Lately I've been really addicted to Pinterest. The moment I downloaded the app I fell in love with it! I never knew that you can also make money from it and actually showcase your business on it! *shocked face* If you've never heard of Pinterest before it's a website and app where you have a virtual pinning board to pin whatever kind of pictures, videos or links that you like and share them on your profile. It's becoming popular fast and apparently it's the fourth largest website after facebook and twitter. It's highly addictive and I just can't get enough. You see so many interesting things such as tutorials, ideas, inspiration and best of all an easy place to shop. I'm thinking about opening a shop of my very own and my main aim is to engage with more people and let them know that my brand exists. I love seeing comments about any suggestions, thoughts, feelings or questions people may have and I think Pinterest would be an amazing platform to do so. I'm also a huge fan of Melanie Duncan and I find her YouTube videos are helpful too. She really opened up the world of Pinterest to me and made me see it as more than just a picture sharing website. I'm currently taking her online course called the Power of Pinning which you can see here. It's an online course for aspiring business owners who want to use Pinterest as a platform to reach more clients. I just bought it last night and I have to say that it looks great so far. The content is well organised into modules and I'm liking it so far because:
It's easy to navigate and find what you want
You can access it even when you're not on your computer through your phone or tablet
The video lessons are short and concise
The language is easy to understand
Below is a print screen of what I see on my computer and I love the clean layout of the site.
And once you open one of the modules you'll see a video and a sidebar on the left with the rest of the videos from that module. Again, I'm a big fan of the layout so here's a print screen from my computer:
Also in the bonus section here you can see a Pinterest and Facebook report which I haven't read yet but I'll let you know how it's going so keep an eye out for a future post about this course.
If you've been following me on my social media you can tell that I'm a huge fan of nail art.
There's just something about it that makes you look more fashionable and really compliments an outfit.
The problem is that some people think nail art is too complicated and therefore don't bother with it.
But in this video I'll be teaching you how you can get professional looking nail art without the salon price tag.
Before we start
To benefit from your nail polish you have to consider what your needs are first. A couple of things to think about before making any decisions are:
How often do you paint your nails? Every day/week/month?
If you're painting your nails every day you don't need to waste money on a long lasting formula as it would be pointless unless you're thinking about keeping your nail polish on for at least a couple of days.
Painting your nails weekly or monthly is a different case so you would want that staying power if you were planning on keeping your nail polish on for more a week or more.
Gel nail polishes would be great if you were thinking about keeping your nail polish on for up to three weeks. You would need to consider buying a UV lamp and buying gel formulas to support your needs if you chose to do this. This considerably cuts the cost of paying to get gel nail polish done in a salon especially if you'll be doing it regularly. Also think about things like replacing the bulbs in your UV lamp so that you can maintain it and the particular types of nail polishes you'll have to buy to use your lamp with. How much are you willing to spend? One of the most important questions is how much are you prepared to spend on a nail polish? This is because if you're after quality nail polish that will last you long, the price is important because it's mostly the more expensive nail polishes that last the longest. Although this isn't the case sometimes just be aware of what formulas work for you when you know how often you'll be doing your nails. The pricier nail polishes typically have smoother formulas. I've found that my OPI nail polishes aren't too runny and glide on beautifully. Whereas my nail polishes from the pound store are quite thin, runny and dent easily even when fully dried. Not a good look. You can even buy drugstore nail polishes depending on what brand it is but it's a matter of trial and error. Take mental notes of what kind of nail polishes suit your needs best. Tip: Make sure you use a good base and top coat. The base coat protects your nails from becoming discoloured, weak, and dry from the harsh nail polishes and the top coat prevents the nail polish from chipping, makes it last longer and gives a glossy finish. Tip 2: If you have weak nails or are worried about getting damaged nails use a repairing or strengthening formula as a base coat. You can even use it as a top coat if you want. This also helps to save you money from buying a normal base and top coat.
How do you want your nail polish to look like?
Do you simply want a bit of colour to your nails instead of having them bland?
In this case you are colour orientated and you don't want anything complicated just a few coats of nail polish.
Do you like having designs on your nails?
If so, you are an artistic person who likes creative designs and need a nail polish that is strong enough to withstand nail stamps or can be layered easily. You have two options:
If you're good at drawing designs or are willing to take the time to draw on your nails you can use nail art brushes such as this set here which I bought recently:
You can even use dotting/marbling tools such as these ones in the picture below.
