Tag Archives: gold

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:

Eye make-up look challenge: white and gold

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

This week I tried to re-create this quite minimalist white and gold eyes. They are meant to be a techno-chic kinda look; to me, they look a bit futuristic and frosted. Kept thinking I should be using light blue and silver instead of gold, for a snow queen look!

I am not sure in which occasion I would, if I wore to go out with this eye make up. I quite like the white “line” in the middle,  there is plenty of shimmer, and when you close you eyes, it looks very pretty and quite unusual.

Instead of using gold leaves, I used Kryolan’s Supracolour from the Charles H. Fox shop in Covent Garden, so even though my look was quite close to the one in the book, the finish was much smoother, as Supracolour is a paste-like product.
The lashes were meant to be quite clumped, but I don’t like that look very much,  so I just clumped it a little bit.  This look is, overall, quite easy to achieve.

Products I used:

  • Charles H. Fox Kryolan Supracolour metallic in gold;
  • Eyeshadow from Sephora pallete (white and shimmery light gold)
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • Smashbox Photo Op Under eye brightener;
  • Studio eye pencil in Winter white
  • E.L.F. eyelid primer in Sheer
  • Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara
  • MAC brushes 208, 231, 239 and 263
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)

Level of difficulty:

Nails of the week – multicolour gold/green/blue

Posted in Beauty by

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.

See all Nails of the week posts

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!

Nails of the week – purple/gold

Posted in Beauty by

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

New shoes – Zara black peep toes!

Posted in Shoes by

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 – gold foil

Posted in Beauty by

gold nailsSuper excited about my nail colour this week. Bought almost two weeks ago, I’ve been burning to try it on, so I am very happy that I finally gave the Barry M Instant Nail effect – Foil varnish a go. Being sceptical about the “true metal” look offered by many nail polishes, I wasn’t disappointed. Plus, I found it to be good value, at £3.99 from Superdrug.

I am now sporting “foiled” gold talons. I didn’t have a great experience with several gold nail polish in the past (they were either glittery or just metallic with no real golden pigment), and this one, even though it is not as if you applied liquid metal to you nails, it has got the shine of the inside of a foil sheet, slightly muted. It reflects light well, and it looks great! I think they got it right calling it “foil”, as I could relate the colour with the inside of foil sheets (if you ever encountered gold foil in your life, that is).

Gold nails

Still, I am very pleased with the result, as it is quite rare to find metallics that have such a good coverage. Application was, and I am not going to lie, not that easy. It was ok, but the polish is a bit thick, it kind of requires that you apply quite a bit for a uniform coverage and even though I was super careful, taking probably double the time it usually takes me to apply nail varnish, I can see slight brush marks and tiny bubbles on one nail.

Despite of the fact that the way it sets is not perfect (I am quite pedantic with the finish of my manicure, I HATE marks, bubbles, bumps, even if of microscopical proportion), I might re-apply for next weekend, as it would go great with the outfit I am planning for a big night out.

I also bought some nail foils, which I have never worn before, and I am really looking forward to trying them on! I have been on a very experimental mood lately, so watch this space!

Smashbox freebies

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

Smashbox productsAfter much procrastination to commit, I decided to subscribed to some magazines.  One of them, Elle, has sent me a Smashbox make up set as a welcoming gift.

I am very sceptical about things that come free – I have been terribly disappointed in the past – so I opened the envelope with an anticipated dissatisfaction.

I would love to say that I was proven wrong and started vehemently believing in free stuff – this is not the case, but I  can say I was pleasantly surprised with the goods I received: O-Gloss Gold, Photo Op brightener and Soft Effects Powder Eyeliner, in aubergine.

Smashbox eyeliner

My favourite one is probably the eyeliner. When I saw the “aubergine” colour, I was a bit annoyed and thought: “typical, they never give you a great staple, like black, for free!”, but it turns out that it is quite dark, and close enough to be worn as an option to black.

For me, the best use was to recycle my eyeliner, I tried it on top of my reliable albeit very tired after a long day at the office,  MAC smolder eye kohl and it looked fantastic. In the morning though, when applied on fresh eyes, it was a bit messy, as it is very loose and fine powder, and the line was a bit rough – but maybe I need to get used to the applicator. Once you get it right (it took me a few minutes,  a cotton bud and a foundation retouch below the eyes!), it looked ok.

Smashbox lipgloss

The lipgloss did what it said on the tin – it changed from a guilded gold to a peachy tone and apparently, the peach colour of this intuitive lipgloss adjusts to your skin, giving you the best match for your complexion. Lips looked nice, the colour was good for me, I really like the golden sheen and the consistency and taste of the lipgloss were alright.

As for the highlighter, it was satisfactory, but not better than my usual Benefit High Beam or my YSL Touché Eclat.

All in all, I can say that I probably wouldn’t buy them. Maybe I could give the eyeliner a go but the £17 price tag for the duo (the black is paired with the aubergine), makes me think if it is really worth it. Good to try new brands and products though, and what I will probably do is use its applicator with other eyeshadows, as quite like the idea behind it, and see how it goes!

Put a ring on it

Posted in Accessories, Lifestyle by

A make-up person? Yes. A clothes-coming-out-of-your-ears person? Sure. A more-than-a-centipede-can-handle shoe person? Hell, yes! I never, however,  considered myself a ring person.  Never cared for them, furthermore, at one point I even worried about the possibility of wearing a wedding ring.

children rings

Childhood treasures

When I was a child, I had a lovely tiny gold solitary ring with a blue sapphire. I remember crying so much when the stone fell, and my mum got it replaced with the dinkiest ruby ever. I also had a little pearl ring.  I quickly grew out of them and had to have the little ruby ring broken in order to remove it from my finger.

On my 13th birthday, I was given a diamond solitary ring (not a massive rock – small, but with amazing clarity, colour and cut). I also grew out of that, after having it resized once, I had to get it cut out of me! Yes, it seems that I tend to hang on to things, until someone physically removes them from me – but that’s another issue altogether!

And I never fussed over rings, maybe because I got traumatised by wearing a “commitment” ring for 3 years from my very first boyfriend, with our names engraved and all – such an old fashioned thing that has nothing to do with the person I am; it haunts me to this day – I have bad taste shivers to the day when I think of it!

a selection of rings

Making a statement, a finger at a time!

In the past years, I bought only a couple rings, discreet sets of 3 with flowers mainly. In the last couple months, however, I have been totally crazy for them – maybe because the current fashion dictates they come big, bold and bright (and there is virtually nothing like that I don’t love), maybe I just decided my fingers need adorning – and I have amassed a little collection  in a very short period of time.

The funny thing is, one day, when I failed to put a ring on, I felt kinda naked on the DLR on my way to work. Could the rings be my new earrings? Time will tell!