Last week's nails - Barry M 'Eat My Dust'

I picked up a couple of new nail polishes last week, which I talked about in my drugstore haul - but now I've tested them out I thought I'd let you guys know what I thought of them!

Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail paint in 'Eat My Dust'
£3.99 from Boots

The shade I used first, and am going to talk about here is 'Eat My Dust' from their Speedy Quick Dry range.  Applied over a base coat, it only takes a couple of coats for pretty much full opacity, and it dries fast (but not much faster than the Gelly polishes to be honest!)  I did test it out on its own to start with, sans base, but within a few hours it all began to peel off which wasn't great - so I'd definitely recommend using a base coat with this range even if you're in a rush!  The colour is beautiful though - a  creamy pastel blue with a hint of lilac.  However I did find that after a day or so the lilac tint disappeared and it became a true sky blue on the nails (as you can see in the swatches) and lasted chip free for about five days with my usual Sally Hansen Insta-Dry top coat.

For comparison I've popped it next to the shade 'Almond,' from their Gelly range, in the picture below.  Unlike 'Almond', 'Eat My Dust' hasn't got that greige-y nude thing going on, and is much lighter in colour which is perfect for springtime!  Also, compared to the Gelly range these polishes have a great sized brush, that's similar to the sort you get from Essie.  This makes doing your manicure a bit less fiddly!

All in all, I'm really glad I picked this shade up and really want to give the mint green from the range a go!
Next nail post I'll be reviewing the other Barry M polish from my haul, so keep an eye out for that in a week or so's time...

xxx

Revlon Colourburst Balm Stains - Review and lip swatches...

I recently picked up a couple of extra shades of the Revlon Colourburst Balm Stains, which I briefly talked about in my drugstore haul post.  Having used them for a little while, I felt I could give them a proper review now and can compare all three shades that I own from the range!

'Honey' I've raved about multiple times previously...it transforms on the lips to the perfect soft pinky-berry stain shade that stains the lips beautifully.  The formula of all three of these dries out my lips a tiny bit, but is so lightweight and comfortable to wear - some people aren't fond of the minty scent but I love how it feels soothing - a little like Carmex.

'Lovesick' is a lovely bright cool-toned pink that because it's somewhat sheer, isn't too in your face!  This one stains the lips immediately though, so beware - any chapped areas will be left bright pink on removal.  I'm really looking forward to wearing this throughout the warmer months and hope that this will help me build up the courage to try out a more opaque version of the colour!

'Rendezvous' looks pretty daunting in the bullet - completely orange - but in reality is extremely wearable.  Because my teeth aren't the whitest in the world, I tend to avoid super warm toned lip shades but as this looks like more of a dark orangey red on the lips I can just about pull it off!  It does make dry patches more noticeable than the other shades, but much less so than other lighter lip colours I own.  It also did require a bit of building up to get the result pictured, but I don't
really mind as once you've applied it the colour sticks
around long after the product has worn off!

xxx

Speedy review: Benefit's Roller Lash mascara

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Elle on the way back from the station.  It came with a dinky little tube of Benefit's new mascara, and since it just so happened that my current tube was drying up I thought I'd give this one a go!

Benefit Roller Lash mascara £19.50, Boots

Firstly, I must say that I'm a big fan of the sleek, skinny brush.  I'm always prone to smearing mascara all over the place if the brush is too chunky, so I was already feeling optimistic...

Above: before mascara
Below: after applying Roller Lash

I don't particularly find that the bristles separate very well though, as the wand tends to pick up a lot of product.  Most days, I've had to comb through afterwards to de-clogg my lashes a bit.  However, the amount of impact you get from a couple of swipes of the brush is amazing.  Having curled my lashes, Roller Lash somehow manages to curl them up even more...and best of all, the curl sticks around all day long!  There also isn't the issue of smudging or crumbling, and I've found it a heck of a lot easier to remove than it's sister product They're Real.  All in all, I'm not sure if I'd pay up for a full tube of this at the moment as high end mascaras are a bit out of my budget, but I'm going to keep on using this one and see how it goes!


xxx