Hi Divas

 

The Festive Season is here and I have 3 amazing products from Wet n' Wild to help you create the perfect party looks. Whether hosting a Christmas dinner, getting ready for a New Year's party or enjoying a festival concert out of town, these products will glam up your holiday style. Wet n' Wild is a wonderful brand that should not be slept on. Their cosmetics come in an array of colours, shades and innovative trendy designs. There is always something for everybody when it comes to their makeup range. A woman can never go wrong with a little sparkle on the eyes or a pop of colour on the lips to add extra glamour. You cannot forget a touch of concealer to obscure those unwanted blemishes too.  

These nifty eyeshadow palettes are the perfect size to pop in a cosmetics travel bag and do a quick makeup look on the go. It has all the colours and texture combinations to create a versatile look. I have the palette Camo Flaunt which has warm-toned shades of matte camel brown, rose gold satin, reddish-toned pressed glitter, metallic silver sparkle and a deep matte brown for depth. As you can see in the swatches below, the shades are pigmented and have a great formula. They are not chalky at all and they blend really well. The glitters and sparkles do need a sticky base to adhere to. I suggest using a concealer or eyeshadow primer as your base and pressing the glitters onto your lid with a finger for precise application.

The Incognito concealer comes in a variety of shades and has medium to full coverage. The matte formula has built-in moisturising ingredients such as Shea Butter and Mango Seed Butter. The texture is lightweight and blends out seamlessly giving a natural finish. It is an excellent everyday concealer that covers under-eye circles and blemishes well. Even though it states that it is matte, the formula is not drying at all. It is a perfect combination of durable coverage and creamy consistency. The product is a true hidden gem as most consumers spend a fortune on this type of coverage. I love to use it on my eyelids to even out my skin tone and provide a tacky base for eyeshadows to adhere to.

 

This is a dual-ended lip colour with a pigmented colour on one end and a high shine gloss at the rear. Ingredients include Vitamin E, Jojoba Oil and rich antioxidant Passionfruit Seed Oil. The two in one lip combo has a radiant colour and comes in many shades. I have the shade LA Pink. The product has a built-in brush applicator on both sides making for easy and mess-free application. The formula is buildable, long-lasting and very comfortable to wear on the lips. It has a non-sticky texture and feels hydrating throughout the day. I generally only touch up after I eat. This is a budget friendly lip duo that gives great pigmentation and a glossy shine. 

 

I absolutely love the look I created with these Wet n' Wild products. This is glam on a budget but gives luxury results. My absolute favourite product used was the eyeshadow pan. The shades are versatile and fun to use. All the products are great on the wallet and have excellent coverage and pigmentation. Quick and easy makeup looks are now within reach. Let me know what your favourite products are from the brand down below.

Hi Divas

Before this year comes to a screeching halt, I want to share some of my nail art designs with you. These were done from late 2018 to 2019. I have done many designs in this time frame, but these are the ones I love the most. To see all my nail designs you can follow me on Instagram here. As I mentioned before, nail art is a wonderful way of expressing my creativity and challenging myself. There are still so many designs I want to do and nail art techniques I want to achieve. It takes a lot of time, patience and dedication to create pieces of art for your fingertips. I am slowly but surely getting there. As you can see below, I love colour and am not afraid to wear it. If you are afraid of colour and want to be bold, nail polish is a great way of achieving this. I find that nail art is so much more than just a pretty manicure. It truly represents your personality and mood for that period in time. I hope you find inspiration from my designs and let me know what look you love the most in the comment section below. ;)


Christmas Sparkle Nails
I wanted to step away from the traditional Christmas nail designs consisting of red and green. My goal was to have soft festive nails with a touch of angelic sparkles. I decided to use pastel purple and pure crisp white to achieve this. For the purple polish I used Sorbet in Berry Special and Wet n Wild in French White Creme. To top it off I added jolly stickers and purple rhinestones for extra sparkles. I loved this design as it was playful, angelic but still captured the Christmas spirit.

Summer Tie-Dye Nails
When I was painting this nail design, I honestly didn't expect the great response for it on my Instagram. Everyone was in love with this manicure. It is funny how you are busy creating something and it looks so mundane and foolish at first. Then, once everything comes together, you can finally see the beauty taking shape. This is exactly how I felt when creating this pattern. The Tye Dye was really easy to do too. I used three bright nail colours in #11 and #70 by Etude House and Walking on Sunshine by Tip Top (discontinued), and Wet n Wild French White Creme for the middle finger. I randomly brushed colours on my nails in tie-dye shaped patterns. The important part is to not make it look stylized or well placed. It needs to look a little messy and random the way tie-dye naturally looks. The results came out better than I expected. I added green and gold rhinestones along with stickers for a diva signature look.

Soda Orange Pop Nails
My inspiration for this design was actually the fact that I hadn't worn bright orange nails in a long time, and I noticed my nail polish was getting old. I honestly hate wasting and will use something till the last drop. I decided to show my neglected nail polishes some love and the shade Salsa Pop by Tip Top was one of them. This brand is discontinued but you can use any bright orange nail varnish for the look. I used my trusty Wet n Wild French White Creme for the ring finger and added gold stickers along with silver shapes for the ring finger.

