Roasted spiced pumpkin seeds for Halloween :)

A happy & creepy Halloween to one and all :)

I wanted to share with you lovely people one of the worlds easiest and yummiest recipes! A big shout and thanks goes out to the fab Sonal from Eat, Love, Glow for introducing me to it (Sonal’s detailed recipe here)! Go check out her blog and follow her, she’s got some awesome sauce blogging going on!

If you have left over pumpkin seeds from the Halloween festivities, don’t throw it away. Make a scrummy snack out of it! I added my own fun twist to it by switching up the spice mix. I used paprika (thanks for the suggestion Sonal, it’s delicious!), garlic powder, chilli & garlic powder mix, cayenne pepper (I like me some heat!) and salt. Roasted Spiced Pumpkin Seeds = fake crisps/chips! If you're after a crunchy, salty, spicy healthy snack or want something to mindlessly nibble on while watching tv / reading / chilling…go make this stat! It’s delicious and much better for your waistline than a bag of crisps/chips, that’s a win in my books!

Mani Monday: Trick or Treat Orange Blood Splatter Mani

Hi all you amazing people :)

I’ve had a rather fab Monday, there was no way any Monday blues could bring me down today! Firstly, I saw that my ‘Girls of Summer Mani’ was the featured Mani on the lovely Heather’s blog for the Mani Monday spread, I never get used to that and I just want to send her a big thank-you! Seeing that is always such a nice surprise and still makes me grin like a fool from to ear and totally makes my day! Secondly, I entered a mani competition on Twitter being run by magazine leaders Cosmopolitan Magazine (South Africa) and make-up giant Revlon (South Africa). The mani I entered was the very same ‘Girls of Summer Mani’, little did I think I would win amongst all the other amazing entries…but I did! I was chosen as this weeks winner and won a Revlon hamper to the value of R1000.00 :) Just wanted to send a big shout out and thanks to Cosmopolitan (SA) and Revlon (SA)! As you can see my Monday was full of fun & excitement !!! If you’re on Twitter as well and want to connect, you can follow me here:) How did you guys spend your Mondays? My thoughts are with those weathering out Hurricane Sandy at the moment, stay safe!

Today's mani of choice…had to be Halloween themed!

I decided to go with an 'orange blood' splattered manicure using a black background with 'orange blood' to fit in with a Halloween theme! I used Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x2 coats of Essence Black is Back and x1 coat of Essence Wake up! for the blood splatter design and x1 coat of Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat. I loved this look for Halloween because it looks really punchy with all the disorder of the 'orange blood', the colours contrast beautifully and it is somewhat understated for a work day yet still in keeping with the spirit of this famed holiday! You too can get Halloween inspired nails like this, just follow the steps below!

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Two alternating base colour nail polishes (I used black and orange, classic Halloween colours)
• A straw
• Scrap piece of paper
• Toothpick
• Top coat nail polish
   

 Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely  

2) Apply x2 coats of black nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely 

3) Get ready to start applying the blood splatter effect to your nails. On a scrap piece of paper pour a small pool of orange nail polish…then take the straw and place it into the pool of nail polish. I found just tapping it into the polish wasn’t delivering enough nail polish onto the straw to get the desired effect. What I would recommend is scooping up some of the polish into the straw…you will think it’s a lot of nail polish and will that it will splatter out too much…but it won’t, don’t worry! 

4) Once you have scooped up a fair bit of nail polish into your straw you want to work on one nail at a time. Spread your fingers out on the scrap piece of paper and hold the straw about 5-8cm above your nail and blow through the straw. Blow hard enough that the nail polish sprays and splatters out of other end of the straw and onto your nail (just a word of warning the nail polish goes everywhere!). You may need to try this a few times to get it right, just remember to blow through the straw as if you are trying to blow air bubbles into a soda…then the splatter technique will come out correctly! You may need to use a toothpick just to add a few more distinct 'orange blood' splatters or to spread out big blobs of polish into flat 'orange blood' splatters.

