News - Models Own launch new Mirrorball nail frostings

Models Own are launching a new collection of nail frostings called Mirrorball. This is 'a range of glide-on glitters that will revitalise your entire polish collection. 

You can wear them on their own or slap them on top of your favourite polish to create a new frosted look.

 

Each polish contains five different chunky colours of hand-cut glitter:

- Disco Inferno, a glittery gold disco bomb

- Hot Stuff, an intoxicating mix of pink and gold sparkles

- Freak Out, a crystal shimmer mix of bold blue and purple

- Dancing Queen, fabulous flecks of emerald, blue and gold

- Boogie Nights, a multicoloured mix of intriguing purple, pink and blue

 

Mirrorball will be available nationwide at Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Boots, as well as The Bottleshop at Westfield London. You can also grab a bottle or two online.

They cost £5 a bottle or you can buy a Mirrorball box set exclusively online for £20. In the set you get a bottle of each colour and a 3 in 1 base coat, top coat and gloss.

News - Animal Launches New Beauty Range

The UK company Animal is best known for its extreme sports clothing, but now they are hitting the shelves in a new way. 

Soon the shelves of Boots will be filled with a new line of beauty products and accessories designed to appeal to any adrenaline seeking free-spirit.

The range is a Boots exclusive and the products available are:


Sorbet Snowballs Lip Balm Trio (£3) – three coloured balms to give lips an ice-shine finish.

Colour Blast Nail Polish Collection (£10) – four metallic nail paints and a pair of nail defining files.

Winter Warmer Headband & Lip Balm Set (£10) – a cool knitted headband and protective lip balm to help defend you against the elements.

Winter Weekender Shower Time Trio (£8) – invigorating shower wash, scrub and body lotion contained in a waterproof zipper

Nail The Look Fingerless Gloves & Nail Set (£14) – a pair of stripy gloves and matching nail paints in wintery shades of berry red, metallic grey and pop teal.

Pump Up The Volume Headphones (£16) – pink DJ headphones to help you rock out to your favourite beats.

Freerider Essentials Bath & Body Collection (£18) – super cool hanging wash bag, packed with shower wash, body lotion, body spritzer and a bath lily.

The Snowboarders Nail File Trio (£3) – patterned trio of nail boards for super slick filing.

News - Oriflame Create A World First Lipstick

The Power Shine Lipstick is one of Oriflame's 'most loved and trusted products' and now you can buy it with a world first extra; the powder core.

The core allows you to create silky smooth lips with the look and feel of satin. Oriflame are calling this a 'marriage made in lipstick heaven' and it is already a must-have buy for many.

'Power Shine Satin Lipstick combines concentrated, pigment powders with reflecting Metashine pearls to create a unique sophisticated, outrageous shine. The cushioning texture allows the lipstick to glide on effortlessly for a stunning appearance. Its conditioning ingredients leave lips feeling beautifully moisturised and with eight show-stopping shades to choose from - make every occasion an excuse to glam up!'


Power Shine Satin Lipstick will be available to purchase from the Oriflame website or an Oriflame consultant from September 8th and will be priced at £8.45.

In Depth Review - Miners Cosmetics

This is going to be the first in a series of in depth reviews of a company's products. Each time I will take a selection items across the range available and review them all as a whole. I will be covering everything from big name brands to the lesser known ones, so keep it Alice In Beautyland!

Miners was started in 1937 and for over 70 years it has been creating cruelty-free cosmetics that are affordable and innovative. Their range is constantly changing to keep up with the latest trends and must-have looks and covers everything from eye shadow to the award winning Tin o' Tint. But what is it like?

Essential Eye & Highlighter Palette £1.49 (was £3.99) And Jewel Face Palette 99p (was £1.99)

These two palettes are really handy and would make an excellent addition to anybody's make up bag. The eye shadows are in great, fashionable colours and excellently complimented by the lipglosses and blushes. The shadows are nice and soft and they apply smoothly with no creasing. The blushers are quite shimmery but look excellent too and these will certainly get more use than if they had been matte. The only slight let down here are the lipglosses. These apply fairly well and give a great shine with no stickiness, but as neither have much colour they both look the same on the lips.

Essential Eye & Highlighter Palette: 7 eyeshadows; white, silver/grey, dark blue, black, dusky pink and beige. 3 highlighters; light pink, darker pink and orangey pink. With applicators.

