New Year's Resolutions 2014

It's hard to believe another year is already coming to a close. I'll be honest, 2013 was not one of my better years. In fact, it was one of my worst. Which is why I'm welcoming a fresh start for 2014. I've made new year's resolutions in the past, but very rarely did I actually keep them. I think the the problem lies in the resolutions themselves. I resolved to do things not because I had a deep desire to accomplish them, but rather because I liked the idea of accomplishing them. So without further ado, here are my resolutions for 2014!

1. Meditate every day. Meditation is so good for you, I know that. So for 2014, I'm going to try to get into it. I'll put in an effort everyday and if it works, great. If not, it's never a bad thing to take a few minutes to clear your mind and do nothing.

2. Write Everyday. There's only one way to become a better writer and that's to write! So I am going to starting writing everyday. Whether it's a blog entry, or a page of my (first attempt at a) novel, I'm going to make an effort to do a little bit every day.

3. Read all the books I've been meaning to. I am the worst when it comes to buying books and then never getting around to actually reading them. I have a huge pile of books I've accumulated over the last couple of years, which I will tackle this year!

4. Do a cardio workout at least 3 times a week. Between a knee injury and some other health issues, I've had to forgo my usual exercise routine over the last year. I've suffered in more ways than one because of it. I know I'm healthier and happier when I'm being active, so I am determined to get back into it in 2014. If one form of cardio is too much for my knee, I will find something else to do.

5. Drink more water. This is something I've been trying to do lately, and will continue with full force into the new year. not only is it good for me in general, but the doctor has told me to do so (yay for having super low blood pressure).

6. Challenge myself. In some senses I did a lot in 2013, in others not at all. So I want to make up for it in 2014 by really pushing myself to grow as a person. I'm not sure yet what all this will entail, but I'm sure I will recognize it when the opportunity arises.

And those are my resolutions for 2014. I hope you all have a great new year's celebration tonight. Let's make 2014 the best year yet!

xx Nicole

Merry Christmas

Hello lovelies!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas :)

I've really enjoyed my journey into the world of blogging and YouTube this year, and am so thankful for all of the wonderful people I've had the opportunity to meet through both of these!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday filled with lots of family/friends, food and love!

xxNicole

White and Gold

Another week, another variation of Christmas-y nails! I love white in the winter, and adore the combination of white and gold. So it made perfect sense to combine the two. I was inspired by the lovely Anna Saccone-Joly, who did a similar nail look last week.

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White-On, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Wedding Glitters for the accent nail.

xx Nicole

Shortbread Cookies

I've been a bit late doing my holiday baking this year. Christmas seems to be creeping up on me; how are we only a week away from the big day?! It was about time I got these cookies made, as they've been on my to do list for a while! Shortbread has always been a staple in my family, and they remain one of my favorite treats to this day. You can find the recipe I used here.

Christmas Nails

My nails have been the standard 'some shade of dark polish' since September, so I decided it was time to give them a Christmas-y touch!

I started by applying OPI's Ridge Filler Base coat to my nails. They tend to be rather dry/flakey this time of year, so this creates a smoooth base for the polish. Next I applied two coats of Nicole by OPI's Keeping Up With Santa polish. As an accent, I added Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear Nail Color in Strobe light to my ring finger.To Finish, I added OPI's Top Coat to the other nails. I love how festive this is; it's a nice change from the traditional red Christmas manicure!

xx Nicole

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We've officially gone into full-on Christmas mode around here. So I thought I would share a few photos of the decorations around my house! Hope you're all starting to get into the Christmas-y spirit :)

xx Nicole

Change

Well, to say I lack consistancy on this blog is an understatement. I seem to get bursts of creativity and inspiration, but then fall flat after a post or two.

When I came up with the idea to start a blog, I thought I would be the perfect fit for me! I've always loved writing, so a hobby which provides me a platform to do that would be awesome, right? But after the initial excitement wore off, I found I wasn't enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why. However, after some soul searching, I think I've finally figured it out.

It isn't the actually writing of a blog that's the problem, but rather the content I'm writing about. Let me explain. I decided to start a beauty blog after being a long time reader of other popular beauty blogs. Everything these girls posted about in their blogs had a magicial quality about it. It was as though they lived in a perfect fairy-tale world, and I wanted that too. The problem is, I don't live in a perfect world. At times my live may seem like a fairy-tale, but more often than not it's messy, comlicated and real.

I think I've also gone wrong with trying to create a beauty blog. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy beauty, fashion and all things girly as much as the next girl. But it's not the only thing I care about. Because of this, I found myself struggling to write posts half-heartedly so I could have new content up on my blog.

