Nail Art

It's the last weekend before I begin my new temp job...and I'm feeling both excited and nervous.  More so excited about the new challenges and the income, of course!  I'm also looking forward to walking around Downtown Vancouver and seeing all the festivities going on for the Olympics!  I'll be sure to bring my camera with me everyday.

For today's post, I will be doing my first nail tutorial!  It's a simple and quick one that I did right before heading to a dinner party, and I was quite pleased with the result.

Here are the polishes that I used:

In order of use - Orly Bonder Base Coat, Sephora's Metro Chic, CND Effects' Ice Blue Shimmer, OPI's My Private Jet, Seche Vite Top Coat

First, start off with applying Orly Bonder Base coat.  After applying your Base coat,  applied 2 coats of Sephora's Metro Chic (brownish plum colour) all over the nail.

The next step is optional, but I thought it added a little bit of glam to the design.  Apply 1 coat of CND's Effects (Ice Blue Shimmer) to get that nice reflective shine.  I've indicated this polish as one of my new faves!  There are several different types of effects - gold shimmer, silver shimmer, blue iridescent, pink iridescent, etc.  It's a easy way to dress up your nails!

Once you've done that, take OPI's My Private Jet (dark brown w/ sparkles), or any polish that contrasts with your base colour, and apply it right down the middle of your nail with one solid stroke. Make sure you have a good brush for the polish you choose too, so that you don't have any strays that will ruin the design.

And then finish off with the best Top coat in the world - Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat!

Here is the final product:

For more nail art designs, be sure to visit my Facebook page
Glamour Buzz

Well, I'm off to select my outfit for my first day of work!  Have a great week, everyone :) and be sure to check back during the week for new posts!

Allow me to introduce myself...

I got so excited about starting up my blog that I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Sheena Louie and I was born in Lexington, Kentucky in '86. I moved to Vancouver when I was about 3 years old and have grown up here ever since. I currently live with my boyfriend of 3+ years and am fortunate to be in such a loving, committed relationship.

I've always been a shopaholic but never really knew it until I got my first job and could start spending the dough...and as the clothes, bags, makeup, and accessories starting piling up, it hit me - I am a shopaholic! I love to compare products and I will go through several different brands to find the best one. I won't deny it, I'm in love with the hunt of finding those deals and amazing products...and I want to share my findings with you!

Aside from blogging, I am currently taking on an Administrative role at an office Downtown. (I'm quite excited to see all the festivities of the 2010 Olympics during my lunch break and after work!) I have also just begun my quest to becoming an Event Planner! I am actually very excited about this venture; if you have any suggestions on where I should start out, please let me know. After going through a few jobs, and attending a life course called the Pursuit of Excellence (it really changed my life!), I finally realized where my passion lies - in Event Planning. There is so much about organizing/managing an event that makes me want to be a part of the process. I've organized many fundraisers and with each success, I feel a surge of gratification. It's an awesome feeling.

On my spare time, I like to paint my nails, watch TV series (currently watching Scrubs), read novels or gossip magazines, and go shopping! My favourite hobbies are dragonboating, working out at the gym or in my living room, badminton, playing video games, online shopping, partying...and in the next month, I will start designing my scrapbook.

I started up this blog to spread the word about amazing deals and must-have products. I had been wanting to do this for months but was always a bit nervous about starting up...until I attended the Pursuit of Excellence Seminars. There, I was taught to get past my comfort level and take the steps towards success...and now here I am, blogging. The pay off? I feel amazing every time I submit a post and share my knowledge with the rest of you! Just by taking this one step in life, I've put a bigger smile on my face and have given myself something new to be excited about each day. I intend on using the tools I learned from the Pursuit seminars in many other aspects of my life.

Lastly, I want to thank you, my readers, for visiting my blog every now & then. I hope you will be able to get something out of my daily posts...and don't forget to share what you find with your friends too!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tips & Tricks

Tonight, I'm going to share with you some beauty tips & tricks that I've come across over the years. I hope you will discover something new in here that you can start using immediately!

