19th May, 2013
As promised, today I’m back with part 2 (of 4) of the BK Hello Kitty swatches. Again, I’m also hosting a giveaway to win 3 shades of your choice from this post. I noticed with the previous giveaway that not everyone completed the three mandatory options (FB like, e-mail and 3 colours). Make sure to double check if you have, because if not all 3 mandatory options are completed you won’t be entered!
From left to right: #33, #35, #32, #29, #28, #30, #31, #26, #27, #41.
Anyway let’s take a look at the shades! These are the blues, minty greens and purples. Aren’t they stunning? 
These are without a doubt my favourite set of colours. It just so happens that these are also the most opaque shades. I don’t think I could love these more if I tried!
BK Hello Kitty #33 - First up is this stunning minty green shade. It’s no secret that mint green is my absolute favourite colour. This one is so perfect! Just the right amount of blues and greens mixed together. This was two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #35 - Another lovely minty green. This one leans more towards green but it still has a slight hint of blue. I guess this is closer to the famous Chanel Jade as mint greens go. This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #32 - This is a lovely pale baby blue shade. This is a jelly finish but it was still nice and opaque in three coats. Very squishy! Though you will need a top coat, as with all other shades, for the ultra shiny finish. They all have a subtle gritty finish because of the glow in the dark pigments, but don’t worry as it completely evens out once you add top coat. 
BK Hello Kitty #29 - Here’s a lovely turquoise blue. It’s bright and gorgeous! I think you can never go wrong with shades like this. They’re perfect for summer too! Isn’t this the perfect tropical beach shade?! This was two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #28 – This blue is slightly more muted compared to the previous and less green. I noticed a tiny bit of VNL when I was processing the pictures but it wasn’t as visible in person. I used two thin coats but in hindsight I could have added a third.
BK Hello Kitty #30 - This is an awesome bright blue. It’s slightly darker in person than in my pictures though it obviously depends on lighting. This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #31 - Now this blue is a little harder to describe. Peacock teal blue? It’s definitely unique that’s for sure. It’s such an interesting shade. I really love this one! It had a jelly finish but I found the coverage pretty decent after two thicker or three thin coats.
BK Hello Kitty #26 - This is a lovely pale purple that slightly leans towards blue. Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s similar to American Apparel L’Esprit which I featured in a nail art not too long ago. I’m not a huge fan of purple but I can never resist to shades like this! I used two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #27 - A slightly different pale purple as it’s a lot warmer. Equally stunning though! This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #41 - And finally this “odd one out” in the post, a shimmery gold. It’s a little sheer so it might work better for gradients or layering on top of other shades. It’s super pretty though! I used three coats but there’s still some VNL.
From left to right: #33, #35, #32, #29, #28, #30, #31, #26, #27, #41.
And finally how the shades look when they glow in the dark. Shades #32 and #41 seem to have a slightly brighter glow than the others. As with the pink shades, these BK Hello Kitty polishes have an amazing formula. They glide on like buttah, they’re opaque, they smell really nice and the bottles are adorable. What more could you ask for?
Below you can enter my giveaway to win three polishes of your choice from this post! Make sure to complete all 3 mandatory entries to be entered, after which you can unlock more chances of winning. Also, my giveaway for the pink shades is still open if you’d like to enter that too. 
If you want to get your hands on these polishes anyway, head over to the Born Pretty Store website where you can purchase these for $4.99 a piece (grab them while you can!).
P.s. It’s so hard to pick just three but I’d go for #33, #31 and #26.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
12th May, 2013
A few days ago I shared a picture on Facebook of the BK Hello Kitty nail polishes that are available at Born Pretty Store. I also hinted that I might be holding a giveaway for these polishes! At the bottom of this post you’ll find a Rafflecopter widget where you can pick three shades of your choice and get a chance to win them! First let’s take a look at the colours.
From left to right: #01, #02, #03, #04, #39, #16, #17, #18, #19, #21
There are 41 shades of the BK Hello Kitty Nail polishes in total, first up are these 10 colours. As you can see they are the pink shades! Since it’s Hello Kitty after all I decided to post these up first. Over the next few weekends I’ll post up the other shades along with more giveaways.
