Makeup Storage

I know it's been awhile since I've posted :(

But while I've been MIA I've purchased a couple of clear storage containers - Finally!

I've always been telling myself that I would buy some, but instead I would always go for the portable makeup bags... and now I have a shit load and most of them aren't in use - such a shame. I'm not sure what I would do with them yet, but I'll figure it out soon. 

So with the 4 storage containers, I've sorted the makeup into: 

palettes, eye shadows, basics (blush/foundation/concealer), & lipstick/lip gloss. 

They're originally 'shoe storage' but there aren't any rules that it HAS to be for shoes haha!

It really doesn't matter what kind of storage container you use as long as its suitable for you. There are ACTUAL containers for makeup, however a majority of them are meant for vanity tables - but mine is in an open cabinet of some sort... I can't really explain but it looks decent haha.

I've posted some photos below of what one of my makeup areas look like with the storage containers. With it I have two brush holders which were originally centre piece vases at a birthday party, and a large perfume box bottom that holds - of course - perfume, make up remover, lotion, etc. - yup, I like to give things a second life, it makes the room look more creative.. but don't it to the entire room, you might end up being a hoarder haha - kidding!

PS. I got the containers from Storage Solutions.

PSS. I Recently bought a vanity mirror from HomeSense to add to the set. 

Nail Polish Galore!

How much Nail Polish is too much?

I currently own 2 over flowing baskets containing over 200 shades from Essie, OPI, OPI Nicole, Estée Lauder, MAC, Revlon, Sally Hanson, Butter London, Seche Vite Coats, and a few others. 

I'm not sure on how long I've been collecting polishes, but I'm a sucker for any green shades from sea foam to the darkest jade - i just love GREEN. 
Others may say that pink is pink, but the nail polish fanatics KNOW that they're completely different - it's like saying that everyone can use the same foundation colour... too extreme but you get the point haha
But this won't stop me from purchasing more ;)

My most recent colour buys are from Essie: 

                        Mint Candy Apple               &                   Butler Please

              (which is ridiculously hard to find)  

The best way to store your nail polish is by having them standing up-right with some sort of display container. I've always wanted to buy or make something similar to the display case in the salons but something a bit larger - but with my small room, I don't have enough wall space or desk space for any larger nail polish holder/storage. So the baskets will do.

Here's a DIY nail polish rack tutorial that I found, she mentions that it can hold from 80-100 polishes all depending on the bottle size. Enjoy! 

Home Manicure

I've never been a fan of getting my nails done at the salons... 

It could probably be the fact that 90% of the time something goes wrong where they mess up my nails or the service just isn't up to par. 

So to avoid the hassle, I do my own manicures at home.

& trust me, 

it's the best thing you'll ever do. Plus, it saves you money in the long run instead of you having to pay a visit to the salon every week. 

So first things first, you need a decent nail kit that includes the following:
Tools
- Nail Clippers
- Cuticle Nippers
- Nail file - preferably crystal, avoid metal nail files as it's more prone to nail splitting
- Cuticle Pusher
- Nail Cleaner
- Nail buffer

Products
- Cuticle Remover
- Nail Coat - I use a nail strengthener  but a standard base coat will do (OR top coat if you don't plan on using polish atm)
- Cuticle Butter/lotion

Top Coat: Seche Vite Dry Fast

Colour: Butter London Bossy Boots

Base Coat: Essie Grow Stronger

How To:


After I remove my polish, start with the nail cleaner under your nails to get all the gunk out and any old nail polish residue. 



Cut your nails to the size you prefer, use the nipper to remove any hangnails - I sometimes use the nipper to remove ingrown and help reshape my nails as they grow out flat :( - and file out the rough edges


Once that's done, use the cuticle remover around your cuticles and wait the appropriate waiting time as each brand varies - this will help remove any dead skin cells around the cuticle, when removed it leaves it look nice and healthy



After it soaks in, use the nail pusher to, obv, push back your cuticles. Don't push back too hard, you need to clean it not rip off your skin... I also scrape off the top nail layer as it usually gets dyed from prolonged use of nail polish. - afterwards, buff out any rough spots on your nails




Once done wash your hands and nails with warm water and soap to remove any excess product giving yourself a clean nail to work with.




