26th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 3 Comments
When I first started blogging occasionally I would post about make-up too. I stopped doing that since I felt like I was more skilled to do nail art, there’s people out there who do make-up a lot better than I do. Nevertheless I still really love make-up and have the best fun experimenting with new looks. When I was browsing Born Pretty for the thousandth time I came across this eyeshadow palette and fell in love with the colours. I own a few eyeshadow palettes like these, a matte 88 palette, a shimmery nude 88 and a metallic stones, all from Zoeva. I usually go for more neutral eyeshadow shades and since this had a lot of earthy tones to it (which suit me best) I simply had to try it!
This is what the inside looks like. The eyeshadow pans are very large, they’re 3,5cm or 1,5″ in diameter. All colours are metallic and shimmery. The colours remind me of jewellery tones, gold, copper, silver and bronze. You get 18 shades in this palette with a good range of colours going from light to dark. They aren’t very powdery, the eyeshadows are almost a bit on the creamy side so there’s minimal fall out. They do smell a bit strong which I was a little disappointed about, the smell reminds me of paint, Ecoline in particular (liquid watercolour). It’s nothing too severe but do keep it in mind.
Here are my swatches of each colour, they were swatched over a very thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion.
This is the top row of eyeshadows.
Second row. The charcoal grey is absolutely gorgeous! As you can see, the pigmentation in this palette definitely doesn’t disappoint!
And the last row. As you can see the black is less metallic than the other shades, perfect to add contrast in the crease. Aren’t the colours amazing?
All in all I really love this 18 Colour Eyeshadow Palette. It’s sold for just $14.40 at the Born Pretty website. If you order at their website don’t forget to use my code EMILYJ61 which will give you 10% discount on your entire order. They also have free shipping to all countries!
I was kindly sent these products by Born Pretty Store to review. I am not in any way affiliated with this company nor am I being paid by them! All opinions stated are honest and my own, as always.
22nd January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 5 Comments
Every year for the past three years I go on a shopping trip to London with my boyfriend. Since I live in Belgium I’m quite close to London and only a Eurostar trainride away from a lot of great brands I can’t buy here. Last year I picked up some Barry M polishes at the Superdrug across Primark in Oxford Street. I wondered if this was the biggest/best Superdrug in London. I thought why not ask my readers, I know a lot of you are from the UK so I’m sure you could give me some advice!
- What is your favourite Superdrug and Boots store to go to when you’re in London?
- What are your favourite local (budget) brands?
- What is your favourite store? ((second hand) clothing, accessories, shoes, …)
I would truly love and appreciate some recommendations as to what brands and stores I should look out for. I’m pretty much open to anything so long as it’s budget friendly. On my wishlist so far are more Barry M’s, hopefully another Sleek Palette (I’m not sure which one, I currently have the Storm Palette) and Accessorize duochrome polish.If you have any favourite skincare products you buy at Boots/Superdrug I would totally be interested in that too. Lotions, body scrubs, hair products, …
Thanks so much!
20th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 4 Comments
These were inspired by Mr.Candiipants on Tumblr. She recreated the nails from NCLA that were featured in a “tutorial” on Lucky Magazine. I came across the NCLA nails on Tumblr as well but was also disappointed the so-called tutorial was nothing more than “attach these nail wraps to your nails”. Especially since the design was so beautiful and unique. Oh well, we can do better than that and paint them ourselves!
These are ikat prints, ikat is a dying/weaving technique like tie-dye and is still used in many countries and cultures.
The polishes I used were these, Dearlee 07, Catrice I Scream Peach! and Models Own Nail Art Pen in white and black. The trick with these nails is to paint in thin strokes. It’s a very fun and quick pattern since you don’t have to be perfect. And funnily enough, this is one of the few designs where if you paint your topcoat too quickly and smear the black, it will add to the effect!
16th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 4 Comments
I know it’s been way too long since I did any nail art! I’ve not had any inspiration for a while so feel free to leave me requests or suggestions if there is anything you would like to see me do. I was browsing through some Japanese Nail Art today and I came across this print. I really loved it and since it was quite simple I decided to give it a go.
I added glitter to the hearts on my thumb and ring finger and used black acrylic paint for the cherries. The nail polishes I used were:
- China Glaze Snow
- China Glaze Naughty And Nice
- China Glaze Hey Sailor
14th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 7 Comments
One of the things I love most about Born Pretty Store (apart from their amazing items and free shipping) is their points system. If you’ve purchased items you can add a review and pictures to their site to collect points. If you share reviews via the Extended Affiliate program you can earn up to 100 points per review. ($1=100 points)
I always share my pictures and text reviews on their site and since I purchase with them regularly it’s very easy to gather up points. You can redeem $10 worth of points per order so this time I just placed a $10 order of free items! I picked a few accessories for myself and a gift for my mother. There’s loads of things you can buy at their store for under $10 since everything is so cheap. Anyway, take a look at what I purchased with my BPS points.
I simply *HAD* to have this when I saw it. It’s a new item they added to their store only very recently. A cute owl necklace! I think I once came a cross an image on Tumblr that featured this owl and I fell in love with it then, so I was over the moon when I saw this in the Born Pretty “What’s New“-page. It was just $2.83. An absolute bargain!
