Lace Nail Manicures for Sale!

Since I have been noticing a lot of interest in my posts about lace nail manicures, I've decided to devise a way to get them out to people who want to achieve this look but are incapable of doing it themselves. I found that the easiest way is to create the lace nails on "Nailene So Natural Nails, Real French, 24 ct."   and letting everyone choose their base nail color (although I prefer them on french nails) and lace color. After taking custom orders, it will take about a week to manufacture them (since the fabric and nails have to be bought each time and then they have to be manually crafted with the lace appliques). They do look fabulous and I encourage you to try it by yourself if you feel like you can do it!

This is the posting:
http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Lace-Embellished-Artificial-Nails-Custom-Made-to-Order/63927311

Here are photos of some I did for a quick test-run:

You can find other items for sale at:
http://www.bonanza.com/booths/lethalglam/

New Jewelry Retail Website

Hi guys, sorry I've been MIA for a few days now, but it's been for good reason: I've been working extremely hard on this website http://www.bonanza.com/booths/LethalGlam where I'm looking forward to selling my creations! Sometimes I just can't help it and I design jewelry, all types too - bracelets, earrings, and necklaces in various styles, so I decided to try and turn that into a business. I hope everyone enjoys it and here's a quick sneak peek at some of the pieces up for sale:

The shop is definitely at a lower price point and it sticks to the motto I live by where you shouldn't need to have lots of money to look fabulous! I'll be putting up new pieces all the time, there's currently 79 lots up for sale so please check it out. I'll also take commissions for what you'd like to see or custom pieces!

http://www.bonanza.com/booths/LethalGlam

How To Make An Old Sweater Look New

Do you have sweaters that you love but they just pill and create those unpleasant little flakes of fabric that stick together in little balls all under your armpits and sides, or wherever your clothes get the most wear and tear? Well, I've found a simple solution for you and it requires only a razor! That's right, a razor! Make sure you've washed your sweater (frequent washes can also cause the fabric pilling too). You can use a sweater stone or an electric fabric shaver which can be found on Amazon and I've linked below, but the simplest method to use is just a simple clean razor, preferably with not too many sharp blades but around 3 blades is fine.

You'll want to lay your sweater down on a flat surface such as a table and make sure you do one section at a time. You don't want to dig your razor into the sweater but rather gently stroke the fabric the way you would shave your face or legs. This will remove the pilling fabric and make your sweater look like new, regardless of how many pieces of lint-like fabric are on it. Shaving your sweater will not make holes in it, nor will it ruin your sweater in any way, you can do this safely at home. As long as you have a gentle touch and patience, you can go through this with sweaters, sweaterdresses, or anything knitted as well. Happy de-pilling, everyone!

If your sweater looks like this there is a simple solution to have it looking brand new again! Use a razor!

Jessica Simpson Collection Spring Jewelry Line

As you may have read in a previous post from November, I'm a huge fan of the Jessica Simpson Collection because of the attention to detail and sheer ease of casual beauty imbued within each of her pieces. Now, I have stumbled across her new Spring jewelry collection and am absolutely in awe. Rarely is there a new piece of jewelry or style that I adore because, as some of you may already know, I design my own jewelry (and a website selling some items is pending). That being said, it takes a lot to impress me and this time she's hit the nail on the head with a beautiful collection inspired by lace, but not the kind of lace that is actually made of fabric, but rather made of metals like bronze and silver. I find the contrast between that daintiness of the lace design and roughness of the metal to be sheer genius. Her whole collection can be viewed at the Jessica Simpson Collection Website.

I can't even find this bracelet on the Jessica Simpson Collection website, but I found it on Amazon and it's absolutely stunning, definitely a statement piece for a little black dress or summer-inspired outfit. I love the marriage of stamped gold that is made to look like it is completely wire wrapped and the sculpted enamel flowers with pearl appliques. The shape that fans out resembles a golden butterfly emerging beautifully from your wrist.