5) You will need to pour out more orange nail polish into a small pool as you continue working on your nails. Continue following steps 3-4 and complete the splatter technique on all nails

6) Clean up your fingers with some cotton wool / ear buds or a small nail brush and nail polish remover, so that the splatter technique is only showing where it needs to be, on your nails!

7) Wait for nails to dry completely and apply top coat

 

8) Totes by pumped that you have Halloween themed nails and I know you want to sing a long to ‘Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat…’ hahaha…or is that just me ? :)

What are you guys doing for Halloween? I got in touch with my inner pirate and went to a Deathly Hallows Halloween party with friends! Yes, you are correct you know I was totally attempting to speak in pirate the whole night (Google actually provides some good advice haha) and was throwing around a few ‘Ahoy matey’ and ‘Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum’ lines :P

I did do a mani to match my outfit, I kept it pretty understated though as my outfit was pretty full on already on its own!

Wishing all a happy and creepy Halloween and to everyone in the USA, stay safe during Hurricane Sandy, my thoughts are with you all!

What you doing for Halloween or are you staying indoors due to Hurricane Sandy ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files. 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)

Mani Monday: Girls of Summer Mani

G’day you amazing peeps :)

I’ve been inspired by the recent gorgeous weather which has clearly indicated that summer is well and truly on it’s way! With summer comes the prospect of not only divine weather, but cute, fun, bright coloured clothes (my fav!), cocktails, the beach, parties, time with friends and family, Xmas shopping (haha by the carols being played in the stores already it’s not too early!) and basically all the fab things we love about the end of the year!

I love these mix and match manis where each nail is a different fun colour, I decided to switch things by using summer colours all by my favourite nail polish brand Essence and adding a cute heart detail french tip for a fun twist! I used Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, on pinky fingers x2 coats of Essence Colour & Go in Wanna be your Sunshine, on ring fingers x2 coats of Essence Colour & Go in Viva la Green, on middle fingers x2 coats of Essence Colour & Go in Ultimate Pink, on index fingers x2 coats of Essence Colour & Go in Wake Up!, on thumb nails x2 coats of Essence Colour & Go in Lime Up! and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat. 

I know you wanna be sporting these cute as button nails so follow the steps below!

You will need:

• Basecoat nail polish
• 5 different fun coloured nail polishes ( I chose yellow, dark mint, pink, orange & lime)
• Toothpicks
• White nail polish for the heart details (or whatever other colour you prefer)
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint base coat nail polish on all nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply x2 coats of coloured nail polish to each nail, wait for it to dry completely

3) Practice heart details on a scrap piece of paper, this technique is also discussed here (point 15-16) and here (point 7-8) with pictures describing each step. To achieve the ‘lil hearts french tip you will tip a small amount of white nail polish out onto a scrap piece of paper, make sure to work fairly quickly now. Dip the toothpick (or dotting tool if you prefer, I like a toothpick as the end is small enough to enable you to create small enough heart shapes) in the small pool of white nail polish and place three dots of nail polish in an upside down triangle shape. Now take the toothpick and carefully pull each dot into each other so that it joins in the middle…the dots once all joined will now resemble a heart shape

4) Once you have the heart detail technique down pat, start applying the design to your nails…work on one heart at a time and on one nail at a time, I completed all three hearts per nail first before moving onto the next nail. Apply heart details to all nails

5) Wait for nail art to dry and apply top coat

6) Totally put on some classic Aerosmith Girls of Summer on your iPod and jam out, ‘When winter hush turns summer pink, In half the time it takes to blink, But it all depends on what'choo think, About the girls of summer’…la…la…la!

What are you most excited about for summer ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.  

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)

Review: Can you smell the Fame ?

I was recently given the opportunity by the lovely people over at Beauty Bulletin to review a sample of the ‘first ever black eau de parfum’ the new fragrance by one of the entertainment world’s most marketed and recognizable icons, it can only be Lady Gaga and her new scent ‘Fame’! 

