Review: WhatsIndieBox December 2014

Hey everyone,

as I love all things Christmas, I couldn't help but cave in and get the WhatsIndieBox? December 2014! I can't even imagine a Christmas in summer, so I thought I'd get an idea of it by trying some polishes by five different indie polish brands that created polishes especially to represent an Aussie Xmas. 

If you don't know what the WhatsIndieBox is, it's an Australian monthly polish box that comes with five different polishes by five different indie polish makers that vary every month. Some always stay the same, like Glampolish and Peitas Polish, and I think Lilypad Lacquer is a regular as well. But there are also always one or two new additions to the box, which makes it special every time! 
You don't have to subscribe to receive this box, you can purchase it every month on the Peitas Polish website as soon as it is open for order. You don't know what the polishes in the box are going to be, they are exclusive to the box shades by each indie brand!
On the WhatsIndieBox Instagram account and Facebook site clues are posted for all 5 polishes that are in the box, so you can get an idea about what each one is going to be like. So all in all, very mysterious and exciting! And we all know I'm a sucker for mystery bags!! ;)

For this months box the indie brands that contributed an exclusive shade were Glampolish, LilypadLacquer, MckFreshNailAttire, Glittering Elements and Peitas Polish (look at that cute bow on the bottle!!). The theme, as mentioned before, was an Aussie Indie Christmas - so it was all about beaches and summer! Here are some swatches of the gorgeous colors that came in the box. I topped all of my swatches off with one coat of my favourite fast drying topcoat by GlistenAndGlow, HKgirlTopcoat. All the charms I used are from DailyCharme.

First up I have this beautiful snowy white called Gotta Hav Pav by MckFreshNailAttire. It's a beautiful creamy white with shimmer in it and also has tiny and few bits of white and silver glitter in it. Definitely snow in a bottle, and what would Christmas be without snow?! Well, you Aussies tell me! ;) It's really pretty and crisp, application was easy in two coats.

I accented my swatch with this gorgeous snowflake charm, I thought it fit perfectly because, well, snow. Duh! ;)

This beauty is Sun, Sand And Sea by LilypadLacquer and the name could not be more fitting! The gold micro glitters are mixed with tiny green and red micro glitters, which makes it this awesome sandy Christmas colour! The combination is so clever and really looks absolutely beautiful! Don't get me wrong, it's not sandy in texture, just the look ;)

I accented my swatch with this cute reindeer charm. Santa's little helper was such a nice addition to this beautful golden polish! It's so dainty and pretty! Application of the polish was really smooth, two coats would have been fine but I did a third one to max out the glitter ;)

This was one of my favourites, Christmas in Paradise by Glittering Elements! This stunning light blue exactly represents how I imagine the ocean at an Australian beach to be like (and have seen in pictures ;). Application was a dream, really smooth and easy! I am wearing two coats in this pic.

Bonus shot to show you the holo shimmer of this baby, so pretty!! My light box wouldn't capture it properly so I had to take one outside of it. Love this one so much!

Another holo close up to show you all the gorgeousness of this polish and the cute laurel wreath charm :)

This is Seafood Delight by Peitas Polish and let me tell you, this was NOT easy to photograph!! It's a beautiful creamy, shimmery coral polish that is just so bright my light box couldn't handle it! Application was lovely in two easy coats and I accented it with a bow charm. 

Another shot of Seafood Delight under an overcast sky, I thought I'd try showing you the shimmer but it would only show up in the bottle :( Anyway, I promise you can see the subtle shimmer on the nails in person. 

As always, I saved my favourite for last ;) And no surprise, it's the Glampolish! Look at this beauty! It's called Harbour Lights, a sparkly Christmas tree green! Application was a dream, shown are two coats. I just love everything about this one, from the gorgeous color to the sparkly to the name, it's perfect!

An out of the light box shot to show you the awesome sparkle of this gem, isn't it pretty?! Glampolish just always does it right! 

