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!
17th February, 2013
Better late than never, here’s this weeks piCture pOlish swatch! I didn’t want to leave this one till last as it’s one of my favourites, so here it is today since I couldn’t wait… piCture pOlish Jade!
It’s no secret that mint green is my favourite colour. I even dedicated my blog colour scheme to it! When I saw this mint green number peeking amongst the other shades in my piCture pOlish package, my heart skipped a beat!
piCture pOlish Jade is a beautiful minty green polish. It has a gorgeous subtle silver shimmer to it. It’s a little on the sheer side, so it doesn’t lose the shimmer. Three coats gave me a nice coverage.
This polish is really bright! It almost has a neon quality to it. Definitely a perfect summer shade! Out of all the mint greens I own, I think this one would probably be the best pick for a pedicure. The shimmer, even though it’s subtle, is going to make your toes look beautifully sparkly and ready for the pool!
The tagline is: “Love & harmony, seek your fortune”. Anyone have a clue what could be behind the meaning of this tagline?
You can find piCture pOlish Jade for AU$10.00 on the piCture pOlish website. It’s currently sold out but hopefully it will be back in stock soon. Make sure to check out their network page to find an online store near you as they might still have Jade in stock. If you are in Belgium or the Netherlands, you can take a look at PrettyPolish.nl!
10th January, 2013
I have another swatch post for you today! This time I am sharing the Priti NYC 2012 pre-spring collection; After The Snow. This was my first experience with Priti NYC nail polishes and I was really pleasantly surprised. This US-based brand is eco-friendly and prides itself in its non-toxic formula, safe for children and moms-to-be!
From left to right: Dusty Miller, Lambs Ears, Coffee Blush, Cotton Sprig.
I’ve always been a huge fan of the Priti NYC colour range. It’s right up my alley, full of beautiful muted shades, blues, nudes and interesting colours. This collection is no different! I’d go as far as saying that this is probably one of the prettiest collections I’ve ever seen. It couldn’t be more “me”.
Priti NYC – Dusty Miller: I don’t have to explain to you that I absolutely adore this shade. It’s a mint green, how could I possibly hate it? I know I might be biased when it comes to mint greens, but this one is really spectacular. It has tiny flakes that shift from orange to green to yellow. My swatch doesn’t show it (you CAN see it in person!) but if you look carefully at the bottle you can see the sparkly flakies! I used three coats for this one.
Priti NYC – Lambs Ears: All the polishes in this collection have a subtle shimmer or sparkle. In this swatch you can see it very clearly! This beautiful muted camo green has a blueish silver shimmer. In some light settings the shimmer even looks pink. Safe to say it’s a very beautiful polish! This was very easy to apply, as were all of them. I used three coats again.
Priti NYC – Coffee Blush: This is a beautiful taupe shade with gold shimmer. I adore this one! It’s subtle but still stylish. This one was slightly sheerer, three coats would have been enough but I decided to add a fourth to be safe.
Priti NYC – Cotton Sprig: This is a beautiful deep brown with multicoloured shimmer. At first I thought the shimmer was silver but up close I saw hints of pink, green, blue. Very beautiful! I really like this. It’s a different colour but I think it looks great. I used two coats for this one.
Overall I have to say I really loved these. I loved the colours, but I loved application too. The formula is thin and easy to work with, I had no issues with application whatsoever. The brushes are a great size as well. I was also very impressed with wear, I wore Dusty Miller for several days and it lasted 3-4 days on me before it started chipping. Awesome!
You can find Priti NYC polishes for $13.50 on their website. They are currently on sale for $9.45 (30% off!), for a limited time only, so make sure to be quick if you are interested in buying! You can also check out their site for distributors, online and retail vendors near you.
