Mani Monday... Holo Myths

Moving forward I will be posting a nail themed or oriented blog every second Monday, calling these entries Mani Mondays.

This Monday my nails are done in a beautiful teal color called Myth by Akzentz Luxio. We decided to jazz them up a bit using a holographic powder finish. We choose to switch it up by doing some of the nails fading into holographic and some nails completely holographic. We also decided to add a couple crystals to some more fun to my nails.

Once I got home I decided to add more sparkle to my nails by going over the pure holographic nails with a sparkly top coat. I also added a glow in the dark top coat to my middle fingers. 

This beautiful manicure was done by extremely talented and lovely Kate owner of Nail Kandy. Make sure to check out Kate's work on Instagram. You can find Kate in Toronto at New Tribe Tattoo (by appointment only). 

I absolutely love these nails and can't wait to post my next manicure! Any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. I'm also always looking for new nail design ideas so if you have any you would like to see please let me know.

Peace & Luv

Mosaic Art by Jessica Sole

A couple months ago I worked on a music video called Mosaic Art. You can check out my initial blog post here. I am happy to say that the video has been completed.

Check out Jessica's debut video Mosaic Art below or you can find it here, on YouTube.

You can also follow Jessica on Instagram @jessicasole_ or follow her Facebook page @jessicasolemusic.

Congratulations Jessica on a great shoot and an even better video! I hope you had just as much fun as I did. Thank you for letting me be apart of it. <3

Peace & Luv

Nails... Alien Invasion

I haven't posted a nail blog in forever, and this specific appointment was pretty cool. To catch everyone up I recently moved to Toronto. Since I was now living downtown this meant I need to find a new manicurist to do my nails. I had to try a few places before I found a couple spots that would make me happy. About a month ago a decided to book an appointment with someone I had recently seen on instagram. It was definitely a new but fun experience.

I got my nails done in a tattoo shop and was beyond excited to do so. Being involved with the cosmetic industry I am obviously into make-up, nail, and hair social media. I love following local shop and artist because I love to support my city an the talented people who live in it. I was actually following something completely unrelated, an e-juice company called Cheap Thrills, when a girl who worked for them posted her wicked new manicure on Instagram. She credited a nail artist I had never heard of before, so of course I had to check them out. The name of the company is Nail Kandy, and it is run by a lovely girl named Kate.

The first thing I discovered was that Kate works out of a tattoo shop, something I would find instantly appealing. I decided to email Kate right away to see what her pricing and availability was. She got back to me the very next day and was extremely helpful in giving me the pricing I needed as well as the availability she had. I, of course booked my appointment right away. I continued to search though her Instagram account out of interest, and excitement that I had an appointment to get my nails done too.

Over all I was very happy with my nails. I decided to go with a super fun custom teal shade with a chrome finish. A perfect back ground for some alien nails. The little alien and ship was free hand drawn by Kate. I absolutely loved that she included a little tiny alien inside of the ship. 

Nail Kandy is located in Toronto inside of New Tribe Ink (Queen St). If you would like to check out Kate's work you can find her on Instagram at @nail.kandy. All contact information is available in her profile. Remember to follow and show her some love!!

 Peace & Luv

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks Review

A few weeks ago I had found myself inside a Sephora for the first time in quite a long time. Two items I have been specifically on the hunt for have been an long lasting liquid lipstick, and a great highlighter. I had enough time to check out almost every cosmetic line, as I like to. I have already tried quite a few liquid lipsticks and have found a variety of problems with all of them. Kat Von D was one of the few brands I had yet to try out when it came to the liquid lipstick category, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

(Left to Right) Nosferatu & Lovecraft

I have tried a few of KVD's products such as her eye shadow palettes, lipsticks, and lip glosses. Over all I didn't get the quality I was hoping for, but was most disappointed in the lipsticks and glosses. The lipsticks didn't last, and color pay off was barely there. The glosses were tacky and sticky making them super annoying to wear. Since then I have seen some huge improvements. I've seen the quality of the Kat Von D products go up 100%.

I first decided to swatch the everlasting liquid lipsticks in store to see which color seemed to last, and what they actually looked like out of the tube. I was happy to see her most vibrant colors seemed to stay the best. Some colors even stained my skin forcing me to use an oil based remover to get it off. I was also happy to see a wide variety of colors. They range from more natural and muted tones, all the way to vibrant reds and electric blue and purples. I chose to purchase a deep red called Nosferatu & a more neutral tone called Lovecraft.

