Two weeks ago I discovered the Sweet Recipe collection by Etude House, an Asian cosmetics brand that always does the cutest packaging you can think of. The Sweet Recipe collection is inspired by all sorts of sweet things: chocolate bars, cupcakes, candies, .. I couldn’t resist and bought the ice cream cone shaped nail varnish in Mintchoco Chip. Because how could I not buy this cutie?

I had no other option but to buy these on Ebay, so I wasn’t sure if or when they’d arrive. To my surprise, shipping to just a little longer than a week and the varnish arrived very well packaged with even an extra skin care sample! You can visit the seller here. I paid $6.99 for this one, which is just a little bit more expensive than they should be. But since this one was already kind of hard to get hold of, I gladly paid the extra two dollars. Also, shipping is usually free with these kind of Ebay sellers! Onto the polish now: the first layer was quite streaky, so you’ll surely need a second one. The second layer was wearable, but I had the best effect with three coats (as pictured). I love how these look and they really pop out! My nails are mostly quite brittle, so I can’t comment on how long they wear. And I just got this yesterday, but I really wanted to show it off already! The glitter details in the polish are really stunning and make for such an interesting effect! And I can’t help it.. But I really find these Etude House varnishes to look so much like Illamasqua’s Imperfection collection, but at just a fraction of the price. And with way cuter packaging, right? :)

I showed you the new glosses by Guerlain beginning this month, so I still owe you their new nail La Laque Couleur polishes! This permanent line (finally!) is in stores as of today and all of the polishes are pairable with the Guerlain lipsticks & lipglosses that carry the same name. How cute is that? Ten shades are being launched today, including a protective base coat and a gel top coat (similar to the one by Dior). I have the clear protective base coat, 463 La Petite Robe Noire and 168 L’Heure Bleue to show you. 

The packaging is very pretty and fancy with no engraving on the bottle itself, but the brand’s name in gold lettering on the cap and an engraved G on the twister cap. I’m very fond of nail polishes with a separate cap & twister cap, I like working with a smaller round cap on the end of the brush applicator when painting my nails. Each polish contains 10ml of product.

The brush is just divine: it’s wide and flat and perfect to work with. Might be a bit challenging on tiny pinky nails, but my overall experience is that this lays a thin coat on each nail in just two or three strokes. OPI for example has much thinner brushes.. The protective base coat in the picture is designed to protect and strengthen your nails. I have been using it religiously the last month when painting my nails & it does protect the nails really well: there’s no discoloration going on when I apply polishes that tend to do that. It also dries really fast, which is a huge plus. My nails are quite brittle as they are and I really need to do another nail strengthening supplement cure, so I can’t comment on the fortifying feature. 

This beautiful deep red color is named 168 L’Heure Bleue. It’s super sophisticated and highly glossy, and turns opaque in two coats. 

463 La Petite Robe Noire is a frosted light pinkish color. Sadly, it applies a bit stripey. It gets better with the second coat, but the effect doesn’t fade completely.. I’m not fond of frosted light colored nail polishes, but other than that the formula is again of great quality and the polish is completely opaque in just two coats. 

These nail polishes retail in Belgium for €24.45 suggested retail price and are permanently available as of today. These should already be out in the US for $23 and in the UK for £18. 

I’m quite the neutrals girl, you’ll rarely see me sport a colorful eye look or super bright lipsticks. But I really want to break that habit, especially now the gorgeous Spring collections are out and Summer is nearing.. Colorful evening looks I can do; I like bold and heavy and I wear it well. But colorful daily looks? I wasn’t too sure. I wanted to go for it with Estée Lauder’s Pretty Naughty palette which I’ve already shown you here (with a bold look, what else did you expect?), so think baby blues and bright purples. Are you afraid yet? Yes, so was I..

So when you don’t really know what you’re going to do with it yourself.. You ask a professional make-up artist. I asked Gigi Bowmer - Estée Lauder’s leading make-up artist for the Benelux - how to create a nice daily look with the palette. She was so kind to send me three types of looks to work with; there’s really a lot of versatility in this palette indeed. So we’re going for a subtle blue/purple look here, using the Double Wear eyeliner in black (Gigi suggested graphite, but I don’t have that shade) and the purple and baby blue eyeshadow from the Pretty Naughty palette.

Apply a black (or graphite) kohl eye pencil on the upper lids near the lashes and smudge it out slightly. Then, mix the purple & blue eyeshadow together and apply on top of the smudged out liner. Apply mascara generously on the top lashes. 

Even though baby blue can be quite frightening, this look is very soft and indeed still wearable for daytime. Gigi totally succeeded! Now I wouldn’t really go for bright lips when sporting this; you’ll need to tone the rest of your look down to keep it wearable. I’m not sure how often I’ll opt for this kind of look.. I think I’ll have to gradually get used to idea of wearing purples and blues during daytime, even though this look totally proved it’s not tacky and quite pretty instead! Let’s just say the brown and sparkly black shades of the palette will probably hit pan a bit sooner (◕‿-)

So when you can’t do bright lips.. You just go for bright nails! I still owed you this gorgeous nail polish from the Heavy Petals spring lacquer collection, which would be perfect to wear with the soft blue daily look we just created. Meet the pale pink shade called ‘Narcissist’. The application went very smooth (love the Estée Lauder brush) and the polish is opaque in just two coats. I absolutely love Estée Lauder’s lacquer formula as it’s very long lasting and dries almost instantly. The pale barbie pink is perfect for Spring, if Spring would ever arrive in Belgium that is.. 