What do you think of these shades? Do you have any experience with Priti NYC? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
21st October, 2012
Today I did some nail art featuring gold leaf and gold striping tape. I’ve had gold leaf lying around for a while now but this was my first time using it. It’s very delicate but great fun to use, and I love the effect! The “negative space” nail is my favourite though! The products I used for this manicure are:
- China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
- OPI Mourning Glory (Black Onyx)
- Essence Exits On Your Right
- Gold Leaf
- Gold Striping Tape
- China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat
I laid out the gold leaf and carefully pulled off piece by piece using a dotting tool, then placing it on a wet nail. I got both the gold leaf and striping tape at Born Pretty Store. I believe they have two different sets for gold leaf, and the striping tape comes in singles or a set of 12. Hope you like it!
6th October, 2012
You guys all know how much I love mint green! It’s definitely my favourite colour. Whenever I see a mint green polish I cannot resist the urge to grab it! A while ago I decided to make a post featuring all my mint green polishes and today it finally became reality.
It would be way too time consuming to swatch all of them on my nails, so I will be using my swatchicles to show you all the shades side-by-side. I grouped them up in “colour families” which I named: The Lights, The Darks, The Blues, The Greens and The Brights. I tried to only use colours I would consider mint green, or have the word “mint” in their name. I have a ton of light blue and teal polishes but this is only about the minty shades!
All the swatches are in the same order as the polishes above.
New Look – Urban, China Glaze – Aquadelic, China Glaze – For Audrey, Etude House – Tint Mint, Essence – King Of Mints
First up are The Blues! These have a more blueish undertone to them. My favourite out of these would be China Glaze Aquadelic and Etude House Tint Mint.
Sweet Colour – 009, Barry M – Mint Green, MUA – Shade 5, OPI – Mermaid’s Tears, Sinful Colors – Mint Apple
These are The Darks! They are not necessarily dark shades but they are the darkest out of the bunch. Almost leaning towards teal but I would still count these as mint green. My favourite has to be Barry M Mint Green as I’ve used up half of the bottle. I’m wearing Mermaid’s Tears as I am typing this though, which is also a lovely shade.
Gosh – Miss Minty, American Apparel – Office, Essence – Did Someone Say Nude?, China Glaze – Re-fresh Mint, HITS – Docinho
Next up are The Lights! In my humble opinion these are the true mint greens! They’re also my favourites! Especially China Glaze Re-fresh Mint. A must-have in every nail girl‘s collection!
Catrice – Take It Mint, Sweet Color – 337, Catrice – Sold Out For Ever, Essence – Exits On Your Right
These are The Greens, for obvious reasons. I believe these also lean most towards the famous Chanel Jade. My favourite is Catrice Sold Out For Ever which was discontinued at one point, reformulated into a completely different colour and then brought back to its original. Something along those lines anyway! Even though my swatch barely shows it, it has a very subtle shimmer to it which really makes it stand out from the rest.
HITS – Caipirinha, HITS – Sweet Mint, Illamasqua – Nomad
And finally, The Brights! Even though these are perhaps less typical, they are definitely very unique. Especially HITS Caipirinha, a neon mint green. Probably one of the coolest shades in my collection!
And finally I’ll leave you with a picture of all the minty swatchicles together!
What’s your favourite colour for nail polish? Are you a big mint green fan like me? Let me know in the comments!
27th October, 2011
Inspired by my layering combination of Re-Freshmint and Blonde Bombshell I decided to take it a step further and create an entire manicure with gold and mint green. I really love doing mix’n match nails. Having all of them different is so much fun! To create these I used:
- China Glaze Re-Freshmint
- China Glaze Snow
- China Glaze Midnight Kiss
- China Glaze Blonde Bombshell
- Essence Got A Secret
6th February, 2011
For those of you who don’t like mint green, look away now! For those of you who adore mint green just like I do, stay with me and drool all over these images!
Here’s my humble collection of mint greens, I only have about 7 (or 5 if you only count the true mint greens) but I’m not going to stop buying them any time soon. They are simply amazing and I’ll never get bored of them! Mint green always does it for me, every single time.
- Catrice – I Sea You!
- MUA – shade 5
- New Look – Urban
- American Apparel – Office
- Catrice – Sold Out For Ever
- Barry M – Mint Green
- American Apparel – Malibu Green
Swatches in the same order as above.
