My Beauty Life Lately: Pictures

Long time no write! Once again, I've broken a promise on here. I have so many ideas for posts (eyebrows, beauty resolutions, tutorials for all sorts of eye shadow, fashion, etc.), but laziness always wins. I have been newly inspired lately by Pinterest, a virtual "pinboard" of sorts, where users can post inspiration for a variety of things.
Some of the makeup and nails are truly gorgeous and they push me to try new things. I've recently made a big change hair wise as well- I stopped washing my hair every day, and now only shampoo every other. Though it was hard at first, my hair adjusted within a few weeks, and it saves a lot of time. Now if only my hair would start growing more quickly... I do notice changes in terms of health though, which I'm happy for. We're on Christmas break now, which will hopefully translate into some new posts- I have a lot to say, but often can't be bothered to take the accompanying pictures. I know, that's no excuse. Anyway, here are a few of the more recent things that I've managed to photograph. Enjoy! :)


Nothing super special, just sort of a new technique: using brown eyeliner as a base and mainly dark colors on the lid. Brown on brown eyes is underrated :)


My Thanksgiving makeup! I didn't go anywhere, but I still wanted to do my makeup sort of holiday-ish, hence the fall colors.


Tonight's project, galaxy nails! Excuse my horrid edges- and that's after cleaning it up. These really do look so cool, and aren't as time consuming as a lot of other detailed nails. It takes a lot of nail polish, and a sponge (I use clean makeup applicators, available for purchase at most stores), but other than that, nothing special work wise. I've got to stop picking my nail polish off- I like doing things like this, but it's usually wasted because of how quickly I pick it off.
Anyway, I really do hope to write more this week. I've let my other blog go as well; the past few months have been rough, but things are getting a lot better. Hope everyone is having a good almost Christmas :)

-Rhiana

Konad Tutorial

I ordered my Konad stamping kit several months ago and decided I need to finally write about it! I love it. It is really cool! It is kind of messy but easy to use and to prove it, I have a tutorial!

To use the Konad, you need a stamper, scraping tool, and design plates. I ordered a double sided stamper. The large side is great for all over design and the small end is good for small images. I also ordered six image plates to start out with: M65, M61, M57, M60, M63, and M71.





Onto the tutorial :)This manicure looks really similar to Sally Hansen Nail Effects in Misbehaved, which is what originally inspired me.



1. Clean and prep nails as usual. Apply a base coat if desired, and let it dry. Apply 2-3 coats of a base color. This is the color that will show through the Konad print. This is two coats of one of my favorites, Orly Rage.



2. Make sure all Konad tools are cleaned with non acetone nail polish remover and cotton swabs. Place the stamping plate on a paper towel, because it gets really messy. Use a thick nail polish and paint it over the design that you want to use. The company will try to tell you that this only works with their "special polish" but this is not true. Any nail polish will work of it is medium to thick consistency. For this manicure I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and Konad plate M57.



3. Use the scraping tool and slide it across the image that you want to stamp to scrape away the excess nail polish.



4. Use the stamping tool and roll it across the image to pick it up. This step must be done quickly or the polish will dry and the stamper will not pick it up.



5. After aiming the stamper, roll it across the nail to transfer the image.





6. Clean up around the edges with polish remover and a cotton swab, apply a top coat, and thats it! Messy but so cool! And so easy to do :)



I really do love it. I have had the opportunity to do this on several other girl's nails and it is a lot of fun. I want more image plates from both Konad and Bundle Monster. Christmas!

Hope this is helpful!

Naomi

Tutorial: Let's Wing It

Though today's didn't turn out the best that it ever has, winged eyeliner has become one of my newer, more favorite ways to wear my makeup. Though it looks simple, it took me a while to get the hang of, because the shape can be surprisingly difficult to master. I attempted a tutorial for it, in the hopes that maybe the few tips I've learned can help someone else. Enjoy :)


You'll want to start off with some gel or liquid eyeliner (mine is Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Blackest Black), and a brush to apply the liner; I also suggest a black eyeshadow (not pictured here) and a thin brush to apply that with.


Here's a close up of the brush I used to line my eyes- Mac 210. It's a very small brush that allows for a lot of control. An angled brush would also work well.


