Day of the Dead - Incoming Mexican Fashion

Using the momentum from both the Novelty and Tribal pattern trends, what I'm loving coming into stores now are the cute Day of the Dead style fashions. Prettied up sculls, intensely bright colours, intricate patterns, crochet and crisp whites are all hallmarks of this style, but this time around the colours are more subdued and easier to work into your everyday wardrobe. Think deeper, muted and more natural tones with a polite pop of neon or pastel. Try a cute crochet top with your favourite shorts, some candy coloured skull jewels, or an Aztec patterned scarf for a subtle take or go all out with a printed bodycon dress.

Crochet Front Tank / Forever New

Aztec Patterned Skirt / Ally

Crochet Hem Shorts / Ally

Printed Bodycon Dress / Dotti

Mexican Space Shirt Holdall Handbag / Topshop

Nail Rock Strips / ASOS

Skull Mish Mash Bracelet Set  / Diva

Aztec Sequin Clutch  / ASOS

If you want some more inspiration, (or even a good movie to watch this weekend) I highly recommend you check out the Frida biographical movie from a few years ago staring Salma Hayek. It's a little unnerving to watch her sport more facial hair then my boyfriend but the movie blew me away.

Are you getting into this trend? How are you wearing it?

Bourjois Bonus!

Yay! It's freebie time for Bourjois at Priceline! When you spend over $25 in one transaction on Bourjois you get a free makeup case with goodies.

There are some pretty damn good items in this kit,vand they all coordinate beautifully for Summer. I didn't realize it at the time but the eyeshadow palette I selected to claim the bonus goes perfectly with this colour scheme too. Rose and Tan are a match made in heaven for illuminating your skin and adding some healthy looking colour to your complexion over the warmer months.

Smoky Eyes Palette in RoseVintage

Smoky eyes are a universally flattering technique for applying eye makeup and premade kits make it a cinch to coordinate colours, but you shouldn't just stick to basic black and brown. Trying it with different colours like this selection called Rose Vintage can help make your eyes pop and are also a great and subtle alternative for daytime wear. Build up the colour to your desired intensity.

Delice De Soliel Bronzing Powder

Shimmery bronzers like this one are better for using to add colour where you would naturally tan, instead of sculpting, though the brush included lends itself fantastically for shading gorgeous cheekbones! What sets this bronzer apart to me is the awesome and nifty swivelling mirror, you can spy on what's happening behind you with ease! (Lol!) Seriously though, the mirror is a great size for a travelling makeup kit.

Nouveau Gloss Effet 3D in Brun Rose Academic

This gloss is lovely, not too sticky,with a gorgeous amount of colour and a brush style applicator, and the shimmer is perfect for lighting up lips. More then happy to give this one pride of place in my makeup kit for Summer!

Tip of the day: Mistake proof nail art

Perhaps I should start this post off by explaining that I had my first ever Shellac Manicure and Pedicure last weekend. I am impressed, I'm rough and tumble with my hands and often have chips within a day of my nails drying, but more then a week later, nope nada, not a chip in sight. Perfect nails!
Mistake proof nail art may be a slight exaggeration, but it's only a slight one. When I started out doing designs on my nails I made more of a mess of my nails then successes, and to clean any errors was so painstaking or I'd have to take the entire nail of polish off. This is a much easier method.

This is where the Shellac comes into play. To avoid having to take off your entire nail of art when you make a mistake, get a base of Shellac applied. This trick works because Shellac requires more then a bit of elbow grease to get off, (In fact they recommend you only have professionals remove it in salon) and you can change your art however often you like. I decided to get a dark purple colour on my nails, I did a gorgeous galaxy nail over the top, then removed that after a few days and applied some nail stamping with my MLS 301 plate.

Now you see it

Now you don't

Oh Hai ice-cream and lightning!

It's worth noting that glitter is even more of a pain to remove with this idea though, because you're still trying to remove it without damaging the Shellac underneath. 