As you can see the marbling tools have different tip sizes as some look bigger than the other. This gives you more flexibility when drawing on your nails (as shown in the video below).
These types of tools are used for creating dots,marbles and lines to create different looks like flowers, stripes, lines and much more. You can make the designs as simple or as complicated as you want. Here are some examples of what you can do:
Above is a basic design which you can adopt if you're a beginner wanting to experiment with the dotting tools.
OR
If you're not good at drawing like me or don't have time to paint designs on your nails but still want to have intricate designs, you can use nail stamps. They're a life saver and save you so much time and effort. To learn more about nail stamping watch this video below:
As an example:
I personally get bored of having the same nail polish on for more than a week so I know that I'll be painting my nails once a week or twice if it chips. However, I also want my nail polish to stay in place for as long as it can in case I don't manage to do it again if I don't have time so in this case I'll need it to last long.
Most of the time I do nail stamping because I love intricate designs but I'm not actually good at drawing the designs on myself so the nail polish needs to be strong enough to handle the pressure of the nail stamp.
I don't want to damage my nails in the process either and want them to be strong. What I need is:
A nail strengthener (which can also be used as a base coat) to protect my nails and prevent chipping or dry and brittle nails.
Good quality top coat to make my nail polish last longer.
Recommended websites If you're stuck or wondering what some good websites are to buy nail polishes from here are a few I've used and my thoughts on them: Note: I live in the UK so make sure you find a store that delivers to your country before making a purchase. Ciate - http://www.ciate.co.uk/
In my last blog post which you can see here I reviewed the Ciate Nail Lab and Mini Paint Palette. I thought their nail polishes were a bit runny and thin but made a good background colour for my nail stamping. They last up to a week which is great and you can build the colours up. OPI - http://www.opiuk.com/ My number one choice. I have an addiction and attachment with this brand because their colour range is wide, their formulas aren't too thin and perfect for nail stamping, they dry quick and last for a week. Most of my nail polishes are OPI and I can't find any other brand that beats them. Marks and Spencer - http://www.marksandspencer.com/quick-dry-nail-polish-8ml/p/p22132489
This seems a bit unexpected seeing as people mainly shop there for clothes but one day I saw one of their Limited collection nail polishes for sale and bought one not knowing what to expect. I was impressed at how good it was and loved it! Lasted for a week and works great with my nail stamps. The shade I bought isn't on their list because it was a while ago but it's worth the purchase. Collection This is available in your local drug store and I tried the 60 seconds hot looks nail polish which looks like this:
This lasts for a week too and isn't all that expensive either. A great buy for a nail explorer such as myself and anyone else who doesn't want to spend a fortune.
I post every week and I appreciate every single one of you *big hug*
Bourjois
Widely available again in any drug store and lasts a week. I particularly love the metallic colours especially when I'm using my nail stamp for stars or flowers and would recommend the gold and silver colours.
Nina Ultra Pro
I've only got one shade of this which is in Orange Flame. This is a neon orange colour which I think works well against a navy blue or black when I'm using my nail stamps.
I first saw these on Janelle's channel on YouTube and it was one of their mermaid plates from their fairy tale collection (which I can't seem to find for some reason) but I bought the Explorer Plate in number 17 because I had my eyes set on plate number 2 but wanted more variety to choose from.
I'm seriously thinking about buying more plates so I'll have to do a future blog post about this because these plates are too good to miss out on! They're £5 each but don't let that put you off because you have a variety of designs to choose from and they make use of the space on their XL plates which I really want to try. I'm such a huge fan after my first purchase and their delivery service is excellent too!
So that's all for this blog post I hope I've helped you debunk any myths you've heard about how expensive or difficult nail art can be.
If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to comment below and I'll be sure to read them :)
I'm an absolute nail addict and one day one of my friends mentioned Ciate nail polishes. This was a brand I'd never heard of which lead on to my curiosity of who they are. Having looked at their website my friend suggested I buy the Ciate Nail Labbecause the fact I love to make things and that I love painting my nails strongly lead me on to buying it.
