How to do a French Manicure at Home

Things You'll Need

White nail polish

Clear or pink top coat

Square-shaped stickers with straight edge

Method

1.    Cut and trim your nails to a desired length. Make them a little of both square and oval shape.

2.    Take a flat edged sticker or scotch tape or a strip and place over your nail. It should be placed at the curve leaving the rest of the nail that would be painted pink or nude or clear. Make sure its tight enough so that the nail polish doesn’t bleed.

3.    Apply white nail polish to  the tip of your nail, above the sticker. The sticker, scotch tape or strip is for protecting the paint-free nail areas.

4.    Let the nail polish dry. Wait for a couple of minutes and then slowly and carefully remove the sticker or scotch tape or strip.

5.    Continue the same process with the other 9 fingers until all the tips of the 10 fingers are nicely and professionally done.

6.    Let them dry completely for about 5 minutes.

7.    Now it’s time to apply the clear or nude or very light pink which is the top coat. 

After letting all the 10 fingers dry then clean up excess unwanted paint.

You can get the products at a beauty store, pharmacy and local grocery store near you. Also you can order them online at Amazon.com, Ebay.com.

How to Make a Pedicure at Home

Shower yourself with a “spar treatment” at home. You don’t need to go out and pay a large amount of bucks at a professional spar. The spar is already there in the comfort of your home.

 You can make a pedicure at home yourself at least once a month and then change your nail polish pedicure weekly in order for your feet and nails to stay fresh. Don’t neglect your feet.

Things You'll Need

•   Pedicure tub or A tub full of water          
•   Nail file and clippers                        
•   Pumice Stone
•   Nail polish                           
•   Moisturizer 
•   Bath salts
•   Soap
•   Oils
•   Scrub
•  Mask             
•  Acetone nail polish remover
•  Cotton balls    
•  Cuticle softener
•  Pusher
•  Trimmer

1.  If you have a pedicure tub, get it ready. Fill it up with warm water. Otherwise, you can use a basin.
2. Collect all your needed utensils such as bath salts or mild soap, pumice, moisturizer, etc.
3. If you are like me, you like sweet scents; you can go ahead and add scented oil in the tab.
4. If you do not have special salts you can fill the tub with warm soapy water. There are different kinds of oils such as lavender and lemon. You can order online a pedicure tub at amazon.com for only $122.
5. Remove any existing nail polish using acetone nail remover and cotton balls.
6. Before cutting your nails, soak your feet in warm soapy water to soften them as this makes it easier to cut.
7. Soak your feet in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes.
8. Use a foot scrub to exfoliate the feet.
9. Apply a foot mask to your feet.
10. File the heels of your feet with a pumice stone and scrub your legs and heels.
11. Take one foot out at a time and wipe around each nail with a dry clean towel.
12.  Add cuticle eliminator and callus eliminator if necessary.
13.  Trim your nails straight across and file them using a nail file. Make sure you do not cut them a length too short.
14.  Wipe your clean and soft toes with acetone nail polish remover to remove any excess oil.
15. Gather your nail polishes, put them closer, and then apply the base coat. Let it dry.
16. Now apply one coat of your selected nail polish and let it dry. Apply a second coat and let it dry as well.
17.  Apply a clear top coat polish.
18.  If you have a creative urge, then you can go ahead and decorate with nail art. Check out this article on how to make nail art for inspiration.

 Get any of the beauty products to make a pedicure at home from beauty stores,   pharmacies, and local grocery stores near you or online at Amazon.com and Ebay.com.

How to Deflate Puffy Eyes at Home : 4 Natural Ways

Sometimes one won’t even realize that they have puffy eyes because “puffy eyes” somehow seem a bit normal to a naked eye.
 
There are quiet several factors that are likely to cause and contribute to the puffiness of the eyes. Salty food, alcohol or allergies are a few of the examples. But behold, I have ways to help you deflate puffy eyes below.

1. Use Caffeinated Cream

• Use a caffeinated cream to reduce puffy eyes at home. 

• You can get them at a local pharmacy or grocery store. 

• If you prefer shopping electronically, order the caffeinated cream online on a drug store.

2. Use Caffeinated Tea Bag

• You can also apply caffeine topically by using a caffeine tea bag to deflate your puffy eyes at home.

•  Caffeine draws water away from the skin thus making it have a tighter appearance.

• Place cool, moist black tea bags on  both of your eyes for about 10 minutes and enjoy the results.

•  You need to do this with caution though. Be certain that the tea bag is cool enough and that the tea or liquid does not get inside your eyes.

 

 3. Use a Sliced Cucumber

 

• Slice up a cucumber and place it on both of your eyes.

