Meep! Meep! Meep! by OPI from their Muppets Holiday Collection
Please excuse the terrible chipped manicure, I took this picture as I began taking the nailpolish off. oof!

A dark pink / red nailpolish with pink micro glitter flecks in it. Somedays it looks so bright and festive and other times I wear it I find it looks a bit dowdy. Regardless, I wore this with a festive sundress for Christmas Day, and my sister-in-law really liked the colour on me. I am not a huge fan of red, as I tend to like more murky dark colours or milky colours, but when I’m in the mood for something with a bit of bang in it, this seems to do the trick.

White nailpolish with Snow Globe by China Glaze

I wore this after christmas day, wanting something a bit cool and frigid. I used a random white nailpolish I had in my stash and placed China Glaze ‘Snow Globe’ on it. I loved the effect so much, Snow Globe has silver and iridescent glitter as well as hexagonal pieces as well. It’s a really lovely effect and I love white nailpolish. I think this would look amazing also at carnival time on some very nice tanned warmed bronzed hands.

Designer de Better by OPI from their Muppets Holiday Collection

I love this colour so much, it’s a champagne silver-esque colour with what seems to be orange micro glitters in it. Such a funny combination! But a great one regardless, as it does the trick. I can’t think of a more appropriate shade to wear for Ole Years Night.

Hannah from Snowdrop85 YT Channel has some lovely recommendations for Winter or as we call it the Christmas Holiday season. Have a look!

I finally got around to wearing this, this week, it was around the same time that S. and I. finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides (truth to be told I loved the 1st and last POTC movies). I have always been attracted to all things sea related, I love swimming in the pool, I love seaweed, I collect seashells, I just love all things mer-related. So being able to see beautiful mermaids in costumes on screen was pretty enjoyable. Naturally when OPI released their POTC collection, this was one of the main colours I wanted to have. In regards to the family of colours belonging in the seafoam green section, I still prefer Essie’s Mint Candy Apple. Nevertheless, I enjoyed wearing it, it’s a warmer, sophisticated version to the mint candy apple, and perhaps more wearable for those of us that work in a ‘semi-corporate’ environment. Luckily for me, my job field allows me to be fairly fun and quirky in my work appearances. Two coats was more than enough and was a breeze to apply, topped with some Seche Vite topcoat (THE BEST TOP COAT EVARRRR!).

I normally wear very pale colours on my toes, but I’m leaning towards sporting this soon on them as well.
Today’s colour choice is white nail polish. I think it makes my tan really glow, and your nails look healthy and bright. (Wow, um, what a description!)

Have a lovely weekend!

Sidenote: Caribbean girls, or all girls for that matter, please ensure you use a sunblock before your makeup and moisturizer. Do not let the fact that you have gone all your life without using sunblock be your deterrent. You need it.

So yes! I’ve got one eyeshadow I’m loving, alot of mac skinfinishes, a perfume and a palette.

MAC – RETROSPECK

This is frosty colour that is very champagne like. I love wearing this on the inner corner of my eye, and my brow bone. I think I prefer or rather I feel like I look better wearing more cool toned frosts as opposed to ones that are warmer. You see, I love that J Lo glow look, I still like it, and in her latest video homegirl looks fly (um, did I just say that??) with sunkissed appearance and golden/apricot complexion. Seriously it’s so perfect and I feel like retrospeck gives me that extra oomph a little gloss on my eyes for lack of a better word to use.

MAC MINERAL SKINFINISH IN COMFORT

My friend N. had bought this for me last year in MAC’s In the Groove collection 2010. At first I found this was so brown based that it would instantly make my complexion look ruddy and dirty. I don’t really do bronzer, I can never get it to work for me no matter how hard I try. But this, this works! I use it at the edge of my face to do a little definition, and sometimes if I don’t feel to wear any blush, I wear it just behind the apples of my cheeks, it gives a nice effortless everyday glow / healthy appeal without looking overly brown.

MAC MINERAL SKINFINISH IN ROSE QUARTZ From the Semi Precious collection

Wow! This is a nice skinfinish, this isn’t to be compared to Stereorose, which was re-launched last year. Stereorose is alot more coral where as Rose Quartz is alot more pink based with silver tones in the middle. Bubblegarm has an excellent post on it here. Anyway, you don’t even need to use highlighter when this is on ladies, swirl all the colours together, or swipe around and then use the middle above your apples, whichever way you choose works well. I think this would work so amazingly on a darker complexion for a flushed appearance.

MAC MINERAL SKINFINISH CRYSTAL PINK from the Semi Precious collection

A really nice highlighter that I would describe as apricot and silver. It isn’t overly cool or overly warm in it’s appearance so I think this would therefore work nicely on different complexions. I like using this above for e.g. Nars Orgasm blush. I don’t have alot of words to say about this one. It is JUST NICE!!!

Tarte Palette

Seen in my previous post, I’ve been using this almost daily. I love the almost slate like colour as it works great for giving your eyes some definition right above the crease. You can easily see which of the colours I’ve been using more of. Told you, I’ve always been a shimmer kinda girl!

