milan & vanaily

2015-08-16T18:18:00.001-04:00

We’re hosting a give-a-way to celebrate the re-launch of our blog at www.milanandvanaily.com and the back-to-school season!

Pop-over to our new blog to enter for a chance to win :)

Give-a-way Blog Post

Please note this giveaway is for Canadian and US residences only - we regret to inform you that we currently do not ship to remote locations at this time.

JORD Fieldcrest Series in Maple

2015-07-28T20:20:00.002-04:00

We recently partnered up with JORD watch to provide you with a review of something new. In the past recent years Milan and I have become quite fond of watches. We liked the practicality of the watch, yet it is something that can be worn as an accessory. My first watch was a gold Kate Spade watch in Gramercy Grand, since then my collection has expanded into more oversized golden watches.

What I like about the brand is that it’s something new. I’ve personally never seen a wooden watch before so I was more than happy to pick something out. I also recommend checking out The Cora Series in Maple & Silver and Sidney Series in Maple & Rose Gold both are lovely.

The watch I have today is the Fieldcrest series in Maple. Upon receiving the package, the watch was stored in a wooden box - which is a very nice detail (keep scrolling for more pictures).

On the website, the Fieldcrest series is described as a classic midsize watch. I think on most people it would be consider mid-sized, but on my 5.25” wrist, it’s considered an over-sized watch – as are all my other watches. The key to wearing larger watches when you have a small wrist is to wear it higher on the arm (trust me, it will look good). I think people with smaller wrists usually shy away from arm accessories, mainly because nothing fits. I never had an issue with re-sizing a watch, most of the time you can get away with taking out the maximum amount of links, or adding more holes to a leather band.

The watch itself is very lightweight. It is masculine and feminine at the same time.

Watches mentioned in this post from L to R: Fieldcrest, Sidney, and Cora

Note: You can click on the image above to be redirected to Jord's website.

What do you guys think of the watch?

Disclaimer: This was sent for review. All opinions are my own and is based on my own personal experience and thoughts.

China Glaze - Mingle With Kringle (Dash of Dazzle set)

2013-12-04T21:14:00.000-05:00

Tis the season!

It’s my favorite time of the year again. There are so many reasons why I love this time of the year.

For all you beauty lovers, you may notice that many brands are rolling in with holiday gift sets. It’s a great time to stock up on your favorite items or find the perfect gift for a loved one.

Recently I was contacted by the lovely Fran from NailPolishCanada.com to do a review for the China Glaze’s Dash of Dazzle gift set. The set comes with 3 not-so traditional holiday colors including gold, blue, and a sparkly confetti-like polish.

Mingle with Kringle

Woah, I was not expecting it to be this glossy and shimmery! The first coat went on seamlessly, it went on really smooth with a semi opaque finish and after the 2^nd coat it reaches full opacity. To me this polish falls somewhere in between a glitter/metallic/chrome/foil polish (if that makes sense). I always hated how glitter polishes look so nice when they’re wet and once it dries you’re left with a slight matte finish, but with this polish it dries glossy.

The overall effect reminds me China Glaze’s Swing Baby – it definitely has some micro shimmers packed in there.

In terms on the color, I’m not really sure how I feel about it. If you’re into bold polishes – I recommending giving this one a go. Very bling-bling!

The rest are coming up soon!

I just noticed Nail Polish Canada is offering free shipping within Canada with no minimum purchase - free shipping doesn't come by often for us Canadian girls lol.

p.s. By zee way. We're in the process of launching our new blog at www.milanandvanaily.com if you want to check us out!

*This was sent for review

Minion Nails!

2013-07-05T08:45:00.004-04:00

TGIF! It's been a long time since I did a nail art post! I was feeling inspired and this is what I whipped up. I've been playing Minion Rush on my iPhone for the past week - you girls should try it out, it's a super cute game.

