December BellaBox Review

Hello everybody!

Welcome to this year's last bellabox review! The theme this month was Eat, Play, Love in the spirit of Christmas and New Year's. I think the idea of the theme is lovely but once again I don't see too much connection between the theme and the items in the box. But anyway, let's get into it!

1. Kora Organics Purifying Day & Night Cream (RRP $59.95) - This is a product from Miranda Kerr's skincare range and to be honest I never even knew she had a skincare range out, but clearly she does. I tried this moisturiser for a few days that I had off of work just in case I had a reaction to it (I can't trust new skincare products anymore) and even though I didn't have an allergic reaction to it, I ended up not using it again because it made my skin extremely oily and by extremely I mean it felt like my face was swimming in oil. I've said it before but I'll say it again, I have very oily skin and nothing helps it so there's no way I'll be using this product again. I don't need the extra oil on top of my already very oily face. I'm quite disappointed about it too because it's a full sized, very expensive product. It would have been nice to use it all because it did feel lovely, it was thin and lightweight but it's just not suited for my skin unfortunately.
2. Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Mascara (RRP $25.00) - This is supposedly a cult classic product and very popular on Amazon. I can understand the hype and popularity but it's not a holy grail product to me. It's pretty good though, I'll admit that! It has amazing coverage in only a few coats and it leaves my lashes still feeling natural and soft unlike a lot of other mascaras I've tried in the past. It's good for daily use but I think I'll combine it with another mascara for nights out etc. My lashes are just the type of lashes that look amazing for five minutes after applying mascara and then they uncurl and become dead straight again, so I can't really speak on it's curling effect. I doubt I'll buy this myself as I don't want to spend that much on it when I have other mascaras that are quite similar, but we'll see!
3. Enbacci Pore Minimiser (RRP $30.00) - I've seriously been wanting a pore minimising cream for a while now but every one I've come across is just too expensive for me to buy straight off without knowing if it works or not, so I was very happy to receive a decent sized sample for this. This has replaced my primer for the time being and I just apply it to my nose, some of my cheeks, in between my brows and my chin and from what I can tell it seems to minimise my pores. I still get oily, that'll never end really, but it does minimise them and that's all I can ask for in a pore minimiser. I'll have to see how it goes to determine if I'll buy the full sized product.
4. Keratase Paris Nutritive Nectar Thermique (RRP $45.00) - Firstly, I'm so bummed this was a sachet because secondly, I loved this product. I got about two and a half uses out of this so that was lovely. I don't really have dry hair and I think what this product is mostly aimed at but that didn't matter because it still made my hair smooth and I found that I only needed this one product when I used. Normally I use three treatments on my hair, a thermal styling heatspray, a prep leave in conditioner cream and a repair spray leave in. It's a lot of product, but I don't always use them all at once. Just depends how my hair feels, but this sample was amazing and I'm so upset that it's so expensive because there's no way I'm spending that much for one hair treatment.
5. Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash (RRP $13.99) - For those of you who have read my constant complaints about that time I had a severe reaction to skincare products, this was what I reacted to. I can't remember if I ever named the product, but this is it. So obviously I didn't use this sample and it's now in my bin. I did email bellabox requesting my allergy information be noted but they said it's not a feature of their website currently but that they'll look into it. I also asked if it was possible to get a replacement product but they said that as I had received the product and the box with no problems, they unfortunately couldn't replace it. I was a bit annoyed to be honest, but fair enough. The samples are set and they can't just go handing out more. I'm sure this product is great and maybe it works for others (do your research before you buy) it's not for me due to the salicylic acid in it.
6. Maybelline Superstay Better Skin Foundation (RRP $23.95) - This is another sample that went into the bin unfortunately. I've purchased this product in the past and had several problems with it, firstly it sat on my face weirdly and got caught in all my pores and slightly dry spots which aren't even very dry. Secondly it just didn't stay, as soon as my face became oily (which was a lot quicker than normal under this foundation) it just came off and sat even worse on my face than when I'd applied it. I think the colour selection wasn't that great either, ivory is never ivory on my face. Once again maybe this product is great and works for others, but not for me unfortunately.

