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!
3rd April, 2013
Recently Estée Lauder released their Heavy Petals Spring collection, featuring 6 bright pastel shades. Now they’ve come up with a very different collection featuring five nudes, the Estée Lauder French Nude collection. I’m head over heels in love with these shades! I was lucky enough to swatch two colours and I also created a nail art manicure for you. First let’s look at the full Estée Lauder French Nudes collection.
From left to right: Estée Lauder Diabolique, Estée Lauder Nudité, Estée Lauder Bittersweet, Estée Lauder So Vain, Estée Lauder Ballerina Pink.
Estée Lauder So Vain – This is a lovely nude with very subtle gold shimmer. I used three thin coats for a nice even coverage. This applied really smoothly and evenly. It’s the perfect nude shade! I really love this!
Estée Lauder Diabolique – This is a stunning chocolate brown creme. I used two coats to get a nice opaque finish. Doesn’t this look delicious? It made me want to bite into my nails, in a good way! This is a somewhat unusual colour to wear but I absolutely love it. It’s so glossy and it looks really different. This dried slightly darker than how it looks in the bottle.
Here’s a simple nail art I created using both Estée Lauder French Nudes. It’s inspired by their nail art pairing “Black Swan”. Originally they used a black polish for the feathers but I used Diabolique to create a soft feathered edge.
The Estée Lauder French Nudes collection will be available from April 2013 and can be purchased with local retailers. If you’re in Belgium, take a look at the official website and Facebook page. Are you a fan of the Estée Lauder nail varnishes? What do you think of this collection? Let me know in the comments!
29th March, 2013
Even though people always say they admire my patience, I’m actually a very impatient person. One thing I absolutely don’t have the patience for is waiting for my polish to dry. I’ve dented and ruined my polish many many times because I rushed and wasn’t careful enough after application. Now thanks to Beauty Narcotix, no more of that! They’re recently released their revolutionary quick drying spray called The Ultimate Fix. Let’s take a look!
I must say I was very intrigued when I first came across The Ultimate Fix. It’s a non-oily spray that is meant to be used in between all layers of polish. My previous experience with quick drying products weren’t great, they left an incredibly oily residue on my fingers and simply didn’t work that well.
Using The Ultimate Fix is simple enough. You hold your can about 30 cm away from you nails and spray them lightly. The lovely Angela (owner of Beauty Narcotix) gave me the great tip: Less is more! The spray leaves your nails completely dry, there’s no residue of any kind. I was pretty impressed by this!
I painted on a fairly thick layer of polish before rushing out the door and sprayed on The Ultimate Fix. My nails felt dry to the touch almost instantly! I didn’t have any dents whatsoever despite bumping my nails a few times. Colour me impressed!
I also really like the packaging. It’s sleek and sexy, almost masculine. The scent was also very masculine, reminiscent of mens deodorant. It’s not too overpowering but sadly not my cup of tea I’m afraid. I’m quite sensitive when it comes to scents and I would have personally preferred an odorless or a more neutral scent for this spray. It does fade after a while though and becomes quite pleasant when faded.
You can find The Ultimate Fix on the Beauty Narcotix website. It currently retails for £17 for a large 200ml spray can. Considering this product will probably last you about a year, it’s definitely not too bad. Keep an eye out on the Beauty Narcotix website as they are releasing a purse-friendly 50ml spray very soon! They’re also looking for a hand model so make sure to enter their contest on Facebook if you are interested.
What do you think of this rapid dry spray? Would you try it? Let me know in the comments!
27th March, 2013
Recently Estee Lauder launched their new Pure Colour Shadow Paints. These are amazing cream eyeshadows, silky smooth in texture and very longlasting. They promise 12 hour wear and a soft, pigmented and easy-to-use formula. I was lucky enough to try the Estee Lauder Shadow Paint in shade Cosmic. Let’s take a look!
