28th December, 2012
Time for this weeks piCture pOlish swatch! I have two more to share with you after this one. I already know I’m going to miss the weekly piCture pOlish swatches when it’s over! 
This is another collaboration shade like Attitude, this time it’s White Wedding created for lovely Leah Ann of Llarowe. White Wedding is a beautiful sheer white with multicolored glass flecks. I used four coats to get this opacity but you could easily layer this over a coat of white polish too. Although that makes it lose its translucence.
I tried to capture a close-up where you can see the multicolored glass flecks. It’s quite obvious in person but capturing it on camera proved a little trickier. Here in this darker image you can see the green and pink shimmer. It’s so beautiful! This polish reminded me of snow glistening in the sun. So appropriate for this time of year!
Here’s the bottle shot. You can see the multicolored glass flecks really well here! The tagline of this polish is “It’s a nice day for this one!”, referring to the awesome eighties song White Wedding by Billy Idol.
You can find this shade exclusively for AU$11.50 on the piCture pOlish website and for $14.50 at Llarowe. Llarowe is a much loved online store based in the US, Leah Ann carries a lot of wonderful brands and indie polishes, and she ships internationally too! What do you think of this unique and wonderful polish? Let me know in the comments!
26th December, 2012
Today I have a review on some gorgeous purple studs from the online store KKCenterHK. They only recently started selling studs so this is one of their new arrivals. They have so many amazing colours and shapes to choose from so make sure to check out their range if you love studs!
The purple studs come in a ziplock bag and each bag contains about 50 pieces. Prices range between $4-5 per bag. Not the cheapest studs I have tried but these are really beautiful and unique.
Here you can see a close-up of the studs! How gorgeous are these?! They’re purple but have a beautiful sparkly geometric design on them. I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it’s almost like a holographic rainbow effect. The rainbow shifts when you move them around. Really pretty! The size of these studs is 3mm so they are about medium sized.
Here’s a simple look I made with the purple studs. The base colour I used is a beautiful lavender shade, China Glaze Light As Air. Studs are probably my favourite nail art decoration. They are so easy to use but look really awesome. Perfect for people who are nail art beginners too! They require no skill and they always look great! 
Make sure to check out the KKCenterHK website to see the full range of studs as well as other awesome nail art supplies. If you decide to order with them make sure to use my coupon code, “VERYEMILY” gives you 10% off your order! Yay!
Do you like using studs on your nails? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
24th December, 2012
I have another Uniqso review for you today! They are an awesome company that has a huge range of circle lenses, Asian cosmetics and also water-based nail polishes (see my review here!). Today I have a review on several of their products as well as the Dolly Eye Puffy 3 Tones lenses. Let’s take a look!
A few days ago I received a beautiful surprise package from Uniqso. They sent me a lovely Christmas card, false lashes, a facial mask and a beautiful pair of circle lenses. It was such an amazing surprise! Thank you Uniqso!
The first item I tried out was the Charm facial mask. It’s a sheet mask with a very fresh cherry scent. I didn’t take any pictures of me wearing the mask since it looked a little scary haha! Though my skin did feel super moisturized and soft after using the mask, so I was really happy with the results. Uniqso has several more scents of this facial mask so make sure to check them out on the website!
The second item are these beautiful Kawayii lashes. The pair I received is in Natural 007. They are the perfect length and they were very comfortable to wear! These give you a really nice false lash effect without being overly dramatic. They’re really high quality too, I have to say I was very impressed with the lashes!
These are the Dolly Eye Puffy 3 Tones lenses in grey. Aren’t they beautiful? Oh my god I was so in love with these when I first saw them. I love that they go from brown to light grey to dark grey. They don’t have a thick black rim so they look really natural and brighten up your eyes. They are 14.2mm and I found them very comfortable to wear, while still giving a nice enlargement. They are probably the most beautiful and most comfortable lenses I have tried!
Here’s a picture of me wearing the lenses and the Kawayii lashes!
And here’s a close-up of the lenses. Don’t they look amazing? I love them so much! This was my first time wearing lenses without a dark black rim design and I have to say I really love how these look. They are very natural looking but really make your eyes look extra special.
This was my first time trying out cosmetics by Uniqso and I was really pleasantly surprised. Their make-up and skincare are definitely worth taking a look at! And their range of lenses is amazing, but that goes without saying! Their shipping is also very fast and very reasonably priced. If you order with them make sure to save some money by using my coupon code; “EMILY10″ gives you a 10% discount!
21st December, 2012
Today I am showing you this weeks piCture pOlish swatch!
