Konad: Frosty The Snowman

I used my Konad kit, image plated m59, and m12.
The base nail colour is by Collection 2000 hot looks, and is in the colour Show Off.


K x

My Purple Rose Konad

Ok, here’s what I did…
I painted my nails with two coats of Love and Friendship by MAC. Any light colour will work for this. I think something like Cool Reserve, or Metro Chic would look really good.

Then I painted my tips with Barry M’s Bright Purple.

Finally use Konad plate M36, and the white special polish. I used the rose design to cover the line between the two.
This is really simple but effective.

TIP: Remove the excess nail polish from the stamp and image plate between every nail.
You may need a little practice, but speed is the key here. Paint, stamp, scrape, stamp.



K x

More good stuff from elf!

I got an email from ELF, advertising their second birthday.
They are offering a free mini make-up kit with any purchase over £25. This is great for Christmas present ideas.

I will be ordering some things from ELF soon, so I hope they are still in stock because the smokey shadows look really pretty.
The mineral lip glosses are top of my list. I can’t wait to try them out. They will look great in my lipgloss draw and fit in with my MAC perfectly!

K x

ELFy treats!

I was just wasting some time on the net, browsing a few sites and I stumbled among some new things on eyes lips face UK site. The ELF UK site is always a little behind the US so it is probably old news for most, but I don’t like to see what they have on the US site as it makes me so jealous I cant get hold of it.

I think the brush holder is super cute! They also do it in a larger version. I think this will look really nice on my dresser. I already have a glass and bead type holder but this one will fit in nicely too.

I love the theme of the studio line, it looks much better quality than and in a similar style to high end products (typically NARS) so doesn’t look out of place with other make-up in your collection.

I also want to try out the brush cleaner as I am too lazy to shampoo clean my brushes as often as I should, and so a daily cleaner would be great!

The single eye shadows look beautiful, but I am struggling to decide on colours!

I’ll let you know what I end up buying and what I think of course.

Have you get anything you might recommend?

Kx

Tiger NOTD

Since my post about Primani, I have had a lot of questions about my nails in the pic, so I thought I’d do a quick post to show you what I did to create it. I was inspired to do this by JulieG’s recent video. It is actually quite simple, but lessons learned are use a smaller brush next time (got one on order as we speak), and maybe a little more orange.
So the first thing I did was to paint my nails with one coat of Collection 2000’s Aztec gold.
I then painted my tips at an angle in Beauty UK Neon orange.
Then a final coat of Aztec gold.
To make the tiger stripes I used my black from the OPI Halloween set (Witch Arm?) and a craft brush. On reflection this was a bit large, but I was going for a messy stripy look.

I was pleased with the results, but it definitely needs some tweaking to make it perfect.
K x

Mechanics...

Ok, this is really random, but I think I have a fear of mechanics.
My car has been behaving really funny recently, juddering around and things, so I came up with a solution: stop driving it. Mmm now this is not the most practical, and I am sure it is nothing serious, but the thought of taking it to the garage, actually fills me with fear.
It has been over a week now, and I finally decided to give them a ring, I described the symptoms and they said it sounded like a problem with the clutch, but if I wanted to take it in they would give it a drive and see what it was.
So I was brave enough to drive it there, and I realised as I got close to the garage I was actually shaking! How stupid?! I don't even know why, the garage I use is nothing but friendly and helpful, and I always come away happy, but getting there I have this huge feeling of dread in my stomach, and I can't stand it when I have an MOT!
So I think I need help to conquer my fear of mechanics, not sure how but I am going to get it sorted.
Hopefully the repairs on my car will be quick and wont cost too much =)
Do you have any stupid fears? And how do you get over them?
Me? I came home and ate some Galaxy chocolate, watched Gossip Girl and painted my nails!
K xx

The last for this year…

So, I have been bombarding this site with Halloween, and nail posts in general, but here is my last for this Halloween, and the design I actually wore on Halloween. If you hadn’t noticed from all the posts I love Halloween and found the nail art a great way to get into the Halloween spirit.

The final design I went for was a simple black and white, skull design. I painted my nails alternatively black and white, and then used my Konad plate M13 to create the skull design in the contrasting colour.

