Nail polish routine

Hi beauties!

I've seen this subject going around beauty world and I thought I'd tag along and write a post about it.

My nail polish routine has improved so much in comparison to a few years ago.
My obsession for polished was always there, but it really came out of the closet for just 2 years ago. I've been hoarding polishes like crazy for the past few years, and yes, my name is Lily and I'm addicted to polish...

Anyways, back to the actual routine. I actually have a very simple routine. I don't do anything special to really take care of my nails (I should be ashamed, I know, but I just don't find the time to do everything what a lot of polish ppl do!)

Sally Hansen polish remover

1. Polish remover

I use the Sally Hansen fast& gentle polish remover with Vitamin E & Aloe (moisturizing for dry, brittle nails)

I've found that most drugstore polishes dry up my nails like hell! Hence my "splurge" on this goodie!

And yes, I do like it. If takes off most of my polishes (glittery polishes are still a pain in the *ss to take off though) and it moisturizes my nails without leaving any oily film on them.

777

2. Nail clipper

My nail clipper is called 777. It's a Korean brand but I bought mine in Hong Kong. This is probably one of the best clippers out there. It's not like I have very hard (ieuw) nails which are hard to clip away, but I have quite strong nails (yay!). Apparently not any clipper can handle my nails, mwoehahaha!







3. Base Coat

Chanel base coat

I've always used drugstore base coats (HEMA, Revlon, ...) and I don't think it really matters what base coat you use as long as you use one.

My other drugstore ones have become gloppy, so I couldn't use them anymore. My friend bought me this one a while ago, and I do like it, but I notice anything better whilst using this base coat. A base coat is a base coat to me.




4. Color




Then I go in with a polish of choice, depending on my mood and season :)

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri anti-chip top coat

5. Top coat


Final step is putting on my top coat: I LOVE the Sally Hansen top coat!

It prevents chipping, dries in an instant and it's just super duper awesome! Definitely a recommendation and I'll be repurchasing it for ever and ever!




There you have my nail care routine:
Yes, this is all I do and no, I don't soak my nails and I don't file them.
Actually this routine has already elongated in comparison to the past. In the past I just scratched off my old polish, clipped and apply color directly, haha! That's def the routine on how NOT to do your nails :)

NOTW: Cappuccino

Barry M - 341 Cappuccino

Hi guys!

I'm back with another NOTW: since the weather is quite sad here in Belgium (rain, snow, hail, ...), I decided to match my nails to the typical Belgian weather: gloomy and dark!

I bought myself a Barry M nail polish a few months ago, but I was never in the mood for a dark polish as soon as it ended up in my mail (typical, right?).


Orgasm is to Nars as Rage is to Orly as Cappuccino is to Barry M.
Point made clear I believe? :)



It's a taupe color that is a true winter color, but since it feels like winter the entire year in Belgium, I thought I just couldn't go wrong with this goodie.

It looks like a greyish/brownish purple that needs 2 layers of polish, because it doesn't apply completely opaque from the first time on. It's just one of those colors that are being called pugly (a pretty ugly) very easily because of its muddy color. But hey, it makes your hands look clean and polished. Yay for posh looking polishes!

To be quite honest, I stayed away from dark colors for quite some while, because I was in need of bright, fun colors. But this color...dang!


For those who are a bit afraid of really dark colors such as dark colors or simply black, give this one a go. It's a nice transition to go from something colorful to something darker. Just see it as a 'light' dark :)






Is there any other Barry M polish you think I should try?
What is your favorite nail polish one?

Fav BB cream

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another blog post, and today I want to talk to you beauties about my favorite BB cream!

The problem with BB creams for me is that these are mostly towards quite pale girls. Since I'm more a light-to-medium-kind of girl, I thought this BB cream was right up my alley!

Cantabile BB cream

It's by the Korean brand called Cantabile.
To be honest, I have never heard about this brand before my friend suggested this product to me. She was raving on how good it was and as a beauty blogger I couldn't restrain myself and I just had to get myself one and give this baby a try!


