[Tried & Tested] Le Mini Macaron Gel Nail Kit

Hi Huneybees,

When in France, enjoying a few delectable desserts are inevitable. Most popular being the widely loved, rainbow coloured macarons. It's my little sweet escapade whenever I'm in need of one, but today, I'm not talking about food. Rather I'm introducing you to something macaron related.

It's the Le Mini Macaron gel nail kit, where you can get gel manicure nails right in the comfort of your homes. It started as a kickstarter project and I found them selling these super adorable kits in Marseilles' Sephora stores. 

It's so small you can easily have it in your pocket, bring it with you when you are travelling and it's a major money saver compared to those korean DIY gel nail kits sold in stores. You simply need 5 simple steps, foregoing the base coat, top coat and cleansing wipes, you save so many steps and money!

In box set, you get an instructions manual, nail file, cuticle pusher, 10 removal pads, a macaron shaped LED light with USB charger and a soak off gel polish that matches your macaron. I picked the sweetest colour available - Strawberry Pink as I wanted my fingers to be delicious????

Let's take a closer look at the highlight - the macaron LED Light! It's tiny, you can easily bring it anywhere with you and can be powered up with your laptop or your handphone charger.

They are both held together by magnets and if you want to paint your toes, you can easily flip the top over and cure your toe nails too!

The topside has a LED bulb and the bottom side has a concave slot for you to slot your finger in. Each time you activate the light, allows you to cure your nails for 30 seconds and the fact that you can only cure 1 finger a time, can also mean a tedious process.

So, the process if really easy, you simply use the cuticle pusher to softly push the excess cuticle in, rthen use the file to shape your nails as well as to file the surface of your nail to allow the gel polish to 'stick' better to your nails and make the manicure last longer. 

*Note: be sure not to over file the surface as that will make you nails weak, just a slight brush over will do.

Next step is onto the gel nail polish. Be sure to circle the brush several times inside the bottle to remove most of the polish. What you want is a VERY thin coat of nail polish to apply on your nails.

Each coat of polish should be this thin, if it's too thick, it will not dry completely, might chip easily or might feel too hot when you are curing. For me, I prefer the colour to be fully opaque, and that would require 4 coats. 

So, working out the time needed - 30 seconds each coat  X 4 coats X 10 fingers = 1200seconds / 20 minutes in total!

No base coat or top coat is required, there is no sticky feeling after and I like how much time I've saved! This set of manicure lasted me for around 2 weeks, before it starts peeling off like a plastic peel off layer, but it doesn't seem to have hurt my nail bed. 

Or alternatively, when you’re ready to try another color, you can use the remover wipes enclosed to wrap around your fingers and let soak to take the polish off.

They have more colours online and I'm intending to get more, maybe then I can get 1 colour of macaron light per finger? What you think? Hehehehe....

Each gel kit retails for $35, 10ml polishes are $15 and they also have remover kits for $12.50 for 100 remover pads. 

Le Mini Macaron info

Shop: http://www.leminimacaron.com/

And follow along on social media for future info and swatches! 

Instagram / Facebook

This is just part of my haul from Paris/Germany.

Stay tuned for more updates! :)

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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How To DIY Star Wars Christmas Party

Hi Huneybees,

It was a great weekend spent celebrating Christmas and here's the lowdown of my Christmas Star Wars party. With just a week's notice (Yes, thanks Hubby!), I made this party happen and thanks to the existence of Daiso, I could stay within budget! :)

So, to begin, invites were sent out via Whatsapp to the family members and this was the simple part coz everything was found online and edited using my Photoshop skills. LOL!

Then, comes to the props and decorations. Our theme for the party was the SITHMAS on Planet HOTH, derived from the famous greetings MERRY HOTHIDAYS. That's why, we only had Darth Vadar and Stormtroopers mask with some speech bubbles printed for those selfies. Also not forgetting a couple of lightsabers for the epic battle between the Light and Dark Side...

With the right dressing and makeup, I was Darth Huney, the Dark Princess for the night. 

See the Princess Leia Buns on hubby? Well, that's simply done by combining brown wool threads, tying plaids on with them and stuck on to ear muffs with glue gun. Now ain't that a sexy babe? ROFL!

As for the background design, planet Hoth is all about snow and so, we stuck to blues and whites for the deco, we had wool threads again from Daiso, cut into equals lengths and stuck on the wall strand by strand to make great photo background. 

