G-e-n-i-u-s... Urban Nails!!

Hey kiddies :)

I cannot wait to share this with you! I can't think of a good enough introduction to this post, so I'm just going to jump straight in:

My favourite eyeshadow in the world is Urban Decay 'X'. It's the first 'grown-up' eyeshadow I used back when I was thirteen and starting to play with makeup. X is a beautiful gold shimmer colour with hints of rose and - I kid you not - looks like your own personal sunset on your lids. As with all Urban Decay shadows, it is pigmented so that you know you're getting your money's worth, but the colour is buildable to suit the occasion. In short - I LOVE it.

The shadow was discontinued where I live but on my last visit to the States I managed to get my hands on some. You can't imagine how heartbroken I was when, unpacking at home, it fell out of my makeup bag and was crushed to smithereens. I tried using it as a pigment, but it just wasn't the same. And that's where this post comes in - 

Clearing out my old nail polishes, I realised I had to do something with my thirty-million clear varnishes. So I thought hey, what have I got to lose? I wasn't using my poor X anyway. I MADE MY VERY OWN URBAN DECAY NAIL POLISH!

Left - one coat. Right - two coats.

You can do this with any old eyeshadow or pigment (if you don't have any you want to use, buy a cheap shadow from a brand like ELF - 'Periwinkle' is gorgeous and beautifully pigmented). All you need is some clear varnish, a small plastic funnel (you can make your own by rolling some paper or card) and a little spoon.

I made sure to give my shadow pot a good bashing before I started to break up any clumps and help me get all the powder. Unscrewing the polish cap, I held the funnel at the top of the bottle and just tipped the powder in. Close, *shake shake shake* and you're done!

The result is gorgeous - and because X is a shimmer, I can wear two coats as a colour or just use it as a top coat on a darker shade. This trick does work best with matte shadows as the colours come out stronger in a varnish, though.

Final last words? Give the bottle a good swirl before you apply to make sure, in the words of Elvis Presley, it's "all shook up (uhh-uh, yeah yeah)"

Love love love

xx