3rd October, 2010
Today I bring you my review of Seche Vite, I’ve been using it for a while and used up a fair amount of it so I had a good time to test it out and make up my own opinion.
I think most of you who read beauty or nail blogs have come across the name, “Seche Vite”. If you didn’t know already, Seche Vite is a quick drying top coat. I have been using it for a few months now, I was extremely disappointed at first, not because it didn’t work, because I had impossible expectations. All the reviews I read made me expect to forget chipping even existed. I will tell you now ladies, there is no such thing, unfortunately our nail polish will always chip no matter what!
However there are polishes like Seche Vite that will help, even if it’s just one extra day chip-free I think that’s a result. In my experience I have found that Seche Vite will add about a day or two, maybe three to my usual tip wear, making it about a total of four to five days before my manicure starts to chip beyond repair. Seche Vite means Dries Fast in French, a name that sums it up quite nicely as I have never come across anything to dry as fast as this.You can actually touch your nails after a few minutes and not leave fingerprints and dents in your nails. However do be careful as the polish below still has to harden, if you’re not careful it will slide off.
There’s one other quirky thing I noticed about Seche Vite, once it starts chipping after a few days, when I take a bath or a shower it peels off in one layer! I read some people consider this a disadvantage, however I love fiddling and pulking so I find it fun AND practical.
Here are my pros and cons summed up:
+ Pros:
- Dries incredibly fast
- Adds amazing high gloss shine to your nails
- Will make your manicure last several days longer
- Self levelling
- Free of harmful chemicals!
- Cons:
- Strange smell, nothing too bad but it’s there.
That’s about the only “con” I can think of, it’s not awful but it just smells different to normal polish and it’s just something you notice at first. I could add that it isn’t the miracle topcoat everyone raves about but that’s not a con, it does what it’s supposed to do and it is amazing at that! I have used it for each manicure I’ve done ever since I got it, I really love it and do recommend it very much and will definitely be purchasing this once I run out.
I was sent this product by AII Beauty. 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.
20th June, 2010
I hope you’re not tired of all these nail posts because here’s another one. Me and my mum went to Terneuzen in the Netherlands a few days ago, didn’t find much but I made a quick hop into Kruidvat and bought yet another one of the Catrice nailpolishes. Can you tell I love them? I really can’t think of a bad thing to say about them, the bottles look great, the formula is great (this one is an exception unfortunately), the colours are amazing and it’s cheap!
I picked up Poison Me, Poison You after seeing a-ma-zing swatches on it. I was looking for a nice deep purple, I had no idea this one would be as great as it is, it looks bland and dark in the bottle but if you hold it under a bright light or in the sun it really blows you away.
The colour is more warm in real life, though it changes in every light setting. Like I said the formula of this polish is less good as the others from the same collection, it’s more gloopy and harder to paint your nails with though the results are worth the pain! It really looks like a high end polish, like the shimmery colours from China Glaze (it’s a dupe for Let’s Groove), though it’s from Kruidvat and costs €2,50. Isn’t that amazing?
19th June, 2010
In a few days summer starts, so I thought it would be appropriate to share with you girls what the hot trends are this summer nail wise. One of the biggest this summer is Greige. “And what’s that?” I hear you say, it’s a mix of grey and beige. Also in this category are browns and taupes, and lots of muddy colours. As often the case, trends start on the runway, I believe it was Chanel who started this trend with their nailpolish Particulière.
Chanel Particulière as seen on the runway.
The Greige Catrice polishes available at Kruidvat, from left to right: From Dusk to Dawn, Lost in Mud, Clay-Ton my Hero, London’s Weather Forecast.
I for one am not a fan, greige doesn’t really scream summer to me. I would associate these colours with fall or winter much more so than summer, I’m sure you’ll agree. The Greige trend is certainly not for everyone, I don’t think all skin tones could pull these colours off. I did a grey nail look before this post with London’s Weather Forecast, I liked it but I wasn’t blown away by it. The weather we’re having is so glum, it’s nearly July and still it’s cold outside and the skies are grey. I really need happy and bright colours now which leads us perfectly into the next trend… Neons and brights!
