Hello!

Recently, I’ve been browsing through Instagram posts and beauty guru’s blogs and I often see perfectly applied cosmetics swatches on their hands. Certainly, they are not just stuck but drawn, according to a stencil. These are special tools that help you achieve the perfect lines of your cosmetics. Today, however, I will present you my idea for such products. You can make them in an easy and inexpensive way. Let’s get to work!

The easiest way for swatches 

If you do not want to have original and aesthetic shade samples, you can use a simple adhesive tape. Remember to have equal edges and stick the pieces straight to the skin. You can cut it with decorative paper scissors to get a more original shape. However, if you do not want to draw by hand, buy ready-made stencils – online you’ll find a wide range. 

DIY swatch stencils

To prepare swatch stencils you will need: self-adhesive coloured papers, scissors and decorative paper punches. From the coloured sheet of paper, cut out a rectangle that will match the length of the forearm. Cut out the first pattern, and then set the distance between this one and the next cutouts.

How to use swatch stencils?

Adjust and stick the coloured piece of paper to your hand and you’re done! Now you just need to apply cosmetics. Since the paper is quite thin, apply the samples with a brush. Apply as many layers as you think will be necessary. Watch out for the pointed elements of your cut-out. Apply colours in these places so as not to bend sharp edges, do not destroy details and do not tear small notches. It’s time to take a photo and upload it to your Instagram account or a blog.

Do you also use self-made swatch stencils?

Hello!

Hand-made cosmetics are the most enjoyable. Why? Because they contain natural ingredients of your choice, they are safe and effective, and the best is that only you can do them. Therefore, discover how to prepare a cosmetic body butter with the addition of citrus fruit.

Citrus body butter – ingredients 

To prepare a cosmetic citrus fruit body butter you will need natural ingredients, which you can buy in herbal stores or online stores with semi-finished products.

Ingredients:

-30 grams of cocoa butter – it moisturizes the skin, protects against UV rays and other harmful factors coming from the outside, unifies skin tone and retains water inside;

-50 grams of Shea butter – it regenerates and moisturizes the skin, delays ageing of the skin;

-50 ml of macadamia oil – softens, firms and moisturizes the skin, has anti-cellulite properties;

– a few drops of essential oil from the chosen citrus;

– vitamins A and E 

You will not prepare any cosmetics without equipment and gadgets. You will need: a small blender, two bowls in different sizes, a clean container for the cosmetic and a few ice cubes.

DIY body butter – directions 

Cocoa butter and Shea butter should be melted in a water bath and then add the remaining ingredients. Add cold water to a larger bowl and pour ice cubes, and to a smaller one – pour over the melted ingredients. With a mixer, beat them to a smooth foam. It will not be an easy task, but cold water will speed up the whole process. Put the finished cosmetic into a clean container, put in the fridge and store for a month.

How to use a handmade body butter?

Use cosmetic cream exactly the same as other moisturizing products. Use it after taking a bath or shower and always when you feel that your skin is dry or irritated. Apply a small amount of butter to the body, then wait until it is fully absorbed. Thanks to the cosmetic, your skin will be thoroughly moisturized and smoothed, it will also have a healthy and beautiful color.

Hello lovelies! 

You often ask me in emails how to deal with combination skin. Today I prepared for you a few recipes for homemade masks that will help you deal with this complexion type.

Combination skin is difficult to take care of because it combines the features of dry skin and oily skin and each of them has different requirements. Oily skin includes the so-called T zone, i.e. chin, nose and forehead. Dry parts are cheeks.

Masks that I recommend will moisturize the skin, but also help to heal blemishes.

Cleansing face mask with oats

You will need:

3 tablespoons oats

1 teaspoon of natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon of honey

1 capsule of activated charcoal

Pour boiling water over oats to soften. When they cool down and become soft, add yogurt, honey and the contents of one activated charcoal capsule. Mix all the ingredients together and apply to the face for 20 minutes. After this time, rinse with warm water.

