I'm Baaaaack!!

I'm finally back to blogging again! It has been entirely too long and I have seriously missed it!

 

For today's post I have a couple of different looks for you as well as a mani and pedi. First, the mani, I used OPI's San Tan-Tonio as the base color. Once that dried I took black rhinestones and lined them down the middle of each finger. Here's how they turned out:

 

 

 

This mani was so simple and fast and I absolutely love it! Alex and I were going out with a couple of friends that night and I wanted to have something on my nails that was a little more fancy than I normally do. I think it went perfectly with my outfit and I literally did them in less than an hour!

 

 

Next we have a pedi that I did a few weeks ago for Valentine's Day. For my base I used Confetti's First Kiss ( which I found to be totally appropriate for V-day). I then used clear rhinestones and made a half moon shape with them on both my big toes and then on the rest I did a single rhinestone on the base and in the middle. Here is how those turned out:

 

I really liked this pedicure because it was simple yet classy and of course I loved the little bling it added!

Next I have a couple different outfit looks that I put together and wanted to share.

For the first look I paired skinny jeans with a white tank top and a black fitted blazer over that. To add a little extra something I added my leopard print infinity scarf as well as my leopard flats. For the accessories I paired the outfit with my gold watch as well as a few different bracelets in the same color family to match the outfit - so blacks, golds, & even some brown.

 

I love this look for a day at the office or even for going out shopping with your girls. It's simple to put together and very comfortable. A blazer over any t-shirt helps to put an outfit together without any effort.

 

My next look is very similar, just spiced up a bit with some wedges. For this outfit I wore skinnies again and rolled the bottoms, then wore a loose fitting racer back blouse. Over my blouse I wore a brown loose fitting sweater and to finish it off used another leopard print scarf. For my shoes I chose a camel brown wedge that helped add a pop of color with the yellow around the trim of the shoe.

I really liked this outfit, but next time think I would pair it was a brown leather jacket and also use a scarf that had more color in it, maybe even yellow to help the shoes to pop a little bit more. Overall, I did like the outfit, but would make a few tweaks.

For tomorrow's post I will be posting a review of a couple different make up companies that I use and also possibly a makeup tutorial if time permits.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Tuesday and it feels great to be back!

 

XoXo Brit

ABC Challenge - B is for Bows

Did everyone love my post?? It was supposed to show last night, but for some reason it didn't Publish... maybe I just didn't hit the button.

I am again a couple days late for the ABC Challenge, not starting out well am I? I debated for a long time as to what I was going to do for the letter B. First, I was going to do blue, then I thought bubbles, then I thought blue AND bubbles, but because of my procrastination someone got to it first. :( I decided to go with a tried and true... bows. I know I've already posted two other manicures with my rhinestone bows, but I just LOVE them so much and I've really been wanting to do a mani with this lilac colored bow. For the nail polish I used Julep's Toni then placed a bow on both ring fingers. Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These rhinestones never fail me! They are an easy go to and just add that extra something.

 

On another note, Alex and I ran to Walgreens to pick me up some more medicine because I'm sick as a dog, and I saw these Essie Sleek Stick nail appliques. Can I just say that they have the most amazingly cute designs, unfortunately Alex told me I could only get one (someone has to keep me under control!) so here's what I chose:

 

 

Of course I had to take my polish off and re-do my mani! Duh! (just channeled my inner valley girl)

 

 

I definately love how they turned out, but I must say I am still a huge fan of my imPRESS nails since I feel that they are more adherent and 'protect' your natural nail more. Also with the Essie nail appliques I feel like they would lift a lot easier and peel when they got wet, whether it be showering or washing your hands. I will check back in tomorrow to update on how well they last through the day. Overall, very cute cute designs and easy manicure for a night out or special occassion.

 

 Hope everyone has a great Friday night!!

Xo Brit



HJCC: We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Tonight is the final day for the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and tonight's theme is We Wish You a Merry Christmas! I am so happy to to have participated in such a fun and festive challenge. It was definitely a great first challenge to be involved in.

For this challenge on all my nails I used Nicole by OPIs Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam, then on my ring and pointer finger I used Julep's Vivien gold glitter polish. On my pinky and thumb I used my gold striper polish to make it look like a present once they dried a little bit more I added a red rhinestone bow. Then on my middle finger I used my dotting tool to create a Christmas tree, I used Sinful Colors Gogo Girl. I also took a little star glitter I had from one of my rhinestone wheels and used that as my tree topper. Here's how they turned out:

Please pardon the dry cuticles, I couldn't find my cuticle oil.

I had a great time doing these and was pretty impressed with my free hand skills, clearly I'm not as good as some of these amazing ladies in the nail blogging world, but practice makes perfect. Be sure to check out how the other amazing ladies in the challenge did.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to spend time with their loved ones.

Xo Brit

Feeling A Bit Girly

For today's nails I wanted a little bit more of a girly manicure, plus I've really been wanting to use my bow rhinestones I recently got. So let's get to it!

It was a very simply manicure, I used two coats of Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet on all my nails. Once those were dry I did a coat of SV, before the topcoat fully dried I applied my bow rhinestones to my two ring fingers. Take a look:

 

Personally I love how this manicure turned out, unfortunately it didn't last long :( . I took a shower and one of the rhinestones came off in it, so there went the pretty nails.

 

That's all for tonight.