There we go! That's all the products for the last bellabox of 2014! I had a love/hate relationship with this box as you can tell, some were good, some weren't so good, but you win some you lose some!

Hopefully you're looking forward to more of these reviews in the new year, because I'll definitely be posting them!

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

Inspired By... #12

Hello everyone!

I'm bringing my Inspired By... series back for this post as I couldn't come up with a creative name for this post as I have a lot of posts on dots. Today however, I'm inspired by another one of my phone cases, I think I've done three or four designs using inspiration from my phone cover and to be honest, that's partly why I buy the cases I do; for the inspiration!

I used a base of White On by Sally Hansen and the dots are E-nuf Is E-nuf by Essie and Turquoise Paradise by Maybelline Color Show. 

I absolutely love how this turned out, it looks exactly like the case.

And here are the nails against the case, how spot on are they?! 

I really enjoy this mani and I really enjoy doing spot on recreations of a pattern I've come across.

Hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

Bright & Colourful Mix n Match Mani

Hi everybody!

This post was supposed to be up yesterday but I went on an impromptu road trip to see my grandparents instead and wasn't able to edit the photos or write up a post.

I've been wearing this bright mani for the past few days now (although it's all chipped by now). It's a bright and colourful design but I'm not sure how much I loved it, it kind of became annoying after a few days.

Anyway, I used a bunch of polishes that I can't remember the names of and I'm not near my nail desk to find them, so if you want to know a certain polish just ask and I'll have a look!

Just a quick post today to make up for the lack of posts the last few days, but stay tuned because in the next few days I'll have my bellabox review up and a 2014 favourites post which I'm in the middle of making! It'll be full of ALL my favourites of the year, nail art, makeup, skincare, etc.

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

Plaid Stripes

Hello!

I'm not one hundred percent sure that these are actually plaid stripes but it was the best thing I could think of to call this post, but anyway, this is a design I haven't done before or even really thought of doing but I actually love how it turned out. All I did was paint some horizontal lines first in three different colours, alternating where the stripes were on each nail and then paint some vertical stripes using the same idea. So I guess it sort of is plaid, just without the over and under lapping of stripes.

For this design I used a base of Audacious Asphalt by Maybelline Color Show, and the stripes were Suzi Says Feng Shui by OPI, Lilac Bloom by Ulta3 and Devil's Advocate by Essie.

This design is so versatile and would work with any colour combo I reckon. It's so easy and eye catching!

That's all for today! Thanks for reading.

- Melissa.

OPI Water Colour / Sheer Tints

Hey everybody!

I've got a quick Sunday evening post for you all on some more nail art using the Sheer Tints from OPI. This time I just painted the polish on random parts of each nail and let them overlap to create new colours. It's so damn simple but still so cute and pretty. I really love it.

I love how it makes different colours when you overlap them, it shows how much the colours can be used to always make something cool and different. I really do love these polishes!

That's all for tonight because there's not much else to say!

Thanks for reading.

- Melissa.

OPI Sheer Tints Dotticure

Hi everybody!

I recently picked up the Sheer Tint Top Coats by OPI from a Catch Of The Day Sale. I had been eyeing these off ever since they were everywhere on Instagram and in the blogging world, but of course I wasn't going to pay full price for them because that's just way too much for four polishes. So I waited and as soon as I saw them on a COTD sale (thank you to my sister for notifying me of it) I had to get them! I'm happy I did, they're a really cool addition to my collection and something very different. Everyone knows I love watercolour designs so I can't wait to experiment further with these polishes!

For this mani I just did a simple dotticure. I didn't realise how stringy these polishes were though! It was crazy how much my fingers were covered in stringy polish while I was trying to dot it on my nails. I don't think I'll work with it like that again, as in blobbing the polish on paper and then taking the polish from that blob, it was all just a bit too messy.

Anyway, onto the mani! I used all four of the polishes for this one with a base colour of White On by Sally Hansen.

The more I look at them, the more I think that they look like I should have worn them to a baby shower. Definitely very pastel and soft! I like them though, I do wish the blue was a bit brighter though, it just seems a bit duller than the other colours.