Do you have any hints and tips for making nail at easier? Or perhaps an awesome mani you'd like to show me? Let me know in the comments!

Loving this week: Couture Nail Colour!

For the artistically inclined and nail obsessed person in your life (even if that's you,) I have found an awesome discovery: Customizable nail polish. You choose the shade, the cap, colour (!!), label (name it whatever you want) and box and have it shipped out as you wish, How cool is that for an idea? Personally I love the studded cap with Porchester Square polish, a gorgeous taupey grey. I love a good base colour that I can apply crazy nail art to. I also think this would make an awesome momento for bridesmaids thank you gifts.
Here's what I came up with.

Check it out at Nails Inc's Website here.

Link Love: August 25 2012

Styling tip: Bandannas Article by Erika of Asuyeta. Don't giggle! I've recently acquired a small collection of bandannas and headscarves and this has saved me styling block, it's a very cute way to finish of a hairdo.

Laser Nail Tute By KRetroK on totally loving it. Now to just find some nail art tape and away I go!

Paint your walls Ombre by Erika of PS I made this. It amazes me just how daft I can be, I never would've thought of applying this technique to my walls!


Also don't forget about the great giveaway happening on my blog right now! Also, if you like what you're reading, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter or on Blogger to stay in touch!

Link Love: June 2 2012

It's been a while! Lets have some fellow blogger love!

DIY Backlit Canvas Art: Michelle of The Scrap Shoppe takes us through this DIY project, you really have to take a look at how gorgeous it is! I would paint the canvas is pastel colours to make it more interesting with the light off.

Splatter Nail Art Tutorial: Awesome tute by Lisa of Nail Art 101. I am going to buy some straws. As soon as it stops raining!

Lemon Blueberry and Yoghurt Loaf Recipe: How totally yum does that sound? (And finally I found a recipe for my loaf tin!) from Christina at Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Tribal Nail Art Stamping

So it's safe to say that I am in love with my new toy! To the point where a manicure doesn't last more then about two days because I already have a new idea for what I want on my nails. Addict.
Here is what I'm wearing now, I used plate QA15. I originally bought it for the cute little kittens on it, but the tribal patterns are pretty spot on the trend money right now too. Alpine skiing anyone?

Polish used: Kleancolor in Mocha and Konad Special Polish in black. Stamp QA15

How to be thrifty with Nail strips

Nails art was something I admit that I always thought was trashy. Those long, decorated talons always signified someone who wasn't very desirable to me. Just like sweaters and bold shoulders before them it amazes me just how our opinion can be swayed.
So I'm into nail art now. I don't grow my nails out long, and I don't cover every nail until it is encrusted with a mass of crap like some others I've seen, but a cute watercolour mani, or half moon style, or a feature nail with a cute motif? Yes, that is cute and chic to me
For more then one reason should you keep your nails short. They are far lower maintenance then long nails, and in my opinion, its the long length that makes them trashy. If you look at the tips of your fingers from the palm side of your hands you should either not see your nails or they should be just peeking over the top.
Also, they help you get more out of nail strips and wraps!
With the style of wrap sold by Sally Hansen and Manicare, the strips are double sided, and not something I'd consider cheap! Store bought strips can vary between $5-$15 (Aus) depending on the brand and discounts. That's almost a dollar per strip at the higher end! But if you're careful you can easily use one strip to do two nails if they're on the short side. Just cut it in half before you peel the backing strip off.
Another method you could use is to use the strips as a feature nail. By using only one strip per hand on your ring finger (my favourite to emphasise) per polish job, you get a more unique look too.
I've used this technique with the Manicare Glamnails range, and Sally Hansen, and found that the glitter strips in both brands are really very comparable.

Cloud Nail Stamp Art

Just a quickie, the more I practise with the Salon Express I bought the other day the better the results have been. I have bought a stack of plates including one with this cute cloud motif.
Also slowly building up an arsenal of colours to play with. I find it funny that my right hand turned out so much better then my left considering I'm right handed.
The plate used is Konad M79  and the colours used were Party Blue in Maybelline's mini Colorama range, and the white is a cheap one that I bought months ago, not the proper stamping polish. So it has shown up not as opaque as I would've liked, but it's a first attempt!

