Neve Cosmetics Mistero Barocco eyeshadow palette

I have ten minutes to spare (I am a busy woman) and I miss regularly updating this blog. So here's a review of NC's Mistero Barocco eyeshadow palette. NC is seriously becoming my favourite brand.

This palette is no longer available on their website, but single eyeshadows are, and you could still find it in brick&mortar stores or other retailers.
The packaging is pretty awesome, white with the golden symbol, it's definitely going to rank high you your list of awesome packaging cosmetics.
It's not much different than a smaller regular palette (like the Duochrome, the Scurissimi and so on), it's in plastic and holds four shades: Crinoline (warm shimmery gold) Ember (pure matte red), Obscure (dark brown, matte with some really subtle shimmer) and Ornament (shimmery antique pink). No primer here, just swatched on bare skin.

Crinoline is very pretty, it's not just a warm gold, to me it has hints of orange and it's extremely beautiful. Highlight the inner corner of your eyes with this, or just use it as a regular eyeshadow. I know many gold eyeshadows but this one really is different.
Ember is a pure, simple matte red with cold/neutral undertones. I have used this as eyeshadow, eyeliner and blush. As blush I recommend caution because it's extremely pigmented. It doesn't look too much Heid-ish once you learn how to apply it.
Ornament is a personal favourite. Like, if you can only get one of these please get Ornament! It's not only a ridiculously beautiful eyeshadow (if you do neutrals this is your new best friend) but it's also a great blush! I used it more as a blush I believe, and it really looks wonderfully ... natural on me, the shimmer doesn't highlight the imperfections of my skin and it's extremely long lasting.
Obscure is a pretty beautiful brown, not that unique but still good and useful, you could use it in your brows as well if they're dark enough. NC suggested you to use it as bronzer as well, but it depends heavily on your skin color. On mine it would be way too dark, and would need a lot of work and blending. You can still use it as eyeshadow or eyeliner, the color is very pretty after all.

The pigmentation varies a bit, Obscure is much more buildable than the others, but that's a good thing in my eyes.
So, any of you got this or plan on getting it? Personally I am quite in love with it, it's extremely multitasking (you can do eyes, brows, face...)!

Autumn Leaves

Despite being busy, I still wanted to do some nail art. I though that the base polish, Kiko 436 from the old Dark Heroine LE was at my parents' home (to be used by mom), but I actually have it here. So I put it on because it's a goddamn beautiful polish.
Inspiration struck and I used my favorite stamping plate design ever, with Kiko 629, to create this autumn-like design. I really love it, it feels elegant and nice.
I had forgotten how much I love stamping, I should do it more often..

Essence Hello Autumn LE 02 & 03 Nail Polishes

I have a confession to make: I have yet to learn how to take pics of thermo polishes properly.
I still want to show you 02 Meet My Pumpkin and 03 Charlie Seen in Green, because they're two beautiful polishes with a great autumn feel.
02 is my personal favorite: in the bottle it looks like a cool dark chocolate brown (exemplified by my ring finger, but it can get even colder and darker than that), exposed to warmness it becomes a brick/rusty orange that is absolutely perfect for the season. You can see it better on my index. The quality is also great, it needs 2 coats for full opacity but it's almost a crelly, veeery shiny. A pleasure to wear.
03 goes from cool pistachio green (a bit like OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me) from warm pastel yellow. And it was very very hard to capture for my camera. I am sorry that you can barely see it.

 This is very blurry but at least it captures the orange nicely but, as you can see, 02 has a far more visible and bigger chromatic change compared to 03. Which is still a beautiful polish, since it's a warm light green that could look great with autumn themed nail arts.. If you can pick only one of them and want to see a strong thermo effect, go for 02.
Some people complained about the thermo effect for the polish from the Road Trip LE to be too subtle, and 02 will leave even those people satisfied (but 03 probably wont).
Ultimately, it's up to you: to me they are both beautiful and purchase-worth.
Also, my mom got the 01 Beauti-FALL red for herself and I will review it soon.
It will be a month filled with thermo polishes! I also got the colour adapting blush from this LE: I mistook it for a highlighter at first, but I tried it and damn, it works really nicely. Reviews soon!

