My top 5 Nail Bloggers/Vloggers

Hey Guys! I just wanted to share with you some amazing nail artists or nail beauty bloggers that are my absolute favorite. While in cosmetology school we watch quite a bit of YouTube. Especially when we got to nail art, so I thought I would share with you some of the top nail artists that we watched.

5.) HotPinkZebraPolish:

Hotpinkzebrapolish

On this channel you will find so much inspiration and talent, it is truly overwhelming. This is a true nail artist. She provides clear easy to follow step by step instructions and really she makes it look easy, trust me I have tried a few of her designs while in school and let's just say practice makes perfect. You will find everything on her channel from regular polished nails, painted nails, and 3D nail art. Please go check out Hotpinkzebrapolish and don't forget to subscribe so that you can see all the amazing art work, that's right art work, that this girl puts out! Check her out on instagram at hotpinkzebrapolish. Thank you so much for continuing to challenge me to better myself and my art work! 

4.) Cutepolish

Cute Polish

At this YouTube channel you'll meet Sandi who is from Canada and let me tell you this girl is the real deal when it comes to nail art. She has a tutorial for almost anything. When I tell you we watched YouTube videos in school, Sandi's channel was one of the first ones we watched. Not only is she talented she is super sweet and amazing. I love to watch her videos especially after a hard day. Again please don't forget to click on the link under the picture and go support Sandi and all that she is doing.  She is also on istagram as you guessed it Cute Polish. Thank you Sandi for continuing to share all you know, when it comes to nail art! You are a true inspiration! 

3.) I Have A Cupcake 

I Have a Cupcake

This girl is the all time nail artist she does it all acrylic paint to 3D Acrylic nail art. She has a passion to share what she loves with the world. Please go check this girl out. Nail art is a definite art and needs to be shared. This is the perfect channel to watch if you need help while in cosmetology school, during your career, or just need inspiration painting your own nails she is the girl for you! Make sure you also go and check her out on instagram at Cupcakenailarts. She has everything, Disney, video game, anime, you name it she will probably have a nail art tutorial for it. If not you can recommend it to her and she will try to get it done! Thank you, I Have A Cupcake, so much for listening to your viewers and continuing to take their suggestions, and making them happen. I can't wait to see your next video. 

2.) Absolute Nails

Absolute Nails

When you go to this channel you'll meet Nicki, you will fall in love with her, she is so sweet and kind. The pictures definitely speak for themselves, she is the master of acrylic nails or 3d nail art. While in school I would be working on sculpted nails at home and have a hard time getting them to look just right, so I turned to YouTube and found Nicki. She definitely makes it look easy. She also has a great understanding of product. If you ever find yourself wondering if you can do this or that with acrylic powder and monomer come to Nicki's channel and find out. Nicki has done it all from sculpted acrylics, aquarium nails, snow-globe nails, spiral nails,  to sculpted gel nails. She has a talent not many people have and she receives a lot of grief for being so good at what she does. Please stop by her channel and show her some support for all that she is doing to help the wonderful nail art career! Thank you Nicki for helping me to NOT give up in when it came to the nail portion of my cosmetology degree. 

1.) Robin Moses

Robin Moses Nail Art

Robin Moses is the one person I have watched the longest. She is amazing. She hand paints all her nail art with acrylic paint. She can paint characters from movies on your nails, Disney, action movies you name it she can paint it. Hail to the Nail Art Wizard. She has done so much for the Nail Art community, mainly by getting people to give credit where credit is due. Pretty much if you are inspired by some one's design enough to try it out, just put who inspired you. It doesn't lesson what you have done and it makes the person who came up with the design to NOT feel cheated. Really you should head over to her channel and check out her Wizard of Oz nails, or her Alice in Wonderland nails(Johnny Depp Version), or the portrait of the little beauty blogger who was taken at a young age, Thalia Joy. I guarantee you that she will make you smile if NOT laugh. She works on her real life clients while filming and educating nail techs, artists, on how to paint such small master pieces! Thank you so much Robin for all you have done in the Nail Art community, you are amazing. 

Those are my top five nail artists who helped me make it through cosmetology school. I would say these five have made a huge impact on how we (nail techs) do our career. I appreciate that they take time each day to share their art with all of us and keep us inspired and going! I love watching these ladies, and I have gotten so much better at nail art. I have a better understanding of how a nail salon works, and they keep me up to date on all the latest trends. For that I say Thank you to all five of them. Now head on over to their channels and get to know them, you won't be sorry. Link is below the pictures! Thank you for taking time to read this, if you have any requests or recommendations please let me know! Again thank you to everybody, I love what I do, because I get to meet some of the coolest people ever! There are obviously way more then just five nail art vloggers out there. It was hard to narrow it to just five. Give them all some love they all deserve it. 

