1st May, 2013
Nail foils is something I’ve been dying to try for probably months, probably even over a year! I never got around to it because I couldn’t find it locally or shipping was too expensive. Recently KKCenterHK added some beautiful foils to their range so I finally got around to trying them. Yay!
This is the nail foil I picked out. A beautiful gradient foil that goes from green to blue to pink, and it also has a subtle geometric reflective design to it. It comes in a handy jar, and the foil is 150cm in length (59 inches) so you’re getting a lot! You can either choose to purchase the foil alone or you can purchase it with a bottle of foil glue. The foil glue comes in a fairly large bottle and as you only need a tiny amount, it should last you a pretty long time.
Here’s how the application process works:
- Add a base colour to your nails, I used China Glaze First Mate.
- Cover your entire nail (or the area you want to cover) with a very thin layer of foil glue. Wait for it to fully dry and become clear. I am not sure what type of glue the foil adhesive is, as it doesn’t act like Elmer’s glue (but it does look like it!). In any case it’s a super tacky glue!
- Carefully place a piece of foil you’ve cut out on your nail. You can use tweezers for this, make sure to handle the foil with care as it’s very delicate.
- Take a cotton round and rub across your entire nail to make sure the foil adheres properly to the nail. You’ll notice it will start to peel away by itself once the foil has transferred.
- Carefully add a slow drying top coat or a water-based top coat to minimize crackling. Quick drying top coat completely ruins the design and makes it wrinkle up like a crackle polish.
And this is the finished result! I wish it looked even a little close to how it looks in person but it doesn’t come anywhere near. I’ve never had this much trouble trying to accurately capture a manicure! The foils are so bright and reflective. You honestly have to see it on your nails to appreciate the full effect! It’s simply mesmerizing! I’m also in love with this gradient.
I do have to say, application can be a little tricky. It’s hard to cover your entire nail without leaving some bald spots. Top coat also tends to make the foils crackle which is a little frustrating so make sure to use a slow drying top coat. I used a water-based top coat and that worked reasonably well. I did notice the foils are very prone to wear. Maybe it’s the glue? I couldn’t get my manicure to last one day without tip wear which was a little disappointing. The nail foils give an absolutely unique and wonderful effect but it has its downsides.
You can find this stunning nail foil (and many other designs and shades!) at KKCenterHK for $7.69 (not including glue). So what are your thoughts on nail foils? Have you tried them? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments!
28th April, 2013
Today I’m back with another amazing set by The New Black. This time I’m featuring their Rock N’ Roll Royalty set which is an awesome set that comes with lots of nail art decorations. Time to glam it up!
This set comes with a black nail polish, gold glitter nail polish, red creme nail polish and a jar of studs and rhinestones. It usually comes with a top coat as well, but mine came with a spare red for some reason. It’s one of the best red polishes I’ve tried so I can’t say I’m unhappy about the anomaly!
- The New Black – Gold glitter: This is a great glitter for gradients or layering. I needed about 3-4 coats to get it opaque on its own which isn’t too bad.
- The New Black – Black: This is a stunning black polish with very fine silver glitter. It’s somewhat sheer on the first coat but it completely evens out after the second coat. I absolutely love black polishes with glitter!
- The New Black – Red: Seriously one of the best red nail polishes I’ve tried. It’s opaque after one coat. That’s right, one coat! It’s simply the perfect red. Glides on like butter too!
- The New Black – Accessories: What I love most about the Rock N’ Roll Royalty set is the bottle of studs/rhinestones that it comes with. Even though the polishes only hold 4ml, you will be absolutely amazed at how many studs fit inside that small bottle. There’s a huge amount of gold square studs, round silver rhinestones and black round rhinestones that come with this set.
Here’s the nail art manicure I created using this set! I went for a fun mix ‘n match manicure to show some different looks you can create with The New Black Rock N’ Roll Royalty set. On my index finger I went for a gradient using the black and gold. I’ve honestly never been able to create such a flawless glitter gradient before! The gold polish makes it so easy. On my middle finger I added a row of black rhinestones on top of the gold glitter base. Then on my ring finger I went for a simple leopard print. Since you can never go wrong with leopard, right?! 
