DIY nail polish from yellow eyeshadow

This morning I realized that my throat pain got so awful I should stay home so finally I have time to try this fun manicure, inspired by nevertoomuchglitter :)

Sometimes I have a stupid habit of buying eyeshadows that I don't use but I love the feeling I get in the store that I'm becoming someone braver if I have the guts to wear, for example, bright yellow on my lids. But then I don't.

So, I decided to get rid of those unused or little used palettes but turning them into nail polishes, where brighter and more colorful is always better :) Here are the key ingredients to it: eyeshadow (Inglot, don't know the code), clear nailpolish (I use Lumene base and top coat polish) and a cupcake liner.

Then I scraped some eyeshadow powder to the liner. Inglot eyeshadows are very very pigmented and this looks very vibrant and pigmented on the lid.

As you can see, the yellow is very bright and almost neon-like in the pan. But when I poured the clear polish in and mixed it (with a toothpick), it turned into a much darker and more orange color:

Hmmm.... I was not happy with the color. But decided to start applying to my nails anyways. Here's how it looks after 1 layer:

Of course the opacity is linked to the powder-polish-ratio, but then on the other hand, too thich paste doesn't apply smoothy on the nails. So I kept layering; here's after the second layer:

Getting more orange. But not in a bad way, even though this is not what I wanted :)

After third layer:

Now it's already very opaque and even. Also very beautifully a half matte finish. But I felt like I need to apply a layer of quick finishing polish so this stays pretty longer so the final look is pretty shiny after all. A mattifying finishing polish is on my shopping list though.

Tada! What do you think? :) I think they look like hard orange candies that have already been licked a little :D

And by the way, the pictures are taken with my new phone: Nokia Lumia 920 which I love. The camera is way better that in my Canon something something I used before. The colors are very true to how they look with my own eyes and it's quick and works freaking well in dim and dark as well as in bright sunlight.

Pill Mani

No, I was not taking any pills while doing this manicure, nor was I inspired by pills. What this manicure turned out to remind me, is a colorful pill, hence the name :)

 

First I started with Essies Ole Caliente as base color. Ole Caliente is a beautiful pink coral color, shows way too peachy in the picture compared to the reality actually.

Then I cut  round sticker to half. The stickers I just ordered from Staples while I was ordering other office supplies too. But I'm sure small round stickers can be found everywhere.

Then I covered the lower half of nails with the sticker:

After stickering the nails, I applied Orly's Smolder to the upper half of nails. Smolder is my favourite nailpolish shade for the autumn/winter of 2012 because of it's metallic shine.

After applying  Smolder, I took the stickers away and applied Mavala's Top Coat Fixator and voil'a, the pill manicure is ready :D

Next time when I play with the stickers, I'll try a trio, let's see which three colors there will be.

Or maybe just 2 colors: white and blue for the Finnish Independence Day next thursday :)

Have a great weekend everybody! Kisses!

Orly Fired Up -collection

After getting a huge amount of compliments while wearing Orly's Rage nailpolish, I decided I'd try their other metallic polishes too. First I thought of getting the normal sized red called Flicker, but then noticed that there's a mini collection where there's a purple and a gold one too so I thought 'Shut up and take my money':

And there was also one non-metallic one, Rapture, which I wasn't so into, but hey, it can't do no harm to have another dark one. As the winter gets darker and darker, I might just as well follow it with matching nails.

Here are some swatches, in the order of how much I like them:

1. SMOLDER

 2. FLICKER (turned out to look so much more orange than in their official swatch picture of it)

 

3. FLARE 

4. RAPTURE (More like the opposite of rapture if you ask me. Look at the color: muddy and dark brown. Rapture?! Please.)

Overall, I really like the Smolder one, and propably will buy the normal sized bottle some day. I give a happy 10 points for it, but some sad grade for the rest of them in the collection.

This collection is not worth buying if you ask me. Just pick something you really like if you know what you like.

Ombre manicure, Hombre, Ole Caliente!

Inspired by ombre nails done like here, I wanted to try myself!

I used Lumene base&top coat polish as the base, Lumene's Groove (just basic orange) as the base color and Essie Ole Caliente (neonish dark pink) on the tip.

