NOTD: Essie Tart Deco

Essie Tart Deco

Guys, it finally happened. After four months and 26 days, I finally cracked and...bought another nail polish. Words can not describe how proud of myself I was for not buying any nail polish for that long. But I was browsing my local Shopper's Drug Mart and I saw that Essie was on sale from $11 CAD to $7 CAD, so I gave in and bought this shade I have been eyeing for awhile now.

In the bottle, Tart Deco appears to be a light coral. It doesn't translate like that on the nail, which I was sort of disappointed about. On the nails, this dries much darker and much more orange. The best way I can think to describe this is that instead of coral, it is much more salmon orange. And darker. It's a nice colour, but it wasn't really the colour I was looking for.

The formula on this was pretty good. The coats came on quite thick, but it was self levelling, so no streaks are visible. I needed two coats for full opacity. 

The brush on this was kind of awkward. I own other Essie polishes with better brushes, so I don't know if it was just this colour or what. But it had a really wide end, and the bristles would spread out way too far. 

All in all, not my favourite colour. It's a nice colour if salmon is what you're looking for, but I wanted more coral. I wish it dried the bottle shade. Ah well. It's still a nice summery colour.

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

Nail Art Tutorial: Strawberry Design

Today I'm going to show you how to recreate the simple strawberry nail art shown above. It's really fun, and really easy to do!! I don't do nail art very often, so I know this isn't the best art ever and definitely not the most precise!

I actually got the idea for this from an Instagram picture my friend showed me. Unfortunately, I only saw it for a second and didn't get the name of the account. 

If you want to see how I did this, keep reading!!

The Polishes: 

So for this look, you only need three polishes, plus base coat and top coat if you like. You need a red polish (which I'm sure most of us own), a green polish, and a white/cream polish. 

Here are the polishes I used. For the red, I'm using Essie's Fishnet Stockings. For green, I chose OPI's Uh Oh Roll Down the Window, and for the white/cream (mine is more of a cream) I used OPI's My Vampire is Buff. Any similar polishes will work. 

You also will need some sort of dotting tool. You could use an actual dotting tool or a nail brush, but I opted just to use toothpicks. If you want a more precise look, I would use a dotting tool.

THE STEPS:

Step 1:

I first applied some of Revlon's ColorStay base coat (you can skip this step if you want), and then I applied the red base. 

Step 2: 

Then once that was dry, I took a toothpick with some of the green polish on it and started making triangle shapes at the top of my nails.

Like this:

Depending on the size of the nail, I usually put four or five triangles, then filled them in. 

Step 3:

Then using the white polish, I just made polka dots over the nail! Super simple! Then I applied top coat over everything. 

And here's the finished look! 

Hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial!

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD: Essie Bahama Mama

Essie Bahama Mama

Today's NOTD is a polish from Essie's permanent collection, Bahama Mama. You would think it would be in a summer collection with a name like that.

This picture shows it the most accurately. Bahama Mama is a deep red/purple, but it looks more red than it actually is in the first picture. In some lights, it can look more purple and more red in others. 

I like this colour. It's not very unique, but it's a nice staple to have in any collection. It only needed two coats to be opaque.

It didn't chip once after seven days of wear, wearing base and top coat, of course.

It looks less red in real life than it does in these pictures, just fyi.



Thanks for reading!


Melissa

NOTD: Essie Fishnet Stockings with China Glaze Ring in the Red

Essie Fishnet Stockings with China Glaze Ring in the Red

I'm back today with another Christmas manicure. It's getting close now!!

With today's look, I did something I have never done with a nail polish look before. I used masking tape in order to get the stripe of sparkly red on the corner of nails. 

I own only two Essie nail polishes, and I never use them, barely ever. I just felt the urge to use this creamy red, because red is just such a Christmas colour! 

But I didn't just want to wear a plain, so I added China Glaze's Ring in the Red, a sheer sparkly red. It was the perfect pop to make my nails super Christmas-sy! 

I put on two coats of Fishnet Stockings and one coat of Ring in the Red, then two coats of top coat. 

I really like the overall look!

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa

I <3 Drugstore Makeup Tag!

So emilynoel83 of Youtube tagged me to this tag. So without further ado, here is the "I <3 Drugstore Makeup Tag"! It consists of eight questions, all about my favorite brands/products you can get from your local drugstore.

Let's jump right in!!

1) What is your favourite drugstore makeup brand?
This is sort of a hard question. I like lots of brands from the drugstore; as I think they all have their hits and misses. I can't just choose one! Ok, I'll pick one for each category. I like Revlon for their face products, I like Covergirl for their eye products, Maybelline for their mascaras, and Revlon for lip products.

2) What are your favorite face, cheek and lip products?
My favourite face product
 would have to be a primer from Rimmel- The Fix and Perfect Pro.

Rimmel Fix and Perfect Primer

This makes my foundation stay on a lot longer!! And it makes my face very smooth and soft. I'm not sure that's viable criteria for a good primer, but whatever.

My favourite cheek product is a highlighter from Revlon- the Colorstay Mineral Finishing Powder in Rose.

Revlon Colorstay Mineral Powder in Rose

It gives such a nice glow to the cheeks. I apply it on my cheekbones, above my eyebrows and on my cupid's bow and it really brightens up my face.

Another favourite cheek product is a blush from Rimmel. It's in Pink Sorbet. It's more pigmented than any of my MAC blushes, and it gives a nice sheen to the face without being shimmery or sparkly. 

Rimmel Lasting Finish Blush in Pink Sorbet

My favourite lip product is also from Revlon. It's the Lip Butter in Sugar Frosting, which is a light pink with gold shimmer. It's a good way to do a nude without washing yourself out.

Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Frosting

I also really love all the eos lip balms. They make your lips very soft without being too thin or too thick. And they smell great!

3) Least favourite product?

That would have to be something I bought from Hard Candy (sold at Walmart) a while ago. I was hoping it would be a good highlight, but it turned out to be a chalky white powdery with yellow glitter scattered around. Not a fan.

Hard Candy Moon Glow Powder

4) What is your best makeup bargain?

For me, that would be Covergirl eyeshadow (the singles, duos, trios and quads). They run about $3-$6 CAD, and they have really great pigmentation and colour payoff. One of my favourites is the colour Tapestry Taupe.

Covergirl Eyeshadow in Tapestry Taupe

5) What is your favourite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?)

Annabelle eyeliners! They are such amazing quality and they are so inexpensive!! They are comparable to Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners.

Annabelle Eyeliners

6) A drugstore product that is overpriced?

I don't have a specific product, but I think a lot of L'Oreal products are overpriced, when they're quality doesn't really surpass some more reasonable brands.

7) Show your best drugstore dupe(s)!

Well, this question brings me back to the Annabelle eyeliners. Particularly a line called the Smoothliners. A lot of the colours in the line are dupes for many of the Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners, which are about three times the price.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Perversion

Annabelle Smoothliner in Brownie

These aren't exact dupes (one is black and the other is brown), but the intensity of their pigmentation is very similar.

8) Drugstore product that isn't worth the hype?

I know this isn't technically a drugstore priced item, but these are sold at the drugstore. And they're Essie nail polishes. I know a lot people love them, but I own three, and they just don't live up to the quality of my OPI and China Glaze ones.

Essie Polishes in (L-R) Case Study, Fishnet Stockings, Fiji

 

So that's the entire tag! Thanks for reading!!

Melissa