Photo Shoots ~ Mike Watt

Photographer ~ Mike Watt

MUA ~ Leonie Ballantine

Models ~ Francesca Martino

               ~ Amanda Jane Herries

               ~ Leonie Ballantine

Photo shoots I have done with the amazingly talented Mike Watt .

There are many more images to be added to this slide show, So keep an eye out & come back regularly.

So it's been awhile...

Hey there!

It's been awhile since my last post here.... over a year actually, & alot has happened in that time.

I have created a photo blog with another blog service & see if I could continue here... lot's of pictures to view & not very much reading for everyone.

So here go's... I hope you enjoy!

Amigurumi scruffy cat

Hey there!

I know I haven't blogged much lately, the whole Christmas, New Years Celebrations kind of distracted me, Oh! & my birthday was in all that to. Beauty has been a little quiet over the last month for the same reasons & what work I have had has been alot of waxing, my clients don't really want to have their body parts put on the internet. So in my spare time I have been concentrating on my other obsession, amigurumi. I'm going to put the pics up first & explain at the bottom, I hope you like it!

 

 

 

 

How cute is this???

Where do I start.... Well after my success with all the amigurumi Christmas presents, my brother wanted something super cute to give to his girlfriend for Valentines day (you know a generic teddy bear from a department store). So I suggested that I make something for her... & this is the result. It's a very cute scruffy cat inspired by a cat we have named Megs. Megs is unbelievably soft & loves to be combed. My brothers girlfriend can't resist Megs cuteness & always gives in to combing her. I can't wait to see her face when she see's it. He or she doesn't have a name yet, I don't like to name creatures if they are going to be gifts for someone, I like to leave it up to them.

Anyways, I used a mixture of Flurry & Jazz yarn from Spotlight. The legs are teddy bear jointed so they move & can be posed (I wanted it to be able to sit, stand & lay on it's back) the legs also have pipecleaners through them to be bendable. Stuffed with polyfill & the eyes are custom made with polymer clay, the paws are embroidered with pink yarn (there is also a belly button).

This was a huge challenge but so worth it & I enjoyed every moment of making it. I am going to put these little guys on my amigurmi website for purchasing as a custom made to order item. If your interested click here

I want to say a huge Thank you to June at planetjune for having the tutorials on her website, if it wasn't for you I would have had a very frustrating time trying to work with these yarns.

Check out her site, it's amazing!

click here

Bye for now! 

Beauty Tips & Tricks - Toothpaste

Hey There!

 As I have mentioned before we all try to find inexpensive ways to keep up our beauty routines & I have discovered heaps of useful tricks you can do with toothpaste.

• First of all it's primary use is to clean your teeth.
• You can clean tarnished jewellery, but don't do this to often as it is very abrasive & cause damage to your jewellery.
  
• You can use it to calm down sore &  inflamed pimples, the menthol helps kill the bacteria & cools the inflammation. I have been know to use this trick often as occasionally I get these type of pimples & nothing else works to get rid of them.
• The best trick of all is that it takes away excess fake tan & spray tan off. When I do spray tans I always get it on my hands, they always have brown marks on them (I should wear gloves). At the end of the day I rub some toothpaste on them & they become all nice & clean again. After you have had a spraytan on for awhile (around 10 days) parts of it will exfoliate off sooner than other parts of your body. Toothpaste will take off these spots & your are ready for your next spraytan which will be flawless now that your skin is smooth & exfoliated.

I will add more to this when I discover them but if you have some usefull tips for toothpaste I'll add them & make sure you get the credit for it. I hope you enjoyed.

Bye for now!

Amigurumi

Hey There

A few years ago I asked my mum to to teach me how to crochet, but found that making clothes & other out dated looking items were very boring. Most of the time I wasn't happy with the result & half way through a project I would loose interest & pull it apart. I have ended up with a box full of all different kinds of yarn/wool & not known what to do with it. Until about a year ago I discovered amigurumi the japanese art of crocheting toys & stuff. So I taught my self how to do it with the 1000's of free patterns you can find on the internet. It has taken alot of practice & patience for me to be happy with a finished project. I can now create original toys & write my own patterns so my family & friends will get some really cool gifts in the future. I have some finished amigurumi's that I gave as Christmas presents that I would like to share with you. They are free patterns I have found from other amigurumi artists I have changed them a little but they still look like the originals. There will be a link for the patterns if you would like to try them out for yourself as I can not take any credit for creating them.

What came first!.... The Chicken or the Egg!

 

 The egg hatches!

 

Into a cute fluffy Chick.

 This was a gift to my mum because she has chickens & although she doesn't like chicken related noveties I just couldn't resist making this, he now sits near the monitor of her computer.This is a very easy project & it only took me about an hour to make. You make the egg then make the chick & attach them at the base so that it becomes reversible.

The pattern is available from here

http://irkachan.blogspot.com/2009/05/que-fue-primero.html

 The Monkey King

How cool is this!

