Beauty Vibes

NOTD: Teddy Bear Nails

2012-01-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I'm a huge fan of nail art that is inspired by animals, and today I want to show you a 'Nail of the day' that's inspired by teddy bears! Below, I'll show you all of the nail polish I used & I've included a bit of a mini tutorial as well (...well okay, just some step by step pictures). If you'd like to see more animal inspired nail art, I suggest clicking on the 'animal inspired' label at the bottom of this post! ;)

Let's take a look at the nail polish I used! I wanted to spice things up a little and used multiple bright shades this time. (I used the peachy one in the middle for my thumb by the way, but it can't be seen in any of the pictures). I really like how the yellow and green nail turned out though, so next time I'll stick to one of those colours. Skittles nails can be fun but I'm secretly more of a matchy-matchy kinda girl ;) Okay, moving on to the nail polish! 1: H&M, Turquoise kitty. 2: H&M, Pink kitty. 3: Essence, What do u think? 4: Models own, Lemon meringue. 5: Catrice, Sold out for ever.

But there's more ;) What you see above is what I used to paint the bears & to add the details. 1: An old black liquid eyeliner. 2: H&M, Get a rose 4 me. 3: Lemax nail art striper in white. 4: MNY, 549. 5: KOH, Vintage pink.

Some of my nails look a little bit messy because I took the pictures before I removed the nail polish from my cuticles etc., my apologies! It is very simple to paint the bear shape though, and for the details you'll only need a dotting tool (or something similar) and/or a couple of nail art stripers.

Yup, I think the bear looks the best with the green background! ;)

Pretty cute!

If someone has a suggestion for my next animal inspired nail art, please let me know! Maybe something with zebras or penguins?

Hello Kitty cell phone case for sale!

2012-01-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I started decorating cell phone cases (you can find my DIY post here), and the phone case above was actually the first one I made. Unfortunately it's for the BlackBerry Bold 9700/9780, back then I ended up buying this phone in stead of the BlackBerry. I've never had the chance to use this cell phone case but I have been adding a bunch of extra rhinestones after I published the DIY post. It's even more sparkly now, and it's looking for a new owner!

I've added a couple more pictures below, the cell phone case is covered with more than 1200 rhinestones in multiple sizes and colours (pink and crystal) and trust me, they won't come off so easily! I've made a couple other cell phone cases with the same kind of glue and I've never lost a rhinestone.

Interested in purchasing the cell phone case? You can leave a comment below or email me! I'm not asking for a crazy amount of money (Luxaddiction is a nice example of how expensive these cell phone cases can be), but because it took a lot of time to make this I do find it hard to put a price on it. Just make me an offer (keep in mind that you'll have to pay for the shipping as well) and I'll reply as soon as possible!

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, chocolate chip cookies are probably the most delicious cookies in the world. They are very simple to make, but they taste awesome! Today I'm going to share the chocolate chip cookies recipe I always use, it's a pretty standard recipe but you could always adjust it a little (you could replace the chocolate chips with M&M's or add nuts for example). Just experiment in the kitchen and have fun!

Here you can see what you'll need to make the cookies, there's one product in the picture I didn't use (those crayons thingies in the middle which you can use to decorate cupcakes etc.) but I listed the ingredients I did include below:

Before you get started, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (or 190 degrees Celsius) and grab your favourite apron. Time to make some amazing cookies!

Let's start with mixing the butter, the sugar and the vanilla extract. I used cane sugar this time, but I actually prefer brown sugar (it gives the cookies a darker colour). When everything is mixed together, you can add the eggs one by one.

Now you can add the salt, flour and baking soda. Slowly add all of the dry ingredients and continue the mixing. Then it's time to add the chunks of chocolate! (A bag of chocolate chips would probably be easier...but I'm not sure if they actually sell that in my country. I kinda like the chunky bits of chocolate though! Although I guess I should have called them chocolate chunk cookies in stead eh? Oops...)

Now you can use those muscles to knead the dough. When you're done with that you can roll out the cookie dough with a rolling pin. Oh, and you should have enough for about 50 cookies ;) Yum!

I like using a cookie cutter to get a perfectly shaped cookie, but you could use anything you like (or just shape them with your hands).

Last but not least it's time to bake them (about 10-15 minutes) until they're golden brown. Let them cool completely on the baking sheets before you move/eat them. (The picture above shows what the cookies look like before they go into the oven, they'll get bigger!).

I hope you like the recipe and if you do decide to make them: bon appetit! Enjoy your cookies :)

My favourite products of 2011

2012-01-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Some of you might be already tired of hearing it, but happy new year! Personally I'm extremely excited about 2012, I hope to get my bachelor's degree this year and my second goal is to get my own place (and an adorable cat to live with of course!). However, right now I'm still enjoying my holiday break and really wanted to update my blog again, too much time has passed since my last post! Today I'm going to show you my favourite products of 2011. I still use a lot of my 'favourites of 2010' (with the exception of the LE gel eyeliner, foundation and concealer) so if you'd like to see more of my all-time favourites I suggest taking a look at that blogpost as well! Below you can see my favourite products of last year (I've added the links to the reviews as well):

L'Oréal True Match Foundation: I exchanged my Maybelline Superstay Foundation for True Match by L'Oréal a couple of months ago. Superstay is still a bit of a favourite, but I prefer True Match because it looks more natural on me and gives me a bit of a glowy/dewy finish. The lightest shade (Rose Ivory) is also the perfect match for my pale skin. I'll repurchase this over and over!

Essence Silky Touch Blush: I have the shade 'Adorable' and even though I'm not a huge fan of blush, I do love this one! A perfect everyday blush for the pale skinned ladies out there.

Sleek Luminaire Highlighting Concealer: I don't use this when I need/want flawless coverage, but it's the perfect tool to use when you want to look fresh and bubbly! Didn't get enough sleep? Grab this concealer and no one will notice.

Beauty Essentials Make-up Sponges: In 2011 I developed a love for make-up sponges, since I've been using a sponge to apply my foundation I have never used a brush or my fingers again. Sponges give me better coverage and they do the job very quickly.

Eye Charm Lash Glue: I wouldn't say that this is the best lash glue out there, but it's definitely not a bad one! I prefer using this one over others because it comes with a handy little brush and it's super cheap.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion: It's fantastic stuff! I don't use this every single day (it is a bit expensive) but it's one of the best eyeshadow primers out there.

Louise Young Essential Eye Palette: This is probably my ultimate favourite, I use this every single day. The eye shadows are very pigmented and super easy to blend. It has the perfect highlighter, the perfect shade for my brows and the black works great as an eyeliner.

MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick: I'm a lipstick junkie (I have a crazy collection of NYX lipsticks), but this one from MAC has been my favourite lipstick for months now! If you're also a fan of that bubblegum pink shade, you might like my 'comparison post' ;)

Sleek Wonderlast Lipgloss: Okay, Pink Parakeet is not the most wearable shade, but this is really a great product! I was seriously amazed the first time I tried it, it's SUPER pigmented. Oh, and if you like pigmented lip products, I'd definitely take a look at the Sleek Pout Paints as well.

MUA Nail Polish Shade 17: I thought it was a simple clear nail polish at first, but it turned out to be an amazing base coat! It really forms the perfect protective layer between my naked nails and nail polish. MUA has great eye shadows as well, but that's a different story.

Derma E Cleansing Enzyme Mask: Did I save the best for last? Probably! I haven't written a review yet, but I can already tell you that this mask is incredible. It comes in a tube, dries hard, doesn't smell weird, is easy to remove and it made my irritated skin soft and smooth again! A real lifesaver.

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my favourite products! What kind of amazing products did you discover last year?

EOTD: Shimmery Lavender

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Long time no see :) I planned to update my blog a lot sooner but the weather kinda messed things up. Most of the time it's already dark when I get home from school or work, and if I have a day off it tends to rain like crazy which makes taking pictures nearly impossible! Luckily I got to see a bit of sunshine today, so I decided to create a 'sweet and soft' day look with the help of my Metallic Stones palette.

Since I'm not blessed with long and flirty lashes, I cut a couple of false eyelashes in half and used those as a finishing touch. I love how they open up my eyes and make them look bigger! False eyelashes can be a bit overwhelming sometimes (especially when you wear them during the day) but I don't think that they are very noticeable like this.

The picture on the left is without lipstick or eyeliner on my waterline (it was still raining when I was doing my make-up, so when it stopped raining for a couple of minutes I wanted to take advantage of the pretty light!). The lipstick I'm wearing in the picture on the right is the MAC Viva Glam Gaga lipstick, which is still one of my favourite lipsticks. I'm in a bit of a 'not wearing blush' phase at the moment though, when I leave the house my cheeks almost instantly turn red because it's so cold outside, so I decided to just skip that step to save myself some time. Nah, I'm just kidding! ;) I've never been a huge fan of blush to be honest, my skin is super pale so I'm always afraid that I mess things up and end up looking like a clown...not sexy!

New Layout!

