Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Luminous Lipgloss

To be honest, I'm not usually a fan of lipgloss, I much prefer the depth of colour, comfort and wear of a lipstick. However, as soon as I saw the Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Luminous Lip Gloss in Intriguing Violet from their Untold Color Collection. I knew I just had to have it, so I picked it up as part of my payday haul a while back. At work, our No7 counter is right next to the Elizabeth Arden counter, so it's no wonder this lipgloss caught my eye, as it was so different to anything I had seen before: an almost neon violet-purple colour with flecks of glitter that captures and reflects the light beautifully.

I'm slightly gutted that there's no limited edition packaging for this range, however the classic gold and silver packaging you can't go too far wrong with, as it keeps the premium feel. And don't you just love the small peep-window to the product, teasing you with the wonderful violet flash of colour?! Just a quick note, that no matter how many pictures I can take of this lipgloss, it cannot capture the same magic is has in reality.

I love the big size of this doe applicator, as it means you don't have to swipe it over your lips numerous times to get the gloss on. Instead, it's a lovely thick formula that glides on easily, without having too much of a heavy, sticky feel to it, yet it's nice and moisturising too. And I just love the handy mirror on the side, why don't all lip products do this? 

OH MY GOD the glitter pigment is just OUT OF THIS WORLD, it runs through the entirety of this gloss, there is no let-go whatsoever, and on its own the violet shade of this product is actually stronger than I thought it would be. The glitter shines all colours from blue to purple to gold to silver, and like I mentioned before, my camera just can't capture the beauty of this lipgloss in its entirety. 

I thought I'd slick this gloss over the top of one of my favourite Match Made lipsticks, the shade 255 Raspberry Silk from the Stay Perfect range. Although the reformulated Stay Perfect range have a high moisture content to them, they are matte in their finish so some can find it slightly drying and heavy on the lips, so a slick of gloss can do a world of favours. I adore how the gloss adds such definition to the lipstick without altering the colour, LOOK AT ALL THAT GLITTER AND SHINE. Intriguing Violet certainly keeps me intrigued, that's for sure.

Okay, so for £17 it is a bit on the pricey side for a lipgloss, but I'm seriously impressed by this offering from Elizabeth Arden. Especially with all the current trends to be rather flat colours in lipglosses, it is great to see an offering with such a strong glitter that can be worn on its own or over the top of another colour. Not to mention that for a lipgloss it's not too bad on the wear: okay, so the gloss wears off after about an hour or so, but the glitter somehow stays put, and has little effect on wear on top of another colour. I can't wait to wear this during party season, I think it's just perfect for it if you don't want to go with a heavy glitter on the eyes.

I just need a purple lipstick/lipliner that will compliment this lipgloss perfectly, any suggestions out there?

#NOTW - Week 2

Now that autumn has well and truly made itself known, with the shift in season comes a shift in colours, and not just where clothing and eye makeup are concerned. I've been really bad recently after I grew my nails to a decent length, I gave them a good nibble and they're back down to a fairly short length, boo. So, it's back to square one and painting my nails to stop me biting them more, it's the perfect excuse to wear a mix of autumnal colours. 

I like to wear a nude colour on my nails when they're quite short as I think it distracts from their actual length. But I also like to mix it up a little bit and add a couple of accent nails: I love painting the ring finger, but I tend to throw the same colour onto my thumbnails too, I think it gives a more uniform look, if that makes sense! I think No7 banged the nail on the head when it came to this Deep Wine shade from the Gel Look Shine range. It's a perfect deep, rich wine colour, with notes of burgundy and plum, although the camera certainly picks up more of the burgundy than the plum. This makes for a perfect pairing with the Practically Perfect shade from the Stay Perfect range, the perfect nude for my pale skin.

This is three coats with the Practically Perfect shade to get it to be opaque; even with my short nails, two coats still shows the white tips. I personally don't mind using three coats to get the desired look as the coats are fast drying with this formula, and I've never actually got through a full bottle of nail varnish before, so this could be the first! The Deep Wine shade is with just one coat as this colour is so heavily pigmented, but for wear I have added another coat to ensure it will last, and keep its high shine finish.