A very different shade from last time. This is piCture pOlish Vegas, a glamourous sparkly red jelly. I believe I used three coats for this. The formula was very easy to work with, I didn’t experience any issues whatsoever! I’m not usually the biggest fan of red shades but I thought this was a very pretty shade and looked flattering on the hands. It definitely ties in with the season too!
Here’s a close-up. You can see the orange flaky sparkle here! It’s subtle but it definitely gives the red jelly that little extra oomph. There was also a tiny bit of VNL after three coats but it didn’t bother me that much. It was barely noticeable in person.
Finally a bottle shot! As you can see the orange sparkle is a lot more visible in the bottle than it was on the nails. That was the only downside of this polish for me as I expected it to be as sparkly as in the bottle. Nonetheless Vegas still looks really gorgeous on the nails!
You can find this shade for AU$9.50 on the piCture pOlish website. Make sure to check out their network page to find an online store near you! If you are in Belgium or the Netherlands make sure to check out PrettyPolish.nl!
What do you think of this polish? Are you a fan of wearing red on your nails? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
18th December, 2012
First of all, thanks so much for all your kind words on my previous post. It’s greatly appreciated!
As promised, I am showing you the China Glaze Tranzitions collection today. It’s a six piece collection, and what’s special about these nail polishes is that they change colour when you add top coat. Sounds interesting right? I was definitely tickled when I first saw the press release and already started thinking about fun designs to create with this collection.
I haven’t done any nail art in almost a month so I am definitely feeling a bit rusty. It was quite tricky to create designs using clear polish but I hope you like what I created! First let’s take a look at the colours.
From left to right: Split Perso-nail-ity, Modify Me, Duplicity, Altered Reality, Metallic Metamorphosis, Shape Shifter.
As I mentioned earlier, adding top coat will change the colour of these polishes. I did a few trial tests with all my top coats to see which worked best. In the end I chose China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat. Yes, base coat! Surprisingly enough, this gave me the strongest and smoothest effect.
Split Perso-nail-ity – First up is this beautiful dusty pink shade which changes into a beautiful plum colour. I chose to do a houndstooth design. The more clear polish you add, the stronger the effect is, which does make doing nail art slightly tricky. You have to pile on at least two thick coats of clear polish for the effect to be strong enough.
Modify Me – This is a gorgeous periwinkle blue which changes into a deep blue. I did this simple triangle design and added an accent nail where I put top coat over the entire nail. I had to redo this nail several times as it’s very tricky not to smudge and smear. Unfortunately, tricky is definitely the key word when describing the Tranzitions collection.
Duplicity – A beautiful mint green which changes into a teal. Obviously I like this one a lot! I did a geometric design with this one. I think it turned out pretty nice!
Altered Reality – This is a metallic teal which changes into a slightly darker colour. This one was a little disappointing as it barely showed a colour shift.The colour on its own is very pretty though!
Metallic Metamorphosis – This is a metallic grey which changes into a dark gunmetal. The colour shift in this one was pretty nice. I did a simple leopard print with a dotting tool. Easy but effective!
Shape Shifter – Finally a dark, slightly purple metallic shade which turns into a deep bright purple. Stunning! I love this one a lot. The colour shift is really beautiful. I thought this was such a classy shade, I simply had to go for a half moon design.
I know there’s been a lot of debate about this collection. I decided to reserve judgement until after I tried them and even though I do like this collection, there’s sadly a few imperfections. I thought I’d sum up a few pros and cons for you!
Pros:
- Pigmentation! These polishes are all one-coaters. They are so opaque! This is typical for these kinds of polishes, the Essence Colour And Change collection shows the same signs.
- Easy Application! These applied very smoothly and they are easy to work with.
- Fun! I think these are great fun to play around with, there’s a ton of possibilities. You basically get two colours in one!
- Gorgeous Colours! All these shades are super pretty in my opinion. Especially the cremes!
Cons:
- Chalky. Even though they are opaque, the consistency is somewhat strange, almost chalky. Not exactly matte, but not as glossy and smooth as the regular China Glaze formula.
- Subtle Colour Change. I was hoping the colour change would be more dramatic, sadly it’s a little on the subtle side.
- Tricky. Creating a design isn’t easy, it’s difficult to work with a clear top coat since you can barely see what you are doing.
- Streaky. Adding top coat over the entirely nail is difficult to achieve without it streaking completely.
