DIY: How to Create Water Marbled Nails

I've been eying up the water marbling technique on fingernails for quite some time now! Like a lot of nail designs, I thought... hmmm, only in the salon am I going to get this look... WRONG!!! You can actually do it at home, using inexpensive nail polishes... look at that, saving money!! Boy, I'm getting good at this, I really think I should get a reward from my man for this, believe me, it's been hard!!!

When your marbleizing your nails, keep in mind that it will turn out different with each colour combination. Try it with different colours to see which look works the best for you! It's weird the difference in the swirls with the colour combos! You would be surprised!!

Just an FYI: This is going to take awhile. Because the nail polish dries rather quickly and you have to work pretty quick, you can only do one or two fingers at a time after you are done the base coats.
  

What you need:
Base Coat
White nail polish (or whatever colour you want underneath)
2 colors of your choice
Clear Top Coat

Tape
Cup full of room temperature water
Toothpick or woodstick
Q-tips or Cotton Swabs
Nail Polish Remover

What you do:
First you are going to apply your base coat. Apply a thin layer of your favourite base coat. Once your base coat is dry, apply two coats of your white (or whatever colour you want underneath) polish. Apply one coat, allow to dry, then apply another. The colors you choose to do the design with, will appear more vibrant by adding the two coats of white. I saw white because I like to do mine with white underneath, I haven't done it with any other colours yet, although I have seen lots of other nails with different vibrant colours! Ahhh can't wait to try different colours!!

Tape off the perimeter of your nails so that the polish wont seep onto your skin. If you want you can do one nail at a time, it's easier that way. Tape a nail, do the design, and then proceed to do the rest of your nails. It's hard to work with a bunch of taped up fingers, trust me!

Fill up a plastic cup or container with water that is room temperature. Open 2 nail polishes (or more, depending how many colours you want in your swirls, I recommend starting with less colours to get used to it). Grab your toothpick or wood stick and get it ready.

Start with one color and drop a drop of polish into the cup, dabbing the brush on the top of the water so a blob of polish spreads out really thin. It will look very sheer. Quickly take the next colour of polish and drop that into the center of the color you just dropped. Keep going back and forth between colours (or with different colours) until it looks like rings.

Remember: You MUST work quickly for this to work! The nail polish has to be wet for this to work. You might have to try it a few times before you get it right and figure out just how quickly you have to move. I quit the first time... I got discouraged big time... but the second time I picked it up I did it just fine! So if I can do it, you can do it!

Once you have the desired amount of polish take your toothpick and swirl it in the polish rings to create a cool design. Take your taped finger and quickly lay your finger down on the part of the design you like and then dip it in the water so that your whole nail is submerged.
 
While your nail is still in the water, take your toothpick and carefully clean the water by swirling the toothpick in it collecting all the extra polish. Pull out your nail and remove the tape. Clean up the edges of your fingers with a  q-tip or cotton swab. Allow your nail to dry for at least 4 minutes and then apply a top coat. Once done repeat on the rest of your nails. You obviously will find the best technique that works for you.

Like I said before... it does take patience (I'm surprised I can even sit through this... but my nails are one thing that I do have the patience for) and you might not get it on your first or second try... keep at it, you will. I promise!!! And the time it takes to do your nails is definitely worth the compliments you will get!

xOx - L

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Get Radiant Hair w/ a DIY Banana Smoothie Face Mask

Okay, as good as a banana smoothie sounds right about now, you can't drink it... you just can't. It's not your regular smoothie ladies and gents...  it goes in your hair... your hair wants to drink it too, so let it get the goodies for once and you be the jealous one! LOL!

If your hair is dry or overworked like mine has been lately, treat your hair with this banana smoothie hair mask, let the banana's moisture your hair and leave it with a mad shine! Do this when you have an extra half hour to an hour to spare, like at night... while you are on the PC or watching t.v. One of the best things... you probably have everything you need... you won't even have to go to the store!

Here's what you will need:
1 mashed banana
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk 
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
1 bowl
1 comb

Get out a bowl and combine all the ingredients one by one, mixing it well. Once mixed to your satisfaction, using a comb, apply the mask to your hair from the roots to the ends.

