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Melbourne Snapshots

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 20, 2011 | Life

This week’s snapshots starts with me absolute favorite thing: sweets!

James and I went out to dinner with Celete and Kev one night and beforehand we stopped in at a cake shop called Burch and Purchese.

It was freaking freeeeeezing and rainy and miserable that night so the cake shop was very warm and welcome! I spent most of the night wrapped up in my scarf to avoid the rain.

They have this gigantic wall of scents there so you can mix and match them into a custom cake. Such a cool idea and I felt a bit like I was in a Victorian mad scientist’s lair 😀

Also they had bacon cake… bacon and maple syrup in cake form *_*

The little descriptions were so cute too:

I ended up buying some rose and strawberry jam and gold covered chocolate and salted caramel bars. I had never tasted salted caramel before this but now I’m addicted!

Even the paintings were apparently edible, seriously mad cake scientist!

Because we were early to get there before it was closed we went back to the car to eat desert before dinner XD

This was the little cake I had, so cute that I kept the little test tubes and took it home.

While we were eating Celeste and I decided we liked it all so much that we went back for seconds haha! I told you salted caramel was my new obsession, I bought a whole jar of it! Now I just need to think of some new ways to eat it 😀

Afterwards through out steak dinner all I could think about was cake! Hmm now that I think about it, I should go back there…

Also I was lucky enough to attend a fantastically fancy Estee Lauder/Tom Ford lunch with the MBBE girls.

You know you’re somewhere fancy when the menu is hand written and they have your name in calligraphy!

I was really happy because I finally got to meet Alice and Angela from Estee Lauder who I’d been chatting to via email for quite a while. I love putting faces to names!

Delicious dessert of the day was creme brulee:

We watched a little video on the brands as well as short talks from Alice and Angela.

Of course with that many bloggers in one room there was plenty of cam-whoring…

All of our photos together look like wedding photos because we got to take the flower center pieces home hahaha!

I took one for my hair too ^_^ Funnily enough those flowers were the longest lasting flowers I’ve ever had, they didn’t die for like 3 weeks in our lounge room 😀

Toasting!

As usual I’m more obsessed with the little things like monogrammed napkins!

With the lovely Emily from Emily’s Anthology!

Val, Tine and Jess!

Myself, Akisa and Alice.

Would a meet up be complete without a photo of taking a photo? No I don’t think it would.

The beautiful flowers.

We were gifted with a lovely bag of products to test out, I haven’t been able to use a lot of the skin care products because of my allergies but I am loving the make up so reviews to follow. It’s actually inspired a couple of looks for a new series I’m filming so something to look forward to!

This was the sun rise the morning we went to Adelaide, I don’t remember the last time I was awake enough to see the sunrise >_< So pretty though, from the train station it looked like the street was on fire.

My Dad and his wife came to visit for a few days so we went out to dinner with them last night. Their hotel was very pretty but none of my photos turned out so I’ll have to wait to get the ones I took with his camera.

My Dad has a Panasonic GF1 as his point and shoot which is one of the cameras I’ve been looking into upgrading to (though I want the GF3) so I spent a lot of the night comparing my TZ10 to his and then weeping silently into my drink at the difference ;_; It was difficult to give it back, I tried to trick him into taking mine home instead but I think the bright pink deco tipped him off 😉

I also met up randomly with some adorable readers in the mall while we were looking for a coffee shop! They were so sweet to come and say hello and compliment my outfit, I’m so lucky that such wonderful people read my blog 😀

~~I didn’t get your names girls so say hello in the comments and let me know if you have blogs too that I can check out!~~ They are Estee and Reena! Go have a look at Estee’s blog, so cute!

What else has happened recently? I think there’s been some kind of anti-Violet conspiracy going on, all of my favorite things are being discontinued or closing down 🙁 Seriously in the space of a week like 5 of my favorite hair products have been discontinued! Even James’ favorite Asian grocery store shut up shop! Speaking of which, if you guys know anywhere other than Priceline that stocks Wakk Stain pink dye let me know, I really hate the new one I’ve been trying out and want to switch back but I can’t find any other suppliers online other than dodgy looking ebay auctions.

It’s been super misty and rainy the last week, it makes the architecture here look even more beautiful when the sky looks like it’s eating it.

We visited a cafe/art gallery for a business meeting and James tried an organic version of Coke which he didn’t hate XD The story behind this is that James looooves Coke, his Dad used to work for them so he grew up drinking it… a lot. So whenever we go out that’s his drink of choice, here in Melbourne we were surprised how many places didn’t have it. Definitely different from Brisbane in that regard XD

That same place actually had very cool mugs, the black parts were covered in velvet!

When I get those photos off my Dad I’ll show you guys a new little cafe we found in the mall too, it was super cute and had really yummy macarons. I’ve got recipes I’ve been meaning to post too, maybe I should start doing food related Fridays or something. *so behind on things I want to do*

We spent ages looking around for little wrist gloves for a video I’m making next time I do my hair, and when we found them I couldn’t resist playing with them on the way home XD

Hmm what else? Not a huge amount has been going on, I’ve been stuck at home working as per usual. I was thinking maybe once a week I should make myself get out of the house and do something interesting. Melbourne has so much to offer and so many interesting activities and places and I don’t feel like I’m seeing any of them >_<

Comedy for the day, I was taking a photo of this pretty door and James and I had this conversation:

James: Do a pose!

