How to: Easily find the nail polish colors you want!

Not even one day after making my nail polish storage box, I found out there was a problem.

A BIG ONE.

If my box gets all stuffed full of nail polish, I am not going to want to try to root around and look for it.

I needed a way to organize my nail polishes and tell them apart. 

The easiest way I knew, was to paint the tops. 

Not to full out paint the tops but put a little circular dab in the center. 

Just enough to show what the color was!

The Result:

The easiest organizational tool that I could have thought of for nail polish. 

(Aside from separate drawers according to color, but that would defeat the purpose of my box!)

All that I had to do was get a paintbrush, a paper towel, and my polish.

I simply took the cap off, stuck the end of the paintbrush in the polish, and dabbed it right on the cap!

Then, I sorted my polish in rainbow order!

(The most fun task!)

Placed them all in the box and stuck the lid on, easy as pie!

 How do you store all of your polishes and how easy is it to find the colors you want?

DIY Nail Storage!

Today, I could not deal with it anymore. I can not just have my nail polish sitting all around everywhere, never being able to find my nail polish when I needed it.

"Where's my white! I can't have polka dots without my white!"

"Where's my peach?!" "Oh wait, that's not in my collection."

It just had to stop. And it had to be a pretty stop. 

Pink. Pretty. 

So here you have it:

I put painters tape in chevron and stripes on my photo box. My beautiful white photo box.

I got a paint called Pink Lemonade (YUM & ADORBS) and painted my perfect box.

I have no patience... I needed a hair dryer to dry it.

 It turned out BEAUTIFULLY.

 I loved how simple and sweet it looks.

I loved even more that EVERYTHING fit inside of it and more.

Eventually I would like to put dividers in for my markers!

What do you use to store your nail polish?

Nail Discoveries!

I discovered the most wonderful things today, and by wonderful, I mean life changing. For me, anyway.

Today, I realized, that instead of spending a ton on nail art pens, there is a MUCH simpler solution. 

PERMANENT. MARKERS.

Which happens to not be permanent when you use a clear base coat to protect your nails. 

This magical discovery is something that I must share with you.

 Obviously you need some kind of permanent marker. Most people choose Sharpie, but I choose whatever is the cheapest and what gives me the most bang for my buck. Lots of color choices help, though. I got this pack of BIC permanent markers at Walmart for around $12. There are 24 in this pack. I would choose fine tipped markers but you can choose thicker to fit what you would like them for.

 I chose the two markers that I wanted, you can use as many as you want. I like the peach and the grey. Different color chevron stripes were what I was going for. I also grabbed a tub of Vaseline and a paintbrush.  Why?

 Paint around your nails with the Vaseline! You could also use Elmer's glue but I have found that while Elmer's Glue makes painting nails a lot less messy, Vaseline works just as well.

To use Elmer's Glue you have to wait for the glue to dry around your nails, then paint them.

For Vaseline, all you have to do is put it around your nails and go. No peeling off or waiting, the polish just washes right off along with it (not to mention it moisturizes instead of dries!)

I decided that I wanted a white background under the marker. 

HOWEVER. 

Make sure you use clear coat if you are NOT using a color under the marker. 

It WILL stain your nails!

After the clear coat or color, you can draw your design in the markers on your nails.

You can either let the marker dry so it doesn't smear and put another clear coat on 

OR

Apply clear coat right away to give a smeared look.

Obviously I wanted the smeared look. 

(It was my first time doing this so please pardon how messy it looks)

Also, here's another little hint: PAM spray dries your nails instantly.

Just spray right over your fingers and nails. 

(This is why my fingers are slightly shiny.)

I am so pleased with how this has turned out. There are endless color possibilities and endless design ideas.

The best part is, if you feel like you messed it up, just wipe it right off before it dries! 

COMPLETE MAGIC.

Colors, Designs, and Choices! Oh My!

I have an extremely crazy obsession with nail polish lately. I have NO idea why.

Well, yeah I do: Pretty colors, ability to change them non-stop, and make any design. 

My favorites:

This got me wondering, what will I maybe want my wedding nails to look like?

How broad are the choices? Lace, polka dots, flowers, chevron, glitter?!

Way too many to choose! These are some of the best ones that I have seen.

 I would love to have scalloped nails in Honeysuckle and white! 

Or Ombre going from pink to white. 

What are your favorite nail designs and what would you suggest for a rustic wedding?

DIY & Do-Overs!

Starting mid-summer, I decided to take on making my own products as opposed to buying them, since I started realizing they were a cheaper (and more satisfying) option. After a few tutorials on my favorite blogs and SO many on pinterest, I decided to try a few that I thought would come in the most handy, being that I'm in college and need all the money I can get!

First off, I found this AMAZING creation called chalkboard paint, thanks to Little Baby Garvin!

 

It looked so easy, so I went out and got some paint and my partner in crime and fiance, Jason, found me some metal so I could make it magnetic. I was so excited!

After painting about half of the board, we realized that this might not work out like we planned. The paint we decided to get was extremely thick but wouldn't even cover the board. After three coats, we found it would also be too heavy for the wall I intended to use it on. Typically.

So, the next day, we decided to try something different, and much more practical. 

 Spray paint. Chalkboard spray paint. Instead of using metal this time, we decided on cardboard. 

This time, with a rougher surface, primer, and a much easier way of painting, we came up with MUCH better results. Just add a frame and viola!

Now that I have this chalkboard paint, I am seriously covering everything I possibly can! There are so many good uses! I painted the inside of the cupboard and I even made a board for my sister. I can't wait to paint the Mason Jars and eventually make a whole wall!

I usually use mine for quotes and lyrics to get myself through until I can use mine like she used hers! 

Yes, mine's much less professional, but for a college student, it's not half bad!

There's something much more satisfying in creating something yourself.

Some more of my favorite DIY projects I've done are:

Glitter Nail Polish!

All I had to do was get $1 clear nail polish and add some cheap glitter! I used three different color glitters in each bottle for a more fun look and realized that the lighter colors sank to the bottom for some reason!

The clear color also changes into the color of the glitter but doesn't fade the glitter!

Amazing!

My Wonderful Earring Hanger!

I had two very special little helpers (as usual) to get this job done!

You met the one, (above) but not our baby!

This is Sofia. She's more of a supervisor than a helper!

For this project, I found an old picture frame, bought some chain, some eyelet hooks, and a pretty piece of pink tissue paper! We put the eyelet hooks into the side of the frame to hang three rows of chain to hang my earrings on and then put two hooks at the top with some chain so it would be easy to hang. After finishing the frame, I slipped the tissue paper under the glass and put it together, with my earrings and all, and decided to put on a Cinderella's Glass Slipper decal for some extra fun!

It's so much easier to 

1. Find my earrings

2. Display them

&

3. Make sure that I actually wear them!

When I have something sitting out, I'm much more likely to wear it. If it's hidden away, I barely take the time to look and sometimes even forget I have some of the things I do have!

It really helps prevent me from buying the same types of earrings over and over again. 

 Not to mention, these things all just look so darn pretty!
♥