Ok, so I'm only posting this because I need feedback, y'all! This is my one and only KleanColor polish so I can't speak from much experience but just know, I am hating this polish. Also know, it was the only silver polish I have so I had to use it (Gotta support our Spurs!!).

 

This one painted streaky, chipped immediately (like before I could even use a topcoat) AND when I used the topcoat, it streaked up the polish even more. I shouldn't hate on KleanColor because I'm sure it just has to do with just this color and the fact that it's a metallic, pearl type color but UGH. I'm just not happy with it. And two days later, it looks like HELL.

 

This just gives me a good excuse to buy a new silver polish ;) Any ideas?

 

Have you tried KleanColor? How did you like it?

 

[L: Yesterday, front facing camera shows all the chips // R: Today, 2nd day mani. Streaky and chipped]

 

And in other news, DID YOU SEE THE SPURS GAME last night?!

Amazing.
Keep it up, boys!!

 

[The Spurs Coyote taking over Miami Beach :)]

 

Have a great weekend!!

Nail Files + Mani Tutorial! [Guest Post]

I'm on my way home today and I can hardly freaking wait to kiss my girl and my baby daddy. I'm also super excited to have such a nail pro guest posting for me today! Thank you so much, Kali for your post, I LOVE this mani! Go say hi to Kali! 

Hello lovely ladies, and Happy Friday! I'm Kali at Kali Now Living and I am honored and excited to guest post for Jessica. I love her blog, really love the adorable pics of Violet and pretty much need her sense of humor to get me through the work week. Let's wish Jessica a safe trip home!

I've been addicted to nail polish for a few months now (ok, not really but kind of) and really look forward to Friday's Nail Files link up with Tara and a few other great gals. A few weeks ago I shared a tri-color spring mani, and I've had several requests for a tutorial. It's pretty much foolproof and easy as 1, 2, 3, 4!

Start with a base coat. Add two coats of your favorite nail polish color and let dry. Add a diagonal stroke of your second polish color, working from the side of the nail towards the center. Let dry. Working from the opposite side of your nail, add another diagonal stroke using your third color. 

This manicure features Julep's Helen, Toni and Zelda. I'd love to see what fun color combinations you come up with and hope you all have a great weekend.

Fluff Friday?

I really feel like my blog is all b.s. and fluff lately but honestly, I'm ok with that. Why would I want to bore you with talk about my life? ha I can sum it up for you in a few words: work, coffee, Violet, exhaustion, work, Violet, wine, Ronnie, more work, more exhaustion and more coffee. Nothing you haven't already heard about!

 

I love my life, I really do, but I feel like I'm still struggling to just be ME. As an individual and as a fiancé. It's tough, yo! I truly am grateful for all that we have, I just realize I really need to take more time out for myself and for Ronnie. We need it!! This is why I'm glad April is here - it's a kick off to some of our favorite things!    

• This weekend is the San Antonio Highland Games and this is something my Scottish baby daddy gets super excited about. We first went a couple years ago and then we took new baby Violet last year. It's just a really fun time and how can you go wrong with anything that involves beer, music, kilts, food and lots of strong, burly men walking around. Just saying ;) 

• Then at the end of this month, it's FIESTA time!!! This one is MY event. It's 10 days of over 100 events including carnivals, fairs, parties, parades and so so much food and drink. The best way to explain it is - Mardi Gras but Mexican. ha It's a Fiesta, hello! It's truly an insane amount of partying that our city does and you'll go broke partaking in it, but it's so worth it.
• And then at the beginning of May, I travel to Vegas for the first of my two annual work events. Hence, my life being so full of work lately. We see a lot of the same people in our industry so going to our events is like a big reunion which I so look forward to; being in Vegas on our boss' dime is just an added perk ;) I'm not looking forward to leaving V for a week and not being here for Ronnie's birthday but I'll make it up to them when I get back!!

All that to say: Until some real excitement happens around here, you're getting fluff :)

 

Today's fluff: nail polish.

 

Essie - Turquoise and Cacos

Essie - A Cut Above (accent nail)

 

 

I took the picture of the polish inside to show you how pale T&C looks in the bottle. It's a really thin polish and it takes about 3 coats and will get more of a green color going but I added a fourth coat and it definitely looked more turquoise. I just can't live without an accent nail nowadays (can anyone?) so I added one of my favorites. I really loved this mani for Easter and it looked good for about 5 days, I was surprised. This picture was taken after 3 days.

Now, go enter my giveaway! Hair accessories and baby girl accessories, people. DO IT.

Happy weekend!

Discounts, High Fives and Nails!

I have the day off!!! 

But before you go and get all jealous, just know I didn't get to sleep in. My child decided no one in this house was sleeping in today! Oy. I'm just grateful to not have to go to work! Know what I'm saying? 

Ooh and I have some fun news today! ...

My March Etsy Sponsor Chip & Chisel is offering y'all 20% off your purchases again, before the month ends! Just use code YAMC20 (you must like her FB page first to qualify) and the code is good through Sunday! I truly hope everyone's gone over and had a look at Lindsy's jewelry - it's amazing. And as I've said before, I'm completely obsessed with my C&C necklace!

