Christmas nail art tutorial Penguin, Erik from Happy Feet 2

Merry Christmas! So if you saw my previous post you’ll have seen that I’ve been practicing some Christmas nail art. I loved Rudolph and I hope you do too. But I now have another little cutie.

Introducing Erik, the penguin from my favourite film, Happy Feet 2. Much like Rudolph – it’s a loteasier than it looks. Here are five simple steps for you to follow…ENJOY!

(I’m using Gel polishes here again, please let me know how you got on.)

Step 1:
After I’d prepped my nail, used Gellux’s fast bond and base coat I added my first layer of colour. Using Black Onyx (Gellux) I covered the whole nail. Once that’s dried/been cured add another layer of black to it to ensure the colour isn’t streaky.

Step 2:
Using my brush I created a round long circle to use as the penguins white belly (using Gellux’s Purely White) . Using my dotting tool I also added two white dots to start Erik’s eyes. I made them slightly larger than the dotting tool had by swirling the dotting tool around a little on the nail. 

Step 3:
Add another layer of white to the belly to ensure the colour is not streaky.

Step 4:
I added two smaller black dots into the white eyes to complete Erik’s eyes and created an orange by mixing Devil Red and Lemon Ice – both Gellux. (I then realised that I already had an orange…blonde moment). But this orange probably works out nicer anyway. I used the orange as a triangle nose between the eyes and the belly and the small feet either edge of the belly. 

Step 5:
Once this has been cured/dried, add a top coat and cure again. Then you should have a very cute little Erik!

TIP:
When creating Erik’s feet and nose, if like me you’ve mixed your colours you’re probably doing this anyway, but it’s easier to use a much thinner brush to ensure you get a better shape to it.

 

Christmas Rudolph nail art tutorial

Hello and Merry Christmas! 

So a few weeks ago I started to practice some Christmas nail art in case some of my clients wanted some. I saw a little Rudolph design on Pintrest and thought I’d never be able to do it. So I started off simple, with a Santa’s belt design etc – which turned out to be more complex that the Rudolph design!

So I thought I’d try. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to do, once you’ve got the head shape done it’s pretty much plain sailing from there on. I thought I’d share it with you as I absolutely love it and give you a few tips on how I found was easiest to do it. If you have any questions please ask!

I’m using gellux colours here, but I’m sure you could do it with nail varnish – I just don’t have the patience to wait for it to dry! So as you can imagine, I’m curing my nail in the UV lamp between each step.

Step 1:
After I’d prepped my nail, used Gellux’s fast bond and base coat I added my first layer of colour. I chose to use white as my base coat as I feel the other colours show up much better with it. The name of this specific colour is Purely White.

Step 2:
Add another layer of your base colour remembering to cap the free edge.

Step 3:
Using the brush create a large circle at the tip of the nail using a browny colour. The only brown I had was very light but I still think it works really well. This is called Wild Mink.

Step 4:
Go over the circle with the same colour to create depth to the colour and ensure it isn’t streaky.

Step 5:
Using a dotting tool make two white eyes (again, I’m using Purely White). But, try to make the dots slightly bigger by swirling the dotting tool around a bit on the nail to ensure there is enough room to add in a pupil later on. Using a red or a red glitter create a smaller circle at the bottom of the nail in the centre to create Rudolph’s famous nose. I’ve used Gellux’s Red Hot Ruby glittery red. 

Step 6:
Using a black colour add two lines coming out the top of the reindeers head. The black I’ve used from Gellux’s range is called Black Onyx. Add two black dots in the centre of the white eyes we’ve already created which will be Rudolph’s pupils. Go over the two black lines and add two more smaller horizontal lines in each of them to complete the antlers. Go over the nose with the red again to ensure it shines bright. 

Step 7:
Ensure you’re design lasts as long as possible by using a top coat. Of course, if you’re using gel – you’ll have to apply the top coat. And you’re finished with your own adorable little Rudolph. 

TIP:
If you’re really wanting to go all out. I’ve seen someone do Rudolph on one nail and plain nosed reindeers on every other nail – very cute. 

New York Uni Trip December 4th-9th 2013

As the year comes to an end I wanted to update you on the best week of the year for me!

We'd been counting down the days from the minute we put the deposit down and I cannot believe how quick it came around!

New York was amazing, and truely is the city that never sleeps! Going to bed at half two in the morning only to wake up at six again for an exciting and packed day!

I can safely say we experienced it all from The Empire State Building to Ground Zero to the New York snow.

I don't think I could pinpoint the best part of the holiday, it was all so breath-taking and unbelievable!

I've never been to America, but I can confidently say, I will definitely be going back. Whether it be back to New York or somewhere new. It was such an experience and we are so lucky with the great location we had. Just a 30 second walk from Central Park and the weather was so good to us that we could walk to Ice Skating in Central Park with no coat or jacket.

