Black and white stripe nails

New week, new nails. A very simple design made fast with a black and a white nail art pen. I could have maybe done the stripes better, but I've been a bit sick and my hands are very shaky :)  I used Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength nail hardener as a base, as always. I sealed the nails with Mavala's Top coat fixator.

-Anne

Nails of the week: Pink Panda nails

I did these cute Barbie pink panda nails a few days ago. I did the panda with white and black nailart brushes.

-Anne

Platinum blonde and pastel pink hair

Finally I have super blonde platinum hair. And a new, "longer in the front, supershort in the back" edgy haircut as well. A while back here in my hometown Turku, a local hair salon called Avantgarde decided to organize a happening where they would give free haircuts/colouring for about 80 people. However, there was a condition: the hairstylist would have totally free hands. This wasn't a problem for me because I've had supershort hair and I've tried literally every possible colour. You can imagine that people went crazy when they heard about the happening. Why is it that when it comes to getting something for free, people freak out?

Normally a haircut and colour would cost about 100euros. Me and my two cousins decided to be crazy and try our luck. Lucky enough, I live next to the hairsalon so we were looking from my balcony when people would start gathering in front of the salon. All in all we waited 12 hours before we were finished,crazy huh? 5hours waiting outside...In the middle of winter...in Finland. It was a freezing cold evening and I still shiver when I think of those 5 hours in minus degrees :)

 Even if it got very cold, I have no regrets. The people waiting with us were super nice, and we were all making jokes and cheering each other. I got a fabulous hair colour and cut. In addition my hair was shiny and felt super soft. My colour was very blonde in the beginning so the the stylist decided she would "alter" it just a "bit". I was a bit surprised when she started putting baby pink goo in my hair :D I was actually happy when the stylist said that the colour would be "icy strawberry platinum". I love Nicki Minaj's cotton candy hair! In the end the colour doesn't really look like pink, only in a certain light.

Hair in process

Paul Mitchell: Platinum Blonde shampoo

L'oréal Preferance pastel toning conditioner in Soft Rose

  I've maintained the platinum and "pink" hair with two products, Paul Mitchell's Platinum Blonde shampoo and L'oreal Preferance pastel toning conditioner. The shampoo is actually a violet shampoo which takes any brassiness away. I use it once a week for 5 minutes. There are many good violet shampoos on the market,but right now I prefer the PM. Good alternatives are Fudge's Clean Blonde Violet shampoo and L'oréal Professionnel Silver shampoo. The PM shampoo costs about 15euros, but it will last for long. The smell reminds me of cucumber :) 

As you can see from the picture, the L'oreal pastel toning conditioner is pretty pink. In order for the colour to show properly, you HAVE TO have blonde hair.  I've tested and come to the conclusion that if you want a truly light baby-pink shade of pink, it's best to mix the pastel conditioner into your normal conditioner. I use a quarter size amount of the pastel conditioner, and same amount of regular conditioner. But IF you want a pinker shade, use the toner conditioner only and leave for longer than 5 minutes. The colour will fade away in a few washs so you have to reapply pretty soon.

The next picture will show you how light of a pink shade I have, you can barely call it pink. But I assure in bright daylight it looks baby-strawberry pink :) I put a white paper in front of my face for the colour  to show better.

-Anne

Pink Tip Nails with dots

Here's something fun I did today, Pink tip nails with dots. Here's what you'll need:

1. A base nail polish. This makes sure the other coats stay on longer. Apply 1 coat.

2. A Shimmery light pink nail polish for the whole nail.

3. A bright pink polish for the nail tips.

4. A black and white nail art pen. These are so nice and easy to use. If you don't happen to have a nail art pen, you can use basic acrylic paint and a small paint brush. You just need to make sure that you apply a top coat to make the acrylic paint waterproof!

