A Parliament of Owls

Hello girlies! I don't know about you but I've been seeing owl nails everywhere. Sometimes just colorful owls like SuPa Nails Oh Oh Owls! Sometimes not so colorful like JawsOfKita-LoveHim's Owl Nails. There's also those with one owl like cutepolish's Cute Nail Art tutorial. Or those with designs that incorporate all nails like Chalkboard Nails Valentine's Owl Nail Art or Unhas da *micktuti*'s owl nails.

With all these awesome owl nails I wanted to try some of my own. I saw this design on Pinterest first and just had to recreate it. It's originally from Chalkboard Nails and was then recreated by Let them have Polish as part of a challenge�inspired by a tutorial.

I couldn't have chosen a worse time to do this design though. It was very hot and humid; the kind of heat that nail polish doesn't dry well in. I also had very little time to do my nails before I had to start getting ready for my niece's dance recital. I thought I could do it though. How hard could they be? Well, I'll admit they weren't that hard. I didn't think out the color choices very well. I mostly just reached into my nail drawer and grabbed the closest colors.

The base colors worked well together but once I started lightening it for the chest, dotting on the chest spots, and adding the beak everything just kind of blended together.

The spots and beak look nearly perfect on the mint and purple, shows up slightly less on the pink and red, but really just blends completely on the orange. If I had more time I'm sure I would have tested each color on paper before using them, but I was in a rush.

How much of a rush you ask? So much of a rush that I didn't realize I had scraped the eye off my thumb owl and dented the tip of the middle finger owl until I was in the car and far away from my nail supplies. I told my nieces that the orange owl was evil and attacked the pink owl. *giggle* I'm so mean. :)

I'm actually pretty proud of how well my right hand turned out all told. I'm right handed but through much practice I've gotten my left hand able to do much of the fine detail work. Still, it's never as good as doing nail art with my right hand. However, besides the googly eyes on the red owl I think everything came together very well.


For those who are wondering ... a groups of owls is called a parliament, hence the title. Yeah ... I had to look it up too. ;)


Polish Used

• Revlon - Base Coat
• Wet n Wild - I Red a Good Book
• Wet n Wild - I Need a Refresh-Mint
• Wet n Wild - Club Havana
• Wet n Wild - Bite the Bullet
• Wet n Wild - Tropicalia
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
• LA Colors - Black
• LA Colors - White

Read More

Benefit They're Real Mascara Review

I don't normally like mascara's with hard rubbery wands, they tend to make my eyelashes look a bit 'spikey' if you know what i mean! I've been using Benefit's they're real mascara for a couple of weeks now since receiving it at the Benefit blogger event.

First time I wore this mascara, my mum asked 'Are they Real?' haha spooky! The mascara comes in a box and the product has a nice silver tube. I've don't really go for highend mascara's but compared to drugstore ones, this is very fancy! The mascara is brilliant at gripping every lash. It's great for lengthening and separating my lashes. In the picture below i'm just wearing one coat and already my eyelashes look defined. It's also really good at lifting my lashes and doesn't smudge or flake. This is an amazing mascara but because of it's �18.50 price tag, I'm saving this beauty for special occasions! 

Don't forget Glamour magazine is out tomorrow & giving away some mini Benefit freebies! What do you think of this mascara? x

Read More

Moo MiniCards Review

This post has been a long time coming. I always seem to have more pressing posts though, but not this time! This is a product review of some custom business cards I bought last month from Moo. Always be on the lookout for Moo sales. I ordered these the moment I got the email saying they were selling their 100 custom business card sets to 500 of their customers for only the shipping cost. That's only $5.00!!

This is the pack my cards arrived in. All 100 of them! It's a really nice case, just about crush proof. However, I found it too big to carry around with me, so be sure to either have a business card holder on hand or purchase one with your Moo order. I already had one on hand.

The bottom of the case tag contains information about the company. Personally, I think that's pretty cool, but that's just me. Another thing I think is cool? The Moo case is free with Business Cards and MiniCards. It is recyclable and made from recycled pulp.

Here is the inside of the Moo case. You get your first look at the cards themselves. The cards are matte laminate so they have only a faintly reflective quality. This means, even on the brightest day, if you hand out your business card the recipient will certainly be able to see it! They are also made from paper product sourced from sustainable forests. I went with Moo's Classic Paper but there is also the option to order your cards on Moo's Green Paper. Green Paper is ecofriendly, 100% recycled paper. It's something to think about if you decide to order.

