Sunday, December 29, 2013

New Year's Eve Nails



New Year's Eve is an exciting holiday with all kinds of glitzy decorations and lights. Today I'll be showing you how to do a super shiny and sparkly manicure for the holiday or any other time you want to add some sparkle to your look.

Step 1:


Start with a base of a neutral metallic or micro glitter. I used Bold Gold from Maybelline's Color Show collection.(it is one of the holographic polishes). Apply as many coats as it takes to make it completely opaque.

Step 2:


Pick out some chunky glitter polish and apply that over the metallic base. I used a glitter that had a variety of colors (Wet n Wild Fast Dry - Party Of Five Glitters). I did one coat on each nail and multiple coats on my ring finger to make it an accent nail.

Step 3:


Add a coat of your favorite top coat to smooth out the glitter and make your manicure long-lasting.

Alternatives:
- Silver & Gold alternating base with colorful glitter
- Silver & Gold alternating base with Gold & Silver alternating on the opposite color base
- Dark Purple Base with chunky glitter
- ACCENT NAILS!

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I apologize for not putting this up earlier. Maybe a New Year's resolution will be to plan ahead more... Anyways, I hope you all have a fun time tonight with your friends and family!

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...
Happy New Year!!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

What I Got For Christmas 2013 + Nail Polish Haul (of course)


Christmas is my favorite time of year. Just the excitement and happiness of the day is so magical. I know some people don't like these "what I got for Christmas" blogs but I've always liked them and seeing what other people got for Christmas.

- Flannel Sheets

- Santa Stitch
My little sister got this for me since I had a big stuffed animal Stitch already.

- A.N.A. Striped Sweater

I got this for a great deal during Black Friday at JCP. I love the texture of it.

- American Eagle Flannel Shirt

I picked this up for myself at American Eagle Outfitters during Black Friday.

- Aerie Plaid Flannel Pants
Again, picked them out for myself during Black Friday...

- American Eagle Polka Dot Socks
... And these too.

- Ice Scraper Mitt
Ah! Something I didn't know I was getting before hand. So I've been having to scrape the ice off my car recently and it just causes a bad start to my day with freezing hands (because I refuse to wear gloves). My dad got this super supple ice scraper mitt to keep my hands warm when scraping my car.

- Mockingjay Pin
This was a gift from my little sister, who obviously knows me so well. I had a guess (which ended up being right) of what she'd got me for a long time before Christmas. When she handed me my present I figured it wasn't this because she'd wrapped it in tissue paper in a small box and wrapped the small box in tissue paper in a big box. She's a smart cookie.

- Michael Bublé Christmas Album
One of my all-time favorite Christmas albums.

- The Hunger Games DVD

- Catching Fire Paperback
Picked this book up for myself Black Friday shopping and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

- Husky Stuffed Animal

- Mini Taylor Swift Calendar

- Purple Snowflake Mug
a JUMBO mug to satisfy my love of tea.

- Owl Contact Case
I saw this contact case a couple years ago and LOVED it. And now I have it. :)

- Big (Faux) Pearl Earrings

- Big (Faux) Diamond Earrings

- Taylor Swift Fearless Tour Book

- Taylor Swift Speak Now Tour Book

- Taylor Swift RED Tour Book
All 3 of the TS tour books I ordered for myself when they were on sale during the 13 Days of Taylor.

- Sour Patch Kids x2
Candy from my sisters. The new blue ones are SO good!


- aaaaaaaaaaand NAIL POLISH!

essie full steam ahead

essie cascade cool

essie steel-ling the scene

I also got a duo pack of OPI polishes
Metallic 4 Life AND Did It On 'Em
So... I actually knew about all of these polishes because I chose them myself at TJMaxx a couple days before Christmas. 
essie was on sale for $4.99 (cascade cool was on clearance for $3.00) and the duo pack of OPI was $7.99. I love great deals.

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My family waits to open our stocking stuffers until the evening so we still have something to look forward to throughout the day, so here's what I got in my stocking.


























Socks. Lots and lots of socks.
     - 3 pack from Aeropostale
     - 2 pack from American Eagle
     - 2 random pairs that I don't know where they're from
Butterscotch Disks
Sheet Metal Snowman Ornament
$15 iTunes Gift Card
Celebrate Christmas votive from Yankee Candle
Blow Pops x4
Candy Cane Gum (which is delicious by the way)
Phone Case (not pictured because I'd already put it on my phone, but it's black and white chevron with lime green accents)
$20 from my parents

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Oh! And a shoutout to my best friend for getting me one of the sweetest presents ever that I'd been wanting for a long time. She got me a Vera Bradley travel mug in the pattern Olivia Pink. She stole my phone during church and looked at my Christmas list without me knowing. Sneaky sneaky... But thank youu!

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So yes. That is what I got for Christmas this year. I am so thankful for everything and for the people they came from. Please don't think I'm trying to brag by posting this but I've always liked seeing what other people got for Christmas so now you can see what I got for Christmas! I hope you had a great Christmas too and I'll be back soon with my NYE nail tutorial!! (I'm pretty excited about this one)

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Nail Art


Christmas is almost here and if you're looking for a last-minute Christmassy manicure, you've come to the right place. I've come up with 6 designs that would be great for any Christmas parties or other festivities.

RUDOLPH NAILS:


I started with a brown base and used a black nail striper and a large dotting tool dipped in red polish for Rudolph's face and antlers.


SNOWFLAKE NAILS:


I painted all my nails red and used my smallest dotting tool to make small white "snowflakes" on all but my ring finger. On my ring finger, I used a white nail striper to draw a big, detailed snowflake.


CANDY CANE NAILS:


After painting a white base, I used red and green nail stripers to paint a pattern of one thick and two thin lines on each of my nails, making it look like a candy cane.

ORNAMENT NAILS:


I started this manicure with a pearly white base, but you can use any light-colored base you want. Then I used a red nail striper to paint a large circle towards the tip of each nail. I then used a black nail striper for each ornament's hook. The stripe on the ornaments was done with a dark green striper.

CHRISTMAS LIGHT NAILS:


This is one of my favorite manicures of this series. I, again, used a pearlized base and then used a black nail striper to paint the wire and screw-on things of the lightbulbs. I used some bright colors for the bulbs themselves. Another good idea would be alternating red and green bulbs.

PRESENT NAILS:


Though the picture doesn't quite show it justice, the base color is a dark green. For the accent nail, I used a gold nail striper to draw a criss-crossed ribbon with a bow. This manicure can easily be changed up with all sorts of colors like red, silver, blue, and white.


*** and if you noticed some of the hands don't look like mine, it's because I did some of the manicures on my sisters ***

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I hope each and every one of you have a very merry Christmas and I'll be back soon with a NEW YEAR'S manicure.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Product Rave



Recently I've started using a Suave product that is limited edition for the holidays. It's a body wash in the scent "Peppermint Bliss" and it smells SO good! It has a silky/pearly look to it which is really cool, yet really odd that I like that... Anyways, I've used Suave products for a long time and they're all good quality for drug store products, which means they're a good deal, too! I totally suggest picking up this scent while you can, because as I said it's limited edition! Hope you like it as much as I do!