NOTD + Tutorial - Basketcase nails

Hey Dolls, 

You may or may not already know I am completely obsessed with WAH nails. As usual I was browsing the WAH site for inspiration and came across this pattern called 'basketcase' and had to try it. If you are bored and want nail inspiration I definitely suggest you check it out, they have amazing designs. Come to Australia WAH!

The original pictures I saw were in black and white but I decided to use pinky purpley colours. This would looks amazing in any colours, black and gold is my what I'm thinking next time. As usual my attempt is a bit dodgey and needs work but I love it! The design was relatively easy although as usual my right hand is not quite perfect. Hope that you like it!

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to get this pattern...

All you need two colours. A base colour and a colour for the stripes. You can either use a nail art polish or pen or alternatively you can buy a fine paintbrush and use any nail polish.

The first step is to simply paint your nails with the base colour. I used Revlon's Lilac Pastelle.

Once the base coat has dried completely draw a thin diagonal line with the nail art polish from the bottom corner to the opposite top corner.

Then continue to draw parallel thin lines to fill in the bottom section.

Next is to paint a diagonal line in the opposite direction and fill in the section section of the nail.

The final step is to fill in the top section of the nail with horizontal lines. Follow this with a clear top coat and you are done!

Here here we have the finished result. Trust me it's not too hard.

 If you love it, give it a go.


:)

May Lovin'

Hey ey e

Hey hey, 

It's the end of May which means 2 things, it's my mum's birthday and it's time for a favourites post! So here are the things that have been floating my boat over the past month or so; 

  We have -  

♥ Lush Dream Cream,

♥ Orly Cuticle Oil

♥ Revlon Matte lipstick in Pink Pout

♥ Mac Nylon eyeshadow

♥ Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner

♥ Mac Well Dressed blush 

  

Lush Dream Cream - First up we have Lush Dream Cream. I bought this stuff after hearing numerous rave reviews and I would now have to agree with them. I have terribly dry skin and with the cold weather taking over I thought this would be a great product to have. It's a great moisturiser that leaves my skin soft and smooth. I lather it on after my shower and find it really calms my skin, especially after shaving my legs. It's not too sticky or thick but still has enough oomph to get the job done. This will be a definite repurchase.

Orly Cuticle Oil - Bought this stuff on a whim when my cuticles were going though a shocking stage and it has worked pretty well. I have been applying it the evening and it leaves my cuticles softer and moisturised.

Revlon Matte Lipstick in Pink Pout  - I have had this lipstick for ages but only recently rediscovered it. I have been going through a bit of a light pink phase with my makeup and this has been getting quite a bit of use. I like that it's not way too pale yet not too bright. It's sort of a lilac toned pink. Looks great by itself or with a gloss!

Mac Well Dressed blush - I did a whole post dedicated to this blush a while back (check it out here if you're interested) and I am still loving it. As I said I am going through a light pink makeup phase and this is perfect. Gives my cheeks a great pop of colour and glow.

Mac Nylon eyeshadow - As you can see by the picture this shadow has been through the wars, it just shows how much I love it! The most perfect inner corner colour I have come across. It is a beautiful shimmery white/gold toned highlighter which instantly brightens the eyes. I would recommend this to everyone!

Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner - I was going on holidays and wanted a cheap liner to take with me so I picked up this one and have really liked it. The colour is definitely a true black and it has a really nice creamy texture which applies smoothly. Long lasting too. I own both Mac and Bobbi Brown gel liners and I think this one is up there, especially when you consider it's a drugstore product.

Swatches! Left to right: Revlon Pink Pout, Mac Well Dressed, Mac Nylon, Maybelline Gel Liner 

And that's it. What has been on your love list this month? 

Imogen 

x

Current LOVES

This could almost be a February favourites but I'm too impatient so here are my current favs :)

Laura Mercier Mineral Powder; 

I purchased this stuff before I went to Thailand as I knew I wouldn't want to be packing on the liquid foundation but would want some coverage at times. I also bought it because it has SPF15+ and I ADORE it! It has pretty much become my staple foundation since I got back and I don't know how I lived without it. As it's been summer I haven't really been bothered with putting on much makeup so this stuff is brilliant to quickly apply for a bit of coverage. It applies easily, is not cakey and provides a nice natural finish. Will definitely repurchase this when mine runs out!

Batiste dry shampoo in Blush; 

Total life-saver. I have been so lazy with washing my hair lately so this stuff has been majorly helpful in streeeeeching my washes out. I recently lightened my hair and I feel I can get away with using it a bit more now as it doesn't make my hair look to dull like it can with darker hair colours.

Revlon Photoready Foundation;

I finally jumped in the photoready bandwagon and I'm liking it. I like that it's not to dewy but it's not too matte. Full review to come..