LOVE LACE GOLD CUFF - Retails for $58 at Amazon.com, link where to buy it posted below

There are a few pairs of earrings in the collection that would pair very well with this piece and they are below. The first pair is what absolutely just caught my eye out of the whole collection first because the organic shape of the metal and delicate curves paired with the drop pearls are phenomenal. I imagine that these would be flattering on everybody since they are not very long or very short, but rather 'just right'. Even the hook of the earring has a pearl detail for a little bit of extra pizzazz.

LOVE LACE GOLD LACE CHANDELIER EARRINGS - Retails for $38 at Amazon.com and JessicaSimpson.com

If you're into long dangle earrings, then this might be right right pair for you because the enamel and metal flowers tie in directly with the cuff, giving an air of elegance and femininity. These are the perfect accessory for a beautiful sunny day (hopefully we'll get a lot of those soon!). With jewelry this beautiful you don't even need to wear rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces all at the same time, you could get away with wearing just a cuff and earrings and be extremely chic.

LOVE LACE GOLD FLOWER DROP EARRINGS - Retails for $25 at Amazon.com and JessicaSimpson.com

If you're dying for the perfect necklace to match the earrings above, her collection has that also. Kudos to Jessica and her team for thinking of everything and pulling off a complete collection that can be worn mixed an matched with separate pieces. 

LOVE LACE GOLD LONG PENDANT - Retails for $48 on JessicaSimpson.com

I can't wait to see her Spring/Summer clothing line because this jewelry collection has definitely gotten my whetted my appetite for her classic feminine beauty style. I love the philosophy of the company to always flatter and enhance natural beauty, it definitely fits my own lifestyle! There's much more to see of the collection so I encourage you to explore her collection further because I can't list all of the beautiful things on here! The jewelry I posted also comes in silver so if you're not a fan of gold then you have the option of going with silver but I personally love the antiquity of the gold.

Xoxo,
Alex

Lace and Fishnet Eyeshadow Designs

A really cool look that I'm fascinated with and have definitely practiced before is the lace and fishnet eyeshadow designs. When you do one of these looks, you have to be patient because it may not turn out exactly the way you want it to right away. These are great looks for when you want to stand out at a nightclub, if you're feeling quirky, or a Hallowe'en/masquerade party get-up. To do this design you have to own pigments or mineral makeup, otherwise it's going to be a waste of your eyeshadow pots because you'll have to keep packing on color to get your desired result. This is a great solution for any doilies you have laying around the home that you don't know what to do with and broken pairs of tights that your heart just doesn't want to throw out. As long as you clean it after makeup application, you can reuse your scraps for eyeshadow application again.



What you'll need:
- loose powder eyeshadows in the colors you want
- fishnet tights or lace (can be ripped up)
- scissors (to cut the lace to your desired size)
- magic tape
- translucent powder
- fluffy eyeshadow brush or blush brush

First you'll want to put your primer and foundation on so you have a good base for your makeup, this is to keep a matte surface to which the powder can adhere to. You'll need to place your lace or fishnet over your eyeshadow and make sure that you hold it in place, but do this with masking tape (make sure you're not allergic to it and it doesn't stick too much) so that your hands are free to apply the makeup. You have to think in reverse when you're doing this design because the colors that will get filled in are where the holes in your fishnet or lace are, so make sure you pick a lace design that is to your liking and imagine the 'negative space' on it being the design that will make it to your face. Using a loose blush brush or fat shader eyeshadow brush, pack in the color you're trying to get and make sure that you go a little bit at a time because it's very easy to overdo this pattern.


Try not to jiggle your lace or fishnet during this process because this will make the design appear blurry. The most difficult part of this application is the beginning because securing your patterned design and magic tape is really the most important part. Once you have the preparation done,  you'll get a great look! It's easy to clean up any fallout with a q-tip or makeup pad and sharpen your design, finish off with a translucent powder to set. To achieve a perfect cats eye design you will want to put your making tape in a straight line from the outer corner of your eye to the outer corner of your eyebrow. This will create that dramatic, sloped cut off of your colored pattern.

Be creative, be colorful and be inspired by your designs!

Newest Obsession: EOS lip balm!

