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Chrome Nails Do It Yourself

It’s been a long long time since I’ve spoken nails here on Beautynook. I believe my last post was here years ago chatting about smelly Revlon nail polishes! I’m too embarrassed to click on it. But if you want to have a look and cringe at my even worse photos, go right ahead 🙂 I’m breaking the fast and coming at you with a post about doing chrome nails. At home, yourself. No salon is required here…or UV lamp, don’t worry 🙂

To create your own chrome nails, you will need: A nail polish colour of your choice, a clear top coat of you choice. You can use your finger, but it can get a bit messy, so may I suggest you rescue a sponge applicator in an eyeshadow palette you might have lying around. Then, the main thing you need is the chrome powder.

I know loads of high street brands are jumping on board with these now, so you don’t have to get the specific one I am using. But it is from Essence and it is super affordable. And Essence is readily available here in Ireland, so it might be a good one to look out for. The one I have is called Metal Shock Nail Powder in ‘Mirror, mirror on the nail’.

I would suggest creating your chrome nails on a wipe clean surface, or on something you don’t mind getting sparkly. The powder is super fine and it can get messy.

Start with clean nails. I applied a clear base coat, just in case the polish stains mine. Completely optional though.

With your polish colour of choice, apply a layer to one hand. I did a couple of nails at a time, just so I could show the process, but doing all five in one go is fine.

Let the polish dry for a few minutes. Essence suggest 60 seconds. I find that a bit too soon personally. You end up moving the polish and making a mess. I left mine for about 3 or 4 minutes.

Dip you eyeshadow sponge lightly into the powder and then begin the process of gently rubbing it onto the nails, one at a time. Don’t press too hard, remember the polish underneath is still tacky.

As you rub the powder in, the magic happens. You get the chrome nails effect!

It works in the same way as if you were doing it on gel nails, you’re just not curing anything so it might not last as long. But, you get a very similar result right?

Finish the nails off with a clear top coat. To lock everything in place, but to also help with the shine. Essence do a polish specifically for this purpose, but you could just use one you already have.

You will have a bit of overspill of powder around the nail bed. Just let them dry and you can clean everything up with a cotton bud and some nail polish remover.

And there you have my do it yourself chrome nails! Cheap, easy and pretty effective, if I do say so myself 🙂

xxx

*PR SAMPLE

January 12, 2018/by Gem

Skincare, Tanning

Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Oil

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil is the third installment in the shimmering body oil family.

The other two offerings which I am sure you are familiar with are Golden Goddess shimmering loveliness. There’s a yellow gold one and a rose gold one to choose from. This is the first one with a more icy glow 🙂

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess comes in a trio with the other two. It will hopefully be available in it’s own right this year.

I was lucky enough to receive this from Cocoa Brown as a little festive treat so mine is personalised, which makes it even more special.

It comes in a 30 ml glass bottle and has the same distinctive Tahitian Gardenia fragrance that all of the Cocoa Brown products have.

The Ice Goddess has become my personal favourite out of the three oil choices. It has more of a pearl toned shimmer to it so is more flattering on my paler pink toned skin tone. I need a decent tan to rock the other two.

You just give it a shake to mix the shimmer and oil together and then apply it wherever you want some extra glow. You can even use it on your cheekbones as highlighter. The shimmer also disguises mild imperfections and makes the skin feel nice and hydrated.

As it’s a dry oil it doesn’t feel sticky once it dries down on the skin. And you can choose the amount of glow you get by how much you use and how much you work it into the skin.

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil is available from Penneys around the country as well as selected pharmacies. You can also pick up the collection online from Cloud10beauty here for €14.95. The collection includes 30ml bottles of all three of the oils.

Have you tried any of them? What’s your favourite?

xxx

***sample***

January 2, 2017/5 Comments/by Gem

Makeup

Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners

These are the new Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners.

Looking online, the Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners come in 9 colours, Maybelline have them all on their American website here. And as usual they seem to be slightly different to what we have gotten in Ireland, this always confuses me, but sure look 🙂 They don’t seem to be on the Boots website as of yet though and I could only find 6 different colours in my local Boots. At the minute they are doing buy one Maybelline product get another half price which is nice too. That means there will another new Maybelline product post this week, so keep an eye out 🙂

I have 5 of the new Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners to show you today. According to Maybelline they ‘Color Show Kohl Liner is the hottest new way to create statement eyes. The brightest colors. The easiest glide. Creamy, rich color has never been this precise’.