Hope you have fun painting your nails ;) 

- Anne

Gold and lace tip nails

Yesterday I decided to these gold tip "lace" nails. You can wear these on a casual day or even as a bridal nail look if you prefer your nails to be simple! These are really easy to make, I promise :) All you need is: a light pink nail polish, A gold glitter nailpolish, a top coat polish and white nail art pen.

 A while back I bought Sally Hansen's gem crush in 03 Big Money. All in all I love the fact that the gem crush polishes have different colour glitter in them so in different lighting the colour always looks different. There is just one thing which isn't that great: if you apply too much of the product( meaning more than 2 layers) the colour chips off quite easilly. So be aware :)

To get the nails, start by applying two coats of light pink nail polish on the whole nail. Let it dry. Then apply two coats of the gold glitter nail polish on the tip. If you have very short nails just "fake" the tip, nobody will notice ;) Then draw a line between the two nail polishes with the nail art pen and start drawing the swirls and dots. When dried, apply at least two layers of top coat polish.

- Anne

New hair cut and colour

Lately I've been craving for platinum hair. After seeing these pictures I just had to do something about it!Michelle Williams has probably the nicest short hair cuts in Hollywood :) I myself have had a pretty short haircut for the last hmm, 4 years, but lately I've been trying to grow the asymmetric cut. My hair has grown, but the model was simply flat and horrible.  I've also been trying a more natural colour for about 4 months, something that is almost like my real hair colour.

Before colouring and the hair cut

 The fact is natural hair is just not my cup of tea. More edgy and strong colours as well as short haircuts suit me and my character better :) I thought that maintaining non-brassy blonde hair is way too time consuming, but now, to be honest I think that it's worth it! A few days back I coloured my hair at home with L'oreal Paris Récital Preference 10.21 Stocholm. It gave a nice ashy tone and made the previous colour slightly lighter. I still need to bleach my hair once ir twice to get just the right shade of blonde.

 Here's some pictures of my new hair :)

As you can see from the middle picture the shade is pretty blonde already. But as I said earlier, I want it to be platinum. When I was a kid I had almost white hair so that's the reason for my craving :) 

-Anne

Shopping and new nails in Conneticut

I went shopping with a friend from High School in Downtown Fairfield in a shop called Cargo Bay and this adorable tree was in the corner. It is literally a large tree branch with tissue paper flowers. Each one appeared to be handmade and from farther away they looked like silk flowers. The flowers were attached with hot glue and wire. This is definitely something that I will try doing myself!

I also went to Marshals which is a store that sells brand name and designer clothes, bags, shoes, home décor and other things at discount prices. I bought this pair of Guess wedges which are normally $70 for just $25! On this visit I only went to the shoe section because I was short on time. I’m definitely going back there again! 

I got a Gel Manicure while I was here. On my first day here when I was slightly jet lagged my sister and my best friend from High School took me to a nail salon for a manicure. I work in a restaurant in Finland and my hands and nails have paid a high price. Despite my job I try to always keep my nails looking nice, this means every 2-5 days I paint my nails. I also feel like the polish keeps my nails slightly stronger and helps keep my nails from cracking or breaking. I’ve had this gel manicure for 9 days and not a crack in sight. The photo below was taken today. The polish looks black but its actually an eggplant purple with slight shimmer. I should probably explain what it is. A Gel Manicure uses gel nail polish which is applied to nails and then cured under an ultraviolet light for about 30seconds-3minutes. The perks of the gel manicure is that there is little dry time, after your nails have under the UV light its 100% dry and won’t smudge at all. Its extremely durable, it won’t chip for 2-4 weeks! AMAZING! Also when you take off the polish it won’t damage your real nails like acrylic nails will. It cost me $35 plus a $5 tip so it was slightly more expensive than a normal manicure. 

 Anne and I have been talking about buying an at home kit. The kits are around $60 and I think that it might be a good investment. I have to check that the UV light box is safe to use with a converter (there are differences in Finland and America) but If it is then you may be seeing a review of an at home Gel Manicure kit soon ;) 

Pretty, don't you think?