I know many have been bashing this product as being too sweet or florally for a Lady Gaga scent and it hasn’t lived up to the ‘blood and semen’ hype! However, let’s be frank...no one would buy a fragrance that smells foul and conjures up images that makes you want to wretch! Lady Gaga is in the game of shock, drama and publicity...in every single thing she does she aims to hit that trifecta...and she succeeds! The publicity campaign for this scent delivered on all three bases, especially the video directed by Steven Klein! Like everything else in life, money makes the world go round and I think the reason why this fragrance does smell slightly familiar and recognizable is that it needs to attract customers who want to smell irresistible while still feeling bad ass, in touch with their inner Lady Gaga or at the very least feel that they too can command the kind of attention she can...the kind of fame she owns! 

I feel ‘Fame’ walks the line of being edgy enough which comes through in the strong packaging details of the exotic, jet black fluid in an oval shaped perfume bottle topped with gold tallons forming part of the lid. While still being commercial enough in order to capture those wary of Lady Gaga or those who don’t want something too exotic or crazy and this is achieved through the recognizable and familiar floral notes. While ‘Fame’ may not be a punch in the face of unique, I find the uniqueness to be symbolic to some extent. It comes as no surprise that Lady Gaga selected belladonna as one of the perfume notes as historically belladonna was used as a tool of seduction or alternatively as a poison! 

I found the darker more sensual notes of 'Fame' to be apparent on first whiff, clearly a heady scent and immediately it reminded me of familiar masculine fragrances however a few seconds later the floral, sweet notes kicked in. ‘Fame’ struck me as a strong, in your face scent characteristics much suited to its maker! I was happy with the longevity of ‘Fame’ as a couple hours into the day the scent while somewhat muted due to long wear, the reminiscent headiness of ‘Fame’ was still apparent. All in all, I like this product and would definitely recommend purchasing it if you are after a strong, heady scent with floral notes. Whether you are a diehard fan or just someone looking for a new fragrance to try, ‘Fame’ ticks all the boxes!

Mani Monday: Pretty in Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

Hallo you lovely people :)

Welcome to another instalment of the fabulous Mani Monday, this Monday I decided to pay homage to a cause close to my heart by decking my nails out in pink in support of breast cancer awareness month. I have lost an aunt to this disease and we can all do our little bit to raise awareness for breast cancer. Even if your bit is painting your nails so that it sparks a conversation with a stranger about breast cancer awareness or if one goes out and gets a mammogram or by supporting breast cancer awareness events and fundraisers, do your little bit…it all counts!

As you can see I have a bright pink base colour on my nails with an accent nail on the ring finger depicting the design of the breast cancer pink ribbon. I used mint daisies for a cute twist and french tip pink daisies on the rest of my nails. I used x1 coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x2 coats of Essence Ultimate Pink and for the daisy designs x1 coat Essence Stamp me! Silver, x1 coat Essence Nude Glam in Iced Strawberry Cream, x1 coat Colours Nail Enamel in Creammoss and finally x1 coat Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat. 

You will need:

• Basecoat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish (I used pink)
• Three alternating colour nail polishes for the daisies (I chose silver, baby pink and mint)
• Toothpick
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint base coat nail polish onto all nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply base colour nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely

3) Practice a few daisy designs on a piece of paper, pour a small pool of silver nail polish onto a scrap piece of paper, working quickly dip the toothpick into the silver nail polish and press the tip of the toothpick onto the piece of paper creating a small silver dot. Next pour a small pool of coloured nail polish (pink or mint) and dip the toothpick into the nail polish and place 4 small dots around the silver dot. You will now work quickly by taking the opposite sharp end of the toothpick and carefully but quickly dragging it through the 4 coloured dots of polish…so as to create the shape of a petal, this technique is also discussed here (point 8-9)

4) Now you are ready to start applying the daisy designs to your nails! For the accent nail on the ring finger, I made the daisy design mimic the pink ribbon design for breast cancer awareness. First I placed all the silver dots on my nails in the shape of the pink ribbon making sure to leave enough space between each silver dot to accommodate the petals of the daisies