2011-11-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

Some of you might have noticed already, but the layout of Beauty Vibes has changed! It was a spontaneous decision, it felt like I've been neglecting my blog for quite a while so I just wanted to give it a brand-new look! My old layout was pretty fresh and a bit Spring/Summer ish, but it's a whole different season now so I wanted to go for something 'warmer', if that makes any sense. I might still change a couple of minor things, but overall I'm quite happy with it!

The past couple of weeks have been very hectic (I've been studying for a very important exam, my current research is slowly coming to an end and next week I have a couple of internship interviews...this final year is pretty tough!). I'm learning a lot though, and I can't wait until I get my hands on my Bachelor's degree :) The only downside is not having a lot of time to blog, but thankfully my 2-week vacation is getting closer (thank God for Christmas!).

Well, let me know what you think of the new layout! I hope that everything is working properly :)

Kitten update!

2011-10-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Ben and Beau are 7 months old right now, so it was about time for another kitten update! (In case you missed the previous updates, you can find them here, here and here you can read how it all started). I included a couple of pictures of our other Ragdoll Lara as well (as usual) because she's also part of the little cat family. All three of them love to ~~hang out~~ sleep in my room, which will explain the lack of action shots ;)

Personality wise both of the kittens are wonderful. Beau is like a little ball of fur that just follows you around wherever you go carrying his toys with him and Ben is such a goofy cat, he's obsessed with sparkly things and pretty much anything that moves. I'm not sure if it's truly going to happen (since there are some risks involved) but I'd love using one of them to breed a litter of Ragdoll kittens in the future!

Below you can find all of the pictures I collected the past couple of weeks:

Lara

Beau

Ben and Beau

Beau

Ben

Beau (he definitely likes to snuggle)

Lara and Beau

Ben

Beau

Lara

Ben

Ben and his 5 star apartment

Beau

Ben

EOTD: Inspired by Rain

2011-10-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! The weather is a tiny bit depressing over here, but at least all that pouring rain did give me some inspiration! Above you can see the really easy eye look I created, my mornings are a little hectic since I started working at the hospital so I became a pro at coming up with simple & quick make-up looks! This was one of my 'just chilling at home' EOTD's though, I like to go for a more neutral look when I'm headed to work. (Even though I work with books and computers, and they wouldn't really mind bright eyeshadow or a bit of pink lipstick). Below you can see all of the products I used for this EOTD:

I wouldn't be able to survive without the Essential Eye Palette from Louise Young. This is my 'everyday make-up' palette and the lightest shade of brown is one of my favourite eyeshadow shades, perfect as a subtle crease colour or to fill in eyebrows. For this look I used the beige colour from the palette as an highlighter, the brown in the crease (and for my eyebrows) and the black as eyeliner. I also used a Too faced eyeshadow in the shade Vixen, with the 'Sapphire' eye pencil from NYX underneath it as a base (which I applied near my lashline and blended upwards for a smokey-ish effect. Oh, and I also used vixen on the lower lash line!). Finish it with a layer of mascara and you're done :) It really is a super simple look, but it still has a bit more colour than my everyday look.

My inspiration~

How to make Chicken Nuggets

2011-10-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

I love to cook and do my best to eat healthy meals as often as possible, but once in a while I just crave junk food! When I looked for some cooking videos on Youtube I came across the one below, it immediately caught my attention because 1) the guy has a lovely accent and 2) he uses a packet of crisps for this recipe. Chicken and crisps?Yup, sounds like a pretty unique combination! It's super fun and easy to make chicken nuggets though, and you can use bread crumbs if you're not really a fan of crisps. However, I never turn down a challenge so of course I used the packet of crisps! ;)

You'll need lots of sliced chicken (I used two chicken breasts), a mixture of 1 egg and some milk, flour, olive oil (not in the picture) and a smashed packet of crisps. I picked Ham and Cheese crisps by the way, it tasted quite nice! Still don't know how half of the packet mysteriously disappeared though...

Take your piece of chicken and dip it in the flour...

Then you can dip it in the egg & milk mixture

And now you can roll it around in the potato chips crumbs!

You can fry the chicken nuggets in a pan with a lot of (olive) oil, just make sure that the oil is super hot. I let them stay in there for about 10 minutes because I like the golden brown kind of chicken nuggets, don't forget to flip them half way through! ;)

Tadaa~ I think that they look delicious!

Review: Lumiere Mineral Cosmetics

2011-10-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know a lot about mineral cosmetics, so I was really excited when Lumiere Cosmetics offered to send me a couple of samples. They specialized in mineral make-up and pay extra attention to your skin type. Light or dark, oily or dry...Lumiere has something that will suit you! I personally find it really useful to see a whole list of products that suit my skin type, it makes it super simple to find a good match. Without that bit of extra information I just go for pretty bright shades, which actually look horrible on me. If you're interested in the prices I suggest taking a look at their website, because the price depends on how much product you purchase. (They sell sample baggies, sample jars, full size jars, XXL jars etc.).

The eye pigments I received look gorgeous, this one is called 'Glimmer Green'. (Medium citrus green with shimmery green flecks).

'Teal Shimmer' (Rich blue green with a slight sparkle).

And this is 'Ditto 07' (Soft magenta pinky-purple).

Above you can see 'dry swatches', but you could use a base underneath or a wet brush to make the colours pop even more. I don't really think that they need it though, these shades are quite pigmented! Ditto 07 is not as pigmented as the other two, but it has a gorgeous shimmery finish.

Here you can see two different looks, the first two pictures show what it looks like when you mix Glimmer Green and Teal Shimmer, the other ones show a look I made using Ditto 07.

I have two of the blushes, Sweet Cherub and Wild Rose. This one is Wild Rose, which is described as 'a subtle blend of burnished peach with a slight rose tone'. It's a very natural looking shade and a little bit of it goes a long way.

Sweet Cherub is a silk blush and described as a 'Creamy nude pink with a soft brown undertone and slight gold shimmer'. It's a bit darker than the previous shade and a little bit hard to blend.

Top: Sweet Cherub, bottom: Wild Rose. As you can see, they are very nice shades if you have a light skin tone.

When I read 'fair cool, flawless face' on the back of this sample jar, I felt a little confused at first, but luckily Lumiere Cosmetics has a great website with clear product descriptions. Fair Cool is actually a foundation, I have the 'Flawless face' formula which is for normal to dry skin, has a medium to heavy coverage and a matte finish. Unfortunately it's too light for me, so I can't show how it looks on my face.

I also have the same shade in a 'Cashmere' formula, which is suitable for all skin types, has a light to medium coverage and a semi matte finish (you'll end up looking a bit silky, hence the name Cashmere!). This one did work out for my skin tone, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised! I didn't expect to like mineral foundation (I feared that it would be a mess to work with, and that it wouldn't give me a lot of coverage) but it actually works great. It feels very light, is easy to blend and it made my skin feel soft as well.

Here I'm wearing the Cashmere foundation, two of the eye pigments and the Sweet Cherub blush. On the lips I'm wearing the 'Soft Pink' lipstick from Avon.

If you're interested in mineral cosmetics, I'm sure that Lumiere has something you'll like! I especially like their blushes and the Cashmere foundation. Even samples will last you a while, so don't be afraid to try something out ;)

FOTD: Mauve over!

2011-09-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Long time no see! In case you're wondering how my life is going : my work as a researcher is still a bit of a challenge sometimes but the hard work is starting to pay off, I also try to go to the gym as often as I can (okay...once a week). I spend most of my time in front of a computer but I'm definitely learning a lot at the moment. I'm slowly getting used to the 'nine-to-five' days and finally have a bit of extra time to blog, so I wanted to start with a simple FOTD (which is technically more of a 'Face of ten days ago, but oh well!). I'm not sure if it's really noticeable, but my hair got cut as well. I'm not overly excited about it because the layers are pretty messed up and uneven, but I didn't feel like going back to get it fixed. I might still want to dye it in the near future, for some reason I always get the urge to dye my hair when Fall gets closer.

In the picture above I'm wearing the lovely pout paint called 'Mauve over' from Sleek, the rest of the make-up is super simple. (Just some eyeliner, mascara, foundation/powder and blush). The blush is one of my favourites, the 01 Roseflower blush from The Body Shop.

Some of you might remember my posts about making your own cell phone case, I thought it would be fun to show my new one! I wanted something that wasn't too girly, so I only used black rhinestones and just a few decorations (including an old necklace). I feel like decorating a brush holder next time, or maybe even one of my eyeshadow palettes. We will see, I'll definitely show the results on my blog! :)

And I'll do my best to update my blog more often, I'm feeling quite inspired at the moment so it shouldn't be that hard!

The Sleek Pout Paints: Swatching all of them!

2011-09-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Before I start to rave about the pout paints, I want to thank everyone for being so awesome. I was afraid that I'd get a few negative comments (after my decision to spend less time writing blog posts and more time focusing on school) but everyone is super supportive! It really means a lot to me, I lost a whole lot of pressure and can happily blog when I have the time without having to worry about school stuff.

