What I Love Wednesday 11.27.13

Hey everyone! Look who's actually doing her WILW on time! Let's get straight into it (I have a pie to make in less than 10 minutes!)

I swear that allrecipes.com has been my best friend since I have moved out on my own. It has taught me to make chicken, rice and more recently (like, tonight) a pie! There are several different recipes and ideas on it and I'm so excited to expand my cooking repertoire.

I have been pretty much in love with boot cuffs this season and am really trying to make a pair of my own. I found a pattern on ravelry but have somehow managed to go in a completely different direction once I got halfway in. I'll be sure to post the pattern once I finish at least one of them. ( these are from etsy!)

I kind of stumbled upon these while watching a Mortem3r video. She was talking about her wedding headpiece and I found the Etsy shop she got her antler fascinator from and these. I am obsessed with these. I would love to find some kind of mold or something so that I can make my own from clay. These would be a magnificent statement piece.

Long time penpal, RTA friend and Etsy buddy of mine, Karina has made these cute ornaments for the Christmas season. She's giving half of her earnings to the Animal Orphanage in Voorheese, NJ. Please visit her site and check out her other creative Ornaments for Animals and help out a furry friend this season!

I bought this red glitter nail polish by Sally Hansen on my last venture to Target in hopes of doing some sort of fantastical nail art with it, but my nails have all since broken due to hormonal changes (coughcough) and I'm sat here with stumps. I'll hopefully be painting them up like delicious winter candies once they get a bit longer and stronger! This particular color is called Red Carpet btw.

Urban Outfitters Nail Polish Review

Hey friends! It's time for another product review! I thought that I would review something that I bought while in Denver. I want to do a review on the nail polishes that I bought at Urban Outfitters.

First of all, these were completely an impulse buy as they have buckets and buckets of nail polish, jewelry and other fun goodies in a labyrinth on the way up to the registers. I settled on two colors that I don't really have, but caught my eye.

'Undercover' by UO Ecote Collection and 'Storm' by UO Prairie Rose Collection

Aren't these just beautiful? I usually gravitate towards the bright and bold colors but this time I went a different direction. And you all should know by now how I love my gray hues. These also totally scream fall to me even though they are not the traditional fall colors one would expect.

I had read somewhere before that these polishes are high shine and chip resistant and that got me really excited to get my paws on some.

I had originally only intended on painting one of each of my nails with these colors as sort of a swatch to see how they handle and I ended up painting my whole hand! These are not only high gloss but they dry super fast (which is always a plus for a crafter!). I have only had them painted for a day but I have not yet had to do any touch ups and I think they look really good for not having used a base or top coat.

The real challenge will be to see how these fair on a Thursday at work as that is a truck day and I spend the whole day using my hands to peel open boxes.

Well done Urban Outfitters! I will be back for more!

Easy Brushed Gold Tipped Nail Tutorial

So I thought I would do a nail tutorial for you all since I haven't done anything diy / tutorial like in a while. Here is an easy up-and-coming look that anyone can do. I am seriously seeing this everywhere, but it's very easy so you won't need to take any notes.

Nail Polish/ Varnish Needed:

clear base and top coat (I used Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear)

a dark solid base color (I used ORLY's Liquid Vinyl)

a dense glittery top coat (I used Revlon's Gold Coin)

To start, paint a base coat on all of your nails and let dry and follow that up with your dark base color.

You can either clean up the edges now or wait until the completed look. Once your base coat is dry, take your glittery top coat and blot as much as you can OFF of the bush. This is used to get the 'messy' effect of the brushed-tip look.

Roll, dab and blot at the tip of your nails with the little bit of polish left on the bush at that point and do this to every nail.

To finish, bush on a clear top coat to protect your look. Now you have a really cool, edgy nail look that your friends will want to copy.

What I Love Wednesday 8.21.13

I can't believe it's been a full week already. Ok, here goes:

ANTHONY & KALEL AND THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Most of you may recognize Anthony from SMOSH (now the second most subscribed to channel on YouTube.) About 2 years ago his girlfriend Kalel started making fashion and diy videos and I was hooked. I didn't even know she was Anthony's girlfriend until they were getting dinner one night in one of their videos and I said 'I think that guy's from SMOSH.' When Kalel figured that she wouldn't have enough time to maintain her own channel, I was a little crushed honestly, but she and Anthony made this new channel (Watch Us Live and Stuff) where they post daily vlogs, challenges and mail hauls nearly every day which makes the end of my day worth it.

MODCLOTH

I have a rapidly growing 'love it' list and rekindled love for ModCloth. They're clothes are for the most part really retro looking and they have plus sizes (I'm not plus sized, but I think that this is awesome of them, because a lot of clothing places don't offer plus sizes and I don't think that's right.) It began while I was looking for a dress to buy for this big birthday vacation Josh and I are planning next month and possibly for a wedding. Things here are a little on the expensive side, but I think most of it would be worth having

ORLY ROYAL VELVET

To be honest, this was an impulse buy at Sally's Beauty Supply. I have loved the ORLY brand of nail lacquer for a long time and have a large hoard filling a silver train case to prove it. I have applied this color twice already (instead of doing the nail tutorial I was going to do...) and I am so in love with it. It's a duo-chormatic shade of blue and purple and I love how it has the chameleon effect. I've gotten many compliments on it and this photo really does it no justice.

UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER KNITS MAGAZINE

Oh my gosh, can someone please buy me this magazine? I saw it at work yesterday and have been flipping through it both today and yesterday. There are so many brilliant patterns in here. There are even patterns that are Harry Potter character inspired, not just what is included in the movies. I just want to add it to my hoard, even if I'm not the best knitter yet.

SUCCAPLOKKI OWL KNITTER'S GAUGE

Is another knitting item ok, because I love this owl needle gauge. It's another Etsy find and I can honestly say that I have NEVER seen another gauge like this. This is awesome and matches everything I already own... that is owl-related. I might have a small problem. This shop also sells the needle gauges in European sizes as well as US. I may treat myself to one of these for my birthday.

...That was fast. I can't believe that's five things already! I'm off to make dinner now.