You can read my full post about Chip & Chisel here. 

Now for my High Fives!!

1. My sweet girl turned 13 months yesterday! I was in denial over her turning 1 last month but being over 1 is just too much!

2. My friend and I visit a local restaurant so much (because Nacho Monday, y'all!) that apparently we are part of their top 50 customers so we got invited to a customer appreciation dinner last night! ha Both of us are moms so getting out for the night + Hobby Lobby + a free meal and margaritas = highlight of our week.

3. It's been so gloomy and dark the past few days and I love it. I know that's mean to say when you northerners are sick of cold, dreary days but believe me, it makes our warmer temps feel much cooler and bearable.

4. I was disappointed in how streaky Julep Bette was since it's a jelly but lo and behold, I actually had a good idea and gave Bette another shot. I was wearing Julep's Oxygen and just painted Bette over it and I love how it came out! Moral of the story - paint a jelly over a pale color. So much prettier and easier to use. (I suck and didn't take a good picture but take my word, it's pretty!)

5. I'm so excited to spend the Easter weekend with my little family - Violet's 2nd one. Crazy! Hopefully we can find a place to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny but I'm not too concerned about it - she was obviously pretty traumatized by Santa. ha (I just realized I never even posted our Christmas pics here. Whoops!)

                                      

Have a great weekend, y'all. Enjoy your Easter (if you celebrate!) :)

Nail Files - Mojito Madness

I may be far from Irish but that doesn't mean I can't join in the festivities, right? :) So in honor of St. Paddy's Day weekend, I had to go green!

Essie - Mojito Madness

I've only worn this polish once before and loved it. Not sure why it's taken me so long to repeat!

I have to say, though I love Julep's colors and the service as a whole, Essie is still one of my favorite and easiest polishes to use. My #1 being OPI. Thoughts?

So I'm off work today -halleluyer!!- and besides lunch and a visit to the park, I'm not sure what else we have planned for our little family day but that's totally fine by me. I'd much rather be at home with them then at work ;)

Hey and don't forget, today is the last day to use my 20% off code at Chip & Chisel!! I'm thinking necklaces for me and Ronnie's moms would be perfect for Mother's Day. Lindsy has such an awesome variety of jewelry though, you should seriously jump at this offer!! Code is YAMC20 and you must like her Facebook page first.

Have a happy St. Paddy's weekend!

Nail Files + Last Chance To Enter My Giveaway!

 

I was so excited to share this beautiful color with y'all.

Julep - Joan

But instead of taking pictures this morning of my already perfectly pretty mani, I went and added another coat this morning because in my crazy head that's exactly what it needed and surely it would dry in no time and still look as pretty as it had... before I went and effed it up.

I'm now at work with smudged nails and I may as well have shown up in my underwear. It's not pretty. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking because now my hands are just a mess.

So I linked up today so that hopefully you nail pros could tell me your tricks for drying your nails! I usually only paint my nails when I know I'll have the time to just be patient and let them dry (like last night) but for days like today, I needed help. I've tried these drops from Sephora before and they were crap. At least for me. Recommendations are welcome!

My giveaway closes Monday morning so go enter already!

It's for $50 credit to Chip & Chisel and believe me, you need her jewelry in your life.

(The first 3 entries are mandatory. just FYI)

Nail Files + February Julep Box

I tried two new polishes this week but am saving the other for next Friday!

This week's is one from Milani's Neon line - Fresh Teal. This color is an interesting one.

First, the bottle is "wrapped" in plastic so it's not see through to the polish inside. Weird.

Second, the nail color does not photograph well. AT ALL.

It paints on like a teal but in every type of lighting I tried, it shows up as a blue-ish turquoise.

I just googled swatches and people complained about the same thing. So weird!

This picture was taken about 3 days after I painted them which is why my nail tips are chipped but really it's a pretty decent brand and I LOVE the color! I want to try the rest of their neon line!

Yesterday I received my February Maven Box from Julep!

I went with the "Classic With A Twist" box and received:

 --Claudette - a "smokey brick red creme"
--Helen - a "smoky pastel lavender creme"
--Oxygen Nail Treatment 
--Freedom Polymer Top Coat.

I cannot wait to try these bad boys!! 

They also threw in a little eyelash curler (that works really well, I might add) 

and a couple of little heart chocolates. No idea where those went ;)

I'd say this was a pretty sweet deal for $19.99!

If you want to jump on the Julep bandwagon, sign up here!

Do what I did and try their Intro box for just a penny. For real. The code is PENNY.

Happy Friday AND oh - my - gah Happy February!!

(a.k.a. the month my baby turns 1. Oh lord. Pass me the tissues.)

Nail Files - Candy Apple

Y'all know I love me a good red nail polish! I feel like that's all I ever post about for Nail Files! ha

One of my aunts gave me an Old Navy gift card for my birthday along with a couple of Old Navy Tip Toe polishes and I finally got around to trying this one, Candy Apple.