 

Xo Brit

A Little Nail Mail for the Polish Hoarders Soul

So for tonight's post I'm posting my nail mail that I received last week and over the weekend. For my first nail mail I ordered as part of Julep's 12 Days of Christmas their Gold Glamor Mystery Clutch as well as Hilary. The mystery clutch cost $29.99 and you received about $200-$300 worth of product, from what they said online. Here's what I got:

 

 

Sooo funny side note, as I was writing this post I went to go upload my first image to my post and was like, "Wow, Blogger got a new image uploader", a whole new window popped up and it just looked very weird and was a pain in the butt. Then once the picture finally loaded it was all in code, and I was like crap I don't know coding that well, how could they do that!?!? Then, here comes the big kicker, I realized I was in HTML rather than Compose. Stupid me... Now back to my Mystery Clutch.

 



Kathleen

Nora - Matte Suede Finish

Hilary, which didn't come in the Mystery Bag

Sharon

 

Contents: The gorgeous gold sequin bag, which I forgot to take a picture of. Two glitter pots. Sharon. Nora, which is a Matte Suede Finish. Kathleen. Hands and Face Lotion. Lastly Age Defying Hand Brightener.

 

For our next piece of nail mail I made a late night large order, which I didn't remember most of what I ordered, on Amazon. I haven't received the entire order yet, but here is what I have received:

 

 

 ** Above images courtesy of Amazon.com

 





 

For the image plates, they don't have a name they just are called Nail Art Stamping Image Plates and I got plates OB28, QA19, KD1 Kitty, & KD12. I also got the wheel with the pearl bow rhinestones which I am totally in L-O-V-E with and cannot wait to use them!

 

I also had some time today to do a mani so I decided I really really wanted to try out my new Julep polish, Nora, with the Matte Suede Finish. Here's how they look and excuse the short nails please as majority of them have broken! :(

 



 

 

 

 

Application of this polish was gread it went on smooth and only needed two coats, could have probably gotten away with one, but I just wanted two for good measure. I was very suprised by how well it went on and how well it dried as it was my first Matte Polish I've used. I do, however, have one small complaint. I painted my nails today in the afternoon and by the time I had gotten back to the gym they were all chipped, some of them pretty badly. I don't know if it's because I didn't use a topcoat, which I wanted to keep the matte finish. I think next time I use this polish I will seal it with a matte finish top coat for extra measure. Thoughts on this polish?

 

 

Well I think I have posted plenty of photos for one day and have written plenty so I'm off to bed. Hope you all had a great day today and are getting ready for Christmas!

 

Xo Brit



A Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

It's finally here! My first challenge and I couldn't be more excited!

Today's theme is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and I really had a hard time trying to figure out what to do, besides the obvious - a Christmas Tree... So here's what I came up with:

For my middle finger I used NYC's Broadway Burgundy Frost its a gorgeous red with small flecks of red glitter. For all my other fingers I used Wet n Wild's SaGreena the Teenage Witch, then on my ring finger I used Julep's Vivien to add some glitter and sparkle. I then took my green rhinestones I ordered on MASH Nails and used them to make a Christmas Tree and took a black stone and used that as the stump. On my pinky and pointer fingers I used Spoiled's Shuffle the Deck and took red flecks of glitter and placed them to make musical notes. I thought my nails turned out pretty cute and can't wait for next Monday's challenge, here is the schedule:

 



As Promised - Smokey Eye Tutorial

Happy Sunday Funday everyone!

As I promised last night I re-did my smokey eye tutorial. So here it is with a twist! I cannot for the life of me get the video uploader on Blogger to work so thank goodness as I was doing the video tutorial I took pictures. So what I have for you in the mean time is a picture tutorial. Please comment or email me with any questions you have @ bkoch134@gmail.com

I'm not the most impressed with how this picture tutorial came out so please do not judge, I'm totally working on getting this video uploaded as fast as I possibly can! So just cross your fingers with me and hopefully I can get it uploaded tonight.

I've also updated my mani as promised! See I keep my promises... sometimes! ;)

For this mani I kept everything the same except my two ring fingers. I took the white dots off and did another layer of black. Before it dried I added bow rhinestones. Here's how they turned out:

Please excuse the lack of clean-up, it's been a busy day :)



Today I ran to TJ Maxx really quick as I wanted to see if they had any Essie nail polishes, unfortunately they didn't.... but I did find this amazingly cute tops.



Peplum top with lace, only $14.99!

I'm only posting this angle because it really lets you see the lace

This little polka dot was only $9.99, I can't wait to pair it with a blazer!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend and has a great week! Hopefully I'll have an updated post tonight with the video :)

XoXo

Brittany

Halloween Pedicure

 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

 

For today's pedicure I did something festive for Halloween. For this pedicure I used Wet N Wild's Club Havana and Kiss's Nail Art Paint in Black.

 

First I painted all my toes in Club Havana and let them dry. Next I painted a diagonal stripe on all my toes with Kiss's Nail Art Paint black and painted the top section in. After that I wasn't too impressed so I wanted to add a little something extra. On both my big toes I added rhinestones along the diagonal and then all on all my other toes I grabbed Kiss's Nail Art Paint in silver and painted along the diagonal as well.

 

Here is my finished result:



 

 

 

What does your Halloween mani or pedi look like?? Feel free to send pictures at bkoch134@gmail.com

I'd like to introduce everyone to my pride and joy - Kali. Kali loves long walks outside, playing fetch, and dressing up!

Here is Kali in her Halloween costume:

Isn't she precious!? Does anyone else dress up their dogs for Halloween?

Anyways hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween!


XoXo
Brittany