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13 August 2012

{NOTW} first NOTW! lilac tips


colors I used

start with bare nails
paint your base coat; I used Julep's Emma on my nails -- it's a nudy slightly sparkly color
put your tape in place as your guide
paint your tips with your color of choice; I used Julep's Renee
slowly take off your tape
apply a top coat, clean up a bit and you're done!
Yay, my first NOTW post! It's been a couple months since I've painted my nails, actually maybe 3 months to be more precise. Quite a while, huh? I've been letting my nails heal from my excessive painting the past couple years (literally had polish on 6/7 days of the week). Yeah, I kind of neglected taking care of my nails for quite a while...

Well, since it's been a while since I've done anything with my nails, I thought I'd do something simple but pretty. Aaaaaand since my new Julep polishes came in, I figured I'd use those! Overall I really like these nails ~ next time I'll try something more difficult, but for now enjoy these ~

Oh, I would like to show some of my past nail designs to you guys. But not today, maybe tomorrow or the day after. I need to get all the pictures together first ; o;

Okay, that's all ~ now I'm going to go and start on my blog header then I'll be off to bed. Good night <3 div="div">

12 August 2012

{REVIEW} Nail polish for A PENNY?!?!

That's right, A PENNY! Can't believe it, right? Neither could I, hehe!! All you girls are gonna love this deal ~ first I'll jump into the review.

my box came!! it only took four days
welcome note
I got the "American Beauty" intro box
what's this? a bag within a box? whaaaaaaat??
contents of the box
inside the bag 
dum dum dah dah!! nail polish is nicely wrapped in bubble wrap
omg so pretty!!! 
swatch #1: Renee, one coat
swatch #2: Emma, top--one coat; bottom--two coats
Overall, I really like these polishes. The colors are beautiful and I don't have to put gobs on like I do with my drugstore brand polishes. Quality-wise, these are as good as, if not better than, OPI polishes. The only problem I have is how small the bottles are!! You get half the amount of normal polishes. At $15 for each bottle it's pretty damn pricey. But if you get the boxes instead you get a better deal!! I believe you get 2-3 polishes for only $20!! Much better than spending $15 on one bottle of polish.

So now you're probably wondering how it was possible to get two polishes AND a pedi cream for only one cent, including shipping. Well, that's easy! Go to Julep, take the style quiz, and then use the code "MAVENINTRO" at checkout to get your first intro box for a penny, plus get free shipping!! Amazing deal, right? 

Before you get started, I feel there are some things I need to tell you. Julep is one of those subscription type things, almost like subscribing to a magazine. What does that mean? Well it basically means you sign up for their monthly box they will send you. Every month they ship you a new box with products. When they do this they will charge you the 27th of each month. If you don't like the month's box you can choose to skip the month and the bill between the 20th and 24th. You'll get an e-mail the 20th of every month reminding you that you've subscribed and that they will bill you the 27th, if you choose to get that month's box. Easy, right? And if you don't want to stay subscribed you can easily cancel your membership and still keep what you've gotten.

Well, what are you waiting for? 

10 August 2012

{LIFE} Austin trip +4th of July

[WARNING: PIC HEAVY]

Hi you guys!! ♥ My afternoon is free and I'm in a good mood, so I thought I'd write up this blog post for you guys! I've been wanting to write this one for a while, but I never got around to importing the pictures to my computer. I finally did it though!! So here is my trip to Austin and my 4th of July in pictures ~

AUSTIN
On the first day we drove through Round Rock and stopped for some donuts. At Round Rock Donuts they have huuuuuuuuuge donuts!!! There was a donut there that was bigger than my head!
giant donut!!!!!
Once we got to Austin we stopped at CoCo's Cafe for some food and boba.
fried tofu, onion pancake, and my milk tea
After that, we toured the UT campus on our own. I really want to go to UT when it's time for me to go to college! The campus is soooo pretty and there are so many little stores and restaurants around the area. Hopefully in a couple years I will get in!!

UT campus map; looks kind of like Texas, but upside down!!
on campus--it's really pretty!

After we toured the UT campus, we walked around the shops beside it.

some shops
some more shops
inside the co-op
 After shopping we walked around the city for a while. There were lots of interesting things on the buildings and streets.



I thought this was funny
CoCo's cafe was cute
I got a t-shirt from the co-op
 After that, we went into the capitol building. This was my second time going there!

the capitol building
there is a star on the roof of the building







Later that afternoon we went and did a bunch of eating. We ate little bits from places like The Snack Bar and some food trucks.



This dip was really good!! The left half was hummus and the right half was eggplant. Usually I hate eggplant, but I loved this dip.
more cute stuff on buildings

a bunch of posters

food trucks!!! 
haha, the sign on the might cone food truck



 

I really wanted to take that giant cupcake ; o;
fries in a cone from the mighty cone truck
snow cone; we got frog in a blender flavor
bratwurst; it was really good, omg I'm salivating just remembering 
the bratwurst; split for five people LOL

Next we got in the car to go to Barton Springs, which was basically a large natural swimming area. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, but I can tell you about it! It was very nice but verrrry cold since we went around 8pm-ish. There are fish in the water and also crawfish and other creatures, so it's just like swimming in a lake. The water was very refreshing and didn't feel slimy at all (like the lake does, er at least to me).

tiny bicycle thing we saw on the road! I still don't know exactly what it was...
The next day we got up early and had banh mi for breakfast. Then we went to a bakery and got some cupcakes.


After the bakery, we went shopping at the San Marcos outlet mall. While we were there I got a bunch of stuff!! We also got some froyo from Orange Leaf.


Later that evening we went for a little hike. The place where we hiked had a bunch of peacocks! It was a nature/wildlife preserve that you could hike in. The peacocks were so loud, but soooo pretty!!


















this nice house out in the woods on the water


the view at the top of the hill we hiked; rich people are able to live in such nice houses on this lake


4TH OF JULY
I spent the 4th of July with my cousins at our local park. It was hot and there were ants, but it was nice.

some bugs made this bokeh effect.







Okay, that's all ~ I hope you enjoyed this post. If you ever decide to visit Texas you should definitely go to Austin!! Or you could go to Dallas and then visit me with gifts, hehe.... C;

Until next time!