To begin, I dipped a brush in some black eyeshadow (Carbon from Mac) using a Loew-Cornell #8 brush (meant for painting, great for makeup, and pretty cheap)...


...In order to sketch myself a basic line that would determine the shape and length of my wing. This is one of the most important steps for me. I make a stright line up from the edge of my lower lashline, like in the next picture. Here I had already put a nude base over my eye (Eden Primer Potion from Urban Decay), and applied mascara to my upper lashes. I do that anyway before applying any of my makeup, but I actually think it makes it easier with winged eyeliner- the lashes are much harder and easier to line over, if that makes sense.


Doing the black line then makes it much simpler to fill in the rest of the liner.


I then just connect the liner to my lashline by going straight down from the top of the black line. Make sure to fill in the gaps well; I've missed the spot right in my outer lashline a few times, and it's frustrating. Mine looks a little bumpy, I guess I was just having an off day? I also go over my eyeliner with the same black
eyeshadow used before. I like to do mine fairly thick, and have the wing extend sort of far, but that's just what I think looks best with my eye shape. Obviously, adjust accordingly with width and length for your personal preference.


I couldn't get a good picture of my eyes open for the life of me, so I cropped a candid one taken later that night.

This look is easy once you get the hang of it, and quick. It's dramatic without being over the top, and it lasts all day.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend,

Rhiana

Vintage Flower Nails and My First Half Moon Manicure

I haven't blogged in a really long time. It feels good to do it again, actually. I hope I can fix this bad habit of never updating. I have pictures of two manicures I decided to try in these last few weeks that I wanted to share. First I tried vintage roses with nail brushes. Here's how it turned out!

I used China Glaze For Audrey as the base color and Orly Two Hour Lunch, Essie Lady Like, and OPI Don't Mess With OPI for the roses, and Seche Vite as my topcoat. I would have taken pictures for a tutorial but forgot. I really loved it! Definitely one I will do again.

Next is my first attempt at a half moon manicure and a tutorial to go with it. To start, clean and prep nails as usual, and apply a protective base coat and two coats of a base color. This is the color that will show through in the end. My base coat is from Nail Magic and my base color is Essie Lady Like.


You want to let your base color dry completely before moving onto the next step. This is very important! I gave mine an hour just to be safe. You will need these reinforcement stickers for the next step.


Cut the stickers in half so they lay on the nails better. Place a sticker at the base of each nail. The most important part here is that you keep the amount of nail covered by the sticker consistent. You want each half moon at the base of the nail to be the same size. Press down the edges really well.


Take a darker polish and paint over the stickers, covering the part of the nail that is showing. I used Essie Power Clutch. Let the second color dry completely, then pull the stickers off slowly and gently, pulling away from the base of the nail.


Apply a topcoat and you are finished!



I actually really loved the way this turned out. But it is not something I will do often because of the amount of time it takes. This simple looking manicure took me an hour and a half, and it ended up chipping two days later. It is unique and really pretty but a lot of work so I will probably not be doing it very much.

That is all for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Naomi

On a side note, I just ordered a Konad nail art kit with five or six plates and I cannot wait to get it! :) I'll post about it soon!

Birthday Beauty & Aztec Nails

I'd like to start with an apology... :(. I guess my excuse is that school started and I was in a bit of a beauty stand-still. I will try to do a tutorial soon, but in the meantime, my birthday was on Monday (Labor Day!), and as usual, most of what I got had to do with makeup or beauty. The only nail polish missing is Lady Like by Essie; I let a friend borrow it. Onto pictures, enjoy, and this blog will not go six weeks without an update again. I hope.


The beautiful makeup! Carbon eyeshadow from Mac (I've only used it as an eyeliner. It's just a matte black, but a staple for eyeshadow.) Blind Date lipstick from Sula Beauty- a pretty pink that's all natural! Rouge Cream Blush in Natural from NYX (again, a pretty pink. Love NYX and all of their products that I have tried, minus the jumbo eyeshadow pencils.) NYX trio in Golden/Rust/Walnut Bronze (right up my alley, I love golds and the like.) UD Eyeshadow primer in Eden- this covers the lid beautifully, like a concealer only better, and a little goes such a long way. Thanks to Angelique for most of these gifts, minus Carbon and the Clinique High Impact mascara, which is better for more of a natural look. I use it as more of a building mascara.


