NOTD: Butter London's 'British Racing Green'

Hello everyone!
Its finals season which means I've been hunkered down studying for quite some time but I can do a quick nail of the day post!

This color is a forest green with some green microshimmer running through it. I am LOVING deeper colors on my nails for the fall and this green is just so festive!

SHINYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! The microshimmer in this polish is virtually invisible unless you're really lookin for it in the sunlight so I consider this color more of a creamy color rather than shimmery. Application of this polish was ultra smooth and two coats were needed for this glossy and opaque finish you see here.
This color gets me so excited for Christmas!

Butter London polishes can be found in department stores and at Ulta for $14 a bottle for .4oz of product. Steep price but you get what you pay for: smooth application and finish. Chip free fo dayzzzzz. Carcinogen free...don't want any nasties on your fingers!
I think I should make a rap about Butter London polishes since that's how obsessed I am.....
     'Butter London polish-ezzz, if you don't know lemme tell you it izzzzz
     They be lackin carcinogenzzzz and you'll be chip free cuz that's the nail biz.
     Don't want any nasties on my fingas, don't want any unwanted lingererzzz,
     Smooth application, it'll last ya all vacation! whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat'

I'm not going to lie. I'm extremely impressed with myself right now.

Anywhoooooo let me know if you would rock this green on your nails especially during the Holiday season!
Happy Holidays everyone!
xxSJ

NOTD: The Full Monty

Today's Nail of the Day is one of my favorite Butter London nail colors for the holiday season. It is the color 'The Full Monty', a pure gold:

This color looks like you've dipped your fingernails in liquid gold! The polish is a bunch of gold microshimmer in a clear base.  It only takes 2 coats to reach full opacity. I like that its made of microshimmer because I think the overall effect is much prettier than when the nails have a more metallic finish.

I think this color is perfect for Holiday parties and new years! Gold can be considered a neutral color so this will go with any outfit!
Butter London polishes are $14 for .4oz and can be purchased at Ulta. They are a 3Free nail lacquer so do not contain any carcinogens.

Would you rock this gold color on your nails?

xxSJ

OOTD: Gameday!

Hi Everyone! Here is what I wore to my school's last home football game against Notre Dame!

That's not a peace sign I'm holding up, it's my 'V for Victory'! I'm wearing a USC shirt, some dark wash denim shorts, and my lucky bracelets.

I LOVE this shirt. I think it's hilarious. My mom isn't the biggest fan haha
So this is what I wore to my final home football game as a student! What do you guys wear to your school's games?
xxSJ

Jewelmint Unboxing

Hi everyone!
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the online membership website, Jewelmint. In case you aren't, here's a quick rundown: It is a monthly membership site created by Kate Bosworth and Cher Coulter. These ladies pick pieces of one-of-a-kind jewelry for you every month that represents your style.  You can choose to purchase a piece of jewelry for 29.99 a month or you can skip the month and not get charged. There is never an obligation to buy which is why I like this site. I'm a member because I LOVE looking at pretty sparkly jewelry online :) Every once in a while something catches my eye so I'll splurge and buy it. Also, the site frequently has sales (50% off, buy one get one free).  I just received a piece in the mail so I thought I'd share the packaging and the product with you so you can see how nice this jewelry is :)

The packaging is a black mailer with Jewelmint written on the outside (so your heart can skip a beat when you see its been delivered!) and inside is this sleek box with this pretty bow.
When you slide off the bow you can flip open the box and inside is your jewelry protected by some foam. Pull off the foam and here is what it looks like:

Your piece of jewelry nestled in its little home with the description card placed on the bottom of the box's lid. The description says the name of your product and the inspiration behind the creation of it.
I purchased the 'Vintage Vow Necklace' inspired by the traditional vows taken on a wedding day.
The pieces of jewelry are always so nice. This one in particular is very heavy and the chain is nice and strong. It feels very well made!

