Goodbye, 2014: New Year's Eve Mani

I've always found New Year's Eve to be depressing. I think what people sometimes feel on their birthdays is what I feel as the clock counts down to a new year. If it was a particularly good year, I feel like I'll miss it. I take inventory of my life. I note how I've aged. I do a bit of dwelling. 

This year, especially with recent events of my cousin passing, it could be easy to say that 2014 was terrible. I think a lot of people fall into a trap of letting a handful of awful moments define an entire year. But why don't we do that with the good times instead? 

Sure, I could think about the things I've lost and goals I didn't achieve in 2014 and write it off as a bad year, saying "don't let the door hit you in the ass" as the clock strikes midnight. But I've also had a ton of wonderful experiences in 2014 to be grateful for. 

I got a cat, who has become a truly joyous and beloved addition to my family. I started this nail blog and posted every week (which was one of my resolutions from last year!). I started a fun job that I am good at. I've made great new friends. I've picked up new hobbies. I went to concerts and parties and visited NYC a couple times. I spent time with people who mean the most to me. 

If you are like me and tend to be a NYE dweller, I urge you instead to celebrate the bright moments in your 2014, and to look forward to 2015 with optimism and hope. 

Happy New Year! 

Lightning bolt mani using Zoya in "Storm", "Trixie", and "Ziv"

Festive Stripes: A Christmas Mani

With Christmas just around the corner, I've been bombarded with wrapping, baking, and overall prepping for the holiday. So naturally, I got a wicked cold that I've been fighting since Tuesday. 

In an effort to beat the Christmas cold, I hunkered down in bed with all sorts of cold medicines and a bottle of whiskey (for my hot toddys!). I'm finally starting to feel better, and I even made time for a Christmas manicure :)

I was inspired by this giant ornament we have at Pier 1, along with some Christmas tree manicures my Dad posted to my wall about a month ago. Here is the inspiration ornament, along with the result:

I was supposed to have a December Ipsy bag review for you all too, but my bag hasn't arrived yet. I'll bunch it in next week with my last mani of 2014!

Not Jewish, but Supportive: Hanukkah Nails

I've always been interested in Jewish culture to a degree. Growing up, the Rugrats Passover special was my jam. In more recent years, I loved watching The Prince of Egypt. 

Relationship goal!

One of my best friends from high school is Jewish, but I'm pretty sure she also celebrates Christmas. It wasn't until my junior year of college that I got to celebrate my first ever Hanukkah. 

I lived with three other girls, one of whom was Jewish. When it came time to decorate the apartment for the holidays, I wanted to be as inclusive as possible. I bought a mini Christmas tree and put Star of David garland on it. I also picked up a mini menorah for my roomie, and we celebrated Hanukkah together each of the eight nights before exchanging our secret Santa gifts. 

Fry the latkes, eat the chocolate. 

Truth is, Hanukkah was a blast! I loved learning more about the culture, and occasionally I could turn to my roomie for any burning questions I had about Judaism ("Hey, Sarah! What does it mean to keep kosher, anyhow?"). 

Ever since having a Jewish roomie, I've tried to celebrate Hanukkah every year in my own small way: Hanukkah themed nail art. Alarmingly, this isn't a very popular concept. I went to Instagram for inspiration, and found the holiday manicure numbers are grossly skewed. 

Whomp whomp. 

Still, I managed to find a few fun ideas, and with the help of my brand new detail brush, I pulled off a manicure almost as miraculous as the oil burning for eight nights. 

I don't know if I've ever created a more beautiful manicure (in my humble opinion!), but I'm glad I could pull off this stunner for the Festival of Lights. Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish friends! 

Color of the Month: The Great December Debate

December's birthstone does not take one true form. While researching what December's birthstone was, I found that most gemstone websites cited Tanzanite, Zircon, and Turquoise as acceptable birthstones for December babies. However, if you log on to any jewelry store website and search December birthstones, they will usually show you blue topaz pieces of jewelry. I look at this as an advantage for December babies; you can get a birthstone at a variety of price points!

