Mani Monday : Disney’s Tangled!

My new mani now features my favourite Disney movie : Tangled. I’m trying to practice my nail art skills so this took me a lot longer than I’d care to admit, but, I’m super happy with the result and I can even say painting with my left hand isn’t so dodgy anymore!

I kicked off with a base coat, and then on all my nails except for on my ring finger, I painted two coats of lilac polish. On my ring finger, I mixed a peach polish and a sort of light gold shimmery colour in order to get a skin tone.

On my little finger, I painted the tip green and used a dotting tool to make two bumps for the eyes at the top. Then using the same dotting tool I made eyes with white polish, and used black glitter for the pupil. With a darker green I added some nostrils and a smile and then outlined the top and there we have a little Pascal; Rapunzel’s little chameleon friend!

For Rapunzel herself on my ring finger, I used yellow polish to paint some hair around the edges of the nail. Repeating the same technique as I did on Pascal, I created eyes. Then, with a tiny nail art brush, I used pink polish to create some lips and a light brown polish to add details such as eyebrows, a nose and strands of hair.

My middle finger was pretty simple; just a pink glitter top coat! On my index finger, I first painted a shimmering pink line down the centre and then using a small dotting tool and white polish, I leaned each side with white dots to emulate a frill, almost like Rapunzel’s dress.

Finally on my thumb, I used a tiny dotting tool and white polish to make three tiny flowers and used yellow polish to make the centres. In the gaps I placed little pink flower gems that I had, drawing inspiration from the flowers the children put in Rapuzel’s hair when they braid it.

A coat of top coat, and I was done!

Though it was difficult and time consuming, I love them! I take my hat off to all nail artists who do this on the regular because that must take real time.

Here’s a list of the products I used:

I hope you like these as much as I do.

Sparkle On! – Ellie .xx

Review : Lottie Tomlinson Nail Paint Can

If you’re familiar with Nails Inc you’ll be familiar with the concept of their nail paint can which is essentially spray paint for your nails for a super fast manicure. If you’re familiar with Lottie Tomlinson, you’ll know she’s an up and coming makeup artist and has collaborated with Nails Inc to make a new shade for the paint cans.

I present to you, Good As Gold.

Good As Gold is exactly what it says on the tin – quite literally. It’s a gorgeous glimmering gold shade which is perfect for summer.

The application process is simple – as long as you remember a base coat! Just shake the can and hold 10-15cm away from the nail and spray in short, sharp bursts. I’d say don’t hold it down for more than a split second otherwise you won’t just be spraying your nail gold, you’ll be redecorating the room you’re doing it in. Let the first coat dry and then go in for a second coat. The amazing thing about this is that whatever magical formula Nails Inc have come up with in order to make it sprayable (and washable which I’ll talk more about in a minute) also means that it dries super duper quick so there’s no waiting around or risk of chipping before you’ve even finished. Then to make it last a bit longer, apply a top coat and you’re done. It’s that easy. Take a look at the result!

Obviously with a spray, it does get on your fingers a little bit so there’s two options. You can either just wash it off like the back of the can recommends and it absolutely does come off easily with a bit of warm water, or you can purchase a little bottle of Simply Peel, which is a liquid latex that you paint on the skin around the nail and peels off all the collateral damage once you’ve finished.

I, for one, think this product is great. It’s super fast and easy. The colour is gorgeous and the wear time is also really good. It doesn’t last as long as other polishes, but I’ve been wearing it for three days now and its only just starting to chip at the tips of my nails. I also think it’s going to be great for nail art. Because the formula is lighter I think its going to be easier to peel off the nail art stencils allowing for a neater design – this is a theory I shall be testing.

For those of you who follow my instragram, you may have already seen my picture of this, which Lottie Tomlinson and Nails Inc both liked and commented on (I died a little), but I wanted to do a full review in case any of you were on the fence about trying it.

I’ve left links below to buy the paint can, but also to the base and top coast I used which is the one Nails Inc recommend. If you’re a nail varnish lover, I’d definitely recommend becoming a Nails Inc VIP for £5 a year to get 10% discount every time you shop online (I did!).

All in all, this might be my new favourite.

Sparkle On! – Ellie .xx

Good As Gold Nail Paint Can
The Paint Can’s Best Friend Top and Base Coat
Simply Peel

#BeachDayMusts!

So July is well underway and so is holiday season which only means one thing; BEACH TIME!

I, for one, loooooove the beach. I love getting a tan and relaxing in the sun with an ice cold cocktail and forgetting about the world for a bit. For most, it’s also time to show off your amazing beachwear and coverups that you’ve been saving for such an occasion (please tell me I’m not the only one who has a garden bikini and beach bikinis?). So this post is going to be all about what you’ll find in my beach bag, that I absolutely will not consider going out with, if I’m off to the beach for a day of sun and fun.

First and foremost; suncream. I will admit, I’m not one to wear suncream on my body, but I do wear it on certain areas that are more prone to burning or damage. I have a lot of tattoos on my body, and since they’re black, they retain heat which can end up being quite painful, plus, the sun actually bleaches tattoos and makes them fade faster. My face is also a problem area. I have quite sensitive skin so if I don’t wear protection, I burn rather badly which results in unsightly peeling. My favourite suncream this summer season is Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration in Factor 50 – I don’t mess about!

