Holiday Nails

I did my nails last night and wanted to go for something sparkly! I did a clear base coat, and then a coat of Rimmel nail polish in 270 Steel Grey, followed by a coat of Love & Beauty in Disco Ball. I love the end result! It's going to take some serious scrubbing, as comes with all glitter polishes, but for the time being, it's so worth it!

Girls Like You

Braids are my kryptonite! I remember when I was younger when french braids were super popular. I remember trying so hard to learn how to do it on myself, and eventually getting the hang of it when I was about 14 years old. Right now though, regular ol' braids don't satisfy me anymore. I love when I discover new types of braids that I wouldn't even think were possible to pull off. I came across this picture and I'm trying to figure out how to pull this look off.

From what I can gather, it looks like the top portion is a waterfall braid going from the left side of her head over to her opposite ear. From here, I think she gathered the pieces of hair from the waterfall braid and french braided them, only taking hair from the right side of the braid and then gathering everything into an elastic just beneath her right ear. Phew, that was a mouthful! I think I'll have to try this sometime. Isn't it so unique?

Newsprint Nails

I was browsing through Refinery29 when I found this awesome and unique tutorial for your nails. They're called Newsprint Nails and after I watched this video, I've been thinking about doing it. So a few hours ago I took out some newspaper, nail polish (both a colour coat and the top coat) and some Gin (hahaha, its part of the tutorial, I swear!). I am so thrilled with the result! I found it super easy to do as well. I had tried doing water marbling on my nails which turned out to be time consuming and a disaster to say the least. Take a look at my end result! 

ps: Did you notice that I put sudoku prints on my thumbs?

Summer Nails

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I have a weakness for nail polish of any kind. Bright colours, pastels, glitter, nudes, you name it! The past couple of days I've been rocking "Sun Kissed" by Sally Hanson and I love the colour so much. I paired it with my new navy and white striped top from Zara. I loved the colour blocking combination so much that I had to snap a picture. 

Summer Nails

So I'm pretty sure I have a nail polish addiction. Every time I walk into a store I glide over to the nail polish section and swoon over all of the adorable colours. The other day there was a sale on all of the Sally Hanson Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Colour and I picked up four bottles...eeep! Luckily after reading through a beauty article over at Glamour, I unknowingly picked out the hottest colours for spring and summer (bright blue, yellow and orange as well as a nude vanilla colour). Here are a few nail polish ideas that are going to keep me inspired throughout the warm months.

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty via Glamour Beauty

How Soon Is Now?

Let's talk about dream hair a little more. If I could have anyone's hair, it would be Zooey Deschanel's. I love her dream bangs and how her hair looks so cute when it's just left alone with  no fussy hair tools. If my hair were long enough right now, I would totally just want to go to a hair studio and ask them to give me her exact hair cut and colour. I'm feeling such an urge to do that right now, but I know I should wait. If you could have anyone's hair, who's would it be?

Oh Là Là

I found this fantastic tutorial on Hair Romance on how to do the perfect chingnon that looks so effortless and easy to do! I think this would look amazing on almost every hair type and looks so sophisticated. Take a look below at the visuals and follow the step-by-step instructions. Doesn't this look so elegant?

How-to:

1. Using a round brush, blow-dry hair smooth and straight, focusing on the top sections.
2. Once dry, use a large-barrel curling iron to create waves from the ears down.
3. Build height and volume at the crown by teasing hair gently with a fine-tooth comb.
4. Gather hair into a low ponytail. Twist it along the nape of your neck, pinning as you go.
5. Once you reach your ear, shape the remaining hair into curls, and pin them back over the twist.
6. Spritz strands in place.
7. To add texture, gently curl and scrunch the wispy ends with your fingertips.

Someone Like You

I'm a huge, huge fan of Adele's music. She also has flawless make up and hair. I wish I had the hair and make up to pull off these looks! Maybe one of these days I'll take a stab at it, but in the mean time, I'll drool over these pictures. 

Taxi Cab

Spring makeup has been on my mind lately. As much as I love winter, the weather the city is experiencing is beyond pleasant. On Sunday, there was a high of -34c. Yes, you read that right. Brrr!

This picture was taken backstage from Tibi's Spring 2011 show. I love how the makeup this model is wearing is very minimal, but cute. It looks like she exfoliated her face before applying a light coat of foundation. Her upper lash line looks like its been coated with a thin layer of liquid liner before applying mascara to curled lashes and topping everything off by applying blush to the apples of her cheeks and a quick swipe of tinted gloss over her lips. It looks so effortless, but completely pulled together.

Look at what I bought...

