Have to Share: Pixlr-o-matic app

Oooh I know I'm a day late with this but you know what they say: Better late than never!
Today I have to share an app with you that I love to death. I got it the day I got my smartphone and I can't go without it anymore. If you're wondering what app I'm talking about and how it all works, you know what to do.

Tag: Let's get Personal (DUTCH)

Deze tag ben ik al een paar keer tegen gekomen en het leek me wel leuk om deze ook eens te doen. En weer eens een keertje in het Nederlands bloggen voor de afwisseling.  Ik hoop dat jullie het leuk vinden om eens wat meer persoonlijke dingen over mij te lezen. 

MAX Blushes

MAX is probably the cheapest make-up brand I know and own products from. Like.. It's so cheap you would automatically think that the quality must suck. The very opposite is true though, so far almost every product I have of this brand is pretty awesome! Today I want to share the blushes with you, I bought them a while back because I was curious and I've been using them pretty much daily ever since. 

Have to Share: Looking for Alaska

Might be a bit late but here’s another Have to Share for you. This time I want to share a book that I read a while back called Looking for Alaska by John Green. The title could be slightly misleading (or boring even) but I must say I could not put this book down at all. I read it within 2 days, something I’ve never been able to do. The reason I wanted to read this book is because of a line I read somewhere on Tumblr that I couldn’t seem to forget, it’s probably one of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever read. That one line was the only reason I bought the book. If you’re curious you know what to do.

Review: Facefront and Medusa's Make-up

Back in April I came across some eye shadows by brands that I hadn’t heard of before called Facefront and Medusa’s Make-up. I googled around a bit and came to the conclusion that they were absolutely a must try and so I placed an order on Boozyshop. I must say that I am always on the lookout for new brands with great make-up and these two brands have surprised me in a very good way.

No Buy update + Tips&Tricks

A quick update on my no buy, how am I doing so far?

Well I am extremely happy to tell you I have not bought anything make-up or beauty related. Frankly I've been avoiding drugstores as much as I can. When I really had to go in for some Father's Day gifts I just walked passed the make-up counters and barely looked at them. I was well impressed with myself for giving make-up the cold shoulder. Yesterday it got a bit difficult when I saw an online shop had added the new collection of Facefront cosmetics that included a beautiful minty green shadow. I've been looking for a minty green eye shadow since Februari and so far haven't found the one, yet this one looks perfect! But I'm not allowed to buy it and it sucks. I'll just have to hope it isn't sold out by the time my no buy is over. 

Aren't they gorgeous!?

So now I have a few tips and tricks for you on how to handle a no buy. 

Have to Share: Brotips

I'm going to try out a new thing on here for the Mondays called Have to Share. From now on I will post something that I think you should know about and that I feel like I have to share with you. Might be a website like today, a blog, a photo I took or found online, a passage from a book, anything really. If you want to submit something for me to put up here, or at least consider, you can send me an e-mail about it. You can find that in the Contact tab above. 

So for the first Have to Share I have a website which in my opinion is totally worth sharing.

I think a lot of you might already know what I’m talking about when I say Brotips. They have been on weheartit.com and tumblr for quite some time now. The first few I read were on weheartit and I thought they were pretty awesome, most of them were hilarious even. I personally think they are great ways to tell people how it really is. They have over 2000 Brotips online for everyone to enjoy and I really recommend you look through them because they can be quite inspirational as well!

I’ll share some of my favourites with you. 

Summer Lipstick Favourites

When you think about Summer there are always a few things that pop into your head:
Sun, tanning, the beach, skirts, dresses, shaving, sunscreen, flip flops and sexy shirtless men. Okay that last may not go for everyone... But what is Summer without a nice pop of colour on your lips?

I personally prefer to wear as little make-up as possible during hot and humid days, because frankly I don't like the feel of it. But with just a but of mascara and eyeliner I feel a bit boring, so I just pop on a nice lipstick. Another plus is that it's also still visible if you plan to wear sunglasses all day.

Check out my top 10

Hardest challenge: No buy!

With a trip to Florence in my future I really need to save more money. But if here's something I'm terrible at it's saving money.. So I had sort of agreed with myself not to buy anything until my birthday, which is on the 26th of June. As I was reading up on blogs on Bloglovin I read a blogpost on Beautyfreak saying she is also going to have a no buy. So as of this moment on I am not allowed to buy any beauty products for one whole month. Worst part: I included nailpolish!

This used to be my stash..

Over the past year I developed a huge nailpolish addiction and I have bought more polishes than I could ever wear. Though I am nowhere near the amount of polishes Esther from Beautyfreak has (over a 1000!) I did reach a fair amount. Esther included a polish challenge as well, to wear 25 different polishes within the time of the no buy. I will do this as well since I have a box filled with untrieds and I am sure there's at least 25 polishes in there.

