Polka Dotted Nail Art with Milani Hot Pink + Tutorial

Happy Easter everyone!!! I got a bottle of Milani Jewel FX in Hot Pink as a part of my Spring Break shopping haul, and I used it this week to do nail art. One of my roommates said they reminded her of Easter eggs, so I thought it would be appropriate to post it today:

Nail art using Wet n Wild Tickled Pink and Milani Hot Pink

This Milani polish took some patience to use. It was nice that there was a lot of glitter in the bottle, but when I applied it, it would come on my nails in clumps. I had to put a drop in the center of my nail and then spread it on the rest of my nail.

Picture of Milani Jewel FX in Hot Pink

I did 2 coats on my accent finger and then used a toothpick to pick a few pieces of glitter out of the bottle and cover the remaining bald spots. If you're interested in how I did the polka dotted nails, see the tutorial below:

1. Paint a base coat and a coat of the color of your choice (here, I used Wet n Wild Tickled Pink).
2. Wait for the base to COMPLETELY dry. Use a toothpick to pick one glitter piece off of the stem of the brush. It's easier to avoid getting pieces that have clumps of the clear base this way.
3. I started out by making a row on the bottom of my nail. Then, I put the next set of polka dots in the spaces between my first row.
4. After making my first two rows, I lined the dots in the third row up with the ones in the first row and the ones in the fourth row with the ones in the second row. I kept doing this until I finished the nail.

I actually really liked how this turned out and may try it with some of my other glitter polishes in the future. I hope the tutorial is helpful!! Let me know if you try this! :)

Maybelline's New Blush Review and Swatches

So Anna and I decided to try out the new Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blushes. You should have seen the look on Anna's face when I told her I wanted us to get some. But she's a TOTAL addict now!

We applied the blushes with just our fingers since it is more of a cream blush. It takes a bit of a light hand to apply the blush (we looked like we had joined the circus the first time we applied them!). I think it's my new favorite blush. Anna said she was going to just take the blush out and poke it when she's stressed just because the texture was so interesting. She described it as walking on the moon. The product last a long time and only costs between $6-9 (unfortunately I can't remember the exact price). The two middle colors Peach Satin and Plum Wine blend together nicely for a soft peachy red glow. The swatches below are laid out in the same order the blushes are photographed above (l to r: Coffee Cake, Peach Satin, Plum Wine, and Orchid Hush)

There is a bit of a down side to the product (but I won't stop buying it!). I've only used powder blushes till now so this one takes a bit longer to put on in the morning because I'm using my fingers. For some reason I hate using my fingers to put on makeup. Also Anna and I had to return Orchid Hush and Coffee Cake back to the store and we NEVER return beauty products. The color payoff was so bad that darker skinned girls would not be able to use them. I don't even know if pale skinned girls would be able to either. We also thought the containers were a bit hard to open (note the large crater in Orchid Hush).

Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend! XOXO,

Haylee

Sale on Laura Geller Makeup!!

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that Hautelook.com has certain Laura Geller makeup on sale until Wednesday until 8 AM!!!! There are various blushes, bronzers, concealers, eyeshadows, eyeliners, lipsticks, and sets. There are also sets that include the Spackle foundation primer!

Picture from Hautelook.com

You may have to join Hautelook in order to see the sale, but Hautelook has a lot of great sales so it would be worth it!

Click here to visit the website!

My First Experience with CND Shallac Nail Art

One of my childhood friends just got her cosmetology license, and she asked if she could practice Shellac on me. A free manicure? OF COURSE I took her up on that!! And she did a good job:

She did a gradient using a light pink and a darker pink nail pigment. This is the first time I'd seen someone using nail pigments for gradients; I normally use a sponge for them, but I think I may try using pigments soon. She did a bottom coat and then did the light pink. Then, she used a brush to place the pigment on my nails; she first tapped the brush full of powder near my cuticles. Then, after rubbing off excess powder on a napkin, she dabbed the powder and pushed some of it out toward the ends of my nails to make the gradient. Then, she put on a layer of top coat to seal the powder in.

The entire thing took about an hour and a half, but I think it was worth it because this manicure has lasted soooo much longer than any of mine ever have! I have major problems with chipping because I love using my hands too much. But even after a week of opening makeup containers, washing dishes, etc, this manicure looks perfect!! I don't even have a single chip! :)

I got too bored to keep them for longer than a week, and so I pulled them off using the removal wipes my friend gave me. The pack contained 10 removal wipes, one for each nail, and an orangewood stick:

The pack of removal wipes & its contents

The wipes on my hand

I put 100% acetone on the wipes and wrapped them around my fingers. The package said to leave the wraps on for 10 minutes. I left the wipes on for about 20 minutes, and still, not all the polish came off easily. I had to use the orangewood stick to peel off a lot of polish. I did discover that the wraps worked better if they were tight around my fingers and could not wiggle around.

