Barry M | Vanity Claire

ClaireOctober 9, 2013

Beauty Haul: 23rd Birthday Box!

Ladies, I make no attempt at humbleness today – I am bragging and want you all to prepare yourself to be jealous. You ready? Let’s go.

I’ve documented my relationships with beauty boxes in quite a lot of detail on this blog, with Glossybox and (the artist formally known as) Beauteco both eventually disappointing me and being unsubscribed from. Imagine my absolute sheer delight then, when Lauren presented me with my bithday present from her and the rest of my friends and it was my VERY OWN PERSONAL BIRTHDAY BEAUTY BOX.

So, what goodies was my box jam packed with?

Real Techniques Powder Brush
Superdrug Face Masks x 3
John Frieda Luxurious Volume Root Booster
Lee Stafford Spray Shine
Charles Worthington Colour Shield Spray
Seventeen CC Cream
Barry M Nail Varnishes x 3
Soap & Glory Flake Away
Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
MUA Lipstick
Boots Vitamin E Eye Cream
Tresemme Platinum Strength 60 Second Treatment Shot

How lucky am I?! I was particularly amazed by the Real Techniques brushes (am I a real blogger now..?) but am so excited to try everything out. A huge thank you to my chums for giving me this amazing present, and for putting up with me for yet another year despite my endless foolish behaviour and hair shedding.

Have you tried any of these products, or have you ever had a present like this yourself?

ClaireSeptember 9, 2013

Barry M NEW Product Launches | A/W 2013

We’ll state the absolute bloody obvious first: we love Barry M. Doesn’t everyone? Is there honestly anybody in the country whose life is not instantly improved when they set eyes upon that glowing technicoloured makeup stand of dreams in Boots? Well, apart from obvious people like dads who only care about football and pork pies, of course.

Whenever Barry M launch new products I basically become borderline hysterical with excitement – I’m sure my colleagues would be well within their rights to slap me to get me to calm down, to be honest (though if any of them tried it then I would be forced to open a can of whoop ass). So when photos and info of the brand’s new Autumn/Winter products started to pop up on my feed, I immediately had to have a look. And guess what – I’m excited.

Flawless Matte Finish Foundation

First up is this new range of foundation. Historically, I’ve always stuck to Barry M’s ‘fun’ products – i.e. the nail varnishes, lipsticks, lip glosses and the much-revered Dazzle Dusts. I’ve never really tried out their more basic items, but it definitely seems to be a market they’re trying to elbow their way into. These matte finish foundations are VERY exciting to me; as a chronic sufferer of Shiny Nose Syndrome (or SNS as it shall henceforth be known) I’m always attracted to more matte formulas but have yet to find one that truly does the job. This oil-free base which also promises to be hydrating could just be my saviour. Also, see that? They’re not just blendable; they’re SUPER blendable. Super exciting.

Eye and Cheek Palettes
‘Natural Glow’

‘Smokin’ Hot’

‘Glamour Puss’

These eye and cheek palettes promise to be a big success, with six eyeshadows and a blush together in a handy mirrored compact with two applicators. It’s nice to see Barry M stepping away from their typical brights and actually offering some great neutral shades alongside the shimmering colours you’d expect. I’ve only very recently dipped my ~~massive~~ generously-sized toe into the waters of eyeshadow application, so I’m thinking a couple of these could be superb additions to my makeup bag.

Lash Vegas Waterproof Mascara

I haven’t tried the original Lash Vegas mascara, but now there’s a waterproof version for all the weep-prone ladies out there. The spiral-shaped brush aims to catch all the little lashes and add definition and volume. I’m tempted to buy this and only ever wear it on Saturday nights – I have a strange tendency to cry at X Factor when ugly people get standing ovations (no, I don’t know why) so this could stop me from looking panda-eyed as well as completely ridiculous.

Matte Nail Paints

For me, these are definitely the most exciting of the new products. I haven’t tried any matte nail varnishes yet, as most of the high street offerings seem to have received pretty poor reviews. Whenever Barry M hop on a new nail bandwagon though, they tend to do it brilliantly so hopefully these will live up to the hype. I think matte black in particularly looks amazing on nails, so I’ll be very keen to give these a try.

Royal Glitter Collection Nail Paints

Barry M’s glitter varnishes are up there as one of my favourite things in the world EVER, alongside puppies and Viennese Whirls. Some of the Textured Effect range has been hit and miss for me, but they’re always exciting to try and are guaranteed to give you an interesting look – and these glittery shades will be perfect as we get closer to Christmas party season.

