The trick to a lasting manicure is ensuring a strong bond between your nail and the polish you’re slapping on top.
How? My three top nail prep tips are after the jump.
Beauty Hacks
Clarisonic Precision Brush
Do I talk about Clarisonics too much? Sorry. I’m not sponsored or anything, they don’t know who the hell I am – I just like the dang thing. But don’t worry, this isn’t much of the same – today, I’m sharing a neat trick with you.
So while Clarisonic has a ton of different brush-heads, they don’t really have a variety of sizes. If you splurged on the fancier PLUS model(s) that can accomodate the body brush, great, you have access to a larger one. If I’m not mistaken, the diameter of the luxury heads, too, is slightly smaller than the traditional heads, but not buy a bunch.
Have you ever wanted a smaller brush head that makes it easier to work around, for example, the contours of your nose? A Clarisonic precision brush?
Guess what – you already have one! Really! Check this out.
DIY Lip Scrub
In light of my post the other day about my new almost-favorite probably-too-dark-for-me matte lipstick and the fact that autumn tends to bring around more matte or matte-ish lips anyway, I figured this was timely and appropriate. Not that lip care is inappropriate at any time, but YOU KNOW.
As much as pricey lip exfoliants may entice (looking at you, Bite Beauty Whipped Cherry Lip Scrub or Fresh Sugar Lip Polish), they really aren’t worth it unless you’re that hung-up on branding for something that just whisks away dead skin from your lips. Using chemical exfoliants isn’t a good idea for our lips, so these (just like what I’m going to show you in a moment) are sugar-based scrubs. Check out the ingredient list on both – Bite’s is a nice blend of oils…and sugar, and Fresh’s has a bunch of oils as well as some less-familiar chemical components (not to scare you – chemicals are not always bad. Do your research, as always). Why pay $18-23 for something that is basically oil and sugar? I wish I could channel Sam from Batalash Beauty when I say that it is crazy (crasy! By the way, go check out their blog and YouTube channel. They’re hilarious and damn good artists to boot).
You need:
- A container with a lid
- Coconut Oil
- Honey
- Olive Oil or Almond Oil (not pictured because derp)
- White or Brown Sugar
- bonus points if you sub it out for something grainier like Sugar in the Raw
- Vanilla Extract (artificial is OK)
- Mixing utensil
- Optional mixing bowl if you want to make an unreasonably huge batch
Spoon your sugars into your container – I like to do two parts white sugar to one part brown sugar, but 1:1 would be fine, too. Combine them well.
Squeeze in some honey… I started on the conservative side with it because I didn’t want this to wind up too sticky:
Add your olive or almond oil. You can use both if you want, but I just went with one.
Then mix it up…
Add your vanilla extract, mix again.
Add a dollop of coconut oil, ideally solid.
GENTLY combine with the existing mixture, you don’t want to wind up with liquid.
Transfer it to your storage container if you didn’t mix it there, then chill for 15 minutes. Now you can use it, just scoop out a bit and apply to lips, rubbing in circles. The oils will allow to sugar to move with ease and will hydrate your lips. If you want to apply lipstick right away, pat them dry afterwards – oil isn’t the best base for a lipstick, after all.
The beauty of this recipe is that it is so simple and very adaptable. Hate vanilla? You’re crazy, but the good news is that you can sub in any flavoring you please. Dig orange? Go for it. Hell, zest an orange into it. Want cherry without dropping $18 on Bite’s scrub (I mean, that’s a tub of Dipbrow. More than a MAC Lipstick. Come on)? Visit your baking aisle and pick up some cherry flavoring. Very easy. Not a fan of how olive oil makes this taste? Use an oil with a subtler flavor.
Your lip scrub should be stored in the fridge and can be kept for two weeks.
Do you have any neat DIY beauty recipes?
How I Learned to Love my Maybelline Color Tattoos
To date, I have only owned two Maybelline Color Tattoo pots, both from the Metal collection. I own Barely Branded, a shimmery beige, and Inked in Pink, a cool, shimmery mauve-pink. I have barely touched them since the month I bought them, which was shortly after they were all the rage.
