Posts Tagged ‘BK Nail System’
Favorites: October 2013
Posted on: November 9, 2013
- In: Favorites
- 2 Comments
Here are my favorites for the month of October.
1. [Skincare] Avon Anew Genics Gen-Protect SPF15 Treatment
When I unboxed this last month (Glamourbox Beauty SOS) I didn’t really give this a big deal. Fortunately it turned out to be a really good day cream! I have been using this since I received this and I love this to bits! It has made my skin quite manageable and it definitely did not make it react negatively. As a bonus, it has SPF15 so theoretically you can go out with just this on your face (and I have!). I love the luxe glass bottle with pump as one pump gives out the exact amount of product for the whole face. This would definitely be a mainstay in my routine even at Php1299 a pop, but unfortunately Avon is not cruelty-free.
2. [Lips] Ofra Lipstick #202
Glamourbox has a double-whammy for me this month! My favorite lip product is the Ofra Lipstick #202, from the same Beauty SOS box. It is perhaps my best red in my collection so far. I love how it feels on the lips, and it looks quite good with my skin tone.
3. [Face] Etude House Baby Choux Base in Mint Choux
My favorite face base this month is my newly acquired primer/facebase, the Etude House Baby Choux Base in Mint Choux. I’ve recently just reviewed it. The factor that made it my favorite this month is the versatility of this product. I mostly use it as a substitute for BB cream/foundation, but this performs really well too as a primer and face base. It’s not a very expensive one at that too!
4. [Body] Godiva LicoWhite Whitening Lotion
I was lucky to get a sample of this from Sampleroom, and the one pictured above is the last of the sachets. I really like how this feels on the skin, and I like how it smells too. I can’t quite comment on the whitening part since I’ve only been using it for about three weeks, but I wouldn’t mind buying a full sized bottle to see how it performs in the long term.
5. [Nails/Tools] BK Nails Dotting Tools
These dotting tools helped me create my most recent nail arts, and I really like how they perform. I would love to feature more dots on my nails, and these will definitely be used a lot. I bought these separately, but both are found in Landmark Trinoma.
Nails: Eyes on you
Posted on: October 28, 2013
- In: Nails
- 3 Comments
This is my Halloween special! My inspiration for these eyeballs come from this great tutorial from The Bubbly Brunette. I did nothing new really, I just followed her instructions to the letter.
I used the following for this nail art: Dazzle Dry Base and Top Coats, Dazzle Dry Electrifying, White Lightning, and Forget Me Not, Girlstuff Twilight, BK Nail Dotting Tools and Striper Brush.
The steps are the following:
- Prep the nails with DD Base Coat.
- Paint two coats of White Lightning on the nails.
- Using the striper brush, paint short red stripes in a radiating pattern using Electrifying. This is going to be the blood vessels.
- Using the biggest of the dotting tools, put a big blue circle in the middle of each nail using Forget Me Not.
- Using a slightly smaller dotting tool, put a slightly smaller black circle in the middle of the blue circle to denote the pupil, using Girlstuff Twilight.
- FInally, using the smallest of the dotting heads, put a small white circle slightly off-center using White Lightning, to denote the reflection.
- Apply DD Top Coat.
Here’s the final look!
Not bad isn’t it? It looks much better in sunlight of course.
Check out the right hand. The blood vessels are thicker and straighter, because that’s all my nondominant left can handle!
Happy Halloween!
Nails: Pink October
Posted on: October 14, 2013
October is breast cancer awareness month, but you already know that. I’m here to show you my nails that I came up with for this theme. Given that I am lately really liking my dotting tools, I featured dots again for this nail art. The nail polishes I used here are Dazzle Dry Heart of Fire and Strawberry Macaron.
It’s really pretty simple. I painted alternating polishes, and used Heart of Fire for the dots. I wanted to do some sort of crescent design with the dots, with the big ones on the corner and the small dots completing the crescent.
What do you think?
Nails: Green dots
Posted on: September 30, 2013
- In: Nails
- 6 Comments
After weeks of just swatches, I wanted to take a break and go back to nail art for a bit. I also wanted to put my new dotting tool to a test (bought last August). Here it is side by side with my old dotting tool (the one with the bent head). Both are by BK Nails, the new one is the one on the right on the first photo.
I just wanted a simple nail art composed mainly of dots. My inspiration is from this black and white nail art but instead I used greens. For this nail art I used Models Own Jade Stone as my base color, Dazzle Dry Me d’Forest Queen and Polar Jade for the dots.
The process is simple.
- Prep the nails using the Dazzle Dry Nail Prep and Base Coat.
- Put two layers of Jade Stone on all nails.