Crystal Glaze Topcoat

A crystallised finish top coat? If there’s anything that can get your inner J-Lo excited, then surely it’s that combination of words. Ever a fan of a chavvy nail and polishes with ‘bits’ in, I’ll definitely be giving this a go.

All of these products are due to launch on 25th of September in Superdrug, and the 2nd of October in Boots – which, fact fans, is two days before my birthday, giving you two whole days to go and buy me many many matte polishes as gifts.

What do you all think of these new products? Are you excited to try any of them?

ClaireSeptember 4, 2013

Barry M Liquid Brow Marker Pen: Review

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (what am I talking about, I LOVE BEING THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS), but this is going to be a blog post full of hatred and disgust.

I’m usually a ~~big slut~~ big lover for all beauty products and I don’t usually dislike things very often. As long is it vaguely looks ok, then it will have a place in my leopard print makeup bag. Unfortunately, today is a day that I have to hate on a beauty product. I have tried to like it, I truly have. But I just can’t, mainly because it doesn’t do the job properly and makes me look like an idiot.

This mysterious product, if you hadn’t gathered from the giant picture and the title of this blog post, is Barry M’s Liquid Brow Marker Pen. I bought it at the weekend because I’m on the dregs of my Sleek Brow Kit (which I love by the way!) and I also needed some change for the bus (which is a great excuse to pop into Boots if you ever need one). I decided to branch out and get something different to my Sleek Brow Kit and spotted this eyebrow product lurking in the Barry M makeup display. You might have heard me shout ‘GREAT SCOTT, what sorcery is this’ if you’d been there at the time, as I rushed to shove it in my basket and pay.

I really like the idea of marker pen style makeup. They’re great for the cack-handed like me, and it makes me feel a little bit like Picasso every time I draw on my face. Unfortunately, the Liquid Brow Marker Pen actually made me look like one of Picasso’s abstract paintings and I have to say that this is THE MOST USELESS product in the history of useless products. I have a few main issues with it, which I have decided to list in a handy list (oo-er) for you all.

1. It doesn’t work properly if you have any foundation/makeup lurking in your eyebrows: This is an issue. I don’t know how you all do your makeup, but I tend to whack on my foundation/concealer and then do my eyebrows. This means that there tends to be a bit of product in there and while I could remove it with a cotton bud, why on earth would I bother doing that?! The problem with the Brow Marker Pen is that once the nib (ew) gets a bit of other product on it, it stops working. Basically, no more brown eyebrow stuff comes out of it and you look like a fool scraping away at your face with useless marker pen that is progressively ruining your morning makeup.

2. The colour that comes out is uneven: Even if you manage to get the pen working normally, the colour that comes out isn’t that even. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t have time to faff around going over and over my eyebrows to make sure they don’t look patchy and bald. NO THANK YOU. (This is particularly problematic for me, because I have to draw my eyebrows on from scratch. I have blonde brows, so it is a full on mission rather than just filling in!)

3. The ends of your eyebrows are DIFFICULT to do: As you can probably see from my tragic eyebrow picture, doing the outer ends of your eyebrows is really difficult with the Brow Marker Pen. I find that it slips a bit and gets all wonky. If the nib has stopped working too, then you have to faff around trying to use the side and IT ALL GOES HORRIBLY WRONG AND YOU END UP LOOKING LIKE A MAD PERSON.

All in all, I ended up spending longer on my eyebrows than the rest of my face when using the Barry M Liquid Brow Marker Pen. What is the point I ask you? This product might be ok if you already have dark eyebrows and just want to fill them in a little bit, but if you’re looking for heavy duty eyebrow makeup like I am, don’t bother. I was forced to fill in and try and fix the Brow Pen disaster with the last of my Sleek kit, and this was the result. Much better, ja?! JA.

I think I’m just going to go back to my Sleek Brow Kit but if you guys have any other recommendations, please let me know! I would love to try something new and not tragically horrible.

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ClaireJuly 22, 2013

Barry M Sequin Nail Effects in White: Review

Everybody knows that Mondays are the most tragically depressing of days, and the only thing that can possibly cheer you up is having new nails for the week ahead. It was this fact of life that must have driven me to throw this little selection of nail treats into my Boots basket yesterday, despite only popping in for hair dye (as a side note, don’t you hate it when you accidentally dye your top layers ginger and leave the rest blonde? I know I do…) View Full Post

ClaireJuly 11, 2013

The Best Beauty Products For Summer.

I’m vaguely aware that we’re basically half way through summer at the moment and we should all be being fashiony and thinking about autumn/winter BUT I SAY NAY. We still have at least a month or two left of warm-ish weather and lots of us have holidays abroad to look forward to (except for me and Claire…we are peasants.). View Full Post

ClaireJuly 5, 2013

Nailspiration: Nail Ideas for a Sunny Day

The sun is shining, I’ve just got back from a picnic lunch by the river Avon and life is just genuinely idyllic (apart from the fact I have to continue working this afternoon, snore). While I was walking home from the gym yesterday, I had SO many ideas for blog posts that I walked straight past my house and ended up in the park because I am a lunatic. I’ve been trying to curb my excitement and not pester you all too much BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT CONTAIN IT ANY LONGER. So this is my post on nail ideas and the nails Claire and I have been wearing recently.

A little background information first. Both Claire and I wear false nails. For me, my natural nails are massively thin and no amount of products/nail care has changed this heartbreaking fact. Even when they do grow nicely, they snap off when they reach a certain length, which saddens me every day as you can imagine. I love having long nails and I have been getting acrylic nails done on and off since I was about 16. I also dabbled in doing my own acrylic nails for a while (which worked fairly well but the effort was too much) and now have settled on glue on nails. These are genuinely amazing and I recommend them to any gal who’s looking for length without the price. I’ve taken a little snap of my box at the moment – it’s nearing the end and is looking a bit tired. BUT, when it is shiny and new you can get 200 nails + nail glue for A BARGAIN PRICE OF £8.50. These nails last me about two months, with me applying the nails every week or so.

I’m actually doing my nails at work today (naughty…for important blogging purposes, of course.) because I didn’t get a chance to last night so I thought I’d post a bit of a step-by-step guide to how I do them. It’s not really rocket science – I’m the clumsiest and least coordinated person EVER – so if I can do it, you definitely can too! If you’re keen to buy the Boots nails, you can find them here. Nailene also do a box of 200, but we haven’t seen them in-store for a while.

Excuse the copious amounts of nail caviar at the bottom of the box – this was last week’s nail venture when I used my nail box as a kind of bowl. Another great reason to buy the Boots false nails, the box is multipurpose ;).

The instructions recommend that you file the nail to give the glue a better surface to stick to. I tend to skip this step as I find it doesn’t make a massive difference. There’s no need to damage your nails even more

I then pick out the nail sizes I want – at the moment I’ve run out of my ‘ideal’ sizes so they’re a little big for my nails. I think they still look vaguely ok though!

Then it’s gluey time – no special tips or tricks for this! I just whack them on and hope I don’t glue my hands together…

The exciting bit – painting! Claire and I have both found that nail varnish dries extra quickly on these false nails so that is a definite plus in my book! I usually do two coats of whatever nail varnish I’m using to be sure I get the best coverage. Today I’m going for a bit of pastel action – pink and green! I wanted to do a multi-coloured pastel situation with my Bananan Split Model’s Own colour and a baby blue Barry M nail varnish but I couldn’t for the life of me find them this morning. These two Barry M colours were downstairs, so I grabbed them (clearly thought a lot about my colour choice, eh!) and thought I’d give them a whirl. I went for a pastel green with a pink accent on my fourth fingers (achieved with a spot of sellotape).

And here are a collection of claw pictures that may inspire you if you’re feeling a bit ‘meh’ about nail polish choices at the moment! I’ve tried to remember where all of the nail varnish products are from, but as I’ve robbed these from both me and Claire’s instagrams, I may not have found them all! It’s not groundbreaking nail art…but sometimes you just need reminding why painting your nails is fabulous.

| Elf Desert Haze | Model’s Own Banana Split | Barry M Confetti Bubblegum |

| Barry M Peach Melba | Barry M Foil Effects Gold |Barry M Textured Nails Atlantic Road |

WELL…I didn’t realise Claire and I were such Barry M ambassadors…

ClaireJune 18, 2013

What To Wear To Festivals This Year.

I have a wee confession to make (nothing to do with port-a-loos, don’t worry). I’m not actually going to a proper camping/I-haven’t-washed-for-five-days festival this year. I’m traditionally a HUGE Glastonbury goer and I’ve been going since the tender age of 15. However, this year has been mega expensive from getting the crib with Claire and generally being a mad person (budget, WHAT BUDGET), so I simply couldn’t afford to fork out £200 for a fezzie.

Nevertheless, I am going to the Friday at Wireless Festival (and staying at a hotel in Shoreditch, so not quite true to the festival roots) and I feel like this is still a great excuse to get a new outfit. The grand thing with any festival, even one in the middle of London, is that you can go a bit wild in terms of what to wear. Fun headwear, cute day dresses, a bit of glitter and even a bit of naughty fringing never go amiss, so it really is time for me to start planning properly. But what festival outfits are appropriate this year and what trends should we be thinking about?