Jewel Face Palette: 3 eyeshadows; jade green, coffee brown and fawn brown. 2 lipglosses; light brown and pinkish brown and a pink shimmer blush. With applicators and small mirror.

Love Phat Liner in Bossy £1.99 (was £3.99)

My first thoughts after playing this eyeliner were 'I wish I'd bought other colours too'. This chunky pencil can be used as eyeliner, definer or as an all over pencil. The jade green colour is the perfect tone too, not too bright and not so dark you may as well be using a black pencil, like others that I've tried in the past. The pencil doesn't tug or drag when you apply it, instead it glides on and stays where you want it to. These pencils come in six different shades and I will most certainly be buying them all!

Nail Colour in Fairytale of New York £2.99

Continuing the dark green theme, we head over to the nail polish section of Miners' range. The colour is bang on how it looks in the picture; a nice deep racing green. This would be great for those days when you want something dark but not black. The closer up you get however the greener it looks and so it wouldn't be mistaken for anything other than a dark green. The consistency was good and just one coat gave a great colour and coverage.

Lash Curl Mascara in Black 99p (was £3.99)

Mascaras are something I have trouble with. I have the most stubborn eyelashes on my right eye, made all the more annoying by the way the left ones curl effortlessly, so I'm constantly buying curling mascaras. I wasn't expecting much from this one at 99p, but it didn't let me down. 

First of all it actually got a bit of curl out of stubborn ol' right eye, and any form of movement there is impressive. There was also no clumping, in fact it made my lashes look as though there was no mascara on there and they were just naturally curled and long. And for less than a pound! Nice!

Mood Gloss Lipgloss in Peace Pout £2.49

Not going to lie, I'm a bit of a science geek, so when I spotted a lipgloss that reacts to pH levels, I got a little excited. In the name of science I applied some to the back of my hand to see what shade it went. I then rubbed some vinegar into my hand, wiped it off and applied some of the gloss to that section too. There was a difference in shade, condiment based lipgloss science has happened!

I can't really report that well on the shade as it will change for everyone, but neither shade I got was too overpowering they were both really wearable everyday shades. The shimmer in gloss is really nice too and compliments the pink really well. The gloss isn't sticky either, which is great, I hate that sticky feeling some glosses have.

So, overall I've been really happy with my Miners cosmetics and I wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were. I will certainly be buying more from Miners and reporting back to you guys when I do. I'm so glad that I've enjoyed these products as Miners were always a company that I, and my Mum, used to use. I'll admit that I didn't think they were around anymore, but with these products and the super cheap prices they can only do well!

Let me know if you check out anything by them too!

News - bareMinerals Donate October Profits To Help Cancer Suffers

Throughout the month of October bareMinerals will be donating £5 from every READY™ Blush in "The French Kiss" to Look Good Feel Better.

The charity puts on skincare and make-up workshops to help women to overcome the harsh effects that cancer treatment can visibly have on the body. Studies have shown that a positive attitude towards cancer can up survival rates and extend the time left for those with incurable cancers.

The workshops are held in over 59 locations in the UK in hospitals and cancer care centres. The Look Good Feel Better programme is also now available in 21 countries across the world.

"Look Good…Feel Better was set up by the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA) and gained charitable status in 1993. Today, the Programme has the support of over 40 leading companies and brands in the Beauty Industry."

'I was frightened to see how much hair had fallen out overnight and shocked at how I looked in the mirror. With some trepidation I went to a LGFB workshop and I can’t tell you how it helped me … I can now make myself look like the me I used to be, not the me who happens to be a cancer patient.' Kate Tijou, LGFB Beneficary

"bareMinerals READY™ Blush is part of our innovative new 'solid' mineral technology. Created through a unique cold-pressed method these formulas combine our proprietary SeaNutritive Mineral™ Complex composed of positively-charged sea minerals with antioxidants and anti-ageing ingredients for softer, smoother, skin. Our blushes contain cold-pressed camellia oil for incredible skin nourishment."

The shade chosen for the campaign is 'The French Kiss' and it was chosen because it is 'a wearable, buildable, fresh pretty pink colour suitable for any age or skin tone.' bareMinerals make up is also made without parabens, binders, fillers, or harsh chemicals making it better for sensitive skin and a healthier choice all round.

bareMinerals 'The French Kiss' blush is £22 and is available for participating stores and the bareMinerals website, just be sure to remember to order in October to get your donation counted! 

