Strengthening Base Coat & Matte Nail Polish

 I've been posting a lot about "nail related" things recently but let's face it, I can't help it. ;) For years I've dismissed the idea of applying a base coat of some sort  under my nail polish. The time has past and my ideas on said subject have changed. Now I do think that a good base coat is just as important as the nail polish itself. My favorite base coat at the moment is Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment Strength. It stops nail polish from staining my nails as well as protects them from "yellowing". I think it is a good base coat but if you are looking for a miracle nail strengthener this is not it. To be honest I would much rather use natural ingredients to heal any nail problems rather than buying a chemical liquid and putting that on instead. To sum it up, this Sally Hansen product is a good base coat, not so much a nail treatment. 

All my ratings are out of ★★★★★

If I was to rate it I would give it: 

★★★

The other bottle on the right is Forever 21 Love & Beauty Matte. I got it in one of those stands right before the register. Now that I think about it, all Forever 21 nail polishes are right before the register, at least it's been the case with the ones I saw. Anyway, this is actually the only matte nail polish I own. It's not that I don't like a nice matte finish it's just hard to "make it work" as Tim Gunn would say (yup, I've been watching Project Runway). I do have to say that the quality of this particular polish is very good. Surprisingly, as I only paid 2 something dollars for it. The pigmentation and the consistency is amazing! I had to apply only 1 coat to get that deep green color, 1 coat!! When does that ever happen?! Not often. But again it's extremely hard to pull of matte. For example, this dark color can leave your nails looking dirty in a way. The beauty of matte is that you can really experiment with it and make a lot of cool designs. For example, you can paint your whole nail matte and then go over just the tip of the nail with a clear glossy polish. That's just one option and there are tons more!

Ok, so if I had to rate this polish, I would give it:

★★★★

This is all I wanted to say,

Thanks for reading,

Bye

My Favorite Brushes Of the month

Hey!

Before I start talking about these amazing brushes up top,  I just want to say that dancing in a 100 billion degree heat is probably not the smartest idea I have ever had. Do you know the song called Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera? I've actually heard this song when it first premiered on this show called The Voice. If any of you are familiar with American Idol it's kind of the same idea. Anyway, I didn't really get into the song at the time but today when I was driving with my friend she cranked up the song and I fell in love with it! So what do I do when I get home...I listen to that song again, though this time I awkwardly danced around to it. I don't think anyone saw, that would have been embarrassing! Now that I think about it, what was my point of saying this? Haha who knows, I sure don't. 

Also, I've changed my blog's header...again...I can't stop working on a project until I am completely happy with the results. I definitely like this header more than the last one and I do hope that It will stick around this place for a bit longer. OK enough of chittychattylalal, onto brushes!

BRUSHES:

So this month I have been on a huge brush kick! One day I spent 30 mins shampooing and conditioning all of my brushes. I promise I used the same shampoo and conditioner for my brushes as I normally use for my own hair! Isn't that crazy? Supposedly they will last longer this way. Or you can just use a special MAC brush cleanser, which does a much better job! http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/135/307/Brush-Cleanser/index.tmpl  The cleanser is $12 and I think it's definitely worth the money. Basically, my point is that disinfecting you make-up brushes is very important regardless of the way you do it. Anyway, I wanted to share with you my favorite brushes of the month, so here we go:

My LANCOME brushes came in a set (my birthday present from my mom) so I couldn't find a link to put for each brush. I also believe that this brush set was a limited edition product so I couldn't find the link to the brush set either. However, LANCOME sells similar brushes to the ones I talk about so I will link those here:

 http://www.lancome-usa.com/Brushes/makeup-brushes,default,sc.html

The LANCOME brushes I talk about have shorter handles, which I find perfect for traveling or just carrying around in my bag.



All of my ratings are out of ★★★★★


Counting from the left. 

1. LANCOME Lid Brush. This is very soft and dense brush. The bristles are also somewhat long so you get more "movement" when applying eyeshadow. I also noticed that it picks up the perfect amount of product. Rating: ★★★★

2. Elf Crease Brush. I actually got this last week at Target. Now, guess how much this brush is?!.... $1. Yup!  For the price that it is, this brush is pretty brilliant. I would say that the bristles aren't as soft as they could be but I promise that they are softer than what you would think you can get for one dollar. All in all I absolutely do not regret buying this. I want to mention that I am not affiliated with E.L.F. Cosmetics, my opinions of this as well as all other products I ever mention on my blog are 100% honest. Rating: ★★★★

