NOTD

Hey guys! Just a quick post, but I redid my nails last night and thought I'd share :) Everyone has been doing the whole one glitter nail thing so I thought I'd give it a whirl! I used OPI "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow" and Sinful Colors "Call You Later" for the glitter nail. It looks black in the pictures but its a dark green. I can't remember what collection this came out with, but the green glitter really stands out against the dark nails. My husband said he thought I should do all my nails with the glitter and I kind of agreed with him. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but I am always afraid of glitter looking very 12 year oldish so this is kind of a slow transition for me lol. Have you guys tried this little "trend" yet? What did ya think?!

Sinful Colors (inspired by julieg713)

I know, ANOTHER post today and once again it is about NAILS lol. I guess you can say this is my obsession at the moment lol. Anyway, I watched julieg713 on youtube last night and she did this really cute nail tutorial. The polish she used was Sinful Colors Easy Going which I have been eyeing at my local Walgreens for months now but I never purchased it for fear that it would be a sheer light pink only good for a wash of color or a french manicure but when I saw her video it was a gorgeous milky pink and very opaque so I ran down the street (well not literally I drove lol) to my Walgreens and picked it up! I also needed some glitter to use but they didn't have much. Pretty much everything was picked over but I did find the two glitter polishes above, the green and blue. I already had the bright green on the far left which is Innocent. Second from left (the green glitter) is Call You Later and third from the left (the blue glitter) is Nail Junkie, which I actually ended up not using and last is on the far right which is Easy Going. Since they had no pink or purple glitter I settled for the green and paired it with Innocent and added a few glitter chunks from an old nail polish I have. This is how it turned out, not completely happy with it but it will work. If I had pink or purple it would of looked better and perhaps if my nails weren't so stubby lol. Anyways, just thought I'd share these few pics with you guys. By the way, if you didn't know Sinful Colors nail polishes are $1.99 at Walgreens so I good deal :)

OPI Nail Envy

Hey guys! The weekend is almost here again! It seems this week has flown by. Anyways, I wanted to share with you guys a nail item I purchased on Monday. It is obviously OPI Nail Envy. I have read so many reviews on this on makeupalley and other forums but I never had the chance to get my hands on it. Recently my Target started carrying a few OPI polishes and one of them happened to be this. It was $16.99 which is outrageous to me but I have been desperate to find something to help my nails grow so I bit the bullet and purchased it. After all the reviews I read I kind of had high hopes for it. I have only been using it for 4 days so I can't say a lot about it yet, but I do hope it works. I'm not expecting a miracle worker by any means but if it helps, I am on board! Everytime I try to grow my nails they grow for a few days then break so I usually get frustrated and end up getting acrylics again :( Hopefully this time I can get past that point and resist temptation. :) Since using this I haven't had a nail break but we will see how that goes. I dont want to jinx myself lol. Do any of you have suggestions for growing your nails? I am taking Biotin as well so if you guys know of anything let me know and I will be sure to update on this product. Have a great day!

Weight Issues.......(long post)

This was me in November of 2006, I am second from the left next to my husband in the brown jacket, the other ppl are my in-laws

This is obviously my wedding picture with my sister in law. This would be December 2006.

And this is obviously me now. (And for the record, I am only 5'3") I was always skinny growing up. I never got the comments of "your so pretty" or anything like that, the thing people always noticed about me was that I was "so skinny." It almost became an obsession for me. I ran all the time, worked out, tried to eat healthy, then when I turned 16 I got a job at an Italian restaurant (oh boy!). Working didn't allow me to exercise and run like I always had and I began eating the food there. I would get out of school at 3:30 and drive 30 mins to my job, eat, then clock in. I started gaining a little weight and by that I mean I went from 105 pounds to 115 and I began to panic. I began not eating and then when I would eat I would overindulge and then force myself to vomit. I began to realize I had a problem and I started trying to make myself eat but I would get sick and vomit again. For me, it became an endless cycle that I felt was impossible to break. I finally forced myself to eat, little by little till I could eat a meal. I have never went back to that place and refuse to. My husband helped me a lot with that. He loved me the way I was and he loved that I was a beautiful person inside and out. It wasn't "your so skinny" I heard anymore it was "you're beautiful". I began gaining weight back and before we were married I believe I was around a size 5 which was big for me. I felt comfortable though. After we were married we moved to Montana and I was at home constantly b/c I couldn't drive in the snow which meant more eating. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter I was about a 6/7 and weighed about 135 pounds or so. When I was pregnant I developed preeclampsia (with both pregnancies actually) and by the time I had my daughter I was almost 200 pounds. I have stretch marks from my legs to my breasts and everywhere in between (battle wonds of having children) After having my 2 kids, I am 145 pounds and wear a size 8. I struggle with my weight and body issues constantly. I feel like since I was always told growing up "your so skinny" and not "your so pretty" I had nothing about me that was attractive or noticeable. I have tried losing weight again and again but it always fails. I definitely do not want to be 100 pounds again but my goal weight is 130. That's 15 pounds, can I do it and do it the healthy way?! Its crazy how much your body changes after having babies! My husband has always been supportive and makes me feel beautiful but I would definitely like to lose a few pounds. I know this is kind of a long post and a little deeper than the usual but I feel like weight issues are something always on everyone's minds, especially women. I feel like there is a lot more pressure on women to look perfect and for moms out there seeing these celebrity moms rebound right back to a size 2 puts an enormous weight on your shoulders, or it did me anyways. Being overweight is something I am really struggling with at the moment and learning how to be comfortable at whatever weight I am. Confidence is key, but its something I have always lacked in. I want this to be a place you can feel comfortable and to feel beautiful and to know that everyone struggles whether its in the open or not. I will keep you guys updated on my weight loss battle but I know unless I am TRULY happy with myself it won't matter what weight or size I am.