Oriental Pink Birthday Nails
For my birthday I wanted to use my favourite colour pink of cause and a whole lot of shimmer. My inspiration was oriental embroidery along with ancient royal jewellry. The mood was pure regal opulence inspired by the East. I love the contrast of two different shades on one nail as well. The illusion is amazing and looks very elegant. The gorgeous bright pink varnish is Etude House in #11. The white sparkles are iridescent nail glitters which I glued on using a clear nail base. I added diamond rhinestones and stickers for an extra glow.

Purple Marble with Stripes Nails
I have been dabbling in marble techniques for a while now. These are really tricky to do and time consuming. They can sometimes come out really great or be an epic fail. Thankfully I had one good attempt with this design. For the purple base I coated my nails with Essence Purple With Purpose from the Merry Berry collection. To create the marble effect, I used a foil nail polish by Nails Inc in Kings Road. For the index and middle finger, I placed the same purple polish on half my nails and used purple nail strips to create the stripe designs. I topped off the look with rhinestones and cute gold bow stickers.

Fun Pastel Easter Nails
As the Christmas manicure, my desire was to create festive nails but without the traditional Easter eggs and bunny designs. I decided to stick with pastel colours as what is Easter without pastels, right? For my thumb and ring fingers I coated them with Etude House #8 pink lacquer and added gold nail strips to resemble an Easter egg wrapper. My index finger is Wet n Wild French White Creme topped with a yellow feather nail decal to represent the cute Easter chicks. My middle finger is Sorbet Jaded and my pinky finger is Etude House Red Rocks from the Merry Berry collection. I wanted these two nails to be bright and colourful with stars and glitters to resemble Easter chocolate packaging as well.


 *****
For all my nail designs I use the Sally Hansen base coat in Complete Care 7-In-1 and the top coat is Sally Hansen Mega Shine. I have used these two products for years and can highly recommend them to protect your nails and make your manicures last. One thing, I would like to mention is that I do not run after trends and buy every new shade of nail polish on the market. I have lots of nail lacquers from collections past. I sometimes use polishes that are discontinued or may not be readily available. You can use any nail colours of your choice. You don't have to constantly go out and purchase the latest things. Use what you have in your collection and you will be amazed at what you can create. I use Pinterest as a source of inspiration for all my nail art creations. There are so many tutorials and techniques shown there too. You can explore and spur on your creative juices to do your own nail designs with your unique style and touch.


Thank you so much for reading. Hope you found this post helpful
Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

Diva Desle Festive Nails 2018

Hi Divas

This week I shall be sharing some of my holiday nail art with you. This post should have been done ages ago but there was always something new to review and I kept forgetting to do it. As most of you may know that I am a complete nail art addict. I absolutely love creating different nail designs and challenging myself in the process. When it comes to new ideas I definitely use Pinterest and Instagram as a source of inspiration. I like to find new designs and try to adapt it and make it my own. Nail art is an art form in which I love to express my creativity. I am in no way a qualified nail technician but just a lady having fun. Before this year comes to an end I wanted to share four of my festive manicures with you. Let me know what your favourite design is below.

Christmas Nails December 2017

For this design I wanted something festive yet regal. Kind of like Christmas in a palace feel, LOL. Since I will never be a princess and know what it's like to have a royal Christmas, why not live that through my nail art. I opted for a royal blue and festive red nail polish as the base colours. I mixed Rimmel Salon Pro in Brit Pop with Catrice in Get the Blues for the perfect blue. Essie in Limited Addiction was the perfect red to compliment the blue. Glitter, pearl and gold rhinestones as well as snowflake and a Christmas tree decal all sealed the deal in creating the perfect look. 

Birthday Nails January 2018
This glam look was all I needed to celebrate my birthday in style. I wanted it to be all things diva with an edge. I used two black and gold nail polishes by Tip Top a brand which sadly discontinued their products. I still have full bottles of their nail lacquers and I intend to use them till the last drop. For the glitter overlays I applied Sephora Collection nail polishes in Gold Fever and Fireworks. To achieve perfect geometric angles, I placed nail tape to corner off my shapes. I then painted my nails in black and gold. The trick is to wait for the nails to dry slightly and slowly pull off the nail tape. If you rip it off too early you will smudge the design. If you pull it off too late the polish will dry over the tape and it won't come off. This one takes some practice but it looks amazing when done right. I finished off the manicure with gold rhinestones.

Valentines Day Nails February 2018
Many people have mixed opinions about Valentine's Day. I personally like the idea of having a special day to celebrate love. Even though it can get super cliche and soppy, I view Valentine's Day as a license to be all lovey-dovey. It better be just for that day though. You know you got to cut it out when the clock strikes 12, LOL. My idea for the nail design was romantic, sweet and charming. For my two base colours I used Nails Inc Special Effects in Marylebone Lane for the beautiful glitter red and Wet n Wild in French White Creme for that crisp white. Again, I used a silver nail tape to create duo colour nail effects but left the tape on as part of the design. I drew a heart on my little finger with a dotting tool and applied pearls and stickers. I really liked the way this manicure turned out and definitely want to do something similar again.

