lipstick-theory

Monday, January 28, 2013

Nail Art : Flower Print

It has been too long since I have done some nail art! So I broke out the dotting tool last night and kind of made up a design as I went along. I have put together a nice, neat how-to version at the end of the post.

I used OPI Roadhouse Blues for the base, OPI Alpine Snow for the petals, OPI Skull & Glossbones for the petal shading and OPI A Roll In The Hague for the center of the flowers.

Thanks for reading!

~Steph

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

This little beauty is Tomorrow Never Dies from OPI's 2012 Holiday collection called Skyfall. It was released along side the new James Bond film, Skyfall.

This is two coats shown here. Never Dies is a perfect indigo! Depending on your skin tone it will lean more blue or more purple. In the sunlight Never Dies is actually a little frosty/metallic looking!

The formula was a little on the watery side, it was hard to control. But easy enough to fix up with ear buds and remover. Despite the wateriness, Never Dies gives very good coverage.

A very similar colour is OPI's Into The Night from the Spiderman collection also released in 2012. Into The Night is more steel-blue and not so purple.

~Steph

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Nail Blogs You Need to Visit!

Hi guys!

I have some wonderful new friends from a certain page on Facebook, I wanted to share their blogs with you! And I want to remind you that on the right hand side of the page is a tab with the label 'Bloggies', this is where you will find a load more blogs to check out!

Ami at http://everysensory.wordpress.com/  

Lani at www.lani-loves.blogspot.com

Nicola at http://leonacarolina.tumblr.com/

Jessie at http://nailedit1.blogspot.co.nz/

Danielle at http://domesticminxes.wordpress.com/

Annemarie at http://gimikdgirl.blogspot.co.nz/

Hannah at www.agirlwithsomeclothes.blogspot.com/

Teigan at http://masucreesmakeupmusings.wordpress.com/

Michaela at http://nailpolishanon.blogspot.com/

Lisa at http://neverendingobsession.blogspot.co.nz/

Anneke at http://pinpointpolish.blogspot.co.nz/

Lexie at www.nailgirl.net 

Shannon at www.polishrainbow.com

~Steph

Monday, January 7, 2013

52 Weeks of Beauty: Feature & Get The Look!

This was another Job that I got to work on with my friend Paige!

To create the look Paige was after, I needed a set of french tips, nail glue, a file, a black nail polish as well as a gold nail polish. In one of my many big cleanouts I decided that "pfft I don't use black that much, I don't need one" so I was scrambling to find a black! Luckily Orly's Le Chateau is a very dark teal jelly. SO dark it looks black in most lights. I found Zoya Richelle to be the most opaque gold in my stash.

So in class that day, I broke out my polishes, round shaped things and plastic bags. I was determined to create the moons beforehand, 'cause there ain't no way I'm doing that while on the job! But I had seen that you can paint on to plastic bags or cling wrap and peel the polish off later. So after spending half an hour trying to trace around round shaped things, I thought screw it and just painted strips of Richelle. It worked!

To create the look:

Use Zoya Richelle to paint over 20 moon strips. This way you have extra strips if you happen to break one or they aren't quite round enough to be a moon. I painted over the strips twice so it was nice and opaque as well as having quite a rounded edge.
Size the tips appropriately and glue as far down the nail as you can.
Break out your file and file the life out of the edge corners! Make sure both sides are even and comes to a nice fine point.
Clean all excess plastic and furry edges off the tips. You want a clean palette for the base colour.
Paint two coats of Orly Le Chateau, make sure to cover the sides of the tips as they're quite thick. Let it dry almost completely.
Get out your moon strips and cut to length. Peel one off at a time and place over the nail. Push down with some pressure. Your base colour should still be a bit tacky, so the moon should grab on quite well. Push down on the strip as far as it will go into and around the cuticle area. Any excess you can remove with remover on an ear bud.
Top all of your nails off with a nice top coat and your design is complete! I like to use Seche Vite's Quick Dry Top Coat on models as it dries super quick and your work is less likely to get damaged.

Here is a final picture of the look:

52 Weeks of Beauty

Photographer: Jarrad Mapp Photographer

Hair and Makeup: Paige Best Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist

Nail artist: Steph

Model: Jessica Thompson @ Red XI

^Here is another post where I worked with Paige and Jarrad^

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

52 Weeks of Beauty: Feature & Get The Look!

Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited to work with a close friend of mine working with nails!

The brief was a retro make-up with quite muted, delicate colours. I was given free rein on the nails! My intention was to use this Konad design (M71) in muted yellows to match the wallpaper. This plate had a design that looked very similar to the wallpaper used in the shoot, but the colours I trialled didn't show up strong enough as I would have liked it to, so I didn't go ahead with it.

What I used for this look was Butter London's Bumster with a small pearl, roughly 3-4mls wide, in the centre of the moon of each nail. Very simple and easy! I dab a little bit of basecoat on top of the nail where I want the pearl to sit, and then dip my dotting tool into the base coat to pick up the pearl and place it on the nail. Give the pearl a little push into the polish to help it stick.

Here is one last peek at the make-up, I absolutely love the sugar on the lips:

Project: 52 Weeks of Beauty

Photographer: Jarrad Mapp Photographer

Hair and Makeup: Paige Best Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist

Nail artist: Steph
Model: Kyra @ JAM

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Glitter Gal Holographic in Nude NEW COLLECTION!

Glitter Gal is at it again! Releasing more holographic shades that we are bound to love. It's so hard to not be mesmerised (didn't Essie do a polish called that?) by a holo.

I went to a ball the other night, it was for the Queen's Jubilee and it was held by the New Zealand Army (I think). I kind of went on a blind date with one of the soldiers. AW MAN, what a nice guy. He was from Scotland. I will leave it at that or this post will turn into something else...

And of course your nails have to look nothing less than stunning at a ball! So I chose to wear Glitter Gal's Nude holographic polish. It was nice because my dress was azure blue silk and I didn't want anything to be too clash-y with it. My jewellery was silver, quite large too, with blue topaz coloured gemstones, so I didn't want my nails to compete with the dress or jewellery. I don't think I could have picked anything better than Glitter Gal Nude for the night.

There is something different about the smell and texture of Glitter Gal holographic polishes, I must say. I actually quite like it. The texture is very smooth and... it feels like half-melted honey to me or something. It's like when you're spreading a big chunk of Nutella onto your warm piece toast and it goes from being kind of hard to oh so soft and smooth. Glitter Gals also don't smell overly chemically. I like it.

Seriously, I just want to leave Nude sitting on my window sill so I can stare at it all day. Do you ever have those moments when you've picked a colour to paint your nails, you paint them, and you think to yourself "this is one of the best decisions I've made today"? I had one of those moments with Nude.

This is two coats of Nude. You can keep building and building up the intensity of holo with this one. It's also a good one for layering over other colours as it doesn't contain a base colour, just sparkles.