From The Vault: Simple Glitter

... or maybe not so simple glitter.

This post is coming to you from the vault (or what I call my forgotten nail folder) since my nails are still painted Ocean Sunrise. They're holding up very well, showing simple tip wear on only one finger. Amazing! So, I decided to keep them until they start chipping.


With this in mind, I decided to post my before Easter mani. This mani was painted for one day of wear; between Paint Splatter to Hoppy Easter. I didn't want something I wouldn't want to take off so it had to be kept simple. This is what I came up with.

I used the polish that is quickly becoming a favorite of my collection. Maybe not my all time favorite but definitely within the top 10 ... maybe even the top 5 of the polishes I own. This is 2 coats of Wet n Wild Megalast in 'I Need a Refresh-Mint' with one coat of Funky Fingers 'Flashing Lights'.


Flashing Lights is a blue (or blue/green) based holographic glitter that I picked up at Five Below last month. The glitter is always catching the light and shifting colors. My two-year-old niece was fascinated by this mani and wouldn't let my fingers go for nearly five minutes, insisting she wanted her nails to look like mine. It must be something great if it can keep a kid that age distracted for any length of time!

What glitter post is complete without a blurred photo? This is just one coat of holo polish; you could certainly get a more eye-catching look with more glitter. However, I tried to keep the glitter (and thus the cleanup) to a minimum.

I thought I would take a moment and add a picture of the bottle so you can see what I mean when I call it a blue based holo. This is Flashing Lights compared to Sand & Stilettos, a purple based holo.

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Ocean Sunrise

I am so excited for today's post!! The women of my family started what we hope is a yearly tradition last year by going on vacation together. My mom, my sister, her three girls, and myself went to the beach for a few days. We're going for a full week this year!

My favorite part of being at the beach (besides everything!) was sitting on our hotel balcony every morning with a cup of coffee watching the sunrise over the ocean. I think I got more pictures of that than nearly anything else.

I don't think this is a design you look at and immediately think beach, but I'm getting a gym membership soon in hopes of toning up a bit for the beach. I needed motivation!! I look at my nails and see the overwhelming beauty of every sunrise I saw over the ocean. It's just what I need.

Thumb

I had such fun doing this mani. It was like truly painting on tiny canvases. I mixed up my own colors and swirled them around on my nails to get just the right look. I put the sun on my ring finger and edged the sunrise out to the purple and blue of a night sky just being touched by the sun's rays.


So, what do you guys think of my motivational beach nails?

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Foundations for Pale Skintones

You know that moment when you've finally found a foundation that matches you skin colour perfectly and you buy it immediately.Then when you get home you can't wait to try it out - only to find it doesn't match your skin at all. The colour is too dark, you feel disappointed and hide the foundation away in the hope you can at least use it when/if you get a tan this summer. Finding a foundation shade to suit you is hard enough without the added chore of finding one light enough. When i'm scouring the make up aisles in Boots I automatically head for the lightest shades of foundation. I know a lot of people can relate to this; so I wanted to compile the foundations I own which I think will be suitable for paler skintones! 

Light foundation shades swatched and compared. Photographed in order below.

The palest shade I own is this one by GOSHcalled X-ceptional Wear in Porcelain 11. The foundation has a medium coverage, dewy finish and stays on the skin. 

Some brands definitely seem to cater more for paler skintones. I would recommend checking out Collection 2000, GOSH and Revlon. I think MAC, Rimmel and 17 don't have a great diversity of lighter shades.

Embrace the pale look, but if you like a bit of colour opt for a tinted moisturiser for a instant boost. Or some trusty fake tan will do the job nicely, check out my post on fake tan here if your looking for one! 

Hope you have found this helpful, do let me know if you have any questions . What foundation do you recommend for pale skin?

@kiamakemeup                                                                                                                             Bloglovin 

Planning on doing some hair and nail tutorials soon - keep your eyes peeled for those! x

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Hoppy Easter!!!

Forgive me if this post looks all wrong. I'm writing it from my Kindle in the html. However I wanted to wish you guys a very Hoppy Easter and show you the nails I'm wearing today.