This is a look a lot of celebrities are sporting now, hot pinks, vivid oranges and bright yellows.
(image courtesy of MTV)
Katy Perry at the MTV Movie awards, changed nailpolish in the same evening! The yellow she’s wearing is from the poolside collection by China Glaze called Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.
I think this is my favourite collection of nail polishes ever, especially Flip Flop fantasy and Sun Worshiper which I’m sure you’ll remember from my china glaze post. When I’m wearing my neon nailpolish I feel ready to soak up the sun and relax by the pool, now all we need is the weather by our side! Let the summer begin!
12th May, 2010
Some of you may have heard of the following nail polish brand, China Glaze. If not then this is a great introduction, I have seen it mentioned on so many blogs and vlogs, heard only great things about it and really wanted to try it out myself.
I got three polishes in the mail on Monday, a huge box arrived at my house.
The huge box was to protect the polishes in the mail, looks funny doesn’t it? Such a big box for such a small package. Everything arrived in perfect order though so all went well.
These were the three polishes I got:
1. “Light As Air” from the Up and Away Collection
2. “Sun Worshiper” from the Poolside Collection
3. “Stroll” from the Retro Diva Collection
1. Light As Air: An amazing pastel lavender colour, two coats and it looked flawless and stunning. It’s a very fresh and young colour, I really love it! It looks a bit sloppy in this picture, I got over-excited, so my bad! In the same collection there is an amazing minty green pastel as well called Re-Fresh Mint, I really want to get my hands on that one!
I do have to note this isn’t a colour anyone could pull off, I have a yellow undertone skin and it worked on me, when my mum who has a red undertone tried this colour it didn’t look as good on her. Maybe it’s the age gap, I do think this is a really young and fresh colour, it just didn’t look right on my mum, has it got anything to do with skintone I’m not sure, could be.
2. Sun Worshiper: This one is a bright fluo orange, not just any old fluo orange, they really have taken fluo to the next level. I have never seen any polish to be this bright, it pops in shadow even more so than in bright lighting. Nor have I ever come across a fluo polish with this amazing coverage, two to three coats does the job, sounds a lot but it totally isn’t for a colour like this. I bought a fluo green once, looked as though I had coloured in my nails with yellow marker, no coverage whatsoever. This however is TO DIE FOR! The other colours in the Poolside Collection are just as amazing. I really can’t do this polish justice, taking a picture which even remotely resembles the colour in real life is very hard, I had seen reviews on this colour and this collection but it looks so much more bright and stunning in real life. Will look even better once I get a nice tan. The entire collection makes me long for summer even more, so sad it’s mid-May and it’s raining outside and terribly cold. This polish brightens up my day though. Thank you China Glaze!
This colour does dry matte, could be a plus for some people though it was a con for me, not a big fan of matte polishes myself I finished this off with a shiny topcoat and it looked much, much better! Also, look what happened when I went under our sun tanning bed:
How amazing is that! It just lights up!
3. Stroll: This is an amazing deep magenta with metallic golden microglitter. It looks very different in real life, I was having a hard time making a picture that does this polish justice, this one resembles the colours best though it washes out the glitter entirely. it looks different in every light setting, in the sun, in artificial light, it never fails to surprise you. Application is great, it goes on very nicely.
Glitterpolish is usually quite hard to remove, this was fine, though it did leave some glitters after removing.
I have to say this was the first time I ever used China Glaze and they just don’t compare to drugstore brands, they are so amazing, the quality and coverage is superb. Their formula includes hardeners which strengthen your nails, a huge plus for me as I often have to cut my nails short cause they tend to rip and tear. The polish dries really fast, and they have the most amazing colours in their range, I just can’t praise them enough. They’re also very affordable, unfortunately getting your hands on them in Belgium and the Netherlands isn’t the easiest thing in the world, you can get them at Enchantra, though prices are way more expensive than in the US, still worth every penny I have to say. I hope shops in our country will stock this product soon because it truly is amazing.