Easter Nails April 2018
When it comes to Easter the colours are always playful and fun. For my design I really wanted to play around with as much pastel shades as possible. I was inspired by bunny ear head bands and decided to paint them on my nails too and use pearls as the headband structure. Polishes used are Sorbet Ice is Nice for the blue and Berry Special for the purple and Wet n Wild French White Creme for the white. Etude House Play in #8 for the pretty pink and a Tip Top yellow nail polish which is discontinued. I painted yellow speckled eggs and zigzag Easter egg patterns with a nail art dotting tool. I think it turned out pretty cute.

*****

I really hope you like my designs and get inspired too. Follow me on Instagram @divadesle to see more nail designs. Thank you so much for reading. Lots of love!

Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

 Wet n Wild 

Hi Divas

I gifted this eyeshadow palette to my sister as a Christmas gift. My sister is a newbie when it comes to all things makeup. She really wanted a palette that was filled with a variety of colours as well as something that was easy to use. We opted for this palette as it seemed the most user friendly. I asked her if I could borrow it for review purposes and she happily obliged, LOL. I took these photos back in December just after Christmas. Trust me, this palette does not look like this today. It has been used so many times. Wet n Wild is an affordable low end makeup brand. I love most of the products I have purchased from them. Their makeup is excellent quality and last a long time. This is my first experience with their eyeshadows and I was hoping that I would have favourable results as I do with their lipsticks and foundations. On to the review!

The eyeshadows are packaged in a plastic case with a clear lid. The packaging is pretty basic which helps with the low price tag. There are 8 shadows in the palette, each with a decent size. The palette will last you a long time even if you use it every day. This already is great quality for your money. There are three frost shades which are the two Browbone highlights, the rose Eyelid and the teal duochrome Definer shade. The green Eyelid, the medium brown Crease and the dark brown Definer shades have a satin sheen finish. Lastly the dark brown Crease has a slight shimmer finish as there are specks of gold glitter in it. There are no matte or transition shades available in this palette which is a shame, as it would have been nice to have a matte shade to help blend all the shimmers and satins together. Having all sheen and shimmer shades on the eyes without a matte blending eyeshadow, can be messy if you are creating a complicated eye look.

This palette is targeted to those who are just starting out in makeup as there is a helpful guide on the back of the packaging to help create different looks. This is a great concept as most people won't know where and how to apply eyeshadows in a certain way if they are just starting out. I love that they give options to create a sweet everyday look and a dramatic night out look. There is a wonderful variety of colours in the palette and I find that one will never get bored or run out of options when using it. For my look below, I was really intrigued by the duochrome eyeshadow and wanted to see how it would perform on my eyes. I therefore used it as the main attraction on my lids. This is a beautiful and interesting shade. It works well when applied with my finger. Once applied with a brush, the colour changes completely into a purple brown. When applied with the fingers you get that beautiful duochrome teal effect. I used the rosy eyelid shade as a wash of colour in my crease. For my brow bone and inner corner eye area I dusted the lighter beige highlight. I then used the dark brown/burgundy definer on the outer corners of my hairs to slightly deepen the look.

Over all, I am very impressed with the quality of these eyeshadows. They perform really well on the eyes. They blend great and they are quite pigmented. You can easily build up your look from a wash of colour to a more dramatic glam face. There is a bit of fall out in the pan when you place your brush in the eyeshadows but they do not cause any messiness once applied on the eyes. The only gripe I have with it, is that there is no matte or transistion shades to help blend your look. You would have to use another palette to get that desired effect. This palette is lovely for every day wear if you want to do a quick eyelook and use an overall lid colour as the centre piece. This is a good quality and affordable eyeshadow palette that is great for any one starting out in the makeup realm. Well done Wet n Wild! Another wonderful product to add to my list.


Hope you found this review helpful.
Lots of love
Divalicious kisses!
Xxxx

Wet N Wild Photo Focus 

Foundation Golden Beige 

Review

Hello beautiful Divas!

I have been wanting to do a review on the Wet N Wild Photo Focus foundation for quite a while now. Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn't have the time to do it. I finally have a day free to write this overdue blog post. I have been using the foundation for more than a month now and am almost done with it. There have been many rave reviews of this foundation all over YouTube. Beauty fanatics have even compared it to the higher end Estee Lauder foundation. I have never used the latter product but the fact that they said it was comparable to it, made my heart leap for joy. If I can find a foundation that is a fraction of the price yet similar to a trusty higher end brand, then I am definitely there like a bear to try it out.  Finding my shade proved to be a very difficult task at first as the range available is very small in South Africa. There are only about 6 shades sold on the shelf. Using a shade finder website, it matched my skin tone to Golden Beige the best. It took some time to get my hands on it as most of the time my shade was sold out. When I finally saw it one fine day, I immediately grabbed it and ran to the till.