Here's what holds my nailpolishes now

The main goals for me here are: 
- Finally using all the untried polishes
- Using my make-up more, discover what I have
- Throwing out products I really don't use any more (or give them away)
- Saving money for Florence
- Learning I don't need to have everything I like

Old make-up stash photo

Of course I will have some exceptions to the no buy, I can't run out of vital beauty stuff!
- Cotton pads
- Face wipes
- Moisturizer
- Polish remover


I've tried no buys before and they never worked out for me, but I have a really good feeling about it this time. Don't worry, I have plenty of things that I can show you without buying new products! Oh and also on the 30th of June I will have a post up of the 25 nailpolishes I've worn throughout this no buy month.

Have you ever done a no buy? If so please share your story and tips in the comments!

Movies I’ve seen + short reviews

How to be

Okay so I have a thing for Robert Pattinson. Seriously when I saw the haircut I couldn’t stop laughing so I just had to see this one. The movie shows Rob in all his awkwardness, which in my opinion is adorable. He’s plays a 20 something year old guy struggling with depression and a bad relationship with his parents. It’s a really strange movie, not the best out there, but if you like Robert as much as I do or you’re into strange movies you really should watch it. Did I mention he has a British accent? WIN!

The Help

My  god, this movie was really, really good! I cried my eyeballs out and it made me feel all angry and upset. That is when I know it was a good movie, it really got to me. It displays the racism back in the day and how the African-Americans were being treated as garbage. I won’t be able to do this movie justice but I highly recommend it!! I’m thinking about reading the book as well, has anyone done that?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Normally I don’t watch movies that are about WWII but  I’m glad I did, it was a real good one. I really think the young boys did a great acting job and the story was interesting. The ending was somewhat unexpected as I was hoping for a happy ending, but it was really good. If you’re into stories from WWII this might be a good movie for you, if you like sad movies it’s also a winner.  

Dark Shadows

This was not at all what I had hoped it to be. I mean Tim Burton movies are usually really great, Johnny Depp is an amazing actor but this time it just didn’t work out.  It’s an okay movie until you get halfway, after that it rolls downhill so fast it’s almost amazing. I can’t help but have the feeling that they just had to make a movie and they didn’t really think it through, like it was just for the money. I might even say I liked Twilight better… Oh yes, I just went there!

  

The Notebook

A story about a boy and a girl falling in love. He’s poor, she is rich, so of course her parents don’t approve. Though it is a very common idea I think they really did a great job on this movie. I was very touched by it, sometimes even had tears stinging behind my eyes. I  recommend this movie to all the (hopeless) romantics out there. I just wish Noah would shave his beard!

Are there any movies you recommend?

Wasabe!

I realized that I haven't properly worn make-up in the past two weeks.
OMG 2 whole weeks! Maybe even longer.. I was honestly a little shocked.
That is why today I decided to pop on some colour to celebrate the sunny weather.

This one is closest to the actual colour

I'm sorry that the pictures look very edited, I had to Photoshop a lot because the sun was insanely bright! The colours were washed out so had to get it as close to the real thing as I could. As you can see I messed up on the eyeliner ): FAIL! But I honestly do love the colour! It's so bright and fresh and it really makes my eyes pop.

I ordered these somewhere in April and this is the first time I've worn Wasabe on it's own. I am really amazed by the brightness of the Eye dusts and the pigmentation. The other colours I ordered from Medusa's Make-up are Red Baron and Studio 54 and I added their Stick it! shadow primer as well. The other two shadows are from Facefront. An artistic pigment in Meramint and an eye shadow in Muddy Bear. I hadn't read any reviews on either brand so I just had to order and try them myself. So far I am glad I did!

I'll do a full review on these soon with more information and swatches.

What do you prefer: brights or neutrals on the eyes?  

Summer Style Inspiration

With today's weather I get really inspired to put together some cool outfits. I have a thing for clothes and styles that aren't necessarily everyone's taste. However I think that "weird" clothing styles are being a lot more accepted in this day and age than ever before and I think that's great! So I'll just post some fun inspirational photos I have on my style tumblr. None of them are my own though, jus sayin'.

I love maxi skirts and I love mint. Great skirt really and a great outfit in general. Not sure about the shoes though, they look odd from this angle. 

Leather shorts, fishnets, tied tee and creepers. It has a very grungy feel to it yet it still looks very fashionable.

Isn't this super cute? A lovely floral blouse combined with nude shorts and yellow flats. Cute, cute, cute!

I'm very obsessed with galaxy prints. Coolest t-shirt ever combined with some torn up, studded shorts. Just add some Lita's, creepers or neon pink Vans underneath and you're very Summer proof. 

This is very classic in my opinion. Jeans combined with a plaid shirt, you can't go wrong! 

