The New Do

OK you guys I have been dying to post this but I have been so super busy this week it took me a while.
So here it is:
I chopped all my hair off and dyed it purple! I LOVE IT!!!!!! This is the craziest shortest hairstyle I have ever had. My poor hubby is not a fan of the cut but at least he likes the color. He likes my classic A-Line Bob that I have been sporting off and on since I was 14.

 The cut I did is called an asymmetrical a-line.... yeah that's a mouth full.

And in other juicy news I just got in another shipment of 1000 nail polishes! There are some BEAUTIFUL colors in this batch and I'll be hard at work over the next few weeks getting these all listed for you.

Well I can't wait to hear what you all think of my new crazy cut! I hope you are all having a beautiful day!

Mani Monday- Born Pretty Dried Flowers & Giveaway!

Today I have an extra special Mani Monday for you because it includes... A Giveaway!!

Today's mani features these beautiful dried flowers.

 

I received this lot of 12 unique dried nail art flowers from Born Pretty and they are absolutely beautiful. Born Pretty is an online store based in China that sells all kinds of beauty products and some really fun nail art products. When you order the lot of 12 X Unique Dried Flowers, it is a random selection you will receive. They come in very nice clear plastic jars that remind me of bead containers. I received 6 smaller flowers and 6 Larger flowers.

Smaller Flowers

Larger Flowers

Each jar held about 3-5 flowers. They are real flowers that appeared to be dyed to the desired color. I decided to try the smaller flowers since I have never worked with dried flowers before and the smaller ones  seemed a bit easier.

I wanted to give this mani an autumn feel. So used Maybelline- Grand In Green and the purple flowers. Maybelline- Grand In Green is from Maybelline's Fall 2011 Limited Edition Collection and is currently discontinued... BUT you can still find it at Beauty by Crystal (while supplies last). Grand In Green is a lovely blackened peacock green. In direct sunlight you can detect a the slightest shimmer but for the most part it appears creme.

Here is how I made the magic happen:
First I applied 1 coat of base coat Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth Treatment. Then 3 coats Maybelline- Grand In Green polish. After the polish dried I applied the the flowers on my ring finger nails. To apply the flowers I used two small dabs of nail glue and then pressed the flower on to the glue. The instructions on Born Pretty's website say to just lay the flower on the polish and then use a top coat. I found that the flower moved to much if I didn't glue it down first. When gluing it down I had to be very careful pressing down on the flower as it very fragile. Then I put a coat of Gelous Nail Gel  over the flower and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

Overall  am very happy with the result of the flowers. They were fairly easy to work with as long as you treated them very gently. I did have one flower break when I was pressing it down on the nail but I was able to remove it easily and apply a new one.

Do you want to try some of these lovely flowers? Well check them out HERE! It gets even better... Use my coupon code CR5X61 and get 5% off your entire order! PLUS if my coupon code gets used over 10 times Born Pretty will sponsor a Giveaway, and who gets to enter that Giveaway? YOU, so get shopping :)

Now on to today's Giveaway!

1 lucky winner will receive 4 dried flower jars and 1 bottle of Maybelline Grand in Green Nail Polish.
.a Rafflecopter giveaway
This item was sent to me for review. All opinions regarding this item are my own and honest. 

Sunday Best Simply Elegant

Today I felt like wearing my pearls so I went with a simple elegant look. I'm sure I was a bit over dressed for church... but I'm not really someone who cares about that.  I also got to wear my new shoes and dress that I am crazy about, and any outfit I can wear red lipstick with is a winner in my book. Wanna know what I'm wearing? Check it out:

Dress: J.F.W. Just for Wraps purchased from Ross $20

Do you like it? I Love it I got it at Ross! (Lol Who remembers those commercials?)

Shoes: Charles Albert Cupid purchased from HauteLook.com $17 Suggested Retail price: $50

If you don't know what Hautelook is click HERE and sign up now! You will thank me later :)

You can shop new sale events daily featuring your favorite brands for women, beauty, home, kids, and men at up to 75% off. I'm seriously addicted!

Say hello to my little pearls!

Sorry guys I can't tell you where or how much all my pearl jewelry is because they were all gifts from my amazing husband.

Though I can tell you about the Headband it's from Claire's and I paid .50 cents during one of their cleance sales where you buy 10 things for $5.

For today's makeup I did a soft brown smoky eye and red lips.

You can find this lipstick at Beauty by Crystal! I seriously am in LOVE with this color, I wore it all the way through church and didn't even put more on before taking these pictures. So it has been on for 3 hours! I am wearing Wet n' Wild Fantasy Makers Lipstick- Geisha's Kiss.

I hope you enjoyed today's Sunday Best! If you want to see more make sure you check out the linkup at Modern Modest Beauty. Plus she is having a Giveaway this week for any item from Down East Basics!

