Cute Cherry Nails

I really wanted to do cherry nails, but to me cherries are the sluttiest fruit (haha i know, im wierd) so I wanted them to stay cute. With many of my nail art attempts I get lazy and only like to do two fingers, which I think helped in the cute department because the yellow stripes bring a cute shabby chic-ness to the nail art.

I used Joe Fresh Butter and a white stripers, and for the cherries I used OPI Alpine Snow, then used a dotting tool for the red, the a hot pink striper to add dimension and a dotting tool for the stems and white shine on the cherries!

Tell me what you think, I really want to do more fruit inspired nail art, especially lemons or oranges!

French Pharmacie Beauty Haul!

So once again I am super ecstatic over a French Pharmacie Beauty Haul, around this time last year my mom went to France and she had to go back again, thus another list from me.

I have tried Bioderma Micellaire Solution before since it is available in Canada, and loved it but its definitely still cheaper in France so I wanted a big bottle. Then I have been very intrigued by serums recently and although I didn't do much research decided on the Caudalie Vinosource Serum SOS, I also have been very interested in Dry Oils and have seen the Nuxe one around so I decided on  the Multipurpose Dry Oil. It is a very fragrant product, however I really enjoy the smell and love how it feels on the skin. Finally I also wanted to try the Caudalie Lip Conditioner which I also am enjoying because it has a subtle scent and works very well before applying lipstick. Then the little SVR is a small sample from the store.

I had no interest in skincare until I learned about it in school and although I don't love it as much as makeup, I now know how important it is and France is definitely the place to go for excellent skincare.

Many if not all of this is available in Canada and the US however it is more expensive here, I would love to know if any of you have tried any of these products and what you think! Or what is on your wishlists because I know even if I know I don't have access to products I still have a wishlist in my head!

Tumblr Nails

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So I'm obsessed with tumblr... I kind of neglect it during the school year because if I go on, it can be a 2-7 hour experience. Now that summer has rolled around the addiction is back in full force. As I was browsing MeghanRosettes blog I saw these nails and new I had to paint my nails asap. It's such a simple nail combo, but looks so pretty and will totally make your tan pop.

The colours I used were Joe Fresh Tin and Mod About You by OPI. However if you have Essie Fiji, it seems very similar although I don't have it yet. Also from my research (googling), Revlon, Essie, Orly, China Glaze and Rimmel each have had very similar silvers.

You can follow me on tumblr, and I would love to see anyone else's so post it in the comments or tweet it to me, I will definitely follow!

P.S. if you know the original source of the photo I would love to know and give them credit!

Polka Dot Nails

So Maybelline just came out with the Color Show Polka Dots collection and obviously I had to get my hands on this one in Clearly Spotted. I had been lusting after the Loreal top coat in Confetti but could never get my hands on it, and although they are slightly different you get more in this bottle and it was only $4.99 at Shoppers. The polish is packed with the little glitters and I only had to do one layer and maybe touch up missing spots on some nail, but it was extremely easy as I didn't have to place the glitter, like some polishes require. I decided to do multicoloured nails because I wanted to see how it looked on them and I love it. I've found the true test of if a nail polish is cool or nice is when a cashier complements me on my nails and the lady at Superstore was super intrigued so there's that.

I'm not really interested in the other colours in this collection, but I think anyone who loves a good glitter should go pick this up as it is a good product especially for only $5 and potentially cheaper if you shop around.

Almay Growing up Gorgeous Contest!

I just got this amazing package in the mail from entering a Facebook contest, it was the Growing up Gorgeous contest held by Almay Canada. I enter a ridiculous amount of contests and as you guys can see, sometimes I win! I was not expecting so much and am just so excited I had to share!

So this all came in a box with my address hand written and that handwritten note, which is much appreciated that someone took the time to do that, and all these goodies inside. Because the contest I believe was to do in part with Mother's Day or celebrating mothers and daughters in general, it featured Kate Hudson the face of Almay and her mom Goldie Hawn.

In Goldie's look is: the moisturizing eye makeup remover pads, perfect and correct primer, intense i-color in bold nudes, intense i-color volumizing mascara in midnight, intense i-color defining liner in onyx and smart shade mousse makeup in light-medium

and Kate's look includes: oil free eye makeup remover pads, smart shade liquid makeup in light-medium, intense i-color in smoky i-kit for greens, smart shade concealer in light-medium and intense i-color + primer for green eyes.

