15th May, 2013
One of my other passions besides nail art and make-up is knitting and crochet. I grew up around yarn since my grandmother and mum have been avid knitters all their lives. I briefly tried knitting as a young girl but I never really got into it. Then I rediscovered crochet a few months ago and found myself hooked (excuse the pun 
). Since crochet was becoming less challenging for me I decided it was time to start knitting!
For some strange reason that still isn’t clear to me, knitting came extremely naturally to me. I thought I’d never be able to knit since I always found it so difficult. Then suddenly I found myself tackling projects that are intermediate or even highly challenging skill levels with ease. Lace knitting, entrelac, stranded colourwork, etc. That last one is the technique I used for the pillow you see above. I’ve only been knitting for two months so I’m pretty proud I’ve accomplished so much in so little time!
I found the pattern for the pillowcase in a Filati Home magazine and I simply had to make it. Why? Because it immediately reminded me of a nail art design. I used my favourite cotton yarn to make this pillow, Schachenmayr SMC Catania.
I decided to merge two of my passions so that’s what inspired these nails! I used the same pattern and colours that I used in my pillow. I painted it by hand using very thin nail art brushes and I used BK Hello Kitty nail polishes in shades #01, #29, #27 and #25. For the black I used OPI Black Onyx and I also used China Glaze Below Deck.
I really hope you like how these turned out! I love them so much because they were inspired by my pillowcase. I’ve noticed there are many nail bloggers that also love knitting and crochet! It’s so exciting to see people that share your passion. If you love knitting and crochet like me, make sure to add me on Ravelry! What are your hobbies besides love for nail polish and nail art? 
Let me know in the comments!
14th February, 2013
I’ve barely found the time to blog this week, I’ve just been so busy! However, I do have some pretty exciting posts to share on here soon, so make sure to watch this space. In the meantime, here’s a recap of a few things I shared on Instagram the past few weeks. There’s also a question for YOU at the bottom of this post. So make sure to leave me your feedback, I’d love to hear your suggestions!
Follow me on Instagram: veryemily.
Left: When I saw this heart at Action for under $2 I simply had to buy it. It was being sold as a display for greeting cards, but in my head I immediately saw my necklaces dangling from the beautiful little hearts. I’m so glad I picked this up! It’s definitely one of my new favourite items in my room. Score!
Right: It’s been a few years since I bought a new duvet cover and I figured it was time for a change. I’ve wanted a Union Jack duvet cover for a while and when I was googling I found that 3SUISSES had the perfect one. I picked this up during their sale, it came in at around $50 including the four pillow covers. I love how it has a different design on the inside!
On 28 January, I had the most epic nail mail day ever! One of my bestest friends Alex (aka Algae Veronica! Please check out her blog, she’s an amazing nail artist) absolutely spoiled me with the most amazing package filled with goodies. I wish I knew what I did to deserve such kindness! My new piCture pOlish shades for my weekly swatchathon also arrived that day. I was, and still am, overwhelmed with all the beautiful polishes I was blessed with that day!
On 1 February my boyfriend and I celebrated our four year anniversary. I’m so blessed to have such an amazing, supportive and awesome boyfriend. I wouldn’t know what to do without him!
MUA Cosmetics was having a sale on their website not too long ago. All of their products were 50% off, and they were having a free international shipping deal. Given their products are so cheap already, this definitely was too good to pass up! So these are the goodies I picked up during the sale. Would anyone like to see reviews on some of these items? Let me know in the comments!
Left: Last weekend I had a haul at Action and Kruidvat. Action is quickly becoming one of my favourite stores, it’s basically like a Poundland or a Dollar Store. Everything is so cheap and the items they sell are awesome! They have a lot of great make-up products and cosmetics too. As you can tell from the duplicates, these goodies are not all for me! I also picked up some items for a few dear friends of mine.
Right: This is the Essence Popul-Art blush from the Vintage District limited edition. It’s so beautiful! I almost don’t want to use it. The gold is an overspray so I haven’t touched it yet. The effect is too pretty to ruin!
Meet my first ever decoden iPhone case! I got it at Born Pretty Store, it comes in a set with a clear iPhone case, large decoden pieces, rhinestones and pearls, glue and a nifty pencil for picking up rhinestones. I also used some other rhinestones I had lying around. I definitely went a bit overboard with the bling. I love it so much though! Especially the little nail polish charm. It’s just the cutest!
Left: Behold my very own OPI Euro Centrale display! When I saw the first previews of Euro Centrale I knew I had to have the full collection. I’ve never bought a full collection before but I simply had to have it, the shades were SO me! My friend Alex was able to hook me up with this, so a huge thanks to her.
