ESSIE

O.P.I. better watch out, 'cause there's a new nail polish queen in town! 

She calls nail polish the new lipstick, because, on your nails, you can still enjoy the colour after you've applied it. She says there is no cheaper form of therapy, as you can change your mood along with the colour of your nails. She has a basic collection of one hundred shades and launches four collections annually to make sure our nails stay on-trend throughout the year.

But who exactly is Essie again?

Essie has been famous in the States for quite some time - she launched her first nail polish collection in 1982 (in Vegas, where else?) and her colours have been seen all over the fashion runways during New York Fashion Week. Sadly, in Belgium, the Essie bottles were only available in nail salons and selected stores, so, with us, they weren't very famous yet.

BUT! On Monday, October 17th, Essie came to Belgium to introduce herself and her fabulous line to beauty bloggers and journalists from around the country. After showing all her pretty colours and being the sweetest lady in town taking her time to talk to everybody, Essie announced that she would launch her 100 most popular colours in Di and Ici Paris XL from November 2011. Yay!

You can take a sneak peek of her 2011/2012 collection here, and if you wanna continue tripping on your Essie high, you can visit her website by clicking on this link!

Enjoy that therapy! ;-)

x Magel

Monday Evening Ritual

Painting my nails in a new 'Colour of the Week' while watching the latest Desperate Housewives episode.

This week: OPI's Color So Hot It Berns / Desperate Housewives S08E03: Watch While I Revise The World.


To watch free streaming episodes of your favourite tv shows, visit http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/.


Woopah!


x Magel 

Hot child in the city!

Okay, I know that I've already made a name for myself as a SERIOUS Isabel Marant-addict (and it's sad, actually: I want it but I can't have it), but I have to say: the S/S 2012 that I.M. showed in Paris last week was, once again, a sight for sore eyes. Why, oh why, Isabel, must you be so pricy??

 

 The most eye-catching items in the 2012 Isabel Marant collection are soft pastels, knitted dresses, glossy high heels and slouchy boots. Yum!

A message that Isabel OBVIOUSLY hasn't gotten yet, has made its way to the Balmain house. Because yes, oooooooh yes, the fabulous Parisian brand is launching a second line: Pierre Balmain. And guess what: it's rumoured to be a lot more affordable than its older brother.

The brand is being very mysterious about the new line, though (childish, is what I'd call it!), and doesn't want to give away too many pictures of the collection yet. 

They did, however, release a smokin' hot video showing pieces of the collection. Actors/models are none other than the members of Our Mountain and lead singer Matthew Huntchinson's girl slash supermodel, Abbey Lee Kershaw. Check out that video pronto! Here!

And staying on the topic of cheaper lines of designer brands (yes, there's more than one), it's almost time for the Versace for H&M launch! Yay! As we're marking our calendars and counting down to November 17th, Vogue Russia kindly went and offered us a sneak peek of the upcoming collection. Wanna see? Yea you do!

Okay, I'll admit, I don't understand a word of it either. But an image speaks louder than a thousand words, njet?

And finally, I urge you to get your butt to the store and get your hands on OPI's limited edition Pink of Hearts - Pink Shatter. 

For every bottle of this bubbly shade that's sold during the month of October in one of the Planet Parfum shops, one euro gets donated to the fund of breast cancer research.  I don't even need to say more, you should be there already!

If you're not really sure how the shatter polish works, you can visit this website to watch a simple tutorial.

Enjoy those goodies!

x magel

Want! Want! Want!!!!

Checking out fashion websites on a daily basis for the blog, I've seen some things that are coming our way this fall, and let me tell you: things are looking gooooood.


So, for this post, here's an overview of some quintessential F/W 2011 MUST-HAVES! Yay!!




1. CARINE ROITFELD: IRREVERENT

First and foremost, a fine piece of fashion literature.

After her resignation from French Vogue in December 2010, Carine Roitfeld hasn't exactly been hanging in a hammock in Hawaï, sipping Pina Coladas and enjoying her well-earned retirement. Au contraire!

Since then, she's already collaborated with American department store Barney's (editing, styling and modeling - the woman can do it ALL), teamed up with renowned fashion photographer Terry Richardson, and made guest appearances at every major fashion event that mattered.
And now, the lady is bringing us her first ever book. "Featuring a selection of 250 magazine tear sheets and covers from pivotal editorial shoots and advertising campaigns, as well as intimate visual ephemera, this book gives an inside view into Roitfeld's creative thought process and sensibility. A must-have for those interested in cutting-edge fashion and femininity, this book will empower women to follow Roitfeld's lead and take risks with their personal style."
Sadly, we still have to wait 'till October 18th for the book to finally hit the stores, but for the real fashionista's among us: you can already pre-order it on www.amazon.com.




