Step By Step: Catching Fire Nail Art! (The Hunger Games)

 

 

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before and I'd be very surprised if I haven't but I am a super crazy massive geek over The Hunger Games. I can pretty much have one sided conversations quoting any of the books (which I've read more times than I can count) and can explain situations from them to people who have never read them before in embarrassingly intricate detail.

 

 

So following this admission I'll also tell you guys that I may or may not have missed college today to go and watch it at 11am this morning (don't judge me). The film was INCREDIBLE and played so well with the book - I felt that The Hunger Games wasn't really up to scratch - but I think that whether you've read the books or not you'll love Catching Fire.

 

I better stop here before I start getting into more detail because I really wont stop.

 

Okay, moving on. In recognition of my love for The Hunger Games I decided to try out a nail art in honour of Katniss and Peeta's chariot ride outfit. I'm really really happy with the way it turned out and feel that even though this nail art is aimed at The Hunger Games, it could translate into a pretty night-out nail art if you use different coloured paints.
 

 

You Will Need:

 

Black nail varnish

 

Either red glitter nail varnish or just plain red

 

Either orange glitter nail varnish or plain orange

 

Either yellow glitter nail varnish or plain yellow

 

3 Eye shadow sponge applicator or a make-up sponge

 

Gold/silver glitter (only if you aren't using the glitter polishes)

 

Steps:

 

Step One: Paint all of your nails black. Apply two coats if needed.

 

Step Two: Using the red nail varnish, paint a blob shape from the nail tip down as far as you like. This will act as a guide for where you're going to apply the glitter, as well as adding a more colourful base.

 

 

 

 

 Step Three: Mix the red nail varnish and gold glitter together.



 

 

Step Four: Dip the sponge end of the eye shadow applicator into the glitter mixture and dap onto the red outline on your nail. 

Step Five: Repeat step 3 & 4 but with the orange nail varnish. Dab the orange glitter on top of the red, but begin half-way up the red.

Step Six: Repeat steps 3 & 4 but with the yellow nail varnish. Dab the yellow glitter on top of the orange, focusing more on the nail tip.

Step Seven: Seal the design with a top coat.

Finished!

 
I hope you guys enjoyed this nail art tutorial - I definitely enjoyed doing it! Although it's a little messy, I think it works. The end effect is a sort of bobbly, grainy, glittery fire which I think captures the feel of the outfits perfectly!

Source: Google Images.

If any of you guys end up watching Catching Fire, let me know what you thought of it!

xx

DIY Sunday: How I Clean My Make-up Brushes!

 

I don't know what it is, but I am so lazy when it comes to keeping things clean and tidy. Believe me, if you could see my bedroom floor right now, you'd see most of my outfits from the past week. Which is totally disgusting, I know, and I'm gonna sort it out in a minute don't worry, but if there's one thing that I always always keep sanitary it's my make-up and my make-up brushes.

There was a point in my make-up wearing life that I didn't actually clean my brushes all that often, and my skin really suffered from it. Picture this: you have a breakout and, naturally, conceal those little suckers with some foundation using your foundation brush. You might then, maybe, add a touch of translucent powder to set it, using your powder brush. All of those germs that come from touching those spots, are going to transfer onto your brushes, then back into your products and then, the next day when you use them all again, back into your skin.

I make it a habit to give my brushes a really deep clean every Sunday, ready for use on the Monday morning when my make-up wearing routine starts again. Of course, if my skin has been misbehaving that week then I might give them a quick rinse if needed, but mostly it's just a Sunday thing.

To clean my brushes, I use Johnson's Baby Shampoo. It's really gentle on both synthetic and natural bristles and gives a really good lather to ensure your cleansing from root to tip. Alternatively, you could mix a little surgical spirit with some water (we do this at college), or of course use a professional brush cleaner. I hear Mac does a good one, but my baby shampoo does the job for me!

What you will need:

Lukewarm water. If your water is too hot, it could loosen the glue over time.

A bowl/a sink.

Baby Shampoo/Brush cleanser of your choice

Hand Sanitizer

Tissue/a small towel

Make-up Brushes

Steps:

Step One: Before I do anything, I always give my hands a quick cleanse themselves with a squirt of hand sanitizer. I then rinse thoroughly under the tap just to be sure they're clean!

Step Two: Dip the tip of your brush into the water. Immerse fully, but try to concentrate on the tips of the brushes - this saves the glue from wearing down over time, and the majority of your make-up will be thicker at the ends.

Step Three: Apply a small blob of baby shampoo to the palm of your hand, depending on the size of the brush.

Step Four: Swirl your brush into the shampoo. Don't be afraid to apply a little pressure - you want to ensure all of the bristles are covered! Keep swirling until it creates a thick lather.

