Review Archives - Violet LeBeaux - Tales of an Ingenue

Fuse Gelnamel System Review

by VioletLeBeaux | Nov 14, 2014 | Beauty, Review, Travel In Style

Recently I received a “Fuse Gelnamel” kit from their PR department. It was a bit of bad timing considering only a few months before hand I had been desperately trying to find a gel system that I could buy from the beauty stores here with no luck. I ended up getting a full set for Christmas and discovered a brand of polishes that I really liked so I wasn’t really in the market for anything anymore… but I do like trying new things so yay!

The Fuse system markets itself as an all in one solution and you can get a starter kit with everything you need for a set of nails. Everything I received in the package is below.

This is what the starter kit contains.

I’ve seen the starter kit in stores for $49ish. I really liked the marketing, it’s quite funny!

At $49ish it’s the cheapest set I’ve seen in shops here that includes a lamp. That said, if you order supplies online you can get bigger lamps for less with polishes included as well.

I was a bit confused about the lamp. I’ve seen these in a lot of shops lately but mine came with a European (I think?) power plug which is useless in Australia. I assume that the ones being sold in Aus shops have the correct power plug but if you are considering buying one I would check first just in case. It also came with a USB power cable so I just used that instead.

So let’s get started with it! I followed the instructions in the box to apply a coat of the light pink glitter polish. Basically that involves buffing and cleaning the nail with the solution provided (similar to rubbing alcohol), painting on a coat of polish and then holding your finger in the lamp for 30 seconds. The packaging says you only need one coat but I think that is referring to not needing a base/top coat because I found the polish to needed 2 coats to come close to being opaque.

This is my end result…

The system had some good parts but also some negatives as well. I loved the tiny lamp. It’s adorable and perfect for traveling. Doing one finger at a time wasn’t the quickest way ever but I could see how it’s still probably quicker than regular polish if you’re base/top coating and waiting a while for everything to dry. The top of the lamp comes off and flips around so you can do your toes too. Genius. I really did love the lamp but I had quite a few problems with the polishes.

The pink that I tried was streaky and had a gloopy consistency. I’ve used a lot of gel polishes and this didn’t seem normal to me, it made it hard to work with and I had to put a lot of effort in to get a decent finish.

The brush in the pink polish was half size as well for some reason. I’m not sure if I got a dud or if this was supposed to be a feature but the other two polishes I had were normal sized brushes. If it was a random dud that might explain the texture as well.

Weird tiny pink brush:

Normal brush in the red:

I did a set of the red nails as well and while the formula was better than the pink it still wasn’t anything to write home about. That was a bit disappointing because I loved the lamp so much. I gave the lamp a try with my other gel polishes and it didn’t cure them correctly so I can only assume that it’s a lower power than my other UV lamps and perhaps the consistency of the Fuse polishes is more on the nail polish side than the gel side.

I love gel polishes and I wanted to like this set a lot but between the wrong power plug and the weird brush I’m thinking I got a bad batch. Seeing as I have the lamp now anyway, I might have a look at some of the other Fuse gels which are available in store and see how they stack up against the ones I was sent, possibly the formula changed when it became commercially available? No idea but I’m definitely open to giving it another go!

Have any of you guys tried these out? What did you think? Do you have any other brands I should try?

All Time Beauty Favourites- Eyeshadow

by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 13, 2014 | Beauty, Review

Ok time for something fun, I get asked a lot which make up I’m wearing and honestly most of the time it’s pretty much the same thing. I don’t change stuff up very often once I find something that really works for me. So I’ve decided to do an “All Time Beauty Favourites” series and today’s post is on eyeshadows!

I used to have an extreme collection of eyeshadow. It was kind of obsessive. That was until I was given a matte 88 palette from Coastal Scents.

Ultimate win!

After using this for around a year I cleaned out pretty much everything from my drawer and just continued using this. I was lucky enough to be given another version which is the same but sparkly and I was set.

I don’t think I’ll ever need any more colours than this!

I use the colours for blush, lip stains and pretty much anything as well.

Done!

Honourable mentions go to these guys…

The sticker off the back has peeled off but this is the gold/beige in the Hello Kitty range.