Even though the mermaid charm was slightly too big for my nail (and a bit out of focus in this shot), I think it goes perfectly with this polish! 


So those were all the polishes from the Christmas themed December 2014 WhatsIndieBox! I think it perfectly represents an Australian Christmas, at least the one I imagine :) I think the indie polish makers did an awesome job at creating really fitting colors and I'm so glad I got this box, even though it is a bit pricey for me. The shipping from Australia kills me every time... the box itself is $49,99 (about €40) and shipping to Germany is $25 (about €20) - so all in all $74,99 (or about €60). But if you consider you get 5 handmade indie polishes for this price I think it's actually ok. It's a bit of a splurge for me, but it was my Christmas present to myself ;)

I'm sorry the Etsy shops of Lilypad Lacquer and Glittering Elements are closed at the moment, but I wanted to include the right links to their stores. You can buy them from other stockists though, like for example Norway Nails.

What are your thoughts on these polishes and the WhatsIndieBox? Did you like the theme and the colours? I'd love to know! :)

Lots of Love,
Glittr

Sunday Favourites: Birthday Goodies

Hey everyone,

it was my birthday on December 9th and I had the most wonderful day! I want to thank all of you who wished me a happy birthday on my birthday mani post on Instagram, it means the world to me seeing all of your lovely comments! <3


I wanted to share some of the amazing presents I got from my friends and family with you, they were all so thoughtful and lovely! I got loads of polish from my dad an his girlfriend which was really exciting, I had put them all on my Amazon wish list and he just ordered them all for me which was so sweet!! 

I chose these gorgeous pink shades because I've been wanting to try them forever! From left to right: OPI Shorts Story, China Glaze Hang Ten Toes, OPI Strawberry Marguerita.
I didn't know the China Glaze had a shimmer in it, which is normally something I don't really go for. I like my cremes or full on glitters better, but I will definitely give it a go because it still looks gorgeous!!

Next up are three amazing reds, I put these all on my wish list because I'm still trying to find the perfect red shade for me and also I am planning on doing some Christmas nail art with these! From left to right: OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI), OPI Every Month Is Octoberfest, OPI In The Cable-Car Pool Lane.

I've been dying to call these two my own and now I finally can!! China Glaze All Wrapped Up and OPI Keeping Suzi At Bay. Look at that sparkly glitter!! I'm so excited to use this, you can't even imagine!

And this poor guy was all on his own for the photo shoot! ;) This is China Glaze Westside Warrior, I'd never thought I would want a shade like this but I saw it online, looked at swatches and thought it was gorgeous! When I was unpacking all of my polishes, my dads girlfriend asked me if there was a color I don't already own a shade of, and I picked up this one and said: not any more! ;) I don't have anything similar to this in my collection so I'm really excited to see how I like it on my nails! :)

My best friend got me my very first Michael Kors nail polish - eeeek!! Isn't it gorgeous?! Just the packaging is super luxurious, I can't wait to see if the polish can live up to my expectations! :) But I've heard only good things about these so I'm pretty sure I'll love it! The color is called Envy and is a beautiful purple, you can't really see the true color in the pic but I'll try and capture it on my nails!

She also got me this lip balm by Soap&Glory called Smooch Operator - don't you just love the names S&G comes up with?! It smells lovely and feels great on the lips too! This is going to sit on my desk at work so I can use it all the time!

My girl knows I love me some makeup, but I am a) too lazy and b) not skilled enough to put it on on a regular basis. I envy all the YouTube beauty gurus that always know exactly what to use to make them look gorgeous! But with my hair being a bit high maintenance and my passion for nailart, there is never really any time to also do my makeup! That's why she got me this awesome book by Bobbi Brown that is all about easy and gorgeous eye makeup! I've already started going through it and am loving it so far! Great tips and tutorials for everyone and every type of girl! 

