like i never left

So...sorry I left for kind of a long time. It turns out writing your dissertation, applying for jobs, teaching piano lessons, traveling for business, traveling for pleasure, training for a half marathon, working for your advisor, stress-eating, and grief-recovery-sleeping (seriously, it's a thing. 10 hours a night) doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.

But don't you fear, because I've been thinking about you a lot, my cherry amours. I have loads of great ideas for new posts to write. You want a sneak-peek? Of course you do.

Things I some day plan to write about, probably pretty soon:
1) How to make your own earring holder
2) Guided painting classes: so fun!
3) Holiday gift guide, particularly useful if you're buying a present for me
4) Getting in touch with your country side (Luke Bryan not included)
5) Cyanographs: the most hipster art project I can think of
6) Birchbox: how do they make it so awesome?

In the meanwhile, to tide you over, look at what I'm obsessed with right now:
(okay it's nail polish, don't judge me)

Sephora recently came out with a new line of nail polishes and they're kind of great. They have every color and effect you could possibly want, and they last a long time. I put one of the Xplosive top coats over a L'Oreal nail polish and it lasted a whole week, which is a huge deal for me. And they dry SO FAST.

So far I've only gotten two:

I got this neutral for job interviews, because what if I don't want to wear neon yellow to a job interview? I may not. And so I can wear this:

And I got this one to put over my other nail polishes. It looks like splatter paint!! I think it's so cool.

But of course, I already have plans to get others. Like these:

Or pretty much any of them. At $10.50 each ($12.50 for the special ones), it's enough of a splurge to keep me from buying all of them at once, but cheap enough to use as treats (like, say, for not biting my nails...). Thanks, Sephora! For taking all my money.

your new favorite thing

so i am compiling a large number of crafty posts, but in the meantime, i want to bring your attention to my new favorite thing. somehow this hasn't blown up all over beauty blogs, as far as i can tell. that probably means i'm a trendsetter.

overall, i love my hair. it's heavy, but it has great volume. it's coarse, but it curls and straightens with equal ease. it can't hold hair color, but my natural color is dynamic and deep. my only real complaint is that my hair is dull. it's lack of shiny brightness has been the drain of many of my dollars, sunk into various serums, gels, and pomades.

recently, my mom purchased moroccan argan oil and IT'S AMAZING. i put a dime-sized amount through my hair and when i dry it, voila! shiny shine. and softness! so much softness. it's fabulous. also, i read in wikipedia (so you know it's true) that argan oil is produced by women's cooperatives from tribes in morocco that split the profits. i'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

i've been using the organix argan oil. organix has a whole line of argan oil shampoos, oils, etc. i may try out the other stuff eventually, but i'm really liking just the straight up oil.

now my hair is perfect. yay!

my cherry week

oh HEY.
so...oops, i guess it's been like three months since either haylie or i wrote an entry. desole!! to make up for it, i'm going to write an entry every day this week. so awesome of me!

today's entry is about nail decals!

this blog makes it look like i'm a little obsessed with my nails, which i (a little bit) am. my life is a constant war of wanting to bite my nails because it's calming and wanting beautiful perfect nails and to not look like a crazy person who gnaws on her nails all the time.

today at target i picked up some nail decals - i was intrigued by a) the instant drying-ness, b) the pretty patterns, and c) the clearance price.


i did not get the cheetah print, in case you're wondering. i got white with black polka dots.

the box makes this process look ridiculously simple. all you do (ostensibly) is peel off the little strip, put it on your nail, and marvel at how awesome you look. let me assure you that this was not my experience, exactly.

the strips come in a variety of sizes for your different fingernails. i started with the thumb first, which is apparently the opposite of what you're supposed to do, according to the directions. oops. anyway, instead of giving you the play-by-play, i'll just cut to the chase.

the pros:
- the nail strips break easily, and you can use one nail strip for two nails if your nails are embarrassingly short, like mine.
- they look pretty if you don't look too close

the cons:
- it's really hard to get a secure fit around your nails. i still have some unwanted bits and weird folds where i don't want them.
- sometimes when trying to remove the excess, i almost removed the whole decal. problematic.
- it somehow took me 45 minutes to do this, which might be as long as it would take me to paint my nails white and add little black dots.

the bottom line:

it's possible that i would try this again, it kind of depends on how long it lasts. i had to frankenstein some pieces together at the end for some nails that looked a little disastrous, so we'll see if that makes a difference. i would also add the disclaimer that i am historically bad at these kinds of precision tasks, so if others are more adept at things like this, they may have more successful results.

c'est ca!
bisoux!