As you can see the packaging is quite ... ridiculous :)
Can you imagine how the meeting must have taken place: "Oh, let's put a BB cream on the market and let's put an Asian guy on the packaging!"
Please note that there's a quote 'It makes your skin sing'.




Anyway, back to the actual product, shall we?

This BB cream's official name is i.myss Cantabile BB Cream Magic Secret. Quite a mouth full huh? :)

It's a 50ml little tube and has SPF 25 PA++.
(Side note: SPF indicates UVB protection and PA+++ indicates UVA protection. Please keep in mind that both are important to keep your skin healthy looking!)

What I love about this product is that it comes out as a nude colors but applies translucent on the skin, yet covers the little blemishes...AWESOME!

I mostly slap on some of my Benefit Porefessional to smooth out the canvas to work on, then I go over with this baby!


The only downside is that this is only available in Korea, not really sure whether this is being sold in HK. You can find this online, and costs you about 15$ without shipping costs. Unless you have awesome friends who can go to Korea and get this for you :)

I've tried the Skin 79 (pink one) and the Missha BB cream, and I must say that I prefer this BB cream over the 2 more famous ones. Skin 79 and Missha were quite pale on me and I like it how the cream adjusts to my skin color. No fussing, just there to slap on your face without thinking about contouring, lovely!

What other BB creams have you given a shot?

NOTW: Rage

Hi beauties!
I'm back with another NOTW and this week I went all out with shimmers :D

Orly - Rage

This is a beautiful rose gold polish with shimmers all over it. It's a hell of a ride to take it off, but darn in ... it's SO gorgeous!! It's from the Orly's Foil FX collection and it costs about 8,5$.

I've worn this 2 weeks in a row, I think that says more than enough how much I like it for a nail junkie like me :)

It's a beautiful polish for any fancy occasion, but just enough to give any outfit a little umpf.
This is definitely one of my favorite polishes!

Conceal them bad boys!

Hi everyone! I'm back with another blog post!

Today I'll be talking about concealer, and not just any concealer... No no, it's - without a doubt - THE cheapest drugstore concealers I've ever come across!
I'm talking about Essence's coverstick:

Essence's coverstick: 05 matt beige

I've barely paid 2EUR for this stick. You get 5g (0.17oz) and I must admit ... I've been using this cover stick for a few months and I'm sure I'll be using this for the coming 6 months. Uhu!

It's a beige concealer which gives light to medium coverage. It is definitely build-able and can be used to cover redness and/or blemishes. Although I mostly use concealer to cover up my redness around the nose (hormones..aaah!)

I must admit I'm quite impressed for the price I have to pay.

Yes, I do still prefer my Shu Uemura Pro Light concealer, but I can afford a gazillion of Essence coversticks instead of 1 Shu concealer.


Will I repurchase this? Yes!
Is it affordable? Hell yes!
Does it give any coverage? Yes, but don't count on it for covering your pimpliest of pimples :)

Overall: yes, I do recommend this especially for those newbies out there :)

NOTW: Orgasm

All beauties out there know that NARS has quite ... inappropriate names for their make up products, to say the least :)

One of their best seller's products is definitely their blush in Orgasm.
I have to admit, I don't own any NARS blushes because they're simply to expensive. But if I would ever splurge on one of their blushes, I'd probably try Deep Throat or Gilda.
Anyways, enough about their blushes. Let's talk polish!

I recently got the chance to try out NARS' polish in Orgasm:

NARS - Orgasm

It's a peachy pink with golden shimmers to it.
Downside? I had to apply 3 coats to get it opaque as it is on the picture above...

Do I absolutely love this? Not really. They apply a bit sheer and I want something more opaque from the first coat.
Would I purchase it? No, I have similar colors to this and which I prefer over this NARS polish.

BUT: I did notice that dark colors by NARS apply wonderful by just 1 coat! So I do suggest trying out those darkies :)