K's Weekly Wishlist #4 US Edition!

Glitter Nail Polish | Glow-in-the-Dark Nail Polish | Brushes | Coat | Essie Nail Polish | BB Cream | Boots | Hair Dye | Perfume | Purple and Glitter Nail Polish | Make-Up Box | Confetti Nail Polish | Mascara | Pouch

The time has come. Tomorrow I will leave for New York City and it will be the start of the roadtrip from New York to Los Angeles with my father! I am so excited and also so afraid that I will forget anything, you know that feeling right? My suitcase is packed. It is not even half full but I am sure it will come back home totally crammed.
In my wishlist you can find items I have wished for for quite a long time actually and that I am sure I will find in the United States.
I have always been a fan of glitter nail polishes and obviously they had to be in the photo set. Lately I am into the confetti ranges and into those, in which the polish is another color than the glitter. I will also replace my old A List Essie nail polish with a new one; it is like the best shade of red I have ever found. Since special nail polishes have always been my taste, I will also try the glow in the dark type. So excited!
Cut-out boots are the latest trend I really don't want to miss it. I am looking for flat ones and I really hope to find some.
Beauty products should not be missing on the wishlist since there is a much wider and more different range in the United States than it is here in Austria. I will totally take advantage of that, and honestly: who wouldn't. I will go for Benefit and Smashbox Camera Ready products, as well as Daisy by Marc Jacobs.
I have talked about the Real Techniques Brushes set before and this time it will not only be on my wishlist, it will be in my make up bag! I have also mentioned dying my ombré-ed hair pink and Urban Outfitters has a really good product to do so, at least that's what the reviews say.
I have not talked about the make up pouch yet, it only stands for the infinite number of products I want to buy from Forever 21.
And last but definitely not least: the coat. Bianca has purchased it already but I fancied it for quite some time already and after trying it on in stores I want it really badly. Her and me will run around like twins in autumn/winter then, so what.

What has been on your wishlist lately?

Mini Haul

Hey everyone!

I got back from Finland on tuesday night (so sad to have had to leave Helsinki, I absolutely fell in love with that place)... I will be uploading a couple of pictures of the holiday really soon to give you a little idea of how it's been! In the meanwhile, I thought I would do a brief little picture post of a couple of things I bought before I left for Finland. Nothing special, just a couple of drugstore beauty products and jewelry. 

This lipstick in a dark red-ish / purple is from Hema, a Dutch kind of department store that sells all kind of stuff, including a few bits and bobs of cheap make-up. My brow gel is from there and it's really pretty decent, so I picked up a few more pieces of make-up the other day. The formula is very moisturizing but the color is also quite pigmented, which gives a nice sheen to the lips. The lasting power isn't overwhelmingly good, but the color is just what I was looking for, a dark, velvety purple/red, and for only approx. 3€ it's quite a bargain, so I picked up a second one:

A creamy peach color, which is sort of a summery version of most "your-lips-but-better" colors. Moisturizing, cheap, average lasting power, gorgeous color, so all in all, another catch.
Then I went on to the nail varnish section, where they had a sale for the long-lasting ones, which only cost between 1€ - 1,50€ so I snapped two up that actually match the lipsticks really well!

The dark color looks nearly brown-black in the bottle, but applied it's more of a very deep, dark red/purple with a hint of brown sheen and very small sparkles. Surprisingly great lasting power! I haven't tried out the other color yet, but on the tester nail it looked like a nice, shiny nude tone.
The last couple of things I bought were a ring set from Hema, and a Moon-ring from H&M which just matches my moon tattoo perfectly...

Voilà! If you live in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium or Luxembourg and know about Hema, I suggest you go have a look because some of their make-up is actually quite surprisingly good and just sooooo cheap!
As for my traveling stories, I will get on uploading my photos soon and posting a few more articles, as I am excited to say that I got to go into the Monki Stores in Helsinki and went a little mad! It truly is my new absolutely favorite brand. Will be posting another little haul soon :) I hope you've had a great summer - let us know if there's any things you bought that you absolutely want to share. If you have a blog you want us to check out, leave your link in a comment below!