This is my favorite mask. Oats moisturize the skin, soothe irritations, but also cleanse. Natural yoghurt strongly moisturizes, so it is perfect for dry patches. Charcoal cleanses well, and honey has antioxidant and antibacterial properties. It soothes inflammation but also works well with dry skin. This is a delicate mask that will not irritate sensitive skin.

Apple face mask 

You will need:

Half an apple

2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon of honey

Grate the apple on a grater and mix with yoghurt and honey. Apply the mix to the face and wash after 20 minutes with warm water. The mask will gently brighten the face, and the dry parts will be moisturized and nourished.

Egg face mask 

To prepare this mask, you will only need 1 egg. Separate the white from the yolk. Whip the white and apply to the parts of the face that ten to become oily. When it dries, gently rub the egg yolk. Wash off everything after about 20 minutes. The mask cleanses, nourishes and tightens the skin.

Banana face mask for dry face parts 

You will need:

2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon of honey

¼ ripe banana

Mix all ingredients into a paste and apply to the face and neck. Wash after 20 minutes.

Avocado mask for dry face parts 

You will need:

½ avocado

1 thick slice of cucumber

1 tablespoon of natural yoghurt

Blend avocado and cucumber, then add yoghurt and mix well. Apply it to the face and neck and wash with warm water after 10-15 minutes.

I strongly recommend that you try some of these recipes:) Do you know other reliable, worth testing out recipes? Do not forget to share them in the comments! 🙂

Hello!

Homemade cosmetics bring the most joy. They are completely natural, contain ingredients of your choice and cost you pennies. How to make such a product? It’s trivial. I will show you the example of a body lotion in the form of a bar. Let’s get my cosmetic tutorial started.

Body lotion – ingredients

To prepare a bar body lotion you will need:

– 3 tablespoons of white beeswax,
– 2,5 tablespoons of Shea butter,
– 5,5 tablespoons of coconut oil,
– 2,5 tablespoons jojoba oil,
– 6 capsules of vitamin E,
– a few drops of essential oil of your choice,
– water bath bowl,
– silicone molds.

Body lotion – preparation 

Warm up all the solid ingredients in a water bath. Once you have a smooth, runny consistency, add essential oil and vitamin E. Mix well and pour the content into the molds. Set aside to chill (usually up to few hours). It’s a good idea to store it in the fridge, this will allow the product to solidify (it’ll also be easier to remove from the molds). This way the cosmetic will be cosmetic will be hard, but in contact with the skin, it will melt very quickly.

Body lotion – tips

If you want, you can modify the composition and, for instance, change the scent of the balm. You can do this at the component selection stage. Just remember to replace butter oils with other solid oils, and liquid oils – with other runny oils. You can also exchange essential oils and other additives. Also choose any shape of molds.

Bar body lotion – the use and the effects 

Use the product after every shower or bath. Rub the in the skin and wait a while until it’s fully absorbed. This will make the body silky smooth, moisturised and firmed. Also, it will regain its natural radiance, softness and shade. Another benefit, the beautiful scent will last throughout the entire day. 

Hey Girls! 🙂

Do you sometimes get hybrid manicure applied to your nails?

If you do, then you probably know yourself that this procedure can cost an arm and a leg – especially, when we realize that it lasts for more or less 3 weeks and then you have to make another appointment with a nail technician.

It can’t be denied, hybrid nails are really convenient mostly because this kind of manicure is truly durable. Depending on the pace at which your nails grow, the effect may remain unchanged even up to 4 weeks. After this period, unfortunately, fingernails don’t look as appealing as they used to because the natural nail growing at the cuticle becomes too clear to see. Nevertheless, hybrid manicure is a great solution for all the always-in-rush women who don’t have time to do their nails a few times a week. Moreover, hybrid manicure doesn’t chip off and, thanks to this, our nails remain flawless for really long. And this is considered as a huge advantage especially for those who need to expose their hands at work and are in a face-to-face contact with clients.

The only drawback is that you have to make appointments with a nail technician and stick to the schedule, find time to commute to the beauty parlour and spend over an hour there… unless… unless you give a go to – alike me – applying hybrid manicure at home.

