Wednesday 29 June 2011

Nail Polish Haul with Swatches

I went to Trade Secrets yesterday and bought 10 new nailpolishes. All Swatches are below

Essie: Fair Game

Essie: Your hut or mine?

OPI: Don't Mess with OPI

OPI: Ink

OPI Cajun Shrimp

OPI: Mimosas for Mr. & Mrs.

OPI: Turquoise Shatter

OPI: Second Honeymoon

OPI: Malaysian Mist

OPI: Cosmo-not tonight Honey




Monday 27 June 2011

Bad Hair Day Tutorial

Having a bad hair day? Want to do something other than a ponytail or a braid? Well watch my video and find a cute and easy to do updo that is great for when you're having a bad hair day. It will take less than 10 minutes. My original video before editting was 11 minutes, but I was also talking through the process which ate up a little bit of time.

I hope you all enjoy this video. Talk to you soon!

Throughout the Years Birth to pre-school (Birth-4yrs)


I was born on January 2nd, 1991. At the time my big sister was 5. From what I've heard I was a pretty happy baby, not overly fussy and didn't cry. That changed however when I was about 3 months old and my mother took me to Florida with my grandparents. One night, everyone got up and went to a restaurant for dinner, also probably the first time I had been in a restaurant. Well from what I learned it was loud in there and I just started crying uncontrollably, nothing would sooth me. It turned out that my mother and my grandfather had to eat in shifts. My mom ate first while my grandfather stayed outside the restaurant with me and then when my mother was finished eating they switched. The next time I was crying to the point where there was no consoling me was when I was about 5-6 months old. My parents were getting ready to go out for dinner. It was the first time they were going to the be going out alone since I had been born. So they were just about ready to leave and I just started bawling. They didn't know what was wrong with me. They tried feeding me, wasn't the problem. They tried singing me to sleep, didn't help. The baby sitter had shown up as well. They didn't want to leave me crying like that with the babysitter there. My parents decided to just stay home. So they packed me up and took me to the doctors to see if there was something wrong with me (if I was sick). By the time we got to the doctor's office, I was fine no more crying nothing. Turns out I just didn't want my parents to leave me, so I cried until they decided to stay with me.

I started walking at 8 months. It was at that moment that my mother realised she could not take her eyes off of me. In the house all the chairs had to be kept upside down or else I would push them around the house to a counter and start climbing. It was like that until I was about 3 or 4.

We moved to my current house when I was just 18 months old. I don't remember much from the move however. As I had said, my mother could not take her eyes off of me after I started walking.  After moving my mom was getting ready to shower and had me in the bathroom with me and I for some reason thought it would be fun to run away from mommy and ended up tripping over my own feet and laded head first into the corner of the cabinet. I had to be rushed to the hospital and got stitches. To this day I still have a scar on my forehead. Since my birthday is early in the year, I started preschool at the age of 3 and finished at 4. It seems a lot older than many of the children who are in Preschool, but it was ok.

My best friend at the time was a little girl who I'll call KM. (I'm going to use initials throughout this series just so I can keep anonymity.) We did everything together. My mom even baby sat her right up until we both started Kindergarten.

That's pretty much all there is that I can think of saying about those 3-4 years of my life. I'll try and get kindergarten up as soon as possible.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Throughout the Years

Hello everyone!

I am thinking of starting a throughout the years blog series. Not sure if I'm going to do a vlog about it as well. I'll figure that out as I go. Just wanted to let you guys know that this is what some of my posts over the next few weeks will be about. I may post pictures from those years as well if I can find them. I'm doing this as a way for all of you to get to know who I am and what I've done and been through in my life.

Here's a short summary of what each post is going to be based upon.

1. Birth to pre-school (0-4)
2. Kindergarten (4-6)
3. First Grade (6-7)
4. Second Grade (7-8)
5. Third Grade (8-9)
6. Fourth Grade (9-10)
7. Fifth Grade (10-11)
8. Sixth Grade (11-12)
9. Seventh Grade (12-13)
10. Eighth Grade (13-14)
11. Ninth Grade (14-15)
12. Tenth Grade (15-16)
13. Eleventh Grade (16-17)
14. Twelfth Grade (17-18)
15. Freshman Year University (18-19)
16. Sophmore Year University (19-20)

I hope you guys enjoy these series :) Some of them may be hard to write, but I'm going to try my hardest to get one or two out every week for you guys to read! Birth-preschool will be out tomorrow!

Talk to all of you later!

Friday 24 June 2011

That Sun-Kissed Glow

As you all know there are many different ways to get that great summer tan.
  1. Outdoor Tanning
  2. Indoor Tanning
  3. Spray Tans (airbrush)
  4. Spray Tans (Machines)
  5. At Home Sunless Tanning Creams.
I am here today to talk to you about the pros and cons to each of these methods.

