Jamberry Berry Sparkler

So I may or may not be able to go to the Ren Faire because of all this rain but if I do....these will be my fairy nails!  I ordered these on a whim with my hostess rewards and actually ended up liking them way more than I thought!

Normally I take all nail pictures in natural light but I added my flash for these because it really brought out the sparkles and made them look more true to life than regular lighting did.

Berry Sparkler is a super cute glitter finished wrap that starts pink and fades to a sparkly silver.  These are just so adorable and I've already received compliments on them.  They feel so magical, playful, and elegant all at the same time!  I'm really glad I stepped outside my comfort zone and got these wraps!

Fairy Wing Nails Using Zoya

This is another manicure that started out simple but the longer I spent studying the more I kept randomly adding to it.  It's just a coincidence that I used all Zoya polishes for this look, haha.

The gradient blue into the purple with the light sparkle at the base kind of makes me think of fairy wings :D

For the base I used Hudson which is an incredibly pretty metallic lilac.  I love this color so so so so very much for spring. I then gentle used Mosheen to create a blue sparkle gradient from the tip of my nails.  Finally I took Lux and created a light half circle at the base of my nails.  Now my nails are sparkly fairy wings.

I actually sketched out this fairy two days ago, perhaps when I color her in photoshop I'll base her wings off of this manicure!

Spring Summoning FOTD

I am oh so very much ready for spring.  I hate the cold and I love swimming and flowers and ugh stupid window needs to end.  Today I dressed as if it were about 20 degrees warmer to make myself feel better.  

For this look I used Slowburn and Revolt from the Electric Palette. I dabbed Slowburn all over my eye lid and blended Revolt under my eye for a nice pop of sparkle. I took Skinny Dip by NYX and blended it into my crease.  I then darked my outer corner using Urban Decay's Blackout single shadow. I finished with a wing and voila! Super easy spring eye!

On my lips is NYX soft matte lip cream in San Paulo. 

NYX Cosmetics Liquid Crystal Liner in Crystal Pewter

I love my liner in Crystal Jade so when NYX was buy one get one 50% off I picked this up.  Its called Pewter but honestly I think its more of a Lilac, there is a subtle purple sheen to it which is 100% the reason I picked it.

This is definitely another winner.  The color is gorgeous and its subtle yet makes a statement.  Although my night class literally just got canceled because of snow that hasn't even happened yet...so no one but you guys will get to see my face today.  Oh well.  I did have to put on 2-3 layers to get the sparkle to this opacity but I don't mind having to build it up because that means if I want to just have a light sparkle dusting I can do that too.   If you like sparkle I definitely recommend these.  I actually like the formula for this one better than Crystal Jade, I don't get the slight skin tugging when I make an exaggerated eye movement. Besides the liner I also have Dust, Buzz, and Nooner from Naked 3 on my eyes.  Liquid liner is Jesse's Girl as always.  On my lips is Frenchie by Colour Pop cosmetics.  The review for it is coming soon!

If it is snowing where you are stay safe please!!

Where to buy: NYXcosmetics.com, Ulta, Drugstores

Price: $4.50

Nail Design Using OPI My Voice is a Little Norse, Miami Beet, and Zoya's Noot

My current nail adventure came about by chance.  I had a vision and it just kind of took a completely different turn.  Initially I was just going to do the pink nails with the silver glitter but because My Voice is a Little Norse does not cover opaquely it looked a bit strange.  In order to save my manicure I took Noot, a dark grey, and turned the statement sparkle into an accent stripe.  Overall I think they looked pretty cute.  

However because I put the grey over the sparkle it acquired a bumpy texture upon drying.  I think this would have looked much better if I had done the sparkle strip over top of the pink and grey.  Live and learn!

Also Miami Beet looked much redder on my nails than it does in the bottle, which I was a little bummed about because it was supposed to match my dress.

These nails were done to match my dress for a New Years Eve dance.  Here is my boyfriend and I looking fancy :)

On my lips I'm wearing OCC Lip Tar in Black Dahlia.

Zoya Nail Design Using Belinda and Lux

Now that its fall I can once again start wearing all the dark wintery Zoya nail polishes I got last year for Christmas! This week I used Zoya's Belinda and Lux to do a super cute dark purple with a silver sparkle accent.

