*(ARGH! Pirates/Tattoo inspired Nail Tutorial!)*&

Hello lovelys! I am back!! I know I know.. I'm doing worse and worse about posting. It isn't that this isn't important too me, I have been sick for the last almost 5 weeks now and just finally got my insurance set up with the new area that I'm living in *military insurance is a pain sometimes lol* so I finally have an appointment this week... Most likely will be getting my tonsils removed SOOOO I will probably have tons of time to post after that. lol I just ask for patience with me right now with being as sick as I have been and starting my new block of college classes with more strict teachers, well it's kept me busy. Anyways, enough excuses! Now to the blog you've been waiting for! haha!

I saw the decals I used at Walgreens and it instantly made me think two things:
1: Tattoos which I now have three kind of large ones.
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2: Pirates! How can you go wrong with a design like that??!! haha

So here you go. Stick with the tutorial to see how easy this design really is!!

Awesome two tone right? All you need is nail polish, Q-tips, and a paper plate! I promise anyone can do this design!

So here with go with the tutorial mateys! (that was a push I know, but had to say it! haha)

Here are the colors I used:

*Click the pictures for a larger image if its hard to see the color names*

As always, start with a base coat!! This is such a huge step! The one I'm using ALOT as you can see from the picture haha is Sinful Colors Basecoat. I think it's like 2 dollars at Walgreens. I personally love this one because I never end up with dyed nails and it dries really quickly! Base coats do not have to be expensive but are crucial with nail polish! My Mom just used a green polish on her nails and her nails are STILL dyed green because she forgot to use a base coat! haha

Next is doing your base colors. For me, I wanted to do something a little different so I decided to paint my ring finger nails white and the rest red. I did this also so a red heart decal could be placed on the white to stand out. 

Next I decided I didn't want my nails to be plain just painted one solid color so I decided to add a two tone effect. This truly is seriously easy! I promise! All you have to do is put a little nail polish on a paper plate (not the foam plates.. polish will eat through it.. lol Learned the hard way) and dip your Q-tip in it.. Sponge it a few times on the paper plate so you can have a gradual two tone and not just black and red, or black and white depending on the nail. Start at the corner tip of your nail and work your way in to make a triangle shape on your nail. It's the same concept of painting a wall with a sponge to give a two tone effect, just smaller scale! Awesome right? :)

Now I did this next step kind of backwards so to speak. I put the decals on but then felt it wasn't going to pop much so I decided at last minute to do the sponge effect with the gold glitter color over the black. I should have done this first then decals but hey, you learn as you go and you make designs your own! I love glitter! haha

So there you go! Finished product! Awesome right? I got lots of comments on these and asked all the time who does my nails! I do! haha People say this looks difficult but I promise once you try it, you'll see how easy it is!


And just for fun since this was designed because of my tattoos as the inspiration.. Here are my tattoos! haha

I got them all in like two days. A lot of tattoo work at one time but so worth it. I have meanings behind each of mine and in places I'll be able to hide them for work. I like having a way to express my creativity on my body. I know not everyone agrees with tattoos but I won't ever regret getting mine. I love the meaning behind them. =)

My wings on my back. The wings are in memory of my grandparents that have passed away and the Live Hard is to remind myself to live everyday to the fullest, to be thankful for the time I have, and know how blessed I am everyday!

 Recognize the initials? haha LB is a nickname someone very close too me gave me years ago and I've used it as my tag on my beauty blog. Told you it is important too me! haha The stars around it, I got matching stars with my best friend/sister so it was a great memory. It was her first tattoo! So glad we got them. This was designed in like 10 minutes! Absolutely love the stars in the letters! This is on my right leg, from my knee to my ankle.