Okay, enough about that, let's take a look at the Pout Paints from Sleek! ;) These babies are 5 pounds each and can be found over here. I got my hands on all of the shades (boyfriends can do crazy things sometimes) and I love every single tube. Let's take a look at some pictures!

There are eleven gorgeous shades out there (although I definitely hope that they'll add more colours!). Sleek offers us a nice mix of neutral and bright shades, and all of them are super pigmented. As an artsy person and lip product lover, I just fell in love with them at first sight! Okay, they are not incredibly long-lasting (although not that bad either) and the bright shades can be a bit tricky to apply, but that is no biggie.

From left to right: Peek-a-bloo, Lava, Pin up and Cloud 9.

From left to right: Rosette, Port, Pinkini and Mauve over.

From left to right: Milkshake, Minx and Peachy keen.

First row, from left to right: Cloud 9, Lava, Pin up and Pinkini.
Second row, from left to right: Mauve over, Milkshake, Minx and Peachy keen.
Third row, from left to right: Rosette, Port and Peek-a-bloo

My personal favourites are Milkshake, Minx and Rosette. Cloud 9 and Peek-a-bloo are great products to have if you like to create your own shades. I still have to experiment with Peek-a-bloo, but I love using Cloud 9 to make all of the other shades a bit lighter. Below are the full face pictures! (I asked my sister to help me & we actually flipped a coin to decide who got swatch 'shade number 11' and she won...unfortunately the sunlight wasn't very flattering that day).

From left to right: Cloud 9, Milkshake, Pin up, Port and Rosette.

From left to right: Lava, Mauve over, Minx, Peachy keen, Peek-a-Bloo and Pinkini.

I hope that this post is helpful to some of you! I plan to show these pout paints more often, I still have to mix some colours to create an unique shade (if you know a fun combination, or if you are interested in a certain combination, please don't hesitate to let me know!).

Cutting back on blogging!

2011-09-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

I already mentioned it on Twitter the other day, but I'm going to cut back on blogging. Now that the summer break is over I really need to focus on getting my Bachelor's degree! (I have one more super important year to go). I'm currently working at one of the largest hospitals of my country (The University Medical Center Groningen ) as a researcher. Every morning I go to the Centre for Medical Biomics, a laboratory where they focus on Nutrition and Metabolism. My job? To find the best infant formula for healthy and malnourished infants. I mainly look at the carbohydrates but I also look at the metabolism of infants and how they currently treat malnutrition. It's all part of my thesis, but if I work hard enough the research might even get published. Yes, this 20-year-old lady is doing exciting things!

However, a 40-hour workweek is taking its toll and since I don't live right next to the hospital (I spend a lot of time traveling back and forth) I have very little free time left. When I get home, I just want to eat something, take a shower and jump into my bed. Blogging is something I simply don't have the time for, I really have huge respect for all the blogging and working ladies out there! I can't find a way to combine the two, and because I do find my degree more important than my beloved hobby, I have to invest less time in my blog. I don't know how often I'll be blogging or if I'll even return to my normal way of blogging, but I can tell you that I won't completely disappear. I still have some swatches of the Sleek Pout paints to show you guys!

DIY: Yogurt & Honey Mask

2011-09-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Vanilla & Honey lip scrub from a couple of days ago wasn't my only DIY project, I also made a yogurt mask (with some honey and olive oil)! I read that yogurt is very good for sensitive skin, so I couldn't wait to give this DIY mask a try. I always get my facial masks from the store, so a cheaper and perhaps even better option was more than welcome!

You will need:

A table spoon and a bowl
1 tbs of yogurt
1 tbs of honey
a few drops of olive oil
(old foundation brush)

Time to mix everything together!

Next time I want to use a thicker kind of yogurt, because we (my sister joined my little project) ended up with a bit of a 'see-through' mask. We applied the mask with an old foundation brush and left it on for about 20 minutes before we washed our face. After using the mask my skin felt super soft! Even the next day it felt really soft and my skin looked a bit brighter than usual. I'm definitely going to use this mask more often! I love eating yogurt, so I'm happy that I can use it for my face as well ;)

Review: LANDBIS Liquid Eyeliner Pen

2011-09-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is going to be my third review for KKcenterHK, and this time I'm going to take a look at the eyeliner pen from Landbis. I like to apply eyeliner with a small angled brush (I use gel eyeliner or matte black eyeshadow) so an eyeliner pen was definitely new territory for me! I was very curious though, because it always looks so easy to use. And since eyeliner is part of my 'everyday make-up' routine, I couldn't wait to try this one out!

The packaging is really simple. I would have liked a bit of an eye-catching design (like their Golden wild leopard eyeliner) but I'm sure a lot of girls can appreciate the simplicity of this product.

But here comes the bad news: it's not super duper pigmented. You can build up the colour until you have a nice rich black, but that will take some patience.

Here I kept building up the colour until it looked decent. The eyeliner pen is definitely easy to work with, although it's not as precise as I expected (it's pretty hard to make a thin line). Perhaps I just need to practice a little more! ;)

What I do like about this eyeliner? It stays perfectly in place, even though I did rub my eyes a couple of times. There's no flaking or smudging, but it does leave a bit of a stain behind after you remove it. It's not very noticeable, but still something you might want to keep in mind when you use this product.

If' you're interested in trying the Landbis liquid eyeliner pen yourself, you can find it right here at KKcenterHK for $5.85.

NOTD: Spring Flowers

2011-09-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Summer is almost over (and Spring is definitely over) but it's never too late for a colourful manicure with some flowers on top! ;) It's a super simple NOTD, the perfect kind of inspiration if you're not very good at nail art or looking for something that won't take a lot of time. Unfortunately I didn't have a lighter shade of blue, it would have made the grass 'pop' a little more. (Although the bright sunlight didn't really help either, I just love taking pictures outside).

I used Turquoise Kitty from H&M as the base colour, and a couple of green shades to paint the grass. (Spring Green by BarryM, Sea of Green by Catrice and Mediterranean Green by KOH). I used a nail art brush to paint the grass, but a green nail art striper would probably work even better. The flowers shaped beads are from Ebay, but you could also use Fimo, nail art stickers etc. Below are a couple more pictures! :)

DIY: Vanilla & Honey lip scrub

2011-09-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I'm a huge fan of lipstick, so I always do my best to keep my lips in a smooth and hydrated condition. Dry and chapped lips make lipstick look horrible after all (although it can also work vice versa, since there are also certain lip products out there that can make your lips feel dry). That's why I was really looking forward to this little DIY project: making a nice lip scrub to exfoliate the lips! There are all sorts of 'recipes' out there, but I wanted to add some vanilla extract to give the scrub a nice scent. I just looove the scent of vanilla!

What you need:

2 tsp of (cane) sugar
1 tsp of honey
3-4 drops of olive oil
1 drop of vanilla extract
A bowl and a spoon
(Toothbrush)

Now you can mix it all together!:)

You can use your finger to apply the scrub, but I decided to use a toothbrush to help me with the scrubbing.

I scrubbed my lips for about 2-3 minutes (with gentle, circular motions) before I washed everything off. When you are done with scrubbing it's really nice to apply some Vaseline or a lip balm for extra moisturization. This was actually my first 'DIY lip scrub' project, but I'm definitely going to do this more often! If you know some nice lip scrub ingredients, please leave a comment below to let me know! ;)

My 'Back to College' look

2011-08-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I thought it would be fun to show my basic everyday make-up, this is how I do my make-up when I go to class and stuff. (Although technically I'm not going back to college, I'll work in a hospital as a researcher for a couple of months, which is all part of my thesis). This is basically a 'my face but better' look, perfect for school or work!

Here you can see my face without any make-up and how it looks when I wear my everyday make-up. It's pretty much the difference between 'hey...are you sick today?' and 'oh, you look pretty!'. Even though I don't mind walking around with no make-up at home or in a grocery store, I love how it can make me look healthier. Below you can see what I do to prettify myself!

-I start with applying day cream and eye cream
-I fill my eyebrows in with Maowi (a taupe), which is a shade from the Essential Eye palette.
-I apply the L'oréal True Match foundation with a sponge (on bad days, I use the Superstay foundation from Maybelline as a concealer first)

-I line my upper lash line with Black Bear (black), it's from the same palette as Maowi

-Then I use Ting (very light beige, same palette again) all over my eyelid & browbone, and add a bit of Maowi in the crease

-I curl my lashes and apply mascara
-I apply a blush (I love using Adorable from Essence) and set my make-up with a bit of powder
-I finish the look with a nude-ish lipstick, such as Lazy Day from MAC

As you can see, the eyes look really simple. If I'm in a rush I just skip the eyeshadow, but I always line my lash line because it defines my eyes and gives them that little bit extra.

What does your everyday make-up look like?

