Two weeks ago, I heard about the Astrid Bryan Collection by OPI that would be available in stores in october. The collection contains 4 gorgeous colours, all chosen by Astrid Bryan herself. I saw photos of the collection in the magazine 'NINA' but I didn't think they were that special. But then I saw the colours in the store and they really are, as Astrid would say: 'AMAZING'.

                                      

From left to right: My pimped out wonderland (shiny black), Amazing California Love (Spicy Fuchsia), Go Nutty for Donutty (Elegant brown-beige nude with the cutest name ever), Chillin by the pool (Silver Blue)

I bought the shade 'Go Nutty for Donutty', because I think the name was so cute and the colour was really elegant and classy. Nude goes with everything and I can't get enough of shades like this!

I have no complaints about the quality of this polish. It was smooth, creamy and perfectly opaque in two coats. I LOVE the colour, it really reminds me of donuts! OPI and Astrid did an amazing job with this collection, the colours are great, the names are funny and remind us all of Astrid and her quotes.

This collection is exclusively available in Belgium for €13,95. If you're interested in this collection, go to the store fast because I have a feeling this collection will sell out quite quick!

What do you think of this collection?
xx,
Astrid.

Beauty Wishlist October 2012

Hey everyone, today I'm not here with a product review but with a list of beauty products that I really want! Some of these products are expensive, others are not available in my country (yet)!

 

1. Revlon Whimsical nail polish: This is handsdown the most beautiful polish I've ever seen. It's a light bleu creamy polish with glitter that's supposed to be a dupe for 'Glitter in the air' by Deborah Lippmann. Sadly, this color is not available in Belgium :( I've tried so hard to find it online but all the websites that sell this polish, usually don't ship to international destinations. If you know where I can find this, let me know!

2. The Body Shop Vineyard Peach Scrub (Special Edition): This scrub smells like heaven. I love peaches; the color, the smell, the taste, just everything about them! The reason I haven't picked this up yet is because I want to use up my Body Shop Strawberry Polish first. But the next time I'll smell this in the store, I probably won't be able to resist ;)

3. Marc Jacobs Dot Perfume: I'm a big BIG fan of his perfume Daisy, but the more I smell this in the store, the more I like it! I bought Daisy two years ago when I went to NY with my family for $45, but in Belgium, the 50ml of Dot can be up to €60! I'll have to wait until Christmas or my birthday for this one...

4. Revlon Kissable Balm Stains: These are the chubby balm sticks with a stain infused in them and they look so cool! I've heard good things about this products on youtube, but the balm stains are not available in Belgium yet :(

5. Deborah Lippmann Nailpolish: Another product I've heard great things about, these glitter nail polishes are supposed to be AMAZING. But I think €20 for a nail polish is a bit much... So I keep looking and dreaming about these, but I won't be purchasing one any time soon.

We all have products we really want, but can't purchase for some reason.
What is your beauty wishlist?

Have a nice weekend everyone,
xx
Astrid

Nail of the day: Essie Demure Vixen

Hi everyone, today I'm back with a nail of the day with a beautiful nude fall colour: Essie's Demure Vixen. This is a dusty, old rosy mauve colour with a beautiful blue iridescence to it. It looked like a great everyday nude colour, something everybody needs in their nailpolish collection.

                                                  Swatch: Demure vixen

                                        See that beautiful iridescence? I love it!

This polish was very sheer and it took me about  3 or 4 coats to get it to look like the colour in the bottle. Usually, I would find this to be very annoying, but the layers dried within minutes so my nails didn't get messy. I wished the blue iridescence would show up a bit more, but I think it would show up a bit more when you hold your nails in bright sunlight (which we don't have in Belgium now).

I really like this nailpolish and I'll be wearing it a lot this fall (and winter... and spring....), it's just the perfect nude! This polish is available at Kruidvat and Di for €10,99.

What's your favorite nailpolish for fall?
xx,
Astrid

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream Normal Skin Review

Hey everybody, today I'm here with a review about the Garnier BB cream. This was one of the first 'Western' BB creams that came out, after the growing popularity of the Asian brands. I bought this a couple of months ago in Kruidvat, a drugstore in Belgium. This product claims to hydrate, protects, even out your skin while covering up blemishes AND it keeps the skin matte. Let's see if this cream can really live up to the claims!

Packaging: I must admit... I was kind of disappointed when I first saw the tube in real life. Somehow, I had expected the tube to be bigger. But it actually is a pretty decent amount of product that you're getting. The packaging is a skin coloured tube, which I think looks pretty nice. Not really pretty or special, but not ugly or something either.

Colour range: One of the downsides of this product is the color range. This comes in two shades: light and medium. I use the Light colour and it works good for me, but the medium one isn't that dark either; so a lot of people won't be able to use this product because of the light colours.

Smell: This cream smells a bit like soap, in my opinion. I heard a lot of people said it was the typical 'Garnier Smell' but I think it's more soapy than that. I'm not a bog fan of the smell, but the smell is subtle, so it doesn't bother me that much.

Coverage: Light coverage, I think you can built the coverage a bit up, but I just use one coat and that's enough for me. I usually take my concealer and cover up any more redness in my face if needed. BUT if you have a lot of redness or acne, this BB cream won't be able to cover it all up, because it's so light.

Blending: It looks a bit like a thick cream, but it's actually a light consistency that blends out really well on the skin.

Feel on the skin: This product left a bit of a greasy feeling on my skin. You can take that feeling away by just putting a powder over it. On the skin, the cream looked dewy and quite beautiful, but I somehow don't like the feeling on my skin.

Staying power: The cream stayed on for a good time, I wore this all day and didn't need to touch it up. However, my skin got really oily troughout the day. A friend even asked me if I was sweating! This BB cream is for normal skin, I have a combination skin that can get dry or oily in certain places. But this really was too oily for me. A few months after they released this cream, they also released one for oily/combination skin and I might give that one a try because it will problably work better with my skin.

Price: This BB cream is available at drugstores for €9,99. You get a lot of product for the price, but I regret buying it because it made my face too oily and that's why I don't like to use it. Maybe I will use it more in the winter, when my skin gets more dry and needs more moisture.

Overal, This is not the right product for my skin. I will try to use it up but I'm not a big fan of it. I think it's just a regular tinted moisturizer that they called a 'BB cream' but for me, it just doesn't live up to the claims.

Have you tried this BB cream? Did you like it?
xx,
Astrid

Khiel's Ultimate Strenght Hand Salve Review

Hi everybody, I know I haven't been blogging much in september, but I got busy with my new school year! :) I'm ready to start again and reviewing products for you guys.
Today I'm going to talk about a product I use multiple times a day, especially in the fall and winter! That product is: hand cream.

My hands can get really dry in the winter and I always like to have a good, moisturizing, non greasy hand cream with me. A year ago, I bought this one from Khiel's. I tried it in the store and I liked that it didn't leave an annoying greasy feeling on my hands, which other hand lotions can do sometimes. This cream 'protects' your hands against the cold and keeps them moisturized for a long time. It's a thick cream that smells like eucalyptus. I'm not the biggest fan of the smell, but it doens't bother me.

This hand cream is available in all Khiel's stores and on their website. You can get it for 16 euros. It might not be the cheapest handfood ever, but as I said, I've had this for a year or so know and there's still a lot in the tube. A little goes a long way with this one and it really is amazing.

What's your favorite hand lotion?
xx,
Astrid