nail art: great gatsby

A couple of years ago when Great Gatsby actually came out I did an inspired design in black and gold; it's one of my absolute favourite freehand designs from my collection.

Follow this link to see the full video on my YouTube channel! 

I used:
- GOSH Nail Lacquer in Gold 554
- MUA Polish in Pitch Black
- Thin brush for black and gold seperate!
- Avon Instant Dry Nail Polish Spray


Tips:
- Use the thinnest brush you can find for creating your design
- Have a dollop of the design polish on a piece of paper next to you
- Don't let the dollop dry! - Obviously
- Use black to neaten the design - so don't worry about smudges

nail art: an easier way to marble

I have now (well my dad has now) invested in a tripod so I can film all my tutorials from now without the scary balance of my phone on a stack of books! SO without further a due I give to you my dry marbling tutorial!

This design is a super easy way of getting an interesting 'how did you do that?!' design. It works great as a feature nail and you can use just 2 colours or as many as you want!

I used:

• Models Own Polish in Pukka Purple
• Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White
• GOSH Cosmetics Polish in Deep Purple
• Maybelline Super Stay 7 Days Polish in Crystal Clear
• 1 small dotting tool (smallest you can find - a needle or anything sharp & pointy can work)

Tips:

• Use a fair bit of polish for your base colour
• Act fast
• EXPERIMENT with design
• I use my nail to clean up any wonky lines or leaks in the polish (this can happen when applying a big dollop at once.. use a fine brush dipped in polish remover if you aren't a fan of the nail to nail clean up I use)
• Enjoy :)

frosty make-up

I know i know.. it's been a week but I am working on something amazing for my next nail tutorial. So while you wait for that I am going to do you some winter make up looks over the next week. I have a few favourite looks from the catwalks for winter.. now that winter is really kicking in it's time to show them off. The first look I want to show is the white on highlight look that you can see here from the Givenchy catwalk..

Careful contouring and highlighting and lots of white eyeliner (and bleached eyebrows) make up this look. I have adapted it for a day look with a bit of glitter...

PS only reason I have wet hair is that it was my only opportunity to get in the bathroom (fullhouseprobs!) but it worked ..

I used both flash and no flash so I could capture the glitteryness I used, I still don't think either of these images give it justice - much more glitter in real life!

I hate taking lips pics but .. there it is! Again, much more glittery in real life :(

How did I do it? What did I use?

.. Well my base is the same as my everyday make up but with a little less dark contour and more highlight, here I used my Sleek Light Face Form Palette. I use GOSH mineral powder in 002, 17 Super Stay Concealer in Light (it is most important to use this/foundation on your eyes on this look so you have a clean even colour to work with .. that way the white will be more obvious). I have had my brows tinted but normally I use Shavata Brow Palette and my mascara is Max Factor Clump Defy. 

For my eyes I used a standard white shadow - I don't have a white eyeliner so I lined my low bottom line with the shadow and a bit of vaseline. Then I used B. by Superdrug Eye Shimmer in Moonshine to line the bottom over again, then I applied a line of this to my cut crease (Barbie style) and blended that in with the white eyeshadow. I then used a taupe shimmer from MUA to blended and highlight. 

For my lips I used the B. eye shimmer to get the glitter going and then topped that with Avon Clear Plump Pout lip gloss. 

I hope you like this look.. I'm off to a baby shower now! <3

nail art: losing my video virginity

For this post I have put in many hours filming and editing the below video, now I am not 100% impressed by the quality of my nails, I usually am much more of a perfectionist but given the resulting video I am quite happy. I more or less just wanted to demonstrate these two techniques and simplify them for you.

What I Used:

Barry M Nail Paint in White (a current favourite)

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Pain in Key Lime (a pretty new addition to my collection)

