Manicure of the Month: Glam Bang

 

Recently, I have made it a habit to peruse the beauty aisles after I am done grocery shopping. As dangerous as that has become for my wallet, I have justified it by discovering some amazing products. Including these nail art strips by Revlon. These stickers were so easy to work with and take my regular gold polish manicure to another level. Not to mention, they are the reason for today’s post. Enjoy!

 

Pictured above is Beaded Couture from Revlon by Marcheesa. Let me tell you now, every design in this line is drop dead gorgeous. I picked up a few opaque designs that you may see pop up here in the next few months but decided on this clear applique adorned with white and gold jewels. I just knew they would sit perfectly atop my gold polish.

 

For the gold base coat I chose The Full Monty by Butter London. I cannot get enough of this color and formula. You can get streak free shine in two coats and enjoy the subtle glitter specks without any clumps. Making this the perfect polish to pair with these nail strips.

 

The set includes 18 decals in various sizes, a nail file and cuticle pusher. I have worked with a ton of nail stickers including the cheapest ones available at the drugstore to the high end ones from Sephora and these have been the easiest ones to apply. So far, I completely recommend these strips. If that changes, I will add an update.

I am completely in love with this pairing and will probably repeat this process for New Years Eve. It just feels so fancy for September. I cannot wait to start sharing more manicures specific for fall but that does not feel natural considering it is still 90 degrees in Austin.

Has anybody given these nail stickers a try?

*I would also like to apologize for not posting a manicure last month. I had a really fun idea planned and then I lost my favorite top coat. Instead of doing the logical thing and purchasing a new bottle, I threw a few tantrums, tore my living apart searching for the lost bottle and finally decided to give my nails a much needed break. I still do not have a new bottle, that will be on tomorrows to-do list. Luckily this month I did not need a top coat as these stickers provide enough shine!

DIY: Birthday Balloon Wreath

My not-so-little nephew turns 10 this week, which blows my mind! The entire family came together to celebrate with him at an awesome arcade filled with all you can play retro games. Having been recently inspired by this amazing TED talk by Jane McGonigal about how playing games can increase the quality of your life, I let loose and had a blast! I began celebrating last week while I made this balloon wreath that my sister, his mother, requested for her home. Stay tuned for a quick tutorial.

Gathering the supplies was probably the most difficult part. I made multiple trips to the store because I kept running out of balloons and pins. In the end, for an 18 inch wreath I used 196 balloons.

The purple streamer is optional, but highly recommended. It did an amazing job at covering the sides of the straw poking through the balloons.

Halfway finished! Yes, I was working on my wreath at work. It was so much fun to see all the balloons scattered all over my desk.

As I mentioned, easiest project EVER. I bought wide toothed pins and stuck one balloon on each side, alternating ends and colors and pinned them into the wreath form. I did my best to change the direction of each set to create as much dimension as I could.

And that’s it! Excluding driving time, this project only took about 3 hours to complete. And that is only because I kept stopping when Breaking Bad became too suspenseful.

And here is my adorable nephew modelling his new wreath. I hope he’s not mad that I chose not to post the weird silly poses.

Anybody else have easy projects they have finished lately?