BK Hello Kitty #01 - As you can see this is a lovely white nail polish. It’s great to use underneath sheer colours or neons, or for french manicures or nail art. It covered extremely well in only two coats. It’s my new favourite white polish! There’s something so pristine and lovely about solid white nails I think.
BK Hello Kitty #02 – This shade is a very sheer pink. You can use it for french manicures as I did above (I used #01 for the free edge) or simply use it for layering over other polishes. As it’s the brightest glowing nail polish this works great as a simple glow in the dark top coat as it’s pretty sheer and doesn’t give too much colour. Pictured above is three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #03 – This is a super cute pale pink. I really love this! It reminds me of OPI Soft Shades collections. I think it looks really beautiful and dreamy. It’s a little sheer but it wasn’t streaky and it applied very nicely. This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #04 – Another lovely cute pale pink. This is slightly darker than the previous one but application was very similar. These really glide on like butter! This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #39 – This is a slightly different one as it has really beautiful shimmer. You could use this as a top coat to add some shimmer to your manicure. Isn’t it pretty?! On its own it’s a little sheer as I used four thin coats.
BK Hello Kitty #16 – This is a stunning hot neon pink! It’s funny because I didn’t expect it to be so bright as it looks much darker in the bottle. I used only two coats and that gave me completely opaque coverage. Love this one! It’s awesome.
BK Hello Kitty #17 – This is a pretty blueish pink jelly. This shade is great if you have a reddish undertone in your skin. I used three coats but there’s still some VNL as it’s a jelly.
BK Hello Kitty #18 – This is another awesome neon pink. Quite similar to shade #16 but this one is slightly darker. It also needed an extra coat for complete coverage, 3 coats.
BK Hello Kitty #19 – This is another bright neon pink with jelly finish. It’s more of a true neon so the sheer finish is normal. I’d personally layer this over #01 for extra brightness! I used three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #21 – Finally this lovely dark red with blue shimmer. The shimmer is absolutely stunning! It’s a really gorgeous shade and application was a dream. I used two coats. Sadly this doesn’t glow as strongly as the others (as you can see in the picture below) but maybe that’s because I didn’t shake up my bottle properly. It’s still a gorgeous polish regardless!
I have to say these BK Hello Kitty polishes are my absolute favourite nail polishes from Born Pretty Store! They glide on like butter, they cover nicely, they don’t have a strong smell (in fact they smell surprisingly good!) and they are glow in the dark! What more could you want? The cute bottles are just a bonus!
These are all shades on swatchicles, the image below is what they look like glowing in the dark! From left to right: #01, #02, #03, #04, #39, #16, #17, #18, #19, #21
As promised I have a giveaway for you! You can win three BK Hello Kitty nail polishes from this post. Feel free to enter if you have daughters, sisters or cousins you want to gift these to, or if you just want to keep them for yourself. To enter simply like my Facebook page, leave your e-mail address so I can contact you and pick your three favourite shades from this post. Make sure to do all three mandatory options to unlock more chances of winning.
My top picks? I’d go for #01, #16 and #03 or #21.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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!
13th April, 2013
By now, I think we’ve all seen or tried textured nail polish. Where most of us found ourselves opposed to the idea of having gritty nails, I think we welcomed textured polishes and found ourselves falling in love with the trend of textured finishes. China Glaze is the latest to jump on this bandwagon, or so it seems. For Summer 2013 they released their very own Texture collection featuring six creme shades with a soft sandy finish. Let’s take a look!
China Glaze In The Rough – This is a lovely pastel lime green texture polish. All of these shades are creamy and don’t contain any shimmer or glitter particles.This one covered nicely in two coats. This texture finish is slightly different than the OPI Liquid Sand shades. Application is also a little trickier.
China Glaze Toe-Tally Textured – This is a bright orange creme texture polish. All shades are really bright and bold and dry to a matte finish, though it does take a while to dry properly. You want to take things slow with these polishes and not apply the second coat until they are “settled in” and have turned matte.
