Let's Mix it Up! Nail Polish Fun.

I adore playing with polish. Whether it be stamping, mixing polishes, embellishments, or whichever.
So this weekend mani I decided to dabble mixing some colors. I used 2 fave Wet N Wild fast dry polishes, Hannah Pinktana & Sage In The City, along with my latest Sinful Colors, Love Nails.

HANNAH PINKTANA

SAGE IN THE CITY

LOVE NAILS

I started with three lovely coats of Hannah Pinktana & gave it some time to dry. About a minute sufficed.

3 COATS

Then removing 90% of the polish from the brush I dabbed Sage In The City spiratically over my nails.

A little dab here, a little dab there.

Giving that layer 60 seconds, I then used the same process to apply Love Nails.

All finished!

Finish with a top coat & viola'! A spiffy effect. I really like the turn out. What do y'all think?
What's one of your fave ways to glam up your nails??

A Couple Hot Weather Tips...

I'm always looking for good tips for health, beauty, around the house & well for about anything really. Recently I came across 4 that caught my attention. Now, I've only used 2 of these so please do let me know if you use any of these & they work or don't!

The first thing I knew I wanted to tell you all about was this spiffy lil' idea I came across in all You magazine. Spring and summer are the ultimate outdoor times. Parties, cookouts, just hanging with the family, gardening, just so many things to do outside. The article discussed tips for fun helpful tips for having outdoor dinner parties & such.

Okay okay on to the actual tip.  Take cupcake liners, turn them upside down, place a straw through & then place in your drink. The cupcake liner becomes a cheap, cute, easy lid to keep all the pesky flying guests out of your drink. Easily found to match most themes, inexpensive & cute- gotta love it!

Tip two for this time of year came in an email from a friend.  It can be used on people & pets. Bugs of all sorts come out when the sun shines & the mercury rises. Ticks can be an extremely dangerous pest. If you or a pet happen to get bitten by a tick, take a cotten ball soaked in dish detergent & hold over the tick. It should release its bite & back out within a few seconds of exposure. Tried this once with one of our dogs & it worked!

Staying on the bug issue, I want to relay some possibilities for natural mosquito repellents. With 4 lil' boys I'm always looking for safe, effective ways to keep them bite free. I haven't tried any of thes combos out so again if you do please let me know! I read about these on about.com

Take any of the following essential oils & add to either an oil base (such as cooking oils) or witch hazel. Add 10 to 25 drops of essential oils to 2 Tbsps of the carrier, then either spritz or rub onto you body and/or clothes. I would suggest only basing it with witch hazel if you're going to spritz onto clothing. The article said it was best to reapply after an hour & after being in water. The list of oils were: cinnamon oil, lemon eucalyptus oil, citronella oil, castor oil, thyme oil. It's definitely worth a try!

My final tip is in regards to dry summer hair. This tip came from an article on the Woman's Day magazine website. Use half a cup of honey (a natural humectant) on hair for 20 minutes. If hair is super dry add an egg yolk to the honey before applying. When you're ready to rinse add 1-2 Tbsps olive oil to ease the mix out of your hair. Rinse with warm water. Another tip which comes from myself & my mom, follow with a cool rinse (even after conditioning) it closes the cuticle on your hair locking in more moisture!

Summer & spring constantly have fun stuff to encounter & I hope these tips can help everyone have an even better time!!

Healthy Living Tips

  I thought I would share some tips I have gathered over the years to help you eat healthy & lose weight. I need a refresher myself to get re-motivated to improve my fitness & lose the excess pounds.
   For me a key to healthy eating, weight loss & weight control is learning what true portions are & look like. If you are new to true portions, its best to take a few weeks and actually measure out portions. After a while you should be able to look at amounts and know the true portions to a very close accuracy.  We eat more than we realize and this is a way to make us aware. This has been one of the biggest helpers for my family and I in getting fit, eating healthy, & reaching a healthy weight.
    Another healthy eating tip is being aware of ingredients. The first few ingredients are those that make up the biggest portion of the food/drink. Its required ingredients be listed at descending weight.  So if you have an item the has sugar & corn syrups in the first, let's say, five ingredients, then it has a high sugar/corn syrup content. Be aware of those first ingredients & you will be eating healthier before you know it. And this is a very simple step that is easy to make a habit.
     Get to know your body. What I mean by that is know what your health is & your fitness level. See your physician to check out health issues & questions. Pay attention to the cues of your body for things like when your full or actually thirsty. Speak with a trainer about how to see how fit you really are. You don't want to start out at a level that will injure you but you also want to challenge yourself.
    Another healthy you tip for now is to be active. Just get up and move as often as possible. Even if its for 3 minutes every ten. As long as you move your body as much as possible you'll feel some better. It stimulates circulation as well as burns calories. The minimum recommended amount of daily physical activity is thirty minutes daily. You can break these down into small increments to accommodate your lifestyle. I personally recommend at least two bouts that last ten minutes in a day. 
    One last healthy tip for those wanting to lose weight. In the beginning when you start tweaking your eating and fitness you will lose weight fairly quickly. As your body adjust to these new habits you will slow and even stall at losing weight. Don't give up or get discouraged, just take a look at your habits and adjust them. Add more activity or readjust your calories. 
  So there's my healthy living tips for today. I'm not an expert, these are just tips I've picked up that have helped me out. I wish everyone the best of luck on the healthy self journeys.