Airplanes

In addition to my previous post about my recent love for anything grey,  pink and creme coloured, I picked up a few items from H&M that I just have to share. I picked up a black skirt, a grey knit v-neck sweater and a beautiful light pink clutch/purse (the colour is kind of wonky in this picture). Here's a picture of my clutch!

Also, here's a little something I picked up a few days ago. I love the smell of Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne perfume! It's my first bottle of expensive perfume (eek!) so I'm going to have to make sure to use it in small quantities ;)

Swallowed In The Sea

Lately all I've been thinking about is braids. French braids, fishtail braids, distressed braids, you name it. Right now with the state of my hair, I can only pull off a short french braid that nubs at bottom of my head. I can't wait until I can pull of these looks. Hopefully in two months or so!

Love

Love. 

Animal

I've always had an affinity towards boots of all kinds, from wellies to equestrians and fashionable military boots, but I've never really explored the uncharted territory of high heels. I have two pairs of mid-low heels that are pretty comfortable to walk in, but they don't really have the fierce effect from a pair of real heels. And let's face it, walking into a club wearing a pair of flats doesn't feel very special at all. 

After browsing through Spring's website, I came up with a few options that I'm thinking about getting. Let me know which one I should choose:

This pair of black pumps is pretty simple, but very versatile. It's definitely something I could wear for a variety of occasions, it isn't limited to just to a girls night out.

I'm pretty drawn to wedges as well. A few months ago I tried on a pair of black peep-toe wedges and silently squealed to myself at how awesome they looked and I was surprised how comfortable they were. I regret not buying them, so a pair like this could definitely make me and my feet happy.

I'm not sure how I feel about this pair of booties, but a bootie's versatility in terms of weather conditions is a big plus for me. Also, does it not look super comfortable to wear? I'm torn between these three beauties so I'm going to take a while to mull over which ones to consider purchasing, so any input would be appreciated.

Also, I'm half-way through watching Twilight Eclipse and I'm in love with the make-up. A beauty post might follow when I'm done watching it.

Parisienne

I was looking at H&M's pre-fall style guide and was giddy to find that the fall line finds inspiration from Parisians and femme fatale (sexy and alluring women who lead men into dangerous situations). Haha, awesome. I've always loved the amazing the quality of H&M's clothes, and how affordable it is to students on a budget. Whenever I walk into an H&M, my heart literally skips a beat.

Note to self: must perfect the cat-eye look like Bridget Bardot in this photo. It's dramatic, yet soft. It's balanced out well with her teased hair and that lovely ribbon.

Photo: weheartit

Is this not the cutest picture ever? I love this girl's bangs and her tousled hair. I can't wait until the weather's cool enough to wear scarves. Speaking of which, I'm knitting a scarf at the moment. Yes, that's right, in July.

Photo: weheartit

I found this photo on weheartit, but I'm not sure if the person that uploaded is actually the owner of the photo. That being told, I couldn't help not including it in this post. I love the way this girl mixes black and brown. People always say that black and brown clash and don't go together, but after watching What Not to Wear, I was assured that since both colours are neutrals, they compliment each other. Well, that's all for now.

North of Light's End

It's July 2nd and the weather these past few days has been a bit chilly (around 17 degrees celsius) and its bringing me back to my love of the fall and winter seasons. I'm not really a summer person, anything higher than 25 degrees celsius is definitely too warm for me! Since I'm a lover of the cooler seasons, I thought I would compile a few things that are inspiring me at the moment and what I'm looking forward to once autumn is upon us again!

Photo: lookbook.nu

I love the combination of colours in this photo. I always had this strange aversion to mustard yellow, but the way it's balanced out with the dusty rose colour of her cardigan makes this outfit a beautiful combination.

Photo: weheartit

Photo: weheartit

How pretty is this hairstyle by the way? It looks like a combination of inverted/dutch braiding and hair curling and it looks like the ends were tucked underneath the braid. I think a lot of people try to perfect the art of french braiding, making them look neat and clean, but the effect becomes so much softer and ethereal when its messy like the photo above. I like to think I'm pretty good at doing braids, but it's going to take a bit of time for my hair to grow longer, when I can really experiment with them again.

The Perfect Bun

Normally I'm a bit skeptical about how my hair looks in an updo, but as of late, I've been drawn to these step-by-step instructions on how to create the perfect messy bun. I can just imagine travelling to and from class with this hair, wearing glasses and a warm pashmina scarf.

Photos: Yves Saint Laurent

I chopped off my majorly long hair this past February and miss my locks dearly. As soon as my hair gets long enough for an updo like this, you bet I'm going to be trying this out. Until then, I'll have to cope with my shoulder length bob that flips up at the ends and the excessive amount of bobby pins required to keep it in a ponytail. A girl can dream though, no?