I swear, if I had both the body and balls to pull this off I'd wear this a lot. A combo of punk/goth with a bit of modern grunge. Yes please!

My faves are the girl in the middle and the girl on the right. I love bralets as much as I love oversized shirts and both the creepers and biker boots get me excited! 

I think this is a great piece! I love how very see-through the skirt is. If I'm not mistaken this one was designed by the girl herself. 

Can't get over this picture. No clue why but I think it looks so good with the fishnets peeking out at the top of the skirt as well. A cross necklace around the waist (I don't even have a necklace that big!).
I LOVE!

Oh how desperate I am to get my hands on a belt like that! Also the outfit is so cool. A leopard print bralet with golden studs, jeans shorts with beautiful crosses on it, Jeffrey Campbell Lita's AND a cross necklace. It's pretty much everything I love put together in one outfit.

All these photos and more can be found on my style tumblr:   Good.Bad&Trashy

What would be your favourite Summer outfit? 

Watercolour.

I came across a nail art that I had never seen before. I immediately wanted to try it because it looked so cool!
The nail art tutorial can be found at Rebecca Likes Nails.

All you need for this nail art is a white polish, top coat, a few fun colours, a brush and the secret: Acetone!
If you don't have white I think another light colour could work as well though.

Here's my result, I quite like how it turned out!

Sunlight

Indoors

Indoors

I'm definitely trying this again, with different colours. I used a flat broad paint brush I got somewhere real cheap, I think a more fluffy brush would be better.

What do you think about this nail art? 

Let's get creative!

As I was going through all the YouTube videos I've missed the past weeks I came across a video by JLovesMac1 called Motivation to GET FIT. Besides the fact that she's giving tips about how to get your ass off the couch and get working on those work outs, she also showed how to make a Dream Board.
A Dream Board is pretty much just a decorated piece of cardboard/canvas filled with images of your dreams and desires, just for that extra bit of motivation, that you can put together yourself.
If you want to watch the video click here

Today I decided to make one from absolute scratch, since we had no cardboard or empty canvases laying around. I used the lid of a shoe box instead since it kind of works as both. I also used a lot of gift-wrap paper to cover it's ugliness and every H&M magazine and catalog I could find. Of course a pair of scissors would come in handy, some glue (I used a stick and spray) and maybe some markers or stickers or other decorative stuff.

So this is what mine turned out to be. Nothing spectacular but I like it for a first try. I covered the outside of the lid with glue spray all over and just stuck a huge piece of gift-wrap to it and wrapped it around the entire outside and sides. The inside was also covered in glue spray and I covered that with regular print paper, which you can still see it in the bottom left corner.. Then the fun can begin! Just start browsing through magazines, newspapers or any other thing you can think of for inspirational pictures. Draw stuff on yourself or just write words down that mean something to you. Mine was inspired by my dream of being a Stylist, though I did a bad job making that clear haha (:

Steal the style / Just add glitter

Urban Goth
A long dramatic silhouette in all black becomes city friendly with cuff bracelets and ankle boots.

I covered the word glitter with a nail art striper and some holo glitters,
unfortunately it was impossible to capture on camera. 

This is the gift-wrap paper I used, isn't it cute?

So for me this was more of a trial version, I will make a better one about weight loss, healthy living and working out because those are things I need LOADS of motivation for. I need a good reminder to keep going and that one has to look absolutely perfect. Of course you don't have to make an inspirational board, just get creative every once in a while and be surprised by what you can do!

I hope I inspired you to get creative (: Please send me pictures if you made something like this!

Purple Disappointment

Last night I decided to polish my nails before bed time. I had one that I was dying to wear so I couldn't wait!

So after I was done with everything and applied a top coat I was all happy and excited about how beautiful this polish was on my nails. 

Very satisfied I went to bed, unaware I would be waking up to this:

Sheet marks and bubbles ladies and gentleman! HOW?

I haven't had this happen to me ever since I learned how to properly do my nails, which was like 4 years ago at least. 

And I know it wasn't the top coat I used, because I've used this one for about a year now without any trouble. Well not the same bottle, but the same brand.. So it had to be the polish. I googled around for a bit and I read a couple of times that it is very slowly drying. There's my problem!

Even though it felt dry to the touch, it wasn't completely dry underneath which will cause bubbles, sheet marks, dents and other uglies. How can you prevent this from happening?

Be patient... Be very, very patient when applying a polish that dries slowly. You could also try to layer, so base coat first and then a thin layer of colour, then a thin layer of quick drying top coat, another layer of colour and so forth and so forth. I really do recommend using thinner layers when doing this because they won't need as long to dry as thick layers. Or you could just not use if, that is all up to you. 

The polish I was wearing is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear Nail Color in Purple Potion. That is one long ass name! To be honest I was disappointed that it wasn't as quick drying as I am used to. But it really is a true beauty though, so I won't mind putting extra effort into making it work. 