Be safe and enjoy your day. :)

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Paint Splatter - Image Heavy

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing great today. It's looking pretty nice here. The sun is shining, there's an Easter egg hunt later, and the kids are off school. Not my kids though since I don't have any�they're my sister's kids and it will be great to watch them hunt for Easter eggs. :)

The mani I have for you today is one I've been dying to try since I did The Hunger Games nails. Paint splatter!! I thought of doing pastels for Easter but I've fallen in love with the Funky Fingers neon orange color, Kingston, and decided to work around that instead. Wanting to give it a chance to really shine I used blue, purple, and yellow with the orange.


This post is very image heavy since I took pictures of nearly every stage of doing these nails. So, prepare yourselves. :p

The first part of doing these nails (after painting your base color) is taping your fingers. This will make cleanup much easier. This is 3 coats of LA Colors white. I've tried many whites (both cheap and expensive) and none have held up as well as this white. The whites I use chip within the day but LA Colors held up for multiple days and are only showing slight wear and tear to the tips. I definitely recommend hunting this polish out if you have trouble finding a good white because not only does it hold up well, I found it at my local Dollar Store.

The next step is gathering your supplies (polish and a regular old straw. I used a bendy one and it worked perfectly) and getting your station set up. You'll need something to put under your fingers while you 'splatter' or you'll end up with this mess all over your work station instead of on a piece of paper. This is just the mess from one hand. I switched papers for my right hand.

Even with the tape your nails will need some cleanup.

Direct Sunlight

Shade

Right Hand

I had trouble getting splatter on my right hand. It came out of the straw in blobs or small sprays, but in all I think it actually turned out better. I'll have to remember that less splatter looks more realistic when I do this again.


So, what do you guys think? Ready to try splatter nails? If you are, I recommend using your cheaper polishes. Splatter nails waste a good bit of polish, both with the actual splatter and with the large drops of polish you dip your straw into.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brillante
• LA Colors - BCC 561 (White)
• Funky Fingers - Kingston
• Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away!
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• NYC - Prince Street
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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The Luxe and Lush of Pink

Finally, we come to the end of the polishes I own from the Hunger Games collection. This last one was the hardest to find. I scoured the local shops and finally had to give in and order it online, paying the extra for shipping. Thankfully, I had a loyalty card and got an extra discount in conjunction with the already low price. In all, even with the discounts and sale prices, I paid the full price for this polish but it is so worth it.

This glitter does not picture to its full potential. I tried everything! Direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, shade, artificial light. My eyes saw the awesomeness of this flakie but my camera lens saw something completely different. It frustrates me to no end when this happens.


However, if you want to see at least some of the true potential of Luxe and Lush I recommend heading over to The PolishAholic's post: China Glaze Luxe and Lush

The flakies are in a very thick base. This makes it slightly hard to control where and how thick the glitter goes on. This is my first flakie polish so I'm not sure how this measures up to other flakie polishes. The flakes themselves flash many colors. I've seen green, blue, gold, pink, and a purple color at some angles. My favorite is the way the pink and gold flashes sometimes mix and create a perfect creamy peach or even a light salmon color. It makes this polish look expensive and ethereal. I can definitely see how Luxe and Lush relates to District 1, the district of luxury.


It was these peach/salmon flashes that made me choose to layer Luxe and Lush over a pink base color. And though the pictures don't show it too well, I think it was a really good choice.

I also want to mention how well Luxe and Lush removed. It was so easy to get this glitter off my nails. It took a bit longer than removing a few layers of simple nail polish but was nowhere near the ultimate hassle of removing glitter. Most of the flakies just sloughed right off and those that didn't came off with a few extra swipes. After that, my pink base polish was super easy to remove.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brilliante
• Sinful Colors - Beautiful Girl
• China Glaze - Luxe and Lush
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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Random life & nails post :)

Hey guys!!! So I know I've been away, but I couldn't help it! I have been having so much fun with my family outside since it's been pretty nice.

Jack, Chloe and I are a family of sudden hobbiest, lol. Is that even a word? I'm too lazy to Google. We all tend to get really into something together for a few months, and I mean REALLY into it, lol.

 About 2 weeks ago, Sears announced they were closing in a local mall, and everything was on sale, and well, I couldn't not check it out. We went looking for a pool/air hockey table, but they didn't have one that we liked, soooooo......we ended up purchasing a Doodle Bug mini bike, which we have renamed The Stinkbug, simply because Doodle Bug does not sound intimidating at all, haha. It is so much fun, and we have all been on it every night. Well, then Chloe had a hard time keeping up with us on the bike, her on her scooter. So the next week, everything at Sears dropped another 10%, so we all went back up, hoping they had another mini bike, so we didn't have to take turns. They did not, but TA DA, they had this adorable pink electric scooter!! Score! So for an early b-day present to Chloe, we got it. As soon as we got home we all ran outside and Jack started teaching her how to ride it. If you're friends with me on Facebook, I posted a short video.

Well, that's where I've been every night. Outside with the neighbors, they went and grabbed a scooter for their son, taking turns on the bike and scooter, and just enjoying some good old family fun. I've missed blogging, but my time away was totally worth it.

I thought I'd share some pics of Jack and I being complete dorks on the bike, and Chloe on her new scooter

(ignore my outfit, I literally had just gotten home from work, lol. The neighbors said all I needed was a 

beret : P )

Also, last night, I decided to try and make these awesome cookies called Unicorn Poop!! Check out the recipe here. Well..... have you guys seen those NAILED IT pics? Here are the ones I'm referring to. They crack me up every time I see them.

and now here is mine, LOL. Jack has renamed them, Melted Crayon Cookies. At least they still tasted good.

Okay, just so I don't end this 100% off topic, lol, here is a quick swatch of Petites Periwinkle, that I did a few months ago. BTW, my nails right now, are in horrible shape. All this outdoor fun, has been rough on them, so I am now back to nursing them daily :)

Hope you all are doing great!!!!!

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It's Just So Riveting

When I started my journey to acquire six polishes from the China Glaze Hunger Games collection I certainly didn't think Riveting was going to be one of the hardest won polishes. The only harder to find polish was Luxe and Lush ... which I did expect. Riveting seemed such an odd and out there color that I didn't think many would hurry out to buy it.


How wrong I was! I searched everywhere and finally had to break down and ask a professional friend to buy it at a cosmetology shop.

I am so glad I did. This color is amazing and so eye-catching, especially in sunlight. As you can see, it practically glows in direct sunlight!!

Riveting before its name change was known as Fire in Flight and was inspired by the flaming Mockingjay. I can certainly see why. The metallic orange turns a fiery reddish orange and the golden shimmer flickers through turning the whole nail into flames.

For those wondering what this mani looks like out of direct sunlight here's a picture. :)

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Giveaway Winner

After removing the invalid entires, out of the 530-some entires ... I was left with 493 valid entires to choose from. Not bad for a first giveaway!! Or any giveaway really. :)


Putting the number of valid entries into the random.org generator returned the winner, #44, Miranda W.


Congratulations to Miranda. She has already replied, and I will have the new additions to her nail polish collection shipped out as quickly as possible. :)

Thank you to everyone who entered, new followers and old!!

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what's inside my bathroom cupboard?

It's never normally this tidy,there's usually toothpaste splatters and fake tan stains.But i was cleaning it out today & thought it would be a good opportunity to blog about it (always thinking ahead!) I'm always changing what products i keep in the cupboards because i sometimes go off products or get new ones or just run out.

Some of my bathroom essentials include Vaseline, Sudocreme, Acetone and a flannel - I cannot function without these things in my life.

As you can see from the top picture there are two cupboards. One is filled with fake tan & the other is skincare. I don't use a lot of fake tan but if i'm looking a bit pasty I like to use it on my face. The tanning mitt was from the 99p shop and works wonders!

Skincare is important to me. I think before you go splurging on make up you need to invest in a skincare routine that works well for you. Because i try out a lot of different products my skin can sometimes get quite irritated -  Av�ne products are great for sensitive skin, I use something from Av�ne at least once a week. At the minute i'm trying out the range from Proactiv (skincare brand with Katy Perry in the adverts) I'll be sure to let you guys know how i get on. If i want a quick fix i'll use the Superdrug Essential Cleanser to remove make up - only costs 99p and does the job nicely!

I try to use a face mask once a week. The Dr. Organic olive oil one from Holland and Barrett pictured above is my fav.

I'm really into perfume. I like to have a different scent for different stages in my life. Moschino Funny was a present from my Dad & reminds me of school, Versace Red Jeans reminds me of my mum & Emporio Armarni Diamonds reminds me of my current job. And who doesn't want to smell nice?

So, that was a little sneak peak into my bathroom cupboard. I'm so nosey so i tag you all to do this post! Please do let me know if you wanted to know my thoughts on a specific product.

Pssst Hello new (& old!) readers, please leave a comment below so i can check out your blog too! Enjoying the easter holidays so far? 

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