The Foundation claims to be a high performance base which adjust to different light conditions. It contains light diffusing particles that provides a filter for the face and prevents flash back. The main elements of the product are for your face to look flawless in person as well as on camera. We live in a highly social media age, where filters on selfies are constantly used for flawless skin. Wet n Wild wants to give you that perfection in a bottle. It also claims to be your skin but better foundation. It is packaged in a standard 30 ml glass bottle and a black plastic cap. The most surprising aspect of the packaging is the weird plastic spatula attached to the cap. You are supposed to scoop the product out and apply it directly to your face. This can be a little unhygienic as you are transferring bacteria from your face back into the bottle. The spatula application can get very messy too as product tends to build up around the bottle neck area. I personally prefer a pump which is much cleaner and hygienic.

I applied the foundation both with a sponge and a brush. I found that the product blended much better with a wet sponge than a brush. The sponge presses the product into the skin, whereas the brush tends to move the product around a lot. The foundation takes some time to dry down, therefore I felt that the brush kept moving the foundation around causing streaks. Hence it takes longer to blend the foundation out with a brush than a sponge. Once dried down the foundation is super matte. You do have some trouble blending another layer of foundation on the dried surface. I suggest blending another layer together with the first layer before it completely dries down. This gives a medium coverage. It looks quite natural on the skin. You can build it up slightly but you won't get a full cover effect. I love that it looks like second skin and does not look unnatural or overdone.

I have combination skin and get oily in my t-zone especially during the summer time. The foundation wears well throughout the day. I like that it does not transfer or cake up on my face. I would wear this foundation on a daily basis to work and the mall. I find that by late afternoon, some of the coverage would sometimes wear off around my nose area. On hot days I would have to blot excess oil from my chin and forehead. I wear SPF moisturiser every day, but if my skin was particularly dry for a certain time, the foundation would look dry around my mouth. This foundation definitely gets affected by your skin type and skin care. It worked best when I moisturised well. This is a good foundation and is actually high quality compared to other lower end foundations. The price is excellent as well. When it comes to the photo claims the foundation lives up to the hype. It looks flawless on pictures and there is no flashback in photos. Your skin looks great on and off camera.  The foundation is good but it is not a holy grail for me. I think it performs well on good skin days. If you are looking for an affordable good quality base then be sure to give this a go. The shade range available is very limited which is disappointing considering I live in a multi-racial country where women are all shades of the rainbow. Nevertheless, if you can find your shade it is a lovely drug store option.

Hope you find this review helpful.
Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

Hi Divas!

This week I want to share some of my nail art with you. I love doing my nails and getting creative with my manicures. A lot of my designs don't even make it to Instagram nevertheless this blog. I do all my nail art by trial and error. A lot of the times it's an error. Doing creative manicures as I said before takes a whole lot of patience and a steady hand. It can become frustrating if you trying something that looks perfect in your head but does not translate that well into reality. I want to share four manicures I did recently. I am always looking to try new things and challenging myself. I really want to get my grip on stamping designs. I have the plates and the stamper. I just need to get my hands on the right nail polish. If you have any suggestions please let me know below.

1. Christmas Nails:

Would you believe me if I told you that the nails in the photo on the top left is not even my real nails? I know, right? What a shocker! They look super natural but it is true, they are not my real nails. It was Christmas Eve, I just finished helping my mom with the cooking and I washed and styled my hair. I was dead tired and it was late. I have only used acrylic nails once in my life. I was too tired to stay up late and wait for my nail designs to dry. I decided to apply these acrylic nails which I bought from Clicks and add my own touch to them. Viola! Perfect Christmas Nails in like half and hour. I added the nail stickers and rhinestones for a festive theme. I even fooled my mom. She had no idea that they were not my own nails. I found a new love for acrylic nails that I never knew I had. Plus they last a really long time and are super convenient for when you need to have a manicure in minutes.

2. Valentine's Day 2017 Nails:

This manicure on the top right is definitely my own nails. I chose pink as my main base colour and stuck to black and a touch of silver to glam it up. The part that took the most time and patience was of cause the thumb and pinky finger. Getting two tones of polish on the nail without smudging takes precision. I added silver nail striping tape which I layered across each other twice to give it some extra bling. I will probably try this technique again sometime soon. I used a nail dotting tool to draw on the 'xo' and heart. I painted my nails with Etude House Play Nails in '#8'. For the black Polish I placed 'Black Forest' by Tip Top and for the accent glitter nail I painted it with Wet n Wild in 'I'm With The Band'.