CLINIQUE HAPPY – HEART

One of my most favourite fragrances ever, it just I know I know, it really makes me happy when I wear it. I think it’s the notes of mandarin in it that really make me swoon. I love that it’s fresh, a little playful and makes you feel a bit more lively.

What have been your August favourites? Comment and tell me!

So then Oh Joy posted a picture of her in their lovely ban.do scarf, I just had to see what all the fuss was about. Cue a little melody playing in my head when I feasted upon the site. It was so beautiful, so cheerful that yes, even after six years of working in marketing, and designing point of purchase materials, I was suckered to buying something. So what did I buy?

BAN.DO – HEART K

A gorgeous coral coloured ban.do with a black sequined starfish, I was so excited when I got my package, it was beautifully wrapped and inside held a lovely treasure, I can’t wait to wear it, I have a few outfits in my mind for this baby. I’ve already made my list of soon to purchase items from their store, the Mini Pompom flower, the Black Satin Bow, the Heart headband, and the Happy Jeweled Headband (the jeweled headband can perhaps be a present from S?). I just love them all and will slowly begin collecting pieces. I also think they are so quirky and fit into my general aesthetic. It’s nice to see women wearing huge flowers and pompoms in their hair, and knowing it’s okay to have fun like this!

Next up was Give me Moor {swatch}. This was part of OPI’s Espana Collection that came out in 2009. This was part of a 12 piece fall collection that had other very popular colours such as Pampolona Purple, Here Today Aragon Tomorrow etc. Click here for a break down of the entire set. N. got this for me during a business meeting with a client that was migrating and selling all her spa equipment and stock. She got me two delicious vampy colours. This was one of them. What can I say about Give me Moor? In fluorescent lighting this looks dark chocolate brown with red and purple undertones. It applies surprisingly sheer and quite dark red and I feel 3 coats would be best (not the 2 that I used). But, I just love dark well manicured short nails, I think it looks so great, and gives you a little oomph more of character.

P.S. Will try to take more realistic shots of my nail swatches in the future, I know this does no justice, hence the links to the ‘real’ swatches.
P.P.S. Dupes? Trini girls interested in a dark eggplant colour? Hit up your favourite accessories store there are so many dupes for Give me Moor, or, have fun and mix colours that you have left over from this year’s carnival season together in a silicone based container and invent your own vampy colour choice.

I adore nailpolish, I always have, but I was never into bright colours when I was growing up. You would often find me in cotton candy pinks and the natural hue of your nail sort of colours. But I have amazing and found memories of my Mamma wearing nail polish, her style was bright reds and oranges and she really did have the long glossy nails (very much in fashion at that time) for that look. She would always put on a fresh new coat of polish on a Sunday evening, sometimes I would help her with her toes. It’s also something I would do with my Nanna, normally a bright burst of colour on her warm vanilla caramel coloured skin. These beautiful women of my family, courageous and brave, singular in the raising of their children, glossing their nails for another week. Mamma would sometimes do my nails for me, I remember one year for Halloween she dressed me up like a tiger, and painted my toenails over night. My mother even through her sickness, would always wear nail polish, it was part of her, and it’s a beautiful thought that I always keep in my mind when I put on my new polish for the week on a Sunday evening. So nail polish as is makeup for me on a whole intrinsically linked to my Mamma. I get this love and passion for beauty through her.

These nail polishes I’ve collected have been over the course of the past two weeks. My sweet bub S. always buys me a polish when he goes to the hairdresser for his hair cut. His colour choices aren’t often in the same light as mine but I wear -everything- he purchases for me as he does it with love, and excitement to see me in it. I got the Blue OPI Shatter, which I’ve been holding off on shatters for a while, I wasn’t sure if it was something that would look good on me, and this was a bright blue, not a robin’s blue or a inky royal blue, this was BRIGHT. But Lo’ and behold it wasn’t too bad, and I got quite a few compliments in work about it. The others are an Essie set which looks deliciously tropical, (I’m thinking a beach look for this), two of the gift sets from the OPI for Sephora collection which I love. The names are just gorgeous too, Urban Ballerina, and Safari Luxe. I haven’t tried all of the colours as yet, I’m taking my time to go through them.

I also got two from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection (late, yes I know) Steady as She Rose, and Mermaid’s Tears (I love anything ‘mer’ related). And then 3 purple hued polishes from a Sephora collection which I think will look great as we soon head into the holiday season.

Island Girls, what nailpolish colours are you into? I love very dark browns, or murky/greyish toned colours.

The gift set N. got for me from her recent trip was the 3D Sparkle & Shine Collection. It contains a eyeshadow trio, the 3D liquid lustre and the 3d lashes (in mini).

