The colour purple - Lancome Brillant Bluebird

My latest lipstick!
I have loved purple since 1971 when it was THE fashion colour.

1971 magazine spread. Purple. And see those shoes? Ankle straps, block heels and platforms. Love.

OK, I have the tights and some shoes. Purple.

All I need is the lippie. The lippie at the top. It's Lancome. It's purple. It must be gorgeous. Lancome? Je l'adore depuis plusieurs d'annees! And did I mention the purple thing?

 Well.....In the tube it was a riot of colour and texture. And after using up half a tube on my lips (on and on I pressed and slathered) it ended up like............this. Thank the Lord it was an internet bargain and not full price. I could have spat!

If I'd wanted a lipgloss I'd have bought a ruddy lipgloss. What a cheek.

Good news though!
TJ Hughes have a bunch of Urban Decay stuff at £2.99 each. Today was also 20% off and I got a bostin' lipstick and eyeliner.

Jennifer
PS You have any bargain tips?

Lancome Creme nacree Creme de nacre + CATASTROPHE

I love Lancome. I saw a Lancome nail product on sale. Aha!

Here it is. 2 little pots and the applicator. NOT a brush. No, no. Lancome are far too innovative for boring old brushes. This is 21st century technology, I think you'll find.

Pretty little pots.

Applicator. Cat's pyjamas. Bee's knees. All that rigmarole.
Applicator goes in pot. Transfers product to nail.

Not very even, is it?

The gold was even worse. I don't claim to be neat or good with my hands but I don't think Leonardo da bloomin' Vinci could make this work. So I did try it with a brush but this stuff just isn't polish as such. It has a different consistency. The applicator just doesn't cover the nail evenly and then when you try to fix it it just slides the product to another bit of the nail or OFF the nail altogether. Leaving more on the applicator than the nail.

Guess what? I don't think this was a huge success. Have you ever seen it about? No, I didn't think so. Hey, they tried. I wouldn't have bought it full price because I hadn't seen it all over the blogosphere and that's significant in itself.

You ever bought a nail/beauty product that wasn't just not very good but made great claims and failed conspicuously?

More ads tomorrow.

Jen

Black - Lancome and YSL and blackcurrants (a tenuous link)

In a rush.
Was nattering about the meerkat ad on a forum I visit when someone referred me to the Tango ad in the sidebar. I love those meerkats. Does anybody NOT? Watch the ad. Go on! If you live in a part of the world where you don't get the meerkats then I am very sorry for you.....Try youtube.

Anyway - I don't have any polishes with blackcurrant in the name and I can't find my Misa Wishing On A Star so...

YSL Black Tulip and Lancome Piha Black
Excuse the ghastly thumb nail. I decided the gorgeous Wet'n'Wild Tahiti and Bora Bora needed some China Glaze Cowardly Lyin' over the top. I was wrong. Utterly wrong.

Then I've Zoya Casey which might just as well be black. It doesn't look it in the pic but on the nail it's dark. Dark. Dark.

Nail Polish Ads again...

Think this is from the Thirties. Quite minimalist for a nail ad. The higher-end brands have ads that tend to be more pared-down and the cheaper ones typically feature a colour-chart and are a lot busier design-wise. This is on the chic side.

Do you wear black nail polish much? Or only at Halloween? D'you think it's just for teens? Does it make you feel edgy? Or is it "been there done that"?

Off I pop.

Jenni

Orphans! Not REAL orphans....

These are the polishes of which I have but a single representative as yet.
No NOTD because I am conducting my BB Couture "how well do they wear" experiment.

This is Lancome Piha Black. I had this for ages before deciding to look up Piha. It's a volcanic beach in NZ as I recall. So that explains THAT.
 From amazon and I didn't pay anywhere near the usual Lancome price.
It's black (doh) and glass fleck. Opaque. 1 coat is just about enough and the glass fleck doesn't show up on my nails. It looks good in the bottle though, yeah?
Would I get more Lancome? Yes, but only at cut price/

Skin Food from Korea. Saw this brand on a blog. Had to have it for the bottle!!!
How cute is that? No, seriously, how CUTE?
Ebay. The polish was a bit over a squid and the postage was maybe £2.50??
It's a milky peach and well-pigmented. Very good value IMHO. Bostin' value (to use the local patois).
Took a while to come from Korea but items from the US can take decades so ...
They have now discontinued these! What is it with nail polish companies - they have a good product and they ditch it.

Precision Rebel Red In You (I don't name them now, do I)
Quite expensive - £6ish. Quality polish though. Big bottle. From VenusNailAndBeautySupplies.
A Lubu-Heels-alike. Better actually. I had Lubu and it was watery. The Precision is deffo superior. Would I get more Precision? Yes. And pay full whack.

The Ruby & Millie has a number. Untried.
99p from ebay.
It looks like fun but I'm not in the mood yet. My fear is that it's going to need a few coats. I may be wrong but it's sending me those messages.
Why is Ruby & Millie so damned expensive? It isn't even stocked in my lowly Boots. RM is never blogged about. It's £9.50 or summat! SO - I need your thoughts on this brand, please.

Marks and Spencer Lilac. £2.50. Went on just like all my other lilac cremes so a bl00dy good buy at that price. Would I buy more Marks & Sparks? Yes. Absolutely.

Zoya Casey - ebay (and I think it may just have been one of my 99p bargains - I don't go a LOT higher than that - it was used but it's still majorly full)

Vampy shade. Wear this in the winter and it's black. As good as. I should really try it now. I've seen some swoon-swoon pix of this and I can't say it looks that good on me but I don't have the beautiful nails and hands and application skills some bloggers have so that's understandable.

Would I buy more Zoya? Yes, but not full-price. If you want a "black cherry" polish there are plenty out there. So I have a Zoya. I wanted one as I didn't have one but it isn't the cat's pyjamas.

2 questions for you

1 What orphans do you have?

2 What do you know about Ruby & Millie?

PS I do have more orphans but I need to save some for another day/time.

Jenni