NOTW - Strawberry Sparkles (13/06/12)

With a heavy heart, I had to bid farewell to my nail-masterpiece (see my previous nail post), as they started to chip, and me being OCD, chipped nails are unhappy nails... Seeing as how difficult it would be to actually re-do the nail design, I decided to remove the whole lot and use my latest polish colour - Essence's "Better Late Than Never" finished off with a layer of Essence's "Waking Up In Vegas" Top Coat from the Re-Mix your style range.

I love how bright the colour is, and the holographic effect left by the top coat only increases the awesomness of the polish, so yeah, feeling very loud and Summery!

I'll soon be doing a "Favourite Summer Polishes" video, so stay tuned for that! What colour's on your nails today?

Cheryl

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FOTE - Retro Chic (10/06/12)

This evening I was feeling a little retro (probably inspired by my new Marilyn Monroe poster which is hanging happily by my bed), so this evening's make-up was kept simple with winged liner and a bright red lip.

Products used:

Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder
Rimmel's Powder Blush in 004 - Pink Rose
Essence's I <3 Stage Eyeshadow Base
Rimmel's Eyebrow Pencil in Black/Brown
Gabrini's Single Terracotta Eyeshadow in 01
Maybelline's Line Definer Liquid Eyeliner Pen
Maybelline's Volum'Express One By One Mascara
Catrice's Lipliner in 070 - The Roof Is On Fire!
Catrice's Ultimate Shine Lipstick in 130 - Ketch-Me-Up


Cheryl
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Nail Design Challenge (09/06/12)

As I'd mentioned on my facebook page earlier this week, I was challenged by a friend to try and emulate this (slightly complicated) nail design:

Yes, it was indeed as difficult as it looks, but somehow, despite the fact that I have really unsteady hands and was using an eyeliner brush instead of a nail-art one, I managed to complete the design, and come up with two new designs for my pinkies, as there were only 8 designs in the picture above. The finished look is:

...and YES, I'm feeling justly proud of myself right now... :)

Can't wait til the next challenge!

Cheryl

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VOICES 2012 - A new musical journey... (31/05/12)

I am SO excited right now...

Wanna know why?

I have been chosen to sing a solo in the VOICES 2012 concert! My lovely Maltesers will know what a brilliant show the Voices choir puts on every two years - I always watch the TV broadcast, and even went to watch it live last year (and came out hoarse with all the singing/screaming/whooping I did), and it was brilliant...

To those who don't have any clue who the VOICES choir  are and how awesome their concerts are, check out the video below:

This year I decided to give it a go, and auditioned for a couple of songs... I was prepared to be turned down, or even just accepted for the main choir, so imagine my infinite surprise when I received an e-mail asking me to go back for a second audition, and another email yesterday telling me I'd been chosen as a soloist!

*INSERT LOTS OF HIGH-PITCHED SQUEALING*

I still can't believe it! There are so many talented vocalists that audition for the Voices choir and solo parts, and I am super excited about the fact that I'll be sharing my journey with Fiona, my sister, and Aldo, a good friend (who also has an amazing voice!)... Won't say which song I'm gonna be singing yet... ;) But I'm gonna be documenting this journey on my blog, so look out for that! :D

Also, sorry for not having posted my haul videos and Lipstick review videos as I'd promised on my Facebook page, but I was a bit busy these past couple of days... I'll do them tonight though, promise! 

OK, enough from me... xD

Cheryl

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I really have to stop going to Health +!! - Essence & Catrice Haul (29/05/12)

I've been very naughty lately, shopping-wise... First of all, I've ordered a few items from NewLook.com... and then I had to go and buy a whole crap-load of stuff from the Essence and Catrice stands at Health +... It really isn't fair how they prey on weak-willed people like me... My bank account is not amused...

Anyway, here's the first part of my Essence & Catrice haul:

I'll be uploading part two this evening, and when my New Look stuff arrives, I'll be filming another haul for those... :)

On a totally unrelated matter, our Uni students are currently preparing for the beloved Finals, so good luck to all those who are at present sat at their desks, books and notes spread in front of them, pens and highlighters in hand, coffee cups on auto-refill mode and brains sparking with stress... I'm sure you're all going to do great!