I absolutely adore feathers in anything and I fell in love with these. I bought feather earrings at Born Pretty a while ago and since I was very happy with the quality I bought these as well, I currently have my eye on a black pair too, whoops! 
I’m not hugely in love with the pearl that sits above the feathers so I replaced it with a chain instead. Very easy and quick job if you have jewellery pliers. This pair is just $2.50.
This I bought as a gift for my mother. She loves LED lamps and stuff like that so I immediately had to think of her when I saw this in the store. I knew she’d love it! It changes colour if you turn on the switch at the bottom. The batteries come included with the lamp and should last 15 hrs according to the website. This was $4.22 and can be found on the site here.
Thanks to my boyfriend for hand-modelling! This is what it looks like when it turns to red, it also changes to green, yellow, white, blue and purple.
I wanted to share this image as well, my little owl simply loves the camera! ♥
12th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 5 Comments
I always buy my nail polish remover at Kruidvat. I usually get a big bottle of their non-acetone formula for nail tips and a regular bottle with acetone for normal use. When it was time to buy some new bottles I saw this bottle of remover with a pump. I bought an almost identical bottle a while ago but it was really flimsy and the pump leaked so it ended up at the back of my Helmer drawer. I was really sad it didn’t work any more because, while it did work, I was absolutely in love with it! I decided to give this one a go as well, I really didn’t want to give up on remover pump bottles!
This pump definitely seems a lot better in quality than the previous one I tried. It feels a lot less flimsy and the cap closes properly unlike the other one I have. I’ve tried it several times and it works really great! You simply grab a cotton pad and push down on the pump which then releases the perfect amount of polish remover onto your pad. Easy!
However, the non-acetone remover that’s inside the bottle is very heavily scented with what I can only describe as headache-in-a-bottle . It’s a really strong perfume that is just really not my cup of tea. The formula itself I have no issues with, it removes polish like other non-acetone remover I tried but it left my nails reeking of perfume for hours. Even after washing my hands and generously smearing lotion on them. I really cannot use it… What a waste!
When I let my mum smell my fingers she absolutely loved the perfume! What?! Just goes to show how personal tastes are. I like my remover to have a subtle scent that isn’t too overpowering which I think this is. I’m going to pour the remover in a different bottle for my mum to use, wash it out and refill with something I do like. Saved by my mother!
The bottle is quite pricey compared to their other removers since you mainly pay for packaging. It was €2,99 I believe for a bottle of 175ml.
What sort of remover do you like to use? Do you get acetone or non-acetone formula? Do you go for the cheapest remover you can find or don’t you mind paying a bit more? Let me know!
7th January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 8 Comments
Today a review about one of the nail polish brands Born Pretty Store sells, it’s called Dearlee (what an adorable brand name!) and the bottles are sold for about $4 a piece. The pastel colours are sold in sets of 6 or 8 which will save you a few dollars. Even though these are quite cheap the quality is surprisingly really good, they really impressed me! The pastels I would compare to Models Own and American Apparel in terms of formula, they’re highly pigmented and all of them dry very quickly. I’m also happy to add they last very well and don’t chip very fast. The bottles are shaped like OPI’s but the caps are crackled grey, and they hold 15ml. I don’t think these are 3-free but I can’t be sure as they don’t have ingredients on them.
Unfortunately they don’t have names, the numbers for these are from left to right:
- 30, 18, 19, 08, 17 and 20.
- 029, 22, 07, 016 and 027.
Don’t they look gorgeous? I am a sucker for creme finishes so these are all right up my alley! Here’s my swatches and thoughts on each polish.
Dearlee 30 – This is a bright jelly yellow. It’s definitely one of those yellows most people will find hard to pull off. I love yellows so I didn’t mind this colour at all, I think it’s beautiful! This was three coats and went on very smoothly. As it’s a jelly there’s a bit of visible nail line.
Dearlee 18 – This is a pastel yellow which is by far easier to pull off than bright yellow but formula is hit and miss. I have two similar shades in my collection already and one is very opaque while the other needs coat after coat and won’t dry properly. The formula on this polish I’m happy to say was easier to work with albeit a little on the thicker side. This was three coats.
Dearlee 19 – This is a beautiful pastel coral. I’m absolutely in love with this shade! It’s so cute! I find it’s a really flattering shade, it makes me long for summer even more than I already am. This will look gorgeous with a tan! It took three coats to get perfect coverage.
Dearlee 08 – This is a french manicure pink, it’s very sheer and sort of the odd one out in this bunch as all the others are very opaque. I have tons of these colours already and I never use them which is a bit of a shame! This was three coats, I guess you could go up to five so it’s more opaque and there’s less VNL.
Dearlee 17 – This is a pretty bubblegum pink! Excuse the somewhat yellow cuticles as I swatched number 30, the yellow, before this colour. Oops! 
It’s very pretty and cute. Nothing else to say!
