Pretty Green Eyes With The HUDA Beauty Emerald Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette And Giveaway! - CLOSED*

I hope you'll forgive the cheesy song title that I've used here but as a NUFC fan I am a bit of a fan of Ultrabeat's Pretty Green Eyes, all be it with slightly different lyrics (He's From Blyth, You'll Never Ever Beat Dan Burn etc. ;)! 

I don't know whether you'd class them as being pretty or not, but my eyes are certainly green, I always wanted blue eyes as a child but I'm pretty happy now with my olive green peepers. I don't know about you but when I was first getting into make up they seemed to be loads of rules, about what colours you should and shouldn't wear depending on your hair and eye colours, and one of the so called rules that always used to annoy me, was the one that you shouldn't wear green eyeshadow if you have green eyes! I stuck to that rule for goodness knows how long, missing out on the delight that is green eyeshadow, before I decided that, that rule and so many others were rubbish.

There are so many different shades, and textures of green eyeshadow out there that can enhance green eyes, it's all about finding a colour that you love. If bright emerald and grass greens, aren't your bag, then there are loads of olives and golden greens to chose from, including some of my own personal favourites MAC's Humid, Urban Decays Psych, and the KIKO Water Eyeshadow in Olive Green. Looking through my own vast make up collection I have a whole load of different green eye colours, but I'm sad to say rhat that a lot of them have now been discontinued in MAC's fabulous Golden Olive Pigment, MAC shadow in Springtime Skipper, and this amazing eye palette from HUDA Beauty.

Other than receiving the odd thing in various subscription boxes this was probably one of my earliest purchases from HUDA Beauty. From the brands popular but largely now discontinued Obsessions line, comes the HUDA Beauty Emerald Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette. 

Although I'll openly admit that I'm not a fan of cardboard packaging, I do like the packaging of the palette. In a beautiful metallic emerald green, it features a strong magnet closure and a good sized mirror.

The palette contains 6 good sized eyeshadows, 3 mattes and 6 shimmers / glitters, in different shades of green including a matte mint shade, a matte emerald green (this is a much more vibrant green in the flesh), and matte dark olive green / brown. The 6 shimmers and glitters are in various shades including a vibrant peacock green with a slight blue flash, a golden olive shade, and an almost golden shade. The palette contains the perfect combination of both cool and warm toned greens.

As you would expect from a brand with the profile of HUDA Beauty, the quality is exceptional. The matte shadows are buttery soft with excellent colour payoff, and the shimmers / glitters are buttery, metallic, and very pigmented. The shades were fairly easy to blend but there was a bit of fall out with some of the darker shades, and the shimmers, and glitters.

I've done a couple of quick eye looks just to show you the varied looks you can create with this palette. As per usual I'm keeping it as real as possible, my brown need doing desperately, I'm not a make up artist, and I haven't got amazing skills, I'm just someone who loves make up, trying to show you just how easy products are to use. The first look is one of my all time favourites, I'm a huge fan of more olive green shadows, and this trio of shades creates the perfect golden olive look.

This golden olive look can be as dramatic or as a subtle as you like but this next look isn't for the fain hearted. If you love colour or if you want a much brighter, stand out look then you can do that with this palette as well. Here I used a couple of the matte shades, with just a hint of sparkle, to create a fun vibrant look.

I'm so impressed with this palette, and I can assure you that mine now looks a little bit battered and well used ! As I say texture wise, and pigmentation wise, these shadows are really impressive but what I'm also really impressed with is the wear time. Bar a tiny bit of fallout here and minimal creasing these shadows stayed put! In fact I would probably advise that you use an eye base particular if you're using some of the brighter shades, as this look seemed to want to stay put especially on my lash line!

These palettes have been widely copied by some budget brands, but no matter how good they are I can't see anyone beating this particular collection either quality wise or performance wise - this palette for me really was the perfect introduction to HUDA Beauty and it's no surprise that I now own a few more palettes from the brand.

Alas as I say, this palette does appear to have been discontinued now, but you can still find here and there. It originally retailed at around £25 and there are a few currently on eBay for just a little bit more than that. If you're interested I would also recommend doing an online search and checking out your local TK Maxx store because I recently picked up another one of my local stores, not to keep you understand but to give away.

Yes, I know I've been promising this for ages but to thank all of you guys for sticking with me, and your loyalty especially over the last few years, I'm giving a brand new, and in perfect condition HUDA Beauty Emerald Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette, and some other bits including some Tarte, and NEXT.

All you need to do is make sure you're following me on as many social media platforms as possible and fill in the Rafflecopter here or below, oh and just so you know my comments are moderated so they may not appear straight away x

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Terms, Rules And Conditions

This giveaway is open worldwide.

If you are under 18 please get your parent or guardians permission before you enter as I will need your contact details if you're the lucky winner.

