Beauty Guru Identity Crisis

With renewed ambition after some serious online window shopping I rushed to my favorite makeup supplier (which means the nearest Walgreen’s) first thing in the morning with eyes only for shadow. I went a wee bit crazy and ended up spending about $32 in product I wasn’t even sure was going to work.

            Keeping my pale skin in mind rather than my eye color (I’d really rather not wear green and violet eye shadow everyday), I picked up some nude, brown, and pink pallets in various shades that were sold in either a trio or duo. One of the palettes even had a convenient little diagram on the back for shadow noobs like me. I also opted for a $5 primer which was a much better choice than the $12 dollar ones that were eyeing me.

            I carted my frivolously-bought pallets home and proudly spread them out around my bathroom sink like little color pigmented soldiers readying for battle. Armed with remover pads and blending brushes, I went to work following all the neat little tips I had acquired through my YouTube tutorial ventures a couple days ago…I even tried following one of said tutorials while I was applying: I paused, applied, played, watched, paused again, blended, but it was no use. My poor little shadow soldiers never had a chance…

            In short my experiment was a complete and utter disaster. The colors either made me look like I lost blood in my eyelids, or like I got into a fight at a pink-powder factory. Most of the browns/neutrals that were any darker than my skin tone made by lids look ruddy. Even after some serious blending and tests of different light, medium, and dark color combos, I still looked like I got punched in the face by a dirt devil.

            With a horrid conglomeration of tan, brown and pink shadows more on my face than my eyelids, I got to thinking. Am I a one shadow girl? I remember getting compliments on a day-to-day basis when I wore a peachy-shimmer with just mascara as my daily look. There was nothing wrong with how I looked when I used only one shadow shade, but settling on such a fate made me nervous. Didn’t you have to be a multi-shade girl to be officially inducted into the beauty maven world? Don’t I have to gush over the latest ‘Naked’ palette or Lime Crime trio to fit into my aspired title as a beauty guru? Was it okay to be happy with a single paint pot I got for six bucks at Rite Aid?

            I finished the night with clean lids and my normal before-bed skin care routine. I’m still unsure if I feel confident with my single-shade identity. I don’t know whether to rue it or embrace its simplicity….but hear this fellow beauty-lovers, a silly army of shadow will not be my downfall! Nothing can stop a girl with red-hot glitter in her veins <3!

            Till my next adventure,

                             Lizzie

The Eyeshadow Experience

 Dear make-up nerds and eye shadow noobs alike,

Today while putting on my normal-everyday makeup I had a sudden urge to be glamorous. Normally when I want a little extra flair, I brush on one of my many shimmery shadows, add liner, mascara, and call it a day. But this simple sparkle fix wasn’t quite satisfying my inner movie star today. I wasn’t going anywhere extravagant, but looking at my bare-lidded reflection I decided it was time I got a little more creative than just one tone shimmery eye color.

Recently I’ve been taking to telling women around me that it’s important to take those extra steps through-out the day that make you feel beautiful. This could be as simple as wearing a new pop-of-color lip gloss…making sure your cuticles are moisturized… or even just giving yourself five minutes of quiet time in the morning to sip tea and download (A calm woman is a beautiful one). As I prepared to embark on my eye-shadow adventure, I reminded myself that it’s okay to take an extra five minutes or so to make myself feel like my best me.

With my feel-good mantra chanting in my head, I did what every girl in beauty distress does…I YouTube’d it! There were plenty of videos that showed me how to do smoky eyes and shimmery night looks, but I wasn’t looking for a night-on-the-town look for my afternoon errands around town. I did eventually happen upon a couple of helpful videos that illustrated the proper places to put what shade, how to blend, and what brushes to use, (one of the videos I used to get a general idea below) but even after following step by step… I felt I still appeared to be a shimmery raccoon-looking mess. 

My conclusion after about a half hour of fooling around with my mediocre selection of shimmer packed gold-orange and white-pink shadows was this:

-                          I need to invest in some matte and velvet finish shadow palettes so I don’t look like a glitter fairy threw up on my entire face.

-                          I need to learn how to prevent fall-out while applying so I don’t end up with matching freckles of shadow color.

-                          Look especially for palettes with neutral colors that compliment my very fair skin and blue-green eyes. I’m not the kind of girl who wants to where violent or green shadow everyday.