Maybelline Color Tattoo
There is nothing wrong with either Maybelline Color Tattoo that I own, they just didn’t suit me and my application preferences. Cream shadows aren’t my thing. I just haven’t gotten the hang of them. Most of them suggest that you apply with a finger – which I don’t care for. I can’t get precision with a finger, and even with freshly-washed hands I would be needlessly adding bacteria to a cream product (I’m not a germophobe, but still!) Traditional shadows and pigments are my comfort-zone. I once tried some flat brushes to try to pack the color on but it never worked out quite the way I was hoping…so they sat in my drawer for months.
I threw my Inked in Pink Maybelline Color Tattoo in my bag no plan in mind other than thinking the color might be nice with the top I was wearing. I grudgingly applied a layer to my lid with my ringfinger, then added some of Für Elise from Kat von D’s Ladybird palette at the outer edges and blended in. It looked alright, I thought, but the edges were now way too matte sitting against the frosted, almost foiled pink.
I actually had another clean brush handy – one of three Real Techniques brushes I own, the Shading brush. RT’s shader brush is not as much of a shading brush as it is a flattened (but not flat) blender. Despite the quality and affordability of these brushes, I never feel like I use this one as much as I could/should. I had already cleaned my ringfinger off, so I said, “to hell with recommendations!” and picked some up with the brush. If you aren’t familiar with the consistency of a Maybelline Color Tattoo, let me bring you up to speed: though they are cream shadows, they are very firm; stiff, almost. I swiped my brush across the surface a couple times until I was satisfied, then patted the brush over Für Elise to give it a sheen.
Hey, that worked pretty well!
The brush was small enough, despite it’s almost fluffy texture, to allow me to precisely place the Maybelline Color Tattoo where I wanted it…so I decided to intensify the pink across the rest of my lid up to my inner corner. It worked superbly. Like shockingly well. I finally know how to use these in a way that actually suit my preferences! I will actually use them now!
If you’re wondering, at this point, why you should care – let me clarify: I learned something today. We all have products that we don’t feel work for us after a few tries. Don’t give up immediately (bad foundation matches/things that cause breakouts excepted) – give these products a chance; try to experiment with them! In a normal situation where I had my entire collection and brushes at hand, I probably never would have thought to grab that brush for a Maybelline Color Tattoo. Having only a few things at hand forced me to be creative with how I used the product and ultimately led me to find a better way (for me) to apply the product.
We can learn a lot by shopping our stash and thinking outside of the, “box,” that is recommended usage (be safe though!) – to think, I might have tossed both Maybelline Color Tattoo pots during my next de-stashing! I hope this helps you make the most of your makeup, and I hope you have an excellent weekend.
Beauty Hack – Dry Shampoo
Maximize the effectiveness of your dry shampoo!
We all know how to use dry shampoo, right? Start with hair that could use refreshing; maybe it is oily or maybe it has fallen limp and flat. Grab your can of hair sorcery of choice and violently shake. Remove the cap, angle towards your scalp, and depress the nozzle to dispense. Re-part your hair and do this as needed. Wait a few minutes, then massage it in to get rid of any powder-y appearance. Enjoy refreshed hair!
“Why are you writing about this?”
Stay with me!
So usually, I, like everyone else, would apply this in the morning before going about my day. I’d get up, brush my teeth, apply dry shampoo, get dressed, then rub the dry shampoo in. Worked fine.
But then I found a way that works even better. You use less product (therefore saving money), you’re inhaling less dry shampoo first thing in the morning (yessss), and your hair looks a little more natural (sometimes, I find that just-applied dry shampoo can make the hair near my scalp a little too matte. I’ll take it over looking oily, but you know).
How?
Do it before you, “need,” it – so, in most cases, the night before! Just incorporate it as a step for that evenings beauty stuff – wash your face, brush your teeth, moisturize, use dry shampoo. Because you end up using it as a preventative, you don’t need to use as much as you may have to, “fix,” it in the morning. One less thing to worry about before you get your coffee – and your hair looks a little more natural, too.
I’m all about simplifying my mornings because it takes me a loooong time to actually be awake and feel like a person. I hope this helps you simplify your morning and gives you a better experience with your dry shampoo.