OPI nail polish - brush size

Hey everyone,

I thought I do a little post about OPI. I only have two Opi nail polishes, for now, and one of those two is "Mod About You" and it is a very pretty rose, so I wanted to show you this colour.

Nice isn't it? But that's not the only reason I wanted to talk about OPI. Opi polishes have an exclusive brush - the ProWide Brush.


But I was afraid that only showing you this brush wouldn't be much of a reference, so I made a little polish brush comparison with brands I think all of you know. :-)


Pretty wide the OPI one, isn't it? First I wasn't superexcited about it, used as I was to the normal sized brushes, but after several attempts it definitely grew on me.

So for the ones, who are hesitant, don't be afraid, the brush is actually really nice!

A little side note: I always have to smile a little bit when I read or hear OPI, in my mother tongue, german, Opi means grandpa. :-) Would be interesting to know how the founders of OPI came up with the name...

Love,
Guinevere

MAC stores around the globe

Just a quick post of some MAC stores I've been. I have been in more of course, but I forgot to make photos *gg* Nevertheless, I thought - why not share the one's I have with you.

My favorite store in Vienna


Florida Pro Store - loved it!!!!!

Paris Pro Store :-)
Hope you like them, would be cool to see some pics you have taken. :-)

Love,
Guinevere

The legendary Volcanic Ash Exfoliator by MAC

Every beauty and make up nerd out there knows of what product I'm talking right now, for the not so overly familiar make up guys out there a short explanation:

The Volcanic Ash Exfoliator is a peeling that has to/can be used once week for exfoliating your skin, which means getting the old, dead skin cells off your face and clean it deeply.

As you can see it is deeply black, I overexposed it a bit to make the sugar crystals more viewable, these are the ones that take care of the peeling part. After massaging the peeling cream one minute or so into your skin, the crystals will dissolve into a cream mixed with the ash and it is supposed to moisture the skin and give the last polish. So much for the theory.

There's a huge hype about this product, which I only understand to a certain degree. It only comes out with a limited edition anytime during the year and you have to be really quick to get one. At least in Austria and America it is that way, when I recently visited Paris I've learnt that those people obviously have more important things to do than buying a MAC peeling and that after half a month still plenty of them were in stock.

I bought one when it came out here, part of me wanted to know how it is when continually applied over several months and I already got a tester from a friend of mine and I kinda liked it. The smell is quite unique, at the beginning it smelled like sweet dirt, but after a view times one gets used to that and likes it.

Because my honey and I moved to a new appartment I had not much time for my Make Up and beauty products and yesterday I dug it out from one of my beauty bags and used it. It was a nice feeling, but then I came out the shower and felt that my face got hotter and hotter and I looked in the mirror....

I planned to show you guys my face for the first time when it was perfectly done, flawless make up and all that crap, but I looked so funny/scary that I just had to take pictures and I wanna share them with you, so here they are.


Quite red isn't it? I even have to add that the artificial light doesn't do them justice at all, it was definetely worse! I have very sensitive skin and that was what came out after one short usage. I don't really blame the exfoliator, the redid the formula and maybe this changed my reaction to it. I probably just have to use half a bean size and not a whole bean size in the future, but this can happen when you use products that are too harsh for you. I think it looks quite funny, it didn't hurt really, it was more a burning feeling, my skin screaming for moisture and that was what I did. :-)


I used a creme that was pretty popular in the 70's in Germany and Austria called Creme 21.
I like it way more than the Nivea Creme, it has a similar consistency, but it smells orangy and fruity. I'm a fruit girl.

I applied a lot, really really much, as the pictures show, to give my skin as much as she probably would need. I use this medthod everytime I feel my skin needs a real moisture kick. That's my go-to cream, you can order it online via:

http://www.creme21.com/online-shop/website/home.html or buy it at "Müller" - a drugstore in Vienna.

I hope you enjoyed the post, weren't to disgusted of my face and stay tuned for the upcoming posts.

Love,
Guinevere

Red Nail Polish Layering

What an fancy headline I know.. But, honestly, how else should I call it? *g*

I played a bit with my polishes and layered Eyeko's Saucy Red Polish with Gosh's Rainbow. That was the order:

A base coat, not a special one, just one that claims to help the nails growing. :-) Then two coats of the Saucy Red and after that dried a little bit one coat of Rainbow. When it comes to holographic or glittery polishes I very much prefer using drying drops instead of a top coat. Top coats can falsify sometimes or even dilute the colour.

And this was the result:

I really liked it. It sparkeled wonderfully in the sun and gave the red a much more special touch.
Please be kind - I know my nails and culticles are far from perfect, but I have to work with what I have and well it's about the polish anyway.

Hope you enjoyed.

Love,
Guinevere

Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil

Hello lovely readers,

This is a post I wanted to do for ages, but actually never found the time, so here it is.

The Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil.

This is without a doubt the best make up remover you will ever find! It really is, really, I can't even say how awesome it is.