How to: Removing glitter polish with the foil method

2011-08-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

I love using glitter nail polish, but I absolutely hate removing it. I did hear about the foil method before but it just seemed a bit scary to me, the thought of soaking my nails with a lot of nail polish remover made my heart cringe. So I kept scrubbing my nails like crazy after every glittery manicure, until I got a bit sick of it and started to avoid glitter polish. After a while I really started to miss the sparkly glitters, and the foil method crossed my mind again. I decided to give it a try, with the help of some hand cream of course! ;)

You will need:

-nail polish remover (I used an acetone/alcohol free one)
-cotton pads
-scissors
-aluminum foil
-small elastics/rubber bands

Before we get started I'd like to show the manicure I wanted to remove (our cat Lara clearly didn't like it much). It was some sort of grey leopard-ish look with 2-3 layers of multicoloured glitter on top.

I started with cutting the cotton pads in quarters

After that I soaked them with a generous amount of nail polish remover

I placed the pad on top of my nail and used a rubber band to make sure that it would stay in place

Then I cut the foil in smaller pieces and wrapped it around my finger

After I was done with the rest of my hand, I waited about 8-10 minutes...hoping for the best

Wow, it really worked! I was a bit worried that my acetone free nail polish remover wouldn't be able to do the trick, but my nail is perfectly clean!

The glitter is all on the pad now, although my nails and cuticles did feel very dry after this 'treatment'. It's definitely a must to pamper your hands and nails with some cuticle/hand cream after using the foil method. My nails didn't get weaker though, so I'm happy and relieved!

How do you remove glitter nail polish?

NYX round lipstick swatches: Wearable Pinks

2011-08-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about sharing NYX swatches, but because making lip swatches can be a bit time consuming I quickly forgot about the idea. A couple of days ago my sister reminded me of the enthusiastic plans I had, and I agreed that it would be a shame to toss all of that away. I love the NYX lipsticks, and I know that swatches can be very helpful if you're trying to pick a suitable colour for yourself! We decided to make little groups to keep things fun, and today I'm going to start with the wearable pinks. (Why pink first? Because Ben, our lovely assistant disguised as a kitten, loves pink shades). Since I don't own all of the wearable pinks I'd still love the help of others though! You can read the post I mentioned for more information :)

I'll post all of the shades I have below, and update this post when I have more swatches to add. There are probably 2 more posts coming, one with nudes/oranges/browns and one with bold shades (hot pink, deep red, lavender, etc.).

(you can click the picture for a larger view)

If you would like to help me out (=allow me to add your swatches to this post with credit of course) don't forget to leave me a link below. They don't have to be all pink shades of course, the other shades will follow very soon! And if you would like to know when I update this post with new swatches, I suggest following me on twitter (it will be easier to share the news there).

I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Mini lip gloss swatches

2011-08-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I noticed that I have quite a few unloved lip gloss mini's/samples in my make-up collection, it's about time to try them out and swatch them! I'm more of a lipstick girl and only use lip gloss if I want to give my lips a bit of a shine, so these little ones just ended up in a random drawer. I decided to swatch them all at once to make the post a bit more interesting, you know what they say: good things come in small packages! ;)

Here we have Urban Decay XXX Shine Gloss in Earney, a super glossy pink shade. I'm not a huge fan of 'lip gloss in a tube' and this one feels super sticky (although that does mean that it lasts very long). It makes my lips tingle as if I'm using a lip plumper.

Another lip gloss from Urban Decay, called Lip Gunk in Biker. It's a bit of a nude/beige with micro glitter. This lip gloss kinda makes me look like a zombie, but I do love the packaging and the unusual shade of the lip gloss!

This is the tiniest sample/mini lip gloss: The Baby Doll Super Shine Lip gloss from Hard Candy. A cute and subtle pink shade, with the perfect amount of glossiness. It's not very sticky, but it has a bit of a funny (very sweet) scent that is not really my cup of tea.

The Max Factor Vibrant Curve Effect Lip Gloss in Majeste is another nude/beige colour. It's very glossy and it's definitely a lot more wearable than Biker. It's quite long lasting as well, I like it!

Last but not least, the Sleek High Shine gloss in Sweet Sixteen. A very glossy, non sticky pink shade with shimmer. It's not very pigmented, but it is very long lasting.

What do you do with lip gloss samples? Do you use them or throw/give them away?

EOTD: Heart of Gold

2011-08-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Whenever I tell my little sister that she can borrow whatever she likes, 9 times out of 10 she will grab my Naked palette from Urban Decay. I can't blame her -it really is a beautiful palette- but every time she borrows it I do blame myself for not using it often enough! I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've been using the palette...Well, it was time to change that!

I decided to go for a gold/smokey ish make-up look today. Not too crazy but not too neutral either. Besides the Naked palette I also used a matte white (as a highlighter) and a matte black as eyeliner. On the waterline I applied a bit of eyeliner pencil from Rimmel London in Jet Black, I added a layer of black eyeshadow on top and it lasted all day long!

I've used Virgin, Half Baked, Darkhorse and Hustle.

On my cheeks I'm wearing a tiny bit of Bronzer (2true Bronzing powder in shade No.1) and on the lips I'm wearing Lazy Day from MAC. I'm super happy with my new earrings as well (I got my hands on them during a sale, so bought them for only 1 Euro!). They go perfectly with the make-up :)

How to: 'Neon Owl' Nails

2011-08-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's time for another animal inspired manicure, this time I got inspired by a white (stuffed) owl! In stead of using white I decided to go for a bit of colour though, since it rains quite a lot over here and...well, do you even need an excuse for fun looking nails? ;) Below you can see a couple of pictures that will show you how you can get your own 'Neon owl' nails!

I started with a blue base colour and layered a couple of bright shades on top (pink, green, purple, yellow and orange. Unfortunately you can't see the pink owl because my thumb is not part of the picture). After that I added the eyes and the 'bellies' using a colour that was a couple of shades lighter than the owl. Last but not least I added some details with a black nail art striper.

I find them super cute! Although I do prefer the yellow owl, that one seems to match better with the blue. If you like a more 'real' looking owl you could always go for a white/brown/grey shade of course! Just make sure that you use pigmented colours, since you'll be layering 3 different shades on top of each other. I used a lot of the Barry M nail paints, they're very pigmented and they dry fast as well :)

FOTD: Midnight Blue

2011-08-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today's FOTD is not very extraordinary, but I do like the eyeliner a lot. I secretly suck at the winged/cat eyeliner technique, but I'm pretty satisfied with the way it turned out this time. I kept the rest of my make-up very simple (because the silly winged eyeliner took me forever). I'm wearing a little bit of the Pixie Pink blush from Sleek on my cheeks and on my lips I have NYX Power, one of my favourite lipsticks!

Here you can see a close-up of the eyes with the 'midnight blue' waterline (I used the shade Vixen from Too Faced for that). I also used a matte white (from the NYX Strike a pose palette) and a couple of shades (black, beige and brown) from my Essential eye palette from Louise Young. I love using black eyeshadow as eyeliner, it's very easy to work with and also very easy to remove if you do make a mistake.

Oh, and feel free to give me some 'winged eyeliner' tips! ;)

H&M order

2011-08-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

Even though I accepted the fact that I’ll never be a fashionista, I am getting more interested in clothes! I’ll always be a make-up junkie, but I don’t want to have an insane amount of make-up that will expire at some point. I decided to invest in some basic clothing and saved up a bit of money so I could buy a couple of ‘wardrobe essentials’. Well, I still love sales and low prices so it’s not a huge investment, luckily nice clothes don’t have to cost a fortune! And that’s exactly why I love H&M, they offer a great selection of clothes, shoes, accessories etc. for an affordable price. In this post I’m going to show you the things I ordered from their website. I never ordered something from their online store before, but it all went pretty smooth! I think that they could improve the product information a little bit, but the pictures are detailed and I got a discount code as soon as I signed up. Below you can see the things I ordered:

I planned to get a couple of waist belts, black tights and simple black flats. I’m not sure how it happened, but I ended up with a couple of more items! I found a nice cream coloured cardigan for only 4,95 Euro, a nice necklace for 2,95 Euro and a pair of Treggins for 9,95 Euro. I’m a huge fan of Jeggins and didn’t even know about Treggins yet (trousers + leggings), so of course I wanted to try one! I paid 39.50 Euro (includes the shipping) for the whole order. Not bad if you ask me!

In the near future I’m going to write one big post full of all the ‘wardrobe essentials’ I purchased, I just wanted to show you guys a little preview! There are still a couple of things I’m looking for (such as a nice blazer and trench coat), but I’m not really in a hurry. I guess I kind of enjoy hunting for the perfect clothes! ;)

What are your wardrobe essentials?

Review: Sleek Curaçao palette

2011-08-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw this palette, I just knew that I had to have it! I love bright colours, and this palette definitely has plenty of brightness! The Curacao palette is one of the latest limited edition palettes (from the Caribbean collection) and full of bright and fun looking shades. Inside this palette you'll find a matte red, a shimmery hot pink, a matte yellow and a whole lot more. Be prepared, because this palette will challenge you to get creative!