Right: A little sneaky peek of my three favourite shades from the Euro Centrale collection. But more on that in my swatch post which should be going up this week or early next week!
And finally, here’s the new Born Pretty Store glitter polishes! I will be swatching these on my blog very soon! But this is where you come in… As they are mostly layering glitters I’ve been debating which colours I should layer them over. As there’s so many, I will only be able to show one layering combination. Either I can use the same colour for all glitters (white or black?) or I can pick a shade that I think works best with each shade. Please let me know what you’d prefer and what you would like to see me do with these!
Hope you enjoyed this post! Thanks for watching and reading!
3rd November, 2012
As some of you saw on Twitter/Instagram, yesterday I made a lipstick holder! I’ve been craving after one of those clear lipstick holders for ages but since I didn’t want to spend a fortune on it, I decided to DIY one! Should be easy enough right?
I started by grabbing some cardboard, I used leftover boxes I had lying around. Then decided what size my box had to be and then drew out a grid to mark the size of each space. I used my trusty glue gun to glue everything in place! I was convinced I’d have it done in no time!
I cut out inserts for each space and covered all the cardboard with white paper. Above are two progress pics I posted on instagram (follow me! I’m veryemily). Despite my enthusiasm, it took me pretty much all day to make this. Way longer than I anticipated. Buying a ready-made lipstick holder is so much easier!
I used wrapping paper to decorate, which I purchased at Primark earlier this year. I really love that leopard gold/nude leopard print! Must do a mani inspired by my lipstick holder!
And here’s how it looks filled up! I still have a few slots left to fill. On the bottom I have all my nude lipsticks, and on the top I keep corals and reds. I only just discovered that red lipstick looks okay on me, so I am dying to get more red lipsticks. I’m sure my holder will be full before I know it. Meaning, I’ll have to make another one of these boxes. Oh noes!!!
If you’re wondering what some of the lipsticks are, I mostly have ones by Catrice, Wet’nWild, Etos, Inkane (Born Pretty Store), Essence, Max, Estee Lauder and Bourjois. If you’re wondering what a specific shade is just ask me and I’ll let you know!
Some of my favourites are:
- Catrice – Marie Antoinette (from the Urban Baroque limited edition, I even bought a back-up!)
- Wet ‘n Wild – Purty Persimmon
- Inkane – 604
- Catrice – Princess Peach (Ultimate Colour)
- Estee Lauder – Melon
How do you store your lipsticks? What are some of your favourite brands of lipstick? Let me know in the comments!
16th October, 2012
Today’s post will be more personal, featuring some of the recent Instagram pictures I took! If you’d like to follow me, my username is “veryemily”. Hope you’ll enjoy this post!
Ikat nails I did this week! Whenever I’m in need of a super quick manicure, I go for this design. I was going to take pictures for my blog but my mani chipped at work so this will have to do. I used a different colour scheme on each hand which I thought looked pretty fun. On my left hand I used OPI Mermaid’s Tears and China Glaze Peachy Keen, on my right I used OPI No Room For The Blues and OPI The “IT” Color. The black and white are my It’s So Easy Stripe Rites.
Behold, the amazingly awesome Kryolan palette I found at work. 
They are a professional make-up brand (yes these aren’t watercolor paints!) used in stage make-up. I’ve always dreamt of owning a palette by Kryolan but don’t have the budget for it, so I was pretty amazed to find this at work. I managed to snag it for under $1. SCORE! Review coming soon!
With the cold weather we’re having in Belgium, there’s nothing like some hot soup to warm you up! This is my favourite instant soup from Cup-A-Soup, Spicy Tomato. Of course I had to have some baguette slices with butter on the side. Yummy!
The awesome giveaway prize I won over at Elisa’s blog Memorable Days. A super kawaii Rilakkuma lens case, Mimi Apple Green lenses (review coming soon) and lashes! Thanks Eye Candy Lens and Elisa!!!
Our neighbours have a super silly kitten called Elmo who loves to climb in trees. He’s always dangling from the top branches, such a show off! I love him though, he’s so sweet and cuddly.
Glitter gradient on my mum’s nails! I used China Glaze Blonde Bombshell, It’s Alive and Some Like It Haute. I obviously used a peel off base coat.
New season of Merlin started recently! I seriously love this show! Are any of you fans?