Maxfactor false lash effect mascara;

Bought this stuff a while ago after seeing Pixi2woo talk about. Great mascara! It doesn't clump and gives great volume, nice curl and a bit of length, not sure about the false lase effect though :) I thought i lost it and was so disappointed but found it and have been using it everyday since. I did find when I first used the mascara it was quite wet so i would have to wait ages for it to dry so it didn't smudge but now i've had it a little while I find it's a much better consistency.

Benefit Speed brow;
My eyebrows are pretty bad at the moment and I haven't got around to getting them done again so this stuff is great at keeping them tame until I make it back to the Benefit brow bar for them to work their magic. It doesn't add much colour at all but as I dyed my hair blonde recently it works really well for me at the moment.

Becca Beach tint in Peach;
This is my new best friend. I absolutely love Becca products and finally got around to buying this.  You only need a pinsized amount and it provides a gorgeous healthy glow. I'm a sucker for anything peachy or corally so this is totally up my alley. The finish is great too; not too dewy and seems to stay put most of the day. It is ridiculously overpriced for a teeny tube but i do like it and it's especially perfect for this time of year.

What have you been loving lately?

NOTD: Midnight Affair

Hi everyone!

Here is a quick NOTD. It's Revlon's Midnight Affair. After being impressed with a few Revlon polishes, particularly lilac pastelle and tropical temptation, i thought I would expand my Revlon collection this being one of the latest. 

It's a nice dark blue shade which I like but don't love. In most light I find it appears basically  black. However when it is in the right light it does look like a really gorgeous shiny dark blue. It is a nice dark polish and a welcome change from black.

It's not shimmery like it appear in the bottle which is good as i didn't really want any shimmer to show up. I definitely needed two coats to get a fully opaque nail but found it applied really easily and smoothly which deserves a big thumbs up as I am hopeless at applying dark colour polishes!

Let me know if you like Revlon polishes and what your fav is, I would love to know

x

Orange Crush

Hey everyone, 

I'm loving orange at the moment! I think it's really great for the hot weather. I'm not sure if orange suits me as much as other colours but I love it anyway! Some days I like to steer clear of pink and orange is a perfect substitute.

So here of some or the orangey toned  products I am loving. Some of them are probably more coral toned but for the purpose of this post i'm considering the to be orange :p

Benefit's Sugarbomb, Ulta3 polish in watermelon, Revlon lipstick in 24K orange, OCC lip tar in cha cha, Revlon polish in tropical temptation, Mac peached blush, Mac virgin isle cream colour base, Innoxa lipstick in rockmelon

Occ lip tar in cha cha, Revlon lipstick in 24k orange, Innoxa lipstick in rockmelon, Benefit's sugarbomb (just the orange section), Mac virgin isle cream colour base, Mac peaches blush

 

Without a doubt my favourite product here is Mac peaches blush, after a long search it was one of the first Mac blushes I ever bought and absolutely love the pop colour it adds. 

I'm thinking I might have to invest to Mac Morange lipstick - now that's an orange lippie!

Are you an orange fan?

:)

Current Loves ♥

So as the title suggests this post is going to show the products which i am really enjoying at the moment. 

 ♥ Coralista by Benefit - Ever since I bought this I have been in love!  It's a beautiful coral blush which has great pigmentation and a nice amount of shimmer. This has been my go to blush for the last few weeks as I find it really brightens up my face adding a nice pop of colour. It is pricey but I think it is well worth it. This will definitely be a summer staple blush.

♥ Lucas' Pawpaw Ointment - This stuff is amazing. It's a multi purpose ointment which is fab. It's kind of like Elizabeth Ardens 8 hour cream in that you can use it in heaps of different ways for heaps of different things but without the horrible smell. I mainly use it as a lip balm but i also love it for my cuticles and dry skin. I think this would be about my 10th tube and I can't say enough good things about it. 

♥ Revlon polish in Lilac Pastelle - This is a fairly new addition to my nail polish collection and I love it. It's a great purple pinky colour which applies beautifully. I have been wearing this loads lately.

 

♥ MAC cream colour base in Pearl - This is stuff is amazing. It has been my absolute favourite highlighter for the last few months. I would highly recommend this to everyone as it blends so easily into the skin giving such a gorgeous natural glow.

♥ MAC Face and Body Foundation - I've had this for a while and rediscovered it the other week. I had sort of forgotten about it but really do love this stuff. It gives a light coverage which I find applies easily and has a nice dewy finish. If anyone is wondering I have it in C2 and am normally a NW20 in Mac. Now the weather is warming up this will no doubt become a staple again. 

What are your current loves?

NOTD: Polka Dots!

Here is my nail of the day featuring my new Sally Hansen nail art pen as promised. It's nothing outrageous, i don't know if I'm that talented at nail art! I think I will need a bit of practice to progress from polka dots.

 

I used Revlon Lilac Pastelle as the base - which is a great colour. I have been in the hunt for a nice pinky purple and i think i have found it. It applied really nicely too. I don't have much experience with Revlon nail polishes so I will be interested to try Peach Petal to see if it is as great.

