Do it yourself nail tutorial!

I love that self expression can go beyond hair, makeup and fashion, but nails as well. There are some very talented nail artists out there that can do unimaginable things on such a small surface.


this is just a sample taken off google of how intricate nail art can be.

 Today's nail tutorial! 

I have to admit personally I SUCK!!! at doing my own nails. Usually my left hand always seems to look better then my right, because Iam right handed, and as soon as I'm done I always get antsy and while their still trying to dry I'm all over the place using my hands. Resulting in not so pretty smudging and chipping. So my number one and completely obvious advice to you is wait till their completely dry to continue.

Considering my lack of experience in doing nails this design was easy enough that even I could do it!!! and I've gotten so many compliments and people asking..did you get your nails done?? to which I proudly reply "Nope I did em myself" :D yayyy!!!!!
This is done on my natural nails but I'm sure you can do it over fake ones as well.

To achieve this design here is what you'll need
            1.) 3 Nail polish colours of your choice. One will be your Base Coat, Another the colour applied to the tips of your nails, and lastly a colour for the poke dots. Feel free to use whatever colours you have, however try working with colours that compliment each other as your bases and use a neutral colour for the poke dots ( ex. white, silver, black)


2.) Bobby Pin, toothpick, small paint brush whatever you can find to create small dots, I used a bobby pin and it worked perfect!


Lets get started :D
(my camera didn't take very quality pictures but you get the idea)

First off start by applying your base coat. Apply about 1-2 coats to get the intensity of the colour.

After your base coat has dried. Apply the second colour to the tip of your nails in a diagonal design. This may look complicated but it's pretty simple just try and keep a steady hand, if you feel uncomfortable using the regular nail polish brush try using a very small, fine paint brush. I got mine from the dollar store. Also try using a straight edge of a paper or business card as a stencil or guide. I haven't tried this but thought about it afterwards.

Take your bobby pin and stretch it out like I have above. Place some of your poke a dot colour on a piece of paper. Dip the end of your bobby pin into the nail polish and practice a couple of dots on the paper, get the feel of how to create the dots. After your comfortable continue the same technique on your nails for the most part I kept my dots mainly on the tips but feel free to get creative.

Apply a clear top coat afterwards And TADA!!! all finished..

 I decided to get a little creative on my thumbs and continued the poke a dots all the way down. 

Who says you have to go out and spend a fortune to get your nails did..get creative and have fun :D

Happy polishing 

xoxox 

Relish

Basic Smokey eye

Of course makeup is becoming more and more expressional. Entertainers like lady gaga who constantly are pushing the boundaries with makeup and fashion encouraging others to stand out and express themselves and their individuality. Personally I love that times are changing where now rarely anything is out of the ordinary.


However that being said the classic smokey eye will always be timeless and admired by all.
A smokey eye can be achieved, interpreted and tweaked in so many ways using various colours,textures and techniques but the fundamentals of a smokey eye will always remain the same that being the darkest point is at the lashes, blending outwards to create a smokey effect hence smokey eye ;)

Foundation: Foundation, conceal, powder as usual. highlight and contour if desired.

Eyes: Like I mentioned before a smokey eye can be achieve and interrupted in so many different ways, this is I think one of the simplest and fundamental ways to achieve a typical smokey eye. but of course feel free to adventure and add your own touch, everyones eye shape is different so work with your eye shape using these basic techniques.
First conceal and powder the eyes providing a stable base for our products. Take a creamy black eyeliner, By this I mean use a eyeliner that can be easily smudged and manipulated, some eyeliners can be to stiff and dense. If this is the case simply take a regular household lighter and hold the flame to the end of the eyeliner for just a second. Obviously wait for it to cool before applying it at the base of your lashes like you normally would. Make the line as thick or thin as you want but keep in mind this is the base of our smokey eye and where all the magic is going to be concentrated.

Don't worry it doesn't have to be perfect. Now taking your angled brush, finger or even a Q-tip blend the black eyeliner up towards the lid still keeping most of the black towards the lashes. To create more shape to the eyes blend some of the black liner out towards the outer corner of the eye creating a V shape from your lashes to your outer crease.

Again it doesn't have to be perfect, this is going to be the underlying base for the rest of the look and will be blended out. That being said grab a dark brown eyeshadow. I used a mixture of Espresso and Charcoal brown from MAC, but any darker brown you have will work. 

Taking your flat eyeshadow brush pat this colour on top of the black eyeliner and blend it out onto the eyelid. Like with the black you want to keep the most color at the base of the lashes.

