Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish Review

Nail Polish is never my beauty addiction. I would have proudly announced that before I realize how many nail polish I HAVE and DO NOT USE. I had a period where I am OBSESSED with nail art. When I was started to binge watch youtube and enjoyed A LOT of nail tutorials. Upon viewing my collection I am proud to say I buy nail polish for the color. I am not one of those manicure junkies who own one same color from various brands, who also try to defend themselves saying things like the formula and opacity is different...

Judging from all that vocabulary, you may already found out I know my way around the manicure world. Enough rambling, I have been decluttering and I am going to throw out 5 out of 7 Revlon Colorstay Nail polishes. Let me tell you why...

The color range of this collection is definitely not disappointing. Some of the colors make this list of cult favorites. Such as vintage rose, french toast and rain forest (sparkly green one above). 

In terms of opacity, a lot of the colors are pretty disappointing. I have to do three or more coats to achieve the color in the bottle. I, for one, sadly do not have the PATIENCE or time to wait for them to all dry without doing anything. As the result, my nail design always gets chipped before I even put on a top coat. 

Int terms of stay-on power, this is my whole point of the blog post. THE COLORSTAY POLISH DO NOT STAY very well. As you can see from the collage photo I did. Those pics were taken 2-3 days after I put on coats of polish. I found them chipped soooo badly especially after I wash my hair or take a bath as if they are washable. The stay-on power rating is at bottom line - DO NOT STAY.

I am sitting typing this post on the last day of 2015. For a fresh start, it's very very nice to throw out something old. Some nail polish, few books, some clothes and other bits and bobs. I am also donating those still in good condition. What are you doing on this last day of the year??

My Top Summer Beauty Tips / Hacks

Almost all my life I have been living near the Equator. Yes, I said it. THE EQUATOR.
Living in a hot hot humid place isn't so much fun ALL THE TIME. Surely we have the SUN, the BEACHES, the DRINKS, the BIKINIS. And we also do have the HEAT, the OIL and the PATCHY MELTING makeup.

Recently I went on a family holiday to Thailand which to me and my skin means an even hotter environment. When we go in and out of the sun, we have to take extra care of our skin to prevent SUN BURN and AGING.

As the very SOUTHERN girl or 'belle', here's my top summer beauty tips / hacks I am livin' and swearin' by.

1. Refrigerate Your Toner

This makes all the differences!!

a. it feels awesome!

b. it helps closing your pores after washing your face!

c. it's a great way to freshen up and make you feel more awake.

2. Blotting is Everything

Put blotting products in your purse!

You may avoid looking oily like you just eaten a super oily meal or patchy like you don't know how to put on makeup. Also remember to bring a brush with you if you're not okay with using the puff it came with. (the germs ewww) 

I found this Pond's Magic Powder with oil / blemish control and double UV PROTECTION back in Thailand and immediately bought it. I think it comes with around SPF50 but I can't be sure when it's written in Thai. A blotting powder with SPF, doesn't it sound like a perfect SUMMER MUST-HAVE?

3. Summer Makeup = Less is More

In summer, there's less room for makeup as the 'MELTING PERCENTAGE' of your makeup is higher than ever. When you use a blotting tissue and press on your sweaty face, you are also smudging off some foundation, some eyeliner, some blusher and some lippie. You then end up looking either patchy or smudged. 

I once heard that a girl should be able to go out the door with only drawn brows and a bit of concealor. That's what I've been doing lately. Bit of brow powder, some brow gel and some more concealor / highlighter under the eyes, topped off with some "SPFed" lip balm. If we go the extra miles, powder foundation is the best and find lipsticks that won't smudge easily. 

4. Sunscreen is Your Best Friend

 

a. choose sunscreen with higher SPF if you're lazy like me.

b. never be too lazy to re-apply every 2-3 hours.

c. don't ever use body sunscreen on your face.

d. check the expiration date if you bought it last summer.

5. Aloe Vera Gel is Your New Body Lotion

Aloe Vera gel is an amazing aftersun treatment for your skin. It restores moisture, heal sunburn and chapped dry skin. Plus it absorbs super quickly which makes it an even better body lotion than your others. I've been using it after shower and just times when I feel like doing it. My skin feel much more smooth than before and I don't even have dry skin. I bet it works even better on dry skin.

6. No Makeup To The Beach

Going to the beach with makeup can go either way.

a. It melts under heat and looks oily, patchy, and smudged colour products combined. Did you just got out of a face-painting booth? Yeah, you don't look too good.

b. You have much powder on so it won't melt. Great, you just look cakey and they clog your pores like crazy.

That's all for my summer beauty tips / hacks. You've read all the way through my rambling. Thanks sooo much. I'm just glad I put this up before August ends. Happy summer holidays and Happy going back to school!

Do you have other beauty tips / hacks we can share?

