I'm pretty rarely seen without nail polish even if its cracked and chipped; i'll still rock that look on my nails for weeks.

I'd rather have polish on my nails than have them naked.

Anyway, I've been watching BubzBeauty on YouTube for a while now & I am so amazed by her talents, not only with make up and beauty but also her ability to have a positive and realistic outlook on life no matter what hardship she is going through. She has been around on YouTube for a while so I'm sure any make up enthusiast on the internet would know who she is.

She posted this really cute nail art tutorial this week, and because i'm pretty unskilled in the whole nail art area, I thought i'd give it a go.

So here is my rendition of her nail art tutorial.

What you'll need:

• Nail polish
• Toothpicks
• Bobby pins
• Palette (I used a clear piece of plastic)
• A steady hand

The tutorial:

My results:

I am SO pleased with myself! Seriously, it doesn't look half bad!

They're so cute even if I did stuff up the spots a little bit :) I changed the colours and the overall look of them to suit my style too, so it's up to you what you do. I just drew inspiration from this easy tutorial.

Try it yourself!

-C.

DIY Eyeshadow Palette (C Palette) ✌

I've been wanting a Z-Palette for a while now, you know those empty palettes you buy online & then you add either your de-potted/de-panned eyeshadows or you buy the singular eyeshadows from MAC or your other favourite make up brands?

Well, I couldn't justify spending about $20 for an empty palette. I kept thinking of possible solutions and I couldn't think of any until I saw a post made on a makeup group I follow on Facebook.

The woman who gave me the idea actually bought a magnet set she found in Big W and the case is a PERFECT size for a palette. So I went off to Big W, bought the magnet set for $10 (on sale) and got to making my own make up palette. My new palette even has Ariel on it! So kawaii!

I am SO happy with the results! It makes me feel like I just bought a whole new palette and I only had to spend about $12 on the actual case and strips of magnets to glue onto my de-panned eyeshadows. Everything else used in this DIY was found around my house.

What you will need:

• Metallic case (empty)
• Magnet strips with adhesive backing
• Scissors
• Old eyeshadows
• Candle (or hairdryer)
• Matches
• Needle
• Safe working area, covered to avoid damage.
• A steady hand.

Here's how I did it:

I collected my random little eyeshadow palettes from my collection and de-panned them.

This involves heating up the bottom of the plastic casing over a candle (or with a hair dryer) and prying the eyeshadow pan from its plastic casing using a small dressmaker's needle.

PLEASE NOTE: Always use caution when using an open flame and needles, and ALWAYS work with good ventilation. The plastic does emit some foul smelling fumes when you're doing this so it is safer to work in a well ventilated area for this reason. Persons under the age of 18 should not do this alone and adult supervision is required. Heck, I'm 22 and I needed my husband's supervision. This part of the process was scary!

After doing that a couple (hundred) times, you then attach a magnet to the back of the de-panned eyeshadow. The strips of magnets I bought were about $2 from my nearest $2 shop.

After doing that to all of your eyeshadows, arrange them how you like on your palette and enjoy!

Seriously, this was the best! I get to use my forgotten eyeshadows now and I love how they're all in one convenient place.

Because I didn't buy a Z Palette I decided to call this palette a C Palette because my name is Clarissa and... the first letter of my name is C... and, well, you get the picture.

I recommend this to anyone who has random eyeshadows laying around and wants them all in one place.

Oh! Before I actually did this, I typed up a Word document containing all the colours and names of the individual palettes I used. I did this so I could look back on which colours I was using IF I WANTED TO, but I probably wont.

Time it took to complete: About an hour
Total price $12

Stay classy.

-C.

When I'm Rich...

I tend to be... ahem... a little materialistic.

Well, a lot materialistic. I enjoy spoiling myself with clothing, make up, bags, shoes and more because it makes me feel good. Gideon spoils me too which is nice.

I have decided that Gideon and I will somehow become rich one day and live in absolute luxury. Until then, I have compiled a list of things I would buy myself during my opulence.

And here they are:

1.  Michael Kors Oversized Rose Golden Stainless Steel Runway Three-Hand Glitz Watch
     $ 295.00

2.  Chanel Watch- J12 White Ceramic 38mm Automatic
     $17 700.00

3.  Acne Atacoma Lace-Up Wedges
     $620.00

4.  The Cambridge Satchel Company: The Designer
    $210.00

5. Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandoulière 30
   $ 1250.00


I understand that these items will not be mine for years, but I can definitely dream about them until that time comes... maybe Gideon and I could try our luck at the pokies! You got to be in it to win it, right?

What would you buy if you had no limits on your expenditure?

