Author Archives: Dani - So Many Lovely Things

Nails of the week – metallic brown

Posted in Beauty by

Anna Hickmann in Trend - metallic brownThis week I am wearing a nail varnish called Trend, another one from Ana Hickmann’s Star Collection,  which is brown with some gold, and the occasional reddish and green glitter.

I must admit I am a bit disappointed, I thought the red and green would come through more; as it stands, it only shows sometimes. It seemed amazing in the bottle in Brazil; maybe it is the sun, but here his polish didn’t do that much for me.

Anna Hickmann in Trend - metallic brownDon’t get me wrong, it is very a very pretty brown with shimmery gold, but it is not stunning – by that I mean with a multi-faceted colour, which I am loving at the moment, and expected from this polish.

Application was even, the first coat was a bit thin, but it looked good with the second coat. The finish wasn’t as glossy as I was expecting, and there was a slight texture, but a extra-shine topcoat smoothed things perfectly. Durability is average, there was a tiny chip after three days.

Overall, a nice shade, quite neutral and very pretty sometimes, but didn’t blow me away.

See all Nails of the Week posts

Metallic eyes trend

supracolour metallics - Charles H FoxI am absolutely loving the metallic eye trend for this coming warm season. I had noticed foiled hair and eyes in some shows, but the wearable look really excites me! I came across this picture gallery on Vogue which gives a great round up and plenty of inspiration. What I really like too are the double liners – on the lash line and crease!

I have always been a great fan of metallics, favouring those to mattes whenever possible; even when doing dramatic black smokey eyes and using matte eye shadow, I make sure I apply a metallic MAC paint underneath, not only to fix it, but also to give it a bit of sparkle!

Quite similar to MAC’s Metal-X cream shadows are the Supracolour metallics,  supracolour metallics - Charles H Foxfrom Charles H Fox I bought late last year, in gold, copper and silver, banking on the trend, for only £6. They are creamy and super metal, as eye shadow, with even application and great cover. I would set it with my MAC prep+prime transparent finishing powder. It also looks fab as a liner, but I just don’t recommend wearing it too near the tear duct, as I felt that, due to its consistency, they blocked mine a little bit and it was quite uncomfortable. However, I promise I will wear a totally metallic lid very soon and will post!

MAC make up brush set

Posted in Beauty by

MAC brush set - dani dutraI love it when MAC launches brush sets. Not only because I swear by their brushes and it’s a great chance to replace my oldies, but also because it is a chance of buying them at a great price. However, the best part is that the brushes come in a smaller size, which is very make up bag friendly. Win all around!

With my powder and eye shadow applicator and blender brushes having seen better days, I found the perfect set to replace them all in one go: the Make it Perfect Brush Kit/Special Edition. It consists of five special edition brushes:  167 powder, 168 angled contour for the face and 239 shader, 217 blending, 212 flat definer for the eyes. They are all white and with glittering clear handles, and comes in a see-through snowglobe-inspired bag.

I do have them all, but I was in desperate need to replace my 167, 168, 239 and 217, which are staples in my make up bag – I use them an awful lot, and they lasted me a good 4-5 years! Check this post on more detail on the brushes and how I use them. The 212 I don’t really need, and in fact have one already from another kit which was a gift, so no losers here!

Apart from the fact I cannot live without them, I find the price very attractive at £39.50 with free delivery. If I were to buy all four brushes I really need, it would cost me £87 for the larger size, which doesn’t fit in my make up bag.  That, plus the 212 I really don’t need, so I am getting £103 worth of goods for a bit more than a third of that. MAC also sent me a little sample of their Zoom Lash mascara. I think it’s great!

Now, I know some of you say MAC brushes are overpriced and I can probably replace them by a cheaper, equally good brand but I trust them; for me, that’s priceless!

Although it might be available in stores, sadly this kit in particular has sold out on the site in the UK. The others variations,  the Essentials, which I bought before and has their foundation brush and the Shape & Perfect kits are also gone. But they still have the Mineralize, with great buffers, for the same price!

Nails of the week – blue/dark pink duochrome

Posted in Beauty by

Specialittá Marimoon, Artsy - dani dutraAfter a whole month of being spoiled by my manicurist Irma, in Brazil, I am sadly back to doing my own manicure. The nail polish I chose to kick off 2012 in London is part of my Brazil nail polish haul. It is from Specialittá, the same as the holographic I used a few weeks ago, but from a different line: Marimoon multigirl, in Artsy colour.

