Saturday, March 19, 2011
TUTORIAL: Penguin Nails
Saturday, March 12, 2011
ManeMaxx Installation Guide: How to & Tips
I digress.
Anyways, if you are on the hunt to get hair extensions, I'm sure you've done your research and seen every type of extension method possible. It's a confusing world and there's so many varied opinions on each method that it feels like you're not making any progress in picking a method, trust me, I've been there, done that. I'd like to point out that I've really only tried two methods, the metal microlinks, and the strand by strand ManeMaxx (and dabbled in the clip-in world).
After many months...actually...what turned out to be roughly 2 years worth of research, I'd heard so many positive and so many negative reviews on strand by strand keratin bonds that I just couldn't make up my mind on what method to use. I had heard horror stories about the stylist taking out the extensions and entire chunks of hair falling out from the scalp! Definitely NOT something I'd look forward to when getting extensions! I finally stumbled across ManeMaxx by Googling "natural hair extensions." I ended up stalking Tiffany's website for well over 6 months umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether or not to get these extensions, I hadn't seen a single review posted on this method so I was very hesitant to say the least. I decided to take a leap of faith and test ManeMaxx out...and am I ever glad I did!
While I haven't tested out a ton of other methods, I am completely happy with ManeMaxx :) You may be able to tell after the numerous videos I`ve posted on YouTube about it!
I could honestly go on forever talking about ManeMaxx and why I love it, but instead...I`ll let you watch my videos and break it down to a quick pros vs cons.
Pros:
- Non-damaging extensions
- No chemicals to use when removing your bonds
- Virtually undetectable bonds
- Wears SUPER comfortably, can't even tell you have extensions in
- Affordable. After the initial investment, all you need to maintain or do continuous installs is the bond and new hair
- DIY means no need to schedule appointments or pay for maintenance
- Very natural look and wear
Cons:
- High learning curve
- Need to have lots of patience for installs
- Uninstalls a bit messy with all the bond fall out
As you can see I'm very PRO ManeMaxx, the method itself is great, the only "issue" I can complain about is the initial learning curve for installing, once you have around 30-50 bonds in, you start to get the feel of what-to-do and what-not-to-do. Yes, the first install is a pain, but if you intend on wearing hear extensions for more than one install, this method will save you oodles of money! And that to me...is worth it in the end...the more money saved means the more I can spend on hair products ;)
So if you're thinking about trying out the ManeMaxx method but still looking for more detailed information on the method, be sure to check out the rest of my ManeMaxx videos posted on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/darkempriss?feature=mhum as well as the official ManeMaxx website and YouTube channel.
Nope, not affiliated or sponsored by ManeMaxx, just happen to love their products :)
Here are some before and after pictures of my hair growth while using the ManeMaxx extensions.
TUTORIAL: Snowmen Nails
Sunday, March 6, 2011
REVIEW: Goody Spin Pins
REVIEW: EOS Adult Brown Circle Lens
TUTORIAL: Sunset Nails
Saturday, March 5, 2011
REVIEW: Urban Decay Naked Palette
REVIEW: White Sands Hairspray & Liquid Texture
TUTORIAL: Flower Nails
Easy & Cute Updo in 5 Minutes *Bonus of easy big hair*
Cute & Cheap Korean Clothes - www.jpstyle4u.com
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
REVIEW: J-Clips - The Better Way to Bigger Hair!
Happy styling!
TUTORIAL: Ladybug Nails
What you'll need:
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Who wants a pink iPhone? I do! I do!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
REVIEW: Clinique Brush-on Cream Liner
I like liquid eyeliners about the same as pencils, instead of smudging, they end up flaking off instead, the lesser of two evils? I think not. So here comes along this "cream" eyeliner promising to do all these fabulous things like being long-lasting and waterproof, but does it live up to all its hype? I vote YES!
I've been able to test this eyeliner in many different environments and situations, and this eyeliner definitely exceeded my expectations in all cases.
Test #1: Hot & Humid Hawaii: During my getaway to Hawaii, this product was the only eyeliner I brought along to line and define my eyes, the hottest day must have hit 30 C, popping in and out of the shade sweating like a pig (wait, do pigs actually sweat?), this eyeliner didn't budge, smudge nor turn me into a raccoon.
