Make your own beauty products from scratch!

Some time ago, we talked about customized beauty products. Some brands would allow you to personalize your foundation, blush and lipstick by choosing colours, oils and glitters. In this blog post we will push customization even further: have you ever considered making your beauty products at home?

Reasons for doing so can be various. You may want to have full control over the ingredients used to make your day cream, to avoid preservatives. You may want to create your personal lipstick colours. Or, you may just want to get into a new exciting hobby and learn how to make all of your beauty products at home. Well, whatever may push you to start producing your own comsetics, here are some interesting websites where to find recipes for a natural beauty products´ line.

Safecosmetics.org is maybe the best place from where to start your journey through home made cosmetics.

To get a background knowledge, you can read the sections dedicated to laws regulating beauty products in US, Europe and Canada. Then, you can move on and read about the chemicals generally used in regular cosmetics. 
When you are ready to start making cosmetics, go to “Get involved”: you will find recipes to make your products at home. Very simple recipes, even! Just to give you an example: to make a facial cream for dry skin which is also soothing on sunburnt skin, all you need is 1 egg, ½ cup of coconut oil and 1 tablespoon honey (read the recipe for “Frozen Egg & Honey Facial Mask”).

Guess what refrigerated lemon and water can make, apart from a nice summer drink? Believe it or not, they will make a hair spray! Easy and cheap.

Makeyourowncosmetics.org has a very rich recipes´ menu. Recipes are submitted by readers and they can be given a feedback and commented. One simple, example recipe is the “Cinnamon Sugar Scrub” for hands and feet, made with dash cinnamon, olive oil, sugar, milk or cream and lemon essential oil.

An interesting section of the website is the one dedicated to natural home cleaning products. Just to give you an idea of what you can find here: you can make a window cleaner with vinegar and water; wood furniture wax with beeswax, olive oil and lemon essential oil; or a cleaner for your bathtub and ceramik sinks with baking soda, hot water and few drops of orange essential oils.

Essential oils are typically not difficult to find in shops. However, if you encounter recipes with uncommon ingredients, you can probably find the latter at Makingcosmetics.com.

If you are the type that prefers written paper to online sources, you will not be disappointed: there is a large number of books on the topic.

A book which seems to be quite popular is the “Ultimate Natural Beauty Book – 100 gorgeous beauty products to make easily at home” (you can find in in Amazon). You can read a review of the books´recipes on the Indipendent. The review is actually not that fresh - it is from 2008 - but it is quite detailed and it also shares some recipes.

If you try out any recipe from one of the websites cited in this blog post, please let us know your experience and leave a comment!

A perfect, customized dinner party!

When you invite guests over for dinner, preparing a nice table is a nice way to welcome them.

Using the best table cloth, plates and glasses you have is a way to make your guests feel you care about them. 
Next time you invite your friends over, you could surprise them even more – you could customize your table and set it up it in the way you like it or...in the way your guests may like it!

Etsy.com is a good place to visit, when trying to find personalized items. Just as Nu-nomad offers customized bags (also!) on Etsy, so do other shops.

So, here are some interesting Etsy shops offering customized options to amaze your guests with a great table setting.

LovelyHomeIdea´s customized tablecloth

First thing you want to do is to cover your table with a nice table cloth. 

Cannot find in shops a colour you like in the size you need? You could have your new table cloth made by LovelyHomeidea. Select the colour you prefer, among the fabrics offered by the shop - all beautiful and elegant linen - and tell the measurements which you require.

TheBirdsEye´s cinderella tags

 Second thing you may want to do is to tell your friends what the menu will be.

 Though displaying a menu with food courses is something usually reserved for big events (like weddings), it could be fun - for once - to do the same for a more informal dinner party.  If you like fairy tales, you can have your customized food tags at TheBirdsEye. Cute tags, shaped like Cinderella ´s dress and princesses´crowns, will bring some joy to your table. And, of course, you will have them in a colour matching your table cloth.

Mollie´s hand painted glasses

If you were thinking about giving your friends a small party favour, maybe you could give them the glass they will be using to drink. A funny idea would be to have your friends´portait painted on wine glasses. Mollie´s would do that for you.

Plates by Zinniadesignstc

Or - if you prefer something more classical - you can have the names´ initials of your guests painted on the glasses. This is GlassPizzaz ´s specialty!