I ordered the first business card through Moo's free Business Card sample pack last November. I got 10 standard Business Cards with Moo's Printfinity. This is simply Moo's way of saying you can choose a different image for each of your business cards at no extra cost. What other business card company will print 100 different images on 100 business cards? The second card in the picture is one of my new MiniCards. You can see the size difference immediately. The MiniCard is about half the height of the standard card and slightly less wide.

These cards also have a customizable back. Use this to put your name, your number, your email, your blog, anything you could possibly want your business cards to say. Moo also allows you to change font, font color, and the background color.


I found the MiniCards absolutely adorable. However, they are slightly unwieldy. I found I had trouble sorting through them to find a specific card to hand out. They catch slightly on each other and you can't get your fingers positioned just right on their smaller surface to scan through them quickly.


Another con for the MiniCards is that they are a bit more grainy looking than the standard Business Cards. Still, this might be my new camera causing the image graininess. The classic Business Cards I ordered had images from my older, better model camera while the images on the MiniCards were taken with an emergency camera purchased when I dropped and broke my old camera at the beach. I found no difference between the photos on the computer but that may not translate as well to print.


Still, Moo is now offering a free sample pack of all their products. Again, this includes free shipping. You don't get to choose the images like I did for my Business Cards. These are pre-printed Moo products. They include a sample of their Business Cards, MiniCards, Postcards, Stickers, and Labels. If you are looking for a company to purchase from I would definitely order Moo's free sample pack and check out the great quality of their products before making any decisions.

Read More

Swag Bucks

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is having a great day, hopefully with family and friends instead of work. :)


I want to take a moment from my day to tell you about a site that was recently recommended to me. Some of you will surely know about this, but it's Swag Bucks.

How did I find Swag Bucks and what is it? Well, I was looking for cool things I could use as a giveaway prize. Swag Bucks lets you use the points (or Swag Bucks) you rack up from doing searches, taking surveys, watching videos, using coupons, and so much more to 'buy' prizes and gift cards. It's like a carnival; you earn tickets and redeem them for prizes. The more tickets, the better the prize is likely to be.


I've only been doing this for a few days and I'm already over 1000 points. I'll have a gift card giveaway for you in no time at this rate.


Don't want to wait for only a chance at a gift card or want to help me earn it? You can start racking up your own points and help me earn points by using my referral link to sign up for yourself. Your searches will help me earn points while still earning you points. That means you can earn yourself a gift card and still have a chance of snagging yourself another gift card in my upcoming giveaway.


You can also use the Swidget to the right for searches and help me that way. It's a lot like Google so don't be afraid to use it.


So go to Swag Bucks, sign up, and start earning points for gift cards and cool prizes.

Read More

Memorial Day

Hello girlies. Tomorrow is Memorial Day in America, a day to honor the men and women who died while serving in the Armed Forces. In national cemeteries, many volunteers place American flags on each grave as a way to honor them. These nails are my way of honoring the fallen.

I was hit with inspiration Friday night while looking through some tape manis. What if I used the elements of an American flag and put them on a nail? A red and white striped nail showing through outlines of stars. It could be just like a tape mani if I used stickers.  It was brilliant. I just needed some star stickers in various sizes.

It was amazingly hard to find the sizes of stars I wanted ... or to find any star stickers at all! I thought of nothing beyond the sizes I needed. Silly of me! Anyone else seeing the problem? Yes, they are stars in various sizes. Yes, they are stickers. Why yes, that does says adhesive gems!! Instead of putting star stickers on my nails and painting over them like tape I had to put these hard gems on my nails and carefully trace around each one since they didn't conform to my nails like a true sticker would. Then I had to fill in the entire nail around the star outlines. It went from being such a simple mani idea to an all night and all morning job. I got one hand done before I was too tired to see straight and had to do the other hand first thing in the morning.

Some of the stars turned out amazing, nearly perfect, while others were a bit deformed.

Still, my original idea came through pretty well I think.