On my little pinkie nail, I opted for the “Halloween design with the knife above it. I thought the skull would make that little nail look too crowded. I really like this combination and am going to keep it on for a few days more!

As a finishing touch, I added my China Glaze Ghoulish Glow top coat to my ring finger on my left hand. Having one glow in the dark nail was a lot more freaky that having them all painted glow in the dark! It did smudge the Konad design a little but nothing too drastic.

I best get planning some bonfire night themed nails!
What did you all wear for Halloween?
K x

Here today, Aragon tomorrow

Quick swatch of OPI’s Here today Aragon tomorrow. This is almost a blackened green, but has definite green colouring in real life. It was very hard to get this across in the photo.

Here is one finger with China Glaze Matte Magic over the top! I love this effect.

I much prefer having a matte topcoat and the option to having your nail polish matte or shiny, than the nail polish with matte built in.

K x

Beauty Rehab Rose Salve

I recently posted about the Eyeko nail polish sale. You could pick up all 6 nail polishes for £5.40, with free international delivery and a free gift when using ambassador code E6706.
I couldn’t pass this offer up. I already had the pastel polish but decided to buy them all in the set to buy all 6 and have a dupe was cheaper than buying even just 2. It was a real bargain not to be missed. The polishes look lovely and I can’t wait to try them.
The main reason for this blog however is the free gift I was sent with my purchase. I got a product by Beauty Rehab called Rose Salve. The product description says this treats minor dry skin by providing instant relief, soothing smoothes and protects, and locks in moisture.

I have been using it as a lip treatment, but it says it can be used on skin, hair and cuticles, and even around the nose area when you have a cold. I will definitely be trying that out as I always end up with a sore red Rudolph nose when I have a cold, no matter what tissue I use, and never really thought of using a product like this before.
As a lip treatment it is moisturising and makes the lips feel smooth and cherished. It provides a glossy shine, and has a subtle rose scent, which I really like. If rose is not your kind of thing, why not try the spearmint scented one. You can tell you have product on your lips, but it is not overly greasy, and doesn’t feel like a barrier as Vaseline does. You can tell it provides moisture.
It is a colourless product and so wont affect any lip colour you use on top, and actually makes quite a good base.
You can pick this up from Eyeko, for £3, well worth it in my opinion. Don’t forget to use ambassador code E6706 to claim your free gift.
Have you tried any products from this range?
K x

Another Halloween nail post…

As you know I got the OPI Tattoo Ta-boo nail set. I love the glow in the dark polish, and the cute ideas for Halloween nail art. Since then I have purchased the China Glaze spell bound set. This has four nail polishes in as well – the standard black and white, a chunky glitter top coat and a glow in the dark top coat.

Spellbound is gorgeous! Chunky silver and orange glitter, with enough glitter to be worn on its own, but looks amazing over a black base. This is as close as I will get to the Sallys exclusive colour Fortune Teller.

I loved wearing this, even though I normally go for a more shimmery glitter, this looked great.

I also used China Glaze Matte Magic over the top, just because I received it the next day and couldn’t wait to try it out. Matte glitter looks amazing, and adds a real Halloween edge.

(Better pics soon =))

This requires quite a lot of work to remove it. I was using the pads soaked in nail polish remover, which I normally use and find to be quite good (they are by Purederm, cost about 50p online - yey). I had to almost scrub at my nails with the pads to get this off. This was actually great for my nails, and left them really smooth and shiny. They have not felt that good and strong in ages. I actually loved the result, it was like a manicure.

The glow in the dark top coat, Ghoulish Glow, is really gimmicky and I love it. It does slightly effect the nail polish, it doesn’t particularly alter the colour but more the look of the polish as it removes some of the shine. It’s kind of a half matte texture. It is totally worth it as the glow is so cool.

So the question is OPI or China Glaze this Halloween?

To be honest, I could not decide between the two, as they both had bits that I wanted. I like the fact that you can choose your own glow in the dark colour with China Glaze, but I’m not sure how often I would use it. The OPI has a wider variety of colours, and you could always use the sheer glow in the dark blue as a top coat. The white in the China Glaze is much better, but the black in the OPI set was better.

I think if forced to make a choice I would go with China Glaze.

K x

Beauty disappointments

So today has not been a good day for me product wise.

