The way we get to the end of this story is a little long and rambling but it ends in Alice in Wonderland nail art so I’m sure you won’t mind 😉
A few months ago my Mum went on holiday to the Gold Coast and discovered a shop called “Del Sol” which makes products that change colour in the sun. Very 1990’s right? Well that was my attitude until she mentioned that they made nail polished that change colour in the sun! 😀
She brought me home 4 of their polishes to try out. I was a bit skeptical at first but they actually change surprisingly well!
These are the colours in normal inside light: Red with silver glitter Blue with a pearly finish Clear with silver glitter Pink with a pearly finish
In outside light they change to: Purple pearl finish Red glitter Purple glitter Green pearl finish
I couldn’t remember the order I had them in while I was taking the outside photos so here are the photos matched up to their outside colours!
How freaking cool is that?
So back to the nail art story, I’ve been wanting to do some Alice in Wonderland themed nail art for years now but I’ve never been able to think of a design that would do it justice. Now that everyone is talking about Alice again I thought it was high time to try it out and the first thing that came to mind was colour change. You can’t get more Alice than that!
This is them inside:
This was also my first attempt at doing 3D acrylic. To be honest I’m not really happy with how these turned out, the idea was so much cooler in my head. Also I think that if I had spent more time practicing my skills I would like the end result better. I’m all out of the acrylic liquid now but I’m going to get some more and try again! Practice, practice, practice! The 3D parts are the Heart and Club card suits, the playing card and the White Rabbit on the thumb. I didn’t have coloured acrylic so I used clear and painted them after.
And outside:
I really loved the idea of the colour change polish but I don’t think I used as well as I could have. It works great on the index nail that says “Alice” because it looks plain until it’s in the sun but the other little details like the Cheshire Cat turning red-purple weren’t as obvious.
Another problem I had when taking the photos
Comparison between the two:
A close up of the hat and rabbit on the thumbs. The hat band changes from red-purple but because it was over the black it’s hard to see. The background of the rabbit also goes from silver glitter-red 🙁 I am really proud of my White Rabbit though! My first 3D thing that actually looks like it’s supposed to 😀
So conclusions: -I currently suck at 3D acrylics but I will practice and get much better! -These Alice nails weren’t great but I now have ideas for even more spectacular ones. -Colour change polish is completely pointless but also very cool.
Also on a side note the adorable Momoberi gave me a mention on her blog too and I didn’t find out until I’d already written that last post! She was inspired by one of my hair tutorials ^_^
Have a great weekend everyone! And I’d love to see some photos if you’ve done any Alice in Wonderland Nail Art!
Today I wanted to give you guys first pick of my new nail art for sale ^_^
This is all going up on the Etsy store soon but I want my blog readers to have first preference. I’ve also made a few of those bow and heart rings that you all loved so much on Twitter. All the information on ordering is down the bottom, I hope you enjoy!
Set 1. Strawberry Fields
Description:
Yum yum strawberries, it’s that time of year again 😀 Alternating in red and pink these nails will catch some attention! Each small gold ball has been hand placed to represent strawberry seeds and they shine in the sun like crazy! Good enough to eat, though I don’t suggest trying to…
Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
Price:US$25
Set 2. Ribbons and Bows
Description:
These beautiful pastel nails have so much detail going on they are really eye catching! Alternating between pastel pink and blue each has silver glitter and then white candy stripes. Painstakingly hand painted on top in each corner is a big red ribbon bow. Perfect to wear for a tea party or just to look adorable every day!
Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
Price: US$25
Set 3. Purple Passion
Description:
These nails are a beautiful dark satin purple. They are very different to most nails you would come across, the only thing that shines on these babies are the silver glitter half moons at the bottom. Pair them with a slinky dress and you’re ready for a night on the town!
Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
Price:US$15
Set 4. Loving the Leopard
Description:
This set has been so popular I’ve made another one!
There is no hiding from these nails, you won’t need to camouflage! With a bright purple base and fluro pink leopard spots these nails sure make a splash! The tips have been dipped in bright pink glitter and a matching pink diamante has been added to polish off. These are guaranteed to grab attention!
Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
Price: US$15
Set 5. Burn Baby Burn
Description:
Fire is ultimately cool but who has the time or effort to set their own fingers on fire everyday? Now you can have the look without the third degree burns! With an orange/red base and flames of red, yellow and orange people might be fooled into calling the Fire Department, wear at your own risk!
Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
Price: US$15
There are still a few sets left in my Etsy store of the last batch, click here to see ^_^
Bow and Heart Rings
Please note that I can custom make these in any colour and size combination. If there is something you want that is not here just comment or send me an email ^_^
Pink Crochet Bow Ring.
Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn, it is very comfortable to wear and is attached to a matching crochet ring.
Price: US$6 including shipping.
The inside of a bow ring. The ring section is crochet as well, its quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Pink Crochet Heart Ring.
Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$6 including shipping.
Pink Crochet Bow Ring with Pearls.
Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn and beaded with plastic pearls to keep it light weight. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$6 including shipping.
Blue Crochet Bow Ring.
Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$5 including shipping.
Red Crochet Heart Ring.
Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price:US$5 including shipping.
Red Crochet Bow Ring.
Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$5 including shipping.
Black Crochet Heart Ring.
Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$6 including shipping.
Blue Crochet Heart Ring.
Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$5 including shipping.
Black Crochet Bow Ring.
Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.
Price: US$6 including shipping.
Ordering Information!
Custom Orders:
I will take custom orders, please comment or email me ([email protected]) with what you are interested for a quote 🙂
Ordering:
Before you order please take the time to read all of the information.
You can order by either commenting here or by emailing me using my Contact Page to let me know which set you would like to buy and your email address so I can send you a Paypal Invoice. Please note that the email address you put in the comment form can only be seen by me so if you are uncomfortable publishing your email either put it there or order via the Contact Page. Anything that doesn’t sell here is going to be put up in my Etsy shop, if you would prefer to buy via Etsy let me know and I will create a listing for you 🙂
Payment:
Payment must be made via Paypal. All prices are in US Dollars.
Australian buyers have the option of doing a direct bank transfer in Australian Dollars but must contact me for details.
Postage:
Shipping fees are included in the listed prices. Shipping is via Australia Post. International shipping will be by standard Airmail (unless you want to pay extra for express).
Insurance is not included in the price, if you would like to buy insurance please contact me. If you do not opt to buy insurance I cannot be held responsible for lost packages.
Notes:
Please note that these nails are all hand painted and as such they are all unique. They are not mass produced and therefore they have small irregularities. Please view the pictures carefully to be sure before you place your order as I will not accept refunds if you just change your mind. Larger photos are available upon request.
As a lot of you would already know James and I will be moving cities soon, it’s very exciting! We’ll be living in an apartment so we’re trying to compress all of the things we have into as small a space as possible… what this leads to is us having a big clean out sale ^_^ I’m not going to constantly spam you about the sale here so I’ll just post the link and tell you that I’m updating it with new stuff pretty much every day so check back often! There are all kinds of things there including clothes, jewelery and other bits and pieces.
It’s no secret, I love cake. No I don’t think you guys get it… I looooooove cake. So much so that the first thing I thought when I was trying to think of a way to store my false eyelashes was cake… and you’ll see why in a minute 😀
If you’re anything like me you have a lot of lashes. Here in Aus they don’t come in the nice little trays, they come in stupid plastic packets which mean it’s really difficult to store and reuse them. My counter tends to look like this after a few days…
Very ugly, very messy and very unhygienic. So what to do? When I found this cheap craft storage box at a $2 store I had a great idea 😀
I decided to turn it into this:
Yep. It’s an eyelash cake.
The storage container looks like this when it’s filled up. Each compartment has it’s own lid so when you need one set they won’t all fall out and it’s transparent so you can see them all at once. It’s exactly the right size so your lashes don’t get crushed or out of shape.