Step Five: Rinse your brush in the water. This process will probably take a few dips to make sure all of the bubbles and make-up residue has been removed. I prefer to do this under a running tap, just so I can gauge when the brush is clean as the water runs clear.

Step Six: Reshape the bristles of the brush with your fingers and then lay it down on a thick wad of tissue to dry.

Step Seven: Repeat for all of your brushes!

It really is that simple guys! The trick to getting really clean brushes is to work as thoroughly as possible, and perhaps even double-cleansing if necessary. I tend to do this with my foundation brush as it's my most used and most clogged with product.

I leave my brushes to dry naturally overnight so they're fresh and ready to use the next morning.

What do you guys use to clean your brushes?

xx

Step By Step: Floral Nail Art!

 

Hey everyone, hope you're all well!

 

As I'm sure some of you know I'm currently on my six week break from college, which leaves me with a hell of a lot of free time. I don't go back to college until the 2nd of September and I never thought I'd say this but I can't wait! I'm continuing my Beauty Therapy studies so on top of my small mobile business I've gained since completing Level 2, I'll have a few more qualifications under my belt!

 

Okay so I went a little off subject there, but my point was that since I have so much free time I've ended up experimenting a lot more with my nail art, partly to include in my portfolio, partly to share with you guys and partly because I'm so bored that I need to do something productive!

 

So here for you today I have a really simple floral print nail art! I swear, it looks so complicated but it's really not. Even you guys who think you're awful at nail art, I swear you can do this!

 

 

The one thing I will say about this nail art is that you do need a variety of colours. The basis it that you layer three tones of the same colour to create the illusion of the flower. I chose to use pink, simply because I have so many different shades of pink that it seemed like the easier option. I also chose to use a mint green background because I think the colours work together really nicely, but as always the colour options are up to you!

 

Difficulty: Beginner.

 

You will need:

 

Background colour of your choice. I chose Barry M's Mint Green.

 

Three tones of the same colour. I chose a hot pink by Bourjois (nameless), my Nail Fix medium pink and Barry M's Strawberry for the lightest shade.

 

A white nail varnish/nail art pen.

 

A dark green nail varnish/nail art pen.

 

What to do:

 

1. Paint all of your nails with your background colour. Leave to dry. (I had to do a coat of white nail varnish under the green as it's very sheer).

 

2. Using your darkest flower colour, using the tip of the brush draw large, irregular blobs in random places on your nail. Try to space them out evenly as you're going to need room to draw the leaves afterwards. This works best if you have hardly any nail varnish on the brush as it's easier to control the flow. Leave to dry.

 

3. Once the darkest colour is dry, apply a smaller blob of colour in the middle of it using your medium flower colour. Leave to dry.

 

4. Once the medium colour is dry, apply an even smaller blob of colour in the middle of the medium shade. Leave to dry.

 

5. Once you've finished your flowers and they're completely dry, you can draw little triangles on random edges of the flowers to create leaves. I did this using a nail art pen but you can use a nail varnish and a nail art brush if you prefer.

 

6. Now that you're finished with the flowers completely, you can choose what simple design to do on the rest of your nails. You can choose to leave them blank if you want, but I just dotted some white dots using a nail art pen on them.

 

7. Seal with a  top coat and you're done!

 

As ever with these nail arts, if you re-create this look then tweet me a photo at @laaurenpiperx as I'd love to see them!

 

I hope you all have a good week!

 

xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



DIY Sunday: Simple DIY Manicure!

 

Hello everyone!

 

Following last week's DIY Sunday Cinnamon Body Scrub post (here), I thought we'd put the product to good use and use it in a manicure! Of course all of the products I feature in this post can be switched out for your favourites, but I thought since I made the scrub I might as well use it.

 

 

I was taught how to do a 'proper' manicure at college where I studied Beauty Therapy, but you can choose to re-arrange or skip some of these steps to suit yourself. It's such a simple thing to do, and yet I feel so luxurious afterwards. I give myself a manicure once every 2 weeks or so, but in the winter I do them more regularly as my hands get so cracked and dry in the cold. Not nice!

 

You will need:

 

- A bowl filled with warm water (large enough to fit your whole hand in) and two towels.

 

- Bubble bath of your choice. I chose Radox's Relax.

 

- Hand Lotion of your choice - I chose Kaeso's.

 

- Nail file, hoof stick (the little white thing you push your cuticles back with)

 

- Nail varnish remover & cotton wool. I have Boots Nail Varnish Remover Pads, they're amazing!

 

- Body scrub of your choice. You can use a manicure scrub if you have one to hand. I'm using the Cinnamon scrub I made last week!

 

- Cuticle Cream/Lotion. This isn't essential as long as you do 'Step One' as the warm water should help soften your cuticles.