Violet: What kind of pose?

James: I don’t know, something door themed?

And this was what came out… yeah I don’t know either.

And because I’m waiting for my photos/vlog from Adelaide here’s the only one I have so far… it’s some kind of art sculpture in Rundel Mall of a pig looting a rubbish bin XD

And I’ll leave you with a photo of my make up from ABC that I took while I was trying and failing at napping beforehand.

What have you all been up to?

Pink Pajama/Roomwear top – Quick Sewing

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 19, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial

I completely forgot I made this top… fail! I went through a period of making lots of matching pajamas and things around a year ago and while I was digging around trying to clean up my craft shelves I found it! I’m thinking I might unpick it and use the fabric for something else now but in the mean time this is how I made a really simple comfy top XD

What you need:

Fabric
Stretchy elastic lace trim
Sewing machine/overlocker or a lot of patience to hand stitch it all
Scissors

This is the easiest possible way to make a singlet style top like this because it takes very little measuring etc.

Firstly cut 2 pieces of the trim which are long enough to go around your chest, measure around your rib cage. Then cut a rectangle of fabric which is around twice as long as that and as tall as from your underarms to how long you want the shirt.

These are my pieces with the fabric folded in half:

Overlock all the edges to seal them and stitch the trim to one of the long ends.

You should stretch it as you sew so that when you let go it ruffles up like this.

Stitch the other trim piece in the middle also stretching it.You will need to decide how high up you want the waist part of the shirt so you know were to stitch it. Having this band gives the shirt more shape. If you want to get fancy you can sew it in a kind of curved line so it leaves more space for your chest in the middle.

Fold the whole thing in half with the good side in and stitch the edges together down the side.

If you want you can edge the bottoms with a proper seam but seeing as this was not going to be seen by anyone other than James, I left them overlocked. I’m not convinced he could tell the difference anyway XD

Add a couple of straps from the same stretchy trim and that’s all done!

Once you get the basic shape understood you can made all kinds of variations. My favorite around the house dress was made using the same idea but with a much longer skirt, a little lace trim at the bottom and pinching the fabric at the bust to give a very flattering line.

I know some of you have been waiting for patterns for a lot of the older sewing tutorials I did, well I’ve just finished off the first batch ready to export and upload as well as some random wallpapers that I got carried away with making so next week I’ll put them all up for a downloading day haha!

Have a great weekend!

Inspired Nails Nailart Decals and Custom Nails Review

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 18, 2011 | Beauty, Nails, Review

I know after seeing my monogrammed nails last week quite a few of you were waiting for this review so here it is 😀

I think it’s pretty obvious that I love nail art and when Eileen from Inspired Nails contacted me to get some feedback on her new products I was all for being guinea pig 😀 When that sentence included “custom designed with your logo” I almost had a heart attack with excitement! Stamp something else I own with my monogram? YES PLEASE! We chatted ideas for a while and eventually we came up with some designs together. Did I mention that Eileen is actually a long time reader here so everyone say hello!

This post is a mishmash of reviews, tutorials and discount codes so please enjoy ^_^

This was the package that arrived in my post box:

She even included chocolates (not pictured because I ate them mwahahaha) and some little flowers from her craft stash! So let’s break this review up into the different products: Custom full cover false nails, black/white decals and colour decals.

First up the full cover nails!

Inspired Nails offers a bunch of very pretty designs on their site but what’s more exciting to me is the option to design your own nails and have them specially printed for just US$12. Considering that most regular decent quality sets will set you back at least $15 here I think the price is really good because you can get anything you want printed and it’s cheap enough that you could just get them done for a special event. Some of the suggestions on the site are for corporate logos, photos and pets but I think the best use would be custom matching blog nails for events! I’m a bit biased though haha 😉

So what you get is 20 nails in 10 sizes, the design is printed directly on to the nails and top coated before being sent off. You apply like any other false nail, give it another top coat and you’re good to go.

I received 3 set of nails: pink leopard print with my logo and two of my custom logo design at difference opacities. I submitted my design and she printed several test sets to make sure that the opacity and colours were right which I thought was a really nice touch.

I know with most printers if you submit something and it doesn’t work out first time the response is “sucks to be you” so I was really impressed that she took the time to work with me until we were both 100% happy with the results. I think that’s the difference with working with someone who clearly has a real passion for what they do!

Quality wise the nails are on the thicker side but still flexible. I found them easy to file and cut to shape (they only come in square tips at the moment) but they didn’t splinter or shatter like cheap nails. Very close up you can see the individual ink spots from the printer but unless you’re looking at it 3cm infront of your eyes I don’t think anyone is ever going to notice.

