Do you ever judge a nail polish from the colour in the bottle? I do all the time.
I received Avon’s Opal Top Coat as a gift from a coworker and although I was very thankful that she thought of me enough to order it for me from Avon, I didn’t love it. To me, it looked like a nail polish you would buy a pre-teen or something; it was one of those tacky-looking glitters. And so it sat with the rest of my polishes, only reaching for it once just to say that I wore it.
I forgot about the polish until FASHION magazine’s Beauty Panel challenge a couple weeks back that was all about textured nail polish. Ellie Somfelean from My Beauty Box was rocking a blue nail polish with silver flecked glitter and I fell in love with it. When I read the write up it turns out she used Avon’s Opal Top Coat. Needless to say, I took off what I was wearing and painted my nails. Well, my friends, I am obsessed.
Without flash.
I layered the topcoat over OPI’s Eurso Euro, which is a dark cobalt blue colour. The trick with the Avon topcoat is to layer it over a darker colour; that really makes the glitter pop. To me, this combo of polishes is much like Deborah Lippmann’s Across the Universe (it’s like the poor girl’s DIY version, cause that polish is like C$22). I also want to mention that there is also a similar glitter polish in the Ciate Mini Mani Advent Calendar, so if you have that kit, you are covered.
Overall, I’m obsessed. Layer this beauty over a darker polish and voila! Snowflake nails, perfect for the season.
Lesson learned, don’t judge a polish until you experiment with it. Or until you find swatches. Either or.
One more thing, I just looked online and its on sale for $2.99. Close this browser and order it now.
Have you tried Avon’s Opal Top Coat? Any other polishes you judged before trying them?
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With the holiday season fast approaching, that means tons of glitter, glitz, and parties! I’m all about looking fab during the holidays and love dressing up, layering on the makeup, and fluffy the hair up. The bigger, the better!
For this particular look I used the Sephora Color Anthology palette, which is a makeup library comprised of 70 eyeshadows. If you are lacking in eyeshadows, this is the palette for you. From nudes to fun shades, there is every colour you could imagine in this giant fold-out palette. The plus side? It’s only C$42 and the quality of the shadows is really good as well; they go on quite opaque and blend really nicely.
Because all that glitters is gold, I chose to go with a gold/copper smoky eye, complete with falsies and nude lips. All the eyeshadows I used for this tutorial are from the Sephora Color Anthology palette.
Here’s how to get the look!
1.Lay down a gold cream eyeshadow as a base. I used Sephora Pantone Universe Light Storm Liquid Shadow in Caramel Cream (currently on sale!).
2. With a matte brown shadow, apply this to your crease.
3. With a shimmery light gold eyeshadow, apply this to the inner corners of your eyes, blending towards the middle.
4. Grabbing a copper colour, apply this from the middle to the outer ends of your lids.
5. With your blending brush, pick up a shimmery purple/copper colour and apply this to your crease, blending everything together.
6. Apply a liquid eyeliner, winging it out. I used Marc Jacobs Magic Marc’er in Blacquer.
7. Curl your lashes, apply a few coats of mascara, and then pop on falsies.
8. With a full-coverage foundation and a beauty blender, apply this to your face. I used Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 foundation.
9. Apply a concealer under your eyes to mask any dark circles. I used Covergirl + Olay Eye Rehab Concealer, which is a CC cream concealer.
10. To brighten the eye area, apply another concealer, this time a few shades lighter than your skin tone. *Note, you can skip step nine and just do this. Personally, I like the mix of the two steps though.
11. Fill in your brows and then with a cream white eyeshadow, apply this to your brow bone to open up the eye area. I first filled in my brows using the matte brown colour from the Sephora Color Anthology palette then went over them with Benefit’s Gimme Brow. For the highlight, I used Covergirl Flamed Out Shadow Pencil in Crystal Flame.
