DIY Kaviar Manicure tutorial

hey girls! sorry ive been so absent lately, but I've got lots of content coming soon, like a haul from a swap i did with Marla!

anyway, today I had a bit of fun with my nails. I had actually done this before, but used a topcoat on top which caused the colours to run an look super ugly! I have seen a lot about the Ciate Caviar Manicure kits that have recently gone on sale, and I was excited but also kindof annoyed about it. The pricetag for the kits, (which is the princely sum of £18!) is a bit ridiculous in my humble opinion. I was excited because it's a relatively new turn for nail art (though i'm sure quite a few people have tried this before, myself included) but the kits include a bottle of polish, a bottle of microbeads (or 'caviar pearls' as I think they have dubbed them)  a funnel and a plastic tray.

I think it's expensive for what it is. I have a large number of different colours of microbeads that I bought ages ago to make a blinged out iphone case.

 I have 14 different colours of beads, and together they cost less than a Ciate kit! So here is a quick DIY tutorial on how to get the look, without breaking the bank!

You will need:

Nail polish. I used Barry M nail paint in Peach Melba, but you can use any colour you fancy!

Microbeads. mine are Micro Beedz by Art Accentz, which I got from a shop called Crafty Destination in Southampton. They are by far the cheapest I have found, at £1 a pot or £4.99 for a pack of six different colours. They have a website, which you can find here. I also mixed the colours you see above in the small pot on the left. This gives a more dimensional look, but you could just use one colour.

Some sort of scoop. The one I used is from a pack of sweets from topshop, but a teaspoon will do fine!

A piece of paper, or a paper plate. I folded the edges of the paper to make a kind of tray so I could save any stray beads that didn't stick to the nail.

A topcoat. This is optional, but I used Seche Vite to actually stick the beads down, because it can stand a thick coat and dries quickly, though you could just use your coloured polish if you wish.

Right, the first thing ou need to do is paint your nails. I just wanted to do one accent nail on each hand, but you could do all of them. Decide which nail/s you are going to apply the beads to.

Take your seche vite, and apply to one nail. Very quickly, spoon some beads over the nail and tap them down. You will want to have the containers already open and the spoon at hand to do this! Work over your paper tray or plate.

Continue until all of your nails are done! its really that simple. Then you can crease your paper tray or plate in the middle, and use it to pour the remaining beads back into the pot. This look isnt very hard wearing, but should last a few days if you're careful with it!

the finished look.


would anybody be interested in seeing a tutorial for how i made my phone case?

enjoy!



LOOOONG overdue IMATS London haul!!

hey girls!! i'm SO sorry this has taken me so long, but i was super busy with my job and family stuff, so i took a little break from blogging. i have now quit my job (YAY!) and so i' hoping to get back to my regular blogging schedule.

anyway, i promised to do a haul from IMATS which was last month, as i bought quite a lot of stuff! before i go into this i just want to give a little disclaimer, i am in no way trying to brag or show off about how much money i have or how much stuff i have, i saved up for months proir to IMATS to enable me to make some big purchases at reduced prices, which is really a money saving way to buy.

anyway, into the haul!!

when i got home, before i played with or opened anything, i had to take lots and lots of pictures!! these are all of the bags i came back with, i was so excited!!

this is eveything i came back with all laid out. it looks like more than it actually is because i included all of the bags and literature. come on, i love that stuff!!

first of all i got quite a few new tools. crown brush was really well priced and inexpensive, so i picked up a few brushes there. i also got some disposable plastic spatulas. i think this entire bundle cost around £20, so really good value!

i picked up (from left to right) a small fan bush, a tiny little blending brush, a fine detailer brush, a badger (so soft!) flat shader brush, a HUGE natural hair shader brush, a badger crease brush, a tiny synthetic smudger brush, a square liner brush, and a badger anglpenil brush. let me just say that these brushes are LOVELY. i have had zero shedding (unlikemy 3 MAC brushes!!) and they are all super soft.

i really wanted a big flat-topped kabuki brush, and Royal and langnickel were having a big sale on their kabuki's, selling them at only £6 each.  

this brush as been a bit of an obsession of mine! it's so soft, and absoutely brilliant for buffing mineral and powder based products into the skin.

sleek had a big stall shaped like one fo their iconic eyeshadow palettes, and they also had some great discounts!

they were doing pout paints at 3 for £10, and lipsticks at 4 for £10, which was a complete bargain, considering pount paints are usually around the £6 mark and lipsticks aound £5!

the i-Divines were discounted, but only by about 50p individually. you could buy all of them for a bigger discount but i already had most of them, so i just got the PPQ palette, which i haven't seen before.

 as always, the shadows are super pigmented, and are a mixture of shimmery and matte formulas.

the lipsticks i got. they are (L-R) cherry, mystic (matte), candy cane and baby doll. baby doll is FAR too pale for me to actually wear, but it looked nice in the tube!! the colours here are really washed out, but i just couldnt get a true picture. to give you an idea, candy cane (3rd from left) is actually a super bright pink toned red, but it comes out here looking like a pastel pink. and cherry is really dark and vampy, but here looks more like candy cane does in real life. i'll put swatches up eventually, as i really like the formula of these lipsticks.