The Estée Lauder Pretty Naughty collection & the Heavy Petals nail lacquer collection are both limited edition and have been in stores since mid February. 

Are you down with blues and purples for daytime looks? Let me know! I’m quite curious. 

I have been raving about Estée Lauder’s new collection(s) and can’t wait to head out and buy one of those shadow paints. I haven’t got a lot of time to write today, so let me just show you this gorgeous nail polish from the Pretty Naughty collection that I have been wearing a lot since I got it! I’m wearing it today too, it’s so versatile and looks great with just about any look. It’s a dark shade of purple and turns grey-ish in some lights. One coat can be done, but two coats will be super opaque and give the best color. This is unlike any purple you own - I haven’t really seen anything like it and that’s probably why I’ve been really loving this one and why I’ve already received some compliments on my nails when wearing it. 

Insatiable is a limited edition nail varnish and is available in the usual Estée Lauder retail points for a little less than €22 suggested retail price. If one product of the Pretty Naughty collection is bound to sell out the fastest, it’s probably this varnish. Love it!

Givenchy is turning super bold these days featuring leather packaging with stud details. I really love the new look as I love anything rock chic. Givenchy Le Rouge & Le Vernis have been out since end of January, but don’t fear: these have been added to the permanent line! 

What’s great about these two lines is that some colors are both featured in a lipstick & a nail polish; such as Carmin Escarpin which is a gorgeous warm & classy red. Let’s kick off with the nail polish!

The packaging of the nail polishes has changed - now there’s a whopping double the amount of product in the new bottles. I’m a huge fan of the new and easy bottles - I hope more brands will finally figure out how easy the smaller handles are to work with. The detail on them is great too - I love the Givenchy imprint on the top. 

And not only the look has changed.. But the brush has too. It’s now wider, which ensures a way easier application. 

This here was just one coat; add one extra coat for a deeper look. Givenchy Le Vernis Carmin Escarpin is a beautiful warm red & looks quite sophisticated. It’s a bit more orange-y than Dior’s Marilyn, if you’d like to compare. 

The new Le Rouge lipsticks have a gorgeous leather product packaging with a stud detail. It’s the most beautiful lipstick I’ve ever seen - I’m not even kidding. The detail is again remarkably luxurious, notice the imprint in the lipstick itself and on top of the cap. 

As you can see in the swatch above Givenchy Le Rouge Carmin Escarpin is not highly glossy, but not super matte either. It’s not overly drying as other mattes tend to be & has a great color pay off. The texture is quite creamy and easy to apply. I think the color looks almost exactly as the nail polish, so it’s quite fun wearing both at the same time. Color coordinated nails and lips, anyone?

Overall there isn’t anything bad I can say about these two products; except for perhaps the price tag which is of course in the higher ranges because this is a luxury brand. The nail polish goes for €21 (you know how I’m a fan of luxury nail polishes as they’re the perfect budget designer treat that’ll last you a long time) and the lipsticks retail for €34.50. Available only at Ici Paris XL in Belgium. 

A couple of months ago I was asked if I was interested in testing out one of the new Secrid mini wallets - after putting some thought into it (am I fashionable enough to actually review wallets?) I caved in: these wallets actually protect your cards against information theft! And they were really pretty too. Aaand I finally discovered a cute wallet that would fit my Banana Republic black studded mini shoulder bag. So I said yes. I went for the cognac reptile one, and it really is really, really pretty. Exhibits below:

(on my nails: OPI - Go Nutty For Donutty)

The brand is Dutch (hello neighbours!) and is pretty much sold worldwide now. They have some quite fashionable mini wallets like the one I got, but also a regular line of plain colored wallets in different sizes and with or without buttons. I’ve been using the wallet for my most important cards (I store five in the card protector), but have been carrying my regular wallet with me as well. It is very mini after all, and I am a woman so my wallet and bag are always stuffed with random things. So I’m hoping they’ll release bigger wallets as well, so I can fit all of my loyalty cards and whatnot in it and still have my cards protected properly.

If fits, it fits, it fits!

And I saved the best for last: I finally have a mini wallet that fits my gorgeous mini shoulder bag by Banana Republic! I got this cute baby while I still lived in London during sales, but have been disappointed since neither my phone or wallets seem to fit in it. I can’t change my phone, but I can switch to this mini wallet now! 

I’ve got this love/hate thing going on with glitter nail polishes: I love them and keep buying them, but I absolutely hate taking them off. I’ve written a post on my easiest way to take them off here. But there’s another option! Stick-on nails. I tested pink glitter ones by Elegant Touch. I would’ve never imagined actually liking these kinds of nails (I tried glue-on french mani nails as a teenager and nobody had the guts to tell me how horrible it looked), but these I’m loving! I wore them without any real reason (festive season is a great excuse for over the top glitter manicures) and they lasted me for two and a half days. I had to re-glue two of them, but the rest stayed put. 