I was really blown away by the shade Cosmic when I first saw it! It’s a stunning copper brown with a ton of shimmer and dimension to it. I love wearing warm coppery brown shades so this was simply perfect! Here’s a confession though… I have very little experience with cream eyeshadow, purely because I tend to avoid them. When I think of cream eyeshadow I think of creasing, patchiness and tricky application. So as you can imagine, I was really anxious to try the Estee Lauder Pure Color Shadow Paints. Would this product work for me?
Here’s the Estee Lauder Shadow Paint in Cosmic swatched on my hand. Doesn’t the shimmer look amazing? I love it!
I first applied it on my eyelids using my fingers, and found it slightly tricky to get a perfectly even application so I took out my concealer brush which gave me a much better result! It enabled me to apply the colour evenly on my lids and get an amazing opacity. Hey, this seems to be working!
Here’s the finished make up look I created with the Estee Lauder Shadow Paint! I applied Cosmic all across my lid and along the inner corner of my lower lashline. In my crease I blended a dark brown eyeshadow to give the look more drama. On my lashes I used the Estee Lauder Waterproof Mascara. My first real venture into cream eyeshadows seemed to be successful. I managed to create a nice make-up look without too much hassle. But now, when does it start creasing?
It didn’t! I was extremely impressed with the wear. I applied this in the morning at around 10AM and when I looked in the mirror at 9PM in the evening, my make-up was still flawless. There was a subtle fade but there was no creasing whatsoever and Cosmic had stayed in place perfectly. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I’m hugely impressed with the Estee Lauder cream eyeshadow. The colour is stunning and application and wear were really impressive.
You can find the Estee Lauder Shadow Paints at all stores that carry Estee Lauder. They are part of the permanent range so they are readily available. In Belgium the RRP is €24,83. Other shades include Pink Zinc, Sinister and Steel, a silver shade, a nude and a charcoal black. What’s your experience with cream eyeshadows? Let me know in the comments!
Connect with Estee Lauder on Facebook, Twitter, and make sure to check out their YouTube channel too!
7th March, 2013
I’m sharing a review on the new Born Pretty Store glitter polishes today! There are 17 shades in total and I have 16 to share with you. They’re by a brand called Jia Yuan. I can’t find a lot of info about this brand but the bottles look pretty amazing! Let’s take a look!
(more…)
3rd March, 2013
And of course, this week couldn’t go by without my weekly piCture pOlish swatch! Today I’m sharing one of their newer shades, recently added to the Opulence Range, piCture pOlish O’Hara. Let’s take a look!
piCture pOlish O’Hara is a stunning red with scattered holographic shards. It has jelly qualities but it’s very opaque after two-three coats. Music to my ears! I’ve been wearing this shade for the past week, and while I am not usually someone who wears red polish, I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all week!
I had such a hard time capturing it, I know, it’s the same story every week! piCture pOlish is THE #1 expert at creating shades that are full of depth. You almost discover a new polish every time you look at your nails in a different light setting. They just never look the same. This does make them notoriously difficult to capture, though!
piCture pOlish O’Hara in particular is so unique and wonderful. I don’t own anything like this in my stash. I don’t know how they do it, but the holographic shards are just magical. They almost look like shattered mirrors, or shattered glass. The light picks them up amazingly well.
Tagline: “For the Scarlett in all of you!”. This polish was inspired by (you guessed it) Scarlett O’Hara. The main character of the 1936 novel Gone With The Wind.
This polish makes a great addition to the Opulence range. I was lucky enough to swatch the Opulence range when they were first released, you can find my post here, make sure to check it out! I hugely love this glittering red shade, I honestly wish piCture pOlish would release this finish in every possible colour imaginable. I need more of these!!! I’d love a bright turquoise with scattered holo please, girls!
You can find piCture pOlish O’Hara for AU$12.00 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, you can take a look at PrettyPolish.nl!
27th February, 2013
Today’s post is dripping with colour! A few days ago I received these stunning Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop lashes in the mail. I’m sure you can see why these instantly put a smile to my face! How beautiful is the pop art packaging?! These are sure to brighten up your day.
Katy Perry released this in collaboration with Eylure. There’s four different wearable styles, three full lash strips and one set of individuals. Let’s take a look at the four different styles!
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Ching.