Sparkly without being straight glitter and a good every day shadow.

Maybelline Eye Studio in Give Me Gold.

Perfect neutral…ish palette for me. I keep this in my handbag in case I ever have an emergency! I don’t know what kind of emergency that would be but you know… it could happen.

Ultimate-Eyeshadow-List888

Pretty Serious Cosmetics in CGA

Argh I love this brand so much. The pigment is like a light purple but with a blue shimmer and it’s beautiful on.

So there you go! 88 Palettes for the win! Hope you found that helpful and see you next time I do an All Time Favourite post!

All Time Beauty Favourites- Best Foundation For Pale or Fair Skin

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 19, 2014 | Beauty, Review

I get asked a lot which make up I’m wearing and honestly most of the time it’s pretty much the same thing. I don’t change stuff up very often once I find something that really works for me. So I’ve decided to do an “All Time Beauty Favourites” series and today we’re going with foundations and bb creams for pale or fair.

I’m very pale. Like disturbingly pale. And I have pink undertones which makes me look terrible in anything close to orange toned. It makes it so hard to find a decent foundation but onwards I go anyway!

From left to right:

I Love BB Light, Maybelline Pure Dream BB for oily skin, Maybelline Dream Fresh BB, Illamasqua Rich Liquid 115, Bourjois Healthy Mix 51

All of these I’ve either tried at home or in store and thought “Yep that looks like a good match” but after wearing them consistently for a decent amount of time I fall out of love ;_;

The order is the same as above.

The one that lasted the longest on me was I Love BB Light and that’s because on my face it had a much greyer tone which worked decently when it was thinned out or mixed with the Illamasqua.

So I Love BB was good and the consistency was good and it lasted all day.

I don’t have oily skin but the Maybelline BB for oily skin was the lightest for some reason and the consistency was thin but ok. I don’t know why the non-oily version was so dark considering it was the same shade.

I wanted to love the Illamasqua so hard and it was definitely the closest to my skin tone. But it was really drying so without a heavy duty moisturiser it ended up a bit cake face-y.

The Bourjois looked awesome in store and then so orange at home 🙁

It got to a point where I was frustrated and out of everything and I went through EVERY foundation in Priceline until I found Models Prefer in their lightest shade.

It is crazy light and a neutral tone so it works with my skin well.

The colour is pretty much perfect and it lasts reasonably well through the day with good coverage. The problem is that it has a tendency to rub off on things :/ It ends up on my clothes a lot which is annoying. But it’s still #1 (even though it’s number 6 in the test).

Rubbed in:

Honourable mention is this Innoxa concealer stick which covers blue eye circles extremely well.

It looks crazy orange on my regular skin but over the top of dark circles it rocks.

It also stays on all day and doesn’t crease during the day. This I love.

So the search continues for the holy grail of foundation for pale skin but the Models Prefer foundation is a decent start! What do you other pale girls like? Have you found something which is the ultimate yet?

Hope you found that helpful and see you next time I do an All Time Favourite post!

All Time Beauty Favourites- Lipgloss

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 8, 2014 | Beauty, Review

Oh lip gloss, I love you so hard. And these are my all time favourites!

From left to right: Dior 664, Mirenesse Show Girl, Lancome Juicy Tube Crazy Yuzu, Boujois Rose Exclusif, Mirenesse Geisha.

Yet again the Dior is my Holy Grail of lipgloss. For some reason they just know how to make lip products which really work for me. It stays on for ages and the colour is awesome. Can’t find a flaw!

Bourjois lipgloss is a little on the sticky side but the colour is worth it. It’s gimmick is that it’s clear and then changes depending on your ph. Apparently my ph is AWESOME.

This has apparently been discontinued because it was a a limited edition ;_; but it’s awesome and still available on ebay apparently. I think I should stock up!

This Mirenesse gloss is very slick and is pretty much here because of the intense true red colour. Bright 😀

I prefer the formula of this Mirenesse gloss and it’s shimmer content is great. The colour is great but it’s kind of annoying to squeeze out of the packaging. Like!

So there you go, the Dior definitely wins over all but the others are awesome too!

