Prettifying the world one nail at a time.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Sassy Classy Latte

Hello lovelies!

An übershort post today, I have to study. I did a simple mani on my right hand. Yesterday, I painted my nails with a nude, it's very pretty! It is "Iced Latte" from Essence. I love how it's nude, but pink and special! But after one day, they had to be styled up! What I did on my left hand, I will show you tomorrow, but my right hand needed to be simple, of course. 



I painted the tips with my black striper from Etos, and then I took out my striper brush and added lines of Catrice "Oh My Goldness!" Added a sealing topcoat from Essence and done! 

This is the nude alone:






Until tomorrow, 
xoxoxo

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Hestia

Hiiiii!

We're back with another goddess. It's Hestia, goddess of home and hearth. The first offering at every sacrifice in a household, went to her. Her symbol is, surprise, fire. Hence fire is on my nails now!

This picture was taken in diffuse daylight.

I started with a layer of Bourjois "Rouge in Style", and on the accent nail, I also applied one coat of W7 "Red Dazzle", as can be seen here:

This picture was taken in artificial light.

Then I saran marbled with Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours gold. With my striper from Etos, I freehanded the outline of the flames on my accent nail, and since it is my right hand, that is shown here, I had to do it with my left (which still has Hygieia on it, with the pretty snake, that I just could NOT remove yet ;) ). I'm sorta proud of my left hand for drawing this while shaking BADLY! 
Then I added some more Red Dazzle to the accent nail, in the center of the flames, to make it more fiery!

And that's it :) We'll continue the Goddesses until the end of February (so Thursday) :)

xoxoxo
Captain

Monday, February 25, 2013

Golden Oldie: Monster Marble


Hello there!

Before we continue with our Goddesses, I'd like to share a golden oldie. I absolutely love green, and in this mani, I used various greens to try out a new marbling technique that I heard of.
I used Catrice 'King of Greens' and 'ACid/DC' on a base of Rimmel 'Black Out'. I first painted 2 coats of black out, let them dry and then added another coat and quickly some drops of the greens. Then I dragged out the polishes with a needle. One really wants to have new polishes for this, because it's best if they are very liquid, otherwise one will end up with big gloopy blobs, like I did. And that takes forever to dry! I added some glitter to add some sparkle, with Essence 'Circus Confetti'. This is the result:


Sorry for the bad photo quality, couldn't get good lighting.
Now even though it all came out blobby, I still liked it, it was like there were weird monsters on my nails :) It did take forever to dry, though.

Tomorrow I hope to have another goddess for you! 

xoxoxo
Captain




Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hygieia

Dear followers,

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I didn't get to finish my mani yesterday! It's done now, and I hope you like it! 

This mani is inspired by Hygieia, Goddess of Health, Cleanliness and Sanitation. As you probably see, this is where we got the word 'hygiene'. She was one of the daughters of Asclepius, god of medicine. She is often depicted with a snake, symbol of health (which is still visible in many signs of pharmacies, health care institutions and so on..). 

When I think 'clean', I think 'white' and 'silver'. So I started off this mani with a white base, using white long lasting polish of Etos, which is like white-out on your nails, it's awful. Then I saran marbled with W7 silver polish. I finished the design with some W7 caviar, arranging it in a snake form. I used some gold glitter from my Essence Nail Art Kit.

It ended up like this!




























Comments and suggestions are very welcome!

xoxoxo 
Captain Lothwen

Friday, February 22, 2013

Sister Art Deco

Hello beauties!

