September 5, 2009
Update: September 5th, 2009
Ok people, I think appoligies are in order here. I have gotten pretty slack with making new posts on things that have been happening and I wanted to explain what’s been going on lately.
Last month, a week or so after my last post I went to Sydney for a Designer Gel Nails class with the school and for the Sydney Beauty and Spa Expo. I was there from the Thursday night till the Monday morning. The gel nails class was really interesting and I picked up some really awesome tricks that I am hoping to encorperate into my gel nails designs once I am more confident in working that medium. I did a bit of shopping at the expo and ended up getting a few new nail polishes and some nail art things to use in nail designs later on.
I haven’t been in the best state of mind to post anything on here in a while because a few things are happening at the moment that I would rather not discuss. I realize that I have not done any new tutorials since May and to be honest, it is really getting on my nerves. My tutorials are my artistic relief for what happens in my life and having not had the chance to do any in the past few months has left me feeling extremely stressed and feeling down. I am hoping to start back with the tutorials soon, but just not at the moment.
Classes are going well. I am currently practising for my final in the makeup portion of the course. I am still at the sculptured nails section of the nail technology course, but I am really enjoying it (I will post some pictures of nails after this post).
Again, I am sorry for the lack of posts and tutorials but I will be posting a few things after this to show you what I have been up to.
All the best,
Natalie
July 13, 2009
Update: Makeup Class, 11th July, 2009
Ok so yesterday I wasnt able to get a female model for my makeup class. My mother feels that her skin is too mature and its not exactly the best canvas for me to show my makeup talents on. And my sister was out of town so I couldnt take her.
Enter JORDEN! Yes my dears, you know him as my boyfriend, you loved him as my acrylic nail model and here he is in the flesh… IN DRAG!!!
So with Jordy I did the full shabang. He got foundation, concealer, contour, blush, eye shadow,and FALSE LASHES (my first set of strip lashes applied on someone else). I think he didnt look too bad. Andrea said he had the perfect eyes for false lash application. I think he looked pretty cute. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t sing “Sweet Transvestite” for the class this time, but I’ll get him another time!
The following picture was inserted to show that all this was done in good fun, lol.
July 8, 2009
Nail Polish Haul: Nfu.Oh
These nail polishes I bought from school. The place where I am learning nails and makeup is the Australian distributor of Nfu. Oh which is a brand the has many different creative nail aids such as acrylic powders, liquids, rhinestones etc in its collection.
Before I show you what I’ve bought recently, I wanted to show you what the bottles of the polish look like.
They are AMAZING bottles. They are designed like old corset dresses which I think makes them really individual. I love the bottle because I really love corsets and I am a sucker for individual packaging in the first place.
Anyway, now on to what I’ve bought recently. Unfortunately the nail polishes don’t have individual names just numbers so you will have to bare with me.
Left to right: Lavender Cuticle Oil, Cuticle Remover, Base Coat, Ultra Shine Top Coat
The Lavender Cuticle Oil and the Cuticle Remover came in my nail kit for the class so I didn’t actually buy those recently but I thought I would include them with this. The Cuticle Oil and Remover work really well. I love the smell of the Cuticle oil. The Base Coat and Top Coat work really well. The Base Coat grabs onto any nail polish that you put it under and helps stop your nails from being stained. The Top Coat give a BRILLIANT shine to any nail polish its applied over
Left to right: Nail Polish #08 and Nail Polish #107
Nail polish #107 was bought on a whim last week because I just loved the colour of it. It applies a little sheer when compared to some other nail polishes like the China Glaze ones that I recently bought, but I like that because it means that I can control the opacity of the colour more than others. I bought Nail Polish #08 to use as a French manicure polish and it works really well. It applies a little more opaque than Nail Polish #107 but it is a nice natural colour.
Left to right: Opal Shimmer #49 and Opal Shimmer #56
I L-O-V-E these polishes! These polishes come out pretty sheer on their own but when applied over another polish such as a black or another dark colour, they are AMAZING! They give an opal effect to the nail that is uncomparable to anything else I have seen. The are so gorgeous that I am looking forward to collecting all of the Opal Shimmer colours as I continue my course. I repeat, I LOVE THEM!!!!