As my girl and I really enjoy our tea, she got me this really cute little Mr. Tea that you can use to put your loose tea in and let it sit in your mug to infuse the water! I love silly things like this ;) She also got me an amazing smelling white tea (which is my favourite!) called White Monkey - love the name and will for sure enjoy filling Mr. Tea's pants with it! That sounded really wrong... but you know what I mean ;)

To go with my tea, she got me this mug and had it customised with this quote, just for me! I can't believe she gave me such an adorable thing and Steffi, if you're reading this (which I know you are), please know I love you to bits and you are the best friend I could ever ask for! You really are my person! <3 
Side Note: Bonus points for everyone who spotted the Greys Anatomy reference here, if you watched it - and let's be honest, who didn't? - then you might have an idea of what my friendship with my bestie is like).

As mentioned, my hair is a bit high maintenance when it comes to styling, I don't have naturally pretty wavy or straight hair, it's just some weird mess in between that makes me look like a poodle when I let it air dry. I've got my routine down pretty well and know what I need to achieve my everyday straight hair and I use a lot of heat protection to keep it from damaging too much. I am currently using the Trésemme Heat Tamer spray which is amazing, but I really wanted to try the heat protectant by Moroccanoil because I've had really good experiences with their products so far! Their Hair Oil (the simple Moroccanoil) is my go to hair products on the rare days I let my hair air dry and I can feel it helping it from becoming too frizzy and dry! So I am excited to use this one too!
Oh and the best thing about Moroccanoil products? You guessed it, the SMELL! It is to die for, and every product has it!! Even the hairspray! 

My boyfriend got me this beautiful brown and rosegold belt from Tommy Hilfiger that I had seen in a store a few weeks ago and I have been wearing it ever since! I discovered my love for rosegold last year around Christmas when he got me a stunning necklace that now perfectly matches my belt! :)

Talking about matching, he went out and picked these stunning rosegold Michael Kors hoop earrings for me!! Aren't they just beautiful? I think he might have had a little help from my bestie finding the right ones, but in the end he made a great choice himself and totally surprised me with these! :)


I hope you enjoyed this post about my birthday goodies, I really loved all the presents and am so thankful for all the lovely people I have in my life that made this day so amazing! <3

Lots of Love,
Glittr

Review: YesLove polish

Hey everyone,

a few weeks back I bought some YesLove polishes on eBay, I had seen them around on Instagram and thought they looked pretty cool! Also they were really cheap, so that was a plus!

I bought six polishes for €12, which (obviously) equals to €2 a bottle. That's stunningly cheap in my book! So I thought I'd put them to the test and see if the quality was ok too!

The ones I got are called Neon Speckled polishes (G11 series) and are pastels with neon glitters in them. They look pretty cool, even though you have to do a  bit of glitter fishing, although not as much as I have experienced with other polishes. Some just worked a bit better than others, but all in all application was ok.

YesLove also has normal polishes without any glitter in them, but I especially wanted to try out these. I tried researching them a bit but couldn't find a lot of info about them :( Also I haven't seen them in shops around me, so I have no idea where you could buy them apart from the internet! 

All the polishes were opaque in three coats apart from the first one (G11-1) that needed four. The look of them is really fun and when topcoated it smoothes out any glitters sticking out. I'll show you some individual swatches of the six colours I got. Sadly they don't have any names, only numbers :(

YesLove Neon Speckled G11-1

YesLove Neon Speckled G11-2

YesLove Neon Speckled G11-3

YesLove Neon Speckled G11-4

YesLove Neon Speckled G11-5

 YesLove Neon Speckled G11-6

I'm not a big fan of the yellow (G11-6) but that's just because it's not my typical go-to colour. I really like all the other ones though and I think they are quite unique and fun! If you don't want to spend a lot of time on nail art or you are a bit uninspired, these make for instantly cute nails! 

Let me know what you think about these YesLove Neon Speckled polishes and if you have ever tried them, also I'd love to hear if you've tried other YesLove polishes and how you liked them!

Lots of Love,
Glittr