marbled mani

so, it's been a month...oops.

well rest assured that i've been THINKING a lot about my cherry amour, even if i haven't been writing.
as you may have seen if you have eyes, neon things are very in right now. for the record, i called that trend back in march.

but alas, this entry is not really about neon things. though it could be.
instead, i'm going to write a little something about a fun nail technique i learned! ignore how not long my nails are in these photos and focus on the designs instead. this is what this looked like when i did it at home:

stoked by how fun and different these nails turned out to be, i was excited to try them again back at school with my own colors, as opposed to my mom's collection. step one: paint your nails white. here you will see i'm using a white nail polish from wet and wild that i bought in the 7th grade.

then, pick an assortment of colors. spoiler alert, these were the colors i wanted to use, but not the colors i ended up using because for some reason, these colors were too thick.

next, fill a cup with water (all the way up) and put a few (2-3) drops of each color into the cup. the nail polish should sit on top of the water and, ideally, spread out a little bit. also, find a safety pin or some other thin stick object.

with me so far? okay. now take that safety pin or whatnot and gently swirl the drops of color together in the cup. gently.

next, dip each fingernail in to lift the design onto the nail. you might have to refill the nail polish in the cup after a few fingers - it tends to get used up quickly. i don't have a picture of this because it gets a little messy. when your nails are a little dry, get a q-tip or a cotton ball and use nail polish remover to clean up the edges/fingertips/anywhere else where nail polish shouldn't be.

voila! this looks totally different from the first time i tried it  - it's a little less marbled and a little more like veils of color layered on top of another but i still like it. that's the beauty and bane of this trick - it's different every time!

you should definitely try it, though, and let me know what you think. a tip - use colors that are thinner rather than thicker. newer nail polishes tend to work better than old ones for this method.

good luck!!

tis the season for sequins

ah yes. here we are. there's a chill in the air, peppermint chocolate things everywhere, and love actually is appropriate to watch again. it's beginning to feel a lot like christmas...

one of my favorite things about the holiday season is the plethora of really sparkly styles that magically rebloom every year. let's take a few minutes to embrace the sparkle, and love the sequin.

i want this dress for new years. real bad. it's my number one scout-out for after-christmas shopping.

bananarepublic.com

 glitter ballet flats from j.crew. a little on the spendy side - i got a pair from gap last year for $10. but i also found a really great DIY for adding glitter to shoes here. don't forget a coat of spray-on acrylic to lock it in!

jcrew.com

i have no idea where this skirt came from, but it's been on pinterest and i'm obsessed with it. i love the spread of the sequins.

pinterest.com

glitter and sparkle doesn't have to just be for clothes, as we know. i tried this at lush the other day and loved it. it's got a subtle level of sparkle, and it smells delicious - like an appletini!

lush.com

 apologies for the less-than-pro picture, but i didn't feel like getting my real camera out. this is my own sequin DIY - and a prime candidate for Take Back the Tack! i had this old sweatshirt from urban outfitters with this fun bow printed on it, but i wanted to rev it up a little for the holidays. i found a bunch of black, silver, green, and red sequins and sewed them on by hand. it took me approximately three episodes of grimm to finish the whole thing. gluing could work too, but i think sewing would probably last longer.

i recently discovered lauren conrad's beauty blog, the beauty department. i love this idea for sparkly nails! a little unconventional, a little glitzy, a little perfect.

thebeautydepartment.com

also love this eye makeup tutorial.

thebeautydepartment.com

 and while we're on the subject of eye makeup, this glitter eyeliner from sephora seems like a must-have for me. it's like ke$ha meets the holidays.

i could go on and on - there are so many fun glittery things out there! but i'll leave you with these and encourage you to go explore your own sequiny sparkly style. have fun!

fall festivities

so it's not quite fall yet in palo alto - it's still 80 degrees and sunny, with no fall foliage to be seen. regardless, i've been thinking about fun fall looks that i would love to start piecing together.

i've made a smorgasbord for the occasion:

neon colors were my favorite thing for summer, but now that it's fall and the tans have faded, i'm looking towards bold and bright options that are a little more seasonally appropriate. circling around, we have some beautiful deco bangles from j.crew that might be an option once they go on sale, but would add a great contrasting color to an outfit. next we have a knit cream colored circle scarf from h&m...i love circle scarves, especially ones that are warm, but a little lighter. and this cream color is kind of dreamy. the gold accent necklace is also from h&m, which i like because it matches the hardware on the shoes. 