Test #2: Swimming (chlorinated water & ocean water): I also ended up swimming in the pool as well as ocean and I'm proud to announce that my eyeliner stay put! Except for when I reached up with my hand and viciously rubbed my eye since it was irritated from the salt water, that action proved to be too much for the eyeliner. While much of the eyeliner was still intact, it did end up smudging around, and when I tried to wipe off the smudged part...I only ended up smudging it more!
Test #3: Snowboarding: I simply can't go snowboarding with absolutely no makeup on, are you insane!? I end up dusting a light coat of foundation on my skin and applying eyeliner. With all my pencil liners and liquid liners, by the end of the day it looks like there really wasn't even a point in lining my eyes, smudging or flaking everywhere, all my hard work was for nothing. Let's see how this cream liner works...after a full day of riding the hill, sweating, and being pelted in the face by wind and snow, this cream liner proved to be a great tool in my makeup arsenel. Stay put the entire time :)
Test #4: The Cry Test: Oh woe is me! I sat through some very teary movies and while I ended up crying and my friends left me for potentially causing a scene, my eyeliner sure stay put the whole time! So long as you aren't rubbing your eyes or disturbing the eyeliner in ways it was not meant to be disturbed, this eyeliner is definitely waterproof in my opinion.
So there you have it folks, tried and tested in the most common situations you'll run into, and 4 out 4 situations, I rate this product as a definite 5!
Just for the record, the only other cream liner/gel liner I've tried is MAC's Fluidline and while I did enjoy that at the time, it doesn't stand up to my Clinique Cream Liner. I also found that MACs Fluidline started to dry out rather quickly, within about a month I had only used 1/4 of the pot and the rest of the product was completely dried out, ugh. In comparison, I'm on my 5th pot of Clinique and have not had a problem with it drying out.
Anyways, this post is getting lengthy so all I have left to say is that I picked this liner up for about $17 CDN and it even comes with its own little eyeliner brush, which, I must say, is not your best bet for lining your eyes with, but it's also not an awful brush if you don't have anything else...I've seen worse free brushes people.
Happy shopping!
NES Coffee Table (and it doubles as a working controller!)
I know what you’re thinking…how does a NES Table have to do with anything health or beauty related? Well…it doesn’t! This is a post more to help inspire people than it is about reviewing beauty products. Anyways, for those of you who don’t know what the NES system is, it stands for Nintendo Entertainment System, the first gaming system that Nintendo came out with (this is also the system where the famous “up, up , down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start” originated from!).
So here’s the story, one day a few years ago I was bored, so bored that I ventured onto YouTube and stumbled across this video of what appeared to be a giant NES controller, my inner-geek was intrigued and proceeded to click on the video…it was love at first sight and I knew I had to have one! The object I fell in love with was indeed, a giant NES controller that doubled as a coffee table…pure genius. It turns out that Kyle, the creator of this piece of art, had blogged about building it with almost step-by-step instructions. I visited his website, put together my own “how to” guide and voila…3 large boards of mdf and 4 months later, my masterpiece was finished! My husband is a big gaming geek and his 25th birthday was quickly approaching, so I decided to dive head first into this project and give it to him as his quarter-of-a-century birthday gift! The only wood-working experience I’ve had was in 8th grade building one of those little dragster cars, so I have barely any experience but I managed to pull it off. Bought some tools (just a basic jigsaw and hole saw and a couple of bits) and away I went!
If I can do this, pretty much anyone can build this sucker. The hardest part was actually piecing together the circuit board for the controller so that the table would actually function as a separate controller, that was a small nightmare in itself but again folks, it can be done! For detailed instructions, check out Kyle Downes’ blog here http://ultra-awesome.blogspot.com/. Below are some pics of the table in different pieces. If this post or my video inspired you to do something creative I’d love to hear about it!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Welcome (me) Back!
And as such, I'm going to be doing my best to catch-up on all the YouTube videos I've made and edit them into blog form before posting anything new on here. What's the point you ask? Why would people want to read about my randomness when they can just watch it? Simple, if you happen to be surfing this at work, don't you find it much easier to read this text rather than having to slap on a pair of earbuds (to listen to my video of course) and pretend that you're listening to riveting articles about finance, or world news? Bingo, case in point my friends.
It's not that my life is entirely that interesting, but every so often a fun tidbit comes up that I feel like sharing with the world! Also, in case I miss reviewing something in a video I can simply update in my blog instead of re-filming, etc. So purely selfish reasons I must say!
Anyways, on to the good stuff in the coming days, be patient with me!