Retail Therapy

Hi hi!

You know, those days, when nothing seems to go right... and on top of all that... it is that time of the month. Well, then, retail therapy is the only thing that works. Too bad I'm broke, so I had to mostly do some shopping by proxy (a really good low-budget retail therapy approach) with my sister. She had just come back from abroad and needed a whole new wardrobe. YAY! 

So to primark we went, and shopped 'till we dropped. And by 'we', I of course mostly mean her. But I was fortunate enough to find really cheap shoes, that I've had my eyes on since forever! I was never able to afford them, but these totally fake ones were cheap and CUTE! And even kinda comfy, in the sense that they don't hurt ;)

Here they are, my beauties :D 

They are caramel coloured wedge sneakers. They make my legs look longer! Since I am somewhat of a shortie, that is a welcome effect in the land of longshanks :D I'm so happy with them! Writing about them makes me even happier, so retail therapy has hereby proven its worth.

Oh, I hauled some more goodies, nail art related! Something I had been looking for everywhere, and I finally found it! 

CAVIAR! And a much much cheaper kind :) W7 put them on the market as Magic Beads and here they sell them for only 6 euros <3 <3 <3

I bought the black and the silver caviar, since I thought they would serve me best in nail art. They come with black and silver polish, respectively. There is also a multicoloured pack of caviar, it comes with a bottle of clear polish, but since I was being a sinner, I thought buying 2 out of 3 was already kinda bad..

But, I already used them on my moms nails, and they are AWESOME! So no regrets. The result of that will be on the blog tomorrow. 

I'm going to sleep now, nightnight!!

xoxoxo

Captain Lothwen

The Mani Crew

So Captain has been going crazy with the mani posts so far... I figure we could use a technical side to the whole whooptie-doo ;) Ladies and Gents, I give to you, the Nail Art Tools!

First off we have the "Ordinary Bobby Pin", known to appear in places throughout your everyday life when you need it the least, while cunningly absent any time your hair is in dire need of restraining. However, once you've captured and tamed this wild tweep, it will help you perform countless beginner designs, all by itself! It can be used as one of the most key members of your Mani Crew, a.k.a. The Dotting Tool.

You can also obtain a more professional looking one for better grip, comfort, and control, much like the once Captain has acquired. Also nice when you have different ball size ends, as shown in the picture, but not entirely necessary. Quite handy when handling tiny stones to embed with finishing touches of designs as well.


Next we have the "Pointy Brush", which was made from a short haired regular art brush, and trimmed as to make it as pointy as possible.


A handy nail polish to have, by the way, is the Stripers. As in, "stripes". Not "strippers" as in girls going nude (sorry guys). But these sexy polishes come with an ultra thin brush, which will assist you in making the meanest, thinnest lines you need. Recommended in basic colors especially, like black or white.

For the microscopic dots you want in your design, we call to our hero, the "Toothpick". Brought to you in it's warm woody texture. Go trees!


Another handy group is the pill strips, otherwise known as the "Meds Beds". Mix and match colors as necessary without wasting your preciously beautiful nail polish; it's just like a miniature art pallet!

You will always come across tough scrubs in the world of manis. Q-tips will save your day! Cheap, yet handy these little "Q-ties" are; just soak up a bit of nail polish remover into the cotton to get the tiny-but-visible-and-thus-bothersome polish residue from the edges of your nails. A sophisticated version can be found in some drug stores, under the name of "nail polish corrector pencil"....


And last but not least, the "Virgin Cutting Board". Nope, its never been or will be touch by any knives, but will stay immaculately scratch-less as it is who keeps the game on stable grounds. Use this as a working table, and you will not have to worry about messes, or even not having a desk to work on --- this IS the desk!

Well, hope you enjoyed some technical tips in this section. After all, it is a DIY-ish blog ;)
This was the Mani Crew, brought to you by Manis and Makeovers.
Thanks for visiting :) Over and out!

xoxoxo Lieutenant & Captain

In the Jungle, the Swirly Jungle...

So here we both are, procrastinating on this snowy Monday, showing you Captain's second water marble ever, an all green one! 

Lieutenant came up with an appropriate name for this design, hence the title! I used Catrice "ACid/DC" and "After Eight" (the lightest and darkest green, respectively), NYC "High Line Green" and a bright dark green polish from HEMA. I topped it off with some matt topcoat from HEMA. You can get countless water marble tutorials on YouTube, to see how it's done. All you need is a plastic cup with water, a toothpick, some tape to prevent the polish from getting all over your finger, and nail polish! Preferably new, good liquid ones, they are the easiest to work with.

I first did this more than a year ago, with pink shades, which looked very candy-like:

So there you go! Hope you guys like it! Comments, suggestions and requests are highly welcome!

xoxoxo

Lieutenant and Captain