Leave the mask on to soak into your hair for about fifteen to thirty minutes. The longer you wait, the better it works. So if your hair is really damaged, you will want to leave it on for a full thirty minutes.

Rinse out the mask with cold water (we learned that). Once the Banana Smoothie mixture is completely rinsed out of your hair, you can shampoo and conditioner as usual.

Style your hair as you normally do, do you notice the difference?? Do this mask when you notice your hair is getting dry again. It varies with different types of hair. Or you can do the treatment weekly for best results.

xOx - L

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DIY Bath Cookies! ... No you Cannot Eat them!

Mmmm, I love making things SO good that you could almost eat them... like these bath cookies! Well, I wouldn't eat them, but they made me want cookies SO bad that I made Kev whip up a batch of his famous cookies. I ate about a dozen. Now I'm bloated and huge and feel bad. Oh well, it's the weekend right?... You are allowed to indulge on the weekend! Just means I gotta work out super hard tomorrow!

These bath cookies make a great gift as well! Do up a cute little gift basket for your girl friend or your Mom. Keep some for yourself while you are at it. Make a double batch and give them to all the ladies at work for x-mas or whatever!! Make a label with directions and a picture! They will love it!

You all probably have the first few ingredients in your home, but might not have the oils. The good thing about them is once you get them, they last you for awhile... and there are all sorts of goodies you can make with them, so they are definitely worth it to buy!

Mats:
2 cups of Sea Salt / Rock Salt
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Baking Soda 
1 egg
1 tsp Vitamin E Oil
2 tbs of Almond Oil
6 drops Essential Oil (whatever you prefer, I loooove my Vanilla)

Optional: Add white or chocolate chips or oatmeal to your mix (or anything really) - Approx. 2 tbsp 

Note: Makes approximately a dozen cookies, depending on size.

Deets:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Make the dough into balls and flatten them out to resemble a cookie on a cookie sheet. Or you can roll out the dough (put flour down first) and cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Place the tray of cookies in the oven and bake at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes. Once they are cooked, allow them to cool.

Once the cookies are dry place them in air tight packages or an air tight container. They will last for months!

Place one or two bath cookies in the tub with running warm water and lay back and enjoy!

xOx- L

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Frizzy Hair: 6 DIY Home Remedies to Help

I have curly, thick hair. And I have frizzies. Especially when it's hot and humid like it has been for the last couple weeks. I used to straighten my hair daily, but with this heat I couldn't be bothered. It started at the end of May this year! Ridiculous!!! But the frizzies come out two times as bad when my hair is curly, so I need product to help keep them under control. John Frieda works GREAT! Problem is... it's expensive... and such little bottles. Every single serum that seemed to be any good was at a salon for $20 to $30 bucks or at Walmart for $10 to $20. Argh! Go figure, that's just my luck. Especially when I'm not working! I was lucky and got a few samples in the mail, but they only lasted a little while (just like all my other serums)! So I looked into ways to make it.  And of course, I wanna share them with you!

Here are a few home remedies to try on your hair if you have the fly aways! 

A Carbonated Water Rinse 
For those of you who let your curls air dry (this is me), this is a great remedy for you to eliminate hair frizz caused by humidity. After you wash your hair (both shampoo & conditioner if need be), give it a final rinse with sparkling or carbonated water. They will both reduce frizz because of it’s low pH level.

Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
I'm sure most of us have olive oil in the house. Some, have coconut oil too. You can use whichever you prefer... either way - oil fights the frizzies like you wouldn't believe!
To whip up some oil conditioner, all you have to do is heat up one cup of oil (whichever you prefer, or have) in a glass jar. You can do this in the microwave. While warm, wet your hair and apply your mixture evenly throughout your hair. Do not wash it out! Cover your hair with a shower cap (or plastic bag if you don't have a cap) and wrap a hot towel around your head to increase moisture absorption. Keep this in your hair and your towel warm on your head for approximately 30 minutes. You need steady heat from your towel, so you will have to reheat it once or twice in the process. After you have let your hair absorb the mixture, shampoo and rinse your hair with cold water and style as normal.

Note: Add an egg to your oil, the egg contains L-cysteine, a natural amino acid that helps with building cells and repairing tissue.
  

