mercoledì 16 novembre 2011

Quick DIY project: 15 minutes fake fur tippet

This winter there's a new entry between our fashionable weapons against cold: fur tippets. I'm not a great fan of fur (I'm absolutely against real one), but after looking at both lolita and western fashion shops, brand news or outfits posts, I have to admit that (fake) fur tippets are a very cute way to add a warm touch to an outfit. Many brands added them to their fall-winter collections, from lolita ones:

 to western fashion ones like MaxMara and Juicy Couture:

 As I said before, I think they're cute, but I wouldn't use them often enough to justify a big expense so, what to do?
The answer came from my mother's latest closet cleaning: in one of her drawers I found a fake fur detachable collar from an old jacket that she no longer had. Since the collar was brand new and unused, I decided to make it a guinea pig for my tailoring experiments. And now, finally, into the real project!

What you need:
- detachable fake fur collar (that's the hardest part, try searching in your house for old jackets, coats or maybe look for cheap ones in flea markets and garage sales);
- 1 meter ribbon of your choice (better using a ribbon at least 2,5 cm high);
- scissors;
- matching thread and needle;
- fraying ends glue (or clear nail polish);
- (optional) beads, lace, brooches, vintage buttons...everything you may want to use as an embellishment.

How to do:
Cut two pieces of ribbon about 50 cm long, fold twice one of the ends of each piece, like this:
Put some glue or nail polish on the other end to prevent fraying (before glueing you can shape the ribbon's end with scissors as you like) and let it dry
Once dry, take the unglued ends and sew them to the inner corners of the collar, on the reverse side. If the collar has lining, sew the ribbons to it, so the stitches will not be visible on the right side
Now your collar should looks like this:
If you want you can now add embellishments or else your new fur tippet is ready to be worn :)

domenica 13 novembre 2011

New puppy in town

I'm glad to present you the new four-legged member of my family: Leila!
In these last two days I was very busy taking care of her, she's a real earthquake! (she already destroied a carpet and scared the cats -_-'') This is my first time raising a puppy, my previous two dogs were already adults from the dog pound (Kinda, she was my boyfriend's dog, but since I went living with him three years ago, she was also part of my family) or grew up with me (Minnie, my first dog); it isn't easy at the beginning, but I'll do my best taking care for her :)

martedì 8 novembre 2011

Make up review: Pupa Nail Art Kit White & Pop Pink

I'm a great lover of nail polishes and nail art in general, so when I discovered those cracked nail art kit by Pupa I took advantage of the summer sales to buy one. Then September exams captured all my attention, and that kit sat unused in my drawer until a couple days ago, when I finally decided to take a little time to try it.
There were several pairs of colors available, I chose white and pop pink.
I was pleasantly surprised by the white base, in comparison to other white polishes that I tried, this is definitely the best: with just one glaze you get an excellent uniform cover.
The package says to let it dry for 4 minutes before putting on the second color, so I waited for about 5/6 minutes (just to be sure the white was completely dry) and then started to apply the pink one (which creates the cracked effect, the white one is just a regular polish).
The first thing I noticed was that, unlike the white, this enamel was a bit difficult to apply, it is more dense and dries very quickly, so you have to apply it with a single quick brushstroke.
Now comes the fun part: the pink cover immediately starts cracking at sight!
Unfortunately, I immediately noticed that in addition to cracking, pink enamel was also "absorbing" the white base, leaving the natural nail color visible in some spots.
It's no so evident from the picture, but in real the final effect isn't very nice, I also tried applying a transparent top coat, as the package suggest, but it didn't help a lot :(
I was a little disappointed, but I didn't surrender, perhaps the base was not completely dry, or maybe the effect works better with a darker base. So I tried using a different base (the cracking cover works with any polish), my favorite black polish by Ever. I put on 2 coats this time, being also careful to let it dry for a longer time, and this is the result:
Way better!(except for some smudges around the nail, but I usually clean them with polish remover after I'm finished)
As I thought, the base needs more time to dry,or it will get ruined during the cracking time. If you let it dry enough it works even with light bases, nex time I want to try it with pastel lilac :)
My review:
Colours: 4,5/5
white one is great, pink one instead is a little too opaque when dry .
Colour lasting: 4/5 
the cracking color tends to scratch easy without a top coat.
Price: 3,5/5
I checked in different shops and the price of the kit varies from 5€ (6,8$ which is pretty good, considering there are two polishes in the package) to 12€ (12,5$  which is, in my opinion, insanely high). There is a considerable gap between the minimum and maximum price, but in most shops they are about 6/7€, which is quite a reasonable price for brand polishes.
My overall rating: 4/5
Once you get the trick to use them better, they can come in handy for a quick and cool manicure, maybe I'll buy other colour pairs in the future :)