So Robyn needed new swatch stickers last year when Julep was out so she made her own. She just printed them out and decided to share 'em with all of us! The above picture is one she took so the "mine" is Robyns, not actually mine. But how impressive is that!
The file is on Imgur (link below) if anyone wants to download / print it as well - it's a .jpg file and 8.5 x 11" (2550 x 3300 pixels). You can buy Avery sticker sheets at Amazon (or Staples, Office Depot, etc.) to print on. I sliced them into strips with a paper cutter after they printed and then cut them out as needed. Each sheet has 35 swatch stickers.
The file link is here - just right-click, "Save As":
If you are like me and go through 4-5 cotton pads to remove all your polish, I have a tip for you! Or even if you go through a few but find you get bits of cotton on your nails? I got you covered!
I noticed how much I LOVED the Julep nail remover pads and the Lippmann remover pads. I had tried the Lippmann stripper and didn't love it, but I LOVED the remover pads. And what did both those pads have in common? You got it. They were made of felt.
So I thought, why not turn all my polish remover into super duper remover pads? I picked this up from Dollarama for $3. Its a LOT of felt. 2 yards. I left the kitchen door frame in the back of the picture so you could see just how big the sheet was.
I cut up small squares about the size of a cotton round, or just a tad larger.
This is about 120 squares and it came from one quarter of the sheet of felt.
And this took off ALL my nail polish from both fingers. I could have easily done my toes as well. In about 2 minutes. No mess, no work, no bits of cotton stuck to my nails.
So if you are not in LOVE with your polish remover, give this a try! Its a few bucks, but makes the job infinitely easier!
It is an honour to share this blogpost with you! Halat, the amazingly talented beauty behind http://myawesomebeauty.comwas wonderful enough to make this guest post for all of you lovely readers! If you are not familiar with her blog, I seriously suggest you stop what you are doing, stop reading now and GO FOLLOW HER!! But of course, then come back and read the post!!!!
Hey everyone!
Miss Shayna asked if I could write a guestpost about how to make nail polish jewelry and I of course was happy to. My original post on how to make nail polish jewelry has been the most popular on my blog from the minute I wrote it until now and right now it's more popular than ever. Here I have some step by step pictures so you can see how easy it is and make some for yourself and your friends.
You need a couple of things when making nail polish jewelry and the most important is the cabochon (the glass) and the pendantbase/mount. Make sure these actually fit each other when purchasing. These come in rings, necklaces, earrings ect. The second thing you'll need is either strong jewelry glue (I use E6000 and G-S Hypo Cement) or a burnisher and bezel (see video below!)
When you have that ready, you can start having fun!
When making nail polish jewelry, you do the exact same as when putting nail polish on your nails except you start with the sheer nail polish first instead of the opaque. Here I have started with China Glaze - Snow Globe. Let this dry completely! You can add more coats if you want, but remember the thicker the coats the longer it takes to dry.
When you're pleased with your sheer polishes, you add your opaque one. I have used a pure black polish so Snow Globe gets the attention it needs. I also add the opaque color inside the pendant base to make sure there aren't any spots left unpainted.
When the nail polish both on the glass and in the pendant base has dried, you add a layer of jewelry glue to hold. Use your burnisher and rocker bezel for superhold if your pendant base is soft enough. If you only use glue, remember to let it dry before using it so you're sure the glue has set properly.
I hope that was easy enough to understand. Now go make lots of nail polish jewelry!
Enjoy!
You can also check out this post which was the first how to post she created for making polish jewellery on her own blog!!
I have a confession to make. It is something I was embarrassed about for a very long time. I use home made laundry detergent I make myself. I don't know why I was embarrassed for as long as I was about it, but I was. It just seemed so hippy/environmentalist/cheap and I was afraid of the judgement. Then one day about a year ago a co-worker was complaining about how much trouble she was finding a detergent sensitive enough for her baby. I brought in a big 1.5L mayonnaise jar filled with my home made laundry detergent and within 2 months, EIGHT of my co workers were making it themselves at home!
Let me start by saying, I don't make this to save money (though it really really DOES) and I didn't start making this because of my sensitive issues (which I have, and boy has this helped!). I first tried this in desperation to save a favourite shirt that was stained when Tide failed to get the stain out. AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!! I have been doing this for about two years and it seems unlikely I will EVER go back to using anything else!
So why should YOU make this yourself at home?
it saves money!! (it is a fraction of the price of store bought detergents)
its ultra sensitive for those with the most sensitive of skin
IT WORKS!!!!!!!!! (a lot of budget laundry detergents dont work)
it lacks many of the added chemicals in other detergents
its a GREAT project to do with your children!
Now this doesn't take an entire day or evening to make, but be warned, it DOES take about an hour. The detergent forms into a "slime" or "ooze" which will make your children LOVE to help you make it!!
What you need to get started:
1 bar of sunlight soap (the original recipe suggested any bar you wanted and used lever 2000, but trust me!! if you want it to work WELL as a detergent, buy the sunlight! I used lever 2000 the first time and through out the detergent as it didn't do a good job with stains!)
A box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store – it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for at least six batches of this stuff) NOTE - this is NOT baking soda!!!
A box of borax (the original recipe said this was not necessary, but again, if you want the stuff to work well and do a good job cleaning, do NOT skip this!) And one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent so get it!
A five gallon bucket with a lid (or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters) I went in to a bakery and asked if they had any empty buckets they were throwing out and they just gave me one. A girlfriend got one from an ice cream store. So ask around, it shouldn't be too hard to find!
Three gallons of tap water
A big spoon to stir the mixture with
A measuring cup
A knife is called for, but trust me, use a vegetable peeler!!
A Pot
STEP ONE
Put four cups of water into a pot on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, take the vegetable peeler and start peeling the bar of sunlight soap into the water. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you’ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water. (This is the most time consuming step in the entire process. If you can get through this, the rest is quick and easy!!)
STEP TWO
Put three gallons of hot water (11 litres) into the five gallon bucket – If you have an empty gallon milk jug around, just use that to measure! And I say hot, but all I do is turn the tap on and get the water hot that way, not a big deal if its more very warm, or hot, so don't worry about if its hot enough or not! Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one into the hot water.
STEP THREE
Next add a cup of the washing soda and one cup of the borax. Stir the mixture for a couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.
AND YOU'RE DONE!!
When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a pale shade of yellow. One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry – and the ingredients are basically the same as laundry detergent. If you use a high efficiency machine you should not worry much as this is not very sudsy and thus should not give you any issues. Though I know a lot of people suggest using half a cup instead for a HE washer.
And for kids -you've just made slime in the kitchen – and have a legitimate reason for doing so!