I used my new Sally Hansen nail art pen in black for the dots. I'm liking this pen, it's super easy to use and the possibilities are endless. I think i'll have to get one in white too. 

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend :)

Teeny Revlon Haul

Hey girls :)

After lusting after everyone's Revlon Spring/Summer 2010 goodies for months now hey have finally been released in Australia in time for the warmer months ahead. No doubt you have seen them before but I'm excited and wanted to share. 

As you can see I only ended up getting 3 things. I got 2 nail polishes in Lilac Pastelle and Peach Petal and I also picked up a lipgloss in Peach Petal. All the other nail polishes and lipglosses looked really pretty so I'm thinking I might eventually pick some other things up. Maybe the lipgloss in Coral Reef and the nail polish in Gray Suede but we'll see. I haven't tested out the polishes yet but I love the look of the colours.

I haven't really used the lipgloss much yet but from what I can tell so far it seems really nice. As you can see it's a peachy nude that looks nice by itself or over other colours. I love the consistency it's not too sticky but it feels like it won't rub off in 2 minutes. This one retails at AUD$22 (I think) but for all the Aussies girls out there I got mine from Gloss for around AUD$9 so if your after one definitely check Gloss out for a bargain.

Have you tried any of these products? And more importantly do you recommend any of the other products?

Hope you're all having a great day!

:)

NOTD White!

I am currently sporting white nails with a touch of pink. I don't mind them but i don't know if i would go so far as to say i love white nails

I used two coats of Ulta3's lily white and over the top of that i used Revlon's Sweet Nothings in Please me pink (not that you can really tell from the photo!)

What do you guys think? Love them or hate them?

Current Five Favourite Blushes

These are my current five favourite blushes. They are likely to change soon as I have my eye on a few, but at the moment these are the ones I am loving!

Here they are; 

• MAC Pink Swoon: A favourite of many, the trusty Pink Swoon. A gorgeous light pink with no shimmer. It goes on smoothly, blends well & looks good with any makeup look. Pale or sunkissed (which is rare occurance for me!) this blush will suit my skin whichever.

• MAC Peaches: It took me so long to get my hands on this blush, it was sold out online in at four different MAC counters. I’m glad I finally tracked it down. I loved the idea of true peach, but wasn't sure if it would work on my complexion... I'm so glad it does! One coat gives my cheeks a soft glow, it is buildable so if I want it to show up more I can layer it. 

• MAC Tenderling: I originally bought this online for contouring but when it arrived I found it to be lighter than I thought. Luckily it has turned into one of my favourite blushes. In the pan it looks quite plain & boring (& the photo doesn’t help) but once applied it adds a nice colour to my face. It’s a great everyday blush & I find myself reaching for it when I’m in a hurry or can’t be bothered to find anything else. Being a sheertone formula it has no shimmer or glitter which I like for uni.

• NARS Orgasm: This is probably my most worn blush (along with ALOT of other people!) But it really is great. I’m sure you have all heard it before but it’s a beautiful pinky coral with shimmer that brightens my face. Often I don’t feel like wearing pinks & when that is the case corals are perfect. 

• Revlon Matte Powder Blush Perfectly Peach: This is a fairly new purchase. Being back at uni I am watching my pennies again & I managed to get this on special. The colour of the blush is really pretty. I love the peachy pink colour. It is quite a natural everyday blush that doesn’t have any shimmer (that probably went without saying considering the name!) which i like for uni. It is quite light so i don’t think it would be great for those who don't have lighter skin tones. 

Here is a swatch of all of them (in the same order) except Revlon perfectly peach, I ran out of fingers! If anyone would like a swatch of it just let me know.

What blushes are you currently loving?

x

What’s In My Makeup Bag:

I always really enjoy these posts, so here we go.

This is my makeup bag. It’s from K-mart and I really like it. It was cheap, is compact and holds heaps. Despite what it may look like I can actually zip it up!



Firstly lips. Like every girl I always have more then enough lip products with me. I suffer from chronic dry lips and do normally have more lip balms but today looks like a tame day. On a day to day basis I use Lucas’s Pawpaw ointment but recently my lips have been really dry bad so I have been using The Body Shop’s Hemp Lip Protector which is good so far. I also have a Mac tinted lip conditioner in fuchsia fix, MAC lipglass in Underage, MAC cremesheen in Crème Cup and my latest purchase Barry M lipgloss in Toffee, which living in Australia I am so happy to have finally got my hands on!



Next is MAC blot powder. I always have this with me to fight the dreaded shine, as well as have MAC Select Cover-up in NW20, Benefit posietint which is good for on the go and Rimmel sexy curves (my one has seen better days.)



And then there are just some random things. Blot tissues, tweezers, nail files, perfume, a mirror, super cute lip shaped band-aids which my mum got for me and dental floss. I used to work at a cinema and would always get popcorn stuck in my teeth so dental hence the dental floss!



And that’s everything :)