Author Archives: Dani - So Many Lovely Things

Nails of the week – blue/green duochrome (dazzling blue)

Posted in Beauty by

Together with fantasy fire, I also bought Max Factor’s dazzling blue, which is a lovely mint green with pinkish/gold/blue hues.

I applied over Ana Hickmann’s Vibe Nova, a strong mint green, and it looked lovely. Had the same issue with application, as bottle is tiny, but it lasted really well! It ended up showing a lovely mint green to light blue, sometimes with a hint of gold, which I found very pretty.

Now, I didn’t expect much from this one, so that’s probably why I wasn’t disappointed as I was with Fantasy Fire.

Rating:

Ring obsession!

Posted in Accessories by

There is no end to my obsession with rings – and they (the rings and the obsession!) are definitely growing in size… there are no limits anymore!!!

For someone who didn’t wear rings until a bit more than a year ago, this compulsion is quite disturbing…. There are so many out there, the designs are beautiful!

Just wanted to share my latest purchases… sorry, pictures are from Instagram!

Nails of the week – Purple/green/blue (fantasy fire)

Posted in Beauty by

After hearing about Max Factor’s Fantasy Fire so much and feeling the “panic” on the twittosphere about it being sold out everywhere, I didn’t even bother trying to get hold of it.

However, I went to Westfield before going on holidays and popped to Superdrug to buy some travel essentials when, doing my standard browsing through nail polishes and make up, I found said polish staring me in the face. Yes, it was a sign, so I bought it.

I used a purple underneath, as the polish is too thin to have any effect on its own (unless you do, maybe 5 coats!!!). It really needed two coats on top of the purple to look nice. The super small square bottle is a bit fiddly, but durability is good.

The colour in the bottle is stunning – purples, and pinks, with blues and greens, a plethora of changing hues…. and although you can identify them on the nails, and it does look very pretty – I got compliments on it –  it is not half as impressive as the colour in the bottle.

So, I am a bit disappointed. To me, it is not nearly as amazing as it has been blogged, twitted and facebooked about. Don’t get me wrong, it is very nice, but I think the hype made me expect so much about it, and I got too disappointed… oh well….

Have you tried Fantasy Fire? Did you use a different colour underneath and got better results?

Rating:

Where is spring? I have all these clothes…

Like most people living in the UK, I am eagerly awaiting for the weather to improve.

As a self-confessed mild (!!!) shopaholic, I have already built a base of lovely spring items for my wardrobe. The problem is, this weather is preventing me from realising my full new season potential.

Still, after a few pre-holidays purchases, I came back hungry for new items, and ended up buying a few.

Since the SS12 shows, I was dying to buy a vegetable print dress… I wanted aubergines, but D&G is a bit above my budget, so I found solace in a lovely tomato print skater dress from New Look. Topshop also had a dress with the very same print, which I bought and returned as I found the NL one nicer!!!

I also got some pastels from H&M: a nude lace pencil skirt, a mint green and a nude top and shorts; most are from their Conscious collection, which makes them extra nice, and I am sure (weather permitting) I will wear a lot!!!!

Amongst the purchases are also a couple crop tops from New Look, one with ethnic inspired print, to wear with pencil or long skirts.

However, the star buy here, for me, were the spike bracelets, also from New Look; at £3.99, I couldn’t help but purchase the silver and the gold!!!!

20120428-175709.jpg

New shoes

Well, I have been a bit lame posting; I am just back from holidays and I am tons of nails of the week behind – trying desperately to catch up.

Been really trying to keep my spirits up, as I am very keen to wear all my new spring/summer clothes, which I managed to wear on holidays, (I will post soon about new purchases) really abused of pastels and the latin Miami trend, even though some people were looking at me funny, as it is autumn in Brazil and the colours are waaay more sober. However, the weather was super hot, and I managed to get a lovely tan, which is quickly fading away, as the weather here is not collaborating.

Anyway, just wanted to share with you lovelies two Brazilian shoe purchases.

I fell in love, head over heels with this red cut out Schutz sandals. Yes, I have lots of red, but I loved it. For R$390 (around £140), I think they are a good buy, heir shoes have exceptional quality!

20120428-172802.jpg

I also bought these lovely, uber comfy taupe and gold court shoes from Viviana, a unique shoe shop in Brazil – it is situated in the bottom/first floor of a house in a residential area of my city, and they have a great bang on trend selection. Even though they are rocking the Autumn/Winter range, you can already find Spring/summer previews, including this one I got, for R$179,00 (around £64).

20120428-172837.jpg

Have to say, I am a bit obsessed with toe caps at the moment…

Nails of the week – multicoloured French manicure

Well, I have spring on my mind so this week I decided to go all out. YES, all out.

Not only I painted one nail a different colour but I also added French manicure on them, in contrasting colours.

And you know what? I really like it. It is a bit different, it is a bit out there, and a bit brave. I wasn’t sure to start with, but they grew on me and managed to stay for a whole week.

To achieve the look, I painted each nail using a H&M nail polish kit; for a mere £2.99 you get four summer proof shades – bright pink, yellow, mint green and purple. As I have five fingers (!) I added a pastel blue, the gorgeous Nails Inc in Oxford Street.

I mentioned the Nails Inc one before, so if you want to know more about it, check here. I was very surprised with the H&M ones – quality was good and 2 coats gave a great coverage, even for the lighter shade, the mint green – I encountered bad quality creamy coloured polish that offers an awful coverage, full of streaks, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I then waited two hours and applied French manicure stickers which I bought from eBay, but had never used before. I applied a contrasting colour in the same order a applied them on my nails – and voilá!

Durability was ok. French is not the most durable type of manicure, as the attention – and all the rubbing – is at the tip. However, it lasted well for five days. On the sixth day, I re-touched the tips… and it was actually passable, until my next manicure.

I am very pleased I took the plunge and ventured into something different!

Rating:

Nails of the week – Nfu Oh Number 51

Posted in Beauty by

I finally succumbed and paid an outrageous amount of money for a bottle of nail polish. Don’t get me wrong – it is worth it, but I did feel a bit sick afterwards, especially as you see the total with postage being taken from your account for one little bottle.

Price aside, I was extremely happy with my purchase. To start, the bottle is oh-so-pretty. My God, so cute! And it is HUGE! Definitely the biggest polish bottle I have.

I applied Nfu Oh’s Number 51 on a Barry M black base (just one coat) and it looked beautiful. I could definitely notice the plethora of tones, ranging from a deep burgundy to a dark forest green, with gold at some points. The glitter flakes just make the effect even more stunning, giving it depth and texture without actually being bumpy.

Application was smooth, not dodgy flakes poking out at the nail tip. Durability was outstanding, after 7 days, I really didn’t want to remove it, as it still looked pretty perfect!

So yes, I paid the price and I do not regret. And I will try it again on a purple base, as I didn’t see much of its lovely purple tones.

Rating:

Spring mood

Posted in Dresses, Fashion by

The fact that sun has been out (although temperatures are not that high) has put me into a spring mood.

I have hit the shops hard and bought lots of lovely pastels…Got lovely cream shorts and jacket, flowery shorts, a mint green lace  top and a cream lace top, all from H&M. From the spring/summer12 trends, the ones I am into the most are definitely girlie, with the lovely pastels and monochromes – to be honest, I have been a big fan of black and white for a long time! I am also loving shorts at the moment!

These are a few of the items I have bought recently…What about you? What is your favourite spring trend?

p.s – I have been really rubbish lately, have 2 lovely Nails of the week posts to add, and time has been so short… will post them when I get to Brazil, as I have 2 weeks of holidays!