Monday 20 May 2013

Dabbling in Nail Art

These are two designs I was absolutely dying to try out. Please excuse the messiness and the dry hands. Time wasn't on my side!

The first is zebra print, and I think I need some extra practise! It's pretty difficult doing it on your own nails as opposed to fake ones, so they're a bit rough and ready. To get this effect, I applied two coats of white for the base colour. I think the polish was from an old manicure set that I don't use any more, nothing spectacular but it does the job! Then I used a black nail art pen by Giles (from New Look) to paint on the stripes. I think this would have worked better if I had a picture of a zebra in front of me to work from. This could have made the manicure look a lot more realistic. As it was though, everyone loved them, ad I look forward to doing more animal print soon.



The next manicure is a little bit art-inspired. Monet-style impressionist roses and sparkly gold to go with a very pretty dress in a similar style. I love this manicure, but it took ages to do, and only on two nails! First, I applied a coat of Front Cover gold sparkle polish on each nail. Then I focused on the ring fingers. With a paint brush, I dabbed red polish on the nail to make a circle.. ish. It doesn't need to be exact, thank God. Then I highlighted using a white polish and that same brush when the first colour was dry. With the previous red paint still on it, it creates a little bit of pink that looks quite nice. Then, after cleaning the brush, I painted some light green on for the leaves, in a 'V' shape if I could. To finish off the manicure, I put some more of the sparkly gold coat on the tips of my other nails and used Gold by Giles nail art pen in gold to create a half moon.


What do you think?
Kyra

Sunday 19 May 2013

Birthday Haul

A couple of weeks ago it was my 22nd birthday, and I feel so spoilt! I had so many beautiful things, and so many beauty products, so I thought I'd share them with you and review them a little too!
This is it! Loads of candles, fragrances, makeup and a very pretty scarf. Something I won't mention in the rest of the post is the Soap and Glory Scent-sationalism gift set (I forgot to take a separate picture). They smell great! This is a combination of musk (Mist you Madly), floral (Glam-a-lot) and fruity (Girligo) scents, so perfect for any time and any occasion.

Body shop always do lovely smelling stuff, so I was really happy about this gift set in strawberry, which had shower gel, body polish, bar soap and a bath lilly in it. I also got the two body butters from other present givers, but I thought I'd chuck it in this one. The orange one smells divine.

Don't you just love the smell of Cath Kidston stuff? It smells so fresh, like you've just walked through a meadow. This manicure set is no different. The scent is literally 'blossom', and all the elements combine to give you some lovely smooth hands. It consists of cuticle cream, hand cream, hand scrub and a nail file.

Ahh candles. I love them, especially when they're fragranced, which of course all of these are. So I got this gorgeous set of cupcake candles (which smell of something, but I have no idea what) from my mum to go with my tea party theme. The french lavender tea lights to the left are Yankee candles, and came with the adorable floral holder. They smell great, and were perfect for when I needed a little bit of calm. Finally, the pink grapefruit candle from Lilly-flame and is, as it says on the tin, 'Zingtastic'.



 Ok, so I lied, I did have one more Body Shop item; this strawberry lip balm. As you would expect, it smells great. My sister knows how much I love these Mua Trio eye shadows, so she got me this merged one called Legendary. It's so pretty when you put it on! They have tiny pieces of sparkle in them that really set of your eyes, and the colours will look great on anyone. You can't really see too well in the picture, but they're a dark brown, a caramel type colour and white, all mixed with varying shades of brown.

Then come the nail stuff. Every birthday must have them, or they aren't for me. I love doing my nails a little too much! So I got Maybelline Colour Show polish in Bubblicious. This bright pink polish applies really well and gives you a great block colour. Two coats is better than one but if you need it quickly, one  coat works well. They must think pink is my colour, because the next one is a Maxfactor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Sunny Pink. This colour is really lovely. It is a light pink with a gold/yellow shimmer, perfect for lazy summer days. Finally my new best friend, the silver Barry M nail Art Pen. I thought this would be like all the other pens, as in, it would have a tiny nib and therefore be a little difficult to apply in a way that looks good if you're doing your own nails. But I was wrong, this pen comes with a felt tip-like nib for easy application. All you have to do is push it a few times to make the colour come out and then away you go. The only problem is that it isn't too thick, so you may need to layer up to get the right amount of colour.


Finally, my sister bought me this beautiful scarf. It's completely on trend thanks to the butterfly print and she knows how much I like lace. It is a perfect buy for me, so now all I have to do is find the perfect outfit to wear it with!