The shade 520 is a light sea foam colour. If you follow me on social media, you know I have been loving putting this in my waterline for a bit of a pop at the minute.

210 is a metallic turquoise colour.

410 is a really nice and wearable dark matte brown.

220 is a slightly metallic dark navy.

120 is a metallic silver shade.

There was also a matte black on the stand too, which I didn’t pick up.

In my opinion the Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners are super creamy and really pigmented. They are really blendable and apply smoothly and easily onto the skin and even onto the waterline.

The color range is pretty, particularly 520 which is probably my favourite 🙂

I did swatch them all together on my arm and then after taking photos and giving them time to set, I wiped across them.

As you can see they all smudged so they definitely don’t set. I have used a couple of them on my water line and they do last pretty well considering. For me, using them on my lash line would mean setting them with a powder I think though.

I can’t link them yet unfortunately, but I picked them up in my local Boots and they cost €4.49 each but I did get them on the buy on get one half price deal.

Do the Maybelline Color Show Crayon Kohl Liners float your boat? Let me know 🙂

xxx

May 4, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Archives, Bargain Buying, Makeup

Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil

The Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil is a little bargain of a find. I picked these up randomly in Penneys when I was really just looking for new things to try.

I picked up three shades in the Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil range but they have a fair few colours to choose from, even a nude one now which is handy. You can see all the colours here on the Essence website. Like their lipliners I reviewed here on Beautynook not too long ago. I am sure I will end up with all the colours in my collection at some stage 🙂

The shades I have are:

19 Hot Scorch.

This is a bronzed shimmery brown shade.

09 Cool Down.

This is a slightly metallic navy blue.

05 C’est La Vie!

A metallic silver.

The Essence Longlasting Eye Pencils are a retractable pencil in a plastic casing which I personally prefer over the standard pencil format. The product itself is really soft, so glides on smoothly onto the skin. The colour pay off (as you can see from the swatches) is pretty great too! The formula does dry so you get good longevity out of it, even on the waterline, although they do last longer on the skin.

I honestly think these are a fab find for makeup novices and addicts alike. If you are looking to experiment with colour, these are a great way to begin too. And the best part? Like the lip liners, the Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil will set you back just under 2 euro! Not a bad deal at all, right? As I said, I got mine in Penneys, but I am sure any of the chemists who stock Essence would have these if they update their stands regularly. If you see them, give them a swatch and let me know what you think 🙂

As always, thanks for stopping by!

xxx

March 11, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tutorial

Smoky Eye Makeup Look

Smoky eye looks don’t have to be difficult. If you have patience and are willing to blend, you can do it! You don’t have to be a professional makeup artist to create it, I’m definitely not. It also doesn’t have to be black, it can literally be any colour you want it to be.

What I would normally use to create a simple smoky eye is:

A cream shadow
A powder eyeshadow in the same or a similar colour.
An eyeliner (something waterproof).
A brush to pack colour on and a couple of blending brushes to..blend 🙂
A warm shadow (or a bronzer even) for the crease.
I use a taupe shade in the crease too, but that’s optional
A highlight shade for the brow bone and inner corner.
Mascara and or lashes.
Patience 🙂

There will probably be alot of fallout when you pack dark colours onto the lid, so I suggest doing your foundation or at least your concealer after you finish the eyes.

I did throw on a bit of foundation, did my brows, primed my lids and set them with powder beforehand.

I first grabbed one on the Maybelline Color Tattos in ‘Timeless Black’. I forgot how much I love these!

I applied a good amount of this all over my lid with a synthetic brush.

When the colour was opaque on the lid, I cleaned off the brush and blended out the edges.

Having the primer and powder underneath makes it easier to do this step.

I used the sparkly black from my Pro Collection Palette from Fuschia Makeup.

With a flat brush, I packed this onto the color tattoo on my lid, tapping the excess of my brush as I go.

It’s looking scary I know, don’t click off yet 🙂

On a blending brush, I took some of this taupe shade, again from the Fuschia Pro Collection.

