Vintage Polka Dots!

Hello everyone!

Spring is here, pastels are dominating the stores and a romantic mood is in the air. As a result I decided to paint my nails in a vintage inspired pattern with a romantic colour scheme that combines pastel with nude to give a softer look,

OPI's "My lifesaver" (see earlier post) and Nails Inc's "Basil Street" combined perfectly to create a beautiful manicure with a vintage feel.

This look is subtle and girly and can be created easily with the tip of a pencil!

I definitely recommend mixing nudes and pastels for this spring and be as creative as you can by creating pastel dots of different colours and sizes on each nail. The result will still look coherent because of the same colour pattern and you can definitely show your playful side. ;)

Until next time,

love

Kristine <3

Fluffy Pinks and Fashion News!

Hello!!!!

I discovered these cosy socks at Christmas and I've been loving them ever since. So I got the idea in my head to try and recreate their colour scheme and this is the result!

Basically I painted my nails with a pearly white polish (I used OPI's Play The Peonies) and when it dried I tapped big drops of that nail polish and of a pink one (MaxFactor's Dusky Rose) and mixed them on my nails with a toothpick. The result is what you see here, with white and pink mixing together for a nice effect.

After doing that I thought it would be a fun idea to try and stick some blue chunks that I found and see how they worked on my nails. So I used some top coat and there they are! I think they make a sharp contrast and make this romantic base a bit more edgy. Overall I was satisfied with the result but I have to say that putting the chunks at the bottom of the nails made them look shorter than they are which I didn't like so I would only try it with longer nails next time. As for the nail I filled with the blue chunks I think it would have looked neater if they were a bit more apart but it depends on the effect you are going for. Also you need to be patient if you mix polishes on your nails because you'll be creating a very thick layer that needs a lot of time to dry completely. 

And now for the news! I will be going to England next week and I found out that I will be exactly in time for Norwich Fashion Week!! I am really excited about that because there's so many events and I am looking forward to them! I will probably be doing some shopping and I will have new things to show you and hopefully I will get to do more outfit of the day posts!

So, that's it for now. See you soon!

Love,

Kristine

On Top Of My Electric Blue World!

Hello!!! 

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! You might have noticed that electric blue has made an appearance in a lot of runway shows and in my opinion it's the evolution of the sky blue shade that everyone was wearing last summer. Metallics and glitters were everywhere this winter and naturally they will be present for spring and summer with more vibrant hues.

The polishes above are Maybelline's Mini Colorama in Electric Blue and Nicole by OPI's On Top Of My World from the Justin Bieber collection. Naturally when I saw there two polishes I had to have them and I'll explain why. First of all, this blue shade is my second favourite colour (the first being very vibrant purple) and I had been searching for a metallic blue for a long time. As for the glitter polish I thought it would be the perfect way to add some glitter on any manicure because it's very sheer and it can not cover the nail but just add some extra depth.

So what I did here is I used the electric blue as my base colour and then I added a couple of coats from the glitter and I changed the texture of the blue from a metallic to a holographic glitter effect. This way you can use your polishes for two different finishes just by a few strokes of s sheer glitter. I think it's clever and it saves you money. 

All in all I have been very satisfied with the end result and I will certainly be wearing this combination a lot this summer!  Also I would advise you to seal the polish at the top of the nail just to keep the polish from chipping because it kind of looked prone to do so, although I have to admit it did not chip at all for the five days I was wearing it. 

So, I hope you enjoyed this post and you got some ideas. I really feel the need to tell you you should experiment and play around with colours and not be afraid of vibrant colours. The world is a very colourful place! ;)

Love,

Kristine

Beauty UK Review & Swatches

Hey there! 

I wanted to write this review since I got these products but I thought I should try them out for a little while. The brand is called Beauty UK and I got it from Superdrug. I think none of these products were more than 5 pounds so I thought it was a very good deal!

Eye palette in 'Smoke Screen'

This palette is ideal for a smokey eye in cool colours. It starts from white to grey and blue and black and if you combine these colours you can get a number of smokey eye looks. The two gel liners give different finishes for even more variety. The palette comes with a double sided brush which has a fluffy shadow brush and an angles eye liner brush. I found that the liners stay in place very well. The shadows need to be built up to achieve maximum opacity but I think for a smokey eye that you blend a lot anyway it is better to build up than to have too much pigmentation you can't get rid of. Swatches from left to right:

Eye shadow palette in 'Soho'

With all the craze about neutral natural colours I have had some trouble to find a palette with nice bright colours that make your eyes pop. So I was very pleased to find this one and I immediately got it! Most of the colours are very pigmented and when you put them in your eyes they show up very bright. I suggest you apply them very lightly if you don't want something extremely bold. I on the other hand LOVE bold colours and I think these shades will give the est pops of colour for spring and summer, especially with a bit of a tan. Also one thing you need to pay attention to when you apply them is fallout. If you are not careful there might be some fallout under your eyes which you can sweep away with a powder brush. Don't use your fingers because you might smudge it all over and you don't want that. Swatches from left to right, top row first.

 And a closer look..

Blush in 'Baked Peach'

For me this is an autumn/ winter colour. It's a warm colour and it is buildable on your skin so you can put the amount you want. Personally I don't like very obvious blush so I avoid very pigmented ones. I like this one because you can wear t very sheer but if you want something more obvious you can just put some more on and you're done. 

And here is the brand's website if you want to check it out:

Smoke Screen: http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/products/eyes/eyeliner/no3-smoke-screen

Soho: http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/products/eyes/eyeshadow/no2-soho

Baked peach: http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/products/face/no4-baked-peach

Let me know what you think about those products and if you try any of them. Also feel free to ask anything I might have forgotten to cover in the review.

Love,

Kristine

I Love You Berry Much!

