Pretty in Pink for Spring and Summertime

My favorite nail polish color in spring/summertime is a pale, bright, clean pink. I just think its classic and beautiful. Here are a hand full of my favorite pink nail colors. 

Sephora by OPI is a very sheer, milky pink. Great for a clean classic manicure.

Essie Fiji is a creamy baby pink, perfect for nails and toes. 

OPI I'm OK, You're Bouquet is a mid-tone pink that's little darker than Essie Fiji and more red toned as well.

OPI Mod About You is a bright and clean blue-toned pink with hints of lavender in it. Gorgeous on the toes too.

MAC Love & Friendship is the darkest of the bunch, it leans more on the side of lavender.

Pictured left to right: Sephora by OPI A True Romantic, Essie Fiji, OPI I'm OK, You're Bouquet, OPI Mod About You, and MAC Love & Friendship.

Three coats each and Seche Vite as a topcoat

Thumbnail: MAC Love & Friendship

Pointer: OPI Mod About You

Middle: OPI I'm OK, You're Bouquet

Ring: Essie Fiji

Pinky: Sephora by OPI A True Romantic

Essie's Fiji

On a recent trip to the nail salon, I chose OPI's Mod About You as my pedicure color. I loved how light and bright it was. The color was perfect for Spring and made my toes look clean and crisp. When I got home I immediately Googled the nail polish and realized it was probably going to be really hard to find. Next, thing I searched for was a dupe. The one that kept popping up was Essie's Fiji. I read about how horrible the application was and about how it was a pinkier version but I picked it up at Longs (CVS) anyway. All the reviews were absolutely right, it was a tricky little sucker to apply but after being extra careful and slapping on about four coats I came out with this (picture above). I topped it off with my fave Seche Vite Fast Dry Topcoat, it smoothed everything out and it was gorgeous. To my surprise it did not shrink due to the topcoat (others usually do on me), and it did not chip for at least four days (I usually change my nail color every two days). All in all, I'm happy that I picked it up, it's become one of my new faves and if  you have a steady hands and some patience I would recommend Essie's Fiji to you.

*Side note: Of course with me being just a little bit crazy, I still searched high and low for OPI's Mod About You and I found the last two bottles at my local Trade Secret. I'm not sure if it's discontinued but if you can get your hands on a bottle I'd highly recommend it.  

True Religion Hippie Chic

Wanting to get out of the house last week, I decided to go "window" shopping, with "window" being the operative word, I headed out to my local Macys. I always, always, always parooz the cosmetics/fragrance section which I conveniently park near. Walking through the fragrance section the salesperson stopped me and asked if I'd ever smelled the new fragrance from True Religion called Hippie Chic. Intrigued I let her spray a card and hand it to me. I didn't know why, but I needed to have it. It smelled fresh, clean, and fruity which I love. I gave her my usual window shopping line, "Thanks, I'll think about it." After all, I didn't want to be a sucker. ;) I continued smelling different perfumes, Ireally liked everything I smelled, but I was hooked on Hippie Chic. I made my way back to the little True Religion set up and with the salesperson on my tail I turned and said "Yes, I will take this please." I was a happy camper and walked away from my window shopping experience totally satisfied and smelling like a "you-know-what."

True Religion Hippie Chic Specs:

*Eau de Parfum

*Launched this year '11

*Available in 50 ml and 100 ml (I have the 100 ml)

*Available at truereligionbrandjeans.com and anywhere fragrances are sold

Notes:

Top: Raspberry, Pomegranate, Fuji Apple

Heart: Hibiscus, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley

Base: Woody notes and Musk

April Favorites

Shampoo: Head & Shoulders

Conditioner: Dove Daily Conditioner

Styling Products: Tresemé Heat Tamer Spray and TiGi Rockaholic Flexible Hairspray

Shower Gel: Dove Softening

Body Moisturizer : Lollia Cabbage Rose & Citrus

Deodorant: Secret

Face Wash: Cetaphil (Target brand) and Aveeno Clear Complexion Cleansing Pads

Exfoliator: Clarisonic

Primer: None

Foundation Brush: MAC 182 Kabuki brush

Foundation: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Medium Dark

Concealer: MAC Studio Finish

Powder: none

Blusher: NARS Multiple in Orgasm and NARS Luster over top

Bronzer: NARS Casino

Highlighter: Dior Amber Diamond

Eyeshadow Base: Two Faced Shadow Insurance

Eyeshadows: MAC Softbrown and MAC pigment in Naked

Eyeliner: MAC Blacktrack Fluidline

Mascara: Benefit Bad Gal

Lipstick: MAC High Tea

Lipgloss: MAC Moonstone Lip Gelée

Nail Colour: Essie Fiji and OPI Mod About You

Perfume/Scent: Marc Jacobs Daisy and Miss Dior Cherie

Purple Mermaid Manicure

I really don't like having bare nails. And since I have so many nail polishes, that I'll never use in this lifetime, I decided to paint my nails yet again this morning. 

Sephora by OPI has to be one of my favorite brands of nail polish but at $9 a bottle I don't have many. I do however pick up the gift sets because they are a bargain. While shopping for the infamous Metro Chic awhile back I stumbled upon a gift set with Metro Chic, Domestic Goddess, and A True Romantic. I snatched it right up and fell in love with all the colors. 

In this photo, I layered two coats of Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess with one coat of Sinful Colors Let Me Go. The result is a lovely medium purple iridescent with green-y teal-y duochrome. It is very difficult photograph well but I captured some of its beauty on my thumb nail. It reminds me of mermaids and it's gorgeous!

Happy Birthday!!!

We had a little BBQ for my husband's birthday last night and I just wanted to share a picture of my hubby lighting his candles. I love him so much. I'll keep the mushy-ness to a minimum and leave it at that.

Look at how bright his cake is! By the way, I decorated it myself with blue gel. Pastry chef in the making? ^___^

Products I've used in February

Shampoo: Head and Shoulders
Conditioner: Aussie 3 Min Miracle and Pantene Pro-V
Styling Products: Aquage Beyond Shine 
Shower Gel: Lush Kiehls Coriander and Dove 
Body Moisturizer : Lollia Cabbage Rose & Citrus

Deodorant: Secret
Face Wash: Cetaphil (Target brand) and Aveeno Clear Complexion Cleansing Pads
Exfoliator: Clarisonic
Primer: None
Foundation Brush: MAC 182 Kabuki brush
Foundation: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Medium Dark
Concealer: MAC Studio Finish
Powder: none
Blusher: NARS Luster, Madly, Taj Mahal and Benefit Coralista
Bronzer: NARS Casino
Highlighter: Dior Amber Diamond
Eyeshadow Base: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Eyeshadows: MAC Satin Taupe & MAC Embark
Eyeliner: MAC Smolder and Stila Smudgeproof in Stingray
Mascara: Prestige My Biggest Lashes
Lipstick: MAC High Tea
Lipgloss: Revlon Colorburst in Peony
Nail Colour: Zoya Robyn, Jolene, & Dana and OPI Teenage Dream
ATM 3/3 MAC Formidable from Venomous Villains (changes every two days)
Perfume/Scent: Marc Jacobs Daisy

*Post your Feburary products too! I'd love to see what you've been using.


*Got the layout and idea from my friend Chrissy. Check out her blog, she's FABULOUS!!! ChrissyDee1011

Beauty is Relative

Besides jewelry, I have a passion for makeup and all things beauty related. I want to start posting reviews of stuff that I've tried, the good, the bad, and everything in between. I'm even open to doing a few tags. Let me know if there is anything you'd like to see here.

Give me an inch, I'll take a millimeter?

As soon as I got into this jewelry making whirlwind I realized I needed to measure stuff. I knew I had ruler somewhere in my house that was nicely stamped with my childhood chicken scratch. I finally found one, blew the dust off of it, and I was morphed back into a four foot nothing kid with light brown hair, and a true disdain for boys.

I stared down at the ruler thinking and probably said out loud, "Which ones millimeter?" I yelled for my husband and asked him. He was just as clueless as I was. We both drew our weapons of mass destruction out, our iPhones, and clicked on a measuring app. We came to the conclusion that one inch was exactly 25.4 millimeters, which of course I knew all along. He dug out before I could burden him with more jewelry talk.

As a kid in school, I always knew what a centimeter was, what an inch was, but somehow I guess millimeter slipped my growing mind. I think it could have been too many macaroni and glue projects, or being poisoned with the awful cafeteria food, or maybe it was one too many tether balls to the head. But what's funny is that in school I would always challenge the teachers with the one declarative question that I take back and swallow now.

"Why in the world am I going to need to know this when I'm an adult?" 

Anddd..... now I know. Duh.

Let the obsession begin

It all started on Valentine's Day of this year. My husband and I had planned a fun-filled day that ended up being the total opposite. We planned to watch a movie but soon realized that nothing of interest was currently playing. After being let down by Costco and their seafood or lack thereof, we decided to give up and get  pizza from local joint. While my husband stood in line and ordered our fancy schmancy dinner I ran into a bead store located across the mall to see if anything sparked my interest. That was when the heavens opened up and shined down on me. I was amazed by all this tiny shop had to offer. I was like a kid in a candy store. My mind started to overflow with creativity and I knew I had to dive in head first. But as my luck this Valentine's Day would have it the shops registers were down and they were going to be closing in a few minutes. Although I was a little bummed, I walked out of the store with a bounce in my step. I then proceeded to yak my husband's ear off about all the amazing things I've stumbled upon. And how I "needed" all of these tools, wires, beads, pendants, etc. and that I needed them ASAP!!! After falling asleep and letting that disappointing day wash away, I awoke the next morning and immediately started Google-ing anything and everything jewelry! I left my husband at home to do the laundry and headed back to the bead store. Armed with my mother in law and little to no knowledge on subject, I took the unknown head on. I knew I wanted to start off with one type of jewelry so I started with bracelets. I must have asked the employee about a million and two questions. Two hours and a bill of $140 later, I still walked out with a hunger for more, because apparently that's not enough. I was so excited. I drove home and couldn't wait to start imagining, designing, creating. That night I made my husband a black onyx bead bracelet with a sterling silver cross charm on it. He loved it and was amazed at how fast I caught on.

Since then I've been completely and utterly obsessed and in love. I now have six different bracelets in my mother's store hoping to find a home soon. Yes, I love that maybe soon I'll actually sell one, that would be so amazingly cool, but for me it's more than just that. It has reignited something in me. Something I've been itching to get out, and sometimes nothing feels quite as good as scratching an itch.

Here are a few more of my designs:

 "Black Swan" 

"Golden Hamsa"

"Bleu Lotus"