So let’s get started! This is what you need for cakey lash storage:
-Paper clay. I picked up a kit from Singapore but I’ve seen this same kit available on Etsy as well. -Container -Cute ribbon -Icing bag with nozzles -Optional if your paper clay kit doesn’t come with white icing you can use acrylic modeling paste (read more here) -Small false flowers
So this is what came in my kit. It has lots of molds and a couple of colours of clay and a ready to go icing kit.
I wanted a strawberry for my cake so I made one with the mold like this:
Put clay in both sides of the mold.
Squish it together..
You get this:
Remove the extra and you’ve got a strawberry.
You can make pretty much anything you want by hand as well as it’s really easy to work with. I made some macarons, hearts, icecream tops and some of those swirly chocolate wafer stick things.
Also squish some of the yellow clay flat and cut out 8 fairly equal triangles like this. These are going to be the slices of cake on top so make the roughly the same size as the container sections.
I make a bunch of clay bits and pieces at a time because they need to be left to dry over night.
The next day!
Now that everything is nice and dry let’s get going! Turn your container upside down so the lid parts are on the bottom and coat the top sections with epoxy glue.
Glue the triangles you made on 😀
Now decide on the design you want on the top. I like to lay mine out first so I know that it will all fit!
Before I go ahead and glue it all, here is a mini tutorial inside a tutorial on making the wafer swirl things. After they’ve dried you can add the chocolate. I paint mine with brown nail polish 😀
Paint the swirl… fairly self explanatory! Let them dry really well before you add them to the cake!
Now back to the cake!!
Time to cover the edges, get your pretty ribbon and glue it around the edge. You should align it as close to the bottom lids as you can without obstructing the opening/closing. Don’t worry about having a large gap towards the top, we’re going to fill that with icing 😀
I decided to put flowers on the top of mine, glue whatever you decided to put there ^_^
Time for icing!
Fill your icing bag with whatever you’re using for the icing (please use the paper clay or acrylic modeling paste rather than silicon as silicon attracts a lot of dirt in the bathroom) and get any decorations you have for the top close at hand.
So if you’ve been following my Twitter you’ll be aware that I’ve been testing out Circle Lenses!
So what are circle lenses? Basically they are coloured contact lenses which make your eyes appear bigger, they are very very popular in Asia especially with Hime Gyaru models. I’ve been interested in trying them for like 2 years but never got around to it until now when E-CircleLensoffered to send me some 😀
You can’t imagine how excited I was when I came home from Melbourne to a package from E-CircleLens!
Inside the package were 3 different lenses, some pamphlets and instructions, 3 cases and a cute little doggie travel kit!
How cute is this? The little cases for the lenses have bows on them!
They came with cartoon instructions showing you the do’s and don’ts of putting them in and caring for the lenses.
This is the little doggie travel case! He’s found his way to my handbag now!
The doggie opens up and inside is… a mirror, tweezers, a bottle for contact solution and a case!
All of the lenses come packaged really well in styrofoam, when you take them out they are in little glass bottles like this:
It took a bit of work to get the aluminum lids off but that’s probably because I’m incredibly weak heehee!
These ones here are the Aryan Ring Circles.They have a diameter of 14mm which is huge and they last 1 year.
This is a photo of me trying to put them in for the first time. Considering how un-coordinated I am, it’s surprising I didn’t lose an eye! It was a lot easier to do than I was expecting, I think if I can do it anyone can!
So what kind of difference do they make? Here is me with one of the Aryan Ring ones in and one eye natural. Big difference right?
And when you add some make up, they look awesome!
These ones look really dark but still have a burst of natural colour through the middle.
Here is a close up comparison between natural eye and made up eye with the Aryan Ring Circles:
The second set that they sent me are called Walkure Brown and they have a diameter of 14.5mm! These ones are my favorite because they are the absolute biggest! Here’s the comparison between my natural eye and the Walkure Brownup close:
These ones were slightly harder to apply because of the size but once they were in, they just look fantastic! The dark brown works really well with hime style as well which is great for me!
I was surprised how natural they looked on me as my eyes are actually green normally ^_^
From a distance they just look cute!
