Snail Mail No More.

If you are wondering why I'm starting today's post with a random shot of my bulletin board, the answer is that it's the home to my letter stating that I was a runner up in the Teen Vogue/CND nail art contest. I entered the contest back in the summer and didn't give it much thought after that. The first prize was going to fashion week, but at the time of the contest I was having a nail art related mental block and ended up just submitting something from the beginning of summer. I wasn't expected to hear anything back from Teen Vogue or CND, but around a week and a half this letter and twelve CND polishes showed up at my house!

I received 6 colors (Raspberry Plunge, Flashpoint, Electric Orange, Bicycle Yellow, Asphalt, and Oilslick) and 6 effects (Raspberry Sparkle, Copper Pearl, Sapphire Sparkle, Violet Shimmer, Gold Pearl, and Gold Shimmer), which can be layered over any other nail polish for a different result.

So far I've played around with most of the polishes and I love them. They are great quality, you can get a perfect opaque look in just one or two coats, and all the effects add so many different options. I haven't had the chance to do any crazy nail art with these just yet, but since this is a nail post, I thought I'd include a few of my recent favorites at the end!

That's it for now, hope your week is off to a great state!

New Location.

My first week at college was definitely eventful. There were a few too many orientation events, an earthquake, a lot of Pinkberry, and a hurricane.

I am supposed to start my classes tomorrow (after the first day of school had to be pushed back for Irene.) I feel like I'm starting to settle in (although I still need to get on the wall decorating) and I'm even en route to signing up for volunteering for fashion week. There is a lot of other excitement coming up, like Labor Day in New York and Fashion's Night Out.

I'm hoping to post pictures of my dorm soon but I still need to buy a rug and start hanging things on the walls. I don't know what to expect my work load to be like just yet, but I'm hoping to keep my posts regular especially because I know I already have a lot of new blogging material to work with.

Happy Monday! Hope you weathered the hurricane well. I'm off to prepare for a floor meeting, learn to do laundry, and hopefully fit in time to do my nails again.

Last Minute.

I decided I should try to squeeze in one last post from home amidst all my rushed packing. (I've never been very good with not procrastinating!) Tonight I'm driving up to just outside of New York and then on Sunday morning I'll be moving into my dorm.

I can't believe I'm about to start college. I haven't had much time to think about it because I've spent my last few days trying to finish up a bunch of different things. I've done more shopping this week than I have in the longest time.

Yesterday I dedicated a good five hours of my day to getting my hair done before moving in. I had a keratin smoothing treatment done, and so far I love it. I'll definitely be posting about that more very soon.

That is all for now because every time I look up there seems to be a new person at my door offering something else I can't forget to do in the next few hours! I'll be blogging again in the next few days, but from a brand new location.

The Light Frames Your Face.

Jeans have always been one thing I definitely don't enjoy shopping for (and I love to shop.) This mostly stems from the fact that I have a lot of trouble finding jeans that fit me right. I usually have to dedicate a long shopping trip or two to finding new jeans, involving trying on many pairs that don't fit right or are just freakishly long on me. After these trips are finished I often still find myself with jeans that still only fit "just okay", or sometimes worse.

So when I found myself in need of new jeans again, I decided to cut out all the struggle of trying to locate affordable and well fitting jeans by heading straight to Nordstrom. And it was as simple as that! I went into Nordstrom, asked the sales girl for suggestions on dark wash straight leg jeans that aren't too low of a rise. She immediately grabbed a pair of Citizens of Humanity Ava jeans. I tried on a few different sizes and found a pair that fit perfectly. They do alterations for free there so I didn't have to even take the length issue into consideration.

I debated about getting two pairs of the same style of jeans, but ended up deciding on a bootcut pair too in order to mix it up a little and better suit an outfit with heels. The salesperson told me that not many jeans have just a slight bootcut right now, most of them are a more dramatic flare, but once they would hem them for my height the flare would mostly be gone. She pulled a pair of Paige Premium Denim Skyline jeans and sure enough they were the perfect choice again.

