Winter favorites

I know I'm long due to this post! Spring has started almost a week ago, but here's a post about some products that I've loved (and am still loving) during the icy winter months.

First some make-up products. I've used the Naked Palette from Urban Decay almost every day since I got it, but I already mentioned that one in my fall favorites post. However, I'm totally hooked on the 24/7 eye pencil in zero. It stays on way longer than any other pencil I've used in the past. I hit pan on the Courtly eyeshadow from the Pedigreed Palace palette from the Fabulous Felines collection that came out around September. I looove this colour! It's great to put all over the lid and then some darker colour in the crease. I haven't used the fluidline in Dark Diversion as an eyeliner that much, but more as a purple base and I love how it looks. And then there's the Rosebud Salve, which I love in spite that it wears off that quickly.



Some months ago I bought a Give me liberty of London polish, in Blue India on a blogsale. I've been wearing it so much, it really goes with anything and looks great against my pale hands. London's Weather Forecast from Catrice and Evening Seduction from China Glaze are some older polishes I have, but they served me well in the Winter months.

The one thing that is so important to have in Winter (and well, basically every season) is a good moisturizing body lotion. Way back in Summer I won some Body Icing from Me!Bath in Vanilla Purity, and it is an amazing product. It is so rich and moisturizing, I don't think I ever used anything other like it. It makes my skin feel the softest ever and it smells divine. I'm almost running out of it, but I think I will buy this eventually. Yes, even if it's 22 euros. It is that good. O and of course, my good friend the Snow Fairy from Lush. It really is one of my favorite shower gels, it makes my bathroom smell like a candy store. I can't wait until next year to buy me the largest bottle there is, I'm so hooked on this but I'm afraid to use it. The day I run out of this will be a very sad day!



Sorry for the craptastic pictures, my camera was doing all weird kind of stuff. I'm kind of glad Winter is over now, I'm totally ready for Spring. But o how I hate Summer.. Can't I just skip it? Anyway, hope you liked my favorites (and maybe found some of yours in these as well). Time to hop in the shower with my Snow Fairy!


xo,
Michelle

NOTD: Catrice Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans

This is a new polish from the Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer range. Seriously, this is such a gorgeous colour. It's a muted jeans blue I think, with a bit of sparkle. I saw some swatches before I went out to buy it, and I saw that the glitter doesn't transform on the nail that heavily. I wouldn't have bought it if it did, I'm not into sparkles. Application was flawless, like always with Catrice polishes.

But man, this is a #%*$! to photograph! I even made pictures at work for you guys, because the lighting is a bit better than at home, but I just can't seem to capture it right. I guess you'll all have to go out, buy it and see it for yourselves!

ps: Omnomnom Oreos <3

xo,
Michelle

FOTD: naked hustle

It's been ages since I posted a fotd! I'm always in a rush so I always forget to take pictures, and if I do make pictures, I'm never happy how they turn out. I managed to get some good ones this time (I think!), so here they are.




What's on my face:

- eyes
MAC Painterly Paintpot
Urban Decay Naked Palette: virgin, toasted, hustle
MAC fluidline in blacktrack
Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara
- brows
MAC corduroy
HEMA eyebrow gel
- face
MAC Pro Longwear foundation in NC20
MUFE concealer palette
MAC Fleur Power blush
- lips
Catrice caramel beige
MAC florabundance

Wow, that's a lot of products when I think of it, but I got this done in about 20 minutes. I really like this look, it's very neutral (well, for me haha). What do you think?

xo,
Michelle

How to: leopard nails

This is a quick and easy tutorial to make your own leopard print nails without using konad or any other stamps. I've worn this quite a few times now, any colour combination is possible and if you mess up, no one will notice.

What you need: 2 colors of polish (preferably a lighter and a darker one) and a nail art pen (or a brush and a black or dark brown polish)

Step one: You first want to apply a base coat and one or two coats of polish of your choice. I'm wearing 2 coats of Catrice's London Weather Forecast. It's best to already clean up at this stage because black polish (used for the print) has a higher possibility of smudging.

Step two: Pick any other colour you like, preferably a lighter one. I picked Eyeko's Rain polish because it's a blue tone like London's Weather Forecast. I think it looks the best this way, a dark colour with a similar lighter colour for the spots. But that's just personal preference, choose whatever you think looks good. Now get a fine brush, this can be a nail art brush or just a cheap one from the art store. Don't spend a ton of money on brushes for nail art, you'll ruin them anyway. Dip it in the polish and paint small dots on your nails.

Step three: When this is completely dry, take your nail art pen or nail art brush (and a black or dark brown polish) and draw in the leopard print. I used Essence nail art pen in 02 cool black. I think it's easy to google a random leopard print and use it as a guideline. It's totally fine to mess up the first few times, it takes some practice. No one is going to tell if you mess up anyway, it's a messy print to begin with ;).

Step four: Apply a topcoat, and you're done! It's really important to let it completely dry before putting on a top coat. If you don't, the black will smudge and ruin your manicure. I always just paint one nail in leopard print. I think it looks too busy and too tacky when I do all of my nails. That's just what I think what looks good on me, if you want to do all of your nails, that's fine by me!

Hope this was interesting!
xo Michelle

Giveaway! (closed)

Hello! I reached 50 followers a couple of days ago, yay! Not that it's that much haha, but I still wanted to do a (small) giveaway.
I went to my local drugstore today and they had the new catrice 'expect the unexpected' limited edition. I really liked some of the stuff, so I thought it would be nice for my giveaway.