In order to achieve this little minion, follow the steps below:

Start off with a yellow base - any yellow will do! Sorry for using a discontinued color :(
Add a blue line across the tip of your nails - the same way you would for a french manicure.
Draw a thin line across the yellow section - try to vertically-center align the strap.
Take a dotter (top of needle pin/bobby pin) and make a large grey circle. Wait to dry.
Take a dotter again and add a white dot in the center of the grey circle you made previously. Wait to dry.
Last time for the dotter! Gently dot a small circle of brown.
Take the same brown and use a tooth pick to draw a little smile.

Do not add top coat on the same day.

Left to Right: China Glaze: White On White, OPI: Ogre The Top Blue, Orly: Lemonade, [McDonald's Happy Meal Minion - available now] Icing: Black, OCC: Dangerous, Essie: Little Brown Dress

Let me know how it goes! Tag me on instagram @vanaily

Good Luck!

-vee

June Favorites - Make Up Edition.

2013-06-09T18:37:00.004-04:00

Hi girls!

So I thought it would be fun to create a post on our favorite make up products for the month of June. (Our favorite skincare products will be posted shortly ^__^).

First up, L'Oreal Paris, Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara. I cannot tell you the amount of department store mascara's I have tried throughout the years, from Chanel, Lancome, Dior, Benefit, you name it. They all seem to either flake out or smudge on me. So I did some research online and I saw good reviews for this product and decided to give it a try, and it was one of the best decisions I've made! Not only do I save money, I get pretty amazing results with this mascara.

Givenchy, Le Prisme Blush Powder in It-girl purple. I only went searching for a new blush because my current blush from YSL is discontinued. Aside from the lovely packaging, this is a cute pink color that is not overly shimmery. If you like shimmery blush, this might not be for you.

Stila, stay all day, liquid liner. I have been loyal to MAC's liquid liner since high school and decided to see other liners. I'm pretty happy with the results, although I think both liners are wonderful. Please note that this is a waterproof eyeliner so you will definitely need to find a good eye make up remover to get it all off. Trust me, washing your face and using a mild make up remover doesn't get it all off.

Benefit, Watt's Up!, I think this is my number 1 favorite of all time. Radiance in a stick.

Clinique, Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. Very pretty. Very natural. I've always wore light coral lipsticks and I really wanted to change around my look without going too bold and this was the perfect solution. Flattering for all skin colors.

YSL, Rouge Volupe Shine in 15. Well it was coral, and I love YSL - that was enough to sell me. As much as I love YSL, I'm not sure about value for my money, they always have lovely packaging and everything smells good. I guess it's not always about rational choices, lol.

Have any of you girls tried any of these products? If yes, please share - we would love to hear from you : )

-vee

Essie: Haute as Hello

2013-06-09T15:44:00.002-04:00

Well this is the first nail post in a long time.

As some of you may know, I have always been a fan of peachy corals. The application on this was a little disappointing. It was streaky, thin, and when it dried - it ended up bubbling on me. This bottle was not consistent with my past experiences with Essie. Way to drop the ball on this one, Essie.

The next time I apply this color I'm going to try to thin it out and work with thinner coats. Hopefully that will do the trick :(

Well I hope you girls enjoyed this post!

I'll be compiling a list of my June favorites soon! Keep an eye out for it :)

Cheers,
Vee

Spring Cleaning - Nail Polish Organization Ideas!

2013-05-20T16:13:00.000-04:00

Finally, spring is here! I don't know about you, but my room can get super messy (I'm talking piles of clothes stacked on chairs, and a table that has only enough space for my laptop to sit - I kind of have this post apocalyptic look going on). I started off by reorganizing my nail polish collection. Now some of you may already seen this set up and you'll notice that I only change around the bottom shelf. However if you haven't seen this display yet, I really recommend it for those of you who are looking for ways to store their nail polish collection. I seen a few racks on Amazon for around $20, there are a lot of different set up options to choose from.