My favourite is definitely Office by American Apparel, it has the colour of chocolate chip mint ice cream (which tastes disgusting but looks great). The two on the outside, I Sea You! and Malibu Green are more teal rather than actual mint green but still deserved a place in this line-up I think.
Still on my mint green wishlist are; China Glaze Re-Freshmint, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Models Own Jade Rock, Illamasqua Milf, Mac Peppermint Patti, Revlon Minted.… Yeah… Keep dreaming Emily! 
16th December, 2010
When I went to New Look a few days ago I came across these two gift boxes! They have a ton of gift boxes right now with nail polish, make-up, lip-gloss, eyelashes and others. I bought these as a present for myself (something you need to do once in a while!) but I thought I’d share them with you as gift ideas.
Set #1: Colour Box. This box contains six polishes, mostly pinks and reds but it also contains one really pretty greige. None of the colours are named. The bottles are 10ml. Formula of these is quite good, didn’t expect them to be worth much but they’re not too bad. Scroll down to see a few swatches. This was €6,99.
Set #2: For The Girls, Nail Bar. This awesome box has 10 polishes, they’re minis and hold 7ml which isn’t too bad for minis. Each bottle is printed with its name. The formula of these is also really good, better than the first set, the only thing that’s wrong with these is the brush. They all have the most awful brush ever which makes it quite hard to paint your nails unfortunately! To me it’s not that much of a downside, I can work my way around a bad brush but it’s still worth mentioning. I definitely recommend this set over the first as the colours are really gorgeous whereas the ones in the first set are less interesting. It cost €9,99.
Set #1:
All six bottles lined up.
This red is really gorgeous and vibrant. A classic.
A really fun peachy pink, perfect for summer.
Like I mentioned above, besides (boring) reds and pinks this set contains a greige.
Set #2:
All ten colours. F.L.T.R: Vamp, Vixen, Urban, Buff, Princess, Poppy, Reef, Bambi, Pirate, Blossom.
Buff. This set also contains a greige, they’re very similar but not an exact match. I think it’s probably made in the same factory but this is from a different batch so colours can differ slightly.
Urban. Hooray, it’s a mint green! You all know how I love mint green, this one is definitely one of the prettier ones! I’d recommend this set for this colour alone!
Vamp. I know you won’t believe me but it’s not a lie, this is ONE coat. Yes, you heard me, one! I have never come across such an opaque black, it’s a dream! I don’t wear black often but I know I’m going to put this to much use for nail art.
Bambi. This is such a cute colour, a cotton candy pink is what I would call it. This is 4 coats so not that opaque but it’s definitly not a sheer French manicure pink either.
Reef. This is a really pretty coral orange, it’s in the name, coral reef! I think this is two or three coats.
21st January, 2010
I just placed my order at Zoeva, instead of the two palettes I mentioned earlier I ordered five and a set of 12 brushes. I’m so excited! I’ll be sure to make a huge entry about it when it arrives which will hopefully be next week. Fingers crossed!
Yesterday I discovered while showing the mens briefs by American Apparel to my boyfriend (he didn’t like them, aww) that they also have a line of nail polishes! And my god are they beautiful!
They even have a mannequin nails colour in their collection! Remember my article? I still haven’t found my perfect mannequin nail polish. I think I might go for this one!
Office – Coney Island – Cotton
As for the Belgian ladies, there is an American Apparel in Antwerp, go check it out! Bottles are €7 a piece or €17 for a pack of three colours like the image above. I’m LOVING those three and will try and get my hands on them as soon as I can. I read some reviews and the quality seems pretty good, cheap nailpolishes in pastel colours like those never show up, sometimes it looks okay in the bottle but when you put it on it’s just clear, I hate those. These aren’t like that, and for that price I’m very happy!
Don’t you just love that mint green colour on the left? It’s very similar to Chanels Jade & Macs Peppermint. Seen on the Chanel runway for 2009 ready to wear. I think it’s gonna be big in the summer and all over the magazines, Alexa Cheung the IT-girl and girlfriend of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and Rachel Bilson have been spotted wearing it.
I absolutely love it! Thoughts?
