Beauty Blog

Things we loved this week: Quick drying polish by NYC

March 23rd, 2011
While polishing our pinkies is undoubtedly our favorite part of our beauty routine, we can’t help but wonder just how much of our lives have been wasted away watching polish dry.  Base coat, couple of coats of polish and a topcoat and it’s easy to see how the hours add up.
We’ve tried everything over the years from using a hair dryer to try and speed things up to dunking our pinkies in ice cold water between coats and although each may have shaved a couple of minutes of our routine there was never any life changing benefit…..until Sally hanson quick dry launched! This stuff has become our HG top coat simply because as soon as all three coats are on, this stuff seals the deal and you don’t need to hang around too long.
But you do still need to wait around between coats which is why we did a double take as well as a hop, skip and a jump when we test drove the new NYC Quick dry polishes. Promising to go from wet to dry in less then sixty seconds , this was just the polish news we’ve been waiting for.
Pictured is the rather pretty purple MoMA shade and we’ve been impressed how our nails have gone from 0 to Girly in less than 40 seconds. The fact that the brush comes with control-flow also quickened proceedings a little and ensured L’Onglex’s fingers were pretty much polish free – this we like !!

nyc

While polishing our pinkies is undoubtedly our favorite part of our beauty routine, we can’t help but wonder just how much of our lives have been wasted away watching polish dry.  Base coat, couple of coats of polish and a topcoat and it’s easy to see how the hours add up.

We’ve tried everything over the years from using a hair dryer to try and speed things up to dunking our pinkies in ice cold water between coats and although each may have shaved a couple of minutes of our routine there was never any life changing benefit…..until Sally hanson quick dry launched! This stuff has become our HG top coat simply because as soon as all three coats are on, this stuff seals the deal and you don’t need to hang around too long.

Picture 2But you do still need to wait around between coats which is why we did a double take as well as a hop, skip and a jump when we test drove the new NYC Quick dry polishes. Promising to go from wet to dry in less then sixty seconds , this was just the polish news we’ve been waiting for.

Pictured is the rather pretty purple MoMA shade and we’ve been impressed how our nails have gone from 0 to Girly in less than 40 seconds. The fact that the brush comes with control-flow also quickened proceedings a little and ensured L’Onglex’s fingers were pretty much polish free – this we like !!

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Posted in Beauty reviews, Budget beauty buys, Manicures, NYC, Nail polish, Nail swatches |

MAC hits the beach

March 22nd, 2011
Now that the sub-tropical majesté of an Irish April is very nearly ours we thought it might be high time L’Onglex ditched the winter face and headed for the beach.
Whilst it might be a bit too early for lilo’s, ice-cream and fish and chips, MAC’s Surf Baby Collection might just provide us with the excuse to start summer a bit early. Pitch perfect if you intend on following this seasons neon trends the new range comes with lip glass, blushes, eyeshadow, eye pencils and a rather bright line in nail lacquer.
Aside from the fact it’s MAC and shiny and gorgeous and new, L’Onglex is also loving the names. Bust Out lipstick, Surf the Ocean pigment stack and Short Shorts eyeshadow! Although we will probably end up shelling out for the lot when the time comes,  our stand-out piece so far has to be the My Paradise Coral blusher with champagne and gold flowers for some subtle summer highlighting –  swoon !

mac_beach

Now that the sub-tropical majesté of an Irish April is very nearly ours we thought it might be high time L’Onglex ditched the winter face and headed for the beach.

Whilst it might be a bit too early for lilo’s, ice-cream and fish and chips, MAC’s Surf Baby Collection might just provide us with the excuse to start summer a bit early. Pitch perfect if you intend on following this seasons neon trends the new range comes with lip glass, blushes, eyeshadow, eye pencils and a rather bright line in nail lacquer.

Aside from the fact it’s MAC and shiny and gorgeous and new, L’Onglex is also loving the names. Bust Out lipstick, Surf the Ocean pigment stack and Short Shorts eyeshadow!

Although we will probably end up shelling out for the lot when the time comes,  our stand-out piece so far has to be the My Paradise Coral blusher with champagne and gold flowers, perfect for some not so subtle summer highlighting –  swoon !

