Top Ten Presents to Buy The Makeup Junkie in Your Life

If you haven't figured it out by now I'm a makeup junkie. Being a makeup artist I have more than enough makeup but I always want to buy more and more. You could say that I am an addict.

 So for those of you who have a makeup addict in their life and are struggling with that to buy that special someone for Christmas, I have compiled a Top Ten list of 2013 Holiday Collections that I would LOVE to see under my tree and hopefully make choosing gifts that little bit easier!

10. KIT COSMETICS BLING IT ON NAIL ART SET ($39.95AUD)

Photo from Kit Cosmetics Facebook Page

This limited edition kit comes with glitter, 3D nail diamentes in the shape of flowers, stars and gems, nail art wrap in Shape Up and all the tools you need to create your own nail art pieces. This would be great for those who want to start creating their own nail art or for those who are already nail art savvy!

This kit is available online at kitcosmetics.com.au.

  9.STILA ARTIST SIGNATURE SET ($185.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz.com.au

This is an all in one blockbuster set that has all your colour needs sorted within a vintage inspired box. The set contains eight Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liners, 15 lip glazes, three brushes, three deluxe Smudge Crayons, eye and cheek colours and also includes an instructional booklet with tips and tricks. Stila's Artist Signature Set would look nice sitting atop any girls dresser.

Available from Sephora or at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $224.64AUD and Mecca Cosmetica for $235.00AUD.

8.TARTE LIPSURGENCE COLLECTORS SET ($175.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz.com.au

This set contains 15 full size chubby lip pencils from Tarte's LipSurgence collection. Hailed for it's ability to give natural colour and plumped lip appearance this one is sure to be a hit for those girls who feel naked without colour on their lips.

Available at Sephora or at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $214.02AUD.

  7.DEBORAH LIPPMANN BIG BANG MINI NAIL SET ($78.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz.com.au

Those who follow me on Instagram and Facebook know how much I ADORE Deborah Lippmann's nail polishes ever since I discovered them on my trip to the Philippines earlier this year so it's no surprise that this mini set landed in my top ten. This set features 12 colours from her collection and all with the signature long lasting quick drying formula that I have come to know and love.

Big Bang is available at Sephora and at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $95.08AUD.

6.CIATE NAIL LAB ($65.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz's Facebook Page

Ciate Nail Lab is one of those kitschy things that I just want to own. Last year I bought the Ciate Mini Mani Month Manicure (try to say that three times fast) and absolutely LOVED it so adding this to my nail polish/nail art collection would just be the icing on the cake!.

This set contains six nail pots, eight suspension top coats (a top coat designed to help glitter float), three glitter pots, three flitter (a varying cut of glitter) pots, three sparkle pots (another type of glitter), three shimmer pots, seven recipe/Get the Look cards and various tools and brushes to create a custom nail art piece.

Ciate Nail Lab is available at Sephora or at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $79.49AUD but also keep an eye out at either Kit Cosmetics or Mecca Cosmetica (a little birdy hinted that they may be getting this in!).

5.FORMULA X FOR SEPHORA THE TWENTY TWO SET ($55.00USD)

Photo from Sephora.com

Just before I went to Hawaii this year I saw some of these Formula X nail polishes on Sephora's facebook and instagram and I immediately fell in love but when I went to Sephora in Honolulu they weren't in stock yet at either of their two locations.

From the swatches that I have seen of these polishes they are just AMAZING, especially the glitter and texture formulations!

For those of you who are lucky enough to live near a Sephora this will set you back $55.00USD but with $103.00USD value I'd be snatching this set up pronto! If you live in Australia you can pick it up from Tarazz.com.au for $68.04AUD.

4.URBAN DECAY OCHO LOCO 2 ($59.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz

I had purchased Urban Decay's 2012 Ocho Loco 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set earlier this year through Tarazz.com.au for $65.49AUD ($59.00USD) and was really taken aback at how good these liners are. Each set comes with eight full size eye liners that are extremely pigmented and easy to apply.

At $19.00USD RRP per pencil this set is a bargain as if you were to buy these all individually it would cost you $152.00USD.

Ocho Loco 2 is available at Sephora or at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $72.98AUD (yeah, the exchange rate is TERRIBLE for us in Aus at the moment).