 For a more intense look feel free to use black eyeshadow. I just like to use a mixture of browns overtop the black base to create a more softer look, I find to much black can be overdone but feel free to experiment. Continue patting, blending and working the brown into the lashes, blending outwards. Blend the brown over the V shape as well softening any harsh lines.

Feel free to keep layering the browns and blacks at the base of lashes and continue blending out to get the darkness and depth you wish. To really bring out depth and dimension don't be afraid to go back over intensifying the colours and adding depth where you feel its needed. The more layers you create the more dimension the look will have.

After your satisfied with the lids, apply a matte white eyeshadow under the brow bone highlighting that area.

 line your inner waterline with black eyeliner. Line the top of the lids as well and go over with black eyeshadow, remember we want the lash line to be the darkest point. 

Taking your angled brush and the same black and brown shadows run these colours along the lower lashes and blend. Softening the line and creating the same smokey look but along the lower lash line, feel free to make this smokey line as thick or thin as you feel comfortable however try to avoid blending it to far down otherwise it might look black eye chic ;) 

Curl and Mascara your lashes, apply false lashes if desired

Cheeks/ Lips: Because a smokey eye is so neutral any blush colour will work just try not to overpower the eyes. When going with such an intense look for the eyes the cheeks and lips should simply compliment the eyes. For my cheeks and lips I decided to go for a neutral pinky colour for my cheeks I used a mixture of BlushBaby(soft neutral pink) and Fluer Power ( soft mid toned pink) by MAC. Both these blushes I use quite often and if your in the market for a new blush I definitely recommend giving these a try they add a instant glow of colour to the face without being to overpowering. 

I first lined and filled in my lips with a neutral pink peachy colour I used Peach Pearl from Gosh. 

Lining and filling in the lips with your lipliner fills in the lines that are naturally on our lips and gives you're lips more colour and longer staying power. I used a nude pinky colour lipstick on top of the lips, I used Hue from MAC but again any nude pink you have will work just fine :D

  (teehee my false lash is a little gimped..oops)

So no matter what your style is, or what adventures the night brings you got yourself a sexy smokey look to bump up the partayy!!! or in my case I just rocked it around the house and did the dishes..gotta look good for them dishes ;) 

Get Creative! and explore! were living in a time where "normal" doesn't exist so embrace it and get creative. This same look can be alternated using colours just remember to keep the darkest colour at the lash line.

Have fun, Get Creative and Rock it!

xoxox

Relish 

  

Contouring/Highlighting

Have you ever noticed celebrities always have a flawless complexion. There cheekbones always well defined, under eye circles gone, luscious lips. Well here's a little secret, its all the illusion of makeup.

Before:


                          SHADING/CONTOURING

Makeup has the ability to transform a face giving it a whole new structure just with highlighting and contouring, also known as shading, certain areas of the face. Shading features you want to recede and drawing attention to features by highlighting. The typical rule of thumb is any feature you want to make recede shade a darker colour such as hollows of the cheeks, temples, under the chin, sides of the nose.

lol its a nice face it know ;) but here I'm just demonstrating the areas of the face you typically want to shade or contour using foundation, concealer, brown eyeshadow, or a bronzer with no shimmer! looks scary and confusing but all you need to remember is blend blend blend! with a sponge, fingers, brush ect. However keep the darker colours in the these general areas.

 Countoring the hollows of the cheeks slenderizes the face and allows your cheekbones to stand out. Contouring down the sides of the nose slenderizes the nose and makes it appear straight. shading the temples gives the illusion of a smaller forehead, and lastly shading under the chin and down the neck slenderizes these areas as well.

After:

See! all blended and notice how much definition and colour it brings to the face. Our face isn't just a flat surface its dimensional, and has high and low points that the sun naturally hits more then others. So covering it with just one colour will make you look lifeless, dull and flat.

HIGHLIGHTING: 

Before:

Light colours highlight and make things come forward bringing attention to these areas. The apples of the cheek, under the the eye, the brow bone are typically the ares you want to highlight. Here I've used concealer to demonstrate the areas, but I find shimmer and pearlized powders work great. I usually use Shell cream colour from MAC. But you can also use a light shimmer eyeshadow. 

Applying your highlighter down the centre of the nose works with the contouring to slenderize and straighten the nose, highlighting the tops of the cheeks bring attention to your cheekbones, Highlighting the brow bone as well as the inner corners of the eyes, brighten and bring attention to the eyes making them the main focus point of the face. Simply dust your shimmer powder on these areas with a blush brush. If you notice I applied a bit of concealer above the cupids bow of the lips, this makes the illusion of fuller lips without the botox!!

After:

Now you know all the secrets to achieve a flawless face. Try these techniques and play around with your features. Once you know your face and your structure using these techniques to your advantage will get easier and easier. No matter what look your going for a flawless face is essential! 