Catrice Cosmetics Appreciation

I have actually sworn to myself not to buy anything before my trip to the United States since clothes and beauty products are much cheaper there, but I have a really good excuse: Catrice Cosmetics are not sold in the US and I grew really fond of them lately! Plus they are really cheap compared to other brands like Maybelline, L'Oréal or even MAC Cosmetics. In the past few weeks I acquired their foundation, pressed powder, camouflage cream, two primers, eyebrow set and the three mascaras shown in the picture, and I use all of them on an everyday basis.

I will start to talk about their face make-up. On the top left, you can see the Photo Finish 18h Liquid Foundation (I am using the shade 020 Rosy Beige). I get really unsure when it comes to picking a new foundation. My Maybelline Super Stay 24h Make-Up has been a total disappointment especially for the price, so I decided to search for a new one. I immediately thought about Catrice, so I have spent one evening scrolling through hundreds of reviews of this product (yes, I do have that much spare time lately) and then decided to go for it. I have to say it was one of the best decision I made about make-up, it has a medium coverage and makes my skin look soft and smooth with an oil-free solution. When it comes to the Camouflage Cream (bottom left), I might have bought a too dark shade (030 Rosy Beige) because I went after the name and not the number. Nevermind that, it covers up perfectly while blending with my skin tone and is also works fine as concealer. Bianca has recommended using primers to me so I totally went for it and chose the Prime and Fine Eyeshadow Base and the Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner for invisible pores and lines. I am impressed by how long my eyeshadow stays in places without wandering to the crease with this product! As you can see I have used the facial primer already but I haven't seen any results worth talking about yet. My latest acquisition is the All Matt Plus Shine Control Powder I haven't used much yet because unfortunately I am too tanned. I will let you know about how it works.

As you can see the eyeshadows palettes on the left and on the right side are a bit older and used up. The left one isn't even sold anymore and the right one, the Absolute Nude Eyeshadow Palette, is my absolute favorite combination of colors of all time, I actually wear it every day. In the middle there is the Eye Brow Set, and the colors in my picture are much closer to reality than the ones on the website! I am totally happy about the small tweezer and the small brush and comb combination, they work really fine and the darker color merges with the one of my eyebrows.

This pictures shows perfectly that I am a fan of big brushes. I am certain that the bigger the brush the bigger the volume and I have not been proven wrong yet. The Better Than False Lashes Mascara in ultra black on the left reminds me a lot of my Maybelline Volum' Express Colossal Mascara, that I entirely used up some days ago, but this one is a much cheaper version. So is The Giant Extreme Volume Mascara, although the brush itself is too big to get to the outer corner and color the tinier hair, which is a bit of a disappointment. The Glamour Doll Volume Mascara on the right has been in my make-up treasure for a while now and I use it to define and brush my lashes.

Last but not least: Catrice nail polishes. I don't own many but the colors are beautiful and quick-drying, f.l.t.r: 07 Genius in a Bottle, 090 Karl Says Très Chic, 03 Papa Don't Peach, 810 ACid/DC and 620 Captain Sparrow's Boat. The peach and yellow-green-ish one were gifts from Bianca. I recommend applying a base coat for all of them, especially for ACid/DC. I love shadowy-color-changing effect of the first one from the left and the shimmery metallic look of the two ones on the right. I am not that much into orange but I cannot deny that it is a perfect color for summer, but what I am is a fan of pink/red tones so the Ultimate Nude pink shade is  totally my type. It says "new brush" but this is a really old version of this nail polish so now it's the normal Catrice nail polish brush.

I am aware that this post is quite long but I wanted to share with you the love I have for this brand. I can recommend any product they have. Day after day I fall in love with the items I own even more and I use most of them daily. Do you have any brand you canot go without?

