Category: Lifestyle

  • How to Apply, Remove, and Clean your Fake Lashes

    How to Apply, Remove, and Clean your Fake Lashes

    Eyelashes make our eyes look bigger, more flirtatious and definitely command a lot of attention. Cosmetics are one way of effectively accentuating our lashes but they fall short in comparison to the dramatic effect that wearing a pair of false lashes can offer! 

    However, false lashes do require proper care and the right application techniques. Below is a few simple steps for guaranteeing that your lashes last long and stay flawless all day and night.

    How to Apply, Remove, and Clean your Fake Lashes

    Applying Your False Lashes

    There are numerous kinds of lashes available made to cater to different desired looks. Whether you’re looking for something subtle and natural, dramatic and bold, or something fit for dressing up in costume, the right false lashes exist for your needs and may have different application techniques. Don’t be scared – it can take some practice to get right, but practice makes perfect. 

    1. Curl your natural lashes

    To create a shelf for your falsies to sit on, curl your natural lashes and apply mascara which will help support their weight. 

     

    2. Cut the falsies to fit

    Cut your false lashes to perfectly fit your eyelid. You can also divide them up into smaller pieces or thin them out to create a more natural, less chunky look. Another tip is to bend them into a C shape for a few moments to help curve them into a natural eyelid shape. 

     

    3. Add your adhesive

    Make sure to use a good quality adhesive, as the kind that sometimes comes with your lashes might not be best. Duo adhesive is a good brand. You’ll want to trace a very fine line on each of the lash bands with the adhesive, not apply it to your eyelids. Wait a few moments for the adhesive to dry and become a bit tacky before applying. 

     

    4. Stick them on!

    For better placement and safety, use your fingers to apply your extensions, unless you are more comfortable with tweezers. You’ll want to start by placing the lash from the outer corner first, keeping it as close as possible to the lash line. You can try creating a cat-eye effect by placing the outer extension slightly above your natural lash line.

     

    5. Touch it up

    To help blend everything together, you can take a soft eyeliner brush and press a thin line of black matte eyeshadow onto where your lashes meet your eyes. 

    false lashes

    Caring For Your False Lashes

    It is recommended that you clean your lash extensions to help keep bacteria away from your eye that could cause redness and agitation. You can also prolong the life of your lashes by cleaning them.

    1. Peel off the glue residue

    If you look closely enough, you’ll see the remaining strip of adhesive stuck on the base of your lash extensions. You’ll want to peel the remaining off so it’s ready to be re-glued during their next use. 

     

    2. Create a cleaning solution

    Fill a small bowl or sink with warm water and a little bit of soap. You can also add liquid makeup remover

     

    3. Clean the lashes

    Submerge your false lashes into your water/cleaning solution and gently rub them to encourage mascara or other makeup to dissolve off of them. 

     

    4. Let them dry

    Check the lashes for any remaining residue, and then set them in a clean place to dry. If you’re in a hurry, you can also pat them dry. 

    fake lashes
  • Pride 2022 Swag: Support and Celebrate in Style ?

    Pride 2022 Swag: Support and Celebrate in Style ?

    pride

    Pride month is for LGBTQ+ people to celebrate how far we’ve come while also recognising the work that still needs to be done.

    Over the past couple of years, a lot of brands have been releasing a colourful merch line during June to celebrate Pride month. However, some have come under fire for chasing after the “pink pound”  and ignoring LGBTQ+ people for the rest of the year.

    This year a number of brands have collaborated with LGBTQ+ artists for their collections and campaigns. Others have also highlighted exactly how much money they’ll be donating to LGBTQ+ charities or what amount of proceeds from the clothing sales will go to charity.

    Here are some of our favourite Pride collaborations that you can purchase this month to celebrate and support in style! ?

    Converse x Pride Collection

    Converse x Pride Collection

    The collection features classic silhouettes including Chuck Taylor All Star, Chuck 70 and One Star sneakers alongside apparel and headwear. There’s two parts to this year’s Pride range, with Converse By You, which lets fans create their own personalised “All Star” patch, license plate and laces. You can create your own sneaker designs using the pride, bisexual, pansexual, lesbian, non-binary and transgender flags.

    The second part of the collection features apparel and one-off sneaker designs inspired by and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.

    Levi’s x Pride Collection

    Levi’s x Pride Collection

    Levi’s Pride collection is designed to be both genderless and size inclusive, with the collection ranging from XXS to XXXL. It includes two firsts – the Denim Corset, made from Levi’s denim alongside a lace-up back, and the Pride Skirt, which fits like a kilt.

    Other highlights include jeans, a denim jacket, t-shirts, tank top and accessories such as a head scarf, crossbody bag and charm bracelets. In support of the collection, Levi’s is making an annual $100,000 donation to OutRightAction International.

    Apple x Pride Collection

    Apple x Pride Collection

    In celebration of Pride month this June, Apple is releasing two new Pride Edition bands with dynamic Pride watch faces in support of the global LGBTQ+ community and equality movement. This year’s Pride Edition Sport Loop showcases a colour gradient with the word “pride” woven directly into the band. Apple is also launching a new Shot on iPhone pride campaign on Instagram that captures the essence of artists and figures within the global LGBTQ+ community.