Until tomorrow!

Cheryl

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The 4-minute workout... and some music making... (23/05/12)

Good morning sunshines! (inspired by the fact that today is relatively sunnier that it's been for the past couple of days...)

As you might have read in my previous post, I'm currently finding one different "challenge" a day, in order to help my road to re-discovery. (pause for cheesy effect...) So far, I've:

1: tried the highest (and hardest) level of the Ta Qali High Ropes - success (plus some muscle cramps)

2: tried a new (difficult-looking) nail tutorial - success (though it's chipped already *grrr*)

3: tried the 4-minute workout (which is MUCH harder than it looks) - success (plus slight dizzyness)

4: learnt to play a new song on the piano (which I will record soon I hope) - success (just some fine-tuning left)

After some careful consideration as to what today's challenge should be, I've decided to do a work-related one... Since examinations are on the way, it's my job to prepare all examination envelopes... I'm going to challenge myself to finish as many of them as I can today... (it's a bit lame, I know...)

I'm also eagerly waiting for a new book to arrive, in connection to another future challenge, so look out for a book review soon! :)

My question to you is this: If you had to set a challenge for yourself today, what would it be and why...? Feel free to leave an answer in the comment section below! :D

Now back to work!

Cheryl

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NOTW - Marble-effect Nails! And new personal mantra... (20/05/12)

I know I'm a few months off, but I've just recently made a personal resolution... Well, actually a couple, but they all boil down to one big one - self-discovery and making my self the awesome-est version of me that I can... In order to achieve that, I've challenged myself to try something new everyday, to better learn what I like/dislike, to enrich my areas of knowledge, to discover new things about myself, and to add on to the things I knew I could do...

The first thing I did to start off my self-challenge, was to try out the "difficult" level of a high-ropes obstacle course that's currently open at Ta Qali (http://www.sportmalta.org.mt/high-ropes-cb260)... Now, since I'm not the fittest of persons, I was slightly sceptical on my decision, but since we were there, I thought I might as well give it a go... It was amazing! And yes, in some parts I was worried I might falter, however, I made it through the 12 different stages unscathed... I'm therefore currently feeling a mixture of pride and muscle cramps, but I figure it's a good thing...

Since I was not exactly in the best physical state for a body-challenge today, I thought I'd do a beauty challenge instead and let my muscles rest for tomorrow's challenge (more on that later)... Now, as I might have mentioned before, I'm not best known for having the steadiest of hands, but I figured that I'd give marble nail-art technique a shot as today's challenge. I recently came across this interesting tutorial on YouTube by Bethany (MacBarbie07) which is the best one I found for marble nail-art:

So it's pretty straight-forward, considering how difficult/awesome it looks:

1. Fill a small container with room-temperature water
2. Cover your fingers around your nails with tape
3. Choose your favourite nail polishes (I went for Max Factor's Red Passion, Essence's Wake Up!/Sundancer/Breakthrough, OPI's Who The Shrek Are You?/Suzi Says Feng Shui and Deborah's 27)
4. Drip a drop of each polish at random into the container of water
5. Use a toothpick to "draw" a pattern in the polish
6. Dip your finger into the polish for a few seconds
7. When polish is dry, peel off the tape and clean around the edges of each nail
8. Apply your favourite top coat and you're done!

Since I'm sure you're all wondering how my nails turned out, here are some snap-shots:

I'm really glad with the end-result, and urge those nail-art lovers to give this a go, as it's really cool!

Now, a short note on tomorrow's challenge... I'm going to give the "4-minute workout" a go (http://pinterest.com/pin/69102175502795342/). It looks quite tough, judging by what I saw in the accompanying YouTube video, but if I managed those high ropes, then I've got the strength for 4 minutes of intense work-out... (wish me luck!)

That's all for today!

Cheryl

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