Inscribed on the three rings are the words 'love,' 'honor,' and 'obey.'  The rings are on a 36'' rope chain. Make sure to look out for an OOTD where I rock this necklace with an ensemble!
So there you have it! What to expect when you order from Jewelmint. I own a lot of jewelry from Forever21 and those pieces are so great for keeping up with trends and outfitting. However, it is really really great to start building a collection of very nice pieces of jewelry that will last a bit longer and might be more appropriate for occasions demanding you to dress up a bit more! I think Jewelmint with their constant discounts and sales is a great way to start slowly getting some nice jewelry (also its really fun to browse all the pretty things even when you aren't looking for anything to buy :)  ).
What do you think of Jewelmint?
xxSJ

OOTD: Summer in November??!

Hey everyone! Here is a really quick outfit of the day! I took a picture because its the middle of November but it was about 90 degrees here in Los Angeles! Crazy, huh?
Here is what I wore on this Summery day in the middle of Fall:

 

I wore this purple splotchy silky top by Lauren Conrad (you can shop her collection at Kohl's) paired with some dark denim wash shorts from Forever21. I love this top because of the soft colors and bow in the front that accentuates the small of your waist! I wore my white Relic watch and a tiny gold sand dollar necklace as accessories. 

That was my Summer outfit in November! Weather changes throw me off so much! I always get confused on what to wear. 

What do you do when there's a drastic and unexpected weather change where you live????

xx SJ

NOTD and Fall Obsession: Essie's 'Bahama Mama'

Today's Nail of the Day is the color I  have been obsessed with having on my nails in this chillier weather! It's Essie's 'Bahama Mama,'  a deep creamy purple color:

The Fall is time to put away the pretty pastels and take out those deeper, sultry colors. This color is AWESOME because it is sooooo deep (almost black in the shadows!) but has that purple tone to it that makes it so sultry and sexy (I know its weird to describe a nail color as sexy but hear me out! haha).
Its an amazing color because it goes with every outfit since its so dark and it just works in this chilly weather.

This color is extremely unassuming in the bottle though...it just looks like a pretty purple! Don't pass it up--I'm hoping enough people will see this to give this wonderful color a fighting chance because its so so lovely. 
Essie can be purchased at many drugstores, Target, and at Ulta for  $8 a bottle.

What do you think? Would you rock this shade of dark purple on your nails for the fall and winter time?

xxSJ

OOTN: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Premier and Afterparty

Hi everyone! Last night I went to the Breaking Dawn Part 2 movie premier at the Nokia theater in LA Live! It was so much fun so I thought I'd share what I wore and some pictures I took of the evening!

I wore this sheer white collared shirt with gold metallic polka dots from Forever21 paired with dark wash skinny jeans from Gap. I wore my nude and gold strappy heels from Seychelles. I curled my hair and had a dark-ish eye makeup look.
The movie was such a good wrap up of the Twilight franchise. I'm not a 'Twihard' by any means but I enjoyed the movie thoroughly and became quite invested in it by the end!
The Afterparty after the film was on top of a neighboring parking structure:

The party was, as expected, completely lavish and outrageously decorated! There were a lot of costumes and props around the perimeter of the party and the whole place was decorated with trees, fake snow, and tons of plants.

Those hanging garlands and that arch underneath are from the Wedding scene in Breaking Dawn part 1 and speaking of weddings....

Those are the outfits worn by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for the wedding scene! Pretty neat, huh?
The party was so great and I got to meet some pretty cool people! There was amazing food and desserts and a photobooth to commemorate the occasion.
The coolest party of the party though were the live wolves!!

Right outside there were 3 wolves walking around an enclosure. How cool is that?? Their names are Shadow, Thunder, and Harley.