I wasn't expecting it to be the best quality polish around but it ended up being really easy to work with! Just another thing to make me love Old Navy even more ;) It was slightly streaky after 2 coats but the third seemed to do the trick. Normally 3 coats pisses my impatient self off but luckily this dried pretty quickly too. 

And in other nail polish news, I got over being annoyed with Julep (after I wasn't able to change my box style in December) when I found out that February's box would include not only 2 polishes but their Oxygen Nail Treatment and Freedom Polymer Top Coat! All that for $19.99? Done! This time instead of my usual Bombshell box, I chose Classic With a Twist instead. Told you I'm a sucker for reds.

If you're on the fence about signing up for Julep, try their intro box for 1 penny! That's how I got hooked on them last year. Just click below then use the code PENNY. (If that doesn't work, I've also seen the "MAVENINTRO" code floating around.)

I'm supposed to head to Austin tomorrow for the Austin Blogger Meetup but per usual, my busy student fiance has a ton of studying to do and I have yet to find an available sitter :/ I'll keep my TX girls posted!!

Happy Day, it's FRIDAY!! Enjoy your weekend!

Just stopping in!

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Vacation has been sooo amazing and it's really been nice to take a break from blogging this week and I plan to continue it for a few more days but since I had a childless few hours yesterday, I finally got to paint my nails and had to share! I love how this combination turned out.

I used L'Oreal Greycian Goddess and love & beauty multi color glitter from Forever 21. The glitter's kinda gloopy and a pain in the a to use but if you're patient (so says the most impatient girl evah!), it ends up looking really pretty! Plus for 99 cents, you can't complain much.

We had an awesome first Christmas with Violet and we took oh, about 200 pictures. No lie. But we did about 5 family events since last Saturday so there was a lot to capture! ha. We have our 6th and FINAL (thankyoujesus) get together tonight. So til I see ya again, have a great weekend and Happy New Year!! xoxo

And most important of all,

Happy 10 Months today to our sweet tootie girl!!

(You'll have to excuse me while I go cry my eyes out. Why do our babes grow so fast?!)

merry nails

Happy Friday!

You know the day's gonna be good when you can start off with a little crafting! I just got done glittering up and personalizing stockings for myself and 12 co-workers. I'm a glittery mess now but it doesn't hurt getting paid to have some fun ;)

I'm linking up in 2 places today for both Amy's Merry Manicures and Tara & Vicki's Nail Files!

I tried over and over to get a good picture of my nails but it just wasn't happening. My phone's camera is normally pretty decent but it wasn't focusing well and my point and shoot was no help either...But here it is! I had fun with this one and was pleasantly surprised that pink glitter looks good over a berry color! I think it's pretty festive and Holiday-ish, no?

Essie A Cut Above and Essie Berry Naughty

I'd just finished cleaning then decorating so let's agree to ignore my cuticles, shall we? ;)

I have a new color on (as of last night) but I was pretty obsessed with this mani and want to do it again! A Cut Above is a really fun glitter too - it's "shattered" and has large pieces mixed in with micro glitter. I even had a couple people stop and ask what gold flaking I had used on my nails? ha. It's definitely a pink glitter but I can see how it looks goldish over the berry!

I never linked up any of my Instagram pictures this week so here's just a few! ;)

1. Christmas cutie booty // 2. Obsessed with V's new crib sheet // 3. Sweet girl

4. Dinner time  // 5. Influenster reviews coming soon! // 6. Cutest niece and nephew evah!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Nail Files - Head Mistress

 

A few weeks ago I won Kelly's AMAZING nail polish giveaway and I was super excited to try out one of the colors already! I chose Essie's Head Mistress from the Fall 2012 Stylenomics Mini Four Pack.

 

Cute huh?

 

 

Ignore the nasty skin around my nails please - I've been a little stressed at work which makes me pick-y!

The left picture was taken outside right after I painted them and the one on the right was taken inside. The color looks MUCH darker inside but I love it either way. I think I'll be wearing this color a lot this Fall and Winter!

 

Also included in my giveaway winnings was a Seche Vite top coat which I was soooo excited to finally try! Needless to say, it has not dissapointed me yet. That right picture was 4 days later and all that had chipped was my thumb nail. Not bad!

 

In other news....

If you're participating in Ashlee and I's Fall Swap, Monday is the deadline for sending out your partner's package! We'll link up and show off the goodies (ha!) on Oct. 11th. My partner Allie and I have already sent ours out and I cannot wait to share what she got me - she went totally overboard!!

 

In mommy news... 

Violet is 7 months old today!!! This shiz is going by way too fast and I pretty much have to keep myself from breaking out the ugly cry when I think about it. Girlfriend is all over the place and only wants to flip to her tummy now and wiggle around - I'm pretty nervous about crawling coming soon! She can't even sit still long enough for a picture anymore. See? 

I just love her face towards the end when she realized it was actually HER on camera :)

 Happy Friday, y'all!