• Do this for a few minutes until you get the desired results.

• Cucumbers contain enzymes that reduce inflammation.

• Cucumbers contain about 90 % water so it has an instant cooling effect thus will deflate your puffy eyes in no time.

 4. Use Cold Spoons

 

• Put metal spoons in your freezer. You can also place the spoons directly onto ice cubes if you wish.

• Place the spoons on your eyes for 3 to 5 minutes to tighten your skin. 

• This will instantly deflate your puffy eyes.

 

You have a choice of using a bag of frozen vegetables e.g. peas, beans. It works as well as the freezer and ice cubes.
 
The good thing about the above ways of deflating your puffy eyes at home is that all the ingredients can be found in your kitchen. There is no need to go and buy new and expensive stuff at a local store or online. That’s all I have for you for now folks. Now sit and enjoy the results.  

How to do Bridal Make up at Home: Step by Step Tutorial

It’s your day today and all you want is to look perfect without spending a lot of money at the local spar. Stop panicking; I have a few tips on “How to Make Bridal Makeup at Home” for you.

 

1.      Make sure that you choose a simple and neutral  but glamorous look.

2.      You have to get your facial a few days before your big day in case you get any skin irritations.

3.      Your mascara should be waterproof since you will probably cry half of the day.

4.      Your foundation should match your skin tone and be able to last all day. I recommend  Smashbox-Liquid-Halo-Foundation available at www.Amazon.com.

5.      Your finish up powder should be translucent. My favorite is Mary-Kay-Translucent-Loose-Powder which costs about $12 at Amazon.com.

6.      For you not to have a shiny face and have a natural glow on your wedding day, apply a high lighter on your cheekbones, near the tear ducts, and just under the brows. My favorite high lighter is the MAC Mineralize Skin finish which costs about $41.00 at Amazon.com.

7.      Make sure you wear glitter and shimmer makeup moderately. My favorite is Eye Candy Beauty Treats Glitter powder by NYX which costs about $10.00 at amazon.com.

8.      Use a concealer because it hides skin imperfections. If you have dark blotches or blemishes you can conceal them.

9.      The face primer fills in pores, makes the skin look smooth, and the makeup to last longer. My favorite face primer is MAC-Prep-Prime-Face-Protect.

10. Don’t forget the eye primer so that your eye shadow lasts longer when you cry. My favorite eye primer is Mary-Kay-Eye-Primer.

11. Wear blush on the apple of your cheeks to bring color to your face.  A shade of peach-like pink color goes well with all skin tones. The best blush ever is my love Sheertone-Shimmer-Blush-Peachtwist.

12. Choose a lasting lip color. Lip stains work really well and red is always great because I feel It adds that sexiness and boldness.

 Finish with a lip liner since lip liners prevent the lipstick from bleeding. My favorite and recommended lip stain costs about $14.00 at amazon.com. Smashbox-Limitless-Stain-Color.

13. If your dress shows a little bit of skin use a little amount of soft shimmer so as to add a little sexy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a sexy bride.

 Get yourself a smash box shimmer powder for $22.00 at Amazon.com. Try the Smashbox-Soft-Lights-Shimmer Powder.

 

14. An easy way to enhance your eyes without using too much makeup is to wear artificial lashes. They are so easy to wear.

 Some brides even get themselves lash extensions for their big day. Get yourself a Mac pair online at Amazon.com, MAC-Fake-Eye-Lashes at $23.00

      

How to do Bridal Makeup at Home

 

Now it is time for your DIY bridal makeup. Learn how to do your bridal makeup at home by yourself below.

 

If you are doing a bridal facial at home, below are the steps on how to do it.

 

This will save you money and time more than you could ever know. This is so that your skin will be clear, smooth, and ready for makeup.

 

Step 1

 

1.    Cleanse your face with a face cleanser of your choice.

2.    Put a few drops of your facial cleanser on the palms of your wet hand.

Make circular movements on your face until you are satisfied that your face is clean.

 I recommend  MAC-Mineralize-Charged-Water-Cleanser which you can get online at Amazon.com for $26.00. My second recommendation is Mary-Kay-3 in 1-TimeWise-Cleanser which you get online at Amazon.com at $16.99.

 I also recommend a cleanser called Regenerist-Luminous-Brightening-Cleanser. Get it online at Amazon.com for about $19.99.

 

Step 2

 

3.    Now it is time for the toner.
4.    Grab a cotton ball and apply a little bit of your toner on it.
 Make circular movements in your face while your face is still wet.
5.    Rinse and dry with a clean and dry face cloth.
 By the way, a toner is good for restoring skin PH level and removing excess dirt.
6.    After that use a clean and soft dry face towel to pat dry.