And finally on my pink I added one of the square studs on top of the black polish.
On my thumbnail I added six square studs to create a triangle. Looks pretty cool right?! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stud manicure I didn’t like, haha!
You can find this awesome The New Black Rock N’ Roll Royalty set on their website for €29.95. The nail art possibilities are endless with this set. Make sure to check out the other amazing sets on The New Black website too. They’ll be releasing some ah-mazing new sets soon so make sure to keep an eye on their Twitter and Facebook page. What did you think of this nail art set? Let me know in the comments!
26th April, 2013
I’m back with another review featuring an item available at Licila.si, a lovely Slovenian-based cosmetics online shop. Today’s item is a make-up palette by British cosmetics brand BeautyUK and it is very budget friendly. Let’s take a look!
The BeautyUK eyeshadow palette I received is the #6 Day and Night palette and features ten eyeshadows. A somewhat unusual mix of colours, as there’s brights and neutrals in this palette. However, I soon noticed the pairing possibilities are endless and the shades provide a nice range for lots of different eyeshadow looks. You can go wild with an all bright look, or a neutral look, or a smoky look with a subtle hint of colour.
These are the ten shades up close. On the top row you’ll find a nice matte white, matte nude, matte acid green, matte turquoise blue and a matte pink. On the bottom row there’s a matte black, matte brown, a slightly darker matte brown, a matte purple and a matte red. The acid green shade was slightly damaged during transit, but you can find a handy step-by-step tutorial on the Licila.si site that shows you how to fix a broken pan.
Here are the swatches on my arm! All ten shades were swatched over an eyeshadow base. The colour payoff on the top row was slightly sheerer than the bottom row. Bright matte shades tend to be a little less strongly pigmented but I definitely wasn’t disappointed by the colour payoff, especially after trying them on my lids! Watch for yourself…
Finally, here’s an eyeshadow look I created with the BeautyUK #6 Day and Night palette. I used my trusted Zoeva eyeshadow primer and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk as a base. I patted on the acid green shade in the inner corner and halfway across the lid and blended the purple eyeshadow in the crease. I also added a little of the matte black eyeshadow to create more intensity on the outer edge. As you can see the colour payoff doesn’t disappoint on the lids!
I was very pleasantly surprised with this extremely affordable palette. I didn’t have high expectations but it definitely didn’t fail to impress me. The eyeshadows were easy to work with, had a nice colour payoff (especially for mattes!) and I didn’t experience any fall-out. Overall this is a great budget eyeshadow palette that’s perfect for on-the-go as it doesn’t take up much space.
You can find this lovely BeautyUK eyeshadow palette for €6,95 on the Licila.si website. After trying this wonderful eyeshadow palette I am dying to find out what else BeautyUK has to offer. Have you had the chance to try any BeautyUK products? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear some recommendations.
24th April, 2013
Today I’m sharing a girly post featuring some wonderful studs from KKCenterHK. The studs I’m showing you are large heart shaped studs. The ones I tried are white hearts but you can also find them in pink, and similar heart shaped studs in gold, silver, pink and red. These white heart studs are $5 for which you get around 50 pcs. Let’s take a look!
The studs are 6mm in size, so they’re quite large. They’re also pretty flat, so if you have curvy nail beds (like me!) make sure to slightly bend the studs. You can simply place them on a rounded surface like a pencil or use the handle of a nail art brush as a mould to bend the studs slightly, using your fingers. I hope that makes sense! This way the stud lays nice and flat on your nail without sticking out at the sides and catching onto stuff!
Here’s the manicure I created using the heart studs! I thought the white looked really pretty and delicate so I went with a very girly design. The base colour is 2 coats of American Apparel L’Esprit which is a lovely pale lavender shade. On my index finger I created a white half moon with 2mm pearls around it, on my ring finger I freehanded a lace design using my white It’s So Easy striper and on my pinkie I added a simple white polka dot.