You can also help FGFB anytime by using Give As You Live, which can be easily downloaded onto your computer. This pops up whenever you shop and part of what you spend will be given as a donation.

Why 'real women' offend me

'Real women have curves'

We have all seen this written at some point and while I know what they mean it still never fails to annoy the hell out of me.

Your body shape does not make you more 'real' or any more of a woman. Neither does your job, how many children you have, your hair colour or anything else.

What makes you a woman is saying that you are. Feeling that you are. Knowing that you are.

Women are fat, thin, dark, light, successful business women, street cleaners, single mums, married with no children, models, heroin addicts, strippers, gay, straight, bisexual, long haired, short haired, curly hair, straight haired, fit, disabled, Black, White, Asian, athletic, sedate, office workers, farmers, some women even have/had a penis.

None of these attributes (and more) make anyone any more 'real' or any better.

We are all women.

Can we please stop comparing and competing, stand together and do great things?

News - Lush Launches 'Emotional Brilliance' Cosmetics

Lush, best known for their ethical range of skincare and bath products, have now brought out their own range of vegan cosmetics; Emotional Brilliance. 

More than just a cosmetics range, working with Strategic Behavioural therapist Lady Kennedy, Emotional Brilliance is said to match your psychological needs. Whether you are in store or online you need to spin the colour wheel and when it stops, see which 3 colours you are drawn to the most. The importance here is you choose ‘Not your favourites. Not what your friends like. The three that say something to you - right now.’

After your selection you then get a breakdown of what your chosen colours mean broken down into three points; your strength or weakness, your subconscious and your aspiration. I did a spin to find out some more and the results were a little too bang on it has to be said. (I’m independent but need to be in charge and take back the control.)

“I love lipstick, but why wasn’t one great colour ever enough, why was I drawn to a particular one on different days, or even sometimes feel the need to change colour part way through a day? After chatting with like-minded lipstick junkies, it struck us that it wasn’t about what clothes we were wearing but more about how we were feeling and so the idea was born.” Rowena Bird, Creator of Emotional Brilliance and Co-founder of Lush

You can buy Emotional Brilliance from any Lush store or online priced from £14.50.

Source: The Beauty Pages

Going Up In The World!

I have a shiny new domain name!

You can now find the blog at www.aliceinbeautyland.co.uk which is so much easier to remember!

So happy!

News - Flawless Magazine Reaches Out To Inspire British Women

A new magazine is heading to the UK shores but it's not just another one of beauty and glamour, this one delves deeper than that.

Flawless Women Magazine aims to celebrate and inspire women, helping them through their darker days with inspiring real life stories and never airbrushing any photos!

"Statistics show that at least one in 100 women in the UK are affected by some kind of eating disorder, one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes and more women than ever are opting for plastic surgery procedures to change their appearance. FCM stands apart from regular magazines in that we will be using all of our resources to raise money for charities that support and inspire these women and others in need."

The magazine already has support from some big names such as Ruby Wax, Claire Sweeney Katie Price and more. In light of the London 2012 Olympics FWM has a dedicated Sports section exclusively profiling female athletes with support and interviews from the likes of Team GB's Amy Smith and Jessica Walker.

You can read the latest copy of FWM at FlawlessWomenMag.org or follow them on Twitter @flawlesswomenmg

Polish of the Week - Croc Effect

This week I've been buying all the nail polish, ten bottles in fact! Out of them all I've chosen Barry M's Croc Effect to share with you.

I apologise for the poor quality photo but my camera has died and I can't find new batteries or the mains lead.*sigh*

So to do this I painted my nails with a coat of Barry M 134. While this is still damp, paint a coat of Croc Effect on. The splitting comes as the polish dries and the cracks are bigger the thicker the cost you apply.

I'm going to be writing up about the other polishes I bought too soon!

Playing with Ombré

Tonight I decided to have a bash at ombré nails and thought I would let you guys know how I got on!

I used a base coat and then applied two coats of Collection 2000 Hot Looks in Spangles (31). Then a took an eye-shadow applicator and began to sponge on 17 Lasting Fix in Exquisite. 

I built up the colour in layers and used a little of the Spangles to help blend. 

I used the top coat before the green polishes had dried 100% to help smudge them together a little more.

The overall look is quite nice and with a bit of practice, and maybe a better sponge, I think this is going to be a common look on my nails. It was also much easier than I thought it was going to be! Yey!