I am part of the generation that grew up watching an unforgettable Asian TV show with a monkey king on a spiritual journey fighting bad guys along the way & flying around on a cloud. Has this just brought back some memories for you? I know it did for me when I found this pattern. If you have no idea what I am rambling about don't worry everyone will tell you all about it if you make one of these guys. Anyways... This was a gift for my brother purely for nostalgic reasons, he loved it! It took me about 2 days to make & was a little challenging as there were some techniques I wasn't used to but nothing to complicated for me to give up on finishing it.

The pattern is available here

http://irkachan.blogspot.com/2009/10/el-rey-mono-patron-gratis.html

Both of these projects are from the same creator & she is very talented, I will be keeping an eye on her blog for future patterns. I have heaps more projects in the works & will post them when I take pics of them. If you have any questions email me & I'll answer as soon as I can.

I hope you enjoyed this & give these patterns ago.

Bye for now!

Acrylic toe nails

Hey there!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post...... sorry! It really does seem like the month of December goes fast, with Christmas shopping and all the other things that go along with it. I really like to make christmas pressies to give to people so I have been learning how to do crochet amigurumi. Amigurumi is the japanese art of crocheting small animals and toys, not those frilly lacey doilies that grannies make. There are heaps and heaps of free patterns on the internet where you can learn how to do it and I have been practising every spare moment I can get so that my friends and family will get really cool cute gifts this year. When I'm finished making all the pressies I will post some photos for you all to see.

Anyways.... Beauty therapy stuff for this post is a ten year old girls fingernails painted with the colours mermaid from artistry and swoosh from nocti.

Her favorite colours are blue and green so we started with a basecoat of white nail polish, then painted the nails blue green alternating and finished them with topcoat to keep them shiny. Tip: Use a white basecoat to make light colours brighter, this trick works really well with neon, fluros and jelly polishes.

Permanent nail polish that grows out. We have used dual system nail forms on the nails so that the coating of coloured acrylic will be even over the entire nail plate and really shiny. They will last about 4 weeks before they need to be refilled, sometimes even longer because every ones toenails grow at different rates. I did have a little bit of trouble (only because I can be a little impatient) when I was applying these, the acrylic took a long time to set and was very flexible. It's a bit of a shame the pic doesn't show how green these nails came out they are very close to neon green and look amazing!

Thank you to my beautiful clients for letting me post photos of them & sharing their treatments with everyone, I really appreciate your kindness.

Merry Christmas to everyone & a fantastic New Year!

Bye for Now!

The Christian Louboutin Manicure

Hey there!

 I saw this awhile back on a forum, it's called the Louboutin manicure. I know alot of you have seen it before but I still wanted to share this with you. I love the effect so much, that now I paint my nails with one colour & then use another colour underneath the nail. I have been know to have a very traditional white french on the surface of my nails & a bright hot pink on the underneath. For now his is the closest I will get to owning a pair of gorgeous Christian Louboutin Shoes but at least my nails look amazing.

My nails are already painted & I didn't want to take the polish off to show you how I did it, so for the sake of a tutorial I used my practice finger & a tip. Paint your nails with a base coat so that coloured polishes in the future won't stain your nails & a base coat will make coloured polish last longer.

I have used a very glossy black nail polish, this one I bought from a chemist for $2, I had only just noticed that it's Australian made. I wish I could find the supplier because you can almost get away with one coat. I have done two coats.

Paint underneath the nails with a red nail polish, this can be a little messy to do but don't worry the polish comes off your skin if you use a little but of cuticle oil when your nails are dry.  I have done two coats of a nocti colur called ketchup, I bought this one 7 years ago while working in a beauty salon.

China Glaze make a duo of nail polish called the Lubu manicure if you would like to get the authentic colours.  I have read that for a short time, some of Christian Louboutin shoes were available with baby blue soles. For the tradition of "something blue" for bride-to-be, they were only available by special order, & due to trademark issues production was stopped. Wouldn't you love to own a pair of those???

Now I know what colour my next Lubu manicure will be!

Make sure to cap the free edge with the black polish. I have found you get a cleaner finish if you do this after painting the red underneath. Finish your nails with a top coat.

Another tip..... when you have finished & your polish is completely dry, buff your nails very lightly with a sponge buffer or block buffer & paint on another coat of top coat. This gets rid of any imperfections on the surface of the nail & makes them super glossy. You could forget about the second coat of top coat & just leave them matte, That looks pretty cool to.

All done!!!

Ok, so you've had your nails painted for a couple of days now & they are looking a little tired & not as shiny & new as they did when you first painted them, and you really can't be bothered or don't have the time to take the polish off & paint them all over again. Give them a light buff & coat of top coat.... Ta Da! beautiful nails again.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Bye for now!

Temptu Airbrush Make-up

Hi there!

Well! it's been an interesting week. The weather here has become unbelievably hot & humid which means the wet season is on it's way & we will have monsoonal down pours. My heart goes out to everyone that is experiencing heat waves down south.

This last week has been High school formals, graduations, evening facials & body treatments & to top it all off I'm training in internet marketing & advertising.... phew!

One of my make-up girls has agreed to let me post a pic of her into my blog so everyone can see how she looked for her graduation. ( Thanks Gabby!)