3. Turquoise Stone Marble: 

This was one of the hardest techniques I tried doing. Everybody in every tutorial said this was so easy and a breeze to do. I think not! It took me like 5 attempts to get this right. I had to repaint my nails and remove it so many times that I ran out of cotton pads. LOL! In order for water marble nails to work you have to make sure that the temperature of the water you are using is lukewarm and that the nail polish you are using is not too old. So after my many attempts I finally got it right. I truly love the way it turned out. You need to paint your nails with a base colour and choose two to four colours and drop some in the water. Take a toothpick and draw a design in the bowl where the nail polish was dropped. Dip your finger into the polish and get a random marble design. It sounds easy but it is not. I will definitely do this technique again and try out new polishes. For this manicure I used Etude House Play Nails in '#70' as my base coat. For the water marble technique to create a stone marble look I used the gold shade 'Gold Digger' and for the black 'Black Forest' both by Tip Top.

4. Yellow Fun Nails: 

So this manicure was me free styling. I had no idea of what I was going to do. I just started painting may nails and going with the flow. This can sometimes be the best part of nail art. Having fun and exploring different options and designs. I like the way it turned out. It could have been a total disaster, but it came out great. For these types of looks I like to use nail polishes that I totally forgot about and haven't used in a long time. You know those polishes and rhinestones that were hidden deep in the back of a box or cupboard? For the base colour I used the yellow shade 'Let's Meet' by Sinful Colors. For the red heart I used the polish 'Red Rocks' by Essence.

*****

Let me know down below which manicure you like the best and if you tried any manicure techniques or designs recently. Thank you so much for reading.

Divalicious Kisses!

Xxxx

 Hi Divas!

Recently everybody and their dog was doing the Ride or Die makeup tag on YouTube and I decided to be annoying and do it too, Hahaha. ;-D It was created by the very famous beauty Youtuber Jaclyn Hill. The tag is all about your holy grail products. Cosmetics that have never let you down and makeup that has been with you through thick and thin and will always be your number one. I have included Korean brands as well as Western brands because you know I am about that ''Cosmetics around the World'' Life! This is quite a long tag so hope you enjoy reading it and find some mini reviews helpful.

1. Ride or Die Primer: Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. This is a skincare and makeup product in one. I love that it brightens and lifts my face while creating a smooth and even canvas to apply my foundation.

2. Ride or Die Foundation: Peripera BB cream. This Korean product comes in the cutest packaging you will ever see. I am already on my second bottle. The BB cream gives me the coverage that I need while still looking natural on my face.

3.  Ride or Die Concealer: Rimmel Stay Matte Stick Concealer. This concealer is so creamy and blends like a dream! Unfortunately I have not seen it in stores for a while. Someone please tell me that this is not discontinued. *Crying face*.

4.  Ride or Die Powder: Innisfree No Sebum Powder. Another holy grail Korean product is this very famous Innisfree powder. It's similar to an HD powder which smooths the face and eliminates all traces of oil. It blends makeup well and has a super fine texture.

5.  Ride or Die Contour: NYX Contour Stick. I am not much of a contour girl, but I do enjoy a light application of it on special occasions. I use the nifty NYX contour stick as it is easy to travel with and to apply on the face. You can read my review on it here.

6.  Ride or Die Bronzer: Sephora Collection Shimmering Bronzer on Seychelles Cruise. I love that it contains three shades of colour and can be used as a bronzer or dark blush as well as an eyeshadow. Yay! ;-)

7.  Ride or Die Blush: Too Faced Sweethearts blush in Peach Beach. I feel like my cheeks were kissed by unicorns when I use this blush. Not only is the packaging gorgeous but the blush can be used as a eyeshadow and highlighter too. Read my full review here.

8.  Ride or Die Highlighter: The Balm Mary LouManizer. This is a great universal highlighter and perfect for travel. Read my review on it here.

9. Ride or Die Eyeshadow Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion. I have used many eyeshadow primers but nothing has ever come close to Urban Decay. It is seriously holy grail material.

10.  Ride or Die Eyeshadow Palette: Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. This palette has a lot of sentimental value to me as it is the first Sephora product and Too Faced product I ever bought. I love it so much and we will never ever part! Review here.

11. Ride or Die Single Eyeshadow: Essence Single Eyeshadows. I am not much of a single eyeshadow person, but I do enjoy the Essence single eyeshadows. They are super affordable and some of the shades can double up as a highlighter and bronzer.

12.  Ride or Die Eye Liner: Essence Super Fine Liner. No product can create a wing that can cut my worst enemies like this liner. Plus it  retails for under R50/ $5. Hello!!! Review here!

13.  Ride or Die Mascara: Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara. I love this mascara as it gives bold dramatic lashes which stays put all day. I will buy this mascara over and over again.

14.  Ride or Die Lip Liner: NYX Lip Liner in Pinky. I only use on lip liner and this one by NYX is my holy grail product. It remains in my cosmetics purse and compliments all my lipsticks.

15.  Ride or Die Lipstick: Wet n' Wild Bare It All and Mauve Outta Here Lipsticks. I cheated and chose two lipsticks. These are my favourite as they are light on the wallet and give a beautiful semi matte finish on my lips. They also work with any makeup look. LOVE!!! Review on them here.