So what can you expect from me? Anything and everything. I still plan to post about things like beauty and fashion, but only when something really excites me and I'm passionate about it. Lately I've been loving the blog and youtube channel of the lovely Louise, also known as Sprinkle of Glitter. She has taken such a fantastic approach to this whole creating things for the internet thing, and that's above all to be real and try to help others whenever you can. She has totally changed my outlook on how I'm going to go about this blog (and also my youtube channel), and for that I'm so so grateful. I highly recommend checking her out if you haven't already, as she really is a breath of fresh air in this crazy internet world we live in!

Thanks for listening to my rambling. I'm really excited to begin this new chapter, and would love to have you along for the ride :)

xx Nicole

Gift Ideas for Her

Under $30...

1. Bauble Bar - Organic Pebble Cuff $28

2. Bliss - Mistletoe Must Haves $15

3. Lush - HoHoHo Set $15

4. H&M - Kintted Tube Scarf $13

Under $50...

1. Bauble Bar - Marine Contessa Bib $44

2. Philosophy - The Gingerbread House Set $42

3. Lush - Treats Set $45

4. J Crew - Chevron Checker Glittens $42

Over $50...

1. Glamglow - Gift Sexy Set $75

2. Rebecca Minkoff - Hudson Moto Mini $265

3. H&M - Wool Coat $199

4. Ray-Ban - Cathy Clubmaster

Silver and Gold

Although it's a bit early, I couldn't resist starting to decorate for the holidays. I managed to find some fantastic deals, everything featured was under $10!

White Lights: Michael's
Gold Beaded Garland: Real Canadian Superstore
Tabletop Tree: Real Canadian Superstore
Snowflake Ordamints: Real Canadian Superstore
Wooden Candle Holders: Gift from a friend

Copper Chic

Maybelline Eyestudio in Copper Chic

Over the weekend, I was browsing through the makeup section at the drugstore. I came across this gorgeous palette, and knew I had to get it. I've been on the hunt for some new autumnal eyeshadow shades for a while now, and these fit the bill perfectly!

 The palette consists of a champagne highlight, a rose gold, a truer gold and a dark bronze/plum color. Worn alone or together, these are all fantastic and very wearable shades.

This was my first time trying any of the Maybelline Eyestudio shadows, and so far I'm impressed! All four colors have great pigmantation, and from what I can tell so far wear really well. I know I'll be getting lots of wear out of this palette, especially with the holidays coming up!

Pamper Evening

Pamper Evening Essential - Leaves from Bath and Body Works

You've had a long stressfull day. Everything seemed to go wrong and you find yourself needing to unwind. How to do it? My favorite way is by treating myself to a pamper evening! What is a pamper evening you may be asking? An evening devoted to treating yourself in respect to beauty and just in general!

The first thing I love to do it run a hot bath. Make sure there's a candle or two, and you have a glass of your favorite beverage (whether that's an adult beverage or not is up to you) nearby. Now's the time to throw in some bubble bath, or a bath bomb. Something to make it smell amazing and your skin feeling silky smooth. I also generally put a face and/or hair mask on while lying in the bath as well.

My Favorite Brand for Drugstore Masks - Freeman

Once I've had a good soak and am feeling relaxed, I move on to stage two of the evening. I like to take some time to give myself a mani/pedi. Then I end the eveing in bed with cozy pajamas, a good book, and a cup of tea. By the end of the evening, I find all my worries have slipped away and my mind is clear!

Next time you're in need of some relaxation, give this a try! You won't be disappointed :)

Blonde to Brunette

I've been a blonde for the last 2.5 or so years of my life. I started with highlights, and eventually opted to dye my hair blonde all over. I'm the type of person who tend to get bored of their hair fairly quickly, so it was most definitely time for a change!

I decided to go with a medium warm brunette shade. In another month or so I'm planning to go darker, but I  didn't want too drastic of a change since I was going from a white blonde shade. That is the first big piece of advice I would give to someone going from blonde to brunette : Go with a lighter shade than you might initially think. It's going to seem darker to you after having light hair, and that way you can avoid the "OMG IT'S BLACK" freak out that too many girls go through. It's easy to darker, but to make it lighter again can be a huge hassle; not to mention super damaging to your hair!

If you're wanting to do this, I highly recommend going to see a professional as it's a lot more complicated than most people think to go from blonde to brunette. But because I know that's not always possible (or if you're the type that likes to do things for themselves) I thought I would run you through what my stylist did!**

All brunettes have some red undertones to them. Some have more than others, which is where you get the variation in shades eg. Warm vs ashy. When you bleach your hair, you're removing all these tones from your hair. So it only makes sense that when you go dark again, you would therefore need to put these tones back into the hair. So we started by adding a red shade into my hair, letting in stay in for about 30 minutes. After that it was rinsed out and shampooed, but not conditioned.

Adding red tones back into the hair

Next we added a neutral brown shade, and repeated the process. I great tip I learnt? Make sure you comb the colour through your hair! This is going to make sure it is evenly distributed and no areas have been missed.

