Thursday, January 30, 2014

My attempt at pretty nail art

Ok so I cant paint a solid color that looks nice on my nails to save my life! I figure that some cool designs or pretty flowers might take the attention away from my lack of skills in the nail painting department. And as always, I get in over my head and try something way too hard to begin with!! Water marble nail art is quite a bit more difficult then I imagined. The tutorials made it look so easy on youtube! Oh well, here is my adventure in nail art:





a little better after i cleaned up


2) I dont know what to call this, it happened by accident. I tried this with a black base color and it didnt look as great. I just took a long striper brush and starting from the nail tips just flicked like 4 different colors up towards my cuticles and finished it off with some black dots I made using the backside of a pin.








                                                             1) Water-marble nail art-
What a mess but my 5th attempt kinda worked

Friday, January 24, 2014

Do not rub walnut shells on your face.........

Avoid The Following...

  • Overly abrasive scrubs (such as those that contain aluminum oxide crystals, walnut shells, or pumice)
  • Astringents containing irritating ingredients (alcohol and menthol being the prime offenders)
  • Toners containing irritating ingredients (alcohol and menthol being the prime offenders)
  • Scrub mitts (think Buf-Puf)
  • Cold or hot water
  • Steaming or icing the skin
  • Facial masks containing irritating ingredients (watch out for fragrant essential oils and polyvinyl alcohol)
  • Loofahs
  • Bar soaps and bar cleansers

Common Irritating Ingredients to Avoid

(These are of greatest concern when they appear in the beginning of an ingredient list.)

  • SD Alcohol (also known as denatured alcohol)
  • Ammonia
  • Arnica
  • Balm mint
  • Balsam
  • Benzalkonium chloride
  • Benzyl alcohol
  • Bergamot
  • Camphor
  • Cinnamon
  • Citrus juices and oils
  • Clove
  • Clover blossom
  • Coriander
  • Essential oils
  • Ethanol
  • Eucalyptus
  • Eugenol
  • Fennel
  • Fennel oil
  • Fir needle
  • Fragrance
  • Geranium
  • Grapefruit
  • Horsetail
  • Isoeugenol
  • Lavender
  • Lemon
  • Lemongrass
  • Lime
  • Linalool
  • Marjoram
  • Melissa (lemon balm)
  • Menthol
  • Menthoxypropanediol
  • Menthyl Acetate
  • Mint
  • Oak bark
  • Orange
  • Papaya
  • Peppermint
  • Phenol
  • Sandalwood oil
  • Sodium C14-16 olefin sulfate
  • Sodium lauryl sulfate
  • TEA-lauryl sulfate
  • Thyme
  • Wintergreen
  • Witch hazel
  • Ylang-ylang

proper steps for clear skin on your body

  • Exfoliation – use exfoliating body gloves or bath brush every time you shower.  Make sure you are gentle and alternate circular movements with up and down ones.
  • Use a Benzoyl Peroxide wash three times a week or every other day. Use a mild body wash with salicylic acid.
  • Treat with 5% benzoyl peroxide lotion if you have many blackheads with a few blemishes, or a BHA gel if there is more inflamed blemishes and irritation.
  • Wear breathable materials and loose fitting clothingt, preferably cotton.  Make sure you leave enough time after working out to shower and change your clothes too.
  • Switch to laundry detergents that are fragrance-free.
  • Stop using fabric softeners and drier sheets - they both leave deposits on the skin that can clog pores, even the fragrance-free ones !  Use the new “dryer balls” instead.
  • For breakouts on the back, a back facial is a good idea to add deeper hydration, extract blackhead impactions and heal acne lesions. continue to follow the above regimen though!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Understanding your skin

Here are two videos chuck full of valuable information on skin, skincare and what you should be using. Its important to know what you are putting on your face and why. Just because something works well for one person does not mean it wil work for your skin. These lovely ladies have two of the best videos I have found so far. Check them out, you wont regret it!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Products you DO NOT want anywhere near your face

Toothpaste-First of all, it usually contains baking soda which is an alkaline substance that compromises the quality of the lipid layer and the integrity of the skin. 3 main ingredients in toothpaste=sodium lauryl sulfate(an alkaline soap), mint(an irritant), and silica(an abrasive). So in a nutshell you are striping your skin of the ability to protect itself from bacteria and using an abrasive substance to make tiny scratches all over your skin and throwing something at it that will irritate the crap out of it. Excessive drying may help acne at first but you will then have to worry about the fact that your skin no longer retains moisture and wont take to any lotions you use. Thats what happens when you damage the lipid layer. The lipid layer keeps skin healthy and able to do its job(which is to expel toxins). You do not want to to alter this little guy. the key to good skin is to create a balance. that means use gentle products that wont compromise your skins integrity.

My life


Making your own eyeshadow palette is easier than you think!

Who on earth, other than an actual professional makeup artist, actually enjoys carrying around all of those single eye shadows that you have accumulated over time. What If you are going to get ready at a friends house but you haven't decided what you are going to wear yet? This happens to me all the time. As it turns out, the color I wanted to wear was the one I forgot at home! So to solve this dilemma, I started watching videos on YouTube for fixing broken or cracked eye shadows with alcohol. I then stumbled upon pressing pigments into little pans and I thought that sounded like a really good idea. I had like 15 single color eye shadows, some from urban decay others from mac. I would love to just be able to grab all of them at once and go. So here are a couple of videos I made of me creating my own custom palettes and pressing pigments. I also have a video where I decorate the cover so its all puurrty! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy these! My son also makes a little debut in the first video but boy is he a crabby one. The only bad day hes ever had just so happened to be on the one day I was filming a video!!