Hunger games beautified

I never read the books but I really enjoyed the first movie. The story, acting and the movie were all well done. So needless to say, I'm looking forward to the sequel, "Catching Fire" that comes out next month, at Thanksgiving. That's right, next month is Turkey day - wowzer!

I watched the trailer yesterday and it looks fantastic and I can't help but love Jennifer Lawrence. She is über talented, very beautiful, down-to-earth and so very young. Jennifer and the plethora of colours in the Capitol city must have been why Covergirl decided to create the Hunger games makeup line. I think my favorites are the nail polish and all the nail decals (no surprise there).

'got my hair done

So I know it's not the best picture but for some stupid reason, I didn't take it right after the stylist finished, so that's the best you're getting unless you come visit me and check it out in person :p

Enjoying some vino during my haircut

I tried out a new salon, Bettie Bangs with a LivingSocial deal for a haircut, and partial highlights. There was a a scheduling issue the first weekend I had planned to go, so they threw in a deep conditioning for no cost. Brenna Sloane (who had half pink hair) cut and coloured my hair and did a fantastic job while I drank wine! It took some time to get used to having colour since I've had virgin hair for over 10 years now, but I really do like the change and apparently, so do most people, with the number of compliments I've been receiving. Really, I would have loved to go with something more drastic like red or blue or purple highlights, but the fact that I work in the corporate world and that those colours don't last for too long on dark hair, were a deterrent. Maybe I'll try Bumble and bumble's spray chalk for a quick colour fix the next time around...

'got my nails did

Since I scan the internet like a hawk for deals, I found one to try out shellac nails at Nail Geeks. The awesome thing about shellac nail polish is that (1) they're dry as soon as you're ready to leave the nail salon (2) they're supposed to last for at least two weeks; shiny and no chips. I'm normally a red nails kinda girl, but I decided to get hot pink since it's such a fun summer colour and probably one of the few colours I do not have in my arsenal of nail polishes.

So it's 10 days since I got my nails done and they're still going strong, even with lots of scrubbing and cleaning today without any gloves. Of course my nails are growing so you can see a blank space close to the cuticle but other than that I think these will really last a full two weeks!

Addicted to varnish

Ok, this post isn't about some subculture solvent addiction, but a love of nail polish. Over this past year, I've rekindled my love for nail polish, especially since you can wear open-toe shoes and sandals about 90% of the year in Austin. You might say addiction is a strong word, but I just counted and I bought 45 nail polishes over the past year that I could remember. Practically all of these were on sale and about 30 of these were small, sample sized but they gave me the opportunity to play around with different colours and techniques. Last summer I tried a very bright blue on my toes, followed by black crackle on hot pink toes (photos below).

 

Since I picked up most of the new colours over the holidays (yay Black Friday sales), I was looking for a way to organize and came across these round nail polish wheels. I used them to paint out all the colours that I had collected and now I don't have to dig through all the bottles when I am ready to change my nail colour. It took me a while but once it was done, I felt quite accomplished :) and am super organized for the next nail season in TX. Check out my colours below.