These are the green full lashes. Even though these are coloured lashes, they are bright without being over the top. They are extremely wearable, so don’t be shy! The green fibres are mixed with black which gives a really fun but subtle colour effect. All sets include a small tube of lash glue with an easy applicator.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Ching.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Ching.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Boom.
These are the blue full lash strips. Ka-Boom are the most colourful ones I think. The blue really pops! These are really stunning. I love how the coloured lashes and black ones form a wispy criss-cross pattern.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Boom.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Boom.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Pow.
These are the purple ones. I really love these! They’re probably my favourites, which is why I used them for a look at the bottom of this post. The shape of these lashes is so beautiful and flattering. They’re the same shape across all three full lash styles. They feel very soft to the touch and they flare out nicely.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Pow.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Pow.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Zaam.
This is the set of individuals. It features all three colours, green, blue and purple, which come in short and medium length. This set includes lash glue and a special remover. There’s no less than 52 individual lashes in total! You can choose individuals of each colour, or go for an ombre style. Awesome right?!
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Zaam.
Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes in Ka-Zaam.
A cute extra, all four sets come with a sticker!
This is me wearing the Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop lashes in Ka-Pow, the purple ones. Don’t they look amazing and full? I love them so much! I feel like false lashes can look a little overwhelming on me since I have hooded eyes and small lid space, but these looked really great! I did have to clip down the sides slightly as they were too wide but that’s normal with false lashes.
Here’s a close-up! I wish you could see the colour better, it was definitely more visible in person. If you look closely you should be able to spot the pretty purple flashes of colour! So gorgeous!
You can find Eylure lashes across the globe so make sure to check out their list of stockists to find out where they are sold near you. In Belgium you can find these in Di stores, they retail for €8.50. And online you can easily find them at ohbeauty.co.uk, they have the entire Eylure Katy Perry range, including the previous collection! I highly recommend the Eylure lashes, they’re amazing quality! These Katy Perry Color Pop lashes are no different. They were comfortable to wear and the shape was so flattering and wearable. Definitely check them out!
Would you wear these? What did you think of the cute packaging? Let me know in the comments!
25th February, 2013
Pastel shades are by far my favourites, that’s definitely no secret. Spring collections never fail to get me excited. I was in love when I saw the first sneak previews of China Glaze Avant Garden! No swatches or collection previews prepare you for how beautiful these shades are in person though. All of these blew me away when I first swatched them. They are so unique and wonderful!
China Glaze Avant Garden holds twelve shades in total, six Pastel Petals and six Blooming Brights. Let’s take a look at the Pastel Petals first!
From left to right: Life Is Rosy, Pink-ie Promise, Tart-y For The Party, Fade Into Hue, Keep Calm Paint On, Dandy Lyin’ Around.
China Glaze – Life Is Rosy: This is a beautiful dusty rose creme. I love shades like this! Some would call this an old fashioned shade, I’d call it vintage! Haha! This one did dry slightly darker than how it looks in the bottle. I used 2 coats.
China Glaze – Pink-ie Promise: Vintage Barbie eat your heart out! This is a beautiful pale dusty pink, it’s soft and delicate. Girly but still mature. I don’t usually gravitate towards pink but this one’s really nice. This was 3 thin coats.
China Glaze – Tart-y For The Party: This is a stunning periwinkle purple. I’m head over heels in love with this one! That’s saying a lot coming from someone who doesn’t wear purple. I know I said the same thing about piCture pOlish Wisteria, but you could call this the pastel sister of Wisteria. Definitely one of my favourites! This was 2 coats.
China Glaze – Fade Into Hue: This is a beautiful dusty periwinkle blue. It’s almost like an acid wash jeans colour. This was really sheer at first, but the second layer evened it out. I’d call this a mix between a jelly and creme finish, it definitely has best of both worlds! You get a squishy and shiny colour, and an opaque finish. I used 3 thin coats.
China Glaze – Keep Calm, Paint On: Ah, a mint green! You all know how much I love minty shades. This is a beautiful pale mint green with a soft silver shimmer. I wasn’t expecting the shimmer so it was a real surprise when I tried this on for the first time. It’s very pretty! How could I resist a mint green?! This was 3 thin coats.