I meant to do this as more of a ‘wishlist’ post but then got a bit carried away as usual, so for your viewing pleasure I have put together a few outfit options for every festival scenario. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, here are some ideas of what to wear to festivals this year.

For the perfect weather festival:

Ever the optimist, I put this one at the top of the list. This is for the festival we all dream of; perfect weather, pints of cider and dancing about in the sunshine. For those of us who are lucky to get a weekend with good weather, the festival fashion world is your oyster. This is what I would wear for a warm and sunny weekend. Some might say that a light blue summer dress is the last thing you’d want at a festival (grass stains, anyone?) but to you I say WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE AND/OR BOTTLE OF VANISH.

1. Swing Dress from Missguided. 2. Wayfarer Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Tangerine Nail Paint from Barry M. 4. Floral Garland Headband from Asos. 5. Converse from Asos.

For when things get muddy:

Let’s be honest. The likelihood of getting a weekend of blue skies here in Ye Olde England is pretty much nothing so it’s better to be prepared than caught unawares. Rain ruins EVERYTHING, so these are my essentials to keep everything in tact when the weather turns sour. The absolute worst is when it’s rainy, humid and we all end up looking like Monica on Friends so hair serum is at the top of the list! I’m also absolutely in love with this neon mac. LOVE.

1. Neon Mac from Topshop. 2. Dungarees from Boohoo.com. 3. Long Sleeve Crop Top from Topshop. 4. Hunter Wellies from Asos. 5. John Frieda Frizz-Ease from Boots.

For the festival in the city:

This is perhaps my biggest conundrum. What on earth do you wear to a festival where there is little or no grass involved? WHERE ARE THE COWS? WILL THERE BE MUD? DO I NEED WELLINGTON BOOTS? After a lot of thinking and lying down after all the fashion exertion, this is the outfit I have come up with. I think that you can get away with being a bit dressier if you’re not rolling around in a field and you don’t need to think about inappropriate festival shoes if you’re in a city. I’m loving the contrast between pastels and darker colours at the mo!

1. High Neck Skater Dress from Missguided. 2. Pork Pie Hat from Topshop. 3. Black Sandals from Zara. 4. Statement Necklace from Asos. 5. Plum Lipstick from Superdrug.

For the festival abroad:

YOU LUCKY THANGS. For anyone heading to Benicàssim, Tomorrowland and other genuinely exciting festival abroad, I hate you and we are no longer best pals. Thinking about what to wear to a festival abroad can sometimes mean taking into account long bus journeys, plane limits and what you can comfortably carry. But you also have to be aware that it is going to be HOT and fuelled with cheap alcohol, so this is my take on what to wear to a festival abroad. Expect maxi dresses and bikinis!

1. Neon Bikini from Missguided. 2. Round Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Sandals from River Island. 4. Denim Skater Skirt from Miss Selfridge. 5. Hand Harness from Boohoo.com.

So, this are just a few of my festival favourites on the highstreet at the moment! What do you all think?

ClaireJune 10, 2013

Barry M Confetti Nail Varnish: Review

I’ve been a huge fan of Barry M nail varnishes for years now, and I think over the last year or two they have really established themselves as the ultimate high street brand for innovative nail products. It seems that whatever new formulas and effects high-end brands release, Barry M are never too far behind, providing the same products for us mere mortals who don’t want to spend upwards of a tenner on nail polish. As such, whenever they launch a new range I get pretty giddy with excitement and want to try it.

One of their newest offerings is the ‘Confetti Nail Effects’ range. These polishes are a dead ringer for the Nails Inc Feather Effect polishes that I first saw reviewed on ETC LLYMLRS (don’t most of our first-glimpses come from that girl? Thank you, Lily!). They’re clear polishes that contain little strands of various colours to create a textured look and feel.

I chose to buy the ‘Bubblegum’ shade for my first one, as I’ve been loving blue nails a lot recently. Bubblegum is mainly a bright blue, with flecks of white.

At first I planned to be an extremely dedicated blogger and aim to get a fully opaque effect with the polish. But after doing a quick coat and seeing how thinly it applied, I realised I would still be sitting there by the time my 5-year-old niece turned 18, so decided to go for a base coat first. I chose the Barry M nail paint in ‘Blue Moon’, which is a nice pale blue shade, if a bit too milky for my taste.