That's all for today! Hope you enjoyed them and get ready for some more designs using these polishes in the coming weeks.

- Melissa.

Splattered Floral Nail Art (Inspired By Chalkboard Nails)

Hello there everybody!

So today I have a post inspired by the very talented Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, particularly this tutorial on some easy splattered floral nail art. I loved this design from the moment I saw it and knew I wanted to try it out as it's something very different to what I'd normally do.

My base is My Vampire Is Buff by OPI with the flowers being Pink Boom and Coral Heat by Maybelline Color Show. When I added the leaves using Chic Charteruse I realised they were a bit too neon but I rolled with it anyway! I then added some small black dots to define the bigger flowers. And then to top it all off I used a Matte top coat. Oh and I only did two nails because I just couldn't get the sticky tape right for all four.

I quite like them! I haven't taken these off yet just because they're so nice and lovely and I'm kind of proud of them.

Make sure you check out the tutorial through the link to see how it's all done and maybe recreate it yourself!

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa

Candy Cane Nail Art

Hi everybody!

I have another Christmas mani to share with you all! I didn't think I'd do another but as soon as I saw this design by banicured_ on Instagram I knew I just had to recreate it because it was so awesome.

In her design, Bana used acrylic paint whereas I just used normal polish as I didn't have paint and frankly couldn't be bothered buying any, so mine isn't as good as hers but I think I did a pretty awesome job despite that.

I used Sally Hansen's White On and Black Out and Ulta3's Scarlet. I had to neaten up the lines a lot and make them thinner but thank to Seche Vite Top Coat you can't even tell where the extra polish is.

I'm pretty proud of it! I love candy canes and this mani makes me wish I had some. I do sor of wish I'd done the stripes diagonal though because I feel like that's more fitting to a real candy cane, but it still looks pretty cool!

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

French Manicure / Fishtail Braid Style

Hey everyone!

Today I have a new design to show you all! I've seen a bunch of girls doing fishtail braid inspired nail art recently and thought that since I've only ever attempted this design once, I wanted to do it again. In my tutorial searching (to refresh my memory as it's a bit tricky), I came across this tutorial on a French manicure version of it.

The design is a lot more intricate than your standard fishtail design but I wanted to challenge myself, and oh my god, did I challenge myself. I think it took me almost two hours to do and afterwards my back was aching from bending over so much to get up close to my nails. It takes a lot of patience to do, trust me. The lady in the tutorial makes it look so damn easy, plus she used acrylic paint which always makes nail art easier so it seems.

I'm pretty proud of what I achieved even if the lines are messy and a bit uneven, it looks pretty cool though!

I used Butler Please - Essie, Mulberry - Ulta3 and Lily White - Ulta3.

I'll probably never do these nails again I think, they just took it out of me and now that I'm looking at them they don't look like they should have been difficult. But oh well, it's something new and different to what I usually do so that's good. I'm proud of myself!

Thank you for reading!

- Melissa.

Grey with Pastel Stripes

Hello lovelies!

Today is another very simple post just to get my blog through to the end of the year before I start fresh. I started with a grey base called Audacious Asphalt by Maybelline Color Show and striped on Lacy Daisy (yellow), Soft Voile (blue) and Pale Dahlia (very light pink) all by Ulta3.

The pink is so pale (hence the name I guess) that it barely shows up but you can sort of see it!

That's all for tonight's post, thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

Distressed Bleached Neon Nail Art

Hello everyone!

I recently did these distressed nails with three out of four of the Bleached Neons Collection from Maybelline with a black base. I then mattified it to get that chalkboard-ish look. I loved how they turned out, even after adding the small studs from Essence.

I started with some white polish so that the colours would still pop when I applied them. I like the effect! Very washed out and chalky looking.

That's all for tonight! Thanks for reading.

- Melissa.

Christmas Nails

Hello everyone!

Today I have some Christmas themed nails to share with you! Let me start off by saying that I'm not someone who gets really into Christmas; it's just not my thing. So these nails are out of my comfort zone. I'm also not someone who gets into doing holiday or special event themed nails like Easter or Halloween (as you've probably noticed) so appreciate these nails because I doubt I'll do another this year.