- Using the dotting tool with the bigger head, put three to four dots of Me d’Forest Queen randomly on all nails.
- Using the dotting tool with the smaller head, scatter many dots of Polar Jade around the bigger dots.
- Top with Dazzle Dry Top Coat.
Check it out. It’s quite simple, yet striking! In dimmer light the darker green of Me d’Forest Queen looks almost black.
I went a little crazy with the small dots on my right hand.
The sparkles of Polar Jade is more evident in sunlight.
What do you think? Simple, yet effective!
Haul: August
Posted on: September 4, 2013
- In: Haul
- 11 Comments
Let me show you what I got this August. Some of these you’ve already encountered in the blog, but I wanted to collect them all in one post. I’ll begin with the ones closest to my heart: nail polish!
1. Essence Nail Polish in Iced Strawberry Cream, Time for Romance, and Gold Fever 
I love Essence, and I decided to try out their nail polish line. It was really pretty cheap at Php99 a bottle (even if the bottles are smaller than the other brands’). It was very difficult to keep down my purchases because all the shades were seriously beautiful! I had to content myself with two glitter toppers, the ones I thought looked the best in bottle. The last one, Iced Strawberry Cream, is going to be part of my next giveaway. [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
2. Rescue Beauty Lounge Liberty 
OMG. I can’t believe it myself. I made a super major splurge with this, and it’s a little bit of an impulse buy too. But when Digital Traincase announced in their instagram account that they have extra bottles, I couldn’t stop myself and ordered this much vaunted shade from RBL’s Blogger 2.0 collection. It’s pretty limited edition which is why I took the plunge. This costs a whopping Php1250, and is my most expensive polish purchase to date. This is my birthday gift to myself. (excuses, excuses!) [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
3. Models Own Nail Polish in Jade Stone and Models Own Nail Art Pen in Black
These (and #4 below) are again an impulse buy, sadly. Glamourbox held a 2-day only sale for a whopping 25% off on all products last Aug 15-16. I had been wanting to try out the nail polish brands that they carry, so this was the perfect time to do so. I could only afford three, so I chose a green polish (of course!) and a nail art pen from Models Own (unboxed here). I can’t wait to try these out! The nail polish normally costs Php365 and the nail art pen costs Php440 at the Glamourbox Boutique, but I got mine for only Php274 and Php330 respectively! [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
4. Misa Wanderlust in Frozen in Time
The third product I ordered from the Glamourbox sale is Frozen In Time from the Misa Wanderlust collection (unboxed here). I checked swatches online and this was the one I liked best. I also actually liked the Taking Chances shade but couldn’t afford it anymore, so I had to content myself with this. Each Misa Wanderlust bottle normally costs Php345 at the Glamourbox Boutique, but I got mine for only Php249. [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
5. Girlstuff Nail Polish in Joanne and Blues
I found myself again at the Girlstuff Kiosk Megamall and I couldn’t resist getting a couple of colors. This golden orange Joanne (Php140) is really bright and sparkly, while the Blues shade (Php100) is a great deep blue. I am planning to give one of these away as well, so watch out for it! [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
The next four items are bought from Landmark, Trinoma.
6. OMG Crystal Sand in Peridot, Opal, and Quartz
I had a pahabol haul from Landmark, and I couldn’t resist getting some of the OMG polishes. They are just so cheap at Php20 per bottle! My eyes were drawn to a row of beautiful looking Crystal Sand polishes, and these three were my top picks. They look so pretty in the bottle, and I’m hoping that it’ll be just as pretty on the nail. I particularly like Quartz. These are Php20 each.
7. OMG Matte Potion
Yes I already have a bottle of this, but I purchased a few more to add to my upcoming giveaway. Check out this Matte Potion in action here, here, and here.
8. BK Nail Art Dotting Tool
I bought another dotting tool from BK Nail Art. My last one had similar sized heads, and I was looking for a tip with a smaller head. Luckily Landmark had a stock of a different dual-ended dotting tool so I grabbed this one. This costs Php60.
9. Kand Stamping Nail Art Set
I had been considering getting this stamping set for my first attempt at stamping nail art. This seemed like the best plate so I grabbed this one. Watch out for my first attempt soon on the blog! This costs Php80.
After this are the non-nail polish purchases I made this month. The first three are from SM-Watsons (department store) at Megamall.
