Let's Catch Up: Reunited

Want to know the number one reason this week has been great!?  My best friend, who has been in London, England going to school for the past nine months is finally home! Although she'll be going back next year I am so excited that she will at least be home for this year. I have no idea how I got through probably the most stressful nine months of my life to date without her. Hope this next year will be a little easier with her back on this side of the pond as I start a new chapter in my life in SAN DIEGO!

Love you Sunshine xxx

Decor Inspiration: Jewelry Storage

Now that school is out I can concentrate on getting things together for my house I'll be moving into in August.  I cannot explain how excited I am to decorate a new space which is why I have been searching for little DIY projects I can use to make storage and pretty things!

I get most of my ideas for DIYs and decor from Pinterest and lately I have been obsessed with storage for jewelry and other knick knacks.  I love the ideas of using tea cups and vintage bowls to hold ring and bracelets.  Here are some spaces I am currently using as inspiration for my new house.

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Hope you get inspired too!

DIY Distressed Jewelry Stand

Hello lovelies! I have another DIY project that I actually completed last week.  I have more jewelry and knick knacks then I know what to do with so I can never have enough storage.  I saw this idea on Pinterest for a distressed jewelry stand made out of terra cotta pots and I thought it would be perfect and pretty easy to do.  I followed the link on Pinterest and the blog showmecute.com had an amazing tutorial on how to make it!  Visit the tutorial here and watch her video tutorial to find out how to make one!

I obviously did mine in brown, but you could do any color you want and I used Gorilla Glue to glue mine together and I believe in the tutorial I linked she uses super glue.  I'm just going to give you a couple tips if you do decide to use Gorilla Glue like I did: 1. READ THE DIRECTIONS COMPLETELY! I did not, it clearly states on the bottle to wet the surface you are gluing and yeah that does help, directions are there for a reason! 2. A little goes a long way, Gorilla Glue does expand so don't use too much. 3.  Gorilla Glue takes a few hours to dry so make sure you give it enough time to dry completely and do not touch it while it is drying.

Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know if you try it too!

June Favorites

1.  Black wrap with gold studs: I got mine at a local boutique but this one pictured is very similar and can be found here.  I have seen them all over though. It's perfect to add a little edginess to an outfit.

2.  Sparkle nail polish:  I am obsessed with sparkle nail polish lately, whether it's ombre sparkle nails or an sparkle accent nail.  I get most of my nail polish front the drug store or Forever 21.  I cannot afford to constantly buy expensive nail polish and at only $2.80 I've found that Forever 21 polish lasts pretty long. The polish pictured as well as other colors can be found here.

3.  Two Faced Shadow Insurance:  I had been looking for a shadow primer at a reasonable price that would make my shadow last all day and this one has worked out great so far!  It's under $20 and the tube has lasted me quite a while, you do not need to apply too much for your shadow to stick.  This primer helps my shadow and liner not to crease, smudge, or fade which is perfect for long days. I got mine at Sephora, you can find it online here.

4.  Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream:  OH. MY. GOD.  So I have incredibly dry skin and get eczema when I stress out so it is very hard for me to keep my skin moisturized, especially my face. Between wearing makeup and washing my face every night my face dries out very easily.  I have tired moisturizer after moisturizer and this is by far the best I have ever found.  My mom has the same dry skin I do and she had bought it for herself; I tired it out and after one night my skin felt ten times softer. I cannot believe I lived for so long without this product.  But, like I said I have incredibly dry skin so I can't say how this would work for someone with oily skin.  You can find Cetaphil at pretty much any drug store, here it is at Target.com.

5.  Knit Fedora with Bow:  I got my knit fedora with a black bow on it at Forever 21.  I am fedora obsessed this summer.  It's the perfect summer accessory.  The fedora pictured is the one I have however it is no longer available on Forever21.com although there are tons of other fedoras at Forever21 as well as other stores for summer.

6.  Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo:  Unfortunately if I don't wash my hair everyday it gets incredibly oily so I have been in search of an affordable dry shampoo that wont leave my hair feeling gross.  This product is only $3.00 at Walgreens! Can't beat that! And it works great!  I just spray a little on my roots and brush my hair out and it's like I just washed my hair.  It can be found here online.

7.  Billabong California Love Shirt:  I recently went shopping for some summer clothes and after stalking this Billabong California love shirt online for months I had to go into Tilly's to see if they still had it.  I am proud to announce that I got the very last one in my Tilly's!  It's no longer at Tilly.com either although if you like the shirt, you never know some stores may still have it in their sell section!

8.  Silk Elements Heat Protection Spray:  I went on a bit of an online shopping spree on SallyBeauty.com and I bought this heat protectant spray for $7.99.  I've really loved it, I spray it before I do any heat treatment on my hair and not only does it protect my hair but it makes it incredibly silky and smells nice.  When I first used it I thought it was making my hair a bit greasy but after brushing my hair and styling it my hair didn't look greasy at all, it was just super soft.  I would definitely recommend it.  Not to mention it is now on sale for only $4.99 at SallyBeauty.com.

9.  H&M Bird Print Jersey Top:  I bought this top at H&M a couple weeks ago; the number one reason I bought it was because I don't have anything that looks like it.  It's not exactly something I would normally buy but I've been feeling like I should branch out in my style.  I just walked past it when I was first looking around the store but then when I came back to it I though, "I could make this work" so, I bought it and I'm glad I did.  Like I said, it's different than anything I own and it's a perfect, light, summer top.  I did not see it on H&M.com currently but it still may be in some stores.

Revamping a Target clock

I've been looking for all sorts of cheap knick knacks to revamp lately because I'm moving in August and as most of you know twenty something students don't exactly have all the money in the world to furnish a home.  My mom gave me this old clock she got at Target a few years ago, she had broken the glass around the face and wasn't using it any more so I decided to redo it and make it look old and vintage.

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the clock before I redid it.  I asked me dad to help me talk it apart so I could paint it and before I could take a before picture I turned around and the clock was in pieces. Thanks dad I guess for helping me out so quickly.  To give you a visual, beforehand the clock was a boring silver color and had cracked glass around the face.  It looked similar to this clock without the bells on top.

Because the glass was broken I just took it out and threw it away.  I then took all the silver pieces that I wanted to paint and laid them out on a piece of cardboard then primed them with a spray primer to help the paint stick.

I let that dry for about fifteen or twenty minutes before applying white spray paint over the primer.  I didn't need to worry about doing it perfectly because I was just gonna scuff it up later!

I let the white paint dry for a few hours while I went in to watch the hockey game. (Yeah LA Kings Stanley Cup champs!) After it had dried I took a piece of sand paper and scuffed up the edges, feet and some of the back to give it an old shabby chic look. Then I put it all back together and wa la! A cheap clock from Target is now a vintage decoration!

Nail Obsession

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I have a recent obsession with painting my nails and trying new things. Here are some that I am drooling over lately.

 

Let's Catch Up: A New Chapter

I had my very last final at City College last week! I have been going none stop at city for the last three years, summer and winter sessions in between; it feels incredible not having to stress about school work.  I took 18 units last semester, so needless to say I need a break.  After my well deserved break it's off to my new home in San Diego!  A whole new chapter!