Hope you like it! You can find the white heart studs at KKCenterHK for $5 per pack. Make sure to check out KKCenterHK for lots of awesome nail decorations and Asian cosmetics. Don’t forget to use my coupon code “veryemily” for a 10% discount on your order! Enjoy!
20th April, 2013
Today I’m back with another review featuring The New Black! This time I am sharing one of their lovely Typography sets featuring the newspaper nails technique. This was my first time trying out newspaper nails and I have to say it was a lot of fun! And surprisingly a lot easier than I thought, especially with this handy kit! Let’s take a look.
The New Black Typography kit comes with transfer solution, a base colour, top coat and tons of sheets of transfer paper, ten in total! Ten sheets are more than enough to last you around 10-15 manicures. This particular kit is the Weekly Journal kit and comes with a nude base colour. The other two Typography kits, Times Late Edition and Daily News feature a grey and white base colour respectively.
The transfer paper has some nice encouraging words on it, such as Happy, Dream, Live, Faith, Love, Passion,… Definitely more fun than having some random newspaper article on your nails.
This is the lovely base colour that comes in The New Black Weekly Journal kit. I am absolutely in love with this shade. It’s the perfect nude colour! This was just two coats, the coverage was absolutely flawless. It glided on like butter. I desperately want a full-size of this, and a back-up bottle or three.
Here’s how the application process works:
- Apply your base colour and wait for it to thoroughly dry.
- Grab the transfer solution and apply a generous coat on one nail at a time.
- Take a piece of transfer paper, cut to size so it fits your nail and place on top of your wet nail.
- Apply more transfer solution over the top and press the paper down on your nail with your fingers.
- Carefully add top coat, done!
Like I said, this was my first time trying newspaper nails. I think I had great results for a first try! The words transferred nicely on my nails, though I did mistakenly turn over the last two so the words are upside down. And also slightly smudged the top coat on my middle finger. Oops!
I wanted to spice it up a little so I added two large square studs on my ring finger as an accent nail. You can find the studs in The New Black Rebel Edge set (review coming soon!). I wore this manicure for over a week with barely any chips! I couldn’t bring myself to removing it since I thought it looked so pretty, so I waited until the very last minute. After eight days, some tip wear and a few minor chips it was time to grab my polish remover.
You can find this lovely The New Black Weekly Journal set on their website for €24.95. The quality of The New Black nail polish is absolutely impressive, I’ve had amazing results in terms of wear and application. I highly recommend you to check them out! If you’re in the US you’ll find these awesome sets in stores like Urban Outfitters, but recently the European ladies can get their hands on The New Black too. Make sure to check out their site for all the details.
19th April, 2013
Only last week I shared my swatches of the China Glaze Texture polishes, and today I am back with another texture finish polish. This time one of the Barry M Textured polishes, available at online store Licila.si. I was eager to see how they compare with the China Glaze texture polishes as they are similar in terms of finish. Let’s take a look!
Above is three thin coats of Barry M Atlantic Road. As you can see it’s a lovely baby blue creme shade with a matte finish. This picture was taken about 15-20 minutes after application and it’s still slightly glossy. The next day after applying you can really appreciate the full effect of this polish. It definitely takes a while for the texture particles to settle in. Once they do, the effect is really stunning!
Here’s a close-up! I wish I waited a bit longer to photograph this polish so you could see the final soft matte effect. I have to say application was a lot more even compared to the China Glaze texture nail polishes. I felt like the narrower Barry M brush works better for the textured finish. I also had a suspicion the particles that make up the textured finish were slightly finer with Barry M?! I’m not 100% sure, though. The overall effect of Barry M Textured is very similar to the China Glaze Texture and they are definitely comparable.
Isn’t the colour stunning? I really loved wearing this polish! It lasted a good three days before it started chipping so that’s pretty great. You can find this Barry M Atlantic Road polish for €6.55 at Licila.si, as well as the other three lovely shades of this collection. If you’re not from Slovenia (like me!) you can easily navigate the site if you use Google Translate. Make sure to take a look!