Overall, not a huge win, but definitely a fun and interesting collection. Though if I’m honest, I would love these a lot more if they wouldn’t be colour changing. I’ll take the flawless China Glaze formula over this “novelty formula” any time! What do you think about this collection? Let me know in the comments!
17th December, 2012
I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while but I simply haven’t been able to find the strength. Now that I haven’t been able to post on my blog for a few days, I felt like I owed an explanation to my readers. The day before my birthday on 20 November my family and I received some very tough news. Our lives have been turned completely upside down by this and we are facing a very difficult time.
Blogging isn’t my highest priority right now, so sadly my blog is suffering a little because of this. I may not always be able to post as regularly as usual, and I really hope you guys can understand this. Nail art has also been a little tricky for me, I find it hard to concentrate on. It makes me feel frustrated rather than it distracting me, so I have been, and will be doing a bit less of that. Hopefully I will pick it up again soon though. I do have some very exciting plans with the China Glaze Tranzitions polishes, and I hope to share that with you soon!
What I have been doing a lot of is crocheting. It’s a hobby of mine which has been passed down to me by my mother. Knitting and crocheting is huge in my family, I’ve really grown up with it. I recently started a granny square blanket project which has been so much fun. I thought I’d share a few pictures.
These are some of my granny squares! The pattern I used is the Sunburst Granny Square pattern by Kasa Amend, you can find it here. I decided to use a whole lot of crazy colours for this blanket. I am not usually the type of person to grab for colours but these squares have definitely brightened up my days. I am using Catania cotton yarn by Schachenmayr which is my favourite cotton yarn for crocheting.
As I mentioned higher up, this is going to become a blanket. This is what the size of the final blanket will be! I just need to fill in the gap with more squares. I have made over 100 as of this week. I need to make 170 squares in total so I’m almost there! Once I have finished all my squares I will start attaching them. It’s going to be a smallish blanket, mostly for decoration. I only started making it on 12 November so hopefully I should finish soon!
These are two other things I crocheted recently. If you follow me on Instagram (I’m veryemily!) you will undoubtedly have seen these already! On the left is a mini granny square pouch I made for my mom, she loves bright colours! And on the right is a super cute turtle I made this week. I based it on a pattern I got from the book Super Super Cute Crochet by Brigitte Read.
I have so many more projects I want to dive into, I want to make a scarf, another blanket, more cuddly animals, I even found a super cool TARDIS pattern on Ravelry which I am dying to try my hand at. First I need to finish my blanket though!
In any case, I apologize for being a bit absent lately. I hope you guys can understand! Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up blogging again in the next few days. I have some reviews lined up for you as well as more swatches. I might even ask a few of my friends to “fill in” for me and create a guest post. Please let me know if you’d be interested in seeing those!
Thank you for reading this post, I really appreciate it.
12th December, 2012
Guess who’s back with more piCture pOlish swatches! The ladies over at piCture pOlish were kind enough to send me more of their beauties. Today I have Attitude to show you! Let’s take a look!
Here’s my swatch of Attitude! It’s a deep dark purple with irregular-sized holographic flakes. Awesome! I used three thin coats for my swatch but two thicker ones would have been better. This polish dries very quickly and this caused some application issues for me as I like to slowly apply thin coats.
Of course, as it has holographic qualities, I had to show a swatch in the sunlight! This is a close-up of Attitude glistening in the sun. Look at the blurred holo sparkle on my pinky! How stunning is that? It looks so much prettier and sparklier in person too!
Lastly a bottle shot! As you can see on the bottle, this polish was created for Kim of Overall Beauty. This polish is part of the piCture pOlish Collaboration Shades. The entire collection is absolutely breathtaking to make sure to take a look!
You can find this polish exclusively at Overall Beauty and the piCture pOlish website. Make sure to check out the piCture pOlish network page to find an online store near you that carries piCture pOlish!
11th December, 2012
Some time ago I entered a contest Elisa from the blog Memorable Days was hosting. The prize was a pair of circle lenses from EyeCandyLens, a super cute Rilakkuma lens case and eyelashes. I simply had to enter! To my own surprise I was the lucky winner! Yay! Thanks so much Elisa and EyeCandyLens!
This is what I received! Probably one of the prettiest and cutest packages ever haha!
The lenses I ended up choosing are these lovely green ones! They are the Princess Mimi Apple Green lenses. I’ve been dying to try green lenses for ages and I saw these were a very popular choice. I really love the design! So glad I picked these out! When I first got them, one of the lenses for some reason arrived damaged! Thankfully EyeCandyLens replaced it.