The holiday made me laugh more than I ever have before, with such amazing people with me.

Ground Zero was so much more overwhelming than I expected. The stories we heard from the tour guides were so inspirational. The whole scenery was beautiful.

I would also recommend Ice Skating in Central Park. The view, as you can see from the photographs, was absolutely stunning. Everything is so tall and extraordinary that a lot of my photographs are panoramic! 

Here are a few pictures I wanted to share with you. Enjoy!...

 

Perfection from Pandora

From the carrier bags, to the hand crafted charms - utter perfection! 

FINALLY, I got round to buying my very first Pandora charm and bracelet! I was visiting the new Portsmouth store, which, by the way, is wonderful. All white walls with the most beautiful and stunning jewellery.

I have yet to find one charm I dislike, but I knew which one I wanted.

I went for a black leather bracelet as I don't really wear silver but I always wear black (my signature colour) and paired it with a silver Fairytale carriage with a 14ct gold crown and pearl. The carriage reminds me of the one Cinderella took to the ball that her Fairy Godmother presented her with. I thought I'd get it in memory of my Godmother who sadly passed away a few years ago.

It's the most gorgeous little piece of perfection and has been so carefully made.

Sadly, Pandora hadn't had any catalogues delivered that week so I popped into the Pandora store in West Quay, Southampton and picked one up. It's like my bible now! I love just looking through it at all of the lovely jewellery.

The store advisor also showed me the catalogue for their new collection, Essence. It's all about emotions and feelings. I cannot wait to try these out, they havent let us down with this fabulous collection!

Love Sophie xo

Gels - which one?

There are so many different types of gel polish out that it’s hard to find one that’s “the best.”

I’ll be honest with you it will depend. Sometimes Gelish will work great for you, sometimes it’s Gellux or Redcarpet etc. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to have them all work fine on your nails and have long lasting colour for over two weeks!

As some of you know, I am a Gel Polish nail technician and I do love trying new products! I thought I’d let you know of a few genuinely brilliant products and their functions (and possibly show off a bit along the way.)

So firstly, this is a design I done about a month ago. I used Gelish Up in the Blue with Gellux White Pearl. People say you shouldn’t mix brands – that’s a myth. Mix all you want. I don’t get along with Gellux’s top coat – so I use Gelish’s as I find it works better for me as a nail tech (that’s just my opinion.) I love polka-dot designs I think they look lovely in all seasons, especially Summer when I done this using Gellux’s Cranberry Cosmopolitan.

For ages I have been searching for some 2D bows because I hate using big chunky 3D ones as they pick off so easily. Finally I found these on eBay, they’re literally just stickers so you peel them off and stick them on. The colour used here is Gellux’s Magenta Magma. I absolutely love this colour it’s perfect for winter and so so shiny as you can see!

Although darker colours such as the above are great for winter so are the warmer pastel colours. This is Pink Pebble, it’s another Gellux colour. I don’t think you can go wrong with a natural colour like this. Although, it does take an extra coat which makes it thicker and more likely to chip – mine didn’t but the more coats you use the more likely it is to chip so remember to keep your coats nice and thin. I used three diamonds on my ring fingers and I think with the simplistic colour it works really well and looks very elegant.

TIP: The best way of applying gems to gel nails is to apply a topcoat over your colour, then add the gems and cure the nail. Afterwards, add another coat of clear and cure. This will secure the nail well.

The perfect colour if you go out a lot - Tiki Tiki Laranga by Gelish’s Rio Nion collection. It’s really bright and vibrant. One of my customers works in a night club and she said they were so bright under the UV even the bouncers where commenting on them! It’s a really nice gel to apply too it’s so thin it feels better than normal nail varnish.

Another great product, Sinful cuticle oil. I use this product on every one of my customers. I have the Mango and Papaya flavour and I’ve had so many compliments on it! It really does help to strengthen the nail and take care of it underneath the gel. I usually try to apply cuticle oil once a day or at least every other.

This product is one I swear by, it’s Lush’s Lemon Flutter Butter. It’s so convenient you just pop it in your back and go. It’s great for cuticles and also any rough bits on your hands, elbows, ankles – everywhere. It’s so great and it actually does feel like it’s working. My nails are healthy and much stronger than before!

I hope this has helped or at least provided you with some ideas! Let me know what you thin I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts. I’m currently working on some Halloween and Christmas designs which is super exiting stuff. I’ll update you all shortly! 

Love Sophie xo

What I've been up to.

Hello! I must start this post by apologising, I’ve been very bad lately. I’ve been so busy with finishing uni and starting my Summer jobs that I’ve not had chance to blog. Saying that, I have been able to keep up with some of yours and of course experimenting with some new beauty buys – which is what has bought me to this post.