The DIY Christmas tree was done using 3 x Christmas streamers , 2 x blue LED lights and a whole lot of cut out washi tape for the Christmas ornaments and star right atop the tree. Of course, not missing Santa himself with some gifts!

At the door, we had the standard Merry Christmas sign but I added my very own hand sewn lightsabers at the side. All sewed up with felt that can be found... Yes! You guessed right! DAISO again! :)

And speaking of DAISO, I even bought these 2 jars from there, turned it upside down with a LED candle within, and there you have it! A Hoth scene light globe!

Then comes the food part. Most of it was catered and ordered from Creative Eateries, which hubby took care of. I just did printed and got the labels printed and stuck onto satay sticks to tie the whole SW theme together. Don't forget to get the SW looking fonts here - http://www.fontspace.com/category/star%20wars.

The fun part here is to make localised treats into Star Wars Cantina servings, just by being creative with the names. So like Honeydew Sago was Hoth Snow, Crystal Dumplings was Frozen Leia Buns, Tempura Prawns were Prawnbacca, Pineapple Rice was Sands of Tatooine and we even had drinking water named as Luke Skywater! Fun right? I might just give my dishes names next time. =X

Also, I wanted to make blue eggnogs for there was a Blue Milk drink in SW but hubby was shaking head to blue drinks, so skipped that. Maybe you can try that for your own party?

The catered menu also had Apple Strudels (which we called Snow Strudels), but I also created a few desserts of our own to add to the theme.

It was great joy winning these lot of Ferrero Rocher chocolates at the Casa Ferrero Launch and it was put to good use! Simply wrap each of them with aluminium foils and we got mini Death Stars where every bite comes with a chocolatey delight! =D

I was glad everyone liked what I did with these brown bags. I was Googling for ideas and there was these Chewbacca gift bags gave me the idea to draw my own and fill them with home made popcorns! Salt or Salted Chewbacca for you?

The heavy workload was with these Storm Mallow-s. Each single ones were hand drawn using chocolate syrup and I'm really thankful for these clever Japanese gadgets you can find from Daiso.

 I just had to pour in chocolate syrup into these pens and I can draw on the faces as though markers!

But as the chocolate syrup does not dry fast on the marshmallows, I had to draw, let the syrup stay for 2 minutes, before "stamping" them on tissues to remove the remaining syrup. You have to do this, otherwise it will be sticky business when you try to put and remove them from your containers...

Next, is the Hans Jello. I did a wrong move and bought blueberry flavoured jelly powder to make these Hans Solo in Carbonite jellies, but jello DO NOT HARDEN! you can only have them in cups and scoop out! 

But what I wanted was for them to harden and be able to pop out these moulds (that I got from Carousell). So, lesson learnt, I had to consult my mum and went out to get Konyaku powder, mixed with blue Mountain Dew to get this result.

This was an even faster process! These jellies harden within an hour, compared to jelly which took 4 hours to dry! =X

Phew! So after a week's of shopping and preparation, the Christmas Eve Star Wars party was EPIC! Hubby kept thanking me the whole evening and the night ended with a gift exchange. Psst, here's an A-Star wrapping by hubby's cousin which got everyone curious what was inside. Not a Yamazaki whiskey inside, but just shower gel, best gift wrapping ever eh?!

Celebrations may be over, but I can't wait for New Year's Eve this weekend! 

For now, I'm just gona catch up on my beauty rest. Buh Bye!  -.- zzzZZZZ

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[What's New] To Gel Or Not To Gel - Etude House Enamel ting Gel Nails Collection

Hi Huneybees,

Etude House has recently joined in the gel nails trend in K-beauty and launched a new affordable series of nail products - Enamel ting Gel Nails collection, allowing you to have your very own nail salon at home! 

Though it is available in the Etude House branches around Singapore, but I still prefer to have mine ordered and delivered right to my door step. All thanks to Qoo10, I've got my items shipped right from Korea and most of the time, even faster than the local stores can stock up!

The whole collection includes a Enamel ting LED gel lamp, Enamel ting Gel Nail Cleanser, and Enamel ting Gel Nail Remover together with 35 brilliant gel nail polishes, that allows you create all sorts of nail art and manicure.

The gel lamp is slightly cheaper than what you can find out in the market, portable and easy to use with 36 LED lights, letting you set your gel nails in 45 seconds flat. It has an internal timer that will auto turn off after 45 seconds, so that you know it is time to add another coat of colour.