This was one of my first times using tape to try and create a nail design.  The last time I tried the results were horrible and the polish got under the tape and it was worthless. I don't know if I have better tape now or if the chunky sparkles work better for this kind of thing but it worked perfectly this time!

I think for Christmas Lux will look perfect in this same design over a nice sparkly red. :)

Mary Kay Lip Gloss in Berry Dazzle and Red Passion

While I no longer am selling Mary Kay, I do still love many of their products.  My mom recently made a purchase from a consultant and the free gift at the moment is a set of 6 mini lip glosses! It is seriously so cute!  Well my mom dislikes crazy sparkle glosses so she let me take my two favorites, the two sparkliest and most pigmented of the bunch, Berry Dazzle and Red Passion. 

I've always preferred Mary Kay glosses over a lot of others for their pigmentation, longevity, and feel on the lips. These two are no different.  Berry Dazzle, a brand new shade (which I am a bit sad about because I think it replaced Berry Tart, my all time favorite gloss) is a sparkly raspberry gloss with specks of orange and blue glitter. While Red Passion is a reddish orange gloss with orange and pink glitter.  The glosses pictured are just sample sizes, the full size is much larger.

erry Dazzle is very very nice on its own.  It offers great pigmentation and coverage for a gloss and I don't think the sparkles are too out of line for this season. These glosses apply easily and don't feel sticky.  The smell is a big strange, but it's not bad.

I did a wear test with Berry Dazzle and after 4 hours of wear the  color was faded as expected but a pleasant and even pink tint was left on the lips with a trace of sparkle.  Even after devouring a sandwich right after this picture a bit of tint was still left behind.  

Next is Red Passion, this one existed back when I was a consultant but I never actually tried it until now.  I'm sad that never occurred because I looove this gloss. I don't think I'd wear it alone very often because when I wear red I like to go bold not subtle, so fortunately it looks amazing over a red lipstick! Perfect for Christmas!

As pictured here.  I applied Red Passion over J-Cat Beauty's Lip Paint in Red Potion, creating a.....Red Potion of Passion? Haha...

Overall I  really like these glosses and if you go to a party where these are being offered as a free gift with a $40 purchase I think it would definitely be worth it to purchase enough to get these samples! The set also includes a gold shimmer (Beach Bronze), a peachy shimmer (Fancy Nancy), a slightly shimmery pink (shock tart) and a light brownish pink (Cafe au Lait). I am only 90% sure of these other colors though so don't hold me to it! :D

Where to buy: Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant

Price: $14

Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil in Ultra Olive

My Ipsy post was getting kinda long so I decided to review this item separately.  I didn't get this in my Ipsy bag but my mom did.  She already has a few olive eyeliners so she told me to take it, and since I love Starlooks there was no way I was going to say no! 

I'm not usually an olive kind of person but I do rather like this color.  I think it helps bring out the green in my eyes.  Starlooks liners are very buttery and glide on easily, which is very important for me as I hate anything that tugs at my eye.  Full pigmentation can be acquired with only one sweep and they sharpen well.  My only complaint would be the glitter falls out a bit throughout the day because if I wear it under my eyes I get super glam upper cheekbones.  This doesn't bother me too much as I just wipe it away whenever I notice it happening but for someone who can't touch up throughout the day, this may be an issue.

I entered this photo into Ipsy's Starlooks liner contest.  Alas it did not win.  It always seems to be a really crappy low quality pic that wins, maybe I should stop trying so hard....

Where to buy: Starlooks.com

Price: $17

MAC Rocky Horror 3D Black Glitter and Its Various Uses

Because the MAC Rocky Horror 3D Black glitter was so insanely pretty I had to snag it!  However I didn't really think about the fact that I have never used loose glitter before. Luckily my mom had a lash glue she wasn't a fan of so I've been using that to apply it, but I've since ordered Urban Decay's Bondage which works much better. Anyway, I've been experimenting with some different things and wanted to share my crazy antics! These techniques can easily be used with any loose glitter out there, doesn't have to be this one. Enjoy!

