Salted Nails // {Quick swatch ft. Urban Decay, P.O.V. + Outfit pics}

When it comes to nail designs, I would consider myself a very detailed person. (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و I usually tend to go for designs that are more complicated than some, but some days I feel lazy and don't want to put that much effort of my nails. That being said, I'm here to share with you, a simple, yet cute nail design that looks cool and complicated, but in reality, it's easy.

Today, I shall show you how to create a salted manicure, making your nails look cool, without that much effort.

For this design, you can pick any colour(s) you want, you can mix and match or stick with one colour. The last time I did this design, I did a pastel coloured theme, but for this one I'm going to stick with one colour.

The required products.

♢ What I used ♢

-NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in 147 Lexington Lilac

-Island Girl Top/base coat

-Salt

Getting into the TuToRiAl...!

Never skip out on applying base coat!

1) The very first step and for every nail tutorial, is to apply a base coat on your nail plates. By doing so, you can provide protection from the chemicals nail polish have and to keep your nails looking clean and nice, once the polish is taken off.

One coat of the nail polish.

2) After waiting for the base coat to dry, the next step to do is apply one coat of the nail color(s) of your choosing, make sure to wait for the coat to dry, before heading onto the next step.

3) Once the first coat of nail polish is completely dried, this is the time you want to add a second coating.

Cool nail effect by adding salt.

4) Before the second coat dries up, this is when you want to sprinkle salt all over your nails. To ensure the salt particle stays, gently press against it on the nail. You can easily shake off the excess salt if it gets in the way.

5) Finally, after you complete all the steps, finish off by applying a top coat. For me, I had to apply 2 top coats, to get everything covered.

The end ReSuLtS!!!

Let's Get Naked
-Not too long ago, I purchased Urban Decay's Naked Foundation in shade 3 from Sephora.

-What I like about this foundation is that feels absolutely weightless, just as advertised.

-Even with a pump, I was still given enough foundation to cover a large area of my skin.

-Spreading and applying the foundation around, was very smooth-like, which is great!

Overall, when it comes to foundation, I'm the type to spend a little more than other makeup products. I really like the Urban Decay Naked foundation and I have no problem, in the future, buying it again.

Spend the Day with Me!
(AKA Places of Vancouver)

Last week, was the first week of summer school for my college and since I'm not taking any courses, I decided to volunteer as an information guide for new students and tell them where to go and what do if they had questions.

This went on for the first two days of the week and while the first day was pretty busy, on the second day only 2 people came up and that was it.

I really didn't have anything to do after volunteer, so I made plans with one of my old high school friend and we went to the Vancouver Aquarium for fun and nostalgia.

So before heading to the aquarium, I made my friend take a picture of my outfit of the day, since the scenery at Stanley Park is very pretty.

(On a side note: SHOUTOUT to my friends for putting up with my eccentric ways, especially when it comes to dealing with outfit pictures).

The outfit I wore to the aquarium!

{I'm not too of a huge fan of plaid, but when I saw this dress at Forever 21, I thought it was too adorable to pass up, so I bought it. 

Also from Forever 21, are the laced flats. They're very comfortable and can be easily be matched with anything, same goes for the heart necklace (if you want to see a closer picture of the necklace, check out my previous post).

The cardigan at the moment is my favourite piece, I believe I got it from American Eagle and the belt is from Urban Planet.}

○The Aquarium Life○
[So, I realize I suck at taking pictures in my phone some of them are going to be blurry, sorry!]

Hopefully this nail tutorial inspired or helped you create a similar design. If you don't want to use salt, you can definitely use sugar as a substitute, it will still create the same effect. Although, for me, I tend to stay away from sugar, just in case it attracts insects (yuck). 

Also on another completely different topic, I cut my hair shorter! :A: it's been years since I cut it short, since I do like my length and I can style my long hair into more styles.

On a plus side though, the length is perfect, since it's getting a lot warmer, here, in Vancouver. As well, I don't need to wait as long for my hair to dry and even better, my haircut only cost $7 since I got it cut by a student hairdresser. ヾ(。◕ฺ∀◕ฺ)ノ

Anyways, I will stop rambling and I'm hoping to put out more reviews during this month because I know made promises that I would do so, and plus, I have some new products that I've been dying to tryout.

Thanks for reading,

Courtney ♡

Too Faced: Brow Envy Kit Preview

Hello everybody! (*´・ｖ・)

It's mid April and finals are almost done for me, hooray! I previously wrote a couple of finals, although, truthfully, I'm not feeling that confident for one of the finals I just wrote last week (✖╭╮✖). Seriously, it's probably due to the fact that I have a horrible habit of procrastination to study and even now, despite having an upcoming final, I'm here writing a blog post, which proves my horrible habit.

For this post, I'm excited to show you guys a preview and a look at of Too Faced's Brow Envy Kit. I got this from Nordstrom Rack's when I went to Portland with a close friend, a few months ago, since I need help maintaining the shape of my eyebrows, hahaha. (✿╹◡╹)

I haven't used the set yet, so this won't serve as a review, but more as a preview, to show what the set contains. As a warning or a heads up, this post will be obviously, picture-heavy!

