Manicure Monday: Illamasqua Glitteratti

Monday, Monday…

I'm alleviating the January start of week blues with some sparkling burgundy tipped digits. This is one of the two shades that I picked up in my Illamasqua sale haul (see post and look from that here).

Though it's meant to be part of a Christmas pairing with Viridian (red and green, with sparkles and metallics to boot) I think this will be shade which translates well all autumn and winter. The finish is something akin to Raindrops - a semi-transparent jelly polish with holographic glitter suspending within it.

Obviously the colour with Glitteratti is a lot more dramatic than that of Raindrops, so you'll want to make sure that you've got a base coat on underneath.

The picture here shows two coats of colour - with a multipurpose base and top coat used under and over the colour layers. 

Generally, I find the Illamasqua polishes to last relatively well - even on my nails which are ultra prone to chipping - they'll go to the two day mark. This is actually *excellent* on my talon tips although I appreciate that some more fortunate ladies may be aghast and want a week and I you may well get that wear from this polish on your nails. Sadly I'm a 2 - 3 days max gal. Boo!

I really quite like this shade and shall be wearing for a couple of months to come, before the spring sunshine.

Til next time kitty kats - love, hugs and glittery gesticulations!

xx Josephine xx

Sunday skincare: Lush Cosmetics Lip Scrub Mint Juleps (review)

Morning Sparkles!

It's that time of year where chapped lips provide everyone with a frustrating foil to beautiful pouts - especially with the current trend for matte lips. Those non glossy lippies stick to every single flake on your lips - even where you might have thought you didn't have any, all of a sudden your mouth looks like a sequin dress at the wrong end of a heavy night.

Flaky, for the male readers out there.

And so, to a little number I've seen mentioned a few different places in the blogosphere and have developed a tiny personal addiction to since buying it at Christmas time.

Mint Julips lip scrub from Lush.

Bourjois matte top coat - double your polish for pennies!!

Morning Sparkles!

I picked up this little beauty a while ago, while admiring some matte manis but at the same time lamenting the death of my Essie Liquorice polish. I was about to buy a matte black when suddenly I thought...hang about!! Two birds with one stone! 

Hit or Miss? Maybelline "The Eraser" concealer (Light)

Morning Sparkles!

Monday yet again and time to hit the Bakerloo line and get my Dolly 9 to 5 vibe on. Let's account the heck out of some tax today!! Whaddaya mean that's off topic...? Hmm.

Well failing that somehow when the Sunday blues hit the first thing I'm nat risk of doing is watching 'just one more' episode of my current box set of choice. This wreaks havoc on my dark circles of a Monday! Enter the concealer of choice for the very beautiful Kasey over at StillGlamorous.

Jo Malone Cologne Intense: Velvet Rose and Oud

Happy Friday afternoon…

What have you guys and gals gotten planned for the weekend? I can't wait to chill out and catch up with some friends - and I'm sure there'll be a tipple or two thrown in there for good measure!

Before leaving the desk and hitting the bar, I'll be spritzing a little of my newest obsession on - Jo Malone's Cologne Intense in Velvet Rose and Oud.

Illamasqua Winter 2014 sale haul - bags, liners, lippie and more!

Morning readers!!

Today will be a pic heavy post of the new goodies I've grabbed from the Illamasqua winter sale. I buy from this brand all year but it's safe to say sale times encourage some moments of madness and practicality being thrown to the wind!

Smooth skin ritual: Ro's Argan Skin Conditioner by Lush Cosmetics

Hello readers!

I've recently jumped on the celebrity bandwagon of Epsom salts baths. Sounds odd (and I don't quite see the alleged slimming benefits) but they're really softening to skin and any excuse for a warm lie down is good in my book!

After my most recent I slathered on some of the Ro's Argan Skin Conditioner by Lush. This stuff had all manner of oils in it and smells of roses - completely luxurious and feels very decadent for a reasonable £16.50 for 225g.

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara

Morning chaps and chapettes!

Happy Humpday :) 

Taking us from the dreary start of the week into the party half and weekend is a new mascara discovery I've made. Entirely by accident.

This is Elizabeth Arden's Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara - I never would have picked it up on my own because of the teeny tiny brush. I love my L'Oreal Collagene fat brush and the fairly full brush of Illamasqua's Masquara.

Sparkling clean in 2015: Favourite cleansers

Happy Sunday morning my little Sparkles!

By request of one of my most frequent readers, today I'll be chatting about the cleansers that I use time after time. In addition to my guilty little secret of make-up wipes in one of my Blogmas posts (here), there are essentially three cleansers which I come back to time and time again.

Beauty poll - what's your desert island product?

Use the link to the right to vote - closes in a week!


Let's see what the Sparkles community really can't live without :)


xx Josephine xx

FOTD: Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer (Shade SX 04) **PIC HEAVY**

Morning Sparkles!

Today the blog takes a little twist towards the premium after a while of quite thrifty beauty spends. This is one that I've had my eye on for a little while but before taking the plunge for a foundation of this price I wanted to go to a stockist and get a proper shade match I was happy with in store.

