Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Easy Nail Art - purple dots

I love simple nail designs. Mainly because I haven't got the time or skill (as of yet! I'll get it one day ;3) to do anything difficult on my nails. I recently bought nail art brushes, and I wanted to try out the dotting tool (easier to clean than a brush, lazy old me didn't fancy cleaning at this time of night) it's soo tiny I wanted to see how well it would do. It was also the first time using acrylic paint on my nails - not too bad for a first attempt, but I do want to use nail varnish sometime, as acrylic dries really quick.


Here's the brand of acrylic paint that I used. If you live in the UK it's super cheap for the pack, around £2.99? Any acrylic paint will do, I don't think this kind of paint is expensive anywhere.





Nail varnishes and tools:
- Avon revitacool base coat
- Sally Hansen Hard as Nails ( in White Tip)
- Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat
- Violet acrylic paint
- Dotting tool from nail brush set (from Ebay, just look for the 15 brush set with brushes that all have white handles. It's also one of the cheapest sets on Ebay, so it's not too hard to find.  )





Super easy! Complete beginner's nail art.






Here's a 6 step quickie guide:
1. Apply base coat, wait till dry.
2. Apply white nail polish, wait till completely dry. (Make sure it's dry, otherwise smudging will ruin it.)
3. Squirt a small amount of paint out and take the dotting tool. Try making a few practice dots on a spare surface.
4. Once you get the hang of making dots on the spare surface, make some on your nails in a line. (If you mess up, the paint does tend to stain the nail. Wipe off the paint with a tissue or cotton bud/pad then you can add a thin layer of white nail varnish to cover the staining.)
5. When all nails are done, wait for the paint to dry.
6. Apply top coat, wait till all nails are dry.

And you're done! Hope this was fun to do, practice makes perfect guys, and trust me, I messed up a lot. x3




Mini Haul - Avon base coat, Avon mascara, Too Faced Shadow primer, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails polish, nail art brushes

When I buy beauty related things, I search the internet for reviews like no other. Heck, I won't buy things unless there's a review. I hate sending things back to shops because it costs me and it takes time, so everything I buy has been reviewed by at least one person online. Also, I buy everything online. I don't go to town to often and the great thing about buying things online is that it is 99% cheaper. All of these things were bought on Ebay, and none of them cost over £5! Compared to highstreet price everything here was a steal ;3

And so, the haul!

 Too Faced shadow insurance, Avon nails experts revitacool base coat, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (In White Tip) and Avon Super Enchant mascara. I've been needing all these things for a while, and they all had great reviews online. Hoping they live up to it! ;3
 Ahhh, Ebay nail art brushes! If I really want to get into nail art then I'll definitely be using these! They seem to be good quality, and as a beginner paying under £3 is a steal! Can't wait to try these.
I feel so guilty about these tights. Oh don't get me wrong, suspender tights are absolutely fine, I like them a lot. It's just these are my 3rd and 4th pair! (I bought 2 pairs) I previously somehow while sitting in a car sat on a staple or something, and the top lighter portion of the tights snagged and there was no saving them then. And then, when I ordered another pair, I pulled them on too quickly and my fingernail went through ad caused a massive hole! Dx God, I need to be more careful with these things! So, 3rd and 4th pairs, I need to treat them like they're made out of gold otherwise my carelessness is gonna cost me for the 3rd and 4th time!


That's all for me guys, stayed tuned for a review or two, depending on when or how I end up using these!




Friday, 22 February 2013

The risky business of cutting make up brushes (Royal Lip Brush)

I recently heard that having a square ended lip brush brings more precision to applying lipstick. As a lover of straight lines and a person who can't work in a room with wonky paintings, I decided getting a square ended brush would be great. Alas, being a cheap asian person, I decided to DIY my own cheap lip brush into a square ended one.

The Royal Lip Brush (the actual name, not a strange nickname I gifted it lol)

Originally a pointed lip brush that worked well, I've transformed it into this:







I did it purely by eye, around 5am. Not too bad right? I'll have to test it out later, but I'm pretty pleased. The point lip brush worked well, but I think a square ended brush will suit me better. If you do want to do this, I highly recommend wetting the brush first with water then gently fanning out the brush and cutting slowly. Nick off tiny bits at a time, and try to measure the brush against something straight.

*UPDATE*
I recently tried using this brush for lipstick - I got pretty good results!  

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Easy Nail Art - Super easy polka dot nails (ALL CREDIT to Small Good Things.com!)

Hey guys - since I paint my nails quite often I might as well start posting about them right? I'm no nail guru, I always sticks to easy design but maybe one day I'll start doing more difficult designs. I often browse the web for nice and easy tutorials and this one is credit to Small Good Things, check it out! (I understand that I've posted the same design before, just I've vastly improved with the tutorial help.)

http://www.small-good-things.com/archives/1542

And here's my attempt! Not too bad for a first try using a toothpick right?



Small Good Things is a great site, some nice and easy designs mixed in with some more difficult ones. Pretty please with this first attempt though, a thing to note is that when using a toothpick you might want to cut the end off to make it blunt for slightly bigger dots. Poke the dots gently, and never EVER rush. I messed up more than once on one nail because I didn't space the dots properly. A few extra seconds to consider the placement makes a MASSIVE difference!

Here's the stuff I used by the way, with a mini review next to each one in case you're thinking of buying them.

 2 Revlon nail varnishes, one in a very light blue and one in a bright silver. Neither are dark, but all you need are 2 contrasting colours.







The nail polishes are both from the Revlon's older collection, but you can still get them online I'm sure for much cheaper than drugstore price!

710 Cloud is a thin nail polish, but is in the "top speed" range, so dries really quick. 2 or 3 coats don't take long on each nail. I think with lighter colours you tend to find them to be thinner.

918 Silver Screen is a thick nail polish, a nice bright solid silver. 1 coat is enough of this stuff, so it's nice for doing dots.

Best top coat ever. Not cheap here in the UK, but Ebay is my best friend! I reccommend after painting your nails wait till they are DEFINITELY DRY then add a coat or to of this. Be very patient, even though it says insta-dri it's something that should be left along for a few minutes to be safe. 5 minutes is what I tend to wait - just watch a Youtube video while it's drying. Oh, when they said anti-chip they're not joking. A good week of wear will always lead to the tip of the nail wearing away, but with this it's very minimal, I could probably keep a manicure decent for 2 weeks if I was good with this.


And finally, the wonderful toothpick. A strong pointed toothpick is good, I cut the end off mine and filed it down with a nail file to get it even. Worked pretty well, but be patient with the actual dotting and don't start until the nail is decently dry.




 Well, that's all from me for today ^^ see you all later!