Mani Monday: Caviar for Nails!

No I haven’t gone batty this is what I’m talking about…ta-da!!!

I’ve seen these caviar manicures around on the blogosphere and when I stumbled across these caviar beads recently, I knew I had to have them and that this fire engine red caviar manicure was in my very near future! It is very apparent that I am clearly a fan of the accent nail and utilised this technique when doing my caviar manicure. I find the caviar effect stands out much more amongst the other plain red nails. 

This is how you too can be sporting some caviar nails:

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands
• Base colour nail polish, I chose red
• Caviar micro beads (tiny crafty beads work as well)
• Some paper, a bowl or a small container

Method:

1) Paint your nails with your chosen base colour nail polish, wait for it to dry completely

2) Open your bottle of beads so that you can work quickly at the next stage

3) Apply a second coat of your chosen base colour nail polish

4) While the second coat of base colour polish is still wet, sprinkle the beads onto the wet nail (if doing more than one nail, it’s advisable to do one nail at a time)…use a piece of paper, bowl or small container under your nail to catch wayward caviar beads…work quickly here as the caviar beads will not stick to your nail once the nail polish is dry

5) Gently press the caviar beads into your nail…so as to leave one even layer of beads and this also prevent the beads from clumping on top of each other

6) If you chose to do one more than nail, repeat step 3-5 until all nails are done

7) DO NOT apply a top coat…it will strip the caviar beads of all their colour and you will be left with plain silver beads…and then you will have to start all over again…not that I would know or anything >cough, cough<  :)

8) Wait for about a good half an hour for the beads to set properly 

9) Collect all your leftover caviar beads for your next caviar mani

10) Admire your awesome handiwork, champagne wishes & caviar dreams coming right up!

There’s such a variety of ways to do a caviar manicure what with the many colours of caviar beads and endless shades of gorgeous nail polish, do share some your creativity!  

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

Mani Monday: Lady in Coral

Hello you lovely things,

Thanks for stopping by for the next instalment of Mani Mondays!

Today I wanted to savour the last few sunny and bright days before winter starts to set in…yep a South African winter can be pretty harsh what with it’s 20°C lows (haha)! I decided to go with coral nails (always makes me think of summer), with silver tips to jazz things up a bit and to accent the ring fingers, cute little hearts! Inspired by the classic french manicure! This is the beauteous summery result: 

If that doesn’t scream the last goodbyes of SUMMER…I don’t know what does!

Let’s get cracking on how you too can get pretty in coral! You can edit these colours to suit your preferences.

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands
• Base coast & Top coat nail polish
• Your chosen base colour nail polish
• Your chosen french tip colour nail polish
• Sticky tape
• An orangewood stick

Method:

1) Paint nails in desired base coat, wait for base coat to dry completely

2) Paint nails with your chosen coralicious colour, wait for your coloured polish to dry completely

3) Next to get the silver tips…I like to use sticky tape to cover my nail to get the desired width of the painted tip…you can play with it and adjust to suit what width of french tip you like. Plus the sticky tape protects your entire nail from wayward polish or a shaky left hand application AND it’s super economical…you don’t have to worry about scrunching it up and throwing it away if you messed it up while applying the tape to your nail! (You are welcome to use the store bought french manicure white strips as well, do what works for you!)

4) Once you have stuck on the sticky tape on all fingers, whip out your chosen tip colour, I used silver, and paint all your tips…don’t worry if you don’t keep the line perfectly…that’s what the sticky tape is for…it acts as a corrector and will keep your tips straight

5) Wait for tips to dry completely then carefully remove the sticky tape

6) If you fancy sporting an accent finger with little hearts, then take your chosen coloured polish…I used the silver I used for the french tips, pour a small amount of the polish onto a scrap piece of paper nearby at the ready for the next few steps

7) To make the heart shape on your nail, it’s preferable to use the sharp side of an orangewood stick and place 3 dots strategically on your nail tracing a heart, 2 dots at the top and 1 at the bottom, see below

8) You then take the sharp side of the orangewood stick and drag all 3 dots into the middle until they join and the dots should now resemble a cute little heart

9) Admire your pretty nail art hearts, look at you go!

