Leopard print nails...

As promised here is a step by step guide on creating funky leopard print nails.  

STEP 1

  Apply a good quality base coat, this will protect your nails from stains and also keep the nail polish on a bit longer.

STEP 2

  Apply two layers of your chosen base colour.

STEP 3

Paint dots randomly in a contrasting colour.

STEP 4

Paint little stripes over the dots to create the leopard print effect, you can get a specialised nail polish with a needle tip to to paint fine lines from Inglot, or alternatively you can just dip a tooth pick in your 

regular nail polish.  

STEP 5

Apply a good quality top coat.

STEP 6

Apply a nail oil to your cuticles, this will nourish your cuticles but will also help your nail polish dry quicker.

Voila!! 


I have used neutral shades as I feel quite wintry, but you can use any colour combination you like.  
These hands belong to my gorgeous nieces Savannah and Kiara. 

Girls just wanna have fun!!

So Friday night I had a sleepover with my two gorgeous nieces, Savannah (15) and Kiara (8) and my sister Aurdra.  We had a proper girlie night,  I painted everyone's nails and I gave the girls a facial.

I did a leopard print design for the girls, Savannah (right) and Kiara (middle bottom) it's actually so easy to create, you can even do it yourself.  I'll post a "how to" very soon.  And top middle is Audra, with a crackle nail polish. and me on the left with a magnetic polish, it's really cool you hold a magnet over the polish and it creatres these ripples.

Watch this space for a how to create these simple designs very soon.

Size Magazine

New publication in Size Magazine (UK) 

Photographer:  Asli Kolcu
Stylist:  Holly Barber
Model:  Chloe Thomas

Last few days

So the last few days has been quite busy, I've done my first few jobs in Johannesburg and today I'm catching up on admin.

So on Thursday I shot with George Rabe and the new faces at Boss Models Johannesburg. It was a really chilled day, my favourite part of the day was the triplets at the end, two gorgeous girls and a cutie boy, they're only 15 but I reckon they'll take the modelling world by storm!!

On Saturday I shot a print ad with photographer Ross Garrett, we shot in this really cool retro house in Boksburg.

And on Tuesday we shot a music video for the band Blue Bird Theory at the abandoned Kempton Park Hospital.  It was pretty cool but super creepy, it felt like I was in some sort of horror film and any minute some crazy dude was going to jump out of one of the dark corners.  The hospital was abandoned in the late nineties and everything was left just as it was, there were medical records all over the floors, sheets and medical supplies littered everywhere.  And even some of the equipment was still left there, in one room we found an intact x-ray machine.  

The guys from the band are such a laugh, and really talented.  You gotta check them out, their music is awesome!! 

We were greeted by this sight in one of the rooms we filmed in, I was totally freaked out!! but apparently they shot a zombie movie here at some time, so hopefully it was fake blood!!

My beauty favourites

For my first blog from Johannesburg I thought I would share my beauty favourites with you, this is just a few! 

My stand out product is Clark's Botanicals - Smoothing Marine Cream.  

I just love, love, love it!!!!  It's no secret that I love glycolic acid in my products, it smooths out the skin like nothing else, it helps to even out pigmentation, light scarring and just generally gives you a lovely glowing complexion, whilst also smoothing out fine lines and hydrating the skin. Many skincare products contain glycolic acid but this particular product works really well because it contains Jasmine which helps with inflammation and redness and it also contains Algae Extracts which helps to smooth out those pesky fine lines.  

It's an intensive moisturiser as well, so it really helps with dry or dehydrated skin.

Ah but, there's always a but, as it contains almost eight percent glycolic acid, it's best if you only use this cream at night and use a high factor SPF during the day.

I was a bit worried using this as my night cream now that I live in South Africa, as the sun is so much stronger here than it is in the UK, but I'm wearing my Strivectin-SH SPF 30 sunscreen everyday so hopefully this would protect my skin against any further pigmentation.  I'll let you know how that goes.

I tried to find out where in South Africa you can buy this, I came across a website called wantitall.co.za 

I've never used this site before so I can't vouch for it but I can say that it is quite expensive, I think it would be cheaper ordering it from Space.NK.apothecary in the UK.

Hello Jozi

It's official!!  I'm now based in Johannesburg, I'm so excited to start my new career here and can't wait to meet all the fabulous fashion people!  Keep your eyes peeled for news on my new adventure

Sick

So I'm tucked up in bed at 10pm on a Saturday night, that must been I'm really sick!!  And I am, I don't remember the last time I had a cold of this magnitude.  So as a result I've had a really a sore, red and dry schnoz from the constant nose blowing.  So my only salvation over the last few days has been Wind and Cold Therapy from Elemental Herbology.  This is a lovely balm that soothes and moisturisers dry and inflamed skin, and it has done wonders for my nose, now at least I look a little bit more human.