What’s your take on the texture finish? Do you prefer this soft matte effect or the glossy and glittery textures? Or are you skipping texture altogether? Let me know in the comments!
17th April, 2013
Lioele (lee-oh-el-lee) is a Korean cosmetics brand I discovered through Keautystore. I first tried their coconut hand cream a few months ago and I was hooked! I simply had to try more Lioele products. Today I’ll be reviewing one of their nail polishes and a super cute lip balm. Let’s take a look!
The products I was able to try are the Lioele Bubi Bubi Tint Balm in the shade Innocent and the Lioele Nail Color in shade #38 Mint Green.
First up, the Lioele Nail Color! Surprise, surprise, I picked a mint green… I am so in love with the cute print on the bottle. Isn’t it stunning? The bottle is really beautiful and elegant. Above is three layers of the Lioele Mint Green nail polish. Application was pretty good though I did notice a slight smell. I am guessing it’s not a 3-free formula. The brush was the perfect size, not too wide and not too narrow. Dry time was a little longer than usual since I used slightly thicker coats. Isn’t the shade wonderful? 
Next up the Lioele Bubi Bubi Tint Balm. How cute is that name? Again, I fell in love with the packaging! Korean cosmetics really know how to tempt us with their adorable packaging. The cold weather didn’t seem to go away this year which had a huge impact on my skin, hair and lips. I never left my house without hand cream and lip balm. This lip balm found its way into my bag many times!
The yellow colour of the lip balm changes into a lovely subtle coral shade. Above is one layer of Lioele Bubi Bubi lip balm but you can build it up for a brighter colour. It’s a very moisturizing lip balm and definitely not too sticky. The scent is absolutely amazing too! It smells delicious and fruity as it’s mango-scented.
Overall I really enjoyed trying these Lioele products and highly recommend you to take a look at Keautystore! You can purchase the Lioele Nail Color for $6.60 and the Lioele Tint Balm for $13.30. Apart from Lioele, Keautystore also carries Skin Food, Etude House, Missha and more. If you order, make sure to use my 5% off code: “veryemily“. Are you a fan of Korean cosmetics? Let me know in the comments which brands and products you recommend!
15th April, 2013
Today I’m introducing a fairly recent brand. I’m sure we’ve all seen their gorgeous ombre sets appear on Tumblr. The New Black is the creator of these stunning sets. I was so excited to hear they branched out and are now available for purchase in Europe! You can find all their sets in their online store (or simply click on my sidebar banner for easy access!).
I’ll be reviewing one of the Original Ombre sets. This is in the colour “Waves” that features five stunning minty blue shades. I don’t think I could love this set more if I tried. (Surprise, surprise!)
These are all five shades that come in the set. The bottles hold 4ml of polish so you could classify them as minis even though they feel fairly large. The individual shades don’t have names or numbers. They’re a mix of finishes as the set includes creme, shimmer, glitter, and glossy/suede finishes.
Here’s the ombre mani I created with The New Black Waves set. The darkest shade in my thumb and the lightest on my pinkie.
- Thumb: A lovely peacock blue creme. This was just two coats.
- Index: This is a stunning sea foam green glitter/shimmer with a soft suede finish. It’s not quite a glitter but it’s more textured than a shimmer so I found this hard to describe. It is absolutely beautiful though! I used two coats.
- Middle: This is a lovely neon teal green with subtle shimmer. This also dried to a soft suede finish, not quite matte. My swatch doesn’t show it true to colour, it’s a lot brighter in person! This was two coats.
- Ring: This is a squishy shimmery aqua shade with bright green shimmer. It’s a jelly but I still needed only three coats for a nice coverage.
- Pink: Finally a stunning minty green creme. This was nice and opaque and even in just two coats. Glided on like butter!
I have to say I was incredibly impressed with the flawless formula of The New Black. Each of these, even though they are completely different finishes, glided on like butter. You can instantly tell you’re working with a high quality formula. They dried amazingly well and I found them very long lasting. Only after 4 days I started getting tip wear and minor chips. Colour me impressed!