Overall, I'd probably do Shellac again, but probably only for a special occasion; I loved the wear time, but pulling it off was sooo difficult and 100% acetone isn't too great for your nails or skin.  

St. Patrick's Day fun: Green Eyeshadow, Food, and a Mint Blazer

Hello everyone! I hope you had a good St. Patrick's Day!! My boyfriend and I celebrated it by making dinner, drinks, and going to a St. Patrick's Day party at a friend's place, and then the next day I flew out to Haylee Ann's place for Spring Break, so this is the first chance I've had to write a post about St. Patrick's Day.

Here's a picture of the eyeshadow I did for that night:

I used my Smashbox Studio Pop Eye Palette for this. First, I put pieces of Scotch Tape from the outer corner of my eye to the end of my eyebrows in order to create a winged shape. I used Nutmeg, a golden bronze, all over my lid and crease. Then, I put Emerald, a bright green, on my lid. I originally wanted to blend Nutmeg and Emerald to make an olive color, but I liked it this way so I left it. Then, I used No. 54 Black Lace from the Sephora Collection (it's a matte black eyeshadow) on the outer edges of my eyes and dragged it from there through my crease.

I lined my eyes using Milani Liquif'Eye Metallic Eyeliner in Black and used  Maybelline Great Lash mascara. I finished off by using my fluffy powder blush to clean off the area under my eyes. Just in case you're curious, I used Merle Norman Angel Glow as my blush because it is a nice, subtle pink. I also wore NYX round lipstick in Perfect so I would have a pretty neutral lip.

My boyfriend and I made Irish car bomb jello shots, Shepard's pie, and Irish coffee. The jello shots were a little hard to cut out of the cups, and so I included a picture of the shots in a cup and outside the cup:

Haylee Ann celebrated St. Patrick's by buying a mint blazer from Wet Seal:

Isn't it cute? I don't know if you can see it, but it has some lace on the side, a little in front of the area in front of her arm. It was $30, but she got a code for 10% off by a promo Wet Seal is doing. If you text "wetseal" to 82257, they send you a code for 10% off. (Wet Seal says that standard messaging and data rates may apply, by the way.)

Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to do St. Patrick's Day-themed nails. But I do have some OTHER nail art to show you guys soon, so be looking forward to that!!!

Swatches & Review: Maybelline Stylish Smokes Eyeshadow Quad in Natural Smokes

Hey everyone!
Sorry Haylee Ann and I haven't posted much recently!! Haylee Ann is in Vegas for Spring Break this week, and I have a ton of school work to finish up since this is my week before Spring Break. :(

Anyway, here's a picture of the quad:

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Eyeshadow Quad in Natural Smokes

I actually bought this palette for a friend's wedding when I was a bridesmaid. The wedding had a tight budget, so we bought one or two of these palettes and had everyone do their own makeup. That's part of what makes this palette great--it looks great on a variety of skin colors: we had 2 South Asian girls and 4 Caucasian girls, and it looked great on everyone!

The shadows are good for the price. I do have some trouble with the grey: It's easier to apply it using your fingers. If I use a brush, it isn't pigmented enough. Also, the grey has quite a bit of fallout. The brown and the liner go on great with a brush or fingers. I don't use the "base" color, since that's too light for darker skin tones. However, the palette still gives a nice, pretty neutral smokey eye.

I would definitely recommend this product! It's a great palette for someone who is interested in trying out eyeshadows and doesn't want to spend too much money. You just have to play with it a little in order to learn the best way to apply it and see what you like. For example, I hated it at first and thought it looked weird on my face. I had issues with the grey ending up a lot farther on the outer edge of my eyelids than I wanted it. After playing with the color and trying different bases, I finally figured out how to get the grey color to stay put. :)

Have a good week! If you're on Spring Break and travelling, have a safe week! If not.... I feel your pain, but we'll have our turn next week!! :P

Swatch & Review: Rose Gold Nails: Color Club Put A Pin In It

I wanted to do a quick review on a polish Haylee Ann got a while back: Color Club Put a Pin in It:

The color is very foil-y, and so it was tough to get a good picture of it!! I really like the color. It was a nice neutral color. Put a Pin in It dried pretty quickly. I did have some issues with the formula: the color was not opaque at all, and so I used 3 coats. I also had issues with my brush strokes showing up. Last, you can probably see the bubbling on my pinky. :(.

Also, I'm so excited we passed the 50 follower mark!! The 50 Follower Beauty Giveaway ends in 11 days, so make sure to enter!! The prize includes a Julep nail polish, Julep Nail Revitalizing Growth Serum, and Smashbox's Try It Kit. Don't miss out :)

xoxo,

Anna