NOTD: Film Inspired

A double whammy post for you today!

We were far too excited after completing a few day's of Make Up Savvy's challenge to finish our 21 Days of Nails without taking part in the 'Film Inspired' challenge.

We both spent ages thinking up ideas and films and trying to find something that would be easily translated into a nail design that people would understand and be able to replicate if they want.

My post is based on a book and film that I'd barely heard anything about until the film came out not so long ago.

I'm one of those people that needs to read the book before seeing the film and I can promise you I could not put the book down and ended up reading all three within 5 days, i had some serious eye strain by the end!

It is of course 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins.

So I decided to try some nail art inspired by this film:

First of all i used the China Glaze Capitol Colour in Smoke and Ashes which is actually for District 12 on my thumb and middle finger.

I used Rimmel's yellow (can't remember the name sorry!) and a Nails Inc free with InStyle orange colour blobbed on top for my other nails.

I then covered the yellow and orange nails with a black crackle effect polish (Barry M) to imitate the fire and burning effect on the front of the book cover that i used for inspiration (found here)

Then I used Model's Own Champagne nail polish to draw on a Mockingjay on the thumb nail and a bow and arrow on my middle finger.

I'm not sure how well these will come across but it took FOREVER to get this thumb part right, a lot of layering so i didn't smudge any other lines and making sure the lines stood out enough.

It took a little while but i was so pleased when i was done.

I think from now on whenever a new film is coming out I will have to do an inspired nail design as I really enjoyed having something to imitate.

What do you think? Do you like my Hunger Games nails??

I had so many other ideas for this one that i may have to do another :)

I loved the books though i wish they hadn't ended as I read them far too quickly 

L xxx

I absolutely love L's nails, when she sent me the photo I was so impressed. I also have to add the books are amazing. I read them so quick and I'm disapointed they are over so much so I think I will re read them.

For my film inspired nails I kind of cheated. I picked a film I've not actually seen as I wanted to do these nails. I picked Breakfast At Tiffany's. Since I picked up my mint green nail varnish I've been wanting to try these nails.

I love how iconic the Tiffany box is and it's just so cute!! I did originally try to hand draw the bows but with my dotting tool I couldn't get it to work. When routing through my nail varnish bag I found some little bows I ordered from eBay I forgot about and they just worked perfectly.

I painted all my nails with Rimmel I love lasting finish in shade Pear Drop 703. I picked up two of these the other day as they were on offer but I've found both of them leave nails very streaky and need 3 coats to get a decent finish. Overall I've just not liked using them at all. It's a shame as they are such pretty colours just a pain to apply.

Pear drop is a shimmery metal mint green. It's a very pretty shade on the nails and does look nice if you take the time to apply thin coats and let them dry in between.

I then used my trusty OPI Apline White to draw crosses on my nails. On the ring finger I put the horizontal cross further up the nail so it was off centre and I prefer this look but my thumb nail was too short to do this.

My nails are a state at the moment as you may have seen me mention in my last post for some reason I'm back biting them at the moment and it's really annoying me that I am. 

For the little bows I used plastic ones I picked up from ebay cheap. They come in a variety of colours and I just apply a layer of top coat and then place them on the nail. They are cute and make nail art really simple.

Hope you've enjoyed our nail posts over the last three weeks. I know we've both enjoyed doing lots of nail art.

Love M
xxx

Review: Benefit They're Real Mascara

I should have written this post AGES ago as this is possibly the best darn mascara I've ever used.

So many people told me to buy it but sometimes I hate the hype on products and can't help but want to rebel....

But when I got to America I went a little crazy and bought a lot, why not this beauty too?!

Benefit They're Real mascara is supposedly amazing for girls like myself, who have been blessed in the lashes department with super long ones....but unfortunately they do not curl.

Not one tiny little bit!

oh sure, they curl with an eyelash curler but spring back after a few minutes.

Heated eyelash curlers work better but still all curl is gone after an hour max, and to be honest I don't like using heated appliances by my eyes as they're sensitive enough!