Here is the glitter in all its awesomeness...so pretty.  It has black, silver, green, red, blue....you name it, it will shine that color depending on how the light hits it.  I love it!

First up is simply using it as an eyeliner!

If you do this BE VERY CAREFUL. You do not want glitter in your eye it will suck very badly.  Just please be careful when using glitter around your eye....

This glitter can really glam up an eye look in an instant. So fun! However I think it prefer it under my eye rather than above. To do this I put glitter adhesive on my winged liner and patted the glitter over top with a small brush.

I find it much safer to use the glitter as an eye liner under the eye to minimize the chances of a spec damaging the cornea.

Next I'm going to use it as an eyeshadow enhancer.

I picked up Urban Decay's Bondage in order to use this glitter more effectively and discovered that it also works fairly well to create an all over sparkly eye shadow effect. I'm sorry I didn't do any close ups for this but up close it just looks...strange.  From a normal distance covering your eye lid in this glitter creates a super enchanting look.  However getting up as close as my camera does it looks very strange. 

To do this I lightly coated my entire eyelid with Bondage using the brush in the lid.  I was able to put it right on top of the eyeshadow I was already wearing and it didn't mess it up at all. Next I took a eye shadow brush and lightly dipped it in the glitter then carefully patted it onto my eyelid.  It suck really well and didn't budge until I took it off with makeup remover!

This glitter can seriously glam up an eye look in an instant. So fun!

Moving away from the eyes, next up is glitter lips!

A little less practical...but super fun nonetheless. Just be careful not to eat too much of it.  I did not put a lip gloss on top but if I ever wore it out I probably would in order to keep the glitter from going in my mouth or on my chin.

Mmm look at those sparkles.  To do this I put the 3D Black over NYX's Simply Vamp Lipstick in Temptress. To apply I simply patted the glitter onto my lips with my finger. This may be more practical if you use less glitter with some lip gloss.

And finally the last use I have for my glitter is as a nail polish.

This is super easy to do and the results are amazing.  I love my nails right now. To keep with the theme I put the Rocky Horror glitter on top of my Rocky Horror nail polish in Bad Fairy. 

To do this simply mix the glitter and a top coat or clear nail polish on a piece of plastic, then paint away!  I would recomend doing this with a cheap clear polish as you tend to have to use a lot, it also wastes some glitter, but there is so much of it in that jar I'm not really worried.

I hope you now have some fun new techniques to try with your loose glitter.  Have fun and don't get it in your eye!

Monochromatic Sparkly Nail Design

Because I'm obsessed with OPI's My Voice is a Little Norse I did yet another overly sparkly nail look! And I know I will be using it again next weekend for a manicure I'm doing for a special dance. I love this color <3

To do this look I painted my nails with Zoya's Noot, a very dark grey. Then I carefully took Norse and made a half moon at the base of my nail and then a curved tip at the top of my nail to have a slightly curved strip of Noot showing through.  This mani was super cute and easy and I could definitely see doing it again with different base colors.

OPI Nordic Collection My Voice Is A Little Norse

Because of my heritage and taste in music I have a soft spot for Scandinavian culture.  Therefore when OPI released its Nordic collection I knew I had to grab at least one!

I chose My Voice is a Little Norse, one because its a hilarious name and two because its just looked so pretty in the bottle.

And it is just as pretty on the nails! I especially like that it can be used as an accent like I used it here or as an all over nail color if you build it up to 3 coats.  I will definitely get a lot of use out of this color!

Where to buy: Ulta, Savemart, OPI.com

Price: $9.50

Sparkly Purple Smokey Eye Tutorial

I've never done a tutorial before so since I knew I'd be doing this look twice, once for a trial run, and again for the concert, that it would be a good opportunity to attempt something like this.

1. I covered my entire lid with Urban from the Electric Palette

2. I put Blackheart from Naked 3 on my lid

3. I lined outer part of lower lashline with Starlooks gem eye pencil in Topaz

4. I drew a double wing with Jesse's Girl liquid liner in black

5. I made a small line under the bottom wing with a discontinued purple Urban Decay Heavy Metal liner

6. I highlighted under my brow and on the inner corner with Strange from Naked 3

7. I finished the look with Urban Decay's Perversion mascara

Hope this was decently easy to follow!