Pink Tip Nails with dots

Here's something fun I did today, Pink tip nails with dots. Here's what you'll need:

1. A base nail polish. This makes sure the other coats stay on longer. Apply 1 coat.

2. A Shimmery light pink nail polish for the whole nail.

3. A bright pink polish for the nail tips.

4. A black and white nail art pen. These are so nice and easy to use. If you don't happen to have a nail art pen, you can use basic acrylic paint and a small paint brush. You just need to make sure that you apply a top coat to make the acrylic paint waterproof!

Hope you have fun painting your nails ;) 

- Anne

Going crazy for peplum dresses!

Today I finally got to order some new clothes from www.asos.com.

It's good that I didn't place the order earlier as now the sales products are crazy cheap! I love the fact about Asos that they have so many different brands. The prices range from cheap to expensive so that everyone can find something for themselves. This is not advertising, just my personal opinion :)

I've been craving a peplum dress and tops for a few weeks now. I have a few already but the ones in Asos are just so damn cute! The good thing about peplum cut clothes is that they are really figure flattering if you choose the right model for your body type. They make your waist look very small but still cover up that unwanted tummy bump. E.g. if you have a bigger upper body you might want to choose a V-neck cut or a cut that gives you a little bit of cleavage. I bought this one:

 I also ended up buying the trousers. I've been looking at them online for so long. Besides, they look pretty cute with a black top. I know I'm a bit late when it comes to wearing floral print, but I don't care. I heard that there are still going to be some hot days here in Finland so... I still don't know if they will look good or just plain ridicuolous on me, so I might cut them into shorts and glue some studs on them.

The mint dress I already ordered, but it might be that in a few weeks I might buy the white one as well. It would look great with my hot pink clutch.

This red Marilyn Monroe-type dress would be a dream come true and perfect for e.g. Christmas parties! I know it's pretty early to think about Christmas, but hey, you always have to have a good reason for buying a cute dress that you really can't afford at the moment  ;)

- Anne

Coffee with my Boyfriend's Parents

My boyfriend's parents stopped by for coffee a few days ago to catch up after out America trip. We had a nice visit and  we looked through some of our pictures from NYC. Here is a photo of the table. I made a simple Greek Pasta Salad and I had brought some pastries home from the cafe where I work. I served them on this three tiered serving dish from Ikea, i think it cost about 14euros. These types of serving dishes are great for a little "wow" factor and also save a lot of space at the table.

I also put together a simple cheese plate with brie, blue cheese and gouda. They were served with water crackers and sliced french bread. I added some red grapes to fill up the plate. I though we could use the left over blue cheese to make a chicken recipe for dinner (I will post that recipe soon) and the gouda and french bread we could use for sandwiches and any left over brie is a yummy snack. Cheese plates can get pricey but since we only got three super market cheeses and planned to use them for future meals I thought it was really affordable. And of course since we're in Finland we served coffee as well. Needless to say everyone was stuffed by the end of the visit. Below is the recipe for the Greek Pasta Salad.

Greek Pasta Salad

1 bag of al dente cooked spiral pasta

2-4 tablespoons olive oil (add more oil if the pasta salad seems sticky)

1 1/2 dl cubed Feta (I normally just buy a package of Feta in oil with herbs that are normally used for salads. Use the entire package in the pasta. If you do this then you don't have to add any extra oil or herbs other than salt and pepper)

1 small jar of black olives

Half a red bell pepper finely chopped

1 dl chopped pepperoni

1 dl chopped cherry tomatoes

Sprinkle of oregano

Sprinkle of basil

Salt and pepper to taste

1.) Cook the pasta as instructed until al dente. Drain and rinse. Pour into a large bowl.

2.) Add olive oil and feta. If you're using a feta in oil salad package add the entire package.Mix well.

3.) Add olives, red bell pepper, chopped pepperoni, chopper cherry tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt and pepper and mix well. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve chilled. Enjoy!

- Tina

Gold and lace tip nails

Yesterday I decided to these gold tip "lace" nails. You can wear these on a casual day or even as a bridal nail look if you prefer your nails to be simple! These are really easy to make, I promise :) All you need is: a light pink nail polish, A gold glitter nailpolish, a top coat polish and white nail art pen.