Hope you found that helpful and see you next time I do an All Time Favourite post!

All Time Beauty Favourites- Mascara

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 15, 2014 | Beauty, Review

Back to beauty favourites! I get asked a lot which make up I’m wearing and honestly most of the time it’s pretty much the same thing. I don’t change stuff up very often once I find something that really works for me. So I’ve decided to do an “All Time Beauty Favourites” series and today is mascara!

I have a lot of eye allergies and mascara is something which I’m very sensitive to 🙁 This means I have to be very picky with it and once I find something good I stick to it hard!

From left to right below:

Mirenesse Vibralash- Definite favorite and best of the group. It’s one of those tubing mascaras so it stays on all day and then comes off in tubes with a little water. I didn’t react to this at all and I LOVE it. I would totally buy it again but it’s quite expensive so I am trying to find a more budget friendly dupe at the moment. I think I am close to giving up and just buying this again though.

Lancome Ôscillation- Great for the lower lashes because of the weird pointy brush. Didn’t really stand out a huge amount though so I’m a bit indifferent.

Clinique High Impact- Another average one which I didn’t react to. Good but it can be a bit hard to get off.

Catalina Geo- Pretty much the same as the Clinique. I didn’t react to it and it’s not a tubing mascara but it’s fairly easy to remove. I like that it comes with a spare tube as well, that’s cool!

Maybelline Mega Plus Volume Express- LOVE this mascara but I have a minor reaction to it ;_; It gives crazy volume but it’s a little liquidy so it tends to get everywhere when I apply it. Also it’s lid is a jerk that won’t stand up by it’s self and ruined my photo!

God mascaras have long stupid names.

So I really love everything about the Mirenesse except the price! I love tube mascaras, they are so great but so hard to find now that the technology isn’t a big deal ;_; Have you guys tried any other ones? Let me know if I’ve seen any others!

Hope you found that helpful and see you next time I do an All Time Favourite post!

All Time Beauty Favourites- Lipstick

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 16, 2014 | Beauty, Review

Ok, time for something fun! I get asked a lot which make up I’m wearing and honestly most of the time it’s pretty much the same thing. I don’t change stuff up very often once I find something that really works for me. So I’ve decided to do an “All Time Beauty Favourites” series and we’ll kick it off with my all time favourite thing: lipstick!

These are the 5 lipsticks that I wear the most.

From left to right: Dior 565, Chanel 93 Exaltee, L’Oreal Colour Riche 267 and 287 and Revlon Colour Stay 050.

You can tell I’m into the bright colours.

My all time favourite is the Dior. It’s expensive but it’s my holy grail of lipsticks. It’s the perfect mix of BAM colour and staying power. I hardly ever have to reapply this and it doesn’t get all weird and liney around my lips. I would throw out all of my other lipsticks and just use this one for the rest of my life if I had to pick.

The Chanel is a fantastic colour and was my first high end lipstick. The colour is an amazing punch in the face pink but it tends to migrate to teeth and around the lips during the day so now that I have the Dior I don’t bother with it anymore.

The first L’Oreal is a beautiful true red. It’s creamy and bright and shiny as hell. Unfortunately it comes off on everything which is it’s major downfall. The colour punch is totally worth it though!

The second L’Oreal is an amazing deep pink glitter. Alone it’s great but I love it paired with a particular lipgloss which has been discontinued. I still wear it but I mostly cling to hope that the lipgloss will be re-released again and I’ll have ultimate POP colour ;_;

Lastly the Revlon colour-stay was a gift from Mrs DinoSlippers. The colour is a red plum and it really does stay forever. I love the set and forget convenience of this, it requires no effort and no touch ups during the day. It’s major downfall is that it is really drying, I can’t wear it alone otherwise I feel like I have lips made of wax. I really want to have a look and see what other colours this comes in though because it’s awesome when paired with lipgloss.

Honourable mention goes to this insanely bright Neon Cosmetics shade. Their website no longer works and it is half melted but it sure is a BAM colour ^_^

Here are the detail stickers if you need them:

And lastly, here’s the little compact that I use most of the time for my lipstick.

Hope you found that helpful and see you next time I do an All Time Favourite post!

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