The rest of the collection is tucked away in my drawer. I emptied out one of my drawers and lined them with a grip roll. I'm pretty sure you can find these rolls at Walmart or the dollar store. I personally like to organize my brand and then color, I know some other girls like to organize their polishes by color instead. Organize your polishes in whatever way is easiest for you to find the color you need.

Note: You must lined the drawer, otherwise everything will just slide around everywhere!

Well I hope that helps! How do you girls organize your collection?

-vee

Holiday Cheer: Home Decor

2012-12-05T19:51:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I know it’s been a while since we've been here and this isn’t even a nail post... but with the holiday season around the corner I thought I should share some inspiring DIY holiday ideas. Hopefully you guys will enjoy :)

Christmas is actually my favorite holiday and it's been years since our family last had a Christmas tree. Sad, I know. I'm hoping we'll end up buying one this year but I don't know if we have enough space in our home. In order to compensate for this I did some decorating with a couple things we had around the house and a few ornaments we brought last year.

Keep on scrolling for more ideas and where to shop!

First up, nutcracker men! My mom and I found these two men at our local Winners. I was browsing around and they had a whole little section of nutcracker men ranging from $7.99 to $24.99CAD (might be even less than that). The guy on the left cost me $19.99 and $14.99 for the smaller guy. I was quite pleased with the prices, considering I saw other men for $40 at The Bay. The glittery reindeer you see here were from the Dollarama...which btw you should check out. They have a lot of Christmas items that are pretty decent in quality.

Runner up, we have a long vase that I also picked up from the Dollarama ($3ea, crazy huh?)I ended up filling it with a couple of ornaments I picked up on sale at the Real Canadian Superstore.

Now we have two smaller nutcracker men that I picked up from the Dollarama ($2ea). In between the two men, I used an old fish bowl I had laying around my basement and filled it up with the rest of my christmas ornaments.

Here we have a couple of cards I made. You can find a lot of ideas online, or even try to duplicate some of the cards you like (hey, our family members don't need to know where we find our 'inspiration'). I brought the card & envelope kit from Michaels using a 40% coupon. I highly recommend that you guys check Michael's website for coupons, they often have coupons where you can save 40-50% off 1 regular priced item or 20% your whole purchase.

Lastly we will finish with Frosty. This guy was crocheted together last year, he's a total cutie. Great for decorating the place or to give away as a gift.

Well I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday. Hopefully my pictures have inspired some of you to look around the house and do some decorating of your own! Until next time...
-vee

China Glaze Magnetix - Instant Chemistry

2012-03-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

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For some reason I kind of panicked when I applied this nail polish haha. I guess it’s because I had to apply the polish quickly and hold the magnet. I’ll admit I had a hard time using the magnet to my nails while they were still wet. Be advised that if you hold the magnet too close, the nail polish will actually lift and a tiny bump will form.

This is one of my favourites from the Magnetix Collection because it is relatively subtle. I prefer not to have “loud” nail designs haha. This nail polish dries fast and only needs one coat! Music to my ears – I can’t stand waiting around for my nails to dry. I’m not wearing top coat in these pictures, but I definitely recommend top coat with these magnetic polishes. They tend to wear off easily and are semi-shiny. Thank you to Nail Polish Canada for providing this to us!

Other than a few accidents of holding the magnet too close to my nails or actually bumping my nails into the magnet, the application wasn’t too bad. I held the magnet for about 15 seconds on each nail and kind of wiggled the magnet around...I’m not sure if that the best technique to use.

Do you girls have any magnet techniques to share with us? :D

*This was sent by Nail Polish Canada for review

-m

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

2012-03-01T18:19:00.001-05:00

At long last, we have picked our winner!

*drum roll*

preciouspearl
From: http://preciouspearlmakeup.blogspot.com/

Congrats! Please check your inbox and reply back within two weeks :)

Thanks again everyone for joining our giveaway and for being so patient!