60 Weeks Of Cosmetology School

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share a quick video with you. This is a short video of pictures of me through my 60 weeks of Cosmetology school. I look at it and am shocked at all the outward changes I made, but that doesn't compare to all the changes that happened to me on the inside. Cometology school really makes you find out who you really are. Coming next week, I am going to share my cosmetology school story. Until then please enjoy this short video.
I just want to say thank you so much for all the love and support it means the world to me!

Santa's Laundry Basket Part 2 Santa's Gloves

I really hope that you enjoy Part 2 Santa's glove. I am having the best time making these videos and I am learning so much about how to make good tutorials hang in there, I'll get it right! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Can't wait to upload part 3 Santa's Hat!

Santa's Clothes Line (Santa's Laundry Basket)

HI Guys! I am so excited to let you all know that I am now doing nail art tutorials, product reviews, and so much more on YouTube! I am also excited because I have started a Christmas series called Santa's Clothes Line(Santa's Laundry Basket). Now I believe that we should give credit where credit is due and I think we should site what has inspired us. The inspiration for this series is actually a felt craft kit called Santa's Laundry Garland the link is below the picture if you love felt craft projects. This one is adorable and quite cute

Santa's Laundry Garland

I started my series off with Santa's Boxers. I had so much fun painting this nail. I used Wet N Wild's MegaLast Sky Me Mine. Now that is a limited edition color, it is perfect if you have it, but if you don't I recommend Wet N Wild's WildShine Putting on Airs color number 481E. 

Santa's Boxers Part one of Santa's Clothes Line on YouTube.

 

We will have five more tutorials after the first one. I will keep updating this blog post as we go along! I really hope that you enjoy this nail art series. Thanks for all your support it means the world to me!

Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Limited Edition

Here is a quick video with swatches of the new Pure Ice Collection called Fairytale Forest. It is limited edition. I also want to apologize this is my 5th time trying to upload the video so its going up without editing! I am sorry, but I don't want anyone to miss out on this collection!

Morgan Taylor Holiday 2015 Gifted With Style Polish Collection Review

Hey Guys, I am so excited to tell you that I am now doing some YouTube videos! I will still be doing blogs, I finally have my studio ready and actually have office space to wear I can do things again! Thank you so much for being patient with me! That being said here is my video on the new and gorgeous Morgan Taylor holiday 2015 polish collection called Gifted With Style. If you would like to see any designs done with these polishes please like the video and comment what you'd like to see next! If you'd like to purchase any of these polishes try JC Penneys or if your a licensed nail tech or cosmetologist try Cosmoprof.  Thank you! Click on the link below the picture and enjoy!

                                             Morgan Taylor Gifted with Style Holiday 2015

Fun with Cupcakes

It has been a while since I have made a blog, I apologize for that. I have been actively working on getting ready for back surgery. I wanted to share with you a little of what I have been doing over the last month.

Cupcakes, my 10 year old niece wanted to do what they do on cupcake wars, so we challenged ourselves and made 109 cupcakes in 3 & 1/2 hours. We made 4 different kinds of cupcakes and made decorations for each one. I am going to share the different cupcakes we made if you would like to know more about any of the cupcakes please leave a comment below and we will do a blog just for that cupcake.


1.) Simple Vanilla with Buttercream frosting and fondant flowers. 

This was our first attempt and she loved it. We colored our own fondant and used different size flower cookie cutters to cut out the flowers. We also used nerds in the center of the flowers to give it a more realistic look. Not only was the outside of the cupcake beautiful, but the inside was probably the best. 

We divided the batter in thirds and chose 3 colors and added them in a pattern then swirled and this is what we got. Absolutely beautiful. 

2.) Mocha Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

The next cupcake was actually the favorite at the party. We choose chocolate fudge as the base for our cupcake and added some coffee flavoring. Then we took our buttercream and added instant coffee to it to give it the coffee flavor and add to the design of the cupcake by giving the buttercream a light brown and textured look. On top of the cupcake we used milk chocolate and white chocolate swirls to decorate the cupcake. This again was the hit of the party! 

3.) Good old Red, White, and Blue

This is your basic confetti cupcake. We wanted a simple base flavor. We then took the buttercream frosting divided it into thirds. We left one third white, then colored the other two thirds red & blue. We bought a color separating tip by Wilton. You please the different colors in there own bags then lock the colors together and place a tip that fits on and then the magic.... you have multi color swirled frosting. We then took chunky sugar and sprinkled that on top just to add to the cupcake. 

Color Swirl tip by Wilton this is what we used on the Red, White, and Blue cupcakes to get the tri color swirl. You can find this tip here: http://www.wilton.com 

4.) Old Glory

We made a strawberry base cupcake with a basic buttercream frosting. I cut out little rectangles and gave my niece Wilton Edible Markers and she drew flags on each rectangle. We then took Wilton Pearls and placed four to five of them to represent stars on the blue field. I love how whimsical these cupcakes look, and I love how much heart and effort my niece put into each flag! 

