whats on my face?

I hope its not egg.. hahaha ew.

Today I bring you the staples of my make up bag that have made their way there in the past couple of months and intend to stay there for the summer.

First is this amazing new mascara, that gives me a really nice lengthened look for the day time without thickening too much like my favourite Retro Glam mascara. It is Max Factor's Clump Defy in the pretty 50th Superdrug birthday packaging. The brush is curved with little spindles/spikes that fit perfectly to my lashes - covering as much area as possible for quick application. The look it gives is really natural looking, but still making them look longer without that really false lash effect despite the range its from! 

Next we have the sample of Benefit's Pore-fressional that I got free with a magazine, probably Vogue but I'm not 100% today! It is a miracle mattifying balm that reduces the appearance of pores. And it works, really well. I love it and use it under my foundation powder one my nose and chin to stop my pores looking like craters. I am thinking of investing once I run out!

Another fab product that I adore is my new concealer - Stay Time 18 hour concealer from 17 - it is wonderful. It stays under my make up all day, it is a lovely shade that fits perfectly to my pale skin and blends in really well. It hides my red blemishes that are particularly bad this week! :(

Now for a bit of colour with a favourite that made it into my April favourites post - The B.Brilliant Morello lip gloss. Never been a huge lipgloss fan, I'm more into lipstick but this is lush. Whether I dab some on for the day or heap it on for the night - i Love it with a capital L.

And more purple - a huge trend on S/S 14 catwalks - with purple shadow. This is my B. Stunning Shimmer in Royal. Its a creamy eye shimmer so I can put on as little or as much as I want. I like wearing a little in the day now its summery, not so that my eyes look bruised but so they shimmer purpleyey. :) It also doesn't crease into my eye creases like a normal cream shadow which is both surprising and great!

So there they are some lovely bits that I currently LOVE and you should def give a try :) see you soon for a nail update :D

how to create a funky flower nail bed

Spring is here! It must be given all this lovely sun. I love this time of year when the sun is out and warm but it is still breezy and cool.. The time of year I don't have to wear suncream!

So in hope that this summer will last, I rejigged my previous floral design (see it here in the original post) and have done a little tutorial, a wee step by step for you to kick start your summer!

What you need:

NYC In a Minute

Nails Inc Gel Effect in Mayfair Lane

Gosh in Splish Splash and Misty Mauve

Models Own in Pukka Purple

Rio Professional Nail Pen in Bright Pink

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Base Coat

Dotting Tool

1. Apply your base coat , then on top give yourself a nice generous coat of your base colour (I used my NYC shade of blue). 

2. Use the larger end of your dotting tool to create the base of your flower (or the petals if you will) dotting in a circle and then filling the centre (you can use as many colours as you like here but make sure you have a lighter shade in them for the next step), like below:

3. Use the smaller end of your dotting tool (the smallest you can find) and put little dots on your flowers to create a more textured/3D effect in lighter shades, like below:

4. Now, again with your smallest dotting tool, ad some little green leaves. by placing your tool down as though creating a dot, but dragging to the side slightly as you pull away (don't worry about it being perfect, not all leaves are the same!), like below:

5. Apply your top coat et voila! TIP: Always use a base coat when applying nail art/design/dots of any kind as a good top coat smoothes out everything!

Hope you like and find it as easy as it is!

@pawsandclaws101 - Always Instagramming

@pawsnclaws101 - And Tweeting

xxx

giving in to the gradient

So I promised all my insta-followers I would pop up a tutorial of the latest marbling I've done.

This is probably my favourite design (however it's not in my favourite colours) and I am going to do a black/white version tonight (for a little competition) that I'll post up tomorrow for you all to see. Either way everyone that has seen them has asked 'How did you do that?' 

And when I say 'With a tool, its actually much easier than it looks' - They do not believe me! 

So a quick tutorial to show how easy it is is just want we need. I'd love to do a video but I can't video myself! - however much a tried holding the camera with my chin/propping it up on my dvds/getting my teddy to hold it - I failed everytime.

Hopefully though this step by step will still help and you can have a go yourself and instagram/tweet me the results because I would love to see if it really is as easy I think!

what you need:  

a small dotting tool/needle if you don't have tools

two shades of polish you think work perfectly together - 

I chose Cheeky's Minted and Purpl-exed shades (these are currently available on the website at £7.00 each, just click the names to get to wear you want to go)

step one

 Apply - to a primped and prepped nail with a shiny base coat - your first polish to the bottom half of the nail like below, (don't worry if it isn't neat or straight or over half way for that matter).

step two

Apply your second polish to the top of the nail - making sure as much of the nail is covered as possible, like below:

step three

Now, quickly before it dries, swirl the tool/needle through the nail polish. Working from one colour to another in circle motions creating the below:

Now if you aren't happy with your design you can always redo it, like I did...

Once happy with your design you can carry on with the rest of the nails and then give yourself a shiny or matte top coat and you can end up with something like the below:

You can use this design as a feature nail or use three colours to make things more interesting!

Have fun lovelies x

@pawsandclaws101 for instagramming

@pawsnclaws101 for tweeting

flower power

simple but no so easy.. see what you can do and instagram me the results  @pawsandclaws101

lace & frills tutorial

So.. I missed out on posting yesterday and I feel terrible! I was doing so well.. so to make up for it here is a tutorial...

Todays tutorial is my simple lace design...

This design is so easy to do.. all you need is below:

• 3 colours of nail polish (preferably one colour for the base and two shades of one colour for the detail) 
• a dotting tool/needle
• base/top coat
• a steady hand

For my 3 colours I chose GOSH polish in High school flirt, Max Factor Gloss Finity in lilac lace and B. polish in Mulberry.

Step 1: Apply generous coat of base colour. 

Step 2: Using the large dotting tool add a cloud of your second colour to the tip of the nail. 

Step 3: Using a very small dotting tool/needle dot two lines of small dots along the edge of the cloud in the third colour you have chosen. 

Step 4: Add medium dots of the base coat to the cloud at the tip of your nail to create a 'holey effect'

Step 5: Using a the small dotting too again, in the third colour, dot and drag to create teardrops at the edges of your design.

Step 6: Top coat and breathe ..

Tah dah!

Let me know if you have a go at it @pawsandclaws101
Check out my instagram for more designs and other fun bits and bobs :)

Abigail xxx