My newest choice of lip balm to apply to my lips after applying makeup in the morning, before going to bed and numerous times in between is the EOS lip balm. This delightful little ball-packaging resembles a cute little Easter egg and this gave me the idea that they would probably make amazing little gifts or party favors for your upcoming Easter shindigs. The design is literally so out-of-the-box and the rubbery container has such a pleasant feel in your hands, with enough grit that it will not just slip out of your hands. The bottoms have a sturdy base so that they don't roll off your table. EOS stands for "Evolution of Smooth" and you can find their product-line here. I'm not sure if these are sold in Canada, but in the US, I have found them all over the place, Wal-Mart, Rite Aid, QFC and ULTA to name a few. They can cost anywhere from $2.99 to $3.79 US each. They last you a long time and there's a lot of product inside of them so it's not a waste of money. I do agree that they are more expensive than your regular Chapstick lip-balm but the flavors are fantastic and they claim to be all-natural.

The manufacturer's page claims that they contain long-lasting moisture due to their contents being full of shea butter, jojoba oil and vitamin E. They do go on clear and colorless, so if you're expecting a pigment from your lip balm, this will not provide one. The products are gluten-free, without parabens, petrolatum and phthalates.

They come in the following flavors:

•  Summer Fruit
•  Lemon Drop SPF 15
•  Strawberry Sorbet
•  Honeysuckle Honeydew
•  Medicated Tangerine
•  Sweet Mint

My favorites are Strawberry Sorbet and Honeysuckle Honeydew, and I am not a huge fan of Medicated Tangerine or Lemon Drop but they are the ones that are probably most useful because the tangerine one is a super-moisturizer and lemon drop protects your lips from the harmful rays of the sun by being SPF 15. Really whichever ones you choose depends on what's available at the store and what your favorite flavor-profiles are. I usually like very sweet lip balms but some people really dislike very flavored makeup. I know that over the summer they had a pack that contained a purple balm which was in "Strawberry Sorbet" but I haven't seen that one in stores, it sounds delicious though.

When you're not looking to splurge on anything but you want to get something for yourself or your friends, these are a great purchase because they are useful and don't make a huge dent in your pocket. Many articles I've read have chosen these as the lip-product to purchase, especially during this recession.

You can purchase them here:

Comic Book Nails

Lately, perusing the blogosphere and fashion magazines, what has stood out as an awesome new trend is comic book nails! These are highly graphic, colorful manicures not for the feint of heart. If you're down with this look and want to experiment with it, you'd better be ready for lots of compliments and attention from guys and girls alike!

Comic book action bubbles are a simple way to spruce up your nails, using a white base and colored polka dots on top, you can add pizzazz by creating zig-zagged and imperfect speech or action bubbles outlined with a thin-tip black polish. Write your words of choice like 'Splat!', 'BAM!', 'Pow!' and 'Zap!' or whatever other fantastic word you can think of!

Another fabulous way to incorporate this look and to make it look more 'unified', you can use a single-colored background base color and keep your dots in one color as well, such as white. The only thing you would be varying in this version of the manicure is the position of the action and speech bubbles as well as the words you put within them.

If you're into a particular superhero you could do your nails in tribute to them! This lady chose Spiderman and did his mask on her thumb and webs on all the other fingers with a red background and black thin-tipped fine brush nail polish. The spider webs are simple to do, just make semi-circles radiating from your cuticle and then draw the lines straight out from the cuticle to complete you spider web. The mask is a little more complex because you will want to draw the eyes afterwards with white polish and then outline them in black after the polish is all dry.

Another graphic idea is to do a heart on your middle finger with a simple heart-shape and then a cardiogram line drawing on the rest of the nails with a black fine-tipped brushed nail polish. Keep your background color a simple pink or red but make sure that your heart can stick out with a more saturated color.

If you don't want to choose one particular superhero over another one, because you're just such a huge fan of them, take all of the iconic symbols from their outfits and incorporate them in black over different colored base nail polishes. Notice how the background colors are representative of each particular hero, for example, Batman's colors are black and yellow while the Green Lantern's colors are green and black.

Check out my jewelry store website here: http://www.bonanza.com/booths/LethalGlam

Tools you can use to create these looks can be found here: