Nailing It!

Nails!

When I was younger, I always had lovely nails which I took pains to paint and keep looking healthy. This sort of took a back seat when I put my energies into taking care of my two little girls. I would occasionally get a pedicure if my toenails looked particularly bad but that was it. It was not until my husband commented on how much he loved my smooth hands and feet and that he missed how they were glossy and painted did I realize that I was neglecting them. It was a real boost for me to hear my husband say that about my skin!
I have since taken an interest in keeping my toes painted and well groomed between pedicures (whether done at a salon or by myself). Even my nails are kept buffed and shined. More so because when I take care of these small details, I feel good about myself. As I get older, I find that it is these little things that keep me going.

My interest in nail care also was rekindled when I stumbled on blogs which featured NOTD’s – nail’s of the day. And wow, can some ladies do their nails!! Kudos to prettybeautiful and konaddict for this. I was particularly taken in by Konad products and the ability to achieve salon perfect fingers and toes with the tools that the range carries. Now it seems like just plain painted nails are so boring and making a statement with your nails as a means of self expression is in!

I was really excited to learn that Etude house carried some Konad products – mainly the tools to get you started with doing some serious stamping designs on your nails. However, I was disappointed to be told by the SA that the stamping tool was unavailable and has been so for 2 months. I guess this nail craze must be catching on in Malaysia! The SA’s were really wonderful in showing me how the Konad nail art is used and took the time to suggest colors as well as some techniques on stamping. If there were fewer customers that day, they would have certainly spent more time teaching me the tips and tricks!

I did come away with some Konad plates and I ordered the stamping tool on http://konad.com.my/index.php . A quick e-mail to the company confirmed that they indeed carry the tool and I ordered it together with some special nail polish which is used to transfer the nail art onto the nail. I will be doing a review on that once I get the products but before that here is some eye candy on the nail plates as well as some nail polish which I bought from Etude House as well as the Face Shop.

The nail plates that I purchased were :- M41, M50, M57 and M62. Etude House does not carry the entire range of Konad plates. They also don’t sell the special nail polish to be used together with the plates. The SA’s at EH used their own in house brand of nail polish which they claim does the same job as the Konad special nail colors. It worked in the shop, but if you read some blogs out there, it is understood that only certain brands of non-Konad nail colors will do the job of transferring the design. So proceed with caution if you are going to invest in this.

How To Keep Your Hands Looking Young

Keeping the back of your hands looking young could never be easier.

I am such a bum when it comes to being diligent about rituals such as slathering hand or body cream all over myself as soon as I step out of the shower – even if the moment I step out of the shower, my bottle of body cream is smiling at me and waiting to be used!
However, there is one thing which I do every time I put on makeup – and that is to use the residue moisturizer that are on my fingers to rub into the backs of my hands……and I believe it works wonders once you get it going as part of your routine. It becomes a no-brainer!

It’s so easy. Once I finish toning my face, I scoop up a little moisturizer and warm it on my fingers. I then spread it on my finger tips and gently pat it all over my face with upward movements and then move to my neck doing the same. Instead of washing my hands of the residue moisturizer, I rub whatever is left on my fingers onto the backs of my hands starting with the fingers and moving higher until I reach my wrists. I stop there and then move to my elbows – which is always in need of a little extra moisturizing – and rub away until I feel that there is no product left on my fingers.

It’s lovely because, not only do I get a little lovin’ on my hands, it also gives the moisturizer on my face time to be absorbed. Although as you do this often, it does not really take that long and you find that you may need a minute more to wait for your moisturizer to be absorbed fully. The payoff is great as I notice that the backs of my hands have always been plump and smooth. You know what they say about a woman’s hands – that they show her age faster than her face.

So ladies if you want younger looking hands, why not work this into your routine daily? It won’t take more than a few seconds and you will see results and anyway, I am pretty sure some of you are doing it already!

Orgel Light Blusher No. 4 in Rose

This is a review of one item from my Etude House haul and please forgive me, I am so crap at taking good photo's.