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Posted in Beauty news, Beauty trends, Brow pencils and liners, Eyeshadow and mascaras, MAC, Nail polish |

Ooooh ….. sparkly !

March 17th, 2011
Ooooh  ….. sparkly !
Just as we at L’Onglex we’re getting excited about the longer evenings, brighter mornings and general lack of frost, an incoming email now has us wishing summer would be over and the dark evenings with us once more !
As we’re always excited by what’s coming down the line this shot that came to us via Chanel’s people in Paris has had the effect of making us all go girly and exciteable by what will land our way from the AW11 collections.
Yes, we know that it’s quite sad when you plan your polish purchases six months in advance but when we saw these shots of Chanel Le Vernis Graphite we just couldn’t help but mumble something like …. oooohhh …. sparkly …. need that ….
Due to hit the shelves at BT’s some time around the end of August we haven’t  tried any  yet but working on the assumption that between now and August we don’t fall out of love with Chanel polish we think we’ll be somewhere near first in the queue.
des-chanel-2011-polish

Just as we at L’Onglex we’re getting excited about the longer evenings, brighter mornings and general lack of frost, an incoming email now has us wishing summer would be over and the dark evenings with us once more !

As we’re always excited by what’s coming down the line this shot that came to us via Chanel’s people in Paris has had the effect of making us all go girly and exciteable by what will land our way from the AW11 collections.

Yes, we know that it’s quite sad when you plan your polish purchases six months in advance but when we saw these shots of Chanel Le Vernis Graphite we just couldn’t help but mumble something like …. oooohhh …. sparkly …. need that ….

Due to hit the shelves at BT’s some time around the end of August we haven’t  tried any  yet but working on the assumption that between now and August we don’t fall out of love with Chanel polish we think we’ll be somewhere near first in the queue.

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Posted in Chanel, Nail polish |

Things we loved this week: Violet Diva by Estee Lauder

March 14th, 2011
Things we loved this week: Violet Diva by Estee Lauder
When it comes to polishing our pinkies we’ve always been partial to a bit of purple. Thus it was that a recent trip to the Holy Grail that is the Brown Thomas Beauty Hall resulted in this rather impulsive purchase which goes by the moniker of Estee Lauder’s Vilot Diva !
As pastels look set to be huge this summer we must admit that we did justify the €20 by telling ourselves it was all in the name of research. Being the nail junkies we are we normally wait a while before we post on the blog but as we rather liked this we thought we’d just get some pics up and have done with it !
So, although things got off to a slightly sticky start (we didn’t let our base dry for quite long enough) once we got into our stride we found the formula to be pretty good. Light but plenty of pigment and a pretty decent brush as well.
On the downside it’s becoming pretty popular in these parts so flashing our nails rather than the bottle is probably the best way to keep hold of it !

violet_diva

When it comes to polishing our pinkies we’ve always been partial to a bit of purple. Thus it was that a recent trip to the holy grail that is the Brown Thomas Beauty Hall resulted in this rather impulsive purchase which goes by the moniker of Estee Lauder’s Vilot Diva !

violet_diva2As pastels look set to be huge this summer we must admit that we did justify the €20 by telling ourselves it was all in the name of research. Being the nail junkies we are we normally wait a while before we post on the blog but as we rather liked this we thought we’d just get some pics up and have done with it …

So, although things got off to a slightly sticky start (we didn’t let our base dry for quite long enough) once we got into our stride we found the formula to be pretty good. Light but plenty of pigment and a pretty decent brush as well.

On the downside it’s becoming pretty popular in these parts so flashing our nails and not the bottle is probably the best way to keep hold of it !

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Posted in Beauty news, Beauty reviews, Beauty trends, Estee Lauder, Manicures, Nail polish, Nail swatches |

Things we loved last week: Chanel Black Pearl

March 1st, 2011
Its not often that we get to fawn over designer nail polish here at L’Onglex HQ but when an opportunity arises you can be sure that we’ll milk it!
Enter the latest must have from colour from Chanel and how we managed to beg, borrow and steal ourselves this rather coveted spring colour is anyones guess. What’s probably more surprising is that we’ve had it for two weeks and not shouted about it to anyone who would listen.
Not sure if the rather hurried pictures and our rather hurried application do the shade the justice we think it deserves. The shimmery blue and grey undertones make the polish look different shades of grey depending on the light. If you’re polish obsessed like we are the end result is that you’ll spend ages staring at your nails to see exactly which delectable shade of grey / green they happen to be in any given light ….. which makes us look a bit like barbie …. but who cares ?
A wallet wincing €21 is the damage if you can beg, borrow and steal ( which is how we got ours ) to get some. Take solace in the fact that it works out at only 10c per coat !

chanel-2

Its not often that we get to fawn over designer nail polish here at L’Onglex HQ but when an opportunity arises you can be sure that we’ll milk it!