One think I would watch out for in application is that because they are printed on a white base when you file or cut the ends you need to be very careful the angle you do it on otherwise the white base can show up on the tips. If that happens just paint over the tips with a matching polish colour.

In case you were wondering how I apply my nails here is a short video ^_^

Black and white decals!

I love these, they were hands down my favorite thing in the package. These are not those thick vinylish decals that I’ve reviewed before, think of these as like temporary tattoos but for your nails. That’s the best way I can think to describe them!

To apply them you cut out the one you want, dip in water till it’s soaked, slide off the decal and press it onto the nail. Smooth it and add a top coat and that’s it. I love these because #1 they look fantastic when you use the right polish underneath but #2 you don’t need to be a genius to apply them.

These are FANTASTIC for girls who want extra pop on their nails but don’t have the time or patience to sit and paint something themselves. These black and white sets range between $3-10 and the full cover sets come with 24 while the smaller ones like the comic book designs come with 82 in various sizes. For me I think that’s awesome value too because you can again get completely custom designs.

These are the nails that I used my custom monogram ones on for the Adelaide Beauty Conference, so cute! I gave the girls a quick run down on using these while I was there too XD

With these I would really suggest using them over a medium to light base colour and over the top of glitters they just look AMAZING. Glitter leopard print for the win and the fact that you can change up the base colour for different designs makes them very versatile. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about these and I know I’m going to be ordering a whole lot of other designs too.

And in case you were wondering, here is a quick tutorial I made on how to apply them 😀

The Inspired Nails website also has a bunch of tutorials and tips on application so if you get stuck check that out.

Full Colour Decals!

Ok last but not least Eileen sent me a second package with her newly arrived full colour decals and I tested them out last night. These ones are a new product and I found them a little bit more tricky to get the hang of than the b/w ones.

I was sent cupcake ones, Alice in Wonderland ones and also some more of my monogram but in colour. I tried out the monograms and the full cover cupcakes and these were my results.

Eileen gave me some tips on the application because while these ones are still thin they are a bit thicker than the b/w versions.

One quick tip with the color decals because the film is slightly different. Let them dry for a few seconds on a paper towel after you separate them from the backing. Place a drop or two of ordinary rubbing alcohol on your nail and then apply the decal. The alcohol will adhere the decal to your nail and allow you to smooth it out and press it in place before you apply the topcoat. It also makes the decal a little flexible so you won’t have any tearing when you apply the topcoat. However, you can’t “slide” the decal around on your nail if you use the alcohol method. Rubbing alcohol is also called surgical spirit, isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol. Our new packaging will include an alcohol soaked pad with the decals.

This is the monogram on a plain white nail base:

So I gave them a try, once with and once without the alcohol and I would definitely suggest using it to soften them up, without it they go on the nail fine but they like to spring back against the curve of the nail and so while drying mine tore a little bit. With the alcohol I found them to work like a dream and they applied almost as easily and the b/w version.

Full cover cupcake on a pink base:

One more thing to keep in mind is that these ones are opaque all over if you don’t top coat them so a white background can be seen if you don’t use a topcoat (which you really should be doing anyway). The photo below has half topcoated and half not so you can see what I mean:

Still the possibilities with these really excite me because I am imagining using them as a base while adding some diamantes and points of interest over the top. Much quicker than hand painting!

The end result here after top coating was really slick and pretty.

So verdict?

There wasn’t anything in the package that I wouldn’t recommend. The custom full cover nails are good quality and a really cool accessory to have. The designs up there that they’ve done themselves look really beautiful (go check out the Van Gough Starry Night nails and the pink leopard print French tips with diamantes especially!) and there is a good variety of both designs and products to choose from.

The colour decals are pretty awesome too and I can see them as being a great way for people with not much time/skill to have awesome show stopping nails. They are a bit more complex to use but I still think that a beginner could manage it and there are enough extras included in a pack that even if you make a few mistakes you’re not going to run out!

The show stopper, in my opinion, of the group had to be the black and white decals though. Perfect texture, perfect finish, great usability and I think I could put them on in my sleep and still get a great result. They are very forgiving to mistakes so perfect for beginners and are so versatile that I can’t see myself getting bored with them any time in the foreseeable future. The prices are very reasonable considering the volumes and still much cheaper than other places I’ve seen.

DO WANT.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for DISCOUNT CODE!!!

Being a reader herself, Eileen was kind enough to extend an awesome offer to you guys a great discount ^_^

Just type in VIOLET15 when you check out to get 15% off your entire purchase, excluding shipping costs. One use per customer. Expires December 31, 2011

I know a couple of the girls I spoke to were concerned about the shipping costs between the USA and here so here’s a word on that too, they use real-time shipping calculator so there’s no minimum charge rubbish, it’s actually worked out along the way so according to Eileen 1 set of nails to Aus is around US$5 and my whole box of stuff (including lots of chocolate) was under US$7. So even with that added on it still makes it worth it in my opinion.

Go check out Inspired Nails

Hope you enjoyed the review/tutorials/photos/discount code, I can’t want to think up more ways to use my monogram decals 😀