OOTD: Casual Shopping Day

I was out and about in town with my best friend last Saturday and that was when I snapped a picture of what I wore to show it to you later. We basically spent the entire day shopping, drinking Starbucks and talking - a major catch-up is what is needed when you haven't seen your bestie in months! Anyway, on to the outfit...

Daily Perfection: Katie Cassidy

The picture is from here

So... first of all, since yesterday was Halloween, I hope that you all had a great time! I spent the night with a few of my closest friends (we call ourselves 'The Sleepover Club') watching horror movies and eating pizza and snacks.

The reason that Katie Cassidy is today's perfection is that we watched 'Nightmare on Elm Street' starring ...Katie Cassidy! Well, after a good 15 minutes she was murdered, but when I got home today, I found this beautiful picture of her and I had to feature her on my blog! Isn't she simply gorgeous?

Hope you don't mind me talking a lot :)

Have a great day!

Love,
Nathalie x

Daily Perfection: Jessica Lowndes

GORGEOUS. That's what comes to my mind when seeing this picture. The loose, but polished bun; the natural, but perfectly shaped brows; that sweet, but also perky smile and on top of that, a completely flawless makeup.

seen on glamour.com

x, Nathalie

New arrivals: L'Oréal, Maybelline, essence...

Last saturday was just perfect to hit the drugstore and pick up a few things, but I wasn't able to post this earlier, so here we go now:

MAKEUP

• Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine in 360 Plum Perfection

Had been staring at this color for weeks and finally manages to purchase it. I'm going through a dark-red lip phase right now, and this one absolutely satisfies my craving for a glamorous, plum color.

• L'Oréal Paris Super Liner [Lineur Intense] Carbon Gloss [Carbon Black]

As you can see, this liner is called differently in Germany, but it's just as awesome. As everyone loves his liner, I decided to give it a try and buy it. Well, what to say...I love it!

BEAUTY

• Balea Aqua Hydrating Sheet Mask

I love sheet masks because they're so easy to use. And in the fall, even my oily skin needs some moisture and these masks are just amazing.

• essence 24h hand protection balm (mini size)

My love for the 24h hand balm + my love for travel-size hand creams = happy me.

NAIL POLISH

• p2 Perfect Nail Hardener

My nails are kinda brittle right now and so I wanna strengthen them, but as I hate formaldehyde-containing nail hardener, I decided to pick up this one that is free of it. And I works well!

• Catrice In The Bronx

Last week's nail polish purchase. I don't want to write to much about it, if you wanna know more about this gorgeous color, check out my Daily Nail post here.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

x, Nathalie

The Daily Nail: Catrice In The Bronx

2 coats, natural daylight

I finally got around to start the nailpolish series that every serious beauty blog seems to have. So when I bought In the Bronx last weekend, I thought it was the perfect beginning.

In the Bronx is a very bronzy color with an olive undertone a lot of golden-olive shimmer to it. After applying it, it was so shiny that it looked like I had applied to nail polish strips because usually, they are very shiny. I think In the bronx is a beautiful color and so appropriate for fall!

The color kind of reminded me of butter London's Wallis, but when I saw the picture below, I noticed that In the bronx actually is a lot more brownish.

The picture is from Missbloggerazzi

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please feel free to leave a photo with your actual nail polish in the comments!

x, Nathalie

Most stunning commercial ever: Dior GAMES

Hey guys!
SERIOUSLY, you have to see this! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this: a makeup video à la Tetris, Pacman and Super Mario.

ENJOY!
  Love, Nathalie x

Easy 5-Minute Fall Eye Makeup

Hey guys!
Today I got the newest issue of the german GLAMOUR and their beauty shoot totally inspired me to do this super quick, but 100% glam eye makeup.

I decided to use my beloved BHCosmetics 88 Neutral Palette (similar to Coastal Scents 88 Warm Palette) because it has the widest variety of colors for this look.

The picture is from here

About the numbers: I counted the colors top down in each vertical row.

So let's get started!

1 Prime your eye lids. Also apply a little bit of eye primer on your lower lash line because we're also going to put some shadow there.