The ombre style is quite easy to make with basic makeup sponge and couple of nail polishes, q-tips and nailpolish remover.

Step 1

Apply base coat that helps the nail polish stay longer and protects the nail from discoloration etc.

Step 2

Apply 1 layer of base color of your choice. My opinion is that a lighter color looks better on the root of nail and a darker color better on the tip half of the nail. So apply the color you want to be closer to the root of the nail first. I have this cute little orange matte nail polish from Lumene's Natural Code line.

Step 3 

Apply your base color and the tip color on a sponge as two lines that can overlap a little bit but be careful not to get the other color to the other's bottle :) I also tried to mix the colors a little with a toothpick but I would as well skip that and just go ahead pressing the nails with the sponge.

Step 4 

Press the sponge on the nail so that the line between the colors is about in the middle. Go through all the nails once and let dry. I found out that after some pressings the sponge would start getting bad and small parts of the sponge would stick to the fresh nail polish. So it's good to change the part of sponge every once in a while and apply the colors again always to a fresh place on the sponge. One sponge was totally enough for me for the whole manicure. You can cut off used parts to make it easier to find new clean flat surface.

Step 5

Let them dry. And let them dry well! :D

Step 6

Go through the nails again with the same technique, this time concentrating on getting the line between the colors into a little bit different part so the line becomes blurry. I carefully dabbed the same nail a couple of times to get it blurry enough. Just make sure you don't mess up the lower layers now!

Step 7

Remove the mess from around your nails with q-tips and nailpolish remover. I use Mavala nailpolish remover, which is actually not the best... I prefer a Finnish brand Mirame when it comes to nail polish removers, but I decided to try a new one. FAIL.

Step 8 

Apply a top coat to get them nails smoothed and shiny! I use the Mavala Top Coat Fixator for this, which is a pretty good choice.

Step 9

Clean up...

And RELAX, it's Friday night!

At least nails ready to party :)

September Beauty Favourites

My make up favourite:

MAC Tendertone Hush Hush is the most amazing lip balm/lipgloss I've ever ever tried. The scent makes me go 'Mmmmmmmmmmm' every time and it's glossy and cozy and also feels hydrating enough for my lips that are not very demanding normally.

MACin Tendertone Hush Hush on mun ehdoton lempimeikki varsinkin nyt kun syksy on ruvennut vähän kuivattamaan huulia. Sen tuoksu on huumaava ja aivan parasta siinä on se, että se on täydellinen huulirasvan ja huulikiillon yhdistelmä.

 

This is what it looks like on the lips:

 (Nail polish: Essie Mint Candy Apple)

My favourite hair wellness product:

KMS california Colorvitality Shine and Shield

This stuff makes styling so much easier. I don't really know how effective it is as a heat protector, but I do know that it defrizzes and adds shine to my hair. It also makes the hair dry faster while blowdrying. Love it. I would and will repurchase soon, because I'm almost running out, this was just a sample size I randomly bought last summer :)

Löysin kesällä tämän KMS California Colorvitality lämpösuojan minikoossa ja aion etsiä lisää tätä jostain, koska tämä loppuu kohta. Olen kaivannutkin lämpösuojaa, joka olisi samalla kuin hiuksiin jätettävä hoitoaine. Tämä vähetää pörröisyyttä ja lisää kiiltoa ja tuntuu kuin se myös nopeuttaisi hiusten kuivaamista.

My favourite hair styling product:

Ive already blogged about this here, but I have to do it again: It's the Percy & Reed Texturizing spray.

This stuff adds so much oomph to the hair that I can't believe my eyes :) Like nothing else. I recommend to anyone. I have naturally thick hair but I can imagine this does wonders to thin hair!

Percy & Reedin tuuheuttava spray on aivan mahtavaa, lisää ihan mielettömän paljon volyymia ja tekee kampauksen tekemisestä todella helppoa. Omat hiukset on melko paksut joten voin kuvitella miten ihana yllätys tämä spray olisi jollekin ohuthiuksiselle.

