Lancome X Alber Elbaz Make-Up Collection

Later this year we'll see the arrival of a collaboration between Lanvin's Creative Director, Alber Elbaz, and beauty powerhouse Lancome.  This will be the designer's first venture into the world of make-up and all products and shades being featured in the collection are being kept under wraps.  However, there is this rather cute teaser video (as illustrated by Elbaz) to whet your appetite:

Are the bright make-up shades featured in this a hint at what's to come? The Lancome X Alber Elbaz collection lands on 15th June 2013.

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New Seche Nail Lacquer

Seche are a brand most famous for their super glossy top coat, Seche Vite, which has a mega-following and is often the go-to top coat for many nail fanatics.  The brand has now branched out and launched a range of 33 new nail lacquers.

The shade selection is impressive and covers a wide range of the main colour favourites, so I'm sure there'll be something for everyone; from Debutant (a shimmering baby pink) to Mischievous (a burgundy black and I would assume the brands take on Rouge Noir) there are plenty of colour choices and not just the standard pinks, reds and nudes that you might expect from a new colour line.

I've been sent two of the pink shades to try: Precious which is a light salmon with a very faint blue hue and Opulent which is a deep fuschia.  I'll be posting a NOTD soon featuring Precious (just waiting for the base coat to dry as I write this so I can get painting!), so if you'd like to hear my thoughts on the lacquer in more detail then keep an eye out for that.

Seche Vite nail lacquers are available now priced at £9.95 from Nails By Mail.

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NOTD: Nails Inc Feathers in York and Brighton

As mentioned in my Nails Inc SS13 post yesterday, I had the chance to have my nails painted at the Nails Inc preview event, and I went for a couple of shades from the Feathers collection.

Feathers is exactly as it sounds; it gives a 3D effect by using small pieces of confetti like colour in a couple of contrasting shades.

Having studied my nails quite carefully since last night, it appears the 3D effect is achieved by having a dominant colour, a slightly lighter version of the dominant colour and a contrast colour and this works really well as you can hopefully see in the pictures.

Before the cuticle brigade pipe-up, yes I know they're in a shocking state, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to tidy them up before I visited Nails Inc yesterday.  I will aim to improve them drastically by the time  I do my next NOTD.

If my understanding of Couture fashion is correct, it's fashion that is beautiful to look at but not essentially easy to wear (among many other defining factors) and therefore I would call these textural finishes "Couture Nails", as they're really lovely to look at but not the easiest things to wear.

Because the effect is so textural, the finish is a little on the scratchy side and therefore I doubt this will last for more than a few days.  That hasn't put me off though as they really are so different and interesting to look at, so consequently I'll be purchasing Cornwall as soon as they land in March 2013.  The scratchiness does settle down after 24 hours: I think it's a the fact that as there's a lot going on within the varnish, there'll inevitably be a level of overhang from the little bits of confetti, so once you've used your hands a bit you end up knocking these bits off and smoothing down the nail edge.  I suppose a quicker solution would be to wait until your manicure is dry and then give your nail edges a quick file.

All-in-all I am bowled over by the many exciting textures coming from Nails Inc next year and definitely feel that Feathers is one of my favourite finishes.  They'll launch in March 2013 for £11 each.

Disclosure: paint application provided free of a charge as part of the Nails Inc event.  

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Nails Inc Spring/Summer 2013

It feels very strange typing 2013 already!  I've just returned from the Nails Inc S/S 2013 showcase and my head is swimming with info as there are sooo many new releases.  SS13 is all about textures, so just in case you thought everything that could be achieved with nail textures has been done already, you were very, very wrong!  Expect this to be a long and picture heavy post...

Concrete 

First up we have the Concrete collection of four shades that dry to a matte, "concrete" finish.  Just to be clear, the name Concrete is a reference to the finish and not the weight of the polish! The four shades are Marble Arch (red), Stonehenge (blue), London Wall (nude) and Monument (lime).  I picked up London Wall and Stonehenge so expect NOTDs with those two soon.  The finish is really interesting as it's a little grainy and very, very matte.  It's definitely different to the standard matte and I absolutely love the colour range.  These will launch in December for £12.

Denim and Stars 

I loooove this polish! It's not only denim in colour but denim in finish too.  It's a denim blue (obvs) with a swirl of a lighter blue that accurately captures an indigo denim finish.   This comes as part of a kit that contains star embellishments, but we'll have to wait a while for its arrival as it doesn't land until June 2013 priced at £19.

Leather Effect

The finish of this collection, as the name suggests, is leather, and the shades are all leather-like shades to stay in theme, so you have Shoreditch Lane (mulberry), Soho Mews (tan) and Noho (black).  The finish of these is fantastic and these were apparently the most popular choice for manicures among bloggers at the event.  These will launch in March 2013 for £12.