16. Ride or Die Lipgloss: NYX Butter Gloss in Peaches And Cream. I am not much of a lip gloss wearer but these glosses smell so good and give a beautiful sheen on my lips.



Thank you for reading!
Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

Hello gorgeous Divas

Christmas is finally upon us. It really is my most favourite time of the year. I hope that you are as excited as I am for this very special day. Are your Christmas decorations up yet and have you finished all your gift shopping? The only thing that I hate about this festive time is the Christmas rush. I prefer doing things earlier in the month so that I have no stress about crazy holiday shopping and trying to find parking at busy malls. The worst! This week on the blog I wanted to share my Christmas makeup and manicure with you. Plus I did a fun festive tag to get us in the Christmas mood. For my makeup I used my Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and my Nude Dude palette by The Balm on my eyelids. These palettes have beautiful glittery gold shades that are great for a festive look. I lined my eyes with a Maybelline Studio Fix gel liner and topped off my lashes with my favourite Hypnose Drama Mascara by Lancome. For my blush I used the gorgeous Clarins Blush prodige product in Miami pink. For my highlight I used The famous Mary Lou Manizer by The Balm for that extra golden twinkle on my cheeks. To top everything off I used Cinnamon Spice by Wet 'n Wild for a deep red lip. This makeup is great for a Christmas dinner as it is super glam and golden.

Holly Jolly Holiday Tag Questions:

-Favourite Christmas movie?
I love watching The Family Stone and The Holiday.

-Are you on the Naughty list or the Nice list?
Always Naughty, lol.

-Show us an embarrassing Christmas Card photo!
I shared one of me and my sister on Instagram last year. My hair was whack in that photo. You can view it here ;-)

-Have you ever had a White Christmas?
Never, but I am dreaming of one.

-Where do you usually spend your holiday?
Sadly in my home town. I would love to take a trip overseas but times are tough people!

-Play or sing your favourite Christmas song!

 I'll add a YouTube link instead. O Holy Night by Mariah Carey and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Bing Crosby. So beautiful!

-Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
No. My mother was always very strict about opening presents on Christmas day after church. The torture was real! So I have it ingrained in me now to only open presents on Christmas day. I find that it is more exciting that way.

-Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Hell no. I only know Rudolph ;-D

-What holiday tradition are you looking forward to most this year?
Eating and more eating. No jokes!

-Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

 It is fake. We used to have real ones when I was a child.

-Hands down, what's your all-time favourite holiday food and holiday sweet treat?

 I absolutely love my mom's homemade roast lamb and chocolate mousse. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

-Be honest: do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?

 I love giving gifts. I especially love wrapping gifts and making them look pretty. It is so much fun.

-Show us your tackiest Christmas attire!

 Hahaha, I don't have one.

-What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?

 I would love to visit the Christmas markets in Germany. They look so stunning in pictures online. As I said above I have never had a white Christmas, so I would love to be in the snow.

-Does your family have a special holiday recipe you like to help make?

Yes. I love helping my mom make the desserts. Like the chocolate mousse and cheesecakes. Yum!

-Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?

I am definitely a pro! I wrap up those prezzies with precision. No peek a booing allowed ;-)

-Most memorable Holiday moment?

 When my dad almost set the Christmas table alight when he knocked over the candle and it landed on a serviette. All you saw was flames! Hahaha

-What made you realise the truth about Santa?

 When I had to say thank you to my mom and dad for the gifts. I couldn't understand why I had to thank them and not Santa Claus. Something clicked inside me and realised they were somehow involved in the gift giving.

-Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you stick to them?

Never! I don't believe in making New Year's Resolutions. 

-What makes the Holidays special for you?
Family always makes the holidays special. I love spending time with them. We have so much fun together.



 For my nails I used glittery red Nails Inc nail polish in Marylebone and Nails Inc Foil in Kings Road as a base. I drew on my funny Santa Claus with some Tip Top nail polishes with my dotting tools. I used silver nail trips for my thumb and pinky fingers. I then topped up four of my nails with Christmas nail stickers. Super easy manicure and super fun too ;-) I really hope I have inspired you for this Christmas day and that you enjoyed this post.


Wishing all you lovely Divas a Beautiful and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
Thank you for all your support on the Diva Desle blog this year. See you in 2016 ;-)
Lots of Love
Xxxx

Hi Divas!

This is going to be a really short post this week. To be honest I am feeling a little lazy and tired to write long wordy reviews. I thought about taking a blog break this week but decided to share some of the manicures I have done in the past three months. I went a little crazy trying out different manicure designs recently. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen me putting up a new nail design every week. I was a little insane and super inspired to try out as many nail art looks as I possibly could. My inspiration was definitely Pinterest pictures. I would see a beautiful perfected manicure and think to myself, ''Hey, I can do that too!'' Although in reality my nail designs don't turn out half as great as those Pinterest pictures. Nevertheless, I usually put my own diva twist in everything I do anyway. I have adapted and changed certain designs to accommodate my lack of skills and tools. Hope you find inspiration in my manicures to try something new on your nails and let me know below which manicure you like best.