Good luck and get your flawless face on!! 

xoxox

Relish

overnight makeup bag essentials.

lol yes this is me at my finest hour on my 20th birthday in vancouver. This is a classic "Rel is 




having a good time pose." For some reason I always bust out this pose in Photos shale we take




an adventure.

My bestest friend aka boyfriend on halloween :D

Mexico with the family

...trust me theres a lot more where this came from ;)

All this fun and dancing and partying eventually comes to an end, occasionally the night leads to too many cocktails and you find yourself doing the responsible and sensible thing that is not to drink and drive but decide to end a good night out at a friends. Have these essentials handy in your makeup bag and you'll be prepared for wherever it is you decided to end your night. 

Brush: Have this item handy in your purse for obvious reasons, unless you like that messy bedhead look(like myself, in which case simply scrunch and tossel locks), have a brush handy to tame that post party mane. Theres a variety of cute, convenient mini brushes that are capable of fitting in your makeup bag but really any brush or comb will work.

Travel size Baby Powder: Now I know your probably giving me a weird look but heres 

the thing. Have you ever heard of "dry shampoo's?" Salon's and drugstores may carry products 

called "dry shampoo" which is applied mainly to the roots to freshen up hair, working as a dry 

consistency to absorb our hairs natural oils. Well folks if you can't find a product that suites you

or for a cheaper, economical solution. I got some exciting  news for you. BABY POWDER

 DOES THE SAME THING! 

yes its true! just sprinkle a bit in your hand and tossel through the roots of your hair, because 

baby powder is white however, be sure to thoroughly work powder into hair. Dry 

Shampoo can be used in between washes or for backcombing, (apply a small amount to the 

root and proceed with normal backcombing technique) this provides a dry texture for better 

backcombing and in the end result, fuller volume with better stability.

Having a dryer texture on the hair also allows bobby pins and clips to anchor better within the 

hair. For those nights where you feel and undo is in order. 

 

Travel size Baby Oil: Don't worry were not preparing to babysit infants. Baby Oil is another

great versatile product to have handy in your bathroom or purchase a travel size to fit in your

makeup bag. Baby Oil is very moisturizing to your skin. It can be used in or after a shower to

fully moisturize the skin beyond just the surface like most lotions, without leaving the skin 

feeling greasy. However in this situation baby oil is a great economical eye makeup remover.

 

Relish's homemade do it all spritz!

I know, I know not the best name but I'll work on it ;)

Remember my little lecture about Tea tree oil, and how it was my little sidekick for everything! 

No?.. Well if you would like to proceed down my blog. If not heres a recap. Tea tree oil is a great 

natural antiseptic. It's great for acne because it cleans and kills the bacteria that gets trapped in 

our pores and build up, resulting in pimples, blackheads ect..

 This is especially when we sleep in our makeup which is a complete NoNo but 

at one point or other we are all guilty of doing it. Well I've created the solution..literally ;)

While pondering the many uses of tea tree oil, and the common problem of me always falling

asleep in my makeup a lightbulb went off in my brain and this stuff was born!

Why not create a mist you can spritz your face with and take off your makeup while killing the 

bacteria that leave our pores clogged. I can't list the different things this spritz can be used for. 

Composed of just 100% tea tree oil and purified distilled water, this spritz can be used to clean 

the face and take off makeup, as a toner before moisturizer, to spray on cuts, wounds, bruises 

etc... to clean makeup brushes, as an insect repellant

the list goes on..

 

To make this magical potion is very easy.First off start by finding a little spritz or spray bottle 

of your preference and fill almost full of purified distilled water. Take your 100% pure Tea 

tree oil and add to the water. I Haven't decided on a ratio or measurement or anything I 

just kept adding drops of tea tree oil until I decided there was a good amount of water to

tea tree oil, this will also depend on how big your spritz bottle is. I'm guessing you would want

twice as much water as tea tree oil but if you feel the mixture is to strong or to weak add to your 

preference.  

Other Items that are self explanatory and a must to have in your overnight makeup bag are

Deoderant/Purfume

Toothbrush

Moisturizer

Compact powder, Mascara, Blush etc..

Hand Sanitizer

And so there you have it! The very essentials to have when you leave the door for your night on 

the town. These items are very versatile and are also great to have for road trips, camping, 

airplane rides, on vacation, your gym bag etc.. 

Obviously feel free to add whatever else you can't survive without.

Happy Partying! and Happy Adventures!! you never know where each day will take you and 

therefore you won't know where each day will end. However with these items handy in your 

makeup bag you'll be prepared for whatever life throws your way.