Its colour is amazing, it is duo-chrome, but each one of the predominant colours change into others, so I would really call it a poli-chrome. It is primarily a deep blue, changing into purple and then into a deep reddish-pink which turns into  a warm copper-gold. Absolutely gorgeous – it has been a while since I got this impressed with the colour changing effects of a nail varnish – in fact, since using Petrol in water.

This polish has an amazing finish, it is very shiny and the durability is ace – no scratches or chips. Application was a bit bumpy as the polish is quite thin; the first coat was pathetic and I thought I was going to be bitterly disappointed. It will only deliver its full potential on the third coat.  However, as it is super glossy, there was no need for a top coat, so I am accepting of this three-coat varnish.

Overall very happy, and I cannot wait to try the other bottle of the same line I bought.  I am seriously considering buying the whole line and having them shipped to my family in Brazil, so they can ship it over to London… at R$8 a bottle, I think it is good value, as I can buy all six I don’t have for £20, with postage to Brazil… Should’ve done it while there!

Specialittá Marimoon, Artsy - dani dutra

 

 

 

 

Oh, and if you haven’t yet, and would like to, please vote for me to win the Marie Claire’s Blog Awards, click here to know how! Thank you so much!!

See all of the “Nails of the week” posts

Aldo Rise shoe collection

Posted in Fashion, Shoes by

A JW Anderson, my favourite so far

The designer/high street collaboration is something that excites me in concept: designer goods at affordable prices, blah blah blah. However, from all the amazing H&M collaborations, I only managed to get hold of a pair of Jimmy Choos (and from eBay). It’s so maniac that no matter how much I love an item, I just don’t have the disposition to queue the whole night to get my hands on it.

Yesterday I came across the Aldo Rise line with its motto “Fashion is no longer a commandment, it’s a collaboration”, and was very impressed by the designers taking part. Of course this would grab my attention immediately, as they are shoes, but seeing names like JW Anderson, Preen, Mark Fast, Christian Cota, Cushnie et Ochs and Libertine really excites me, not only for the designs themselves but also for the prices of around £135. You can see some at this Vogue picture gallery.

Now, I absolutely loved Cushnie et Ochs Spring/Summer 2012 collection, it was among my picks at NY Fashion week, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the shoes they will come up with for Aldo!

The Marie Claire Blog & Twitter Awards: Vote for me!

Posted in Beauty by

The Marie Claire Blog & Twitter Awards

I am so excited! So Many Lovely Things has been long listed for the The Marie Claire Blog & Twitter Awards under the “Beauty Blog of the Year” category. It is now open to public vote, so I am unashamedly asking for you to vote for me.

If you know me already, hopefully this and reading my posts will be enough for you to click. If you don’t, take a look here where you can get to know me a bit better. I also have an interview on Beauty Obsessed where I talk about blogging and other things. Otherwise, feel free to look around and find out!

To vote is very simple: all you need to do is to click HERE, put your name and email address, select So Many Lovely Things from the “Beauty Blog of the Year” dropdown menu, fill out the captcha and click on SEND!

Being cheeky, you can vote more than once if you have more than one email address until the 20th January when maybe, if enough lovely friends and followers vote for me, I can make it to the short list! That alone would be great – I really love my writing my blog; it has been a year since I started blogging frequently and getting to know other amazing bloggers around, and I would be chuffed if this happened, as there are so many great people out there!

So, I am asking, vote for me, and also for others on different categories, and if you feel like it, tell your friends to vote for me too!

A massive THANK YOU (for voting and supporting me!) and good luck to all long listed!

x

Dani

Nails of the week – blue with glitter flakes

Posted in Beauty by

blue nails - Impala paparazzi and paz e amor - dani dutraFor my last manicure in Brazil, I chose blue. I am wearing two nail polishes from Impala: a lovely dark, slightly metallic navy blue called Paparazzi and a blue and green glitter flakes topcoat called Paz e Amor.

Alone, Paparazzi is a very pretty and shiny deep, dark navy blue. The topcoat effect is lovely and somewhat similar to the Andrea Fulerton Rain fall trio topcoat, the difference being the flakes on this polish change colour, whereas the ones on the Impala varnish are two different colours. The Impala polish also has a clearer base for the flakes.

This brand is very good; applications is always smooth and even, the finish is glossy and durability is great.

Today is my last post from Brazil – sadly, my holidays are over and I am heading to London tomorrow. This means I will go back to doing my own manicure again (you do get used to having them done!) and will start trying out my nail varnish haul, as well as some polishes I had bought before coming on holiday!

