Beauty: Top 5 Nail Polishes of 2012

I know this is incredibly late considering it is already an entire month into the new year, but I thought I'd share my top 5 nail polishes of 2012.  These picks are based on shades that I either discovered this past year, or ones that really were stand outs in my nail polish collection.  I have the polishes ordered by my most favorite of the year, to my not as favorite (1 being the best/top pick).  I also have the video I did in correspondance to these nail polish picks embedded below, if you would like to hear me talk about each one a little.  All photos taken by me.

 Bottles of my top 5 nail polishes of 2012.

 Swatches of my top 5 nail polishes of 2012...in order from most favorite to not as favorite.

1. Factory Grey by American Apparel

2. Tea With The Queen by Butter London 

3. Yara by Zoya

4. Metallic 4 Life by OPI

5. DS Classic by OPI

Run In With Royalty

I know, I know...another much belated blog post.  But anyway, I had the chance to meet the lovely Lauren (Queen Of Blending) in December, and it was a fantastic time.  She was here (on Oahu, HI) visiting for her best friend's birthday, so she ended up having a meet and greet at Ala Moana center.  Upon finding out this news, you can surely bet that I screamed with excitement.  So naturally, I wanted to dress up for the occasion in what I felt was an outfit fit to meet the queen.  Nonetheless, I ended up wearing what I would typically wear to a day at the mall, and it turned out just fine.  Lauren is AMAZING to say the least, and her eye look matched the orchid lei she had on that day.  There are a couple of pictures of when I got to hang out with her down below, as well as my outfit shots from that day.  Photos taken by Rowena, and other people that were at the meet and greet.  =]

Lauren (Queen of Blending) and I!!!

Her eye look was fieeeeerce...gonna try to recreate it sometime.

Outfit Details: button down shirt by American Rag, black denim jeans by Levi's, distressed black leather with black spikes Lita bootie by Jeffrey Campbell, black lambskin with black nickel hardware Rocco mini duffel by Alexander Wang.  Accessory details in other photos below.

Spiked collar necklace by H&M.

Leather bracelet with giant silver hardware in Latte by Balenciaga, silver stainless steel mesh band watch by Skagen, black skull beaded shambala bracelet from Brandy Melville, black cross and round beaded bracelet by Mixe Medium.

D.I.Y. YSL Ring From Lipstick Packaging

The allure of the Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) line of cosmetics is truly undeniable, especially the Rouge Volupte line of lipsticks.  The signature gold packaging is classically chic, and the YSL logo is always eye catching as it adorns the outside of the tube.  It is easy to see why the YSL lipsticks are very popular among the luxury cosmetic brands, but did you know this tube of lipstick can be turned into a piece of jewelry?  Below I have pictures as well as the video I filmed explaining how to complete this project.  All photos taken by me.  =]

YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick (Left) transformed into a ring (Right).

What you'll need to complete this project: empty or depotted YSL lipstick tube, and a pair of pliers large enough to grip around the lipstick tube.

Step 1: After taking off the cap of the lipstick, grip the ridge of the tube right above the YSL logo area.  Be sure not to clamp down too tightly, otherwise the metal tube will get stuck and will be more difficult to remove.

Step 2: Pull the tube off and away from the base of the lipstick, thereby removing it completely.  This piece can be discarded, so it wouldn't get in the way of removing the ring.

Step 3: The central unit with the ring and lipstick color piece will slide right off the tube.  The base piece will no longer be needed, so it can be discarded afterwards.

Step 4: The gold YSL ring easily slides off the colored piece giving you the final product, ready to wear.

The YSL piece can be worn as a ring, and fits roughly a ring size 8, though can also be worn strung on a chain as a necklace pendant.

Shopping & Sunflowers

I've been meaning to put this post up for quite some time, being that the photos featured were taken over a month ago, but nonetheless I am persisting to post them up as I have intended to for multiple weeks.  Anywho, I went to the launch of the Target + Neiman Marcus collaboration collection for CFDA (that I already posted the things I bought here), which was on December 1, 2012.  It was a lovely event, and I'm glad I decided to attend at Neiman Marcus rather than Target, since the experience was quite pleasant...and we got free cookies (which is always a good thing).  I attended this event with my dear cousin Rowena, and we were there super early so we could get all the things we planned to get (and so we didn't have to wait for ages to get inside).  While at the event, we ran into our friend Valerie of the Valerie Joseph Boutique at Ala Moana Center, who had nearly twice as many bags full of things as we did since her primary goal was to purchase gifts.  It turned out to be a very good shopping experience, although some crazy people felt the need to push and shove their way into getting the things they wanted.  Aside from that, after finishing up our morning at the mall, we decided to go for a drive to the countryside and visit the sunflower fields just to keep the day fun and spontaneous.  It was gusty, full of red dirt, and it was hard not to be bombarded with bees while walking amongst the sunflowers, but being out in the sun was nice.  We only ended up spending less than an hour at the sunflower fields, just enough time to explore and snap a couple photos.  I thought I was cool, and jumped around all "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" all over the place, but seriously just looked a fool.  All in all, it was a fun filled random day of shopping and sunflowers.  Photos of my day can be seen below, and were taken by Rowena, Zeric, and myself.  =]

Standing outside Neiman Marcus with Rowena and the nifty lady carrying the box.

We got Neiman Marcus cookies and water...how cool is that.  I got the green ones.

...and Rowena got the pink ones.

Ran into Valerie of the Valerie Joseph Boutique while shopping.  She definitely outdid us in terms of how much she bought.

Outfit Details: black cashmere slouchy sweater by Ralph Lauren, charcoal acid washed jeans by Forever 21 Men, camel leather cowboy boots from Buffalo Exchange (Seattle, WA), black lambskin Rocco mini duffel with black nickel hardware by Alexander Wang.  Accessory details in other photos below.

Camel scarf by H&M, antique silver cross ring from Brandy Melville.

Knotted camel leather bracelet by Beach 2 City, tan leather wrap bracelet by Cara New York, silver stainless steel mesh band watch by Skagen, tan beaded skull charm bracelet from Valerie Joseph.

Leaping through the air...cuz I can.