Last week I posted this video where I did a quick tour of what's inside the Ciate Nail Lab:
I also bought the Ciate base coat called "underwear" and their speed coat which is their fast drying top coat. I'm a nosey person so I wanted to see what their nail polishes were like and went ahead with the Mini Paint Palette which is a small collection of their mini nail polish shades.
Another thing that took my interest was their Chalkboard Manicure because I'd never seen anything quite like it. I only saw this after I bought the Nail Lab and Mini Paint Paletteso I decided to treat myself to it at some other point.
Quick note:
If your order is over £40 you get free delivery. Mine came to almost £50 so it wasn't that bad (plus there was a sale) so it was well worth it.
This is how the Nail Lab looks like at the front. It has three drawers (which I will show you as you scroll down on this page) and each drawer has different tools you can use to create your own nail polish shades.
The top drawer actually opens up and has some instruction cards that you can follow to create some rather interesting looks.
It also has six nail polishes with two nail polish slots to hold your nail polish bottles upright and a round tube slot in the middle. In the green round area you simply place your plastic petri dish on it (as directed) and use it to mix your nail polishes on it so you can test out what kind of shades you can make.
Below: Side views of the kit from the outside
Even the back of the box has a paint palette which I think comes in handy if you'd like an idea or some inspiration on the different colours you can make.
One thing that surprised me a little bit here are that there are only two empty bottles that you can use to put your own nail polishes in and the rest are top coats. I'm not sure why this is but if you're thinking about buying a top coat from their website and bought this kit there's no need to (which I think is good in a way but it would be better if there were only one or two top coats and the rest of the bottles can be for your creations).
This second drawer has some glitter and two empty bottles alongside it so that you can mix the glitter if you wish with the small funnel provided in the last drawer.
Below: A closer view of the glitters
In this last drawer you get some nail tools on the left and two tubes for you to mix glitters (if you don't use the bottles for it). Your trusty petri dish on the bottom right and six metal nail polish balls so that you can mix your nail polish colours while they're in the bottle. You can use one or two but I like using two to get a better mix.
In my opinion this kit could have been better if they didn't give you the cosmetic sponges because it's so widely available although I understand that you might want to use it for the ombre looks it still didn't seem worth it. Not a big deal but just a minor adjustment they could have made.
Quick note: Don't use nail polish remover to remove nail polish from the petri dish. I think it could have been glass instead of plastic because once I finished mixing my nail polishes I ruined the bottom part of the dish with nail polish remover.
These are all the nail art tools that were on the left side of this kit and I think what they give is reasonable but just make sure to take good care of these tools for the best long lasting results.
Above: A close up of the tools in this kit
And now for the verdict
Pros
The designs on the nail cards are pretty simple to do and the instructions are easy to follow so it would suit a beginner at nail art.
The layout of the drawers is organised and doesn't look too cluttered.
A good amount of glitter is given which allows you to create as many combinations as possible.
Top coat is included in the kit so that you can seal your designs.
On the top drawer there is a designated area to mix your nail polishes and position your nail polish bottles and tubes. This avoids spillages and helps to be more organised when creating your nail polishes.
Cons
This kit was originally £65 and I bought it on sale for £25 so if you're not willing to pay the full price it can be expensive.
The petri dish is plastic and can corrode if you put nail polish remover on it so avoid doing this if you don't want to ruin your dish. I did this and was quite surprised to see it got damaged.
Some of the resources in this kit I feel are unnecessary such as the nail file and the make up sponges because they're cheap and easily accessible elsewhere such as a drug store, supermarket or even a pound shop.
Thoughts
At least four extra empty bottles could have been given instead of suspension top coats (which I don't understand why there are so many) as I think it would give people more of a chance to create their own nail polishes.
More metal mixing balls could have been given as I don't think six is enough. Eight would have been ideal.
I think a glass petri dish or any other materials that won't get damaged by nail polish remover would be hugely beneficial instead of a plastic one.
Instead of a metal cuticle pusher a plastic one would have been better as it's softer on the nail and not too harsh.
A double ended nail art brush would have saved space seeing as the other two tools are double ended as well.
A colour wheel would have been a good idea so that people can get an idea of what kind of colours they can achieve if they mix certain colours together.
A base coat would have been useful to protect and avoid damage to the nails.
Mini Paint Palette
On the Ciate website I noticed that they didn't show the specific nail polish shades that you get in their Mini Paint Paletteset so I'm going to show you what you get in this kit.