Overall preview for the set.

At the back of the product, the description says:

"Be envied for your gorgeous brows with "Brow Envy", Too Faced's fool-proof kit that will have you arched, defined and framed like a star! Stop dreaming about having celebrity styled brows; have them! You'll be the envy of the A-List!"

First of, what I really like about the product, besides the colour of the packaging, hehe, was the fact that the overall package was adorable. The kit itself, is quite small, which is another factor I like about, since it carries numerous items within it, that I will go in further detail.

Pictorial instructions.

When you open the kit, the very first thing that comes up, are the instructions, which also have pictures, (thank-you!) that is super helpful, since I'm not the best, at shaping my eyebrows.

The instructions are:

1. Select the stencil shape that best defines you.

2. Combine the powder shades to match your desired brow color and fill in stencil

3. Tweeze the hairs outside the stenciled area.

4. Apply the brow wax with brush to set hairs and powder for perfectly set brows.

5. Use the pencil to create the perfect arch and tail for brows.

6. Finally, apply the highlighter under arch and blend outward for an instant eye lift.

Details of the products in the kit.

The very top layer of kit, contains four circular quads, a setting wax, a highlighter and two powders: a blonde brow powder and a brunette brow powder.

Closeup of the tools that were included.

The tools that came with the kit were:

a) Eyebrow angled brush - To apply the powder on

b) Miniature spooly - To comb the eyebrows, to make it look neater

c) Tweezers - To pull out excess eyebrow hair, making the eyebrow shape look cleaner.

Stencils and eyebrow pencils.

So what also makes the packaging somewhat unique, is that under the top layer, there is a mini drawer that contains three different stencil shapes and small eyebrow pencil in dark brown. 

 Femme Fatale.

 Girl Next Door.

Glamour Girl.

The size of eyebrow pencil, is smaller than the usual eyebrow pencil.

The eyebrow pencil comes in dark brown and a small sample size. From the kit, it was the only product that I used, since I swatched it. The product itself, is very smooth and soft, however, it also breaks easily, as after I used it, the tip immediately fell off.

Swatches of the eyebrow pencil.

To the left, I swatched the pencil twice, while to the right, I only swatched the eyebrow pencil once, hence the line being thinner and lighter.

Products that I use.

So the picture that you see above, are the products that I use currently for my eyebrows. The eyebrow pencil is from Joe Fresh, a Canadian company within the supermarket, Superstore, The colour that it is in is ash-brown. The eyebrow gel, is from the brand, Sonia Kashuk, which I got from Target, for really cheap, before it closed. (Oh, Target we hardly, knew ye!)

Daiso eyebrow pencils.

And of course, I went to Daiso a few weeks ago, and I picked up two eyebrow pencils, which I will review in a future post! The one on the left is in dark brown, while the other is just in brown.

On a side note, from my last post, I completed one of my monthly goals! :D I'm now an official tutor, and I will be teaching a learner how to read and write. I'm a bit nervous, since for me, it's a major position were it's a leadership position, as I've always been in the follower role. That being said, I'm excited to for this experience and hopefully I will find more volunteering opportunities!

Thanks for reading,

Courtney ♡

Maybelline Smokes Palette Swatches

Before I head back to school (ew) and still have some free time left, I wanted to share with you guys the swatches of Maybelline's new Smokes palette! :D

When the Nudes Palette came out, I really wanted it, since when it comes to eyeshadow for me, I tend to go for more of the natural colours. Unfortunately for me, by the time I was searching for the said palette, it was all sold out T_T. 

However, luckily when I was browsing at Shoppers Drug Mart, I spotted the Smokes palette on sale, and I was able to pick it up! ^^ While these are the not the colours I would usually use, I thought I might as well try and play around with it, and teach myself how to do different looks, after all it is a new year!

What I like about the palette is the numerous eyeshadows it comes with, in total it comes to twelve. Another plus, is that there is an illustration at the back of the palette that shows you how you can use the eyeshadows, and there are three ways either in: quads, trios and duos.

A closeup of the palette.

With the palette, you get different and numerous shades that are matted, shimmery, metallic and gunmetal. The colours you get are various forms of silver, grey, black, pink, purple, brown and a few neutral shades as well.

These swatches are from the very top row, from left to right.

These ones are from the bottom row, from left to right, as well.

I have to say, there are some shades that are very pigmented, while others are not so pigmented, at all. The most pigmented ones are the gunmetal and metallic ones, the lighter ones, such as the neutral shades and the pink one do not show up as well. 

This is going to be all for now regarding the palette, I'm not going into a thorough/detailed review as I have not played around with the palette as much, as I should have. >_<

And to end this short post (I'll write a longer post next time!), here's a picture of my dog, Tobi! :D

Tobi is a Lhasa Apso, and he also has an instagram account! :)

http://instagram.com/tobithelhasaapso

Thanks for reading,

Courtney ♡.