Guest Post: Albertine's Floral Nail Tutorial

During the last Sunday #bbloggers chat I talked about how I'd like the opportunity to do/host more guest posting as it's such a nice way to put yourself out there. Luckily Albertine from DippyWrites had saw what I said and dropped me an email with her fantastic tutorial idea and we arranged to swap guest posts! Albertine is a really lovely girl and a great blogger so please go and check out her blog and maybe even give her a comment or follow! Keep a look out for her super cute moodboards that always leave me feeling inspired. Over to you!

Heya everyone! As Spring is (literally!!) just around the corner, I thought I would share with 

you a nice and simple floral nail tutorial. This is something I taught myself after seeing a few 

tutorials online and it's actually a lot easier than you would think to do!

I used my nail dotting tools to do this, but I think you could just as easily do it using a toothpick.

Okay so firstly paint your nails with a nude coloured polish. I used just one coat of Essie's Topless and Barefoot. Don't worry too much about it being a little bit streaky, as the majority of it will be covered with flowers.

Then, use your nail dotting tool or toothpick and a pale yellow nail polish to create the middles of the flowers. I decided to go for 3-4 per nail so it didn't look too crowded. Again, it doesn't really matter about getting these a perfect circle shape, as long as they're not too big, they'll be fine :)

Next, take a lilac nail polish and your nail dotting tool or toothpick and gently dab nail polish around the yellow centres of half of your flowers. I used Model's Own Lilac Dream for this (which is also a pretty good dupe for Essie's Splash of Grenadine!). The key to this is to make sure you don't have too much polish on your tool/toothpick, or it could end up looking a bit too messy.

Finally take a pink nail polish and repeat step 3. I decided to use Essie's Cute as a Button for this. And there you have it! Simple floral nails for spring :) Another great thing about this floral nail art is that you can use any colour you want for the petals, next time I'm thinking of using oranges and blues to create a bit of a clash!

I hope you've enjoyed reading my guest post for Lauren, and if you have, please feel free to check out my blog: DippyWrites :)

Thank you so much Albertine! Very pretty for Spring. I'm utterly dire at nail art so I'll definitely be trying this out some time soon. I'll be posting about my Top 5 Nail Varnishes for Spring over at DippyWrites so please go and check that out too when it's up, there are some really gorgeous colours that made the cut! 

Lauren

Valentine's Day Inspired Makeup Tutorial

Ahh, love is in the air... and by love I mean an inordinate amount of money and the pressure to somehow make sex more exciting than usual. I'm only joking! I'm not a total grouch. Whilst it's absolutely true that you should be loving your significant other pretty much every day, it's kind of nice to have a day dedicated to it. And it certainly doesn't have to cost a lot of money. I for one am intending on making my lovely boyfriend breakfast in bed which I know he's going to love.
Regardless of what comes with Valentines Day there's no denying that it can be pretty inspirational with it's classic girly colour palette and patterns. Since I recently received this palette (only £1.99!) I decided that I was going to experiment with some pink shadows.

1-2

Gently pat the lid shade all over the eye. I used my Body Shop Eye Shadow Brush. Blend slightly outwards to create a more soft, rounded shape. Using the same brush, work the crease shade into the crease and bring it under the eye about half way across. Using a clean brush (or even your little finger as I did) pat some of the lightest shade into the inner corner.

3-4

Apply a liquid liner. I used Illamasqua Precision Ink in Havoc which is a deep red/purple shade and dries to a wet-look finish. Matte black would be fantastic and much easier to wear, but since we're experimenting I think Havoc is great! Slick two coats of black mascara onto the top lashes and one coat onto the bottom lashes. I then defined my brows and highlighted the arch on the brow bone using the Soap and Glory Arch de Triumph.

4-5

That's the eyes finished! Looking very sleepy. For the lips I wanted to tie into the colour palette but keep them quite muted so as not to overpower the rest of the makeup. Annoyingly I didn't actually have any pastel pinks in my collection so I had to get creative. I began by slicking on a thin coat of Rimmels Apocalips in Nude Eclipse and evening out with a lip brush (or fingers.) I then used Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie over the top by rubbing the product onto my finger and gently patting across the lips. I am absolutely thrilled with these lips! It just goes to show that you don't always need new products to get the desired effect and I'll be experimenting some more in the future with colour mixing.

