Wintery Sky Nail Tutorial

Hello Hello! It is pretty gloomy and chilly outside, so I decided to stay in. I realized I haven't done my nails for a long while, so I decided to do a wintery color scheme. Plus, I really wanted to try China Glaze "Secret Peri-wink-le" out.  Hope you enjoy the tutorial!

First, I started out with clean bare nails.

Next, I brushed on one coat of China Glaze "Secret Peri-wink-le" & let dry.

After your first coat has dried, brush on another coat to create a more solid/opaque pop of color!

Then, brush on an iridescent glittery polish about halfway up the nail ( I used "Last Friday Night" from OPI's Katy Perry Collection).

Lastly, I used Art Club nail art lacquer in "Solid Silver" to paint on some simple designs, but you can always use a toothpick/thinner brush and a silver polish to create the same effects :)

I didn't put on a top coat this time, but on a normal basis, I would in order to keep the polish from chipping.

Hope you like and let me know below what are some of your favorite winter shades!

Note: Products used in this tutorial were purchased with my own money.

Cute November Finds!

I know I am probably a bit behind on posting my cute finds for November, but I figured some of you may still be on the lookout for possible Christmas/holiday present ideas. These are some items that I found on Black Friday or cute purchases I made as I was Christmas shopping for friends and family.

First item on my list of cute finds was...

a pink PS3 controller! This was something that I wanted to pick up since I purchased my PS3 on Black Friday of last year, but couldn't push myself to make the plunge until Black Friday weekend of this year. I was able to pick it up for approximately $35.00, but normally it runs for $45.00 to $55.00. However, for the more girly gamers out there, I think this would definitely make a cute Christmas gift.

The next item I purchased was...

the Charmed Life Bath & Body Works gift set. I thought the polka dot bag was adorable and the products inside are nice and colorful. I picked this up at bathandbodyworks.com for about $12.00. Sadly, I don't get to keep this for myself :P since this will be gifted.

Along with the gift set, I also purchased some travel-sized lotions that I think would make cute stocking stuffers...

These are some of the more non-traditional scents that Bath & Body Works has, but I thought the packaging was pretty. I believe they currently run for less than $3.00 for the travel-sized. However, since it is the holiday season they have a lot of deals at the moment.

 For someone that has a lot of jewelry, I think this would make a very cute gift. I'm not very organized in my jewelry and my necklaces tend to get all tangled up. However, this definitely helps to keep them organized (no the number of necklaces pictured is not all I own :P) and the design is lovely. I purchased this from TJMaxx for about $10.00!

Lastly, if you know someone that has a hard time with makeup organization, this might make a nice gift. I purchase this acrylic cosmetics organizer for myself from Amazon (link) for $20.00 a while back and it is able to hold a large portion of the makeup I brought with me to school. Very sturdy and definitely a good buy!

Hopefully, this helps give you some ideas for possible holiday gifts. Not fully done with gift shopping yet, so if you all have ideas to share, I'd appreciate the help and follow if you like what you see :)

 Note: Products were purchased with my own money and the reviews are 100% my own.

Delicious Home Cookin'!

I had the opportunity to go home for Thanksgiving Break and it was really nice to be able to spend time with my family. Another perk, was the delicious foods my mom and dad made for Thanksgiving Day. Although it was non-traditional, it was still yummmm!

My mom made mashed potatoes(by hand), red cabbage/cilantro mixed with sesami oil & salt, mixed veggies and brown gravy(made with soy sauce o.o, but was tasty).

Baked sweet potato with cinnamon and pecans.

 Lastly, my dad made his specialty, duck, with his own seasonings(delish ^___^)!

This is what we normally do as a family for Thanksgiving. What fun traditions do you all have for the holidays?

BH Cosmetics: Palette Reviews and Swatches

Hi everyone! Finals week has arrived at school and I have been bombarded with exams and projects. However, I did make a purchase a while back that I have been itching to write a review on and was in the mood to do so today. As you can see in the title, I will be reviewing and swatching some palettes from BH Cosmetics (warning, this post is pic heavy)! The company always seems to have promotional codes and I figured I would invest in some palettes rather than spend so much monies on eyeshadow singles.

Without further ado ^__^ here goes!...

Above is the packaging I received the palettes in as well as the outer packaging for the palettes themselves. I was very happy at how quickly the order was shipped and received.

Shiny plastic outer packaging for all three eyeshadow palettes. On the inside, all three palettes come with a mirror and some double sided disposable eyeshadow applicators. I do wish this came matte though since after a while, your fingerprints show (I tried to be careful, but I think you can see an example of this on the bottom of the case in this pic :(.) 

Just to give you a measure on how large each of the shadows are.

The 88 Standard Matte Palette in natural light.

Closest true to color picture I could get of the 88 Standard Matte Palette. Love how the colors are so vibrant and that there is such a wide variety!

Some random color swatches on MAC NW15 skin. Not sure why I picked these specifically.

Closest true to color picture I could get of the 88 Shimmer Palette. Color assortment is very similar to that of the 88 Matte Palette, but only difference is that these are shimmery.

I was very surprised at how pretty the colors swatched!

Closest true to color picture I could get of the 88 Neutral Palette. Again, lots of variety if you don't own that many eyeshadow shades.

Some swatches on MAC NW15 skin. I tend to wear more neutral makeup for class, so this palette definitely lets me create more professional makeup looks.

Pros

Good pigmentation

Wide variety of colors

Good starter palette

Versatility in creating varying makeup looks

Cons

Some of the shadows can be a bit chalky

Some of the eyeshadows were unevenly placed in the palette(as seen above)

Overall Rating: A-

Although the eyeshadow quality is not the best I have seen, I think this is a great buy for someone that wants to experiment with different colors or who wants to create different looks, but does not want to spend crazy amounts of money.

Note: I did read in some reviews that sometimes single eyeshadows would fall out. Although that has not happened to me as of yet, I thought I would just mention that as well.

Along with the eyeshadow palettes, I also purchased a blush palette...

10 Color Professional Blush Palette. This picture as true to color as I could take for the blush palette. I was very excited when I saw the colors in this palette!

However, when I swatched the blush colors(depicted in the same order as the colors in the palette), some colors definitely were more pigmented than others(as seen above).

Pros

Good variety in colors

Some colors come pretty pigmented

Easy portability

Affordable

Cons

Wished some of the colors were more pigmented

Overall Rating: B+

One of the major downfalls for this palette is that the blushes were not very pigmented. I really liked the variety of shades available in the palette, but it was disappointing when the colors were so pretty in the palette and did not swatch the same way on my hand. However, if you are someone that applies blushes with a heavy hand, this palette might turn out to be very good for you and for the amount you pay, you get a lot of colors to play around with.

Hopefully, this review was helpful! Post below if you have questions at all and since the holiday season is here, let me know if any of you find any cute gift ideas. I have a lot of girl cousins(ranging in all ages) and would definitely appreciate the help in brainstorming!

 Note: Products were purchased with my own money and the reviews are 100% my own.