And lastly, nail mail I received from my amazing friend Alex, aka Algae Veronica. She’s an amazing artist and seriously the sweetest person I know. She was kind enough to send me some halloween gifts! You can see both OPI’s in the top image as I used them for my ikat mani, and the China Glaze glitter called It’s Alive from the crackle set I used for my mum’s nails. Thank you Alex!
26th July, 2012
My blog hit 1500 likes today! Thanks so much to all of you! I’m so honoured and excited and grateful and happy. I decided to celebrate this milestone by revamping my current blog. This is what you will find has changed:
- I have a brand new colour scheme in my favourite colour, mint green. Even though I like pink, mint green suits me a lot better and I’m sure you will all agree!
- I updated my header, a project I dreamt up and turned out exactly as I wanted it to. It took me a few hours to paint all the nail tips but it was so worth it. I really hope you like it!
- My friend Zoë Slock also kindly created a stunning new artwork for my sidebar.
- One of the biggest changes I made is to my comment system, I will now be using IntenseDebate. This allows my comments to be threaded and I hope it will provide an easier way for you to comment and also to be updated of replies to your comments.
I will of course be celebrating this milestone with a huge giveaway! I still have some work to do before I can post it up but I’m keeping my fingers crossed I can start hosting it this weekend. Definitely keep an eye on my blog! In the meantime, I really hope you like my new blog theme, please let me know in the (new!) comments if you do. And most of all, thank YOU all for reading my blog! ♥
If some things are still showing up as pink, please try refreshing the page or deleting your cache/cookies.
21st June, 2012
I’ve been posting about acrylic 3D art more often lately (or trying to at least!), and I mentioned I would do a bit of a how-to post, well, here it is! This won’t explain to you how to do full acrylic nails, as I don’t do those myself. Instead I will explain to you which supplies you need and how you go about making (super kawaii!) 3D art for your nails (or other surfaces). Get ready cause it’s going to be a bit of a read!
Keep in mind I am not a professional! I’ve made this post as an aid to people starting with acrylic or are interested to learn more about the technique and supplies necessary. If you are serious about getting started with acrylic art please make sure you do extensive research, follow a course or get tips from a professional.
Born Pretty Store 18 Color Acrylic Powder Set
I’ll start with the supplies! There’s three basic things you’ll need, acrylic liquid (monomer), acrylic powder and the right brushes. Basically the technique works as follows, you dip your brush into a small glass or jar which holds the acrylic liquid, you then pat your wet brush into the powder which immediately forms a ball of acrylic on the tip of your brush. Then you either place that ball on your nail and start shaping it (into a petal for example) or pat it into a mould.
- Acrylic Monomer – There’s many different brands when it comes to liquid, they range from cheap to really expensive. I would say, see what you have available locally or online and don’t compromise. You’ll have to invest in a decent monomer, cheap almost always means less quality in this case. The one I use is from EzFlow, I also have this one from Born Pretty Store but I prefer to use the EzFlow Q Monomer as I find the smell is less strong and the quality is a lot better.
The downside of doing acrylic art is the scent, the acrylic monomer has a very strong odour. You need a well ventilated room when doing acrylic or practice outside.
- Acrylic Powder – Powder will determine the colour of your 3D art. The powder I use is from Born Pretty Store. I use the 18 colour set (pictured above) which is very cheap and I also use the more expensive DIVA brand sets they have, the regular and shimmer/glitter set. I haven’t found a huge difference between them, they both have really nice colours but the quality I would say is mostly similar. The jars in the 18 colour set are on the smaller side but the colours you get are stunning. Look around and find a fun set of colours that will work best for you.
- Acrylic Brushes – Brushes are hugely important, especially when you will be doing sculpting, you need specific acrylic brushes with a very fine tip. I use this set from Born Pretty Store but they have many different ones. I recently ordered a more expensive range of brushes from them, so I am looking forward to see how they compare to the set I have now. Sable hair brushes are usually the best.
- Dappen Dish – You need a jar that holds the acrylic monomer, a glass dappen dish is the one that’s used most often. Acrylic monomer will melt regular plastic so glass jars are a better choice.
Born Pretty Store White Acrylic Powder and Acrylic Brush #4
Optional supplies:
- Moulds – If you prefer to sculpt then you won’t need these. I think they are a fun tool to help you when you get started. Even before you can even dream about sculpting, these will give you great results very quickly!
- Brush Cleanser – It’s important to keep your brushes clean! If you take care of them they will last you forever. After doing acrylic you will sometimes get left with small hardened pieces stuck in your brush, I use this brush cleanser by Born Pretty Store which does an awesome job at removing those bits. You can also soak off the pieces in acetone, but this will dry out your brush and might damage it, so using a specific cleanser will be less harsh on your brushes.
