Nailart: Galaxy

I did these galaxy inspired nails back when I was doing the nailpolish challenge on Instagram. I honestly think that these are the prettiest I've ever done them and I am now regretting my decision of wearing them only for a day (darn you daily challenge!!). But on the bright side, at least I took pictures!

If you want more nailart pictures, please visit my instagram http://instagram.com/erikaalice.

Nailart: Fuzzy Nails

Today's nailart is commonly called Fuzzy Nails. These are really easy to do, all you need is some flocking powder!

It took me a really long time to find the flocking powder because not a single one of the craft stores here in my place carried them! I was sooo happy when I found them in a nail specialty store in APM. To be honest, they're a bit pricey. They cost 150 pesos for two tiny containers and a nail polish.

The first time I did these they came out a bit patchy (see red nails). They came out patchy because I used a polish that was a "watery" consistency. I find that creamy polishes work better with the flocking powder. Also, avoid using brand new polishes for these as they are almost always a bit more watery.

Nailart: Begginer's Flower

This nailart design is what I call "begginer's nailart" it's relatively easy to do yet it looks neat and cute. 

It's really hard to mess up so it's perfect for those who want to try their hand at nailart.

Always start with a base coat! I used L.A color's base coat.

I used a light slightly peachy pink for my base. This is from a brand called DIFFI the shade is in A44.

After leaving my base color to dry I dotted on a yellow polish from OMG called banana boat. (You can substitute any other flowery color for this like orange or red) this will be the center of the flower.

I quickly dotted on the petals with a white nailpolish from bobbie called Pure White.

Wait for your design to dry and then you can add a top coat!

That's it! It's that easy and simple to do. If you're a nailart newbie or if you haven't tried nailart, this is one of the easiest fool-proof designs and I hope it inspires you to try.

Nailart: Red Tribal Nailart

I did this design a while back when I was on the nailart challenge. The challenge for the day was to create a tribal design.

I'm not particularly fond of how this came out, I think that it's a bit messy because my red polish was a bit runny at that time but oh well!!

As always, start out with a base coat, I used L.A color's base coat.

For the white base, I used two coats of etude house's white polish in WH702.

After that dried, I used a toothpick to draw on the designs with a red nailpolish from L.A colors called Cranberry Red (NP142). It's a bit patchy because I mixed in too much nailpolish solvent into it. :(

After that dries, you can top it off with a top coat.

That's it! If you guys decide to try this out, please don't forget to show it to me!

If you want more nailart pictures, please visit my instagram http://instagram.com/erikaalice.

Nailart: Cascading Dots

I did this nailart a while back and I thought that my first nailart post should be something relatively simple and easy to do. 

I started off with a base coat, the L.A colors base coat (NP191)

After that dried, I used san san's nailpolish in Blue Sapphire.

For the dots I used a dotting tool and dipped it in white polish, make sure that your dotting tool is generously coated in white polish for the first dot and slowly reduce the amount as you go lower. 

For the white polish I used Etude house's  WH702. If you're looking for a really opaque white, go for this!

Make sure the dots are dry and finish off with a top coat and you're done!!

That's it! If you guys decide to try this out, please don't forget to show it to me!

If you want more nailart pictures, please visit my instagram http://instagram.com/erikaalice.

Balancing Facial Wash & Toner Review (human❤nature)

Human ❤ Nature

Balancing Facial Wash and Balancing Facial Toner Review

TONER

When I ordered these I got the Toner first because the facial wash was out of stock.

I've never been much of a toner-loving person mainly because I thought that all toners were alcohol based. I used to hate toners because (generally speaking) they're very harsh and irritating. Whenever I use them, they would irritate my eyes even though I don't use it around my eye area. The alcohol makes my eyes turn red and watery.

I was really hesitant about getting the toner because I was afraid that it might irritate my skin and eyes. When I got it, I was puzzled as to why it didn't smell like alcohol. I was told by the seller that it was alcohol free!

Most of us think that Toners are used for "cleaning", WRONG! Toners are used for "Balancing". Toners are used to restore the pH balance of the skin.

While most people use alcohol-based toners (for oily skin) it leaves the skin extremely dry which makes your skin produce even more oil, which leads to unwanted, nasty breakouts.

The first thing I noticed when I used the toner was it made my skin a tad bit red but it didn't hurt or anything. The redness went away a couple of seconds after patting the cotton pad on my face. It didn't irritate my eyes at all!!

I'm still using the toner today which is roughly about 3-4weeks. I have to say that it's great! It feels refreshing and the scent is fabulous (smells like orange). Although I'm quite disappointed why my break out isn't going away (broke out a couple of days before I used the product) quickly. It didn't slow down nor did it quicken the "healing process"

Also, the 200ml bottle costs P199.75 which is a tad bit pricey compared to commercial toners but I guess it's pricier because it's organic.

I would have to rate this a

4 out of 5 stars---- just because it didn't help heal my break out and it's a tad bit pricey, flimsy bottle.


FACIAL WASH

 50ml bottle

200 ml bottle

I got the smallest bottle because I just wanted to try out the product, I know a lot of people love this facial wash but I wasn't sure if it was gonna work with my combination skin.

My first impression about it was that it smelled like those cheap bubble formulas. Those bubbles that come in a tiny bottle that cost P5 each. The ones they sell on the street. I thought that the scent was really weird. Another was that it didn't foam up or create bubbles. I mean there were bubbles but only quite a few, you could literally count it with your fingers.

The "beads/scrubs" are very minimal which is a good thing since this is a daily scrub. You really don't want to scrub your skin raw everyday. I would really recommend this to people who have milia, because anything that has "scrubs/beads" can get rid of milia.

The 50ml bottle is quite pricey too because it costs P84.75 a 50ml bottle is really tiny, it can literally fit in just one hand. I guess this would be a great travel sized facial wash but one thing I'm really concerned about if you bring this when you travel is that the bottle is quite flimsy, I think if you dropped this the cap would break off (same with the Toner). The consistency is runny and stringy almost like the consistency of saliva (I know, gross).

I guess most Human♥Nature products aren't packaged that well, most of the products I got from them have really flimsy packaging.

All in all a good product, I didn't break out from it but it also didn't improve the healing process of my break out.

I would have to rate this a

4 out of 5 stars---- just because it didn't help heal my break out, it's pricey and it has flimsy packaging.

Rating:

Balancing Facial Toner (Orange and Elemi with Sugar Beet)            ★★★★☆
Balancing Facial Wash (Orange and Elemi with Bamboo Scrubs)     ★★★★☆

Got all these 2 products for P256.00 instead of P284.50 because it was 10% off at The Shopping Cart.

Disclaimer: All products mentioned were purchased with my own money.

NOTE: I made this review last December 23, 2011.
(I was extremely busy with school)

UPDATE
as of March 26, 2012

I still love this product!!
The packaging, as I said before, is very flimsy. The cap on my toner wont close anymore, it stays slightly open even when I press it down very firmly.

I ran out of the 50ml bottle so I bought the 200ml bottle (facial wash).