The shades might not look very extraordinary (or maybe I just have too much make-up), but you still get great pigmentation for an affordable price! If you want to add some colour to your make-up collection without paying a lot of money, this palette would be a great option. You get a nice mix of matte and shimmery shades for only 6-7 pounds.

Let's take a closer look at the shades! As I mentioned earlier, most of them are pretty common. There are still a few shades that caught my attention though! Blue Hawaiian is a bit of a minty blue and Tequila Sunrise a pretty burnt orange with shimmer. The shimmery shades in this palette crumble a bit more than the matte ones, but overall I didn't have a lot of fall-out problems with this palette.

Here you can see the swatches (with no base, primer or anything like that). Blue Hawaiian is a bit of a disappointing shade, but Tequila Sunrise and Martini are really gorgeous! Purple Haze can be a bit difficult to blend, but still has very decent pigmentation.

Green Iguana is one of my favourite shades, it's a gorgeous green that makes me think of mermaids. Green Martini (what's up with all those 'Something Martini' names?) is a bit of a shimmery olive green. Sleek addicts probably noticed that the famous Noir got replaced by Espresso Martini, a matte black that doesn't seem to be as black as its big brother.

Green Martini is a little less pigmented than the others, but it's not as bad as Blue Hawaiian. The matte red (Bloody Mary) and matte yellow (Screwdriver) are great shades to experiment with! Green Iguana is just pure love, I'll be using that shade a lot.

Some (online)stores still sell this beauty, so if you want to get your hands on it I'd hurry up! It's a great palette if you like to play around with colour, I'm positive that I'll be using it a lot for future make-up looks! ;)

New kitten update!

2011-08-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Our kittens are almost 5 months old now, so it's time for an update! If you missed my previous posts about our kittens, you can read more here and here. They're both getting so big, but I'm glad that they aren't as wild and crazy as they used to be. Beau is a real charmer and loves to snuggle, Ben is more of a little bad boy. He snuggles when he feels like it, but most of the time he just runs around looking for a toy to play with or he's chewing on something random. They are both incredibly sweet though, and they love to sleep in my room. I added a few pictures below, and of course I couldn't forget to add a few pictures of our older cat Lara. She is still the diva in this house ;)

Ben is in love with the dog bone, he likes to steal dog food as well...I wonder if he knows that he's actually a fluffy kitten

Beau is trying to hide himself

Sleeping in the cat hammock (I don't think it will fit when he gets even bigger...)

Hmm, he's probably dreaming about food

Lara and Beau sleeping next to me

Ben taking a nap

Ben (in a not so flattering pose) and Beau

Yes Lara, you are a pretty kitty ;)

Ben the little Fluffball

Ben and Beau (yup, they sleep a lot)

Beau again

My 'cheezburger cat' picture of Beau. He's so adorable when he's grumpy (he just wanted more cat treats)

I hope that you enjoyed the update! I know that there are a few fellow cat owners out there, so feel free to leave a comment with a picture of your own pet(s). I'd love to 'meet' more cats! (Or dogs, bunnies, birds, fish etc.).

Review: Sleek Luminaire Highlighting Concealer

2011-08-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is one of the last Sleek products I'm going to review: The Luminaire Highlighting Concealer. I don't use concealer that often (a 'good coverage' foundation is enough for me) but the highlighting effect of this concealer caught my attention! It promises to add moisture and brighten the skin, conceal blemishes and fade imperfections. Like most ladies out there, I like the look of a nice glow on my face. And for just £6.49 it's not crazy expensive either. Time to test this product out!

Here you can see a close-up of the brush, as soon as you click the pen a bit of product will come out. It might take a few seconds, so don't be impatient like me and click like some maniac because it doesn't seem to work right away. You'll get a concealer overload!

I have shade 01, the lightest (it's a bit of a salmon pink) shade. The texture is quite thick and it dries super fast, which can make it hard to blend the concealer. I always click a bit onto a clean finger (my finger warms the product up that way) and then I'm ready to apply the concealer where I need it (usually around my eyes, nose and chin). Applying a moisturising eye cream before you apply this concealer helps it to blend as well. The first time using this product I applied concealer on all of my problem areas but when I wanted to blend the concealer it was already drying and it ended up looking streaky and weird. If you work on one problem area at the time and use your finger (or a damp sponge) to work with, the final result will look a lot nicer.

It won't give you a flawless coverage, but it definitely helps you to look more fresh and awake. It didn't manage to cover that horrible red spot I have at the moment, but it's a very nice tool to hide those under eye circles. It brightens the skin in a subtle way (you won't look shimmery/shiny or anything like that) and it is very long-lasting. I like it!

If you're looking for something with good coverage (to cover spots, redness etc.) this won't be a good match for you. But if you are looking for something with medium coverage that highlights the skin as well, you might like the Luminaire Highlighting Concealer!

NOTD: Pearls and Ribbons

2011-08-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

I love girly manicures, anything with flowers, sparkly rhinestones or ribbons will put a smile on my face! This 'Nail of the day' post is actually inspired by Japanese deco nails (pretty extreme manicures with a lot of decoration pieces on each nail). If you want to see a few examples, I suggest taking a look at Google! ;) Most of the manicures look adorable, but the amount of decoration can make them look a little scary. That's why I went for a wearable version, and I'm quite happy with it!

It's not perfect, but I definitely like the diversity. I decided to go for 5 different 'designs' to make it look a bit more playful, although the one with the pink bow is probably my favourite. I used little flatback pearls, nail art stickers, an aluminum rose, flower shaped rhinestones, a dotting tool, a little plastic bow and a nail art striper. Yup, that's a whole lot of stuff! The black nail polish is called 'Fatal' by Essence and the pink one is 'Get a rose 4 me' by H&M.

It seems a bit time-consuming, but it doesn't take a lot of time at all. Just paint (certain parts of) your nails, stick those decorations on and you are ready to go!

Sleek Crème To Powder Foundation

2011-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Α foundation in a little black travel-friendly compact that comes with a mirror and a sponge? Now that sounds convenient! I couldn't wait to try the Sleek Creme to powder foundation, I was positive that it would be great for little touch-ups during the day. I've always been using liquid foundation so far, but this product seemed a lot easier. It's also a bit cheaper (you pay 7 pounds for it) than the liquid foundation I use, double win! Sleek promises you a flawless full coverage and a matte powder finish, sounds good right?

I have 'Shell', the lightest shade.

And here we have the super creamy foundation!

The sponge is hidden beneath the foundation.

But don't let the pretty pictures fool you, I actually don't like this product that much. Yes, it gives a great coverage and is pretty long-lasting but it does not make my face look flawless. I have 'normal' skin but it can feel a bit dry when it gets cold outside and slightly oily during the Summer. This product seemed to work great for the oily bits of my face, but the rest of my face was covered with flakey bits. It was hard to apply, didn't blend well and just looked horrible. I've tried using my fingers, foundation brushes, all sorts of make-up sponges...it just wouldn't work out for me. There was only one option left: trying it out on my younger sister (she has acne problems and very oily skin).

As I expected, the foundation looks great on oily skin. The coverage is very nice and it stays in place all day long. My sister didn't have to use a primer or powder, just the foundation was good enough. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a good match for my skin type, but at least it's a nice product for the ladies with oily skin! I wouldn't recommend this if you have normal/combination or dry skin though, I read a couple of other reviews mentioning the 'flakey experience'. However, if you have oily skin and want to use something affordable & oil-free with a nice coverage, this foundation is worth a try!

A FOTD with Sleek Curacao

2011-08-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've been playing around with one of my new palettes today, the Sleek Curacao palette. I wanted to go for a bit of a fun & colourful look because I was going for a nice walk in the forest with my family. We ended up getting lost, and an 'one, two hours at most' walk turned into a walk that lasted almost 4 hours. I had to use my phone (and activate Google maps) to find a way back to our caravan. (Yay, gotta love camping!). My feet are still feeling numb, I'm glad that I only need my fingers to type blog posts...Well, let's take a look at the make-up!

This is a close-up of my look. I've used Green Iguana, Purple Haze and Singapore Sling. I've used a matte white as well (highlighter) and a matte black (eyeliner). The picture is not really doing the look any justice, you can hardly see the green and the pink looks a little red.

The full-face picture, with no blush this time. (I'm still on a camping trip, and didn't take any blushes with me...well okay, I forgot them). On the lips I have Viva glam Gaga from MAC, with a little bit of clear lip gloss on top.

My sister made a look as well, she used Screwdriver, Purple Haze and Tequila Sunrise. She finished the look with a bit of eyeliner on her waterline, and added a tiny bit of matte white under her (super light) eyebrows.

Here is her full-face picture, she has the lip gloss 'My favorite milkshake' by Essence on her lips. A nice peachy shade that goes with pretty much anything. She's testing a foundation for me as well (an oil free compact foundation from Sleek).

Enjoy your weekend!

