Nails Inc 4 Piece A Listers Nude Collection

Greek/ Ελληνικά

I was craving this set since I saw swatches of Covent Garden Ballet a few month ago and I got it at the asos sale for £15.50. What a bargain! Getting four great polishes for little over the price of one! 

First, it's Covent Garden Ballet shot through with a delicate grey with pink-bronze shimmer. It's adorable, what more can I say! We need more delicate beauties like this. 

Next is Ledbury Road, a metallic taupe colour that looks like two of my favourite eye shadows.

In the bottle it looked a lot like my Shu Uemura ME 860 (2nd generation) ...

...while on the nail it looks more like Shu Uemura Ir 850 (2nd generation). I love them both of course so I can't help liking the polish that gives me the rather odd opportunity to match my nails to my eyeshadow. 

Lower Sloane Street is a soft caramel nude cream. It's pretty, it's easy to wear and work appropriate. A nice basic colour.

And lastly there's Mayfair, a pearlescent off-white. Even though I'm not a huge fan of white, I like this one because it's not stark. It's a little bit muted to be stark and in spite of the pearlesence, there's not issues with brush strokes. The only problem I had with this was that it's a bit goopy, not goopy enough to complain though!

Dear Shu Uemura why?

When I saw the latest Color Atelier version of the Shu Uemura eyeshadows and blushers which has been out roughly since November in the UK I couldn't help noticing that they were smaller than the older ones. Yesterday I found one of the cases form the pre-2005 eyeshadows and noticed that those were even larger. Up till 2005[pre-L'Oreal era] we were getting 2.8gr (0.9oz.), from 2005-2011 we were getting 2.1gr(0.7oz) [3/4 of the previous version]and now we are getting 1.4gr(0.49oz); we are getting exactly half the product we used to get till 2005. Moreover, now you have to get a 'single' palette even for one eyeshadow. I really don't like being pushed to buy something when it used to be included in the price.

And of course there is the issue I mentioned in a previous post, about the cosmetics being made in Korea now instead of Japan.

The blushers'quantity hasn't changed as dramatically. I don't have any of the pre-2005 era ones so I don't really know how much blusher was in the pan but between 2005 and 2011 we were getting 5gr and now we are getting 4gr. My issues with the new Color Atelier Glow On Blushers is that they have changed the codes! They all used to have a three digit number which was informative as to what the colour characteristics were. Well, that's gone now! They've replaced it with a different two-digit number which means that either I'll have to visit the store with the list that they have made available (highly unlikely) or just get whatever I like when I see it. Having learned from experience, I am attracted to the same sort of colours and buying the same colour from the same brand just because they changed the code will annoy me to no ends. I guess I won't be buying any more of them until I need to, which won't be any time soon since they last forever! 

My Perfect Eye Liner: Shu Uemura Painting Liner M Black

Happy New Lunar Year everybody!! It's the year of the black dragon, the dragon of water! How exciting does that sound? I thought that the perfect product to feature on such a day is my beloved gel eye liner, Shu Uemura Painting Liner M Black/ M Noir (for the French speaking population). 

There are not enough words of praise for this little miracle. I've had the same jar for 2 years and 2 months, I use it at least 3 times a week and only now has it started to not glide on as easily as when I had first bought it, but even so it's still great! Here's a picture of my jar and yes, I am that OCD with my gel liners.

It's not a glossy black like liquid liners tend to be, but that is to be expected since it's a gel liner. It is easy to blend if you wish to do so, but it won't move around much once it's set. I've had no problems with transfer on the upper lid, which was a major problem for me with other eye liners. It is very smooth to put on as it literally glides on on its own. It has served me right on many long days without smudging, flaking or melting or otherwise making me look like a disaster at the end of a long day.

That said, I have a complaint with Shu Uemura in general these days. Their products all seem to be marked as "Designed in Japan, Made in Korea"(open the picture in a new tab and you should see it clearly, instead of "Made in Japan" like they used to. I have nothing against Korea or Korean cosmetics, but when I buy luxury Japanese cosmetics I expect them to be Japanese. The eye liners were one of the first products they started manufacturing in Korea and nowadays it seems like everything is made there. People at Shu Uemura you are a luxury brand, why treat us this way? You were the ones that got me into Japanese cosmetics and insisted on how their quality is superior to products from all other countries, so why did you become a Korean brand? I do feel cheated somehow and will always wonder what the eye liners were before they moved their manufacturing centres to Korea.

Now that that is out of the way, one small precaution to people living in countries were it gets extremely hot. In temperatures over 38°C it becomes very melty so I don't suggest using it. You can get away with a little bit, but not a proper feline eye. By the end of the day you'll look like you put it on with your fists, kind of like  Taylor Momsen and that's never a good look.

Just to show you how much you can do with this liner, I loaded my brush up (an artist's kolinsky brush size 0) with as much quantity as I could and drew this black dragon without dipping in for more! And bare in mind that my liner is very very old in liner years!

 I did various other lines with a different brush, a no-brand synthetic angled brush. 

Happy New Black Dragon Year Everyone!!