next, we have sinful colors nail polish in big daddy - tangerine is my favorite color for fall, and i got this nail polish about a month ago to test out how much i actually like tangerine before investing in tangerine colored clothing. turns out i love it. 

these pants, from the gap, combine two of my favorite denim styles: skinnies, and a little bit of flare. i don't go for boot cuts because they don't flatter my figure, but i really like how clean and elongating these pants are. i also like these cole haan loafers - i'm not usually into brown, but they look really nice with this color palette. plus they have some sort of nike air situation going on, so they're meant to be really comfortable. and they're on sale.

and lastly, the blazer of my dreams, from jcrew. the color is fabulous, and i love the thin collar that you could pop without looking like a tool. the asymmetrical pockets are awesome too.

so that's the fall look i aspire to achieve, once the weather turns more chilly and my pocketbook turns less empty. what fall looks are you excited to sport in the coming months?

color me neon

hello cherry amours! apologies for my absence - i spent the last week exploring cape town, south africa with my dear friend, julie goodness (1/2 of the megafauna t-shirt team). i was hoping to pick up some style and design things to share with you guys while abroad. to my great surprise and excitement, i found a british style magazine touting just the fashions that i had previously planned to write about anyway. hooray!

so let's talk about color. this conversation could go in many directions - color combinations, color palettes, shades, etc. specifically, i want to talk about neon colors, for two reasons: 1) neons are my favorite color group, and 2) they are the new colors for spring/summer 2011, by my research.

i feel like a lot of people shy away from neon colors because they feel like neons don't compliment their skin tone. it's absolutely true that neons should be approached with caution, lest you look like a madonna-ripoff. if you are neon-shy, i would suggest starting with some neon nail polish, like these from milani cosmetics (found at target, CVS, etc):

Photo from milanicosmetics.com

currently, i have neon yellow and neon pink. i've found that many of the neon colors, for some reason, chip easily, so you might consider pairing them with a no-chip top coat. neon nails are a safe starter, and they look GREAT with a healthy summer tan.

if you're a bit more bold, you might consider this neon sports bra from target - i have it in pink, and i'm highly considering the orange as well.

while not exactly for the under-funded, american apparel has a fair amount of neon colored stuff - awhile back i got my first piece of neon clothing from them, the jersey bandeau tie-it-a-million-ways dress in "coral" (though i like to think of it more as "radical red"). when it comes to neon clothes, i like to think of it as a treasure hunt, trying to find the best and brightest pieces wherever i go. let me know if you find anything you love in neon!

and lastly, my double dog dare to you (and myself!) is neon colored lipstick. i haven't tried it yet, so i don't have a ton of suggestions, but the best place to start would probably be with corals (if you have light brown hair, fairer complexion), fuschias (if you're darker, like me), or pinks (which pretty much look good on everyone). start at your drugstore, that way if you don't like it, you only spent $5. with neon lipsticks, downplay everything else (make-up and outfit). i'm going to start with something like this...

 or this...

and work my way up from there....

good luck! have a bright and colorful day!!

let the good times roll

in a few hours, i'll be south africa-bound, on a journey to the other side of the earth. but before i leave, i wanted to leave you with a little something i love.

a lot of my friends don't think a lot about perfume, and that's totally logical. it's expensive, it can be a bit frivolous, and there's a high risk you might end up reeking of chanel no. 5 like your grandmother. but i am here to propose a solution, and a rationale. first, the rationale.

a few years ago, i found a sweatshirt in the back of my car. it could have belonged to any one of my friends, it was cute and small. so it sat and sat and no one claimed it. one day when i was cleaning out my trunk, i took it out. after examining it and failing to determine the owner, i gave it a quick sniff. i knew instantly who it belonged to - it smelled like her perfume. from that point on, i because obsessed with having a signature scent. something lovely that people smell and say, "that smells like kat!"

but finding a signature scent is not a job to be taken lightly. i had a lot of perfume - one of my best friends had a stint working at the perfume counter at macy's - but none of them seemed signature-worthy. then, i went to sephora and happened upon these:

Photo courtesy of Sephora

rollerball perfume! at less than $20 a pop, these are amazing. i bought this juicy couture one to try out the scent and voila! fell in love. i now own the Real Thing, but i keep this rollerball in my purse at all times, for travel or touch-ups (though i'm not really enough of a grown-up to remember to touch up my perfume yet. some day...).

so if you're keen on smelling like lovely things, but don't want to commit to a $100 bottle of perfume, try these little buddies. just roll them over the insides of your wrist and neck, and you're set to go! highly recommend.

adieu, my cherry amours! i'll be back in a week with some cape town styles...bisoux!