3. LANCOME Foundation Brush. I actually find this brush too small to use on my entire face (it takes way too much time)  so I use it mostly as a concealer brush. Since the brush is slightly pointed it is super easy to really work with it and get the perfect coverage. The bristles are extremely dense and though they may look slightly rigid from the picture, they are actually very soft. In fact, all of the LANCOME brushes that I have tried so far are velvety soft! Sounds cheesy but is't true! In fact, the next brush is the softest one of them all. Rating: ★★★★

4.LANCOME Powder Brush. This brush is so ridiculously soft, it's literally the softest brush I have ever used (at least so far). I find it to be the perfect size for my face. Also, the bristles a somewhat  long and I know some people may not like that but I do. Did I mention this brush was soft? Rating: ★★★★★

5.LANCOME Angled Brush. This brush is perfect for contouring! The bristles on this one are  less dense and a little bit harsh yes still smooth. However, I actually think that that is what makes it a good contouring brush. With this one you can really make a precise, rather slim line. Rating: ★★★★

So that is all for my favorite brushes of the month. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
♥
Bye
 ♥

Color Personality Test (Blue, Green, Red or Yellow)

Hello! ♥

So, you are probably wondering what's this all about. Can't blame you, I would too. Don't

worry though, that's where I come in and tell you everything you need to know about

everything, well, pretty much... ;) Are you excited yet, are you excited yet?! Ok, so this is a 4 color, super fun and super easy personality test/game/question/quiz/thing/idk/yougettheidea! Companies around the world give this test to their employees to better understand their personalities.

Here are the steps to take it:

Step one: Pick your favorite color out of (blue, green, red or yellow)

Step two: Read about you personality type below.

Don't cheat! First you pick then you read!

Step three: (this is optional but very much encouraged) Have a fantastic day!

The End.

For any of you who are interested in my color rundown from "love" to "not so much", here it is:

Yellow

Blue

Red

Green

For me, yellow is just a happy color, which represents laughter and joy. I truly believe that the purpose of life is to be happy so yellow is my top pick. I love, love, love this color! The runner up is the ever so lovely blue. I think it is definitely a calm and peaceful color and that's exactly why I like it. Then I decided on the red. I do like this color but sometimes I feel as though it can be a bit too intense, but that's just me. And the last but not least is the green. Aww now I feel bad that I picked it last.. Guess which color shirt I am wearing today! Green. And guess what else? I actually really like the shirt itself and it's color. Anyway, let's start!

Blue Personality: Analyzer/Organizer

Traits:

Organized 

 Disciplined

 Precise

Thorough

Diplomatic with people

 Analytical 

Pays close attention to details

Perfectionist

Does not like change

Needs to feel accepted

Weaknesses: 

 Indecisive 

Hesitant to try new things

Sensitive to criticism

At times pessimistic 

Personal growth area:

 Be more open 

 Be more optimistic 

Green Personality: Helper/Supporter

Traits:

Supportive

 Agreeable

Loyal

Good listener

Shy

Consistent

Needs to feel appreciated 

Does not like conflicts

Values security, stability and personal relationships 

Weaknesses:

Resists change

Procrastinates 

Overly lenient 

Holds grudges 

Personal growth area:

 Facing problems and dealing with them

Taking more control/ being more involved 

Red Personality: Leader/Promoter:

Traits:

Makes quick decisions

Persistant 

Problem Solver

Self reliant

Able to face and deal with problems

Not consistent

Multi-tasker 

Wants to control the situation 

Weaknesses:

 Impulsive

Impatient

Inflexible

Slow to get over a failure 

Personal growth area: 

Flexibility, sensitivity and understanding  

Yellow Personality: Creator/Performer 

Traits:

 Optimist 

Enthusiast

Makes good impressions

Verbally articulate

 Likes to help others

Friendly

Does not like being controlled 

Talkative 

Needs positive reinforcement

Weaknesses:

Overestimates results

Talks too much

Jumps to conclusions

 Procrastinates

Personal growth area: 

Time awareness

Better decision making

I would also just like to say that not any single person is just one color. You might be one color dominant but at the same time have traits from other colors. I personally found my personality in every color! :)

Also, you can check out my Sally Hansen Inst-Dri TopCoat Review video on You Tube! :)http://www.youtube.com/yanairbe?feature=mhee#p/u/0/dVoKM93wDgg

I think this is it!

Thanks for reading!

Bye

DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde FREE nail polishes

DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde FREE nail polishes! Also know as the 3 free nail polishes.

Arranged in alphabetical order.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Butter London (3 Free Nail Polishes) 

China Glaze

CND

Essie

Hard Candy 

NARS

O.P.I. (including Nicole and Sephora by O.P.I.) 

Orly (This is also Formaldehyde Resin free)

Sally Hansen 

Sinful Colors (great O.P.I. dupe!) 

Piggy Polish

Zoya (This is also Camphor free)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Please note: just because I didn't include a certain brand does NOT mean that it produces nail products containing the 3 (above listed) chemicals. I just picked my favorite/most used brands!

As I was reading about ancient make-up the other day I discovered this. Did you know that they used to use lead, poisonous mercury and belladonna as make-up ingredients back in the day? By "back in the day" I mean hundreds of yeas ago of course, not like last month haha. This got me thinking, is there anything in our make-up bags today that might be considered harmful tomorrow? The first thing I could think of was nail polish. Does anyone else get bothered by the "oh so familiar" nail polish smell btw?.. So I did a little research and found that there are 3 toxic chemicals that are still used in some nail polishes today! Are [insert your favorite color here] nails really worth poisoning ourselves? Apparently so. I hope at least some of you thought to yourselves "no, no they're not". I did anyway... But here is the thing, I can't give up using nail polish altogether, though that seems like the easiest solution. Well, you know, I'm not going to take the easy way out. So the above list is the result of me researching nail polishes and their ingredients. While I was researching away I realized that I've heard some ingredients in my Chem AP class but I had no idea what they were...should have listened better..hope my teacher isn't reading this. Anyway, I didn't need to know all of the ingredients because I was just looking for the 3 "bad" ones. And of course some companies like Essie mentioned that their nail polishes were "DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde free" quite often, which I though was a great marketing strategy. I highly recommend checking for the 3 toxic ingredients before putting your nail polish on. Think about it, is that color really worth your health? Nah. 

♥

Bye

Something To Tell You

Hello everyone who's reading this! 

♥

So a few days ago I decided to move my blog around a bit. When I say: "a bit", I mean a lot. Basically I changed my blog's url until of course I realized that it was a horrible idea and then I immediately changed it back. If I had left the blog on the second url, all of the google links to my blog through that url would have been a friendly "Error 404". Nothing friendly about errors. Just kidding I make errors all the time...haha... Anyways so I apologize to anyone who couldn't find my blog. It wasn't you it was me. Sowwy.  I promise no messing around with my url! 

I also changed the design of my blog! I went a little crazy with feathers but I spent a whole day, as in 12 hours, drawing them! It's not as easy as it looks!! But I didn't give up..awww! And yess I did aww myself..haha OK moving on!

 You can now follow this blog in 3 ways : 

1. with bloglovin'

2. with google friends connect

3. by e-mail 

Following just means that you will know when I post a new post. I just realized that I don't really like using the word follow.. maybe a better way to say this is subscribe? 

In other news, I started my own YouTube channel! :D So far I only have two videos on there but I will be uploading a video every one or so days. My user name is yanairbe and you can click on it if you would like to check out my channel! I will be posting videos about fashion, beauty, make-up, tutorials etc. etc. It's actually really fun and I am enjoying it so much. So if you want to see me in a video format, "I be chillin' on YouTube" :)

This summer is going awesome, love you summer!  Anyone agrees with me?! I hope everyone does! Though I am going to be that person and say two negative things about summertime. I just need to let it off my chest. I'll be fast. Number one is the heat, it's way-way-way too hot.. oh how I wish the green house effect didn't exist.. boo pollution! And the last thing, number two is the bug situation. There are just too many bugs, too many! I'm a girl, girls don't like bugs, I don't like bugs. Then again, my first problem can be solved with a fan or an ac, and the second problem can be solved with some bug spray...

Woooot summertime!? I think so:)

P.S. I didn't forget to show you the cute way of how I store my nailpolish but unfortunately I can't do it in this post.. maybe in the next one? IDK we will see I guess!

So I'm going to sign off with a photo of me trying to pose. Haha I think I just look angry! #fail
♥
Anyway,
thanks for reading,
goodbye
♥

Hello!

This is just a random post.. I've been redecorating my room for two days now! Exciting :) I woke up one day (yesterday) and decided that I needed to move some furniture around, so I did.  And I've been doing all of that in a bigillion-trillion-million-cuzillion degree temperature. Is anyone else experiencing a massive heatwave? Haha my room is so hot my pencil eyeliners started to melt..I'm not kidding!! I feel like ACs are really bad for the environment so I decided to try and live without one for this summer. So far so good! Also, I found the cutest way to store nail polish! The cutest! I will have to show it to you guys!

Bye ♥ 

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Best Drugstore Liquid Eyeliner (Video)

Hey Guys! Check out this short video I did on my favorite liquid eyeliners!! Anyway, hope you like it! Ohh and it is actually available in HD so you can watch it in crispy clear haha
Byee