A change from my usual bright colours I love to wear on my nails, but this is certainly weather appropriate right now in Britain, and I love the simplicity of the combination in the colours. The No7 vouchers are back in Boots again, so when you spend £4 in store you'll receive a set of vouchers which will get you £5 off the No7 skincare range and £3 off the No7 cosmetics range, and I would certainly recommend you pick up the Deep Wine shade, it's the perfect addition to anyone's range, especially for just £4 with a voucher.

What's on your nails right now? What colours are you loving?

OCTOBER CHALLENGE!

As you may be able to tell, I've yet again fallen out of the blogging habit, but there have been times where I have sat down, brainstormed and drafted so many posts, to realise it's 9pm and I haven't taken any photos, which require daylight and I have work early the next morning..so the posts get put off until I have a day off, but then I'm busy on my day off..and it goes on. 

So I was texting the boyfriend as usual in the evening after a day at work last week, and we ask each other what we're up to: I'm actually drafting a new blog post, after having a brainwave from browsing on Bloglovin', and he's got his Wordpress set up properly, yay! He's been looking to start an outlet for his writing for the while, but now he's had the inspiration and time to do it, and we were saying how we could motivate each other to write, when I came up with the idea of an October Challenge to get the both of us into the swing of things: post everyday for the month of October..

So here we go! If you want to see what my lovely boyfriend Jack is up to this month, head on over to odeavenue.wordpress.com 

#NOTW - Week 1

In a bid to stop me biting my nails so much (I tend to go through phases: grow them until they're lovely and long..but when they get too long, I bite them all off. :|) I'm keeping my nails painted in lovely bright colours, which is getting my nails to be the perfect length! 

For work, really, I do have to wear colours by No7 so we can promote the brand, if asked what I'm wearing. To be fair, and this opinion goes back to before I worked for No7, they are my favourite nail varnishes in terms of colour, wear, brush and texture!

This week is only a short week for me at work, I'm only in three days because of the bank holiday (yay!), so I'll probably wear another colour this weekend, but at the moment I'm loving Purple Bouquet from the Gel Look Shine range by No7. It's perfect for this time of year, where we're still clinging onto the slight hope of summer here in Britain, yet the weather is letting us down; the colour is bright, but not too in-your-face, enough to brighten your day, and because it's that kind of purple, I find it tends to go with a lot of things rather than clash with them. I also think it's going to be a great colour going into autumn, clashing perfectly against a thick, mustard jumper..let's just hope I can find one when I go shopping in Manchester on Sunday, it's been a while!

This is two coats of the colour after three days of wear, and silly me forgot to put a top coat on! (A habit of painting my nails in bed, just before I go to sleep.) Hence, the slight wear at the edges of the nails..oops. Saying that, I've been doing a lot of things with my hands, and there's no big chips and still a high shine finish.

If you've never tried the nail varnishes from No7 before, I certainly recommend you do so when you next get one of the £3 off vouchers you always get when you shop in Boots, and you never quite know what to do with them. The Gel Look Shine range hosts 14 different shades, ranging from nude to bold and includes a top coat. What's different about this range, compared to your traditional nail varnishes is that the colours are highly pigmented and the formula is slightly thicker (note: however, not gloopy), which I tend to find gives a longer wear and helps to smooth out any ridges/dents on the nail. 

Okay, so I can't say I've tried "gel look" nail varnishes from any other brands (yet), but I'd say that these are a great starting point in terms of colour, ease of application and long wear. I find the brush, which is the same in No7's standard Stay Perfect range, is the perfect size for my diddy nails; it only takes a couple of sweeps to coat my nails, and there's no faffing around with trying to get an even coat, as this is instantly achieved. 

At £7 (or £4 with a No7 voucher), I say: why not? Some of my favourite colours are from this range, so I wouldn't be surprised if you see more of them in my future #NOTW..

What nail varnish colours are you loving at the moment? 

Inspired

Yes, I know..I've been slacking again. But now that I've had my lovely break away from work and home life for a week, I've had the time to refocus and see what I want to achieve in the coming months; both professionally and personally, and this blog rates highly in these. 

So whilst I'm in an inspired state of mind, I'm going to bulk-write plenty of blog posts to get me back into the swing of things, and I'm very excited by everything I want to write about :) keep your eyes peeled..