Their upcoming collection for fall 2010 looks stunning as well, called Vintage Vixen and is packed full of sparkly colours, or as China Glaze calls them: multi-faceted jewel tones. Will be available from July 2010!
I was sent these products by China Glaze 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.
8th May, 2010
Here it is, my first nail look of the Catrice bunch, my favourite from the collection: Sold Out Forever.
It’s a famous Chanel Jade dupe, dupe meaning duplicate. Last season all of the girls on the Chanel runways wore this amazing mint green colour on their nails. Since then lots of brands have come out with a duplicate of that colour, lots of famous american brands that are hard to get in Belgium, not much use to us unfortunately! I have seen no drugstore alternative since this one so I was really excited when I found out about it.
I really love the coverage, after just two coats it looks flawless. So far we’re day two and no chips to be found, for just €2,50 it really is a must-buy. I’m hooked!
Chanel Jade
23rd March, 2010
I have two looks to show today, a make-up look I’m really excited about and a nail look I’m even more excited about!
Eyes are a pain to take a picture of, not everything is sharp and I only had a decent picture with my eyes closed but you get the idea! It’s a black and gold look, perfect for going out. I really love it! I made it with my Metallic Stones Palette by Zoeva.
And this lovely half-moon manicure. I know I’m a bit late with these, they are “so last year” but I still like them very much, even on my short nails.
They’re quite easy to make, if you don’t have a steady hand I suggest using paper reinforcements as a guide tool. First paint your nails white, I used a white french nailpolish by Hema, then place your stickers where you want your half moon to be, then paint your nails in a red colour, or any other for that matter. I used a red longlasting nailpolish by Hema. I didn’t use a guide I just painted the red on free handedly as I had some trouble with stickers in the past.
9th March, 2010
As Paris fashion week just ended I thought it would be fun to review some nail trends that have hit the runways both in Paris and in NYC! As always, a lot of “old” colours are still “in” this season, black and the always stylish red are still good to go! The nudes have been spotted a lot and white has hit big again too, which I personally love, and lots and lots of grey, in every shade!
The grey nails in the picture above have been finished off with a matte topcoat, which has also been a trend and I think should be available, if not now, then soon, at the drug stores. Personally I’m not a fan, I don’t know, I just love nailpolish to be really shiny and matte black or grey are just not my thing.
These however were my favourite nail looks:
A nude nail polish with a REAL layer of lace added to them!
Black with texture
White, when done perfectly like this, it looks gorgeous! And look at those vibrant orange lips!
One look I didn’t care for at all, this gold and matte black manicure, called “lunar eclipse manicure”.
Thoughts?
16th January, 2010
An up and coming trend in nails and nail polish is “mannequin nails”. Basically it’s nail polishes in a flesh tone and sometimes with a matte coat on top to make it look even more like a mannequin doll.
One of the leading brands with an enormous amount of the most beautiful flesh toned nailpolishes is OPI. OPI is a brand that’s HUGE in America but hasn’t completely hit it big in Belgium, as it isn’t widely available yet. Such a shame! After endless searching I found several Body Centres in Brussels, Roeselare and Leuven that sell OPI, I must go and take a look! OPI is simply one of the best, if not THE best brand for nail polish, it also has one of the most extensive ranges of colours.
left to right: Dulce de Leche, Bubble Bath and Samoan Sand. Bottles cost € 12,95, which is a fair price for a product that is so mindbogglingly good.
Naked Truth by Essie, Prices range from €11 up to €14.
Naked Chic by Dior, €19,80 at Sephora.
And yes girls, I can hear you in the back of my mind “…but those are all expensive and not very easy to come by” I agree, but frankly, cheap alternatives require a thousand layers to even have a decent amount of coverage. That’s why when you want to go nude, you have to invest. An investment worth making, but that’s what I make of it at least.
