Halloween Look! (and some extra Halloween items!)

Happy All Hallows Eve everyone!

One of my most favourite times of the year, when the veil between life and death thins and we dress up to confuse the demons who are up to no good! I've got my current vampy manicure, my make-up look for my costume, the pumpkins me and my mom did and the spiderweb cupcakes we made. Lots of spooky goodness in this post!

I painted my nails first with my base coat Gelous then two coats of Vampira by Eyeko. Then I took painters tape and taped across so only the tips showed and used Sephora OPI's Sample Sale for blood red tips on a very blood splattered and gothic looking nail design.

Showing the shimmer :D

Green slime and purple webbing blood splatter cupcakes! (Actually it's just buttercream icing and cherry chip cupcakes but they were fun to make!)

Here's my vampire look! My first time using false eyelashes I had to cut them in half to get them to stick on okay but overall I'm quite pleased.

My vampire teeth (I love these, no lisp and the look awesome!)

My vampire look :D (Some of the white eyeshadow has come off by this point but you get the idea). Here's what I used: 

• Annabelle matte eyeshadow single in Snowflake
• Lorac oil-free illuminzer in pearl 01
• Revlon dark red lipstain in Twilight
• Mac Greasepaint stick in Greengrease
• Wet n' Wild Holographic Silver glitter
• Mac Vex eyeshadow
• Gosh Waterproof eyeshadow cream stick in Love That Ivory
• Kat Von D 500 point Sephora palette black sparkly eyeshadow
• Fake Lashes from Life Brand
• Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Zero
• Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Ghostly Voice
• Quo Eiffel Tower lip gloss in burgundy
• Cargo Activating Primer
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in number 2
• Make Up Forever Full Cover Concealer (forgot the number)

My Graveyard scene with the wind-blown tree branches!

And all lit up!

Mom's pumpkin topiary :D

Top lit up!

That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed, feel free to ask any questions.

Best Nail Polish Removal System

I know, I know, you're all looking at screen wondering if I'm crazy for putting a tub on here. You can't pour from a tub onto a pad easily, right? And you are correct, BUT this simple tub holds a wonder originally brought to us from the seas. Sponge.

The Life Brand (found in Shopper's Drug Marts here in Canada) has honestly gone up in respect for me by coming out with this product. It's simple, it generates less waste, it costs less overall and it makes removing all kinds of nail polish (even glitters!) a breeze. Here's how it works:

Above view of the screw top lid

1) Unscrew the easy open top and remove the plastic seal

2) Locate the centre opening in the nail-polish-remover-soaked sponge. It should be a cross or an x shape.

3) Place finger inside and gently rub back and forth against the sponge. The sponge will easily brush away the polish without the normal rubbing needed with a cotton pad.

4) Presto! Your done!

It takes a bit longer with glitter of course but it's still much faster than normal as the bubbles in the sponge often catch on the glitter particles and pull it off. You might get some sponge breakage from this but only small pieces usually.

All in all, ever since I discovered this, I'm never going back to removing my nail polish regularily on my fingers again. Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite the same with toes as toes are stubby and lack fine motor movements (i.e. your toe kicks out and the tub falls over spilling the polish remover inside- I haven't tried it but I can totally see myself doing this), thus making me use normal cotton pads soaked in remover for toe nail polish.

You will have to replace this every once in a while as the sponge will eventually start to disintegrate from the polish remover (and get quite grungy looking) but it will last you easily 6 months if when it becomes a little drier due to evaporation you add some more polish remover to the tub yourself. 

I got mine for under five Canadian dollars at my local Shopper's Drug Mart and this is my second tub. They come in four varieties: Apricot, Lemon, Regular, and Acetone-free. The one pictured is lemon, but I think I could stand the smell of Apricot a little more. They still smell strongly of nail-polish remover but  they have a slight fruit scent to slightly tone it down (or at least not demand total attention of your sense of smell at once!) If you think about it the pros out weigh the cons.

Pros:

• Less polish remover used as it's used again and again each time you remove polish in the tub. 
• The tub cuts down on evaporation of the remover you are using while attending to each nail
• No cotton pad waste
• About the cost of regular remover
• Quicker removal time

Cons:

• Sponge will disintegrate with use
• The sponge starts looking dirty quickly (its all the polish colours mixed together)
• Only available in Canada

Overall, I love these as it makes removal pretty much one-handed so I can type/scroll/click the remote with the other at the same time. If you get the chance I recommend giving one of these a try!

Rating: 9/10 Because the sponge does fall to pieces with time and use