With flash/without flash

I soon realised I’d been a little quick to judge the application of the confetti polish; once I started applying it over the base coat I found that you actually could get quite good coverage from just one dip in the pot. You just need to go over the nail quite a few times to get all of the bits off and onto the surface. After two applications, I was pleased with the finished effect. It’s a bit like I’ve dipped my fingers in hundreds and thousands, which I personally think is quite a charming look. The colour is bright and summery, and the texture is nowhere near as ‘bitty’ (I still can’t write that word without squirming thanks to Little Britain) and rough as I expected it to be.

The light blue works nicely under the confetti polish, but I’m excited to see how it looks on other base coats too, especially a white or even lemon-y coloured one.

My final thoughts, then, are this is an impressive little range that nicely mimics higher end brands. I haven’t tried the Nails Inc polishes yet, but the main difference to me so far appears to be that the Barry M pots are much cheaper than their £11 counterparts, at only £3.99. For such an interesting effect and easy application, I think I’ll definitely be buying more from the collection. The black and peach look particularly tempting!

Have any of you tried the confetti effects range – if so, what do you think of them?

ClaireJune 8, 2013

Mini Haul: Primark, Barry M and Palmers

I popped into town today for ‘one or two bits’ and, of course, got a tad carried away. In my defence, I didn’t spend that much. The fact that it was still money I don’t have is neither here nor there (in fact I think it’s there, way way way over there…)

So I thought I’d share with you what I picked up.

This is one of the bog standard Primark skater dresses that they sell for a ridiculously good FIVE ENGLISH POUNDS. I have one of the t-shirt versions and it’s good enough quality – it shrunk in the wash, but this was most probably my fault because I shrink everything, and I don’t mind anyway because it made it a slightly nicer length for my dwarfish frame. I like the bright blue of this dress and, although it’s nothing too exciting, I’m sure I’ll be happyI bought it on a sunny day soon (not today; the strong winds meant that the shoppers in Coventry city centre have had quite enough of my butt cheeks for one weekend).

Baragainous little crop top for a mere £2. TWO ENGLISH POUNDS. Okay, I’ll stop doing that now. But still! I already have cropped vests from Primark in white and grey so thought this neon orange/coral one would be a good addition to the collection.

I think this is actually my favourite thing I’ve bought today. It’s a white crop top (no shit, Sherlock) but it’s got a beaut low back that makes it a lot more dressy. A word of advice, the sizes come up quite big on this if you’re a small-boobed girl like myself; the 8 was really baggy so I ended up getting a 6. I think I’m going to wear this on a night out next weekend with my new Topshop denim skater skirt and maybe some neon-esque accessories. Oh, and this too only cost a fiver. Suh-weet.

Multi-packs like this are so useful, and really good value for money too. The rings were £2.50 and the bracelets were £4. I love the turquoise and silver combo that I’m seeing around quite a bit at the moment, and I’m glad to see the grungey cross/skull trend still seems to be hanging about (mainly as I’ve got quite a few pieces like this so I’m not ready to give them all up and be an untrendy Wendy again).

Ah, black flats: one of those essential-but-boring items you need to replace now and then. Primark had so many really nice flats in, lots of cutaway detailing, peep toes, and lovely nude shades of tan and stone. But alas, I needed to replace my ruined black flats and so had to make the decision to get these instead. I suppose they’re not too boring, but… wah. I also got some frilly ankle socks; these aren’t something I’ve worn before, but I thought I’d give them a little go with my Converse and try not to feel like too much of a massive tit.

I eventually stepped away from Primark (after trying loads of other stuff on that thankfully didn’t suit me when on) and headed to some makeup shops. I initially went into Superdrug to get a few bits for our first ever GIVEAWAY (which we should be launching today or tomorrow, keep your eyes peeled and be sure to follow us on Twitter @StylingoUK). But I of course got distracted by the Barry M stand. All of the nail varnishes had been removed from my local Boots last weekend – I asked the bloggers on Twitter, and apparently they had been recalled due to an issue with the current batch of bottles as they kept smashing. Either the issue has been resolved, or Superdrug just aren’t as bothered about protecting our little fingers as they had a beautiful fully-stocked nail section. Insert the ‘loveheart eyes’ emoji here. I’ve been wanting to try the new confetti range for ages, so chose this nice blue to start with.

I also picked up the Palmers Cocoa Butter gradual tanner after reading quite a few positive reviews about it. I occasionally use the Dove gradual tanner (which is a million times better than Johnsons – which, to use a retro insult, WHOMPS) but I’ve heard that Palmers one is quite a bit darker so I wanted to give it a whirl. I’ll do full reviews of these two products once I’ve given them a fair go.

And that is it! What do you all think of this mini haul? What have you been buying lately?