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Essie Double Breasted Jacket {Mani-Monday}

Last week I posted about the Essie Winter Collection on our Beauty What’s Hot feature. I promised I would share one of my favourite shades from the collection, so read on!

Essie Double Breasted Jacket

The Colour ~

I definitely have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to red nail polish shades and this Essie polish, is no exception! Essie Double Breasted Jacket is, in the poetic words of the Essie creatives, a “passionate tourmaline ruby”. Instead of it being a blood red, which is more common for winter, it has a gorgeous deep pink tinge to it. It is one of those shades, which is hard not to love!

As with most of the shades from the Essie Winter Collection it is bright and sexy, rather than being dark and sultry, which is a bit more unusual for winter. It does make for a nice change and will brighten up any cold grey winters day!

The Application ~

As you may know by now, I am and always have been an Essie fan. I have loved most of the colours I have tried, with only a few exceptions and the quality of the polish is always of a high standard. Essie Double Breasted Jacket applies well and it is one of those awesome polishes, which is opaque in one coat. It dries with a glossy finish, which is great, especially if you are in a hurry and don’t have time for a top coat. However for a more professional finish, I would recommend two coats, plus a top coat.

The Verdict ~

I absolutely love Essie Double Breasted Jacket! The colour is one that I will definitely wear throughout winter and it will look as great in summer as well, which is a bonus. The polish lasted about a week, without chipping or peeling.

Have you tried Essie Double Breasted Jacket? I would love to know your thoughts if you have or if you have any other nail polish shades you are loving for winter. Please leave a comment below.

The Essie Winter Collection is available at selected Dis-Chem, Clicks and Foschini Stores, as well as selected Beauty Salons.

Follow Essie on Facebook to keep up to date with new collections and product launches.

Disclosure Ranking: 2

Beauty, Beauty Products, Nail Polish

Essie Winter Collection 2015

Essie Winter Collection

The Essie Winter Collection has six gorgeous shades: Jump in my jumpsuit – jubilant juicy red, Tuck in my tux – silken ivory créme, Double breasted jacket – passionate tourmaline ruby, Back in the limo – sheer ripe melon, Bump up the pumps{not shown above} – raucous coral mauve and Jiggle hi, jiggle low – molten gold.

Create this fun patterned look – Rare Tweed, with a few shades from the Essie Winter Collection:
step 1: hydrate with apricot cuticle oil.
step 2: clean then prep nails with an essie base coat.
step 3: layer 2 coats of back in the limo. let dry.
step 4: dip a striping brush in double breasted jacket. apply thin lines of different lengths both vertically and horizontally across the nail. let dry.
step 5: repeat step 4 with bump up the pumps. your lines should begin to overlap.
step 6. repeat step 4 with jiggle hi, jiggle low.
step 7. shine + seal with an essie top coat.

Keep a look out week, to see one of the new awesome Essie Winter Collection shades featured on Mani-Monday!

The Essie Winter Collection is available at selected Dis-Chem, Clicks and Foschini Stores, as well as selected Beauty Salons.

Follow Essie on Facebook to keep up to date with new collections and product launches.

Beauty, Beauty Products

Mascara Lash Off {Review}

Mascara Review

Mascara is definitely one of my makeup must-haves! Even if I am wearing minimal makeup on the rest of my face, I have to wear mascara, otherwise I feel naked! Mascara is the one tool that can take a so-so makeup look to the next level.

A reader recently asked which Mascara I would recommend, so I decided to put a few drugstore Mascara’s through their paces and have a bit of a Mascara Lash Off!

As I mentioned these are all drugstore Mascara Brands, which makes them affordable and easily accessible to everyone. The most important thing about Mascara is to find the one that is right for you. Another important aspect of purchasing mascara, is to decide what type of effect you are after – whether it is a natural everyday look you are trying to achieve or a vavavoom dramatic effect!

The five mascara’s I am featuring are: Maybelline The Colossal Go Extreme! Leather Black, Catrice Glamour Doll, Maybelline The Rock Volum’ Express, Loreal Miss Manga Punky and Essence Princess False Lash Effect Mascara.