i also picked up some pout paints, so that i now have the complete collection.

i stopped off at Beatuy So Clean to get some cosmetic sanitiser, as i'm a bit of a germ freak!! the other day i told one of my friends that she coud help herself to use any of my makeup, and then i nearly freaked out when i saw her sticking an eye pencil in her eye! i was very glad for this spray that day.

i cant actually remember what stall i bought this at, i just remember they were selling beauty blenders and BEAUTIFUL foundation palettes which i was sorely tempted by, but it was the nd of the day by then and i'd already gone over my budget! this palette is lovely though, even though the surface of each shade is quite small, they go down quite deep and the coverage is great. i managed to snag this for a cheeky tenner as the show was closing, which i was so excited about!!

i actually bought these at the first stand i visited, i belive it was 3 for £5, and they are super soft because they're human hair.

i also bought some lash adhesive from there, but i havent tried it yet so i can't tell you much about that one!!

NYX had a HUGE line the whole ime i was there, so i went back just before the show closed to get what i wanted. it was slim pickings, so i just got 2 lipliners in dolly pink (front) and pinky (back) 

there was a stand called backstageshop.com which i was SO attracted to. it had the usual cosmetic stuff, but also quite a lot of theatrical and stage makeup too. i bought quite a bit from there and went back several times!!

the pack in th back of this shot was like a special effects starter set, and was a bargain at only £15! it contains: a lip colour/balm, liquid latex, arterial blood, spirit gum, and wound wax, all made by makerm and all in clear plastic cosmetic bag. i think the individual items had about a £35 value, so it was a great price for the bundle. i also picked up from this stand the ben nye mist and set (which unfortunately i had a bad experience with!) a ben nye concealer quad and a lipbalm they gave me for free because i bought so much!

i also picked up at this stall my biggest and most exciting purchase.... an airbrush system!! i decided not to go for one of the big brand systems because A) theyare very expensive compared to generic systems and B) a generic system will be easier to sell on if i decide i want to invest in a branded system, as a generic compessor has more practical uses.

the whole bundle, including 2 types of cleaner, airbrush and compressor cost only £100, compared to the £280 benchmark of the big brand names! so far i'm loving airbrush makeup and application, it just looks so flawless!

after i bought my compressor i was super excited, and went out looking for some makeup to go in it. OCC was my first port of call, and they fulfilled my needs perfectly.

i got a full sized bottle of foundation in my own colour, which is Y0, and then sample packs of all the yellow and red based shades, plus the blush, bronzer and highlight shades.

that about wraps it up for this haul, hope you enjoyed!

whats on YOUR whishlist?

Rolexes... the EDIBLE kind?

I know it's kind of unusual for me to feature a recipe on here, but it's something i'm keen to do more regularly.

let me first explain to those of you who don't know what a rolex is. it's a snack or light meal comprised of chapatti, vegetables and eggs. apparently it was originally known as 'roll eggs'  but when this is said quickly in a ugandan accent it sounds like rolex, and so the name has evolved.

you will need:

2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil
some sunflower or other clear oil for frying

4-6 eggs
salt and pepper
shedded vegetables. these could be anything, though when i was in uganda it was cabbage and carrot.

start by making the chapattis. i just used a mug for the measurements. combine the flour, water, salt and olive oil, and knead into a smooth dough. this is easier if you split it in two. if you find that your dough is not completely smooth, start rolling and re-rolling, and it will improve. this recipe makes 2 good sized chapattis, so roll half the dough out and fold it into quarters, and then repeat, switching between the two portions.  try and keep them as round as possible, and approximately the same size as your frying pan. you will find that they sring back a lot as you roll, but persevere and they will get bigger and flatter. you want to roll them as thinly as possible, but not bigger than your pan.

once you have rolled both of your chapattis, prep your eggs. break 2 or 3 of them into a cup (preferably the same one you used for measuring your flour and water, less washing up), depending on how many eggs you are using, add your veggies, and season well. its hard to oversalt this, and they will taste bland if you don't put enough in. 

pour enough oil into the pan to completely cover the surface. put it on a high heat and wait until it is bubbling to add your first chapatti.(you can test it by just dipping the edge into the oil. if it sizzles straight away, it's hot enough) when it's hot, place the first chapatti in the pan, and turn it to evenly distrubute the heat. you can also press it out a little further at this point. lip your chapatti after about a minute. it should be golden brown and patchy where the layers have bubbled up. remove from the pan after about another 30 seconds. cook the other one in the same way, and remove to kitchen paper.

turn the heat down to medium. when you start cooking the eggs everything happens kind of at once, so make sure you've got a plate handy, and a knife and fork! when i make these i tend to make 2 chapattis and only one lot of eggs, and use the other chapatti at another time. if you want to make both of them now, you will need to have to cups of eggs and veg ready to go, or the first one will get cold while you prep the second one. pour your eggs into the pan, and shake the pan slightly, to spead them out. when you can see the white cooked layer of eggs all over the bottom of the pan, grab a chapatti, and place it bownest-side-down on top of the eggs. carefully slide a fish slice underneath, and flip the whole lot over. after only about a minute, slip it out of the pan and onto a plate, and roll it up, with the eggs inside and chapatti outside. you can put slices of tomato or other fillings in before you roll it up if you want to.

enjoy the fruits of your labour!