Once I got home and was able to apply the lipsticks to my lips I found them to be very light. By light I mean you don't get that caked on feeling. Your lip do not feel like they are wear a coat of something. The lipstick also does not dry out your lips. As long as you apply your liquid lipstick to clean dry lips, your lipstick should stay in place and not crack or dry. The liquid lipstick also apply to lips very smoothly. The lipstick itself is very creamy and smooth making it easy to move and spread. Lastly Kat Von D's everlasting liquid lipstick ever-lasted! It lasted hours! When I say hours I am not over exaggerating. It last through out me talking, working, drinking, and eating my dinner. Yes, you will have to touch it up after fully eating, however touch ups are minor and typically just in the center of the lips.

Lovecraft & Nosferatu

Lovecraft / Nosferatu

You can find Kat Von D's liquid lipsticks at Sephora, or anywhere KVD make up is sold. One everlasting liquid lipstick at Sephora will run you $26 CND / $20 US. As far as pricing goes for the quality and amount of product you get I say this is very fair. The tube are actually pretty long, and are completely filled.

Lovecraft

Nosferatu

Over all I was very happy with my experience testing Kat Von D's everlasting liquid lipstick. I am very excited to purchase more shade for my kit. It has honestly become my go to lipstick because of how light it feels on your lips and how long it lasts.

I hope you found this review helpful, if not at least entertaining. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment below.

Peace & Luv

Mosaic Art Music Video by Jessica Sole

A couple weeks ago I was given the opportunity to work with the talented Jessica Sole on her very first music video for her song Mosaic Art. This video was made for a beautiful song with a strong message. I was more then happy to be apart of something so thoughtful and something clearly so special to Jessica and her family.

Once Mosaic Art is released I will be sure to post the full video here on my blog. Until then here are some behind the scene shots from Mosaic Arts one day shoot!

Filming in a little meadow.

Jessica Sole - Musical Artist

Me, adding some soot & black smudges to our firefighter.

Cast & Crew for Mosaic Art

This music video was an absolute pleasure to work on. I hope I have the opportunity to work with Jessica and crew again. Can't wait to show you all the video! Updates to come soon.

Peace & Luv

Head Shots for Lauren Saarimaki

Last Friday I got to do some make-up and hair for some head shots for the lovely Lauren Saarimaki. Head shots are typically used for "talent" like actors and dancers. They are suppose to give a pretty good idea as to what the person looks like naturally as well as a feel for what they could be. Typically make-up and hair are pretty straight forward for a photo shoot like this.

Below is one of the many beautiful photos from her shoot. 

Actress: Lauren Saarimaki | MU/Hair by Me | Photography by Hayley Andoff

As always just wanted to show off how beautiful Lauren looks. Thanks for letting me paint your face lovely! Always a pleasure.

Peace & Luv

In Nemus

Last month I had the opportunity to work on a video called "In Nemus" for a talented Toronto dance group. This video was created and directed by Alix Kell. 

As I am sure you'll be able to notice the video has a slight Alice in Wonderland theme, which is always fun. This was definitely a more creative and fun shoot, filled with colourful and wild hair and make-up.

Below is a link to the video. Hope you enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/183909488?ref=tw-share

Created & Directed by Alix Kell

Dancers: Alix Kell, Emily Law, Caddy Superville & Ashley Perez.

MU & Hair: Sarah Geraldes & Diana Lazic

Camera/Shooting: Ryan Buan

I had a great time working on this project with these very talented girls. Special thanks to Diana, for helping with hair and make-up, it was definitely a group effort. And of course to the girls for letting us be apart of their project. 

Peace & Luv

Nails... Sea Shell

This week I choose to do my nails in a very pretty but simple way. They have a very natural look to them, with a very shiney but sheer opal finish. 

This week I had my nails filled. They were orginally done and filled with UV gel. UV gel is known to be better then other products like acrylic for your nails. It also gives your nails a much more brillant shine. The only down fall with getting uv gel nails is the price point. They do tend to be anywhere from $10-$15 more then acrylic nails, but depending on what you value in your nails the price may be worth it for you.