1. Outdoor Tanning
Outdoor tanning is simply being out in the Sun during the day and getting the rays naturally. You can either lie out in the sun or you can just be outside gardening, running, playing games, swimming, in other words being active in some way.
Pros
  • natural look 
  • easy to do 
  • happens every time your outside
  • cost efficient
Cons
  • high chance of burning
  • not a lot of capability to regulate as the amount of UV rays differ every time you're outside
2. Indoor Tanning
This is using tanning beds to gain that golden look. People stand or lie in these beds and are only allowed certain amounts of exposure.
Pros
  • Natural look
  • regulated amounts of time
  • lotions to help slow down the aging process. 
  • much less of a chance of burning
Cons
  • stronger UV rays reaching your skin
  • costly
  • speeds the aging process
3. Airbrus Spray Tans
These are the Spray tans you tend to see on people such as the Cast of The Jersey Shore. You're in a room with a person who uses an airbrush to paint your body with colour.
pros
  • sun free
  • gets you dark
cons
  • it's a paint so it doesn't last
  • tends to turn your orange
  • costly
4. Machine Spray Tans
If you have ever heard of Mystic Tan or Versa Spa that's what these are. They use a chemical called DHA to give your skin a bronzed glow. DHA is a non toxic chemical that reacts with your skin to create a tanned look.
pros
  • UV free
  • gives you a natural colour
  • tends to not streak
  • lasts 1-3 weeks
cons
  • costly
  • too much can look fake
5. At Home Sunless Tanning Creams
These are the creams like the Jegens Natural glow and such. They contain small amounts of DHA so they can look natural, but they also contain dyes as well.
pros
  • low cost
  • easy to obtain
cons
  • can turn your orange
  • tend to get streaky and splotchy if not applied correctly

Now I don't want to say UV tanning is good, but I do want to say that everything in moderation is good for you. A little bit of extra exposure to UV can be good because it helps to produce Vitamin D which helps reduce your chances of getting other cancers. 

If I had to choose one to gain colour from for the rest of my life I would probably choose the UV free spray tan machines. I currently use the Versa Spa and I love the colour I get from it.

One last thing remember when buying sunscreen, which is important to wear, that you don't go above SPF 30. Everything above SPF 30 works at the same level as SPF 30, so you are just paying for a number.

Hope this helped every one

Thursday 23 June 2011

Day to Night Makeup Look

Ladies and gentlemen here it is! My first YouTube video! What I wanted to do with this was show you how I would take what I consider my typical day look (for school, work etc) and how to turn it to night for a special event. From a slight change of the hair, to changing the makeup.

I normally go neutral and simple for a day to day basis. So I went with a soft brown and a shimmery gold. To transform into night I added a matte black shadow to intensify the outer corner and added more of the brown to the crease to add extra depth. I then accentuated my cheek bones with extra bronzer and a beautiful highlight. Then making my lips look full with a two tone lip colour; a deep red on the outer corners, fading into a light pink in the very center.

If you like what you see comment and subscribe to my channel. More will be coming and I'd like to hear what you have to say. I know the quality is shitty I'm sorry, I still need to get a better camera and a tripod. Also I need to figure out how to light my videos better.

I hope you all enjoyed this! I'll speak to you next time!

OPI Shatter Polish

As many of you have already read the OPI shatter polishes are amazing. I tried them out on the weekend for the first time and fell in love. I currently have Shellac (on day 6 now) on my finger nails so I couldn't try the shatter polish on my fingers, but let me tell you trying it on my toe nails was worth it. I always get bored with just a regular colours and they chip and fad so quickly. The shatter polish added a little bit of excitement and I'm on day 5 with it on my toe nails and I have yet to have any chipping or fading.

I realised that if you applied the polish in a different way, the polish would shatter in different directions. most people just apply it like traditional polish. That still looks really cool but you should try applying it sideways, diagonally, even in a v-shape. The patterns that result are so interesting and amazing looking that I can't wait to try it out with more colours on my fingernails.

If you haven't tried it out yet you really should. Find a friend who has it, buy it for yourself, whatever you do you need to try it!

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Shellac Nails


I've had the Shellac process done on my nails twice now. Each time they have gone over very well. I love it so much. For those of you who don't know what Shellac is, it is a nail treatment with the properties of gel polishes, but are much less harmful on the same scale as regular polishes. The process is quite quick. When I had this done I also had my eyebrows done. From the time I entered the salon to the time my nail were dry was just 45 minutes. If you think about it, it would be about 10 minutes tops for my eyebrows and then a walk to the nail area, it probably took 30 minutes for my nails to be completely ready. I'll go over the process with you quickly.

I sat down at the table and had my nails filed and shaped, and my cuticles cleaned up. After that was done (took maybe 10 minutes tops), the uv curer was pulled out. She did the base coat on my first hand and put it into the uv light for 10 seconds while doing the other hand and then they switched places. At this point she started the first coat of my white tips for my french manicure each hand cured for 2 minutes. Then she did the second coat of white and cured each hand for 2 minutes. At this point the colour coats were finished. All that was left was the top coat. Once the top coat was applied each hand was cured for 2 minutes. She then took a cotton pad soaked in alcohol and cleaned off the sticky film that was left. My nails were DRY by this point. She then took a lotion and moisturized my entire arm and hand.

Overall I love this process. It is still quite expensive with french tips, I paid 63$ CAD. I'm glad that they last 14-21 days because spending that much on a weekly basis would be horrible.

To remove all you need is nail polish remover with a high acetone concentration. What you do is you take a cotton ball soak it in the polish remover and then place it on your nail and wrap your finger and the cotton ball with tin foil to add a slight bit of heat. You leave this on for 10 mins and then rub off any excess and you should be fine.

My reccomendation to everyone is to get this process done if only for a special occasion. The only down side is that you have to be able to commit to one colour for a minimum of 2 weeks. You can also purchase the products for this process for your home as well if you really want to learn how to do it.

Have fun Shellacking!