I wanted something different and even though I found this design online, I'm so glad I did. I love the meaning behind it! It's a ying yang sign but with mermaids! Creative right?? I changed the original colors and a few little things but I love how innocent the mermaids are and what it stands for. I think it's beautiful and its just a reminder for myself of my 6 week trip in Ohio and what I learned about life and how you are stronger than you think you are. It's to remind me that there is good and bad out there, but that's life. You have to just keep taking it one day at a time. I lost a friend of mine unfortunately to abuse, both physical and emotional so this reminds me of her innocence in a way. It reminds me there are bad people out there but there are truly special amazingly wonderful people like she was too.

Remember you are all beautiful and no matter what happens in your life, know you NEVER deserve to be mistreated or abused! Strength comes from within you and when you feel there are no options, there are. There are women shelters, churches, support groups, etc. Never be afraid of your own voice, it's the most powerful thing you have. No one can take that from you. It takes just the courage to put one foot in front of the other and say ENOUGH.

I apologize for that rant, like I said my tattoos mean something too me and so does this blog. I may not be able to reach the world but if I can help just one person feel beautiful again, cheer someone up, or give them courage, then I have done my job in this life! I may not know everyone who reads this but know you are all special too me. Stay smiling!! Remember you are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!

XoXoXoXoXo,

LB

&*(Walgreens Haul)*&

Hello lovelys! Now, with me doing some haul videos, I do not want you thinking I'm trying to brag about what I bought. I'm only posting so you can see where I got my deals and where I find some of the great products out there! With that in mind, here we go!

Soooo... you all know I'm a sucker for nail polish. I have more than I need but I am always trying to cover new brands and I do pick up colors that I really like or things that I know I can use for a tutorial. Anyways, not that long ago I did a look with a color called Hannah Pinktana by Wet n Wild fastdry and I fell in love with the formula. It is just as good as Pure Ice or Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear BUT it's cheaper and has a quickdry formula! WIN!

Here are some of the colors I picked up! They are usually for $1.99 but they had a sale going on where they were $0.99! Whoooo! I picked up quite a few of these since let's face it, it's cheap and the colors are amazing! haha Here you go.. Wet n Wild fastdry nail color

Note: Most of this brand has cheesy tv show names or of famous people. lol You'll see what I mean...
Left to Right:
The Wonder Yellows (Yellow color)
9.0.2.1 Orange (Orange color)
How I Met Your Magenta (Magenta color)

hahahaha Told you they had cheesy names!

Left to Right:
Teal of Fortune (Teal color.. Note this Teal in person is actually a sparkly almost green-teal color, not blue teal as it shows in pic.. Couldn't fix it no matter how I tried)
Sage in the City (Green color.. Note this is not lime green in person.. sigh camera issues.. This is a dark granny smith apple green with fine shimmer)
Blue Wants to be a Millionaire (Blue color with multi colored small glitter.. true to color)

This pic, the colors were all off.. Think vibrant bold jewel tones and you got it..

Left to Right:

Sagreena the Teenage Witch (Green color.. This is actually a bold vibrant emerald green color)

Buffy the Violet Slayer (Vibrant purple color.. think of like a royal purple)

Saved by the Blue (Bold blue jewel tone color)

Next brand I picked up was still Sally Hansen BUT it just says Hard as Nails on the bottle. I'm not sure about these but I love Sally Hansen brand so I decided to pick up a couple in this type of bottle to see if they are any different.

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails

Left to Right:
Limestone (Think Shrek green! haha)
Teal Steel (Teal color)
Ice Queen (Clear with silver glitter, with blue and purple larger glitter)

Left to Right:
Tough Love (Bold red color.. For some reason my camera was seriously being stupid on me)
No Hard Feelings (Lavendar color)
Firm Fig (Fushsia color)


I really do apologize guys on some of the pictures not being true to color. Some would be right in the pic and that one or two would be wrong.. sigh. I need a new camera. :(

And as you all know I love the Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear nail colors so I picked up two more that I do not have in my collection and hadn't seen!