 

I chose to enrolled myself into a 1-day beauty course and decided to do Gellux as I always love painting my nails, doing designs and my absolute beauty nag is chipped nails! It really annoys me. So, this is probably going to end up as a little overview of the course I participated in at Capital Hair and Beauty (the Portsmouth branch) and also, the product itself, Gellux!

 

I'll admit it, there wasn't much to the course. It's the practice afterwards and the tips & tricks that take the effort. I was very surprised when I got to see the product itself – such a wide variety of colours and designs to do.

 

It wasn't what I'd expected it to be either, it was surprisingly thin - just like a normal polish.

 

I must say, one part was a little bit of a disappointment but I soon overcame that. I went to buy the starter kit which was £68.99 (ex. VAT) and saw that they didn’t have many colours that I was really excited about but I thought I could deal with that I’ll just pop back and buy some other colours but then I looked in the box and everything else was in  miniature bottles and you didn’t even get all of the bits you needed and if you did get them you only got one. For example: the specific file I needed I only received one of when I’ll need more than that. So we started to work out how much it would cost to buy it all individually – it actually worked out to be about £15 more expensive to get much more of everything (and I mean double) and extra colours. And anyway, this way I was able to pick my own colours. So really, it did work out better for me!

 

The colours I ended up deciding on were;

Lemon Ice – a limited edition colour from last years’ range Lifes a Beach that I knew they were running out on therefore had to get! I am pleased I did buy it though it’s beautiful and so so Summery!

Pink Champagne – a new limited edition colour from their Cocktail Collection it’s such a beautiful pink, and really brings out a tan which is great for the sun were managing to grip hold of this Summer!

Wild Mink – On the course we would work on one and another’s hands and we got to pick our colours, I’d actually picked to have this and another on my hands because it’s such a beautiful natural browny/grey colour it’s lovely.

Jades a Gem – this was the other colour I had on. Before I’d even started the course I knew I’d wanted this colour. I kept saying about it for weeks running up. It’s such a this season colour! It’s a bluey green (imagine the Mediterranean sea – that colour!) and it’s pearlised too so it has a slight hint of glitter.

 

I then went back two days later to buy Cranberry Cosmopolitan – limited edition Cocktail Collection again. It’s a bright red. Really sophisticated yet pretty.

And finally, Black Onyx – a lovely, lovely colour, goes with anything and when applied correctly, a really great colour.

 

Since, I have also bought Pearl White - obviously, a white but with a slight pearl tinge to it.

Pale Quartz - a grey/purple from their new Capsule Collection.

Lastly, Pink Whispers - a few customers had asked for this it's a very natural pink.

I’ve had quite a few appointments since the course and I’ve obviously I've treated myself to a few manis and pedis.

 

I have removed a few sets of Gellux already and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it comes off. This was my one main concern – will it ruin the nail underneath? It was easier than I expected and I was very pleased.

 

I’m so happy that I’ve taken part in the course although I do have to admit, I am a little obsessed now. Everything I do is Gellux now, I love it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop!

 

If you have any questions or queries about Gellux please don’t hesitate to ask. It’s such a great brand and I am so happy with it and especially their beautiful limited edition collections – as you may have noticed. ;)

Love Sophie xo

 

 

Frizz Control Favourites

Hiya lovelies! You may have already read that I am trying to fight against frizz! I'm trying lots of different products to find my absolute best one. So I nipped to my local Sally's and visited Beauty Bay for my latest little beauty wonders!

I do love going to Sally's, for those of you who don't know, Sally's is a shop that sells all things beauty from nail varnishes to massage tables. It's like heaven for a beauty blogger.

I bought the Twisted Sista de-frizz shampoo and conditioner for about £2 which is so so cheap, the end result however, was not so cheap! My hair feels as if I'd just walked out of a salon, I'm amazed, I didn't think anything could control my mane. Although, they do not help fight against humidity. Although the shampoo was a winner at the Hair Awards 2012!

Which brings me to my next favourite, TGI S Factor Smoothing Lusterizer which I found on Beauty Bay (which you can find here). It was in the sale reduced from £12.29 to £10.45 and the reviews I saw were great so I thought, why not? It is by far my favourite product yet, so so good at taming frizz even in such humid weather as we had today! Such a cute trendy little bottle too. I will, with out a doubt, be buying more of S Factor products I am totally in awe now. It smells so amazing too that my hair was left not only soft and frizz free but also smelling delicious.

 

This was also my first purchase from Beauty Bay and I did not have to wait long at all for my parcel to arrive and I was super happy and excited when it did.

 

Both products are fabulous miracle workers, I have finally found something to tame my frizz and couldn't be happier with my products.

 

If you have any advice on what you use to control your frizz please comment with them so I can try!

 

Love Sophie x

May Must Haves!

 

So this is my Must Haves from May! I've got to admit I do love these products, I really am happy with them and I don't think I'll ever give them up.