Review: Sleek Blush in Pixie Pink

2011-08-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for pink blushes, especially the 'hot pink' ones. As soon as I saw Pixie Pink (my first Blush from Sleek) I couldn't wait to try it out! It's a lovely pink shade and thanks to all of the 'Sleek blush reviews' I read before, my expectations were high. Let's take a look at it!

Here we have the typical Sleek packaging. I read that most ladies find it hard to open the Sleek blushes, but I didn't really have a problem with opening this one. (Which is a good thing, because I'm not very patient).

The back of the blush, with the ingredients and some other information.

I knew that the packaging would be small, but I was still surprised: it really is tiny!

A close-up of the colour.

The blush is pigmented, but not as 'popping' as I expected it to be. You can build the colour up, but it stays a sweet looking pink. The texture is very soft, and the blush is easy to blend. I like that it stays in place for quite a while, some blushes tend to fade pretty quickly but this one is definitely not part of that group.

Here are two full-face pictures, I'm wearing the 'Pixie Pink' blush in both of them. The colour looks pretty nice on my (very light) skin tone, it's definitely a nice addition to my little blush collection! I can't say that I'm blown away by it, but it's still a nice blush for an okay price (4-5 pounds). I like the packaging (the mirror is a nice little extra something to have), the pigmentation, the colour and the durability.

Birthday + Low calorie Apple Pie recipe

2011-08-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Today is my Birthday, a perfect reason to eat pie! There was just one tiny problem: I'm on a diet. I love food, but my weight went up (a lot) so it was really time to do something about it before it would be too late. Some people might say 'It's your Birthday, just have some fun and eat what you like!' but I didn't want to buy a pie that would be full of those unnecessary calories, so I decided to make something a bit healthier! I'm a huge fan of Apple pie, and luckily there is a 'low calorie/diet' version. You can find the recipe below:

You'll need:

1 package of baking mix for Apple pie

5 medium sized apples
50g of cane sugar
1 egg

200g of low fat quark (very low fat cheese made from skim milk)
Cinnamon

I used a bit of flour, olive oil and a bit of margarine as well. You could make the pie even healthier if you make the pie crust yourself and replace the sugar with something else. I'm not a huge fan of synthetic sugar substitutes, but you could also try honey, applesauce or jelly/jam etc.

Time to get started! Mix the egg, quark and the baking mix. Use a bit of flour if it gets too sticky. Once you have a big ball of dough, place everything in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes.

Now you can peel the apples, remove the core and start slicing them. You can make the slices as big or small as you like. Mix the slices of apple with the cinnamon and the sugar.

Coat your pie tin with the margarine. Now it's time to cover it with a tin layer of dough (use about 2/3 of what you have), then you can add the apple mixture. Last but not least, use the remaining bit of dough to create the top crust, and lay it over the pie.

Brush the top of the pie with a bit of olive oil. Bake the apple pie in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) until it's golden brown (which should take 40-50 minutes).

And that's my low calorie Apple Pie recipe! Now you can treat yourself without gaining an insane amount of weight ;) I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Birthday, enjoy your slice of virtual pie! (I promise, you'll gain zero calories).

Sleek Wonderlast Lipgloss in Pink Parakeet

2011-08-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

I love testing products that promise to be long-lasting, especially when it turns out to be true! The Wonderlast Lipgloss is a long-lasting lipcolour, they call it a lipgloss but it's kind of between a lipgloss and a lipstick. It's as pigmented as a lipstick, but can be as shiny as a lipgloss (if you skip the second step your lips stay matte). Here's what Sleek has to say about their product:

A combination of a highly pigmented long-lasting colour and a moisturising clear gloss with non-sticky, glossy properties.
The dual ended product will provide the lips with a medium coverage of colour and shine.
First apply the long lasting coloured pigment, leave for 45 seconds to dry before applying the moisturising clear gloss. The top coat (clear gloss) is used to seal the initially applied colour onto the lips making it last much longer and lock moisture into the lips.

Step one: the lip colour. Pink Parakeet is a lovely hot pink, very bright and eye-catching!

Step two: the gloss. It looks like a simple clear gloss but it does add some moisture and is not very sticky. The wand/brush is a bit stiff, not really easy to work with unfortunately!

On the packaging they remind you to apply step 1 first (in case you might get confused?) followed by step 2. However, the 'few seconds' they mention could be a bit misleading, because you definitely need to wait a bit longer than that. On their website they speak of 45 seconds, which is what I'd recommend.

Okay, time for some lip swatches! The first picture shows how 'step 1' looks on the lips, you get a nicely pigmented lipcolour that stays matte. It feels a bit drying, but luckily you can fix that when you add 'step 2'. I also added an 'after 2 hours' picture to show that it's pretty long-lasting (you only lose a bit of shine). Although even this product won't survive a meal/drink, 50% will stay in place and the other 50% will disappear. The last picture shows you how it looks when you apply a lipliner before you use the Wonderlast Lipgloss. Doing this makes the product less drying for the lips, although it does affect the 'final colour'.

A full face picture with just 'Step 1' on my lips, I just love how the colour looks when it's matte! Overall I think that this is a very nice lip product, and I definitely want to purchase more shades. I don't mind that it doesn't survive a meal, it still requires less touch-ups than all of the other lip products I own. Mine was a gift so I'm not exactly sure what the price is, around 5 pounds I believe? Sleek products are not super expensive, and this lipgloss is definitely worth it!

FOTD: Robot Love

2011-08-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! It's time for a brand-new FOTD post ;) If you wonder how I come up with my 'FOTD names': they're totally random. I usually take a look at the colours I used most (in this case pink and gray) and then sooner or later, a fitting name will pop up! Today's look is a bit unusual for me because I rarely use gray eyeshadow. Most of the time I feel like it makes my make-up look dull, although I quite like it in combination with the bright pink blush and lipcolour!

A close-up of the eyes, the eyeshadow looks quite simple but thanks to the false eyelashes the eyes are still a little dramatic. I mainly used the 'Oh so special' palette (Glitz, Noir and Gateau), with a bit of matte white as an highlighter. I added a bit of white eye pencil on the waterline as well to make the eyes stand out and to give them a bit of a cold/unnatural touch.

On my lips I'm wearing a lip product I absolutely love: the Sleek Wonderlast lipgloss in Pink Parakeet. It's even brighter in real life! On the cheeks I have another Sleek product: a blush in Pixie Pink, a very sweet and pretty colour. Proper reviews will follow very soon!

Review: Sleek 'Oh so special' palette

2011-08-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to take a look at the 'Oh so special' palette, my fourth palette from Sleek (I own Curious, The Original, Sparkle and Bad Girl as well). I wasn't very excited about this palette at first because it seemed a bit 'safe' and neutral to me. I like to experiment with colourful shades and already own the Naked palette, so neutral palettes weren't really on my wish list. Thank God someone was sweet and clever enough to send it to me, because it's gorgeous! The 'Oh so special' palette contains a mix of matte and shimmery shades, suitable for both day-time and night-time looks. Subtle or dramatic make-up? This palette can help you out!

Hmm...looks pretty neutral eh?

Hello smokey shades!

All of the 12 shades are nicely pigmented, there are no losers in this palette ;)

I love the gorgeous beige, brown and purple colours!

All of the shades are soft and easy to blend, although you have to be a little careful with the darker shades (or you'll end up with a bit of fall-out). I think this is one of the better Sleek palettes though, it's not as crumbly as some of the previous palettes (such as the Sparkle one) and it's very versatile. The eyeshadow lasts for about 6-7 hours and I experienced zero creasing. Let's take a closer look at colours and the swatches!

This is the more neutral side of the palette, with a very nice highlighting shade (Bow, a matte beige) and Organza, Ribbon, Pamper and Gateau are all pinks with a bit of extra oomph. (Organza has a beautiful gold sheen for example, and Gateau has a bit of a duo chrome effect). The Mail is a yellow based brown, nice to have but not very exciting if you ask me.

I didn't use a base for the swatches, although I did use a slightly damp brush. From left to right you can see: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Pamper, Gateau and The Mail. You can make a lot of sweet and romantic looks with these shades!

Here we have the darker shades, including an old friend Noir (a perfect matte black). Besides Noir we have a few interesting plums and browns, plus a very nice metallic gray. Wrapped Up is one of my favourites, it's a gorgeous taupe with a purple undertone.

Sleek keeps surprising me, I'm loving all of those pigmented shades! These colours are perfect for a smokey eye look. From left to right: Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate, Boxed, Wrapped up and Noir. Even the names are cute!

This is the perfect palette for any occasion, and one of the best Sleek palettes I've seen so far. The palettes from Sleek are very affordable, which makes this a perfect palette for starters as well! You can buy it at their website, a palette costs about 6-7 pounds in the UK and here in my country we pay 7-8 Euros for it. (I'd recommend the Dutch ladies to visit Alice & Jo Havesentials if they'd like to purchase this palette).

What is your favourite product from Sleek?