In the end my two new pairs of jeans cost me a lot more than I'm used to, but I'm at peace with that since the higher cost was in exchange for less stress, better customer service, and most importantly a great fit and the right length.

Do you usually splurge on jeans or have you managed to find the perfect pair for a jealousy inducing price?

I Wanna Go.

One of the times that I have been most glad to be attending FIT in the fall was when I heard that the Museum at FIT's next exhibit is Daphne Guinness's clothing collection. The exhibit is expected to be the next great thing in New York after the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met.

The exhibit will feature 100 fashion items including pieces from McQueen, Lacroix, Chanel, and Valentino. You can preview a few of the items that will be on display by clicking here.

Other than looking forward to being so close to this exhibit all the time (this is definitely my idea of a good source of inspiration,) I'm also excited about all the other great opportunities New York provides. For example, I live in a small town in Maryland. Maryland seems to be a state that bands and musicians often leave off their tours. I rarely find concerts I'm interested here in Maryland, and I've already found two I want to see within my first few days in New York. Concerts are just one of many things I'm thrilled to have at my fingertips in the city.

Are there any concerts or museum exhibits you are hoping to see soon?

Don't Leave.

I guess I really let this week get away from me when it comes to blogging. I didn't want to make the mistake of postponing blogging any longer while I honed in on the perfect blog post idea, so I thought I'd share some more of my nail art for now.

I don't have any intentions of this becoming a nail blog although a lot of my July posts definitely veered in that direction. I just happen to spend a lot of time working on my nails, especially with my very unpacked summer schedule.

I think my blogging might have taken a hit again recently because I've really been slacking on keeping things in order, aka my room is a total mess and as I've mentioned previously, as soon as that happens I seem to become lazier. I'll definitely be getting it under control within the next few days!

In other news, come tomorrow I'll have exactly two weeks until I'm moving into my dorm in New York City. Pretty exciting! I still have a lot of prep work to do, I think I'm going to work on getting some of that done tomorrow and hopefully catch a showing of Crazy Stupid Love. I happen to love both Emma Stone and Steve Carell so that should round out a perfect college shopping filled day.

Hope you're enjoying your Saturday night!

Don't Break On Me.

When crackle nail polishes first started appearing all over the polish blogs I frequent I knew it would be a nail trend I'd be playing around with. As soon as OPI's Black Shatter was available I raced to pick up a bottle (the racing was necessary because Shatter quickly became impossible to find until places started restocking.) I also picked up Silver Shatter as soon as it became available. I enjoyed them both (especially the Black Shatter) but decided after having my fun and getting lots of fun manicures that it wasn't worth buying any more of the exciting colors they were releasing crackle polishes in.

I had come to peace with not being able to try every crackle color imaginable because it seemed like a bit of a waste since most crackle polishes are at least $8 a bottle. (OPI, China Glaze, Nicole by OPI, Sephora by OPI, and Sally Hansen have all come out with crackle polishes in a range of colors.) However, I was browsing Five Below and spotted the crackle pattern on the tops of a few nail polishes bottle. I had never tried a Funky Fingers polish before, but they were $3 each and decided that was the perfect price for a little more crackle experimentation.

I picked up four of their crackle polishes, and I believe they were also selling a black and a silver shade that I didn't need thanks to my OPIs. I bought the polishes in Blue Scales, Fuscia Scales, White Scales, and Gold Scales.

I tested out all the crackles on the manicure I had on at the time and decided to do a full manicure with Fuscia scales. I used it over China Glaze's Pink Voltage, which ended up being a really nice look.

I'm not dying over the crackle trend like I was when I first started wearing it back in January or February, but it's always fun to have a few cheap polishes to play with, and I think this is a great way for anyone who hasn't tried the crackle trend yet to take a stab at it.

Overall I was really pleased with the quality of these polishes, the brushes are a bit smaller than what I'm used to but they each polish crackled nicely, just as well as my OPIs. I don't have any negatives for these polishes, and you really can't beat $3. So, if this a trend you've been considering trying but would like to save a little money, try looking at a Five Below.

Have you tried a crackled manicure yet? Which brand has been your favorite?