OPI Pirates of the Caribbean - Silver Shatter & Stranger Tides

I've been looking forward to this collection for what seems like an eternity and a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be sent a couple out to try.

 The shades I was sent to try are the Silver Shatter top coat and Stranger Tides, a fab looking murky grey/khaki shade.

So first up is Stranger Tides. I love this colour!

I found it slightly streaky, three coats is definitely better than two (there are two in the above pic) and I pretty much haven't stopped wearing it since I got it. I remove it when it's chipped and put it straight back on again. Virtually unheard of for me but my nails are quite short and damaged at the moment, worse than in the above picture and this is a nice colour that doesn't draw too much attention to my fingers but definitely doesn't feel boring.

You may be looking at that picture above and be thinking it gives me terrible lobster fingers, but it doesn't at all. My fingers are decidedly red because of the colour I'd just removed (as can be seen in the second picture down). I seem incapable of removing reds, shocking pinks and blues without leaving it all over my fingers.

Anyway, I digress. Silver Shatter. I thought I was over shatter polishes to be honest but I love this!

 I think the two shades work together really well and I love it. It's a more subtle effect that the Black Shatter and the formula is nicer too. So yeah, thats the polish I've been rocking for the last fortnight. Love it.

The collection isn't out yet but I plan to buy Mermaid's Tears, Sparrow Me The Drama and Skull & Glossbones although I wouldn't mind the others as well! I'll be looking to see which are in the mini's set when it's released!

Any of these take your fancy?

I'm not sure of the exact release date but am sure it's pretty imminent and will be available as always from http://www.lenawhite.co.uk/ at £10.50 each.

Chanel Pearl Drop - Spring 2011

The lovely Jen over at http://www.lipstickluvvies.com/ very generously sent me her Chanel Pearl Drop nail varnish from the Spring Collection as when she got it she didn't love it! Whereas I thought it really looked like my cup of tea.  I loved and bought Black Pearl but didn't even look at this one or the Peche Nacre. How very remiss of me!

Anyway, I was thrilled to get this and I do, as I suspected, love this!

 It's a gold toned white. It's not frosty, but it is pearly I think and the application is perfect. And surprisingly the wear on this (with a top coat of trusty Seche) was outstanding, it's the best wearing of all my Chanel polishes and it lasted four days without chipping and I only removed it because I managed to shave off a bit of my nail somehow!

Love. In case you're wondering why I'm sharing this polish with you when it's from the Spring collection, I've checked and if this does take your fancy it's still available online at http://www.debenhams.com/ and http://www.garden.co.uk/

Lily's Beauty Blogger's Best Things

Well. I thought Beauty Blogger's Best Things had reached it's natural conclusion but after last week's post I've had several more people get in touch to take part which is fab as I love this feature and didn't want it to die!

First off the block is the super stylish and talented Lily from http://www.beautysbadhabitblog.blogspot.com/.

I love Lily's blog but it was a fairly recent discovery for me, great photo's, great products and great reviews. What's not to like? As always, please head over and check it out.

So lets start with some easy questions!

Can you talk me through your daily skin care regimen, which products you use and why?
In all honesty, I don't have a 'proper' skin care routine (I know, shameful). I find skin care quite daunting - too much choice and no guarantees. It probably harks back to being a spotty teenager and none of the anti-spot gels/ cleansers/ wipes having any effect whatsoever. My products of choice are ordinary soap, St. Ives apricot scrub and hot water!

What shampoo and conditioner are you devoted to?
Naked Intensive Care shampoo, conditioner and their Repairing Hair Treatment. I decided to try going SLS free after battling with an intensely itchy, sore scalp and didn't expect much of a result...however, the itch has practically gone these days! Plus, Naked produce excellent quality products which really deliver what they promise - my hair has never felt healthier.

What about your top three make up brands generally speaking?
I flit between so many brands that it's hard to say! I've never had a dud product from Revlon or Max Factor - they are easily the best 'drugstore' brands. For the third I'll have to go with Fyrinnae, an indie make-up company based in America, they got me hooked on bright, unique, fun eyeshadows and opened me up to the rest of the indie community. In general I've never been that amazed by high end brands - MAC and NARS are so incredibly overrated; I only buy high end if the product is truly unique.

Ok some specifics now!

What is your favourite foundation and why?
Collection 2000 Matt + Minerals. I used some of my sister's after my Revlon Photoready ran out and was nicely surprised! Buildable coverage, you can barely feel you're wearing it, it lasts well through the day, has a fabulous blendable consistency and makes your skin glow. I've had foundations costing £30 a bottle before which were nowhere near as impressive as Matt + Minerals, which costs about £2.99 a tube!

