american apparel nails

LOOK Beauty Nail Pop in Dove and American Apparel Nails in Meteor Shower

I never knew American Apparel did Nail Lacquer until I was in there recently buying some clothes and spotted the stand by the till. While I think it's probably been about for a couple of years it's still a fairly recent thing and not something everyone is entirely aware of. I got this a little while ago now but have been waiting for the right time to pop it on as I was so undecided on what colour to put it against. When I spotted this gorgeous green grey from LOOK Beauty I knew it would be the perfect accompaniment.

It applies well with a good even coverage, the thing is some of the gold flakies are a bit big and can often stick out at weird jaunty angles making for sharp nails that tend to catch on clothing. I found myself gently pressing some of them down into the polish with my fingers before it dried or picking off some of the worst offenders. I love the two colours together though, it reminds me of a mosaic floor or something? It's quite classic and pretty but not too in your face glitter which is perfect.

Their polishes retail at £9 each and are in gorgeous bottles. I love the branding and the design, it makes me want to collect them all and stack them neatly in a row! They're definitely at the more expensive end of polish but I think they're great - but I have only tried the glitter so far and not an actual colour so will have to report back further on those. LOOK Beauty Nail Pops retail at just £5 from Superdrug and they are superb quality. I have tried several of the colours and they always last for ages and ages on me without chipping - this mani for example lasted about a week before the thumbs started to chip! I think they're so worth the money and I have pretty much the entire collection!

What do you think of my mani with American Apparel and LOOK? Do you think the AA polishes are worth the dollar? Do you use AA or had you not heard they did nail lacquers? Let me know!

Love, Zozo 

x

Disclaimer: The LOOK Beauty polish was provided for me free for consideration but the American Apparel polish was purchased by me with my own money. 

barcelona by instagram

 

| 01. the view from the hotel pool | 02. a graffiti-ed building |

| 03. spotted! ASIWYFA in spain | 04. a cold coke in the sun |

| 05. ice cream spanish style | 06. the entrance to the w hotel barcelona |

 

| 07. ready for a night out in sugarhill playsuit | 08. bourjois and orly was my nail choice |

 

| 09. the outside of our hotel | 10. getting lost down side streets |

 

| 11. a bicycle ride i was very wobbly on | 12. my room |

     

| 13. the cathedral | 14. burying my feet in the warm spanish sand - nature's exfoliant |

  

| 15. an after eight ice cream | 16. blogging on the sofa in my hotel room |

     

| 17. chilling out for a bit | 18. handpainted girly street art by 'Alice' |

 

| 19. just off the ramblas | 20. shopping in sephora |

 

| 21. found a little bit of eine! | 22. me on the beach |

This is only half of it. Stay tuned for more about Barcelona...

Love, Zozo

x

Disclaimer: The trip to Barcelona and activities featured as well as accommodation were part of a press trip and paid for by EasyJet but I have chosen to feature them as I had the best time!

bourjois' dupe for o.p.i teenage dream

Bourjois Rainbow Apparition Nail Enamel and O.P.I Teenage Dream

Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry collection for O.P.I was one of the most sought after O.P.I polishes from 2011. It's easy to see why, it's baby pink jelly texture with multi-coloured sparkly glitter appealed to young girls and magpies alike. Step forward a year later and there's finally a high street alternative in the shape of this soon to be released polish by French favourites Bourjois. It's at a purse friendly price and is basically a perfect duplicate. Hurrah! As with all duplicates nothing is ever quite 100% the same and Rainbow Apparition is different in as far as I can see, just two ways. Let's take a closer look:

top: bourjois rainbow apparition | bottom: opi teenage dream

So Teenage Dream is a baby pink as I mentioned earlier, but Rainbow Apparition is more of a soft purple. It's not the world's biggest difference though, and is only noticeable when pulled out on white paper. The only other difference is that Teenage Dream has the finest tiny glitter in the jelly whereas Rainbow Apparition is slightly thicker and stands out more. The overall effect is that Teenage Dream is a sparkly base with big glitter chunks, and Rainbow Apparition has multi-dimensional glitter throughout. These are two tiny little factors though and overall it's look, texture and final effect is basically exactly the same as the O.P.I. If you have Teenage Dream and are wondering if you need this, i'd say probably not, but for most of us who found Teenage Dream just too expensive to part cash with or genuinely couldn't get hold of, i'd say this needs to sit firmly on your radar. And hey, all good things come to those who wait eh!

A couple of things to note about the Bourjois polish that I like. Number one is that I love the handle! I own a couple of these 1 Seconde polishes already and I love how easy they are to apply when holding the long handle. They also have a fab wide brush that makes application so easy to get neatly, especially near the cuticles and the base of the nail. I know they're a tiny touch more expensive than lots of nail favourites but I think these little details make it worth it completely. The newer formulation promises to be more gel like in texture too and I think they are great, with fantastic coverage and quality. 

Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Enamel in Rainbow Apparition will retail at £5.99 from June 2012 so bookmark it now if you're after a little Teenage Dream fix!

What do you think of Rainbow Apparition? Did you cave and buy Teenage Dream the first time or are you secretly glad you saved your dollar? Are you thrilled there's an upcoming dupe or are you so over it?

Love, Zozo 

x

Disclaimer: The Bourjois polish featured was a PR sample given to me free for consideration and the O.P.I Teenage Dream was a gift.

maybelline super stay 10h tint gloss

Maybelline's Super Stay 10h Tint Gloss

I know exactly what you're thinking, don't worry, I thought it too. "Isn't that? Oh that reminds me of..!" And yup, i'm pretty certain Maybelline knew it too. Oh hello YSL Glossy Stains! Oh yes, enter in Maybelline's offering to the new stain/gloss lip product world, what they're calling the Super Stay 10h Tint Gloss. I'm never one sucked in by products that tell me the time they're going to last, so many brands seem to do it now and it completely washes over my head. It's not something i'm at all interested in, or sells me on the product. With this, Maybelline are claiming it lasts for 10 hours straight. If you think about it, that's a really long time for a lip product, and as soon as I saw it I wasn't 100% sure it would be accurate. 

YSL Glossy Stains cost a lot of money, one of them equals out at roughly enough to feed Del and I for two days, twenty two items from Make Up Academy or two new tops from h&m, whichever you prefer. £22.50, that is a lot of your English Pounds and although I had a bad experience with a pale one, I now have a darker shade and I have to say it is amazing. These bad boys from Maybelline retail at just £6.99, just a third of the price of one Glossy Stain. Much better! But are they as good? 

The YSL Glossy Stains come in twenty different shades to begin with, which is a huge plus point because it gives loads of different options for colours. In the USA, Maybelline's Super Stay 10h Tint Gloss comes in ten shades, not bad not bad, but in the UK we only get five! Rubbish. They're still a nice range even if they're quite similar but there's still enough for everyone to find the right shade. Lets take a look at the four I have, sorry I don't have the last one!

l- r: forever coral, lasting pink, forever fuchsia and timeless plum

I popped them on my arm at the start of the day and then took a follow up picture with the same camera settings 10 hours later so you could see the wear:





As you can see, they don't really stain. This is on my arm too so bear in mind the lips are used a lot more, eating, drinking, even talking! I find the Glossy Stains from YSL properly stain my lips for 24 hours but these take a few top ups during even the 10 hours it claims. They're also not quite as glossy as the YSL ones, but I do like the finish they give.

Overall i'd say if you're after a stain this isn't really it, but they are a great lip product because of the fact that they're not really a gloss. They're definitely however, a tint. They tint the lips and provide really lovely pay off. I can see lots of girlies loving these due to the fact that they're not a massive stainer and also that they're not horribly glossy - I keep reaching for them due to that fact too, and it's because glosses can often be too sticky, or too much. This gives off great pay off and it will satisfy anyone craving Glossy Stains!

Maybelline 10h Tint Glosses will be on sale in the full five colours (Endless Ruby not featured) from April 2012 for just £6.99.

What do you think of these Maybelline 10h Tint Glosses? Are you thinking of grabbing them instead of Glossy Stains? Will they never compare to Glossy Stains? Do you like the packaging? I LOVE the applicator! Need more lip products with applicators like that...

Love, Zozo 

x

Disclaimer: The four 10h Tint Glosses were provided free for consideration.

pink dip dye and face of the day

| hair by lisa shepherd london |

| foundation: bare minerals in fair | concealer: nars | eyeliner: fashionista secret gel eyeliner in short list | set with illamasqua pigment in zeitgeist | lipstick: loreal rouge caresse in impulsive fuchsia | blush: nars super orgasm |

I very rarely do either of what is outlined in this post and that is 1. A Sunday catchup and 2. My makeup face. I think this is purely because I don't think i'm blessed with the best face for closeup photos! I have always struggled a bit with confidence on this blog and popping up a close up photo of my face isn't always what I want to do, we're all human after all and it took me a hell of a lot of courage at first to even post any sort of photo of my face on here let alone regularly! I feel that if you write a blog recommending things you like and wear it's only relevant every now and then, and true and integral, to post a photograph of what you do actually wear and how the makeup sits on you so here you go - a little snapshot of my mug! And I promise I will try my hardest to overcome the courage issues and post more photos of my face - if you like this one that is *trembles*. 

