Author Archives: Dani - So Many Lovely Things

Nails of the week – holographic teal

I am thoroughly enjoying my holiday, this “white Christmas” thing is not really for me! With temperatures averaging 30°, I have developed a great tan; add the intense socialising, and my posts have been sparse an irregular! I will return in full power after mid January – I promise!

This week I am wearing a pretty holographic teal nail polish from a Brazilian brand I hadn’t tried before: Specialittá Hits, and the colour is Apolo, from their “No Olimpo” range.

The holo effect is not too strong; it is stunning in the sun, very sparkly and multi coloured, but indoors, it is just a pretty metallic teal! For this reason, on the 6th day of wearing it, I have painted over with the gorgeous topcoat from Andrea Fulerton’s Rain Fall trio, with green glitter flakes, to give it a bit of oomph!

Once again, I didn’t apply myself, but it seemed to glide well. Its durability is very impressive: seven days and not a chip!!!

The price is, of course, as every Brazilian polish, great, although above the average: around R$ 8,00 (just under £3)!!!

Nails of the week – Holographic and black

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I am now in Brazil for holidays, and while I am having a break from doing my own manicure, I am still trying new shades. It is so exciting to be able to rediscover Brazilian brands, and explore the new colours. Also, prepare yourselves for short posts, as I cannot wait to run to the pool and work on my much needed tan!

This week I am wearing something quite similar to the Nails Inc. Electric Lane holographic topcoat – it is called Na Mira 3D, from Impala, and it is part of their Sao Paulo Fashion Week (SPFW) line.

Although it has the same purpose of the Nails Inc one, this beauty has a slightly darker colour, with great depth and a lovely iridescent pink tint to it. As soon as I looked at it, I knew it would look great on black (my manicurist applied Impala 501, Preto). It dazzles beautifully in the scorching Brazilian sun, but it is very hard to photograph! I really struggled, and the pictures, disappointingly, don´t really represent its prettiness! I am not sure if it can be considered holographic;   it just looks that way when in directly light. Perhaps, I would probably say its a glittery duochrome most of the time.

I didn´t apply it myself, but I know that Impala nail varnishes are easy to apply, gliding nicely on the nails. The texture is smooth and the duration is great (it does help it was applied by a professional!). I have a coat of black, one of the holo/glittery duo and a topcoat.

I am very happy with this, and I even have it on my toe nails. A friend bought me a bottle before I arrived, and I bought another one for good measure. I find nail varnishes very inexpensive in Brazil, this one being R$ 5,00 (£1.78). Bearing in mind this is a special edition polish and the normal colours cost between R$ 2,50 (£0.89) and R$ 3,50 (£1.25), it is great value indeed!

Check all the other Nails of the Week posts.

Product review: New eyeliners head-to-head

Until a couple weeks ago, I had been lining my eyes in three different ways, depending on my mood, time and desired effect: by using eye shadow (MAC Carbon) or gel eyeliner (MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack) and a small angle brush or using an eyeliner (MAC Smoulder eye kohl).

Recently I came across a few products and decided to give them a go – and test which one delivered best results, in terms of ease of application, effect and durability.

Collection 2000 EXTREME 24 HOUR FELT TIP LINER - Dani DutraThe Collection 200o Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in black really caught my attention – it is unassuming, looks like a normal felt tip and the idea is really good: a pen with which you can draw your eye liner.

Having 24-hour on the label made me a bit nervous – what if I messed up and it was stuck on my face for a whole day? So it took me a couple weeks after buying to try. I was pleasantly surprised with the results; my first application was easy, the pen glides nicely on the eye lid and it is really precise. You can create nice jet black thin lines with it, and a perfect flick.

Other times it was harder, the line wasn’t perfect, but it was easily fixable with a moist cotton bud. After it dries, it really sticks, and removal requires quite a bit of scrubbing! It lasted well, when I returned home after work, it was still present, my eyes looked well lined and it didn’t run, although it was bit faded. I can see it being very useful to fill out the line after applying false eye lashes!

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner 24hr - Dani DutraThe other product I tried- and loved – is the Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama gel liner, in blackest black. I really like that it comes with a brush, and the combo works really well; the gel is smooth and glides nicely, the little brush is a great size for the make up bag and is hard enough to be good for thin and wider lines, and it really, really lasts. After a whole day at work, including a trip to the gym, the line still looked impeccable! I was very impressed!

ELF Waterproof Eyeliner Pen - Dani DutraThe third product I tried is quite similar to the first one: the Elf waterproof eyeliner pen. I felt that, although the tip was finer, thus enabling you to create extremely fine lines, there didn’t seem to be enough ink coming out, it was quite dry, I had to rub it really hard and go over the line again and again losing precision, and the final result was still faded. I took pictures, but re-touched with the Collection 2000 liner to make it proper. A shame, as the Elf product is only £1.50,was really expecting one of those “amazing finds” moments! I didn’t do an “after” shot, as I had another liner over it.

