Love Birds - This Gold Finch is Melting My Matchy-Matchy Heart

When I saw that Napoleon Perdis has jumped onto the matchy-matchy train, I was all aboard! My weakness for matching colours has been well documented on the blog (recently with a rosy Chanel blush and earlier with an American theme...) and seeing the pretty glosses that matched the varnish bottles made my heart leap! I quite liked the idea of getting a stunningly designed makeup bag with the products too, so was elated when the Gold Finch* duo hit my desk. If I was handing over my dollars for this collection, Flamingo would be my first pick for sure, with Gold Finch coming in runner up!

 That pop of blue totally has my heart singing - get it? Ha!

I love nude polishes that flatter my hand, this one is a pale beige with an oh-so-subtle shot of fine golden shimmer in it which gives a nice bit of depth while keeping it totally office appropriate if that's your thang. I feel really hot when I wear nude nails like this - is this strange or totally common...?

 Accent nail is two coats of Illamasqua Blizzard*, because sometimes I just can't stop myself dipping into some glitter.

 Lately I'm all about the gloss, and frequently I go through stages where all I look at while shopping is squeezy tube lipglosses. Keeping in mind the fact that I hardly ever use this style applicator, the madness continues and I think my mind finds them more 'fun' than wand style applicators. You only need a tiny bit of the Napoleon Perdis Gold Finch lipgloss otherwise the nude shade can look a bit stark, and I like how the tackiness prolongs the wear time on the lips. Overall I don't think I'd go out of my way just for the gloss in this shade, but the nail polish is a cutie and I'm very fond of the Felicia Aroney bag that the duo comes with.

Bird themes ahoy! If I were creating a duo I'd want to base it around a swamp hen, because they are the birds I see most frequently around my place and they are pretty snazzy.

What do think of matching lips to nails? An easy way to tie a look together or something you never think about?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

*Love Birds set was provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

5 Manicures This Week // Dark or Festive

Snapping pictures of each manicure for this post has reignited my love for polish, and I've actually been enjoying changing it up every couple of days. My manicure's never last very long thanks to my weak nails and lazy nature, so this is my way of enjoying my polish stash (goodness knows it needs loving) and sharing some shades with you along the way. Consider this a new semi-regular feature on the blog, 2014 will hopefully see a more organised blog for me!

Christmas shopping for the niece's + nephew's!

One of my very favourite bottles, Polka.com* was released with the OPI Euro Centrale collection and is a mix of purple, hot pink and turquoise glitters with some baby purple glitters thrown in for good measure. A clear base is a must-have in glitters for me as I love using them as top-coats, but for this I was rushed and just painted two coats of Polka.com by itself to play around with it. Check out Sleep and Water for some amazing swatches too!

my beloved tree

I was drawn to the classic red mani for Christmas, and the closest at hand was #24 Port Wine* from Bio Sculpture Gel, which is a jelly sheer finish that suited my tree to a tee! I didn't realise that I could wear Bio Sculpture shades at home without a full gel mani, so I guess it is true that you learn something new every day!

taking Charlie out to play fetch

It's safe to say I squealed quite a bit when the OPI set I had on my Christmas list landed on my desk in early December. The San Francisco mini set has some amazing dark shades, and the duochrome Peace & Love & OPI* was the first to hit my nails. This was without a doubt Mister Bovary's favourite mani this month, he couldn't stop staring at the shifting colours! 

tug-o-war with Charlie Bear

 Mister Bovary treated me to a new Rimmel polish while we were out Christmas shopping the other day, the newly released Star Dust in Moon Walking. I didn't realise these polishes were textured until I applied it, but I love the sparkly finish of this lilac shade. I now have my eye on the pale champagne Aurora shade from the Star Dust collection...

heading into work on a hot day

Last but not least we have my rushed work manicure, channelling the cold of the other side of the world while I sit here in 40 degree heat in front of my air conditioner. I used the new essence Beauty Beats collection polish in 03 As Long As You Love Me which is a truly beautiful slate grey filled with warm tiny shimmers when you look at it in the light. I then topped it off with a coat of the new Ilamasqua Blizzard*, which is a mix of different sized sheer white hexes that totally reminds me of snow (not that I've ever seen snow...)

 

So what shades have you been rocking lately? Have you planned your Christmas day manicure yet?

 

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty