Road Trip Haul and Some Gifties

Before we went to see the Vivienne Westwood exhibition yesterday, we had a little look around Barnard Castle, it's a country town with lots of touristy shops, as well as a few small high street stores. My mum always enjoys a little poke around the charity and antique shops and picked up a few nice really good quality bits, alas I didn't see nothing I liked - I never seem to have any luck in charity shops :(
I had a little look in Boots and Superdrug though and I did pick up a few bits. First of all one of the L'Oreal Color Infaillible Eyeshadows.

I first saw these the other day on Modesty Brown's blog and fell in love, the are supposedly similar to the Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill shadows and are a cream / powder hybrid. The colour I got was 009 Permanent Kaki, a gorgeous olive green. First impressions of these are good, the texture is lovely and they seem really pigmented.

I also made another blogger inspired purchase. I saw this on the lovely Holly's blog and again it was love at first sight -  I love Nars Deep Throat and this is supposedly a good budget dupe. It's the Collection
2000 Shimmer Shades in 2. Blushalicious.

You get 4 prisms of pigmented slightly shimmery cheek / face colours in shades of peach, coral, plum and pink which can be used separately or swirled together x

Here are some individual swatches of each colour

I think this will be a lovely palette for providing just a pop of colour on the cheeks throughout the summer months x
These were the most exciting things that I bought yesterday, in fact I only got another 2 things some nail polish remover, and a copy of Marie Claire. I bought the magazine specifically for the free Inika eyeshadow, as I'm quite interested in natural cosmetics - I will do a little review of the shadow soon for you, in the meantime, hot foot it down to your newsagent to pick one of these up before the new issue (with free Ciate lipgloss) goes on sale.
Mummy Lou has also been kind enough to purchase me a few bits and pieces this week from the new MUA Pro range at Superdrug - I haven't managed to get to any of the stores near me that are stocking the range so she paid for a little online order for me. No swatches at the moment but they well be coming soon when I look at MUA for my Budget Beauty Series which I will hopefully be starting next week with a look at the Aldi Lacura Line x Anyways here's what I got -

MUA Professional Extreme Volume Mascara in Extreme Black

MUA Professional Extreme Metallics Eyeshadow Quad - Go Getter

MUA Professional Mosiac Blusher in English Rose

MUA Professional Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand

and finally the MUA Professional version of a crackle polish, Nail Quake in Broken Arrow.
I have already had a play with the eyeshadows and so far I am really impressed, and I can't wait to give these products a proper try -  Any questions as per usual leave me a comment - I love reading them all and getting your feedback x

Change Your Nail Polish - Crackles and Shatters

Hi Guys, this post is the first in a little series I'm going to be doing on changing you nail polishes.
If you anything like me you probably have every colour under the sun but I don't know sometimes even our favourite colours can seem a little boring and samey, in this series of posts I'm going to be exploring ways to liven up your favourite nail varnishes, through top coats, nail art and more.
The first method I'm going to talk about it the crackle or shatter polish. Yes I know your all probably bored stiff of these by now, and it's something you'll either love or hate, but there is no doubt that they will change the appearance of any nail polish.
The idea is quite simple paint a thin layer of crackle polish on top of any dry nail polish and watch the magic happen, the polish seems to evaporate in certain areas producing a crazed pattern on the nail.
Everyone seems to be producing crackle polishes now in a variety of colours, including Nails Inc, OPI, China Glaze and of course Barry M. I have to say I've only purchased crackles at the lower end of the price spectrum, but for what is in essence a fashion trend that you'll either love or hate it's a good way to try them out. So enough of the prattle it's time for some pictures :)

First up the one that seemed to introduce at least the British population to the shatter polish -Barry M Instant Nail Effects in Black. Black seems to look good over any colour to be honest here it's shown over a matte pale pink  for maximum contrast-  The polish  is Sense Tech in 02 100% Mat by Deborah - click the link to see it on it own x

The name instant is pretty much spot on crackle polishes being matte dry pretty much straight away, so it barely takes any time to change the look of a nail polish - crackle polishes are  also really good for  reviving a polish when you are starting to have a bit of tip wear or even the odd chip-  just one thin coat and you can't see the wear anymore :)

Next up another colour from the Barry M Instant Nail Effects stable, this time a pale electric blue (much brighter than it's showing here) , this time I've used it with a more toning colour and one of my favourites Milani Holographic - 512 Cyberspace (click here to see it on its own)

As you can see there is much less of a contrast between the two colours but it still gives an interesting finish - as with all crackles this one is matte but I decided to try it with a top coat (Jessica Brilliance - review coming soon) - you can't see that much of a difference here but again is shows how versatile the crackle polish can be

Next up on my crackle journey probably the polish I've liked the least. From budget brand W7 their limited edition crackle polishes come in several colours and the one I got was Earthquake Silver.

It's not the colour of this one, a matte sparkly silver, I just found it really hard to apply the formula was way off, it dropped onto the top I was wearing and then it applied too thickly in some areas and so streaky in some areas the crackle was at a minimum. The colour I applied it over was Milani Photo Flash which you can see in it's full glory here - to be honest I felt as though I had ruined a perfectly good manicure when I tried the crackle on this you win some, you lose some I guess. These pics are taken without a top coat, using a top coat with this combo did improve it somewhat, and make the sparkles more apparant.

From one I wasn't keen on to one I really like - which is strange because the colours are pretty similar Boots 17 Nails Xtras Crackle Top Coat, has more of a golden / platinum colour than the sparkly silver of the W7 but it is heads above it in texture.

Like most of the other 17 polishes this is easy to apply, I certainly had no blobs or drips with this one, I've gone for another contrasting shade here using Top Shop's Pie In The Sky - a gorgeous bright blue 

I have to say this was one of my favourite combos really pretty and eye catching - I didn't even feel that this one needed a top coat.

So there you have it my round up of a few of the lower end crackle polishes on the market. Like them or loathe them, there is no doubt that they can change the look of a boring nail polish in seconds. There are a couple of newer crackles to the market from the likes of Beauty UK and MUA Pro which I am trying to get my paws on, if I manage to get hold of them I will post my reviews as part of my Budget Beauty Series. In the meantime if you have any questions leave me a comment - I read ever single one even if I don't always have time to reply x