10) Apply your chosen top coat

11) Run around in winter with awesome sauce summery nails

There’s a million ways to showcase your pretty nails with these techniques, do share some of your ideas, I would love to oooh and ahhh over them :) This lady in coral, bids you adieu !

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

Mani Monday: Mondays = Vodka & Newspaper…

Manic Mondays, if that’s not an excuse for vodka…I don’t know what is!!! Well, I am not talking about knocking back a few before noon my lovelies but rather these awesome newspaper nails I’ve seen trending recently. I thought today was the perfect time to introduce Mani Mondays! Everyone needs a bit of sunshine, excitement and beauty on a Manic Monday…so stay tuned every Monday for my new set of nails! Hope you will try them out and pass on your manicure ideas too!

I took a different twist on this trend, I’ve seen the newspaper look done on all fingers…I thought that might be a tad much for me and wanted to mix things up a bit. I decided to showcase the ring fingers on both hands with the newspaper effect and have the others painted in classic black! Go crazy kids, there’s whole variety of ways you can showcase this look!

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands 
• 1 shot glass
• Vodka/rubbing alcohol/almond essence
• Base coast & Top coat nail polish
• Neutral coloured nail polish (white works best)
• Strips of newspaper

Method:

1) Paint your nail/s with your chosen base coat and 2 coats of your neutral coloured nail polish

2) Wait for nails to dry completely

3) Pour your nails a shot of vodka!

4) Dip each finger you want to do the newspaper effect on into the vodka for 10-15 seconds…have your strips of newspaper at the ready nearby…(yeah check out the specials in South Africa while you at it…I had to protect the oak dining room table ok…don’t judge…I do not want to explain splotches of nail polish to my mum!)

5) Remove your finger from the vodka and quickly apply the strip of newspaper to said finger and press down holding the newspaper strip in place for about 30 seconds…do not move it around…and it’s best to do one finger at a time

6) Remove the strip gently from your finger slowly…rolling your finger while you do this helps…and repeat till all your nails are covered with the latest news

7) Paint on a top coat, this will keep your newspaper effect in tact

8) Admire your beautiful nails…yeah they bring all the boys to your yard!

The finished product:

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

No other like you…

‘By simply being yourself
you've shown me the best way to be.
By having faith in my dreams
you've made me feel proud to be me.
For you've given me a gift
I will cherish my whole life through.
One money can't buy and time can't erase
the gift I cherish is YOU.’ – Anonymous

Just a little something to show my unending and infinite love for the most amazing woman I know, my mum! Happy Mothers Day Mum!!! 

P.S - Check out the scrumptious baking handiwork above courtesy of my sister Nicole (aka Nicky) & myself! Showering our mum with some edible love today, hmmm delicious!!!

And so, it begins!

 

 
Hello and Welcome! 
 

My name is Renée and I am from sunny and friendly South Africa :) 
 

I have been inspired to start my own blog by the many amazing healthy living blogs out there and have finally decided to jump right in and enjoy this space as my own, to let my voice be heard...if by many or if by none...that’s ok...I’m happy either way ! 
 

This blog is about me, my life, my loves, my passions, my road to a healthy lifestyle, my fitness journey and I hope while exploring all this together with you...to realise and understand more of myself through these experiences. I’ve always been one to challenge myself and live for my dreams...now I want a space to document it in...to be able to relish and celebrate that beautiful (yet sometimes awful) thing we call life!! I want to write about what I love, some days you may visit and find deep Renée other days the light-hearted Renée or another day the silly Renée...it’s gonna be a hell of a interesting journey! Get Reddy!!! 
 

The general theme of my blog is that I want to remember everyday that “passion is energy, and you feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” – Oprah
 

Do linger a while and fill me in about your passions and what gets you in your happy place!

Work in progess :)

Tales of my travels coming soon! :)