You can find the Wilton edible markers at this website:
http://www.wilton.com

5.) Butter Pecan

This was one of our simpler cupcakes. The cake is butter pecan flavored. This cake has a rather strong taste, so to compliment it we used the basic buttercream frosting and then spinkled the top with Wilton's Chunky Gold sprinkles and made White chocolate stars and placed them in the center. One person commented "These almost taste like pancakes."

6.) Support Our Troops

This cupcake was the funnest to make. We made the cake a spice cake. For the top we used the basic buttercream frosting again, sprinkled on a little cinnamon. Then we took fondant and colored it yellow, cut it into strips and then made it into the yellow ribbon. In the center of the ribbon we added a gold pearl to make it look tied together. These cupcakes were baked in the camouflage cupcake papers. The theme is one close to our hearts... Support the Troops. 

We had so much fun planning these cupcakes, putting them together, and then serving them with family and friends. Again if you would like to know how we did any of these cupcakes please comment below. I would love to hear your input. Thank you for taking time to read this. I will be posting a recipe which is my take on Italian Caprese soon! If you have any ideas for future blogs please let me know and again thank you for your time! 

Italian Caprese
Recipe coming soon!

DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hey guys! I am going to start a new section on this blog and I may end up separating it from the beauty blog, but I am not quite sure yet! I have been trying to live more natural, so I have started making my own cleaning supplies, I am just really trying to be healthier and more economical all in one. For the first Do It Yourself, I wanted to share with you a recipe I have been using for 2 years now. Homemade Laundry Soap. This recipe will make a ton and it will last for a while because you only need to use 1 to 2 tablespoons per normal load of laundry, now if your laundry is a little more soiled you might want to use a little bit more!

Let's get started....

Ingredients

Oxy Clean Substitutes ( Dirty Jobs = Wal-Mart & Sun Oxy Clean = Sam's Club)

Note: Purex Crystals are optional & Not shown Fels Napha

1 tub of Oxy Clean ( will share cheaper substitutes down below)
2 Bars of Zote
1 bar of Fels Napha (optional)
1 box of Borax
1 box Washing Soda
1 Bottle of Purex Crystals (optional)

Tools:
Cheese Grater
Blender(optional)

Step One:
In a large bowl grate your Zote and Fels Napha if your using it. Fels Napha just helps to fight against stains! I use a medium to fine grate it makes it easier to dissolve in the washer that way.

Step 2:
I put all ingredients in the bowl.... you'll need a rather large bowl as you are making a big batch. Use the whole tub of Oxy Clean, whole box of Borax, and a whole box of Washing Soda.... NOTE: This makes a ton.... it will fill up at least 5 of the Oxy Clean containers if not more. Now for a smaller batch use one bar of Zote and 1/3 of each other ingredient.

All the ingredients in a large bowl.

Step 3:
With a large spoon mix while. If you are using the Purex Crystals for fragrance you would add them here, gradually as you stir.

This is after it has been ground up in the Ninja. Stir again for best results.

Step 4: (Optional)
I use a Ninja Blender (that I have specifically for soap making) and I grind up the powder, I find that it dissolves better and if your using the Purex Crystals really help the fragrance in the clothing. After its all blended stir it all again and place into containers!

That's it guys, super easy and I love it. The picture below doesn't show it well but that is a coffee measuring cup and that's all you really need now there have been times where I have used as much as 1/2 a cup to some really soiled loads. I hope you enjoyed this blog. Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. Also don't forget to add us to your circles or follow us, to make sure you don't miss out on future blogs and possible giveaways!

This is a coffee scoop... that's all you need! 

Buy it or Leave it: The Balm Meet Matt(e) Nude

On of the things I got for Christmas is the Meet Matt(e) Nude palette from the Balm. This is going to be a quick review of the product and whether or not I think its worth the money!

The palette is completely matte and its very neutral both cool and warm. The shadows are creamy, and they blend out nicely. This palette has every thing you will need from a nice highlight to a perfect transition color. They say this palette has creamy shadows and perfect liners. I think that the darker colors make wonderful eyeliners.

Let's talk packaging for a second. The Balm's packaging draws me in every time. The name's the art work its all wonderful.

I usually use my matte palette from Physicians formula in Classic Canyons to do my transition color and highlight, but that costs $7.25 and though I love it, its not as creamy and pigmented as the Meet Matte Nude palette is. The cost of this palette is $42.00. If you do the math that makes each shadow $4.67 each shadow is 0.01oz. In the Physicians Formula palette you get four shadows at  1.58g each that is a total cost of $1.81 each. Now the claims for the Meet Matte Nude palette is that they are perfect all over shadows, can be used as liners or they can be used wet or dry. Now you maybe thinking that $42.00 is a lot for 9 shadows and I would agree, but you can usually find The Balm on www.hautelook.com  where you can usually get The Balm at 50% off. You can also go to The Balm Cosmetics website, click here.

In my opinion this palette is well worth the $42.00. They are pigmented, creamy, blendable, can be used in multiple ways from wet to dry and as liners. Give it a shot I am sure you'll at least like the packaging.