Work it, girl!

Time off does the mind some good!

I'm home right now to celebrate the holiday and my brother's 16th birthday tomorrow. It's so enjoyable to have company (I live by myself...which gets very very boring) and I always enjoy spending time with my family. I've mowed the lawn, had lunch with my mom, seen my boyfriend, and spent more than a few hours sipping wine and watching the entire Game of Thrones series with my sister! My nails of the day look like this:

You can see a tad around the edge of my index finger that my nails were painted white originally. I have to say, adding the lighter salmon-pink polish over the white polish really made it stand out!!

An occasion to di(amond) for!

Yesterday night the families got together to officially celebrate the engagement of Steph and Matt. It was at this beautiful mansion called the Bella Tori and the food was mmmmm so good! It was nice to see Matt's side of the family and catch up with them. I hadn't seen them in a while. I was in charge of the favors so my mom and I devised a plan for diamond decorated cupcakes. That's what inspired my manicure too! For this I used China Glaze First Mate for the base, Zoya Trixie for the diamond, and a rhinestone.

The cupcakes were vanilla with pink buttercream icing accented with a diamond decoration on top and served in a peek-a-boo box (so you could see the diamond) with a seal and message. They were a big hit and everyone loved the idea. I do believe I heard whispering of Matt's mom using the idea for another occasion in fact! What can I say, my family lives to inspire. Also, since it was on my Aunt's birthday I wanted to incorporate something to celebrate that too so I used some pink striped cupcake liners I had from a present she had given me a year or so ago. They went perfectly with the pink of the icing! Anyway, to the photos:

A quick post for today to say Happy Birthday!

Today is my Auntie Les' birthday! When I was younger I would always remember her birthday because it was double mine: my birthday is the 11th and hers is the 22nd. Anyway, I hope she has a special day full of birthday cheer and family fun! I'm thinking of you all and missing you very much! Love you Cali fam!

For these I used Zoya Trixie (a present from my law school buddy for my birthday!!) and OPI Flit A Bit.

MAYhem: CoverGirl #285

How much do you love this blue?! Seriously, it just might be one of my favorites I've ever gotten. Unfortunately I don't actually know the name of this polish so I just go by the number #285. Does Cover Girl  name their polishes? Anyway, it's gorgeous and a perfect spring color because it's whimsical and festive. It makes your nails pop and is extremely eye-catching....so for a polish fiend like me it's a must have!

MAYhem: Ciate Fade to Greige

Take a look at today's MAYhem polish: Ciate's Fade to Greige. It's a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous purple gray. I'm suddenly getting way into purple nail polish for this spring and I'm also getting into this brand. Fade to Greige is one the polishes from my Christmas Haul Ciate Advent Calendar thing. I love it and it seems chip-resistant even without a top coat so I'm debating on whether or not to even use my Seche Vite.

MAYhem: Ninja Nails

Watch out or these nails will sneak up on you! I'm calling them ninjas but I suppose they could also pass for nuns too. Some people have been doing border nail designs where you paint the whole nail one color and then the border another color but I wanted to do something a bit more.

For this I just used ULTA It's Nude to Me and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

MAYhem: Nicole by OPI Freshly Squeezed

Today's Nail Polish MAYhem post is Nicole by OPI Freshly Squeezed. This is the only Nicole by OPI polish in my collection but I always check them out when I'm see them at Target and Beautyland. Nicole has the best collaborations with celebrities (think Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Kardashians, etc) and the greatest colors. This one was given to me by my mom to try out and I have to say I really like the bottle and the color. It took a few (3-4) coats to become opaque and honestly I prefer a super thick opaque polish in 1-2 coats but the color is so vibrant and fun, it's perfect for summer (sort of like International Flare by China Glaze).

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to mommas everywhere....especially mine!!! I hope you all got treated to a Mother's Day Manicure or at least some form of pampering and that you took it easy today, spending time with family and enjoying a nice Sunday. I was thinking about my mom today since I couldn't see her (I have my last final tomorrow for Property and needed to stay here to study and prepare) and if  you're wondering where my polish habit comes from it's a funny story. My mom used to keep a large basket of nail polish in her master bathroom and I used to steal some and polish my nails....so that's where it comes from! Thanks Mom for always kick-starting and fueling my hobbies!! I hope you had a great day with "a puud and a pud" (the other "puud" spent today cramming her head full of property law and thinking about you!

It just might be BIRTHDAY TIME!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEE!

Yep, this girl is turning one year older today! And as part of one of my fantastic presents I got the coolest manicure kit from Ciate! It's a chalkboard nails kit and it comes with a chalkboard black base coat (to the right!), four "chalk" pens, and a matte top coat sealer. Seriously, the base coat is incredible. It actually dries to the texture of a chalkboard and everything. Then you have four fancy pens in pink, blue, white, and yellow that are like "chalk" and you use them to draw. How neat?!

This is what I created with the new Ciate kit!