    Apple is proud to build on its long-running support for LGBTQ+ advocacy organisations working to bring about positive change, from Encircle, an organisation that provides life-affirming programs and services for the LGBTQ+ community and their families, to The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organisation for LGBTQ+ young people.

    Playful Promises x Pride Collection

    Playful Promises x Pride Collection

    To celebrate Pride 2022 this year, Playful Promises has designed the ultimate Pride lingerie collection – ‘Love is Love’. The collection is designed to feature pride colours and includes a range of pride inspired designs. From intricate rainbow embroidery and delicate lace to strappy suspenders and so sexy body harnesses. 

    They are donating $1 for every order (of any products) to a charity of your choice, including an LGBTQI+ charity! In the UK and US they are donating to @kyivpride, and in AUS we are donating to @pridefoundationaustralia

    Oreo x Pride Collection

    Oreo x Pride Collection

    To mark the occasion they’ve introduced a proud ally pack, which acts as a canvas for allies to share their words of pride. The pack includes the much-loved cookies and a rainbow design featuring phrases like “I’ll march with you” and “you’re too beautiful to hide”, penned by real-life allies.

    It also features a writable space on the packet that gives the opportunity for everyone to add their own words of allyship. The limited edition pack is available to buy at stores including Walmart in the US.

  • 8 Beauty & Fashion Trends That Will Dominate 2020

    8 Beauty & Fashion Trends That Will Dominate 2020

    2020 Beauty: 8 Trends That Will Dominate This Year & Beyond

    Before we start discussing 2020 beauty, it’s important for us to take stock and look back over the last ten years. It’s fair to say that between fashion and beauty – we’ve seen it all. Take our hair for example, within the last decade we’ve had side bangs, poufs, lots and lots of layers, a-symmetrical bobs… the list goes on. So many crazy trends and fads have come and gone; contouring, the unicorn, multi-coloured everything phase and all the weird and wonderful things that have happened to our eyebrows over the last five years or so.

    We’ve also seen some real progress with how society views beauty. Albeit, it isn’t perfect, but over the last decade, we’ve seen some major strides toward inclusive beauty, advertising actually showing real women and little imperfections and individuality being showcased and rewarded. We saw curls in all their glory. Skin that wasn’t airbrushed. And made our views as consumers perfectly clear through our thoughts about it on social media.

    Who knows what we will see change over the next ten years. We are sure there will be many ‘hits’ and A LOT of ‘misses’ and no doubt we will look back in twenty years at photographs and say to ourselves “What was I thinking?!?” However, we are super excited to see where the beauty industry takes us and have put together a list of what we think will be trending over the next few months as we slide into the new roarings ’20s! 2020 beauty here we come…

    2020 BEAUTY: FEATHERED, FLUFFY BROWS

    Say goodbye to the days of drawing (or in some cases tattooing) on fine, delicate brows. This year it’s time to embrace the lived-in, full brow look. “Brows are starting to look more like brows and less like cartoons…” FINALLY! We are embracing pens and gels and creating masterpieces that actually look like real brows!

    Top Tip: You should prep your eyebrows with a growth serum each night before going to bed. The more you have to work with, the better your brows will look in the end!

    GEMSTONE EYES AND CRYSTAL NAILS

    Inventive takes on eyeliner and rhinestones—lots of rhinestones—were all over the spring 2020 runways. Models at Pyer Moss had ruby red crystals all over their lids and around their eyes, while Pat McGrath created brightly colored eye looks with decals at Marc Jacobs. Off the catwalk expect to see more subtle variations hitting the streets. Ease your way into this trend with stick-on rhinestones on the inner corners of your eyes and then start exploring and experimenting from there.

    Did you know that searches for “Swarovski crystal nails” are up 128% on Pinterest? It’s not hard to see why. Who wouldn’t want to look down and see their nails sparkling in the light? There’s the option of going to a salon to have them delicately place crystals in a line along your cuticles or tips, but you can also go the DIY route with a chunky glitter polish and purchasing your own crystals and glue online!

    BARRETTES AND HAIR CLIPS

    If you didn’t get in the hair-clip game in 2019, good news: Now’s your chance. Pinterest reports searches for hair clips are up 930% going into the New Year. While teens are leaning toward wing and butterfly clips (yep, it’s officially happening AGAIN), those of us who actually remember wearing them the first time are gravitating towards more sophisticated options, like pearl clips, adorned bobby pins, and gold claw clips. 90s revival is in full swing beauties – you in or not?

    PASTEL EYESHADOW AND FLOATING EYELINER

    Worn all over your lids or just as a flick of liner, pretty pastel shades are set to have their time to shine this spring. Models at Oscar de la Renta, Alice + Olivia, Ulla Johnson, and Jonathan Simkhai all hit the catwalk wearing dreamy mints, peaches, powder blues, lilacs, and lemons. Get ahead of the curve try out our Diamond Eyeshadow and Glitter Eyeshadow palettes. With many colours to choose from, you can combine the pastels with the sparkles this season.