I had a BLAST at the premier and afterparty. I definitely recommend the movie to anyone interested in the Twilight franchise. Even if you're not a Twilight fan, the movie was super entertaining and fun to watch.
Hope you enjoyed this post!
xxSJ

Sunday Funday! My Favorite Things From the Week

Hello everyone! Time for a Sunday Funday post with my favorite things from this past week!
1) Makeup

MAC lipstick in 'Fanfare.'  This is a light burnt red berry color that is so pretty and I love wearing it in the fall! This is a dark color for me to wear on a daily basis but the color is so pretty and subtle that I can rock it :)
2) Halloween!! OOoooOOOOooo spooky!
For Halloween this year I dressed up as a devil. I threw the costume together completely from things I had in my own closet and borrowed the ears from a housemate:

 

I love love LOVE Halloween because it gives you the opportunity to dress up a tad differently than normal! I would never wear this dark of makeup from day to day so its fun to have the chance to dress up and rock something different for a change.

I also did all of my friends makeup for our Halloween party. They were Wizard of Oz characters and it was so fun transforming them all into their characters. These are the mock ups I made for fun of the looks:

 

3) celebrating seniority

Sara, Sara, Me, and Katie

 I'm a Senior this year which means its time to celebrate my time at my school! Our Senior football game was this weekend and it was great being with all the other Seniors in my organization :) Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened!

4) Grumpy cat...again

This cat has made me giggle with out fail this week. Congrats, Grumpy cat, for making it on my blog twice!

What have been your faves this week???

xxSJ

The Many Beauty Uses of Vaseline!

Hello lovelies! Today I'm going to share with you all why vaseline should be on every girl's beauty tool belt! I know you might be skeptical that this baby is so versatile so let's get started!

1) Moisturizer! Vaseline can be a great moisturizer for rough skin ESPECIALLY as an overnight treatment! I often put vaseline on my lips at night so when I wake up they are silky smooth instead of dried and chapped.

2) Eye Cream!  Vaseline works great to dab under your eyes each night! No point in shelling out tons of cash on eye creams or serums when vaseline does the trick. You'll wake up with lighter circles and less puffy eyes :) Tyra Banks and Jennifer Aniston both use this trick and they sure look great to me!

3) Mascara Revitalizer! Okay ladies....the day is turning into night and as you're getting ready to go out you're touching up your makeup....what is the ONE thing you can never quite fix? For me its mascara! I can never apply more mascara to my lashes because it gets all hard and crusty. Never fear, vaseline is here! By rubbing a tiny tiny amount of vaseline on your eyelashes it wets your mascara and allows you to put another layer on! This is a trick I am SO happy I learned! It makes no mess and your lashes look great :)

4) Blister Defender! Your favorite pumps are so gosh darn cute but man, is it really worth the blisters and red marks they leave on your feet? Fend off blisters and abrasions by rubbing vaseline wherever your heels rub your feet. I promise you THIS WORKS and is my favorite use of vaseline.  Think about it! Blisters are caused by friction and the rubbing of skin so vaseline would minimize that friction allowing you to be blister free :) This also will NOT ruin your shoes! It comes right off with a towel :)

Okay ladies those were my uses of vaseline! I hope all of you will add a jar to your beauty arsenal because its cheap and useful in so many ways :)

Do you have a vaseline beauty tip I don't know about? Share below!

xxSJ

Review: L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows

Hi everyone! Today I'm doing a review of a drugstore product! L'Oreal Paris came out with eyeshadows that are to die for! The color selection is really varied and the packaging is very nice looking. When I saw these babies at CVS I knew I had to pick a couple up!

They're the L'Oreal Infallible 24 hour eyeshadows! I picked the colors Iced Latte (a shimmery light champagne color) and Amber Rush (an awesome cranberry bronze).  The packaging as you can see is so pretty.  Very clean looking clear plastic with the silver L'Oreal logo....LOVE.

The texture of these shadows is kind of interesting...they are almost sponge like? They are not quite a cream but not like a normal shadow at all either! I really can't think of anything I could compare them to! What's interesting about these is you can use a brush or your finger to apply to your lid and it looks just as good either way! The color deposits evenly and pigmented no matter if you use brush or finger tip :)

These are sooooooooooo pigmented too! The above swatch is one quick swipe of my pointer finger in the product and then on my inner arm.  They're EXTREMELY shimmery and reflective as you can see! If being glimmery isn't your thing then steer clear of these babies!

