Thursday, January 27, 2011

Salon Effects by Sally Hansen Review

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips
I hate getting my nails done. I love the result but even when I find the time I hate the process. When I do manage to get myself into the chair, I will leave before I am completely dry and smudge it before leaving the salon and be too lazy to get them retouched.
I will try anything to avoid the manicure lady who is without a doubt talking about me attempting to scratch my back on the chair to avoid the smudging that will occur when I try to open the apartment door anyway.
I saw an ad for Sally Hansen’s Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips and I jumped at the chance to try them. They promise to stay on for up to ten days and nobody can doubt the cool patterns and tempting idea of how easy they are.
To test their claim at simplicity and sticking power, I decided to put them on in my car while waiting for my Beauty School class. So, I popped open the box and went at them. The rules are simple to follow, peel, stick, press and file. I advise you cut and not file because filing tended to rip them. As time went on after application began to see that as I texted my life away as always, the tips of the nail strips started to peel. This annoyed me just as much as smudging wet polish would.
As the evening progressed I fielded about five comments from fellow beauty school students about how good my nails looked and questions about how I got the patterns to look like that. I then decided that maybe the eye catching quality of the strips may outweigh the annoyances that come with them.
When I returned home that evening I threw some clear polish over my nails in hopes that it would work as an adhesive. I am four days into the strips and there has been some more minimal peeling. All in all is it worth the ten bucks? Not as a regular option, no. In a pinch, maybe. I think that a $7.00 manicure with a two dollar tip and some hard core chip proof clear polish over it is a better bet. However if you want a cool pattern for a few days, go for it but do not think that yours will last the “up to ten days” that is mentioned on the packaging. Mine is a day away from peel town and I do minimal housework, although I do work a lot with my hands in cosmetology, this week I have not had my hands saturated in much water besides showering. If you are a person who cares more about the state of their apartment, these strips do not stand a chance against cleaning hands.
I like the idea Sally Hansen, I so want it to work, maybe next generation of Salon Effects will prove more success.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Pin Up Cat Eye Makeup

Pin Up Cat Eye Makeup
I rock a cat eye every single day. No matter my plans or outfit, without a doubt I will always have a liquid eyeliner created cat eye. I wear it with a smokey eye, a metallic eye, nude eye, probably even if I got a black eye. It is just what I am most comfortable in and I believe it enhances the feature that I enjoy the most about my face, my eyes. In addition, since I also wear false eyelashes daily, it is a easy and fashionable way to disguise lash seams and glue blunders too. What first attracted me to the cat eyed look was my love for Burlesque and all things pinup culture.
The cat eyed liner look is a classic that took off in the 50’s and evolved to a thicker and more winged look in the 60’s. Feel free to use a gel pot liner if you are not a fan of liquid liners. For a classic pin up look, pair the cat eye with the Snow Day Eye Shadow and the Red Lip tutorials. Play and pair the cat eye with any of the eye shadow looks that I have featured or your own everyday look.
Materials
Gel eyepot in black any brand, MAC, L’Oreal have gel pots.
Angled eyeliner brush. The angled, stiff edged brushes will make application easier.
Liquid eyeliner-I like the Stella water proof eye pen but you can also use the liquid ones like Urban Decay that are liquid pots that include brushes also.
Steps
1. Apply the eye shadow look that you are paring with the cat eye.
2. Placing your clean fingertip on the outer corner of your eye, pull in taut in order to smoothly drag the liner from the innermost corner of the eye all along the lashline.
3. Go back over the line as many times as you need to establish the line thickness.
4. The size of the winged out portion of the eye-lining is up to you Try it short, extend it long, take some chances and see what you like.

I have found that eyeliner changes and pulls together any look. From Brides to showgirls, slick black eyeliner is a great finishing touch and brightens the eye, turning ho, hum makeup into a cohesive look.

Brow Beating

Pluck, pluck, wax, thread, pluck. Before you know it you are staring into your bathroom window wondering why there are two commas where your eyebrows used to be. I have fallen victim to the over plucking craze since teenhood and have not had much luck returning back to my bushier brows. The problem is that thicker, healthy looking brows make a face look thinner and younger. Damn, my old brows could have acted like a face girdle and I plucked them off? Blasted tweezers!
As always, cosmetic companies have come to my thin browed rescue as sweat runs into my eyes with no brows to catch it. So, fill’em in ladies.It makes a real difference to your look, it frames the face and when done correctly can look very natural and like you grew them yourself.
Materials
A brow powder that is close to your hair color. These brow powders often come with a few colors to mix for your desired shade and my favorite come with both a waxy product and powdery one. I recommend that if you have dark hair, go with a dark brown and only go with a black color if you have black hair or are looking for mega drama.(ELF has one for a buck)
A slanted brush with stiff bristles
If you are not sure that of what shape you would like to transform your brows to, beauty supply stores and some drug stores sell stencils of brow shapes but for most people, following your brows natural arch will be the best option.
Steps
The best advice that can be given about filling in one’s brows is to use short strokes.