I then had my nails painted in a shellac polish by ibd called Sea Shell Pink. It is a beautiful soft pink with an opal finish. This color is extremely sheer and will probably need quiet a few coats. My nails have three coats applied to them. I personally could have gone for a couple more coats to really let the color shine through. Just remember you don't want to layer the polish on your nails too thick or you'll create a wonky odd looking nail.

I enjoy this very pretty and natural look. It's definitely something diffrent then what I would ususally wear, but I really enjoy it because it looks so clean. 

I got my nails done at Urban Nails in Toronto, located on the Danforth. Ask for Michelle. She is bomb! 

If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the box below.

Peace and Luv

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick Update

Just wanted to update on how doing my eyebrows went using Jeffree Star's Velour Liquid Lipstick was going.

I start by getting some of liquid lipstick out onto a palette of some sort. I personally begin applying my brows by simply painting on the color using an angled brush. I do like to try and start with the bottom end or line of the brow, moving onto my top line and then filling in the center of the brow. I do my very best to make sure the brow is a saturated with color as possible. No, you should not have color dripping from your brows, however there really shouldn't be any "bald" or colorless spots either. Next you can use a q-tip with some make-up remover or a baby wipe to get rid of any extra color that may be outside the lines. Last you can poweder your brow, although I do not find this nessisary. I do like to use a clear brow gel just to seal everything in and make sure all my actual brow hairs stay in place.

I found Jeffree Star's liquid lipsticks to work very well in achieve bright and bold eyebrows. The color does not smudge off, however be careful and watch any inital excess color on your brows. The color is long lasting, and will with stand a day of sweat. The issue I seemed to have was staining my skin. I guess because I wear color brows so often and because they are lipsticks they do tend to stain the skin. You will have to work extra hard removing or scrubbing off these brows!

Over all I would say YES to using Jeffree Star's liquid lipsticks on my brows. I personally love the colors he has to offer. I love how they don't smudge or rub off and last a long time. A great product over all.

If you would like to see my full review for Jeffree Star's Velour Liquid Lipstick please follow the link below.

Peace & Luv

First Time: Brow Lightening

Today I had a new beauty experience. This morning I got my eyebrows bleached for the first time. My roommate, Sam (mentioned many times through out my blog) is training for a new job and is having to complete all kinds of testing. Today was her eyebrow lightening test and I was her model. 

I wasn't nervous about getting my eyebrows bleached although I have had dark brows all my life. I actually chose to keep the bleach on longer then she needed to. If I was going to do this I wanted to push it as extreme as we could go. (Side note: My brows could have gone lighter. The pictures I will have posted here are after 30 minutes of the bleach sitting on my brows.) The true experiment was to see if it would make it any easier when apply my brows in the morning, weather they be brown or pink.

When I got home I got rid of some of the tiny dark hairs that couldn't be reached with a spoolie and then applied my make-up as usual. Today I did my brows pink to see if the lighten made a diffrent to the ease of application and the over all effect. 

Getting my eyebrows lightened or bleached has had no effect on how easy it is to fill in my brows thus far. The reason I say so far is because I have not tried filling them in brown. I can imagine that with my brows already being dark it helped the process. Only time will tell. 

Now for the actual vibrancy of my pink brows, yes lightening my dark brows definitely made a diffrence. I find that the pink in my brows is a lot more even across the entire brow. There aren't any dark patches or spots. I feel like anything there will be pros and cons to this transformation. If I find that lighter eyebrows are becoming a bit of a burien I will simply tint them back to a shade closer to what they were previously.

The ligthening itself was awesome. Very comfortable and relaxed. The bleached that is used on brows is slightly diffrent and less strong then bleached used on your actual hair. There was no harsh smell or burning senstation either. Please note that not everyone has the same skin and that diffrent people will react diffrently. I do have sensitive skin and had no problem getting my brows lightened. If for some reason you do feel a burning sensation I would bring it up to your stylists attention immediately. 

I am happy to announce that Sam of course did pass her exam! :) She does awesome work, espeacially if you are looking for on point brows. I wish I could devulge the secrect information of where she actually works, but I can't. However you can follow her on instagram or twitter at @samantha_opal. 

I will definitely be posting an update on my bleached brows. If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the box below.

Peace & Luv