Step 3

7.    Now apply a moisturizer of your choice and wait a few minutes for it to sink in.

 I recommend Mary Kay Time Wise Age Fighting Moisturizer which costs about $12.00 at Amazon.com.

 Now it’s time to apply your bridal make-up at home. Click here to learn how to make your own bridal makeup without spending a lot at the salon. It is a complete guide teaching you how to do make-up at home.

How to Exfoliate your Lips at Home

What is Lip Exfoliation?

• Lip exfoliating is the removal of dead and flaky skin cells, on your lips thus unveiling the new skin, and leaving behind healthy gorgeous glowing lips. 

• Now, first things first!!! Drink 8 glasses of water daily to avoid dehydration. Being dehydrated will keep your lips from being moist and soft. 

• Exfoliate your lips every three days.

•  Avoid doing it too many times as this might cause your lips to swell.

Methods of Exfoliating Your Lips

   1. Rubbing your Lips with Sugar

• Dip your finger in water, and then in a sugar bowl.

• Gently massage in circular motions on your lips.

• Pat your lips together and wipe the extra sugar off.

• Finish off with a lip balm. It moisturizes your lips making them soft and supple.

2.  Mixture of Sugar and Olive oil

• Mix a little bit of sugar and a few drops of olive oil together.
• Simply massage the mixture onto your lips in a circular motion.
• Rinse off with warm water for a silky smooth and soft lips.

• Finish off with a lip balm.It moisturizes your lips making them soft and supple.

What to do After Exfoliating Your Lips at Home

• Try to use beauty products like Nivea,  Carmex, blistex,Vaseline, soft lips, or burts bees. All of these lip balms are available at most drugstores like CVS, Duane Reade, or Wallgreens at a very reasonable price as well as online at www.amazon.com.

• Make lip moisturizer your best friend. Don't only take your new best friend everywhere you go, use her.

• Always use moisturizers with SPF 15 and above when you go out to the harsh sunny and extremely cold weather. 
• Patience is a virtue so don't expect luscious and moist lips overnight.

• Also vaseline or any lip balm of your choice daily before bed may be of great help.

• Always wear moisturizer/lip balm under your lipstick. 

• You will see the effects within a week or so and you will eventually have those soft lips again.

How to Apply Glitter Eye Shadow Make up at Home

I love color and feel sparkly glitter colors that are bright just suits every skin tone.  For example, you could never go wrong despite your skin tone with, silver, gold, pink and black.
 

Method

 1.  Choose 3 bright colors and apply them accordingly and perfectly. If you want to learn more about how to apply eye makeup and what to do before applying makeup, I wrote a short tutorial article about how to apply makeup quickly. Get my favorite glitter eye shadows at Amazon.com for $10.00 only.

 2.  Apply eye gel along your lash line. If you don’t own eye gel, you can opt for Vaseline. It works as well. This is so that the glitter may stick on well. Please make sure that you apply enough for the eye glitter makeup to stick very well. You can use a glitter applicator brush or opt for earbud to neatly apply. If you want to be bold you can as well apply glitter on the corners of your eyes. Make sure you experiment with different colors. You can get glitter eye gel at Amazon.com for $18.00 or even at around a dollar. 

 3.  Finish off with a layer of mascara. If you dare, you can apply glitter mascara instead of a regular one. You can get six glitter mascara packs at Amazon.com for around $10.

I hope you have enjoyed our simple yet easy tutorial. The more practice you do, the more perfect you will be. Stay tuned for more.
Are you one of those people who love makeup and have lots of it in their collection but just don’t know how to use glitter correctly? Do you love sparkly eyes? I was one of you a few years ago and thought I would just go along and be bold and take a risk. I don’t regret it at all.

How to Exfoliate Your Face at Home

Most of the time we wonder why our skin do not glow. In thispost we will be talking about the secret for a glowing skinwhich is polishing or exfoliating. Polishing or exfoliating your face is one of the best ways to ward off black/white heads and pimples that could clog your pores. 

There is really nothing hard about skin exfoliating. In fact it is really a short method of taking care of your skin. Below is how to exfoliate your face at home. First let’s start with homemade mixtures since we all know some products are so expensive.

1. Baking Soda and Water 

• Mix 1 Teaspoon of baking soda with 2 Teaspoons of water

• Begin to make circular motions at your cheeks and all over your face for a few minutes.

•  Do not scrub really hard because you may damage your skin.

2. Using an Exfoliator

Now if you have a good exfoliator at home you can go ahead and start exfoliating your face. Below is how to exfoliate your face at home. 

