Halloween Frankenstein Nail Art

With it being under a week until Halloween, I thought I would get myself in the spooky spirit and do a Halloween inspired nail art. I have seen lots of amazing Halloween nail art designs recently so I thought I would give the Frankenstein look a try. Its very easy to create, so if you want to find out how I created the look below, keep reading!

What will you need?

In order to create this look yourself you will need nail varnishes in green, white and black. You will also need a top coat and a nail art dotting tool. I used the following nail varnishes: Rimmel Green Grass, Barry M Matt White and Miss Sporty Black. 

Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: To begin I painted all my nails in the green nail varnish. I painted two coats in order to gain an opaque base for the nail art.

Step 2: Once the base coats were dry I took some black onto the dotting tool and created small triangles at the top of my nail as Frankenstein's hair. 

Step 3: Again using the dotting tool and black nail varnish I dotted on the eyes and eye brows.

Step 4: Using the black nail varnish and the dotting tool once again I created Frankenstein's mouth. I dotted on the horizontal line first and then place the vertical lines over the top.

Step 5: Now take the white nail varnish onto the dotting tool and place a tiny dot in the centre of the eyes.

Step 6: Finally once all the design is dry paint a top coat over the top. This will seal the design into place, add a small amount of shine to your nails and prevent any chipping. 

And there you have your Frankenstein Nail Art! I really hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Have you created any Halloween nail art this year? If you're heading to a Halloween party this week I hope you have an amazing time! 

Until next time, Samantha xx

Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoos

After searching and searching for the shades I really wanted I finally got my hands on the 24 hour Colour Tattoos from Maybelline. After seeing other bloggers rave about these I really wanted to try them out for myself and see if they really did live up to the hype. 

I got the shades Permanent Taupe and Metallic Pomegranate. With berry shades currently being on trend I was really excited to try the Metallic Pomegranate shade! I can honestly say these products really do live up to the hype they have received. They are a gel-cream eyeshadow and this suggests to the me that the texture would be that of an eye product which really creases and moves about on the eye. These however are an exception; they stay put all day and do not crease at all. 

Metallic Pomegranate is a red berry shade with a slight shimmer and Permanent Taupe is a brown/ grey shade and has a matte finish. The shades look beautiful on their own or also mixed together on the eye. Permanent Taupe is also a great shade to use as a base if you are applying a lot of shadows on to the eye as it will really help to keep these into place. 

When applying the Colour Tattoos I used my ring finger and pressed it onto the eye lid and took a small detailing brush and ran the product underneath my lower lash line. Because I am a huge fan of a smoky eye I used a brown eye shadow, with both the Metallic Pomegranate and Permanent Taupe, and blended this into the edge of my eye lid around into the crease. A blending brush is also great to use with these products even if you are not adding eye shadow in order to buff out the edges and ensure you do not have any definite lines around the edge of your eye. One tip I would give is to not be shy with the product, I found they look better when I went slightly higher around the eye and really buffed it out around the edges. 

I can honestly say I love these and would recommend them for anyone looking to try out a new eye make-up product! They stay put all day and are really easy to apply. They are priced at £4.99 in both Boots and Superdrug and there is a range of amazing shades to choose from! 

If you have tried these too let me know what you think and what shades you have been loving in the comments below!

Until next time, Samantha x

Colourful Stripe Nail Art

Hi Everyone! I'm back with another nail art tutorial! I have never tried a stripy nail art before because I never thought I would be able to do it neat enough, but I threw myself into the deep end and using my trusty nail art striping tape created the look below. So if you want to find out how I achieved this keep reading...

What will you need?

In order to create a look similar to mine, all you will need are nail varnishes in bright pink, neon yellow, peach, light blue, white and a top coat. You will also need some stripping tape (alternatively you could cut tape into small strips). See my previous post for more info on the striping tape I use. I didn't include a dotting tool in the photo, however I did use one as I found the brushes on the nail varnishes were too think to create small precise stripes. 

I used the following nail varnish shades: Illamasqua Rare, Illamasqua Purity, BarryM Matt White, No7 Minty Fresh and Nails Supreme Top Coat. I had my nails done in a Salon and they painted the pink base so im not 100% sure what the shade was (sorry!). 

