Bookish Style: Book Shopping

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first Bookish Style post! This is a topic that I've wanted to try branching into for a while but never actually did. Today's post is in collaboration with Stylewe, an online retail store, that kindly reached out to me. Be sure to check out the logo at the bottom of the post to see the amazing things they have on their site.

Since I'm a book blogger, I was a bit surprised to be receiving an email asking for a collaboration from a clothing store, but us readers have to be fashionable too right? I decided to look around the site and pick out an outside that I might wear if I was going book shopping. Now that I'm in the Boston area for college, there are so many awesome small bookshops that are just waiting to be explored so I drew my inspiration from there.

Outfit 1: Cute and Chic

Mini Dress - $77.99
Green Satchel - $64.00
Black A-Line Sweater Dress - $73.00

I've been loving a good dress these days and these are two that just caught my eye. The mini dress looks super light and comfortable for the summer while the long sleeved dress lets you look chic while still keeping your arms warm. And can we please talk about how adorable that bag it! The cat ears and everything~

Outfit 2: Casual

Black Casual T-Shirt - $42.00
Multicolored PU Backpack - $68.00
Casual Skinny Jeans - $86.00

I'm a super casual person when it comes to dressing and a pair of jeans with a t-shirt is always my go to. The black t-shirt here has some nice lace detail and cutouts which make it a tad bit more fancy than a plain black tee. The backpack is another thing that I'm completely in love with. I would choose a backpack over a handbag any day and this one just has such a cute pattern and design, it looks like a perfect schoolgirl backpack that you see in cartoons!

Additional Links:
Check out other amazing bags HERE
Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals

In collaboration with

Review: Etude House Dear Darling Lip Tint #07

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've really posted anything and I apologize for that. I keep telling myself that I'll get something up for you guys but I keep pushing it off and watching YouTube instead. Anyway, I've been debating if I wanted to post a review on the Etude House Dear Darling Lip Tint that I picked up back in Taiwan and I decided to give it a shot. 

Lip tints are all the rage in Asian makeup right now and I really wanted to try them out. I knew that I couldn't really pull off a coral shade so I was on the look out for a dark red shade that would blend out into a nice soft flush of color. I picked up #07 from an Etude House store in Tamshui for NT200 ($6.32 USD) to try out.

 

The packaging is super cute as with all of Etude House's products. The tube is clear which lets you see how much product you have while sporting the cute Dear Darling Tint and classic Etude House label. The cap is tapered which allows for a steady grip while applying.

The actual applicator is the standard doe foot shape and is actually really easy to apply if you're going for the standard Korean gradient lip trend. I have to admit that I wasn't a pro right from the beginning and it took a couple of tries before I managed to master a style that I liked. The lip tint has a really lovely flowery scent and a nice jelly texture that doesn't feel drying. I do feel like I need to apply a lip balm under and over the product because otherwise the product tends to settle into the lines of my mouth.

Here's a quick swatch of the color. The swatch on the left is unblended while the one on the right is blended and as you can see it is a very beautiful rosy color. I think this is a really great product to put on if you want something natural and don't want to worry about constantly touching up. I have to say that I feel like it fades pretty quickly especially after meals but it does't fade weirdly so I don't really mind. 

Let me know in the comments if you have tried this particular lip tint range and what color is your favorite. Also, let me know some of your favorite lip tint products that you think I should check out next!

#NOTD: Zodiac Inspired (Born Pretty Store Review)

Hello everyone! So I finally received my next batch of products from Born Pretty Store this past week so I'm super excited to share with you guys the design that I came up with. Originally I had hoped that the items would arrive in December so I could do something inspired by Romina Russell's Zodiac but since it came later I just did a look with all the items I got.

Items I Used:

Zodiac Water Decals

Star Metal Decorations (No. 90)

Purple Nail Polish 15 mL

The nail polish takes around two coats to become opaque. It's not super thick or sheer so it's at the perfect in between. My only problem with this polish is the smell. To compare it so something from the drugstore, it smells similar to Pop-a-razzi's polishes which I did a review of earlier last year. The best way to describe the smell is that it smells like burnt plastic which isn't very pleasant, but the color itself is gorgeous.