Here's the finished look. Fit for Aphrodite herself! ;)

Products Used:

Face:

The Body Shop Moisture Foundation in 03

The Body Shop Lightening Touch Concealer in 01

The Body Shop All In One Face Base in 03

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light

Illamasqua Illuminator in Slay

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in Berry 06

Eyes:

Technic Electric Beauty Ultra Violet Palette

Illamasqua Precision Ink in Havoc

Soap and Glory Arch de Triumph

The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara in Black

Lips:

Rimmel Apocalips in Nude Eclipse

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie

I really hope you liked my look and would love to see some links to your Valentine's looks! Obviously this is a bit "out there" with the red liner but I still love it and I did wear this out! Very brave for such a beauty and fashion backwards town but I felt great.

Lauren

Purple Duochrome Make Up with the MUA Immaculate Collection Palette

I posted the swatches from this palette here the other day and I absolutely fell in love with the very last shade in the palette.

It's an utterly beautiful purple based duochrome that shines electric blue.  I really hope that MUA decide to release this and some more duochromes in the single shadows. I know I'll be snapping some up! There were a few other colours in the palette that I was really drawn to but none so much as the duochrome. I've never used a shade like this before so of course I immediately had to whip out my makeup bag and start experimenting!

This is definitely more of an evening look but I just love it so so much! The camera isn't picking up the blue shimmer quite so well as I would have liked, this is definitely one that needs to be seen in person. This look was unbelievably simple but it gives such an impact. I think that this will be a go-to look for sudden invitations, it's very quick and perfect for a pop of colour. Ideally I would love to add some dramatic lashes to this, but I didn't have any! Boo.

Products Used:

MUA Immaculate Collection Palette

Soap and Glory Arch de Triumph

e.l.f Eye Brightening Pencil Liner in Black

The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara in Black

Step 1.
Load the purple duochrome onto an eyeshadow brush and gently pat all over the lid. There is a bit of fall out so I do recommend applying your base afterwards or at least using some tissue under the eye to avoid that lovely purple concealer look.

Step 2.

Lightly trace out where you want your wing to be and bring it under the eye in one seamless line. Blend the wing  in towards the lid to connect up the design. 

Step 3.

Take a tiny amount of shade 7 on the same brush and blend very lightly into the crease for definition. 

Step 4.

Take the highlight pencil from the Arch de Triumph and smudge onto the brow bone and into the inner corner. Gently blend the edge of this with the shadow using a clean blending brush. It will create a lilac haze and soften the look.

Step 5.

Apply the liner to the upper lashline. Press the purple duochrome over the top to lightly define. The black alone looked quite harsh.

Step 6.

Add a couple of coats of your favourite mascara!

Et voila, a simple, easy to wear, evening look that can be applied in minutes. And using a super cheap palette! It doesn't get much better than that.

What do you think to this look? Will you be trying it any time soon? Also, I'd love some recommendations for some other cheap duochrome eye shadows!

Lauren

Display Picture Lip Make-Up Ingredients (a.k.a The £5 Perfect Red Lips!)

I've had a few people give me some lovely compliments on the make up that I'm wearing in my profile picture. I've already shown everyone what's on my eyes through this post but I have yet to share my lipstick secrets! I decided it would be nice to do a kind of mini tutorial for it.

This is Barry M Lip Liner in Red, £2.99 and Natural Collection Moisture Lipstick in Cherry Red, £1.99

Step One: Line your lips with the pencil. It doesn't have to be perfectly neat and feel free to create more of an exaggerated lip shape. I like to make my cupids bow a little rounder when I do this look.

Step Two: Fill your lips in with the pencil. I find that this one is really smooth when you warm it up a little bit and doesn't feel drying or uncomfortable at all. It's actually a fantastic matte look on it's own which I think looks gorgeous with some retro curls! 

Step Three: Go over your lips with your lipstick. You can do it from the tube but a lip brush will create a much more precise line. You also want to neaten up any splodges (as I've had to do!) and optionally, pop a little concealer around your lips to make the edges really sharp and pronounced. If you want to add some serious staying power, apply a little translucent loose powder to the lips through a piece of single ply tissue. You could also add a bit of gloss to the centre of your lips for a really shiny pout.

I love this lipstick. It's so shiny and beautiful (and cheap!) It does transfer really easily though, so you definitely want to add some powder if you're going to be drinking or eating. I think this is such a festive look and I love wearing red around Christmas. 

I hope you liked this little tutorial!

What are the ingredients for your perfect red lip? And have you tried either of these bargain products?

P.S. I discovered today that a few people are following me on bloglovin' so I've decied to sign up and claim my blog! It's told me to paste some code in a new post...

Here goes nothin' 

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4325113/?claim=5qm8ptuyxpb">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Lauren