Have fun! Be safe! and remember DONT drink and drive! make it a slumber party! 

xoxo

Relish

bejewel me

This is just a lil something I came up with one night when I was bored...yes when I'm bored I do my makeup ;)  hence makeup addict lol. It's times like those however you can really get your creative juices going experiment and explore with different looks and colours. This is just a simple clean frosty eye with all the attention mainly on the bejewelled lips. I have to be honest I wanted the lips to be more bejewelled but the jewels were to big to fill the lips in nicely, If i did this look again I would use smaller bejewels and really get those lips bejazzeled ;)

As you can see replacing the drama of the bejewels with a pop of colour makes this look totally wearable. Try switching up your typical black smokey look on the evenings to this clean classic frosty eye, Paired with a chic black outfit..perhaps a little black dress ;) you'll be the talk of the evening.

 Using light colours as opposed to your typical black give you a more innocent, classic, clean bright eyed look. Bringing attention to your eyes while working with the bold lip.

To get this look

Foundation: Conceal and Powder as usual. Contour and Highlight if desired. 

Eyes: Prime the lids with your choice of primer, I used painterly paint pot from MAC. Taking a white frosty colour (any lighter frosty colour will work also) using your fluffy brush dust over entire lid from lid up to the brow bone ( I used Shroom from MAC) To add more depth to the eyes wash a matte white eyeshadow over the lid, using different textures in the same shade adds dimension to light colours(I used Vanilla from MAC) Line the eyes with your choice of eyeliner, I chose to use black. And thats it!! although you don't have to stop there. Try experimenting with colours.

Cheeks: Apply cheek colour of your choice try picking a shade or colour that contrast and pairs well with the lips.

Lips: Finish off with a bold matte lip, or glossy if you prefer. I personally think a glossy lip will overdue the look considering the bright frosty eyes. Feel free to experiment with bold pinks, deep fushia's, bright reds. I used Trimming talk from MAC.

How to get the Hair: 

I like big curly kinda messy sexy hair, and I think it pairs well with this look. To get this look first start by applying spritzing some sort of styling lotion, heat protector, whatever you typically use to protect your hair from heat. I love Styling lotion or thickening spray by Bumble and Bumble. Curl your hair in sections with whatever curling iron you got, remember that hair does fall flat through the night, so using a smaller curling iron will give you nice medium sized curls that will eventually fall into waves, where using a bigger curling iron will simply just fall. If you really want to get creative and add texture try using a different sized curling iron with each layer. Remember to hairspray curls in between layers.

After entire hair is curled bust out the backcombing brush, any comb/brush will work. grabbing your hair in sections backcomb entire head by elevating hair and teasing the root, gently sliding hair from mid root to root. This creates volume and can be teaselled and manipulated for your desired volume, shape and style. spray with hair spray. For extra texture and hold in the curls, apply a small amount of styling balm into the palm of your hands and scrunch your hair defining your curls. I love After Party from Bedhead.

Hope this inspires you to come up with your own looks, go out and rock it ;)

xoxo

Peace Love and Makeup

Relish

Organizing your make-up

When it comes to organizing your makeup there is so many options and ways you can turn your vanity of overcrowded makeup into a sanctuary of peace. I was currently so frustrated with the way I have been storing my makeup for years that I opted to find a better way, and I think I succeeded !!!
I have stored my makeup in everything from Pencil containers, 1$ store baskets, Walmart containers, at one point I even went out and spent almost 200$ on a cute wooden cubby hoping that was the answer to all my problems...it wasn't.
Before...what I thought was the answer to my makeup storage problems..now..it holds my hair tools ;)

A couple weeks ago I was in Michaels Kraft supply store and what caught my eye from across the store was the answer to all my makeup storage problems!

This baby is made for storing craft supplies but not any more!! I've completely organized all my personal make-up and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I bought little plastic containers from the dollar store that fit into the four individual drawers to better organize my products. This storage unit was on sale when I purchased it but I believe they run around 50$ kinda steep I know but it was well worth it for me, considering I did spend an abundance more on what it now my new hair tool cupboard.

If you've been as frustrated as I have been with your makeup being scattered everywhere, filling up your makeup bags which leads to broken powder and eyeshadows :( or slowly creeping into your boyfriends side of the counter then I definitely recommend getting one of these babies. They come in a simple white, which gives you the option of personalizing it and making it your own. I will be jazzing mine up with glitter, sequins, bejewels, possibly a nice painted pattern..haven't quite decided yet.

Happy Organizing !!...what are some of your makeup storage solutions ??

xoxox 

peace love and makeup 

Relish