Maybelline Super Strong Gel Nail Colour in Crystal Clear

Pointed dotting tool

Make-up sponge

Sally Hansen Moisturising Nail Polish Remover

Cotton buds & pads

Masking tape

Glass of luke warm water

Avon Quick Dry Polish Spray

10 Essential Tips:

1. Always start water marbling with a clean white base
2. Always use tape to limit clean up
3. Make sure the water is luke warm/room temperature so the polish can spread
4. Shake the glass is the polish is struggling to spread
5. Add each drop quick as you can
6. Blow on the polish once you have dipped the nail in to make removing the excess easier
7. Wait until the nail is dry before removing the tape and cleaning
8. Do a few tester nails - practice makes perfect!
9. When making the design in the polish - act fast, but not too fast (again practice!)
10. If you can - use a brush to clean up your nail also as well as a cotton bud

dream dots for spots

This product does exactly what it says on the tin and that's pretty much what I want to tell you in this review. Lately, I have had spouts of 'breaking out' as some will call it (I call it being really spotty) and no amount of water or laying off the chocolate or no make up days seems to help me (even though they are great things to do for your skin). So, I came across Dream Dots and at first, honestly, I was skeptical... I mean sticking a little round sticker on your spot for a night really doesn't sound like it could make all the difference does it? No - but first impressions can be tough and often wrong.

I stuck the three dream dots on fairly sore white heads and left them on while I slept, I read the packaging very carefully because I would love to know if there is some special gel or ingredient that makes these things work (like a witch stick formula) but there weren't any harsh chemicals or ingredients. All it said was that the sticker extracts the excess dirt from your pore/spot and soaks it up and helps it heal so you don't have to go through the eye watering process of popping them. (there is some more detailed sciencey talk on their website, link below)

And I saw results... When you use these dots on white heads you can see a result the next morning, much cleaner and hygienic than popping zits, these stickers cut right to the problem. I was actually very impressed, I had a particular spot under my nose that was really sore last night and now its gone, no more soreness, redness or white head! Amazing! I would definitely recommend these to someone who tends to break out and especially dislikes the gruelling spot popping process - because let's face it, it's kinda grim even though sometimes satisfying! I haven't uploaded a before and after pic of my spots as I thought that would be even more grim, you will just have to trust me!

Dream dots are available from the website in packs of 24 www.dreamdotsforspots.com for £9.35 (viewed in dollars on website - try Amazon if you are struggling here)

This product was a PR sample.

easy peasy scary mary make-up

If you are struggling for Halloween costumes, don't want to get all dressed up with the gear horns and fangs and all - last minute costumes don't need to be bought! Make up is an easy way of creating a great costume without all the jazz, sequins, hassle and money. So put away your wings and turn off your sewing machine - I have 2 fab looks that you can achieve with just your make-up bag

.

The first look is POP ART - inspired by this image in particular:

 

 

I used GOSH Cosmetics 002 Mineral Powder and 17 Stay Time 18 Hour Concealer to form an even base. I then used a standard purple shadow to create my black eye, I applied Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Colour in 510 Red Passion to my lips. To then create all the outlines I used my favourite liquid eyeliner, Avon Extra Lasting Black Eyeliner.

The second look is VAMPIRE.. very easy and typical look.

I used the same base foundation and concealer.. I contoured with a standard black eyeshadow instead of bronzer, GOSH Cosmetics Forever Eye Shadow in 05 Grey, Avon True Colour Eye Shadow in Black Pearl and a standard deep pink eyeshadow as well as Barry M Special Edition Double Ended Shadow Pen in Black/Silver to create a super dark smokey eye. I used the same Avon eyeliner and used my Max Factor Clump Defy Mascara. For my lips I applied B. Brilliant Rich Colour Lip Gloss in Morello, the blood is the same Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Colour Lippie in Red Passion, it stays really well so no sticky mess like real blood or pigs blood or fake blood (more likely you will use that!).

What will you be this Halloween??

frankenstein's monster nails

Halloween is officially here, I have been waiting to post some halloween themed nail art since I started my blog in Januray. I waited till the exact day before because this is the prime time to actually do your nails for Halloween itself! Not a week before, or a month, don't do them so early they have chipped before your trick or treating session or big gruesome night on the town. I decided to go for Frankenstein's monster as a theme/inspiration - I love the story and find him utterly terrifying!

I gathered the appropriate tools and colours once I decided exactly how I would portray this creepy character onto my nails... I used GOSH Cosmetics Frosted Look in Silver for the bolts, GOSH special edition in Splish Splash for my base coat, GOSH special edition in Kind of Pink for the cut in his head, then I used my Mirror Mirror Nail Effects Pen in Black for the hair, some stitches and his brow and eyes topped with a dab of Color Show by Maybelline in Winter Baby. I also used two dotting tools and a long thin brush to create the look.. see below:

I decided his eyes were the scariest part of him so I used two nails to create the top of his head, adding in the famous stitches and bolts to complete the look!

Are these scary enough? What will you do with your nails this year?!