 

What to do:

 

1. Soak your hands for 2 - 3 minutes in the warm, soapy water.

 

2. Dry your hands off and get your scrub of choice. Massage a small amount of the scrub in circular motions all over your hands - don't forget in between your fingers!

 

3. Rinse your hands in the water and make sure they're super dry. Now you're going to file your nails. Make sure when you file that you pull the file in one direction only. Rubbing it backwards and forwards can cause nail splits and weakens the nail!

 

4. Soak again for a few seconds, then dry. Next we're going to work on our cuticles. Apply a small blob of cuticle lotion to your cuticles and massage in thoroughly. Rinse off. Now get your hoof stick (the little white thing) and gently push back your cuticles. If you don't have a hoof stick, you could twist a little cotton wool around the end of an orange wood stick, or even a cocktail stick.

 

5. Now that your nails are ready for painting and your skin is feeling soft, we're going to inject a little moisture with a hand lotion. Only apply a small amount so it doesn't create a film over your nails. Wipe your nails over with nail varnish remover just to remove the last of the oils that the previous products could have left.

 

6. Finally it's time to paint! I chose Rimmel's I Heart Lasting Finish in Marshmallow Heaven and topped it off with Rimmel's Matte Finish Pro for a textured look.

 

So there you have it! It literally takes not even fifteen minutes to do, I normally do this whilst watching back-to-back episodes of Glee (yeah, I'm a Gleek).

 

Look out for my next DIY Sunday post, as I'm going to show you guys how to do a 'professional' hand & arm massage!

 

xx

Step by Step Monsters Inc Nail Art! (Monsters University)

 

 

I don't know what it is, but having cartoon characters on my nails puts me in such a happy mood. First it was my minions here & here and now I'm back with my Monsters Inc nail art!

 

Just like with the Minions, I took my little sister to the cinema to watch Monsters University along with my brother and my boyfriend (I think I enjoyed the film the most!) and thought I'd do a little nail art to show my appreciation of Mike Wazowski and Sully!

 

I'm sorry that the photo isn't the best quality, but my camera's still not warming up to me so I had to use my phone!

 

 

 

Like last time, I would like to point out that I am by no means an expert at nail art so it's safe to say anyone could do these nails! I chose my middle finger and my ring finger as the feature nails and kept the rest of them a simple white. I think this puts more focus on the characters, and also the little details like Sully's teeth and Mike's eye are white so it matches in a way!

 

To do this nail art I used:

 

Revlon's Blue Lagoon

 

Barry M Gelly in Prickly Pear

 

Rimmel I Heart Lasting Finish in Green Grass

 

Nail Fix's White (came with my college kit, so any other white nail varnish is fine)

 

Black Nail Art Pen

 

White Nail Art Pen

 

Alternatively, you could use a dotting tool and a nail art brush dipped in black/white nail varnish if you don't have a nail art pen to hand. Bobby pins are also great if you don't have a dotting tool.

 

 

Difficulty: Beginner.

 

Steps:

 

1. Paint your nails. I painted my ring finger in a bright green, my middle finger in a shimmery blue and the rest of my nails white. I applied two coats of each.

 

2. Using the white nail varnish brush, draw a large circle in the middle of the green nail. Tidy up the circle with the white nail art pen. You could just use the white nail art pen to draw the eye if you prefer.

 

3. Using the brush of the purple nail varnish (make sure there's hardly any nail varnish on the brush) drag it across the blue nail to create blobs. Make sure these blobs are as irregular as possible, as the purple markings on Sully's fur are a little more square shaped.

 

4. Once the white of Mike's eye is dry, draw a little mouth with the black nail art pen. I chose a half smile as I feel it matches his personality! But you could do any mouth you like. Add a small black dot in the centre of his eye.

 

5. Once Sully's purple markings are dry, draw both of his eyes with the white nail art pen. Whilst waiting for them to dry, draw a smile with the black nail art pen. Once dry, draw two small triangle teeth with the white nail art pen. Add two small black dots in the centre of his eyes.

 

So there you have it!

 

Although there are a few more steps to this one than the minions (I think), it's simply because everything is done in layers. A little patience is needed, but I did these whilst watching a movie (Avatar if you were wondering) so I barely noticed the drying times!

 

What do you think of this nail art? If you recreate it, I'd love to see a photo so tweet it to me: @laaurenpiperx

 

xx

 

 

 

 

 

 



Step By Step: Simple Leopard Print Nail Art

Hey everyone, hope you're all well.

I have another nail art post for you today! The only nail arts I've ever really shown on here are my Minions here and here so I thought I'd show you something a little different. I've been experimenting with nail art a lot recently, mostly to fill up my portfolio but also just because I enjoy doing it.