You can also watch my video that I made below this post where I give you a demonstration of how each colour looks on your nails.
Subscribe to my channel while you're over there :)
I thought the colours could have been more limited edition and the reason I say this is because I found three of the same shades from the Nail Labwhich made me feel like I bought the same thing twice.
Almost half of the kit has transparent glitter nail polishes which doesn't give the opportunity to try more colours in such a small kit.
Thoughts
The colours could have been more varied as there are three shades of red including the glitter polish and not enough of a distance between the colours. I feel that green, yellow or purple would have been a nice twist.
So overall I'd say both of these kits would benefit anyone who loves good quality nail polishes and is a nail maniac (like I am). I think the light colours are really versatile with nail stamps because I stamp my nails a lot.
For those of you who've never heard of nail stamps before take a look at this video below:
In the next 24 hours I'll be posting my new video based on this blog post so if you want to see it come on over to my channel and subscribe while you're over there :)
So one thing I never told you is that I make my own hand made beauty products. Surprising I know! As a hobby since I was 17, I made my own hand made lip balms, lip glosses, gels, clay masks and the list goes on. I've recently been working on my hand made moisturising bars which are all purpose (and by the way makes an awesome cuticle oil). A solid moisturising bar looks like a bar of soap and is even moulded like one but the difference is that when you apply it on your skin it turns into an absorbent moistening cream with an oily texture. They come in handy when you want something to take with you in your handbag or your luggage if you're travelling (and worried about the luggage weight limit at the airport) because it's so light to carry and you get more product with less packaging (depending what it comes in). My solid moisturisers will be wrapped in film because I feel that it allows people to benefit from the product without any heavy packaging and gives them the flexibility to carry it wherever they wish such as in their purse, car or even something that doesn't take much space at home. The good bit I've been experimenting with how I present my moisturising bar and I chose to paint it with some natural cosmetic colour powder which I mix with some shea butter to form my "paint" but before I show you that I decided to take some snaps of how it looks like before I painted it.
I placed my lotion bar on a plate so that I have a flat surface to paint on. To make this I mixed equal parts of coconut oil with Shea butter and poured it into a mould which turned out to be a heart shape formed with roses.
Above you can see a close up from the bottom and you can see the roses better. In the picture below I tried to take a picture from above but the heart shape doesn't have a dip at the bottom.
This was the final result of what happened when I painted over it. I was expecting the paint to go over it smoothly but it turned out messier than I thought. It didn't quite take the shape I was hoping for but next time I'll try a different approach.
Thanks for reading my short blog I hope you liked seeing the making of one of my creations. When I make my other products I'll blog about that too so keep your eyes peeled for that and if you want to see more of me be sure to subscribe to my channel on YouTube.
Also let me know your thoughts or questions by commenting on this post below in the comments section if you want me to write or do any videos in particular.
P.S. Check out my latest video below where I show you a quick tour of the Ciate Nail Lab for all you nail polish enthusiasts :D
So I'm back in Mauritius this time for my cousin's wedding and it's still boiling as ever! The difference is that it just gets darker earlier because it's winter time but apart from that it doesn't get any colder. It's 30 degrees out here and people still get cold at 18 degrees! (As a joke I tell them to open their freezer to see the kind of whether I have to deal with and it doesn't always go down well)
I took a direct flight on the 29th from London and arrived at 5:30am in Mauritius (Mauritius time). Man was it uncomfortable. My head kept spinning so I had to keep drinking water to prevent getting a headache and I didn't even sleep well on the plane.
Just arrived in Mauritius and looking quite tired and I didn't wear any make up either because it's such a hassle taking it off plus it would make me break out if I kept it on too long. Was on the plane for 12 hours from London and couldn't sleep. Note: I also have this thing where I look oriental in my photos sometimes (because I'm partly Asian) and some people can't believe it's even me so don't be surprised if I look Chinese all of a sudden lol
I even managed to meet my cousin's new dog -Lucy
She's still a puppy and only four months old but she's sooo clever. She knows when she's being told off and when there's no one there, she takes a nap and gets excited when we come back. She goes all crazy and jumps on us as if it's been years since we last saw her!
By the way that's my uncle Dave in the background.
I got to hang out with my cousins and they've changed so much in the last 8 years (I was 13 when I last came to Mauritius). But I last saw them when I was 17 so that's technically 5 years.