10. In2It Waterproof Eyebrow Colour in ER 01 Eyebrowns 
I have read many good reviews from local bloggers of this amazing product. I had so far only been using my BYS eyebrow pencil or some of my dark eyeshadows on my eyebrows. Sometimes I think these make my brows look too strong, so I decided to try this In2It eyebrow kit. It comes in three colors that you can mix and match, and it also comes with its own angled brush and mirror. The most amazing part of this product is that it only costs Php299! [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
11. Glamworks Chin and Forehead Strips 
I saw this in The Beauty Junkee and I was sold! I had been having problems with my chin area (there seemed to be weird spots there) and I thought that this is perfect to target the problem. The fact that it’s only Php99 sealed the deal. I can use it on my forehead too! Sulit!
12. Watsons 3-Pack Cotton Squares 
I’ve finally ran out of the cotton rounds I bought from last March, so I got myself this humongous 3-pack of cotton squares. I find that I’m using up a lot of these because not only do I use it for the face but I also use them for my nails!
13. Diorshow Extase Mascara in Black 
I got this unexpected gift from my mother-in-law. It’s probably a GWP (gift with purchase) since this is sample sized and quite small. The performance is awesome though! It gave me the longest lashes yet of all the mascaras I’ve tried.
14. Colour Collection Vitamin E Lipstick in Red Wine
This and #11 below are my latest Sampleroom haul. As with the Kissmark matte shade, this costed me 85 points. This Red Wine shade is satin (as opposed to matte or sheer) and is a delicious deep red. I am starting to learn how to wear darker reds, so I decided to get this too when the restocks came in.
15. Zenutrients Baby Love Calendula and Milk Soap
Along with the CC lipstick above, I also got this newly released sample. I enjoyed my last sample from Zenutrients (All is Well Oil) and I wanted to try another product from them. I loved the calendula factor from my Nivea Baby Smoothy moisturizer and I love milk soaps, so this should be a pretty awesome combination. I’m loving the scent so far! This costed me 30 points in Sampleroom.
16. Clinique All in One Colour Palette
Another OMG! This certainly is one awesome awesome month for me! This is my mother-in-law’s birthday gift, and my jaw just dropped. My first ever Clinique item and it’s a complete palette! It looks so chic and pristine! This palette has a small mascara tube, five lipstick shades, a neutral eyeshadow quad, a blush, and a face powder. It even comes with a lip brush, a dual-ended eyeshadow brush, a tiny blush brush, and a sponge. This is all the makeup I would need for travel! [Click the thumbnails for the bigger versions!]
17. Tiny Nail Polishes and Lip Makeup
Just how adorable are these?! The sweet Tellie of Beauty by Tellie gifted me these items which she got from her trip abroad. These are really small nail polish bottles and there is a gloss-and-lipstick sample as well. They are too cute to use, honestly! Thanks again Tellie!
There you have it! If you want me to work on a review on any of these products, just say so in the comments!
Favorites: July 2013
Posted on: July 31, 2013
- In: Favorites
- 4 Comments
I’m starting a new category: Favorites! I was inspired by my fellow bloggers and I decided to feature my own monthly favorites. I will try to limit this to 5-6 items (about one in each category) to avoid having excessively long posts. Without further ado, here are my June Favorites!
That is definitely way more than 5-6 items!
1. [Eyes] Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base
I really love this eyeshadow base, as you can see from my review. I’ve taken to using this everyday and it really helps keep my eye makeup stay put. It’s also quite inexpensive.
2. [Face] Barenaturals Skin Perfecting Primer and Celeteque BB Cream
I’m going to cheat and put two in this category. The first is the primer I received in my June Glamourbox. It’s a great primer and performs pretty well, even with that horrendous packaging. It’s a mainstay for my everyday makeup. The second is my current favorite BB cream. It performs so well for me and it’s a multitasker as well.
3. [Lips] Snoe Mauve Movement
I always keep coming back to this whenever I don’t know what to put on my lips. The longetivity and robustness of this trumps everything else.
4. [Skin Care] Celeteque Brightening Tri-Benefit Power Cream and Celeteque Restorative Friming Overnight Cream
Again another double-item category. These are my current day cream and night cream respectively. I am so far enjoying them, but I am waiting for about a month of use before I write a formal review.
5. [Nails] Dazzle Dry Me d’Forest Queen and BK Nail System Dotting Tool
Yep I cheated again. I have two items in my nails slot. My newest DD lacquer deserves this spot of course, since green is my favorite and this is such a beauty. My dotting tool also made it, since it helped me do my best nail art so far.
6. [Tools] Artist Studio Brushes
I have a number of Artist Studio brushes, and by far I am liking them all! The ones I can’t live without are the powder brush, the angled flat top brush, the eyeliner brush, and the eyeshadow brush. I plan on writing a review of these as soon as I complete the collection (I’m just missing 3 or 4).
There you have it for June! Do you like reading about favorites? Should I continue doing this?
