DIY Wearable Version of the Super-Embellished Libertine Fall 2013 Nails

So after I went all out and blinged out my nails for my DIY version of the Libertine Fall 2013 look, I decided to try and come up with a more everyday-wear-friendly version of it. Basically, it didn't seem realistic to carry that much rhinestones on my nails, so I thought - what if I replaced them with glitter? And so, I proceeded to see how I could flatten out all the awesome 3D bling into a 2D version, while hopefully keeping the original look! And I eventually came up with this:

NYFW-inspired nail art - a much more wearable version of Libertine's Fall nails!

First, I had to choose the appropriate glitter. I thought of mixing various bits of glitter, but then I got lazy and settled on Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, which I've previously featured in this post, and as a jelly sandwich! Anyway, I settled on Lippmann Happy Birthday because it had the same multi-coloured, jewel-y effect that the original gemstones had.


A 2D version of Libertine's NYFW 3D nail art, embellished with colourful jewels: here, sequins are used instead.

Libertine Fall 2013-Inspired Nail Art: Gold and Gems (AKA So Much Bling!)

As a total fashion noob, I've never heard of Libertine, but when I saw their nail art for NYFW (New York Fashion Week) Fall 2013, I just KNEW I had to try it. It was gold. It was full of gems. It had bling. And, it didn't require a heck-lot of precision. And look at what I came up with!

Libertine-inspired embellished manicure on gold base with gems!

Isn't it lovely and all blingy and stuff? This might make better sense if I showed you the original, at the runways of NYFW. The polish looks kinda gold-olive-muddy-a-bit-brown here, but it's described as gold (and it looks more gold) in the comments and in some other photos.

Libertine's Embellished manicure at NYFW Fall 2013 (Source)

When I saw this manicure, I thought, hmmm...blingy gems and jewels and stuff over a gold base. I can do this! So I decided to check out my stash of gold polish to see which one looked the most similar to the polish in the photos I was seeing.

Autumn/Winter 2012/2013 Nail Trends: Not Impressed! Yawn.

You know that although I don't really follow trends all that much, I do like to see what happens on the catwalk - I like taking a look at which trends are showcased, and the different designers' takes on the trends. I'm not talking about the clothes of course, or even the makeup (although I watch that with interest too), I'm talking about nails!

This year, the Fall/Winter 2012-2013 nail trends are just so yawn-inducing, I found myself thinking "Dammit, that's boring" and "Sheesh, I've seen that a gazillion times done by other bloggers". Let me give you three reasons why:

1. The "Oops, I Ruined My Mani Look" is in Again

Sigh. I just hope this doesn't spark a rush of copycat blogposts. The last time some celebrity wore the "I ruined my mani" look in a magazine, it was all over my Google Reader. I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that I like my nails to look like painted nails, not ruined manicures passing off as artistic statements. To me, it's one of those "works for the runway, not for me" type things. Nice silver colour, though, very sleek. Does it even look a little holographic?

(Source: Vogue)
2. Shatter and Crackle Nail Polish (Or Stuff That Looks Like It)

Come on guys, you're supposed to be like the pinnacle of the fashion world, right? Shatters and crackles are so, like, two years ago. This is defiitely a yawn for me. I'm not sure exactly what was used to make that thing below, but man, it sure looks like plain ol' black crackle polish. (I just learned it's called croc nails from a reader who commented below. Thanks Joanna! The nails though - sheesh. Almost the same thing, just a different name.) Boring. Next!

(Source: Vogue)

3. Boring Colours and Combinations

For fall, the look seems to be - you guessed it, deep dark vampy shades, and nudes, and some new neutrals (like grey). Yawn. I mean, for sure these are classic shades, but man, I was hoping that with the Pantone colour palette for Fall including some kick-ass shades (Olympian Blue, Bright Chartreuse), the nails would be something a little more bright, colour-wise.

Even the nail art was boring. There was minx (which is cool, but not if you're a polish lover like me), and then there was stuff like this: Nude and black (or in this case, dark brown) french tips for nail art. That's a french manicure with a dark tip. I've seen this done before on so many blogs. It's a nice look, but not groundbreaking or anything.