China Glaze – Dandy Lyin’ Around: This reminded me of China Glaze Knotty, but a white version. It’s a white shimmer with subtle pink and green shimmer. Somehow this made me think of morning dew drops! Delicate and beautiful. This was 4 coats.
So far for the Pastel Petal shades. Next up are the six Blooming Brights shades!
From left to right: Mimosa’s Before Mani’s, Passion For Petals, Snap My Dragon, Fancy Pants, Sunday Funday, Budding Romance.
China Glaze – Mimosa’s Before Mani’s: A gorgeous coral with subtle shimmer. I always love coral shades and this one is particularly pretty. It’s bright and fun! The shimmer definitely makes it more unique. This was three coats.
China Glaze – Passion For Petals: This is a pretty dusty magenta. Not sure how else to describe it! It’s a red that softly leans towards pink, but still has a dusty quality. This one is very opaque! Almost a one-coater, though I did use two coats.
China Glaze – Snap My Dragon: This is a sexy vibrant blue-based red with hot pink shimmer. I really loved this shade! I seem to recall China Glaze having done a few reds with pink shimmer in the past, but they always do colours like this really well. The pink shimmer is a lot more vibrant in person, I sadly wasn’t able to capture it very well. This was two thin coats.
China Glaze – Fancy Pants: This is a beautiful dusty blue with pink shimmer. Yes, pink shimmer! It’s so cool! Such a unique shade, definitely one of the highlights of the collection. You can kinda see the shimmer in my picture, but it’s a lot brighter in person. I love the name, and the colour, and it was nice and opaque too! I used two coats.
China Glaze – Sunday Funday: This is a beautiful true turquoise blue. It’s so vibrant! I know it looks bright in my picture, but it’s times ten in person! I have nothing like this in my stash, and that’s saying a lot! This was two coats.
China Glaze – Budding Romance: We’ve arrived at the last and (in my opinion) awesomest shade of this collection. Budding Romance is a jelly olive green. It’s weird and wonderful! I love quirky shades like this. It’s so weird and unique, I absolutely adore it. Not something you see often! This was four coats.
Overall a great collection by China Glaze! My favourites are Tart-y For The Party, Budding Romance, and Sunday Funday. There honestly isn’t one shade in this collection I didn’t like. They’re all really great and the formula was flawless across the board. Which of these shades would you love to add to your collection? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear what you think about China Glaze Avant Garden.
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!
4th February, 2013
Keautystore is quickly becoming one of my favourite stores for Asian cosmetics! They carry all the great brands such as Etude House, Missha, Skinfood, Innisfree and Lioele. The last one will be featured in this review, more specifically the Lioele Carry Me Hand Cream in Coconut.
Hand cream is probably one of my most used skincare and beauty products. When I don’t need to leave my house, I won’t bother to apply any make-up, but I will always use hand cream! Especially now with the cold weather, my hands and nails are suffering from dryness. You won’t catch me going anywhere without some hand cream!
This Lioele Carry Me Hand Cream comes in a really beautiful packaging. The tube reminded me of paint tubes which I thought was really cute. It has a beautiful and elegant design in silver and pink. The size is very convenient, it holds about 40ml of product, the perfect size to carry around!
This hand cream is available in two scents, Coconut and Blueberry. I chose Coconut as it’s my favourite scent for basically anything. My favourite shower gel is coconut scented too! For some reason I only like the scent though, not the actual fruit itself, go figure!
The Lioele Carry Me Hand Cream is really great, the scent is absolutely wonderful (I wish I could let you smell it!) and it feels really nice on your hands. It’s not sticky at all, it sinks into your skin in seconds! It’s also very moisturising, the effect will last you a long time and the coconut scent will subtly linger on your hands.
You can find the Lioele Carry Me Hand Cream for $7 at Keautystore. They carry many other amazing products, including a ton of nail polishes, so make sure to take a look! You can even use a coupon code to save some money, use “veryemily” when checking out for a 5% discount!
Older Entries