These are the eyelashes that were included in the prize package. They are the Magic Magic C-02 lashes from the Sweety series. I thought these were really pretty! Not too dramatic but still a really nice effect.
How adorable is the Rilakkuma lens case? 
This is me wearing the Princess Mimi Apple Green lenses and the Magic Magic eyelashes! As you can see the green shows up really well even on brown eyes. The dark black rim makes these very obvious but I always love lenses with black rims. I also really love how the lashes look. They’re very nice!
Huge thanks to Elisa again and EyeCandyLens for sponsoring the giveaway. Make sure to check out Elisa’s blog Memorable Days!
9th December, 2012
Today I have a review for you on CND Shellac. I had the great opportunity to try Shellac thanks to the wonderful Liliana from Phoenix Beauty Lounge. I’m sure most of you know what soak-off gel polish is as it’s been a very popular technique for a few years now.
Shellac is a hybrid polish system. It merges the best of both worlds of regular nail polish and gel nails. It promises a two-week chip free manicure, mirror shine and zero dry time! Awesome right?
Usually you will get soak off nails done at a salon by a professional manicurist. If you are very skilled at painting nails you can consider investing in the system for home use. It’s costly at first but it pays off in the long run. I do recommend to do as much research as possible before taking the plunge, and getting advice from a professional! You need to make sure to understand the science behind it as well, as this is very important.
For the CND Shellac system you will need the UV Base Coat, a Shellac UV Color Coat and the UV Top Coat. You will also need a UV lamp as the soak off gel needs to be cured. The one I am using is this one. If you are concerned about exposing your hands to UV light, simply apply sunscreen before using UV lamps.
The application process goes as follows: you start by painting a very thin layer of the UV Base Coat. Let this cure, then add a thin coat of colour, cure the colour for 2 minutes then add a second coat and cure again. Finally you add a thin layer of UV Top Coat and let this cure for another 2 minutes. The last step is removing the sticky residue that is left from the curing process with a lint-free wipe soaked in rubbing alcohol.
Thin layers are key and capping the free edge is also very important. You need flawless polish application skills for this technique as you want to ensure the polish stays on for the full 2 weeks, which is only possible when they are applied properly. It’s important to not get any of the gel polish on your cuticles as well. If you do, make sure to remove it before curing.
This is what my nails look like after applying CND Shellac! The colour I used is called Cocoa which is a beautiful nude camel shade. As you can see the finish is very glossy. Even more so in person! The soak off gel technique is perfect if you’re looking to grow out your nails. It really strengthens the nails. Removal is very easy too! You simply use the foil removal method. There’s no need for filing, drilling or soaking in pure acetone. It’s a technique that doesn’t damage the nails which I think is great.
You can find the full CND Shellac range at Phoenix Beauty Lounge, they also sell a lot of great polish brands (China Glaze, OPI, A England,..), nail art decoration, Moroccan Oil (review coming soon!) and more. If you order with them make sure to use my amazing 15% off coupon code: EmilyVIP. Huge thanks again to Liliana for allowing me the opportunity to try and review the CND Shellac system!
Have you ever tried soak off gel polish? What was your experience with them? Let me know in the comments! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!
7th December, 2012
Today I have a pretty awesome polish to show you! I’m sure most of you will know it, it’s Max Factor Fantasy Fire! I received this beauty of a polish as a birthday gift from my lovely friend Alice from the blog One Nail To Rule Them All (make sure to check out her blog!).
Fantasy Fire is honestly one of the most stunning polishes I’ve ever seen. There are no swatches that prepare you for the beauty of this polish. You just have to see it in person! It’s simply magical. It’s of course also famous for being a close dupe of Clarins 230.
Fantasy Fire is a stunning multichrome shimmer polish that sits in a purple jelly base. It shifts from orange to gold to green to blue. It’s very sheer so I do recommend to layer it over another polish. I used two layers of Fantasy Fire over Illamasqua Faux Pas, a gorgeous deep purple. It also looks great layered over black, navy blue or green.
Here’s a close-up which shows the colour shift. Honestly my swatch doesn’t do it any justice. In certain light settings the shimmer turns into this gorgeous bright acid green shade which is simply stunning.
I have good news for my fellow Belgian readers, Max Factor Fantasy Fire is now available in Kruidvat stores for about €5. Make sure to grab one if you see it! It won’t disappoint! I promise! It’s also available at Boots and Superdrug in the UK for £3.99. Huge thanks again to Alice for sending me a bottle of Fantasy Fire for my birthday! <3
Do you own a bottle of Fantasy Fire? Let me know in the comments!
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