Crystaltastic 

£45

£30

£20

£25

It was about time Nails Inc did their take on fake nails and here they are! Obviously, they're not just any old fake nails and instead they all feature beautiful, crystal designs and come with nail stickers rather than glue so you can easily reuse them.  The crystals are genuine Swarovski crystals, so the price of each set varies depending on how many crystals are used.  They'll be launching in March 2012 and the price range is from £20 - £45.  Sadly, my favourites are the multi-coloured ones which annoyingly come in at the top price range of £45.

Bling It On

There are a couple of new additions to the line of Bling It On Kits including Rebel, which contains a Leather Effect varnish in Shoreditch Lane as well as a selection of studs and Swarovski crystals and Romance, which  focuses on bow and crystal embellishment and contains a mini of Porchester Square and Electric Avenue.  Both will be launching in March 2012 and will cost £25.  There's also be a Neon kit that'll contain a couple of neon shades of glitter (in pink and blue) plus a mini Floral Street varnish and a Kensington Caviar top coat.  This will launch just in time for summer in May 2013 and cost £20.

Feathers

Do you see what I mean about there still being plenty more textural takes on nails? During my last visit to Nails Inc I thought they'd covered them all, but, as you can see, they've thought up plenty more!  These Feather polishes had bloggers all a'flutter (pun intended) and come in four shades: Edinburgh (pale blue and peach), Brighton (teal and yellow), Cornwall (blue and white) and York (peach and white).  One of the PRs had Cornwall on and it looked amazing, so I decided to get my manicure done using York for most of my nails, but having Brighton as an accent on each hand. I'll upload pictures tomorrow as a NOTD.  The effect of these is very feather-like and incredibly textural.  My manicure was finished with a top coat, but I actually really liked the finish without the top coat as it allowed the texture to show through more.  These will be £11 each and launch in March 2013.

SS13 Trend Shades

Now *these* are gorgeous!!  The SS13 shades are beautifully summery; bright, fun and I want them all.  There's nothing textural here and instead the focus is on the colours themselves, which is fine by me as they really are little treasures.  The four shades are St James Park (coral/red), Royal Botanical Gardens (mint green), Chelsea Physic Garden (baby blue) and Kensington Palace Garden (peach).  I honestly can't decide on a favourite and I went from Kensington Palace Gardens to Royal Botanical Gardens before deciding on Chelsea Physic Gardens as my favourite...but now I'm back to Kensington Palace Gardens again.  These arrive in March 2013 and will cost £11 each but there's also a mini kit launching at the same time which will cost £22 and will include 3 of the shades mentioned above plus three more garden-themed shades.

Extras 

There's a new base coat and top coat being added to the Kensington Caviar collection in January 2013 for £12 each.  The base coat promises a primer like base with a fast dry finish and the top coat is a Gel Effect, meaning that it'll give that plumped-up, ultra-glossy finish you get with gel manicures but without the commitment.  There's also a corrector pen available now for £10.

So that's it (I think...) and there we have all the amazing new Nails Inc launches for SS13.  There are so many amazing things arriving and Nails Inc continue to revolutionise the nail art industry so I can't wait to see what's next.

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Daniel Sandler A/W 2012 - Escape to Hollywood: First Look

Daniel Sandler Escape to Hollywood, from left to right:
Polychromatic Eye shadow in Lava, Luxury Matte Lipstick in Red Carpet
 and Sheer Satin Eye shadow in Burnt Sand. 

Daniel Sandler's A/W 2012 collection is inspired by 50's and 60's Californian Glam which makes it right up my street.  I love everything 50's and 60's and this collection takes ideas from icons such as Lauren Bacall and Sophia Lauren.  What Sandler always manages with his collections is to take elements from high glamour looks and make them wearable and workable for everyday girls like us and this collection especially is an absolute beaut.

There are five key pieces in the collection; two eyeshadows with different finishes (Sheer Satin and Polychromatic), a Watercolour Creme bronzer and a Jumbo Jet Mascara.  Finally there's the Luxury Matte Lipstick in Red Carpet which, for me, is the stand out product from the collection.  I was just going to write a quick intro to the line and follow up with swatches/reviews later, but having tried out the lipstick last night I have to quickly rave about it as both the texture and the colour is *amazing*.  I'm not normally one for wearing such bright reds in the daytime but this is such a flattering and wearable shade that I can't wait to start working it with low-key eyes and a peachy blush.  It's absolutely gorgeous!!

Daniel Sander's Escape to Hollywood collection is available now from here.

Disclosure: PR samples.

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