Entries will be picked at random using Rafflecopter
I reserve the right delete any entry that hasn't fulfilled the entry criteria or redraw the winner
The giveaway will close 24th November 2023
The winner will have 7 days to respond to my email, if no response is received in this time I will draw another winner
This prize was purchased with my own money I have not been compensated from holding it and this giveaway has not been endorsed in any way by HUDA Beauty or any company or brand mentioned.

If you have any questions on either the palette or my giveaway, then please leave me a comment or contact me via any of my other social media channels, all of which you can find linked in the sidebar→

Thanks for reading and good luck!

*This Post Contains Automatic Affiliate, Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

Nails Of The Day - NYX - NP141 Aurora - Reshot And Rewritten*

Thanks to all of the rain this week it's taken me much longer than expected to finish editing my next two Glossybox unboxing catch up's, so in the meantime I've got a cheeky little nails of the day for you.

If you've been around since the very early days of LouLouLand then you might have already seen my talk about this nail polish way, way back in 2010. To be honest though the photos that accompanied the post were so bad, that I relegated it to my drafts folder, so I could rewrite and reshoot it. Then believe it or not, I ended up losing the polish, not that hard when you have as many nail polishes as I do, but whilst sorting through some old make up bags earlier this week, I rediscovered it and in a desperate attempt to feel a bit more summery I decided to give it another try.

I think I bought this polish from Cherry Culture way back when NYX wasn't that widely available in the UK. At a glance it looks like a bog standard pastel peach but it actually a whole lot more. NYX Nails Nail Polish in NP141 Aurora is indeed a pretty pastel peach that perfect for the summer months but rather than being a flat cream, what sets Aurora a part is the fact it's shot through with a superfine gold shimmer. I've taken these pictures with the flash so you can see just how pretty this polish actually is x

It comes in a curvy, slightly squat looking bottle. The brush is of decent thickness and quality and given the slightly textured cap it's pretty easy to control. Even though this polish is now well over 10 years old, the consistency was just right, it wasn't too thin and it hadn't gone thick or gloopy. The gold sparkle has slightly in the bottle but the application was fairly easily, and the sparkle is so fine that it was still distributed evenly throughout the polish.

Whilst the coverage was decent the first coat was still slightly patchy, it dried quite quickly though so there was no problem adding a second coat. Full coverage was achieved on all nails with 2 coats, and it dried down quickly leaving a lovely smooth and glossy finish.The wear time in all honesty wasn't the best, I saw my first chip after less than 24 hours, but it's nothing that a good top coat wouldn't fix.

Bar the wear time I have to say that I was so, so impressed with this polish. It may be more than 10 years old now, but it was still pretty much as good as new, the formulation is still on point and the depth of the colour and the coverage are also spot on. I've had a little look online and alas the entire NYX Cosmetics nail polish range appears to have been discontinued, bar the odd polish on Amazon, eBay, and discount beauty retailers such as Beauty Outlets, so this particular polish may be pretty much impossible to find, but I'm sure there will be a dupe out there somewhere - If you can think of one let me know in the comments x

*This Post Contains An Added Affiliate Link

Nails Of The Day - Models Own - NP214 Pear Drops

If you follow me on  Instagram (I'm @LouLou699)  then you'll probably already know that I'm a bit of a Poundland fan. I'm lucky enough to live quite close to a large branch and pretty much every week, you'll find me in there hunting for bargains.

You have to watch them a bit price wise but I can usually always find something that I need, or should I say want! At the moment Poundland have a bit of a beauty event thing going on and they've got quite a few new beauty bits including a new skincare line and a few discontinued drugstore bits. The stock changes regularly and it can depend on the store but in the past month or so, I've managed to pick up a few interesting bits including some Ardell false lashes, a fab Outdoor Girl True Matte Lip Gloss, and a few bits from Models Own including this gorgeous nail polish.

Like so many Models Own polishes this shade has now been discontinued which is a real shame; From the Sweet Shop Scented Polish Collection, this is NP214 Pear Drops.

Pear Drops is a bright, summery coral, red which is shot through with lots of fine glitter and sparkle. If you aren't a glitter fan though, you might still like this, in certain lighting conditions it's quite subtle, but change the light and it comes alive.

Although the lids can be a little awkward to hold I am a huge fan of the brushes on Models Own polishes, they are sturdy and have a nice thickness to them. This polish has a slight jelly like texture which meant that the application was a little bit sheer. It took me 3 coats to achieve full coverage, which was a bit time consuming, but it dried quite quickly and despite containing a lot of glitter it dried down to a fairly smooth, glossy finish.

Now this was one of the Models Own's Sweet Shop Scented Nail Polishes, and the name would suggest all of the polishes in this particular line have sweetie scents. There is a little scratch and sniff section on the lid but you really need to apply these polishes to get the real candy hit. When you apply this particular polish you get that familiar, chemical, nose aching nail polish scent, but it quickly dispersed leaving a subtle, sweet and slightly sour, fruity pear scent. The scent was noticeable but it wasn't that strong and it gradually faded after a day or so.