 A while back I bought Sally Hansen's gem crush in 03 Big Money. All in all I love the fact that the gem crush polishes have different colour glitter in them so in different lighting the colour always looks different. There is just one thing which isn't that great: if you apply too much of the product( meaning more than 2 layers) the colour chips off quite easilly. So be aware :)

To get the nails, start by applying two coats of light pink nail polish on the whole nail. Let it dry. Then apply two coats of the gold glitter nail polish on the tip. If you have very short nails just "fake" the tip, nobody will notice ;) Then draw a line between the two nail polishes with the nail art pen and start drawing the swirls and dots. When dried, apply at least two layers of top coat polish.

- Anne

New hair cut and colour

Lately I've been craving for platinum hair. After seeing these pictures I just had to do something about it!Michelle Williams has probably the nicest short hair cuts in Hollywood :) I myself have had a pretty short haircut for the last hmm, 4 years, but lately I've been trying to grow the asymmetric cut. My hair has grown, but the model was simply flat and horrible.  I've also been trying a more natural colour for about 4 months, something that is almost like my real hair colour.

Before colouring and the hair cut

 The fact is natural hair is just not my cup of tea. More edgy and strong colours as well as short haircuts suit me and my character better :) I thought that maintaining non-brassy blonde hair is way too time consuming, but now, to be honest I think that it's worth it! A few days back I coloured my hair at home with L'oreal Paris Récital Preference 10.21 Stocholm. It gave a nice ashy tone and made the previous colour slightly lighter. I still need to bleach my hair once ir twice to get just the right shade of blonde.

 Here's some pictures of my new hair :)

As you can see from the middle picture the shade is pretty blonde already. But as I said earlier, I want it to be platinum. When I was a kid I had almost white hair so that's the reason for my craving :) 

-Anne

Shopping at Marshalls again

I visited Marshalls again only this time with the intention to focus only on home décor. Poor me I have to go back there to return a dress for my sister and I was thinking I might have a peek at clothes and also buy a couple gifts. 

First off, I bought this adorable reusable shopping bag. I put my purchases in it and I’ve been raving about it ever since. This is only one style of the many styles and colors that they had. I was thinking it would be great to use in Finland for grocery shopping or even just regular shopping. A girl can get a be a but flustered carrying too many plastic bags and if Anne and I are shopping together there is plenty to carry. Anne uses reusable maybe more than I do. I know its bad but I just forget . Now that I have this cute new reusable shopping bag maybe I will remember to bring it along to the store more often! I am planning on picking up another bag for myself and maybe a few to give as gifts. Cute, affordable and environmentally friendly- its an all around win! 

This clear plastic make up storage container is great! I actually have a huge clear one here in America that I got from a yard sale but unfortunately its too large for me to bring with me back to Finland and I think that my sister really likes using it. This one was only $12.99 and will fit nicely on my small bathroom shelf or make up table. 

I’ve always wanted a diffuser. I think they are so cute and this one was $4.99 for the bottle the cute glass bottle, the scented oil (which is “simply linen”) and the reeds. With dogs its nice to have something scented and fresh. I love candles but I don’t want to burn then if I’m not in the room and I can’t burn candles in the hallway because there is no safe for be to put a candle. Can’t wait to use this cute diffuser! 

I sometimes have a love-hate relationship with my dogs, but after living with them for a year they have grown on me. We’ve learned to co-exist and I have grown to appreciate them. Its nice that when my boyfriend is working an overnight shift at work that I’m not alone, the dogs keep me company. And its sweet how every time I come home they run to the door to meet me. So in honor of my annoying but cute dogs I bought this frame. I am going to put a photo of them in it when I get home. 

- Tina

Shopping in America

A few days back I went to a store called TJMaxx. It's similar to Marshall’s, it sells name brands and designer products at discounted, sale or clearance prices. Here are some photos of the cute stuff I found. I didn’t have much time to shop because I had to pick up my sister from work, but I will definitely be going back and taking my time to shop more. I love that everything was so affordable, good quality and there was a style to match every taste. I’ve really missed stores like this since moving to Finland.

I bought this cute black, white and teal photo album to put photos of our America trip in. At $5 it was a great deal!

I found this adorable Cynthia Rowley soap dispenser for $7. I think it will look so nice in our bathroom. I love the modern design and the white and mirror are guaranteed to match with any bathroom.

I was really excited by this last purchase. It’s a Betsey Johnson wallet that originally was for sale for $58.00 that I got only for $16.99! They also had a purse which I’m thinking I may get towards the end of my trip if I have money left.

-Tina