Some poor swatches, I should have taken these in natural light, but when the rare blogging mood strikes nowadays, I take what I can get. From left to right: the three eyeshadow shades from the NYX trio, though really, only the cranberry and light purple-y/hard to pinpoint shade can be seen. The missing one is a golden yellow. All are shimmery and very pigmented. Then we have Carbon, which is not true to color- I had to edit this photo to bring out the other colors, and Carbon sort of got lost. It's just a black. The blush and lipstick are next, followed by UD Eden. All so pretty! :).


Nail polish! Like I said before, Lady Like is missing; it's a beige mauve sort of color, the same kind I'm always attracted to. Essie's fall collection is out (the grey and plum color featured are both from there), and it's definitely unique. Lots of muted, very opaque colors. From left to right, Power Clutch (Essie grey green. Very different, I own nothing like this), Are We There Yet? (OPI, an orange with very light shimmers running through. Gorgeous), Carry On (Essie, a little disappointed with this. I hoped it would look better on me. Very rich plum shade, almost black in certain lights), Turquoise and Caicos (Essie, I love this! So much prettier than For Audrey on me, even if it does take three coats), and last, Disco Lights (Milani. Just a standard glitter). I hadn't gotten any new nail polish for a while, and I'm so glad to be getting back into it. Now I just need to break my worst habit- picking my nail polish off right after I do it...


And here, my attempt at Aztec-inspired nails. Sorry that it looks a bit sloppy, I had just done it and wanted to take pictures before it got ruined. To do this, I painted three coats of Turquoise and Caicos, then, using a nail brush (if you go way back to one of the first posts, there's a picture of it), I painted orange stripes using Lunch at the Delhi from OPI, and small purple dashes with Essie's Carry On. I loved this combination of colors!
Again, sorry for the neglect of the blog! If we still have any readers, try to stick with us for a bit longer :/.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Rhiana

Review: Urban Decay Naked Palette

So I lied in the last post, but really this time, the next few will be tutorial/outfit based. A lot of people on the internet have done a review on this palette, but I'm the only person I know in real life who has it, so I thought it could be helpful.
First, the price was $48, and mine came with the eyeshadow brush. It's synthetic fiber and while it looks nice, it doesn't impress me. I wish I had gotten the one with the double-sided eyeliner, it was cheaper too. This palette comes with 12 eyeshadows, so if you're getting technical, that's only $4 per shadow, for high quality makeup. Not bad. There are two matte shades, Naked (a skintone nude) and buck (a midtone brown), while the rest lie between satin and shimmer. This is the palette to have if you're a neutral eye lover. It is also very easy to travel with, being compact and versatile. I don't really care about packaging aesthetics too much, but it does have a sleek look to it. Mine is a little beat up because I'm a bit messy when I do my makeup, but it still looks nice. I've read on other blogs that the size of these shadows is nearly as big as a regular UD shadow, which I believe are somewhere from $15-$20.
The texture of these shadows is great- they're all very soft and pigmented. Sidecar is a bit hard to work with because it is very glittery, but most of the others are a dream. Gunmetal (a silvery blue) could be have a little more color payoff, but it's the most unique shade (compared to the neutral feel of the palette), so I guess it's a fair trade. The golds (Half baked, Smog) are beautiful and work well on any eyecolor/skintone. The pinker shades (Sin, Toasted) and the darker shades (Darkhorse, Hustle, Creep) are all very nice. There is a whitish satin shade called Virgin too, and it ties with Toasted for my favorite color in the palette. All of these are wearable though, and there are many different combinations.
I wish there were one or two more matte shades, especially because Naked and Buck are so well done and easy to use. But that isn't really the style of Urban Decay- in nearly all my past experience with the brand, they like a lot of color and shimmer/glitter/wow factor. With that in mind, I think this is a great investment for those who like convenient, high quality makeup. I wouldn't recommend it for somebody who owns a truck of neutral shadows already, but for beginners or anybody who doesn't live in Sephora or Mac, it's great. I've included pictures, my swatches are never the best. But if you look around on different blogs, you can get a better feel for this palette. And there's usually a tester in store to try all over arms and hands. :)



Enlarge and names of colors should be visible.



