At home acrylic nails

Hi guys!  I'm slightly OCD about my nails lol  I would dare to say my husband and son are the only 2 people in the last 7 years to see me without my nails done (and that would only be for a day at most) Once my son was no longer in diapers, I started using the Kiss and Revlon glue on artificial nails.

They were my every day nails for about 5 years.  I love the polished look of a french manicure and I liked the length these gave me.  At $7 a pack, they were more economical than having my nails done at the salon.  Everyone thought I had them done professionally and would ask who did them.  The thing I didn't like about them is they would start popping off after a little over a week and I would lose one at the worst times.  I also could never get the seal quite right around the perimeter and would have a teeny bit of water leakage underneath.

So, I took the plunge and got in to the world of gel polish aka Shellac & Gellish.  Gel polish is awesome.  The finish wears like artificial nails, as in it does not scratch, chip or peel like normal polishes.  My nails are very flimsy and gel polish would make them firm and durable.  I would change polish because of nail growth rather than chips, etc.  I used this for about 2 years and although I do love it, I miss my nail extensions.  My nails would get fairly long with gel polish but not the length I really like.

I started looking online and researching doing acrylic or gel overlays with tips at home.  I found several options I want to try but today, I got the
Kiss Lightening Speed Salon Dip Powder Manicure Kit.  I chose to try this one first because you do not have to have a UV lamp to use this kit.  I have a UV lamp from doing the gel polish but I dont think that's something the average Joe has on hand so I was trying to find a kit that everyone could use.  At Walgreens this kit was $14.99 regular price.

This is what it looks like:

And this is what you get:



• Activator spray .64 oz
• Brush-on gel .25 oz
• Acrylic dip powder .26 oz
• Gel activator spray nozzle
• White buffing block
• Nail file
• Manicure stick
• 24 white tips
• 20 natural tips

To start, you push your cuticles back, cut/file your natural nails pretty short and make sure they are clean of dust from filing. This is what mine looked like (see why I have to have my nails done? lol) :

Next, you match up the tips you want to use.  I chose the white tips.  You hold them up to your natural nail to see which ones fit width wise.  If they are too large, you file the sides down until they fit.  My first beef with this kit was I had to file almost every nail, none of them matched.  Once you have the nails filed to size and ready to go, you take the brush on gel and paint a thin little line on the bottom on the tip.  Then you press it on your natural fingernail for a few seconds until it has dried.  Continue until all fingers on one hand have tips.  Then, you cut and file the tips to your desired length.  You also want to buff the line where the tip meets your natural nail just a little bit so it will blend in nicely.  This is what mine looked liked after I had cut and filed.



Then the fun starts.  You take the brush on gel and apply a thin, even coat to your thumb nail, then you dip your thumb in the acrylic powder, shake the excess powder off.  Repeat on your remaining fingers until they all have acrylic powder on them.  Then you brush the gel back on your thumb nail, on top on the powder.  The mess begins now.  After you do this, the gel and powder start to harden - you are instructed to wipe your brush before dipping it back in the gel to move on to the next finger.  My brush immediately started stiffening.  As I completed the 2nd layer of gel on that hand, the end of the brush was hard as a brick making it nearly impossible to evenly coat the nails.  After this step,  you spray on the activator spray on your nail and then buff your them with the provided white buffing block.  At this point, I was annoyed with the brush but pretty happy with the results.  I put a coat of clear polish on top to make them nice and shiny.  Here is what they looked like after the clear coat:

From a distance, I think they look great.  Up close, I see lots of imperfections.  The second hand was a million times harder to do with the brush being nearly impossible to use.  I was even dipping it in pure acetone between dips back in to the bottle and it was still a huge mess. 

Overall, for $15, its a good looking artificial nail.  The tips are well attached and feel very secure.  The smooth gel coat over top gives a really professional nail look.  If you can paint your own nails, you can do this kit.  Even with the trouble I had on the second hand, it looks good and no one just glancing at your nails would see the imperfections.  Although there are still tips, activator spray and acrylic powder left to do another set of nails, the brush on gel is cashed in.  Will this be my new go to?  Probably not.  I'm going to try some other gel and acrylic overlay products in hopes to find one I like better.  I'll update and let you know how long these last.  If you have any at home products that you love or any that you would like to know how they work, let me know and I'll try them out!