(Source: Vogue)
And then there's this. I can't figure out what it is. It looks like a deep vampy base (or possibly even black, hard to tell in that lighting), with random strips of grey painted on it. Still, it looks sort of cool, I guess:

(Source: Vogue)
Okay, not all of it was bad. There were pops of colour here and there, primarily blue (must be Olympian Blue). Some fashion houses got lazy and just painted the nails straight-up blue. Some, this, got a little more interesting, and even did all-out nail art. This was the highlight for me, I guess.

(Source: Vogue)

(Source: Vogue)
So, this is why I'm totally not impressed with the nail trends as seen on the runway for Fall/Winter 2012. Despite all the hoo-ha that surrounds Fashion Week, I really only have one response:

(Source)
(For the record though, I absolutely love MaKayla Maroney. Falling on your butt and STILL getting an Olympic silver medal? That's still quite the acheivement in my book!)

Fall/Winter 2010-2011 Dark Lip Trend on the Cheap: Evil Shades Deadly Wicked Gloss

Unsurprisingly, the dark lip is back for fall. This has been seen on the runways of Proenza Schouler, Missoni, Dior, blah blah other-boring-brands-I-never-look-at-because-I'd-rather-save-the-money-for-yet-more-makeup-and-polish. Okay, I honestly don't really care which brands featured it on the runways, but I'm glad that it's finally fashionable to wear some colour on your lips - I was starting to wonder if I was the only red-lip girl in a sea of nudes!

(Missoni Fall/Winter 2010, Image from Style.com)

This season's vampy lip colour of choice is a very blackened berry colour, almost a blackened purple. It looks cool on the runways, but obviously most of us will have to adapt it for real life, given the intensity of the colour. I'm not sure if I want to look like this if I wasn't on stage, performing, or strutting down a runway for obscene amounts of money (hah!):

(Proenza Schouler Fall/Winter 2010, Image from Style.com)

So I love the dark vampy lip, and I celebrate it's return. Question is - how is a poor student with a shoestring budget supposed to get her wearable vampy lip shade fix? Well, fortunately for us, we don't have to plunk down too much cash to actually get a vampy yet wearable shade!

Just look at this beauty I recently bought. Oh yes. Just admire it's beauty. It's vampy and dark, but still wearable, and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a lipgloss from indie makeup brand Evil Shades. I saw this online and I just HAD to have it. You understand, don't you? :P



Evil Shades is the creation of fellow blogger and twitterer Evil Angel, and her blog is awesome. It's a regular read on my RSS feed. And in addition to being a great blogger and a great person in general, she also makes killer cosmetics!

The beautiful thing about her Wicked Glosses (that's what she calls her lipgloss range) is that they're buildable and can be layered sheerly or applied more heavily for greater opacity. That's what I love best about Deadly, the drop-dead gorgeous shade I bought. If you want to wear it as it appears in the pot, you can layer it on for that runway effect, but if you don't want to wear it as an all-out vampy shade, you only need a little bit.

Let me stress - you only need a little bit:



You see that little swipe I made in the lid of the pot? Yes, that's how much you need. You really need that little if you want to wear it more sheerly. Don't make the mistake I made which was to goop it on, because you don't need that much! These Wicked Glosses are massively pigmented, so don't be fooled by the small size of the lipgloss pot. It is indeed small (it's the same size as their eyeshadow pots), but that tiny pot will last you a long time.

Here's a picture of my bare lips so that you have something to compare the lip swatches to. (I hope no one's getting sick of seeing the same picture of my bare lips everytime I do lip swatches!)



So, using that tiny blob of lipgloss, this was the look I got:



Applied sparingly and lightly, Deadly doesn't look deadly in any way. In fact, it's a very pretty deep rose shade. For sure, it's still a dark shade, but it's very wearable. If you're afraid of wearing a dark lip, this is a great way to ease into the colour family. Also, although you can see some fine glitter in the pot, it doesn't show up on the lip, because the glitter is very sparse and small, and because I only used a tiny amount. I actually like it better this way.

