I did my nails finally! It's been probably 2 weeks and with how hard I am on my nails that is like a week and a half too long! I have about 20 different nail polishes and every time I go to paint my nails I get so overwhelmed at the possibilities. But then I think "HA! Like I can do anything other than a simple polish anyways!" Luckily for me Ariel came over tonight to catch up on some of our shows (Glee, Gossip Girl, Nashville, etc) so I had a helping hand in tonight's manicure.
Cute right?! We decided to try a confetti theme since my birthday is coming up. I figured it felt right for the occasion! I took one of those wooden cuticle pushers and flatened out the pointy end by just rubbing it back and forth real fast on the lid to my nail polish case. (Super technical stuff right there.) That process made it into a small circle and she just dipped it in to each color then dabbed it on. My one suggestion is to be sure to start with the dark colors and work your way to the lighter ones. The order we used was purple, blue, pink, yellow. Do multiple dots of each and don't be afraid to let them overlap. The size of the dot varies based on how much polish you have on your stick and/or how hard you push down. And, if you need to know every little detail like most of those internet freaks, the polish we used was all made by Sinful Colors besides the pink which is Sally Hansen Kook-a-mango. The Sinful brand is my favorite! We sell it at Walgreens for $1.99 and there are SO many colors! I'm pretty sure they put out a new line of colors every other week too so it's always fresh and on trend. The Sally Hansen is amazing too but it's one of those dreaded expensive ones. $7.99 at Walgreens. Eek! Lucky for me, we recently clearanced out ALL of our Sally Hansen Complete Manicure line in order to make room for new colors and I bought this one plus a few other colors for like $1.69. Such a steal!!! Look at me being all frugal and stuff. Haha.
Ariel's nails turned out super cute too, I wish I would have gotten a picture. She painted all but the ring finger on each hand purple and the ring finger was painted pink. She then topped the pink with a glitter top coat. When I'm alone the two tone paint job is my fall back.
Now let's talk makeup brushes!!! I had a question on the last blog post wondering what eye shadow brush I use. Instead of answering that question I decided to do one better. I'm going to tell you all about each of the brushes I use. I can't guarantee that I'm using these brushes correctly but it works out for me! And to answer your burning question, these are all Ecotools Brushes.
Left to right:
-Eye shadow brush. This is the one I use on a daily basis for super simple all over coverage. I tend to stay away from using this to apply colors though. If I'm applying brighter colors or black and want a more vivid precise look I'll use just the regular old eye shadow applicator that usually comes with the eye shadow itself then I use my brush to blend it out and soften it up. One tip I have is no matter if your using a brush or an applicator blow on it right before you apply it. It takes off excess color so you don't end up with it everywhere.
-Angled brush. I don't know if that's the technical name or not. I mostly use this for a liner. Typically I get it wet then dip it in my eye shadow (usually black but sometimes purple or a raisiny purple brown color) and run it across the top lash line. The water makes whatever color you use a lot more vivid and easier to apply. Sometimes I use this brush to apply color to the crease when I'm doing a smokey eye. But then I wipe it off because I haven't mastered applying shadow to the crease or the smokey eye.
-Overall powder brush. The name says it all.
-Concealer brush. I don't use this much. I actually used this for a LONG time as my eye shadow brush and couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting a soft blended look. Meh, sometimes I still use it for eye shadow.
-Foundation brush. I use this to apply and blend my liquid foundation. Nothing fancy about that. But it kind of hurts to use it. All of these brushes are very soft but there's something about the way the bristles(?) are cut and sometimes certain strokes kinda stab in to my face. Oh well. Pain is beauty right? Hahahaha no. I usually call it quits when that happens.
Always remember to blend, blend, blend. And then clean your brushes regularly! I don't know if I'm doing it right but I'll usually just wash them with my bath and body works antibacterial hand wash. It seems to do the trick.
Now I need to go watch Vampire Diaries. Vampire Diaries trumps blogging any day. =]
Thank you for the post on brushes its very useful info. ive been reading your blog and its great stuff!!!! keep it coming and ill be sure to spread the word ;)
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