1) PERFUME - When trying out or putting on your perfume, do not rub it into your skin. Rubbing will cause the scent to break down and may ruin the quality of the perfume. Instead, just let it air out. The best places to apply perfume are your wrists, behind the ears, base of your neck, in your elbow bend, and between the ladies. And most importantly, make sure the perfume you've chosen won't suffocate anyone throughout the day ;)

2) SAUNA & TANNING - If you love the spa and pamper yourself with a indoor tan every once in awhile, go the extra mile and treat yourself to an infrared sauna session! If you hop in the sauna before a tanning session, you not only detoxify your body, but you also open up your pores for a better, sexier tan. To make sure you don't over heat, make sure you drink plenty of water while in the sauna, and keep the fan going while in the tanning bed.

3) PRIMER - Makeup primer & Eye primer are very effective when you want to have a lasting, polished look. When you use a primer, your makeup goes on more smoothly (you'll use less foundation), it lasts longer, and if you get the right one, your face won't get oily as fast! I recommend LORAC's aquaPRIME Oil Free Makeup Primer ($39 @ Sephora) and Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion ($22 @ Sephora).

4) BABY SHAMPOO - Who knew that buying a $3 bottle of baby shampoo, compared to a $15+ bottle of makeup brush cleanser, would be more effective?! I own a $20 cleanser that is sprayed onto the brush and supposedly removes the makeup as you rub it...well, it takes forever. It has proven itself to be quite a hassle and because of that, I didn't clean my brushes on a regular basis - I know, ew. But then, a good friend told me that baby shampoo works much better and she was right! You can buy a large $2-3 bottle from any drugstore (I got mine from Walmart for about $2.50), go home, lather it in and your brushes will magically be clean! Makeup goes on significantly better and smoother when you take good care of your brushes.

5) ACETONE ON A BRUSH - Even with the most steady hands, you're bound to make a couple errors here and there when applying nail polish. Need a quick fix? It's simple! Just take a small, flat concealer brush ($2 @ Walmart) and dab it with nail polish remover (I pour some into the cap). From there, wipe up any areas where the nail polish ran "outside the lines". You can also use this technique for french manicures or nail art designs!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more tips & tricks...next time with photos! Feel free to leave comments with tips you'd like to share or questions about the above.

The Best Top/Base Coats EVER

My first blog - woohoo! I'd like to start off with thanking you for visiting my blog. Now read on...to learn about the best Top Coat and best Base Coat to have ever been invented!

Since the day I started painting my nails, I have tried several brands of top coat. Last year, I finally discovered the most amazing one yet, and I recommend it to everyone! The brand - Seche Vite. I originally purchased it off eBay (about $6) but I have also seen it at London Drugs ($10).

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

It's not lying when it says "Dry Fast"...by the time I've finished applying top coat to both hands, my first hand is dry to the touch and completely set! I can rub my nails, wash my hands, and get on with my day! I would still recommend being careful, but it's really amazing how fast it dries. Also, there is a really high shine factor with the Seche Vite Top Coat. I receive many compliments on my nails whenever I wear the top coat. You will LOVE it!

Once you get half way through the bottle, you may encounter a problem where the top coat starts to thicken and becomes very gooey. This results in the polish going on with tiny bubbles or causing polish strings (not quite sure what to call them) as you pull your brush away from the nail. Not so glamourous. In this case, you can simple add a couple drops of Acetone into your bottle of top coat OR you can buy the Seche Restore Thinner to do the job. I recommend the Thinner because using Acetone caused my top coat to turn murky and made it a little less effective.

Seche Restore Thinner

The Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat works especially well when used with a base coat. I recommend the Orly Bonder Rubberized Formula Base Coat! It goes on as a thin, matte coat and as soon as it sets, you can tell how well nail polish would stick to it. I haven't seen the Orly brand in stores, but I purchased this bottle off eBay for about $6. Make sure you are using a base coat to protect your nail and help your polish stay on longer.

Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat

With this wonderful combination of the Orly Bonder Base Coat and the Seche Vite Top Coat, your paint job could last up to 10-14 days, depending on how well you take care of your nails. Of course your nails will start growing out by then and you would want to re-apply your polish, but the fact that it could take a week before your paint starts to chip is simply amazing!

***Please note that unless otherwise indicated, I am not directly or indirectly affiliated with any company or with the sales of any of these products. My blog and the opinions contained herein are based solely on my personal experiences as a consumer of these products. As you can see, I am very passionate about discovering the perfect products and I created this blog simply to share my findings with you!

***As my readers, you should also know that I will be using the hot pink lips graphic to indicate products or deals that I think are absolutely amazing. In other words, you must get your hands on them!