I blended this into the crease of my eye, bringing the black into it to help soften the edges.

To add a bit of warmth on a clean brush, I took some of the matte contour shade from the Seventeen Define & Conquer Contour Palette ( I have a full review of this here).

I applied this over the taupe shade in the crease of my eyes with a tapered blending brush.

With all the blending (you need to do alot of it), the intensity of the black shadow may be lost. Don’t be afraid to apply more to the lid…and yes blend it into the crease colours.

I think smoky eyes are all about layering and light continuous blending. Just take your time.

To help the blending process even more, I took a bone matte shade (again from the Fushcia pro collection).

And used this on the brow bone.

Things are still looking really messy, but don’t give up! You can see the difference between the blended and the unblended eye below.

Ok time to bring this smoky eye together now 🙂

Time some liner on the top lash line.

This is Perversion from Urban Decay.

It just adds extra darkness to the lash line and if you’re adding lashes hides the band. Again, you can see the difference between the eyes below 🙂

To clean up the fall out just use a wipe or come micellar water.

I apply concealer (and usually foundation) at this time, and then onto the lower lash line.

I used some of the dark grey from the Essence All About Greys palette and applied a good amount under my eyes.

Lashes time! These are some of my very faves from Amazing Shine and now they’re available in Mr Price, score!

Completely optional, but I always tight-line my upper and lower water line.

Too add more light to the dark eye look, a little bit of shimmer in the inner corner never hurt anyone either 🙂

And there you have it a non makeup professional smoky eye, of course with rest of the face makeup applied. Especially bronzer for us pale girls, a dark smoky eye can really wash us out 🙂

Thanks so much for reading (and reaching the end) 🙂

xxx

January 13, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tutorial

Easy Eye Look- Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

I’m back again with another Urban Decay Naked Palette look. I am no makeup artist, just a lover of makeup and applying it :). I did a look with the the Naked 2 here a while ago too. I think most makeup lovers picked up one of these palettes along the way, so I want to cover all the bases.

This time I did a really easy and achievable Smoky eye using the aptly named Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette.

You can check out swatches of the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette here here too, if you want to see all of the shades on the skin.

First up I primed my eyelids with the Paese Eyeshadow Base. I just used my finger to apply it.

Then over top of it, just to set it and to get rid of the tacky feeling, I used the lightest shade in the Naked Smoky Palette ‘Thirteen’ all over the eyelid.

This step isn’t really necessary, but I just added a little of the shade ‘Combust’ into my crease to begin the story 🙂

To lay a base for the darker shadows on my lid, I grabbed the Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Slate.

I applied this to the moving part of my eyelid, one eye at a time and blending as I went as these set pretty fast.

To blend out the edges of the Jumbo pencil more and deepen up the crease, I took the shade ‘Password’, which is a grey toned matte brown.

I used a clean Mac 217 blending brush to buff this into my crease, and to make sure there was no harsh edges.

Next is the fun part 🙂 I loaded up my brush with the colour ‘Armor’.

And patted this onto where the Jumbo Pencil was. Be sure to pat, there is alot of fallout. You can always apply more of this at the end to intensify the look so don’t worry if you blend some away finishing the look.

I decided to darken the outer v so I took a tapered blending brush and grabbed the darkest shade in the palette ‘Black Market’.

I basically just drew a V with the brush on the outer part of my crease and lid.

Then, you guessed it more more blending 🙂 I cleaned my 217 off again and diffused the edges of the black.

If the colour gets too muddied, just apply more and blend the edges. Don’t worry if the edges of your eyes get a bit messy, you can just clean it up with you concealer.

Under the eye I added some ‘Black Market’ with a pop of ‘Armor’ in the middle and blended it up to meet my top lid

I curled my lashes and added some healthy coats of mascara. You can by all means add lashes and some liner on the top lash line at this point if you want to make the look even more dramatic.

I decided to add some gel liner to my inner waterline. Rather than going for black, I went with the Inglot AMC Matte liner in 78, which is a grey colour.

I wrote a whole blogpost about how I apply liner here so I won’t bore you with all the details. I use a pencil dipped in the liner to get the job done though :).