Thought Provoking Thursday

Need to remind myself of this daily.  I need to stop talking, wondering, dreaming about all the things that I had planned for my life that I have not completed...this doesn't make me a failure.  It makes me unable to realize what I have and all the things that I COULD be doing.  

We need to be able to embrace what is to come with the most open arms ever!! Part of my lifestyle change-- I am working on it!!

In all things there is beauty~~~

~~~~ Michelle xoxo

Manicure Monday

So, I spent some of my Sunday at Christmas Tree Shops and Five Below... I ended up picking up 3 new nail polishes.  Which also makes me realize that I should probably get around to making another nail polish rack?  But anyway-- 2 of those 3 nail polishes made into this weeks Manicure Monday.

On 8 of my nails, yup- I'm still rocking an accent nail, I have the Loreal nail color in Skinny Jeans. This nail color actually threw me off a bit. In Christmas Tree Shops, I thought it looked like an interesting purple color however Madison said it looked blue. I'm still having trouble figuring the actual color out, so I will let you be the judge.  I applied two coats of this polish...but definitely didn't need to for it to be opaque. I'm thinking these L'oreal colors may bump their way up my favorite polish ladder. What makes this polish even more intriguing, is that fact that it turned out to be a textured polish.  So I'm thinking now that the goal may have been for it to the have that "jeans" texture.  I'm not a huge fan of textured polish..but we will still how long this lasts. I think it looks nice, but it feels weird as my hand brush against certain materials.

My two accent nails are rocking a polish from Five Below.  It's by a brand I have never heard of called Funky Fingers.  The name of the polish is, Jawbreaker.  This name is very fitting because it reminds me of the super huge white jawbreakers you could by from the true candy stores that are speckled with different colors.  I have found that most colors like this, need at least 2 coats and this one was no difference.  But I am loving the way these two colors look next to each other.

As a little side note....with textured polishes, it is recommended that you not put a top coat over them. So for this manicure, I did not use my INM Out the Door topcoat and on,y used the Nicole by OPI drying drops.  Within 3 minutes, my nails were perfectly dry!  I love these drops!

Let me know what colors you have on your nails this week.  And remember-----

In all things there is beauty,

~~~Michelle xoxo~~~

Thought Provoking Thursday

I came across this quote about 2 weeks ago while Damian and I were in New York.  We were in a little shop filled with knick- knacks and things of this nature.  They had a whole bunch of Buddha statues and on one of the displays this quote was taped.  It immediately caught my eye and I snapped a pic of it right away.  And ever since, it keeps popping up in my mind and I have come across it by accident twice(once in a book and once while googling something else)

How powerful is this quote?!   It doesn't matter how many people you "beat" down or rise above if you haven't won any personal battles that you have within yourself.  