The IMATS Experience

Hey girls!

I went to IMATS yesterday and had the most amazing time, and i have so much to tell you all that i'm splitting the IMATS London posts into two, this one will be only about the actual experiene, and the other will be a huge haul of all the stuff i bought!

the event itsself is held over 2 days, and i chose to go on the saturday, which is the first day. i would reccomend going on a saturday for a few reasons, but mainly because lots of stalls were sold out of the best deals by the middle of saturday, and had no plans to re-stock, so i imagine that sunday shopping would be slim pickings! it was held int he grand hall in Alexandra Palace in north london, which is a beautiful building and had more than enough space to fit everything in.

When i first arrived i was completely overawed, and kind of nervous of even looking at stalls because there were so many people who all seemed very driven and knew what they wanted, whereas i just felt a bit lost!

i spent some time just looking around, and soon got used to competing for space at stalls. i sadly didn't get too many pictures of the actual makeup and stalls, i was far to distracted by the amazing demos happening all around me!

the event itsself was so much fun, which i kind of didn't expect it to be. i thought it would be quite fasat paced, stressful, driven shopping for bargains, but i found that i was actually going at a reasonably slow pace and taking time to really look at and appreciate everything. there were a couple of things i knew i wanted to get, mainly a compressor, and looking for that was a bit stressful but i bought one early on (and left it at the stall to be collected later) and then i was so pleased to just be able to shop for things that simply caught my eye, and of course some new airbase makeup to go with my compressor!

the nyx stall was SOOO tempting but the queue was HUGE. another tip is to check out what you want and then come back nearer to closing time. i returned to nyx later on and there wa no line at all, because the show was due to close in half an hour.

i would advise keeping your phone to hand too, especially if it has a web browser. maybe i'm just a bit cynical but i wanted to price check everything, and i found that some things were being advertised as 50% off when in reality they werent reduced at all. even if it doesn't have internet keep it close at hand even for the calculator, to keep your budget in check and to make sure that you're getting a good deal. on one stall (i wont say which) they had a deal on airbrush stuff where if you paid £200 you got the compressor and 2 mini sets of makeup, but if you paid £250 you got 4 mini sets with it. what they didn't tell you was that separately the mini sets were only £15, so if you bought the £200 set plus the other 2 minis separately, it would only have cost £230!
overall i had a great day, spent far too much money and got some great deals, i throughly reccomend it to everyone!

i'll leave you with some more photos of the amazing demos!

warwick davis was there having goblin makeup from harry potter being re-created on him. his kids were there too, and seemed to be having a wicked time playing with presthetics and wounds!

the wonderful EnKore at the crown brush stand creating and awsome airbrush look to be viewed with 3D glasses!

IMATS Anyone?

hey girls! tommorrow i'm going to IMATS London for the first time, so i'm super excited! are any of you guys going? i was going to go with the wonderful Neve (check her out here) but unfortunately she can't make it, so i dont know who i'm going to be going with, i might end up going on my own, so if you see me, come and hang out!!

hope to see you there! xxx

And the winner is....

The number generalted by random.org was 6, which means that Holly is the winner! congrats!

MAC Lipstick; My Thoughts

hey girls! it may surprise you, but I actually only own one lipstick from MAC, and it's a fairly recent purchase. I find that you never really see reviews of MAC products, they are just regarded as fantastic because it's MAC. so today i'm going to give my opinion on the lipstick that i have, which is 'Girl about Town'.

ok, so first, the packaging. i personally don't love MAC packaging for powdered products, but I think they are spot on with their lipsticks. the smooth balck bullet shape is very tactile, and it has a nice wieght to it so it doesn't feel at all cheap.

the colour range is obviously enormous, which is great if you're a bit of a fanatic like me, but even I find it intimidating and overwhelming sometimes, which is probably why i don't have more of these. the formula is lovely, creamy, non-drying and smooth. the colour lasts a long time and fades evenly.

that brings me onto the scent. Most of you don't know this about me, but i work as a carer for a boy with cerebral palsy called Jack. Jack can't speak or eat, and he gets food via a tube that feeds directly into his stomach. the food is a powder that gets mixed with water to make a milkshake like substance. this stuff, complete feed, smells exactly like MAC lipsticks, and i really stuggle to get past it. obviously, this is only a problem for me personally, if you've never been anywhere near complete feed then you wont associate it with that, but to me, thats what it smells like!!

overall, i think they are nice, a great little luxury, but i dont know if i would buy many more, purely because of the smell. i LOVE this colour, but i have the almost exact same colour in the sleek pout paint in port, which is half the price, and is virtually unscented. they are a bit pricey at £13.50, but they don't break the bank.

the final word? nice, but overrated.

What do YOU think of MAC lipsticks?