Enter the latest must have colour from the folks at Chanel and how we managed to beg, borrow and steal ourselves this rather coveted spring colour is anyones guess. What’s probably more surprising is that we’ve had it for two weeks and not shouted about it to anyone which for us is most unusual.

Not sure if the rather hurried pictures and our rather hurried application do the shade the justice we think it so richly deserves but the shimmery blue and grey colours make this polish look completely different depending on the light.

If, like ourselves, you happen to be polish obsessed the end result of the colour differential is that you’ll spend ages staring at your nails to see exactly which delectable shade of grey / green they happen to be at any given time which has the rather nasty side effect of making you look a bit too into yerself !

A wallet wincing €21 is the damage if you can beg, borrow or steal some and if this sounds a bit costly take solace in the fact that it’s …..

i)  If you apply it as much as us it works out at 10c per coat … and …

ii) … gorgeously Chanel !

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Posted in Beauty news, Beauty reviews, Chanel, Manicures, Nail polish, Nail swatches |

Trendwatch: Nude nails anyone?

January 28th, 2011

nude_nail_trends

If you managed to catch any of the red carpet pics at the recent Emmy Awards you’ll no doubt be aware one of the big trends we can look out for this SS11 is nude nails.
As it just so happens we didn’t catch anything until someone burst through our door with a copy of Glamour suggesting that as a Nail Polish Remover we might want to start packing our bags in the event that this really takes off.
Being the sort of folks who panic easily all at L’Onglex were concerned and decided to do a little research of our own. Yes, it would appear that nude nails are here thanks in the main to a certain fashion guru by the name of David Barton. No, this does not mean that we have ditched the polish and L’Onglex is unemployed – as evidenced above by the paws of Heidi Klum !
As if to prove for certain that ‘going natural’ doesn’t make our beauty routines any easier, it seems that after all that panic this seasons must have nails involve nude polishes rather than no polish and, as luck would have it ( just when we were breathing a big sigh of relief ) what should land through our door other than five shades from Maybeline.
Ivory Rose, Taupe Couture  and Nude Rose are in pharmacies now and Rosey Sand & Rose Poudre will launch in March. As the price is only a fiver we at L’Onglex may be stocking up – watch this space for some swatches !
http://www.glamour.com/beauty/blogs/girls-in-the-beauty-department/2010/11/are-you-into-the-nude-nail-pol.html

If you managed to catch any of the red carpet pics at the recent Emmy Awards you’ll no doubt be aware one of the big trends we can look out for this SS11 is nude nails.

As it just so happens we didn’t catch anything until someone burst through our door with a copy of Glamour suggesting that as a Nail Polish Remover we might want to start packing our bags in the event that this really takes off.

Being the sort of folks who panic easily all at L’Onglex were concerned and decided to do a little research of our own. Yes, it would appear that nude nails are here thanks in the main to a certain fashion guru by the name of David Barton. No, this does not mean that we have ditched the polish and L’Onglex is unemployed – as evidenced above by the paws of Heidi Klum !

As if to prove for certain that ‘going natural’ doesn’t make our beauty routines any easier, it seems that after all that panic this seasons must have nails involve nude polishes rather than no polish and, as luck would have it ( just when we were breathing a big sigh of relief ) what should land through our door other than five shades from Maybeline.

Ivory Rose, Taupe Couture  and Nude Rose are in pharmacies now and Rosey Sand & Rose Poudre will launch in March. As the price is only a fiver we at L’Onglex may be stocking up – watch this space for some swatches !