 

You could even go further and have names´initials also on the serving dishes. How? Ask Zinniadesignstc to paint them for you!


And now the final classy touch – a customized beaded serving set. This is what the shop  Weavesbeads offers. Choose the set you need (forks, knives, spoon, cake sets) and the beads´colour you like and you will have a perfect match for tablecloth and food tags. These serving sets could be also a good idea for a wedding gift or - also - to personalize your own wedding. 

But more about customizing your wedding will come in a future post...

So...ready to host a memorable dinner?  

Different fabrics for different bags – Cotton vs. Canvas

Different fabrics have different structures and properties and selecting the right fabric for the right purpose is, of course, extremely important.

If you touch the fabric of your clothes, you will easily feel that the texture of your shirt is quite different from that of your trousers or skirt. Clothing items need to adapt to your body in different ways and using cotton, linen or denim will result in a different fitting. Sometimes this is a requirement, whether it be for the season's weather (you would likely not use cotton skirts in winter) or for fitting purposes (non-stretching cotton would not be the best option for a free size dress).

Other times, instead, choosing a fabric over another could just be a matter of style.

When it comes to fabric bags, the same principles apply. Depending of what type of bag you are looking for, you may want to select a different fabric.

So, here are some tips about what fabric would work best for different bags.

Typically, a fabric bag will be made either of cotton or canvas. To be correct, canvas can be made of cotton, too. However, the name “canvas” is also often used as a generic term for heavier type of fabrics – and this what canvas will be referred to in this article.

Cotton: 

Cotton is a type of fabric which is widely used for both garments and home textiles.

Cotton meant for home textiles is typically preferred for bags. This is because this type of cotton is generally sturdier and would therefore serve the purpose better. Of course, nothing prevents you from using garment cotton for a bag. You just need to keep in mind that this would result in a less sturdy bag.

At Nu-nomad, cotton meant for home textiles is typically preferred. To give cotton more resistance, a fusible interlining is often used. The fusible interlining is a thin fiber sheet having a special glue on one side. When ironed, the glue melts and the sheet attaches to the fabric, thus making it sturdier.

Having said this, when is cotton to be preferred for a bag, then?

Cotton bags are especially good in the summer, as they look fresh and light, thus fitting better with your summer clothes. A cotton bag can be folded without effort, so that you can easily bring it with you when travelling. Also, cotton can typically stretch to some extent, so that you can fill up your bag with more stuff than you would expect.

What you should keep in mind, however, is that a cotton bag can more easily loose its original form compared to canvas, especially when constantly filled with more stuff its shape should contain.

Also, cotton is perceived as a spring – summer material and it may not fit at best with a winter jacket. But this is more a matter of personal style: you may still want a contrasting look and therefore have a cotton bag paired with a wintery woolen coat.

Canvas: 

Canvas is a type of fabric which can be made of cotton, linen, juta or hemp. The name does not refer, therefore, to its origins, as in the case of cotton and linen (which refer to the plants from which the fibers come from).

As already said, the term canvas is also often used as a generic term for heavy and sturdy fabric. Typical uses of canvas are surfaces for paintings, tents and backpacks. Cotton or cotton-linen mixed canvas is often used in home textiles, especially for making sofas and curtains. This latter canvas type is a very good choice for a bag, thanks to the beautiful texture and its sturdiness.

A bag made in canvas is typically quite resistant. Over time, the shape of the bag would keep better than that of a bag made of cotton. You can still fill the bag with a lot of stuff, but you should keep in mind that a canvas bag would stretch slightly less than a cotton one.

A bag made with canvas can also be a bit heavier in weight. Likely not as much as a bag made with leather, but still more than a cotton made one.

As for styles, canvas bags are maybe a bit more versatile than cotton bags. A canvas bag would match both your summer and winter clothes and not look inappropriate.

Now, a bag also has an interior. When choosing one to purchase or when making your own bag, you may want to take into consideration also the material used for the interior.

So, to summarize all the above, here is a simple scheme to help you choose:

1. Cotton outside and cotton inside –you will make a light bag, easy to fold, easy to fill. Not very sturdy, maybe best suited for the summer. 
2. Canvas outside and cotton inside (or viceversa) -you will make a semi-sturdy bag, still quite light in weight, but more structured than a cotton-cotton one. If you use cotton for the inside, it will be easier to fill the bag up. 
3. Canvas outside and canvas inside – you will make a sturdier bag, a bit heavier in weight, but more resistant. It will not stretch as much as a cotton bag, but it will be perfect in any season.