The third set I received was the Angel EX Greenwith a diameter of 14mm. I was excited about these ones because they were so natural looking and they really made the green in my eyes pop! It probably helped that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in Ageha as well 😉
It’s such a pity that these photos don’t seem to capture the real colour of these lenses, they are a really deep vibrant green in real life. I wore them to lunch the other day and got 3 compliments about my eyes, no one even guessed I was wearing lenses XD
They are darker than my natural eyes but the green really stands out!
Pretty!
So my review! Ok the quality of the packing was really good, the box arrived dented by a careless post office worker but the insides were still perfectly ok because of all of the packaging. The complimentary instructions they include are really easy to follow and well set out. I have never used lenses before and I managed to put them in very easily. I have to say that unlike some other resale companies I’ve dealt with, the staff at E-CircleLens were super helpful and really knowledgeable about their products. I couldn’t have been happier with the support I received. The actual lenses were really comfortable to wear and after I got the hang of actually putting them in I didn’t really notice that they were in during the day. On the first day that I wore the Angel Ex Green ones I actually forgot they were in, if James hadn’t reminded me I probably would have gone to bed with them in XD If you want your own sets, all of these lenses can be bought via E-CircleLensfor around US$40 and they last for 1 year if taken care of correctly.
I’ve made a fun little video tutorial to show you how to apply circle lenses, click below to see!
So in conclusion, my first experience with Circle lenses has been really positive, I’m definitely going to keep wearing them and I want to get lots more different colours to try out 😀
Ok this post is pretty huge if I do say so myself, it even has two tutorials including a lilac lace nail art… that’s right two!
I’ve been getting a lot of nail polish related requests lately so here is a gigantic post to take care of some of them!
Firstly a lot of people have been asking how many nail polishes I have… the answer is 87. That sounds like a lot… and well it is a lot but I’ve collected those over the last 4 years aaaaand a lot of them were gifts and the ones I bought were all like $2 so it’s not actually the gigantic money pit it sounds like!
Question 2: how do I store them? Well if I’m going to be making a lot of nail art to sell at once then I set them all up on a table organized by colour. Other than that they all live in a draw organized by whatever I shoved in there first.
With that many polishes how do you choose colours that go well together?! Well I make swatches out of old fakes nails and paddle pop sticks like this:
I got the idea from one of your blogs actually… but I can’t for the life of me find the post and I’ve been searching all morning >_< If it was you just let me know in the comments because I want to credit you!! *edit* some has said it was invented by “krisprimps.bradandkris.com” but I haven’t ever been to her blog so I must have seen it somewhere else!*/edit*
A random selection:
I use white nail tips so when I need to test out how opaque a white polish is I paint the tips black first.
So how do you make them? Well let me show you with the new Lilac polish that Eyekowas kind enough to send me 😀
Gather all the items above, you need: -A glue gun -Paddle pop sticks -A pen -Old false nail tips -Various polishes you want to swatch, I try to save them up and do around 10 at a time.
First count how many polishes you have and get that many paddle pop sticks and nail tips.
Heat your glue gun and put some glue on the back curve of one of the nail tips.
Press it down onto the edge of the paddle pop stick. Be very careful not to burn yourself!
Add some extra glue to the back to make sure everything is secure.
Rinse and repeat for how ever many you need…
Now wait until all of that is dry and paint one coat of polish over the whole thing.
Wait for it to dry!
While we’re waiting for it to dry here’s a mini review of the Eyeko polish:
The application was quite good it was a nice consistency and very shiny after application. It was opaque/the colour in the bottle after 2 coats. This next photo is a really good representation of the colour, it’s nice and soft and reminds me a lot of OPI “Do you lilac it?”. I didn’t find the smell of the polish over powering either which was nice.
The packaging is super cute too which is a plus!
The bottle is quite small at 8.5ml for £3 but for a boutique company that seems to be fairly standard. So the verdict = good! Everything they have is themed on a very cute manga which they update on the site every week, here’s some of the cute info they sent through:
Now back to the tutorial! After the first coat is dry write the name and colour of the polish on the other end of the stick!
