my easter/spring manicures

I am going to start today's blog by saying HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE. I hope you have all enjoyed your easter weekends, mine was very interesting ranging from tedious catholic mass to a male stripper in Church to a futuristic re-enactment of the resurrection of Jesus - let's just leave you with that amount of information! - I am going to then apologise for being so absent of late. I have been really quite ill this month and so haven't had much energy to dedicate to my lovely little blog! But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy using lots'o beauty products and doing pretty nail art.. If you follow my instagram/twitter you will be able to see my updates all the times! 

Today I have a rather simple post for you, featuring my nail art from the weekend and a little tutorial on my easter pattern nails :) Now I know it's a little late seeing as Easter is over, BUT these nails can be adjusted for any spring day. Minus the bunny you have a lovely spring manicure. Easy peasey.

I started the weekend rather plainly as far as nail art is concerned, I didn't have a lot of time so I rustled up a simple dotted design and added a negative space feature nail to spice things up a little bit. I always do my nail art whilst watching my favourite current series or doing my episode catch ups, so if you think you have to set time aside to sit at the kitchen table with all your polishes around you - yeah, don't bother! - stick the telly on, get comfy with a cuppa and your mates and paint as you chill.

As the weekend went on I got more into the Easter spirit, depsite my lack of Easter eggs this year, I did a more complicated design for the April nail challenge by @californails on Instgram. I love this cute design, I haven't done something funky or themed in a while so I have done a quick tutorial on the most patterned nail, breaking it down for yah!

Easter Mani

Start with a coat or two of your favourite polish (I used my Nails Inc Gel Effect Polish in Mayfair Lane)

Then add your base stripes, in whatever colours you want, for this theme pastels and soft colours are prettiest! (I used NYC In a Minute in Raindrop, Models Own Ice Neon Polish in Pukka Purple and GOSH Cosmetics Special Edition Polish in Splish Splash)

Use a small flat brush to paint on your stripes, don't be afraid of lumps/bumps or double coating as long as you have an even base colour.

Once your stripes are dry and more evened out in the process (if you want you can do a top coat to smooth them out but it isn't necessary) you can add your designs. For this theme dotting and zigzags work best. 

To achieve a nice zig zag design us a thin flat brush dipped lightly in your chosen polish to create lines like below...

To get lovely dotting use dotting tools like below to dip and dot as your please...

Et Voila, perfect with a shiny or matte top coat of your choice (mine was the Diamond Strength Top Coat by Sally Hansen - but I am cheeky and use it on the top too because I have run out of my Insta-Dri Sally Hansen Top coat - oops, oh well, I'll do what I want)

The bunny is really easy if you have brushes or nail pens, do your pink bits first and them your black bits second and tah dah!

I added some simple dotted nails in part to make the features stand out but mostly because my film was drawing to a close and I was tired!

Hope you like these designs everyone, I am writing up a lovely make-up B&A for you all (something new!) for tomorrow :D Feel free to ask any questions I will answer as quick as possible as best I can!

See you on the tweeting and instagramming side @curiousitybty

PS Remember, all the product names I feature are links to places you can find them, as is my twitter name above (it's the same for my instagram too!)

bat those lashes

Thought today I would let you in on a little make-up secret of mine. One thing I could not do without on a daily basis is mascara - I have the blondest eyelashes that are literally invisible.

And so I have tried so many mascara's in my time always bouncing from one to another trying to work out which is best and I like a lot but my favourites are the ones I currently own (and need to re-purchase!). Before I tell you about them though I wanted to tell you about a little trick of mine that gets the mascara to apply nice and thick and sleek with no lumps and bumps. 

It's called Vaseline ladies, yes, vaseline can be used for pretty much anything (I say vaseline but I mean petroleum jelly). I used to and still do watch make-up tutorials and yearrrrs ago, we are talking donkeys, when I started using mascara the three tips that stuck with me are as follows:

1. Hold your mirror low/tilt your head upwards to that you can avoid getting mascara on your eyelids

2. Shake your brush from side to side after a few strokes to get your lashes to split from one another

3. And always apply vaseline to your lashes before putting the mascara on - don't ask questions just do it

And a new tip that I need to invest in as soon as possible is one passed on by my lovely best friend Juliette, when I was telling her about my vaseline trick she told me that she uses coconut oil on her lashes (or at least she had heard of it). More specifically, she had the Superdrug own brand one on her bed side table, it was a waxy texture and smelt lovely (looking online here it is only £2.29). However, upon doing more research it is rumored that vaseline makes your lashes grow also .. So hey presto, another amazing reason to listen to my advice!!

My favourite mascara at the minute and I think ever acutally is the Rimmel London Scandal Eyes Retro Glam - My eyelashes look so so so long, now I don;t know if they are and the mascara is the only one that covers them all or if it is a case of lengthening in the mascara?, either way I love it. The brush hugs all your eyelashes that makes it so easy to get all the little iddy biddy ones in the corners (even though it is what I call a bushy brush which I don't normally like).