Hope this will be helpful. And leave a comment, if you have any!

"It is all in the shape". Customized jeans!

We all love jeans and we all know it is not always easy to find a pair which perfectly fits.

Let me correct: it has not been easy...until now!

Levi's® Curve ID line utilizes a unique, custom fit system focusing on a woman's shape and proportions. Here is the key to perfectly fitting jeans: not the size – it is all about your body shape!

When visiting a Levi´s shops offering customized jeans, a Levi´s fit specialist would take your measure and determine where your body shape falls. There are four categories: Slight, Demi, Bold and Supreme. 

The beauty of customized jeans is that you will not only find jeans fitting your body at best - you can also select your favorite wash or leg opening!

And if you do not have a Levi´s shop nearby, do not worry: you can still go online at www.us.levi.com. Here, you can take the (well made) online test to determine your shape and then decide model, color and size and...done! Your new customized jeans will cost you only around $ 50.

Now, Levi´s invented jeans, and with no doubt the brand is at the vanguard for improving the clothing piece and the shopping experience of it.

However, when making a google search for “customized jeans”, you will find a good number of online shops offering the service.

We will here review three, but you can see more of them in the links at the end of the article.

Make Your Own Jeans is one of the first shops to appear in the search. The shop offers a good selection of models, which will be made to your measurements. Pictures will show you how to take measures of waist, seat, tights, knee and so on.

Apart from jeans, at Make Your Own Jeans you can customize other clothing items, like vests, skirts, shorts, jackets.

The shop targets both women and men customers. 

On the the same line is also Indi, whose slogan is “Perfect fit Promise”. 

You start by choosing your jeans´style, you the select the fabric you prefer, the stitching thread colors and how the jeans should fit on your waist (low, average, high). 

Your selections will then be saved. Therefore, next time you want to order, you will not need to re-insert all of your information.

The last review is for Z2jeansco.com, which offers free delivery worldwide. The shop probably has the widest selection of fabrics among the reviewed shops – more than 100 variations of blue denim. 

Compared to the other shops, Z2jeans.com also allows customers to choose the type of fly, hem, style of the pockets and loops, thread and button colors.

After designing your model, you need to write down your measurements, following the instructions provided.

Our review ends here, but as already mentioned, there are many other shops offering customized jeans. 

Here is a list for additional info:

http://www.domyjeans.us/

http://www.pimpmyjeans.com/custom-shop.html

http://www.mycustomtailor.com/

http://www.ujeans.com/

Customize your time – 3 ways to create a personalized watch!

Customization is spreading around – it is now possible to personalize your watch!

There are at least three online shops which allow you to create your own time reminder.

Whatever your budget and style, you will find something suited for you.

Chances are the first bell to ring in your head when hearing the word watch is “Swiss”.

Swiss watches are known for their quality. Perhaps, they are even considered “The” quality watches.

In order to be named "Swiss-made", a watch has to carry an official certificate to demonstrate its origins. The designation is protected and regulated by the Swiss Watch Industry and is given following some quality criteria: the watch´s movement should be Swiss, it has to be cased in Switzerland and the manufacturer should carry out the final inspection in the country.

If you are looking for top quality watches of the kind, then you should visit www.121time.com.

121Time specializes in custom Swiss-made watches.

The offer is for both men´s and ladies´watches, with a good selection of models - both casual and elegant - which can be customized by choosing bezel, dial and hands, and strap.

Prices may be a bit high 

($ 396 for the man´s watch in the picture above), but you will be sure to receive a top quality, officially certified Swiss watch. 

The one on the left is an example of a customized lady´s sporty watch – no doubt the result is promising!

If you are instead looking for a nice and fun gift, you will likely find something suitable at www.designawatch.com. 

The selection is wide and it includes interesting choices, such as images from space taken by the Hubble Space Telescope; religious patterns; designs for special events - like birthdays and anniversaries - and even characters from the famous comic strip “Peanuts”.

Once you have chosen the image you want and the watch model you prefer, you can go on and choose your favourite strap and – if you like – add up to two lines of engraving.