I got the short ones and was quite surprised by how long these still were. I’ve been told I’ve got really long nails, so I can imagine that this is quite a surprise for girls with really short nails. Not to worry though: I just cut & filed them to the right shape. When taking them off they leave a bit of glue residue on your nails (most of the residue is left behind on the fake nails) but you can just pull it right off. These seem to be completely damage free, as opposed to glue-on nails or even gel or acrylic nails. 

Easy, peasy! I’m looking forward to more colors or designs in these kinds of stick-on nails. How awesome would it be if they’d make premade stick-on nail art nails? However they might need to find a shorter name for those..

Nail polishes used: Estée Lauder Pure Color Viper, So Easy Stripe Rite Red, So Easy Stripe Rite Green, Fit Flop Powder Pink, Essence Tip Painter, Rimmel London 60 Seconds Red, Essie Luxedo, ProNails N°271, ProNails Nail Art Marker Black

This summer I had been slacking on the nail posts because of the terrible state of my nails. Now, luckily, they’re back in shape and totally ready for loads of nail polish. A couple of weeks ago I got introduced to all the new and exciting things happening at Ici Paris XL (for those who don’t know the store: it’s kind of a local Sephora), such as some new products and extra nail polish colors in the range of their own brand ‘ONLY YOU’. I’ve featured these before as I quite love the quality of these polishes in comparison to their budget price: each lacquer goes for €4.95. Since this month there are 15 new colors in stores; which means there are 37 permanent colors & five seasonal editions available now. 

Straight forward packaging, fun names and interesting finishes from the looks of the bottles. I’m already totally smitten with Mystified! 

Wearing all five colors here: from left to right you’ll find Serendipity (base coat), Mystified, Happiness, Free And Easy and Sparkling. Serendipity is a very shimmery golden nude which covers in two coats. Will start off streaky, but that effect should go away with the second coat. Make sure you don’t use too many ‘application strokes’ to avoid that effect. Mystified and Happiness are looking gorgeous, so read on for a close-up of these. Free And Easy is greener than I expected from the looks of the bottle, but still features a golden touch. Two coats needed, but might look its best with three. Sparkling is a pretty shimmery brown and also needs just two layers.

How gorgeous are these? Mystified is a festive and sophisticated deep shimmery blue and gives perfect coverage in two coats. No streaks as you can see. Happiness is a straight forward girly shimmery pink which also covers in two coats. I think it pairs beautifully with Serendipity (as does Mystified). 

Available already in all Ici Paris XL stores! Limited editions are available until spring, I believe.

Not too long ago I got an e-mail from Estée Lauder about their new nail polish collections “Beyond Black” & “Metal Mania”. Obviously I was extremely excited when I got to try out three polishes from these collections that were inspired by Paris by night. Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux believes that Paris is absolutely beautiful by night, so he wanted to capture this other -quite naughty- side of the City Of Lights in these two collections. The ‘Beyond Black’ collection has five very deep, almost black sophisticated colors. ‘Metal Mania’ features five glamorous and glittery colors. Be sure to check out the video  about these nail polishes, it really captures the mood of the collection. And I absolutely love the model’s makeup! 

Even though I am not in love with Paris (I really believe that either you love Paris or you love London, obviously I love the latter), I truly am smitten with these polishes. The bottle is so chique (yes, I am quoting P’trique) and the polishes are of great quality. They apply very smoothly and you only need two coats for complete coverage. These are very pigmented! I was quite surprised to see them dry so quickly. Black Plum didn’t even need a minute to dry in between coats.

Viper is a very deep blackish green holding a light shimmer. This one is part of the Beyond Black collection and might possibly be my favorite. During the first coat I thought this one would need three coats, but just two were absolutely perfect. 

Fiery Hot is a brownish bronzy color (notice how I’m not too sure what color this is exactly?) with a beautiful and very outspoken golden shimmer. This one is very opaque, one coat would almost have been enough but the color gets more depth with two coats. I love how this one is so playful and sophisticated at the same time. 

Black Plum is a very dramatic blackish deep purple. There’s an almost unnoticeable silvery shimmer in this one. Needs two coats to get to the deep purple color, but be sure to apply the second coat very precisely over the first coat as the color difference between coat one and two is very noticeable. 

These are all very easy to apply & the brush is very controllable. The whole collection is limited edition, except for the color Bête Noir which will be a permanent color. I can’t really comment on how long these polishes wear as for some reason my nails don’t take nail polish too well for more than two days, but I’ve read some happy reviews on them. This was such a pleasant first introduction to Estée Lauder. The quality is so good! These polishes just scream Christmas Present For Your Mom/Sister/BFF if you ask me. In Belgium these are only available at INNO Nieuwstraat Brussels for a limited time and are priced at €21.00. You have my blessing. 

UPDATE: The polishes are not available up until Christmas as I first thought, but just until the beginning of October. So make a quick decision if you’re doubting!