So I was intrigued as to whether this mascara would actually work for me after so many useless products making their way into my make up bag previously

Anyway onto the packaging.

I love the metallic design on the mascaras but they always seem to scratch really easy and quite frankly look rubbish.

So far this tube is still looking pretty good though so we will see!

I love that they've used a bright colour and different font on the tube as it makes it stand out so much more and emphasizes the way it should be said!

I also like that it's quite chunky, I like mascara tubes like this rather than the thin ones that feel like they'd break!

The wand is also pretty sturdy which I find helps with application, you don't want it wobbling all over your face when you've finished the rest of your make up and get it all over!

The brush/comb effect is lush, and i found that unlike with other mascaras I didn't need to wipe the brush on my first use.

I always seem to find that doing that helps the brush not be as clogged up and therefore distributes the mascara much more evenly.

I really like this brush design and the formula for the mascara works really well.

It's quite thick when it has dried and this means that the curl is kept longer.

It also doesn't NOT flake or smudge down your face throughout the day woohoo!

Here's an iPhone pic of my lashes, not ideal but was the easiest way for me to take one.

Length and curl, yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

And they stay like this all day too, magic!

I'm super impressed with this and am more than willing to eat my words about not wanting to follow the hype.

I only wish it was a bit cheaper as I'm so broke right now and everything would be better if it was cheaper right??!

What do you think of this mascara? What's your favourite Benefit product?

I will be posting about another Benefit Beauty soon, I'm in love with it!

L xxx

NOTD Beetle Juice and China Glaze

Today is the end of our 21 day nail challenge but after spotting Make up Savvys 15 day nail challenge we've decided to extend it till tomorrow as we both wanted to try tomorrows theme (film inspired).

Today's nails are metallic. I kept the simple and did my favourite type of manicure a plain accent nail. 

I used Nail Envy Maintenance (my favourite base coat ever and the best in mu opinion, I read somewhere a while ago after using the original nail envy to switch the the maintenance version.) The colours I choose were China Glaze Coconut Kiss purchased from eBay ages ago and Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue purchased from the models own website. They are also available in boots.. 

Coconut Kiss is a gorgeous metallic purple. As with all China Glaze polishes it is a gorgeous finish and perfect in two coats.

Purple Blye is a metallic purpley brown blue colour and looks different in different lights. This polish I had an issue with. I bought it at Christmas time and have used it once since buying it and it has gone very gloopy and thick already. I'm not sure if this is just due to the consistency of beetle juice nail varnishes or all models own ones do this. It turns different colours in different lights and seems to have a fine glitter imbedded in it.

I really like the contrast between these two colours and how they go together. Coconut kiss is a colour I need to use more I really love the colour it comes out on the nails.

Have you enjoyed are NOTDs over the past three weeks? I'm going to miss having an excuse to paint my nails so much. Though I have been bad this week and bit all my nails off. I'm so annoyed at myself. I've not bitten them in over a year now and this week for some reason I've gradually bit them all down to stubs :(.

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Gradient Toadstool

Another of Make Up Savvy's challenges!

Today's is gradient nails which I was really excited about until........I couldn't find my sponges ANYWHERE!

So I had to improvise slightly...

Instead I picked 3 colours ranging from light pink to red and layered them on my nails in 3 stripes (kind of!)

If I'd had sponges these colours would have blended together really well but unfortunately that wasn't to be.

The base colour is 17 Supreme Shine in Simply Pink, the middle colour is No7 Cheeky Chops (post here-also in the photo) and the red is Barry M (262)

Then I used my dotting tool to do the dots, which hide a multitude of sins!

I tried my best to get the nails to blend and in some they did but others didn't look so great and this is a really cute toadstool look, ha!

I overloaded the dotting tool with the white nail polish from the Barielle Bridal Collection (Enduring) and blobbed it on wherever I felt necessary

I quite liked this design, it was fun and so easy to do, though does take a little whilst waiting for all the coats and the dots to dry.

What do you think of my ideas? I'm planning on getting some more sponges today so I can attempt gradient nail art properly....any tips??

L xxx