Proud Soccer Mom

This Saturday my son had his very first Soccer game! I was so proud of my boy trying so hard to get the ball. He ended up in tears a few times because he wanted to get to the ball SO BAD. I love my athletic little boy with a sensitive heart. He is extremely proud of the 3 times he actually got to kick the ball and so am I. Me and my neighbor/great friend Amber were very lucky to have our boys on the same team, and since this was both our first time being soccer moms we had to show some love for our team.  

Me & Amber (Isn't she Beautiful?!)

We made some really cute Warriors shirts and flowers for our hair to match the team's colors. Their colors are yellow and black so we translated the yellow into yellow gold glitter because that is way more fabulous :). We used some iron on letters for our shirts and they turned out so cute! 

And you know I couldn't forget about the nails! So we did this fun mani to show our support.

I used Wet n' Wild- Black Creme and for the accent nail I did the dots in Kleancolors- Metallic Yellow.

My son got a kick out of our silly way of showing support. I'm so proud of my boy and I will always try my hardest to make him feel loved and supported. 

Mani Monday Jade w/ Gold Tips

I love the fall nail polish trends right now, but my favorite of the season is funky french tips. Funky french tips are french tip nails with anything other the the normal white tips. I love seeing neon, metallic, glitter and bright tips!

Today I'm wearing Avon- Jade w/ Orly- Glitz & Glamour tips.

I borrowed Avon- Jade from my lovely friend because the color was gorgeous. I absolutely LOVE the color but the formula was fairly hard to work with. The polish was very thin and streaky and it took forever to dry. I had to do 4 coats to get a nice opaque look and it took a VERY long time since each coat took at least 10 mins to dry. I usually like thin formulas because the coats dry quickly but for this one that was not the case. So I think I will be on the hunt for this color in a different brand because I'm in love with the beautiful Minty Jade color. (If you know of a good dupe PLEASE let me know!)

For my tips I used my all time favorite Gold Orly- Glitz & Glamour. I have been in love with this color from the first time I ever saw it. The formula on this dense glitter is AMAZING, it will cover your entire nail in 2-3 coats! I did 2 coats on my tips and I love the way it turned out.

I hope you enjoyed today's Mani Monday! Please don't forget to follow my blog and I'd love to hear what you think!

Wanna See more? Check out Mani Monday over at Glitter and Gloss's Mani Monday Link up.

Sunday Best Boho Chic

For today's Sunday Best I went with a chic Boho look. I'm so in love with Maxi Dresses and this is one of my favorites in my closet. I paired this very versatile dress with some boho accessories and came up with this fun look. I also curled my hair! I have extremely straight hair and it takes over an hour to make it curly so that is today's special treat.

Dress: Gap Original price: $50 I only paid $20 during Gap's Friends & Family Sale!
Undershirt: DownEast Basics $11

Necklace: Paparazzi Accessorises $5
Bracelets: Claire's Unknown price
Belt: Gap Another score from Gap's Friends & Family sale Original Price $20 I paid $6

Shoes: Old Navy Original Price $17 I paid $5 Summer Clearance item

Earrings: Beauty By Crystal  Sorry guys these lovelies are all sold out and you can't have mine. But I do have other beautiful earrings in the store.

Ring: Coming soon to Beauty By Crystal

I hope you enjoyed today's Sunday Best. Want to see more or share your look? Check out the link up at
Modern Modest Beauty.

Baked Cauliflower... Yummy Recipe!!

As you know having good health is a major part of feeling beautiful. When you take good care of your body it makes you look and feel fabulous. Food is your body's fuel and when you use "high end" fuel your body will run better. So today I'm here to share my absolute favorite healthy side dish. My kids like this one so much they fight over it! It's crazy simple to make and doesn't taste "healthy".

So here it is!

Baked Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1 Cauliflower Head

Olive Oil

Garlic Salt

Onion Powder

Ground Black Pepper

Oregano

Preheat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and spray with nonstick spray.  Chop cauliflower to desired size and arrange on baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over cauliflower. Sprinkle spices on cauliflower as desired (Or as mom always says when she gives me a recipe "season to taste".).

Bake 30-40 mins or until browned and slightly crispy. Flip cauliflower half way through.

Optional: Mix whole garlic cloves in with the cauliflower. Replace the garlic salt with sea salt or seasoning salt.

Let cool... Then watch your family go crazy over VEGGIES!

MMM Steamy Veggies!

I hope you enjoyed today's "Feel Beautiful" recipe.  Try it and let me know if you loved it!











(I had to share this picture because it made me laugh. I took it while the food was still hot and it steamed up my camera lens.)

Mani Monday + Tutorial

I am super excited about today's mani! I saw a look similar to this on Pinterest and decided to recreate it and I love the way it turned out! I have also included a short tutorial on how to recreate this look so you can try it too! 

Today I am wearing Wet n' Wild- Black Creme with gradient tips in L.A. Girl Glitter Addict- Provocative. I'm absolutely in love with this color combination. Even my husband commented "That is REALLY Cool!" when he saw my nails. Don't you just love it when they notice! 

Wanna try this look yourself?

