Around this time last year, I was heading to London, England on the start of a two-week European vacay. For the past week or so I’ve had major Europe withdrawals, especially seeing all the Instagram pics from the various fashion weeks (London, Milan, and right now, Paris). Although it’s not the same at all, but I’ve been managing to keep the London spirit alive by playing with various cosmetics from the country.
My favourite British makeup brand? Well, Rimmel London of course! No doubt, England gets the new releases before us North American folk (when I was there, I saw so many products that we didn’t have), but some of them are finally making their way across the pond. New to the ballot? The new Kate Moss Idol Eyes mascara.
This mascara, housed in a silver casing with her signature in red (as seen on many other Kate Moss for Rimmel London products), was created by the supermodel herself. I thought originally this was part of their ScandalEyes line, but it doesn’t appear to be that way, according to their Canadian website.
Idol Eyes has a curved brush and is billed to feature a zero-clump volume and voluminous lift formula. If you know Rimmel London mascaras well, this brush is a bit of deja vu, as their ScandalEyes Rockin’ Curves mascara has the same curve to it. The thin brush tip is supposed to grab hard-to-reach inner lashes and the amplified base creates dramatic volume and curves.
I’ve been using this mascara for a few days now and I have to be honest here, it’s a let down. I’ve usually had really good luck with Rimmel mascaras, so I had high hopes for this one, however, it doesn’t really do much for my lashes. There’s no volume, no oomph, and – sorry Kate Moss- no supermodel factor here. Also, the brush is cool to look at, but kinda pointless. I think it would do a better job if it wasn’t curved, as I don’t really see the point of it. Yeah, it’s different, but it doesn’t deliver.
I’m a big fan of the other Kate Moss for Rimmel products, so I’m sad this mascara was such a let down. On the plus side, there’s like 10 ScandalEyes mascaras to choose from, as well as their popular Lash Accelerator line, so Rimmel has more than enough mascaras to make up for this one.
Have you tried Rimmel London’s Icon Eyes by Kate Moss mascara?
Please note, I was sent this product from PR. All opinions are my own.
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It’s that time of the year again. We are currently in the midst of Paris Fashion Week, with New York, London, and Milan having already showed their collections these past few months. Although many of us will never get the chance to don the gorgeous collections that so many designers send down the runway, it’s not just about the clothes that are setting the trend for the seasons to come. Beauty and nails are also taking a front-row seat, also setting the bar for what’s going to be hot in this next season.
This month’s NYC Beauty Pro challenge was to recreate a nail look from New York Fashion Week. There were tons of different fabulous options to choose from, but I had to go with Rebecca Minkoff’s chevron manicure from her Fall 2015 collection.
This manicure is seriously so simple to recreate, and you only need three colours, in fact, you can even pull it off with two. It doesn’t look like she used a nude base, but I chose to go with a nude lacquer all over the nail just to keep it nice and clean. I believe that the actual colours used were Essie, however, I’ll be using New York Color polishes, which are way less expensive ($1.99 a pop) and probably last the same amount of time on the nail (I don’t find essie to be very long lasting).
Here’s how you can DIY this simple, gorgeous manicure.
1. Lay down a base coat to protect your nails and to even out the nail bed. I used New York Color Strip Me Off Base Coat ($1.99), which lets you peel off the colour as opposed to using a nail polish remover. This stuff is great with glitter polishes. I have the OPI version of this base coat as well, and they are quite handy, essentially it’s like Elmers glue (it even smells like it). The only thing I didn’t like is that it takes a while to dry on your nails, way longer than a traditional base coat.
2. Paint a nude-coloured polish all over your nails. You may have to use two to three coats to make it completely opaque. I used New York Color In a New York Minute Quick Dry Polish in Prospect Park Bloom. Make sure this is completely dry before moving onto the next step.
3. With a red colour, like New York Color In a Minute Quick Dry polish in Rivington Red, create two diagonal lines at the tips of your nails, making a chevon pattern.
4. After the red is completely dry, with a grey or navy blue, like New York Color Quick Dry polish in Chinatown, make that same chevron pattern over the red, making sure to make the lines smaller, so the chevron is stacked. Make sure that it’s completely dry (I had to use two coats of the grey to make it opaque), and then finish off the manicure with a topcoat, like NYC In a New York Minute Quick Dry polish in Grand Central Station.
And that’s it! Super easy, you just have to have some patience and make sure you do the steps nice and slow. I was actually surprised at how well this turned out. I used the brushes straight from the polish, but you could also choose to use a nail art brush for more precision.
What was your favourite nail look from NYFW?
Please note, I am part of New York Color’s #NYCBeautyPro program. All opinions are my own.
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It seems like nowadays a plain cream polish is just so boring. Why have one solid glossy colour when you can add glitter, texture, or matte? It all started with those nail polish strips, and now brands are coming out with different formulas of polish that amp up your plain ol’ manicure.
New from Sally Hansen, the drugstore brand has released two new lines dealing with texture. There’s the Luxe Lace line and the Velvet Texture polishes. Luxe Lace is available in three different shades and is supposed to recreate a lace fabric-inspired effect. You can wear it alone or layer it over your favourite shade to create a lace effect to any colour.
I’ve seen this type of overcoat before from brands, but rather than lace, I’ve always thought of it more like a snowflake texture. The polish is made up of hexagonal and round pieces in a clear base. I have it in the colour Eyelet, the white colour, and although I still do find it more snowflake-looking than lace, I have seen swatches of the other colours, and the black one in particular looks more like lace than the others. To be honest though, unless someone knows it’s from the Luxe Lace line, I don’t think they would put two and two together and be like “hey, your nails look just like lace!” unless they quickly glance at your nails and then look away. I think its a bit of a stretch, but good on Sally Hansen for trying.
The other texture line that Sally Hansen has introduced is the Velvet Texture polishes. These guys — again, available in three shades — have a plush, velvet look. I have the black shade, Velveteen, and to be completely honest, these are just matte nail polishes. Essie tried doing something similar with their cashmere line, but marketing ploys aside, these are just nail colours that dry matte. With that being said, I did like this polish (it would actually be kinda cool to layer Eyelet from the Luxe Lace line on top – although it would get rid of that “velvet” look), and if you like dark colours, I would look into these. They aren’t fully matte, there is a little hint of a texture to them, not something like the Sugar line, so I can see where Sally Hansen was going with these. No need to top these either as they would lose their effect. Overall wear was pretty good too, the colour lasted a few days before I saw chips (it also went on pretty opaque, so thumbs up for that).
Overall, I think these new textured polishes from Sally Hansen are a bit of a stretch, but I think they came up with some pretty cool concepts with the two lines. Regardless of whether I think they look like their namesakes, they still make for some pretty innovative polishes.
What do you think of the textured nail polish craze?
Please note, polishes provided by PR. All opinions are my own.
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