My favourite skin care product:

I've been on the brink of desperation with finding an eye make up remover that would take off my Dior waterproof mascara. But I finally found it, it's the Inglot eye makeup remover <3

Semmoisen meikinpoistoaineen löytäminen, joka poistaisi myös mun Diorin vedenkestävän ripsivärin, on ollut todella vaikeaa. Olen kokeillut eri merkkejä j vasta tämä Inglotin silmämeikinpoistoaine teki tehtävänsä ja olen voinut alkaa käyttää Diorin ripsiväriä nyt kun tietää ettei sitä tarvi tärpätillä irrottaa :)

This is a total repurchase, most propably over and over again. This is only the sample size again, because I had already lost money on makeup removers that didn't do the job so I wanted to play it safe this time and got the mini size. Next month I'll travel to Poland to meet up with my Erasmus friends and I hope Inglot will be much cheaper in it's home country :)

My favourite scent:

I bought this perfume a long time ago but I started really using it last month. Last summer was more about sweet scents like the Escada Taj Sunset, but when the weather turned to crispier mornings, I started using this clean fresh scent Warm Cotton. That's quite surprising because normally in the autumn I go for the spicier and warmer scents.

Yllättävää on ollut se, että syksyn tullen olen uudelleen ihastunut Cleanin Warm Cotton tuoksuun. Ostin tän joskus Stockan alennuksesta kesällä, mutta kesän käytinkin vain makeita tuoksuja kuten lemppariani Escadan Taj Sunsetia. SIksi yllättävää tähän ihastuminen on, että yleensä syksyllä rupeaa kiinnostamaan mausteisemmat tuoksut, kun taas tämä on todella raikas.

My favourite nail polish:

This I've also mentioned already in another post, but I can't help myself, I just totally fell in love with it. I've been wearing other reds too, but this beats them all. It's the Inglot 924.

Punaisista parhain: Inglotin kynsilakka sävyssä 924. Olen käytellyt syyskuussa muitakin punaisia, mutta ei ne ole tämän veroisia.

My favourite accessory:

My PEACE earrings :D The color is gold. Some random old guy complimented them in Habitare, the biggest interior design fair in Finland :D

Nämä kullan väriset rauhanmerkkikorvikset taisi löytyä kesällä Glitteristä ja nyt olen käyttänyt niitä todella monesti kun oon käynyt jossain, jopa Habitaressa joku random äijä tuli kehumaan näitä :)

My Non-Beauty favourite:

I've been drinking camomille and other herbal teas almost every night. Before I found these Twinings Infusions teas I didn't do it that much ofter because I don't like the taste of pure camomille tea. But this selection has two different camomille teas with a twist like spearrmint or honey & vanilla. That small thing makes a big difference in my life. The tea makes it easier to relax before sleeping and the camomille helps me fall aslpeep. Looooooving it. But next time I want to find a selection with just camomille stuff, I actually kind of dislike the Linden tea.. So 1/5 is waste from the box. Otherwise great :)

Twiningsin yrttiteesekoitus on ollut kovassa käytössä, koska erityisesti nää kamomillateet tässä on hyviä. En yleensä tykkää kamomillateestä, mutta näihin on lisätty mausteita kuten hunajaa ja vaniljaa ja minttua. Tuntuu että on helpompi mennä nukkumaan kun rauhoittuu teekupposen verran :) Ja unen päästäkin on helpompi saada kiinni. Harmi että sekoituksessa on yksi paha maku, tuo linden, eli LEHMUS?! Mitvit. 

What I'm most happy about the September favourites is that all of the brands are cruelty free and can be found on PETA list of companies that don't test on animals (except Percy & Reed but I'm sure it can be found on the soon)! I can't wait until all of my makeup and cosmetics storage consists only of cruelty free products. Until then, I continue being happy with what I have!

Erityisen innoissani olen syyskuun suosikeista, koska kaikki kosmettiikkamerkit, mitkä esittelin, löytyy PETAn eläimillä testaamattomien yritysten listalta, paitsi Percy & Reed, mutta vaikka se ei siellä olisikaan, niin se on silti hyvin eläimillä testaamista vastaan oleva yhtiö, eli plusplus. Tuskin maltan odottaa että koko kokelmani voisi olla pelkästään eläimillä testaamattomia tuotteita :)