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

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

Easter 2016 Diva Bunny

Hi Divas, HAPPY EASTER!!!

I feel like we just celebrated Christmas and now it's Easter! Guys, I cannot keep up with the world. Did an angel press the fast forward button on the universe? Anyway I am not complaining because this gives me an excuse to eat chocolate like a crazy person and I don't have to feel an ounce of guilt. Whoop! ;-D As usual I decided to do a fun Easter manicure. To be honest I always do fun Easter manicures because I haven't found any sophisticated Easter designs yet. To me the feeling of Easter is all about pastel blues, polka dot pinks and little yellow ducks with cute bunnies hopping everywhere. So I think every year at this time I will bring out the 4 year old in me. Lol! 

This is actually my second attempt at this manicure. The first time I did it my bunnies looked like they were possessed by demons and I was like, this is not how my Easter look is going to go down. I think I drew the eyes too big and they ended up looking like monsters. As Jesus is the reason for the weekend,  I don't think He would have been happy with me walking into church with demon bunnies on my nails. I seriously need emoji's for that sentence, haha. Any way I think my bunnies turned out pretty cute the second time round ;-)

For my manicure I painted two bunnies on my thumb and ring finger. The middle finger has a broken egg duck face design and the index and middle fingers have polka dots with blue rhinestones. I used dotting tools and toothpicks to draw on my bunnies, duck face and polka dots. For the nail polishes I used Etude House #70 for my pastel blue base, #8 for my baby pink base and inside of my bunny ears and noses. For the polka dots on my pink base I used Etude House #4 which is a very light creamy pink. Tip Top Black Forest was used for the eyes on both the bunny and duck faces along with Tip Top Cream Puff used as a white base on the middle finger and the bunny faces. I used Tip Top's Salsa Pop to draw the duck nose. For my base coat I used my trusty Sally Hansen Complete Care 4 in 1 Treatment and my favourite top coat of life by Sally Hansen called Mega Shine Top Coat.
 

Hope you enjoyed this post and feel inspired to do some fun Easter manicures too. I am pretty happy in the way my nails turned out. I will be eating my mom's homemade pickle fish and chowing yummy hot cross buns with tea this weekend. These are all South African Easter treats for my international readers out there ;-) Will you be joining an Easter egg hunt or like me already have your chocolate stash ready to be devoured? Let me know below!

Have a wonderful Easter weekend.

Lots of love. 

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

Easter Diva Bunny

Hi Divas!

I hope you are all having an amazing week. As you know Easter is coming up this weekend and I thought I would do a little post to celebrate this holiday. Easter means much more to me than the Easter Bunny and all the delicious chocolate treats. Besides eating tons of yummy Easter eggs and hot cross buns, I will also be going to church to honour my Lord and Saviour. My mom made two big bowls of Pickle Fish, which is a traditional dish to eat in Cape Town during the Easter period. I will be devouring that in the afternoons too. As most traditional holidays at my house are spent eating and spending time with family ;-) Sounds good to me! For this post I have dressed up as the Easter Diva Bunny to spread some love, happiness and ideas to get us all excited for this weekend. I have a manicure and some yummy treats to share with you. Hope you enjoy!


Oh look! It's the Easter Diva Bunny ready to drop off cupcakes at your door! Big Kisses to my mom for helping me with the cupcakes and taking this pictures! ;-)




Easter Manicure

For this manicure I used 5 nail polishes, 4 of which are from my favourite nail varnish brand called Tip Top. Sadly this brand has been discontinued in stores though. For my Bunnies, I used Tip Top Cha Cha Cha as my blue base coat. I then drew on the bunny heads with a dotting tool using the white nail polish Cream Puff by Tip Top. For the ears and nose I painted it pink with Get the Party Started by Tip Top. To draw on the whiskers and eyes I used a nail art tattoo pen by Essence. For my index finger I painted the lavender colour On a Trip by Wet n' Wild and drew on colourful waves and white dots to resemble Easter egg designs. I did the same for my middle finger except I used a pink base coat this time which is Get the Party Started. For my pinkie finger I painted it yellow with the shade Walking on Sunshine by Tip Top and drew a cross using my nail art tattoo pen. I then added a gold rhinestone in the middle. I sealed my designs with the clear nail varnish base coat by Sally Hansen called Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-In-One Nail Treatment. Once that was dried I used my favourite top coat of life also by Sally Hansen called Mega Shine.

