My NYE Nails... Black, Silver, & Blue Glitter Manicure

My New Year's Eve manicure is directly inspired by my NYE outfit, which is generally in this color palette, and of course, abstract rather than precise. It actually kind of reminds me of a bathing suit I had in the 80's, which I loved, obviously ;) I was originally leaning towards black with blue only but the blue glitter wasn't popping on the black background as much as I liked, so I had to get creative. I have to admit that I LOVE Sonia Kashuk metallic nail polishes. This black lacquer has fine silver shimmer to it and the silver metallic just goes on so easily and perfectly in one coat, it doesn't get any better, especially for the price.

Here's what I used...

* Sonia Kashuk "Starry Night" {used for my Seismograph Manicure as well}
* Sonia Kashuk "Smoke & Mirrors" {silver metallic}
* Essie "Stroke of Brilliance"

Here's how I did it...

* First, paint two coats of black shimmer polish and let dry.



* Next apply three quick swipes of your sliver metallic starting at the base of your nail and sweeping upwards. *TIP: allow most of the polish to drip off your brush to get the "dry brush" effect. Let dry.

* * TIP: if you paint too much, add a little black in between to create edges. Note my pinky nail above w/a bit too much silver and below, how I fixed it.



* Finish with your blue glitter polish that doubles as a top coat. Apply as much or as little glitter as you like, or only to certain areas. Get creative ;)

Voila! Voila!

If this one's not for you, try one of these...

* click the thumbnails for full tutorials *

  

  


* Find all of my Nail Art Tutorials Here *

Happy New Year's Eve!

* Be safe. Have tons of fun! Cheers!

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My InstaLife : Week 12/23-29 in Photos

My Instagram from the week.

I cannot stop taking photos of the natural beauty around us, especially on snow days. I know people have been living in places where it snows for centuries, but this is all so new to us and I just can't get used the beauty of it all... and I hope I never do. But in the mean time, I also hope that I'm not boring you with my photos and excitement.



After about a week without snow, it finally came down quick and hard yesterday afternoon and covered everything around us in a thick puffy white layer of gorgeousness within a few hours. We got all bundled up to take a walk and on our way home, I slipped and fell so quickly that I didn't know what had happened until I looked up from the ground, my head and body covered in snow... laughing. It's hard not to laugh when you fall. It's just a complete outer body experience that wakes you up and puts you right in the moment and really is one of the funniest things ever. While I was a little sore from the fall, the husband and I replayed it about a million times throughout the remainder of the day and laughed harder each time we thought about it.


 

 
1. The husband got me a 2000 piece puzzle for Christmas and since this week was a little difficult to get into work mode, I decided a puzzle was the way to go. However, it didn't keep me from feeling guilty about not working and/or staring outside at the snowfall.
2. Walking in a winter wonderland outfit post a favorite so far
3. The husband carrying a salt bag to our car... so cute ;)
4. The lake near sunset


 

 

5. The Christmas tree in our master bedroom
6. Coloring fun with Delilah on Christmas Day
7. LeRoy using his new doggy dog toy as a pillow
8. The trees outside our house on Christmas day... as soon as most of the snow melts away from everything, it snows again and covers it all just as quickly. Have I mentioned how much I love living here?


 
9. We have been stopping by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory once a week to stock up on chocolates and these are by far my favorites; dark chocolate covered peanut clusters... I ate them for breakfast a few times last week as a Christmas treat!
10. A favorite Vogue cover from November 2006 {I haven't quite finished unpacking just yet :/}

Happy Sunday!

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

What I'm Wearing...

* Nico super skinny jeans c/o Hudson {last year... seen here}
* Soft pink blouse by Zoe & Sam from GILT also seen here
* Gray boxy sweater by Madewell
* Old knit leg warmers {YAY FOR LEG WARMERS!}
* Sabrina Embossed pink bag c/o Kooba {from last year}
* old gray boots by RoseGold via GILT
* Vintage charcoal gray coat I've had forever... see it here
* Gray slouchy fur hat {that I thought was faux fur when I bought it but it's really REALLY warm and I love it} by Bop Basics {see my winter hats post here}
* Lumete sunglasses


Have I mentioned how much fun I am having getting dressed for this cold and snowy weather?!?! I'm sure I have ;) It's just so different and so much fun, so I'll leave it at that. Apologies for the outfit photo overloads, I have an editing problem, obviously.

** You should know that I immediately started slipping on the ice that was hiding underneath the layer of snow when we were shooting these photos.... and then I changed my heeled boots to flat ones before leaving the house. Wearing heels in the ice is just straight cray.

Happy Friday Lovecats!

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This and That... on Christmas

I have to admit that I'm not having the easiest time getting back to work after the holidays. And being that we just moved, I wish I could just take a few weeks off and say See ya after the new year! But I feel the pressure mounting. It's lame really. I'm lucky that I don't have a boss telling me I "have" to work but on the other hand, the boss inside my head won't shut up either! I'm trying to work through my funk today and it's not going very well. But I will say that we had a lovely Christmas, though I didn't really get any family photos. Sometimes I want to just enjoy the moment without documenting every single second of it, but I end up regretting it later when I have nothing to show for it and the moment is over. Can you see/feel my inner battle today? I think it's best to just leave my computer. But before I do, I'll share with you just a few tidbits of our day...

As you can see above, I hung my DIY word art canvases and I love them in the new house. I didn't think they were going to make the cut actually and was thinking about doing a giveaway for them. But I love them here... for now anyway. {You can see them in our old dining room here}

I used a tablecloth I found at Crate & Barrel a few years ago with a mix of new white dishes and vintage blue and white China my mom passed down to me. The blue dishes work so perfectly in the new house, I wish I could use them every day!




Since the new house is not fully pulled together just yet, my creativity for a centerpiece was lacking but I actually love the simplicity of it. I used a few brown paper trees I found at Michaels with a few old white trees, blue water glasses and simple Calvin Klein champagne flutes, and called it a day.






Unfortunately it didn't snow on Christmas or Christmas Eve but it made it easier for family to drive up without worrying about the weather conditions. Of course the very next morning we woke up to snow. I love it when it snows here. The first thing I do in the morning is look out the window for snow.




The husband cooked an amazing dinner... {I stole this shot from his iPhone}



Oh! Gifts! This is what the husband got me for Christmas... a gorgeous infinity ring with champagne diamonds all the way around set in rose gold from Cynthia Wolff, of course. It's so pretty and sparkly in person, I'm so lucky to add it to my collection.





A few more random Christmas decorations...



The small, faux tree in our master bedroom... {love}



Front door wreath...



We don't have a mantel, so the stockings hung on the stairs... {and in our master}




Hope you had a wonderful holiday and lovely Christmas.

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Happy-Happy, Merry-Merry, Christmas to YOU! {from us}

Wishing you and yours Warm and Happy Holidays and a Very Merry Christmas!

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram until Wednesday afternoon.

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