3.THE MAKEUP BOX SHOP ORGANIZERS

The Makeup Box Shop has all sorts of different storage solutions for even the BIGGEST makeup junkie to stash their collections in. With all prices including postage you'll be able to find the best makeup storage solutions starting from $51.00AUD.

My top two picks would be the Original Flip Top Makeup Box (top left image $154.00AUD) and the Nail Polish Box (top right image $71.00AUD).

Visit The Makeup Box Shop online and on facebook to see the rest of their collections.

2.URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE-ON EYE PENCIL VAULT ($295.00USD)

Photo from Tarazz.

 As a makeup junkie, there is nothing I love more than a full collection of a line/cosmetic range and this eye vault would be a DREAM to own! This sits high on my list of things to eventually own so I'm hoping that next year they release one of these vaults again because I certainly can't afford it this year.

This set comes with 40 pencils in every texture and colour that Urban Decay makes as well as 13 new never seen before shades. If you get this for your significant other I'm sure you'll be in the good books for quite some time! *hint hint to my hubby ;p

Available at Sephora and at Tarazz.com.au for those in Australia for $360.07AUD.

 

1.URBAN DECAY THE MOTHERLODE SHADOW SET ($595.00 USD)

 Photo from Tarazz

 This eye shadow set from Urban Decay is the ULTIMATE in collections. I have been DROOLING over this since the moment they released it online. The Motherlode comes with 68 velvet eye shadows which is their entire colour/finish range and a custom four well palette for you to build your own travel palette. DIVINE <3

You can buy this set from Sephora and at Tarazz.com.au for $726.25AUD. A bit pricey but I certainly think it would be worth it!

 Now if I can just convince hubby to buy my whole entire Top Ten list I would be one EXTREMELY happy girl! I don't think that will happen but a girl can dream!

Tell me, if you could choose just ONE of these items, what would you like to unwrap this Christmas?

Deborah Lippmann - Rock This Town Limited Edition

Rock This Town was released for the 2012 Holiday Collection but lucky for me it didn't sell and I was able to buy it in May this year I went to the Philippines to visit my dad's side of the family as it was my Lola's (grandma's) birthday and I hadn't been back there since I was 13 years old.

While I was there my aunts took me shopping and I stumbled across Deborah Lippmann polish at the local Rustan's which is their local fancy department store. To say I went a little bit crazy is an understatement. I ended up buying 13 bottles and was also given a free full size polish as they have a loyalty club (buy 10 get a free item).

This set caught my eye as they were the most beautiful metallic colours I had seen in a while plus I could never go past a nicely packaged set of limited edition colours. This set of three cost $2,250PP which was equivalent to about $53.00AUD at the time which isn't a bad price considering that in the US this set retailed for $45.00USD.

L-R: Chain Reaction,Moon Dance, Phoenix Rising

Rock This Town contains three limited edition glimmer polish colours, Chain Reaction a dirty brass; Moon Dance a deep lavender swirl; and Phoenix Rising a foxy (I guess their way of saying orange) copper. One thing I did notice when I was taking pictures of these nail polishes was that each shade contained magenta/purple foil throughout which is something that I wasn't expecting.

 

CHAIN REACTION

Chain Reaction, when viewed from afar, shows up as a blackened gold polish but when photographed up close you can see little fragments of pink/magenta glitter throughout. This shade throws off a little more yellow than I expected but I'm sure I'll use this polish at some point. It reminds me of a lighter version of The Makeup Store's Celebration nail polish.

 MOON DANCE

 

Deborah Lippmann described this as a lavender swirl glimmer but to me it looks more like taupe/brown. The only time you can really see lavender within this polish is when you zoom in with a macro lens (below), and surprisingly looks like a confetti gun had hit this polish as there are lots and lots of different colour flecks within it.

As with all of Deborah Lippman polishes this also has great coverage, pigment and dries to a nice smooth finish.

 

PHOENIX RISING

 

Phoenix Rising is an orange based copper with multicoloured glitter flecks that remind me of fire, which I guess makes Phoenix Rising a fitting name for this polish.

I would say that this is my least favourite out of the set as I feel it's a little wishy washy as I like my oranges to be bright and I feel like this kind of pales and fades against my skin tone.

 All in all the Rock This Town set would make an interesting addition to any nail polish collection. Although it may not be available on Deborah Lippmann's website you can still purchase it through Ebay from $35AUD - $50AUD.