Thanks for reading 

HUGS

Tangie

June Favourites

JUNE is my first "official" month of summer holiday, which, thanks to 18-year-old me who busted all her effort to go to university, I have about 3 and a half month for summer holiday as an average university student here.

The end of June means the end of the first half of 2015. And much like the 2014, 13, 12s, it fly away and before you know it, it's "Happy New Year" and all others again.

So before that happens, I want to share my beauty and book favourites (my absolute 2 faves to share and discover) with you.   

For the Beauty side, I have been avoiding the sun like a shady vampire this month as we're talking about 30-35°C here every freakin day. Plus I still fail to find a nice SPF product my skin and nose like. (I hate the smell of a lot of sunscreen out there) I have been trying to avoid heavy makeup. And I will do so ALL SUMMER. We don't want our face to look like a melting sweaty pudding, right?

By saying that, I have been using the above products to help me achieve the summer prove, sweat prove, very light makeup. 

I have been using the L'OREAL true match super-blendable two way powder foundation because summer makeup rule #1 "POWDER IS EVERYTHING" For an oily complexion like mine, powder is the best to FIX my makeup on the face and not migrating somewhere else. Just use a nice brush and a light hand to avoid "cakey-ness". 

Still on the sweat-prove side, I have been using L'OREAL Super Liner Black Lacquer to line my eyes. Long story short, it STAYS PUT. No matter how many times I blot or blink or wink (rhymes, haha) it's still there. It did not claim to be water-prove but I use a lot of micellaire water to take off.

I also use Maybelline Define-a-lash mascara ON MY BROWS. First of all, it dried out and i wipe off some before applying so it won't splash dark dark ink on my brows. Second, i have black eyebrows and black dried out mascara works surprisingly well. For the REAL mascara I put on the lashes is the Too cool for school Pop-up Mascara. It holds the curl, it adds volume like crazy, it's also a bitch to take off. Yep, very satisfying. It's not the drugstore price though, bit on the pricey side.

For eyeshadow in the summer, I go with gel. I believe we all deserve to sparkle in the summer (on the eyes or off) I choose gel because again it won't go everywhere. Those little eyeshadow glitter dust powder will get into my eyes and gets all itchy. I have been using the two Maybelline Color Tattoo, Bold Gold and Bad to the Bronze, I love the way they sparkle and drawn attentions. I am also using innisfree shadow pencil in no.5 when I don't have time to grab a brush for the color tattoo. They all look really nice with sun shine and even florescent lights indoor. 

Lastly comes my absolute fave out of all beauty products. Lip products. Having oily skin I HATE all lip gloss. But lipstick all-the-time means high high maintenance means no go for summer.  So I use Etude House fresh cherry lip tint in OR201 to just dab on my lips to give it a bit shine and colour. I know the package says otherwise but it's actually a sheer pinky coral colour. Perfect for the "'no makeup" look. Being a huge lipstick addict I cannot pass a month without loving a lipstick. It is BEEHIVE from topshop. It's a blue-toned baby pink and the perfect pink for me. It is buildable and it covers a lot, with a moisturising formula it is very hard to go wrong with it. Bonus points for the nice drugstore price.

The BOOK favourite / recommendation of the month is THE LIFE LIST by LORI NELSON SPIELMAN. It's about a girl who thought she had it all. The perfect job, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect life. Until it got upside-down after her mothers death. She lost it all (almost). The book tells her journey trying to get her life back together by finishing a life list she had written herself at the age of 14, twenty years ago. 

The story is interesting, funny and very heart-warming. It has inspired me to look on my life and start my own list. And I guess I'll say, of all my favourites of June, The Life List stands out.

Oopsies, I sat and typed for an hour. Too much to read? sorry

Love, Tangie 

HOW TO - Easy "colour block" Nail Art for short nails n beginners

YES, I'm obsessed.

Another easy nail design!!

It's simple, it's for short nails

Doesn't took you much time and yet you look like you come back from the nail salon

Very easily customisable with changing the colours

Here it is

Start with base coat

Then paint an opaque layer of the colour you picked 

I went for deeper mint green

After it's dried 

paint a triangular peak by swiping your brush twice at each sides of your nail

keep a steady hand and you can take you time

(Or you can use tape)

I picked light orange colour

Do the same for your ring finger with another colour

If you have time and feelin all fancy

you can also paint tiny dots on you ring finger as "boarders" ;P

For that I used a rusty gold colour

Yep you're DONE ~~~

Colours I used here :

Topshop - Gone Fishing (mint green)

Zoya - Cole ZP721 (light orange)

Revlon - Double Down (gold)

I love posting about nails (I can type much less)

---------------------

Happy painting

Happy blogging 

Happy reading

Thanks,

Tangie

p.s. every time I type "color" it tries to change it to "colour", my  laptop is such a Brit.

❤ September Haul ❤

September to me is " Back To School " time

As you all know, it might get a bit stressful to adapt to it

So...    What's better than go shopping and get something to cheer up!! ;)

I've bought a lot, I know

But most of them are from the drug store so...