I used the following polishes:
Gold's Night Out - Maybelline Color Show Sequins Collection
Scarlet - Ulta3
Don't Mess With OPI - OPI

It's nothing spectacular but it's definitely a Christmassy mani. Let me know what you think and whether you'd like to see me do another Christmas mani! I may or may not do another one, but we'll see!

- Melissa.

OPI Water Marble

Hello lovelies,

So it's been quite a while since I last did a water marble design as the last one I did was for the 31DC2014 (check here) so I thought it was about time I did a new one, especially considering I recently got three brand new OPI polishes (and we all know how much I love water marbling with OPI, so much so that I think another blog post probably has this title already). 

The three polishes I used were:
Pamplona Purple
Dutch Tulips
Samoan Sand (which mostly went sheer in the water but I wanted to break up the colours)

I absolutely love how these turned out! I'm so damn happy with them and I can't believe it's been over two months since I last marbled!

(PS I'm trying out a new white background, opinions? I'm not sure if I love it or not!)

That's it for today's post! I'll be back again soon with another.

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa.

Purple / Pink Swirls

Hello everyone! To get me back into the swing of things, I thought I'd do some nail art that I love, even though I've only done it a few things. Swirls are so easy to do and you can get away with them being a bit messy.

For this design I used two OPI polishes: Dutch Tulips and Pamplona Purple. 

I don't know if I've said it before but I'd love to try this with three colours, which I think I'd have to use a smaller dotting tool and a lighter hand to achieve. But it'll be a good future challenge!

- Melissa.

November BellaBox Review

Hi everyone! As it's end of November/start of December, I'm posting my monthly bellabox review. I received mine a few weeks ago, (I was in the first shipment I believe) but I've been a bit lazy with blogging and haven't gotten around to making this post until now! So let's get into it!

This month's theme was Dusk till Dawn which I guess means making it to the morning after a night out? I'm not sure but the items were pretty spot on if that's the theme. I never saw the blog post for their theme reveal so I'm a bit out of the loop!

Anyway, I enjoyed this month's box so let's have a look at the items!

1. Coastal Scents Revealed Palette Sampler (Full Palette RRP: $34.00) - This was a cute little quad sampler for the full 20 eyeshadow palette from Coastal Scents. I've seen this palette before on various YouTube tutorials etc. and really liked the look of it. I've used this sampler a few times and love the colours; they're very pigmented and easy to apply and use and combine together. I'm very tempted to buy the full palette.
2. Salon Tan Professional Wash Off Spray Tan (RRP: $19.99) - I used this for a night out last weekend and absolutely loved the result! It was easy to apply and evened out very nicely. For a wash off tan it takes a bit of scrubbing to get it off so if you're careful it could probably last another day. It was a warm night so I believe there were some inner elbow and maybe behind the knee patches, but nothing a quick touch up can't fix. I'm keen to look into the rest of their range as they're all the same price.
3. BOE Beauty Nail Enamel in Ballet Shoes (RRP: $2.00) - (The link is for a different bottle shape) I haven't yet used this polish so I don't have a swatch photo or even an opinion but that's only because I'm not keen on the colour. I know it'll take a few coats to be opaque though but I'm in no rush to find out just because I have a bunch of other polishes the same colour.
4. Lonvitalite 24K Active Gold Eye Mask (Pack of 5 RRP: $24.00) - I wasn't exactly sure of this product, I'm not someone who uses products around my eyes, even though I probably should because I have horrible dark circles. So I was a bit indifferent towards this product until I tried it. It was very cooling. Emphasis on very because at one point I thought my eye bags were about to burn off. But it became very relaxing and I almost dozed off with these one. I think it's possible I worse them the wrong way though, I assumed the bigger bit of the product went under your eyes and not over your eyebrows but from pictures I've seen, the latter is how it's supposed to be worn, which makes no sense to me but oh well. I won't be buying this product though just because I don't use these types of products.
5. Palmers Multi-Effect Perfecting Facial Oil (RRP: 30ml $19.99) - I can't say I was very excited to get this little sample (which came in one of those very small tubes that are never easy to open without spillage), but only because I've already tried the whole oil skincare routine. I occasionally use Rosehip Oil whenever I remember I have it and for the first six months of this year I used the Oil Cleansing Method to wash my face everyday. Needless to say it wasn't for me despite how good oil is at fighting oil. I've tried to sample once and it smelt too strong for me, too much like macadamia, which isn't a bad thing but I wasn't loving it. I won't buy this product only because I already use a quite expensive oil.
6. Compeed Blister Patch (Pack of 5 RRP: $12.95) - These are just patches that you apply over a blister to avoid it rubbing on your shoes all day. I currently have one on and I like them, they're quite thick, but not too thick that you can't put a shoe on. These will be good when I want to break in a new pair of shoes and can't be bothered dealing with blisters.