I've gotten 2 colours - #5 Apple Bite (Red) and #17 Coating Jean (Blue) to try out the nail polishes. The colour payoff is amazing and it is very easy and smooth to apply. With just 1 application, you can get full shiny coloured nails. My nails are ready with 10 minutes with just 2 coats of the nail polish.

But, getting your gel nails done is not as straight forward as your usual nail polish of applying the colours coat after coat. You will also need the help of the Enamel ting Gel Nail Cleanser. Removing the gel nails is also not that fast too! Here's the steps to it...

But purchasing these gel nails materials were with an initial struggle. I was weighing the pros and cons, reading up more of gel nails manicure before deciding to get them. In fact, I still have my reservations doing gel nails again. Why? Here's my list of them...

The PROS

• Affordable and easy on the pockets
• Manicure that lasts 2-3 weeks
• Chip-free
• Fast Drying
• Easier to create nail designs without smudges

The CONS

• A health risk as you are constantly baking your nails under UV lamp - cancer, increased photo-aging, more wrinkles
• Hassle for gel nails removal 
• Filing down of the nails to break the top coat, might lead to over filing, thus making the nails thin and weak
• Soaking in the gel remover makes nails dry

Some tips when applying gel nails at home...

• Apply sunscreen on your hands before application
• Buff your nails to get a better surface for the gels to stick to, ensuring your gel nails last longer
• Be sure not to paint your cuticles and wipe off any that gets on your skin before curing
• Apply cuticle oil and hand lotion once you are done.

So, what do you think? 

Would you consider giving the Etude House Enamel ting Gel Nails collection a test drive?

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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Nothing Beats Celebrating Our Anniversary With A Present Made With Love.

Hi Huneybees,

We celebrated our union on 27th Feb. I was married to this huggable darling 3 years ago, after dating for 8 years. 11 years with this guy and I'm still loving him more and more everyday, he's been there through my highs and lows, he's my buddy, my lover, my hubby!

This year, I wanted to do something special for him, instead of the usual of buying him a present. Both of us got together because of our passion for toys and recently, we have been stocking up on quite a bit of LEGO-s. 

So, I ransacked PINTEREST for some DIY anniversary ideas and I came across this self made shadow box. *Light Bulb* I'm gona make him a shadow box filled with hearts that you can shake around like snow globe with our pictures and of course, not forgetting a LEGO couple! 

This project took me 2 days to complete, coz I had to do it out of his sight and purchasing identical LEGO figures was not as simple as I thought it would be! So, wana learn how to do your own shadow box? It's very, very VERY simple!

1. Get a box that you want to use, you can use a shoebox and wrap it paper, washi tape or paint it. I opted for a box I got from DAISO. My favourite store for my DIY needs at just SGD$2 each!
   
2. On the top lid, mark a 1.5cm border all round.
   
3. (This would require a bit of patience and skill) Use a penknife to cut out the middle part, leaving just the border behind. Note: to do light strokes and try not to force a cut through in one strike, you would destroy the box. Just go through the same line a couple of times and you will get a perfect line.
   
4. Cut out a piece of transparent film and have it glued and taped on the internal side of the top lid. This is a cheaper and safer way of having a glass panel.
   
5. After choosing and printing our picture, I have it laminated with this film wrap I got from Popular bookstore. You simply have to put the photo on one layer and then slowly stick on the adhesive side to seal in that photo.
   
6. This is the fun part. Cut out little red felt hearts using a stencil I drew and cut out from a piece of cardboard. Trace them on the felt fabric, then simply cut them out.
   
7. Sew 2 pieces of hearts using blanket stitch and leave 1 cm opening to stuff in the cotton filling. Use tweezers or the back of a pen, push in the cotton slowly and fill it to the thickness that you want.
   
8. Continue the rest of your stitches and seal it with your love. *cheesy*
   
9. Then for the finishing touch, using bluetack, gently select where you want the LEGO figures to be at, then glue them down with superglue. But I know my hubby might want to take out those figures one day, so I left them with bluetack.
   
10. Drop in those little felt hearts, tape down the photo and seal the box with either super glue or mounting tape and you are done!
    
11. Now, get the box shaking and it's raining with LOVE! :)

It's really something different when you make a present for someone you love, seeing the way he glowed, I knew I did it right again and nothing beats a big, fat smile and kiss from him. Hope you guys like this project and hey, you can even make these for your BBFs birthdays, for your kids to store their favourite toys and the ideas go on. It is infinite! Have fun making and do share those lovely photos if you have tried this out! :)

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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