Since moving to Melbourne I’ve had problems with dry skin. The air here is really dry compared to Queensland, honestly going back to Brisbane was like walking into a sauna >_<
Clinique’s PR rep offered to send me their 3 step kit to see if it made a difference to my skin. I haven’t tried Clinique’s skin care before even though I’ve heard a lot about them so I was pretty interested to see how it performed. To be honest I always thought that they would be out of my price range so I didn’t give them much of a look over XD I was sent the #1 pack for dry skin and used it for a couple of weeks to test, it certainly was a mixed bag!
Brand: Clinique
Product: 3-Step Introductory Set – Skin Type 1
Price: AU$49 Available here on the website. Kit includes:
Liquid Facial Soap Extra-Mild, 50 ml
Clarifying Lotion 1, 100 ml
Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, 30 ml
So the first step in the range is the Facial Soap. The packaging is a standard tube, pretty average. It smelled kind of like cucumber and felt more like moisturiser than soap which was really interesting. It certainly felt like it was giving moisture back to my skin and didn’t leave it with that squeaky feeling some soaps leave. There was nothing about this that I specifically disliked but there was nothing that stood out either so I found it hard to want to keep using when the results weren’t visible.
Next is Toner. To be honest, this is the only thing out of the pack I’m planning to use again and I think it’s a very acquired taste. It smells VERY much like sterilising alcohol/hand sanitiser. Like… exactly like it. For some reason I like the smell but I think it will probably be too strong and hospital-ish for a lot people. In fact I know a lot of my friends who have tried it couldn’t get past the smell. It left my skin feeling super clean and smooth though and I found it was really refreshing right before bed. But yeah this is definitely something you need to smell before you buy it! Packaging was quite nice, felt substantial and not cheap.
Last up we have the moisturiser. First off I hate the bottle, it’s a screw top bottle with no dispenser at the top which is a personal hate of mine because it makes it a pain getting the correct amount out. The smell is kind of generic and fairly subtle. It rubbed in smoothly and feels a bit like velvety or almost sticky when rubbed in. I didn’t mind the texture or smell but again it was fairly average. I don’t think it made a difference to my skin so without being able to see the benefits I don’t think I would use it again.
VERDICT:
I really felt underwhelmed with this set and I don’t know if that was because I had high expectations or if it was just average products. Over the time I used this I didn’t notice any difference in my skin and I think it is just as dry as when I started. It could very well just be that it didn’t work with my skin type so I would totally suggest having a look in store and maybe getting some testers before committing to this or full sized products. The soap and moisturiser weren’t for me but I definitely like the toner and would repurchase it. Price-wise for a higher end starter kit with 3 items I would say AU$49 is on par and probably cheaper than I was expecting. Not for me but can’t hurt to sample and see if it suits your skin!
Well I managed to coerce Celeste into being my guinea pig and giving it a try out, here are our results!
So in short the answer is YES! It is indeed opaque enough to be used on dark/black hair. The main difference is that I had to pay more attention to where I was putting it so it didn’t get everywhere, mistakes show up more easily. The colour was just as vibrant on dark hair, though we didn’t leave it to dry long enough before I used the straightener on her fringe so some of it wiped off. So the lesson is don’t be impatient like me!
Hope that answers all of your questions 😀 It was a fun experiment!
Well if you followed me on Twitter you would probably have guessed where I was the weekend before last: the Adelaide Beauty Conference! I’ve done my first V-Log at the end of the post too so enjoy!
I was flown up to be the special guest speaker and also to provide a nail art demonstration. James was the photographer for the day too so credit to him for all of these pictures.
The event it’s self was a huge amount of fun, it was held at Liquid Hair Salon and there were demonstrations of Dermalogica and Cloud 9 as well as make up from Miss Kitty and my nail display.
My models for the day were Sherry and Neena who were both so lovely and accommodating for me. I did a rose design on Neena and leopard print on Sherry.
I’m always nervous when doing nails for other people but I was even more so at having to talk and answer questions at the same time. Talking isn’t really my strong point but once I got to know the girls and we all got chatting a bit I felt so much better! It was like hanging out with my friends 😀 I know Saku video’d the whole process so if she uploads it I’ll post a link for the rest of you.