Image sourced from Glamour Magazine

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Posted in Beauty news, Love your nails, Maybelline, Nail polish, Nail swatches |

Nails Inc go goth

January 20th, 2011
In case you were wondering, it’s not all quite brights on the polish front this Spring. Despite everyone heading for flares, floaty shapes and floral patterns Nails Inc have bucked the trend and gone a bit punk.
Taking their inspiration from the dark side of catwalks said polish has decided to go a bit Balmain and Blenciaga, that is to say, they have sashayed down the SS11 catwalks with a toned down collection due to launch before this very month is out.
Teak black (Kensigton, plum black (Chelsea) and black pearl (Mayfair) are the polishes due to be on everyones paws but the shade that’s going to be the proverbial poster on L’Onglex’s bedroom wall is none other than Covent Garden – ship shape navy black that takes it’s cues from Mulberry’s last catwalk collection.
Whilst everyone thinks that 70’s chic will win in the fashion wars we’re all decided that there’s still life in the glossy goth look for a little while longer !

nails_inc

In case you were wondering, it’s not all quite brights on the polish front this Spring. Despite everyone heading for flares, floaty shapes and floral patterns Nails Inc have bucked the trend and gone a bit punk.

Taking inspiration from the dark side of the catwalks, said polish has decided to go a bit Balmain and Blenciaga, that is to say, they have sashayed down the SS11 catwalks with a darkened down collection due to launch before this very month is out.

Teak black (Kensigton), plum black (Chelsea) and black pearl (Mayfair) are the pictured above, the shade that is currently the object of our crush and the proverbial boy band poster on L’Onglex’s bedroom wall, is none other than Covent Garden – a ship shape navy black that takes it’s cues from Mulberry’s last catwalk collection.

Whilst nobody doubts that 70’s chic will win in the fashion wars this season, we still think there’s a bit more life in the dark shades for a little while longer.  Glossy, gothy and gorgeous – we love these shades !

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Posted in Beauty news, Beauty trends, Manicures, Nail polish, Nails Inc |

Essence budget beauty buys bid to beat the January blues !

January 12th, 2011
Essence budget beauty buys bid to beat the January blues !
With the New Year now in full swing L’Onglex is doing our level best to rein in our spending. Even though we re-gifted everything we possibly could the run up to Christmas still saw us leaking euros like buggery on a raft of sparkly seasonal supplements.
Short of going into Boots with an abacus, being arrested for shoplifting or entering beauty rehab we are going to have to look at ways to curb our spending over the next couple of months. But this is so much easier said than done. With the new season s collections now upon us, our New Year resolution to spend less on beauty is proving to be a very hard ask.
Only two weeks into January we were already feeling the withdrawal symptoms when we noticed the rather on-trend monochrome collection pictured above. Thinking we couldn’t do it because we’d promised ourselves we wouldn’t and then giving in to our cravings almost immediately, we were just about to reach for the credit card when we noticed it was from Essence.
Having seriously wowed us last year they’ve managed to go and do it again with the new Black and White collection. Whilst this may be shorn of expensive packaging and luxurious glossy adverts it does fit the bill in that it’s just so perfectly on-trend and seriously cost effective. With shadows coming in at €1.99, the Duo Eye Pencil at  €2.49 and the polish at a measly €—— we’ve worked out that individually they cost less than a bag of chips … which leads us quite nicely onto another resolution we’ve already broken !

essence_spring_2011

With the New Year now in full swing L’Onglex is doing our level best to rein in our spending. Even though we re-gifted everything we possibly could the run up to Christmas still saw us leaking euros like buggery on a raft of sparkly seasonal supplements.

Short of going into Boots with an abacus, being arrested for shoplifting or entering beauty rehab we are going to have to look at ways to curb our spending over the next couple of months. But this is so much easier said than done. With the Spring collections now upon us, our New Years resolution to spend less on beauty is proving to be a very hard ask.

Only two weeks into January we were already feeling the withdrawal symptoms when we noticed the rather on-trend monochrome collection pictured above. Thinking we couldn’t do it because we’d promised ourselves we wouldn’t and then giving in to our cravings almost immediately, we were just about to reach for the credit card when we noticed it was from Essence.