12. With a matte white shadow, apply this over the cream shadow along your brow bone.
13. Grab the copper colour you used earlier and apply this along your lower lash line.
14. With that purple/copper colour you used for the crease, apply this on the outer edges of your lower lashes to smoke it out. Apply a black pencil eyeliner to your waterline.
15. To really make this look sleek, contour with a matte bronzer. I used Smashbox Bronze Lights Bronzer in Suntan Matte with my Make Up For Ever Artisan 154 brush (this brush is perfect for contouring the cheekbones).
16. With either a peach or tan-toned blush, apply this to the apples of your cheeks, blending up. I used NARS Madly.
17. To finish everything up, I used the Hourglass Ambient Lighting palette. I brushed Dim Light all over my face, Radiant Light over my contouring bronzer, and then Iridescent Light as my highlight.
And that’s the final look! There are a lot of steps involved, but I love the outcome. I think the Sephora Color Anthology palette is a great deal for what you get, and it’s notebook style makes it easy to store or travel with. I don’t own any of those Coastal Scents or BH Cosmetic palettes, but I feel like with this one, I won’t ever need to order those and it’s from a brand that I know and love already.
The palette is special for the holiday season and you can still purchase it online at Sephora.com. I personally haven’t seen this one in stores.
I hope you enjoyed the look, and let me know if you tried it out!
Please note, this post contains product that were sent by PR. All opinions are my own.
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I’m not a huge Hunger Games fan, but I can’t help but feel my inner Katniss come out when I’m rocking items from Covergirl’s new Capitol collection.
Released just in time for the second instalment of the series, Catching Fire (out today!), this collection is on fi-yah. Featuring sizzling items like limited edition Outlast Glosstini Nail Glosses, Flamed Out Nail Stickers, Lipslicks Smoochies Sizzle Gloss, and the Flamed Up Mega Curl mascara.
I haven’t read any of the novels but did see the first movie and enjoyed it. I thought the idea was kinda risqué for a series geared towards young adults, but then again I had to read The Handmaid’s Tale in high school and that novel isn’t really PG either…
Anyways, back to the collection. The colours and items scream Hunger Games; think lots of oranges, reds, and of course, flames. Since they already have so many “flamed out” items already in the Covergirl line, this is a natural fit for the beauty brand. The nine metallic nail polishes are glitzy like Effie Trinket, whereas the Flamed Out nail stickers, a first for the brand, will have you feeling as edgy (and badass) as Katniss Everdeen.
I received some items from the collection, including a Glosstini in Seared Bronze, Smoochies Sizzle Gloss in Turn Up The Heat, the Flamed Up Mega Curl mascara (which features a curved brush to coat every lash), and the Flamed Out Nail Stickers in Flamed Out.
Since Catching Fire was released this week, I thought I would do some Capitol-ready nails to coincide with the movie. Plus, flames aren’t really my ‘thang so I wanted people to think it’s more Hunger Games than Harley Davidson…
Anyways, I painted a few coats of Seared Bronze on my nails, which I LOVE, the bronzer colour is filled with purple, green, and pink microglitter which makes the colour really pop and shine. To finish off my hot manicure, I popped on the Flamed Out Nail Stickers in Flamed Out, which are sheer aside from the flames, so you see the colour underneath. These guys must be made for people with huge nail beds because I had trouble finding sizes to fit my nails (there are 16 stickers in a pack). Does anyone else find they had that problem?
Really Covergirl? Who has nail beds that large?
Anyways, I paired up my blazing nails with the coral with gold shimmer Sizzle Gloss and I was ready to tackle the games (except not, I would probably be the first one outed).
If you want more Capitol-ready looks (perhaps you can sport one to the premier tonight), check out Covergirl’s site, which has 12 looks inspired by each district.
Let me know if you’re hungry for any items from the collection. Also, if you are heading to the movie tonight, make sure you go early, otherwise may the odds ever be in your favour ;).
Disclosure: I am a #BeautyUnited blogger. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events. The opinions on this blog are my own.
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