Step-by-step guide:

As always I have put together a step-by-step guide of how I achieved the nail art and this time there is only 3 steps, so its not too complicated!

Step 1: After you have painted the base coat onto your nail and let it dry completely you can start to stick the stripping nail onto the nail. I cut the tape slightly longer than the width of my nail in order to make it easier to peel off. 

Step 2: The next step is to fill in the gaps in between the stripping tape using the different coloured nail varnishes. Let the stripes dry completely before taking the tape off in order to ensure that the nail varnish does not drag and smudge into the pink base.

Step 3: Once you have completed steps one and two on each nail you can paint a top coat over all nail. This will seal in the stripes and give your nails a shine. 

I hope you have enjoyed this nail art! It is quite time consuming but worth it in the end! If you have done any nail art or have any ideas of nail art I could do in the future please comment below and let me know! 

Until next time, Samantha x

Highlighter Heaven: Illamasqua Gleam In Aurora

First of all I want to start with a bit of a disclaimer. I am currently the social media intern at Illamasqua, so I am slightly biased to their products but everything I say in this post is my own opinion and I do genuinely LOVE this highlighter and it is my current favourite Illamasqua product that I have tried so far! So if you want to find out exactly what I love about this product keep reading ...

Illamasqua Gleam in Aurora is my current favourite highlighter and a product which is sure to be a staple in my daily make-up bag for a long time! Gleam is a cream highlighter which I love as I find that some powder highlighters tend to fade from my face throughout the day. Gleam however lasts all day and I leave the office at 5:30pm with a dewy fresh highlight to my cheeks.

Gleam has a slight shimmer to it, however this is not over powering and helps to add a glow to the cheeks. I apply this product using my ring finger and my finger marks in the image below show my love for the product! I generally apply it to the tops of my cheek bones and occasionally down the centre of the nose. It is easy to blend into the skin and does not leave my cheeks feeling at all sticky like some cream products can. 

The swatch below shows that Aurora has a gorgeous champagne colour to its pigmentation. Personally this is my favourite shade for a highlighter as I tend to prefer champagne shades to highlighters which have a pinky tone. 

Aurora can be purchased at illamasqua.com for £18. I may be interning at Illamasqua but I can honestly say this is one of my favourite highlighters of all time and I would recommend this to anyone wanting to try something new! 
What highlighters have you been loving recently?

Samantha x

Pink and Blue Flower Nail Art

Hi everyone, this week I'm back with another nail art! I promise I will bring you a product review very soon, but you all know I love my nail art and was feeling creative today, so I went for quite a detailed nail art. This may look complicated but I feel many people could recreate this look with ease! I've put together a step-by-step tutorial so if you want to find out exactly how I achieved this look please keep reading!

What will you need?

In order to create this look yourself you will need nail varnishes in a variety of pinks and greens and a light blue shade for the base. You will also need a top coat and a dotting tool. I used the following nail varnish shades: Illamasqua Harem, Rimmel Funtime Fuschia, Rimmel Ring a Ring O' Roses, Rimmel Green Grass, Collection Look at me, Rimmel Sweet as Sugar and Avon Nailwear Pro+. 

Step-By-Step Guide:

Step 1: To begin I painted all nails in a base of a pale blue shade. I applied two coats in order to achieve an opaque base as some of the blue will show through surrounding the flowers.

Step 2: The next step once the base coats have dried is to create the outline of the flowers. I used the light pink shade and a dotting tool to achieve this.

Step 3: Next I took a pink/purple shade and dotted this randomly around the flowers to create some detail.

Step 4: Next I took a dark pink and again using the dotting tool spread this randomly around the nail in any gaps. I also tried to make sure that the majority of the edging of the flowers were surrounded by the dark pink colour.

Step 5: Next using the two green shades and the dotting tool I created the leaves in gaps around the flowers. 

Step 6: The final step once all other varnishes are dry is to paint all nails in a layer of top coat. This will prevent chipping and even out the top layer of the nail. 

I really hope you have enjoyed this photo! If you recreate this look yourself be sure to tweet me @samantha_helen5 or tag me in a photo on instagram @samantha_helen5! Also if you have any ideas for future nail arts let me know I love new ideas! 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you come back again soon! Samantha x