-                          It might not be a bad idea to take a look at the slightly more expensive brush choices to replace my mini drug store set as I progress.

-                          Do some research and find a cheap brand of eyelid primer that I could find at my local drug store.

-                          Invest in palettes with three to four complementing shades that have a variety of matte and shimmer finish. (This conclusion was hard for me because I so desperately wanted to immediately be like the pro-makeup girlies who design their own trio’s from single pots. I consoled myself by remembering that even the pros had to start somewhere).

So with optimism and a new adventure ahead of me, I ended up settling on my normal-every day simple makeup with bare lids, liner, and mascara. I plan to go drug-store hopping in the very near future (and maybe a little trip to target as well) to buy a couple of simple and cheap options to experiment with. Because I’m just starting out, I will resist the temptation to travel to Sephora and buy ungodly priced brushes and paint pots. For a beginner who will probably hit pan just by practicing, I believe sticking with $5 trios and mini brush sets will work just fine. Once I return from this mission, I will record my findings and buys as well as fresh questions that I am sure I will have about the mysterious world of eye-shadow….

            Till Then!

                        Love, Lizzie

Oil fighting Clean & Clear products!

  As a younger teen I never really got bad face acne, the hallmark to puberty. I've been lucky for quiet a few years until just about two years ago I began to notice an extreme oil problem on my forehead, beneath my nostrils, or even on my chin. Us girls (or aesthetically in-tune boys ;p ) hate nothing more than having a shiny forehead! I found myself having to 'powder my nose' more than just once in a couple hours before I'd catch a glimpse of myself in a store window or something and notice that my forehead was reflecting beams of sunlight from its oily shine...
  I couldn't combat my oily face with just make-up powder. I did some research and decided I'd go out and get myself some of those oil absorbing sheets. I used those stupid little blue papers for the longest time before I got disgusted with them: I knew using them in public probably looked really weird and after they were used the oil that it picks up from your skin turns the sheet clear and greasy like I cooked bacon on my forehead or something. So out the door those gross things went!
  Using the oil removing tissues really helped me realize how bad the oil problem I had actually was, and like any girl who was in my shoes would do, I took to the internet. At first I searched around for oil-fighting products with good reviews but the results were just too overwhelming and diverse to narrow down what I thought would work for me. Every girl's skin is different, so what helps one girl may not help the next. I was desperate! I started to wash my face with soaps that were drying to my hands in hopes that they would dry my forehead too, but quickly ceased the practice once pimples started to pop up around my hair line. Fail after fail... I had no where to turn and no extra money to spend on a consultation with a dermatologist. Would I just have to except my oily fate?!

  I was browsing my local drug store's skin products in what I thought was a vain attempt to narrow down the unbelievably large playing field when the skin gods spoke to me and on beams of golden oil-free sunshine, presented me with the two Clean & Clear products I still use religiously today. "Go Forth!", the gods told me, "and spread the word of this glorious product!". And like any good beauty guru, I obeyed their heavenly request. 

 (Clean & Clear deep action cream cleanser (left) and Clean & Clear essentials deep cleaning astringent (right) )

  What first drew me toward the Clean & Clear cream cleanser was not it's pretty packaging. (although the designs pop off the shelf and scream "TRY ME!". Really though, Clean & Clear needs to give their design team a raise! ) I was convinced I needed it when I saw that it claims to fight oil and dirt clogging your pours that you can't even see and that it wasn't some annoying flower-y smelling gel with painful little beads that are meant to pulverize your skin into cleanliness but really just end up stuck in your hair and eyebrows. I was sold. 
  The astringent isn't hard to miss either and I'll admit, looks a little scary in the bottle. An orange like that screams to me "EXTREMELY PAINFUL CHEMICAL PEAL", but I was so desperate I was ready for anything (Beauty is Painful!).

