Jill Stuart Beauty Talk #03 Nail Polish Base & Top Coat

I feel like base and top coat are something that is as important as the nail polish itself when it comes to manicure. Maybe because they're beige and clear, not exactly exciting color, that people tend to overlook them. But they're incredibly useful for protecting your nail and makes the polish application easier, plus, they're good for heightening the wear time of your polish.

Jill Stuart Repair Base Coat comes in beautiful frosted bottle with clear beige liquid inside, when applied, it comes as clear, transparent film that instantly smooths the uneven surface of my nail (I have horrible habit of picking at my nails). When I wear this, not only my polishes apply more evenly, it also makes the removing process easier. This base coat also stops the color from staining my natural nail color. It contains peach kernel oil as emollient, and moisturizing agents such as lavender oil and rosemary extract. While I cannot tell if they really strengthen my nails, I can tell they certainly do a great job of keeping my nails from being dry and ugly-yellow. 

Jill Stuart Crystal Top Coat is a joy to apply, not only for reason as silly as the 'cold' sensation it gives my nails, but also because it does help in increasing the wear-time of my polish. The coat uses a newly formulated polish glow polymer that helps it dries faster, while I don't know how exactly it works, I can swear to you this polish dries very quickly. I love rubbing my fingers on my nails after I put this one because its lustrous finish leaves my nails very smooth.

Jill Stuart nail polish is something from the brand that I'd recommend to almost everyone, because unlike their makeup, their nail polish has never been a miss with me. Their polishes apply like a dream; non-streaky, quick drying, and apply evenly. They have the typical floral bouquet scent of Jill Stuat, which I personally find makes applying them more enjoyable.

What do you think of Jill Stuart Nail Polishes Top & Base Coat? What nail polish coats are you using right now?

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Get Bright & Crisp White Background Photo with these 3 Simple Tools

Have you ever struggled with taking picture on white background but got grayish and dull background instead of clean, crisp, and bright white? Congratulation, you are in the right post! During those frustrating times, post-processing or editing, is my savior. I feel like this step is often overlooked in many photography tutorial posts, when editing is so powerful and I personally find it to be fun part of whole photography process. Psst, these tools are also the one responsible for changing my blog photos quality from June.

Maybe because we fear things when it got to technical, but trust me, these three tools I'm going to introduce to you are simple and easy to use! They will give your image instant lift without altering the actual color of the product too much.

I'm using Photoshop CS4 but you can find similar tools in pixlr editor (free).

1. Screen Layer

Is the most simple and almost no-brainer step when you want to brighten your image in general. It gets tricky when you have bright-colored product on top of white background, but if you products have solid color, then fingers crossed, all you need to do is set your layer to screen, and you're done!

2. Levels

I know people recommend using 'Curves' all the time, but I find when my problem is just getting brighter background, 'Levels' give me more control. There are five variables you can play around, but ignore the two on the bottom and focuses more on the upper three. The first left 'solidifies' your object, the middle one brightens the whole image, and the last one brightens your background.

Either play with the slider or change the variables by manually inputting them. If you just want brighter image in general, play around with the last two by dragging the slider to the left side. They compensate each other, so if you happened to end up with too bright image that takes away the intensity from the object, enters large number in the first left variable. My safe bet is with '10 - 1.23 - 245', works every time ;)

3. Selective Color

So, your product is on point, the picture is bright enough but the background is too dull? Selective color is the magic tool that will transform the grayest of background into white. Open the selective color layer and changes the color mode into white. Pay no attention to cyan-magentas-yellow, and go straight to 'black'.

On the variable box, enter any number begins with -/minus (I usually start with -50), it will takes away all the bleak gray from your white background/any white object without altering the other color. Neat, right? With this tool, you don't have to make your actually dark red lipstick into something brighter than it actually is.

Below I lined up how each processes alters the photo, in screen - levels - selective color order. Notice the differences on the shadow and the brightness of white background, but not on the actual product itself? I personally like to combine all three, but depending on the picture, sometimes, I'm satisfied with only using one.

Will you try using these tools? If you have any question, feel free to leave it in the comment box below! As someone who's enthusiastic in editing as much as in photographing, I'd love to hear your thought!

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4 Autumnal Lipsticks for Different Ocasion

 

I consider autumnal shades such as wine-red, burgundy, and pink-brown nude to be my favorite lipstick shades. There is something with their pigment that complements my skin tone really well. For that, I hoard quite a number this shade to the point that more than half of my lipstick stash is made of this color. Here I’m sharing you 4 options for autumnal lipsticks with 4 different formulas.

Makeup Forever Artist Plexi Gloss in Burgundy (full review); my very first berry lip product. This gloss is incredibly pigmented and glossy, always giving me a dramatic – in a good way -  bold lips without bringing my face down. For being a gloss, this lasts surprisingly long, fades into a lovely dark strawberry color after 4 hours mark. If you love juicy looking lips instead of matte ones, I highly recommend this.

Burberry Lip Velvet in Oxblood; If you are a regular reader of this blog, you’d know how emotionally invested I am in this lips, I think I’ve talked about it a hundred of times already. To save you from boredom, I will quickly list things that makes me love this lipstick; comfortable matte formula, incredible color, long-lasting, non-transfer, luxuriously classic yet modern packaging. Perfect for a night out when there’re lots of kissing cheeks involved.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Ruby (quick impression); I’ve been whipping this out a lot lately since I’ve been feeling lazy with my makeup. My fail proof, no brainer lip product for the moment because it is so easy to use, doesn’t even need a mirror, great when you need a quick instant boost to your face when you don’t feel like wearing too much makeup. Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment is known for its nourishing and hydrating formula, I’m not lucky that my lips aren’t going well with this, but if you found their formula to work well with you, this one is a lovely pick for slightly more autumnal shade.

Clinique Pop in Berry Pop; if you are looking for lipstick that is creamier but long-lasting and non-drying at the same time, this one is for you! With built-in primer, this lipstick is sure to last you a whole day, its creaminess might fool you to think this fades easily, but I found that’s not the case with this one. Berry Pop is simply described as ‘violets in Clinique official shade, if you want similar color that leans more toward pink and a tad bit brighter, you can try ‘Punch Pop’ instead.

What’s your autumnal lipstick pick? Have you tried any of these?

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