tutorials

MANI MONDAY

post + photos by Kristin Ess

We found yet another use for those lovely DIY nail stickers. Here’s how we created a plaid party:

  1. Paint your tape with 3 or 4 different colors. Cut into strips. Do a couple different widths.
  2. Paint your base coat. We used an off white vanilla color.
  3. You’ll want to start building from the inside corner and move outward. Over lap one vertical and one horizontal strip.
  4. Now do another set of stickers out from that set.
  5. Keep going until you get to the opposite corner.
  6. Use cuticle nippers to trim the excess sticker.

Always apply a top coat over tape stickers to avoid to peeling!

obsessions

NAILED IT!

photos + post by Kristin Ess

Sometimes you’ve gotta get a little country! Nothing screams sweet southern style more than gingham, so let’s make that into a mani, shall we?!

  1. Start by painting the nails white.
  2. Using the DIY sticker method we showed you a couple weeks ago, paint blue, pink, green or whatever color you love on a piece of tape. Wait for it to dry and cut it into thin strips. You’ll need 6-10 strips per finger.
  3. Lay 3-5 strips horizontally on the nail.
  4. Then lay the other 3-5 strips vertically.
  5. Trim the excess with cuticle nippers. (I decided to add one more blue strip at the tip of the nail at this point because I thought it looked better with blue at the top!)
  6. Apply a quick drying top coat to seal your gingham pattern.

You can do all your nails or just one. I didn’t want an overwhelming sense of this pretty lil’ pattern, so I just stuck to one.

about us

CONGRATULATIONS!

PHOTOS BY HTTP://WWW.JOIELALA.COM post designed by Kristin Ess

Each winner will be contacted via email and scheduled (along with their bestie) for a day of virtual beauty school. Congratulations to all of our winners!!! Thank you to everyone who entered, and more importantly thank ALL of you for your incredible support during our first year. Here’s to many more! xo

makeup

BEAUTICIAN MAGICIAN: A VOLUMINOUS LIP ILLUSION

photos + post by amy nadine, design by eunice chun

We get a lot of emails asking how to make thin lips look fuller. So today I’m happily sharing one of my biggest secrets as a makeup artist! This ten-second trick instantly but subtly makes any-sized lips appear fuller using a concept from Basic Art 101: you add dimension by playing with shadows + light. If you want to bring a feature forward, you make it lighter, and if you want to push something back, you shade it darker. So to make the lips appear more voluminous, simply outline the top lip + the philtrum (the two midline grooves that run from the top of the lip to the nose) to highlight it. It’s a lot safer and less expensive than fillers and looks more natural.

If you have fair to medium skin, use NARS Larger Than Life Liner in Rue Bonaparte like I used on my assistant Carissa above. If you have tan to dark skin, use Stila Kajal Liner in Topaz.

  1. Start by tracing the two lines of your philtrum from your nose to your upper lip. Then trace the cupid’s bow (the area between the lines) and from each point to the outer corners. Only line the upper lip (leaving the lower lip natural).
  2. Lightly blend the line with your finger to make it undetectable but enough to still do its job.
  3. Finish by filling in your entire lips with a color/finish of your choice. We used Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in Rhubarb but you can use a liner + lipstick, just lipstick, just gloss or a tinted lip balm… whatever you are in the mood for that day!

hair

ORGANIZATION STATION: GET YOUR HAIR STUFF IN CHIC ORDER

photos & post by Kristin Ess

If you’re a girl on the go, you’re probably familiar with the magical mystical “bathroom tornado”. It comes through scattering everything everywhere, leaving no bobbypin unturned. No one knows how it happens, but it’s a huge bummer when you return home from a long day to find this natural disaster has struck your bathroom counter once again. Luckily there’s a way to keep your hair stuff (or makeup brushes) all together in one super chic place. These holders are made from Mason jars which are incredibly cheap and easy to find. Below are instructions for turning these regular old jars into counter top eye candy…

You will need: blue painter’s tape, paper towels, gloves, white flat spray paint, gold metallic spray paint, mason jars in various sizes… (and I used a vintage shot glass for the bobbypin holder, but that’s optional.)

  1. Remove the lids from your mason jars.
  2. Put painter’s tape along the edge of a paper towel or two.
  3. Wrap the jar. For the first color, I wrapped the tape straight across as you can see in photo 3.
  4. Tuck the excess paper towel inside the jar so no spray paint gets inside.
  5. Put your gloves on, go outside, put a piece of newspaper or cardboard down and spray your jar. I applied very thin layers of paint instead of one thick layer. It dries faster, won’t drip and gets better coverage.
  6. Remove the blue tape and paper towel after the first color dries completely.
  7. If you’re sure the first color is dry, wrap the jar with the tape + paper towel again, but this time in another direction. I wanted to do mine diagonal.
  8. Put your gloves back on and go back outside. Spray the second color and wait for it to dry. I LOVE the matte white with the shiny gold combo but you can use any color that you think will look good in your bathroom. Remove the tape when it’s dry and you’re done!