- Cloth or Paper Towels – I put these under optional but you definitely need to have some paper towels on hand while doing acrylic. After you’ve placed your ball of acrylic on your nail you will need to wipe off the excess liquid from your brush. This will keep your acrylic from getting too wet.
- Clear Top Coat – Acrylic 3D designs will dry matte so you will need a topcoat (or uv sealer) to make sure your design is glossy. Any clear top coat will work. I’ve used different ones and they have all worked for me.
- Nail Glue – When you make 3D pieces in moulds or not directly on top of your own nails you can attach them later on with glue. You can also use clear top coat as adhesive.
- Nail Files – Preferably ones with a rough grit, to remove 3D art you can either fiddle and get it to pop off, or file and soak off the pieces. I do not recommend to try and remove them with the first method, occasionally it will come off easily but more often you’ll pull off the layers of your actual nail. I learned this the hard way… If you’ve placed 3D art on all of your nails you will probably take just as long to remove them as you did applying them so keep that in mind. File off as much as you can, soak off the rest in acetone. If you don’t want to run the risk of damaging your nail, use full nail tips and apply the acrylic on there.
- Nail Drill – If you’ll be doing A LOT of acrylic 3D art a nail drill will make the removal process a lot easier and a lot less labour intensive. I’ll be writing a review about this nail drill from Born Pretty Store in the next coming weeks if all goes well.
- Soak Bowl – If you’re going to soak off the last remaining bits of acrylic you’ll need something to hold the acetone so you can soak your nails. The foil method works too so this is completely optional.
Born Pretty Store Acrylic 3D Moulds
Next I’ll briefly explain how to prepare for and apply/remove 3D acrylic pieces. First you make sure you have all the supplies you are going to use near you. Set out a glass dappen dash and fill it with acrylic liquid, grab your brushes, make sure you have paper towels and choose the powder and/or moulds you’re going to use.
- Filling moulds and applying 3D pieces – wet your brush in the acrylic liquid and softly dab onto the surface of the acrylic powder, wait for a few seconds until the ball on the tip of your brush is completely smooth. Now you can place the ball inside the mould, you’ll need several balls depending on the size of the mould. Once you’ve completely filled it up, wait for 30 second up to 1 minute. The acrylic should still be slightly bendable but not wet. Paint your nails with clear polish or apply some glue to the area where you want your piece to go. Carefully remove the flexible acrylic piece from your mould and apply on your nail, pressing down all corners so it sits completely flat on top of your nail. After a few minutes the acrylic will have hardened completely, now you can apply a glossy topcoat!
- Sculpting 3D pieces – as this is a more difficult technique make sure to do a lot of research, acrylic sculpting looks easy and fun but definitely takes a lot of practice. It works pretty much the same as filling the moulds only you’ll place the ball of acrylic directly on top of your nail and start shaping it with your brush. The possibilities with sculpting are endless, the only limit is your own creativity!
- Removal process – I’ve explained this briefly in the additional supplies section. Grab the roughest nail file you have and start filing on top of the acrylic piece. Check regularly to make sure you haven’t hit your nail beds. Once there’s a thin layer (1mm or so) left, grab a bowl and fill it up with acetone to soak off the leftover pieces of acrylic. Make sure to moisturise your cuticles and nails afterwards! This process can be quite labour intensive but it’s a lot safer than trying to pop off the pieces as this could damage your nails.
I hope that covers most of it! If you have any questions for me please leave them in the comments and I will reply to them. If necessary I’ll make a Q&A post with all of your questions. In any case I hope you can expect more acrylic 3D related posts from me in the future. I just need to find the time, and good weather. If you enjoyed reading this post or found it helpful please let me know in the comments!
12th June, 2012
I’ve been seeing a few bloggers do more personal posts with Instagram pictures. I’ve loved reading them so much, especially this one from Lin. I loved hers so much I felt inspired to make an Instagram post as well!
I don’t own an iPhone myself (the boyfriend does) so I mostly take my pictures with my iPad, though I steal his iPhone every chance I get. These pictures are a mix of iPhone and iPad pictures though sadly the iPad’s quality and resolution isn’t as good.