Next, we have sunglasses. I end up taking two pairs out with me. I have a prescription pair as I am a glasses wearer, but I also have a more glam pair that I much prefer to wear. When I’m lying down and sunbathing, I wear sunglasses – I know what you’re thinking, panda eyes!, but I don’t worry about those, primarily because of the high factor on my face, and secondly because they’re easily fixable with makeup should they appear. So, when I’m on the beach in my best bikini, I also wear my best sunglasses. I managed to snatch up a gorgeous pink and gold pair in a 60’s style from a local market and they’ll definitely be in my beach bag.

For a bit of entertainment, I always take out my kindle and a set of headphones. I love reading, but I have trouble getting into a comfortable position on a sun lounger to read, I find the only way I’m truly comfortable is to lie on my front which means no tanning time for the tummy. My easy fix for that is to buy audiobooks. They’re a fantastic alternative and taking a kindle or any other tablet is much lighter than hauling around a book or three. Often, I find hours passing without my notice when I’m listening to my audiobooks. They’re soothing and you can still listen to all your favourite titles.

Finally, though it may seem obvious, flip flops. Personally, as much as I love a day at the beach, I don’t like taking the beach home with me in my shoes. Wearing flip flops is so much easier because you can kick them off and slip them on quickly, they protect your feet from the hot sand when walking around and you can shake the sand off them completely at the end of the day before you leave.

So here’s a quick recap for you:

So next time the weather is positively beachy, get your best swimwear out and pack your essentials and get down there. You can find a great selection of swimwear over at Adore Me who also have a range of plus size options if you haven’t already got your beach gear yet!

Sparkle On! – Ellie .xx

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Try It Out Tuesday – Square Braid!

So today is something a bit different. Today’s Try It Out Tuesday is a little hairstyle that I’ve been itching to do for a while. It is the Square Braid!

Essentially, it’s a fishtail braid but by feeding the hair both under and over at the same time you get this really cool cube of fishtail braids. I actually expected this to be a lot harder than it was because it looked quite fiddly when I watched the tutorial (which I have posted below), but actually it’s really easy to get the hang of it. The only downside is that if you have really long hair like I do, it takes a really long time to get to the bottom.

Because I was doing it on myself rather than on someone else, I decided to braid the top of my hair in a dino braid (or dutch braid, or boxer braid, whichever floats your boat), put bobbles in the end once I’d reach the bottom of my ears and then began the square braid and I actually really love the look it gave, it’s quite quirky. By doing this, you can jazz up the centre of your braid with bows or those really cute pom pom bobbles.

The original video is by THE BOOK CHANNEL and is below.

Sparkle on! – Ellie .xx

#MOTD & #OOTD- Out For Lunch!

Hi there!

So today I went out to lunch with my mum and one of our long time family friends and since the weather was so dull, I decided to brighten things up a bit with a pop of colour and a sprinkle of glitter.

After doing the festival look on Tuesday and falling in love with the ombre lip, I decided to try it out and wear it about today. So I went for a bright, candy pink lipstick and used white cream makeup to form the ombre. The colour went great with my outfit which was made up of pastel colours and whites!

The sprinkle of glitter came in on my eyeliner. I went through my makeup bag and found some black glitter eyeliner that I think I got in a set for Christmas or a birthday. It’s not a named brand but the quality is brilliant.

For my outfit, I kept it relatively simple. I wore a lemon blouse from Primark and some white dungarees from H&M. To finish off my colourful look, I wore pastel coloured Kickers that you can see pictured above. They’re brand new and so cute! I’ll leave a link down below if you want to check them out.

So here’s my message for the day; don’t let the weather dictate what colours you can wear! If it’s dreary, don’t stick to dark colours, brighten your day and maybe someone else’s with a pop of colour either on your eyes or lips.

Sparkle on! – Ellie .xx

All my makeup products are listed below:

Barry M Flawless Original Primer
Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in Shade 03
Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer in Light-Warm
Barry M Chisel Cheeks Contour Kit
The Colour Experts Blush Palette in Pink Moods
Primark Take a Brow Kit
Matalan G Eyeshadow in 3008
Technic Electric Beauty Eyeshadow Palette
Maybelline master precise Liquid Eyeliner
Matalan G Black Glitter Liquid Eyeliner
MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner in Snow White
Lacura Beauty Doll Eyes Mascara
Maybelline Lipstick in 902
Barry M Shimmering Body Creme

Pastel Bow Brogue Kickers

Hello and welcome!

So here we are at my first post and first thing’s first, let me introduce myself;

I’m Ellie and I’m a little bit addicted to glitter. Hence the name of this blog.

I guess I should probably go into what this blog is going to be about. For starters, it’s going to be very opinion based. I want to share my personal experiences and opinion when it comes to the world of hair and makeup. My approach is very different. I’ve always been super creative and wanting to do things that make me different, so I’ve taken in-fashion makeup and hairstyles and I’ve made them into my own. And that’s what I want to show you. I want to show you that it’s cool to stand out from the crowd in whatever way you want. And you never have to justify why you’ve done something to anyone. If you like it and that’s your style, then live it.

There’s going to be a mixture of pictures and videos depending on what I’m focusing on in each post and I’m also going to do my best to make it accessible to everyone. Most of this self-discovery I’ve done whilst I’ve been a student and we don’t exactly have the means to get ahold of the best products out there. But that’s the thing, you don’t need the best!

Every Tuesday I’m going to make a post featuring me trying out a new look, whether that be inspired by a recent celebrity pap shot or a tutorial I’ve come across on YouTube. I’m going to actually put things into practice and tell you all what I think, and so Try It Out Tuesday will be born.

So if you like the sound of this hopefully you’ll be looking out for my very first official post!

Sparkle on! – Ellie .xx