Three Stroke Application

Apply nail varnish properly and your hands will look heavenly, apply it wrong and they will look the complete opposite. If you have a little patience you can have a professional look, if you don’t you are better off visiting a professional (expect high annual nail varnish bills).

Follow these straightforward nail varnish professional steps and you will be on the road to heavenly hands:

Nail Varnish Polish Application Steps:
1: Clean:
Use warm soapy water to wash nails (and under the tips) ensuring that they are completely dry before proceeding

2: Base Coat:
It is essential to use a good base coat with all polish applications. Stroke in the middle from the base to the tip of the nail. Then apply the base coat from the base of the nail to the very tip on both the left and the right part of the nail without touching the skin (if possible) – known as the 3-stroke application (as shown in the picture above). Wait a minute before next step

3: 1st Coat:
Use the 3-stroke application method used above and apply a light layer of your chosen colour. Wait a minute before next step

4: 2nd Coat:
The second coat adds depth to your nail. Follow the 3-stroke application again until fully finished

5: Protect:
Use a good quality top coat, this will protect your nail from chipping and peeling (leaving the top coat out can make your nail look dull very fast). Only a light coating is needed (you guessed it use the 3-stroke application method)

6: Perfect:
Using a very thin brush dip into a good quality nail varnish polish remover and gently eliminate any nail varnish polish that accidentally found its way onto your skin. This will give you greater precision than using cotton wool.

If there is just one thing to take away from this, make sure you use base and top coats for a longer lasting professional nail varnish finish.

Pretty

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pretty feet

A few girlfriends of mine used to dread the idea of wearing sandals or open toe shoes because they were scared about what people would think of their feet.

Firstly, 9 out 10 of them had nothing wrong with their pretty feet and the others had to take care of the feet a little more and everything would be fine and dandy.

Pretty Feet Top Tip:
1: Don’t get paranoid about your feet! Other people probably look at them and wish they had feet like yours (human nature, we all want what other people have: handbags, cars, ass and the list goes on)

All of the following can be done in the comfort of your own home.

Pretty Feet Treatment Part 1: Foundation for Pretty Feet:
•    Gently wash your feet with some good peppermint foot scrub (take your time and work it all over your feet), this will give your feet the instant freshness that it is probably dying for and get rid of excess skin sitting on the surface
•    Soak your feet in warm water (the warmer the better) usually adding something like peppermint or lemon deodorising foot soak (5-10 minutes), this will help relieve any pressures in the feet and soften the skin for the next step

Pretty Feet Treatment Part 2: File those Feet
•    Towel dry your feet
•    Whilst they are still moist and warm from the water gently file away the hard skin on your feet. Please do not try to attempt removing all dead skin in a single treatment, try to phase it over 3-4 treatments.
•    Rinse with water (the colder the better – make you feel fresh and alive)

Pretty Feet Treatment Part 3: Moisturise
•    Buy a moisturiser that is specifically made for feet as the skin is much thicker and harder to treat than other parts of our body. Work into the skin paying special attention to the areas with harder skin.

Other Tips:
•    Cut and carefully file toenails on a regular basis
•    Try to get a foot massage at least once monthly (can also relieve stress)

Hope this will help convince you that you do have pretty feet, they just need a little tender loving care.

Pretty

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Using a skin concealer can either hide your imperfections (yes, we all have some) or if applied incorrectly draw more attention to them (spots, blemishes, redness or acne).

I spoke with a makeup artist friend about skin concealer yesterday (supposed to talk about her honeymoon) for about an hour and have summed up her advice & tips below.

Choosing the right skin concealer:

• Make sure you visit good department stores or makeup boutiques (more than one) to colour match the skin concealer using a makeup consultant (doesn’t mean you necessarily need to buy there and then can always order online after)
• Try not to use the same skin concealer under the eye area and the rest of the face (mainly because of different skin tone)
• If the stores allow, ask them for samples and try out once or twice before buying
• Choose a skin concealer that is one shade lighter than your normal skin colour, this is because you are trying to blend your blemishes (darker) to the surrounding skin (lighter)

Liquid, cream or stick skin concealer?
These are just simply different ways of applying skin concealer, her advice was simple, just choose the method you are most comfortable with when applying makeup.

Skin concealer application:

• Apply skin concealer after foundation – reason: just touch up on blemishes / spots that the foundation has not worked on otherwise you will potentially wipe away concealer if you apply the other way around
• Start off by using concealer brush to target the blemished area then gently use the ring finger to blend the concealer into the skin for an even finish and blend

In a nutshell, take time to select the right skin concealer for you and then take time and care in applying.

There will be a separate post for hiding dark circles (coming soon). Don’t let shop counters confuse you just take this knowledge with you so that you can make up your own mind (also, it’s always useful to take a friend along when choosing skin concealer for an independent opinion).

Pretty

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