Ah, Teal

Hi!!  Sooo, I'm seriously in love with the color Teal these days.  I dont have a ton of clothing that color so when I do wear it, my eyes are all out lol  I snapped these pics really quickly this morning and didn't do a tutorial but if anyone is interested, just give me a shout and I'm happy to do one.

Products used:

Starry Eyes Serum as the primer on my upper lid, under my brow

Black Primer on my lower lid - under the teal becuase the color I had was slightly lighter than what matched my shirt :)  It is not currently listed on the site I purchased from but if you are interested email me and I will direct you to another company

Foiling medium  - I dipped my brushes in this (just a teeny bit) before I dipped them in the loose shadow to make the shadow more vibrant and metallic.  Foiling medium is cool stuff and you can do a lot with it. (such as make shadows eyeliners)

Grafitti Eyeshadow - teal on my lower lid and to line my lower lash line

Sleigh Bells - as my outter v and crease blending to my upper lid (not nearly as bright silvery in person as the pic on the website of the product)

Cotton - under my brow as a highlight and in the inside corner of my eye to brighten

Black Liquid Liner on my upper lash line

Black Mascara - upper and lower lases

Question

Hi guys! I have some cool things planned to show you soon, life has been crazy busy!  A quick planning ahead question for you...would any one be interested in purchasing small gift sets of some of my go to eye shadows if I put them together for Christmas?  Shoot me an email, text, FB message or reply on here if you might be interested.  Thanks!  Be back soon!

Carina Dolci and a coupon code!

First, thank you guys for the amazing support and volunteers!! You have truly made my heart smile!  Homecoming hair and makeup appointments (by non-family members lol) have already been booked - that's so much more than I could have imagined at this point!!  I am so excited and grateful!

In the last post, I told you to check out Etsy.  I hope you have browsed a little, its completely addicting, just like Pinterest but that's a whole 'nother blog post!

One of my favorite (and I have quite a few lol) cosmetic shops is Carina Dolci.  This shop led me to discover the power of eyeshadow primer. Their primer is called Starry Eyes Serum.  Its a super light weight, clear primer.  There are many varieties of primers on the market and I'll go in to some of the others later but this is my every day, go to primer.  Just like when painting a wall, primer for your eyes insures a properly prepped surface for smooth shadow application.  It makes your shade more vibrant, minimizes fallout (the pesky little flakes that end up on your cheek when you apply eyeshadow) and makes it last a lot longer.  There is nothing that irks me more (well, yes, I'm sure there is lol) than having great eyeshadow on in the morning only to check it later in the day to find its creased, faded or spread where I didn't want it to be.  Starry Eyes Serum is a little miracle in a bottle every day but especially on hot, humid or even rainy days when makeup tends to melt, run or smear!

This is what the bottle of serum looks like.  It has its own doe foot applicator and a little goes a long way!  I think the best way to describe what it feels like is kind of like if you squirted eye drops out and then applied them to your lids with your fingers.  Its a cool, slightly wet feeling but not over powering at all.  It doesn't run and dries quickly.  I actually do one eye at a time when applying makeup to insure getting the power out of the primer.  I will prime and do all of my shadow application on one eye and then do the other so it doesn't dry too much before I begin.  The serum also does not have a scent for those of you that are sensitive to fragrances.

I picked a light purple and dark purple shadow to swatch to show you the difference of primer vs no primer.  The light color is called Lollipop and the dark color is called Grape Pop Rocks.  Both colors have a smooth consistency with a pop of sparkle.  As you can see, they are loose pigments rather than pressed eyeshadows.  I had never used loose pigments before I discovered Etsy and now I rarely use pressed. 

Side note...I need to take pictures in natural light from now on - these taken in indoor lighting don't do the colors justice! Sorry!

I swatched both colors on the inside of my arm.  The left shows no primer and the right shows with primer.  Its especially noticeable with the darker color but also makes the lighter color stand out more and adhere better.  Starry Eyes Serum makes my shadow stay in place without creasing from the time I put it on in the morning until time to go to bed.  Its crazy how fresh this makes eye makeup look all day!