• Use most gentle exfoliator you can find in your bathroom.

•  The skin on your face is very delicate and can be irritated or damaged by harsh scrubs so you really need to be careful of what you use.

•  If you have sensitive skin like me I suggest that you use the St Ives apricot product. It is very gentle and cheap. It only costs about $9 online at amazon.com.

•  Avoid harsh skin polishing products if you have acne.

•  Instead, use an acid-based product such as an alpha-hydroxy formula.

•  I recommend citrus clear tangerine tingle which costs about $24 online at amazon.com.

•   My second recommendation will be the one made of salicylic acid. I like salicylic acid exfoliator by natural skin shop which costs about $30 on their website.

•  Exfoliate or Polish your face once weekly. 

• Exfoliating or polishing  your face will get rid of the dull, dead skin cells.

•  Exfoliating or polishing more frequently will remove the new skin cells and this could damage your skin.

• You can now  Moisturize after polishing your face.

•  It should be the case whether you have dry, oily or combination skin.

• Moisturize regularly especially before bed and drink lots of water though out the day.

•  I recommend Clinique Dramatically Moisturizing Lotion. It comes as a set of 2 online on amazon.com and costs less than $20.

How to Make Your Body Scrub at Home

We girls love to shop. We girls love gifts. We girls love bargains. If you want to give your friend a gift, you can make Body scrubs at home and gift them with it. The good news is that it is quite simple to make them. They don’t even require too much time and energy to make them. You need only less than five ingredients to make these DIY exfoliants.

• You will need a base and oil when you make your body scrub at home. The base can be made from either salts or sugars, depending on the size of the grain you prefer.  Coffee and oatmeal are other popular bases.

•  Body scrubs or exfoliants not only remove the upper layer of dead skin cells but also nourish, hydrate, soothe, and smooth out your skin.

• Below are all the utensils you will need; Plastic pipette, canning containers, mixing bowl, spoon.

1. Cinnamon Spice Sugar Scrub

Ingredients

2 cups of organic cane sugar

1 cup of olive oil

8 drops of cinnamon essential oil

Method

1.    Mix and stir salts or sugar and olive oil in a bowl until a scrub-like consistency is achieved.

2.    Using the pipette, add essential oil, 1 drop at a time.

3.    Spoon the mixture into canning jars or containers of your choice

If you don’t have a pipette, you can just use a spoon. It’s your call, as long as you are precise. Make sure you choose the fancy containers that will impress whoever the gift will be for and let them enjoy. Those essential oils really smell good.

2. Vanilla Chocolate Coffee Scrub

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of coffee beans

½ cup of olive oil

1-2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of sweet almond oil

8 drops of mint essential oil

 Method

1.    Mix and stir coffee beans, almond oil, vanilla extract, and mint essential oil in a bowl until a scrub-like consistency is achieved.

2.    Spoon the mixture into your prettiest canning jars or containers of your choice and enjoy.

3. Minty Lavender Scrub

Ingredients

2 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of olive oil

4 drops of peppermint essential oil or 1/2 teaspoon mint extract. Mint keeps you awake and alert.

8 drops of lavender essential oil

Method

1.     Mix sugar, olive oil, lavender, and peppermint essential oil, in a bowl until a scrub-like consistency is achieved.

2.    Spoon the mixture into your prettiest canning jars or containers of your choice and enjoy.

4. Honey Oatmeal Scrub

Ingredients

1 cup of oatmeal

¼ cup of honey

8 drops of sweet orange essential oil

1.    Put all the ingredients in a food processor and mix them well.

2.    Spoon it in your favorite jar and enjoy.

How to Scrub Your Body

1.    Take some of the body scrub you just made at home and put it in the palm of your hand. If needed add a little bit of warm water to make a paste. You might need to only do this bit with the oatmeal scrub especially.

2.    Rub it onto your clean skin and gently massage it in circular motions so as to exfoliate your skin.

3.    Then wash it off with lukewarm water. 

4.    You should be careful when scrubbing your body as the oils are slippery.

5.    Do this preferably in the bathtub sitting down.

6.    Pat your skin dry with a clean towel if you are using it on your face.

Moisturize your Skin After Scrubbing

It is now time to tone and moisturize. If you are scrubbing your whole body make sure that you then moisturize while the skin is wet so as to have silky and soft skin. Enjoy…

The essential oils are for giving your homemade body scrubs a sweet scent. There is actually an available variety that you can choose from. For example, lavender, strawberry, chocolate, cinnamon essential oils. Here are a few of my favorites. You can buy all these ingredients online at www.amazon.com.