2. ISABEL MARANT




Just check out the IM F/W 2011 show, and you'll get a pretty good idea.

Leather sleeveless jackets, jeans shirts (yes, they're still doing it), glitter dresses, frilly boots, ... The collection has got it ALL.




3. SILVER NAIL POLISH
 


You've seen it in the fall/winter 2011 fashion shows, you've seen it on Beyoncé in her new video 1+1, hell, you've even seen it on Tori Spelling's son Liam (don't believe me? check out this picture!). There's no denying that silver nails are HOT this season.


Now, the only thing you have to do is try to pick your fav between all the brands that are bringing out their silvers.




My preference personally goes out to OPI's Your Royal Shineness, as it brushes on very easily, dries really quickly and isn't too glittery (as opposed to many of the other brands, in my opinion) - it's kind of like aluminum paper coated on your nails. Neat!


The only downside is that you can't buy it separately, and are sort of obliged to buy it together with OPI's Servin' Up Silver, which is basically a clear glitter coating. Not really my cuppa'.
But, other than that: rrrrauwtch!

The Serena Williams Glam Slam package which contains Your Royal  Shineness and Servin' Up Sparkle

So, you know what? Bring It On, winter!

Enjoy!

x Magel

Thursday.

Well hi there!

As it happens to be a rather quiet Thursday night that I've been spending in my most comfortbable leggings polishing my nails and watching The Nanny, I felt it might be time to spend this moment writing my second blog. And why not use this opportunity to share a little more about myself? 

In the next few lines, I would like to write a little more about me: my personal style, my inspirations, my passions.

- First off, I hardly ever wear any jewelry (with one big exception about which you'll read later on). To compensate on the lack of jewelry on my body, I see nailpolish as my way of accessorizing. I have a nice collection of shades, from minty green to cleopatra-gold, but it's become pretty obvious that red is still my most trustworthy companion, returning in my collection in every possible brightness.

 - The one exception I make on my otherwise naked-of-jewelry-body? Hermès bracelets. I LOVE them! I'm very lucky to be able to say that I've actually got some in my collection (mostly thanks to my mum - who has an immacculate taste in jewelry, might I add), and I see each and every one of them as my babies. I hardly ever leave the house without one around my wrist, and when I do, I feel as though I've just walked out of the door without my pants on. And that's just not the snuggliest of feelings.

- Brigitte Bardot. Her careless beauty is just breathtaking. Point.

- Festivals. Festivals are basically the only place where Wellington boots are considered stylish. I love how at festivals, everyone feeds off the same music drug and it's like everyone is all on the same music high. Somehow, because you are at the same festival, you feel some sort of sympathy for all the other people surrounding you, and you have the best beer-inspired conversations with perfect strangers. And mostly, I love how you can live on a minimum of hygiene for three days and still look sexy as hell by pairing Wellington boots with jeans shorts and cropped blazers.

- Citytrippin'. I love exploring new cities, and revisiting the ones I've fallen madly in love with in the past. For the moment, I am obsessed with Lisbon. I've been there over the summer, and let me tell you, it is un-be-lievable. I would love to show you some pictures I took there, but very unfortunately some *** stole our handluggage on our way home. Let me just tell you this: Paris may be the most romantic city in the world, New York the hippest, Berlin the best place to party (sorry, Ibiza!) and Milan the most shopaholic, Lisbon is just the best city in the world. Nuff said.

- When I have the time (which hasn't been that often, lately, between blogging and trying to write interesting articles for my college application) I like nothing more than spending my lazy afternoon watching tv shows. Not all shows, mind you. I have my personal favs. The only thing that makes me chipper about autumn (I mean, come on: Goodbye, summer, with your delicious cocktails and great beach parties, and hello rain, scarves that still smell like closet and dark houses due to lack of sunlight) is the fact that the new seasons of my favourite shows start airing. Desperate Housewives, here I am! Gossip Girl, hold up! One Tree Hill, yes, even you manage to still move me after all those years.

Guilty pleasure? Will and Grace. Oh Jack McFarland, how you continue to crack me up.

There are so many more things that make my heart go BOOM (because some songs make you think...WTF? ), but I think this list will do for now. Time for bed!

Talk to you soon!

x Magel