My sister also bought a few of the Opal Shimmer polishes that she said we were going to “share” because I get a discount for studying at the distributors store. She has hidden them from me recently though so I think I’m going to have to buy some more of these and keep them to myself.
These nail polishes are the way that I found out about my course as I had seen Scrangie, the nail polish swatch queen, do a review on some of the colours. I couldn’t find anywhere that sold Nfu.Oh until a nice person sent Viv Simmonds (the owner of the place I am learning at and the current Australian Nail Champion) my email. From there I found out about the nail course and then the makeup and waxing courses and I haven’t been disappointed yet.
When I buy more of the polishes I will show them to you and tell you what I think. As it is with what I have, I am very impressed.
You can check out some more swatches of these nail polishes though Scrangie’s website (www.scrangie.com) and also checking out The Nail Phile (http://thenailphile.blogspot.com/).
Nail Polish Haul: China Glaze and OPI
Hey everyone. As I’ve said in a previous post, I have really gotten into nail polish lately.
I had no idea where to get China Glaze nail polishes in Australia until recently, so I purchased a crap load off transdesign.com. The shipping for these to Australia was a few dollars more than the actual polishes themselves which really SUCKED.
I got 22 nail polishes for AUS$166 which made them about $7.55 each. I rently found a place near me where I can get China Glaze nail polish for $6.50 which kind of pissed me off.
I also recently bought my first OPI nail polish in Onyx Black. I have been really reluctant to buy OPI nail polish from Australia as they retail for $19.95 at the only place that I knew to get it. Because I have recently been doing a nail and makeup class, I have been able to get a discount at a salon supply store near my house which sells OPI for $10.95 wish is a huge saving. I also got the Drip Dry from this place as well so that I don’t have to sit still for hours on end waiting for my nail polish to dry fully.
Anyway, the following at the colours that I bought. Hope you guys enjoy!
These are some of the colours from the OMG Collection. These are the ones that I was looking forward to the most because they are HOLOGRAPHIC!!!!
Left to right: “TMI”, “IDK” and “L8R G8R”
Left to right: “2NITE”, “DV8″ (favorite) and “BFF”
Left to right: “Pink Underground”, “Afterglow” and “Inner Beauty”
Left to right: “Ruby Pumps” (amazing), “Atelier Tulle” and “Orange Marmalade”
Left to right: “Fly”, “Tantalize Me” and “Passion”
Left to right: “Midnight Ride”, “Flying Dragon (Neon)” and “On The Prowl”
Left to right: “Frostbite”, “Shower Together”, “Devotion” and “White on White”
Left to right: OPI Drip Dry and “Black Onyx”
I bought the nail polishes from the OMG Collection as well as “Passion” and “Devotion” because holographic and chrome colours work well with the Konad. I bought the gold and silver special nail polishes from Konad but they were very sheer so “Passion” and “Devotion” will be replacing those.
If you know of any good OPI or China Glaze nail polishes that I should try then let me know in the comments.
Third Acrylic Nails: Jordy (July 7th, 2009)
So, this is my third attempt at acrylic nails during my class on Tuesday. With these ones I blended the tip with the natural nail so I didnt have a guideline when doing the smile line (which is why they are not as apparent as they were with my first and second attempts. Let me know what you guys think.
I have another class on Friday so we will see if I have made any improvements with ny nails then.
Acrylic Nails: Mum and Glitter Acrylic Try Out (July 4th, 2009)
This is a tryout that I did with my mum for a few glitter acrylics that I made. I saw Chantellej18 do this on Youtube and copied her idea. Basically what you do is mix one part SUPER FINE glitter (it has to be super fine or it doesn’t work properly) to one part clear acrylic. Just to warn you, this post is going to be very picture heavy.
Also, this is only the second time that I have applied acrylic nails, so I know that they are not 100% perfect but I am still learning how to control the product. Therefore, all rude comments will be ignored and deleted.