Mayonnaise and Avocado Conditioner
Dry frizzy hair? This one's for you! Mix 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1/2 an avocado until you have a paste. Rub it throughout your hair distributing evenly and cover your head with a shower cap or plastic bag. Wrap a warm towel around your head and leave on for 20 minutes and wash out. 

Apple Cider Vinegar
I'm sure you might have all heard of this remedy before. I remember doing this when I was a little kid. Well my Mom helped me. But it's definitely been around for awhile. This prevents frizzies and will give your hair a nice shine. Two in one, friggin eh!! And it works great! Get a bowl or a water bottle and mix equal parts water and apple cider vinegar. I'd go a cup and a cup, or half and half, depending on how much hair you have! Wash your hair as per usual but give it a final rinse with your mixture! 

White Vinegar
Smooth and flatten your hair cuticles by combing white vinegar through washed hair with a comb. Then condition your hair as usual. When rinsing your hair, use water as cold as you can bear. Using cold water helps lock down the cuticle and makes hair appear slicker and smoother.

Honey - After Shampoo Rinse 

Mix 1 tablespoon of honey with 1 quart of water. Pour your mixture through your shampooed hair while it's still wet. Rinse out and condition as per usual. Honey will attract and hold water molecules and can help to moisturize your hair.

Hopefully you found a remedy to help you out! I'm sure out of one of these, you will find one that suits you. And remember even though I said conditioner after some of these procedures, you will notice you won't always have too. Enjoy!

xOx - L

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DIY: Lip Balm! Super Easy N' Delicious..

I LOVE Lip Balm! I have baskets of it. It's in every drawer in my house... every purse I own, it's everywhere. You never know when you are going to need it! Definitely a girls best friend!

So, since we are trying this new thing called "saving"... lip balm is just another one of those things that I have to cut back on. I mean, it's not like I'll run out or anything... but there will be no more of seeing a new kind in the store and purchasing it... well as much as I used to anyway.

As I was putting on my lip gloss this morning I thought... I wanted to make up a batch of lip balm, just for the heck of it. I'm bored.. might as well. So I looked up some recipes and realized I didn't have a few of the ingredients. And going out to buy them would defeat the purpose of this. So I decided to improvise and use my imagination. And to my surprise... IT WORKED!!!

This has got to be probably one of the EASIEST DIY lip balms ever! Easy & Cheap = AWESOME!

What you'll need:
3 to 4 Kool-aid or Hawaiian Punch Packets (I used Singles)
1/4 to 1/3 cups of Vaseline (Depends how much you want to make, 1/4 cups got me 3 containers)
Measuring Cup
Glass Bowl
Plastic Containers (for lip balm)
Fork

I just wanted to say a few things before I start.
If you want your lip gloss to be coloured, make sure the kool-aid is the right colour (pink, red, blue) etc. I only had a yellow lemonade here and it didn't work, I had to mix in a berry punch from the store.
Also, you can get the containers from Michaels, BUT I did find cheaper ones at the Dollarama.

What you'll do:
Put the Vaseline in the glass bowl and microwave for maximum 1 minute. I only have to heat mine for 30 seconds, it all depends on the strength of the microwave.

Note: Keep your eye on it, you don't want the Vaseline to melt completely and turn into a liquid form. You just want to heat it up so it makes it easy to stir and turn into the same thickness as pudding. And BE CAREFUL you don't get splashed, the Vaseline is HOT!

Once heated, take the bowl out and stir the Vaseline until it is about the consistency of pudding.

Once your greasy mixture is thick enough, slowly start sprinkling in small amounts of Kool-aid while you are continuously stirring. Make sure that the Kool-aid crystals are dissolving. If you find they aren't dissolving, you haven't stirred it enough! The more packets you use, the darker your mixture will get.

Once you have reached your desired colour, stop adding in the Kool-aid but you are going to want to continue stirring. Is your wrist getting sore yet? LOL I know mine had a great work out by the end of it! If you find the crystals just aren't going away, throw it back in the microwave for 25 to 30 seconds, then continue to stir.

Once you think all the crystals are dissolved and the mixture is to your likings, dab a little on your lips just to make sure it's the way you want it! If it's not, continue stirring. If it is, it's time to pour the mixture into the containers.