There was an awesomely delicious spread from Monnie at Cupcake Treats. We hadn’t eaten much all day so I spent a lot of time monopolizing the food table 😛
We only spent the day in Adelaide so James and I got up super early to fly in the morning and then out right afterwards. I had been hoping to go to dinner with the rest of the girls but there was an early curfew on the airport so even on the last flight we missed out ;_;
This is totally my favorite photo of the day, I wish I had gotten to see Kitty’s display to understand what was going on here XD
The best part of the day for me was getting to meet girls that I’ve been talking to online for months (or in some cases years!) in person finally!
Of course getting to play with nails was fun too! We covered all of the basics in my awesomely technical manner: splotches, squiggles, stripes and decals 😉
Being a blogger meet there was an influx of awesome cameras 😉
Liquid Hair was decked out in some serious bling, very appropriate!
The Dermalogica display was really informative and they presented us with some great information on the FITE women’s charity too.
With the amount of running around we had done that day (plus the getting up super early) I almost volunteered myself for the facial haha!
I found Emma’s Cloud9 demonstration really interesting too and it made me think about upgrading my hair appliances a step and maybe giving my wand another try! I’m pretty good with the straightener but no matter how I try I fail miserable at using those styling wands which is why I still haven’t reviewed/done tutorials with the one I have >_<
I got to see the O heated roller system in action too which cleared up a lot of questions I had about it! Emma also showed us an interesting powder which is supposed to take the place of teasing/back combing. That was something I was very interested in!
Speaking of hair products, if anyone has a good heavy duty hair spray recommendation please let me know, they’ve discontinued my black label Cedel ;_;
Other than my display I spent most of the time getting to know the girls and answering questions about blogging. Next time I definitely want to stay for a couple of days so we can hang out more and see the sights!
Biggest thank you of the day goes to Celeste for organising my trip and being a wonderful host! Thank you for ferrying us around, being so organised and for letting me borrow your nail polishes!
Thank you as well to the Adelaide girls for being so nice to me! It sounds obvious but I was blown away with how nice people were, we had so many offers of lifts and at one point my eyes were watering from hay fever and no thought at all Jac was straight to her bag looking for antihistamines for me! *so appreciative*
Kitty’s make up presentation using all kinds of cool colours:
Everyone seemed to have such a wonderful time. Driving around there has gotten me thinking about moving again XD Such cheap rent too!!
Of course it was another good excuse to hand out business cards, I’m completely obsessed with them right now. Probably good too because my printing company gave me double the amount I ordered so I’ve got quite a few to hand out!
The event ended with thank you’s, cheers and gift bags. Celeste surprised me with some really lovely gifts as well, I’m really lucky to have wonderful friends like her! I ended having to leave most of it with her because of my lack of baggage but I can’t wait to try out what I did bring. Especially the Ardel 6 week false lashes, that sounds like such a cool idea so I’m going to try them tonight!
Cheers to everyone and thank you all so much for having me as your blogging exchange student!
Now something I’ve been looking forward to (and dreading slightly) my first vlog! I debated for a while how to pronounce vlog (as in VEE-log or like blog with a v) and settled on VEE log because rather than being short for “video blog” I’m going to make them short Violet’s Log mwahahaha! Now I can make all kinds of nerdy Captain’s Log jokes too ;P
I’m still getting the hang of recording and remembering to look at the camera but it was fun to put together so I might start doing them more often if you all enjoy it ^_^
Thank you so much to all of the Adelaide girls for giving me such an awesome intro!!!
Ok that’s it from me for now, I hope you all enjoyed coming with me to Adelaide and had as fun of a time as I did!!
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.
At ABC the other day someone asked about my lip colour and I couldn’t remember the combination to tell them >_< Now I can’t remember who asked so if it was you let me know and I’ll update, sorry my memory is so bad!!
I’ve been preferring bright colours lately so I’ve gone back to the sparkly pinks I used to wear. My current favorite base colour is the L’Oreal Colour Riche Intense in Sparkling Amethyst. It’s creamy, stays on well and very sparkly!
To top coat over it for extra gloss I currently love Lancome Juicy Tube special Yayoi Kusama edition in Crazy Yuzu. It’s pretty much the most sparkly pigmented lip gloss I’ve ever owned.
By themselves these two are nice, pretty good but together holy hell do they pop!