STARRY-EYED BAKED EYESHADOW IN STAR STUDDED

I love the lightest colour in this trio, I think it’s an excellent champagne colour that works really well on my complexion, it’s not overly frosty, and does not look extremely white on my eyelids. I know it looks extremely white in the pictures (because of the flash) but I promise it’s not. This went on my entire lid, the rosegold then went onto my crease, however I found this colour could have been a bit darker maybe more defined. Then the bronze/olive toned colour at the outer corners. Overall though when you finish using these 3 colours they do come together very well, I’m not normally a huge fan of quads and trios, I like to mix and match with my other palettes, but this works well since I am trying out being a neutral coloured kinda gal.

3D LIQUID LUSTRE SHIMMERING TOP COAT

Wow. I was a bit hesitant to try this out. I wasn’t sure whether it would make my eyeshadow clammy, if it would have alot of fall out (some beauty blogs report this), whether it would work with my complexion. A few things.

1. I’m not fond of the packaging, but I really like the concept of the lustre drops. You squeeze the tiniest amount onto your hand, and it will begin to dry (not overly quickly), I like this conversion part of it alot as it’s really workable to use and you don’t feel overwhelmed with putting it on quickly.

2. You can use this on your eyelids by taking your little finger and patting it lightly over you eyeshadow, it basically looks like you have iridescent glitter on your eyes, I don’t think it gives a ‘diffused-esque glow’ as what is shown on the packaging. I think it works nice yes, but not necessarily the end effect it was intended to be. However, going out for some drinks, a little night lime etc, swap this on and work it.

3. You can use this as a highlighter on your cheek bones. Homegirl here loves some shimmer on her bones, anything to show them up! However, when I used it, I wasn’t very impressed with it, I found it could have been smoother, but maybe I just didn’t try it properly, I have to get back to this.

MINI MULTIPLEX 3D LASHES MASCARA

oooh. I am really liking this mascara. I feel it really separates and lengthen’s my eyelashes. Seeing that I’m back to my normal tiny ones compared to my ‘lilash induced ones’ (I am re-purchasing this soon!), I found it really worked well to really comb out my lashes, coat them a bit, and give them some definition. Right now I’m using the Dior one, and I am not impressed. The YSL Faux Cilis one for me, is hands down the best.

I’m going to try out some different looks with the liquid lustre and see how it handles other shadows.

With that said, my birthday was on a weekday which I really loathe, but I spent the day at work finishing up some assignments I had, then I met my friends for a quick early supper. Normally we go to our favourite cupcake bistro, but we were all alot more famished, and had proper meals instead. I love being with some of my closest mates, they are so warm and relaxing to be around. It’s a level of comfort I’ve come to appreciate it.

These are a few of some of the birthday gifts I got, as I was quite lazy to photograph them.

MICHAEL KORS WATCH IN ROSE GOLD & ACRYLIC (MK5323) link

I’ve been wanting this watch for a long time, and originally I first saw it on Michele1218 youtube channel. Immediately I was drawn to it for a number of reasons. 1. I love rose gold, 2. I love the Swarovski Crystal Accent’s surrounding it 3. I love big watches (it reminds me of when I was very young and would wear my brother’s watch and walk around the house thinking I was just perfect). S. made me choose between this one and the full rose-gold one which I may or may not buy at the end of the year.

AMAZON KINDLE

Oh me oh my! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been contemplating having one of these, it started when I was having a conversation with my sister-in-law and she asked “How come you don’t have a kindle has yet?” And I thought “Yes, really how come you don’t have one as yet?”. With that notion in mind my brother bought this for me. I’ve already read the last two of the Heather Well’s mysteries by Meg Cabot on it (please go read them, she is like Bridget Jones meet Ms. Marple!) and I’m on my 3rd reading Fresh Powder by Susanne O’Leary. Reading on the kindle is a breeze, it’s easy on the eyes, I can prop it any which way I want and it’s exceedingly convenient.

Tarte NeutralEYES Volume II Natural Eye Palette link

One of my closest friends and whom I call my big sis really, got this for me from the Sephora in Las Vegas, I have recently started to like alot of neutral colours, so this was a good opportunity to try it out (I still break out my shimmers from other eyeshadows though!).

PEARLS

After the burglary I lost a pearl set that my mum-in-law had given to me as my wedding present from her, it was so lovely, with tiny diamonds surrounding the pearls and I really cherished it. In her bid to help me start anew my jewelry collection she purchased a new set of pearls this time with a bracelet to go with it. I really love it.

MARC JACOBS LOLA

I love this fragrance and originally bought it when S. and I were on our honeymoon in Curaçao however, I could never find it in Trinidad. During one of S’s regional business trips, he bought me a large version of the fragrance which I really love. The way I would describe this fragrance (and not from a professional pov) is that it has a warm honey like scent that is quite sweet. I think it works well as an evening fragrance. I also have the Daisy fragrance but Lola is my favourite from MJ.

Other things that I got but was too lazy to photograph were another pair of delicious pearl earrings, nailpolish, those lovely new shoe clips that are all the craze now, mountains of costume jewelry, clothes and perfume.

I will be doing a separate nailpolish post soon and what I think are the perfect colours for the everyday Antillean girl.