Any questions about these products? Please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.
Thanks for reading,
Kyra

Friday 2 November 2012

Barry M Nail Effects Magnetic- Neptune Sea

I know it's a little late for this kind of review, but I'm doing it anyway because I absolutely ADORE this nail polish.

At the moment I'm working as a waitress at a hotel and we're not supposed to wear nail polish, so today when I got back I just had to crack out the sparklyness. Green w7 here I come!

This however, was done a few weeks back.
Barry M has been a permanent fixture in my must have list for a while. I love the fun colours, the brightness, the glitter, and now the magnetics. And Oh my gosh they're gorgeous.

I really liked the older magnetics, with two contrasting colours and nifty patterns, but they've taken it one step further now. Glittery ones. With chevron magnets and the star magnet, which is what I have here.

So step up Instant Nail Effects Magnetic in Neptune Sea.
This is probably the most beautiful colour I own.. or perhaps tying in with Maxfactor's Mini nail effects Fantasy Fire.
It's just so gorgeous, it shimmers darker blue and the star shape glows silver. It even looks pretty without being magnetised, but I loved in magnetised.
I warn you, we're about to become picture-heavy.






So as you can see they shimmer all sorts of glorious colours and look absolutely gorgeous. Usually they look like the last picture, but when they catch the light they shine that lovely blue.

And a bonus!!
These are primark nail wraps, and they are flimsy as hell and come off far too easily. They would be fine if you do them when you're about to go out clubbing, but don't do what i did and put them on the night before because it won't turn out well. The application isn't over smooth either. I would suggest not being a cheapo on this account, and going for Nail Rock Nail Wraps. They last for ages, but are a little trickier to apply. But they're worth it.

Stacey

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Graduation Outfit!

My graduation is in late November, but everyone keeps talking about it. This gets me excited, and I get excited about a lot of things rather too early. Birthdays, Easter, Summer, Christmas, Halloween, parties... the lot. My flaw is that I love planning and making things beautiful. So every event I go to has a specially planned outfit, every present is lovingly thought about and expertly wrapped, every festivity has appropriate and mostly pretty decorations.

I've had my dress for a couple of weeks now and I love it more every day. The hood of my graduation gown is a beautiful purple colour, so I thought I'd get a blueish colour to go with it nicely. And then I saw this, and teal it was.

It looks stunning on, but needs a little altering. My shoulders are a tad too small. One other thing is that Boohoo sizes are interesting. They are a little hit and miss, so make sure that you measure yourself against their size guide before you take the plunge and buy something. I'm usually a size 10, but this is a size 12 and is a little difficult to get on. I don't usually do bodycon, but this is worth breaking my rules for.

This dress is perfect for graduation because it's formal without being boring. It's knee length, so I won't be flashing anyone when I walk across the stage. I love the wrap detail and the belt, and the fabric is fairly thick, so I shouldn't bee too cold. I will be wearing it outside in November, after all. It does have a pretty low bust line though, so I may be wearing something underneath for my dignities sake if after altering it still shows my bra.

I'm going to be wearing 2-3 inch thick heels with this dress. They have straps over the foot so I don't walk out of them, and they're black with a wooden heel. I think they go really nicely and they suit the purpose, which is mainly not falling over and looking like a plonker.

What do you think?


Kyra

Saturday 6 October 2012

Torr Boutique



I was recently in Newbury after work with my boyfriend's mum and sister. His sister was looking for a bag to match her shoes for her graduation. We had looked everywhere we could, when someone told us to have a look in Torr Boutique.

We hadn't even known that there were any shops on the street we were directed down, but when we walked in, we were nicely surprised. We were greeted with complimentary pink champagne and friendly smiles. They told us that their new Autumn/Winter range had just arrived, and that there was a 10% discount on all those items.

Looking around, the shop was quite modest in size, but decorated beautifully. The jewellery section caught my eye, of course. I'm a little bit of a magpie when it comes to pretty sparkly things. But although I was tempted, I steered clear. These things aren't exactly cheap, but they are quality, and rather beautiful.

I've been looking for coats and cosy clothes for the winter, so I was over the moon when I found it; the warm woolly cardigan of my dreams. You can see it on the right.

I wanted to show you all because I'm really proud I found it. It looks great on, and it's SO warm. I'm even wearing it today. This one is by Oxmo, which is only one of the brands that Torr boutique stock. They also stock American Vintage, Jucca, Pyrus, Nougat, OUI and many more.

If you want to find out more about TORR Boutique, visit their website, which can be found via this link.