Once the last colour had been rinsed out and she hair shampooed, a cuticle sealer was put onto my hair and I left it on for about 2 hours (while watching the Grey's season premier ;) ). This helps to lock the colour into the hair, making it last longer and preventing any fading. You basically want to leave this on your hair for as long as possible. To finish I just rinsed that out. The cuticle sealer is really conditioning, so you don't need to worry about washing or conditioning the hair after using it.

The last tip I learnt is to not wash the hair after dying it. You want to wait 48-72 hours before washing after you've initially dyed it. This gain helps to ensure the colour is really locked into your hair, preventing fading!

And that's all there is too it! I'll make sure to do an update once I've gone darker. I hope some of you found this helpful, and let me know in the comments if you have any questions :)

**I am not a professional, this is just my explaination of what my stylist did to my hair. Everyone is different, so results might not be the same on your hair!

Bath and Body Works Fall Preview!

I adore fall; it is by far my favorite season. I love the colors, smells, activities and pumpkin spice lattes! Although we still have over a month of summer left, I've found myself dreaming lately more and more about what's to come. So on a recent trip into Bath and Body works, it was my delight to find that they've began releasing some of their fall merchandise!

I needed to pick up some hand sanitizer, so I ended up getting the I love cinnamon buns and I love pumpkin scents. They're also having a promotion right now. With any of their combo deals (3 for $5, 3 for $10 etc) you can purchase their adorable pumpkin candle (pictured above) for only $6. It's regularly $15, so I couldn't resist picking one up!

Product Rave: Conair hot sticks

The back of my 50's-60's inspired hair yesterday

After I took out all the pins - Crazy curls!

Like most girls with straight hair, I love having curls. I also adore vintage anything. Put the two together and you have some of my all time favorite hair styles!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to have my hair done in a 50's-60's style (pictured above). What was used to create the curls? Conair hot sticks!

Conair Hot Sticks, image from amazon.ca

They are the same idea as hot rollers; flexible plastic 'sticks' which are placed in the base and are heated. You then curl the hair around them, and attach the ends together to secure. All together it takes about 20 minutes.

I have to say, I was impressed with how well these curled my hair! It created more and longer lasting curls than I've ever been able to create. The best part? The price! For about $12, you too can be creating your own fabulous vintage hairstyles in no time!

Quo by Orly Instant Artist Review

When I purchased this product a few months ago, I actually didn't realize it was nail art style. I was going on a trip to Mexico, so I was looking forward to bright orange toes while I was there. So opening it up to find a super thin brush was quite disappointing. I did find uses for it. Although I'm no expert at doing my own nail designs, I did like to do a french manicure with orange tips!

Overall it's a great polish. The color is bright orange**, so much so that that it almost glows in the dark. It is very pigmented, and all you need is one layer. The brush is great for creating designs; I found it very easy to paint on straight lines. You can use it to create an all-over color (as I did in the picture above), it just takes a bit more effort.

I don't think I'll be repurchasing this product, just because I'm not really one for doing my own nail designs. But if this is something you enjoy doing, I'd highly recommend it!

**The color I bought is called Neon Orange

My Thoughts on Choosing a New Hair Color

I think it's safe to say I know a thing or two about hair color. Since I first started coloring my hair about 10 years ago, I've been just about every natural(ish) color under the sun. Not every color looked good, and some even looked downright horrendous (a certain purple-y color I attempted to pull off in grade 8 comes to mind). So how do you know which colors are going to work for you, and which are not?

I've put together a few tips for people in these situations:

-They say you should only go two shades either lighter or darker than your natural shade. For some people this is true, but it's not always the case.

-If you want to dramatically change your color that's great, but ease into it! Start by adding highlights (or low-lights if going darker) into your hair. Gradually add more and more with each salon visit until you've reached the desired result!

-Take care of your color treated hair! Example: A bottle blonde who makes sure their hair is healthy and toned correctly is always going to look better than someone with a head of yellow straw for hair.

-If your not sure you can pull off a shade, ask for a professional's opinion!

-Remember that eyebrows play a huge difference in how natural your hair color looks! Consider getting them tinted if making a drastic change in your color. Or in some situations, you can just use an eyebrow pencil to add color to your brows. This is especially great for bottle redheads.

-If you're dying your hair at home, use professional products! You can get these very inexpensively at stores like Sally's Beauty Supplies. They are so much better for your hair, and will produce a much better result than boxed colors.

First Ever Drugstore Haul Video is Up!

I just posted a my first Drugstore Haul Video on my You Tube channel! To watch, click Here!

Welcome

Hi Everyone, and welcome to my brand new blog!

What can you expect to see from me? Anything and everything beauty & fashion related.

I have a channel on You Tube, also called Nima Beauty

I look forward to getting started, hope you enjoy!

xxNicole