Easter Cupcake Basket

These cupcakes are perfect for Sunday tea time. They look so pretty and festive. Bake your favourite vanilla cupcakes. You could use a ready made cupcake box mix. Once the cupcakes are done baking and have cooled mix some colourful icing sugar together to swirl on the cupcakes. You can choose as many colours as you want or keep it plain with vanilla icing. To decorate the cupcakes Easter style, place some delicious speckled eggs on top. As you can see my vanilla cupcake in the photo above, you could even sprinkle some pieces of flake chocolate on the cupcake first and then add the speckled eggs to resemble a birds nest  Once the speckled eggs are secured take some colourful sweet strips/ belts (you can use thin strips of licorice too), twist and fold them so that they start to resemble basket handles. When they are done being twisted, secure them firmly to the inside of the cupcake so that the cupcake starts to look like a little basket. You can use some of your leftover icing sugar and secure the sweet twist strips firmly to the cupcake. When they are done they will look so amazing and taste delicious too ;-)



I want to wish you all a very Happy Easter!!!
Lots of love!
Xxxx

 Valentines Day Vibes 2015

Hi Divas

 This week I have succumb to all the Valentines hype and bringing you a Valentines Day post too. I know super cliché, but what the heck. I thought I would just run with it since February is known as the month of love. I did a makeup and nail look for you to spark some inspiration for Saturday. So whether you going on a romantic date, going out with friends or crying on the couch with a tub of ice cream (ME!), you can still look good while doing it. I know there are a lot of people that despise Valentines day but I really don't mind it. There are a lot of gimmicks and advertises have a field day with it but I think it's a cute and fun to give some flowers, chocolates and hearts to those you love and adore. Back in the day at university my room mate and I used to buy each other roses and walk around on campus all day with them pretending they were from a secret crush. Haha, super duper lame! Do you have any fun Valentines stories you want to share? Please comment below!

Valentines Makeup

For my face I used my favourite bb cream by Guerlain called Super Aqua BB Hydra+ (Will do a review on it soon) to even out my skin tone and give a natural radiant glow. On my eyes I used my Urban Decay Naked Basics palette and my Urban Decay Ammo palette. I placed the eyeshadow Venus under my brow bone, the brown shade Faint in my crease and dusted a beautiful cool toned gold shade Maui Wowie on my lids. As you can see in the photo above the gold shade really pops and brings out my brown eyes. I then added my favourite NYX Super Fine Liner and Miss Manga Mascara by Loreal for sexy lashes. I dusted Faint on my lower lash line to warm my eyes up a little bit. For cheeks I kept the look subtle and lightly dusted a pink blusher from my BH Cosmetics That's Heart palette. I went slightly bold with the lips and used Fuchsia Flash by Maybelline. This lipstick is a really pretty pink and I think it looks perfect for Valentines day. The makeup look is not to overbearing or sultry. I think it is light and playful for a romantic date out or as I said eating ice cream alone on the couch (ME!!!).

Valentines Manicure

For my manicure I used four nail polish colours and some stickers and gold heart rhinestones. I wanted to create something fun and girly so I focused my attention on cute little hearts and added white polka dots on my index finger and ''XOXO'' on my ring finger which turned out kind of whack, lol. For the pink polish I used Get the Party Started by Tip Top, The white polish is Cream Puff  by Tip top, The glitter gold polish Gold Fever by Sephora and to write the ''XOXO'' on my ring finger I used Black Forest by Tip Top. I drew the pink heart in the middle with a dotting tool. I am actually surprised that it didn't turn out into a messy blob as I was freestyling and hoping it would turn into something that resembles a heart. Whoop! I will be doing more heart manicures from now on ;-)

Have a great week and enjoy your Valentines Day.

MWAH 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 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

Spring Fling Tag

Hi Divas!

I thought it would be very appropriate to do the Spring Fling tag on the blog as we are in the middle of September. I started packing away my winter clothes and my vampy winter makeup. Even my nail art colours have changed to pastels and some neon polishes. I am definitely looking forward to the weather heating up, all the pretty flowers blooming and bright displays in the shop windows. Spring always makes me feel hopeful and excited about life.