Deborah Lippmann - Let's Go Crazy

Deborah Lippmann's Let's Go Crazy features Prince's signature shade of purple with multicolour glitter throughout.

On first inspection of the polish bottle you may suspect that there may be a little too much going on but once you apply the polish your hesitation fades away.

This polish is a jelly base colour and applies the glitter in a more layered effect rather than a full glitter explosion. It is very similar to the Glitter in the Air polish that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago but I much prefer the bold purple tone in Let's Go Crazy.

The colour of this polish was really hard to capture on camera, it either looked black in images or the glitter wouldn't show up. I really tried hard to get it right for you but the below image was as close as I could get. I bought some new lights to help capture colours/textures better for you all so bear with me while I get used to it.

All in all I ADORE this polish and would dare say that it's probably my favourite one so far with Dancing in the Dark being a very, very, very close second!

Deborah Lippmann - Glitter in the Air

 

As we know, Deborah Lippmann always names her polishes after songs but I had never heard of a song titled Glitter in the Air and I like to think I'm a bit of a music buff,  so I Googled the title and sure enough it brought up Pink's Glitter in the Air from her Funhouse album. I've linked it below for your listening pleasure! ;p

I've always been a HUGE fan of the jelly base glitter polishes as I love the way the glitter looks as it doesn't look flat like your traditional glitter polishes and I had yet to buy one when I stumbled across this one on my last trip to the Philippines.

Glitter in the Air is a baby blue jelly base polish with a mix of different sized glitter flakes in pink and blue. When I look at this polish it reminds me of Easter eggs or cotton candy for some reason.

When I applied my first layer I thought for sure that I would need to take it off and apply a base coat first in order to get a good finish but I persevered and ended up applying three coats which ended up being sufficient. The polish had an even finish and had just enough colour coming through THANK GOD because I didn't want to have to take it all off and start all over again!

This is the first jelly glitter polish I had bought and used and I have to say I am definitely OBSESSED with this one. Now to head online and find more of these to add to the collection! x

Photo taken with flash.

Natural daylight.

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

As I mentioned in my last Deboarh Lippmann post, all of her nail polishes are named after songs but I couldn't find "Mermaid's Dream" but this polish sure does remind me of a mermaid.

Mermaid's dream is a mint green metallic with blue glitter/shimmer - there's a LOT going on in this polish!

The polish chipped after four days of wear, which was quite surprising as this is meant to be a professional brand. It seems that most of the glitters in the Deborah Lippmann range don't seem to work too well with me (unlike the OPI glitters that last FOREVER). All in all a great polish but it's just a shame about the chipping.

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Last week Talia (YouTube) passed away at the young age of 13 from cancer. As a tribute to Talia, Nicole from Nail Polish Wars initiated the mini project #mintmanisfortaliajoy which was held on Friday 19th of July. As my small tribute I painted my nails for the occasion.

RIP Talia, your strength, courage and vivacity was truly inspiring! xxx

Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow

 So it's taken me this long to realise that all of Deborah Lippmann's nail polishes are named after song titles (I should've realised it after Bad Romance but I just thought that was a coincidence)! Yes, I know I'm slow. So now everytime I pick up a bottle and read what colour it is I have that darned song in my head for the rest of the day..... cue "Boom Boom Pow"

Boom Boom Pow is not a thick polish at all and I would imagine it would take quite a few coats to get enough layers on there to look presentable so I thought I would lay down a base coat first.

BASE COAT: MAKE UP STORE NAIL POLISH "SVEA"

The Make Up Store's nail polishes are beautiful and really quick to dry. Svea is a two tone polish that is beige in colour but with a gold shimmer throughout and is nice enough to wear on its own. It reminds me of a more blingy version of Ciate Cookies and Cream.

No filter/edit

So to make it more blingy I added two layers of Boom Boom Pow. As you can see in the pics below the glitter applies very thin and doesn't give a good finish like the other Deborah Lippmann polishes I have used so far.

When I view my manicure from far away it really reminds me of the OPI Man with the Golden Gun 18ct Top Coat but with more bling factor.

Over all it's a nice a top coat but definitely not one you could wear on its own and it is very hard to build up and layer.

As an added bonus, below is a nail art fail! It really does pay to invest in real Swarovski crystals. That'll be next on the list to add to the kit!