B's Week In Pictures

And because it's sunday evening and I won't be there for a whole week after this, here a little picture post: my week in photos + my favorite songs of the last couple of days:

Red lips, collar tips and bunny shirts - pix for "what's in my make-up bag" tag - showing off one of my new piercings and my 3mm taper - new hareem pants and crazy tribal patterns - tea, movies and cigarettes - doing my statement necklace DIY - new white sweater and silly face - painting my nails - new beanie from asos.

Top 5 Tunes of the week (these are all taken from the playlist my boyfriend created for summer 2013):

Bibio - You
Dubbel Dutch - Self Help Riddim
Tom Trago - Use Me Again (And Again)
The XX - Chained (John Talabot & Pional Blinded Remix)
Toro Y Moi - Such Bad Handling

                                                                   

K's Weekly Wishlist #3

Nail polish | Clutch | Towel | Coat | Loafers | Dry Shampoo | Bag

As you may have already noticed I am quite a big fan of the color black so it's no surprise half of the items on here are this color.

I have not always been a fan of see-through bags since to me they seem like an invitation for thieves: hey here's my iPhone, and wow look my wallet is so big! Although I still have mixed feelings about them, I grew into being a fan lately. The clutch shown above is a bit dimmed and one side isn't see-through at all so it would be the perfect bag to get used to the idea.

Confetti nail polishes have been on my mind forever since I am totally into glitter nail polishes. It is a different kind of glitter and I am certainly always excited about change!

As Bianca said, summer will be coming to an end soon... though is definitely still really hot here in Vienna and in September, I will be in the United States on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles (I will write an article about it soon), driving through deserts and other really hot places, so it won't be autumn for me until October. Despite all this upcoming heat, I have never been into summer, so I am already thinking about what to wear in autumn/winter. I was a fan of this kind of coat last year already and I will totally buy it this year. I love the contrast!

Studded loafers, booooring, I know, but I need them to match my wardrobe! Yes I have had some shoes on my wishlist already but as opposed to most women, I don't own an entire room full of shoes so my shoes barely ever match my outfits, unfortunately... This has to end soon!

Bianca has been a fan of Batiste dry shampoos for a while now and she totally recommended them to me. Unfortunately it's a bit late for me to order this for the festival I am going to next week, but I will definitely try it out anyway!

Now to the part of the list which might seem a bit boring to you: I have wanted white towels for ages now, I need them for my bathroom. My entire flat is really white and I do not even own white towels, shame on me!

Finally: the bag. Ah I wish I could give you a link to it but the bag above is from Mango and is sold out. I own a really similar one myself, from Zara, but sadly its death is near and I love it so much it's my absolute favorite bag! I am desperate to find a similar one, I really am, I really do hope I will find one in the US!

Do you know where I can purchase a bag like this? What have you been wishing for?

Kiko Sugar Mat nail lacquer swatch & review

I have been obsessed with liquid sand manicure lately. The Barry M Textured Nail Paints in the color Kingsland Road (which is a light pink) has been in my possession for some months already, and I have fallen madly in love with it! By the way, what I find funny is how the brands can't seem to agree on one term; for OPI for example they call this kind of texture "liquid sand" and Kiko call it "sugar mat".

I have finally made my way to the shopping mall where the Kiko Cosmetics first shop in Vienna opened in May (yes, I know I'm a bit late). When I went to Berlin in 2011, I have first met this brand and was impressed of the price-performance-ratio! The nail polishes are long lasting and quick drying. That's why I decided to buy three different colors of the Sugar Mat nail lacquer collection from Kiko Cosmetics. I chose true red, mint and lilac, I own about a billion different red tones though.

My favorite color for accessories lately is mint. This one appeared really flashy, but natural light it isn't anymore.

It might seem a bit lame, but my all time favor color for nails is red. All tones of it. In summer I prefer the richer, brighter reds and in winter I choose darker red and burgundy tones more often. 

Lilac is one of the pastel tones I enjoy most. It is a really beautiful summer color. I have never been a fan of nail-polish-outfit-matching, so I wear the brightest colors with my black dresses and boring outfits, so they pimp them.

Do you like textured nail polishes? What are your favorite colors for your nails in summer?