I NEED this nail polish in my life

First seen on Makeup and Beauty blog where the photos are taken from. Look at all that glitter....!

"Happy Birthday" by Lippmann Collection which I'm pretty certain is only sold in the US. I've already scoured ebay to no avail. Wahhh!!

Does anyone know if there is anything similar to this available in the UK? Not just a standard glitter polish but something with glitter in all shapes, sizes and colours exactly like this.

Benefit at TKMaxx

The only makeup I have ever seen sold at TKMaxx were packets of 4 Rimmel lipsticks (probably from 3 year old stock) so I was very surprised and delighted to come across Benefit. I really like Benefit at the moment, even though I admit some of their products are hit and miss - most notably Badgal Lash mascara. I really like the brush but it does nothing for me whatsoever. On the other hand, Erase Paste is my saviour!

What I really wanted though was a creaseless cream and my makeup dreams were answered.

There was only one and it was in a colour that I liked - Pre-nup. Benefit's official description of this colour is "rose metal". It looks like a warm brown in the jar but when applied it is pink. The thing I love about this is that it is very sheer but can be easily built up. I wear a slick of this with mascara to work and it's perfect - I can't wear heavy eye makeup so early in the morning. It doesn't crease at all but by 5pm the colour has slightly faded and what's left is the shimmer. However I don't mind this at all. Best of all? I paid £7.99 for this whilst the RRP is £14.

I also picked up this trio of face powders called Powder Pop which has the following: Dandelion, a brightening face powder; Hoola, a bronzing face powder; Dallas, an outdoor glow. I think this has been discontinued as I can't find it on the website but they do have "Powderazzi", which has Coralista instead of Dandelion.

These don't show up well on camera. I mainly bought this so I could try Dallas which my friend swears by. The other two I am not mad about - Dandelion  shows up as a pink shimmer when blended whilst Hoola is matte and makes my skin look dull/dirty? I quite like Dallas though, which I feel is more of a bronzer than Hoola. Overall not an amazing product but it'shandy to carry around in my bag and it comes with a mini brush! I think it used to retail at £24 but I paid £12, so not bad at all.

I've also seen some silky powder eyeshadows and "miss popularity" highlighters in my local store. The problem with TKmaxx is that products are not always guaranteed to be there and they vary from store to store . However it's worthwhile to have a look next time you go in. Try looking on bottom shelves and hidden behind other products!

A week of freebies

Technically most of these aren't freebies but shhhhshh..

The other day I picked up InStyle magazine which is giving away a free L'Occitane hand cream. I also managed to snag these two Jemma Kidd lipglosses from promotional packs of Bodyform products. I'm sure most of you have read about this everywhere else so I'm not going to go on about it.

Last week I attended Fashion Thursday in the Bond St branch of Dorothy Perkins which was hosted by Look magazine. It was a great night - they had an instore DJ, free drinks/water and 20% off all purchases. I had a free mini makeover by Benefit and had my hair styled into a Cheryl Cole bouffant by Toni & Guy (I asked for waves but somehow ended up with that....) I felt so glamorous - too bad I was dressed like a tramp!

As I had spent over £40, I received a goody bag with products from the sponsors.

A full size tub of Simple day cream, Carmex and mini versions of Benefit's Posietint and High Beam. (There were also Lindt chocolates, a CD and a magazine but they're weren't interesting enough to photo)

The MUA used these products during my makeover and I have fallen in love with them - specifically High Beam! Posie tint doesn't show up so well on my skin. I'm thinking Benetint would be better?

High Beam is described as a "luminescent complexion enhancer" which basically means a highlighter! I've been using this on my cheek bones, brow bone, cupids bow and inner eye corners. I love the way it makes my face glow. I'm pretty sure there are many dupes out there - I think MeMeMe does one? Not sure but I'm so tempted to buy a full size version at £16.50.

Lastly these two came in the post. I won a competition and received this Blackhead clearing scrub from Garnier which I'm going to save until I finish my Neutrogena one. The little tube is a Protecting Facial Hydrolotion SPF25 from Simple. I signed up as a Simple VIP years ago but this is the first time they've sent me something!

p.s Hello! and thank you to all the new followers x x

Lady Gaga: Markus Klinko & Indrani photo shoot

Quick post before I go to bed. Lady Gaga has some kerazy outfits and make up but I love them all! Especially the manga "eyes" and Hello Kitty "dress".