Polish of the Week - Tropical Island

This week I wanted to choose something nice and summery to match the weather I've been enjoying, so I have gone with 17 Lasting Fix in Tropical Island.

I've worn this polish quite a lot recently as it's such a cheery orange colour and matches a maxi dress I have oh so well! There's tiny gold bits in there too, which don't really jump out at you but do give a great shine and adds some depth to the colour.

It only takes two coats to get a nice finish and it's a good consistency too, not too gloopy, not too runny.

17 Lasting Fix in Tropical Island is available from Boots for £2.99

Louboutin Manicure Technique

Most people today are familiar with the trademark red soles on a pair of Louboutin shoes, however few of us can afford them. With this manicure you get the same eye catching contrast, without the hefty price tag!

So what do we do?
To start with prime and protect your natural nails with a base coat.

Next, you will need to take a small piece of tape and apply it to the skin under your nail. You are going to be painting the underside of your nail, so this protects the skin from being painted too. Try and get the tape as low down under the nail as you can.

Take your red nail varnish and paint the underside of your nail. This will need 2-3 coats.

Unwrap your finger, and paint the top side of your nail with a sexy glossy black.

Allow everything to dry, apply a top coat and tahdah! Finished!

I used Sally Hansen Insta-grip Fast Dry Base Coat, 17 High Gloss in risky red and Barry M in 47.

Try this out with other colours too, maybe a black and neon set or even two shades of the same colour. Let me know how you get on!

Nail art is more than just polish and glitter!

Photographer Alice Bartlett has taking nail art to a new level with her series of photos entitled 'The World at Your Fingertips'.

After a shopping trip to a model store Alice decided to cover her nails in the green flocking that is commonly used in model making for grass. This then gave her the idea for the series of photos and so she added some little people and got snapping.

I'm loving these so much, but what do you think? Has it given you any inspiration for crazy nail art?

Source: stylist.co.uk

It begins...

I've been playing about with different techniques to see what I think of them and how easy they are and so on. So, what have a I found out?

First of all I tried out a gradient with stripes using cellotape. The gradient came out ok, but the stripes didn't look all that. I think I was a bit worried about the tape taking the varnish off, so I didn't push it down that hard. However, next time I have a go I will do as it didn't damage the varnish at all. If you want to have a go at this, just make sure the varnish is completely dry first.
I used, from left to right, 17 Supershine in Simply Pink, 17 Lasting Fix in Royal Rose, Soho Basic NYC in 54, Rimell 60 second in Blue my mind. The stripes are done with Barry M in 47.

Next came a text based adventure! To do this you need to apply a pale varnish to the nail and let it dry. Then take a small piece of newspaper and soak it in alcohol, I used vodka. You can do this technique with water but the print didn't come off quite as well when I tried it. You then put the wet paper on the nail and pat down with a cotton bud. Leave it for a few seconds and peel off. There was a touch of smudging when i put on the top coat, but I will certainly be trying this again soon, I think it looks so good!
I used 17 Supershine in Simply Pink

Next I thought I'd go for a bit of marbling. I've done water marbling before (I'll do a post about that soon) so I thought I would give the pin method a go. Paint on a base coat and allow it to dry. Then roughly daub on a lighter colour and spread it about the nail using a pin or cocktail stick/toothpick. Do the same with an even lighter colour but don't wait for them to dry in between, that's how you get them to mingle together! This comes out different every time and because it doesn't involve 'being perfect', it's great for anyone with bad hands, or who struggle painting their dominant hand.
I used Rimmel 60 second in Blue my Mind for the base, with 17 Supershine in Simply Pink and 17 Lasting Fix in Royal Rose. 

I liked this technique a lot and it reminded me of flames, so I gave it another go on my thumb.

This time instead of a stripe, I put a blob in the corner and teased it out with the cocktail stick from there. I really like this technique and I'm going to be doing a whole lot more of it in future!
I used Barry M in 47 for the base, with 17 high gloss in Risky Red, 17 Lasting Fix in Tropical Island and Barry M 134.

Down the rabbit hole we go!

Ok, so I'm 28 and while I've always done my make up and nails etc, I've never really been 'into it' like many of my friends.....until now. For some reason I'm now excited by nail art and new eye-shadow techniques so I'm starting this blog to keep track of my triumphs and fails!