Or more precisely, standing outside the store in the middle of the street twiddling a mirror every which way around my head. All in a day's work for Josephine and all… The nearest stockist to my NI Christmas base was Space NK in Belfast, where the assistant helped me try on several shades.

From online swatches I had thought that my best match was going to be either shade 5 or 6 - which just goes to show that actually you're much better trying something on in real life before shelling out your pennies! Shade 5 was just wrong and Shade 6 would do for nighttime or when tanned (but rarely for myself - fake or natural).

Sparkling 2015: Lip of the Day (LOTD) Maybelline Color Drama Pencil - Keep it Classy #210

Salutations lovelies!

Today's lip of the day has a bit of Drama to it - courtesy of Maybelline. Lip colour pencils are handy as you can pop them in even the smallest of clutch bags and they act as both lippie and liner all in one.

The Color Drama pencils are relatively new and I've not historically had a lot of luck with pencils as they've been relatively matte in formulation and so drying (and potentially dragging across the lips). Not so with this little beauty - smooth and shiny this feels very comfortable to wear. Although the creme formulation means that the wear time might be a little reduced.

Sparkling 2015: Second day hair - Aussie Volume Dry Shampoo

Aloha readers!

For any lady (or chap) with hair that's past your ears, one fact is true - blow drying your hair is an absolute pain in the behind. Not to mention the advice that daily shampooing strips hair and scalp of natural oils.

With my coloured hair, my ends can take a couple of days without washing but the roots get quite oily on day two - given my natural greasy skin state (mantra: it's good, it keeps wrinkles at bay. It's good…)

Enter dry shampoo! In this particular case, Aussie Volume Dry Shampoo:

Sparkling 2015: Bourjois Smoky Stories (Good Nude) EOTD

Happy Monday Sparkles!

Let's not dwell on the fact that this is the first Monday of the year (*le sigh*) and instead turn our minds to something much more pleasant to think of…

It seems to be somewhat of a theme within premium brand eyeshadow quads and quints to have a selection of complimentary shades with a final glitter shade, which can be used to convert the look from day to night. Dior, Tom Ford and Charlotte Tilbury all have formulations with this being the taken approach.

It's great news for those of us whose purse strings (or confidence levels) don't stretch to £40 for four or five eyeshadows that Bourjois have replicated this approach in their new Smoky Stories quad range.

Sparkling 2015: FOTD Concealer - L'Oreal's True Match Crayon Correcteur

Morning Sparkles!

How's your Sunday so far? Ok, so actually this post comes out so early most of your Sundays won't actually have started thus far. That being said, if they have you may find yourself in need of a bit of an under eye pick me up!

Or indeed, if you are like me and just genetically resemble a boxer in training given the depth of the black circles under your eyes - you might want an under eye pick me up generally - to release the maximum peeper sparkling you can. I've recently picked up L'Oreal's True Match Corrector Pencil (here) in shades #10 and #20.

Sparkling 2015: Warming up with MUA Bronzed Perfection (Superdrug)

Morning Sparkles!

I hope that your first Friday was as fun as mine (a spot of shopping, a couple of cocktails and then chilling out in front of bad tv - heavenly) and here's to the first Saturday of 2015!

While we're in the midst of winter, you might want to add a glow to your party or Saturday glam look! Alternatively, if new-Mum status has you trapped in the house it might just be that you want to fake that healthy glow you had pre-sleep deprivation!

Watching post-Christmas purse strings needn't mean that you have to sacrifice the faux-St Lucia glow. Enter… MUA Bronzed Perfection courtesy of Superdrug here in the UK.

Sparkling 2015: LOTD Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer (Rhubarb Shimmer)

Morning Sparkles,

Today, for our first Friday of the year I'm plumping for a subtle piece of shimmer - trying to enliven my January one little shimmer at a time!

Some friends are lip balm addicts and love the normal balm from Burt's Bees. I'd tried one of their tinted balms some years ago and found it sadly lacking in… well… *tint*!

You may therefore surmise that I did not purchase this one of my own volition, but (like greatness) had it thrust upon me!

Resolving to help everyone have a "Sparkling" 2015...

Morning all, and a proper happy new year!!

I've not gone blonde…and I must confess to stealing this fab photo from
Ms Tilbury's Instagram. Huge heart, couldn't resist it!

I'm not sure about you, but I always feel slightly jaded at this time of year.  We're about to take down the Christmas lights and trudge through the dreariest two months of the year.  

Fear not, readers!!

It shall be my mission for the next year to inject some subtle shimmer, fuller sparkle and just downright glitter into your life. This year, my mission is to find new ways and / or means to incorporate glitter and sparkles into life. 

Making those dreary winter days more bearable and beautiful spring days even more picture perfect.

Let's see how this resolution goes….

Til next time, kitty kats

xx Josephine xx

Happy New Year!! Welcome to 2015!!

Good morning Sparkles!

I hope you're not feeling too jaded this morning after the NYE exuberance. I always love watching the fireworks - and let's face it any excuse to cover myself in as much glitter as possible. Not that I require it to be New Year to do that!

I got inspired by drag queens (particularly Bianca del Rio) and the swinging sixties this year with my makeup: