Swatchicles

Hi all! I recently took up a little project which involves icecream sticks, fake nails, nail polish and a glue gun. The result? Swatchicles!

Swatches on a stick. Popiscle stick. Swatchicles YAY. I saw this idea on Very Emily. Hers looked so pretty, I just had to make my own!

It's super easy, a little time consuming if you have a lot of polishes, but it's all good in the end. All you need are some fake nails - I got mine from Bornprettystore but they're all different sizes so you can probably find some same size ones on ebay. You also need a hot glue gun and some icecream sticks!
Glue the edges of the top of the stick and hold your nail into place. That's it! So easy.

And then you label the sticks, I like to label them first and then paint it, just because it's easier for me that way, and I won't get mixed up with the dupes.

Now I clearly see the dupes I have in my collection which I didn't know I had. And it's a lot easier to see how the colour looks against your nail rather than holding the bottle along your fingers haha. I realised I have a lot of reddish pink colours haha. But they're the prettiest shade on your fingers, don't you agree? :)

It's also easier to make ombre nails! Check out this cute pastel nail combination I found.

And now they're just sitting pretty in my tin on my desk, ready for the next time I decide to paint my nails :)

Nail Art 101

As you’ve probably seen by now, my blog is majority nail posts. I don’t know exactly what sparked my flame for nail polish and nail art, because back in high school days, I only wore nail polish a few times a year since school didn’t allow it. And back in year 12, my version of being sneaky was wearing silver nail polish on the last week of school LOL.

I was rummaging through my drawers and found some nail stuff that I’ve accumulated over the past 1-2 years and I pretty much have all you need to create any kind of nail art your mind desires. I’ll list where I got everything altogether at the end of this post :)

Back then, my nail polish collection was somewhat about 5. You know, the essentials. Clear nail polish (which I thought back then could somewhat suffice as a top coat, little did I know....), a baby pink number, red and a coral pink. That was then.

Nowww, my nail polish collection is high up in the 100s! 105 to be exact, including my base coats and top coats. That’s quite a large number! And yet I still have trouble finding out what colour to wear on my nails on a weekly basis.

Dotting sticks. You don’t have to buy these, obviously. You can easily make one yourself at home, with a bobbypin! The ones I got came in a set of 5, each with varying sizes, but I like when u spin the stick, the twisty thing inside moves and twists. So cool! Yea...I’m easily amused.
Dotting tools also serve the purpose of helping you stick rhinestones on your nails. You just dip the tip into some clear nail polish (just a little bit, so it has some tackiness) and then pick up the stone of your choice and place it on your nail. Make sure your nail already has a top coat on as well too, while it’s wet so it can adhere easier.

Which leads us to rhinestones, or nail beads! I have three types, the colourful rhinestones, the pearl beads and the tiny caviar beads. These are an easy and pretty way to bling up a simple manicure, by adding a few or a lot, depending on your mood! I don’t believe in caviar nails – fully covering your nails in those beads). I bought these way before the caviar nail trend started and I was originally just going to use these as decoration. I feel that the caviar beads don’t last as long as rhinestones on your nails, but they’re still pretty cute.

Nail brushes are good for those random designs like flowers or little flicks. Another good alternative for less steady hands are the built in colour nail art pens with the metal tip. I don’t own any nail art pens yet. I might get some for some easy zigzag  designs, but I don’t mind it with a brush.

Nail tape. I saw some funky nail designs with metallic nail tapes, so I went ahead and bought these. They were $2 for 10 on ebay. Seriously, ebay is the best for CHEAP nail art stuff. I haven’t used these properly since I haven’t yet mastered the clean cutting along the outer edge of my nails.

credit

Sponges. Your answer to easy peasy gradient nails! People say you can use makeup sponges as an alternative, but I think they’re too dense and the sponging doesn’t come out right. The normal kitchen sponges will do fine (buy new ones, don’t use your mums lol). I got this cute little sponge set at Daiso, perfect size and a cute little handle for easy sponging.

I also have Konad plating stamps! This is what I first got when I was into nail art, but I failed miserably, so I haven’t really touched it since. I think I just need the proper nail polish or the proper plates. The plates I have aren’t the legitimate Konad stamping plates, so maybe that’s another reason why it doesn’t come out right. But I did buy a real Konad plate in # m57 just because it had pretty designs on it.

Here's my fail attempt:

 Nail stickers. Before I started out with rhinestones and dots and everything else, I started out with nail stickets. I've had the butterfly ones for a longggg time now. I remember buying them from this little stall at the markets, I think it was 4 for $10 or somehing. Those ones are actually quite sticky and stay even longer with a top coat on top.

Sticky tape. Tape is my best friend. These are the secret behind straight edged designs, not just a steady hand. I like to use the lesser quality sticky tape as it’s not as sticky and won’t peel off your nail polish in the process. But for a good fast drying top coat, Seche Vite dries in literally a few minutes and you’re good to go! Straight edged designs are also my favourite :)

Where to get the tools:
Dotting sticks: Ebay $1.99US here
Rhinestones (1.5mm): Ebay $2.29US here Be careful of checking the size before you buy!
Pearls: Ebay $3.69AU here
Caviar beads: Ebay $2.69US here
Nail brushes: Ebay $1.00AU (for 3) here
Nail tape: Ebay $1.97US here
Sponge: Daiso $2.80
Konad stamping: Replica - Bornprettystore 12 plates for $12.63 here. Real Konad - $10AU per plate here
Nail stickers: You can find them on ebay or Morning Glory!

I hope this inspires you to do some of your own nail art! With such cheap and easy ways to create pretty nails, get on it! :)

Covergirl TruBlend Foundation

I don't usually do foundation reviews because I find that it's so hard to match shades. I have always stuck with my BB creams, because it's practically made for asian skin and it's pretty much an all in one product. 

But when Priceline had a 3 for $30 promotion in their store, I couldn't pass it up, and chose of the foundations to try.

I chose the shade 420 - Creamy Natural. It's more of a neutral tone, I can't place it as pink or yellow. When I tried to swatch it against my hand at Priceline, I tried to remember the how my garnier BB cream looked like against my hand and hoped that when I got home, it would be the right shade. It was the right shade, thank goodness.

It's in a glass (?) packaging with a snap on lid and a pump, which is great for hygenic reasons! I don't know if you noticed, but with the pump, you can turn it left or right to block the pump or open it. See the little drop shape?

Left: Without foundation, Right: With foundation

The first thing you can probably notice is that it covered up some of my freckles! I'm not a big fan of my freckles, so yeah. It also kind of concealed the under eye area, just evened up the skin tone, an also the area around the sides of my nose. It also did a good job of getting rid of the natural oiliness shine of my skin. I wouldn't wear this foundation on its own though, just because I have oily skin, so I always have to top it off with a translucent loose powder, to mattify it and set my foundation at the same time.

This foundation,, I would say is medium coverage. If you wanted another layer, I'd think it'd look a little thick. I don't think this has SPF, so this foundation would be great for me at night without looking like a ghost when there is flash photography involved.

So for staying power, I'd say it does last a few good hours, and it'd be longer with a setting powder on top. I hate it if I'm not wearing a setting powder and you scratch your face and then your foundation can be found underneath your nails. Grossss.

Finshed look!

So sorry if this was a bad review, I honestly have no idea how to review foundations, haha.

Rolling into the second half of the year

Can you guys believe it's July already!
ALREADY! This year has seriously just flown by, love it! But as time goes by, we get older by the minute, and I think I'd like to be in my early twenties forever haha. I don't wanna grow up!

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, and I hope I'm not disappointing you guys with my lack of updates here, but you should really hit it up on twitter/instagram, that's where all the action happens! I've actually stopped buying makeup for a while since I've stuck to a routine so much now, being the boring person that I am, using the same products.
But the Maybelline Colour Tattoos have finally been released in Australia, so I might grab some of those and hit up a review for you guys :)

I do have a few (if I say so myself) AWESOME posts upcoming, including Nail Art 101, and Curling your hair: straightener vs hot rollers vs curling iron. But those will take a while to pump out, but please be patient! ^_^

Ohhh I also dyed my hair again! Back to being light again for me YAY. I used Loreal Preference Ultra Lightening something, I can't remember. But I do feel that Loreal hair dyes work the best for me and the words "Ultra Lightening" always helps! :)

So yeah, just the one pic today, hope you guys bare with me, I'll have those posts up soon! I should do more outfit posts. Okay, next time :)