  I use the cream cleanser in the shower or at the sink with my hair tightly pulled back in a headband. It comes out like a wonderful thick cream that lathers just slightly when you rub it in. Once rubbed in to all my serious problem areas, I enjoyed sitting back for a minute or two and indulging in the minor cooling and tingly sensation (like my pores were going skinny dipping!) before I rinsed thoroughly and very gently patted dry. It's important you pat dry (I found this one out the hard way). Your pores have just been opened up and are very vulnerable, so rubbing harshly with a towel will definitely cause some nasty irritation (please learn from my mistake girls! No joke!). 
  After the cleanser I already can feel a 90% improvement in the feeling of my skin which no longer feels soggy on my face. This next step can be slightly painful if you have open wounds (like scratches or pimples) on your oily problem areas, which you probably do. The astringent is meant to not only deeply clean anything that the cleanser didn't get but help treat and prevent pimples.

  Get this: Both products do what they claim to do!!!!!!

  Toner didn't work for me, even after keeping a daily regimen of applying it for a while. Since I've started using the Clean & Clear astringent and cleanser I have little to absolutely no problem with oil. Eliminating my daily oil problem didn't come as an instantaneous effect but I immediately felt that my skin was more fresh and clean the day I started using it. After repeating this regimen when I went to bed, and applying some extra astringent in the morning before I put on my makeup, it took about 3 weeks to a month to completely guard me of my oily nightmare! Not only is my skin healthier now, my confidence about my skin has multiplied as well! :)

Remember: Each girl has different skin and therefore different things that work for them, but if you are as desperate as I was, it doesn't hurt to give this pair a try!!!

Rapid Ruffian

  I've seen the new "Ruffian" manicure trend going around the nailstagram world quiet a bit lately, especially with all of the beautiful colors combos that our winter and fall season offers. Yesterday I decided, I have had enough of my jealousy! I was ready to tackle the sought after and almost odd design.
  Don't get me wrong, this wasn't exactly the very very first time I tried my hand at a Ruffian. A couple messy attempts before, I had used the binder enforcers method, where you use the curve of the little circle as a guide for the half-moon sliver against your cuticle; this was a mess and I wasn't even satisfied enough to grace Instagram with my DIY disaster. 
   (Even though this didn't work for me, I'd still recommend newbie artists to try it out! Everyone's experience is different,and who doesn't like getting a little dirty once and a while? ;p Especially when getting dirty means getting covered in gorgeous polish!)

  So I took the plunge in a last minute decision to free hand it. I was quick to put brush to nail before I chickened out and spared my beautiful red undie Milani "Rapid Cherry". As soon as I shakily finished my first nail, I nearly cried tears of joy. 

 (Pictured is Jordana "Purple Glam" and Milani "Rapid Cherry" topped with Seche Vite)

  How did this happen?! I must have traded hands with some elite nail art blogger because what was before me was not the work of poor little amateur Elizabeth painting with her non-dominant hand. I haven't decided yet if this miracle was pure luck or if I have found an unknown talent, but I'm ecstatic about how these came out. (The nails, not the pictures. I'm in desperate need of a light box. I've been relying on good 'ole nature for light who is obviously going through 'her time of the month' because it's been nothing but an overcast rainy mess!) 

  (Here I am chaneling my inner 'Chalkboardnails' while "Purple Glam" looks more like "Blue/Royal Purple Glam" in a darker light)


  I used Milani's "Rapid Cherry" as a gorgeous pop-of-color base. I am absolutely in love with Milani's polishes. I've only owned three or four, but so far my experience with them has been nothing but posies. The polish is opaque in one thin coat, regardless of the color and the shades they offer are fresh and bold. I'm convinced you can't go wrong with a Milani purchase.
  The rarely seen (at least for me) purple jelly glitter featured on the bottom part of my ruffian is called "Glam Purple". The name isn't too creative but boy were these polishes a find! I picked it (and some others to keep it company ;p ) up at one of my extremely rare trips to Kmart. Jordana, a polish brand I haven't even seen circuiting around nailstagram, is a 99 cent polish with the formula of an $8 lacquer. Though the colors I saw there weren't crazy impressive, I'm pretty sure that I'd love any polish I picked up from this brand, from this amazzzziiinnggg purple to a simple pink, it's divine! (I might even venture online to get some more of this polish jem!) 

                             (Ruffian mani photo taken beneath a natural light lamp inside)

  Is it just me or do ruffians sort of look like a botched attempt to jazz up acrylic nails that haven't been filled for a while? I know that doesn't sound too appealing but LOOK AT THIS PAYOUT! I'm in love, and reader, you will surely see more of this oddly appealing design in posts to come!