Here is a look at what is under all that blue which is China Glaze First Mate if you were wondering. I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow and drew in a few messy stripes with China Glaze Poinsettia. I just wanted to show you that, for a design like this, the stripes don't have to be perfect because you'll be seeing only a very small portion of each one. Looking at the finished nails you would never think something this messy was under each one! :)

Read More

New Features & Guest Bloggers Wanted

I would like to direct your attention to the right of your screen. Scroll down and view the new 'Blogs I Read' feature I finally got around to installing. Yay!! If you don't see yourself there ... well, don't feel bad. I haven't gotten around to adding all the blogs I read yet. However, if you don't think I've had a chance to view your blog yet and you want to be added to the list, I'm giving you the chance to leave a link in the comments section now! *poke, poke* Go on, do it now!! There is no need to add my blog to your own list or post about it anywhere. It would be nice, but it's not something you have to do to get added to mine.


Onto other new features. I've also taken the time to add a translation button powered by Google which can also be found to the right of your screen. There is also a Search bar now that will allow you to search my posts, also to the right. Direct your eyes thataway. --->


I have one more thing to mention. I'm looking for Guest Bloggers to help round out my posts in the coming months. I'll be going on vacation in August for a full week, and I'll be looking for one blogger to keep my blog active that week with two-four posts so I can completely relax without worry! I want to get the hang of Guest posts by then.  If you are open to being a Guest Blogger I ask that you send me an email instead of posting in the comments. You can find my email in the Contact Me section. Tell me about yourself and your blog(s), the types of things you post about, if you have done any guest posting before, and include a link to your blog.

Read More

Dupe for Essie Mint Candy Apple

 I'm not sure what your thoughts on beauty product dupes are, but i bloody love them! It's not often a nail varnishes becomes really, really popular in the blogosphere. I can think of a few like OPI Rainbow Connection and Barry M Peach Melba maybe?

Essie has become quite popular lately, especially their shade Mint Candy Apple. I love wearing pastels on my nails and that particular shade does look really nice. I've not tried any Essie products before but I've seen so many blog post's on Mint Candy Apple now, I think this is a good dupe!

This nail varnish only cost me �1.75 and it was from George at Asda! The Shade is called 32 Streamer. I've had this colour for over a year now (sorry!) So the consistency has gone a bit gloopy. It's a minty blue shade like Mint Candy Apple. It has a quick dry formula but doesn't have great staying power. With a good top coat on this lasts around 3 days. Overall not bad for a supermarket nail varnish!

I would recommend checking out Asda's own brand nail varnishes, they have a few nice shades. Sorry I don't have any comparison photo's to Essie's version - but I hope this helps!

Do you want to try Essie Mint Candy Apple? If you've tried it do you think this is a good dupe?

p.s sorry for my appalling nail painting skills, i'm so bad at it!


p.p.s what does P.S stand for anyway?!

Read More

Bonsai

Wow! I am like dead on my feet. I've been going to my sister's place every day. Sometimes we go shopping, mostly we go tanning. I'm getting a nice jump on some summer color. She also has three little girls: the older two in school and a two-year-old with her constantly. So, I've been getting run ragged by a little girl who wants to play with her 'Annie'. I was talked into throwing a softball for her and the middle girl yesterday. This is why I have a dog! Children expect you to run after them and get involved unaware that you are many years older than them and have nowhere near the amount of energy they have ... a dog will run and bring the ball back perfectly content if you stand in the same spot the entire time! Lol. I've had no time or energy to create elaborate nail art so I used a stamp and my dotting tool for this one.

I picked this color up last weekend during a shopping trip to Walmart. They have changed their entire selection of nail polish. They now offer new brands of nail polish and new collections from old brands. As always seems to be the case though, the one collection I was there looking for was the one collection they seemed not to have. With my luck, I simply overlooked it.

I did manage to snag Bonsai from the Revlon Colorstay collection. I'm not the kind of person who can pull off many shades of green without looking sickly, but Bonsai is a really pretty shade that worked well with my skin tone. This might have something to do with the very light yellow gold shimmer.

 You can see in the pictures that the shimmer is very hard to see though. That wasn't the only problem I had with this polish either. The polish was very hard to get on the nail, streaky and with large gaps where the polish wouldn't lay. I had to use three coats to get total coverage. It wasn't such a big problem since I was using a design over it, but it is something to think about if you enjoy one color nails.

Another downside is that this polish only stayed on for one day! Not even that long because it showed signs of wear almost immediately and began chipping that night. I know I've been going non-stop and have likely put my nails through some hard times but that was ridiculous. Especially from the Colorstay collection which touts long wear, 11 days of wear if worn with their base and top coats. I did not wear this with their top coat but I did use their base coat. That should add something right?? I will allow that maybe I got a bad batch or some other kind of error because I have never had this many problems with the other polishes I own from this collection. But ...

All in all, pretty though it may be, I don't think Bonsai will become a staple around my house.


The stamping was done with Sally Hansen White On. I found this worked very well with my image plate but that might have something to do with White On being very old and thick. If you have some old lying around give it a try with your stamper. Or try it with new and let me know how it works.


I'm off to get ready for another day on the town. Have a great day everyone!

Read More

Benefit Sun Beam Review

I do love a new product launch. On Monday, Benefit released their latest highlighting product - Sun Beam. If you've tried High Beam before this is very similar but like a tinted version! Here my review of Benefit's Sun Beam :)

I received this in my goody bag at the Benefit Event I attend last week. The product comes in a cute little box. The nail varnish style packaging is the same as High & Moon Beam. This makes it really easy and quick to apply.
When I first saw this I thought it would be too dark for my pale skin, but I was so wrong! This looks really natural and gives a nice sun kissed glow. I definitely prefer this to High Beam, you can see them next to each other in the last photo. High Beam is a pinky toned highlighter and can sometimes look to obvious on my fair skin. I've been reaching for Sun Beam everyday, it's great for making your skin look more radiant.
I personally like to apply it before foundation, blending it in with my fingers. I apply it on my cheekbones, brown bones and sometimes down the centre of my nose.
It has very fine sparkly particles in it; don't worry nothing to garish! As you can see in the photograph where i've blended it on my hand, it's not too noticeable.

You get 13.0ml for �18.50, it doesn't sound like a lot of product but this little bottle will last me ages! A thing I love about Benefit is that they often give away free samples with magazines. I think it's next month's issue of Glamour they are offering some freebies!

Do you use a highlighter? What do you think of Sun Beam?

Hope your all enjoying the nice weather we've been having, also GOOD LUCK to any of you who are currently revising for exams! x

twitter | bloglovin' | hellocotton  

Read More

Kickin' Converse

I am so sick of my broken nail. It has been years since I've had a nail this short, but I've decided to make the most of it by doing designs that can be worn on nails that are long as well as short. I'm hoping to let those with short nails, by choice or not, know that you don't need long or squared nails to still have pretty nails! With this in mind I bring you pictures of Saturday's Converse mani worn to a niece's birthday party � my short nail is uncovered in these pics so look away if this bothers you.

I decided to start with a partial Skittles mani, my thumb is done in red, done with the help of tape. Two coats of each color before I added two coats of white to the tips.

After that it was fairly simple to use my dotting tool to add small dots of silver for the lace holes and my smallest nail art brush to add the black half circle and laces.

With this design, I think the short rounded nail somehow works better. It gives a more realistic 'shoe' look. So if you have short nails don't be afraid to give this mani a try!!


Also, if you're as easily amused as I am ... I got a kick out of 'kicking' people while wearing these nails or doing the finger walk. It looked so weird with little shoes on my fingers!

Polish Used
Red: Borghese 'Che Bella Red C'
Orange: Wet n Wild 'Club Havana'
Pink: Wet n Wild 'Tropicalia'
Blue/Green: Wet n Wild 'I Need a Refresh-Mint'
Purple: Wet n Wild 'Bite the Bullet'
Black & White: LA Colors
Silver: Sally Hansen 'Celeb City'

Read More

Caged

'ello lovelies! I'm kind of embarrassed to post today. These are nowhere near my best nails. They just look so messy to me. Also, I decided not to use a smiley with this mani. The broken nail on my left hand isn't so noticeable in the two pics I got of that hand.

I tried something new and then used another stamp over top. I loaded a large brush with four colors and attempted to do a one-stroke nail. Things didn't work out as I hoped.

Since I was only allowing myself one stroke I used a white base in hopes the colors would really pop.

Sadly, the one stroke is much harder than it looks. The polish got everywhere except my nails! It flooded my cuticles and smeared all over my fingers but would not stay on my nail. One stroke turned into many as I attempted damage control.

It was all so messy that I looked for a stamp to cover some of the mess. I decided to use this stamp, Born Pretty m64. Even after all that I still wasn't satisfied and was really glad to take this mani off.