-Milan and Vanaily

An exciting day

2012-02-19T11:54:00.010-05:00

So it's been a long time since I've been excited about nail polish. Over the last few months I've lost my excitement for them because there wasn't anything really new... and nothing really tickled my fancy. It's so much harder to justify buying any more polishes because we already have too much. But yesterday as I was shopping around this is what I came across! (Sorry for the quality these were taken from my iPhone, high-resolution coming soon).

Sephora at Yorkdale opened a little Nail Bar island. I know they usually have their own stand for Sephora by OPI, but none of them did anything for me... it was like "okay, what else is new". But when I saw this nail bar, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I mean... canadian girls TAKE A LOOK AT THE TOP ROW! Sephora is finally carrying Illamasqua in Canada!. I think I was a little overwhelmed, not to mention they were having a promotion so they were going for $14CAD. I might of been to fixated on Illamasqua, but I should mention it looks like Dior expanded their nail line. A couple of them were pretty impressive/expensive at $24CAD.

I thought this was cool looking. This was a display outside The Bay for MAC's SHOP collection. It was set up like shopping aisles.

End of the day, this is what I ended up with:
Illamasqua Lament and Phallic. Lament was a color I was interested in for a long time. I mean it's pink, coral and bright! I could not help myself. Although this color is not that unique, there are definitely cheaper alternatives like: essie's cute as a button and wet and wild 437F.

As for Phallic, Milan did a quick swatch for me in-store. It was deep, rich with beautiful shimmer. I was sold, I threw back Milf and Jo'Mina for it.

Lastly I brought YSL's new Volupte Sheer Candy in #2 Dewy Papaya. This one smelt really good. The color is very sheer, but I brought it to wear over my other YSL Volupte lipstick. I'm sure there are many alternatives to this one, any sheer lip product will do...haha. ($38CAD).

-vee

Give-a-way update

2012-02-05T15:57:00.003-05:00

Hello everybody! Just a quick update that we are starting to tally up our give-a-way. We will still accept entrants until February 10th, eastern standard time.

We've been super busy but we plan on picking a winner by end of February. So make sure you check your inboxes!

-m&vee

OPI: Merry Midnight

2011-10-24T08:58:00.003-04:00

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I know I’m about 2 years too late in swatching this. This is from OPI’s 2009 Holiday Wishes Winter collection.

We don’t have anything in our nail polish collection like this...a jelly dark plum with red flakies and blue round glitter?! Man, I need more flakies!!! :(

I’m wearing 4 coats in these pictures. I could’ve stopped at 3 coats though. This polish was super sheer in the first coat, but it builds up quickly. This dries pretty quickly too, so I have no problem with applying 4 coats.

If you girls have any recommendations of some nice nail polishes with flakies, I would love to hear it! (Preferably something I can get in Canada). :D

-m

P.S. Don't forget to join our giveaway (click here to enter)!

Give-a-way time!

2011-08-11T12:30:00.001-04:00

Hello everybody!

My sister and I been so busy lately that we haven't got the chance to update our blog as much as we like. Right now we like to start up a giveaway to show our appreciation! Right now we're going to start off with a small giveaway that includes 4 China Glaze polishes and 1 nerdy pear made by yours truely. We are hoping to add more to this giveaway before it ends. Possibly more toys... depending on what you girls like. We will post updates when we make more additions to the giveaway!

See what we have so far:

How to enter:
+ You must be a follower via Google Friend Connect
+ Leave a comment below with your email address so we can contact you (you get 2 entries for this, since we have not came up with a finalize date yet)

Extra entries:
+ Blog/Youtube/Twitter about this giveaway (two entry for each)
+ Add us to your blogroll :)
+ Any mention of us anywhere will also count, wheither it is makeupalley or what not, just show us a link and we will count it!
+ Follow me on twitter

Stay tuned for more updates and goodies!

P.S: I will add the names of all the polishes once I get home. If I recall properly we have: Flip Flop Fantasy, Light as Air, Happy go Lucky... and I need to check the name of the black one lol.