I have enjoyed doing a simple neutral eye with these shadows. Amber Rush washed all over my lid and then Iced Latte in the inner corner and under my brow bone creates a toned down but shimmery look.  Then I put a medium brown color in my crease for some definition. I was worried about mixing this product with other textured eyeshadows but they blended beautifully! I used MAC Soft Brown in my crease in the photo above and as  you can see, there's no issue with blending :)
These shadows also DO NOT CREASE! I was worried about that because of their almost cream gel like texture but nope...I used these with UD Primer Potion and not a crease the whole day!

I would definitely recommend these shadows! They are about $8 at CVS and I think especially if you catch them at a buy one get one 1/2 off sale they are worth well over the price you pay!

Hope this post was helpful! Have a beautiful day everyone :)
Keep smiling!
xxSJ

Review: Sylark by Elle and Blair Lipgloss Duo

Hi everyone! Today I'm reviewing the Lipgloss duo by Elle and Blair's makeup line 'Skylark.'

I got the duo in the mail last week and I was so excited! I got mine for free from pre-ordering the novel, Beneath the Glitter. The color 'Ava' is a pretty bubblegum barbie pink and the color 'Sophia' is a deeper berry color. Here are the swatches on my hand:

The colors are VERY pigmented and apply thick and creamy.  As you can see comparing the color payoff to the packaging, what you see is what you get!  That swatch on my hand is a super quick swipe of the paddle brush applicator, so payoff is great.  The glosses also don't have much of a scent, perhaps a little bit sweet if anything. 
I tried the glosses on with nothing on my lips, just the glosses (no lipstick underneath).  The application was so smooth and I loved how pigmented these are! Even though they are gloss they definitely pack a color punch! The bubblegum pink color is SO cute and surprisingly wearable! The berry color is the perfect 'my lips but better' color for me so I knew I would love this from the start :)

Ava on my lips

Okay....if you care to know, the awkwardness behind this photo is as follows: I was trying to take a good picture of my lips so you could actually see how pretty and vivid this color was and the only way I could do that was to pucker out my lips like a fish. That was awkward so I thought to myself, hey, I'll pretend I'm blowing a kiss, that's cute.  Well, looking back on the picture I was like hmm...now I just look conceited and weird, not cute. So I added these star stickers and glasses to make the picture more fun AND it just looks more awkward. Oh well :)

Rockin Sophia on my lips!

And here I am sans kissy face and cat eye glasses with Sophia on my lips. Super pretty and fall inspired, I do declare!

Overall I love these glosses! I've been reaching for them everyday. The one drawback I have found is by the end of the day (they last for hours with no reapplication!!!) my lips get a little dry. This may just be because I don't apply any chapstick or more gloss to my lips because this gloss lasts so dang long! Haha. Correlation may not be causation...I don't know.

This duo is $30 and can be purchased from Blush.com.  I believe there are ways to get this at 20% off though right now! I do recommend these if you are looking for these colors to add to your collection:)

Would you rock these Skylark lipglosses?
xxSJ

NOTD: Butter London's 'Trustafarian'

Okay everybody. Gird your loins for some awesomeness.

This nail polish is in the color 'Trustafarian' by Butter London.  It looks pretty unassuming in the bottle.  It looks like it would be a silvery green pastel color. I grabbed this one because I thought it would be a unique addition to my collection and I love wearing color on my nails. When I applied this though, I realized exactly what I had picked out:

THE COOLEST COLOR I'VE EVER BOUGHT!!!  This color is so ridiculously cool it shouldn't even be allowed. The left picture is the color in normal lighting.  It's a pastel green color with a TON of microshimmer and looks almost velvety. The magic really happens when you look at this color in the sun.  There are reflects of gold, blue, and orange in this stuff! AMAZING!!

 

Here's another pic so you can see the gleam of extraordinary light coming from this polish.  It's just incredible. As far as application is concerned, this polish took 3 thin coats to look opaque like this.  The multiple coats were awesome though because the different layers of shimmer gave a cool 3D effect.  