On the left are gradient nails I did for my mum’s birthday party. I used Illamasqua Jo’Mina and Diamond Cosmetics Plum Pie In The Sky. During her birthday, my cousin, our boyfriends and I had some fun in the pool. A bit too much fun unfortunately, cause when I came out of the pool my knees were flaming red. I scraped/burnt them on the bottom of our pool, I had to keep my knees in bandages for two days. Sad Emily! A few weeks later, they’re still not fully healed but thankfully not itchy and painful anymore. I still have no idea how or when it exactly happened.
I love going on evening walks in the forest with my boyfriend. In this picture, Dries is standing in The Netherlands and I’m standing in Belgium! The big white pole marks the country border. I really love living on the border of two countries. You really do get the best of both worlds. For example, I love going to the supermarket in the Netherlands. You get more exotic food because of their colonies, perfect for my love of spicy food.
I used Pixlromatic as well as Instagram for these two pictures.
On the left I’ve got China Glaze Love’s A Beach on my toes! I’m loving the summery weather we’ve been having (even though it’s gone back to cold rainy weather now). I also sneaked our wild pansies in the picture. They pretty much came out of nowhere! I love wild pansies. They remind me of running around in the garden on hot summer evenings.
On the right is a picture of the blackboard wall in my room. I’d been having some rough days some time ago and my friend Alanna gave me this awesome advice: “you are the queen of your castle!”. I loved it so much I had to write it down, it gives me strength every day. I’m a big worrier but sometimes you just have to remind yourself that you are in control of your life and not someone else.
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1st May, 2012
I love Born Pretty Store not just for their nail art supplies but also for their jewellery and accessories. Take a look at my favourite items!
Right now I’ve worn the peacock necklace the most often but I’m really in love with the owl necklace. I find it a little hard to style though so I haven’t worn it that much yet. I love that the rings I got are all adjustable as well so no need to worry about size. The only one that wasn’t adjustable was the owl ring but it fit perfectly on my ring finger.
If you order anything with their site don’t forget to use my coupon code, EMILYW21 gives you 10% discount, they also have free shipping. Awesome!
Also, I have fun news! I am hosting a giveaway on my blog soon! Once I hit 1000 likes on Facebook I am hosting an awesome giveaway. Yay! If you haven’t liked my page yet don’t forget to like it or you won’t be able to enter.
27th April, 2012
I created another guest post for my friend Suzanne’s blog DeltaCephei.nl. This time I was inspired by one of her latest posts on the Guerlain Terra Azzurra Pucci collection. The packaging of this in particular inspired me a lot.
Please head over to her blogpost to find out more and see the pictures in high resolution. She has a translate button in the sidebar if you don’t speak Dutch. Hope you like it Suzanne! Thanks for having me again.
21st April, 2012
We’ve been having quite glum weather in Belgium lately. I thought, what better to brighten up our days than some rainbows? Feast your eyes on these images of my favourite rainbow coloured stuff!
Martha Stewart Gemstone Glitter Set – I found this set for a pretty awesome price, just €2 – $3,7! Usually these sets are quite expensive. They’re really perfect for nail art so that was a great find. I love how they have names too, that green glitter is called Peridot, pretty awesome right?
Born Pretty Store Acrylic Paint Set – I hugely love this set of acrylic paints, the colours are stunning and the quality of the paint is amazing. Let me know if you’d like to see a review on these!
Zoeva 88 Matte Eyeshadow Palette – I got this palette years and years ago, I don’t use it that often but it’s so fun to look at. Never fails to bring a smile to my face!
Rainbow of Swatchicles – If you’ve read my swatchicle post I’m sure these will look familiar to you. I just love my swatchicles, they’re the best!
Personal update: I know I haven’t been very active lately on my blog, Tumblr and Facebook for which I apologise! The main reason is that I’ve been quite busy with an internship I’m doing at a second hand store. It’s going well so I’m happy! I also started dieting again, I lost 14kg – 30 lbs two years ago but I took a long break, now I’m back on track! The only thing that’s different this time is that I am working out and exercising, something that I’ve always hated. I’ve been following a 30 day workout plan where I have to exercise 25 minutes every day and it’s been surprisingly fun. Actually enjoying exercise is new to me so that’s been really great, for which I have to thank Sarah for inspiring me. I’ve been keeping a Tumblr to update my progress and stay motivated, feel free to take a look. Anyway, sorry to bore you with my personal life, I know I don’t talk about it often on my blog but I thought I’d share this.
I was also nominated for the Weekend Knack Blog Awards, thanks so much to those who nominated me! If you’d like to vote for me, please follow this link. I doubt I will win since I’m a small blog compared to the other ones but it’s still a huge honour.
Have a lovely day everyone! I hope these rainbow images managed to brighten up your day.
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