That's how they look like. They have several formulas, designed for different skin types. They are available in 150ml and 450ml, it starts with 32$ for the small one and goes up to 72$ for the big one. I know, I know - that's a lot for a make up remover, but it's so worth it and it lasts forever as well, cause you need such tiny amounts.

I was on the hunt for a good make up remover for soooo long and this is the make up remover heaven, it doesn't get any better.

At the moment they have special editions as well, which are the normal cleansing oils in super cool packaging. Here you can see them:


I have this one:
It's the one designed for dry skin. They all have a subtle, nice smell. You can go to their homepage: http://www.shuuemura-usa.com and read the different descriptions for each skin type, if you're too lazy for that or still unsure you can write me and I'll help you with finding the right one.

And that is how you use it:

It's soo simple and quick. Your skin feels moistured at the end and even the most waterproof mascara goes away with gentle pressure. I once tried using make up remover wipes again for traveling and it felt like ripping my lashes and skin off...

Forget everything else you've ever used, also the MAC cleanse off oil. I tried it and it's not even remotely as awesome.

Well, and here is the small, but quite annoying catch: it's not everywhere available... If you're living in America, you're as always lucky and here is a list of the countries where you can get it as well:


If you don't live in one of those, which I don't as well, you should grab one on your next holiday or beg some distant relatives to send you one. I bought mine when I was in Scotland.

So I hope you all enjoyed this post and think about it, cause trust me, you won't regret it.

Love,
Guinevere

By the way, I took these pics from their official homepage, no infringement intended!

Eyeko polishmania

It might be obvious by now that I loooove nail polishes and when I saw the new polishes Eyeko is selling I couldn't resist. Especially when they offered the set with all of them for 10 pounds.

There are 5 new shades, I made a picture without and one with flash. The colour is more accurate on the first photo, but in the one with the flash you see more of the goregousness of Cosmic and Indigo polish.
Cosmic polish, Indigo polish, Purple polish, Lilac polish and Nude polish.

And here swatches:

How gorgeous are they?!!!

They are all very pretty and Cosmic and Indigo Polish are quite unique. I definitely would recommend them. 3 usual shades and two special shades for 10 pounds with free shipping worldwide is quite a deal. :-)

Hope you liked them!

Love,
Guinevere

H&M haul

It feels like ages since my last post, but I just moved to a new place and there simply was no time for posting. But I'm back with a little haul. :-)

I bought some sheets and towels from H&M and I came across this sweet Hello Kitty collection for just a few euros each, so I decided - what the hell - buy them.

They sold two colours and I bought them both, here some pictures:

A very intensive black and a nice dark purple. I was surprised by how pretty they are. They apply nice and evenly. And with two coats the colour was pretty opaque. So thumbs up for these polishes! :-)

I also bought the two eyeshadow trios they offered:

I thought they were very pretty and again H&M didn't disappoint me. With a good eyeshadow base the stay put the whole day. The colour pay off is a bit decent, but that's okay. Makes them more wearable. :-)

One thing though - the fall out while working with a brush is much. I took a picture.
So you really have to tap off any extra from your brush!

Other than that I'm very happy with my purchase and especially for that price.

If you want swatches let me know in the comments. I hadn't time to take some, I made the pictures in our old apartment and I just found time to unpack my Make Up in the new one.

So if you think about buying them, do it. :-)


Love,
Guinevere

Illamasqua Store Glasgow

I promised to finish my Illamasqua project and now it took me soo long.. I'm sorry about that!

At least all the swatches are online. So here some pics of the store in Glasgow:


The staff was sooo nice and helpful. I loved them!

And as said, as a Make Up Freak and Freelance Artist myself, I was proud that many customers thought I work there too and I even sold an eyeshadow. *gg*
The woman just kept asking about the shadows, so I picked one out for her. I'm still very proud about it! :-)

And here some pictures about the products, some are a bit blurred, sorry about that, but you all know with flash the products don't look accurate.

The foundations in all their glory.

Then next the brushes, which are supersoft and the primers and concealers.


Blushes.


Just so you know: I didn't get them accurate, some are, but for example the top row of the creme blushes isn't at all that orange. Those are reds, but unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph them right.

If you wonder why the "lower" rows have the blushes upside down: They made that, so the customers could see them better. Quite innovative I think.

Illuminators and cakes. I can't recommend the Illuminators enough! I love them. They are so multifunctional. Wish I could own them all!


Here are the eyeshadows and pigments! Just great:


Don't you agree? Well, how couldn't you..

Next the pencils. You can use them for every part of your face, may it be as lipliners or for your eyes.


Let's move on to the lip stuff, well I have to admit the picture of the lipsticks went horribly wrong so i won't post it, you wouldn't see the colours anyway, but the lipglosses worked:


Nice, aren't they. Again, unbelievable colour range.

And last, but not least the lashes and polishes. I love nail polish and Illamasqua definitely made a range that fulfills all my junkie needs. ;-)


A lot of rave I know, but I'm just honest. Illamasqua simply is that awesome. I don't get payed to say that, wish I would ;-) . Working there would be sooo gorgeous.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! I definetely enjoyed being there.

Love,
Guinevere