So yesterday I popped down to see Jason at Lisa Shepherd London to get my real hair dip dyed! If you didn't know by now, I think most of you do seeing as I outlined in a post how I dyed them, my dip dye before was with hair extensions. This was great because it gave me a chance to test the water, see if after a few months I really really liked it still and fortunately I still did. Did any of you know that Lisa Shepherd does crazy colours? I didn't, but was thrilled when I heard they could do my pink. I'll write a full post outlining the salon and it's colour pricing and how it works later on but for now... ta daaa! Here it is. It looks quite red in these photos but the colour is so vibrant it can sometimes show a reddy pink. It's very bright in real life and I absolutely adore it. So yes, this is my real hair now and I plan on keeping it that way for some time!

Tomorrow I fly off to Barcelona with Easyjet and i'm very excited albeit a little nervous. But of course I am, i'm flying away on my own without the comfort that is my Del and staying in a hotel by myself. I have this weird anxiety thing sometimes where I can't really sleep at night at all unless someone else is in the bed with me - I think once you're in a relationship with someone for so long you get used to them being there and when they're not it throws you. I'm looking forward to having a few nights all to myself but I know i'll struggle to sleep a bit without the familiar face of a stinky boy! The bit i'm most looking forward to is the bit where I know i'll flourish, our free day on Tuesday. Basically i'm a complete nightmare and magpie. If i see something I like the look of i'll walk towards it. If i'm going past a tube stop i've never got off at before i'll get off there. Taking me for a walk is a little like controlling a toddler, I do often just run off of my own accord going 'ooooo0oohhh...' but on this one occasion, it works.

I love interaction on this blog, please do tweet me, facebook me or comment here telling me what you think, what you want to see and what you like. I love to chat. If we've never met in real life or if you read lots and have never said anything before, come through and say hi! Hope you have a lovely Sunday. Bear in mind the next few posts will be scheduled posts while i'm away and look out for a cheeky Barcelona catch up while i'm there on Tuesday. Do you like my pink dip dye? Should I do more face posts? 

Love, Zozo

x

Disclaimer: The haircut at Lisa Shepherd was provided free and each product used above on my face was also all PR samples sent to me for consideration. 

l'oreal rouge caresse lipsticks

Move over Revlon Lip Butters, L'Oreal Rouge Caresse is in town!

Oh my word. The world has gone Lip Butter crazy lately and it's been a hot topic in the beauty world for the last.. god knows how long. What feels like forever! Always tempted but never quite committed to rushing online for their online release or running in store to grab one this week, something about them put me off. I think it was the realisation when describing them to some non-blogger friends that realistically, they really weren't worth 1. the hassle and 2. the price. They're probably lovely, soft and pretty but I have way too many soft tinted lip products already and i'm far more interested in something that can promise me the softness and joy of a 'lip butter' but pack a punch pigmentation wise. I have just discovered the Clinique Chubby Stick and I much prefer the shade range, look, feel and overall application of these to the Revlon Lip Butters, so that's my craving satisfied! After all that, hello there, L'Oreal Rouge Caresse! These are L'Oreal's answer to the coveted Lip Butter by Revlon and I think they definitely deserve a bit more recognition than they're currently getting. Although they have a gorgeous new TV ad, I think a lot of girlies are still dazed by Lip Butter lust and haven't given these as much of a second glance. Well luckily for you i've got some here and want to show you just how pretty they are!

The three shades I have are Sweet Berry, Aphrodite Scarlet and Impulsive Fuchsia. Here are some skin and lip swatches of how they apply in that order:







I really love all three shades actually but I think my absolute favourite is Impulsive Fuchsia. I love the pigment in it and the tone of the pink, because it's totally the shade I would go for normally when choosing a lipstick. In terms of how they felt and applied, I felt Impulsive Fuchsia and Sweet Berry apply the best with the most pigment and smoothness. Aphrodite Scarlet is a lovely shade but it's a bit gritty on application, I think it seems to be packed with a bit more glitter than the others and due to the soft buttery nature of the lipsticks this shows through in application a little bit more.

I'm sold on these and I need pretty much every single shade because the whole range is a complete win! There's ten shades in total and I definitely recommend going into Boots and swatching because they look pretty different online to in real life. I'm not going to stand here and say they're definitely better than the Lip Butters because it's always all down to personal preference but my preference is that right now I prefer these. They're a fab halfway house between lipstick and lip balm and I was thrilled with the pigmentation.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks cost just £7.99 from Boots and they're on sale now.

What do you think of these Rouge Caresse Lipsticks from L'Oreal? Do you like the Revlon Lip Butters? Do you think you'll grab any of these shades? How do you feel about these lip balm products coming out at the moment?

Love, Zozo

x

Disclaimer: The L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipsticks were provided for me free for consideration from L'Oreal but this doesn't affect my opinion, i'm sure i'll try some Lip Butters better in future too but right now= love!