I have tried the smart shade liquid makeup and actually really like that it a light coverage and the intense i-color and primer is my new favourite thing when I'm to lazy to put eyeshadow on, which is all the time. I'm really enjoying those two and need to open the other things and play soon!

image sources: 1, 2, 3

I also figured I'd post my favourite looks from each woman as I love both looks so much. You can always count on Kate for really natural looks and never going to far out of the box but always looking beautiful. My favourite look is the pretty much no makeup look of Penny Lane in Almost Famous, although How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Andie Anderson holds a close second, honestly just google Kate Hudson makeup and just look at how pretty and flawless she looks. (Am I the only one who googles celebrities makeup all the time?) And of course nothing is better than Goldie in the late 1960s, those EYES are out of control amazing! These two also have the best hair ever,just look at that middle photo!

Anyways, I was super excited to get this in the mail so thank you Almay Canada! And everyone start entering contests and you could get stuff in the mail to, its not hard just like your favourite brands on Facebook or follow them on Twitter!

Summer Toe Colours

I recently purchased these summer colours that I am more than likely going to wear on my toes. Although I really dislike China Glaze polishes and how much they chip, there is no denying how bright and awesome their neon colours are. I feel like Flip Flop Fantasy is a classic colour for summer to make your tan pop, because it is a bright coral neon. 

Then I purchased the namesake of the new Essie Summer Collection: Naughty Nautical. Although most Essie polishes are a cream finish this collection has little silver shimmers in them that are nice but still subtle. It kind of reminds me of mermaids and I think would look good with a silver sparkly accent nails. It is a blue green colour and I have it on my toes right now.

These are my favourites for right now but I would love to know your all time favourite summer toenail polishes in the comments or on twitter.com/alslovestwitter!

Nude Nails and DIY Chevon!

So Revlon keeps being amazing, and sent me another box as being apart of their Revlon selects program, and I am super thrilled with this one. It is called Natural Pink and is a warm nude pink, with more yellow undertones then blue or beige. Which makes it different from say Essie Topless and Barefoot or Ballet Slippers if those haven't worked for you.

I have been obsessed with "mannequin hands" for a couple of summers, (you can even check my instagram for a picture last summer) and is a bit of a trend this spring!

As you can see I added a little chevron, which you can DIY at home very easily, so we have all seen people use craft scissors but that didn't work for me at all, they didn't cut the tape and mangled the nail polish I had painted on the tape. So, instead of painting tape black and cutting it, I used good ol' electrical tape, and from afar it doesn't look half bad. I just cut it using those mini scissors that you get in nail kits to resemble the chevron patter et voila!

Gatsby 1920s Nails

Like everyone else I have jumped on the Gatsby train, and I'm going to see it tonight and am really excited to see what Baz Luhrmann has done with the story. Since its more of a modern adaptation the makeup and hair aren't as drastic as the look of the times was.

Clara Bow (the main picture and middle of the collage above) is who I picture when I think about the characters and since having down turned sad eyebrows and the exaggerated lips looks a little crazy for everyday looks, the nails are my favourite to recreate from the era.

In the 1920s and 30s women would paint their nails and leave the moon shape at the base of the nails and tips which was a status symbol (since it took me the length of a documentary to do this) so women would of had to pay to get their nails manicured but it also wouldn't chip because those are typically the first place to chip. Clever these ladies were!

These nails look best on almond shaped nails a la Dita Von Teese, but I love the look so much, especially painting the full nails and leaving the moons on the bottom.

I hope you liked this little adaptation, it was fun and looking into the history of cosmetics has become one of my favourite things to do!

NOTD: Best Spring Colour!

So OPI Gargantuan Green Grape is turning into my new favourite Spring colour. The past couple of Spring seasons I have always gone for mint, and while I still love a good mint colour, this is like definitely a more yellow as opposed to blue undertoned light green colour.  And to me it is more honeydew than it is grape, but whatever, its a really nice creme finish polish that you can definitely wear all spring and summer!

Ps. The accent nail is Essie Blanc and I used a dotting tool, to add a little pizzazz!

Pps. I am always on the hunt for the best mint nail colour tell me in the comments or tweet me what your favourite is because so far my favourites are Revlon Minted and the Sally Hansen Xtremewear in Mint Sorbet!

What have I been up to?

I'm a bad blogger. I figured since I havent written a post in months I would update you in a collage as to what I have been up to. If you follow me on Instagram (AlsLoves) then you may have seen some of these.

On Valentines Day I had kiss nails, with Essie A Crewed Interest and Fushia by Joe Fresh ♥ Then I tried macarons for the first time and hated them ♥ My St. Patricks day nails ♥ I got Hunter Boots! so excited ♥ Simple nail art with Revlon Post Modern Nail Art Expressionist ♥ I turned 23 on Good Friday! ♥ Easter Day chick nails ♥ Floral nails ♥ I finished my first year of beauty school! These are my lips that my friend did for her final!