What is your favourite mascara and why?
I love dramatic lashes, so Maybelline 'Volum' Express - The Falsies' is perfect for me. It has a great thickening and lengthening effect and lasts well without flaking.

What one product do you think every cosmetic aficionado should have in their collection?
A natural looking highlight powder to give the skin a subtle sheen, making you look healthy rather than glittery! They can be used to draw attention to features or makes them appear slightly more pronounced and stronger. A very versatile type of product, once you find your perfect highlight you'll wonder how you went without it.

I love finding new blogs so please before you go, please recommend three of your favourite bloggers.

Cynful nails, for gorgeous, quirky, cute, Asian nail art - http://www.cynfulnails.com/
Legothique, for no nonsense, reliable reviews of indie companies - http://www.legothique.com/
Makeup your Jangsara, for amazing make-up looks and photography, http://www.jangsara.blogspot.com/

Thank you Lily for being the first to save my feature from certain death :)

I couldn't agree more re Revlon, a great brand! Also special thanks for your blog recommendations, all are new to me which is fab.

As always, if you'd like to take part in Beauty Bloggers Best Things just drop me a line to charlie@ladyofthelane.com, all welcome!

Love Hair Extensions Victorian Pop-on Ponytail

I have never tried hair extensions of any description. Nor would I ever have done actually until I was asked if I wanted to try a ponytail from http://www.lovehairextensions.com/.

The ponytails are all made from a synthetic fibre but I was surprised at how natural it looked when I opened the box.

The ponytails come in a wide variety of lengths and styles and colours and I was sent the Victorian in Dark Brown which I thought would be the closest colour match for me. And actually it was pretty good. It's not exactly right but its as close as I think you could get to my current hair colour and if you were wearing these for a night out I'm fairly confident no one would notice the slight colour difference at all.

A pretty good match no?

As well as coming in different styles and colours and lengths, each differnt style has two different fastening options, there is a crocodile clip style and a drawstring style which also has two little combs inside to help fix it securely to your head. I received the drawstring style and I'm not going to lie, I found it really tricky to use. It's not that it's hard and I have got the hang of it now, its just really fiddly and takes a bit of practice to get it on and feeling secure. I imagine the crocodile clip is quicker but perhaps it's not quite as secure?

Anyway, the method of putting this on is simple, you put your own hair into a bun, place the ponytail over your bun, make sure the combs are in your hair and pull the draw string. It is easy in theory, but it just takes a bit of practice!

So now some pics. Brace yourselves!

 I've made that second picture there extra large for two reasons. One so that you can all see that I have a normal size nose since I always make my nose look huge in photos ;) but mostly so you can see I forgot to tuck the drawstring away! Don't do that, it looks rubbish!

I'm very impressed with how it looks, it looks really natural I think and it's a great way of changing your hair style. You can style, wash and do all sorts with these things and they are a great idea!

I have to say I'm not overly keen on this style on me as I think it gives me a look not that far removed from this:

 I'd prefer something more modern and sleek for myself as I find the long curls a bit ageing on me.

What this has done is whet my appetite and I'm now thinking I might go the whole hog and try out some clip in extensions at some point as the hair looks great and I think even a dunce like me might just be able to get them to work!

If you fancy giving these a go then I got them from http://www.lovehairextensions.com/ for £30.99. I'm impressed. I might buy the straight one and I'm going to investigate the extensions now!

Deborah Lippman's Boom Boom Pow

It's so typical of me to fall in love with a premium brand of nail varnish. Sigh. Anyway. I'm completely in love with China Glaze's Techno and I got it into my head that I wanted a gold version but I was really struggling to find it but when I was idly browsing http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/ I spotted Boom Boom Pow and chucked it in my basket with out much more thought.

(Left on the above picture).

It's a clear base, full of different sized gold glitter and 24K gold dust! Actually I'd have preferred this without the gold dust! I never wanted this to wear alone, I always had it in mind I'd wear it over white and so when it arrived thats the first thing I tried.

 I like it but I don't love it. I don't like the fine dust in it but I love the glitter. The dust tends to make nails look a bit dirty I think. Also, its worth noting that it isn't terribly buildable, on my smallest nail are three coats whilst on the rest are two, and it's just the dust that builds if that makes any sense.

Ooh might be nice over gold polish!

Anyway, it's pretty but it's not wow!

I should add I bought this from http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/ when there was a promotion on, and I'd never have paid £18 for it!