2 Take a big flat shader brush and apply the color n°84 (a matte, cognac brown) on your entire eye lid and blend it upwards until you almost reach your brows (leave a little space!). Take the tip of your brush to apply a hint of color along your lower lash line.

3 Take a big fluffy shadow brush and hold it one the very end (that's going to make the strokes really feathery). Take the color n°56 and tap off any excess. Lightly sweep the color over the other shadow. Blend in well and don't forget to sweep a little bit of the color along your lower lash line.

4 Line your upper lash line with a black eye liner (if you feel like that's to harsh for you, go for dark brown).

5 Curl your lashes and apply to coats of your favorite black mascara.

About the rest of your makeup:
Work a light foundation into your skin to get a flawless teint. Accentuate your cheeks with a brownish blush. Last but not least, apply a nude lipstick on your lips.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little tutorial!

Love,
Nathalie

Review: JK Jemma Kidd i-Design Eye Colour

Hey guys!
If you read my previous post about new arrivals, you know that I just purchased this lovely eyeshadow by JK Jemma Kidd and I promised you to do a review on it. So here we go:

JK Jemma Kidd i-Design Eye Colour in '08 - Must Have'

So at first, I really like the packaging. It looks like plexiglass, but in fact it's just normal plastic. The eyeshadow is embedded in a flat pink bowl (sounds weird I guess).

The color is described as a good defining color, especially when used in the crease.

Swatches:

LEFT: Eyeshadow applied without primer | RIGHT: Eyeshadow applied with primer

The eyeshadow is super pigmented and the color looks very vibrant. There's no real difference between the two swatches. But (!) after having this eyeshadow on the back of my hand for multiple hours (and on my lids of course), I would recommend using an eye primer, just for the sake of longlasting effects.
Generally, 'Must Have' is a great color for dramatic night looks, especially if you're tired of grey/black smokey eyes.

Availability: JK Jemma Kidd i-Design Eye Colour is available at Target (16$) and on jemmakidd.com (£8)

Love,
Nathalie x

NEW Arrivals: Beauty

JK Jemma Kidd i-design eye colour in 08 must have

Everyone says that Jemma Kidd makeup is amazing, so I went to Zalando and noticed: it was on SALE! I just couldn't help myself and picked out this pretty shimmery, midnight blue color. Review coming soon!

 essence 24h protection balm Winter Edition 'Vanilla Apple Pie'

I love the 24 protection balm (I generelly love hand cream so much) that I just had to buy this. This year's winter colletion is called 'Little bakery', besides this scent, the scents 'Raspberry Chocolate Cake' and 'Strawberry Cupcake' are available.

 L'Oréal Studio Secrets Smoothing Eye Primer

I'm always looking for new eye primers (Oily lids, I'm looking at you!) and decided to give this one a try and I absolutely love the SS face primer.

What did you buy these days?

xoxo, Nathalie

Review: SpaRitual Nail Lacquers

Hi guys!

Today, my SpaRitual package finally arrived (I feel like I had been waiting for this forever!) and it contained 4 super pretty nail lacquers:

It's a mini kit containing 4 bottles (each 0.17 fl.oz / 5 ml):
• Knowledge is power: a pretty barbie pink
• Enlightened Soul: super bright yellow, love!
• Eye of the beholder: really pretty apple green
• Face of destiny: really pretty orangey apricot color with the best coverage of these 4

I'm very excited about these nail lacquers because I had heard so many good things about them that I just wanted to try 'em out.

What makes these nail lacquers so special:

• The Bottle

It's made in Italy from reusable glass with up to 50% recycled materials. Plus, the bottles are recyclable.

• The Colors

In their opinion, colors can change what we feel. That's why they created more than 80 nail colors, arranged in four dynamic harmonies.

• The Formula

The nail lacquers vegan because they are 100% free of DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resin.

• The Cap

The nail lacquers come in a bottle with a patented, rubberized cap which is super easy to open. It has a very short brush that makes it easy to apply the polish very precisely.

