giving essie a second chance...

(Russian Roulette, Mint Candy Apple, Master Plan)

 I'm not one to dabble in high-end nail polishes if I'm honest. Sure, I love my OPI's and have the occasional Nails Inc free gift splurge (we all know how I feel about their Gel Effects), but when it comes to my fingers and toes I'm easily satisfied with a good ol' Barry M or Models Own offering. At £7.99 Essie isn't a high-end brand, but not a budget one either in the scale of nail prices. I don't know about you but I don't just pop one in my basket as I'm walking by as I do a Rimmel 60 seconds. However, I did do a little dabble in a few Essie's from Fragrance Direct a while back as they were going for £1.99, but I just wasn't impressed. Sure they were nice, but they didn't have pigmentation to rival any budget brand at all, and so although worn every once in a while, they didn't spark an Essie love in me. When I saw Boots had a 3for2 offer on the other week though, I decided it was time to give Essie another chance, picking up Master Plan, one I've been coverting for a while now, Mint Candy Apple, a cult favourite, and Russian Roulette, as I needed another and you can never have too much red in my opinion. On first impressions, I wasn't all that impressed again, I'm afraid to say. Yes the colours are nice, but nothing out of the ordinary (expect for maybe Master Plan but I prefer Nails Inc Porchester Square personally). You easily need two coats, maybe three, to get a full coverage (and I'm all about the one swipe and go). 

However, they did impress me on staying power this time. I rocked Master Plan for a whole 6 days without chipping. Now that's something. 

If you're looking for classic colours with staying power, you want to do your nails once a week and don't mind waiting them extra minutes for another coat to dry, then Essie is for you. But if you're all about the chopping and changing and having a collection with every colour under the rainbow, these probably aren't. If they were to bring out some stellar new shades in summer I might consider, but for the price and the average quality, I won't be getting my pennies out again for this brand anytime soon. Sorry Essie!

Maybe third time lucky?

Lots of love,

Charlotte

Giving up lipstick for Lent...

Apologies that I've been a little MIA lately but life has gotten super-hectic again, I can't wait for easter to get back to blogging all the time. For anyone who doesn't know, I've giving up lipstick for lent (buying not wearing), and in a mission to keep myself sane and actually get through the whole 40 DAYS ARGH I'm making every effort to use all my different lip products that I love and have forgotten!

Before I gave lipstick up, I had a teeny weeny (read: huge) splurge on lipstick and these are two that I got last week. I've bought a lot of Mac lately, oops!!

Here's a nice nude/pink I've been after for a while, Pink Plaid. It can look really pink or quite nude depending on my other makeup and whether I have a tan, but it's far from bright so it's the perfect everyday shade. Second I got the newly re-released Heroine. If you follow me on instagram (charlgaga) you miiiiight have seen my purple lip craze lately and when I saw this had come back out in store I snapped it up straight away. It looks a lot scarier on the paper and in the bullet than it does on the lips, but have the bronzer ready if you want to avoid a touch of the corpse bride. Again check out my instagram to see it in real life. 

I really love these two, they are pricey at £15 but they are one of the best ranges about, especially as there's so many mattes (my fave) compared to high street brands.

Wish me luck for the rest of NoLipstickLent, and expect lots more lip updates coming soon...

Love Charlotte

xxx

Feeling Blue...

(L-R, In The Navy, Turquoise Block, Blue No Blues)

Okay so hopefully you're not really feeling blue, but seriously, how gorgeous are these colours? Spring isn't  here yet but everyone seems to be jumping on that bandwagon already (including me), which means away goes to nudes and glitters and out pops the brights once again! I've raved about the formula of these nail polishes before, but I seriously do love them so I thought they deserved their own post at last. 

Admittedly the two on the right are rather similar, so pick depending on whether you lean to turquoise or mint more, or just do a me and buy both. The brushes on these polishes are what really make them stand out for me, super big and rounded so that you can swipe them on in one second and neatly too, plus they dry in a minute tops! Apart from the darker one, which sometimes needs more, the others really only need one coat. One! I've tested this in a rush in the past and have actually done both hands and been out the door smudge-free in under two minutes. Amazing. And let's face it, the colours are gorgeous anyway.

On the gel issue I wouldn't say they were significantly shinier or gel-like than other polishes, but that wasn't really what I bought them for. The shade range in general lets the polishes down a bit here, but these colours are gorgeous and there's a few other gems available, plus hopefully there might be a new release this year...

Can you tell I love these?

Borjouis 1 Seconde Gel's cost £5.99 rrp but are on offer at the mo here!

Love Charlotte

xxx