Christmas Haul

Normally I wouldn't feel the urge to post what I got for Christmas. But I am doing so for a few reasons.
1- I have read on blogs recently people proclaiming to be 'so nosey' and wanting to know what others got for Christmas. So, why not oblige?
2- I left Christmas this year feeling overwhelmingly thankful for the people in my life, and how grateful I am for the gifts they kindly gave me. This year I got truly spoiled and I could not be more thankful!
3- A lot of my gifts were beauty related! So of course it's only natural to share them on my blog!!

First and foremost is the lovely gifts I got from my friend from work, Jessica from Leopurrd. She definitely spoiled me, as you can see! Here's a closer look:

Aside from the Seche Vite quick dry top coat that she knows I use, she got me these 2 lovely shades of OPI nail polish.
On the left is OPI DS Magic . Right when I saw the silver cap I knew this must be a special polish. I was right! The DS stands for Designer Series. So this is a lovely extra fancy polish. It's a shimmery sparkley blue that flashes a purple duochrome. I guess to me it's a true blurple, since it shifts!
On the right is OPI Underneath the Mistletoe, which is part of the Mariah Carey holiday 2013 polishes. It's a red jelly with silver glitter which is exciting because it's my first jelly polish!

In addition to the unique polishes, she gave me my first BH cosmetics! I got the 120 palette, the first edition. I love how thoughtful Jessica was- she got me and another friend of ours both the 120 palette. However she got me the first edition because it contained mostly bright colors and she knew that's what I liked; meanwhile she got our friend an edition that contained mostly neutrals because she knew that's what she liked! Truly thoughtful, I tell you!

Above is the top layer- soo manyyy cooolors!

And here is the 2nd row of colors. So many colors I don't know what to do with!

My favorite part about this palette is the size. I thought it was going to be the kinda palette that you leave at home (I often do my makeup on the go or at a friends house) but to my delight the size is perfect to throw in my makeup tote and bring along with me. It's not too big at all!

Not pictured that she also got me is the BH cosmetics flawless brow trio in medium. I didn't take a picture of this because I have used it far too much for it to be picture-pretty. I have to say that I like this trio better than the ELF one I was using before!

This amazing present was sent all the way from Colorado from my best friend! And how well does she know me!! First the 'big' gift is this lovely nail polish set from Sephora. In addition to the ones pictured is a black, clear, a multicolored glitter polish, and a set of star shaped studs. These are all great staple colors to have in your collection so of course I'm thankful for them.
However, the main star of this present is the Hocus Pocus lanyard! I can't wait to put my work badge on it and wear it every day. This just truly goes to show how well my bestie knows me, since it's in my top 5 favorite movies of all time! We also watched it one year in the middle of July just because! So this movie has memories for us, as well. I thought it was a very sweet and thoughtful gift to include, when the polishes would have been more than enough!

Now every year my mom usually buys me a fragrance for Christmas or my birthday. This is usually an interesting experience because my mom has no sense of smell! However somehow she has usually managed to be spot on with my taste- I don't know how she does it! Well, this year she cheated! Sort of. I truly wasn't expecting this present because my mom got me a big gift this year- pictured below.

Just before Christmas I half-mentioned that I should have asked her for a perfume this year, since I don't currently have one. She asked what I would have wanted and I didn't tell her because I felt that she already spent too much on me. Yet on Christmas here I opened a full size bottle of Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck! Whaaa? How did she know?! Apparently at one point I mentioned in a store that I loved it while I tested it. I don't even remember this and yet here it was under my Christmas tree! Truly taken aback and pleasantly surprised by this gift. I love this scent!

Now I'm saving the biggest & best for last so I'm going to shove these non-beauty items in here awkwardly.

If you know me then you know that my favorite animal is an Orca whale. I'm obsessed. So my boyfriend adopted one in my name! It's Princess Angeline from the J pod near San Juan islands in Washington. I have a friend that lives there and works for the whale watching tours so I have lusted after going there for years now. So he adopted me this whale because it's the next best thing :P

Princess Angeline was picked especially for me because for one, she's a princess, and I am also a princess. For two, her pod number is J-17 and my birthday is June 17th. And lastly, she was one of the whales in the Free Willy movies! I love those movies because they are what got me interested in Orcas when I was just 5 years old.

My boyfriend's family can always be counted on for media related gifts. They are religious black friday shoppers and always are sure to get media at a ridiculously good price!
This year they got me Pretty Little Liars seasons 1 &3, Season 3 of Justified (PLL and Justified are my 2 favorite shows! Next to Parks & Recreation). They also got me Eminem's Marshall Mathers 2 LP and (not pictured) Miley Cyrus's Bangerz, which is currently in the car player!

The big gift I mentioned my mom got me was this Nikon Coolpix S3500 point & shoot. I'm going on a cruise at the end of January and really wanted a point & shoot to take along so that I wouldn't have to drag my DSLR everywhere, and also because I don't feel comfortable taking it off the ship. So I am so excited to have a point and shoot camera again! Woo! Thanks momma.

Now for the grand finale!

First and foremost is this set of holiday MAC brushes that I got from my boyfriend. To be fair I specifically asked for these. I was going to buy them for myself but they sold out online. So naturally, I sent my boyfriend on a quest to find them. And he did! He got the last one apparently!

These are my first MAC brushes!!! I only own Elf brushes other than this, so this is a big deal!
Speaking of deal, this was a great one! I couldn't ever bring myself to buy any MAC brushes because the price is quite steep. However with this limited edition Holiday collection, the price of each brush is less than half price!
I got "the essentials" set, which comes with 168, 193, 217, 239, and 212.
I can't wait to try out these brushes!!

And, drumroll please...