One warning about this polish though: It will DEFINITELY cause you to be extremely obnoxious when you're wearing it because you'll be shoving your fingers in your friends' faces going 'look at it! look at it!'

Sorry bout that!

As I've mentioned before, Butter London polishes are $14 each. This one might be worth the hefty price though because I can't think of anything else I've seen that's even close to this guy!

Would you rock this awesome green?

xxSJ

Sunday Funday! My favorite things from the week

Its Sunday which means its time to look back at my week and figure out what I've been lovin':

1) musiccccccccccccccccc

'Feel so Close' by Calvin Harris. Awesome beat, awesome song in general! I've been listening to this quite a bit this week.

2) Skylark lipglosses

I got these lipglosses in the mail this week and I love them! More extensive review to come :)

3) City fairs:

It's a pink firehat. I'm pretty excited about it.  I went to the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair this weekend with a couple friends and it was so fun! Games, fair food, puppies....this fair had everything!

4) This picture:

This little grumpy cat has stolen my heart! I love him in all his grumpy glory.

What were some of your favorites this week???

xxSJ

NOTD: 'Kimber' by Zoya

Today's nail of the day features the brand Zoya, a brand comparable to OPI in price and supposedly quality as well! I had not tried this brand before this manicure, so I was excited to test it out!

The color 'Kimber' is a bright pink with orange and bright pink microshimmer in it. I love microshimmer in polishes because it allows the polish to still be glossy and pretty while having a little extra somethin somethin!
Here it is in the sun:

I'm very impressed with Zoya polish! This applied super smooth and was completely opaque in two coats.
I actually have had this on my nails for the past couple of days and so took it off after taking these pictures and my only complaint has to be that it took FOREVER to get this polish off of my fingers! Most glittery polishes have that problem.
Zoya polishes can be found at Ulta for about $8.
What do you think about this pink shimmery shade?
xxSJ

Sunday Funday!

Happy Sunday everyone! Here are my favorites from this week!

1) Musicccccccccccccccccc

We Are Never Getting Back Together- Taylor Swift. Okay, I'm aboard the T Swift train. Love this song and I love that its a very girl power, sing in the car with your friends type of song. We all have that one person we're singin about! ;)

'50 Ways To Say Goodbye'-Train. Train is on fire! This song is awesome and so fun to sing along to (when you can catch the lyrics!)

2) Discovering I have an addiction.....to makeup.
The following is an extremely embarrassing photo:

The duo below is my fave eyeshadow duo from Nars (Alhambra). I did a whole post on it a couple months ago.  The two eyeshadow pots above are two new shadows I just got from Urban Decay....they're the same colors! They look the same in the pot and they swatch the same on the skin...whoops! Mistakes happen and at least I'll never run out of these pretty neutral colors haha

3) Study Study Study Study

I have two midterms tomorrow and one on Tuesday....these past couple of days I have felt like the little engine that could.... I think I can I think I can I think I can! I've been studying hard and every once in a while I catch myself making little doodles. I've found the perfect balance of working hard and then calming down with little breaks in between. Yay for productivity!

4) And for the awww section of Sunday Funday, I bring you the newest addition to the family:

This is James Bond, my older sister's new kitten she got with her fiance (he's in that upper right pic!). My sis  has been sending me pictures of this little guy all week and though I haven't met little James yet, I think I'm in love with the lil guy :)

Those were my faves from the week! Tell me some of yours in the comments below!
xxSJ

NOTD: Butter London's 'Come to Bed Red'

Today's nail of the day is a new polish I haven't tried yet! It's Butter London's 'Come to Bed Red.' It's a pure red color with more blue undertones than orange making it very appealing and a rather seductive color (tee hee).

See? It's gorgeous. I love Butter London polishes because they are so easy to apply making for a perfectly smooth manicure.  It leaves your fingers looking polished, clean, and professionally done. This is the first darker color I have worn in so long and I am SO READY for Fall so I can bust out the burgundies and purples!

Butter London polishes are 3 Free nail lacquers that cost $14 for .40z of product. They can be found at Ulta and department stores.
What's your favorite red to rock?
xxSJ