Dearlee 20 – This is a pretty lilac shade. It’s extremely pigmented, I only used two coats but if you weren’t taking macro shots of your nails you could definitely get away with just one. Really gorgeous!
Dearlee 029 – This is a really unique colour, my camera really wasn’t able to capture its beauty! It’s a sort of muted greyish purple, my camera just showed full blown purple so you’ll have to take my word for it. I hardly ever wear purple but this is such a beautiful shade I look forward to using it. It covered in two coats.
Dearlee 22 – This colour was also quite hard to capture. It’s more green-ish and muted in person, it’s such a beautiful colour! I think I recommend this polish the most out of all of them, it’s a one coater as well but beware of staining! Use a base coat when you wear this as it’s highly pigmented. Excuse my sloppy application, this was the last one I swatched, and as the light was fading quickly (damn you dark winter days!) I had to be fast.
Dearlee 07 – This is a pretty baby blue! I love colours like this, I’m a sucker for blue nail polish. This was three coats.
Dearlee 016 – This is a really awesome pastel green! I’ve not come across nail polish colours like this often, I don’t have anything in my collection to compare it to so I’m very excited by this shade. Unlike the other polishes this one did smell quite strong for some reason. This was three coats I believe but looking back I should have used a fourth.
Dearlee 027 – This one reminds me of a brighter Nars Zulu. It’s a gorgeous dark green, it looks like camo green in the bottle but it comes out a bit brighter on your nails. It’s honestly really amazing, very good coverage as was the case with all of them, I believe this was two coats.
I was kindly sent these products by Born Pretty Store to review. I am not in any way affiliated with this company nor am I being paid by them! All opinions stated are honest and my own, as always.
3rd January, 2012 - Posted by Emily - 2 Comments
Today I have a review of a Born Pretty Store product I purchased myself. A while ago Born Pretty Store celebrated their 1 year anniversary and every day they had several products at 50% off, and when I saw these cute Eyeliner Dolls on the specials page I couldn’t resist! I picked these up for $4,21, they are usually priced at $8,42.
All of them are black waterproof eyeliners with a felt tip pen. The application is very easy, they’re perfect for people that struggle with liquid liner.
These are the little dolls up close, my favourite is the fifth in line with the cute rose brooch. Don’t they look adorable? You get about 5ml of product in each doll, it’s not a huge amount but for the price you get 30ml for $8,42 or €6,50 which is very cheap!
And here’s a winged eyeliner I created with this and swatches on my hand. I’m really in love with this product, I didn’t have any black waterproof liquid liner yet (shame on me!) so I was really happy with these. I’m also glad to say they last very well, I wore the eyeliner pictured on the left for a full day and it hardly smudged!
You can buy these Eyeliner Dolls at Born Pretty Store for $8,42. Don’t forget to use the code EMILYJ61 at the checkout so you receive a 10% discount!
31st December, 2011 - Posted by Emily - 2 Comments
These are the nails I’ll be wearing for New Year! My Christmas nails weren’t that blog-worthy, I just went for China Glaze Mrs. Claus, my all-time-favourite glitter polish. For New Years I had to do something a little more special!
I used OPI Tickle My France-Y - love that polish so much - and rhinestones, nail studs, half pearls and steel balls, all from Born Pretty Store. Excuse the white reflection as I shot these under my nail art lamp.
What will you be wearing on your nails for NYE? I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a fabulous 2012! I would also like to say thanks to each and every one of you for supporting me this year. Blog-wise this year was a blast for me, I met so many new people through the nail art and beauty community and I am so grateful to be a part of it. Thanks girls! See you next year!
28th December, 2011 - Posted by Emily - 2 Comments
I have another very exciting review to share with you today! The same reason the last one was exciting, this is another one of the products I requested Born Pretty Store to stock and here it is! A foam nail art stand. Basically it holds your nail tips for you to paint them! These are so useful since I usually stick them down on a piece of double-sided tape which causes the nail polish to run down the sides which obviously isn’t the best way.
They come in a long rectangular box and there’s a little assembly required. You need three pieces for each nail holder but putting them together is very easy. I was wondering if they would get damaged or the shape would be ruined with shipping but since they’re safe in a box it’s not an issue.
You can easily push them together in a round shape like this which is very compact.
If you like seeing them all lined up you can push them into the foam that held the larger pieces of the nail stands. I’m not sure which I prefer most, I’d have to try it a few times and see what I like best.
I am however going to buy a second one, this only holds 5 nail tips and I like to work on a set of 10 at a time. It’s so small (when you put them in the circle shape it’s 9cm/3.5″ across) and easy to work with they won’t clutter up your desk or get in the way. And for the price, these are a total steal at $3,38/€2,60.
And this is what it looks like when in use!
As for attaching the nail tips, I would use Blu-Tack, the sticky dough you use to put up pictures and posters to your walls. If you use nail tips or would like to do so in the future I would totally recommend getting one (or two) of these. They’re very useful and fun to use. Such a great nifty little item!
p.s. My blog is so pink today!
I was kindly sent these products by Born Pretty Store to review. I am not in any way affiliated with this company nor am I being paid by them! All opinions stated are honest and my own, as always.
Older Entries