Just like this 😀
Now time for the second coat, this time you should only paint the top 2/3rds of the nail.
Then leave that to dry. Once it’s dry you should paint one final coat on the top 1/3rd of the nail.
So you should have something like this, the numbers represent the number of coats. This doesn’t mean much for a polish as opaque as this one but when you have a more sheer polish it’s much more useful to know how many coats you’ll need for the finish you want. Now you can see at a glance without having to trial and error it every time.
This is an example of some polishes where the differences are a little more obvious, especially the orange.
So there you have it! Now it’s time for a nail art tutorial 😀 Today we’re going to make a pretty but easy lace finish on a base of the Eyeko Lilac Polish. Video is below!
<div-id= “lilac”>
Hope you enjoyed the double tutorial post! And please let me know if you have any other nail art related questions <3
Let me know what you think of it all especially the lilac lace nail art, I want to do more tutorials ^_^
A while ago I was sent a really interesting new product to test out for you guys: Rapid Lash eyelash serum.
I held off posting about it for so long because I wanted to be extra thorough while I was getting information about it because it’s a bit of a touchy subject for a lot of girls: EYELASHES
A lot of my friends and girls I know are really self conscious about the size/shape/curve/density/whatever of their eyelashes and I have to admit I’ve gotten quite caught up in the whole thing in the past too. My eyelashes are naturally quite light so when I don’t wear mascara or false lashes it can be a little tough to see them and they don’t stand out against my eyes 🙁 There all kinds of solutions to this like fake lashes (my fav), lash extensions and dyeing kits and now there is something called “Rapid Lash Eyelash Renewal Serum” which claims to “transform each strand at the lash line from thin, brittle or short lashes into thicker, fuller and healthier-looking lashes by delivering essential proteins, vitamins and other moisturizing and rejuvenating ingredients that replenish the lashes, while adding shine and elasticity.”
That’s a bit of a mouthful and quite a big thing to claim! So I’ve done a road test for you all ^_^
This is the packaging it comes in:
Their literature has a lot of before/after photos. Apparently the serum can be used for eyebrows as well, I don’t think I need my brows any darker though so I just used it on the lashes.
It comes in a little shiny tube with a brush in it kind of like a liquid eyeliner. At AU$65 it’s a bit on the expensive side but it’s an alternative to actual eyelash extensions especially if it’s something you’re really self conscious about.
The liquid is clear and kind of gloopy… When you put it on it’s quite cold because of the metal container which feels quite nice. It takes a few minutes to dry but it wasn’t irritating at all to have on. It didn’t feel like I was wearing anything once it was dry and it didn’t bother me through the night. I did notice that my eyes had extra sleep in the morning but nothing uncomfortable.
What you are supposed to do is apply it to your lash line as if you were putting on eyeliner every night before bed. According to their website you should see a change after around 3-4 weeks. I used it for around 4 weeks before I took all these pictures and I did notice a change. Both James and my Mum noticed that my lashes looked a bit longer and fuller.
The website has lots of features and benefits of the lash serum including things like it’s paraben free, cruelty free and lots of other scientific things about how it works… but I think most of you will only care about how well it works! So here is a before and after shot of me after 4 weeks of using it every night:
(apologies for the blurriness I didn’t even check the photos before I started editing them for the post. Also haha you can totally see James’ reflection in my eye!)
This is my scientific way of looking at it. In my before shot the longest lash I could kind was approximately 76 pixels long after the longest one I could find was approximately 88px. I don’t think there was as big of a change as the before/after photos on their site but everyone gets different results. The numbers don’t lie so as far as I’m concerned it works!
I don’t think this is going to be a product for everyone but I do think that it’s a really cool idea and for girls like me with naturally light lashes especially if you don’t like extensions! If you’re interested in buying some you can get it from Priceline or online here.
Thumbs up!
Have any of you tried Rapid Lash or the similar systems before?
I’m having so much fun here in Melbourne with Candice! I can’t wait for the big tea party tomorrow!
Would you guys like me to post photos here of the trip at the end of every day or one big one when I get back?
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.
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