Dupe Alert!!!!

Heeeey guys! I am so excited about this post!!!! Anytime I can find a dupe for something it excites me like a kid on Christmas morning lol. I picked up this E.L.F. brush at Target last week for $1! I am always looking for new brushes and I am a big fan of the E.L.F. ones, but this particular one I didn't have. It is a part of the back to school promotions at Target so I grabbed it and thought "eh for a dollar I could use another eyeshadow brush" but what I got was like a treasure! I used it yesterday and it works beautifully! Then I realized when I was washing my brushes last night that it was the same exact size and shape as my MAC 239! I love the 239 and use it everyday! I began comparing them and they apply shadow exactly the same and feel the same! I have some of the E.L.F. studio line eyeshadow brushes and I was a little disappointed in them b/c the bristles were a little flimsy but this isn't the case with this one at all. It is dense so it packs on color well but the bristles are as soft as the MAC 239, perfect combination and the price tag makes it that much sweeter. The only big difference between the two is the length of the handle. The MAC 239 brush has a longer handle but neither bother me. I didn't even notice till I had them side by side. I am so pleased with this brush I will definitely pick up more before the promotional items are yanked from the end caps.......*scary face!* lol. So run out and grab your E.L.F. Professional eyeshadow brush for $1 before its gone!!!!

OOTD

Hey guys! I just wanted to do this outfit of the day post. This is one of the shirts in my recent youtube video of my Forever21 haul. It is $6.50 and absolutely adorable! I have a cold but we were going to visit friends so I wanted to look cute and this was perfect! Its so comfy but yet cute and the sleeves make it very classy. I paired it with some straight legged khakis, gold sandals, and the ring I also purchased from forever21 for $3.80. I also added the headband simply because I didn't feel like fixing my hair. I actually picked the headband up at the Dollar Tree a few months ago. Anyways, that is about it. Just wanted to share these few photos with you guys, hope you had a great weekend!

Essence Nail Stampy Set

Hey guys! Hope you are having a fab weekend!I received this in the mail yesterday from Ulta, it is the Essence nail stampy set which is $2.99 at Ulta.com. I was very skeptical about this especially since it was really cheap. Also, online it said "7 stamping images" and I had no idea what the "images" would be but they were really cute flowers and butterflies so I was pleased with that. Another thing, is with the Konad stamping sets you have to use a special polish for the design and with this you can use ANY polish. So, last night I decided to give it a go! I used this yellow polish which I picked up on clearance at Target for $1.12!!! I have used another stamp set before but the plates weren't firm and were a bit flimsy which made it hard to get the image even and the stamper wasn't very good (it was a knock-off from China) but this was much more successful! I was quite pleased with the result, it was my first time using it and it will definitely take some practice but I can get use to this! I will keep practicing and post more pics when I get a little better at it, also look for a video coming on my youtube channel soon! I didn't see any more image plates available at Ulta.com though which stinks but these 7 images should keep things interesting for a while ;)

Nicole by OPI Matte Polish

As stated in my last post I was quite excited to get in on the matte polish craze when I saw that Wal-mart was carrying the Nicole by OPI Matte Polish. I picked this one up which is Razzle Dazzler. In the bottle it looked like a gorgeous dark gray with silver sparkles. When I got home I realized the tag on the top of the bottle and was surprised at what it said "Nicole by OPI Matte does not wear as long as original Nicole Nail Lacquer" so right away I thought "uh oh". It even goes on to say "do not use drying products top coat or lotion" I had heard that matte polishes don't last as long but to put a disclaimer attached to the bottle was surprising. I went ahead and applied it to my toenails and noticed right away the consistency. The closest thing I can think of is melted plastic. It dries so fast and can be streaky and uneven if you aren't careful. The silver sparkles looked like chunky glitter when it dried. I started noticing the consistency was getting thicker and looked at the bottle and all of the polish around the neck and down had already dried. I finished and then did my fingernails which was a big mistake. By the next day they were chipping everywhere and looked gross. For me, this was a big fail. I was so disappointed. The polish was $7 and I feel like that was a waste. I guess this is one bandwagon I won't be jumping on anytime soon. I guess I am just not into it as much as I thought I would be...........the look or the formulation of the polish. They both totally turned me off. Have you guys tried any matte polishes? What did you think?

Milani 3D Holographic Nail Polish

Hey everyone, happy Saturday! Hope you all have a great weekend. Just wanted to do this quick post about my new obsession.........holographic nail polish! Specifically the Milani 3d holographic polish. This is kind of sheer so I had to do 3 coats but they dried quick and it wasn't thick or hard to work with at all. I painted my nails really quick actually. Usually it takes me a while but this was really easy to work with. I purchased this one for $4.99 at CVS and plan to pick up a few more colors this week. It seems to wear well too so for $4.99 its a pretty good bargain! I am trying to experiment with spicing up my natural nails as I get bored and always go back to falsies so my next venture will be matte polishes, have any of you tried them? Which brand do you like? And any recommendations for a good base coat?

Crest 3d Whitestrips

Before
After 5 treatments

First of all, let me start off by saying I HATE close up pictures but I tried to do the best I can so you guys can see the difference. I have been using the crest 3d whitestrips in vivid. I wanted the Professional effects but they were too expensive. That being said, I am very pleased with the results so far! I have used 5 out of the 10 pouches and already my teeth are much whiter. Last night I accidentally fell asleep with one in (whoops!) but I woke up during the night and took it out. That definitely boosted the whitening BUT my teeth are a little sensitive today so no more laying down to watch tv with them in LOL. I have 5 more treatments and then I will update you guys with the full results but so far so good! What is your favorite way to keep your pearly whites WHITE?!