French Manicure Tutorial

Hey ladies!

Here's my once in a blue moon nails post! I did a french manicure on myself and it turned out amazing. I have a few tips for making sure you get that perfect white line on the tips and some badass looking nails. I did my manicure about 3 days ago and they still look absolutely perfect, no chips or dents!

I use my own nails, I never use fake nails and I never get them done at a salon, either. I do them myself at home. I've been having a bit of trouble lately with my nails being super brittle after I take off the old nail polish. I've used Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment once so far and it's actually made a pretty big difference on my nails. I waited over a week before I finally did them, and usually they would chip and tear pretty badly but that didn't happen this time after I used this product for the first time! I just hope that it works great in the long run. I'll update you as time goes on, but right now, I really like this product. I use it as a base coat only.

I use Rimmel's French Manicure Pro products. They aren't the most expensive nail polishes out there, but I find that they do the best job so far out of the products I've tried. I was not a fan of Sally Hansen's french manicure sets. I thought they were sub-par quality. The Rimmel nail polishes are really good and they last a long time. They have 2 different colors for the pink so you can choose between a more natural pink, or a more obvious pink. Each bottle is around 6$CAD.

I used Ciate's Speed Coat to seal in the polish. It was my first time using it and I'm very impressed that it dried my nails in only a few minutes, and that they were rock hard! I don't know how I lived without this before, but this is quickly becoming my favorite top coat.

Keep reading for the tutorial, a list of products used, and of course, pictures of my nails.


French Manicure Tutorial

Before starting, make sure you have done all your prep work, like nail filing, cuticle pushing, removing old polish, etc. If you have brittle nails, like, use Sally Hansen's Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment as a base coat. If your nails are fine, use Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro (I used to use this, but had to switch because the condition of my nails just kept deteriorating). Once they are dry, it is time to apply the white strip using Rimmel 110 French White Tip Pro. The trick to having a perfect line is to do the line all in one smooth stroke. Since the brush is tiny, I have to go back in and make sure the edge has polish. That will not affect your line, as long as you do it first in one long continuous stroke. That is the secret to having a perfect white tip. After they've dried, apply 2 coats of Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 130 French Lingerie. If you want a pinker nail, try 140 French Rose. After your last coat has dried, apply Ciate Speed Coat if you want your nails to dry fast and be rock hard. I used this and I'm in love. I can go to bed and not worry about my nails smudging! If you don't want to use a fast drying to coat, use Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro. So that's it, you should now have a perfect (or close to perfect) french manicure!




Products Used:

Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment

Rimmel French White Tip Pro in 110

Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 130 French Lingerie

Ciate Speed Coat

Other Products Mentioned:

Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro

Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 140 French Rose

The Manicure:

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed today's nail post. I find that the French Manicure is timeless. It looks good in any decade, any season. I like it because it makes my nails look nice and groomed, especially now that I've mastered the tricks. I do like Rimmel's nail products very much, but I bought some Essie nail polishes in their french manicure shades. I bought a whole bunch actually lol. I'm going to try out the Essie polishes the next time I do my nails and I'll compare the 2 manicures. I always hear great things about Essie nail polishes and I wanted to finally get on the bandwagon.

So what did you think of my nails? I'm so happy I finally got the hang of it. This is the first time I've had such picture perfect nails! What do you think of the Rimmel French Manicure polishes? Are you a fan of them or do you prefer Essie or OPI?? Let me know what your favorite shades for french manicures are in Essie polishes.

Tomorrow I might post my latest haul, but I don't want it to be show-off-y. I might only do just a tutorial instead using more new products.

Steph xo.

Shopping Haul #3

Hello glam girlies!!

I know I was supposed to do a post on my new MAC Veluxe Pearl Fusion Eyeshadow in Greenluxe but I had an extremely busy day yesterday. I decided to take a short nap and when I woke up it was 5am and my makeup was all over my face. So much for short nap. Hah. So I'll do the post tomorrow. I actually really like the palette, even more than I liked Smokeluxe. The palette doesn't scream bright green at you, which I take as a great thing, and is a darker olivey smokey green. The very last color at the bottom reminds me a lot of MAC's Club Eyeshadow. I got compliments on my eyes all day. I used all 5 shades because I wanted to try them all out. I'll redo this look and post it soon.

Today's post is a shopping spree post. It differs from my past shopping spree posts because it isn't solely makeup products. This time I have a bit of everything: makeup, nails, clothes, books, skincare. I'm going to organize this by category so this post isn't all over the place. Before I start, I know this can seem expensive but I do carry a lot of 10% cards and points cards to most of these stores. I also used coupons or redeemed points I had. If you shop at a particular store a lot, the best thing to do is to ask them if they have a points or 10% card or any kind of privilege card. And I'm also listing the prices as what it says on the labels and not what I actually paid. For example, the cost of my purchase at the body shop would have been 59$ but I paid 31.50$. They had an in-store promotion going on, I had my 10% off card and I reached 4 points, which gives you 15$ off.

I also forgot to take pictures of my body shop purchase so I'm inserting pictures from the body shop site. I'm also wearing the new pijamas I bought. Because it's night and I'm a creature of the night.