That's all for the review! I've rush this post a bit just because I know it's going up so late. I still enjoy making this monthly post, it's quite refreshing after always posting about nails. So I hope everyone is at least getting a good read out of them.

Purple & Glitter - Maybelline Color Show

Hi everybody! I have a super quick post today because it's been so long since I've done anything nail art related. Recently I got a huge order from Ozsale of Maybelline Color Show polishes (if you follow my instagram you'll have seen this!).

So today I've used Passionate Plum (the base colour) and Sapphire Masquerade for the glitter! Such a good combo because the glitter has the same base colour as Passionate Plum so they worked so well together to make it all opaque. The pink stripes is Dutch Tulips by OPI.

Passionate Plum is a lot more purple and metallic in real life, while the glitter was a bit weird to apply as it seemed to make some of the glitter a bit dirty (it's hard to explain but it all smoothed out and sparkled with a top coat).

I love this combo and I'm so surprised that I love this metallic polish as much as I do because we all know it's not my favourite finish!

That's all for today! Now I'm going to try to do a bunch of nail art for the next few posts! Thanks for reading.

Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neon Collection

Hi everybody! I have an exciting post to share with you all today; swatches of a recent Maybelline Color Show collection, their Bleached Neon polishes. I accidentally came across these polishes during Priceline's recent 40% off cosmetics sale and was surprised to see a new collection because I haven't heard much about it yet. So I grabbed all four and went on my merry way. The idea behind these colours is that they're pastel neon shades, and the end results are some amazing polishes that I reckon would go with any skin tone or nail shape.

I absolutely love these polishes and I can't really fault them except for maybe how many coas the lighter colours take to become opaque enough but it's worth the extra coats! Let's get on to each colour.

Sun Flare: this colour is a very light peach shade that dries semi matte, which I love. This polish took four coats: one thin, one thick and then two thin coats to finish it off. I didn't add a top coat because I really liked the finish of it but it would look just as good very shiny, or very matte. This is probably my least favourite colour out of the bunch, but just because I love the others so much that this gets pushed to number four, not because I hate it or anything.

 

Chic Chartreuse: I don't own a lot of lime/neon greens or wear them a lot because I find they look funny against my skin tone, but this bleached out neon green polish is amazing. I absolutely love it and I think it'll quickly become my favourite green. It's the perfect shade of apple-ish green. This took about four coats though for decent opaqueness. 

Tropink: What a lovely shade of pink! It's such a candy pink colour and out of all four polishes, this one dries the shiniest, still slightly dull but not as much as the others. I'm also not a pink polish fan even though I continue buying them to try and convince myself I am. Like the green, they just don't go well with my skin tone, but this one does and as soon as I had finished applying the three coats I just looked at and instantly loved it. Can't get enough of it.

Coral Heat: This polish took three coats, like Tropink because it's a darker shade. It's very peachy, a lot more peachy than Sun Flare, and also dries semi-matte like the others. I love this colour as well, I can't fault it. I never thought I'd enjoy a strong peach colour as much as I do this one. I've been wearing it for a few days now since it was the last one I swatched and it's bright and eye catching.

