Hot Beauty, Nail Art and Fashion for July

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I have written before about Minx Nails, which are wafer thin flexible nails that are warmed and then applied directly to your nails or toenails, my last experience with these were for a wedding that I attended earlier this year and I have to say they excelled all my expectations. Not only did they look superb but they lasted for over 6 weeks despite managing to smash one of my toenails the Minx actually stayed in place and covered the broken nail so that you couldn't tell that I'd done any damage. I can't speak highly enough of Minx and I think that the design pictured here is truly gorgeous - perfect for those Summer days and wonderful if you're going off on holiday and don't want to worry about doing and re-doing your nails. Treat yourself, they are worth every penny.

I absolutely love this mix of Shellac colours that Claire from Lily Nails & Beauty showed me recently, Lily's is my local nail salon and I can't rate Claire highly enough as a superb technician with a wonderful friendly personal approach and I know the rest of her clients feel the same about her. If you're in the Northampton area then her salon is a must for all your beauty needs, if you're not in the area then I can still highly recommend Shellac for your nails, it is a high shine, durable polish that will attract the right kind of attention. P.S. She does Minx nails too and I've never found anyone better at doing either than this marvellous, marvellous woman.

Now here's a product that I've just discovered that I thought you might be interested in, it's a 2-in-1 wand applicator which brightens your smile and leaves your lips beautifully plumped up - one side increases moisturisation and volume for your lips, it has anti-aging properties to reduce lip lines and the other end contains a powerful whitening formula that will freshen your breath and reduced teeth stains - perfect if you're a strong coffee fan like me. This stylish little baby will set you back around $20-35 but when it leaves your mouth feeling fresh, clean and sparkles your teeth to boot then I think it's worth every penny, this will definitely find a place in my heart and in my handbag this Summer.

This gorgeous wedding dress is one of Alfred Angelo's Disney Princess inspired wedding gowns, this particular one (as you can all see) was inspired with Snow White in mind - the red apple gave it away didn't it? I know one particular friend of mine that would just love a Disney inspired dress and if you feel likewise then this is definitely the website to have a look at. If however you are looking for a more traditional gown then as luck would have it this website is also stuffed full of the most beautiful gowns I've seen in a long time.

I am off to a rather special Summer event soon and I have been looking for a hairstyle where I can put my hair up without it being too formal, while searching for inspiration I came across this beautiful Pony Tail Twist - my hair isn't quite long enough to achieve this look but my daughter's is and as she loves having her hair off her face I think doing it this way will give her a more sophisticated look for our special day out. The tutorial linked here has very clear step-by-step instructions and I just love the chatty and friendly way in which it has all been performed - stay cool and look fabulous with this great hairstyle and our thanks go out to Maegan at the .......Love Maegan website linked here.

When I first saw this blog I was going to pop it into one of my craft articles but then quickly realised that the only truly useful place to put it was here on my beauty article. How useful is this?! And to think of all those broken eyeshadows that I have thrown away, the cost of that discarded eye make-up makes me cringe to even think of it, but NOW ladies we have a solution, I just want to say a huge thank you to Allison over at Le Petit Elefant website for explaining this so beautifully and for saving us an absolute fortune in the future.

Now this is what I call the perfect smokey eye make-up, subtle and yet dramatic all at the same time, this make-up was done by Make-up Artist Allison of Allison Barbera Makeup Artistry and she reveals her top 10 tips to help you do your own smokey eye make-up.

Oh to be able to do eyeliner so perfectly as in this photograph, apparently the trick is to layer your liner and this tutorial will show you how to achieve this beautiful look. The best thing about this link is that it also leads to top beauty editors, makeup artists, beauty bloggers, and more who reveal their favorite beauty tips and tricks - so whether your a beginner in make-up or looking to update your skills you'll find some amazing tips and advice here. One of my favorite tricks that I learned was to warm my eyelash curlers just before use and it gives you so much more curl than normally achieved - which tip will you adopt?

I adore these feather hair extensions, so clever, the idea that you once these are in you can actually treat them like your own hair, they can be curled, straightened and dried with a hair dryer. This tutorial will tell you step-by-step exactly how to to make and all the things that you need to give you this stunning look was available on Ebay. I can feel a whole new Summer trend coming on.

If there was ever a lip balm that screamed Summer then it is the Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms, so beautifully designed as well as tasting of fabulous fruit citrus flavors. Personally I adore them although there is a knack to applying them to achieve a non-streaky look, here I have linked a review of the lip balms from the Makeup4All website, it shows all the colors currently available and goes into a lot of detail so that you can make-up (sorry couldn't resist) your own mind about them. I have two of these colors - which ones would you choose?

So all those glamour photo shots of the rich and famous at home with the sexy bedrooms and their satin sheets and pillows that we all thought were all about the look just took a new turn, apparently satin and silk pillowcases have additional benefits for your skin and your hair. Do you have frizzy hair in the morning? I know I do, it's always been the bane of my life, well apparently if you swap your normal cotton pillowcases for silk or satin it works wonders on your hair and achieving a non-frizzy look and feel the next morning. Over at the Indian Vanity Case website (which I love) you will find a whole article on this wonder of wonders, she swears by satin pillowcases and has been using them for over a year now, have a look at what she thinks.

I hope you all enjoyed this month's selection, I must dash as I'm off out for a little shopping trip; now I need feathers for my hair, new pillowcases, oh and a stop off at the Clarins beauty counter to see if they have any new items for me to try out.

Have a lovely July everyone - I hope the sun shines on you!