I made up names for my manicures so that you can easily identify them. I start from top left to right:

1. Polka Dot Heart:

 Easiest manicure ever! I used a large dotting tool to create the red heart and a smaller dotting tool for the dots. (The nail polish is by Tip Top which has been discontinued in stores.)

2. Tribal Teal: 

I just love this beautiful teal nail polish by Etude House. It is such a gorgeous colour. I totally improvised and did a free hand design with a black nail art pen. I added some blue rhinestones to complete the look.

3. Purple Glam:

 I absolutely love this gorgeous lavender nail polish by Wet 'n Wild called On A Trip. I decked it out with round gold rhinestones and added a gold glitter nail and a black and white stripe nail for a fun and uber glamorous design.

4.Classic Silver: 

I used Nail Inc Foil in Kings Road as a base and topped it up with a silver glitter polish by Mavala in Sparkling Silver. I then added an accent nail with pink rhinestones for a classic and romantic design.

5. Easter Nails: 

Having a steady hand to draw the Easter Eggs was so hard. I was shaking all over the place. I used a tooth pick for the zig zags. Drawing the bunnies were a lot easier than I expected. I used various sizes of dotting tools to draw them.  (The nail polish is by Tip Top which has been discontinued in stores.)

6. Random Pink and Blue Dots:

This is another random manicure that turned out totally different to what was in my head. My nail vision didn't translate onto my nails as well as I hoped. Hehehe ;-)

 (The nail polish is by Tip Top which has been discontinued in stores.)

7. Leopard Glam: 

This manicure looks complicated but it is actually really easy to do. All you need is patience as you have to wait for the gold glitter polish to thoroughly dry before drawing on the leopard prints. I love adding gold rhinestones to glam up the nail look. (The nail polish is by Tip Top which has been discontinued in stores.)

8. Valentine's Hearts:

 I seriously had no clue what I was doing with this nail design. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted the manicure to look like but it turned out completely different. I just roll with it. Lol! (The nail polish is by Tip Top which has been discontinued in stores.)

9. Yellow Sailor:

 This one was really fun to do. I always loved boat anchor designs in jewelry and they look very pretty when drawn on the nails with a small dotting tool. I used a bright nail polish by Sinful Colors called Let's Meet for a perfect summer beach manicure.

Hope you are all having a beautiful week.

Divalicious kisses

Xxxx

(BH Cosmetics That's Heart Palette Winner Announced)

Hello Divas!

Hope you all are having an amazing week. This will be quite a short post on the blog. I wanted to share some of my manicures and nail art designs with you. These have been done over the course of about two months. I am becoming more confident in doing nail art and much more creative with my nails. I am no where near being an expert or nail art guru. There are many techniques I want to perfect and designs I still want to do. As they say practice makes perfect so I am documenting my little journey with you. I said before nail art requires tons of patience. If you don't have the virtue of patience you will usually learn it when doing your nails. I am still struggling with nail stamping. My designs are always filled with smudges. Sigh, the struggle is real people! Any way, I will let you know in up coming posts if I have mastered the technique or not. I will keep on with my smudgy stamping attempts.

 Let me know what your favourite designs are below. Until next time, have a fabulous week Divas!
 

 Nail Polishes used starting from top left to right: Tip Top in Speck-Tacular and Love that Shine; Catrice in Get the Blues; Tip Top Get the Party Started and Wet n' Wild On a Trip with Sephora Glitter polish.

 

Middle left: Tip Top in Peach Crisp; LA Girl Color Pop in Tantrum and Nostalgic; Tip Top in Black Forest and As the Beat Goes On with Sephora gold glitter polish.

 

Bottom left: Tip Top in Walking on Sunshine and Sinful Colors in Fig topped with Sally Hansen in Strobe Light glitter polish; Rimmel Salon Pro in Britpop; Tip Top in Cha Cha Cha and Innisfree in No.3.

And the Winner of the BH Cosmetics That's Heart Palette is.... 
KHOLOFELO MALATJI !!!!
Big congrats, darling! *Look out for another exciting giveaway soon ;-)*

Much love!

Divalicious Kisses

Xxxx

Hi Divas, 

I bought these lipsticks a few weeks ago as I wanted to try them out because I have heard so many rave reviews on YouTube. These lipsticks are my first Wet n' Wild products that I have tried from their makeup line and I am super impressed by the quality of this brand. For the great quality of these lipsticks they are unbelievably cheap. They are sold for less than R50 ($5) at Clicks. One thing I do not like about them though is the packaging. They come in a black plastic tube with a clear plastic lid. Unfortunately the lipsticks cannot be rolled down completely in the tube. This causes the clear top to become messy with smudged lipstick marks. It looks very untidy in your makeup bag and the only way to stop this is to clean the inside of the top regularly with a tissue.

I still love these lipsticks though and will continue to buy more even though I really hate the packaging. The lipstick formula is matte but applies creamy on the lips. These lipsticks are very opaque and pigmented. They last quite a long time but do rub off after eating and drinking. No fuss for me though I always reapply my lipstick after meals.I bought three shades and I truly love them all.