Mum was my guinea pig so she sat there for a few hours while I tried out most of the glitter acrylics that I made. Here is the end result:
So starting with the left hand, I’m going to go through the colours and show you what they looked like in the bottle and then on the fingers. So this is the left hand
On the pinkie finger we have “Teal Holo”. This glitter has a base colour of a medium teal and reflects light green, blue and gold depending on how the light hits it. It is one of my favorite glitter acrylics.
The next acrylic is “Green Rainbow”. It is a light green base and reflects gold, a darker green and light blue depending on how the light hits it. In the photo though it looks more matte than anything. I assure you that it was glittering really nicely in real life.
The next acrylic I used was “Red Rainbow”. This glitter has a red-orange base colour and reflects gold, green and orange depending on where the light hits it. When applied to the nail it came out a sort of coral colour which I found really unusual.
The next acrylic was “Gold Holo”. This is a really awesome colour. It has a gold base to it but reflects all the colours of the rainbow. This would be a really awesome colour to wear when going out somewhere ellegant to draw a little bit of attention to oneself.
On her thumb, mum was wearing “Magenta Holo”. This was one of the more impressive colours. It is a bright magenta pink which refelcts purple, blue and red depending on the light hitting it. This was one of my favorites also.
So now for the right hand. The colours on this hand were more cool toned. This was the hand that I did first. It also has the most favorites.
On her thumb, mum had “Lavender Holo”. This was definately my favorite out of all of the glitter acrylics that we tried. It has a dark purple base to it and reflects every colour of the rainbow. When I get good enough, I’m going to try this colour on myself first because I just love it so much!
On the next finger we had “Sugarplum”. This acrylic has a pink base and reflects blue. It reminds me of Pink Pearl pigment by MAC because that is basically what it is but in acrylic form.
On the next finger we had “Calypso Blue”. This is like a hyasinth blue and it one of my favorites. It reflects sort of a gold/silver and pink when applied to the nail and looks really beautiful. It reminds me a lot of Cornflower pigment by MAC.
The next nail was “Royal Blue Holo”. This is definately one of my very favorites. It is a dark royal blue that reflects teal, green and light blue. I love this colour so much!
Last but not least we have “Silver Holo”. For this one I had to get a different brand of glitter. This has a silver base which reflects every colour of the rainbow. Honestly I was hoping for a little more shock value for this acrylic, but it let me down. I’ll try it out again another time because it may have been the way that I applied it but for now, the colour just doesn’t grab me like I thought it would.
I have a few other colours that I haven’t tried out yet but when I do I will post them. The other colours I got were:
Sky Blue:
Red:
Dark Blue:
Black:
Royal Blue:
When I have tried these out I will post the results. I hope that you guys enjoied this. Please look up Chantellej18 on Youtube because she has some AMAZING tutorials and ideas and I never fail to gain a GIGANTIC amount of inspiration from her.
Update: Makeup Class, July 4th, 2009
These are a few of the makeup applications that I did during my class on Saturday. These are just to show you what I’ve been up to while not being on Youtube and the like.
I did a bit of makeup application on my teacher Andrea before we had our models come into class but I don’t have a photo that I can show you. As part of our practice for the day before our models came in, we made her up for her son’s 21st birthday. Each of the girls took turns in applying different parts of her makeup. I was elected to do the eyes (although not the eyelashes, one of the other girls did those). Andrea was to be wearing a black dress with her leopard print boots and she was in the mood to wear purple eye shadow. I used a gold colour on inner lid to contrast the purple. I then lined her upper lash line with black cake liner and went over that with a gold glitter liner.
The next person I made up was my mother, Sandra. Normally when mum comes in for a makeover in my class I do a neutral eye because she doesn’t have a great amount of lid space and normally she is just going home to take it off anyway. On this day I did a green eye to match the earrings that she was wearing (that she nicked from me for the day). I used a light green eye shadow on the lid and an olive colour in the crease. Black was applied to the outer crease for extra depth. I also applied individual false lashes to the outer corners of her eyelid to open her eyes more.
