Fashion for the holidays

Nearing the end of november I can't help but get excited, and slightly scared for december. December holds a lot of things for me. An incredibly busy month work and school wise, but of course christmas, new years and my birthday. Good lord, I'm turning twenty. Where has the time gone? 

Shallow as I am, the great question lies ahead, what am I going to wear? Up top there's a selection of high street fashion items that will be perfect for the holidays. All from stores with webshops, of course. To make it easier to navigate and shop these items yourself. 

The gorgeous light pink dress with rose colored gems on the shoulder is from H&M, priced at only €34,95 this baby was in my shopping basket before I could say "I really shouldn't". The purple gem necklace is also from the Swedish retailer. The nude bag is from my favorite store Zara, who are just spot on the last few seasons. The nude patent pumps are from Missguided, this country needs a store or 100 of this fantastic shop. 

I cannot wait to dress up for the holidays, to look pretty and sophisticated beyond my years. What about you?

Day 8: Metallic

I'd like to take this moment to look to the heavens and say: "Thank you for creating this polish!" A bit much? I don't know, but boy, do I love this polish. I was browsing the shelves of my favorite drugstore when I stumbled upon this little holo jewel from Gosh. I had been looking for a gorgeous holographic polish and this was just the one. Shiny and spectacular and just plain wonderful. 

It is called 'Holographic Hero' and that is just what it is. For the fish scale detail that I attempted was done with and assortment of pink polishes. Mostly Essie polishes, of course. Because I pretty much love every pink polish that came from the wonderful mind of Essie Weingarten.

Gosh - Holographic Hero

Essie - Lovie Dovie

Essie - Off the Shoulder

Essie - Watermelon

Essence - Free hugs

Some close-up shots of the gorgeous holographic pretty-ness.

Dotted Gradient

Fall has really settled in to this country. The weather has been bleak and gray and just plain awful the last week. I'm not quite ready to dive head first into the dark nails just yet. To brighten my day and mood I made a shiny bright and girly manicure. Dots are my thing, they're fun and easy. As I demonstrated before in this polish design with pink dots. 

Today I used a silver polish as a base and three different shades of pink for the dots. Essie is brilliant at pink creme polishes. She just gets them spot on every time. 

Used for this manicure

Essence Icy Princess

Essie Watermelon for the darkest dots

Essie Off the shoulder for the middle dots

Essie Lovie Dovie for the lightest dots

Dot to the top: A pink nail polish design

As much as I loved my galaxy nails they were already chipped horribly the next day. And I just don't like walking around with chipped nail polish. It's so not chic, haha. No, actually I'm not that anal about it. After banning nail polish for two weeks I was just desperately craving some fun nail designs and I wanted something new. Bring in the pinks!

I grabbed a random selection of pinks, red and purple from my ever growing nail polish collection and a couple of dotting tools in different sizes and set to work. And TA-DA! Here it is. A super cute girly pink nail design. I think it is perfect for spring, what about you?

I think this would be very nice with a minty base and blue and green as dots. Maybe something for later this week?

the polishes that I used for this particular look

ANNY Summer dream as base

OPI Honk if you love OPI

OPI Elephantastic Pink

Nicole by OPI Ink a dink pink

Catrice Raspberry Fields Forever

Paris Memories 204

INGLOT Freedom System Round Lipsticks [Review + Swatches]

My love for INGLOT is growing a little more everyday. Apart from their products being absolute dreams in application and duration, the girl at the nearest counter is just the most vibrant piece of humanity. She is so much fun, I can laugh with her and she informs me about the jokes going around among the department store floor staff. Sadly, Joyce was out sick when I visited yesterday. But there was another woman there who helped me perfectly. They are all just so nice.

Yesterday I added three freedom system round lipsticks to my ever growing INGLOT collection (the count is at 13 shadows, 3 lipsticks, a pigment, duraline and an amazing powder brush). And I didn't swatch them, not even in the store, until about three hours ago. And I am head over heels in love with all three of them.

INGLOT freedom system round lipsticks come in pan form, they do have some sticks, but I wanted a small palette with a number of shades I could just pop in my bag to always have an assortment of colors on hand. The lipstick palettes are available in the sizes 3,5,10 and 20. But the 3 pan palette is the only one that doesn't come in their signature magnetized packaging but in this little black matte box. It's perfect and light, yet it feels sturdy in your palm. It comes with a mirror and a little slot for a lipbrush to be put in. Perfect for on the road and when you're travelling and want a bunch of different colors.

