Beauty Squared Round-Up - December 8, 2012

What was interesting in the realm of beauty links this week? Here's what we found for you. Enjoy!

Beth is your typical American teenager living through a zombie apocalypse on AMC's Walking Dead. Here's her beauty tips, in case you ever need them.

If you've seen photos of Marilyn Monroe, you've probably seen a Ceil Chapman dress. She made some stunning frocks for stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Pin Up Girl Style takes a look at this legendary dress engineer. 

Stylish clothes designed for bicycle riding? What took so long? 

One of the things I love most about make-up is the way it can make someone see themselves in a whole new light. Lipstick Angels are an L.A. organization of volunteer make-up artists who help women feel beautiful, special and confident. 

What makes badasses (like the band The Kills, above) so sexy? 

Life after extreme weight loss.

Three easy ways to disguise signs of drowsiness on your face.

Inglot's Double-Sparkle eyeshadows combine matte and shimmer into one eyeshadow!

I LOVE the sparkly strands of hair in the photo of Beyonce, above. Click here for more beauty inspiration ideas.

A collection of make-up artist Luke Goss's best tips in one video!

Beauty Abroad: Inglot Nail Polish 709

This is the third Inglot review from the haul I made while in Poland.

I was immediately drawn to shade # 709 amongst the hundred or so shades they have for a few reasons: a) it is a blue purple and you don't see many of those and b) it is a creme. I love the sophisticated look of creme polishes and find that purple in particular is a difficult colour to find in that finish. The photo is taken indoors with a flash.

As you can see it is a beautiful shade of purple. What I failed to notice when I bought the bottle was that this polish has a matte finish! The finish on the nail though is closer to a satin finish, a sort of cross between matte and gloss.

Generally I love this polish colour, I just wish it was not matte! Matte polishes do not last as long as regular polishes and should not be used with a base or topcoat. The polish costs about $7.00 CA for 16 ml.

J

Beauty Abroad: Inglot Advanced Makeup Components Eyeshadow

This is my second installation regarding the "MAC Cosmetics of Poland": Inglot.

Inglot's "Advanced Makeup Components" eye shadows are essentially their version of MAC pigments. The shadows come in 2 g jars and cost around $10 CA.00 CA. The shade range is at a guess, somewhere around 30 - 40 shades. I picked up two - 35 & 37.

Shade 35 pale violet with a gold sheen, I was immediately reminded of MAC's lustre shadow Idol Eyes. Shade 37 is a antiqued gold which is similar to MAC pigments Museum Bronze & Brass (LE & discontinued). Both have textures similar to MAC pigments such as Frost, so a slighty flakey texture. These can be "foiled" (applied with a wet brush) or applied dry.

Left to right: Inglot Advanced Makeup Components Eyeshadow #37 & 35.

Top row (l to r): 37 foiled & dry. Bottom row (l to r): 35 foiled & dry.

Inglot is available in Canada but only in Quebec: http://www.inglotcanada.com/.

J

Beauty Abroad: Inglot Nail Polishes

One of the great things about traveling for a beauty junkie is to check out the local products. I had heard of Inglot from several blogs and so was intrigued when I ran into their products on my recent trip to Poland.

Inglot is Poland's answer to MAC. A very eclectic and large collection can be found everywhere in Poland from small drugstores to fairly large free standing stores. Like MAC, Inglot offers a vast array of products, colours and tools. I would say that their whole collection of products outnumbers MAC. Inlgot's nail polishes alone are worth a look - although I don't have an official shade count, it must be at least 100 shades if not more! The nail polishes I am reviewing in this post are # 202, 203, 204 & 205 (unfortunately there are no shade names). I have not included nail swatches because I could not capture the holographic nature of the polishes on camera.

Inglot Nail Polishes (left to right): 202, 203, 204 & 205.

These polishes come in small 8 ml bottles and cost around $7.40 CA. They are "flake" polishes, which means they have a clear base into which is suspended holographic flake glitter. These are great colours if you want sheer glitter on the nail, or if you like layering polishes. They have a holographic, duochrome colour that makes your nails shimmer like fish scales (in a good way of course!).

202 - a fiery orange flake with a green flash

203 - a green flake with a teal flash

204 - a violet flake with blue flash

205 - a gold flake with a green flash

My favourites are 202, 203 & 205. I do like 204 is but the flake shimmer isn't as intense as the others. A great feature of these polishes is if you wear them alone you need not worry about visible chips (due to their transparent base). The only downside to these are they are quite difficult to remove. I suggest holding a remover soaked pad to each nail for a few seconds and then scrubbing the nail with the pad. Even after several times of cleaning each nail I still had some residue. I ended up using a cuticle pusher to scrape the remaining flakes off.

Overall, I really love these polishes and can't think of another brand that currently offers the same type of product.

The good news is that Inglot is available in Canada - the bad news is only in Quebec! Find the locations here: http://www.inglotcanada.com/

J.