But what if you want to imitate that runway look a little more? You know, if this ain't vampy enough? That can be easily solved by using a greater amount of lipgloss. In fact, given the huge amount of pigmentation in this lipgloss, you're much more likely to end up applying too much colour instead of too little!

Layering the lipgloss, I was able to get this. I don't think the photo really did it justice though, it's richer and deeper in real life:



Here you get a really beautiful deep, dark berry shade. As you can see, the gold glitter is slightly more apparent on the lip now that I've used more gloss, but even so the amount of glitter in this is very small. I don't like glitter in my lipgloss as a general rule, but the amount of glitter in this isn't enough to bother me. I really love this shade. It's dark and vampy for sure, but it's not blackened like on the runways, so it's still wearable if you're looking for a shade like this.

Wear time on these was pretty good. They pretty much stayed on for as long as I wasn't eating or drinking. So I'm quite impressed. The quality is also excellent for the price - this wasn't sticky, and the scent is a fruity scent that's not cloying or overly artificial, and dissipates upon application. And they're just $3 at the Evil Shades Online Store! That's really cheap, even by etailer makeup pricing standards. And if you're lucky, she occasionally does free shipping deals, so you can even save on shipping.

So if you're looking for your wearable vampy lip, you can end your search and buy this now, and thank me later. Just don't buy up all the stock and remember to leave some for me. On second thoughts, I'd better tell you this sucks so you won't buy it, and they'll be more for me. Yup, that's right. This seriously sucks. If you hate pigmented lipglosses, if you hate non-sticky lipglosses, and if you don't want a versatile lip colour that can be layered, then this isn't for you. Yeah, it really sucks, you don't want it. Now excuse me while I sneak off to the Evil Shades website to stock up on these...um, I meant, buy them all up so you wouldn't have to suffer the pain of using such pigmented products.

Fall 2010 Makeup Trends: Chanel's "Paint Print" Eye: Hate it or Love it?

One of the awesome things about being a blogger, as opposed to a beauty magazine, is that I don't have to wax lyrical over every beauty or fashion trend that comes out. If I think it's ugly, I can say it, and there's nothing you can do about it! Neener neener!

As you might know, I don't follow fashion trends, whether it's clothes, makeup, or nail polish - I'm a "I'll-wear-what-I-like-dammit" kind of girl. Besides, most Autumn/Winter 2010 makeup trends seen on the runway have been nothing out of the ordinary so far (dark lips, check, smokey eyes, check). But this one surprised me, so I just had to show it to all of you.

Apparently Chanel decided to reproduce the print on their new bags on their models' eyes. Hence making for some really strange-looking eye makeup.

(Image from Style.com)

Of course, the fashion press calls it visionary and inspiring, and I guess it is visionary - the concept of taking a print from a bag or an article of clothing and attempting to reproduce it as makeup is not a common one. So I guess Chanel scores points for originality. (If you want to, you can read more about it HERE.)

But I just can't feel the look on this one. I don't know about you, but to me it just looks like messily-applied eyeshadow. All the way up to the temples and eyebrows. It looks like a five-year-old attempted to apply mascara on the model. (It isn't, of course. It's eyeliner and pigment, carefully applied with brushstrokes.) While I kind of think the concept of transferring prints is cool, and while I like the print on the bag (white bags with a black bottom? Very practical!), I don't really like how it looks as makeup on a person's face. I mean, I know beauty on the runway is usually about putting on a show and creating some drama, and thus highly exaggerated, and us mere mortals are supposed to use it as "inspiration" and reinterpret it for everyday wear, but I'll be darned if I know how to be "inspired" by this one. I don't really think the fashion powers that be meant for us to do our makeup that way, in any case. I think they meant for us to look at the eyes, and then buy the bags, since the print eye was a mimic of the print on the bag. But as a makeup junkie, you know I like to look at everything in the context of makeup. And in the context of makeup, it just looks weird.

Maybe it just means that if I accidentally get mascara on my eyelid, I'll just claim that I'm on the cutting edge of beauty! Thanks Chanel, for saving me the 2mins I would otherwise spend wiping mascara off my eyelid.

I guess I kind of love it as an artistic endeavour, but hate it as an actual makeup look. What about the rest of you? Hate it or love it?