China Glaze Itty, Bitty & Gritty – This is a cute coral pink shade. I wish China Glaze made a non-texture dupe for this because it’s a really lovely colour! Application was nice and even with this one. You do need to make sure to shake your bottles thoroughly though.
China Glaze Bump & Grind – This is a bright magenta creamy texture finish. It’s not quite a red, but not quite pink either. I really love this colour. As you can see it’s still slightly shiny in some parts. The true matte finish takes a few hours to show up. Once all the texture particles have settled in they feel quite soft to the touch and not gritty at all.
China Glaze Unrefined – This is a lovely pastel pink creamy texture polish. Application was a little trickier with this one as it was slightly thicker. I found that the density of the texture particles varied per polish but this can also be down to how well they are shaken.
China Glaze Of Coarse! – And finally a bright pastel blue creme texture polish. This is a really pretty blue shade. This did have some bare patches but once again, could be down to not shaking up the bottles enough.
I’ve actually been dying to share my swatches with you! I’ve been playing around with these for months (since last year!) but couldn’t share my pictures until the official press release was sent out (yesterday, finally!). My first response to the texture finish was definitely apprehensive, but after trying these I really fell in love with them! The names are super cute too! They don’t feel as gritty as they look, they feel quite soft and pleasant. They also don’t catch on things and are fairly long-lasting too. They are unique and definitely worth trying!
What do you think of these Texture polishes? Do you prefer the matte creamy finish or the shimmery and glittery finish for texture finishes? Let me know in the comments!
8th April, 2013
Today I bring you my final swatch of my weekly piCture pOlish swatchathon. I had an absolute blast sharing my swatches each week and I hope you enjoyed seeing them! To go out with a bang, I saved a very special one until last. The famous piCture pOlish flakie, Festival!
piCture pOlish Festival is an amazing flakie polish. Pictured above are two coats of Festival, layered over a black polish. Festival contains orange, blue, and green-orange shifting flakies. The name couldn’t be more accurate! It’s almost like a party on your nails. It’s so bright and colourful, it definitely won’t fail to put a smile to your face.
Here’s a close-up. How stunning is this? I’ve worn Festival a few times since I owning it and each time I couldn’t stop staring at my nails. I kept moving my fingers around to see the beautiful colour shift. If you love flakies this is a must-have!
And finally the bottle shot and tagline: “Come together flake it flake it!”. I love how flakies always look like the most unremarkable and weirdest polishes in the bottle, but once you layer them over black they turn into real gems!
You can find piCture pOlish Festival 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!
Hope you enjoyed my piCture pOlish swatches. Let me know if you’d like to see an overview of all shades!
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!
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!
25th March, 2013
Today I’m bringing you my weekly piCture pOlish swatch. I seem to go on about the weather in all my recent posts, but it feels like we’re still in the middle of winter right now with all the snow we’re having. This bright shade definitely feels like Spring on my fingertips!
Meet piCture pOlish Coral Reef, a stunning bright coral creme. It glided on like butter and was perfectly smooth and opaque in two coats. I have a real weak spot for coral shades. They’re really cheerful and bright and easy to pull off. Coral Reef dries super glossy too!
I decided to add a mini nail art accent nail to spice up my Coral Reef mani. I saw this design by Anna Stimson appear on my Facebook feed and I simply had to try it. I used my It’s So Easy nail art stripers for this design and added some top coat to finish off.
Finally the bottle shot and tagline, “Close your eyes and you’re there!”. That’s definitely appropriate right now. While writing this, I’m sitting next to my window, with the sun shining in. Even though it’s below freezing point outside, it almost feels like Summer if I close my eyes hard enough.
You can find piCture pOlish Coral Reef for AU$10.00 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!
22nd March, 2013
Spring weather hasn’t arrived yet in Belgium but hopefully these rainbow coloured polishes will brighten up your day! I’m so excited I finally got to try the March Nail Lacquer polishes by Born Pretty Store. My heart skipped a beat when I first saw these on the New Arrivals page. The packaging is simply adorable! Who can resist that cute little bow? Let’s take a look at the colours!
