NotW: New Year´s Nails

As New Year´s is just around the corner, I wanted to share with you this New Year´s inspired nail design that will go pretty much with anything you chose to wear that night and is super easy to do.

How to recreate this design:

1. Apply two coats of OPI "Wondrous star".

2. Once your nail polish has dried (and it has to be completely dry otherwise this next step won´t work) apply one coat of Essence black crackling nail polish. You can apply a second layer where needed. I found that some places needed a little touch up because you could barely see the black polish. Applying the second layer while the polish was semi wet was no problem at all and as you can see it worked perfectly.

3. Apply a coat of your favorite top coat and voilà.. you´re done! 

I hope you enjoyed this design!

What nail design are you planning to wear on New
Year’s?

xoxo, 

Christina 

Update 2: Finish 6 by Xmas

Feel free to check out my previous posts on the "Finish 6 by Xmas" TAG here and here.

Double drum roll please.... after about 2 months I managed to finish 5 out of my 6 products and I am very happy about it! As I anticipated before I wasn´t able to finish my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in "Espresso" but I will keep working on it until it is done.

Bobbi Brown tinted moisturizer
It was the wrong shade for me and to be honest I realized that I prefer foundations over tinted moisturizers due to the coverage and lasting power. I am more than thrilled to have finished this because I have been working on using it up for about a year.Bobbi

Brown gel eyeliner in "Espresso"

I really like the Bobbi Brown gel Eyeliners because to me they have the perfect consistency (not too liquid and not to dry) and the color pay-off is very rich. Plus they last forever on my waterline, better than any eye pencil I have tried. While I like this dark brown color I think I prefer black, so I will (re)purchase that one the next time.

Maybelline the eraser concealer in "fair"

This is the wrong shade for me which is why I won´t repurchase this exact bottle. However I do love this drugstore concealer in the shade "light". It has a medium coverage, works great underneath the eyes and lasts quite well thrughout the day. It is definitely worth checking it out if you haven´t already.

Urban Decay original primer potion (travel size)
Works great on my oily eyelids and I can´t imagine my life without it. I want to try out some drugstore eye shadow bases to see if there is something that comes close to this base. I can definitely see myself repurchasing it in the future. Especially because this little travel size lasted me about 6 months.

Catrice lip liner in "rosewood"

It was a good lip liner. I just don´t reach out for nude/rose lip liners so I don´t think I will be repurchasing this one or any other nude/rose lip liner in the future. I noticed that it did prolong the wear of my lipstick and it didn´t try out my lips like some others tend to do.

 

Urban Decay lip gloss (sample) in "Naked"

I really liked the minty taste; unfortunately after using it consistently it seemed to be drying out my lips. I don´t think These are available anymore but if they were I don´t think I would repurchase it.

How did you do on your "Finish 6 by Xmas" products ?

xoxo, 

Christina 

NotW: Holiday Nails

I just finished painting my nails for the holidays and wanted to share with you what I came up with. I really like how no matter what outfit I am planning to wear over the next couple of days it will match my nails. Call me dorky, but I love my nails to complement my outfits, especially this time a year.

How to recreate this design:

1. Apply two coats of Essence "Hazelnut cream pie".

2. Carefully with the help of a sponge stamp on your fingertips with a white nail polish color. You basically want to achieve a faded French nail design.

3. Now to the fun part. Take some black stamping polish and stamp snowflakes across the tips of your nails. I used the Konad stamping plate m59.

4. I added red rhinestones to give the design a Holiday inspired look. You could also go with green and red rhinestones or chose whatever color you prefer. If you don´t have any rhinestones at hand, why not use a dotting tool (or toothpick) and a fun nail polish color and paint little dots in the center of the snowflake. 

5. Last but not least and to make everything stay in place, apply a coat of your favorite top coat and you´re done!

What are you wearing on your nail this Christmas?

xoxo, 

Christina 



Make-up declutter: out with the old and in with the new!

Recently I shared with you the nail polishes I decided to part with (here), today I want to share with the make-up products I am purging.

 I don´t see the point in keeping a product that changed it´s consistency or smells (like the Lancome lipstick and Too Faced lip plumper) as I don´t want to risk some sort of allergic reaction or something similar by using a product that has clearly expired. That is not something I will engage in, as simple as that.

If the pigmentation of a product is really bad (like the Rimmel eye shadow), there is a lot of fall out (e.g. this Catrice eye shadow) or that the color of it simply looks weird on me (Catrice blusher and bronzer) chances are I will not be keeping it either. 

  

I usually like to go through my collection twice a year and have a closer look at everything I own and if needed purge certain items. If I haven´t used a certain product in a while (and with while I mean years) I probably won´t start  doing so anytime soon (e.g. MNY lipsticks).

 A positive side effect of going through my collection was, that I got to rediscover some products I had almost forgotten about. Plus I now have some extra storage place and that can never hurt. 

I can only encourage you to go through your collection every now and then. That liberating feeling you get once you declutter is priceless, trust me ;-)

Have you also decluttered your make-up collection recently? If so, what items did you purge?

xoxo, 

Christina  

NotW: Catrice "Steel my heart"

While I was going through my nail polish collection, basically decluttering it (check out my previous blog post for more details) I rediscovered this nail polish I had almost forgotten about. 