    To match your pastel shadows we are also expecting see lots of lots of floating liner…in bright colors. Say goodbye to traditional, black eyeliner (for a while at least). To create the perfect floating eyeliner look:

    Step One: Prime your lids

    Step Two: Blend the second lightest shade in your eye shadow palette across your entire lid, extending just beyond your crease. Then, dust some of the lightest color onto the center of your lid to help make your eyes really pop.

    Step Three: Close your eyes to determine where your real crease is. Then, using the eyeliner color of your choice (if you opted for a neutral floating crease, reach for brown; if you opted for a bold floating crease, use cobalt blue), draw an arc just beyond your natural crease.

    KNOTTED HEADBANDS AND SCRUNCHIES

    If 2019 was the year of the padded headband, 2020 will be all about knotted ones. Not only were they all over the runways (like here at the Alice + Olivia spring show), but you also couldn’t walk two steps without seeing someone wearing Lele Sadoughi in the crowd. Our favorite places to shop for them? Shopbop and Urban Outfitters have a ton of fun styles, but don’t sleep on Etsy, where you can find interesting (and affordable) designs no one else will have.

    Pinterest revealed a whopping 6309% surge in searches for the term “hair scrunchies” in its recent Pinterest 100 report, which means, despite not really paying scrunchies much attention since they were our favourite primary school accessory, they’re back in a big way for 2020.

    As for how to style them, sling them round a low ponytail or bun, keeping the style loose and relaxed and – yep – it appears our long-forgotten scrunchie has grown-up with us.

    Shop on cosmetic products online here.

  • How To Make Our Top Three Homemade Beauty Treatments

    How To Make Our Top Three Homemade Beauty Treatments

    If like us, you have experimented with homemade beauty techniques before then it is very likely you’ve at some point put mayonnaise, egg whites and honey on your face or hair. Are we wrong?

    We do it because we trust our friends and family who tell us all the homemade beauty treatments actually work, BUT for a lot of us, it’s about saving money. As it’s November and most of us having started saving up for the holidays, we thought we’d put together a list of our fave tried and tested skin and hair care homemade beauty recipes.

    Everyone’s skin is different, so what might work for us, may not work for you. Check out alternative ingredients you can use to suit your skin and hair requirements. Save your money for Christmas gifts, parties, outfits and most importantly makeup(!) by using the recipes below.

    How To Make Our Top Three Homemade Beauty Treatments

    HOMEMADE FACE MASK

    beauty treatments

    Avocados are one of the best ingredients for any beauty treatment recipe because they are rich in vitamin E, fiber, B vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They make your skin glow, especially if you also make them a regular part of your diet. When you pair an avocado with oatmeal, you get a great mask that reduces redness, exfoliates and moisturizes dry skin at the same time. We found this wonderful DIY face mask by Fit Foodie Finds and just had to share it.

    To make this face mask, mash up 1/2 a ripe avocado into a small bowl and use a fork to mash. Place rolled oats in a blender and grind until coarse. Mix into smashed avocado. Add in honey, lemon juice, coconut oil and your fave essential oil and blend. Use immediately as avocado will turn brown quickly. Leave on face for 15-20 minutes and then rinse!

    HOMEMADE HAIR MASK

    Apple cider vinegar is praised for being rich in vitamins and minerals that are good for our hair, such as vitamin C and B. Some also claim it contains alpha-hydroxy acid which helps exfoliate scalp skin, and that it’s anti-inflammatory, which can help with dandruff build up! Argan oil contains vitamin E which will add an extra shine to your hair!

    To make this hair mask, in a blender, combine 1/2 avocado, 2 Tbsp argan oil, 10 drops of rosemary essential oil, and 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and pulse together. Work the mask through dry hair from roots to tips. If you have naturally oily hair avoid your scalp where possible. Let the mask sit for 15 minutes, then rise and shampoo your hair!

    HOMEMADE BODY SCRUB

    beauty treatments

    We found this great soothing body scrub recipe from Hello Glow and just had to share it with you. There are many benefits to using coffee on your skin, it fights premature skin aging, soothes inflammation, reduces cellulite and tightens skin! The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties in green tea also makes it an effective treatment for acne and oily skin.

    To make this body scrub, combine the melted coconut oil with the green tea in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes. Using a strainer, strain the tea leaves from the oil and discard them. Mix the oil with the coffee grounds and ginger. Spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze for 15 minutes or until solid.

    Pretty cool, right?

    Shop on cosmetic products online here.

  • Inception of Beauty with award winning makeup artist Jasmine Hoffman!

    Inception of Beauty with award winning makeup artist Jasmine Hoffman!

    Check out our latest episode with Jasmine Hoffman! Thanks for watching and stay tuned for the next one!

  • Holiday Glam Tutorial #2!

    Holiday Glam Tutorial #2!

    Winter is here and we are out with another product tutorial! Thanks for watching and stay tuned for the next one!

    Check out the products used here!

    Glitter Eyeshadow Palette

    Eyebrow Pomade

    GLAM MINK LASHES