Unlike a lot of glitter polishes the wear time on this one wasn't that great and it had started to chip after less than two days, but I'm going to hold my hands up though and say that was probably my fault. As per usual I didn't use a top coat (if you're new to my blog I very rarely wear a top coat when I'm testing a nail polish) but in this case I also skipped a base coat! I know slap wrists! I committed the cardinal nail polish sin! I normally use something like OPI's Nail Envy but I was in a rush so I ended up applying this polish directly onto bare nails eek, not something I would recommend in this case. As well as potentially altering the wear time, it also made this colour a little bit trying to remove, glitter no matter how fine is always hard to remove, and this one was no exception, and because I didn't use a base coat I was also left with a little bit of pink staining on my nails. So take my advice and if you do manage to get your hands on this polish, or quite frankly any other nail polish then use a top and definitely a base coat!

Seeing as we're now into Autumn, this isn't probably isn't the most seasonal polish that I've ever worn, with the bright pink, orange and red tone but who cares, it's a beaut no matter what the season. My nails are pretty short and dry at the moment but I still love how this colour looks and if you're lucky enough to have a beach holiday planner or if hope upon hope we have a few more sunny days then this colour would also look fab on toes.

Even if we don't get the Indian summer that we've all been promised, this shade would still cheer up even the most blustery of autumn days, and I'm all for clinging on to summer for as long as possible. If you feel the same way then make sure you keep an eye out for my next post to see a review of something that will keep you in that summery mindset for just a little bit longer. In the meantime don't forget to make sure you're following my blog and my other social media channels, and if you have any questions on this post then please leave me a comment and let me know x

Nails Of The Day - Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer - 509 HD - Reshot And Rewritten

I've got an admission to make guys, I'm a hypocrite! I'm always going on about how much I love the sun and the warm weather but I'm going to have to be honest, hold my hands up and say that I've just about had my fill of summer 2018. We just aren't used to the heat in the UK! Okay we haven't had some of the scary temperatures that they've had in mainland Europe but when it's constant like it has been lately, it's not normal for us and we just can't deal with it. My energy levels are at rock bottom and all I want to do is nap, admittedly I'm in a lot less pain than usual but even the tiniest little thing is stealing ever single spoon from my virtual drawer! Thankfully a month or so ago I had enough cutlery to be able to paint my nails, and shoot a few pictures for the blog; Since then though my hands and nails have gone steadily down hill but at least I have these pictures to remind me of just how nice my nails and hands can look, when they are a little less heat ravaged and dehydrated.

If you're a long time reader then you may have originally spotted a version of this post way back in 2010. Thanks to the Photobucket fiasco the original photos disappeared, and since I loved this polish so much I decided to dig it out again and re shoot it for you. The polish in question is one of the beautiful and unfortunately now discontinued Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquers in the shade 509 HD, which is a gorgeous, full on, holographic silver.

Packaged in a slightly retro looking bottle, these Milani polishes have quite a thin brush but they are really easy to paint with especially if you have smaller or thinner nails. I'm not going to lie to you this one needs a bit of effort but it's well worth it. The first coat gives a pretty, insipid, sheer wash of colour, but it dries quickly, and you just need to keep at it, the formula is a bit thin but it's buildable, and with just the 3 coats that you can see here, you can achieve a fabulous smooth, and glossy full coverage finish.

At first glance this polish maybe isn't quite as vibrant as some of the other holographic formulations on the market, but believe me it all depends on the light. The two pictures that you can see above are taken in natural light on a slightly dull day, and the result is a slightly subdued silver glitter, pretty but nothing special, play around with the lighting though and this polish literally explodes into life! Move you hands about and add a little bit of extra light with either bright sunlight, artificial lighting or even with a camera flash like I have here and then the magic really happens!

Get your movement and your lighting right, and you have hands that you can't stop staring at. Every movement or flash of the light results in the most amazing 3 dimensional colour explosion. The effect is amazing and although it takes a little bit longer to achieve than with some holographic polishes, it's well worth the effort. The wear time is also pretty decent which is not only unusual for a polish in the holo formulation but it's also pretty amazing when you consider that this particular bottle of nail polish is now over 8 years old, and it's as good now as it ever was!

As I say I originally bought this polish way back in 2010, and unfortunately like so many things in the Milani range that I've loved over the years, it appears to have been discontinued so it's now pretty unlikely that you'll be able to get your hands on a bottle of Milani HD :( Holographic nail polishes thankfully now though are a lot easier to get your hands on than they used to be. I'm a huge, huge fan of holographic nail polishes, and I'm always on the look for new ones. I've picked up a few recently from the Mark brand at AVON, and I've also got a few new shades from Born Pretty to try and a lovely blue shade from Maggie Anne to try (Check out my Instagram to see some sneaky peeks). There are now loads of brands out there that offer holographic finishes and formulations, and whilst they can sometimes take a little bit of tracking down, if you want eye catching and show stopping nails then they really are a must have! It's going to be a little while before I can try out any of my new colours, but in the meantime if you have any holographic nail polish recommendations I'd love to hear them, my nails may be non existent but I'm always up for buying new polishes so let me know your faves x