Category Archives: Beauty

Nails of the week – holographic glitter

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OPI Save Me - Nicki Minaj, holographic glitter

click to enlarge

This week I am wearing my new acquisition: Save Me, from OPI‘s  Nicki Minaj collection. I was so excited to receive this, I painted my nails on the very same day it arrived –  it looked to stunning in the bottle!

The final result was amazing: the polish has a very saturated silver glitter base, so it’s super sparkling. The holographic strands are beautiful, and as they get distributed unevenly,  it’s pretty much guaranteed that one will be catching the light at some point, so the effect is very noticeable and the colours really varied.  I got countless compliments on it!

I wore a black nail polish from Barry M as base and the application for both was fine. I kind of expected the black to be opaque enough with one coat, but two were necessary. I then applied a coat of Save Me on top of it. I am not going to lie: it was a bit of a pain, not so much while applying, but when cleaning the excesses –  not only was it hard to remove but also the holographic strands tend to poke out of the tip of the nail, and removing them can leave a gap… so I struggled a bit, having to do a *lot* of filing to smooth out the ends, a bit of cutting of stray strands, as they kept catching on everything, even after using a topcoat, my nails were so rough at the end I think I could cut stuff with it… a bit of a pain, really.

Durability is good. As a glitter polish, I am expecting it will be very hard to remove *sight*, but that’s unavoidable! Also, I do still have an issue with the texture of a glitter polish, even with top coat, it is quite rough for my touch; but that’s a totally personal point.

Overall, I am truly in love with this varnish: it is exquisite and nothing like any other holographic or glitter polish I have ever worn before.

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Nails of the week – multicolour gold/green/blue

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This week I am wearing a nail polish I had been looking forward to trying on, as the colour is so vivid: Trendy, another Specialittá polish from the Marinoon Multigirl collection.

Now, one of the colours on this duochrome is definitely gold. The green part gets a bit complicated – I really loved the spectrum of colours on this: from the bright gold yellow, it changes to a subtle apple green, ending on a blue-ish, grey-ish green, with more or less variations depending on the lighting. Truly amazing colour! It is very shiny, the gold very yellow and intense.

The not so good bit is that application wasn’t that straight forward; although I just needed 2 coats (differently from the previous one from this range I tried, which was quite thin), I can still see the brush strokes marks, no matter how careful I was. Although to the untrained eye on a daily basis this is not noticeable, you can still notice in my pictures. This upsets me, I like my polish smooth and shiny, so a big let down. Drying time was slightly above standard but durability is very good!

Overall, love the colour, but a bit of trouble for what it is worth. The brush stroke marks are really bothering me, but a nice choice anyway.

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Getting over the fear of light colours on my nails

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The lovely pastel colours KG shoes I bought are helping me put my fear of light colours on my nails behind me, I think – or at least they contributed to the very first step!

I came across this lovely set from Nails Inc called “The Candy Shop” with the most charming pastel shades plus a lime nail polish. I cannot believe it was half price (£12.50 for four bottles) as the colours in it are very hot for this spring! And they all go really well with my new shoes, and outfits I will put together with it. The blue is really cute, and although I couldn’t bring myself to wear mint green last year, I am confident I will make it this time around. But the star for me has to be the lime shade. Love it!

At the moment, I am obsessed with lime green (or yellow? ummm…) and been looking for some items of clothing to buy. As my outfits always start with the shoes, I do blame KG for all this. Talking about that, I found the cutest super skinny lime belt in Topshop, which has tiny silver studs, and I think it is perfect for my new shoes!

I cannot wait for spring, not only because I am very excited about putting together a fresh wardrobe, but also because I am really looking forward to the warming weather and the beautiful flowers everywhere. Always a comforting thought, when you are still wrapped in your fur coat!

 

Nails of the week – green/purple duochrome

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Totally in love with this nail colour. This week I am wearing a mega pretty green and purple duochrome called Aztec, from Accessorize’s Illusion nail polish range. Not only the colour changes beautifully, and you can notice it under most lighting, but it is also very sparkly, almost glittery.

The green and purple seem to be a common combination for multi toned nail varnishes, but the green on this one is forest green, making the contrast stunning (most of the others are teal like), and it also has some hints of gold.

Application was ok, if anything the brush was on the small side. The first coat was very thin, and I was worried about the effect. But upon applying the second coat, the beautiful colour revealed itself, in full glory, as in the bottle. Durability is good, of course I am wearing a topcoat, but there have been no chips, four days after application. A good quality nail varnish.

Overall, a great buy, at £4 per bottle. I must admit I am very impressed with the Accessorize nail polish – to be honest, I didn’t think it was going to be good in any way.  I bought this late in 2011, but they still have it on the site, and probably in store. I also bought another shade from the same range, Pink Spice, and cannot wait to try that one too!

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Nails of the week – metallic brown

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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.

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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

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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

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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!!

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

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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