It's not THAT bad is it???

From TopShop, I've got

( Left to Right )

- TopShop Nail Polish in GONE FISHING and LACQUERED

- Velvet Finish Lipstick in INFRARED and BEEHIVE

For nail polish, they are having 2 for about $12.75

I got a mint green for spring/summer 

and a darker red for fall/winter (i know, doesn't look so on camera)

For lipsticks, I've heard a lot raving about them that

They are like a knock-off of the MAC lipsticks so I grab two to test them out

The BEEHIVE is a soft pinky colour that would be a great everyday colour

INFRARED is a bright orange colour and I LOVE ORANGE

so no reason to choose others, right??

I've tried them on and they are sooo smooth and pigmented

SUPER HAPPY about it

I am addicted to LIPSTICKS

You'll see, I MEAN IT ;]

The other day I was shopping with a friend who introduced this Korean Makeup Brand to me

IT's called Y.E.T , short for "Yes! Enjoy Time"

Which I found so funny :D

And I decided to give it a chance

I've got their Sweetly CHEAP goodies include

- Trick Play Foundation in 02 natural beige

- Merry Tint in 02 orange flower

- Moulin Rouge in 02 Red Party

(all 02??!! LOL)

From top to bottom, the swatches are, foundation, orange flower and red party

Barely see the foundation swatch there, matched my skin tone perfectly :)

I was very impressed by the lip tints, they are very pigmented 

so a little goes a LONG way

and they're pretty long-lasting too 

Y.E.T products are with fair qualities and they're amazingly CHEAP

I got all those in a department store for under $22

Can you believe it??

However, their packaging is much less fancy as you may see

it's just plastic and printed paper LOL

And here, I don't know how I group them but...

- Maybelline Define-a-lash Mascara

- Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me

- MAybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to Bronze

- Clinique Chubby Stick in oversized orange

My very dear friend actually gave me all the above from Maybelline

I got the Clinique chubby stick as she recommended it

It doesn't really have the very bright orange color and it hardly shows up with one swatch 

So it's a natural wear and I really need one of those

I am really into Baby Lips as they smells really really good

and they have so many products in the tube :]

On this very day I picked up 2 other Maybelline color tattoos in Too Cool and Pomegranate Punk

Because it's THAT good, and I might got more colors too...

They are so nice for when I am kind of rushing out the door to just splash on my eyelids and GO

Finally, Maybelline Lipsticks!!

(Still left to right)

- Bold Matte in MAT5 and MAT1

- New Vivids in 875 vivid rose and 870 shocking coral

Again, lots of raving about the new vivids line

I know I am super late on this ;(

For the bold mattes, I was window shopping and doing swatches one day in a drug store

I swatch them, blend them a bit on the back of my hand

and I LOVE THEM

swear by it , they are soo good

My favourite is the MAT5 (the top one)

It's a dark red color which with a little bit blending looks sooo gorgeous

I am still trying the others and I'll keep recommending when I find great ones.

Until then, 

BE HAPPY

or if not then smile :) or go shopping or cheer yourself up!!

Have a Happy Day !!

Love you all. ❤

Easy Chic Nail Art - Time Saving!!

I've recently seen a lot of great nail art designs on sites like Pinterest and Instagram. Some of them are fabulous and absolutely eye-catching. Sadly, most of them will take too much time to do :(

So here I have a tutorial of an eye-catching yet super simple nail design to share with you.
Barely takes any effort or time :)

So here's what you need :)

- base coat

- 2 nail colours of your choice (I recommend using contrasting colours) 

- a pair of scissors (crafty ones are preferred)

- adhesive tape

- top coat

And let's get started!

Start with applying a base coat to protect your natural nails.

Then apply an opaque layer of the first colour of your choice. For me it's my favourite colour ORANGE!! Here I'm using the Marcia shiny nail colour in #17.

Wait for it to dry for about 10-15 minutes.

 Use a pair of scissors to cut out little triangles from the tape to create chevron tape strip.
I'd prefer the crafty scissors with the blade already made chevron like.
Sadly I don't have one of those. If you do  I'm a bit Jelly -_-
The stripes don't have to be chevron, it can always be waves or zic zag if you like.

Stick the chevron-cut side of the tape on your nails. Either half way or 1/3 is fine.
Paint your nails again with the second colour you've chosen.

Wait for it to dry. And you can put it in iced water for it to dry faster.
Once they are COMPLETELY DRIED, peel off the plastic tape.

Add a layer of top coat to seal in your design and make it more lasting and SHINY :)
With the little chevron chic detail. Your nails are now looking noticeable, stunning and yet simple.

Most importantly we did it all by ourselves. Yay!!

Easy, fun and simple nail arts are great pass time. They also saves some money.

Glam up your day with easy chic DIY nail art.

Love you all and Have a fabulous day.