Mani Monday :: Lincoln Park's Shine of the Times

Happy Monday Darlings! For this week's mani I wanted to try something different which naturally on a first try didn't come out so terrific...

It was messy, my tape pulled my polish up so I tried to fix that which resulted in a clumpy mess, my triangles weren't center and the lines weren't crisp... Over all it was just sad so I opted to scrap this look and I restarted with a different concept. Applying Essie's Shine of the Times over China Glaze's Stone Gold got me thinking and is what lead me to this week's Mani Monday

I used OPI's Lincoln Park at Midnight, applied NYC's Matte Me Crazy then applied some scotch tape to my nails in fun geometric shapes and topped it with Essie's Shine of the Times. Make sure you slowly remove your tape right after you apply your polish one nail at a time. It will give you cleaner & crisper lines.

How To :: Sock Bun

Finally after so long I have a new tutorial up! Recently I have been constantly rocking a sock bun in my hair. Its a quick and simple way to have your hair up but still look chic and put together. I mean I'm all for a messed up pony tail / bun thing on top of my head but when you're going out or for work you may want to look more put together. This is the perfect hair style for that!

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Friday Favorites

Hello Darlings! (I think this is my thing bare with me HAHA!)

We have made it through another wild and crazy week! I think a celebration is in order! Unfortunately it will have to wait till the rain decides to let up unless the weather man are wrong (not that I wouldn't be surprised) and in that case it wouldn't rain and I can lay out on my patio get some sun and turn my brain off for a while!

Between a puppy scare, working full time, planning a wedding, blogging, attempting to film and thinking of all the spring / summer projects we'd like to complete on the house it's no wonder I'm a bit bonkers lately lol Not that I'm really complaining...well I could do with out the puppy scare but everything else keeps you on your toes and adds a bit of spice to life right?!

ANY WHO... On to this week's favorites!

Favorite Quote:


Favorite Indulgence: Okay I know, I had him up two weeks ago but I just finished watching the season finale of The Vampire Diaries before writing my post and he's just to good NOT to look at LOL.


Favorite Treat: Yes, please!


Favorite Shoe: A girl can dream. Can't she?!


Favorite Laugh: BOO! Just kidding I'm a cute corgi! LOL



Another thing that's been bugging me lately is the new embed mention Pinterest decided to start doing... Not really digging that... I was much happier being able to make the images larger... Oh well...

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May Ipsy Bag :: Spring Fling

Hello Darlings! Sorry I didn't have a post yesterday it was a super crazy day I even missed work. Poor little miss Eleanor had a scare and we had to rush her to the vet and I had to engage crazy worried mommy mode!

Poor Sick Baby

It seems Eleanor had eaten some of the grass seed Gregory laid down and it had fertilizer in it which is toxic to dogs but Ellie ended up throwing up before we rushed her to the vet and we plowed her with tons of water and monitored her like a hawk and she's back to her normal self THANK GOD!

For this month's Ipsy bag the theme was "Spring Fling"

May Ipsy Bag - Spring Fling

(swatch) Juice Beauty Fig

(swatch) Pacifica Coconut Crushed Pearl Luminizing Body Butter

Pacifica - Tahitian Gardenia
Yaby - Buff

(swatch) ZOYA Jacqueline

I actually had a tough time choosing my favorite product in this months bag. It's a tie between Pacifica's Tahitian Gardenia perfume and the ZOYA Jacqueline nail polish!

I love how the perfume has this amazing floral scent that seems strong but is actually subtle. I was so sure I wouldn't be able to wear it without setting Gregory's allergies off but was pleasantly surprised when he didn't even has a hint of a runny nose! I could smell it on me through out the day but no one else seemed to.

The ZOYA polish is one of my first by this brand and I'm so HAPPY I got this shade! It reminds me of one of my favorite Bath & Body Work's candles Marshmallow Fireside. It's a nice creamy finish too. I can't say on stay power as I just applied it then ended up switching colors for a more vibrante color. Next time I use it I'll make sure to let you guys know how that goes!

The two products I wasn't to thrilled about but wasn't disappointed about were the Juice Beauty lip gloss and the luminizing body butter. For the lip gloss it was just not the right color for my skin tone and for the body butter I'm just not really into shimmery / glittery skin. All though the coconut scent made think of summer!

For the Yaby eye shadow I am happy with the color I received as I've been gravitating towards nudes and natural shades so this was PERFECT for me!

I have to admit the longer I am a member of Ipsy the better the bags get. It really is worth the $10.00! You should sign up today if you can! It's a great way try new projects without having to dish out a large sum  of money.

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Black Tie Formalwear Contest :: The 7 year itch!

Can I ask you wonderful readers a
HUGE HUGE HUGE favor?!

Black Tie Formalwear is hosting a contest for 5 free tuxedo rentals or a $500 visa giftcard. All you have to do is vote our photo 5 stars. Naturally I chose one of my favorites from our engagement pictures that has Eleanor in it. I titled the picture "The 7 year itch" because after seven years Gregory had finally proposed so I found it humorous. 

Our happy little family!

Please vote for us! I'll love you forever! 

Just click this link: http://l.inkto.it/66ez

Mani Monday :: Reverse Glitter Gradient

Good morning darlings! I had such high hopes for this week's Mani Monday post I even tried to film a tutorial for it! However after two hours of preparation and filming, I went to my computer to upload the videos to edit and realized that nothing recorded... UGH! So in hopes of still being able to show you all how to achieve this week's look I'm attempting a picture tutorial. I'm hoping it makes sense! But if anything don't hesitate to ask questions! = ]

This was a requested look from one of my readers, she supplied me the look from Pinterst. Thank you Kristen I had a lot of fun with this look! Here's the inspiration:


Now with out further a do I present this week's Mani Monday! Using China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy & Glistening Snow I am completely in love with this mani! I just wish the camera was able to pick up the florescent-ness of Flip Flop Fantasy. I'm talking NEON pink! It's FABULOUS!