Difficulty: Beginner

As you can see, the design I've chosen for today is a really simple leopard print. All you need for this is a nail varnish of your choice for the background and black nail art pen!

Steps:

Step One: Paint all of your nails the colour(s) of your choice. I chose red as I think that it goes with the design a lot better and makes it stand out.

Step Two: Starting at the right tip of your nail and working in a diagonal towards the bottom left, draw a mix of irregular, squiggly circles and simple dots/blobs. You can be as neat or as messy as you like here, the more irregular the shape the more natural it looks!

Step Three: Fill in the space between the right tip and the bottom left with more squiggly circles.

Step Four: Repeat steps 1 - 3 on the rest of your nails! Simple.

Let me know what you think of this design in the comments below! I think it's the perfect way to incorporate some animal print into your style in such a subtle yet stand-out way!

xx



Minion Nail Art #2 (Despicable Me 2)

Hi everyone, just a quick post to share this cute new version of the minion nail art I've shown you previously. For this look I used Revlon's Speed Dry nail varnish in Cupid, a silver nail varnish and a black nail art pen. But of course you could choose to do your minion any colour you like! If you're not feeling confident enough to do all of your nails as minions (as seen here on my other post) then this is a simple way to interpret the minions without the stress of perfecting all ten nails. As you can see from my photo, my minion is far from perfect but it keeps it original ;)

 

 

 

Step One: Paint all of your nails a colour of your choice. I chose a cute bubblegum pink. Once dry, use the long thin brush from the black nail art pen to create the minion's little clothing by sweeping it along the tip of your nail just like you would with French tips. This line can be as thick or as thin as you want, and the thickness doesn't have to match on each nail, messy lines are okay here!

Step Two: Mid-way up/down the nail, using the thin brush from the black nail art pen, draw a thick/thin black line. This is going to be the strap from the minion's goggles. Wait to dry.

Step Three: Create the minions eye with a white nail art pen/dotting tool dipped in white nail varnish. You can either choose to do one or two eyes, and you can also choose to use a silver nail art pen/varnish or even some glitter instead of simple white.

 

Step Four: Whilst your waiting for the eye to dry, using the pen tip of the black nail art pen, draw your minion a mouth. You can choose to do either a big smile, half smile, pout, anything!

Step Five: Using the tip of the black nail art pen, draw your minion a pupil in the middle of the eye. Wait to dry, and apply a top coat!

 

This is my current favourite way to wear minion nails as the colour is really summery and goes with a lot more outfits than classic minion yellow!

 

I forgot to mention this in the last post, but if you do try out minion nails then tweet me a photo on Twitter! I would really love to see them. My twitter is @laaurenpiperx

 

xx

Step By Step Minion Nail Art! (Despicable Me)

Hey everyone!

I am so excited to show you this Nail Art! It's really simple, but looks so cute and quirky and is definitely a conversation starter.

Basically, a few weeks ago I watched a film in the cinema with my little sister Leigh and the advert for Despicable Me 2 came on. And for some reason, ever since I saw the trailer I've been calling her 'minion'. So this Nail Art is a shout out to my little sister!

This nail art is so far away from perfect (I don't have a dotting tool large enough to create the eyes, so they're a little off shape, and also in my excitement I managed to smudge the little finger nail AWH!) but they're so adorable I can't stop looking at them. 

To create this Nail Art I used a bright sunshine yellow nail varnish plus three nail art pens in white, black and navy blue. If you're not feeling so confident at doing the minions on all of your nails, I've also wore this with just my index finger as a minion and the others with blue or white French tips.

Step One: Paint all of your nails yellow. Once dry, use the long thin brush from the blue nail art pen to create the minion's little clothing by sweeping it along the tip of your nail just like you would with French tips. This line can be as thick or as thin as you want, and the thickness doesn't have to match on each nail, messy lines are okay here!

Step Two: Mid-way up/down the nail, using the thin brush from the black nail art pen, draw a thick/thin black line. This is going to be the strap from the minion's goggles. Wait to dry.

Step Three: Create the white of the minions eye with a white nail art pen/dotting tool dipped in white nail varnish. You can either choose to do one or two eyes. Wait to dry.

Step Four: Whilst your waiting for the eye to dry, using the pen tip of the black nail art pen, draw your minion a mouth. I drew a mix of big smiles, normal smiles and half smiles but it's up to you what you want to draw!

Step Five: Using the tip of the black nail art pen, draw your minion a pupil in the middle of the white eye. Wait to dry, and apply a top coat!

So that's it guys! I have received so many comments on this nail art already, and it definitely brightens up any outfit! I'm planning on painting my sister's nails to match when I take her to watch Despicable Me 2!

xo