What I'm giving away:

2 nail laquers: one in Crispy Crimson and one in Looking Greyt
1 glossy lipstick in Crispy Crimson


I swatched the testing products in the store. Looking Greyt is similar to 'London's Weather Forecast' and Crispy Crimson looks like 'Let's talk about Barrie! '. They're not exact dupes I think. The lipstick is sheer, it's like a glossy stain.

What I'm asking you:

For 1 entry:
- Be a follower with GFC
- Leave a comment with your e-mail adress
- In the same comment, tell me what would be a better name for the blog! I'm thinking of changing it. Beautification sounds a bit weird sometimes. I want something cat-related! Yes I'm that obsessed.

Additional entries:
+3: Make a blogpost about this or put it in your sidebar (leave a link)
+2: Add me to your blogroll (leave a link)


Anyone from anywhere can enter. This giveaway is open until the 13th* of September. I will decide the winner with random.org.

Good luck!

* I changed the date because I get my school results on the 14th and will be making some decisions about how my next year of school will look like. Sorry!

Random: summer favorites

I thought it would be fun to share my summer favorites. Summer in Belgium is always weird. Some days are hot (30°C and up), others are rainy and muggy. Don't hate me for this, but I really don't like summer. I'm a winter type, I love cold snowy nights in bed watching one movie after the other. Anyway, these are the products I loved (and am still loving) during summer:



- m.a.c. eyeshadow quad with mylar, satin taupe, corduroy and shadowy lady
- Sephora blush me! blush in peche tendre
- Urban Decay's Big Fatty Mascara
- Lush None of your beeswax lipbalm
- Catrice Clay-ton My Hero nailpolish
- m.a.c. fluidline in black track
- m.a.c. 266 brush
- Pierre Cardin All over high-light cream

xo Michelle

NOTD: Catrice Back to black

O my, I think I have found the perfect black. Well, apart from a jelly black maybe, because I still want one of those. This is not just another black. In the bottle it looks like the darkest shade of gray with a hint of silver shimmer. The shimmer doesn't really show up in daylight (at least not today, once again one of those gloomy summer days), but it does add some more dimension.
I'm also putting this nail polish to the test. Tomorrow I'm off to Pukkelpop, one of Belgium's biggest festivals. I chose black because I'm a bit neurotic and I always want to match my nails with something I'm wearing. Since I almost always wear something black, my mind will be at ease, haha. Anyway, the longest a catrice polish has lasted me without chipping was about 6 days. After 2 days I get tired about it anyway, so I don't really mind. Now I want to see how long it stays on during a festival, including 4 nights of camping. Woo!

Since I'll be gone until Sunday, I won't be around any computers. I do have some fun posts planned ahead though ;).

I has an owl - but I like kittehz maor. ya rly


close-up

=^x^=
Michelle xo

NOTD: Catrice Clay-ton, my hero

This is a soft shade of taupe by catrice. It's a dark beige-grey with a subtle golden shimmer. It shows up really good in sunlight. I did the anchor with 'back to black' (yes again, I knowww), it's a very dark grey with a silver-blue shimmer.
I am seriously in love with catrice nailpolishes. They're so cheap, opaque with 2 layers and the quality is great. I can't resist buying one whenever I go to Kruidvat, haha. There are still 5 colours I really want!

NOTD: Anchors aweigh!

I did this with a stamping set from essence. I guess it's what you call a fake konad? I think it came out okay, but I'm not a huge fan of it. The red line is sort of odd? I don't know. I used stargazer nail art pen in red, catrice 'back to black', gosh silk and catrice 'I see through you'.

Voor diegenen van België en Nederland: bij Kruidvat is het Nagelfestival: 2 kopen, 2e halve prijs! Ik heb er alvast al dik van geprofiteerd ;).

xo Michelle

NOTD: Nail marbling

I really hated doing this, haha. I think it came out okay, so it guess it was worth the struggle. I used catrice sold out forever, a pinky nailpolish from hema and gosh' 02 pearl. Here's how it looks:

(wow, my hands are super dry here?)

And my fotd. I wear this almost every day, just a neutral eye with lots of eyeliner, a bit of blush and some lipbutter. I have a teeeeeny bit of turquoise going on near my tear duct, but that's about it.

(very creasy lids, arghhh)

purrr, snooze xo

NOTD: Catrice London's weather forecast

Another catrice nailpolish. I didn't like it a first, but now i really love it. It's a blueish grey with a very subtle shimmer, really pretty.


I ordered some polishes from eyeko; rain polish, vintage polish and posh polish. Can't wait for them to arrive!

NOTD: Catrice Sold out forever

Quick post on a catrice nailpolish. I loooove this color! And i love anchors, haha.




Bye! xo

NOTD: Catrice Lost in mud

First catrice nailpolish. Heard some good stuff about it so i decided i had to try it (2,50 euros each, supercheap). Wearing '220 lost in mud' in the picture. I put it on on thursday, and it's monday now so it's still in quite good condition. I did have to put on 3 layers before i got full coverage, so that part i did not like. It turned out a shade darker because of it but it's still quite nice. I also got '280 london weather forecast' and put it on my toenails, but so far i'm not a big fan.



I'm thinking about posting some LOTD's on here, as well as some other makeup looks i did over the last 2,5 years. Still not sure, since they will be made with photobooth most of the time. Every camera i get my hands on breaks ;( So i need a new one, and fast!
Photobooth quality:

Not the best quality, right? I did this for carnaval (february)

I also need a big mac or mufe haul, haha. I've been using mostly sephora products the last year, but i need an upgrade (and some new brushes, pierre cardin just doesn't cut it anymore).