I am talking about Catrice "Steel my heart" which is a grey/coal nail polish color with subtle multicolor glitter. As I wanted to bring out the multicolor glitter even more I added a coat of the Basic transparent multicolor nail polish (which unfourtunately hasn´t a name or number on it).

I am really impressed how it turned out and super happy about the simple yet elegant this nail polish looks.

  Have you rediscovered a nail polish you had almost forgotten about lately? If so, which one?

 xoxo, 

Christina 

Nail polish declutter - bye bye teal!

  

Every now and then I like to go through my make-up and nail polish collection and throw or give away products that for some reason or another I am no longer using.

Today I want to share with you the nail polishes I decided to purge and the reasons why I am doing so.

At some point in my life I must have thought I needed to have every nail polish color out there, otherwise I can´t really explain why I purchased these swimming pool blue look alike shades and these dirty green/teal ones. Let alone why I have two or three identical ones that I just never use. I really don´t like how these colors look on my nails which is why I never reach for them. Reason enough to let them go and pass them onto somebody that might enjoy these colors.

I also decided to purge the "P2" white crackling top coat. I really like the effect the black one gives but this white one just looks weird and there is no point in keeping something I know I am not going to use.

The OPI nail polish (“Shimmer Shimmer”) dried out which is why I am tossing this one away. I am sad to see this one go but then again I have so many other beautiful glittery shades that are just waiting to be used.

 

Have you done some decluttering lately?

 

 xoxo, 

Christina 

NotW: Essence "Only purple matters"

I love love love the color of this nail polish!! The purple with the fuchsia sparkles is just right up my alley, which is why when I saw the color I had to have it. Sadly, it is not fun to apply. It takes hours for the nail polish to dry and the application is anything else but smooth because the polish comes out quite thick out of the bottle. Anyway, I tried my best and making this work and I at least wanted to paint my nails once with it. 

How to recreate this design: 

 

1. Apply two coats of Essence "Only purple matters". Really make sure that this first coat is completely dry before applying the second one. As the nail polish comes out quite thick this might take a little longer than usual. Ok, a lot longer than usual (it took me about 40min). Maybe you can try applying a fast drying top coat before applying the second coat as it help the polish to dry faster.

 

2. Once the nail polish is completely dry (this is essential, as otherwise you will be smudging everything everywhere) I stamped this flowery design from one of my Essence stamping plates (unfortunately I can´t tell you which one, because I don´t see a name or number on it).

 

3. Apply one coat of your favorite top coat and place a rhinestone in the middle design. I chose this blue one because I liked the contrast between the purple/fuchsia with the blue.

 

4. Finally apply another coat of top coat to make sure that the rhinestone will stay in place and voila! You are done!

 How to you feel about a nail polish color that look so beautiful in the bottle but is complicated to apply?

 

xoxo, 

Christina 

 

Monthly Empties: November 2014

Another month has past which means another empties post is due. So let´s get started.

Aquafresh mouth wash // 500ml // £2

I like my mouth wash to have a strong mint flavor. So far my favorite, are Listerine mouthwashes, because they have exactly that. Every now and then though I like to try other ones, which is why I bought this Aquafresh one. While this mouthwash did a good job I have to say I still prefer the Listerine one over it, because the taste is stronger. Therefore I won´t be repurchasing it. However if you like a milder mint taste to your mouthwash, this might be a good candidate for you. 

Nivea happy time shower gel // 250ml // £1-2

Nivea shower gels are one of my favorites out there. They smell amazing, foam up nicely and I do really feel that they are moisturizing, compared to other shower gels I´ve tried. This particular one smelled like fresh squeezed oranges, perfect for a wake me up in the shower. 

Pantene Pro-V 3 Minute deep conditioning // 200ml // £2

I am really sad this conditioner is empty. This used to be my favorite deep conditioning treatments when I was in High School. Unfortunately they discontinued it a couple of years ago and I can no longer buy it, otherwise I would in a heartbeat. Soap and Glory 

Body sugar crush buttercream // 300ml // £10,50

This smells exactly like a lemon pie, amazing! I you haven´t smelled it, go now! No, honestly, I don´t really get so excited over a smell but this one really made me jump up and down the store. On top of smelling really good, it also did a great job at moisturizing my skin. The body cream has a nice consistency, it´s not too thick or thin, so it is easy to rub into your skin. I will definitely be repurchasing this one. 

Soap and Glory body sugar crush scrub // 300ml // £8

The body scrub smells exactly like the body butter. While I clearly love the scent I wasn´t too impressed of the peeling effect. I wish it felt more sugar alike, like fine grains. The scrub is very thick, so it´s very hard to rub the product onto your skin. I always felt I was wasting the product because half of it would land on my skin and the other half in my tub. I won´t be repurchasing this one, sadly. 

Essence nail polish remover // 100ml // £1-2

A good nail polish remover for little money, definitely a repurchase candidate. 

Essence stamp polish "white" // 5ml // £1.50

My favorite white stamping polish. I mentioned it in my "nail essentials post" if you want more details. 

Essence nail polish corrector // 4,5ml // £2.50

I always have one of these at home. It´s perfect to clean up the edges of your nails. Neadless to say I already repurchased one. 

L´Oreal Triple Action moisturizer // 50ml // £4

It was a good moisturizer, but it didn´t do anything amazing. As I want to try other ones, I won´t be repurchasing it anytime soon but I might in the future.

 

 

What did you use up lately?

 

 xoxo, 

Christina