Having seriously wowed us last year they’ve managed to go and do it again with the new Black and White collection. Whilst this may be shorn of expensive packaging and luxurious glossy adverts it does fit the bill in that it’s just so perfectly on-trend and seriously cost effective. With shadows coming in at €1.99, the Duo Eye Pencil at  €2.49 and the polish at a measly €1.99we’re justifying the expenditure because individually these cost less than a bag of chips …. whilst we’re on the subject, that’s another resolution we are really struggling with !

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Posted in Beauty news, Budget beauty buys, Eyeshadow and mascaras, Nail polish |

Free Nails Inc at Boots Stores

December 29th, 2010
Free Nails Inc at Boots
The other week someone passing by these parts just so happened to ask us whether there was anything we at L’Onglex love more than nail polish. Dismissing the question as flippant once said person had made their merry way all in these parts began to scratch our heads and mutter to ourselves whether there could actually be anything more important to us.
Quite why the question seemed to stick we have no idea but it did and the end result is that when we thought about and scratched our heads on the subject we found ourselves genuinely hard pressed to think of anything we did in fact like more than a coat or two of colour.
Now. This morning L’Onglex got wind of the return of the Nails Inc and Diet Coke promo at Boots. Simply, from January the 12th you’ll be able to bag a free bottle of Nails Inc Catwalk Collection, or a free bottle of Heather Grey, or a free bottle of Perfect Plum, or a free bottle of Delicious Denim and all when you purchase two or more 500ml bottles of Diet Coke at selected Boots stores.
So, not only are L’Onglex pleased to be getting our hands on the new colour for next to nothing but in a way this answers the rather difficult question in quite a succinct way because there really is something we at L’Onglex love more than nail polish …. and that’s would be FREE nail polish.

nails_inc

The other week someone passing by these parts just so happened to ask us whether there was anything we at L’Onglex love more than nail polish ?

Dismissing the question as a bit flippant once said person had made their merry way, all in these parts began to scratch our heads and mutter to ourselves whether there was indeed anything more important to us.

Quite why the question seemed to stick we have no idea but it did, and the end result is that when we thought about it  a bit we  genuinely did find ourselves hard pressed to think of anything we like more than a coat or two of colour.

Now, this very morning L’Onglex got wind of the return of the Nails Inc and Diet Coke promo at Boots. Simply, from January the 12th you’ll be able to bag a free bottle of Nails Inc Catwalk Collection, or a free bottle of Heather Grey, or a free bottle of Perfect Plum, or a free bottle of Delicious Denim when you purchase two or more 500ml bottles of Diet Coke at selected Boots stores.

So, not only are L’Onglex pleased to be getting our hands on the new colours for next to nothing but in a way this answers the rather difficult question in quite a succinct way because we’ve finally discovered something we like more than nail polish …. FREE nail polish !

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Posted in Beauty heroes, Beauty news, Manicures, Nail polish, Nails Inc |

Chanel SS11 polish preview

December 16th, 2010

CHANEL_polish

While the ice may be firmly settled on the foot paths we at L’Onglex HQ have been quietly contenting ourselves with the fact that spring is most definitely on it’s way for we’ve just caught d=sight of Chanel’s Spring nail polishes which will be hitting stores at the end of January!
Inspired by Coco Chanel’s love of pearls the sparkly polish collection includes a pearly white – Pearl Drop, a perfect peach – Peche Nacree and an intense green – Black Pearl.
We’ve got our eye on the pearly white and feel it will be a nice antidote to the vampy reds we’ve been sporting over the Christmas Season.
Roll on January!

While the icy winds may still be blowing we at L’Onglex are not without the odd reminder that spring will be with us at sooner or later.

Of course, being the shallow sort we undoubtedly are we don’t actually mean to say the weather will get warm and sunny and we’ll be off for picnics and the like …. more the fact that the spring make-up collections will soon be with us.

Enter Chanel’s newest polish collection which hits shops in January and has apparently been inspired by Coco Chanel’s love of pearls. The brilliantly sparkly collection includes a pearly white by the name of Pearl Drop, a perfect peach by the name of Peche Nacree and a rather fetching green by the name of Black Pearl.

As with all Chanel polishes L’Onglex is under no illusions that come January the new shades will actually be any easier to get our hands on than the real thing – no doubt we’ll be trying to bag a bottle or two anyway !

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Posted in Beauty news, Beauty trends, Chanel, Love your nails, Manicures, Nail polish |


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