Kiko 436 Strong Chocolate- Dark Heroine LE

Hello! I promised you a review of Kiko Strong Chocolate, so here it is!
The color is a dark chocolate creme with a subtle burgundy shimmer, visible only under direct light.
The formula is impressive, almost an one coater. Shown here is 2 coats topped with Seche Vite ( i can't live anymore without it!).
The quality is very good, I've been wearing this for 4 days and it hasn't chipped, there's only a minor sign of tipwear. It's a very office-friendly shade, and it is in fact co-owned by me and my mom.

I don't have much to say, besides that it's a really good polish, quality-wise, and if you're into browns you should totally get it!
Vote: A

Urban Decay Hustle nail polish

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've had some really full and tiresome days. At the end of the day I might not be too tired to apply polish, but I wouldn't give it enough time to dry.
Anyway, here's Urban Decay Hustle polish from the Naked set.
The color is a metallic brown/purple that doesn't require a topcoat to shine. Application was easy and drying time was good, shown here are three thin coats. The color really makes me think more of an eyeshadow than of a polish, and I don't even own a UD palette. It is similar to Concrete Minerals' Smut, but darker.
I thought some blue would have gone nicely with it, since light blue/brown is a color combination I love. The light blue is kiko 624. It's also amazing to hide tipwear.

Urban Decay Smog nail polish & Essence new products haul

No, I don't have the whole Naked Nail Set... my sister does, but she didn't like this one, so she gave it to me.
A shimmery brown/bronze, very warm. It's almost a duochrome, under the light it shifts from brown to bronze to dark purple. I love this color, but it's not much pigmented, after three coats it still didn't offer the coverage I'd ask for. I think it would be better as a layering polish, since it did just a couple of days without topcoat before chipping. Certainly not a groundbreaking polish, and it would've been great if it had offered the same apocalyptic-proof resistance of, say, the UD pencils.

And now, to the Essence haul!

I have studied the Essence website when the new products were presented, and there were a couple of things I found worth trying. So when the Essence display was updated at Coin, well, I took the chance to test them:
Eye Sorbet in illuminating coconut: I had great hopes for this, but it's a bit too glittery and less whitey than I'd expect. It could make a good cream eyeshadow, but not an highlighter, unless you are going for a Twilight vampire look. I will post swatches as soon as I get back home.
Lashes Go Wild mascara: I can't wait to try this, the wand reminds me of Neve Cosmetics' mascara.
Glow In The Night topcoat:  This is going to be fun.
Sparkly Sand Effect in Hey, Nude! : I'm trying this right now! I've chosen it because it reminded me of an OPI polish. I'll post a review real soon!

Strawberry, vanilla & chocolate nails

You caught me: when I don't post nail art for a while it's because I'm not 100% satisfied with the results. This one isn't a masterpiece either, but I still find it cute.

You can either imagine it as chocolate dripped over vanilla or strawberry cream, or vice versa.
I used Max Factor Mellow Yellow (urgh, what a bad formula), Essence Very Cherry, Essence Tip Painter in pink (the one from the Tribal Summer LE) and an old unnamed brown I had at home. All covered in Essence's matte top coat. Actually the pink flakies on Very Cherry are above the top coat, as if on cake icing.

Kiko Quick Dry Nail Lacquer 813 Pearly Brown

Not very summer-ish, but worth a swatch since they're new. It actually belongs to my sister, I borrowed it because I wanted to try this new range... if the quaility is good, I thought, I'll buy one for myself (the white with golden hues was nice).
First and foremost: no, it does not dry in 60 seconds. It's fast, but nothing new.
The color is a shimmery brown with olive and golden hues.

Why is it good:
-fast dry, if you care (I don't)
-Great brush! (slightly smaller than the "cat's paw" ones from the new Essence polishes)
-Nice color (and, overall, nice range of colors, better than the standard boring cremes)

Why is it bad:
-Not as fast as they promise
-Bad formula: very dense and streaky
-Nothing really new (with all the new trends, from the crystals to the furry nails to che chalkboard nails, this is all you could come up with?).
-Costs more and you get less product

Verdict: I really hope this doesn't replace Kiko's standard polish line, the formula is worse, but if you like the color, go for it. I've forgiven worse formulas (but they had something outstanding and unique, this does not.)