Left to Right:
The Real Teal (soft teal color)
Caribbean Coral (Peachy orange color)

Well there you go! Like I said I'm in the process of looking for a backdrop to pictures so I'll take some more test pictures and such and see what I can do to make sure they are always true to color. I freak when the colors are not true to color! lol

Definitely check out your local Walgreens to see if they have any other shades you might like! I usually go to Walgreens or Walmart! =)

Well it's 6:14 am! I need to crash before another day busy of doing my newest nail designs inspired by my tattoos I got on vacation! =) And getting more school work done! Wish me luck! haha

Until next time, remember to always stay smiling and you are beautiful just the way you are!

XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Nail Tutorial -- Flashy & Flare)*&

Hello loves! So I'm back again with another nail design! I promise I'm working on some reviews as well, haha I just have to unpack some of my makeup and such so I will have something new for you this week! Promise! But until then, I decided to go ahead and post a new design tonight since I start college tomorrow! Even though I will be working on my business degree, I will still make time for you beautifuls on here! :) Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, viewed the blog, told friends, just you all are amazing! Hope you know that! =)

Oh.. an update on the contest! haha I am currently at about 760 views! Remember at 1,500 I will have  3 lucky winners of some beauty products! Top winner will even get the products used in their favorite design I've created! (as long as I can find them, if not I will find dupes of the products!) Exciting, right? Plus lots of makeup goodies! I will have two other winners to get prizes too!

Without you all, this blog wouldn't be successful so I definitely will be giving back too you all!

Also, the facebook contest... when I reach 150 friends on the fan page I believe is what I said lol there will be another contest! I'm already collecting items for the give away! You can find that fan page by looking up LB BeautysMagic. =) I know not everyone who reads this will add as a follower or even want to make a name to connect with me here so facebook is always open for questions, requests, whatever you all want to talk about! Introduce yourselves! =) The beauty of makeup and nail art, whatever is that you can share what you love with others too.. it's a way to express yourself, so EXPRESS AWAY! haha

Now I've talked too much, time for the nail tutorial!!! haha

Neat, huh? I found those decals at the local Rite Aid! As well as the colors and top coat so you can get all of this at your local Rite Aid or maybe at Walgreens,.. don't quote me on that!!!

What you will Need:

Left: my favorite top coat Sally Hansen Insta-Dri anti chip top coat

Middle: Pure Ice in the color, Rio (this color is beautiful.. a purply fushsia color with blue and purple fine sparkle that the camera didn't pick up)

Right: Wet n Wild FastDry nail color in Hannah Pinktana (Name is corny, right? haha Color is beautiful though! Almost sheer purple with lots of multi colored sparkles!)

Sorry this picture is not turned the right way, it is resetting it to match the other picture's size..

I got these decals at Rite Aid. They are called Broadway Deluxe Nail and Body art Kit.

This comes with a top coat, glue to put the gems on your body, and a wooden stick to pick them up and such..

I used the stick but just used my favorite top coat, not the one they provided. Not sure how that works!

For this design, I just used Wet n Wild FastDry nail color in Hannah Pinktana as the base coat because I couldn't find mine and this is a really sheer color... This is a no no in nail designs but I did it anyways.. Don't copy me on that part! haha Always use a base coat to protect your nails from being dyed the color of your polish! I'm crossing my fingers that mine won't be messed up!!

Anyways...

I used two coats of Pure Ice nail color in Rio. It makes a beautiful purply blue color! This was the best pic I could get to show some of the blue tint too it.. Sadly I did my nails at like 3 AM and I didn't have the greatest lighting. Sorry lovelys! I will be getting better lighting ASAP!

Beautiful color, right? I've been wanting to use this color for awhile now! haha This design will definitely stay awhile! lol

I then took Wet n Wild FastDry nail color in Hannah Pinktana and put only one coat over the Rio color. I love all the sparkles!! I think this is just a beautiful combination for summer and will definitely do it again! lol

The Hannah Pinktana was a color I found on sale awhile ago but even now I think it's only like a 2 dollar polish! This is a little thicker than the other polishes I usually use but its not hard to use!

Now for decals!