How they go on:

I applied 2 coats of the nail polish and I must say the coverage is really good! The cap makes it super easy to apply the nail polish properly. The colors are very vibrant.

This is their current collection:

Wilde Collection | Screenshot taken from sparitual.de

Really pretty, shimmery colors, I especially love Rhythm of Life and Spirit Child.

Make sure to check out the SpaRituals Website!

So.. are you interested in SpaRitual Nail Lacquers? Are you going to try these out?

xo, Nathalie

Nail Polish Trends F/W 2011

Hey guys,

I can't stop buying nail polish this fall (too many beautiful colors). Reading at your own risk!

MILITARY GREEN 

The picture is from here

In fall and winter, you generally wear darker colors that in summer. But the new dark green nail polishes are just to die for. Extremely shiny, extremely covering, extremely pretty. I'm sure you'll find your perfect shade very soon!

Colors to consider:

• Deborah Lippmann "Billionaire" (shown in the picture)

• Chanel "Péridot"

• Essie "Going Incognito"

DENIM BLUE

The picture is from here

Summer = turquoise. Fall = everything that's darker. This fall, there's a variety of beautiful blue nail polishes to choose from which makes it really hard to decide which one to buy.

Colors to consider:

• Dior Vernis "Blue Denim" (shown in the picture)

• Sephora by OPI "My Personal Serpent"

• OPI "Russian Navy"

• Essie "Midnight Cami"

• Chanel "Blue Satin"

PLUM

The picture is from here

Plum has always been a good choice for fall/winter, but this season, there are so many pretty shades coming up! No matter if you prefer a lighter purple or a darker one, you'll make a find!

Colors to consider:

• OPI "Lincoln Park at Midnight" (shown in the picture)
• Butter London 3-Free Nail Lacquer "Toff"

• MAC "Rain of Flowers"

• Sephora by OPI "Eve-y on the Eyes"

• Essie "Bahama Mama"

METALLICS

The picture is from here

This fall, our nails will be metallic, shimmery and rusty. Preferably all at once. Rusty colors are super cool as well as all kinds of silver or golden metallic shades (tried out gunmetal yet?). So many choices!

Colors to consider:

• Chanel "Graphite" (shown in the picture)

• Essie "Very Structured"

• Deborah Lippmann "Brick House"

• Zoya "Freja"

• China Glaze "Ruby Pumps"

What are your favorite nail polishes for fall/winter 2011?

xo, Nathalie

Fall is coming: 3 tips for transforming your beauty routine

The picture is from here

1. Get rich!
In summer, your skin needs light formulated products like wash gels, light moisturizers and hydrating face masks. In fall and winter, your skin will be exposed to a constant temperature change of cold (outside) and quite hot (inside), so it's important to protect it and help it regenarating. Start using wash lotions and creams with a richer formula again. Also make sure that your toner does not contain too much alcohol (or is alcohol free) because alcohol dries out your skin a lot which is not a big deal in summer but in fall/winter. To pamper your skin additionally, use a deeply moisturizing face mask every once in a while.

2. Ditch the brights!
When days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer, nobody wants to see you running around with a bright turquoise eye liner and electric pink lipstick.
Time for some fall shades! Any kinds of darker colors will work perfectly. Try out deep purple, dark green or a navy, darkish blue for eyeshadow colors if you're sick of dark brown and black. For blush, I'd suggest more bronzy, brown colors and not bright pinks or even lilacs. Find a neutral, down-to-earth shade that works for your skin tone. Prefer richer lipsticks over lipgloss. For lipsticks, stick to neutral shades or try out deeper reds or burgundy colors.
But always remember: Choose either your eyes OR your lips to stand out!

3. Stay natural!
Your skin has to deal with so many different external influences, so don't overdo your makeup. Flawless skin is in right now, but you want it to look flawless and not caky, so don't take too much foundation/concealer/powder to cover up your imperfections. Make sure you use a color that fits your skin! Most people's skin is lighter in winter, so you probably will have to go buy new face makeup one or two shades lighter that your summer shade.

Have fun trying out some new makeup looks (or purchasing lots of new stuff at the drugstore)!

xx, Nathalie