The final product will be something like the watch in the picture here on the right. An image with Snoopy was here selected, to be complemented by a yellow strap. On the back, the text “Nu-nomad” has been engraved.

The last shop which will be reviewed allows you to recycle an old watch of yours. A watch with a broken band or a watch which is no more fashionable can be revived by adding a customized band.

This is what the Etsy shop Top Knotch offers: send them your watch and wrist size, choose among the over 30 available colours and get a new watch with a paracord band.

You can read the available cord colours at the following link:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75679370/paracord-watch-band-custom-colors

The big plus is here the price: only $ 15 for the restyling!

Now you know where to customize you shoes, your make up, your bags, your watch and even your food. 

Any suggestions about what you would like to customize next?

5 Rules for Patterns Matching

You often see in fashion shows mix-matching of patterns you would never think would fit together - and yet they do!

When it is a famous designer proposing combinations, you may not even question if the matching is actually appropriate. You just take it for granted.

The question is how to dare mix-matching when you are not a stylist nor designer, without risking being told you are completely tasteless.

There are - luckily - some basic and simple rules one can follow. 

You will here find listed only five of them, the clearest and simplest ones. 

These are suggestions which would help when combining clothes and/or clothes with accessories. 

But they will also be helpful next time you will play combining fabrics to create your own bag, using our app.

1 - Use patterns of different size (and style!).

The goal with mix matching is to create a balanced effect. It is therefore a good option not to choose two fabrics having the same pattern size. Two fabrics with big flowers or two fabrics with small dots would create an overwhelming/too busy effect. And it would make it difficult also to choose what to wear to finish your look.

2 – Choose patterns which do not compete with each other. 

Try to avoid selecting two fabrics which both have very strong “personalities”. Two flowery fabrics, though with flowers of different size, would not give a balanced effect, if they both are in strong, contrasting colours.

Try to balance, by choosing one which is “bold” and gives the main theme and one which matches, but looks like complementary.

3 – Use patterns with one colour in common. 

Complement fabrics by choosing those having at least one colour in common. Even if the fabrics are very different in patterns, this would give a final harmonic result.

4 – Stay within the same family colour.

If you find it difficult to match fabrics having one colour in common, you can try stay within the same family colour. This would make it easier to get a balanced effect.

Use fabrics all toned in green, teal, yellow but having different shades.

5 – Mix with a neutral color.

This will make you play safest. If you mix with white, black, beige or grey, you will probably always end up with a good match

This is only a short summary of the many suggestions you can find online on the topic.

In case you want to read more and become an expert patterns-matcher, here are some nice articles you can read:

http://rollingout.com/lifestyle/fashion-alert-how-to-pull-off-mixing-patterns/

http://www.thechicfashionista.com/rules-for-mixing-patterns-and-textures.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4489629_mix-clothing-patterns.html

And now, have fun mix-matching!

And if you...dare (!), send us a picture of the result: nunomadsfactory@gmail.com

We could write an article about your patterns-matching attempts!

Stop dreaming about perfect shoes - make them!

In the last blog post we discussed about matching colours.

Here is a good way to apply our tips: try customize your shoes!

Nike was probably the first among big companies to go for shoes customization. 

NikeID was in fact released in 1999.

The service allows to design your own running shoes, choosing among the brand´s models.

Since then, other famous sportswear brands have started to offer the same service: Adidas, Puma, Rebook, Vans, Converse...

You would be surprised to know, however, that not only sneakers can be customized.

Women will be especially glad to know that there are quite a good number of online shops which allow to create your own sandals, party and ceremony shoes, flats and much more. We all know that especially when it comes to shoes to wear at a wedding party, it is often difficult to find a pair to match your special dress! Well...problem solved!

But let´s first start with non-ceremony shoes.

In Nu-Nomad´s Facebook page, there is a photo album called “How many combinations can you create?”.

Today, I uploaded a picture of a bag made with Japanese fabric. 

Well, at Zazzle.com it is possible to have shoes matching basically...whatever bag! 

The customization service is here very advanced and it was possible to have shoes matching my bag.

Ok, you can choose only among canvas shoes, of the type that Converse fans would probably like. But the great thing is that you can have on them whatever image and text you want, for a very good price. In the image on the left, you can see my fabric´s picture.