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy with China Glaze - Glistening Snow gradient

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy with China Glaze - Glistening Snow gradient

Now for the tutorial!

1. Apply your base coat. I like to use both Sally Hansen Hard as Nails & Seche Clear Base Coat
2. Apply two to three coats of polish. I decided to use China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy and to achieve an opaque color I found three to be your best bet.
3. Taking a makeup sponge applicator apply your glitter (My all time favorite is China Glaze's Glistening Snow from their 2012 Holiday collection). Dab the first stroke onto a paper towel then begin tapping the sponge at your cuticle and slowly work your way down to the mid point of your nail. *Remember slowly work your way down. As you get further down your nail you run out of polish giving you a gradient look*
4. Your nail should look like this once you are done. Now take a nail brush and some acetone and clean up the edges.
5. Apply your favorite top coat and enjoy!

Kind of like this but apply the gradient to your cuticle versus nail tip.



This manicure is a fun way to glitz & glam up your simple manicure and is super simple! 

Hope you guys enjoyed!

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Recipes :: Jambalaya

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you'll now I've had a new recent obsession with Jambalaya  It pretty much started around Easter and hasn't let up since. What you may not know is I'm an EXTREMELY picky eater... Well not as much as I use to be.. Gregory has slowly fixed that over the years but the one thing that remains the same is I am "Fish weird" as we call it.

I am very, very, VERY picky when it comes to any type of sea food I eat. As time goes on I've developed a taste for Mahi mahi, popcorn shrimp and tilapia but only if its made a certain way. But that is pretty much the extend of my sea food consumption. One thing I don't eat and HATE touching are shrimp... UGH ... I know I just said I eat popcorn shrimp but that is small and covered in bread crumbs ... (Like I said fish weird).

One day I was going through Pinterest.. (doesn't every good idea steam somewhere from this amazing website?!) and stumbled across a Jambalaya recipe and then quickly sprinted to Target with Gregory (who DOESN'T love Target?!) and we proceeded to grab everything we needed.

One thing I've learned over the years is that Gregory has an amazing sense when it comes to winging it on recipes and cooking. He is always adding or changing recipes around and they ALWAYS come out good... Me on the other hand if I'm cooking and winging it you better have poison control on hold... It's kind of sad but when it comes to baking I'm reining champ!

Any who... As we were grabbing the ingredients Greg started to make suggestions on how to tweak the recipe and knowing his cooking I went along with it. This is what we finished with:

Ingredients

• 1 package (19 ounces) JOHNSONVILLE® Italian Sausage 
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes 
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes 
• 1 can (8 ounces) diced chillies
• 3/4 large onion, chopped 
• 1 green pepper, chopped 
• 1 cup water 
• 1 package (7.4 ounces) Zatarain's Spanish Rice OR Jumbalaya

Directions

1. Remove brats from casing, crumble into skillet and cook through. Drain and reserve. 
2. In a large saucepan, combine sausage, petite diced tomatoes, green chilies, stewed tomatoes, onion, green pepper and water. 
3. Bring to a boil. Add rice, reduce heat. 
4. Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender.

And that's it you're done. Now enjoy! YUM!

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Friday Favorites

Happy Friday darlings! I hope you all had an amazing week and have awesome plans for this weekend! Don't forget to get your mother something special with it being Mother's Day Sunday!

This evening I'm hoping to talk Gregory into going to BD Wong's one of my favorite restaurants at the moment. It's a Mongolian BBQ place that is just DELICIOUS! For Saturday we have a church thing for our wedding, it is a "Evening of Celebration". We go for evening mass and then have dinner with our Deccan, Sponsors and the other couples that are getting married this year. Sunday we have Mother's Day celebrations to go to, a luncheon for Gregory's Grandma and then probably take my mom to Yogurtland for some froyo since we are both obsessed and give her the gift me and my sister picked up for her.

What did you guys get your mom for Mother's Day?

Favorite Quote: Tis true! That be so nice!


Favorite Indulgence: ooooo Ombre lips!


Favorite Treat: While it's not food it's kind of a treat to be a kid again!


Favorite Shoe: I'm sticking with I with my previous statement from last week's shoes... I want silver! HAHA!


Favorite Laugh: BAHAHAHAHA!

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My Life via Instagram - @NskiBeauty

Since everyone seemed to enjoy my last Instagram post I decided I'd give it another go this week plus I totally was stumped on what to write LOL.  Enjoy!

Picked up our bricks for our new front Patio	Makeup to get my wedding dress!
Selfie on the way to dinner	True Life: My dog is more popular than me! LOL
My Eleanor corgi marker!	FROYO YUMMINESS!
Denim Twins	Jacqui's Birthday Adventure
JuRin deliciousness!	Noodle & Company's Wisconsin Mac & Cheese
May the 4th be with you! ; )	No makeup and perfect skin thanks to Clarisonic
Saran Wrap Nails!	Tis True! LOL
Stick It 2 Me Giveaway!	Stick It 2 Me Giveaway Pt. 2

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Mani Monday :: Saran Wrap Nails

I tried out a new technique for today's Mani Monday, Saran Wrap Nails! I have to say I really LOVE this mani! It's super easy and super fast! Just simply paint your base color down and let it dry completely then apply your top color and take your piece of saran wrap, tap till you reach your desired look then finish with a  top coat and BOOM! Pretty textured nails!

For my base color I applied two coats of Circus by Andrea's Choice  in the color Reverso. For my saran wrap texture color I used Essie's Aruba Blue. Looking at my nails make me think of two things: the ocean and stone wash denim jeans. Both make me smile and think of summer!

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