I even saw my uncle Satiwan (in the picture below) who owns a well known restaurant in Mauritius called Algoo Snack in a town called St Pierre. Sorry about the picture looking fuzzy I don't think I'll be taking any more photos using my iPad it's nowhere near as good as an actual camera.
He says the most popular dish people know him by is called "Mine bouillie gros pois" (which my cousin helped me spell because my French spelling isn't great lol) and in English it means noodles with peas. This is the only shot I managed to get of the front of the restaurant which I took using my phone. This is at night time when it's usually quiet but it's normally packed in the day time.
My other Uncle Prem owns another Algoo Snack also in St Pierre and they were in the Mauritian Sunday newspaper which as you can see is in French. If you're ever in Mauritius be sure to visit them their food is awesome!
Tip: Learning French will help a lot in Mauritius because it's their first language so the better you are, the more you'll cope.
Meanwhile back at my villa I did encounter this creepy crawly which I was not fond of! Luckily this cockroach wasn't poisonous or anything but even so I just hate it when they fly around it's just scary :O
Mauritius doesn't have any dangerous animals but it's still a good idea to wear things like mosquito repellent if you don't want to be constantly bitten. I recommend Jungle Formula and really good after bite pen called "After Bite".
I swear by this pen that every bite I got and applied this on almost disappeared and reduced the itching so much I forgot I even got bitten! The sales assistant at Superdrug recommended it to me and he even said it's better than their own brand *shocked face* Also seeing as it was near the time of the wedding I decided to experiment with different nail polish designs. This one in particular was inspired by the Mauritian sky at night when the stars come out. My uncle pointed them out to me and they looked beautiful so I paired up three coats of OPI sheer tint in I Can Teal You Like Me with Alpine Snow and got a day time effect but for a night time look try Road House Blues. It would look amazing for an evening out.
To make the star pattern I used the design on the right of this nail art plate in CH5 from the Cheeky Set of 26 Nail Art Plates that looks like this:
Scanners are a life saver I would have never gotten a shot this good with a camera.
If you're new to nail stamping take a look at this video and you'll know how it works. I used a Konad stamper with these plates which I bought separately because I find the other rubber stamps too fiddly.
I also loved how my cousin did a henna tattoo on my hands. I felt like an Asian princess!
A bit of a shame I didn't manage to get the brand of Henna but a trick I learned is to layer another lot of Henna on top of the first layer (once it's dried and chipped off).
This is the design I wore for the wedding day. It was a four day celebration and I was so knackered constantly changing my nail polish but it was fun anyway. In the picture underneath I'm using the OPI Gwen Stefani collection in Love.Angel.Music.Baby which is the gold base colour and I Sing In Colour for the red ninja star style squares.
I'm using the top design on the Cheeky Nail Art plate in CH13. I love the geometric look and these colours look classy yet edgy.
My rule of thumb for nail stamping is that you need two strong contrasting colours for any design to stand out like a really dark colour with a really light one that isn't too opaque unless that's the kind of look you're after. I like loud colours that scream because they're noticeable straight away.
I even managed to get my Mauritian passport at the passport centre in Rose Hill. I had to apply twice because last time I ran out of time and had to fly home so I'm glad I at least managed to do it this time.
I got to see a concert and just had to take pictures of the popcorn because it was so yummy. I love sweet things and ate three quarters of it so I wouldn't be surprised if I gained weight haha
Speaking of sweet things... over here is a coconut bun cake which looks like a jam doughnut but this is the Mauritian version of it. I loved this as I am a huge fan of coconuts! It's like a basic fruit to me because I'm Mauritian myself and things like Coconuts,Pineapples, and Mangoes are just like Apples, Oranges and Bananas to us. There are loads more tropical fruits in Mauritius so you can see where I'm coming from here.
Before I ramble on here is how it looks like inside. The coconut is in the middle and if you look closely you can just about see it. I really liked this tropical jam doughnut *sigh*.
Again with the sweet stuff we have a traditional Mauritian Banana tart to the left and on the right we have Mauritian vanilla tea. This was at the airport so it's easily accessible.
If you loved this blog then you'll also love my video on typical Mauritian food which you can check out below so please give me a thumbs up and maybe a comment below while you're there :D