Today I'd like to share a special mani I did a while back, on my mom and her sisters' nails. They were all "aahh nooo, nothing too flashy, I have to be able to go to work with them, I have no nail polish remover, I'm scared, ok I'll do it but YE BE WARNED!" Of course I never intended to make them look trashy in the first place, and I know very well that older women cannot walk around with flashy designs! So DUH! Hahaha! But I got them all to sit down one after the other and I painted their nails. SO MUCH FUN!
I wanted a warm but vibrant colour base. So that's where Essence "Gorgeous Bling Bling" comes in! (And OMG, gorgeous it sure is! This top pic was taken in direct sunlight, look at that bling!) 
I did a simple art deco-like design in gold (from Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours) with my striper brush from Essence, which makes the nails look stylish and special, without being bang!
This is the result:





They liked it :) Me happy!!

xoxoxo
Captain

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Demeter

Hey lovely followers!

First, we would like to extend our gratitude to you guys! Thank you so much for following, it is so nice that what we love doing, is appreciated by others!

Now, for the next goddess, we have Demeter! The goddess that presided over harvest and the fertility of the earth. Her greatest gift to humankind was that of grain and agriculture. So with harvest, we were thinking autumn colours, and with some grain:



We applied two coats of Catrice "Yellow Submandarine" and marbled with "Copper Cabana". The grain was added with the black striper from Etos. The hand model is one of our sisters, who crashed at the Captain's place two nights ago :) That's always fun! And since she's moving abroad soon, for a year, it was really nice :) 

See you tomorrow, with Hera! Still working on that design, though ;)


xoxoxo
Lieutenant & Captain

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Athena

Whoohoo! Athena's here!

Athena, or Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and art and law and war strategy. The wise owl accompanies her on her many journeys.
With wisdom, my mind springs to blue. And being just and strategic screams silver to me :P So here it is!


I first started with a layer of Essence "Midnight Date". It is opaque in just one layer :D Well done Essence! And it's such a gorgeous colour... Bright blue, with a greenish shimmer (that sadly wouldn't be captured on camera). 

Then I saran marbled (for a video tutorial, check out Kat's most recent video!) with W7 "Silver".




It came out all gorgeous and shimmery :D Of course her favourite animal cannot be left out, so I used my pink striper of Janet to draw it on, and I used two little rhinestones from Essence for the eyes.




What do you think?

xoxoxo
Captain

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Artemis

Hello lovelies!
The marbled goddess manis were very well received! Such sweet reactions from people :) <3
The Lieutenant wanted Artemis nails, so Artemis nails she got!
Artemis, goddess of wildlife, the hunt and the moon.. She was tricked by her twin brother to kill her only love, Orion, who she then made immortal by placing him in the heavens with her favourite dog Sirius.
So we were thinking green and gold and moon:
We used Catrice "Oh My Goldness" and Essence "A Walk in the Park" for the marble (2 coats of OMG first, it is not very opaque). Then we added an accent on the ring finger with some W7 magic beads, the caviar dupe Captain recently acquired :D
What do you think? Athena is still work in progress, as in the marbling is done, but the accent still needs to be added. Stay tuned!

Xoxoxo
Lieutenant & Captain

Monday, February 18, 2013

Aphrodite

Hi beauties!

I promised you another marble mani and here it is! These are my friends nails that got marbled the day after a jolly good girls' night out :) 



I used Catrice "Copper Cabana" and Rimmel "Black Out". Since I was thinking yesterday about greek goddesses, this seductive mani screamed Aphrodite!

Does anyone have a combination in mind for a marble I should try out?

xoxoxo
Captain 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Greek Goddess

Hello!!

Sorry for posting nothing yesterday! I did manage to do my nails and my friend's nails, and I will show you hers tomorrow. These are mine, hers are even more stunning!

I did a saran wrap mani with Essence "Love's Recipe" and "Blues of Being Cool". After that dried completely (the next day, in my case ;) ), I did a tape mani with some Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours gold (211357):


It adds an extra chiqueness, and the marble and gold reminded me of greece and temples and stuff. So there it was, a Greek Goddess mani!

My friend got marbled too... Stay tuned for here nails tomorrow! If you can't wait, there's a sneak peak on instagram (@manismakeovers).

xoxoxo
Captain





Friday, February 15, 2013

Last Minute VDay Mani - Marbled Love

Hey hey, Happy Valentine's Day!