1. What eye palette do you/will you use most this spring?
My BH Cosmetics That's Heart Palette. The palette has pretty golds, pinks, and blue shades that are great for spring. The eyeshadow colours are soft and gives a beautiful romantic look. The palette comes with a candy floss coloured blush, a bronzer and a highlighter. It is very versatile for day and night makeup looks. 

2. What blush in your collection is a spring must-have?
My Clarins Blush Prodige in Miami Pink 03 consists of  soft pink shades.

What about lipstick?
 I have recently discovered the Etude House Dear My blooming Lips Talk lipsticks. My favourite for spring would be a soft pink in RD304. I love wearing all shades of pink in spring and this shade is perfect as it is not too bright or shocking. 

3. What nail polishes do you love to wear in the Spring?
I love pastel blues, peaches and baby pinks. I usually gravitate towards Tip Top Cha Cha Cha and Tip Top Get the Party Started.

4. What is your signature spring scent?
I like to wear light body fragrances this time of the year. When I want a fragrance that is not too strong I love to wear my Victoria Secret Angel Fragrance Mist. It is a body mist and not a perfume. It's light and whimsical.

5. What is on your spring break agenda?
Well, I don't have school holidays any more because I am a working girl. When I was at university, I used to go home for the September week holidays and enjoy picnics at Kirstenbosch gardens.


6. What trends are you looking forward to the most? Fashion, Makeup, Nail Polish, etc.
 I am a dress fanatic. I absolutely love dresses and my wardrobe is filled with them. I am looking forward to seeing pretty girly spring dresses in prints, lace and embellishments.

7. Do you have a spring skincare must-have?
 I like to get rid of dull winter skin with a highlighter/ illuminizer. I love the Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector in Rose Shimmer. You can dot it on your cheek bone area or mix it into your foundation to highlight your whole face. It gives a beautiful radiant glow without the tacky shimmer.

8. What is spring like where you live?
 I live in Cape Town. Spring is warm with a slight chilly wind. As the flowers start to bloom I get allergy attacks galore! So I always have to have antihistamine pills and tissues on hand.

9. Floral: gotta have em or make them stop?
Got to have them on my dresses, shorts and accessories ;-)

10. Favourite thing/activity to do in the spring?
 I have never really thought about this, but I think I like to do the annual house spring clean, pack all those winter clothes away and bring out bright accessories for your home. I like to have picnics and drive out to wine farms and enjoy a good lunch. It is not too hot so the drive is pleasant and all the pretty flowers are out in full bloom as you road trip across town.

Thanks  for reading ladies! Xxx

Hello Beauties!

 

I thought I would do a manicure post this week. I absolutely love wearing nail polish and I actually feel quite naked if my nails are bare. I love painting my nails as it relaxes me and puts me in a good mood. I tend to do one manicure a week and alternate different nail colours and designs. I hardly ever blog about my weekly manicures so I thought I would do one big post every month about my diva creations. Now I am in no way a nail art expert or manicure guru. Most of the time I just experiment and freestyle in the hopes that my manicures will turn out good. I still have a lot to learn and need to improve my techniques drastically. I am getting there slowly. One thing I do need to invest in is a big nail art brush kit. I have a few brushes but not enough to create more dramatic looks. If you have any suggestions on where i can purchase more nail art brushes and accessories let me know below!

My top nail polish brands that I swear by are Tip Top and Sally Hansen. I tend to gravitate to these brands the most as they have excellent colour choices and top quality nail varnishes. Their polishes do not chip easily and are very versatile to work with when doing nail art. Sally Hansen has the best top and base coats. They keep my nails strong and my manicures last for ages. I really love them and haven't used any other top and base coats since I discovered hoe awesome Sally Hansen's ones are. I have also been using more nails Inc, Mavala and Revlon polishes. Some have been awesome and some quite disappointing. I will elaborate more about that below. I love to shop at R5 stores too as I get all my nail art stickers from there. Nail art stickers are always fun to use and brightens up any manicure.

My recent manicures from left to right:

First attempt using nail art brushes: 

While I was overseas I bought my first mini set of nail art brushes at H&M. They came in hot pink so I just had to purchase them. It came with a nail file, and three nail art brush tools. Below is my first attempt with the nail art brushes. I think it came out good. As I said I really need to practice and steady my shaky left hand. :-)

Have a fabulous week.
Xxxx