Nail polish haul

This is my Brazilian nail polish haul! I am taking home (from home!) a good selection of polishes, which will add around a kilo to my luggage!

nail polish haul- Brazil - Dani Dutra

I got some old time favourite brands, such as Colorama, Risqué and Impala but also bought some I hadn’t tried before, like Specialittá and Ana Hickmann.

From Colorama, I selected Luxo, 40 Graus and Tapete Vermelho, all classic reds, but decided to get different colours from the other brands.

I have Hermes (gold), Apolo (teal) and Atena (dark pink), which are great holographics, the duo chromes Marimoon Artsy (blue/purple/yellow) and Trendy (green/yellow) and Mica (metallic lilac) from Specialittá.

Ana Hickmann has a Star Collection with “special effects”, and I bought most of them : Trend (brown/gold/green) , Relux (forest green/purple), Reflex (purple/gold/green); all duo chrome and Glow (glitter flakes).

I chose Viúva Negra (black/red glitter), Besouro (green/purple) and Poção do Amor (metallic red, with a hint of golden fine glitter) from Risqué.

My choices from Impala were Paz e Amor (blue/ green glitter flakes), Na Mira 3D (dark holographic glitter) and Sex Appeal (red/orange duo chrome).

I also got a Nati metallic red called Confidente and a Big Universo Raio Gama glitter flakes topcoat.

On top of that, I got three base coats (two strenghtening ones), two extra shine topcoats and a clove oil to be applied before the base coat, to hydrate and strenghten the nail.

All nail polishes were priced between R$2,50 and R$7,99(£1 and £2.85). As I mentioned before, I find that Brazil has amazing value for good quality nail polish. It really amazes me!

I cannot wait to try them all – lots of exciting nails of the week posts coming soon!

Nails of the week – red with glitter flakes

Posted in Beauty by

Happy new year everyone!

I have entered 2012 wearing red on my nails. On new year’s eve in Brazil, it is traditional to wear colours that correspond to things you wish for the year that will begin. Most people wear white, which means peace. I wore a gold dress (yellow/gold for money, but mainly because it’s pretty!), had white underwear, for peace, of course, and my nails were scarlet, for passion! Not a bad combo, eh?

Again, I am trying a brand never used before, Ana Hickmann nail polish in Balada and Glow topcoat with glittery flakes.

The red is bright, leaning towards orange. The topcoat is clear on its base, but laden with duochrome glitter flakes which are mainly golden, but change colour from copper to a greenish-yellow, just stunning!

It was applied by mine and my mum’s manicurist, Irma (a nail angel!), but the consistency was creamy and smooth, durability is also good as my nails still look  perfect!

Summer skin care: Nupill body oil

I am really obsessed with a golden, real tan. Don’t get me wrong, I have succumbed to fake tan way too many times, and living in London, it is sometimes my only option. After a while living in a cold country, my skin turned into a colour I never thought it could be, a weird off-colour yellow (yes, trust me, not attractive), a diluted, unhealthy looking version of my olive shade.

Now, I only use self tanning sprays at home when I need, but there was a phase I spent a lot of time in sunbeds, and developed what I thought was a tan, but in reality it was a dodgy dark orange shade…

For this reason, I really appreciate when I get a proper tan – a fact taken for granted all my life in tropical lands – and I love the colour I am at the moment, a real golden tone, and I am doing all I can to preserve it and develop into a darker shade.

I am now in Brazil, and my favourite pastime is sunbathing. To hang on to my tan, and keep a glowing skin, I find nothing better than (apart from proper sun cream application and patience to work on the tan) a lovely body oil, with almond and grape seed oils and collagen, called Nupill Gold Skin.

More like myself!

There are a few different brands that do the same mix, but this is my favourite smell. Sadly, it is only available here, and I paid a reasonable R$8,90 (just over £3) for 180ml.

It helps to prevent peeling by hydrating the skin and, on top of it all, it smells gorgeous! In the winter, it is very useful, as it helps with dry skin. Plus, it contains collagen, which aids skin elasticity!

I apply it just by the end of my shower and don’t rinse. It is not too thick an oil and it is absorbed by the skin very quickly, leaving it smooth and soft. By the time I put my moisturiser on, there is no trace of it on my skin.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything similar in the UK which is reasonably priced. I tried pure filtered almond oil before, but even after rinsing, it seems to stick and there was a lingering smell of stale oil afterward on my body, towel and clothes that really bothered me.

Do you use or know anything similar? It would be great to find out!!!