Friday, June 14, 2013

Pink and Rose Gold

Orly Je'Taime and Orly Rage
So, it seems I have been a little obsessed with changing my nail polish this week.

I loved the Orly Luxe polish I used in my last post so much that I couldn't wait to try out its sister Orly Rage, a lovely rose gold colour. I paired it with Orly Je'Taime for a pretty girly manicure.

Orly Je'Taime is semi sheer, but I don't mind this because it is quite a nude pink anyway.

I chose to add dots of O.P.I Kiss me on my Tulips to give a bit of colour to the manicure. I also added pale pink rhinestones on my ring finger.

What's your favourite nail polish?

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Yellow and Gold Manicure

Orly Hook Up and Orly Luxe
I have bought quite a few new nail polishes recently and I wanted to try some out so now there are two manicure posts this week.

Today I am wearing Orly Hook Up the yellow colour and Orly Luxe the gold.

Hook Up is quite a sheer yellow. In the photo I am wearing three coats and you can still see the whites of my nails through it. It also has a sheen to it.

Luxe is a beautiful gold colour. It is pretty much opaque with one coat but I always do to coats for good measure. It is everything I have ever wanted in a gold polish and I have wanted one for a while. I always bought a silver (shine) and rose gold (rage) version at the same time. Its great to do an accent nail in the colour of your jewellery fr a subtle matching manicure.

I have to say I was a little disappointed with Hook Up's opacity but I could always put a base of white underneath. But the disappointment is over ridden by the awesomeness of the Luxe polish.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Manicure Monday: Accent Nail

Orly Goth and Orly Rio
I have been slacking in my blog posts for a week or so now but I've been very busy with work since doing a deal on GrabOne. I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up with three posts a week but we will see how I go.

On my nails at the moment I am wearing Orly Goth and Orly Rio on my ring fingers.

As always I used a base coat. Today I used Orly Nail Defense.

The goth colour is an opaque black with small silver glitter pieces in it. It looks more glittery in the bottle than it does on the nails. Because the black is opaque the glitter doesn't show through too well. Also as with any glitter polish it is hard to get the glitter evenly spread over the entire nail. For me most of the glitter stays near the cuticle. The finished look is a fairly subtle glittery black. From arms length you can barely see any sparkle but up close it looks a little like the night sky. If you are looking for a lot of glitter you would be better off going for a plain black and then adding a coat of clear glitter polish over the top.

Because I can never just have plain nails, I had to do an accent nail. I chose to use Orly Rio because t is just a beautiful colour. It is a pinky purple with a little bit of a duo chrome look to it. It is gorgeous and bright and a happy colour.

Both colours were opaque after two coats. As with all Orly nail polishes I have tried the finish is not as shiny as other polishes like OPI. I think this is because they are designed to be used with a top coat. This is fine for me as I always use a topcoat. The top coat I used is Orly Polishield which claims to fuse with the nail polish to make it last longer. I find this top coat gives great shine and makes my nail polish last at least 10 days.

I love accent manicures for when I am being lazy or in a rush. There are endless colour combinations and I don't think I will ever get bored of it.

This is what's on my nails this week. What are you wearing?

Friday, May 31, 2013

F.O.T.D Friday: Purple and Gold Eye

Purple and Gold Eye

I started by applying the DB Moisturising primer with my hands.

Next I applied Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff with a Real Techniques Buffing brush.

Next I filled in my eyebrows using the Rimmel eyeshadow in Dusk with an angled brush and then set them in place with the LA Colors clear mascara.

Next I placed LA Colors Loose Eyeshadow in Sunshine all over my lid.

I then applied LA Colors Loose Eyeshadow in Radient to my crease with a fluffy brush and blended it out.

I then highlighted my brow and inner corner with a yellow toned highlight colour.

Next I applied La Colors Eyeliner in White under my lower lash line as a base for the purple.

Then using a damp pointed shadow brush I applied a purple shadow on top of the white liner and blended it out a little bit.

Next I tightlined my eyes with a black eyeliner pencil.

I then applied Revlon Growluscious Mascara to my top lashes and Maybelline Great Lash to my lower lashes.

I then went back to the skin and powdered my face with Rimmel Stay Matte.