For the time being, I’ve laid off my old ways and I am alternating between two of the new discoveries. I am divided between the Maybelline and the Collection 2000. The first one has amazing staying power, and the second is so easy to apply it is almost ridiculous! However, the Collection 2000 might just edge the Maybelline (£7.99) one for its price: £2.99, which is unbelievable value for this product!

What about you? What is your favourite eye liner?

Nails of the week – magnetic blue

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17 Magnetic Nail polish in blue - Dani Dutra

Click to enlarge

I got over my disillusion with the Saturday’s magnetic nail varnish and decided to give the 17 Magnetized Nail polish a go. I  bought a few as gifts to friends in Brazil, and I intended to give them all away, but when I cast my eyes on the blue one, I found it so beautiful that I couldn’t let go.

Its colour is a pretty indigo blue and it differs from the other magnetic polishes because the dark colour that ripples has a little tinge of purple. This is very subtle and only visible sometimes. Still, I really liked it.

The brush is of satisfactory width and the polish has a good consistency, but can get a bit thick; you do need a generous second coat for the effect to look good.  Application was alright, not as good as the Nails Inc one, but not as bad as the Saturdays varnish – this really sums up this nail polish; something between the Nails Inc and the Fashionista one (although quite a way away from it, as the quality is much better!)

As per durability, it is quite good; it doesn’t chip easily, and this is a very important point for me.

Overall, I am quite happy with this; priced at £5.99 and coming with its own magnet, I believe it’s a good deal. And it is available in blue, purple, green and gunmetal. Pretty!

Check all the “Nails of the week” posts and find out the star rating for this and other polishes.

Nails of the week – purple/gold

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Kiko nail polish - Dani Dutra

This hasn’t been a good week for my nails; two days after doing my manicure, I broke a nail and had to cut them all short :(. Luckily, I had already taken the pictures for this week’s post!

I am trying a new brand this week, the Milanese brand Kiko. The have this quite impressive shop in Westfield Stratford City, with lovely make up and a huge range of varnishes.

Everytime I am there, I go in to take a look – I just cannot resist – and this time I picked up this varnish from a new range, Hologram Nail Lacquer. I chose number 354, a purple leaning towards dark mauve with very pretty gold and golden green shimmer. This polish is a duochrome, and although not as spectacular as the one I wore last week,  it is rather nice, and however subtle, you can definitely notice the colour variation.

It shimmers big time when it catches light, it is extremely glittery, but no flakes, so it has a smooth and shiny finish. Application was alright; the brush is  wide enough and the polish has a good consistency. However, it is rather sheer, one coat doesn’t do much, two is kinda ok but I needed three to realise its full potential – a little bit too much for me. It lasts well and doesn’t chip easily, and that’s a big plus for me.

Overall, I am not dazzled but pleased with my purchase, which wasn’t the cheapest around, at £5.90 a bottle (their other polishes, not from the Hologram line,  are priced at £4.90), but the quality is good and the shade pretty, and I must say I am looking forward to maybe trying make up items from Kiko Make up Milano!

Kino nail varnish - Dani Dutra

Product review – 17 BB cream

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

After hearing wonders about BB creams, I decided I needed to get hold of one. Who doesn’t want to sport skin as they promise? I mean, who wouldn’t kill  “to reveal the magic of flawless skin with this all-in-one foundation plus skincare wonder product”?

This cream claims to give full coverage which conceals imperfections and helps control oil;  even skins tone for a flawless finish and protect your skin with SPF 25 and hydrating formula. Great, eh? So I bought the 17 Blemish Balm, for a reasonable £5.99, on offer (normal price £6.99) from Boots.  I originally wanted the Garnier one, but the branch I visited didn’t stock it, so I decided to give this one a go.

It is worth pointing out that I have sensitive combination skin, with a sometimes oily t-zone and the eventual drier patches. I suffered from severe acne in the past and although it’s all  gone, I have breakouts from time to time. I don’t have an uneven skin tone, but have some mild acne scars on my cheeks, slightly enlarged pores (not too bad) and occasionally, some redness from irritation.

Bearing that in mind, this is my opinion and experience with the product:

The first thing I noticed was the colours limitation: two to be precise –  light and medium. Now, what do darker skins do? Not sure. I went for medium, as I have olive skin. The colour is not a good match for me, as it is medium for pink based skin tones. As I have yellow tones in my skin, none of the colours are ideal.