 

Benefit They're Real Mascara - I know everyone does reviews on this product but I really do rely on this product it is perfect. You don't even need to apply a lot to get such beautiful results.

It's just under £20 and if you buy it from Debenhams/Boots you can get your club card points too.

 

iPhone 4 Chanel Hard Shell - How cute is this! Honestly when I saw it there was no wait, I had bought and paid for it within about 30 seconds. It's amazing. I bought it from eBay for about £4 and I am so glad I did.

 

Juicy Couture Perfume 100ml - Firstly, what a lovely bottle? It's so sweet. Secondly, oh my god, it smells amazing. I love it and I've wanted it for ages but I was in TK Maxx the other day and it was just £30 for a 100ml bottle and in the shops they're £62! Bargain! Honestly, TK Maxx had some beautiful items for such great prices.

 

H'Suan Wen Dua Hair Treatment from Lush - Lately my hair has been a real victim of frizz. It's not pretty at all. So when in Brighton I nipped to their Lush and they gave such great advice about what product would help most and they said this is their best selling so I thought I'd give it a go. You don't need a lot and it has such a strange but nice smell to it. I usually put it on overnight once a week and my hair is left so soft, smooth and frizz free! It was £8.95 for 225g.

 

 Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch Brightening Concealer - This is a lifesaver and super easy to use. Recently my Benefit Fake Up ran out so I thought I'd experiment with something else. I went to buy the same kind of product but L'Oreal's own and it was about £8 and then a friend pointed this out and it was only £4.99 so I thought I'd try this instead. Honestly this and my beauty blender are the perfect pair. I always wear this because it's so perfect!

 

Hope you like my May Must Haves and give them a go, honestly they're absolute angels. Let me know how you get on!

 

Love Sophie x

OPI Fruit Flavoured Cuticle Oil Pen

So you may or may not know that I've been growing my nails so I no longer have to ruin my nails with acrylics. 

My nail technician introduced me to these pens, she'd bought a big batch and offered me the chance to buy one for just £2. I thought the price was really good and there was a few different flavours including lemon and apple. I chose to try the lemon one and I've had it for a couple of months now.

I've got to admit I was quite skeptical at first, wasn't sure if it would be any good as my nails were ruined at the time. So I got my nails painted with Bluesky Shellac (which is amazing might I add) and I've been using this a lot more often.

As you can see, my nails have really grown in just one week.

I apply a little to each cuticle about 4 times a week and I think you get such good value for your money. I've only had this coat of shellac on one week and my nails already need infills! Honestly, they've grown so well I'm so impressed.

As you can see from the picture, my nails really have grown out and are so much stronger than they were before, I can only just about bend some of them!

I also love how it doesn't feel as greasy as some oils I've tried and of course it smells wonderful.

I will defiantly be buying this again, possibly another flavour so I can try it out! It's super cute and handy as you can just pop it in your bag and go - you don't have to worry about it leaking etc because it's a pen, with a lid, that you have to twist the end of to get anything out of it.

I'd say this was a product I swear by this product and I am a huge fan of OPI anyway so I may have to purchase some more of their products!

Love Sophie xx

Wonderbra Ultimate Plunge Bra Review

Hiya everyone!

So if you read a post a couple of weeks ago you would have seen I reviewed Wonderbra's Ultimate Strapless (if not you can see it here). Since then, Wonderbra got in contact and have sent me an absolutely stunning bra for review which I am extremely thankful for!

Here is the Ultimate Plunge:

Photograph sent to me - not my own image.

As you can see, it's appearance is very different from the Ultimate Strapless although the inside is very alike. It still has the hand-like structure inside the cup to hold you up. It is also great for low tops when your going out because the clear strap through the middle is barely visible.

The bra itself is very very well structured and made, I've been using it for about a week now and the shape hasn't changed and material hasn't faded or stretched. 

What I immediately loved about the bra is the straps, they are so pretty it doesn't look like you have a bra on it looks more like vest straps.

Photograph sent to me - not my own image.

As you can see from the above photograph, the bra isn't just an average cup - it also has a little extra on the bottom, I think that this is such a great idea not only does it make you look slimmer it also gives so much extra support! I do think the Ultimate Plunge gives extra support compared to the Ultimate Strapless - which you'd expect. But the Strapless is still great if you don't want your straps showing as it does still give great hold and is super pretty.

The pattern on the top of the bra is a very elegant lace and a natural nudey/pink colour underneath - very similar colours to the Ultimate Strapless.

I have to say, I absolutely love Wonderbra as a brand and I don't think I'll ever buy a different brand for my bras again, I really can't say enough. Not only do they give great products but the company itself also listens to feedback and replies.

I'm currently discussing a possible giveaway with a Wonderbra - please let me know if you like this suggestion?

I hope this post helps as it's so important to get a bra that can actually benefit you and support you.

Love Sophie x