Early birthday presents

2011-08-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few more days (until 6:AM, August 11 to be very precise) and then I can call myself a 20-year-old girl! Unfortunately I can't stay a 19-year-old forever, I even told my family that I'd just skip my birthday this year but they wouldn't listen at all :P Okay, turning 20 is far from getting old, but it already sounds very mature to me and I know that a lot of changes are coming closer and closer. Good changes of course, it has always been my goal to turn into a confident & independent lady someday. I want to keep on expanding my knowledge and travel to see more of the world, so I'm ready for my twenties!

But let's move on to the gifts I received before I really start to ramble! ;) They're all early birthday presents from a fellow make-up lover living in the UK. Below I'll show my unexpected but very awesome gifts!

A lot of goodies from Sleek! I'm a huge fan of their eyeshadow palettes but I haven't tried a lot of their other products yet (besides the nail polish I believe). I already experimented with a couple of things and there are definitely a few hits and misses in my opinion. But I'll share the details when I post the proper reviews!

Palettes! I'm so excited about these two palettes: the quite famous 'Oh so special' one and the colourful Curacao palette. I hope you're not sick of seeing these pop up on beauty blogs, because I'm definitely going to review & swatch those beauties!

Another love: Nail paints from Barry M. The names are 'Dusky Mauve' and 'Indigo'. I'm currently wearing Dusky Mauve and I really like it! (I don't have anything similar in my collection). The nail paints from Barry M dry fast and are so easy to apply, they're definitely my favourite nail polish brand at the moment.

It's pink, sparkles and has a bunny on it...meet my new watch from Playboy! I usually wear classic black or silver watches, so this is quite a change for me. I like that it's not too pink though, and it definitely came in an adorable box!

Well, I hope that you're prepared for a lot of Sleek related reviews next week!

Nail polish problem!

2011-08-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to Lara, our 8 year old Ragdoll. Lara loves food, toys but most of all: sleeping on top of my drawer (although it has shelves as well so I don't really know what it is, but I'll just call it a drawer). I store my nail polish on top of the shelves on the side and was afraid that she would knock them over, but that didn't seem to be a problem. However, after a little while I noticed something else that was definitely a problem: cat hair! When I grabbed a bottle of nail polish it was covered with cat hair...not really my cup of tea. Even though I loved having all of my nail polish stored on top of two small shelves (I could easily see all of the colours that way), it was time to think of a different way to store them! That wasn't very easy, because they wouldn't fit into any box or drawer in my room. I wanted a dark place, but I also wanted to be able to see all of the shades right away...what a dilemma!

It really is her favourite spot! ;)

First I needed to clean all of the bottles! I also took a good look at my collection, I don't feel like I have an insane amount of nail polish (okay, I sound like an addict) but I don't like to have any 'unloved' nail polish in my collection. What I don't use that often, goes somewhere else.

After the little clean-up I managed to fit all of my nail polish in two little baskets, the perfect solution! The blue basket is for 'nature ish' shades (blue, green, yellow, brown) and in the purple basket are the other shades such as red, pink, purple, gold and orange.

I placed the two baskets on a different shelf, and I'm very happy with how it looks! They're in a pretty dark spot and semi-organized by colour, it will still be easy to find a hot pink or a dark shade of green. Lara can keep her 'bed' and I have a better place for my nail polish collection, we're both happy! ;)

How do you store your nail polish?

New phone! HTC ChaCha

2011-08-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, my new cellphone arrived! My 'old' phone (A white Samsung Galaxy) has been driving me crazy for quite a while now. The camera wouldn't work properly anymore, the battery life was worthless (it needed to be recharged after 11 hours of doing absolutely nothing. No music, internet, phone calls...nothing!) and the touch screen was very annoying. For some reason I'm not a huge fan of touch screens, so I definitely wanted a new phone with a proper keyboard. I wanted a Blackberry at first, but because I didn't want to spend that much money on a phone, I decided to go for a HTC ChaCha. Reviewing cell phones is not really my department, but if you're interested in getting to know more about the HTC ChaCha you can find a review here. I'll show a couple of more pictures below!

I planned to get my hands on the black or purple version, but unfortunately they could only offer me the silver one. (And with 'they' I mean every website and store I could find). I was disappointed at first, but that feeling disappeared as soon as I saw the phone, it's so much better than my old one! I definitely like the 5MP camera and the audio quality, the keyboard is very nice as well! The Facebook button is not really that important to me, but the phone works perfectly with other social websites such as Twitter.

My 3 phone cases arrived as well, so I can prettify the phone right away! If you haven't seen my 'DIY Cell phone case' post yet, you can find it over here.

What kind of cellphone do you have?

How to: Twitter nails!

2011-08-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a huge 'social network person' but I love Twitter! It's quick, easy and a perfect way for me to stay informed about other blogs and people. The little blue twitter bird is also very adorable, so I decided that it was time to paint my nails in twitter style! ;) I actually wanted white (or a very light shade of blue) as a background colour but I didn't have such a nail polish in my collection, which is why I had to settle for a hot pink. Anyway, I still like how it turned out! Below you can see how you can get your own Twitter nails:

I started off with 'Shocking Pink' by Barry M and used 'Turquoise kitty' by H&M to paint the body of the bird.

I used a white nail art striper and an old black liquid eyeliner for the eyes. For the beak I grabbed my bottle of 'Coral', another shade by Barry M.

To give it a bit more details, I used 'Get a rose 4 me' by H&M to give the birds a cute blush and used the old liquid eyeliner again to add a few hairs(?) on top of their head. (It just looks cute!).

Awh, they look very Sweet!

It might look a little complicated at first, but it's actually very easy to paint the birds! Just take your time for each step and make sure that the nail polish gets enough time to dry. You could use brown/grey/black etc. too if you want to go for normal looking birds. If I had longer nails, I'd have added a couple of speech bubbles!

I can't end this post without mentioning where you can find me on twitter of course! In case you'd like to follow me, I'm right here. I don't tweet a billion times a day, but I like to tweet pictures of our kittens and share my latest blog posts ;)

Make-up looks (using the Beauty Angel kit)

2011-08-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to show a couple of the looks I made with the help of the 'Perfect make-up kit in purple by Beauty Angel cosmetics'. (In case you missed my review, you can find it here). The look above is kind of the main look I wanted to show, but you can find two more looks at the end of this post!

A close-up of the eyes, I used purple eyeshadow and a bit of a dark brown-ish shade.

Here you can see all of the colours I used. The peachy blush is a very subtle shade (unless you use lots and lots of it of course) and perfect for an everyday look. I quite like it! It's a shame that the eyeshadow isn't as pigmented as the blush, but it's still good enough for me. I only used a primer this time, but the colours will 'pop' a little better when you use a base.

I didn't want to go for a pink lipstick like I usually do, so I picked a purple shade. Here you can see the Castle round lipstick by NYX. (I also used a bit of the 'Call me Plum' lipgloss by H&M).

And here's another look! This is the first look I made with the Make-up kit (which is just a fancy word for eyeshadow + blush palette if you ask me). I was just experimenting a little so I didn't take any full-face pictures, but overall I really like the look. My eyelashes didn't want to behave that day, but I feel like the eyeshadow shades really match my eyes.

The third look belongs to my sister. She just loves the 'palette that looks like a fashion magazine' and really wanted to borrow it. Her look is a tiny bit similar to mine (which wasn't intentional, but some of the colours are pretty much identical so you can't really experiment that much, unfortunately). She was so proud of it that I just had to add her look in this post ;)

Review: The perfect make-up kit by Beauty Angel cosmetics

2011-07-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today I’m going to take a look at the perfect make-up kit by Beauty Angel cosmetics. They have 4 different kits in their limited collection, each of them cost $14.50. KKCenterHK sent me the kit of my choice to review, and I decided to pick the purple kit. (It was hard to choose though!). All of the make-up kits look like a cute magazine and stay shut thanks to two little magnets. The kit feels very light, but there's plenty of fun stuff inside!

When you open it you can see 12 eye shadow colours, 2 blushes, a small mirror and a brush/sponge applicator. All of the shades are shimmery and feel quite soft. It’s a shame that some of the colours are very similar, but you can still find a nice mix of greens, gold/yellows, purples, greys, browns and a black inside.

On the left side you can find information about how you can make your eyes look smaller/bigger, how you can express your personality with the help of make-up, how to apply the eye shadow and more.

Here you can see the swatches in sunlight, with Milk from NYX cosmetics as a base. The eye shadows are not super pigmented, so I definitely recommend using a base. I like that they are soft and not crumbly though, it makes them easy to blend and there's very litte fall-out.

Unlike the eye shadow, the 2 blushes are very pigmented. There’s a gorgeous wearable peachy shade and a very bright pink inside.

The four different kits: Green, Blue, Purple and Gold.