BTW! Feel free to email, comment, or kik me with requests or ideas for future designs or even tutorials!
Email: manimaniacnails@aol.com
Kik: manimaniac
Instagram: @manimaniac 
Send me some <3!


 

China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection picks

   "Creative Fantasy" from the Cirque du Soleil collection totally blew my mind. At first glance of the bottle I knew I liked the vibrant royal purple, but what was the big deal? What made this purple polish any different from normal non-collection purple polishes?

  (I tried my hardest to capture the lighter jelly outline, you can see it a little here but in other light its completely in your face!!!)

Before trekking to my local Sally's to buy my picks, I looked up some swatches of the polish curtsey of the lovely nail girls of Instagram. Swatches under flash showed this gorgeous lighter-purple jelly-ish line along the outside of the more opaque parts of the polished nail (above); It was these photos that revealed to me this was no ordinary royal purple polish.

                                          (Three coats of "Creative Fantasy" topped with one coat of Seche Vite) 

Swatching "Creative Fantasy" was an adventure from the very first coat all the way to top coat and photos. 
 The natural finish of the polish is something I've never seen before and nearly impossible to describe, (Hence my extreme reccomendation to go out and snag this beut for yourself!) somewhere between matte and gloss, its like this dusty sued finish that still shines in the light like gloss but in most light takes on the natural finish of what a naked nail would be. 
  This is great in only two coats, but because I slept on mine slightly tacky, pictured above is three coats topped with Seche Vite.

. (From top left to bottom middle: 1 coat over a base of Essie "Grow Stronger", 2 coats, then a third pictured with no top coat)

Besides being a magician in the finish department, "Creative Fantasy" totally lives up to it's name by dealing out several different hues from light-ish purple, to deep royal blue.

(Look at that comparison on those top and bottom photos!!!! In the top photo I'm standing partially in the sun, in the bottom photo I took two steps and turned around into the shade...ABRACADABRAAAA! From plum purple to royal blue! Crazy right? The right most photo is another hue sort of between the two others taken with flash)

Long post for a single polish, I know, but isn't it DESERVING of a whole-page review?!?! I think so ;p. If you're going out to get some polishes from this collection, even if you aren't a purple kinda girl, DO NOT leave the store without this one!

 I'm not normally a green person, maybe it's because it doesn't really look good with my pale skin (??), or maybe its because it seems that green is the most unfavorable and least made shade of polish. I was surprised when I saw "Def Defying" in person how much I NEEDED to have it, and I was in no way disappointed after I brought it home and swatched!  

                                                      (Two coats of "Def Defying" topped with Seche Vite)

  "Def Defying" was TOTALLY beyond my expectation and it was almost impossible not to fall hard for this shade. I love it so much, I think I might make it my new "neutral"... who says your neutral can't be fun and bright?!?? This only needs one coat (Again, pictured above is two because I went to sleep before my first coat was fully dry >.< ) and is a perfect formula in every way shape and form.

                                              (Two coats topped with Seche Vite in different, darker lighting)

  Oh China Glaze you are on a ROLL! In darker light the neon green you saw before turns into a deeper more pea-green shade that reminds me of "Don't Talk Bach To Me" from the CG Germany collection. I love this one so much that I have yet to put the bottle away! It still sits on my coffee table where I can gawk at it every once and a while!No doubt 10/10!!!

  On my Instagram I swatched "It's a Trap-Eze!" but I'm so unimpressed with it (the polish AND the photo) that I don't feel like adding it to this otherwise positive review of the collection. There was SO MUCH hipe around both "It's a Trap-Eze!" and "Whirled Away" that I think I over syked myself a little. "It's a Trap-Eze!" is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but compared to some of the other polishes in the collection it's definitely not the shining star. As for "Whirled Away", though the IDEA of the polish is cool, it's application SUCKS. You have to totally glob it on to get any of the large white hex glitters and even then you're forced to spread the sticks and small black hex around evenly to make it look how it should look. I will definitely be buying the much better versions of this polish from some of nailstagram's beloved frankeners.

(P.S. Is it just me or is China Glaze and Revlon totally mooching off of Indie brands for ideas? With "Whirled Away" and "It's A Trap-Eze!" along with some other Revlon jelly sandwhiches, I'm starting to think that these big named companies have got their greedy eyes on us little guys for their inspiration, No?)