I fell in love with this blusher the moment I set my eyes on it. This is because I loved how the colors looked together and plus, it is shimmery. Now I am not a great fan of shimmer because as you all know, I feel that if it is not applied properly it can look a little odd on Indian skin. That was my feeling with the Majolica Majorca eye shadow which I loved the look of and then when it went on my eyes, the shimmer was too much. Perhaps I need to give that another try and blend like crazy.

I had seen varieties of this around but never really got up close and personal enough to purchase one. The packaging is so very beautiful too. It took a while for me to try this on because I did not want to defile it by using the blush however, I could not resist when I looked at it one morning and the shimmer winked back at me as if to beckon me to use it! So I thought I would give it a try as I was going very easy on my make up that day – light foundation, cover on the under eye shadows, liner on the top lids and lots of mascara with a lashing of lipstick. The blush did not disappoint and added some much needed shimmer on an otherwise plain face.

The colors go from a dark maroon to a light cream as you can see from the swatches above and are a dream going on. My first attempt had me using my Loving minerals angled blush brush to swipe the entire pan and the color came off as rather too light. So I had shimmery cheeks but little color. On my second attempt, I decided to swipe more of the maroon and pink edge of the palette and this gave me a great color pay off – just the right amount of color and shimmer. I tried it again another day and this time concentrated the darker colors on my cheeks first and then added the lighter side at the higher end of my cheekbones to highlight. It was delicious to look at and this made me happy the whole day.
Best of all, the SA explained that each brick of color can be used on the eyes as eye shadow too and this opened up a whole flood of possibilities in mixing and matching. How cool it is that in these trying economic times for one item to do double duty as a blush as well as eye shadow! A truly amazing deal for RM59.90!

I love make-up once it has had time to settle and after an hour or two, when you look in the mirror, it seems to look better than when you first put it on in the morning. Oxidization and the mixing of the colors with your natural oils do wonders for the face.
Have any of you stumbled on this beauty? Do tell…….

Do you take the toiletries that you get at hotels?

I have a minibar of stuff that I have taken from hotels. Yes, guilty as charged!

These are among the stuff that I will usually take before I leave a hotel:-

• Soap – handy for your bathroom when you need to wash your hands and only a small soap will fit your soap holder.
• Body wash – when you need a smell that reminds you of the time you were at ………(insert holiday destination here).
• Shampoo – don’t they usually say that you need to change your shampoo once in a while otherwise your scalp gets used to it??
• Shower caps – No reason to take but what the heck.
• Moisturizer – So convenient to tuck into handbags and is a cheap and cheerful way to keep you moisturized.
• Bedroom slippers (the ones from Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong are the best) – I will not take slippers that are thinner than paper!
• Sewing Kits – Also another useful thing to keep in handbags to sort out small wardrobe malfunctions.
• Razors – When you run out of your favorite hair remover, this is a lifesaver.
• Toothbrushes – Again, I keep one in my office drawer – there are some days when I absolutely must brush after lunch. I am funny like that.
  
  
  I have a small arsenal of these things which I have accumulated over the years – some of which, like moisturizing body creams, would probably be a rancid mess sitting in my dresser drawer! (Note to self:- Check dresser drawers this weekend.)
  
  Why I do this I do not know but I am sure there are many of you who do this as well. It has helped in cases where I go on short trips – no need to decant into smaller containers – just pick a cocktail of the stuff I need and BAM! I am on my way. I also sometimes recycle these containers and keep them for when I do need to take something from my regular range of products that I use.
  
  It has also come in handy for when I need a quick dab of hand cream. I pop one of these in my handbags and whenever I change bags, I have one ready to use. When you need something or when you have run out of refills for your products – just put your paws into that magic bag of tricks and voila (!) you have what you need in a jiffy.
  
  How many of you take toiletries from the hotels you have visited?

Etude House, Sungei Wang Haul

I was walking around Sungei Wang Plaza last weekend and chanced upon Etude House which I thought was really cute in terms of their pretty layout. I had heard of this place only for the fact that they do carry the Konad range of nail art products which I had read about in prettybeautiful’s blog (http://prettybeautiful.net/).



I must say that I came out with a juicy haul don’t you think? Reviews on these items will be coming soon......