Maybelline The Colossal Go Extreme! Leather Black Mascara ~ I have always been a big fan of Maybelline Mascara’s and this one is no exception! The Colossal Go Extreme! Leather Black Mascara is also my favourite-favourite, out of all of the mascara’s I tested. You may recall a feature I did on the original Colossal Go Extreme mascara in a favourites post – well this is its big brother! The Colossal Go Extreme! Black Perfecto has a super-loading wand, which adds an extra shot of volume onto the biggest brush. Blackout pigments give you a bold look, with Leather Black intensity! Apply less product for everyday and build up the volume for more intensity in the evening. RRP R134.95

Catrice Glamour Doll Mascara ~ This is one of those rather unassuming products! When you first look at the wand, you are unsure it will do much but don’t be fooled. While it is certainly not the most volumsing, the Catrice Glamour Doll Mascara gives you great definition and it is definitely build-able. It is my favourite for everyday wear and especially if you are going for a nude makeup look, as it separates the lashes really well, for a clearly defined eye. RRP R69.95

Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express ~ I have repurchased the Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express often! What I love about this product is the brush, which is similar to that of the Catrice Galmour Doll.It has smaller bristles, allowing you to more easily separate the lashes but still create an intense bold eye. I spotted a new version of this product available on the UK Maybelline website, with a patented Supersonic Brush with micro bristles. I am unsure whether it is available in SA yet but it sounds awesome! {this is an estimated price as this product was sent to me} RRP R129

Loreal Miss Manga Punky ~ This one of those products which you whip out when you want to create an all out volumised eye, with a punky edge! Miss Manga Punky is a mega volume texturing mascara, with a konical shaped brush, which grips lashes from root to tip to create an intense spiky effect. I am not daring enough to go all out like the the photo above but even one coat creates a great effect. RRP 149.95

Essence Princess False Lash Effect Mascara ~ The Essence Princess False Lash Effect Mascara is the budget buy out of all the mascara’s I tested and for the price you cannot go wrong! With a a konical shaped brush much like the Miss Manga Punky, it tends to sweep the lashes and give you a great up-turned effect. I would not say that it is overly volumising but you can definitely build volume with a few coats. RRP R63.95

All the mascara’s mentioned above are relatively easy to remove with a dove cotton pad and eye makeup remover.

A reader pointed out I did not mention the longevity of these products, so I thought I need to add it in! All the Mascara’s tested last well but I must make particular mention of the Maybelline Colossal Go Extreme and the Miss Manga Punky, which in my opinion have the best staying power. In saying this they were the most difficult out of the five to remove.

A side note: I have quite sensitive eyes and all the products tested to be quite gentle, with no apparent reaction.

I hope you found this review helpful! I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment below and remember to share this review with your friends and family!

Stockists: Selected Clicks, Dischem, Foschini and Edgars stores.

Disclosure Ranking:2

Beauty, Beauty Products, Nail Polish

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish {Mani-Monday}

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish

I decided on something quite bright for Mani-Monday! I was recently sent a few of the new Maybelline Color Show Nail Poilsh shades to try – these two caught my eye immediately!

The Colors~

As you know I simply cannot resist pink nail polish and the brighter the better! The first colour I used to create the look below is Maybelline Color Show Park Avenue Pink, which is a gorgeous cerise pink. I painted a coat of Maybelline Color Show Wine Shimmer, over the Park Avenue Pink, to create a pretty sparkly effect. Wine Shimmer is a pinky red shade, with fine iridescent glitter.

I think this look would be particularly good for wearing out in the evening – to a glamorous event or dinner party. It will look especially good against black!

The Application ~

The Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish, applies very easily and is fast drying, as the label indicates – in 60 Seconds! I could have gotten away with one coat of Park Avenue Pink, if I was only wearing the one colour.

The Verdict ~

I think Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish is a winner! It applies well, is fast-drying, reasonably priced and looks great. I am not sure about how well it lasts yet, that remains to be seen but it definitely gets a thumbs up from me!

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish is available from selected Clicks Dischem, Foschini and Edgars stores. RRP R49.95

Disclosure Ranking:2

Beauty, Beauty Products, Nail Polish

Essie Style Cartel {Mani-Monday}

Hello from a very gloomy and grey Cape Town! It is the 1st of June and officially Winter in our neck of the woods…brrr. I thought I would feature something a bit brighter today on today’s Mani-Monday! Essie Style Cartel is from the Essie Fall Collection 2015, which I have featured previously.

The Colour ~ Essie Style Cartel is a inky cobalt blue. I am not a lover of blue nail polish but I loved the colour of this in the bottle. The colour on the nail, is slightly darker than I an anticipated but I do like it!

The application ~ The polish applies well as with most Essie polishes I have used. My only negative is that the colour tends to stain your skin, so try not to paint outside the lines! I am hoping this will not be the same case, with staining my nails but I guess I will only find out once I remove the polish. I used two coats of Essie Style Cartel and the Good To Go, fast drying top coat, to achieve the look below.

The Verdict ~ I really do love Essie Style Cartel, mostly because it is something a bit different, from my usual go-to colours for Autumn/Winter.

The Essie Fall Collection is available at selected Dis-Chem, Clicks and Foschini Stores, as well as selected Beauty Salons.

Follow Essie on Facebook to keep up to date with new collections and product launches.

Disclosure Ranking:2