Overall I think that it’s a nice kit, the eye shadows inside are perfect for an everyday look. (Although they included a couple of darker shades as well, so you can also go for a dark smokey eye). The blushes can be a bit hard to blend and I miss a couple of matte eye shadow shades, so if you're new to using make-up this might not be the best kit to start with. It would be a very nice present or something to take with you when you go on a trip. I took this with me on a camping trip because it’s so light and I’ve used it many times. You won't get breath taking quality, but it’s a very decent make-up kit for that price.

Make-up look: Killer Bee

2011-07-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm currently on a camping trip (yup, again, but this time I brought my laptop!) and before I left I played around with the 'Killer Bee' look. If it doesn't sound familiar, it's a make-up look created by Amelia Arsenic & you can find the original here. The pictures on her blog are simply gorgeous and so inspiring! I came across her work thanks to a blog I check very regularly, called Beauty Treat. Linda (the lady behind the site) did a remake of this look a couple of days ago. For some strange reason I quite like yellow eyeshadow, so I just had to try it myself! It was also a good reason to grab my black lipstick again ;)

This is how the eyes turned out, I definitely suggest taking a look at the original look if you want to try this yourself! It might not be a very wearable look but it's an awesome look to recreate if you like to experiment with make-up! I didn't have any of the make-up Amelia Arsenic used, but luckily I found a couple of similar products in my little make-up stash:

Sugarpill loose eyeshadow in Goldilux - Golden Eye by W7
Sugarpill eyeshadow in Buttercupake - The yellow shade from the Sleek Curious palette
MAC Shroom eyeshadow - Ting from the LY palette
Miss X Debaser Gel Eyeliner - Black Bear from the LY palette

Miss X Dollparts loose eyeshadow - Sin eyeshadow by Urban Decay

MAC powder blush in Well Dressed - Essence blush in Adorable

For the lips I used a NYX round lipstick called Penelope and a bit of clear lipgloss.

A couple of full-face pictures with my beloved dark wig.

Our kitten Ben didn't really like the 'Killer Bee' look, he kept staring at my face with a bit of a skeptical expression.

I really enjoyed recreating the look, although it was a bit of an awkward moment when the mailman showed up to deliver a package...He started with a cheerful 'Good morning!' before he noticed my face. After that he didn't know how quickly he had to turn around so he could run back to his car. This is definitely not a look for school :P

Enjoy your weekend!

NOTD: Gradient nails

2011-07-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

I guess that I'm a bit late with trying the 'gradient nails' thing, but it definitely looks very pretty! I never tried it before (getting gradient nails using the sponge method) because it seemed a bit time-consuming to me. Luckily it doesn't take that long to get the gorgeous gradient effect, and the video below will show you exactly what to do in case you have never tried it before! It's called the 'Starry night Gradient nails tutorial' and belongs to the lovely MissChievous. It's a very nice tutorial with a lot of useful tips!

Here you can see all of the shades I used. You don't really have to use that many (you can get an awesome effect with just 2 or 3 shades) but I decided to copy MissChievous and used multiple shades of pink/purple. From left to right you can see: Get a rose 4 me by H&M, Diva Violet by Max Factor, Dirty Berry by Catrice, Canberra by W.I.C. Herome, Vivid Purple by Barry M and Midnight Star by Orly. I wanted to use only purple at first, but Dirty Berry is my lightest shade of purple and I didn't find that light enough, so I decided to add some pink! ;)

For the finishing touch I used the glitter topper in Clyde from Essence.

I think that it looks very cute! I'd love to do this again with a couple of pink or blue shades, I bet even a green version would look cool (I'm usually not such a fan of green nail polish). Or perhaps something going from yellow to red, sounds very summer ish!

Have you already tried this before?

DIY: Cute cell phone case

2011-07-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! A couple of weeks ago I posted something about my little 'Cell phone case project' and a lot has happened since that post! I've been collecting materials like crazy (decoration pieces, rhinestones, different types of glue etc.) and in stead of the Blackberry Bold 9780 I decided to go for a HTC Cha cha. A Blackberry was a lot more expensive than I thought. I already ordered 3 phone cases for the Blackberry Bold though (I blame my enthusiasm) so I decided to use those to practice on. Today I'm going to show the first phone case I made and explain how you can make your own! Let's start with what you'll need:

A 'naked' phone case for your phone. I'd suggest paying Ebay a visit, they are super cheap over there and you can find a lot of different colours.
Super glue! I still want to experiment with other types of glue, but the first time I used this kind of super glue. It has a very thin (water ish) consistency and it's very very strong. The glue comes in little tubes of 3g and I used almost all 3 for the cell phone case.
A Dotting tool or Tweezers. I started working with tweezers but that didn't work for me (the rhinestones are really tiny), so I used a Dotting tool in stead. Just experiment and use what works best for you!
Lots and lots of rhinestones. I think I used about 1000 rhinestones for this one. You can use multiple sizes and colours, I used (800) 3mm rhinestones and (200) 1mm rhinestones in pink & crystal.
Of course you'll need some decorations too! Below you can see a picture of my 'Deco box'.

You can use flowers, large rhinestones, cute figures etc. As long as it has a flat back, you can use it! Perhaps you have an old necklace or a pair of broken earrings, you can use those too! Just use a nail clipper or nail file to remove anything that sticks out.

You start with the cell phone case of your choice, make sure that you go for something that is made of hard plastic and avoid flexible phone cases made of silicone. If you do buy a coloured phone case on Ebay, be aware that you might get 'bright red' in stead of a deep burgundy...

Now you can grab your 'deco pieces' and create a design you like. Once you are satisfied you can use the super glue to make sure that everything stays in place. Remember that the glue dries super fast, so it's important that you place the pieces exactly where you want them :)

Now the fun part *cough cough*, adding the rhinestones! This is the part that makes this DIY a little less fun, adding all the rhinestones takes forever. I spent hours and hours to get it done, the glue just dries so quickly that it slows you down. But it is super strong, once you stick it on there the rhinestones won't come off (well I can't be 100% sure, but they survived water and I tried to get them off with my nails but they wouldn't budge). I want to look around for a different kind of glue that is just as strong but won't dry so quickly.

The red case was just an example though, of course my first self-made cell phone case had to be Hello Kitty inspired! Super pink and sparkly, it's a shame that I can't squeeze my phone in there! I'm probably going to sell it, even though it's not really perfect. I think it's not bad for a first try though!

I took some pictures during the whole process, I think it took me 8 hours or so to finish it. I've read that the experienced ladies can do it in 3-4 hours but it will still take a lot of your free time. However, you do get a very pretty 'one of a kind' cell phone case in return! When you look for cell phone cases in a store they usually don't have what you're looking for or it's way too expensive, so this is a great option for the creative (and patient) ladies.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY post! If you have any questions you can leave a comment below and I'll answer as soon as possible :)

FOTD: Simply Addictive

2011-07-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

I love showing colourful looks on my blog, but today's look is pretty wearable! I was about to go shopping with my mother, so I wanted something that wasn't boring but not too crazy either. I decided to go for brown smokey eyes and pink cheeks & lips. The weather is still awful over here, so a little bit of colour to brighten things up was definitely a must! ;)

A little close-up of the eyes, brown might not be a very extraordinary colour but I still feel like it makes my blue eyes pop!

Here are the 'most important' products I used. The first one is The essential eye palette by Louise Young, I've said it before but I seriously LOVE that palette. It's such a nice basic palette with good shades for filling in the eyebrows, creating neutral looks and I even use the black as eyeliner. The cream blush is called 'Hot pink' and the lipstick is a gorgeous bright pink with the name 'Louisiana'. Both are from NYX!

It's not really part of the make-up but I'm in love with the earrings! I showed them before in my 'Recent buys' post from a little while ago. (The Dutch ladies might find them at Kruidvat if they are interested in purchasing these earrings). I just really like the turquoise earrings and the pink lipstick together, they add colour to my face without overpowering everything ;)

Now I'm going back to listening to 'Best thing I never had' by Beyoncé, I don't know why but I'm addicted to her music lately!

NOTD: Glitter Rose

2011-07-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

After a few days of camping I felt like giving my nails a bit of a romantic/glamorous look, so I grabbed my glitter, rhinestones and those little aluminum roses I got for my cellphone case project! I did get inspired by this lovely blog, if you like the cute and romantic nail-looks I suggest taking a look there! :) This is really a very easy look to recreate, because you don't have to paint your nails perfectly to make it work.

You can find the red roses here, I also used a glitter topper called Kaleidoscope by Wet n Wild (Number 140 by Paris Memories is a very nice and budget-proof option as well). As a base colour (for the glitter) I used Pebble Beach by Catrice, a LE nail polish. I forgot to include the rhinestones in the picture, but they are from this seller.

My nails are a bit short at the moment (I blame the dishwater) and I'd have liked to use roses in different sizes to add some dimension, but unfortunately I didn't have those. It's a bit of a silly rule, but apparently you got to work with what you ~~have~~ can buy! ;P

Despite the roses being a bit too big, I still like this look very much! I love the red and silver/glitter combination. The rhinestones are just handy to fill any gaps, although a couple of flatback pearls would look very cute as well!