The L'Oreal Fresh & Tropical Collections

I aboslutely love that image up there! It's so Summery. And so is the entire range for the L'Oreal Summer Collections.

First up the L'Oreal Resist & Shine Tropical Collection Nail Varnishes.There are five fruity colours, Wonderful Watermelon, Dapper Dragon Fruit, Popping Pomegranite, Perfect Passion Frui and Feisty Fig. I can't be sure which two I received as they don't have the names on them! I would hazard a guess at Wonderful Watermelon and Feisty Fig. They don't look like they do in the bottles though. Not in a bad way.

The orange is fab on my toes at the moment and it's a coral toned orange and the berry shade isn't quite as dark and a bit more pink than the picture, somewhere between the top and the bottom picture, colour wise. The wear is excellent. £6.12 each.

The Glam Shine Fresh lipglosses in Aqua Curacao, Aqua Lemon Tonic and Aqua Lychee.

They are all light and fruity, not too sticky, the blue is sheer and doesn't show as blue really on your lips, the yellow is also sheer but if you are a bit heavy handed it can show up as a bit yellow, with the lychee being the most pigmented but still very sheer. Lovely. The price of the nail polishes is RRP £6.12 and the Glam Shine Fresh lip glosses are RRP £7.65

There are various other products in the line, including 6 hour lip glosses and eyeshadows. Very nice!

Available from the usual stockists nationwide!

Aromatherapy Associates De-Stress Mind Bath & Shower Oil

I was sent another winner of a product from Aromatherapy Associates a couple of months ago and whilst it's not up there with my favourite Deep Relax Oil, the De-Stress Mind Bath and Shower Oil is well worth having in your arsenal if, like me you're given to being a bit stressed. I know, you're all terribly shocked to hear I am a stressy kind of a girl ;)

Wild Camomile, Petitgrain, Frankincense, Rosemary and Coconut oil all blend together to sooth, refresh and clarify your thoughts and minds. The smell is beautiful.

Does it work? Yes, it really does. It doesn't stop my kids whining, or pack my holiday suitcase for me but it certainly calms me down enough to cope with those things without getting stressed out quite so much. My only problem with this is that of course you can't just have a bath every time you get stressed, so I do again, like to use these on my pulse points, but it's not portable and so I'd love to see all of these oils in mini roll on versions specifically for pulse points, especially in the case of the De-Stress Mind.

Of course, when you've had a stressful day then you can't beat slipping into a bath with a capful of this lovely stuff, I'd just love a more handy version!

My Beauty Bloggers Best Things :)

Well, sad times, I've run out of participants for Beauty Bloggers Best Things so it only seems fitting to finish up with  myself. So here follows a bizarre interview with me!

Can you talk me through your daily skin care regimen, which products you use and why?
I use any cleanser I have lying about, at the moment I'm trialling Bare Minerals new foaming cleanser and its gorgeous. Otherwise I'm an Estee Lauder devotee. I use the CP+, Time Zone Moisturiser and the Advance Night Repair Serum and Eye Serum. I try other things but I always go back to these.


What shampoo and conditioner are you devoted to?
I'm not devoted to any really but I do especially love Paul Mitchell's Wild Ginger range & Liz Earle's range.

What about your top three make up brands generally speaking?
Nars for colours, Mac for blushers and Chanel for sheer luxury!

What is your favourite foundation and why?
Eeek! I don't have one really. I love the finish of Clinique anti Blemish, I love the wear of Estee Lauders Double Wear. I love the radiance of the Estee Lauder Nutricious Vita-mineral but there are others!

What is your favourite mascara and why?
I love Chanel Inimitable. I have it in three colours and I always repurchase. In addition though I love Clinique's High Impact Curling Mascara.

What one product do you think every cosmetic aficionado should have in their collection?
Seche Vite top coat I just can't beat it, fast drying, shiny and hard wearing! Special mention to Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Bath & Shower Oil.

I love finding new blogs so please before you go, please recommend three of your favourite bloggers.
http://www.britishbeautyblogger.com/
http://www.beautydiarist.com/
http://musingsofamakeupartist.blogspot.com/

So thank me for taking part ;)

If anyone else does want to take part and save this feature then please just drop me an email to charlie@ladyofthelane.com. ALL welcome :)

Chanel Rouge Allure No 65 Insolente

I recently won my choice of YSL lippie from the fab Sarah at http://www.iheartcosmetics.co.uk/ as it turned out Sarah couldn't find a YSL counter so she sent me a Debenhams voucher to buy my own... guess what? My Debenhams didn't have a YSL counter either so she told me to just get whatever I wanted with it.