The Sparkling Amethyst:
The Crazy Yuzu which is much sparklier in real life but has lost it’s intensity in the photo 🙁
Nice right? But together:
WIN! Super bright and an awesome depth to it. So there’s the answer to that question 😀 The best part is that the Sparkling Amethyst was one of the things I got from the Priceline Charity Lucky Dip a few weeks ago. I don’t think that all of the Pricelines are running these but if your local one is definitely check it out because not only can you pick up some great bargains but the money goes to a great cause: the Priceline Sisterhood which includes 6 different charities. All you have to do is give a gold coin donation and you get to pick a lucky dip which is wrapped up in bright green or pink wrapping paper!
I’ve been back a couple of times and this is what I’ve lucky dipped so far (not including the Juicy Tube which was sent to me by their PR)
So not only my new favorite lipstick but also Rimmel Stay Glossy:
A 60sec Rimmel polish in “Blue My Mind” (which looks much more purple than blue to me).
And a Rimmel waterproof green sparkly eyeliner which I used in the false lash look I posted on Monday. I keep picking Rimmel items without realising it XD
Definitely worth checking out 😀
Tomorrow I’ll be putting up the long awaited custom nails/decals review from Inspired Nails. Slowly catching up on everything. This weekend has been put aside to get some crafting done finally so if you’ve got requests throw them my way now ^_^
Eyelashes, I love them. I love them in all shapes and forms, crazy or little I don’t care, I just love them 😀 and you all know I like making things… so of course it follows I wanted to make my own lashes!
For my first attempt I went for something crazy, long and spindly, now that I’ve got the hang of it I want to make so many other kinds too! The result…
What you need to make your own false lashes:
Fabric, something thin and easy to take apart, I’m using organza which is perfect
Small scissors
Hair Straightener
So first thing’s first you need to cut a rectangle of the organza, the easiest way to do these is to use the selvage (finished edge that comes off the machine when the fabric is made) as the base. To prevent the organza from fraying and coming apart the side edges are finished like this:
So cut most of the selvage off but leave around a 1-2mm edge on the bottom, this will form the band of the lashes which will eventually hold the glue! Make sure you leave enough there that it doesn’t completely unravel.
You will need the rectangle to be as wide as you want the lashes then as tall as you want the longest part of the lashes. Better to leave them a bit longer than you think because you can always trim down later.
This is where it gets a bit tedious! What you need to do is slowly pull out all of the horizontal bits of thread in the fabric. You can use a pin to pry them free a couple at a time, nice and easy but very boring.
What you’ll end up with is something along these lines and a bunch of little threads all over your work space:
Getting there but they don’t fit the shape of your eye yet so gently pull and coax the base into a semi circle. It should have a little bit of give to it so it will hold shape. You can see the before and after below.
I made mine very wide because I didn’t know how long I wanted them to be, here’s one of my other lashes beside it.
So trim them down to the correct width.
Use the little scissors to cut the lash threads into whatever shape/length you want. I wanted them to be small in the middle then wing out. I also wanted to make the lengths more natural so I make sure not to cut straight across but instead by pointing inwards and snipping in small strokes.
Snip snip…
Taadaaa. Awesome but they don’t curl like lashes should so if you were to wear them now they would look pretty silly!!
To curl them we need heat but not too much heat because it’s effectively made of plastic and we don’t want to melt them!
The first thing I tried was to smooth the lashes carefully (VERY CAREFUL SO YOU DON’T BURN YOURSELF) over the curved edge of my straightener.
While indeed that did work, it wasn’t the smooth curve that I was looking for.
What came to the rescue in the end was my laptop tray table’s metal legs! Perfectly curved and conducts heat well. You can use anything this shape which conducts heat without melting (so no plastic!).
I held the lash on.
Covered it with a piece of fabric to hold in place and avoid burning fingers…
And used the heat of the straightener!
Bam lashes!
Gigantic lashes 😀 Spindly, long and fun to wear!
These are the kind of lashes that make me want to make smouldering faces XD
SMOULDER!!
So there you have it! My first attempt at making lashes went pretty well, I’m happy with them and I want to make a heap more of them in different styles 😀 I kind of want to try it with patterned fabric too and make some multi coloured ones, so many possibilities!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