For my December nails I decided to try Chalkboard Nail's "Precious Gems" nail tutorial. 

It was a bit of a nail fail. 

Both my detail brush and my black polish were too thick, which resulted in sloppy line work. Maybe one day I'll try these again with a finer brush and a newer black polish! But it was a tedious process for sure. 

Here is the result:

Remembering Lost Loved Ones During the Holidays

Every year in America on Thanksgiving, there are families all over the country happily eating their meals, gathering with loved ones, and excitedly discussing Christmas plans.

There are also families who hardly have an appetite because they are mourning the loss of a loved one. 

This year, my family will be in the latter group. 

On Thursday, I received a call from my aunt that my cousin Justin had lost his battle with addiction. He was twenty-seven years old. 

27. 

This was a person who I grew up with. Our mothers, both single parents, spent a lot of time together, so consequently, so did Justin and I. We went sledding together during snow-filled Buffalo winters. We poked at the potato bugs that hid under pieces of brick at our grandparent's old condo. We picked lilacs together to give to my aunt. 

When we were playing with pogs as children, I never thought that Justin would develop a heroin addiction. While making forts out of sheets during sleepovers, I never imagined that there would come a day that my cousin, who was more like a big brother to me, wouldn't be around. 

Loving an addict isn't easy. It means constant optimism that they can turn it around, even though they may relapse multiple times. It means always knowing that one day they will do too much, take it too far, never come back, but hoping that day never comes. It's constant worry. It's emergency visits to ICU. It's reminding them how impossible it would be to live in a world without them, and then having to anyway, because your love wasn't enough to save them from themselves. 

It means sympathy for you and your family, but not always for the person who has passed away. It means trying to convince people that didn't really know your loved one that they were a good person. 

It's feeling as though you didn't do enough. It's dealing with grief and anger simultaneously. 

This Thanksgiving, I won't be able to tell somebody that I cared about that I love them. I can't pick up the phone and chat about how good our dinners were, or what is new in our lives. But many of you can. 

If you are fortunate enough to be able to spend the holidays with those you care most about, do it. Hug your loved ones tight. Tell them how much you care about them. And remember how lucky you are for all that you have. That's what Thanksgiving is all about, after all. 

A snapchat from JT several months ago: Him making fun at the disastrous state of my nails. I'll miss things like this. 

November Ipsy Review

The This month, Ipsy went right after my own heart with their theme: "Girl Meets Glitter". Many of the features glam bag items were sparkly, including the bag itself! 

I received only 2 sparkly items, and this month I was actually shorted a product! I contacted customer care and they are sending me one, but this will be an abbreviated review as a result. 

November Ipsy Bag: Girl Meets Glitter

Be Delectable Ultra Nourishing Hand Cream in Coconut & Cream

The first product in my bag was be Delectable's Ultra Nourishing Hand Cream. The lotion itself is thick but not greasy. It didn't make my hands incredibly soft like some other lotions I have tried, but it's nice enough. The scent is coconut & cream; while I usually like coconut scented stuff, this particular coconut smell was definitely not sophisticated. It smells like a lotion I might have worn in the 5th grade. It's not enough to keep me from using it, but this isn't necessarily a product I would buy again. This retails for $5.50 for 2 oz. 

GlamGlow Powermud Dualcleanse Treatment

Remember the GlamGlow Youthmud mask I received a few months back? This is the brand's facial cleanser. It contains a blend of oils, purifiers, and clays to get your skin extra clean and soft.  The product smelled great; I put it on and left it for 10 minutes, by which time it was completely dry like any other mask. But what was cool was when I went to rinse it off, it turns INTO an oil treatment! It immediately turned into an oil upon wetting and after massaging it into my skin and rinsing, my face felt SO incredibly soft. I loved this treatment! It retails for $69 for 1.7 oz., but my sample size was worth $20.29. 

Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil in Ultra Orchid

This was the first sparkly item in my bag. It's a beautiful, purple eyeliner with silver glitter within. It glides on pretty effortlessly. My only complaint is that it is so soft, it clumps up a bit at the base of my lashes. I used it to line my waterline for this purple shadow look I did today...

It's pretty, but not over the top. This pencil retails for $17. 

J. Cat Beauty Wonder Lip Paint in Mad Splatter

This is my first ever lip paint/tar and the second "sparkly" item in my bag. The formula itself is... Interesting. It is super glossy, but it smells a bit funky and it definitely stains! However, the color is a really beautiful magenta with a gorgeous subtle blue shimmer (check out the swatch on my hand to see it!). I wore it for my Christmas cards and I'm sure I will wear it again. It would also probably look beautiful over another lipstick shade. This retails for $4.99 for .33 oz. 

Even though this bag has a pretty high value (over $47 worth of product, even with one product missing, for $10), it was a pretty lackluster bag in my opinion. When I saw the theme was going to be Girl Meets Glitter I was stoked! However, I feel like they really fell flat and could have done so much more product wise with the theme. I know I will definitely use the cleanser and lip paint, but am pretty underwhelmed with the other two products. I guess not every month can be a smash hit, but I'm hoping for a really exciting December bag next month! 

Color of the Month: Topaz

November's birthstone is topaz, which is often confused with its other birthstone, citrine. Topaz comes in a huge array of colors, but November's topaz is a yellow-orange shade. 

This month, I didn't want to be so literal with the given color, so I decided to do a glitter gradient of a topaz color over a more neutral color. 

I used Nail Vinyls to make a sort of sun ray design over OPI's "How Great is Your Dane?". I then sponged Julep's "Tatiana" on the tips. 

Please excuse the tip wear on my index finger, it wore down a bit before I had the chance to take photos!

Only one more Color of the Month until the new year! Happy birthday, November babies :)

OPI Little Northies Swatches and Review

OPI's Fall/Winter 2014 collection, Nordic, was inspired by the contrasting sights in Norway. The entire collection didn't knock me so off my feet that I wanted to buy them all. However, their minis pack of Little Northies had all of the colors I wanted the most, so I grabbed it! 

OPI Little Northies 

L to R: "My Dogsled is a Hybrid", "Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm?", "My Voice is a Little Norse", "How Great is Your Dane". 

"My Voice is a Little Norse"

First up from the lineup is "My Voice is a Little Norse". It's a gorgeous silvery holographic glitter topper in a slightly grey tinted clear base. It's not like I really need another glitter topper like this, but honestly, it is just SO beautiful. The color can be worn alone, as shown, or over other colors in the collection. 

"My Dogsled is a Hybrid"

"My Dogsled is a Hyrbid" is a blue-based green creme. The formula on this was smooth and covered great. I absolutely love this shade. I'm a sucker for turquoises and teals. 

"Do You Have this Color in Stock-Holm?"

"Do You Have this Color in Stock-Holm?" is a blue-based purple creme. The shade borders on cobalt, and it's a stunner. I feel like it is such a flattering shade for all skin tones. And that glitter topper on it? 😍 Amazing!

"How Great is Your Dane?"

I am not a big lover of brown nail polishes, and "How Great is Your Dane?" was the only shade in the pack I wasn't really excited for. However, as far as brown polishes go, it's a really nice, cool-toned color. It's got some grey undertones to it, and it is unique. I was also happy with the formula. 

The Nordic Collection has a great balance of deeper fall shades as well as some unexpected bright ones, but if you're on a budget, the Little Northies set is not a bad option to get a taste without breaking the bank! It sells for $13.95 at all major OPI retailers. 

What's This?! Jack Skellington Nails

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween classic, and I have several friends obsessed with the movie. I admit, I only saw it for the first time last year! But Jack is such a lovable character. Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, lover of Christmas, and he's a little scientist to boot! 

Casually reading The Scientific Method <3

In the spirit of Halloween, I had to do some Jack Skellington inspired nails. Here's the result!