5) Next for the ring finger details, I worked on each daisy one at a time, thus I placed the 4 mint dots of nail polish around each silver dot one by one and created the petal design first and completed each little daisy before moving onto the next one

6) For the french daisy tips, I placed the silver dots in a fairly straight line just above the tip of my nails, yet again leaving plenty of space for the petal design. I painted on all the silver dots onto my nails first and then applied the baby pink dots for the petals and yet again as in step 5 working on each daisy one by one by completing the petal design before moving onto the next one

7) Wait for all nail art to dry and then apply top coat

8) Be jazzed that you have done a little something to bring awareness to a much needed cause and now go out and get a mammogram while you are at it get your sisters, moms, grandmothers, aunts and girlfriends to get mammograms as well…there is no harm only the chance to save a life! The Radiological Society of SA (RSSA) is offering a 10% discount on Mammograms and Breast MRI’s during the month of October up to 16 November 2012. Go out and support some breast cancer awareness events and fundraisers! Go do your bit! :)

 

What are you going to do to raise awareness for breast cancer?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files. 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)

Mani Monday: Black on Nude Mani

Hi, you lovely folks!

This week I went with the classic combo of black and nude, however I made sure to add some fun twists to it with a different technique on each nail!

 I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x3 coats Essence Black is Black on index and ring fingers and x3 coats Essence Nude Glam Hazelnut Cream Pie on the other fingers, and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a top coat.

To get this fun mani, just follow the steps below!

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Two colour base nail polishes (I used black and nude)
• Sticky tape
• Scissors
• Sponge
• Orangewood stick / dotting tool
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely 

 

2) Apply x2 - x3 coats of alternating base colour nail polishes, I applied the black nail polish to both ring and index fingers as the accent nails and the nude nail polish to the rest of my nails, wait for it to dry completely 

 

3) Practice the dotting design on a piece of paper first to ensure you don’t mess up your nails if you’re not yet confident with the technique 

 

4) Pour a small bit of black nail polish (if working on thumb nail) onto a piece of paper (I always practice before applying nail art to my nail…there is nothing worse than waiting hours for nail polish to dry and then spoiling it with an unsteady hand due to an unfamiliar technique), using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the black pool of nail polish and then carefully apply a small dot on the piece of paper. When you are ready to start applying the dots to your thumb nail, you will be applying the dots in a straight line at the diagonal on the nail…4 diagonal rows of dots

 

5) For the dots on the index finger, pour a small bit of nude nail polish on a piece of paper, using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the nude pool of nail polish and then carefully apply dots around the edge of the nail…you are basically making an outline of the nail with the dots

6) For the middle finger, I used two pieces of sticky tape. I placed the first piece of sticky tape at a diagonal on my nail…so that one end of the sticky tape started at the middle of my nail and the other end of the tape ended up at the opposite edge of the tip of my nail, this technique is also described here (point 3-4). I then applied black nail polish starting to paint over the sticky tape and then onto the nail. While the black coat of nail polish was still wet I quickly but carefully pulled off the sticky tape, to reveal a black diagonal edged nail. Now for the top part of the diagonal on the nail, I cut a thin piece of tape and placed in on my nail at a diagonal making sure that there was a gap at the top of the nail where the black nail polish would be painted onto. I then very carefully applied the nail polish onto my nail, however instead of painting downwards on my nail, I painted upwards towards my cuticle and was very careful to start painting on the thin piece of sticky tape…so that when I pulled off the sticky tape the excess nail polish was on the sticky tape and had not accidently been painted onto the middle of diagonal nude stripe on the nail

Well done, you've got the first diagonal down...the result! Just one more diagonal design on this nail to go!