Second, I thought about posting a picture and decided against; there was no difference, it feels like a thin tinted moisturiser, it hid some minor blemishes, but didn’t offer good coverage. Needless to say, I am mortified to be photographed without make up, *twice* would be an insult.

Having said that, some reviews mentioned it could be ok to use as a primer, but  I don’t think it particularly fixes make up – I tried and it didn’t do it for me.

However, the absolute killer was the way the product made my skin feel very greasy, clogged, as if it couldn’t breathe. Minutes after applying, I felt I should wash my face. I had some break outs, and I am not, in any way, blaming the product for them, but now I haven’t used the product for a week or so, they have cleared – just saying.

I must mention, as explained above, that I don’t have flawless skin (if I had, I probably wouldn’t feel so tempted to buy the product in the first place), but my current foundation, which has a medium/sheer coverage, mixed with a little moisturiser offers much better coverage – without the greasy feeling.

Concluding, I can’t really see any of its magic, I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t buy it again or recommend and this is not really for me.

I do hope others had a better experience with this! Have you tried this or another BB brand? What did you think?

New shoes – Zara black peep toes!

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Zara shoes, Dani Dutra

Following my constant drooling at Vogue’s 100 best shoes gallery, and also the mention of pairs for every budget, I ended up succumbing to a lovely pair that was one of my favourites amongst their selection: super pretty black peep toes from Zara, with a killer spikey heel and lovely golden rimmed flower petals in the back.

I found this shoes to be a real bargain at £49.99,  as they are 100% goat skin. They are super high at a towering 13 cm (and a concealed platform of almost 3cm), and a bit hard, but I think that they will be easy to break into and reasonably comfortable when I do, as the leather is super soft.

Cannot wait to wear them!

Still thinking about the glittery KG shoes, but trying to resist… I am a little less obsessed, but it has been hard. I hope I am strong enough, I don’t think I really need those shoes (in the sensible way – I was never one for the glitter shoes, really). I have been *very* good so far, maybe will wait until the sales and buy then!

Nails of the week – teal/purple duochrome

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Petrol in water - Andrea Fulerton - Dani DutraPetrol in the water. Weird name, eh? Well, it is, but I can guarantee there is nothing weird about this nail colour.

After being very impressed with the durability of the Andrea Fulerton Trio nail varnish I wore a few weeks back (it didn’t chip, it survived the potato peeler and after seven days, it still looked so beautiful I felt bad to be removing it!), I decided to go crazy and bought three (!!!) other combinations.

I am, or course, wearing the aptly named Petrol in Water, and I cannot even describe how pretty it looks – three people, in one evening asked me what it was. It consists of a double ended polish with a dark metallic brown shade and an iridescent top coat.

I am truly in love – it will be very hard for any polish to beat this colour. The pictures don’t really do it any justice; with flash, the colour comes out as a dirty green-ish blue, but as the nails catch natural and  indoors light, they come alive and really remind me of that one drop of petrol in the water that triggers a multitude of shades…

This teal/purple duochrome with subtle green undertones looks stunning,  and depending on the light, it will be anything from peacock green/teal/indigo blue to purple. It has the most amazing colours, and it is very sparkly, without having glitter on it, so no rough texture.

Petrol in water by Andrea Fulerton - Dani Dutra

Now, I wasn’t that keen on the application, as this was a similar experience to that with my other trio, Rainfall – still find the double ended brush a bit clunky, not wide enough, the darker colour is a bit thin, so coverage is not great and the drying time was a bit too long. Normally, this would put me off right away, but for this shade it was well worth it!

I really cannot wait to try the other two, but I think it will be very hard for a polish to top this one… Beautiful!

Another weekend and another nail varnish binge – I acquired another three… now have them, together with another good half a dozen, lined up for the next weeks. I really must organise myself, as I am going away for a month over Christmas, will have to take the fabulous shades to be applied while on holidays!

Shoe porn!

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Unmissable: 100 best shoes for Autumn/Winter 2011-12, courtesy of Vogue UK, and with options for all pockets – nice one!

Very hard to choose your favourite, but mine has to be the super fierce Louboutin crystal and studs covered Pigalili (pictured), followed by a lovely spikey heel Zara number, a killer Camilla Skovgaard skyscraper and a metallic textured Nicholas Kirkwood pair…  I so could go on!

Check the full gallery here

*Drool*

The Christian Louboutin story by Net-a-Porter

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Mr. Louboutin is everywhere this week, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his shoe making wonderful wizardry.

Amongst TV appearances, book signings and others, Net-a-Porter also decided to mark the date by creating this super cute video, fairy-telling Christian Louboutin’s story.

I am sure I don’t even need to mention how much I *love* his shoes, so it comes to no surprise I adored this video – hope you enjoy!