Birthday Manicure

Tags

birthday, glitter, manicure, Milani, nail polish, Revlon, Sinful Colors

I came up with this fun little manicure for my birthday and it’s absolutely one of my favorites of the last few months. It came together so nicely!

Supplies Used:

• Sinful Colors’ Cinderella – this color has been hyped on a lot of nail polish blogs and I do have to say it’s lovely. It took a few coats, but it’s so pretty in the sun.
• Revlon’s Gold Coin – this is my favorite metallic currently. In fact, I have it on my nails now as an accent to Essie’s Fear or Desire (which I got for free as a Klout perk!) and it’s a pretty fab combo.
• Milani Jewel FX in Gems – this is another new-to-me cruelty free drug store brand that I bought on impulse and I was very happy with the results! A fun multi-color glitter.

Outfit Post: Cool Spring Day

Tags

China Glaze, Etsy, Forever 21, Lip Butters, manicure, outfit post, Sinful Colors

Last week I went by a few shops to pick up a couple things for spring. This top was one of my favorite finds! The shape is my new favorite and the print on this one’s super cute. As tends to happen in spring in Southern California, the weather goes back and forth pretty quickly between super hot and fairly chilly. The past couple of days have been on the chilly side, so this outfit was perfect.

Sunday Funday: Mermaid Manicure

Tags

Color Club, cruelty free, cruelty free products, manicure, mermaid, nail polish, Sinful Colors, Sunday Funday

So I realize I’ve been writing quite a bit about nail polish lately, but it’s just so fun! Case in point: this gorgeous color from Color Club. I spotted it at Rite Aid and figured I’d give it a try. Imagine my surprise when it was better than I ever could’ve imagined and may just be the nail polish I’ve been looking for my entire life without realizing it.

To give this manicure even more oomph, I decided to accent my ring fingers with the practically corresponding glitter color that I also picked up, Sinful Colors’ Nail Junkie:

So fun, right? These two look like they were made for each other and when I got a good look at that shimmer, I couldn’t help but think of mermaids.

I tried to get a couple good shots of the finished product, but it’s honestly tough to capture in a photo just how shimmery and fantastic this is! Plus for $7 total for the two polishes, it’s loads cheaper than going out and getting a professional manicure. Winner! Also great? Color Club is not only cruelty free, but vegan as well and Sinful Colors is also a cruelty free brand. Guilt free & gorgeous. <3

Treat Yo’ Self: Nail Polish Haul

Tags

cruelty free, cruelty free products, Essie, manicure, nail polish, Sinful Colors, treat yo self

It’s no secret that I’m a nail polish fan. After all, the above is currently sitting on my bathroom counter and there are plenty more bottles tucked away in a drawer. I’ve been an avid Essie fan for quite some time, but a couple things have given me pause lately: 1. the price tag. $8 a pop adds up quickly. 2. I recently read that Essie’s been bought by L’Oreal (which I suppose explains why they’re suddenly everywhere), which breaks my heart because L’Oreal is a company that still does animal testing.

While the products in the Essie line aren’t tested on animals, it comes down to the ethical dilemma of supporting a parent company that does. It’s eternally difficult for me to decide whether supporting a company’s animal and eco-friendly brand sends a message that the consumer wants more of those standards or if it’s just further supporting bad practices. It’s a tough decision.

Enter Sinful Colors! At $2 a pop, 3-Free (aka Toluene, formaldehyde & DBP free), and cruelty-free, I may have a new favorite on my hands. I picked up (from left to right) Rise & Shine, 24/7, Dream On, Thimbleberry, and Let’s Talk. Yes, I also picked up Essie’s Shine of the Times – I’ve been lusting over it for months and haven’t been able to find a good dupe.

So far, I’ve tried two of the colors and I’m pretty darn happy with them! They’re true to the color in the bottle and while they dry a bit matte, I always use a top coat anyway, which shines it right up. Overall, I’d say you are absolutely getting more than your $2 worth for that little bottle.

I currently have Rise & Shine on my fingers with some little freestyle flowers. Such a fun spring combination and I love this green! Plus I got great coverage with only two coats, something I can’t say for a lot of Essie’s polishes.

This is the combination I currently have on my toes. Dream On is hard to capture in a photo – it’s much richer than this would indicate, almost a neon fuchsia. These two together are pretty ridiculous and I absolutely love it.

I’m glad to have found another brand that fits my ethical standards as well as my aesthetic ones! I may be switching my loyalties to Sinful Colors and China Glaze (another cruelty free brand). It just gives me more fun colors to discover!

Things I Heart

Tags

links, Mad Men, music, polaroid, The Hunger Games, typewriter

Custom Royal Futura Turquoise via Fab.com: This refurbished 1960s typewriter is so ridiculously fantastic. It is, sadly, way out of my price range, but that doesn’t mean I can’t lust over all the super pretty offerings from Kasbah Mod.

Zou Bisou Bisou on vinyl: Anyone who watched last Sunday’s season opener of Mad Men knows that one of the standout moments was when Megan Draper sang this song to Don at his surprise party. Well apparently, that version was actually recorded by the actress who plays Megan, Jessica Paré and it’s being sold on iTunes as well as on vinyl via Insound. Pretty far out, I must say.

Nerd Lacquer: Oh Etsy, you truly have the best stuff. For instance: this fantastic collection of gorgeous sci-fi-inspired nail polishes. Oh yes, you read that right. The shop’s on hiatus at the moment because apparently orders got so backed up that she had to close temporarily until they’re fulfilled. With colors as as pretty and fun as I Aim To Misbehave, Event Horizon, and All of Time and Space, it’s easy to see why.

Polaroid Z340 via Photojojo: This isn’t your average Polaroid! The Polaroid Z340 prints photos instantly, with or without the classic Polaroid border. However, it’s also a 14 megapixel digital camera that saves the images as you take them, allows you to crop and edit before printing (if you so choose), and even allows for uploading of images you have stored on your computer for printing. As Meli said, “mama wants.”

Links I Heart:

• Hunger Games Themed Party via Miss Melificent: Meli knocked it out of the park with her awesome Hunger Games party!
• DIY Starfish Hairclips via Tiny Tangerines: So so cute!
• Hunger Games’ Success and What It Means for Female Action Films via The Mary Sue: Hopefully it means quite a lot!
• 25 Great Superheroine Moments via She Has No Head! This makes me want to seek out so many of these storylines. Great stuff.
• Batwoman Cover 10 via JH Williams: Mr. Williams shares his process for the fabulous cover art for the tenth issue of Batwoman. I love seeing how it goes from start to finish.
• Racist Hunger Games Fans are Very Disappointed via Jezebel: Just to be clear, I don’t actually heart this. I think it’s awful, but it’s definitely something people should be aware of. This reaction absolutely baffles me. Further reading: yes, the poor girl knows about this and an interesting look at the issue from MovieBob.