I had chosen a YSL Rouge Volupte in a bright pink, so I decided to find another high end lippie in a bright pick to stay true to what my prize was going to be.

I found myself drawn to the Chanel Rouge Allure's because I just love the formula of them and the lovely lady at the Counter grabbed a couple of pink's for me and applied them (really badly actually!) and I walked out swinging a cute little Chanel bag holding Rouge Allure No 65/Insolente.

It's incredibly bright. Very nearly neon and I really love it. Pictures below don't show the true colour really, its one of those thats particularly tricky to photograph, even with this lovely sunshine (at the time of writing!).

Here's the swatch:

And here it is on my lips (along with a good look at my nostrils, perhaps I should have cropped this one! and also, what has happened to my left eye? I don't appear to have a pupil!):

It's such a gorgeous colour. The forumla is gorgeous, so moisturising.

And I'll still be going back for the Volupte sometime soon I think. It was going to be Caress Pink if anyone's interested!

Thanks Sarah very much, I really love my new lippie!

PS: I really need a bright pink lip liner, any recommendations?

Lady of the Lane Goes on Holiday

I'm off on holiday today for the week.  Unfortunately, not to the above destination!

I'm off Cornwall, and the reality is a bit more like this:

haha! No it's not really, its one of those static big caravan things in Cornwall. Not sure how long we'll be down there for, hopefully until the weekend but if the weather is horrid then maybe before that!

I won't be posting every day but I have scheduled a couple of posts for this week while I'm gone so hopefully they will publish ok, including this one. I am not sure if I'll be able to publish comments or not, I don't have internet in the caravan but there is up at the cafe on the site so hopefully I'll get some comments (if I'm lucky enough to get any!) published, but it might be in fits and starts.

So anyway, wish us some nice weather and that we manage to relax a bit and pray above all else that the children actually sleep at night!

Have a good week and see you very soon.

Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air Polish

I've been wanting this polish since I first saw it appearing on blogs. I've been checking the House of Fraser Site religiously for at least a month now and last week it finally appeared and I grabbed it! Good job I did because two days later it had disappeared again!

I also bought Boom Boom Pow (the gold sparkly one on the left), but I'll do a seperate post on that at some point in the future!

Glitter in the air is a milky pale blue with baby pink and baby blue sparkles. Having seen it swatched many times already I knew very well that the milky blue base colour doesn't translate well to the nails and that actually this works better as a  layer over something.

But in the interests of showing you how this polish looks on its own here it is.

I'd be happy with this if my nails weren't so yellow. But they are and so it's never going to work for me on its own.

I toyed with layering over a pale blue, or a pale pink, and white, but in the end I settled for a grey and it's a nice choice in my opinion. Here it is over Essie's Playa Del Platinum.

It's definitely not for everyone but I love it and I'm so pleased that I have it in my collection because I simply don't have anything like it. Nor have I ever seen anything like it.

I must add, the wear on these is phenomenal, I'm on day four with not a chip in sight. Still going strong. Which of course you would hope if you've just spent £16 on a polish...

Anyway, I bought mine from http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/ who are the only UK stockists. I have also just spotted they have Happy Birthday in stock which is the one I've wanted for the longest time! Must....resist.....

Benefit Sugarbomb Face Powder & Benefit Ultrashines Patootie Gloss

Benefit cosmetics and I have a funny relationship. They make products I really love and products I intensely dislike, rarely does anything fall in the middle ground.

I recently won these items and just wanted to share them with you as I really love them! Neither of these I would ever have chosen for myself but I've not stopped wearing since I got them. Perhaps I should start to be more open minded!

Anyway, the Patootie Ultrashines lipgloss.

You can't really tell but it looks so frosty I thought there was no way I was ever going to be able to wear this... love the packaging though. However, I really like it on my lips, it's nice and sheer and comfortable feeling, it's thick and gloopy but doesn't feel grim on my lips, and I'm really fussy about lipgloss.

Then the Sugarbomb Face Powder.

 I'd never have picked this up. The colours don't really call my name, and it just doesn't look special enough to me. But I love it, it's absolutely gorgeous on! Really natural and pretty. I've worn it every day since I got it virtually!

 And you can see in that second photo a little glimpse of Patootie.

Here's a full face using both of the products. 

 So there we have it. I recommend both products highly for a natural look.

I won these items from http://www.debenhams.com/ butyou can buy from all the usual suspects http://www.boots.com/, http://www.asos.com/Beauty/A-To-Z-Of-Brands/Benefit/Cat/pgecategory.aspx?cid=5842 and http://www.lookfantastic.com/beauty/benefit-cosmetics amongst others.