So there we have the four Bleached Neon polishes from Maybelline Color Show. I am absolutely in love with this collection, the polishes are fun and bright and I love the idea of bleached neons; I actually wouldn't mind seeing other colours with this formula, maybe an electric blue or purple would be some good ones! Like I said above, I can't really fault them. There's nothing horrible about them and I'm very excited to use them in future nail art, so expect to see them in my next few designs!

Oh! I've just realised what the colours remind me of, a type of Skittles! I think it's the tropical version of them, where the colours are a bit muted just like these nail polishes. That's why this post I've been thinking my nails look good enough to eat every time I looked at one of the pictures. Does anyone else think they look like the tropical skittles? At least I think it's those ones! :)

Anyway, thank you reading, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

White Dots / Glitter Accent

Hi everybody! It's been a week since I last posted but I'm back today with some nails I did recently. I did these nails over a week ago because last week I got my nails professionally done (just a simple french gel mani) for my sister's wedding over the weekend where I was the maid of honour. So these nails today are a filler until I take the gel off, which I may do this week because I'm not a massive fan of them.

This mani is just a simple blue dotticure using Blue Marlin by Ulta3 with a glitter accent by Moonstone Nail Polish called Star Queen Nebula from the September What's In-Die Box (which I never posted swatches of and I'm very disappointed in myself for but oh well, you'll eventually see them all when I use them in future manis). I believe the white dots were Lily White by Ulta3 also.

That's all for today! Hopefully I'll be back to normal nail art by the weekend if I can get this gel polish off safely without ruining my nails! Thanks for reading.

Rainbow Mix n Match

I have another mix n match mani to show you all today! This time using rainbow colours. This mani took some patience, especially with the striping tape and chevron nail vinyls because you have to work quickly before the polish dries and lifts when you take the tape or vinyls off. That of course happened to me; I just don't work quick enough but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a striper brush and some white polish!

The colours I used (from bottom to top of the right hand side on my ring finger)

Mojito Madness - Essie

Fresh Squeezed - Ulta3

Bright Me - Ulta3

Strawberry Sundae - Ulta3

Bahama Mama - Essie

Blue Marlin - Ulta3

My lines on the detailed designs are perfect but I still enjoy it, it's fun and bright. Oh, I almost forgot the main reason I did this mani, I was inspired by my phone case from here.

I was going to do that design on all my nails but getting the striping tape aligned in between the opposite striping tape bits was so hard and I didn't have the patience for it haha.

Hope you enjoy this mani! I have a few more posts planned in the next couple of days so keep an eye out for them!

Colour Block Nail Art

Hello lovelies! Today I have some colour block stripes to show you. Once again I did some nail art and initially hated it so I took it off and tried something else and luckily I ended up loving this one! Although it wasn't until I added the black stripes the define the areas that I really loved it.

I used all Ulta3 colours: 
Green: Frog Prince
Dark Pink: Pop Art
Blue: Blue Marlin
Coral: Party Shoes

My lines could be neater of course but I still love how they turned out, it's very eye catching and can be done with any colours! All you need is a striping brush and a bit of time. I might do a tutorial on it when I get better at doing even lines, etc.

Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Neon Dry Marble Nail Art

Hello there! Lately I've been having a tough time with finding inspiration for nail art, I've done a few designs over the past few days that have been nail fails and it's getting on my nerves a bit. It's disappointing when you think of an idea and then the execution of it turns out poorly and not at all what you thought it'd be like in your head. That's been happening quite a lot to me and sort of even happened with these nails I'm about to show you.

This is my second attempt at dry marbling, using the dragging method and this time it wasn't as cool as my first attempt the other week. It still looks pretty cool, don't get me wrong but I'm just not feeling it that much, maybe it's because I'm sick and it took a lot of effort to do, but I don't know.

I used three Ulta3 polishes for this that I can't remember the exact names of right now and am feeling too lazy/sick to get up and find out.

The design almost looks blurry in the photos which is kind of cool I guess, but it's also tripping me out because I can't tell if my hand was shaky or it really is the design haha.

But that's all for today, just a simple post while I'm still recovering from this sickness! Thanks for reading.