To make sure my nails are super clean, I like to wipe on nail polish remover to remove any excess oils - so the polish stays on longer, it's a similar concept as using 'Chip Skip' from OPI



Now put on your coat, I usually use a nail strengthener since my nails are so thin and VERY prone to breaking
Then, of course, put on your nail polish colour

TIP: 

First paint with your non dominant hand first. And then the dominant. 

It seems odd as you know that the non dominant will make the polish funky, but you'll notice that you will naturally attempt to make the other hand look the same. 

[It may not make sense, but it will when you] Try it!

Before you put on a top coat, what I like to do is wait a few minutes and then clean around my nails and cuticles with nail polish remover and Q-Tips to get a clean look, then I put on the top coat. 

Note: 

It would be more difficult if you did it the other way around since the top coat will seal and protect the colour... 

When your all dry, rub in your cuticle butter (if you have any) and your ready to go!




PS. I give myself a manicure every other polish colour/change, so roughly 2/3 times a month.

DIY: Helloberry

Lately I’ve been into the DIY projects ranging from the basic Lego head pencil holders to upper finger rings. BUT lately… I’ve been really into the Helloberry bracelets. They are just ADORABLE. The funny thing is, I bought all the material for it in early December and finally decided to pull the craft bag and just go for it.

I found out about these bad boys on YOUTUBE & I’m so glad I did.

So basically, Helloberry Inc. is a local company in Toronto and sells, of course, jewellery. But from the looks of it, their #1 seller are the Smoothie bracelets that consist of coloured gimp and gold chains, and their Silver Swirl that consists of the same concept except with silver chains.

You can wear them on their own or stack them with other colours, bracelets, and even your watch.

It’s not very difficult to make these bracelets; all you need are the materials and patience.

I bought all my materials from Michaels and the rest is what I had lying around at home.

What you need:

• Gimp - $1.69 (One roll can make 3-4 bracelets depending on the size)
• Rolled chain - $9.99 (Any kinda of chain will do, you can even reuse old jewellery) 
• Scissors
• Tape
• Super glue (I use Aleene’s Jewellery & Metal Glue – careful with it, its really hard to remove…I should know -.-” )

 &&&

 After making a couple of these, I went on another Michaels run for more colours and a few other sets of coloured chains haha!

This is the tutorial I followed, you may or may not like her but there are many others out there to learn from – so have fun and I hope you love your bracelets!

&& Kudos to Helloberry for creating these unique pieces of fashion – I just LOVE it.

Birthday 'Benefit'

So it was MY BIRTHDAY a few days ago, and I feel so damn old. I don't know if it’s the fact that I have an early birthhdaaay - which is NOW a drag since I get older faster than everyone else - or that I've finally hit my 1/4 century crisis...haha!

But it's not that bad, especially when you’re favourite stores give out FREE BDAY GIFTS! That’s right, I said it “FREE!” & One of those stores are…SEPHORA! WEEEE!

All year round Sephora hands out bday gifts to their beauty insiders (their loyalty reward program) – no purchase necessary. Which I’m a complete fan for since I’m a reg shopper there. For those who don’t own you, GET ONE – even if you don’t shop there often. The points don’t expire and you earn 1 point for every $1 – fair enough, right? & Once you reach their “100 point perk” you have the option of choosing their featured sample products ORRR save up and reach the “500 point perk” and get a large sample set such as a cleansing régime or a basic face set of blush, bronzer, mascara and so on. Like myself, I save up until I find a product that I REALLY want to try like my recent ‘Big fatty mascara – Urban Decay’.  These actually save you a ton of money from buying the actual sized product, especially when you hate it afterwards – you know you have products like that lying around.

Anyways, this year as a bday gift from them I had TWO options to choose from (but I think it was more like no one picked up the gifts from last year and it got pushed it over – but no matter…)

Option 1:  “Sugar Kisses Mini Lip Duo – fresh.”