In all things there is beauty

~~~~Michelle

Manicure Monday

This post is going up late, but from here on out, every Monday I will be posting a short blog with the nail polish that I have chosen for the week.

I typically do my nails every Sunday night and then just wear that polish up until Friday night or Saturday early in the day. I like to give my nails at least 24 hours of "nakedness" each week.  I have extremely weak at brittle nails that break, and chip, and are extremely thin.  I probably should give them more time with no nail polish, BUT...... I have a mild obsession with nail polish, so that just won't happen.

My manicure routine pretty much stays the same and is actually not much of a manicure at all.  I don't push back my cuticles very often, because, quite honestly, it scares the bageezus out of me.

But I always use the same base coat, and top coat, and drying drops.  Maybe one day I will actually show a video of my process.

Basecoat = OPI Bonder

Topcoat = Out the Door topcoat

Drying drops = Nicole by OPI drying drops

This week I decided to go with Blues.  Since I am still one of those girls that HAS to have an accent nail, I went with a royal blue and light blue with royal blue polka dots.  For the royal/navy blue, I used the Rimmel 60 second nail polish in Blue Eyed Girl... the lighter blue is from Zoya and simply named Blu.

I have been a fan of the Zoya nail polish ever since hearing about them from one of my favorite beauty bloggers, Marnie aka Ms. Goldgirl on YouTube. Go ahead and check her out!!  I then went out to purchase one nude color, LOVED it and have been lucky enough to receive all the others in various beauty subscrtiption bags- mainly the Ipsy bag that is curated by Michelle Phan.  This particular shade is one of my favorites, completely opaque after 2 coats, and has a really good staying power.

The Rimmel 60 second line is new to me, but definitely not new to the stores.  I have looked at these polishes several times and never grabbed one before.  So in a recent trip to the beloved Walgreens, I figured it was time.. I grabbed this royal/navy blue.. and so far-- I am SUPER impressed!  Only 1 coat and this nail polish was completely opaque.  Looks like I will be taking another trip to the drugstore to grab more colors!!

Let me know what nail polish you are rocking this week!


People & Items mentioned above:

Ms Goldgirl's Youtube channel
Rimmel Blue Eyed Girl Nail Polish
Zoya nail polish in Blu



Ebates : http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=ZAoYp5D3jH%2FpeFiAOBbXzQ%3D%3D

                                                                                                              In all things there is beauty,

                                                                                                                                              ~Michelle~

Thought Provoking Thursday

~~~~~~~~```
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~JUST LOVE YOURSELF~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I was having a conversation with a friend via email earlier this week where I was being extremely open and honest about some of the feelings I have had about myself.  How nice it is to have that one person that while always tells you the truth, doesn't make you feel like crud when she has to hit you in the face with reality. She basically told me... STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP!!  WE ALL HAVE ISSUES!! WORK IT OUT!!

But then she acknowledged that everyone reacts to things differently and views things differently so she understand that it is easier said than done.  Everyone needs a friend like that.

I feel really  comfortable around you….  ---------->  She wrote this to me in response to something I had said. Such a simple sentence, but an EVEN MORE POWERFUL message.  Put quite the smile on my face.

We don’t take our success when we die… or our looks….. gotta kinda tell yourself that.. but everyone is different…..  we feel different… hear different and see different….   ------------>  her helping to bring me down from the top rung of the self bashing ladder.  And still sensitive enough to acknowledge that things are sometimes easier said than done.

I hope everyone out there is lucky enough to have a friend like mine who reminds them that they are loved and that they need to love themselves!!  And if you don't know someone like that --- let me be that person for you:

Always remember:

Now if only I can take all these wonderful words of wisdom and put them to use in my own life!! Haha!

  In all things there is beauty,

Michelle

Thought Provoking Thursday

This quote pretty much just sums up the way that I WANT to think and live.  Please read that correctly, I WANT to live that and think that way, but I, by no means, do at this time.  I understand that no one person is perfect, but that doesn't give us the excuse to consistently judge others.  I am extremely guilty of that and know that I will always have my judgmental thoughts at times, but I need to be more aware and conscious of my thinking.  I have gotten pretty good at controlling my words , sometimes too good, but my thoughts-- not so much.

We think we only do damage by the words we speak, but our thoughts are just as damaging.  They damage who we are as a person.  Each judgmental thought takes a piece of us away.  And who are we to judge others so often.  Sometimes the time that I have spent judging others has made my day bad, made my time seem to go by faster, and has put me in an awful mood.  We all make mistakes, we all have shortcomings, we all fail, and we all make "not so great" decisions at times.  I think sometimes I think because not everyone knows about all of my "mistakes" and "wrongdoings" then that makes me able to judge.

Or - as the above quote implies - we can't go around looking down on others because they live their lives in a different manner from us.

Whether we believe what they do is wrong or not, we need to make the choice to not be consumed by others actions and and to just make sure that we are living our lives the best that we can and teaching those we are responsible for(and only those) to do the same.

In all things there is beauty

         ~*~*~Michelle