You can find The New Black Waves Original Ombre set on the site for €29.95. The sets are a little more expensive but you get five different colours and a very high-quality formula that is incredibly easy to work with. They’re perfect gifts for lacquerheads! Make sure to check out their website to find out more about the other sets. I’ll be trying out a few more over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!
Have you tried The New Black? What do you think of these ombre sets? Let me know in the comments!
13th April, 2013
By now, I think we’ve all seen or tried textured nail polish. Where most of us found ourselves opposed to the idea of having gritty nails, I think we welcomed textured polishes and found ourselves falling in love with the trend of textured finishes. China Glaze is the latest to jump on this bandwagon, or so it seems. For Summer 2013 they released their very own Texture collection featuring six creme shades with a soft sandy finish. Let’s take a look!
China Glaze In The Rough – This is a lovely pastel lime green texture polish. All of these shades are creamy and don’t contain any shimmer or glitter particles.This one covered nicely in two coats. This texture finish is slightly different than the OPI Liquid Sand shades. Application is also a little trickier.
China Glaze Toe-Tally Textured – This is a bright orange creme texture polish. All shades are really bright and bold and dry to a matte finish, though it does take a while to dry properly. You want to take things slow with these polishes and not apply the second coat until they are “settled in” and have turned matte.
China Glaze Itty, Bitty & Gritty – This is a cute coral pink shade. I wish China Glaze made a non-texture dupe for this because it’s a really lovely colour! Application was nice and even with this one. You do need to make sure to shake your bottles thoroughly though.
China Glaze Bump & Grind – This is a bright magenta creamy texture finish. It’s not quite a red, but not quite pink either. I really love this colour. As you can see it’s still slightly shiny in some parts. The true matte finish takes a few hours to show up. Once all the texture particles have settled in they feel quite soft to the touch and not gritty at all.
China Glaze Unrefined – This is a lovely pastel pink creamy texture polish. Application was a little trickier with this one as it was slightly thicker. I found that the density of the texture particles varied per polish but this can also be down to how well they are shaken.
China Glaze Of Coarse! – And finally a bright pastel blue creme texture polish. This is a really pretty blue shade. This did have some bare patches but once again, could be down to not shaking up the bottles enough.
I’ve actually been dying to share my swatches with you! I’ve been playing around with these for months (since last year!) but couldn’t share my pictures until the official press release was sent out (yesterday, finally!). My first response to the texture finish was definitely apprehensive, but after trying these I really fell in love with them! The names are super cute too! They don’t feel as gritty as they look, they feel quite soft and pleasant. They also don’t catch on things and are fairly long-lasting too. They are unique and definitely worth trying!
What do you think of these Texture polishes? Do you prefer the matte creamy finish or the shimmery and glittery finish for texture finishes? Let me know in the comments!
11th April, 2013
I have a really cute Spring-appropriate post for you today. For a few weeks I had this idea in my head to create nail art inspired by those amazing floral studded iPhone cases I kept seeing around. The lovely people at KKCenterHK sent me some gorgeous studs so I figured this was the perfect time to try out this design!
These are the nail polishes I used:
- OPI My Vampire Is Buff
- OPI Suzi’s Hungary Again
- China Glaze Budding Romance
- OPI Black Onyx
- China Glaze Snow
- China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat
And these are the gorgeous 2mm studs I used! They are available at KKCenterHK for $4.74. Above is the total amount you get which is around 50 pieces. I do find these a little pricey for the small amount of studs, but they are really stunning and nice quality. These in particular are a beautiful warm orange-toned gold and are completely smooth and round which I thought was very pretty.
I’m really pleased with how these nails turned out! They turned out almost exactly like I had them in mind. I am really excited I finally got to try out OPI My Vampire Is Buff as a base colour for a nail art design. It’s such a wonderful shade! Floral nails are one of my favourite designs to do and I think the studs compliment them beautifully.
I hope you like them! Let me know in the comments.
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