This is one of those simple "duh" things for me.  When I tried it and thought of putting makeup on my face like paint on a wall, priming just makes sense!  For those of you (and I know you are out there lol) grimmacing at the thought applying colorful, bold, dark shades, we are going to ease in to it and go over techniques that will allow you to apply with confidence and make them as bold or subtle as you are comfortable with.  Both of the shades above are totally wearable shades for anyone!  Some of you see me often in person and know that my face varies greatly depending on my mood and the color palette I've chosen for the day.  If the way I sometimes wear my eyeshadow is too bold or colorful for you, don't worry, we will go over how to make it work for you!

Carina Dolci is a fabulous shop all around.  The shadows are great quality.  They are smooth and the shimmery pigments do not have large glitters in them like some other brands do. They are teeny, tiny flecks of sparkle that don't over power but they truly do brighten up your face.  The primer is a must have for me now.  I am on my second bottle and highly recommed it. If I have to pack an overnight bag for a trip, you can guarantee this is in it!

The fabulous owner of Carina Dolci is such a complete sweetheart!  She truly cares about making her customers happy and producing a quality product.  She has a lot on her plate right now so her turnaround time is slightly longer than normal but I promise you it is worth the wait!  Her packaging is adorable - the shadows come wrapped like little pieces of hard candy and that's got to make you smile when you open it! 

A huge thank you to Carina Dolci for offering a 10% off coupon code for you guys to use!  Just put in LEEELLEN12 in the promo code box at checkout and your discount will be applied!  Go show some love and treat yourself to something new!

P.S. If you are new to Etsy, the checkout is very similar to Ebay's buy it now.  It directly links to Paypal.  Super easy and fast!

At home this week, we've been working hard on making a little area of the house into a functional space for makeup and hair.  Its not 100% complete, I'm still looking for "the right" storage containers and decorations but I'm super excited about it and will probably give you guys a little sneak peek this week ;) 

Stay tuned!

Hello!

Hi and welcome to my blog!  A few weeks ago in church, it was said that the majority of people work in jobs they don't love.  If you ask the average person if they could make the money they do now, doing something else, would they pick a different job? Most would say yes.  I have a great job and I'm very thankful for it.  I enjoy the people I work with so I am very blessed!  My answer to the question of what would I be doing for a living if money was not a factor - a couple of things come to mind, a hair dresser, makeup artist, personal shopper, costume designer, buyer for a dept store etc.  Those things are my passion and I love researching, shopping and dreaming of them in my mind. Feeding off of that is the reason for the blog, it gives me an outlet to share what I love even if its not what I do as a profession.

So, I constantly get asked where I get my makeup and what I use.  Since I'm a complete shopaholic, I have searched the web and found some great little shops that produce awesome products.  That being said, when I get asked where I get stuff, it gets kind of complicated sometimes because no one has heard of these shops, so I thought having a blog that links the shops would be kinda cool.  From makeup to custom nail decals (like the NVR Elite that some of you saw) to jewelry and more! I'm going to start by introducing you to Etsy  If you are not familiar with it, then hold on to your britches, you are in for a treat!  Etsy has everything and the kitchen sink.  The majority of stuff is handmade by small business owners or hobbyists. Its so fun just to browse at the creativity on that site!  Its also crazy cool to have the owners create custom items featuring our local sports teams or just unique themes etc. I have really connected with several shops on there and will be featuring and reviewing some of my favorite products soon.  One of my all time favorite Etsy cosmetic shops will be up first and the super sweet owner is going to provide a coupon code that I can share with you guys too!!

To persue what I love a little farther, I'm also diving in to the cosmetology world.  Learning hair, makeup and nails.  Time does not permit me to attend school right now so I will be studying and learning on my own with the help of some amazing friends in the cosmetology world. I plan on doing the Paul Mitchell school cirriculum as my guide.  It will just be casual, at my house or yours, outside of business hours.  I have the CND Shellac nail system and some other fun toys at home so if you are up for a make over, nail polish or to be a guinea pig for my hair training, get in touch with me and we'll set something up! 

Since this is the first post, please feel free to tell me what you would like to see as far as featured products, tutorials, etc.  I have gotten a few emails about some of my makeup products so those will probably be the ones that get posted on first.  So, comment on here or shoot me a quick text or email with some questions or ideas! I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for stopping by!