As you may have already noticed, I love red lipstick. And for the next week (10-15 June), I’ll be wearing it every day in support of The Red Lippy Project.
In the UK, cervical cancer is largely preventable thanks to the successful National Cervical Screening Programme and more recently, the HPV vaccination programme in schools. It’s estimated that screening saves up to 5,000 lives every year and yet 20% of eligible women fail to attend screening when invited. Nearly 68% of women aged between 25–29 missed their screening invitation in 2011/12.
The Eve Appeal has joined forces with The Red Lippy Project during Cervical Screening Awareness Week, to highlight the importance of attending screening when invited, especially in the younger age groups.
What can you do to help? Slick on the brightest red lipstick you can find during the awareness week and spread the word about screening. Be bold, be glamorous, and join in the drive for increased awareness.
This is such an important issue and raising awareness is just as important. I know how easy it is to put off a smear test but they really are over before you know it and could save your life.
I hope you’ll join me in wearing red lippy for the week!
I had not tried Barry M lipsticks before now and I can’t think why. I was looking for a dark purple lipstick and found a gorgeous one by Barry M and obviously couldn’t just buy one lip product, could I?!
This lipstick instantly stood out to me - it’s bright, it’s girly, it’s summery (this is about as summery as we are going to get at the moment). Coral is such a flattering shade; it’s bright enough to catch the eye but soft enough for every day wear.
It is quite subtle on first application. The pictures above are after blotting and a second layer.
This lipstick lasts through endless cups of coffee and nibbling at work, which is rare. It isn’t drying, it doesn’t smudge…it is perfect!
This is one of the polishes I bought in Dubai and I’ve never heard of the brand. But the colour jumped out at me.
It’s a lovely indigo, glass flecked polish with pink, purple and blue particles that shine and sparkle in the light.
So pretty!
Essie’s do pink polishes so well and this is a firm favourite: a very pale pastel pink with a hint of lilac.
This is a very flattering shade and feels very fresh and modern.
This is two fairly generous coats, topped with Essie Good To Go topcoat (which I am desperately trying to like as much as Seche Vite… but I just don’t!)
This is only my second ever bottle of Sinful Colors polish and I’m glad I went for this striking red. ‘Ruby Ruby’ is a classic, pillar box red polish, with a great formula: this is two coats topped with Essie ‘Good To Go’ (Yes, I cheated on Seche Vite and I don’t like it as much!)
Half of this polish was gone but I don’t think I’ve ever swatched it which is surprising as it’s such a lovely colour PLUS it’s scented - and you know how I love a gimmick.
I think I may have got a dodgy bottle of this as it was really gloopy and thick which is unusual for Rimmel polishes. This was three coats and it took a lot of Seche Vite to get it to dry due to the gloopiness.
It is a good job it’s such a pretty colour - a peachy coral that is a great summer shade. And the smell is lovely!
This was unopened in my untried pile. What was I thinking? This is so beautiful! This is 3 coats of dense glitter that didn’t need placement. It is so shiny and sparkly and has attracted so many comments.
Since doing my post on my rosacea (found here: http://talontedlex.co.uk/post/40356325862) I have had lots of recommendations on products that can help and/or cover up the persistent redness. I was sent a demonstration kit from Veil who make camouflage make up and I was so excited to try it!
The above photos show my face without make up (*girly scream*); then with a layer of the green redness-correcting cream from the palette; then a layer of the ‘medium natural’ veil cream from the palette; and finally my regular foundation over the top with blush. This cream is very pigmented and thick and goes on quite heavily but I was surprised at how light it felt on my skin. I was worried it would be too much and would actually aggravate my rosacea but I’m impressed. It also doesn’t look as cakey and ‘done’ as I thought it would: I look more made up than I usually do, but there is no redness and I love it. My skin looks like it would do if I didn’t have rosacea and I haven’t seen that in a long time.
The photos at the bottom are of my lovely colleague Jay who has a keloid scar on her neck. I took the Veil palette to work today and covered her scar - apparently she has tried lots of different creams and cover ups and this is the best one she found. Two happy ladies!
*This product was provided to me for review. I have put a lot of time, effort and (most importantly) love into this blog. I would not review something that did not fit with my blog and I will always be honest with my opinions :)
Today’s manicure is Kiko’s yummy, squishy jelly polish, the exotically named ‘244’ (!). This is a dramatic, dark purple - almost black. I was pleasantly surprised that this applied perfectly in two coats, which is unusual for a jelly polish to be so pigmented and not to leave bald spots.
Kiko are rapidly becoming one of my favourite polishes, although I found out recently that they are a lot more expensive in the UK than elsewhere in Europe… who’s up for a trip to Italy to stock up??
This is a lovely grey polish that I didn’t even realise was matte until I got home. I love matte finishes on manicures, but prefer to paint a matte top coat over a regular polish so that I can do a layer of Seche Vite between. I have found the matte polishes tend to drag and leave a bumpy finish.
But this one was different. This is two, easy to apply, coats and as you can see the finish is perfect. I also like that it’s not as flat or dull as most matte polishes - it’s softer looking and almost rubbery.
Anyone else tried any Gabrini polishes? Every one I try makes me sure that I’m robbing them somehow by getting them for 99p!
As my nail varnish collection expands it gets harder to find polishes that catch my eye because they’re different to anything else I have. I thought this would be a little bit similar to Models Own ‘Grace Green’ (review here: http://talontedlex.co.uk/post/35285122525 …oh how I miss my talons…)
But it’s a lighter, more minty colour. It’s still a nice unusual version on the pastels which are everywhere. It’s good to see something a bit different.
If you haven’t tried Kiko polishes, I highly recommend them: only £3.90, great colours and good formulas.
I am a sucker for a gimmick. I am also a sucker for pastels. So when I heard that Models Own were doing a pastels collection that were scented I was all over it. Like spots on a dalmation.
This one is a baby yellow creme polish that isn’t as opaque as it looks. I wish I had done a white undies layer because this needed 3 generous coats. But it all smoothed out and dried fine with Seche Vite on top.
This polish didn’t smell like real bananas - even BETTER - it smelt like the foam penny sweetie bananas! Mmmm…I was craving pick ‘n’ mix every time I smelt my nails!
I actually realised after posting this that I already own a Models Own pastel yellow (lemon meringue) which is IDENTICAL to this but doesn’t smell of bananas so obviously I had to have both. I have a problem.
Has anyone tried any of the other polishes in this collection?
I have been eyeing up this beauty for ages and finally caved in. And I’m so glad I did. This is a pinky-lilac sheer base, with multi-sized, multi-coloured hex glitters (blue, purple, baby pink, fuchsia…*swoon*). The glitter sits well with normal application, you don’t need to place the glitter like you do in some polishes. I love the way the glitter peeks through the base, like a jely sandwich in one bottle!
This was two coats, which pleasantly surprised me. Also, glitters like this are usually top coat thirsty and need at least two coats to sit smoothly but this only needed one coat of Seche Vite. I am smitten!