Excuse the fake smile... Gabby has a beautiful smile but when you point a camera at her & ask her to smile she pulls this fake one. She wanted to have a natural look & still have the appearance of wearing make-up. My picture isn't the clearest because I carry a 2mp camera around with me just incase someone lets me use a pic of them.

Make-up is applied with an airbrush, which provides a flawless even look over the skin.
A look can be managed by adding more layers of airbrush makeup to create a more dramatic effect.
Airbrush makeup is the longest-lasting makeup type, with the average durability of 16 hours--although it can last up to 20 hours.  It is also sanitary, because the wand never touches the skin.
For this reason, airbrush makeup can be used on multiple people without having to sterilize application instruments.

Temptu's premier S/B Foundation is the highest quality Silicone-based formula on the market.
Although designed to be applied with an airbrush, S/B is blendable makeup that can also be applied by fingertips, brush or sponge.  The natural properties of silicone impart a soft-focus that radiates a healthy and youthful glow on any skin type.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me!

There's also a demo of  Temptu airbrush make-up on Youtube if you'd like to check it out.

Bye for now!

Acrylic Nail In-fill Tutorial

Hi there!

Finally In-fill time.... Yippee!

First I have to tell you about this. They are shimmer additives for acrylic. I am so happy I found them, I thought I had lost them forever. Once again they were in a box of "Where did I put that?".  I bought these when I was in beauty school ( that was 10 years ago!)  Acrylic has change alot in the last 10 years & you had to add your effects into the acrylic powder if you wanted something really cool & different. Now you can buy all sorts of pre-mixed acrylic powders with sparkles, glitter & stuff! But at the time this is what you had to do.

Start from top left.  White Shimmery Rainbowy powder, Dark Pinky Shimmery Powder, Bronze Shimmery Powder, Gold Shimmery Powder, White Rainbowy Glitter Sticks, Peachy Pink Shimmery Powder, Sliver Shimmery Powder, White Rainbowy Glitter. They don't have any cool names like acrylic powders do now just code numbers. These powders aren't acrylic they are additives so when you use them you have to mix them with acrylic powder for them to work.

I have made a custom colour for my In-fills out of White Shimmery Rainbowy, White Rainbowy Glitter Sticks and French white.

Before I get to carried away let's get to the tutorial

This is what I have used.

I'll start from top left, in the little bottle with the white lid I have made a custom colour for my french tips. Next I make little aluminium bowls by moulding the foil over a nail polish bottle lid ( I'll have to show you how I do that one day) to put the custom colour in. The sliver jar is Acrylic liquid ( monomer). My personally marked Dual System Nail Forms ( I have marked each L & R, & which finger they go on.... that's another tutorial to show you).  My acrylic brush, Some paper towel to wipe the brush. Not pictured a nail file & some top coat.

It is very important to prep your hands & nails before you start. Wash your hands thoroughly, Use an antibacterial product on your hands & nails also. Push back & tidy up your cuticles, this is really important to stop lifting so take the time to do this properly.

I have already done this step, I've also filed down the acrylic & used a nail drill/file to take away the bulk from my free edge. You can also see that I've taken off my ring (number 4L) acrylic nail. I seem to always have problems with this acrylic nail (on both hands) with really bad lifting so every now & then I re-do the whole nail.

If you can see in the pic where the acrylic has grown out on my index (number 2L) finger, where the luna (moon at the cuticle) is. It may not look like it's grown that much but as I keep saying I get impatient & do them as soon as I can.

Side view of nails prepped & filled. Next is to use an anti-bacterial wipe (Sani Cleanse) on the nails. Then apply adhesion enhancer to the nails. The acrylic products I use doesn't need primer just adhesion enhancer. (Sorry no pic of this step)

 

Apply the custom french colour into the Dual system nail forms. I have marked the mould on the other side before hand so I know where to put the french smile line. I normally do my french a little less curved but I thought I'd try a deeper smile line this time.

Both sets done with the custom french colour & ready to put the pink acrylic in the nail bed & apply to the nail. I haven't got any pics of me doing this as you have to work really fast & I need an extra set of hands to put the acrylic in the mould, apply to the nail & take a pic all at the same time.... Sorry!

 

Dual System Nail Forms applied to my left hand & waiting for them to set. The black mark at my smile line is my guide for where to put the french acrylic.

The moulds can be applied all the way up to the cuticle to have a seamless finish.

Side view of my left hand. The acrylic takes about 3 minutes to set so while one hand is setting you can do the other hand.

Pop the moulds off, they really do come off very easily. See how shiny they are! There's no need to file & buff the surface of the nail because the mould makes them smooth & glossy.

Side view of my left hand.

File down the length & tidy up the sides. I've done only the left hand for this tutorial but you can see the right hand moulds ready to go in the background, notice the glare off the inside of the moulds? That's why you don't need to file & buff the surface of the nail...... what a shame it would be to ruin the shine by buffing the nail.

Apply a top coat to protect the acrylic & keep them supper shiny. The custom colour doesn't show in the pic that much but it adds a little something.

All done!.... How easy was that?

Now I have to do my right hand & because I have the moulds it is so much easier & my nails come out perfect every time.

I hope you enjoyed reading this tutorial & if you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Bye for now!