To apply them, its a little annoying and you have to have patience. lol I reccomend if you use this set, make sure you set out all the decals you are going to use for all 10 nails. I found out I didn't have enough of the little pinky tear drop shapes for all the nails to have two of them. lol So only my three middle fingers are this design.

For my pinky finger, I just made a butterfly almost looking shape with some of the other decals they have in this set!

But the beauty of doing nails is you make it how you want it! Be creative! You don't have to do the same as I did! I just loved this combination! =)

My thumb, I decided, to make almost a flower pattern. =) I thought the colors were pretty together.

Usually in my designs you'd find some striping of silver glitter or something but I felt with all the shimmery of all the multi colored glitter, this worked perfectly without anything extra added.

I did 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip top coat over this and it dried seriously fast!

Well lovelys, I hope your week starts out well and you have been doing well since the last time I posted! I promise to keep posting and keeping up with you even though I maybe getting a bit more busy in my everyday life! I always make time for creativity though! I'll post again soon! =)

Thank you again! You are all beautiful, never forget that! Stay smiling!

Until next Time,

XoXoXo,

LB

&*(Reivew -- Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips)*&

Hello lovely's, thank you for being patient and sticking with me through this move and getting set up. I'm still not set up with my own computer here yet but my family has let me play with their Apple computer and I'm in love! Took a bit to figure out since it's been awhile since I used one but FINALLY got it figured out and am getting to post again! I have missed you all and thank you again for all the support!

Today I have a review of the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects, real nail polish strips. I was at first not going to even try these because of the fact that at my Wal-Mart they are being sold for $7.50 and I thought for something I get to use one time, that's not really worth the price. I WAS WRONG! haha I wanted something new to show you all since I'd been doing a lot of designs with decals I got at a not really widely known store so here is something you can pick up at your Wal-Mart or drug stores! Definitely worth the price if you want a quick nail look that doesn't have a lot of wait time for all the layers to dry! haha Keep reading if you want to know how they apply, what they look like on, the wear time, my review, etc.

So here is how these strips work!

Step one: Clean your nails, shape them, and leave them dry with no polish underneath. 

Step two: Find the right strip that fits your nails.

Step three: Remove plastic backing.

Step four: Stick the strip to your nail and smooth with the smooth end of the file that comes with it.

Step five: Fold end of nail polish strip over the end of the nail and file it up against the end of your nail.

You're done, or so they say.. haha

MY REVIEW.

First I was kind of surprised when it smelled like nail polish when I pulled the backing off. I know it said it was real nail polish strips but it wasn't what I expected. To place them was super easy!! I'm serious from start to finish, it took me 10 minutes with even filing the extra polish strip off. When I first pulled the strip over my nail I was kind of confused how to file it off but it actually is really easy. :) I was pretty happy with these. Now, the wearability.. No, it wouldn't last more than 5 minutes without a top coat. THAT IS A LIE! You can not just apply these and leave it like that. They peel at the edges of the nail. Now, EVEN with that, I'm still impressed! If you have a fast drying top coat, it still dries quickly and it still is faster than trying to do detailing on your nails. They come in a variety of looks. I picked the lace/fishnet one. It is black design with my skin tone color underneath. I did this design three days ago and still is going strong! 

So for the price, yes I will buy these again! Just remember to keep a fast drying top coat with you when you do these! Definitely check these out! They are fun, have lots of styles, and easy to do!

Hope this helps you find other alternatives to having to wait forever for nail polish to dry! If you can place a sticker, you can place these! I even had a nail that I didn't like how it lined up and just carefully pulled it off and placed it again! :) Easy right?!

Have fun with these! Here is a pic of my finished nails!

I was going to post a review on the philosophy acne line but I want to try it for a full month so I can give a good review on it. I haven't been able to use it everyday when I was packing and moving so I will start that today! :) 

Anyways, until next time (which should be soon I promise haha), stay smiling and remember you are beautiful just the way you are!!

XoXoXo,

LB