Source: Gaga Daily

Mavala Minis

I am a nail polish addict but had never heard of the brand Mavala until I read about them on Lipglossiping. I especially loved the gorgeous nude colour in this NOTD. I knew that East End Cosmetics near Liverpool St station sold them, so I made a little trip down there.

Now I don't really reccommend this store as their customer service leaves much to be desired. One member of staff followed me around, breathing down my neck as I was browsing. This pisses me off to no avail. I know they're trying to prevent shoplifting but there is a better way of going about it. I would stop going there if they weren't the only place that sold NYX!

Anyway, I rummaged through a basket of polishes for a good 10 mins before settling on these beauties. Each polish costs £1.50 or 3 for £4.

I was supposed to be looking for nudes but I am too easily distracted by pretty pinks and corals. Upon returning home, I realised that "Varna" is another variant of the 10 other pink polishes I own, therefore I'm going to gift it to a friend. I don't know why I can't stop buying pinks! "Milky" is true to it's name in the sense that it's a "milky" creamy coral. Very cute on toenails!

Now I ummed and ahhed over several nude-y colours before deciding on "Silk".

It's coffee coloured but I don't know if I like it or not. At first I loved it, but now I'm not so sure. My boyfriend commented that it's the same colour as my skin - is this a good or bad thing? What do you think? Does it go or does it make my fingers look like the undead? What are good "nude" colours for darker skin tones? Help!

Halloween Inspiration: Tim Burton's Magical Fashion in Harpers Bazaar

I love Tim Burton's dark, weird and wonderful movies (especially Beetlejuice!) so obviously I was going to love this photoshoot he directed, inspired by his own work.

Who else can't wait for Alice in Wonderland??

Source: Harpers Bazaar

BeautyUK neutral palette and Gosh eyeshadow primer

Following on from my haul post (like two weeks ago, sorry!) here is my review of the BeautyUK palette. I read about these palettes on quite a few blogs and they had good reviews, mostly about them being very pigmented for so low a price. They have about 4 palettes which have numbers instead of names and range from brights to pastels and metallics. I needed some neutral colours for work so picked up their number 4 palette for £3.42.

I like the range of colours they have. Everything you need for a smokey eye as well as everyday looks.

I'm really disappointed with this. The colours are so wishy washy and do not show up well on my skintone at all. Pigmented? Ha! They are chalky and rub off easily.

I immediately disregarded this palette, chucked it to the back of my makeup drawer and only took it out to use when I needed a white highlight or the black to set my eyeliner.

Soon afterwards I purchased Gosh's eyeshadow base, which is the first drugstore primer I've come across. It wasn't too expensive either - about £5.87? And this is what it looks like:

It comes out as an almost sheer pearlescent colour and when blended feels slightly tacky.

I thought I could salvage my palette by using it with this primer. I tested the lightest brown colour which barely showed up on my arm before and this is the end result:

Not an enormous difference but at least it shows up! I will not bother to buy another BeautyUK palette as I think they're more suited to those with fair skin. I'm more than happy with my Sleek ones!

Jimmy Choo for H&M

            JIMMY CHOO BRINGS GLAMOUR TO H&M THIS AUTUMN

This autumn, British accessory brand Jimmy Choo will bring its international glamour and covetable shoes and bags to selected H&M stores. The collection will be available from November 14 in around 200 stores across the world. It is the first time that H&M is collaborating with an accessories brand, and to celebrate Jimmy Choo will extend its design vision for this collection to women’s clothing to complement the accessories. Further exciting news is that this collaboration includes a men’s collection of shoes, bags and accessories.

....so that's what their press release has to say. Glamour? Covetable? I wholeheartedly disagree. Sure his main line has some beautiful and sexy shoes but this line for H&M is totally underwhelming and the majority of it looks cheap and tacky! Animal print, studs, and diamantes can look nice on their own but not all of them together! Yuck.

I hate these shoes and almost every accessory

These are okay..

These are better than okay

The one item that I love and would consider purchasing is this studded dress. It's gorgeous but it looks like any other Topshop dress really.

The prices vary - a pair of ballet pumps are expected to cost from £30 and £170 for a pair of boots. This isn't so bad considering a pair of ballet flats from his main collection costs around £245 and a pair of boots around £650.

But ask yourself this - would you buy most of these if they were ordinary high street clothes/shoes? I think it's easy to get carried away
because of a designer label.

Images: Zeberka