I know. I know. My jaw is on the floor, too. ALL THREE Naked palettes?!?
I can't even.
Technically one is from my boyfriend, one is from his parents, and one is from his siblings. I am so overwhelmed that they would spend this kind of money on me and I truly can't believe how lucky I am!

To go from never trying a naked palette aside from lustfully swatching a few shades in Ulta, to owning all three is simply unimaginable to me. I don't even know where to begin!

So in 2014 you can expect LOTS of new looks! Between the colors in the 120 palette, the neutrals of Naked, the array of nail colors, and the beautful brushes I have to apply them, I am now so excited to put together looks and tutorials for you! And I'm going to smell great while doing it ;)

So that's the majority of my Christmas haul! I can't believe how blessed I was this year. I hope that you all were doubly blessed as I was and that this holiday brought you all you wanted and ever so much more!

Did you have a good holiday? What do you want to see me swatch first? Let's talk Christmas in the comments below! 

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

P.s. As there is a slight chance this is the last post I will be posting will be the last of 2013 so THANK YOU everyone who has read this blog in 2013 and I hope you stick around through 2014! I can't wait to see what the next year has in store :) 

Independence day nails!

So as you may have already seen I recently posted a quick post of what nails I did for Independence day, but now I'm ready to go more in depth with my look and tell you how you can achieve a similar one!

First off, I love holidays. I love...themes. and partying. and holidays provide a lot of that! Unfortunately this year I had a very uneventful holiday. But that didn't stop me from rocking some awesome nail art!

I had seen lots of inspiration on other blogs and on pinterest all week. But I couldn't decide what I wanted to do myself! I finally decided that there was no way I could choose one of the manicures, so instead I decided to take elements of several different ones and make it my own!

I apologize in advance that some of these are smart-phone quality photos. But I still think they get the point across!

4th of July nails!

Instructions after the jump-->

I don't know about you...but I'm feeling 22! *Birthday nails*

Alright admittedly I can't get that dang Taylor Swift song out of my head! I don't even like it that much! But when you turn 22, it just gets stuck there, it's like a law.

But alas, yesterday was my birthday! I turned, as you may have guessed, 22. 

To celebrate I painted my nails with a birthday theme!

If my artwork is too awful for you to comprehend it goes a little something like this: 

thumb- candles, pointer- balloon, two middle- 22, duh; pinky- confetti 

I don't have any good pictures of it, and for that I apologize. I only have what I was able to capture with my phone, which wasn't much.

The base to this manicure was a purchase that I have been eyeing for a while..Essie's Using my maiden name. Such a gorgeous color! This was my first Essie purchase! Having only used it once I can't properly review it yet but that will be coming soon! :)

As you can tell I used a lot of colors for this! the polishes I used go as follows:

I know this is NOT the best picture but..ah well.

We've got from top to bottom- Sally Hanson nail art pen in Black (used for the string of the balloon), Sinful Colors in Irish Green (used for polka dots on '22' fingers), seche vite fast drying top coat, China Glaze in Creative Fantasy (for the balloons), Sinful Colors Nail art in either no more or bonjour- I had both of them out and not sure which one I used, whoops! (used for the candles), Sinful colors Nail art in Rose in Your Nose (for the other candles), Sinful Colors in Unicorn (for the flame of the candles), Sinful Colors Nail Art in  What a Night (for the numbers), Sally Hanson Instadri in Orange Impulse (for the flame of the candles), Ulta in Pinata-yada-yada (for the congetti pinkies), and last but not least Essie in Using My Maiden Name (for the base)

I've got to say this was the most work I've ever put into a manicure and I'm pretty proud of it! I know it's not perfect but I am still really happy with how it turned out. 

As for my birthday, I went to the Florida Aquarium! I know the purpose of this blog is for beauty so I will only include a picture or two :) 

myself and the boyfriend. It may be hard to tell but I'm wearing teal and blue eyeshadow/eyeliner/mascara, and have blue eyebrows. You may not know this but I am a mermaid so going to an aquarium was like returning to my natural habitat and I felt dressed for the part!

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

*Disney Inspired* Snow White Nails!

I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with Disney.

In fact, I have an annual pass to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.

I go as often as possible, and love to do my nails a new way each time I go. 

So today I bring you my Snow White nails. I was inspired by Pinterest (aren't we all?) I no longer have the inspiration picture but I think you can get what I was going for. 

These aren't perfect. I don't think I've posted manicure pictures yet but you will soon see that I am definitely in the learning curve right now. I have virtually no skill when it comes to nails. Actually, the majority of the problem is in waiting for them to dry. I literally always mess them up. I even use Seche Vite fast drying top coat -and those suckers dry fast-and they still get banged up. It's basically a lost cause. 

As you can see, my fingers are inspired by her dress, and my thumbs are apples! 

Here are all the products I used for this look! On the top is the Sinful Colors nail art polish I got from Dollar Tree in My Day. From left to right- Seche Vite fast drying top coat, Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby, Revlon Nail art expressionist in Night & Degas, Sinful colors in Unicorn, Sinful Colors in Irish Green, Sally Hanson Instadri in Blue By (also from Dollar Tree), and Rimmel Basecoat/topcoat pro (I use as a base coat because my Seche Vite basecoat broke)

I will say that I was unsatisfied with Sinful Colors Unicorn. It was super streaky and had visible nail line after 3 thin coats. Luckily it didn't matter for this manicure since I was painting the ends. 

Here are some pictures of me meeting Snow White and showing her my nails! She quite liked them.

Any other Disney lovers out there? Have you ever done any Disney inspired nails? Would love to hear from you :)

Follow your bliss (especially if it leads you to Disney World),

Ember Darling