These are nine of the twelve shades in total. They look absolutely adorable in pictures but in person they look even cuter! The bottles hold 12ml so you get a decent amount of product too even though the bottles may look smaller.
March Nail Lacquer rainbow! Sadly like all other current Born Pretty Store nail varnishes, these only haves numbers and no names. This time however, the number on the site and the numbers on the bottles do correspond. That’s definitely easier! Let’s take a look at the swatches!
March MM-003: This is a beautiful berry red jelly. It was fairly opaque after three coats.
March MM-004: This is a raspberry pink creme with ultra-fine holographic glitters. If you look closely you can see the sparse glitter. It’s really pretty! A very girly shade. This was three coats.
March MM-009: This is a coral pink with soft silver shimmer. It’s slightly frosty but I didn’t notice any brush strokes so that was good. This is another really girly shade. I love how it has a slight coral tone, makes it more wearable for me. This covered nicely, I used three coats.
March MM-006: This is a bright purple creme. It’s bright yet still looks like a pastel shade. This was very opaque and needed just two coats.
March MM-001: This is a pretty turquoise blue jelly. Really love this one! This was three coats.
March MM-007: My favourite colour! A beautiful teal jelly. Sadly this was pretty sheer. After four coats there’s still obvious VNL on me. This isn’t great to wear on its own but this polish is perfect for certain types of nail art that require a sheer colour.
March MM-012: This is a really cute apple green shade with soft silver shimmer. Similar to the pink shade, 009, this has an almost frosty type of finish. Yet I still really loved this! I used four thin coats.
March MM-006: A pretty pastel yellow! As flawless as this looks in pictures, it took a few coats before it was even. This was extremely patchy, I needed four coats but I got there in the end. The formula of yellow polishes can prove to be a little tricky, which was definitely the case for this one.
March MM-002: A sunny orange creamy jelly! This was a mix between cream and jelly. I really like this type of orange, it’s fun and bright! I used four coats.
Overall I really loved these March Nail Lacquer polishes. They don’t have the most opaque formula, but they are easy to work with and the shades are nice and bright. They also don’t have a strong scent which gets a big thumbs up from me. The bottles are absolutely adorable, definitely some of the prettiest I’ve seen. They are a little on the pricier side at $7.29 per bottle. You can find them at Born Pretty Store, make sure to use my 10% off code EMILYW21 when you order!
What’s your favourite shade? What do you think of these cute bottles? Let me know in the comments!
17th March, 2013
I had so many posts planned for this week but knitting took over my free evenings. I’ve recently discovered the joys of knitting and now I found myself working on three projects simultaneously. (Find me on Ravelry!) I’ve caught up with swatches and blog work this weekend so hopefully I’ll have some more posts for you next week! Stay tuned!
Anyway here’s this week’s piCture pOlish swatch. This time I chose the beautiful Atomic, designed by Sarah of the blog Samarium’s Swatches.
Above is four thin coats of Atomic. It’s fairly sheer so perfect for layering, but 3-4 coats gives you a nice opacity. This polish is hard to explain AND hard to capture! It’s really intricate with lots of different facets to it. I spy scattered holographic shards and pink/orange/gold shifting shimmer in a silvery base.
Here’s a close-up that shows the holographic shards, if you look closely. I didn’t get the chance to look at Atomic in the sunshine as the Belgian weather is being very stubborn (where’s Spring?!). I’m sure the holo sparkles will look simply dazzling when the sunshine hits them!
And finally the bottle shot. Can you see the amazing orange-y pink shimmer in the bottom left corner of the bottle? Stunning! The tagline of this is: “WARNING… totally explosive!”.
You can find piCture pOlish Atomic for AU$12.00 on the piCture pOlish website. It was initially a limited edition shade but this one, along with the other collaboration shades, were added into the permanent piCture pOlish range! Thanks Sarah at Samarium’s Swatches for this stunning shade! 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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