I hit pan on my new Benefit Some Kinda Gorgeous foundation! I can not believe it. I have had it for around a month. I haven’t even used it everyday. I don’t know why I have gone through it so fast. I guess this is why I prefer my liquid foundations, they seem to last forever. I am so annoyed with how fast it is using up I will not be repurchasing. It was a great foundation, and don’t get me wrong, there is a fair bit of product left, but I really did not want to be hitting pan that fast, and don't think it will last that much longer.

I am looking at this as an opportunity to find something new and amazing. I have been on this search for a little while now since my Just Perfect foundation was discontinued. I am not sure what to try next, maybe Revlon colour stay, or something by MAC.

The other disappointment comes from the Body Shop. A while ago I did a video raving about the Body Shop at home. I bought two body butters – the Satsuma and the coconut shimmer. This was in August  I think. So today I reach out my Coconut one, and it looks almost solidified and smells very strongly of a plastic or alcohol smell. Not very coconut at all. Now I don’t know what is going on here because I store it in the same place as my Satsuma, which is still lovely, and they are supposed to be good for 12 months.

I am going to investigate. I’ll keep you updated.

Has anyone else had any problems like this?

K x

Primani, my new love

That’s right, I am a Primark convert! After confessing my addiction to Benefit because of their packaging, I stumbled across a collection of makeup in Primark. I have occasionally found some good buys in there before, like a 50p dupe for benetint, and high beam, but the compromise comes with the basic packaging.

The new, slightly more expensive packaged items are highly addictive, with their cute cheesey benefit-esque packaging.

Among my favourite items is the little glow cheek bronzer, in a shimmer brick style. This is highly pigmented and the individual colours can be used alone or together. As a bronzer it can come across a little orange toned, but a good bit of blending sorts that right out. I have also used these as eye shadow as well. So versatile and cheap.

My favourite packaging comes from "the happy couple" blush and highlight. This just screams Benefit to me! The box, the brush, the product. The highlight colour is not pigmented enough to use on its own, but I love swirling them together to create a pretty bronzey cheek colour.

Also, the cheek tint and highlighter is fabulous! The tint reminds me of the “just a pinch” gel blush from MAC. This value version is not as pigmented and so is great for a sheer wash of colour on the cheek, but can also be built up to a more intense blush. The highlight wand is my favourite, I have been using it to highlight my brow bone mostly, but it also works well on the cheek bone.

Another product worth mentioning is the “souflace” foundation. This is a mousse foundation. I believe it is done in three shades. It provides a surprising amount of coverage for the price, or any price at that matter. Sometimes I just use it in areas I need to conceal, and sometimes as a full face foundation. It leaves a smooth finish to the skin and makes me feel really confident.

It should be said I don’t have particularly sensitive skin or very often break-out, so I’m not sure how these products would affect that.

Among the regular range I managed to find a gel liner for 50p. I was not expecting anything special from this product, but it is really pigmented, creamy and easy to work with. Nicer than some of my other gel liners which have been dry and flakey from the beginning (the avon one was particularly bad for this, and wasn't too cheap at £8).

There are so many other products there I would love to try. Most of the products are £3.50, but some are cheaper!

I love finding new buys like this!

What are your favourite bargain buys?

xx

Halloween according to OPI

This morning I received my OPI Halloween set. I saw it on eBay and it looked so cute! It cost about £4 plus shipping. This years edition is called Tattoo ta-boo!, in light of the free temporary tattoos that come in the set. You get 4 miniature bottles of nail polish.

This years colours are (left to right) Witch Arm? (black), Glow-ink the dark (blue), Tattoo You Want Candy (orange), and I Love Mummy (white).
Each bottle is a cute-sized 3.75ml. Most of the colours are pretty standard, a black, white and an orange. The “special” colour is glow-ink the dark, the blue colour, which glows in the dark. It has to be very dark for this to work, but is kinda cool.
On the back of the pack are some ideas for Halloween nail art, so I took inspiration from this, went down to my local craft store and picked up some thin paint brushes and got to work.

I started with a a full nail of glow-ink the dark. This colour is so even and smooth. The small brush provides a perfect application.  This was unbelievably sheer after one coat…

but keep going, and 4 coats later, a lovely colour is formed.