-M&Vee

Re-post - Chanel: Paradoxal

2011-07-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

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I wore this colour a few pictures ago and though it would be a good idea to update my swatches for this.

If you girls remember, I wore this in my first very first post! :3 This time around, it lasted more than a week with no signs of wear! No chips, tip-wear, nothing! If probably helped that I used the good ol’ “wrap technique”, haha...and for good measure, I also “wrapped” my nails with topcoat. I bet this would’ve lasted more than 7 days, but I wanted to change it.

You can find my full review of this by clicking here.

As much as I love this colour, I still can’t believe I spent $30 on this. Man, I must’ve been nuts.

-m

piCture pOlish: Mudshake

2011-07-11T08:04:00.005-04:00

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At first glance, this colour reminded me of American Apparel’s Mouse . This colour is more of a grey though and has a slight hint of purple in it. I wouldn't say this colour reminds me of mud since it's more on the grey than brown side.

I believe this is also more opaque than Mouse . I’m wearing 2 coats and top coat in these pictures.

I didn’t have such an enjoyable time applying this one. The brush was on the flimsy side and the polish was somewhat thick. After the first coat, I had to add a few drops of thinner since it the application wasn’t smooth. I also had to redo a finger because I banged my hand on the table. u___u sigh. How ironic...because says "No mess! No fuss!" on the bottle, haha.

On the plus side, this polish lasted about a week. After 6 days I got 2 small chips but I still didn’t have any tip-wear because I used the “wrap technique”.

All in all, I think I like Mouse more. You can find my swatches and review of Mouse by clicking here. What do you girls think?

-m

OPI: So Many Clowns...So Little Time

2011-06-20T08:56:00.000-04:00

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I have no idea what the name of this nail polish means. On another note, I really like this. I thought it would look strange on tanned hands but it turned out to be quite flattering. This made my nails look so much healthier haha.

I’m wearing 3 coats in these pictures. I didn’t have much a problem with streaks with this nail polish as I do with other sheer nail polishes. This also lasted quite long. I wore this for a week. Although I didn't get tipwear, it did start to "lift" up at the cuticles.

This is the only colour vee and I brought from the Femme Cirque collection...now I’m thinking we should have gotten more.

-m

Essie: Wicked

2011-06-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

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(I like how vampy it looked in this picture...the reflection in my nails look like creepy castles hehe)

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JIMINY JILLICKERS. MY EYES ARE SOO HAPPY. It’s SOO glossy! Oh my, I think I might be drooling as I’m typing about this. How embarrassing.

I might even consider this a jelly. This is 2 coats, no top coat. I definitely recommend top coat with this colour (and every other vampy colour out there). You’ll know why when you realize you have red scratch marks on sheets of paper and on the walls, haha...true story. I plan to add another coat of top coat in a couple of days to revive the lustre. Application and everything was fine.

I brought this colour because I heard it was a dupe of Chanel’s Rouge Noir/Vamp. It looks pretty much the same as Rouge Noir, but Rouge Noir has more of a brown undertone. So I rather just have this and save myself some money and stress. Applying $30 nail polish stresses me out haha. I actually bumped my finger into something as Paradoxal was drying before. I didn’t even have the heart to re-do the finger, so I just put top-coat over it.

-m

OPI: My Private Jet

2011-06-06T09:18:00.001-04:00

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(this is an old photo, but it's the only picture I have that captured the duochrome.)

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This is the new version of My Private Jet, but I like it. I don’t own a bottle of the original.
I’m wearing 3 coats in these pictures. I could’ve stopped at 2 though. This polish lasted pretty long for me...but I did have tipwear after a week of wearing it. Other than that, no chipping, cracking or anything else.

You can only catch the beauty of this polish is in sunlight or bright lights since that’s the only times you can only catch the duochome and everything. Like many other polishes, this doesn’t make me as happy in indoor lighting. This looks black with white flecks in most lighting, actually...it reminds me of a granite kitchen counter, haha. Yup, it’s one mighty fine kitchen counter...