The last makeover I performed was on Adriana, one of the other girls in the class. Adriana had a birthday party to go to after class and she was wearing a black dress. I applied a light silvery-white shimmer to the inner corner of her eyelid to open her eyes a little. A medium purple was placed on the middle third of the lid blending into a darker purple in the outer third of the eyelid and into the crease. This was then darkened further with a black eyeshadow in the outer crease to create more depth. I lined her upper lash line with a black cake liner and then went over that with a silver glitter liner to draw emphasis to her eyes while she was dancing in the club.
So that’s all I’ve got for you at the moment. I’ll probably start taking more pictures during class and uploading them onto the blog so people can see the progress I am making.
Take care!
July 7, 2009
First Attempt at Acrylic Nails: Jordy (July 3rd,2009)
This was my first ever attempt at acrylic nails during my nail class. I was only able to take a photo of the right hand because I hadn’t fully finished it and Jordy wanted to take them off ASAP.
This was done using white and pink acrylic. I was told that I did a pretty good smile line for my first attempt which was encouraging. The teachers loved the fact that Jorden, my boyfriend, came in to be my model.
Let me know what you guys think. I will be posting my progress on my blog so we’ll see how I improve as the course goes along.
May 18, 2009
Update: May 18th, 2009
Hey guys!
I know I have been MIA for a while, but things at the moment haven’t been too good so I kind of lost my flair for tutorials for a while. However that aside, I should be back to doing them soon.
I don’t know if I told you but I have been trying to find a course in either Beauty Therapy or a certificate course for Makeup Artistry. I was hoping to start at this private school in the city that teaches Beauty Therapy, but unfortunately that didn’t happen due to circumstances out of my control.
On the plus side, Jordy has gone back to TAFE so I have more time with the house to myself for doing tutorials when I get back into the swing of things. I should be filming one today if I am able to.
Recently I have gotten really into nail polish and nail art. I have lined up a few purchases for my birthday so I can treat myself seeing as how things around here have been pretty dull lately. I’m thinking of getting a Konad which I will probably review and do a few tutorials with when I get it. I’m also getting some different nail polishes from China Glaze from Transdesign.com because China Glaze is few and far between in stores in Aus and this place has all the ones that I want.
I have also been looking into getting into a Nail Technician course recently. There is this really awesome one I have found where I will learn acrylic, gel and other nail enhansments that I wouldn’t have learnt at the private school I was thinking of attending. I have an interview at this place on Wednesday to talk about courses and all that fun stuff so I will let you know how that all goes. I’m really excited and its something I really wanna do.
Hopefully you guys havent gotten sick of waiting for newer posts and the like. I do enjoy doing tutorials its just that sometimes things in life bring me down and I get so bummed out that even the things that make me the most happy don’t cheer me up.
Talk to you all soon,
Natalie
March 2, 2009
Update: March 2nd, 2009
Hey guys, I just thought I would give you all a little update because I felt like writing something but didn’t wanna make a tutorial.
I have four other looks that I have done already that I am going to space out when they are uploaded so it is not a complete overload of makeup tutorials. I have been working really hard this past week to get them done so that I have something more to upload than just having a huge dry spell like I have in the past.
I have recently purchased some NYX lipsticks from Cherry Culture that are on their way from the US now. I don’t know how long they will take but when they get here I will be doing some swatching and reviews for you guys. NYX isn’t available in Australia so the only way I am able to get these is through a web company. Jorden may be purchasing some more for me on Thursday from another website which is cheaper so if the shipping is slower or about the same I can let you guys know.
On another note, Jorden and I have been invited to start sharing a house with his brother, Marc, so if all goes well we will be moving soon. If that happens, I wont be able to upload any tutorials for a while. That being said I may be able to come back to my parents house and use their internet. I am not sure if this is a definite thing but when I know more I will let you know.
So heaps of exciting things happening here. I hope you guys are more relaxed than I am at the moment. I’ll talk to you all again soon.