This is kind of similar to a matte polish in consistency, and appearance. It doesn't last too long on the nails, but it is worth it in my opinion. Besides how long can you really have glow in the dark nails for.

I then used I Love Mummy to create the white dots, and used my small paint brush to put black dots in the white circles.
And here we have my “eyes on you” Halloween nail art.

Can’t wait to try the next design.

More Eyeko for your money

If you read my old blog you will remember my rave for Eyeko products! Especially the nail polish and mascara. I will have to dig out the post to remind you!
I have just been on their website and seen some amazing products. There are some limited edition products (o I love limited edition) such as the eye beauty, and the magic mascara which I can’t wait to try, but the main reason for this post is the amazing value sets you can grab your hands on. These would make cute Christmas gifts, or great value presents for yourself. For example, you can pick up all 6 nail polishes for £9, or the tinted cream and Eyeko cream for £8. These are great value and let you try some new products a little cheaper. These can be picked up in Superdrug stores across the UK, or alternatively, order online at eyeko.com and use ambassador code E6706 to get a free gift with every purchase!
Let me know if you pick up any products!

The start of something?

I have recently become really interested in nail polish. The past few months I have not gone a day without wearing it. I love experimenting with new colour combos and designs. I intend to update you with these often.

China glaze was my first ebay purchase nail polish wise, and I haven’t looked back. I have recently discovered an ebay seller who ships to the UK quite cheaply, it works out about £5 a bottle. Some drug store brands are more expensive than that so I think that is a good buy.

My opinion of OPI is very positive at the moment after trying Mod About You. This is a gorgeous creamy baby pink. Whilst I am not completely sold on the matte trend, this has no shimmer, but is not a flat colour there definitely is high shine.

As soon as this colour landed on my doorstep I had to apply it. I was in a rush so no base or top coat (tut tut), but this has not affected the durability and shine. Five days later and no chips? What more can I ask.

As far as application this was a dream. I’m not sure how I feel about the large brush, as I have always felt like I needed a smaller brush for greater control, but actually there was hardly any clean up required. The large brush was good as I did not need to go over each nail several times for each coat, just one swipe and it was done. You do end up with a large amount of product on the brush, but this is easily wiped on the top of the bottle. Evenness of colour and opacity cannot be faulted. I am truly sold and can feel a large collection of OPI coming along.

Do you have any colour recommendations?

Special K

Today is the first day of my Special K diet!
The diet involves eating Kellogg's Special K for breakfast and lunch, having healthy snacks (fruit) and eating a balanced meal for tea. I had my first bowl of Special K today, and actually really enjoyed it. It has a crunchy oaty taste and really filled me up.
I weigh  9st7, and my BMI is about 26. I am quite short at 5ft, so any extra weight doesn’t really have anywhere to hide. I would like to loose a stone, but will be happy to weigh anything under 9st. For two weeks I am going to eat (as far as practical) 2 bowls of Special K a day. This is not always possible for me, especially as I have to eat out a lot with work, but I am going to try my best.
I will keep you updated with what I ate and my weight loss. For this I am relying on Wii Fit, which I absolutely love. I am also hoping to do at least 20mins of exercise a day in one form or another.
So, here starts my Special K challenge!
What is your favourite weight loss method?

Don’t buy it, mix it!

As most people have been I have been obsessing over Cool Reserve nail polish from MAC. I think there was too much in the collection to really find anything I had to have, but the nail polish was a real want! I have love and friendship from the rose romance collection, but want something a little more grey toned for Autumn. Cool reserve would be perfect for this, or Metro Chic (Sephora OPI).

In the spirit of “project 10 pan”, I decided to make my own nail polish. I have a grey nail polish in the form of China Glaze’s recycle. I absolutely adore this colour! It is a lovely creamy grey colour. I used this as a base coat, with two coats on all hands. I then used my dirty lilac, love and friendship, over the top.

I used two coats for colour evenness, but once it was thoroughly dried I think one coat would be enough. 

Take a look at the pics!

Recycle looks like this all alone…

Top it with Love and friendship…

This colour is not really true to life as it was dark by the time I took this photo. There is a more obvious grey tone naturally.

It will be replaced by a more accurate photo soon!