The resulting shoes are shown in the lower side of the picture. The cost for the service is only $ 60. 

If you are a high heels addicted, there are some other website you do not want to miss.

Milkandhoneyshoes.com has a huge variety of materials to choose from. 

Decide what type of shoes you need (sandals, flats, pumps) and start scrolling down all materials´offer they have – you will find whatever you may like! You can also choose details and embellishments. 

I chose to create shoes which would be perfect for a ceremony outfit. And I added a flower clip. 

Here is the result, which would cost me $ 285.

The same service is offered by Shoesofprey.com. Compared to Milk and Honey, Shoes of Prey offers cheaper solutions, but at the same time less variety of materials. 

For examples, there are not many offers for non-leather materials. But, on the other side, the base model you select can be modified quite extensively. You can also choose among many variations for tips, heels and embellishments. 

Here is what I designed. For € 130.

The two websites above both offer a preview of the created shoes which may not satisfy many customers. The previews are in fact drawings and not real pictures. 

If you are one of those who need a real picture to get an idea of how the final product would look like, Ninashoes.com is a good alternative.                           Nina Shoes has very nice previews. You can see the image of the pair you have just created from every angle.

The selection for customizable shoes is smaller than at Milk and Honey and Shoes of Prey, but you can still create very nice footwear, like this one on the right.

Sandals, flats, pumps...these are shoes you may want to wear especially in the summer.

When the chill comes in autumn, you may start to think about getting good boots.

We all know that Timberland is a good brand when it comes to boots. 

Timberland now offers customers the possibility to customize their own boots!

The offered models are the brand´s classical ones.

I tried to create a long boots pair. Maybe the customization choices are not wide, but for sure their preview images are very detailed and neat.

Also, being the brand very known, the quality of the final product is guaranteed!

Next time you do not find the perfect shoes, you will not need walk for hours, going from shop to shop in a exhausting hunt...just browse around!

Best colour combinations - matching bag and clothes

Bags and belts are items we usually buy in neutral colours.

We in fact want them to match most of our clothes, so that we do not need to have a bag/a belt per clothing item (though some women may be close to this).

Colours which are very popular for bags and belts are typically black, brown, beige, grey. But also some variations of light blue, pale yellow, powder pink and military green.

Especially for leather or fake leather items, neutral tones are more popular. While patterns are rarely used.

When it comes to fabrics, the choice is instead huge...you may find hundreds of shades for a single colour, thousands of patterns and colours combinations.

If you were to make your own fabric bag, how would you know what would match what? And how would you be sure your choice would match your clothes?

I guess we all have in mind some standard colour schemes we have learnt to think of as "good". 

Black + white is good. It never fails. Black + red is also good. Blue + white is great - we all know that. 

But what if you would like to go beyond common colour schemes?

Well, you may be surprised to know that some colour combinations which are uncommon, are simply great!

Examples?

Violet is a colour which matches a lot of tones. It fits with yellow, brown, pink, turquoise, but also red. It is a colour which is popular in traditional East Asian items, like the Japanese fabrics here on the left. 

Another colour which fits many others in a nice way is yellow. Yellow is great with teal, green, blue, grey, violet, pink...

The fabric here on the right is a good example of how to match yellow with other colours.

And how about brown and turquoise? Or ocra and teal? I guess we could go on forever. 

The point here is that you can create a very colorful fabric bag and still be able to match it with a lot of clothes! 

Here is a picture to prove it: this is a bag of Nu-nomad´s past winter collection.

The bag is brown and the flower is in a multicoloured fabrics. There are black, green, white, yellow, some pink...all mixed. And the model is wearing...all of them! Light red blouse, lime green scarf, grey-brown jacket, blue jeans and red earrings. Yet the mix is nice and does not look excessive. 

This is because the bag contains all the colours she is wearing in one focal point (the flower), so that those colours do not appear random in the clothing.

With the new Facebook app available on Nu-Nomad´s Facebook page, you can preview fabrics you choose on the bag model you choose. This is a good way to play with colours and get a sense of what combinations fit your taste.

For an extra help, you can browse around the website called Colourlovers. Here you will find great inspirational colour palettes.

So, get creative and try out the colour combinations you truly like, even the non-standard ones. You will rarely go wrong!

Sofia of Nu-Nomad