I must admit right at the beginning that in terms of styling and coating nails I’m a complete nonentity. Sadly. Therefore I always preferred having it done rather than doing it myself. I used to do that until one day came; when I got sick and soon after that my nail technician also came round with an illness. Trying to make an appointment at short notice resulted in… hm… that only beauty salons which charge a lot for the procedure had some open slots. To my surprise, it turned out that the cost of hybrid manicure done in such a beauty parlour almost equals the amount I needed to spend on home hybrid manicure kit. Yep 😉

And in this way I became an owner of my own UV lamp, hybrid polishes (base coat and top coat) of a few colours, acetone, cleaner, polishing block, files, wooden sticks, primer, mermaid dust, special pads and many, many other little marvels.

I’ve found the entire complete starter kit that already featured a few shades of nails (I could collect them myself) and I was lucky enough to come across a huge bargain, but I think that if you go for just one nail polish and the accessories, this won’t ruin your pocket. If you take your liking in applying hybrid manicure, you can add more colour nail polishes with time.

Ok, it’s time to proceed with the action.

How to apply hybrid manicure at home?

Hybrid manicure done at home, the one I done the first time, surprised me positively. It appeared that applying hybrid manicure is child’s play. Really, I was truly surprised 🙂 Of course, I didn’t experiment with mermaid dust or any ‘fancy’ stuff like that – just applied a colour. Again, the outcome went beyond all my expectations. It turned out that it is as easy to apply hybrid manicure as it is with… hm… I don’t know… making tea? 🙂

Hybrid manicure step-by-step manual

1. Use a wooden stick to delicately yet precisely push back the cuticles – the process of getting rid of cuticles is probably well-known to everybody and I’m sure I don’t have to explain you how to do this. Let me just warn you to be careful enough not to hurt yourself or irritate skin.

2. The second step to take while applying hybrid manicure is also fairly ‘usual’ – it depends on giving the nails the shape you want them to have. It’s up to you what shape of nails you want to wear: square, almond-shaped or whatever you wish to have.

3. Now, it’s time to make your finger nail plate matte: reach for polishing block and remember to do this very gently 🙂

4. Wipe off the finger nail plates with a special cleaner – simply damp a cotton pad with the liquid and start wiping off 😉

5. Hybrid manicure requires applying a special base. The good news is that this item included in every hybrid manicure kit. Just apply a thin layer of a chosen base and make it hard under a UV lamp. Don’t wipe it off with a cleaner.

Caution!

The time required to make the preparations hard depends on the power your UV lamp generates. Producers always give such information in the leaflet or manual that goes with the device. Remember to check this before you start applying hybrid manicure at home.

6. Time for color! I love this step because, after all, this is why we apply hybrid manicure in the first place 🙂 So, just apply a chosen color/s of a nail polish. My first hybrid manicure was colourful because each of my nails was painted with different colour, yet they toned in with each other. Harden the coloured nails by placing them under UV lamp (accordingly to the power your lamp produces of course).

7. It’s time for the second layer of a nail polish, so follow 6th point one more time 🙂

8. Now, it’s time to fix your hybrid manicure. Just apply a top coat. I need to tell you that despite protective function, top coats gifts nails with shine and help the colour stay true for long.

And that’s all. Now you can enjoy having your first hybrid manicure. I hope my step by step manual will help you a lot 🙂

However, if you want to remove hybrid manicure, all you need to do is just file it down (personally, I consider this method being the best because it is the least invasive one); the fingernails must be matte and the entire colour must be delicately filed down. In other words, you start the procedure form the third point 🙂

Tell me, are you going to give a go to applying hybrid manicure at home? I’m dying to learn your experience. Leave me comments 🙂

The summer is already here and we want to show our legs, don’t we?

Because of this holiday season I prepared for all of you my dear readers a new entry where I’ll discuss the subject of tanning. Read my tips carefully and apply to them. Only then will you learn that pursuing the delicate tanned skin isn’t troublesome at all. Continue reading