I'm sure it's still Valentine's Day on some continents now, so it's completely legit for me to post this last minute VDay mani! I was in such a lovely mood after winning Herôme's VDay Nail Art Contest! So my friend had to undergo a fiery love mani. I wanted to keep it relatively simple, since there wasn't a lot of time and we were also watching "How To Train Your Dragon", which might have had something to do with the fire ;) (Excellent movie btw!)

This is the result - Marbled Love:




I did a saran wrap mani with Bourjois "Rouge In Style" and Rimmel "Black Out", freehanded a heart on the basecoat (Rimmel "5in1 Nail Treat") with a black striper from Etos, and then added glitters from my Essence Nail Art Kit "Designer for a Day". Topcoated everything and voilà: A Sexy Valentine's Mani :)

Hope you like it!

xoxoxo
Captain

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Guy Cuts (version 2)

Hello again!
And here we have victim #2, Mrrrrrr. Blue!!


Hair type: Low flexibility, slight wave but strong curls but dependant on length (which is tough!!), each strand of hair is relatively thick.
Face structure: Thin, triangular shaped face, small jaw, square forehead with slight widow's peak.


Hair was growing out of control, with curls forming here and there... one of the tougher hair types, as it changes form depending on the length you cut it to, making it nearly unpredictable!!
So we decided, lets go short!!





So we start at the top


Flip the rest of the hair out of the way to do the sides, and trim around the ears carefully....


Now touching up so that we can blend the top portion back into the sides....



Finally, the fringe to bring it all together!



And done!!!





Crazy hair? Doesn't matter, mission accomplished!!

Questions/comments/suggestions are more than welcome :)
And many thanks to our two victims, Mr. Green and Mr. Blue!!

Until next time,
xoxoxo Captain & Lieutenant 

Guy Cuts (version 1)

Hey!
So a couple of dudes were starting to need a hair cut real badly, so the Captain and I went on a cutting spree!!

Truth is, short hair, grows SOOO fast, and salon trips just drain money outta your wallet like coins in a holey pocket :S and good boys get their hair cut about every 3 months...
(Every 6 weeks :P)

So here goes! Grab a partner, and cut your hair at home, save that cash and go spend it on a girl ;)
You will need: A pair of medium sized scissors, comb, water spraying bottle, and a razor. Will likely save you a lot of trouble to have a plastic sheet to cover your shoulders, and if you don't have something like it, perhaps a giant garbage bag.

First of our victims, here we have Mr. Green.
Hair type: Soft, slight wave, each hair is relatively thin.
Face structure: Slightly round, base shaped jaw, squarely broad forehead.
Cute as he was, this one needed a hair cut.

First, comb out any knots, then spray the hair with some water so that the strands flow together. Comb through the hair once its wet again so you can bring out the general direction the hair flows for this person. (Not so difficult here, since his hair seems quite straight, but will be more important for people with curly hair).



Then split the hair into the general portions below. The front part which is the bangs/fringe/pony (whatever you like to call it), the sides that come around the ears, the back, and the top portion. You can say the front and sides will be the most important part of the look, as they will frame the face, and can really save your look later if you screw up on cutting the rest of the hair.... but we'll get around to that ;)
As nervous as it may make you feel, start at the top section; this will be your guiding length you will be adjusting to throughout the rest of your cut. (But remember to leave the bangs/fringe/pony untouched for the moment). Comb up a top section, take only as much as it will fit on your comb in one stroke, then hold that strand up firmly perpendicular to the head ---- then snip away to desired length!

One basic thing to keep in mind when cutting:
ALWAYS GO FOR LONGER than shorter. You can always cut more later, but you can't put cut strands back :P

When you've got the top portion done, then move on to the bottom portion. Line up the comb in a slant, and cut towards the length of the top hairs you had previously cut, so that they will easily blend.




A nice trick to check if the hairs are being cut equally is to fluff it up like this! It will only work for some types of hair though, so try it out ;)

For stray hairs along the neck, you can use a razor to shave off, to freshen the look of your back hairline (if desired).

We went for a slight top-heavy look to enhance the "length" of the face, which may be desirable for people with an originally rounder face structure. To bring the look together, we layered the top portion (bangs/fringe/pony) in double layer, in order to allow some "movement" to be seen, instead of it being flat and helmety.... The upper layer of the fringe also allows less weight on the top portion so it is easier for it to float upwards, helping to elongate the face, and in turn creating a sharper image. 
Once you have the top, back, and front portions cut, just cut the side portions to blend into everything.
And yeay! We're done!!

Sort of a long post, but thanks for reading!
xoxoxo Captain & Lieutenant 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Glitter Skittle


Hey lovelies!

So after my Carnival mani, I was in the mood for glitter. And my sweet sister brought me my first magnetic polish! So I had to try it out immediately. It's a maroon polish from Pieces. I heard it can be tricky in the beginning, so I tried it on two fingers first. And OH YES it's tricky, alright! I got it to work on half a finger, hahahaha! You can see this in the picture. The rest of the nails I covered in Rimmel "Black Out" and I added various glitters, namely Essence "Circus Confetti" (with the large hexes) and "Copper'ize Me!" (the microglitter). 


Now I love this glitter bomb! Whoohoo! And every nail is different, can't stop looking at it!

Who else loves skittles?

xoxoxo
Captain

Oriental Blues

Hi hi hi! 
So, Captain's cousin likes BLUE :) But she didn't want her nails to be all cute and girly. But I did want it to be feminine. So I came up with this:



OK looking back, I could've done a better job, with the neatness of the stripes and all. But we were on the clock, the carnival parade was about to start! 
The blue is Essence "The Boy Next Door". The terracotta coloured polish with the pretty shimmer and glass flecks is Essence "Gorgeous Bling Bling". The black stripes are done with my Etos striper and the dots were placed using a nail art striper/pen from Primark, a new acquisition of mine.
I love how the bright blue and earthy orange make this look oriental. 

What do you think?

xoxoxo
Captain



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Summer Field

Hi wonderful followers!

Sorry we didn't post yesterday, we didn't get the chance :(
We'd like to show you this lovely mani we did for Captain's second cousin :) It was inspired by the fact that we are longing for summer ;) It's kinda cold here! So we created Summer Field:




The green base is Catrice "King of Greens". The flowers were done using a dotting tool and Catrice "Heavy Metallilac", Rimmel "Sky High", Essence "Shopping Trip in Soho", "Kiss on top of a Rock" and "Little Miss Sunrise".

Also, Captain entered 2 nail art contests, one which she shared on facebook, the other is on instagram! This is the first time ever she did this, exciting!!!

Have a beautiful day <3

xoxoxo
Lieutenant & Captain





Sunday, February 10, 2013

Vintage Clown

Hi beauties :)

The parade was today. I decided to go for a simple mani, because I was having a headache and the fumes were getting to me ;)
I was inspired by clowns and dots and old photos I had seen at an exhibition on the history of carnival in my home village. 
This design I have seen on various fellow bloggers' nails, and I decided to do it with these odd colours, for a twist and a typical clown costume design:




I used Essence "Little Miss Sunrise" for the yellow, Essence "A Walk in the Park" for the green, and a simple dotting tool. 
When I was half-way through this design, I didn't really like it. But when it was finished, it was so "in-your-face",  that I really liked. Perfect for Carnival :)

We had a lot of family over, and I did my cousin's nails, her daughter's, and my aunts' :) Will post them this week.

As you can see, I used my new photo editing apps on my phone (that one is supposed to use for instagram [@manisandmakeovers]), it's new to me, so totally addictive! Love it :)

xoxoxo
Captain