Have you ever had this problem with polishes before?

Newer lay-out + Comment system is back!

Hello lovely!

How are you today?

So yesterday I put up a new lay-out, one of the newer ones by Blogger. I was totally happy with how it looked all clean and fresh so I put it up on my blog. After posting last night I realized that it was not possible to leave a comment with these lay-outs. What the frig?

After trying every possible thing I could think of I went to bed frustrated, secretly hoping it was just not visible to me and you were able to comment. But this morning I received a tweet telling me they weren't able to comment on my posts. I got that moment where I just wanted to fall down on my knees screaming NOOOOOO all dramatically because let's face it, a blog is nothing without comments from your lovely followers. So as soon as I could I changed my lay-out to one of the standard ones, which I hate. My blog was looking all lame but at least the comment system was back up. There, problem fixed!

Right after that I could not look at my blog for a minute longer so I decided to at least make a header for it. I am fully aware that it's far from perfect but it's only my first try using Photoshop. I think it's cute!
Of course the header looked kind of silly against a white background so I tried making one of those myself as well. It won't win a prize for best looking background, especially since it doesn't connect seamlessly with the header but hey! I sure did make something I like a whole lot better than those standard lay-outs.

So there you are guys, I got the comment system back up and I have a header with Unicorns. What more can you wish for? Let me know what you think.


Have a good day!
xoxo
Nena

I am back and I'm all Lovie Dovie!

Hello there beautiful!

Yes I am back from being gone far too long.
"But.. Why did you abandon us for so long?"

Well to be short and frank about it: I got sick and tired of my own blog.
I just didn't like it at all, couldn't be bothered with it and the uploading and editing of pictures was getting all annoying so I decided to give it a break. Besides I had the feeling that gazillion beautyblogs were popping up out of nowhere, pretty much all with the same subjects and products so I felt unnecessary.


How ever! I have been dying to get back to it, so that's what I did. I gave my blog the make-over it deserved (I mean.. those dark colours were SO fall/winter!) and have something fun to share with you.

Have you ever heard of Essie nail polishes? I had but for a long time I was only able to buy them online with a price tag of €13,- and added shipping costs. So I never bought any because I thought that was a bit much.
Lucky for me they now sell Essie in a few drugstores here in Holland with a slightly better price tag of €9,99 This week Etos even has a €2,- discount. So I went ahead and treated myself to a few.

Left to right: Lovie Dovie, In Stitches, Chocolate Cakes and Sew Psyched.

Lovie Dovie is a creamy bubblegum pink. This might sound unbelievable to some but I honestly did not have a bubblegum pink in my stash yet! It's really cute, in real life it is slightly brighter. Big plus: it makes my hands look more tan. Picture of me wearing this is somewhere below, it just really doesn't do the colour justice.

In Stitches is an dirty rosy pink. What I love most about it is that it's pink, but not really. I wore this one and it lasted up to 4 whole days without chipping. Only needed two coats. I love it!

Chocolate Cakes is a vampy brown with a red undertone. So far my stash also lacked brown colours so I thought I'd give this one a try. It looked interesting to me and I hope it really looks like liquid chocolate on my nails.

Sew Psyched is one of those polishes I had on my wishlist since the first time I saw swatches of it floating around the internet. It was the last bottle in the display so I grabbed it as fast as I could. It's a greyish green colour with silver micro shimmer in it. A very strange yet beautiful colour, definitely a unique one in my stash.

Here's Lovie Dovie on my nails

base coat, 2 coats Lovie Dovie, 2 coats top coat

So like I said this picture doesn't do the colour (nor my skintone!) any justice. The polish looks very pale and so do my fingers... In real life it is a lot more vibrant. I cannot stop looking at my nails, I love this colour so much! Application was real nice and smooth, too bad my top coat is old and thick so it caused some bubbles ):

Fun facts for my Dutch readers:

Essie nailpolishes are now available at Etos and DA and cost €9,99 a bottle.
They only have a 100 different shades but trust me, there is something for every taste.


Have a wonderful day! Oh and please tell me,

What is your absolute favourite colour to wear on your nails?

New in: M.A.C

I had finally decided it was time to add some more M.A.C to my stash. For the amount of money I spent I also could have bought a very nice pair of heels, but I am completely over the moon with these beautiful products. Also I will use them a lot more than I would a pair of heels...
Swatches and FOTD will follow after le clique!

Absolutely Fabulous!

Dear ladies (and gentleman?)

A million years ago (well actually it was just last year) I did a swap with an amazingly sweet girl.
She send me an email asking if I was interested to do a swap, since we're from different countries, so we can try out some new brands. She's from the UK, which I know has super awesome brands so I had to say yes. And god am I glad I did! Keep on reading if you want to see what she sent me.

Sleek Matte Lipstick - Stiletto