Voila! (I did accidently paint some black polish onto the middle nude stripe...but I covered it with nude polish...moral of the story...be careful when painting on that second black diagonal stripe, it's tricky! :P )

 7) The ring fingers have the trending gradient technique on them, I used a dishwashing sponge that I had cut up into manageable smaller cubes (I’ve found this works better as compared to make-up sponges). You liberally apply the nude nail polish to a small section of the sponge and then gently but firmly press down the sponge onto a piece of paper first (not only to practice) but also it gets rid of any excess nail polish…I do this about once or twice and then I gently but firmly apply the sponge to the tip of my nail…gently pressing the sponge onto the nail in different places on the nail tip in order to get the desired effect, only apply the sponge with the nail polish at the tip of the nail and build up the design by pressing the sponge onto your nail as far up your nail as you choose

8) The pinky finger, I cut up a piece of sticky tape and carefully but firmly applied it to my nail (as one would with a french tip guide sticker). I then painted on a coat of black nail polish, applying the nail polish over the sticky tape and onto the nail…while the black nail polish is still wet I quickly removed the sticky tape. This technique is also discussed here (point 4)

9) Wait for all nail art on nails to dry then apply a top coat and admire your uber classy but funky black on nude mani!

What are your favourite classic colour combos ?

 

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.

 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :) 

Mani Monday: Eastern Mosaic Mani

Hello, Hi, Namaste, Vanakum :)

Welcome to this weeks Mani Monday, thanks for stopping by you lovely human beings you! Firstly a big shout out and thank you to the lovely Heather for featuring my Coral & Mint Leopard Mani as this weeks featured mani! Always such a treat being selected and it inspires me to keep thinking up new and fresh ideas for manis!

This week I went back to my roots and did an Eastern Mosaic Mani, I was inspired by all the gorgeous intricate designs on saris and tried my best to recreate an easy mani which portrays the same effect!

Such an easy mani to achieve and I just layered the dotting technique and it makes the mani look a lot more intricate that it really is by using such a simple technique that anyone can do and the contrasting colours make it pop all that much more!

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength, x2 coats Essence in Break Through, x2 coats Colour Nail Enamel in Creammoss, x1 coat Essence in Stamp me! Silver and x1 coat in Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a top coat.

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Two alternating base colour nail polishes (I used purple and mint)
• One alternating dotting colour nail polish (I used silver)
• Top coat nail polish
• Orangewood stick
• Toothpick

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely 

2) Apply x2 coats of alternating base colour nail polishes, I applied the mint coloured nail polish to both ring fingers as the accent nails and the purple coloured nail polish to the rest of my nails, wait for it to dry completely 

3) Practice the dotting design on a piece of paper first to ensure you don’t mess up your nails if you’re not yet confident with the technique 

4) Pour a small bit of silver nail polish on a piece of paper, using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the silver pool of nail polish and then carefully apply a small dot on the piece of paper. You will be building the silver dot design up into a triangle shape

5) Next practise the following design, you will pour a small pool of mint nail polish in the piece of paper and carefully using a toothpick dip the sharp end of the toothpick into the mint nail polish and place a mint dot in the middle of the silver dot. Continue doing this until all silver dots have a small mint dot in the middle of them

6) On the ring finger as these are accent nails, the dotting colour nail polishes you use will be different to the above, you will use the purple nail polish in place of the silver and the smaller dot in the middle will be done using the silver nail polish

7) Once you are ready to start executing this technique, Bobs your uncle…go for it! Follow steps 4-5 for the four purple nails and step 6 for the accent mint nails

8) Wait for dotting designs to dry completely, then apply top coat and wait for it to dry completely and you're done!

9) Look down at your eastern inspired nails and I know you totally want to go wear a sari, put on a bindi or possible become a Bharatanatyam dancer...all totally acceptable reactions, trust me :) 

10) What I do suggest you do is to put on some Jai Ho by A.R. Rahman and the Pussycat Dolls because I know you wanna boogie to some Indian inspired jams :) Then get ready to break out the bhangra jams... :)

Have you ever visited India, thoughts ? Just for fun Q, what is your favourite Bollywood movie ?

I have been to India, incredible India and I have many a tale to tell of the amazing people I met, lifetime friendships I made and the wonderous places I visited...but let's save that for another blog post shall we :) 

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)