Gideon and I have to buy a house first before we can even think of spoiling ourselves with luxurious items. Oh, I'd also throw into the bunch a Leica camera, a new Nikon body with lenses, new Macbook pro, a BMW, a mansion, yacht, private island, Lotus, an entire designer wardrobe, every pair of shoe Jeffrey Campbell has made, more Tiffany & Co. items... you know, the essentials.

Until then,

Stay classy.

-C.

The Little Things.

Sometimes I am reminded of 'The Little Things'.

Little smiles

Little kisses

Little gestures of love from my husband.

Sometimes its the littlest things that matter the most.

I tend to appreciate these little moments.

I had an experience this week that made me appreciate my husband and his little gestures of kindness.

On top of being cute and stuff, he is very observant. 

He found this... on my dog after she went rummaging through some bushes.

Something that would've usually remained unnoticed, G took the time to make sure it was ok and put it back outside after we took some photos with the little guy.

Yes he was slimy and a little gross, but Gideon insisted we put him back on the best plant in the garden even after my mum told him that snails have been eating her parsley! Gideon won.

If anything, this made me appreciate Gideon and his little acts more and more. He really is a sweet guy and I hope he won't get embarrassed by me blogging about his cuteness (he likes to believe he's a tough guy with muscles and a beard but really he's a big softy with a heart of gold... and a beard).

I'll finish this off with a song that reminds me of Gideon and the time around our engagement.

We love this song and he even told me he gets emotional when he hears it. 

He's definitely a keeper.

Little diamonds are little things...

Stay classy.

-C.

First Impressions | Lush Eyes Right Mascara.

I think we're all familiar with Lush cosmetics. If not, let me give you a run down.

Lush is a cruelty free, organic cosmetic brand that prides itself on using only the freshest products to make their soaps, bath bombs, lotions, perfumes and cosmetics. It is amazing.

I love their values. I got these straight from their website:

THE 'WE BELIEVE'

We believe in making effective products from fresh* organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.

We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission test on animals and in testing our products on humans.

We invent our own products and fragrances; we make them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients and we tell you when they were made.

We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.

We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.

We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

*We also believe words like 'Fresh' and 'Organic' have an honest meaning beyond marketing.

I've been using their products for as long as I can remember & my collection spans from soaps, solid perfumes, hair products and more. I love their brand and their products and I would definitely recommend them to anyone and everyone.

For today's first impressions I thought i'd go ahead and use a product I've never used before, Lush Eyes Right mascara in black.

I just want to say that I LOVE this product. My goodness, it is amazing and I paid $19.95 for it so it's definitely worth it!

If I had to choose any make up product to use for the rest of my life it would be mascara, and it would be tough to choose between Lush Eyes Right and Covergirl Lash Blast. Seriously, it's that good.

The directions on the bottle say that you would achieve a natural look with one coat but because I love a more dramatic look, I went with 3-4 coats on both my top and bottom lashes.

Photos:

The only down fall is the short applicator brush as it made it a little awkward to use, but with practice it allows you to have more control of the product and it also makes application more precise as you are able to coat even the tiniest lashes with mascara. Excellent!

Overall i'd give this product:

5 unicorns/ out of 5.

Stay Classy

-C.

Colab. with Carla!

So, I have a friend named Carla.

We've known each other since the moment I moved to the area, which was in 2002. We were in year 6 at Winston Hills Public School together.

We've gone through every awkward phase together. Her with her colourful plastic jewellery phase to me in my all black emo stage with accompanying emo fringe. Awesome.

We've gone through highs and lows together and experienced the good and the bad.

Anyways, I took some photos for her blog yesterday and she's going to be featuring them in her blog which you can find...

HERE

I hope you can find her blog because the link I added wasn't too big. She blogs all about design stuff, fashion and inspiration pieces, make up and her everyday life. It makes for a really interesting read.

She's got some pretty cool stuff in her room, & her jewellery collection & ability to piece items together is impressive. She's always had that eye for knowing design and fusion. I guess that's why she specialises in that sort of thing. Design. Carla. It just goes together.

You'll be able to check out the blog post soon.

Until then...

Stay classy.

-C.

A Human-less Portrait. What?!

I was reading one of my favourite photography-based newsletters from Photojojo last week and it gave me some amazing insights into today's project.

First of all, who and what is Photojojo?

Well, Photojojo is an amazing website that embraces the unique side of photography. It gives you inspiration to be super creative with your shots and to embrace your own style of photography using new and experimental methods of creating interesting content.

They even have an awesome online store that sells a whole bunch of awesome and unique camera accessories and even accessories for your iPhone to enhance your iPhone-ography! I've purchased a fair few of their items for my camera bag including: Photorito Lens Wraps, Seat Belt Camera Straps and a Polaroid Z2300 just to name a few :)

So yeah, I really love their website and their bi-weekly photo inspiration newsletters.