- Tina

Beauty haul

I received an order from Sleek MakeUP yesterday, and I'm so happy about it, they turned out to be even better than I expected. I also purchased some products from Turku.

I've read many positive reviews on this tinted lip conditioner  so I had to try it.

942 Powder pink. Smells like candy vanilla and slides on like butter. Perfect for a smokey eye look!

This is definitely my new lip gloss favourite! I haven't tried such a smooth,non-sticky lip gloss in a while.

I really like brush applicators, and this had it.

This came as a free gift

I love tinted lip balms because sometimes my lips get really dry. Loved the berry taste and the fact that it's not sticky

Many people have been talking about this so I had to try. It's a good option for a regular foundation during the summer. It has a medium coverage and makes the skin "glow".The only minus was that after a long warm day my skin started getting really oily.

Clarins, a favourite brand of mine for many years. The hydra matte lotion and Gentle  foaming cleanser are perfect for oily combination skin. The Cleanser goes a super long way, because you need to apply just a tiny amount.

Beetroot-goat cheese salad that I ate today :)

Accessories and self tanning products

What a week. Today I finished my Final exams, the one today was just awful, Advanced Marketing research. I also had to say goodbye to one of my exchange friends and it was so sad. Now I can focus on travelling! Niagara falls during the weekend and Miami Beach on wednesday, I'm so excited! The problem is that I'm so pale at the moment! I have to get a bit of a "tan" before going there. I really like self tanning lotions that have a hint of color in them. In my opinion gels are easier to apply and are not as sticky as lotions, so I've usually been using L'Oreal Sublime Bronze tinted self tanning gel. It has small "gold" sparkles in it and gives your skin an instant hint of bronze color. It's perfect if you need a "healthy glow" fast. The only minus is that you need to apply quite a lot of the product, so the small bottle won't last that long. However, in my opinion the tan colour comes faster than with normal products so you don't need to apply it many times to get a proper "tan".

Because my skin has been so dry lately, I decided to try Jergen's natural glow daily moisturizer. It promises to give you a gradual tan and decrease the appearance of cellulite in 7 days. I still haven't used it for 7 days in a row because I'm a bit too lazy for that :D But the product has really tiny sparkly "glitter" in it, so this is what probably makes your skin look smoother.

Here's some other stuff I've bought recently:

Forever 21 + Ardene

Ardene

Ardene

Love at first sight at Forever 21. The color is more pink in daylight.

Essential for Miami!

I know it's pretty bold...

 But Beyonce and Lady Gaga look so awesome with dark lips, so I have to try it too! :)

Purple eyeshadow and a new trench

It's a beautiful spring day in Toronto, and I finally got my trench in the mail today! Wuhuu! It's by Laundry by Shelli segal, and it just what I wanted it to be.

The only mirror in the apartment :) Scarf from HM

As I was wearing a very bright scarf today, I felt that my make up has to "match". So I did a purple-bronze look:

Revlon Photoready primer is a good primer for combination skin, it's not too greasy and feels very soft and nice. Clinique anti-blemish foundation is one of my favourite foundations as it has a high coverage and it doesn't give me any break-outs!

Since I first tried Sleek make up eye shadows, I've been hooked! They have a lot of pigmentation, so you don't have to apply tons of it. The palettes are also very cheap, even if the quality is good, only about 8-9 euros if i remember correctly.

Au Nature I divine palette - For this look I used the white one on the lid,

Original I Divine palette- The bronze one for the crease, and the violet on the base of my lashes.

If you love "thick" looking lashes, you will like the L'Oreal's voluminous carbon black mascara. Maybelline's master precise is ideal for doing narrow lines. It's not my favourite, because I prefer thicker appliers,but it's ok.

The Body Shop bronzer is not the cheapest one, I think I paid about $19 but I like Bodu Shop products and the fact that it has a lot of colour, so you don't need to apply that much. The Joe blusher is very light, but gives a nice glow.

My eyebrows are very light and narrow, so a good eyebrow pencil is a must!