Essie 'Luxedo'

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!  Now Christmas Day is over (boo) the only way a girl can console herself is by trying out any new goodies she got in her christmas stocking...

I was lucky enough to get a new nail varnish from my sister for Christmas, which is a shade I have been dying to try...'Luxedo' by Essie.

You'll know from my previous blogs I have recently turned into a bit of an Essie convert, and am slowly building up my collection.  So far I own 'Mink Muffs', 'Skirting the Issue' and 'Lilacism'.

I'm a fan of Essie nail varnishes because at £7.99 they aren't horrifically expensive, they are easy to apply and quick drying, the don't go gloopy quickly and they sell them in my local Boots store which means I can peruse the colours much easier than OPI (which I have to do online).

The only shade of colour that (so far) had kept me true to OPI is their 'Lincoln Park After Dark'. 

As you've probaby guessed, these aren't my nails!  But this photo gives a really accurate representation of the colour.

I love this shade, I have been through over 5 bottles.  It is notoriously hard to get hold of because I would imagine it is up there with some of OPI's best sellers. It is a deep purple colour which almost looks black when applied but has just enough purple pigment to make it look slightly softer than black, and (in my opinon) more luxe.  Black can sometimes look a bit cold and harsh, especially against winter skin.  The only colour I have found to match it is Rimmel's Black Cherry, although this goes gloopy so quickly.

My mission has therefore been to find an Essie that matches the OPI 'Lincoln Park', and I would say 'Luxedo' is sufficiently close.

The first thing that struck me about this shade was how dark the first coat went on.  You will know from my previous reviews of Essie that I find their darker colours do take a few coats to really get going colour-depth-wise, but this was quite dark for a first coat. At this point you can get an idea of the purple undertones and this purple is definitely a colder purple than the 'Lincoln Park' shade.

First coat (please excuse my nails!)

I found this shade only needed 2 coats of colour to get really deep and dark.  This is a bonus as it takes less time drying-wise and you can really load on the clear top coat to make the nails super glossy (which is a must with darker shades).

After second coat

After clear top coat

You can see from the last photo that a hint of the purple still comes through when the nail catches light (in this case the flash, but you get the same effect with sunlight, artificial light etc).  I like that you still get this hint of colour, as again, it keeps this a softer alternative to black.

That said however, I do feel this fails to fully match the 'Lincoln Park' shade.  Don't get me wrong, I love this colour and think it will become a staple of my nailvarnish collection, especially because of how quickly the colour builds which is a bonus when short for time.  I think the problem with this is that it lacks something of the luxuriousness I feel with the OPI shade.  The 'Lincoln Park' shade seems to be a slightly warmer purple which gives it a richer, more full-bodied effect.  The Essie shade does look quite black when not getting picked up by a flash or by light, whereas the OPI one tends to maintain the colour pigment a bit better despite how dark it gets.

There's a possibility my reluctance to announce Luxedo as a bona fide alternative is down to me being such a die-hard fan of Lincoln.  I've used it for years and it is always hard to tear yourself away from your holy grail product.  I can see myself wearing Luxedo for everday use and Lincoln for special events.  All that said, if you want a cheaper alternative to OPI's Lincoln Park after Dark, you could do a lot worse than Luxedo...

Samantha Chapman Expert Face Brush - A review

On a recent shopping trip to Norwich, I came across a new make-up brush range in Boots by Samantha Chapman.

Of the collection on display, the brush that caught my eye was the Expert Face Brush.  It didn’t really look like any brush I had seen before; it looked like a large version of the Mac 227 ‘large fluff brush’ for eyes, but this brush was for your face.  That was my curiosity officially aroused.

I did the usual, and stood with it in my hand for about 5 minutes trying to decide if I needed yet another make up brush.  At £9.99 it wasn’t expensive enough to immediately discount, but wasn’t cheap enough to warrant an “oh go on then”.  My will power won and I put it back.

However my curiosity continued to niggle and I found myself checking out reviews on the beauty blogs.  I couldn’t find a single bad review.  I then went on the Samantha Chapman website where she gives video tutorials of how to use the brushes.  I got 11 seconds into the tutorial for the Expert Face Brush and then found myself clicking “add to basket” on Amazon.  Expert Face Brush...purchased.

So what’s the verdict?  I love this brush.  I normally apply my liquid foundation with either my fingers or the Mac 190 foundation brush.  I have dabbled in the past with the Mac 130 stippling brush, but never quite worked out how to use it properly.

This brush is like nothing I have seen on the market before.  It has shorter bristles which are densely packed and graduated to make a smooth ‘bulb-like’ shape.  The bristles are soft, very soft. They are synthetic but you wouldn’t guess.  And the bristles are so dense and tight that it feels like a very expensive brush.

Application is so easy.  Watch Samantha’s video and you’ll see she literally just brushes her foundation on with little care.  This is all down to the brush.  The head is small enough to give good control, but big enough to allow quick coverage of the whole face.  It requires barely any blending as it leaves none of the pesky brush strokes that you get with a standard foundation brush.  I also like the way it almost buffs the foundation into the skin.  I find some foundation brushes just push the foundation around your face, but this seems to buff and apply at the same time.

It feels very luxurious on the skin, which is potentially one of my favourite things about it.  Even my Mac foundation brush can get scratchy at times and gets very loaded down with the product.  The Expert Face Brush stays light and soft whilst still giving great coverage. 

The effect this brush creates is also impressive.  I don’t think I have ever used another brush that could rival it in its evenness.  I definitely see what other bloggers mean when they say it gives a very flawless finish.  I also found it didn’t accentuate my pores quite as much – I’m not sure why but it didn’t seem to make the foundation cling quite as much.

For £9.99 this brush is a steal, and has become the staple of my make-up collection after just a week of using it.  I need to clean it soon, so I am hoping it cleans up nicely.  If it does, I am definitely consigning my old foundation brushes to the bin.  I doubt it will be long before the big make-up brush names will be bringing out a copy.  Samantha Chapman, I salute you.