Cinnamon Spice
 When I bought this lipstick I expected the colour to be a brown spicy shade with a little bit of red. Boy, was I heavily mistaken. This is a deep Burgundy sultry lipstick. It could look quite vamp on pale skin. I find it to be a sexy shade and would be best suited to wear at night. It is very beautiful and bold. The lipstick is creamy and dries semi matte on the lips. It does have a slight shine over it. I recommend wearing the lipstick with a lip liner as the lipstick tends to bleed. It would be great for Autumn and Winter months when you want a more warm look. (Apparently, Cinnamon Spice is a dupe for MAC Diva) 


Mauve Outta Here
 The lipstick shade looks more orchid than an actual mauve colour. It leans more purple with pink undertones. The lipstick too applies very creamy and dries to a matte finish. I would say that this one feels more matte than the other two lipsticks. It is bright and very pigmented. I do not have a colour in my collection like it. The shade is quite unique and versatile. I think it looks really beautiful on me and can be worn with any eyeshadow look. You could wear it during the day with nude eyes or pair it with a sultry smokey eye at night. It does stain the lips though once it has rubbed off after eating and drinking. If you are not a fan of lipstick stains then you might not like it. I like that my lips still look a little pink after it has come off.


Bare It All 
I am absolutely in love with this lipstick. I swear I have been wearing it every day since I bought it. I have always struggled to find the perfect nude lip shade since most colours are too light for my skin tone and wash me out. This is a beautiful warm nude shade with pink and brown undertones. The lipstick applies creamy and opaque. This leaves a matte finish with a slight buttery texture. I usually wear it with my favourite lip liner by NYX in Pinky. This makes the lipstick lasts longer and gives a little warmth to the colour. As you can see in the photo above it really suites my honey complexion perfectly.  (Apparently, Bare It All is a dupe for MAC Cherish) 




Hope you enjoyed this review! 
Lots of Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

Hi Divas!

I haven't blogged in like FOREVER! Sorry ladies, I have been very busy with work, travelling and family stuff. My head has been all over the place lately and since it is almost Christmas time the madness is just getting worse. I hope all of you are surviving the end of year crunch time. You know things always tend to unravel this time of the year. To help keep me sane I did a little shopping to ease my busy mind. Retail therapy always helps! I bought some new nail polishes and have been testing them out recently. Hope you enjoy my little reviews.

Wet n' Wild Megalast On a Trip: 

I am absolutely in love with this lavender colour. When I saw it in store I just had to have it as I don't own any light purples in my collection. This is my first Wet n' Wild nail polish that I have tried and I must say that I am very impressed by the quality of the nail varnish. The consistency of the polish is quite thick. Two coats would be sufficient for a pretty manicure. In the above picture I added three coats. The brush is wider and thicker than most nail applicators so do be careful to not paint your whole finger in the process. Hehe, you know what I'm talking about, don't you? ;-) With a top coat my manicure lasted four full days with no chipping. I think that is very impressive considering the low price of these nail polishes. I am definitely sold on this brand and will be purchasing more colours soon.

Etude House Play Nails #4:

Etude House is a very famous Korean cosmetics brand. I have tried their makeup and skin care products and I really wanted to add some nail polish to my collection. I ordered three shades from Ebay and #4 is one of them. This is a pretty baby pink shade that is perfect for spring. Unfortunately the consistency and the lasting power of this nail polish is not that great. I did get two full days of wear with no chipping and then it all went down hill from there. The polish can apply quite unevenly if you are not careful. I think the trick is to gradually build the colour up with light strokes. It needs about four strokes for the desired effect I created above. Sigh, I really wanted to like this polish but it is not one of my favourites. I still have to try the other shades I bought from this brand. Will let you know what I think of them later.

Catrice Get the Blues:

I have never used  duochrome nail polish before so I was very excited to play with this polish. For those of you who don't know, a duochrome nail polish changes colour according to the light. Two colours would appear as the light reflects off the polish at different angles. With this shade a metallic blue is the main colour and with it a pretty metallic purple hue would appear reflecting off on the sides. It reminds me of fishes scales as it changes colour according to the light reflecting off it in the water as they swim. When I wear this nail polish it makes me feel like a mermaid ;-) The polish glides on smoothly too and lasts a really long time with a top coat. A sure winner for me.

Tip Top Cherry's in the Snow:

This is a beautiful strong classic red. It would be really pretty to wear Christmas time. It applies very smoothly and evenly on the nails. Two coats is just enough to create a pretty manicure. The polish is a little runny on application and can be smudged easily. So make sure your nails are completely dry before you do anything after you are done painting your nails. The polish chips easily without a top coat so I do recommend wearing this nail polish with a good base and top coat. I am not a big fan when it comes to red nail polish. I only have two shades of red in my collection. This shade of red is very classy and warm and can be worn to any occasion.

Much love beautiful Divas!

Mwah Xxxx