Doing glitter gradient tips is actually very simply an requires almost no skill. First you paint your entire nail in the base color. In this case I used 2 coats of Black Creme by Wet n' Wild.

Then start at the middle of your nail and paint a thin layer of glitter polish. 

Once that layer of polish is dry start at the middle of the glitter polish and paint another layer.

 After that layer is dry paint the final layer just on the tips of each nail. This will give the glitter a beautiful gradient effect and the tips will be dense with glitter.

Top it off with a nice quick dry top coat I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri and you are good to go!

I hope you enjoyed today's mani Monday! Don't forget to follow my blog and leave me a comment if you loved this post!

Sunday Best

As a stay at home mom I don't get many chances to dress up during the week. I am always busy doing something like running my kids to school, playing at the park, story time at the library, play dates, cooking meals, cleaning house, soccer practice, grocery shopping, doing laundry, going to the post office, or exercising to name a few. I always try to look my best but I usually end up in a T-shirt, jeans and flip flops (on really busy days I've even been caught in yoga pants and a baggy T-shirt).

That makes Sunday my special day to dress up. I love putting on my "Sunday best" and heading to church. Since I love my "Sunday Best" outfits so much I decided I would share them here with you weekly. I will let you know everything I'm wearing and where I got it.

Now on to today's Sunday Best!

I wore a gray Grecian styled summer dress (from Ross). I love this light weight dress it's perfect for these hot summer days. I also wore polyester knee length tights (from eBay seller Lenovo Dress in China) and a black undershirt (from DownEast Basics). I added the undershirt and leggings for a fun layering effect.

I paired this outfit with my absolute favorite pair of shoes! I love these ultra high black and white stripped wedges. I purchased these from an amazing fellow eBay seller air1112 at Got 2 get it Shoes.

I accessorized with these fabulous Twiggy inspired earrings from my dear friend at Whippy Cake.

The necklace and bracelet I wore are from a  Paparazzi Party (I LOVE Paparazzi Accessories everything is so cute and nothing is ever over $5!)

And you can't forget about my crazy huge peacock cocktail ring that I got from Kizzy Beautifuldiva-pina at Copious.com

Well I hope you enjoyed today's "Sunday Best" post and I am looking forward to doing more! If you want to see more "Sunday Best" posts please let me know! If you hate them and never want me to do one again let me know! Or if you have any questions or suggestions let me know... I love to hear your feedback so please feel free to contact me. Please don't forget to follow my blog!

♥ Crystal

Look, Feel, and Be Beautiful.

To look, feel, and be beautiful is what mostly every women strives to achieve. I hope in my small way I can help you achieve it. Mostly all the posts on my blog will deal with either looking beautiful, feeling beautiful or being beautiful.  Below you will find a beak down of each category, I will also have a page for each category where you can find all the posts related to that topic.


Look Beautiful:
When you look good you feel good. I love anything fashion/ beauty related. So in this section we will talk all about make-up, mani's, hair, skin care, jewelry, accessories, fashion and anything that will help you look your best.


Feel Beautiful:
Feeling beautiful on the inside means taking good care of your body and your mental health. Over the past couple of years I have turned my life around and have started living a much healthier lifestyle (and lost 20 lbs in the process). So I will be sharing with you healthy recipes, fitness tips and encouragement, stress relief tips, and pretty much anything that deals with keeping your body and mind clean and healthy. Nothing makes you feel more beautiful then when your body is strong and healthy.


Be Beautiful:

I believe that being beautiful isn't just about looking good but being good too. You can be the best looking person in the world and still be one of the ugliest. Being beautiful means caring for yourself and others around you. Here I will discuss topics like having a positive self image, being a good mother, loving the people around you, service and anything that has to do with the best form of beauty... Inner Beauty.

Mani Moday!

One of my favorite blogs Glitter and Gloss hosts a link up every Monday where you can check out her mani and see all the other link ups of fabulous manis. Anyone who knows me at all, knows I am obsessed with doing my nails! I do my nails at least 2-3 times a week. Doing my nails after my kids go to bed is like my meditation  time. It relaxes me and provides me with the "Me Time" I so desperately need. So from now on I will be sharing all my fun, fancy, crazy, sophisticated, glitter, sweet, or wild manis every Monday. You can also see my past manis Here on My Pinterest Page, I will continue to post my nails on Pinterest too.

Now for today's Mani:

I had "sophisticated" nails for about 2 weeks so I went a little wild with this one. Plus summer is almost over so I thought I would wear a neon as a last hurrah for summer!

I am wearing Funky Fingers- Ectoplasmic. Ectoplasmic if a funky lime green neon. In the bottle it appears to have a fine shimmer but on the nail the shimmer is only visible in direct sunlight. I felt like the plain green was a bit boring so I added the pink checkered heart to give it a bit of a "punk" look. I love the end result even though its a bit youthful for my age. Now I want to dress like a 16 year old with my skinny jeans and  converse.

Thanks for looking and I hope your having a fabulous Labor Day!