I then bronzed/contoured my face with the LA Colors pressed powder in Cocoa.

I then applied a pale pink blush.

Then onto the lips I lined my lips with LA Colors lip liner in Pinky and topped that with LOL lipstick in Kiss Kiss.

Next I went back and lined my waterline with a black pencil before applying false eyelashes. I then blended the lash band by applying Maybelline Gel liner in Blackest Black.

And here is the video if you want to watch how I applied it. Please excuse the bad editing, singing and weird faces that I make at the end of the video.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Whatever Wednesday: 40 Beauty Questions Tag

Here is a video of me doing answering the 40 beauty questions. This is a little bit of a slack post but I can never decide what to post about on Wednesdays. Hopefully I will find more inspiration next week.


Monday, May 27, 2013

Manicure Monday: Nude and Dotty

After 14 days of wear
Before I get on to this weeks manicure I wanted to show how my last manicure went. The photo on the right is my manicure after 14 days. It is a little grown out and there is some chipping on both of my index fingers. but overall I would say it has worn well. I could easily fix up the corner of my index fingers and it would still be an acceptable manicure if I was in a rush. The manicure stayed relatively chip free until around day 10 when the index fingers chipped. I did not take any extra care of this manicure, I left it as it was when I finished it.

Nude and dotty

Today's manicure is fairly simple although it requires patience.

After I had removed my old polish, I quickly manicured my nails before applying basecoat.

Next I applied two coats of Revlon Nude Chic to all of my nails. This colour is actually slightly pinker than in the photos.

After letting this dry at least 90%, I made a vertical line of dots down the centre of my ring finger using a dotting tool and pink and white nail polish. You could choose any colours that you prefer.

I then continued to fill my entire nails with vertical lines of pink and white dots. I did two pink dots in each column. I tried to make it random but a lot of my pink dots ended up in line diagonally.

I chose to only do the dots on my ring finger because I lack patience and couldn't be bothered to do it to all my nails, but if you have the time and you like that look, then you could.

It is important to make sure that the dots have completely dried before adding topcoat because if they aren't they may blur and the finished product will not look as crisp.

I think this is a great way to add something interesting to a nude manicure. It doesn't take much skill although a steady hand can help, but so long as you take your time, anyone can do this.

Friday, May 24, 2013

F.O.T.D Friday: Navy Blue Intense Eye Tutorial


Intense Navy Eye
This F.O.T.D. is a little different, normally I will be doing my make up for work or going out somewhere and choose to document it for my blog. This time I was bored and thought I'd have a play doing something more intense.

I started the same way as last week applying the Designer Brands Moisturising primer with my hands.

I then applied my Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

Next I sprayed my face with the Australis Finishing Spray and pressed it into my foundation.

You could powder your face at this point, I forgot so I didn't do it until the end but I used the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Transparent.

I then applied the darkest colour from the Revlon Illuminance Creme Eyeshadow in Electric Pop to my lid and blended out the edge into the crease.

I then applied a bright blue eyeshadow to my lid.

I then took a slightly deeper blue and blended it in the crease and outer V to act as a transition colour. I chose to build up the colour with this look, so that I didn't go too dark too fast.

I then blended the edge with a clean fluffy brush.

Next I added an even darker blue to the crease and outer V. I went back into the transition blue and blended the top edge.

I then used a black with blue shimmer in the crease and outer V into the outer edge of the lower lash line.

I then used the same shadows under the eye.

I added under eye concealer to help shape the lower shadow. I used Wendy Hill's A Good Nights Sleep.

I also highlighted my inner corner with a pale blue.

I then went on and filled in my brows before coming back to smudge a covergirl black pencil liner into the lash line. I smudged over it with the black with blue shimmer.

I then lined my waterline and tightline with Maybelline Gel Liner in Black.

I then added Revlon Growluscious Mascara.

I foinished the face with my LA Colors Contour Powder and a pale pink blush and also a highlight.

I then wore a nude lip using L.A. Colors lipliner in Nude, Wendy Hill lipstick in Au Naturel and a nude gloss from Models Prefer.

Please watch the video to see exactly where I placed the eyeshadow. Sorry it is a bit long but feel free to skip throught to the bits you want to see.