Option 2: “Real Birthday Turn-Ons! – Benefit”

Last year I received the Lip Duo (1 tinted and 1 non-tinted) and it’s great – it really keeps your lips moisturized, it’s NOT gritty, and the packaging is quite cute. The only thing I disliked it how it melted so easily in my hand (obv I was holding it for a long time) and would mush up, or the fact that it would snap so easily (since it was made so thinly). Besides that, I still use mine till this day ( :

Now, this year… Let me tell you how much I LOVVEEE the bday gift. The birthday turn on from benefit that includes “They’re Real! Mascara” and a “Watt’s Up! Highlighter”. Even though they are samples, they go a long way.

They’re Real! (Obv the name is towards the use of fake lashes)

The mascara is lightweight, doesn’t clump up, and lasts all day – which is perfect since I don’t reapply during the day. It also provides volume, length & lift… that’s right, all three! It’s really hard for my to find a good mascara – like this one – that will hold up my lashes for the majority of the day. I consider them to be “Asian lashes” since they’re dead straight and they refuse to keep a curl : ( but at least I have long ass lashes to make up for it. Also, the wand… the wand first threw me off as it had spike looking things at the end of it – which I then realized was used to help SEPARATE the lashes to create a more doll/fanned look (you can say I had a blonde moment haha)

Watt’s Up!

If you’re like me, I like to sport the dewy/glow look during the day. Watt’s Up! Is really great to achieve this look with minimal to no make up on. It comes in stick form, glides on smoothly when applied. But the great thing about it is that it works on any skin tone perfectly. It works wonderfully on my sister, who has light skin tone with olive undertones, & myself, I have a medium skin tone with yellow undertones. The only thing I didn’t like about the sample was the packaging. The stick was made quite skinny which is more prone to breakage, it think it would’ve been better if it was wider and shorter - but as long as your careful it’s completely fine.

So if you ask me, I clearly loved my bday gift from Sephora. Sample size or not, they’re worth it and are worth the buy in the future.

& For those of you who don’t have a Beauty Insider card, GET ONE. It’s honestly one of the best loyalty programs for makeup users and lovers.

IT’S A BIRTHDAY BENEfIT ;)

Winter Air

As much as I love winter and the snow, what it does to me face just drives me nuts!  
I've always had trouble finding the 'right' moisturizer as I have combination skin - but to the extreme either being too oily, or in this case too dry (especially on my T-Zone). With the colder weather kicking in, my face would just flake up (sounds disgusting right?) and as you know, when it gets dry... it gets ITCHY.

I was looking into KateSummerville, Clarins, Sephora (brand), Peter Thomas Roth, and Hope in a Jar. All are great but everyone was raving about Hope in a Jar  so I decided to go straight for it when I walked into Sephora. & in all honesty, it smelt NASTY... the texture was nice, but still nasty. I really do appreciate the fact that it doesn't add in any parabens  and fragrances but I do believe it needed it. I was told that the scent would disappear once it was put on.. but I wasn't willing to see the outcome of that.


Anyways, she suggested for me to try  fresh: Soy Moisturizing Cream (w/o SPF) & OMG, I loveeee it! It moisturizes well enough to wear alone, thin enough to wear under makeup, its paraban free (which I prefer) and has a light natural scent from the rose water. From the time I put it on in the crack of dawn till I remove it before bed, my face is smooth, moisturized, and flake free & I didn't have to slather it on. It's perfect for the winter weather and enough product to last the winter season as you transition into spring weather. However, if you plan on using fresh as part of your 'permanent' routine, it will come with a price. It roughly costs $44 for 50ml. It honestly works well and well worth the price.

There's a first time for everything...

Who would have ever thought that I would start a blog? 

Clearly no one, especially myself.
I've always been a fan of beauty and fashion blogs on Pinterest, Blogger, Tumblr, Youtube vlogs, and even magazine articles etc. & whenever I reiterate what I watched to my family and friends, I tend to reference the beauty gurus and fashionistas as my 'friends' but they're more like my online advisers - ha!

But seriously, it's really different being on the other side of the blog - there's a lot of thought put into a post.. unless that's just me over thinking like always. 

Well, wish me luck & I hope you enjoy what you see and read ( :

xoxo,
Eve