One coat

Two coats

The metal decorations are a lot easier to use than the ones I got last time. Since it's a star pattern that curves, you can curve it to fit better on your nail. Last time, the metal decorations I used got flooded by my polish, but this one didn't. The only problem I experienced with these decorations were that they lifted quite a bit around the edges and some part eventually fell off because I was using my hands.

My favorite thing in this entire package is definitely the Zodiac inspired water decals. There are so many different designs and I mean they're water decals so you can't go wrong with them. They are super easy to use and I love how many choices you have.

Final Product

I added a Capricorn stamp on my thumb and chunky gold glitter on my middle and pinky for added bling. The stamp is uing the MoYou stamping plate from the Zodiac collection No. 12. On my pointer I used a lion (Leo) and Aries constellation. The metal star decoration in on my ring finger and I arched it over my nail.

I used Wet n Wild's Wild Shine polish in French White Creme for stamping and the chunky gold glitter polish is Sinful Color's Twilight Twinkles.

Purple Polish: 4/5

Star Decorations: 3.5/5

  

Zodiac Water Decals: 5/5

Foreverly Obsessed,

#NOTD: Pastel Princess + Review of Born Pretty Soft Stamper

Hello everyone! So today I'm going to be reviewing the Born Pretty Store's squishy marshmallow stamper and the metal decoration wheel. These products were kindly sent to me from Born Pretty Store for review. They also gave me a 10% discount code which I'll link at the bottom to share with you guys so be sure to use if it you want to make a future purchase! Alright let's get into the tutorial and review~

What I Used:

(L-R): Revlon Treat and Boost, Tempest (Sinful Colors), Unicorn (Sinful Colors), Tickled Pink (Wet n Wild), Clear Nail Protector (Wet n Wild)

Born Pretty Store Scraper, Born Pretty Store Stamping Plates No. 03 and No. 25, Metal Decoration Wheel

Born Pretty Store 4cm Sticky Stamper

Steps:

1. Apply a base coast to protect your natural nails.

2. Apply a light purple and yellow polish to fingers of your choice. I decided to stamp on yellow so I painted my ring/thumb (left hand) and thumb/pointer/pinky (right hand). The rest I painted a light purple.

3. Apply a bit of top coat and place a diamond metal decoration on your left hand and a crown metal decoration on your right hand.

4. Using the purple polish and the Born Pretty Store Plate No. 25, use the princess and rose design to stamp on two fingers of your choice. I stamped the princess design on my left hand thumb and the rose on my right hand pointer. Then using the Plate No. 3, stamp on the fairy tale like swirls on the remaining pastel yellow nail (pinky on my right hand).

5. Apply top coat to seal in your design.

Final Product:

Left Hand

Right Hand

Comparing the Sticky Stamper with my regular double ended stamper

Using a pen, I pushed down on the sticky stamper and you can see that it's very squishy

My double ended stamper is a bit harder 

I used the same purple polish as above to try out this mirror frame (No. 03) and the stamper picked it up perfectly. 

The general idea behind a sticky stamper is that its sticky surface will pick up the polish more easily and the squishy rubber will conform to your nail easier without messing up the base polish underneath. When stamping, I usually wait 15-20 minutes for my base colors to dry completely so I avoid smudging but to test out the claim, I stamped after 5 minutes and my base colors weren't messed up at all. 

In terms of how great it picks up polishes, I'd give it a 5/5 because I used to have trouble picking up the mirror frame (above) with my regular stamper but the sticky one picked it up perfectly on the first try. Since the surface is sticky, it is recommended that you do not use removed to clean off any excess polish remaining so I simply used tape to remove the polish. 

Upon first receiving it, the package was extremely oily and I found that it didn't stamp very well so I recommend washing your stamper head with some dish soap (not hand soap because they have moisturizer) to remove the oiliness. Also since it is a sticky stamper, it will pick up every single piece of dust so I am storing mine in a small Paris Baguette cupcake container.

For the metal decoration wheel, I love the little designs and the fact that they dual sided. However, I think the black side is the only side you're supposed to be seeing because of the additional detail. These didn't really work on my nails and I found that they kept lifting on the sides. Also, I don't know if it was because my base color was a bit thick, but after pressing the decoration on my nail, the nail polish covered some sections and pooled up in others. It might be because my nails are more curved that it is lifting, but I think these would be awesome as decorations on cards rather than nails.

The Sticky Stamper: 5/5 

Metal Decoration Wheel: 3/5

Foreverly Obsessed,