Shopping Haul #3

Clothes:

La Senza

2 pijama tops in Small - 2 for 24$CAD or 16.50$CAD each

2 shorts in Medium - 8.25$CAD each

1 3/4 mix between leggings and sweatpants in Medium - 22.50$CAD

I needed summer pijamas badly and they were having a clearance sale at La Senza to get rid of all their summer stuff, bras and underwear included. They didn't have a whole lot of stuff left so I got what I thought was alright. Besides, it's not like anyone's going to see me in my jamies, right? These pijamas are pretty comfy and I needed something that wasn't long sleeved flannel for the summer. I bought these so I can mix and match them together and also possibly with some future pijamas. They're comfy.


Books:

Indigo (same as Chapters)

Nice is Just a Place in France, by The Betches - 17$CAD

This book is hilarious. It's a cross between humour and a how-to manual. It's a betch's bible. This book isn't meant to be taken seriously and it's not for the easily offendable. The girls behind this book are also the very same girls that run the site Betches Love This. I've only read a couple of pages so far, but I can tell this is going to be a funny book. And I also want to say that extremely young girls should not read this. This book isn't meant to be taken seriously, so don't follow bad examples in real life. Eating is good. Food is my friend. And it can be yours, too.


Skincare:

The Body Shop

Coconut Body Scrub - 20$CAD

Seaweed Pore Perfector - 21$CAD

Vitamin E Eye Cream - 18$CAD

I got the usual skincare products that I normally get. I got the 2 things that were running out and/or empty and I decided to try out an eye cream. I've never used an eye cream before but now is as good as any other day to start. I went with the Vitamin E Eye Cream. I've only used it once so I can't say whether or not it's working just yet. The Seaweed Pore Perfector is also a product I've recently gotten into. I think it's been working so far. And lastly, the Coconut Body Scrub is just amazing. I use that stuff almost every time I shower and it really helps to get down deep and completely clean your skin. I follow up using their Coconut Body Butter to make my skin extra soft!


Nails:

Ciate

Speed Coat - 17$CAD

Butter London

Matte Finish - 21$CAD

Sally Hansen

Complete Care: Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment - approx. 14$CAD

I've been wanting to get a fast-drying top coat for a while now and I finally picked one up. I have a ton of Ciate mini nail polishes that I got in a set so I figured why not keep it the same brand? They didn't have any Matte Top Coat left by Ciate so I bought one by Butter London instead. My mom picked me up a Sally Hansen nail treatment because I had forgotten to get one while I was getting the Ciate and Butter polishes. I don't usually like Sally Hansen. I had a manicure set from her once and the nail polish pealed off in the shower. It couldn't stand up to the heat. I bought manicure polishes by Rimmel and they are a lot better quality. So I'm a bit skeptical about this nail polish. If you've used it, I'd like to hear how you found it.


Makeup:

MAC

Eyeshadows in Embark and Contrast - 14.50$CAD each

MAC Contrast

MAC Embark

Makeup Forever

HD Foundation in 110 - 49$CAD

Benefit VIB Spree Gift - free

Mini Sun Beam, Mini Bad Gal Lash Mascara, and Mini Sugarbomb Lipgloss

And finally, the makeup. It took me a while to figure out which 2 colors I wanted to add to my MAC palette. I asked the MUA what she thought about my list. I showed her what I already had and what I will buy in the near future. She gave me some great suggestions that I've added to the list. Sometimes it's hard because not every color is available in store and the shadows look extremely different online. I got Embark, which is a brown with a bit of red in it. It's really nice and I think it would look great with Twinks. I got Contrast, which is a purple-blue color. It's a really nice dark color. I'm thinking about how I would pair it because I don't have any blues yet. I'm not really a blue girl. At Sephora I got my MUFE HD Foundation because I'm starting to run out and I don't want to be caught off guard when it finally does run out. I know the Benefit VIB Spree gift was a while back but the nice girl managed to find one hidden and gave it to me. Yay! I only have Sun Beam and I'd like to try out Bad Gal Lash because I hear a lot of good things about it and the lipglosses made after their blush boxes are really cute.





So that's all I got on my shopping trip. So I know it seems like I spent a lot of money, but I saved everywhere I could and that isn't listed here. I saw a cute Betsey Johnson bracelet at The Bay and aaahh it was so cute. It had little leopard hearts dangling off the chain. It isn't a recent item from her, they had a couple earrings that I bought a few years ago there, but it's pretty nonetheless. I really hope she gets a new collection going, I was sad when she went out of business and closed all her stores :(  

So I hope you found this interesting in that it wasn't just a strictly makeup haul. It really did have a touch of everything. I know I haven't been doing a lot of posting lately but here are a few things I will be doing in the near future:

Smokey Green Eyes using MAC Veluxe Pearl Fusion Eyeshadow in Greenluxe

Days 6 and 7 of Sephora + Pantone Universe Precious Metals

Too Faced Loves Sephora Dupe List

Empties and Extras #2

And I hope you are looking forward to these posts, and let me know if you want me to do a certain look or show a look using a certain palette, or whatever else!!

And also, if you've used any of the products shown above, let me know if you liked them or not!

[I just want to say that all the products here were bought by me, except for the Benefit VIB Spree, it was free with my purchase. All opinions are my own.]

Steph xo.