Hello!!!

I know it's a bit early (I will have classes all day tomorrow so I won't have time to do my nails or post anything), but, Happy Valentine's Day! I created this manicure to celebrate love!

Using H&M's Berry Love as a base and a pink polish with a thin brush by Kiss Nailart Paint for the stripes I created this simple design and then I put some pink hearts from a huge nail art set I got from Peacock's for 2,5 pounds!

 

I think It's a cute, girly design you can easily create and it looks adorable! Especially if you have short nails the stripes will make them appear longer! Yay for optical illusions! ;) 

  

 And now for a small confession. I used to feel lonely on valentine's day and I thought no one would ever like me and give me flowers and chocolates.  And I would say the whole day was just an excuse to sell heart shaped things to gullible people. But then I thought that love really deserves its own day and you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to. There's so much more you can do to show people you love them. And I don't mean just a boyfriend or girlfriend. I believe you have to start by loving yourself and realising how special you are because everyone is different and that makes each of us unique. So start by treating yourself to something you want. And then show you family that you love them by doing something nice for them (offering to cook dinner would be an idea) and then go tell your friends how important they are to you because together you create the memories you will have for the rest of your life. If you are confident enough and up for it you can give compliments to random people and smile to everyone. Spread the love!

As for me, I decided to treat myself to this pair of stud earrings from Tally Weijl for 8 euro because studs are on trend now and I always seem to break mine after a while so I keep needing new ones. 

Also, I was in the supermarket and I saw this box of chocolates and I decided to get them. The actual thought was "grow up woman! if you want a fancy box of chocolates just buy them!". I don't need my boyfriend to buy me chocolates, I need him to be there when I need him and I want us to be silly together and laugh and cuddle and love each other all year round. If this day celebrates love then I will celebrate all the people I love in my life! 

And that's it for the day. Until next time,

LOVE, 

Kristine

Neon Leopard Nails!

Hello!! ^_^

So, basically, a few days ago I asked on facebook what colour I should paint my nails because I was not very inspired and the reply was red, yellow and blue. So I took it as a challenge to create something fun with these colours and here's the result!

 I think leopard print is a really fun pattern to play with and I hadn't tried it before so I thought these colours would make a good unusual combination!

I painted my nails in neon yellow, then added some big red dots with the nail polish brush and then I did the blue details with a thinner brush for nail art.

I really liked the result but I don't think it suits this dull freezing weather we have right now. My nails feel completely out of place. I will make sure to repeat this colour combination in summer when there is sunshine and warmth. ;-)

Nail Polishes used:

Neon yellow: ? (the name has faded because I have it for years.. definitely a greek brand though)

Red: Berry Love by H&M

Blue: by Kiss Nail Art (part of a set) 

And here's another close look of the design. Let me know what you think about it!

Love!

Kristine

L'OREAL Color Riche Lipsticks

Hello!

Today I thought of showing you my favourite lipsticks! I found that the ones that work best for me are the L'OREAL Color Riche ones, especially the serum series (first 3).

I got the red one in summer and I basically wore that almost every single day until December when I decided to get a few more colours because they are such good lipsticks! 

The shades from left to right are True Red, Radiant Rose, Light Chocolate and Plum Passion. Plum Passion is the only one that's from the simple color riche line (not the serum one) and it's a little bit harder than the others but you can fix that with some lip balm before putting it on. 

I found that these stay on for a decent amount of time provided you don't eat anything because then they will come off. But I love the colours and the consistency so much that  I think reapplying my lipstick after a meal or in the middle of a night out during a small trip to the bathroom is totally worth it. Besides, no other lipsticks I've tried have stayed on the entire night and usually they would come off in a way that made my lips look dry. So I think these ones are a lot better!

Here you can see swatches of all four. They are really pigmented so you get a very good amount of colour without having to use a lot of product to build it up which personally annoys me.

All in all, I think these are beautiful colours and I am definitely going to buy more of this series!

Let me know if you have tried them and if you have a favourite shade!

See you soon!

Kristine

French With A Twist: Sparkly Pink

Hello!

Who loves a french manicure with a twist? I know I do. So I used these colours to create a red-pink glittery manicure that is adorable and will certainly stand out.

I used the light pink colour "Play the Peonies" by OPI as a base for my glitter, then I put 2 coats of "Eenie Meanie Marry Me" from the Justin Bieber collection for Nicole by OPI, then I did my french tip with a red mini OPI polish that doesn't have its name on it so I don't know it and I made a line to sepparate the two colours with a gold nail art pen to give it more definition.

I love "Play the Peonies" as a base colour here because it lightens the fluid of my glitter and makes it pink instead of red. Also as a polish it is creamy and applies very nicely on the nails.

 "Eenie Meanie Marry Me" is a beautiful glitter but it does need a few coats because it's very very sheer and fine and it will need a lot of coat to cover the entire nail.

As for this red, I'm not particularly fond of it because I prefer matte reds instead of shimmers but it went well with the sparkly theme of the design. If you can recognise the shade please tell me what it is!

So this is my current twist on the classic french manicure. I think it would be great for valentine's day or for a first date. Let me know if you like it and if you try to recreate it!

Love!

Kristine

OOTD Pink Jacket & Polka Dots!

 Hello! 

So, I went out for coffee with my best friend and I felt like dressing up. I bet you can see the sun around me but it really is still quite cold. However I absolutely can't wait for spring so I thought I'd add a bit of colour to my outfit and bring spring to my day!

 

Top: Zara

Trousers: Stradivarius

Jacket: Bershka

Scarf: Bewitched Accessories

Bag: Primark

Shoes: New Look

Necklace: Forever 21

Ring: Primark

Tell me what you think about this outfit and if you can't wait for spring like I do! 

Love!

Kristine