I got the shades 34, a gorgeous light bright pink with a creamy finish on the lips. 90, an amazing vibrant purple color with a pearl finish. The shimmer in this one is to die for, even if I don't really care for shimmer all that much. And 09, an orange based bright red that works on nearly every skintone, again a creamy finish.

The pigmentation, as per usual, is amazeballs. This was done after just one light swipe of my lipbrush. You can really see the pretty shimmer of the purple lipstick in these photos.

And now for the swatches on the lips. All the pictures were taken in natural ligt, outside in the sun. Because the sun is really being kind to the Dutch people. Let's hope we can keep its company in the upcoming weeks.

34

90

09

They wear beautifully, you apply them with a lip brush which makes for perfect precise application. They cover fully after two thin layers (I don't like digging my brush into the product, it's so scary). The formulas are creamy and absolutely not drying on the lips. I've worn 09 for four hours now, had a snack and a glass of water and it has not faded. Which means the staying power is pretty good. I'm testing if they are smooch proof tonight, haha.

I really enjoy this lipstick and I think I will get another palette soon. And maybe some disposable lip applicators, because toting around a lipbrush and some rubbing alcohol to clean it seems a little silly.

A palette of three INGLOT freedom system round lipsticks retails for €15, the pants contain 1.2 grams or 0.05 US OZ.

Essence Stay With Me longlasting lipgloss review

I think I have said it countless times, but I am definitely a lipstick girl. That, however, does not stop me from buying lipglosses. I shamefully admit that I have a basket filled with lipglosses. I would like to say they are the colors of the rainbow… but they’re mostly pink. I think it’s the displays in the shops. Where all the colorful tubes are lined up under warm fluorescent lights, they just tempt me, lure me in. Oh boy, I really am pathetic when it comes to having self-control, right?

Enough chit chat, let’s get down to business. Today I bring you a review of the Essence ‘Stay With Me’ Long lasting lipgloss. Essence is a brand that has been growing on me lately. Their nail polishes have time and time again proven to be great. I own about four of their gel eyeliner brushes because they are perfect for.. well, gel eyeliner. But they work like an ABSOLUTE charm on my brows. And let’s not forget to mention that their limited editions are often adorable and introduce us to brand new products and interesting colors. But the most important part…

IT’S ALL DIRT CHEAP!

So, the fact that I hardly wear these glosses and will probably never finish them before they go dodgy, is slightly less shameful knowing I only paid a tiny amount of money for them…

And now for the actual review…

This is what essence says about these lipsticks.

“The name of this lipgloss could not be more appropriate: if you try it once, you'll never want to give it up again! the color-intensive texture is so wonderfully creamy and durable – without leaving a sticky feeling behind, that it's simply irresistible. the special shape of the precision applicator allows an effortless application. Six trendy colors are waiting to awaken those spring feelings and invite you to a creative styling session!”

Do I agree? Yes and no. They are alright when it comes to color, as you can see on the swatches below. And the applicator allowing effortless application… effortless maybe not, but it certainly isn’t difficult. It works better on your bottom lip than your upper, but it’s certainly a nice change to your usual doe-foot applicator.

Me and My Icecream | My favorite milkshake

Bare lips

Me and My Icecream

My Favorite Milkshake

But the formula not being sticky, wonderfully creamy and last but definitely not least when a lipgloss is labeled ‘long lasting’ durable. I’m not so sure. Well actually, I am sure. They’re just not.

They aren’t creamy, they are sticky. Like regular sticky lipglosses. And while sticky lipglosses do tend to last longer on lips, this is going to need reapplying after you have a drink or a bite to eat. God forbid, a kiss from your boyfriend. Though I have yet to meet the man that doesn’t mind a lipgloss kiss. They also have a quite artificial sweet smell, but if you don’t mind flavors and scents added to products, then that shouldn’t be a downside.

If you don’t mind the feeling and stickiness of lipgloss, then these ‘Stay With Me’ lipglosses are perfect for you. I will store these little tubes in my lipgloss basket and whip them out when they are appropriate for the look I am wearing. Probably just tutorials, or looks of the day.

Essence Stay With Me Long Lasting Lipgloss comes in a 4ml tube and it’s recommended retail price is €1,99.

