Happy Holidays, Y'all!

So I hope all of y'all had a great holiday season/are still having one (I'm counting New Years!). For the first year in a while, we had Christmas at my uncle's house instead of ours, which was kind of a relief, not going to lie.

 

 I want to name these bad boys, but I don't know if my uncle would approve. I guess I don't have to tell him, right?

 I got to see my cousin's kids, who are the little lights of my life. The three-year-old asked me for help drawing a shark (because that's what big sister was doing), so I asked her if she was scared of sharks. She said no, so I asked her what she would do if she saw one. She replied, "I would feed it. Sharks are always hungry because nobody feeds them", in that self-assured way only very small children have. Did I mention she's the cutest thing? However, I now have to make a dozen reindeer cookies for her big sister when we get back from a mini vacation to the coast. And I've been recruited to do their nails for their next dance recital, thanks to my rhinestone-bedecked Christmas mani!

That magnificent book in the back is Jenny Lawson's (The Bloggess) Let's Pretend This Never Happened and also proof that my hint/threats about seeing a dead (ethically taxidermied) mouse under the tree worked.

I used Julep Delauney and Sienna, and my rhinestones from Born Pretty. I got Sienna in my Julep New Year's Mystery Box-if you want to check that out, as well as some photo blurbs from Christmas, look after the break!

Ice Queen

Another day, another mani using Shine Of The Times. I like the colors together, but I had some smudging problems...and I'm changing it in time for Christmas Day anyways.

It took FOREVER to get my watermark app to work, but tomorrow night there will be a post on my bangin' Christmas mani. Trust me, it's awesome.

Colors Used: Julep Piper, Essie Shine Of The Times

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Today, I baked. I baked and I baked and then I baked some more, and our house smelled like gingerbread and chocolate and amazingness.  And tomorrow I'm going to bake EVEN MORE. This year we're gifting cookie tins, so I got a little creative. However, I did the opposite with my nails:

I didn't want to risk anything falling off into the dough and between baking and dishes, I knew it wouldn't last long anyways. It's already chipped off on a couple of nails as of right now!

Colors Used: Julep Jodie, Essie Shine of the Times

One Day, Baby, We'll Be Old

Quick little post of Hipstamatic shots from ze week!

 Oh, my room is a mess! My supposed-to-be-walk-in-closet is mostly storage...so now my room is full of Christmas boxes and stuff and I can't take a wider shot.

 Forever 21 Shirt/Levi's 535 Jegging in Black/Belt: Marshall's

 DIY Earrings/DIY Bracelets/AE Necklace/James Avery Ring

It went from rainy and cold, back to warm, and the allllll the way to super burr this week. The joy of living in Texas, I suppose. At least I got these shots!

Just a tiny collage of yesterday's accessories. Outfit wasn't anything exciting, just my black 535s and a chambray shirt. Gotta love that knockoff YSL!

Ring: Ebay/Purse:Urban Outfitters/Pashmina: French Market in NOLA

Title: Asaf Avidan, One Day. I'm obsessed with this song right now.

Studs on Studs on Studs

Now that I'm on the stud train, I'm never getting off. Except for next week, when I have an exciting rhinestone Christmas mani planned, of course. I picked up the base color last week at Walgreens after getting an extra-intense retina exam, when my eyes were SO dilated I couldn't even focus. Of course that still didn't stop me from buying some new polish. Miraculously, I didn't pick up a color I already own! Sinful Colors Nova is a purple/black in the bottle, but on the nails it's more of a black with blue and turquoise micro-glitter, and it really does look a little like a galaxy in a bottle. It had a bit of a thick formula though, and was really prone to color smudging when removing with polish remover. However, it did come off my cuticles magically quick when I did my go-to clean-up of taking a super hot shower...I'm lazy, what can I say?

Oof, looking at that picture reminds me I need to clean my vanity. It was my grandma's, and decades of wear and tear mean lots of scratches that my makeup just finds its way into! I'm just kind of scared that if I polish it, Lulu will slide all over and ultimately knock my makeup/tchotchkes off and break them. Guess we'll find out!

Glitter & Studs

Last night I was holed up in my room, so I got productive and did my nails, so instead of just watching Sherlock for the millionth time I was also being blog-productive! I ordered these studs from Born Pretty Store when I got the rhinestones I used for my Christmas tree mani, and haven't used them yet because I've been lazy, oops. This is also a new bottle of Golden-I, probably my third since I started doing my nails regularly a couple of years ago. What can I say, I love this color!

The studs were surprisingly easy to work with, but I did have some problems with keeping them even...probably more to do with me than anything else. I used an orange stick, dipped in a little top coat to make it sticky, to pick them up and place them in the still-wet second coat of Coral Reef. Two coats of Seche later, they stuck for days!

Colors Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I and Coral Reef

Festive Garland Mani

When my Christmas tree mani chipped off, I decided to keep going with the Christmas thing and used my dotting tool to try and make little garlands on my nails, with some success! I did underestimate how much space I would need/how big the dots would be (still not a dotting tool pro), but the overall effect was fun.

Colors Used: Julep Popova, Mischa, and Isla, Sally Hansen Golden-I

Teeny Tiny Christmas Tree Mani

Mine isn't as cool as my inspiration over at Pshiiit, but I still think it's pretty snazzy. I'm not sure how I feel about the base color-it's a little more olive than gold in some light. Maybe another coat of Seche Vite will make them a little shinier?

Sorry it's Instagram-ed!

Colors Used: China Glaze Angel Wings, Julep Popova, Julep Mischa

Rhinestone from: Born Pretty Store

Autumn Tones

More Shine of the Times fun for y'all! Not the best picture, but still.

Colors used: Sinful Colors Mercury Rising, Essie Shine of the Times

5 Minute Earring DIY

It's the holidays! Exciting, right? This is just a super-quick DIY, literally 5 minutes, three materials, and completely adorable. I threw these together after finding some glittery seaside-themed buttons at Hobby Lobby I just couldn't pass up.

1. Clip the actual button-y part off the button.

2. Place a dollop of E6000 glue on the back of the button.

4. Press the stud into the glue and let dry, at least overnight.

Total cost was way under $5 and there are tons of options for everyone's personal style. These would also make great stocking stuffers on a budget.