Nails: Lesson #2 A Line
Posted on: June 18, 2013
- In: Nails
- 5 Comments
This is my second nail “art” using the new batch of Dazzle Dry polishes I bought. This time I used Strawberry Macaron as base and Heart of Fire for the line.
I used this BK Nail System striping brush. I bought this again from Landmark, Trinoma for about Php69. It is my first time handling this tool and it was difficult making a straight line. This is my left hand and you can already see that it’s not that straight. My right hand is worse! But! The only way to get better at this is to practice, and I would like to share with you my journey.
What do you think?
Haul: May-June
Posted on: June 9, 2013
- In: Haul
- 7 Comments
It may be a little early since it’s just the first-ish week of June, but this post serves a reminder for me to stop buying things. You’ll see that I’ve bought a ton of stuff, and I need to consider the wisdom of splurging like this (I’m supposed to be frugal!). I do want to show you the things I bought as a preview of the reviews I’ll be posting soon, and to tell you where to get these things and for how much.
First up is L’Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3x trio of products. I got the big versions of the shampoo (Php110) and conditioner (Php119) from Watsons, and I also got the leave-in tonic (Php259) from SM Department Store (Makati). I bought these to finally address my ongoing hairfall issue. I’ll report back in about a month or so to tell you if these things worked for me.
I finally caved in and bought this Celeteque Brightening Multi-benefit BB Cream (Php325, Watsons). I couldn’t stand just reading about it on the internet, so I went ahead and tried this for myself. After a few days of use, I can say as a short review that this is a great everyday BB cream that’s very reasonably priced.
Hooray! I finally found time to drop by SM Makati, and went straight to the Essence booth in the department store. I bought a couple of items: Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base (Php189) and Essence Kajal Pencil in Everybody’s Darling (Php79). I’ve only so far been able to try the Kajal Pencil. I love the color payoff and the fact that it’s pretty long lasting, however the product is very soft and needs a very light touch to apply. I’ll definitely post a review of both of these soon.
I also got a couple of nail polish removers from SM Department Store as well. I am planning a comparison post of nail polish removers, and I wanted a good range of brands. These two are the Cutex Caring Nail Polish Remover (Php59, 59ml) and Flormar Nail Polish Remover in Orchid Complex (Php149, 125ml).
I’ve already shown these in my previous post, but I got my first nail art tool. It’s the BK Nail System Dotting Tool (Php69, Landmark Trinoma). It has two heads: a standard straight dotting head and a bent-tip dotting head. I love this tool and I think I can probably not buy further dotting tools.
I paid a visit to the Commonwealth branch of Human Heart Nature and got this Body Butter Cream in Berry Bliss (Php279). I love this body butter so much as it feels very decadent and smells so wonderful! I pamper with this about once a week after a good long bath. I also bought the May-June magalogue. I got a tip from Aya of CodenameAya that my blog was mentioned there. And it is! I’m still pretty much in shock. I’ll post pictures of that soon.
This next one is a confession. I went ahead and purchased more stuff from Dazzle Dry since they extended the sale until June 15! I got four (yes four!) more lacquers (Php399 each) and a bottle of nail polish remover (Php325, 240ml). The four shades are (L-R) Strawberry Macaron, Heart of Fire, Love’s Secret, and Electrifying. The polish remover is called Dazzle Dry Lemongrass Nail Polish Remover, which I intend to include in that future comparison post.
And there you have it! I think I may have a couple of other things I purchased but I don’t remember right now. I’ll update this post when I found those other things, or just consolidate them in another haul post. I don’t really intend to get any more stuff except for more brands of nail polish remover.
Let me know in the comments below which of these you want reviewed first!
Nails: Humble Beginnings
Posted on: June 6, 2013
- In: Nails
- 4 Comments
We all have to start somewhere. My journey to becoming sleek (hee hee) must therefore include becoming adept at nail art. I will begin at the barest of art: dots.
As you may have read a few weeks ago I have acquired a few bottles of Dazzle Dry lacquers (spoiler: I bought more! will upload soon!). I decided to embark on my nail art journey with two of these lacquers: a base of Lavender Parade and dots of White Lightning.
And of course, I came equipped this time with a propper dotting tool. This is a BK Nail System dotting tool which I bought from Landmark Trinoma, for only about Php70.
It comes with two heads, a regular straight dotting head and a bent-tip dotting head. For this beginner’s art I used the bent-tip as dotting is much easier with that.
Here is the finished nail art. I just started with a base of 2 coats of Lavender Parade, then dotted three small White Lightning dots on the outer side of my nails. Quite simple, but I think that it’s acceptable and even a bit classy.
What do you think?
Becoming Sleek 