Last week the newsletter was all about 'The Most Unconventional Family Portraits' and it made me wonder what that meant. You can't really have a portrait without a human or living being, right? Wrong. Sometimes we are shown in our possessions. You can really find out a lot about a person by their interests. And that's what inspired me today.

Camilla Catrambone prides herself in her unconventional portraits by laying out the person's belongings and photographing them instead of the person. How cool is that? You can see her amazing photographs here where she showcases her family through their possessions and what they surround themselves with, because ultimately that is how we tell the story of ourselves.

Through this series I decided to try it myself, telling my own story. So below you'll see a collection of my own possessions that I think tells the story of me, Clarissa.

Above you'll see some of my cameras that I've collected over the years including my first Nikon which my dad bought me to start off my collection & ignite a passion of photography, my two favorite pairs of shoes (Steel Cap Lita by Jeffrey Campbell and my black leather Doc Martens) , my iPhone which contains photos of the people that I love (my family and friends) and music that fills my ears including Michael Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, Justin Nozuka and more, my very first Apple product; my blue 1st generation iPod mini, make-up because well... I love make-up, a photograph of my Sugamama aka my best friend, my calculator watch given to me by my brother Spencer as a spontaneous gift, my Coach clutch, my favourite perfumes; Rose by Paul Smith and Miss Dior Chérie by Dior, my Tiffany & Co jewellery including my Engagement and Wedding rings given to me by the love of my life Gideon and my Tiffany Key which Gideon gave me as well, my RayBan Wayfarers that I've owned for about 5 years, my Macbook aka my love, Frankie Magazine which I have been reading since issue 1, a composition book which represents my years in university (my undergraduate in Education & Psychology, and finishing up my Masters this year in Primary School Teaching) and lastly my Ukulele, Jackson, whom I have strummed many chords on for hours and hours, creating music.

Another possession not featured was what I used to capture the photos for today's post, my Nikon

D7000. I take this camera everywhere and I love it!

I believe these possessions of mine really show who I am, and ultimately tell a story of myself.

What would you think, from your possessions, would tell your story?

Stay classy

-C.

First Impressions | CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Polish.

I wear a lot of nail polish. I feel naked without it on my nails.

My collection spans brands from OPI to Sally Hansen. I like to try everything before I set myself up for some favourites, and also I have a serious addiction to buying beauty related products so I have to buy everything anyway.

This week I thought I'd review and swatch CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Polish in colours Out of the Blue 295 and Wine to Five 190. You see, I was out shopping with my lovely husband Gideon for our weekly groceries when I strolled down the cosmetics aisle (standard). There was a whole bunch of these CoverGirl nail polishes with the fabulous deal of 2 for $7. I couldn't say no! Gideon insisted that I choose some colours to add to my collection. Being the indecisive person that I am, I got him to choose the colours he thought I would like. I think he did pretty well, don't you think?

The colours:

Out of the Blue 295:

This nail colour is like a lovely denim or royal blue colour. It looks fantastic on any skin tone as it is opaque and very bold.

Wine to Five 190:

This nail colour is an amazing deep red wine colour, like a chestnut, cardinal or fire brick colour. It looks amazing on fair skin as it allows the colour to pop.

Photos:


Out of the Blue 295:

Wine to Five 190:

Formula: It applies with ease, its sheer and also its fast drying. I obtained a lovely full coverage with 2-3 coats.

Application: As seen above I received a full coverage in about 2-3 coats. Working from my pointer to my pinky (right to left) you can see the gradual opacity of the colour as I increased the coats. I would also recommend a base coat and a top coat to protect your natural nail and to increase the longevity of the nail polish (reduce chipping). Both colours achieved similar results.

Brush: The brush allowed for an even distribution of the nail polish in about 2 swipes over the nail for each application. It also allowed for easy application with its nice and even bristles.

Extra information: This colour was very easy to remove with standard nail polish remover. It left little to no stains on my natural nail.

Nail art: My personal preference with my nails involves me making a 'statement' nail, usually my ring finger, just to add a little extra to my nail look. For my nails this week I chose to use Wine to Five 190 with an American Apparel Glitter polish in Galaxy. You can purchase this glitter nail polish here.

I love this glitter polish as i'm able to add individual, chunky glitter pieces to my nails with ease. It also contains a thick jelly-like formula which secures the glitter and also increases the longevity of the overall nail look!

My favourite statement look.

Overall Impressions: I am very pleased with these nail colours! They compliment my skin tone and they last an impressive amount of time for a 'drugstore' nail polish. The collection contains an array of various colours for you to pick and choose, and the price is very impressive as well. 

I will give this product a rating of:

Four unicorns.

Stay classy.

-C.

P.S Sugamama helped me photograph & write today's first impressions post so she gets an honourable mention  :) Isn't she just the cutest?