Another one I love at the minute is the Max Factor Eye Brightening for Blue Eyes mascara - It's brush is a type I've always loved, its straight with little spikes and it super thin so again easy to get into all the difficult places your eyelashes like to hide. I don't know about the whole 'eye brightening' idea, at first it excited me but really I don't see a different. However I do like the mascara a lot a lot so maybe it does do something different.

The final one is a newby to the bunch - a little tester that I am considering to be my next mascara buy! - it is the Urban Decay Supercurl Curling Mascara. The brush curves right around your eyes - maybe even better than the Rimmel one - and is thin and spiky the way I like it! It goes on well, comes off well and doesn't crust off over the course of the day (which I find happens with the Max Factor one). It's perfection in a tiny weeny tube.

Which mascara do you like best?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

@pawsandclaws101 - Instagrammmmm
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Inspired by Armani

After flicking through my Catwalk Edit by Vogue for Spring/Summer, very late in the month I might add, I thought about the inspiration I could get from all the fabulous designers and their amazing designs. One that stood out big time was Giorgio Armani - I took the below design and gave it some balanced bright colours so make a little inspired simple nail art. All it took was some sponging and splodging and dotting and dipping... oh and some silver foils.

I used a base coat of Models Own Feeling Blue and Sophie's Pink for the large flowers, I sponged on smaller flowers with B. Complete Mulberry and topped it off with Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry top coat.

And here are the results :)

See yah soon x

@pawsandclaws101 GRAM

@pawsnclaws101 TWEET

tough choices

I know I know I know.. where have I been? Well since 'The slump is over' I went to Manchester to see my family and the lovely lady Danielle for her 21st birthday.. one wild night, big hug with my baby niece and a hop skip and a 3 hour journey later I was back in the big smoke. 

2 Days of tiring work and an early night have fueled my fire and I am back with inspiration and many plans for fun posts for my lovely followers (however few they are).

So today what I've got for you is a tried and tested post. Since I started my new job, I've had to get back into the swing of breaking down boxes (my absolute favourite job of all time... ) on a daily basis. Meaning cuts, scratches, scissor danger mainly, and general rough stuff. Okay so granted its only cardboard boxes and the dangers aren't that bad but when you are a nail nerd like me loverly hands are kind of essential.

I tested: Nivea Express Hydration For Normal to Dry Hands (I'm sure it was free), Nip & Fab Yoga Blend Body Lotion (With Lavender and Rose and Coconut and other Special Stuff that smells amazing), GHOST SWEETHEART Body Lotion (A Christmas Present) and E45 Cream (from when I have a foot rash, yes, a foot rash).

So without further adieu I give you a little moisturizer tried and tested post for those of you who would like to know what moisturizer I use - because yes, I think that people need to know this kind of thing about my v.i.p life and hand care.

Smells grrrrrrrreat!

Ghost Sweetheart Body Lotion

As part of a Christmas Present (That I asked for ) from the wonderful Santa Claus aka My lovely mother, I thought of it as nothing but an extra bit of crap to go on the old dressing table in my East London bedroom. However, given I LOVE the Ghost Sweetheart smell I started using it and it is now nearly empty! The only downside is it's not very well moisturizery for me. I can get quite dry skin and this doesn't really solve that problem it just smells absolutely amazing! And.. Saves wasting precious perfume! :)

The posh one :)

Nip & Fab Yoga Blend Body Lotion With Lavender, Coconut & Rose

This one is another one that smells fantastic - and I know, like Ghost, it is a body lotion so it probably shouldn't be able to stick it's nozzle into my hand cream tried and tested post, but I love using it on my hands these days. It is one of those moisturizers where you get a little bit out because it smells so lovely and you see the size of the bottle and decide to put more on.. then more.. then more until you smell like a rose bush. It's also really silky and smooooth, and light which I have found to be good qualities in a moisturizer.

Does the job

E45 Cream

Now this cream was a desperate buy when I started my internship working for B&Q's press agency, I was so run off my feet they felt like they were going to burst into flames every night and I longed to get home and scratch them until I started coating them in E45. It's something you know will do the job - when my cheeks got dry over Christmas it was a go to and so now it just seems entirely appropriate for when my hands are feeling extra dry and in need of some really medical attention.

Current Favourite

Nivea Express Hydration Hand Lotion

Currently, this is the lotion I can't keep my hands off, or keep off my hands for that matter. It absorbs super quickly which is extra convenient when you are trying to open a nail polish, and it smellss really quite nice to say it isn't fragranced, it also actually does the job by making your hands super soft, so much so you feel like your hands will slip right off the rails on the tube! (That totally didn't happen and even if it did I am so not blaming it on the hand cream...) All facts aside it is currently the best I have, perhaps as it is the only actual HAND lotion I have but that doesn't stop me from using it on my face... :)

Even though one of the key ingredients to a lovely pampering manicure is a good lotion, this post isn't really much about nails - I am considering doing some beauty posts after looking at the hoard of products I own, it could be fun.

Ciao bella

PS Click the names of the lotions to see them on their available websites :)

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