Love!

Have you mixed any colours in the past? I would love to hear your favourite combos

P.S. I have worn this out today and have had sooo many compliments!

Just a quick thought…

Have you ever noticed the awful smell that comes from mascara? I was applying my mascara the other day, using Maybelline lash stiletto, and somehow got the wand too close to my nose and realised how horrible and chemically it smelt. I had never noticed this before (probably because I don’t make a habit of sniffing mascara?). This led to an investigation involving me smelling all my mascara. It was not a pleasant experience, and I can confirm they all smell quite disgusting, although some worse than the others.

So whilst I am not expecting my mascara to smell of rose petals, or vanilla, this revelation did get me thinking about the amount of chemicals I am piling on my face and body everyday. I can’t say that this is going to make me stop, but it has made me seriously think about it. Anyone have any good natural product reccomendations? The ones I have tried so far have not been the best, and certainly are no competition for my current products.

Has anything made you question the price of beauty?

K x

The Benefit experience

Who else is a sucker for packaging? I adore Benefit for this reason, the packaging gets me every time. I recently had a trip to Debenhams, with he intention of getting a new foundation from MAC. I got a little distracted by the Benefit counter.

The woman who served me was lovely (would be when they want a sale haha). She showed me the new perfumes first, they were in amazing packaging, like little houses – so cute. I wasn’t too taken on the smells, they were nice, but I wasn’t convinced.

Then it was the fun part – trying out the products. She was asking me about my skin and my makeup, and ended up slapping on some Benefit some kinda gorgeous foundation. I wasn’t really prepared for it, but I ended up loving it. She did half my face first so the difference was really dramatic when she was done!

I normally go for liquid foundation, as I just find it easier too use, I’m a bit lazy and feel it needs less blending. Some Kinda Gorgeous is a cream product, but I have been applying it with a foundation brush. I hate the sponge that comes with it! But with the brush it is great. I really enjoy using this product and am so glad I got it.

 

I also ended up buying the one hot minute powder. I have been using this as a final step after my foundation, blush etc, just to add a bit of glow for the evening. I really like that too. It looks a little scary in the pot, but once its on your face it is a lot more sheer. Again, I don’t like the brush this comes with. It’s really soft and a nice fan shape and would be good for on-the-go application, but it is much easier just to use a fluffy brush.

  

What’s your favourite Benefit product? Are you a sucker for packaging?

K x

Sleek!

 

I am super sorry, I promised a video would be up soon, but i have a cold (everyone seems to at the minute). So with my bright red nose and squeaky quiet voice I decided to skip on the video and write instead.

So, I’m going to quickly rave about my recent purchase from the Superdrug…

Here we have sleek makeup’s answer to the pricey MAC tinted lip conditioner. Pout polish! I absolutely adore the packaging and was sold from there to be honest. I heard about this online and went to pick it up the day it launched earlier in the month. The concept is simple, a moisturising product that adds colour to the lips. The price is fantastic £3.91 (or i picked up 2 for £6.99). I really like all 4 colours too! I picked up electro peach and Cadillac pink.

My favourite is Electro peach. It’s slightly different to the pinks I normally wear, and I think it freshens the whole look up a bit when you add a change of colour. They contain Shea butter, and have a gorgeous sweet vanilla smell, always a bonus. The product can be applied lightly for a hint of colour to the lips, or layered up for a more dramatic effect.

Conclusion? The product wears well, it applies very smooth and glossy, very moisturising, which we all need in the coming winter months, and not at all sticky. They also contain SPF, so perfect for all weather! I will definitely be repurchasing these too, and probably will end up with all 4 of the colours! A fantastic product! Good work sleek!

Have you tried any of these? What do you think of the other colours? Would love to hear your thoughts.

K x

Back again!

Hi everyone,

I have recently been a bit absent on the posting front for one reason or another, but I fully intend to get off to a good start and stay that way with posting regularly… honest!

So, what have I been up to?

Not a lot is the truth to that answer, at least nothing worth blogging about. I have been on project 10 pan with regards to my makeup so not a lot of purchasing there, but I’m finished with that now so I’m back on with buying makeup. I got off to a good start with my trip to meadowhall =). Haul video will be up soon!

Glad to be back posting

K x