-m

Nubar: Gem

2011-05-27T11:55:00.001-04:00

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Taupe? Check. Holographic? Check. Duochrome? Check.

What more can a girl ask for? Without a doubt, this is my favourite nail polish of all time. The problem I have with a lot of nail polishes is I only like them in the sunlight. This polish however still looks incredible indoors and the glitter flashes all the colours of the rainbow. The base colour flashes bronze and even a dusty mauve/pink.

The formula is quite sheer. I’m wearing 4 coats here. The nail line was still slightly visible at 3 coats and even with 4 coats, I can see through my nails when I hold it up to the light. But I don’t mind. This dries pretty fast too and it was easy to apply. The only downside to this polish is it isn’t very glossy. Eh, nothing top coat can’t fix!

I wore this colour for an entire week and there was only a bit of tip-wear by the end of the week. WIN.

-m

China Glaze: LOL

2011-05-23T09:45:00.002-04:00

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This is one of the few shades of purple I can actually pull off. This is a really nice dusty purple, no?

I’m wearing 3 coats in these pictures I believe. No application troubles here. Another bonus with this nail polish is it is super easy to remove...most nail polishes with glitter are a real pain for me to remove.

This is still really nice indoors too. If I remember correctly, I didn’t like QT that much indoors. But this one looks great in any lighting. I’m so glad I found this. I’ve been looking for this for quite some time, and after a few emails to stores I was successful in finding it. Well worth the wait. :D

-m

Barielle: Grape Escape

2011-05-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

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Off the bat this reminds of China’s Glaze Grape Pop, but I think it’s a little bit lighter. I’ll do some comparisons of the purple creams I have soon.

This is a really lovely color although it reminds me of the color of eggplants, not so much grapes... lol. I find that Barielle tends to have a nice opaque consistency to their polishes and I’m wearing 3 coats, I could have stopped at 2. I know these polishes are sold in the states, and their website doesn’t ship internationally but good news for Canadian girls, I know I’ve seen these polishes at Winners before. They usually carry a small selection of them in store. Only downfall is that the colors Winners have are usually from older collections so if you’re eyeing something new it might not be there. They usually come out with such a nice variety of colors; I know the little swatches on their website doesn’t really do the colors real justice. Hopefully Barielle decides to ship internationally in the near future.

*This was sent for review

-vee

OPI: Happy Anniversary over Got a Date To-Knight!

2011-05-11T19:20:00.000-04:00

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I ended up wearing this color a wee bit longer by putting a little twist to it. As much as I was tempted to layer OPI’s Pearl of Wisdom I decided, hey why don’t I try Happy Anniversary (they sit beside each other on my rack).

So I layered 1 coat of Happy Anniversary and never looked back. I personally love it... the combination of the jelly polish and the micro shimmer gives it this “glass flecked” look. Quite pretty... so pretty that I think I need to buy more shimmery sheers next time I go polish shopping. It's a nice way to spice up any cremes or jellies you currently have. So if you girls have any recommendations, throw them my way!

-vee

OPI: Got a Date To-Knight!

2011-05-08T15:40:00.000-04:00

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I’ve neglected this color for about a year after buying it. If I recall correctly I first fell for this color when I saw swatches of it on ilovenailpolish’s site. After taking this color home, I was never in the mood to try it out (might of had something to do with this idea that I might need more than 3 coats).

Lately I’ve been into soft shades and other nudes so I decided to give this color a go. I ended up liking this color; I think it’s very subtle and cute. I used around 3-4 coats in these pictures, drying time was okay. Overall nice color, very work appropriate :)

-vee

OPI: Shorts Story & China Glaze: Fairy Dust

2011-05-02T10:35:00.001-04:00

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As promised, here is OPI’s Shorts Story with one coat of China Glaze’s Fairy Dust. A little bit of Fairy Dust makes everything better. :D

-m