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: Aretha's R-E-S-P-I-N-K

A new 'on wednesdays we wear pink' post. I can sit with the plastics again this week. Last monday I picked up a few new nail polishes. Catrice has a new range of colors, complete with a new wider set brush. And let me tell you, it works divine. I managed to paint my nail with two or three strokes. And the colors are really nice as well. I'm showing you the colors in the haul video that I added to the bottom of this post.

Aretha's R-E-S-P-I-N-K doesn't only have a hilarious name, it also has a great vibrant pink color to it. I love rocking this hot pink color on my nails.

On Thursday I wear pink?

flash

Had this post shot and ready for yesterday, but I was so sick that I neglected to log on and post it. So today, I'm straying from the rules and I'm wearing pink on Thursday. I guess I'll just sit with the cool Asians instead of the plastics today.

This color is from Paris Memories, remember the review post I made on the budget nail polishes in January. If you haven't yet, go check it out. These polishes have some really nice funky colors and they retail for under a euro!

This is the first time I have worn #256 on my nails and I was pleasantly surprised. The gorgeous baby pink creamy polish left my nails looking fresh and cute. I'm in love! Now, I still haven't gotten my hands on the Nicki Minaj for OPI polishes, but I think this might be a pretty close dupe of Pink Friday. We'll know soon enough.

no flash

pink lips collection

I am one hundred percent a lipstick kind of girl. There is something empowering about rocking a bold color on your lips. Or being in public and whipping out your tube of color and a small pocket mirror to reapply that gorgeous shine on your lips.

It is statiscally proven that men are more attracted to girls with lipstick on than girls who chose to skip that part of their makeup routine. Lipstick is my weakness, whenever I enter a drugstore I cannot withhold myself from purchasing some sort of lip product.

My favorite color is probably pink. It’s feminine and bold enough to make a statement, but it isn’t as ‘over the top’ as a bright red. Because red is for special days, when you really want to feel like a knockout. My collection of reds is coming soon, but today I bring you my collection of pink lipsticks.

fltr

chanel rouge coco in Jersey Rose, catrice frozen rose, NYC blue rose, loreal intense fuchsia, NYX matte lipstick shocking pink, MAC pink nouveau, rimmel lasting finish by kate moss 05, rimmel color showoff pink gossip, maybelline color sensational feel pink, 2be lipstick in 02

WARNING! MAJOR LIP OVERLOAD!

Chanel Rouge Coco in Jersey Rose. My first Chanel lipstick. It's the perfect pinky my lips but better color. I wear it whenever I feel like wearing lipstick, but don't want something super bright.

Catrice Absolute Color in Frozen Rose. Not sure about this color. Not even sure if I ever wore it outside of the house. I feel like it's too light on me. Maybe with the right eye look? Who knows, will give this a try soon enough.

NYC lipstick in blue rose. Did I blog about this one? I forgot. I do remember taking pictures of it and writing a post, but I forgot if I ever published it. If I didn't. If you layer this on, it's a pretty good MAC show orchid dupe.

L'Oreal lipstick in Intense Fuchsia. Love the color, hate the formula. No matter how primed, exfoliated, moisturized or baby-bottomed my lips are, this ALWAYS looks dry. And not to mention what it does to my lips. Ten minutes of wearing this and they are like a dessert.

NYX Matte Lipstick, I'm really sure that I blogged about this one when I first got it. Still in love with it. Really should wear it more often. It's such a gorgeous cool toned pink. And the matte formula, wonderfully, doesn't dry my lips out too much. It does transfer like a mofo, though. Which is always fun when you drink from white starbucks cups...

MAC pink nouveau. Blogged about this one a few weeks back. Still love it. Wear it at least twice a week. It has become somewhat of my signature color.

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss lipstick in 05. This one was a little disappointing. I love the finish and the formula of this one. But the color is a little meh. It looks much richer and prettier in the tube. But the moisturizing glossy finish that it gives more than makes up for the disappointing color payoff.

Rimmel Color Showoff in Pink Gossip. This was one of my first brighter colors. Think I wore it three times. Shame on me.

Maybelline Color Sensational in Feel Pink. A nice pinky nude. Perfect with a heavier dark smokey eye

Ugh. Frosty. Way too light. Did I mention this was less than a euro? I bought this way back when I still spent 10 euros a month on makeup. Oh the times....

That's it for my pink lipstick collection. I'm now quite excited for the red collection? It will of probably be posted somewhere along the course of the week. Because when I think about having to swatch and photograph all of those... Oh the stains.