Here's an attempt to explain the title of this mani. The finished nail makes me think only of bird as it looks out through the bars of its cage at the setting sun wishing more than anything to fly free. I tried to think of a title that would make more sense but that's all that I could think of.

Read More

Benefit Blogger Event

Make up, tea and cakes are three of my favourite words. So when all three were combined last week & I was delighted! Last Wednesday evening I attended a Benefit event at Debenhams in Bournemouth. It was in aid of the new Benefit boutique and also the launch of their brand spanking new product Sun Beam.I've tried a few Benefit products before such as Bad Gal mascara & High Beam, which I both love, so I was really excited to attend the event! I've been to a couple of blogger events before and I have to say this was definitely my favourite!

My self and a few other bloggers were greeted at the Benefit counter by the beautiful Jasmine & Lisa. We were then given a talk about Benefit's recent success and latest products.

The Benefit Boutique is inside debenhams right next to the make up counter. They offer a range of beauty treatments including eye brow tinting and spray tanning. I think this is such a great idea & would be so much fun to do with a group of friends or as a little treat.

As well as testing out some Benefit products, Lisa informed us about Mascarathon; just the name it self sounds amazing but get a load of this. This summer Benefit are raising awareness and money for the charity Refuge. A charity run will take place from June 15th-29th. The run starts in Edinburgh and stops off in different cities throughout the UK. You can find out more information about Mascarathon here!

After an informing talk from head make-up artist Lisa Porter-Dixon, we all went on to have afternoon tea at The Print Room. We had sandwiches, scones and a selection of cakes accompanied with some Dorset tea - I felt so posh! It's so lovely inside, if your ever in Bournemouth I would definitely recommend checking it out.We chatted about all things girly including make up,weddings and of course blogging.

I left the event with a desperate need to become a Benebabe! I had a brilliant evening, it was lovely to meet some new bloggers and discover more about Brand. Thank you to Jasmine & Lisa!

We received a goody bag with some products to test out. I had a little play with them this morning & I can't wait to share my thoughts :) Oooh, make sure you have a nosey at the other bloggers who attended the event, they all have amazing blogs! Lauren, Michelle, Corrie, Kat.

Have you tried any Benefit products before? x

Read More

Project Foundation #2 - Bourjois 1 2 3 Perfect foundation

I am featuring Project Foundation on my blog all this month! I will be reviewing a different foundation each week, voted by you lovely lot. Click here to see last weeks review.

Today's review is on Bourjois's latest foundation.

What Bourjois say about the product:

Bourjois 1.2.3. Perfect Foundation gives a flawless even complexion* for 16hrs, thanks to a new generation formula.

3 correcting pigments for zero imperfections:

1. Yellow pigments: Anti dark circles
2. Mauve pigments: Anti dull complexion
3. Green pigments: Anti redness

• 24hr hydration and anti-shine: cotton flower extract
• SPF 10
• Medium coverage, yet lets skin breathe
• Soft and smooth formula for a second skin finish

*Tested on 31 women during 4 weeks = 97% agreed

What I Say

I was really excited to try out this new product. As I suffer from dark circles, blemish prone and dull skin this foundation really does sound perfect!

I went for the lightest shade 51, I love the fact all Bourjois foundations stick to the same shade numbers! It's a good match but just slightly too dark for me. Application wise - it goes on very smoothly. I find it easiest to blend with my fingers. Also the finish is matt so using my fingers helps to get it on before it dries. When applied it looks really natural and almost like your not wearing any foundation at all! It doesn't feel heavy and doesn't 'sit' on top of the skin. I have normal/combination skin and I didn't need to use a powder with this. 

The main selling point of this foundation is the three concealing properties. I felt it did cover my bad dark circles but I still needed a concealer. Same with my blemishes, the redness what reduced but I still need a bit of concealer. It did help to brighten my complexion. 

It claims to last 16 hours,  not too sure about that! I would say it lasted 8-10 hours on me. I feel like this foundation would cling to dry patches if you had any. The coverage is medium. 

 Overall

This foundation is best for oily/combination skin types, the summer months and people with minor blemishes to cover. This reminds me slightly of Estee Lauder Double Wear, however not as heavy but same finish.

Bourjois 1 2 3 Perfect Foundation - �10.99 from Boots or Superdrug.

Not a bad high street foundation, I really want to try out the concealer version of this! I'm tempted to try out some other Bourjois foundations, let me know your favs! x

Read More