 

Place your containers on paper towel or the counter and start to pour or spoon in your mixture. Make sure you don't put too much in your container! You don't want it to over flow when you close the lid!  Once your containers are full you are going to want to let them cool for 2 to 3 hours; or more if possible. 

If you are giving them as a gift, throw on some stickers or labels to make your containers a little more cute and original! Your friends will love it! I like this recipe cuz my lips are constantly chapped, so unlike most flavored lip balms, this one has Vaseline, so it's actually helping!! LOVE IT!

xOx - L

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DIY: Vick's Vapour Shower Disks

Vick’s VapoRub shower disks clear out your sinuses while you’re showering, making colds feel better. You might have seen them advertised on TV. Well Sarah of Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity made them herself, sharing her know how and I wanted to share with you guys!

What you'll need:
Baking soda
Water
Essential oils: eucalyptus, rosemary, and lavender.
Muffin tin
Muffin liners

You can get the oils at your local health food store or GNC. It would definitely be worth going to pick up the oils, they can be used for so many different things!! 

For the know how of this awesome DIY click here to visit Sarah's page!

There are also tons of other goodies if you wanted to browse her page!!  
 
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Homemade Coconut Milk Shampoo!

I LOVE my coconut milk shampoo... but it's SUPER expensive, and I HATE that! So we are constantly looking for cheaper ways to survive and one of them.. DO IT YOURSELF BABY!

I found a recipe for Coconut Milk Shampoo on the internet the other day and I decided to try it out... with a few of my own touches of course!

I know a lot of you might have tried the recipe using castle soap... if you noticed like I did, it made your hair feel like it had a residue left in it... So I've searched and tried and came up with this... with a little help from Julie at One Good Thing!

What you Need:
1 empty, clean bottle (for your shampoo)
1/4 cup coconut milk (if you don't have store bought, you can make your own, see link below)
1/3 cup baby shampoo or baby wash
1 tsp vitamin E, olive or almond oil
10 to 20 drops of your choice of essential oils (whatever kind you like, I used vanilla cause it's my fav)

If making your own Coconut Milk, Click here for details on the how to.

What you Do:
Add 1/4 cup of coconut milk and 1/3 cup baby shampoo to your bottle and then add 1 teaspoon of vitamin E, olive or almond oil (whichever you decided to go with). Once you have added all of that, you are going to add your 10 to 20 drops of essential oils, preference of your choice. Shake your bottle to combine ingredients to complete your shampoo!

Now your ready to go test it out in the shower!! This definitely did the trick for me!! And is MUCH cheaper than the $9 bottle of shampoo. And it felt like my hair didn't even need conditioner, which is weird, because I have thick, curly, frizzy hair and ALWAYS need conditioner.

Let me know how it worked for you!!

xOx

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Sugar & Honey Bath Melt... Luxurious!

What a perfect idea for a great way to unwind and relax with a nice warm bath! Sugar and Honey Bath Melts. They take no time at all to make, very easy!! Once made you twirl it around in the tub and it makes for such a nice relaxing and yummy feeling bath!

What you will need:
Plastic spoons
Sugar
Honey (just a drop)
Water
Small bowl
Plastic plate

What you will do:
Put 2 heaping plastic spoon fills of white sugar into a small bowl.  Add approximately 1/4 of a teaspoon of honey to the bowl. Then add a few drops of water, about 1/2 of the plastic spoon full and stir until it's the consistency of a semi-thick frosting. You might have to keep adding tiny amounts of water to get to the consistency you need.

Once your concoction is done, place a spoon down on a plastic plate. Prop it up on the edge so that the base of the spoon is laying flat. Pour the contents of the bowl onto plastic spoon. If you have overflow, use another spoon, make as many as you can with what you have left!! Put them in the freezer until hardened. Keep them in the freezer until you are ready to use them!

When you are ready to use them in your bath, fill up your tub with water and swirl the spoon around. The mixture in the spoon will melt because of the heat!

Now it's time to relax in your fabulous bath with silky water and hydrating honey!

These also make GREAT gifts!! If you decide to give some to a loved one, make sure you freeze for at least 2 to 3 days in advance. Once you are ready to give them to your friend, wrap the head of the spoon in tinfoil or cellophane and wrap it up as you wish!

These are so easy to make and they make such a nice treat for your body!!

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