Oh, and just to give an impression of the mess I made while preparing for this post.... I present to you. My desk.

fuchsia fun times

everything except shoes H&M / shoes Primark

Note to self. Make sure the settings on your camera are ready before you let your mom take the pictures. The shirt is a little overlit. But, stay tuned, because a video will be added to this post soon. So you can see the shirt in its full glory in a day or maybe two.

Also... angry face. I know. Did I mention that it was -4 outside, I was freezing my ass off. Smiling is a challenge...

On Wednesdays We Wear PINK [NOTD + review]

On Wednesdays we wear pink! I'm joining this movement. In the movie Mean Girls the plastics wear pink every monday. And the OWWWP-movement liked that so much that they incorporated that little rule into their daily lives. Instead of rocking a pink clothing item, we rock a pink nail. So, that's a different pink nail polish every single week. You don't have to do it every week, but it's a great initiative. You can click the link at the beginning of the post and sign up yourself. They have pretty buttons you can put on your website/blog!

The color of choice this week is ANNY's Summer Dream. I spent the remainder of my giftcard on this polish. I had seen the display a couple of times before but was never really tempted to check out any of the colors. But the other day I was looking for a nice new pink polish and started browsing the display. I came across this color and instantly fell in love with it.

ANNY is a German nail polish and nail care brand. They have 108 different colors of polish plus a trend collection that changes once every couple months. Right now they are selling the It's Snow Time-collection.

This nail of the day is an absolute RAVE! I wish I could kick myself in the head for not trying these polishes before. They have such a wonderful range of colors and finishes, they paint onto nails beautifully, dry really quickly and the best part..... THEY DON'T CHIP.

I put this color on my nails last friday, I worked that night and the day after. And that day of working included me constantly dipping my hands in water whilst cleaning every nook and cranny of the store. And the first chip appeared YESTERDAY. Oh yeah, did I mention that I hadn't applied a top coat? (I know, bad Kelly)

I want more of these colors, I'm sure I'll expand my collection with some nice colors for spring and summer! Probably a yellow, a blue and a nice bright red. And we'll see what the next trend collection brings...

ANNY nail polish comes in a 15 ml bottle and retails at Douglas for €9,50. (That's the same size bottle as OPI but about a third cheaper. And my OPI polishes start chipping the next day even when I'm wearing a top coat)

I want to make another pro/con list. But to be honest, there are no cons. The world would really be perfect if they were just a little bit cheaper. But I'm willing to pay for great quality. Are you?

MAC Pink Nouveau Lipstick Review

After turning nineteen I got so many giftcards from Douglas that I had no idea what to spend them on. I really needed to stop buying nailpolish before my new storage system would already be too small, and I was kind of through with buying things that I needed. And then I realized that there are some Douglas stores in the Netherlands that carry MAC products. I called one of the stores to ask them if I could use the giftcards for these products as well. And I could!

So after classes last Friday I travelled to the nearest city that carried MAC makeup and started browsing the counter. The lovely man there helped me pick a lipstick. I told him I wanted something bright and bold, that still could work during the day. After trying multiple colors and formulations we landed on Pink Nouveau. And ding ding ding we had a winner!

Apparently, Pink Nouveau is one of MAC's best selling lipsticks. Lady Gaga has claimed to be obsessed with this lipstick for years and it is the lipstick that she based her first Viva Glam on. Which is why they are so similar in color.

Lady Gaga wearing Pink Nouveau. It's a stunner, isn't it?

Pink Nouveau is a satin finish lipstick. Which means it's quite opaque and matte on the lips with just the tiniest bit of sheen. It glides onto my lips perfectly when they are moisturized. It wears for quite a long time and doesn't feather into the small lines around my lips. It does feel a little bit drying on the lips, but that is nothing a little lipbalm/chapstick doesn't fix.

Pink Nouveau is a blue toned bright pink color. It's a color that works on most skintones, however, if you are really yellow toned and have pigmented lips it can look more purplish on you. Which might not be your look, but you'll have to see for yourself.

If you are looking for a bright pink lipstick that has great wear and works during the day with a simple eye make-up but also works gorgeously with a little more dramatic look for that special occasion. I wore it to a party this weekend and the guys were so entranced by my applying lipstick that they asked to have it applied as well. I confess, there might have been some alcohol involved.

I am in love with this lipstick and have pretty much been wearing it ever since I bought it. It's quickly becoming my signature color and I am definitely repurchasing.

PRO

- gorgeous color

- long wearing

- works on most skintones

CON

- quite expensive

- bit drying on the lips