(Left to right) Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked.



(Left to right) Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal.



*no swatches were done over a base, each one is only one quick swipe of each color.
Also, according to Temptalia.com, six of the shades included are permanent, five are new and one is a repromote. The site didn't list which were which, but I know that Smog, Half baked, Sin and Naked are all part of the permanent line.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! :)
-Rhiana

Outfit/Face of the Day + Soon to Come

Another outfit post, but this one has more variety. My makeup was done with the Naked palette again (so easy to travel with, I'm being boring and have only done my makeup with that lately). It's just a strong shape with browns and gold, nothing too special. When I'm back home, I think I might take pictures of each step for a picture tutorial on a basic neutral eye.
Outfit- I liked this a lot, it was hot outside and I had just gotten the shirt. I'm not a huge fan of shirts tucked into skirts anymore, but I like shirts tucked into shorts. The next post I want to do is a montage of pictures + tips for dressing a petite body. Finding clothes was so difficult for me for years because of my height (5'2") and proportions. I thought it might be helpful for somebody, I can't be the only short girl in the world :)
Shirt- thrifted from a consignment store, $4
High-waisted shorts- American Eagle, $30ish
Belt- thrifted, $4
Necklace- Lia Sophia, unsure of price
Shoes- I don't remember the store name, but the brand is called Breckelle's, $20
My hair was different, I'm getting tired of the same thing, so I did a middle part, waved it with a straightener and pinned the sides back.
Anklet (hard to see)- a gift shop, I really should have written names of stores down... $5






I'm still an awkward poser, sorry! I need help with how to not arrange my body in such weird ways. Oh, and on how to open my eyes.





Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! :)

-Rhiana

Tutorial: Water Marble Nails

I have been wanting to try new things on my nails and have kinda been stuck. I came across this awesome technique a few months ago but never tried it until a few days ago and now I cant get enough of it! Its really neat. I did it for three of my sisters and three friends and on myself :). So I'm doing my first tutorial on it :).

You start out by taping off your nails. This part can take a lot of time depending on how you tape your nails but I think its kinda worth it cuz it keeps your hands clean. Then paint your nails with one coat of a white polish. I use China Glaze White on White.

Get a small cup (I used a plastic one but any small glass or plastic cup works. Try not to use one any bigger than this.) and fill it with room temperature water. Pick you colors and decide what order you want them to go in. For this look I used OPI No Spain No Gain, China Glaze White on White, and Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzler. Picking colors is definitely my favorite part :). Then add one drop of a color to the water, then another color on top of that, then another and so on until you have created a sort of bulls eye. You can use as many colors as you want to do this.

Then use a toothpick to create your design. I used the toothpick to pull the edges to the middle to make a flower. This part can be frustrating. If you mess up, blow on the water a little bit to dry the polish quickly and use a cotton swab to wipe it out of the water. You do not need to change the water each time you make a new bulls eye.

When you finish creating your design, dip your finger into the water. I suggest doing two fingers at a time and thumb by itself. It helps save time and nail polish and it still turns out really nice. Once you dip your fingers, leave them in the water until you can take a cotton swab and wipe the excess polish out of the water. Then gently take your nails out of the water, pull off the tape, clean up the edges of your nails with a cotton swab and some nail polish remover, and apply a top coat. And you end up with really beautiful unique nails. :)

They turn out so gorgeous. Here are a few others I've done...

Zoya Yummy, Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzler, and China Glaze White on White.

Essie French Affair, Orly Ancient Jade, Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzler, and OPI No Spain No Gain.

Sinful Colors Timbleberry, Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, and China Glaze White on White.


Zoya Caitlin, China Glaze White on White, and Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzler.

China Glaze For Audrey, China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-el, and Zoya Dove.

And these are mine :). Sinful Colors Timbleberry and China Glaze For Audrey.

Loving this look! Give it a try. Have a good week everyone! :)

Naomi