips. It’s perfect for anybody who loves chocolate!
What is your favourite chocolate treat to eat, and why?
My favourite chocolate treat to eat is probably chocolate cake. I eat far too much cake and it’s a wonder I have any teeth left. I also make some seriously good chocolate fudge!
Thanks for reading today’s Chocolate Treat Week installment! Please check back tomorrow for a post all about chocolate themed nails, featuring some new nail art!
Naomi x
