9th June, 2013
Today I’m back with a swatch of a really awesome polish! The lovely Dany from Brazil sent it to me in a swap last year and I only got around to using it now. Big shame on me since it’s one of the most gorgeous polishes I’ve ever seen. Let’s take a look at the swatches!
This is two coats of HITS Moonbow layered over a black nail polish. It’s a dense multichrome glitter in a clear base and it shifts from green/teal to purple to pink and orange. I really wish my pictures translated the true magic of how it looks in person. The colours are amazingly bright and the multichrome effect is so strong. It’s simply incredible!
This is what the shift from purple to pink looks like. You can still see a tiny hint of the green glitter at the tip of my nails. Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s definitely one of those polishes where you find yourself staring at your nails for days. And in this case, definitely no shame! 
And finally the shift from pink to orange. I’m so pleased I was able to capture this on camera! You can’t see the orange shift in most light settings, it only pops up sometimes. But when it does… utter magic!
HITS is a brand native to Brazil so not the easiest to find here in Europe. Luckily you can find HITS Moonbow online, for example at Ninja Polish. I had a quick peek at their site and it’s still available for only $7, as well as the other three multichrome glitters from the Phenomena collection. Seriously go get them now!
What do you think of this multichrome glitter? Do you need it, like now?! Let me know in the comments!
2nd June, 2013
Today I’m back with the fourth and final Born Pretty Store BK Hello Kitty swatch post! The giveaways have been a great success which I’m really happy about. I hope whoever wins will love them as much as I do! 
Next week I’ll announce the winner of the first giveaway, make sure to enter it quickly if you haven’t already. Now let’s take a look at the final ten shades!
As you can see, a nice mix of shades! Reds, oranges, yellows and greens! Half a rainbow?! These shades are really nice, there’s two amazingly bright neons and also a few more “grown-up” shades. Now you’ve seen all 41 shades, which are your favourites? Let me know in the comments!
BK Hello Kitty #15 – First up is this vampy deep dark red. It’s a jelly so the finish is very shiny but coverage was a little sheerer. I needed four coats. Regardless I still love this colour, such a sultry shade!
BK Hello Kitty #14 – This is a gorgeous sheer red. Again a jelly finish as there’s still some VNL (visible nail line) after three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #13 – This is my favourite red out of the three! It’s the brightest and the most opaque as I only used two coats. In hindsight a third would have gotten rid of the final VNL but I don’t mind it.
BK Hello Kitty #25 – Now here’s the first of the two crrrrazy bright neons! Neon shades always seem to confuse my camera so you’ll have to take my word for it that this orange shade is A LOT brighter in person. It’s definitely like a highlighter orange! You could layer this over a white polish for an even brighter finish. I used three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #24 – This is a lovely creamy sunny orange. Reminds me of summer, orange juice and sunny-side-up eggs. Love it! This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #23 – Next up is this yummy yellow creme. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoy wearing yellow nail polish. This was nice and opaque in three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #22 – This is a pastel yellow creme. This shade is going to look amazing if you have a tan or a darker skintone! Sadly I’m pretty pale but I’d still rock this colour. This was three coats again.
BK Hello Kitty #34 – Next up is this shade, well, it doesn’t really know what shade it wants to be. It’s not a green and not a yellow either. Whatever it is, I love it! I love weird shades like this that you can’t really classify. Reminds me of China Glaze Electric Pineapple but yellower. This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #37 – And here’s the second bright neon! This is so much brighter in person! I love neons and this green is really awesome. Again, I’d recommend wearing it over a white polish for extra brightness and a more opaque coverage. This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #36 – Finally this mossy, grassy jelly green. It’s sadly a little on the sheer side, but it’s a very cool shade. Unique and different! This was three coats.
And finally, all ten shades in regular light and in the dark! As you can see the two neons have a CRAZY bright glow!!! Even the darkest shade still has a subtle glow so I’m quite pleased with these. As always the formula was simply great. The shades are beautiful and are easy to apply. There’s nothing that faults them!
As usual you can win three colours of your choice from these Born Pretty Store BK Hello Kitty polishes! Make sure to enter by leaving your details in the Rafflecopter widget below. All other three giveaways are still open, you can easily go to them by clicking my banners in the sidebar of my blog on the right. If you don’t want to risk the odds you can purchase these for $4.99 a bottle at Born Pretty Store. Make sure to use my coupon code when you do, EMILYW21 gets you 10% off your order.
P.s. My picks? I’d choose #36, #25 and #34.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
31st May, 2013
Today I’m back with the final The New Black set I have to show you. I must say I really fell in love with this brand. Their sets always looked great to me but after trying them I was so incredibly impressed with the quality. Their formula is simply flawless! The New Black is an awesome brand with a fresh view and high quality products.
Anyway these are the shades of the final set called Heathered, part of the Digital Underground range. This set was created in collaboration with Christina Rinaldi of Prima Creative. It features four soft shades and a special effect fiber top coat. The four shades are a soft nude pink, pale grey, light grey and a gunmetal pearl.
Here’s a close-up of the fiber top coat! I was really intrigued by this top coat. I’ve never seen anything like it before! It reminds me of a really subtle version of velvet nails. After trying it I’m still not 100% sold on it however, I’m not sure if I like the effect or not. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Here’s the final manicure I created. A stripe manicure using the gunmetal foil, pink nude and light grey creme. As an accent nail I painted on the pale grey and added the fiber top coat. I think you can tell that I had some trouble finding the right combination. I wasn’t too sure what to do with these shades. They’re beautiful but I wouldn’t necessarily put them together maybe?!
Overall not my favourite set but as always the shades were easy to apply and the formula was very chip resistant. You can find this The New Black Heathered set on the website for €32.95. Make sure to check out the other shades and sets too. And p.s. the new Spring/Summer sets are also now available, the Specials and the Strip Club (stripers!).
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
1st April, 2013
Today I have my weekly piCture pOlish swatch to share with you. I’ve recently shared a few creme finishes, today I’m back with a shimmery and sparkly and overall very luxurious shade. Another collaboration shade, this was created with Sahrish Adeel. Let’s take a look!
This is two coats of piCture pOlish Majesty layered over a nude base. This polish is perfect for layering but you could definitely wear it on its own too. The shattered holographic shards sit in a nude jelly base along with shifting shimmer that changes from gold to green. So sparkly! I hugely love the green shimmer in this polish, it’s absolutely stunning.
Here you can see the green shift really well at the top of the bottle. So stunning right? The tagline is “Supreme greatness regal splendour!”. I cannot wait to layer this over black and try other layering combinations. I have a feeling this is going to work great for gradients too.
You can find piCture pOlish Majesty for AU$12.00 on the piCture pOlish website. Make sure to check out the piCture pOlish network page to find an online store near you that carries this shade. If you are in Belgium or the Netherlands, you can take a look at PrettyPolish.nl!
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