This is what I've been up to and I have plenty of nail art that I've been trying, to show you very soon!

Revlon Nail Art Event

                                                       

 If you are following me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have noticed that last week I attended a Revlon Nail Art event. It was amazing, I'm so used to seeing UK bloggers always go to events, and never while I was sitting in my room and randomly decided to sign up for Revlon's: Revlon Selects program that 1. I would get picked and 2. that I would actually be invited to an event. So cool! Anyways, so a bunch of us were invited to Tips Nail Bar owned by the lovely Leeanne Colley, Revlon Canada's nail expert.

If you havent seen in stores Revlon has released three Nail art collections, Expressionist which has regular polish on one side, and a skinny nail art brush on the other, Moon Candy, which has regular polish on one side and glitterish polish that creates a "3D cosmic effect" and finally Neon with white on one end and a neon colour on the other, which you may remember from last summer!

They had plenty of delicious snacks and drinks for us, as we all introduced ourselves to one another. Then we got into the good stuff, they gave us each a goody bag of tools and introduced the collections to us. And then as pictured below we got to admire Leeanne Colley's skills as she demonstrated on Shawna ways to use each.

Then we were able to just run wild with the products and just play for a couple hours!

And this is what we got to take home! Clearly there is going to be a lot of Revlon in my upcoming posts, its amazing! So many new things to try! One of the coolest and most simple things that we were shown was how to create and easy ombre with this collection or just a striper you have at home.

The first picture below was done by Leeanne on me with Monet Monet where she literally just drew lines down the nails and focused more on the top to create the ombre effect, the final picture is my attempt at recreating it! So simple and so pretty, how amazing would this look for St. Patricks day if you just put a clover as an accent nail or left it as is. 

I had such an amazing time, and can't wait to show you guys the collections and want to say thank you to the lovely ladies at Revlon who set this up for all of us nail fiends. 

Valentines Day Nail Art!

It's almost Valentines Day! I get excited about all holidays, and you should too! There is nothing more fun than getting into the spirit, so I have been sporting some Valentines inspired nails.

The top picture I am wearing Joe Fresh Blush with a white striper and I used the Sally Hansen nail art pen in red. On the second hand I am wearing Gosh Classic Red and OPI Mod About You for the pink and the white striper and a dotting tool for the outline.

If any of you have done Valentines nails I would love to see! And hope you all have a good day, even if you're single, watch a good movie and enjoy some of the candy that goes on sale the 15th! hah

Glitter Tips

As we all know, I love a little sparkle on my nails, and I knew when I saw The Nailasaurus' post on pinterest I would re-create it somehow. I decided to use Latte by Joe Fresh which reminds me of skater dresses, where its nude and you know its a nail polish but still is skin colour. And then of couse I used a staple in my collection Rainbow Connection by OPI on the tips, where I did half my nails in the glitter, and then halfway through that did another layer.

I've been really enjoying doing little glitter accents like this on my nails, especially with the super cold, snowy weather we've been having. Let me know if you've seen or done anything like this in the comments, I'd love to see it!!

Sequins and Monogram

This outfit is definitely more casual then the last outfit I posted as it is just a sweater and leggings, it still looks festive to me because of the sequins. I ended up wearing this outfit Christmas day and New Years Eve as they were both really casual and I felt both were appropriate and didn't require much thought hah. The sweater and necklace are my favourite part, I got the necklace for Christmas from Etsy and the sweater is currently in the new H&M adverts and was only $14.95! The leggings are my new current all time favourite thing and are from Zara and around $40.

As you can tell I must have enjoyed this outfit to wear it twice but it totally makes me think of what someone would wear if they went on a ski trip, am I crazy? All I need is ear warmers and I'm set to ski, minus the fact I hate cold and cannot ski or snowboard no matter how hard I've tried.

But, once again Happy New Year everyone! xx

Holiday Outfits

Although most bloggers show their holiday outfits before the holiday for inspiration, I am not enough on the ball to do that, but I figured I would show you my outfit I wore for Christmas Eve. As you can see it's just a lace dress with lace sleeves by Material Girl from The Bay and black tights. My favourite part is of course the bow, I love bows and when is a better time then Christmas, it is from Claires. Also, if you look closely I have Christmas light nails.

Comment below if you made a post about your holiday outfits, because I'd love to read it, and I think tomorrow I'll show what I wore on Christmas day, as it was more casual but still sparkly and festive.

I hope everyone had a good holiday and enjoyed the time you had off school or work and hope 2013 treats you all well!