Have to keep my nails this short for training, sadface. I think it's a really cute design though, and it's been pretty cheap to try out, costing less then a salon manicure to get everything to set up.

Product Review: Salon Express Nail stamper

You know those intricate designs you see advertised in nail bars? You know the ones, too delicate to possibly imagine doing with a brush? I've always been too scared to ask for them, and being a massive fan of DIY I was stoked when I found this kit. I picked one up from eBay the other week and now that I have had a good chance to play around with it, I thought I'd tell you guys about it. Admittedly, the ads for this product are frightening in their zeal, once you get past that though, the product is actually pretty nifty.
Salon express is a lot like the brand called Konad, from Korea I think that have the original version of this DIY style of nail stamping, I thought I'd give the cheaper one a go and see how I like it before I commit to the original.
The kit comes with five plates with a myriad of more then 40 designs, I read that you can get different designs in different kits but these are the ones I received, not the cutest unfortunately but you can buy additional plates online:

Salon Express complete kit contents

After just a few goes I was pretty happy with my results. My best piece of advice for you is to make sure you REALLY get the angle right when you are scraping off the extra nail polish. I found tilting the scraper at about 45 degrees made all the difference.
One negative I did find is that the whole nail designs that came with the kit were too small to cover my entire nails. it covered my pinky fine but there is a hope in hell it would fit my thumb!
Like all things in life it takes a bit of practise and the right tools to get it right. You can use normal nail polish with the kit, but I highly recommend to use the highly pigmented colours sold by Konad and other brands. I found that the white polish sold for use in French Manicures comes up nicely though.
If you're interested in buying more plates for your kit, I have found a store online that stocks Konad and other plates and special polishes. I have to say now that I haven't bought from them yet but I'm in the process of putting an order through now, I'll let you know how it goes! They also have an eBay store that sells stock for a little more but gives you the peace of mind that comes from eBay shopping.

Have you tried at home nail stamping? How did you go?

Even easier half moon nails

Ah, the benefits of working in an office don't normally enter my thought process while I type up a post but in this rare case it does.
I posted months ago about a way to get that half moon nail look, Dita Von Teese is usually spotted with this style of polish on her nails, and now I've found an even easier tool you can use to do it at home.
The thing was, those little paper strips you use for French tips were always too straight, and didn't give a nice curved line you need to cover up the base of your nail while you apply your main colour to the rest of the nail, but you know what does work nicely? Binder hole reinforcers.
You can pick them up at stacks of stationery shops, but best to go for the bigger "We have everything!" ones for a better chance of finding them. Yes you do get some strange look asking for them, and if you decide to tell your friends about them (and me!) they'll probably crack up laughing.
To use them for this manner it's much better to go for the opaque white ones and not the transparent ones, as I found the sticker did a better job of adhering to the nail bed.

Want to have a peek at how I did them?

Tip of the day: Easy half moon nails

I'm just discovering nailpolish, normally I can't be bothered at all, but with a little daily TLC they can look really groomed and well presented. But I'm not a fan of excessive nail art, there's just something about it that makes me think 'cheap'
One of the looks I've adored lately is the half moon, it's in a similar vein to a french manicure with the two tone effect. but instead of having white tips, you draw on a semi circle of polish at the base of the nail. Like below.

Probably the most classic way to wear this is with the colours above, red and white. But I think it looks stunning in pastels and brights. Most of the time the base colour is white, but use any constrasting colour, with the ligher of the two as the base colour.
It's damn tricky to apply by yourself, and it can be a little hard to explain what you're after to your manicurist without a picture. My tip? Nail art pens.
Sally Hansen makes a great budget friendly nail art pen in 11 different colours. For longevity and flexibility I'd recommend buying it in either silver or white, but the sky is the limit.

A sample of available colours.