New Year's Eve Sparkle Style

I am READY to celebrate the end of 2014 with the most sparkly New Year's Eve I can muster. I collected all of my crystal-studded, "bling" worthy, glittery fashion accessories for an outfit that suits the sparklers of Times Square. 

My look was inspired by a recent gift of a dazzling Swarovski studded case for my Samsung Galaxy Note 3. I know that sounds lame, but for a blogger/social media obsessed gal like myself, it's like a diamond necklace for your best friend. I next added an elaborate jeweled flower headband from BCBG Max Azria. I am not quite the tiara type, but the smoky jewels was a pretty compromise. My oversized rhinestone bracelet and ring are from a cute wholesale boutique on 28th street. They are not ready for the spotlight, so if you love them, you can get them through me.

 My nails are from Sally Hansen's glitter saturated Purple Gala shade. I have their entire range of long lasting, quick dry and nail art shades. The real MVP for my manicure though is their Double Duty Base and Top Coat. With all of the abuse, my nails go through from slamming the keys on my laptop or sewing and embroidery, this product keeps my manicure intact much longer that I would have expected.

My sequined top is a version of the Alice & Olivia version available now.  I had fun playing with the sparkly Moondust eye shadows from Urban Decay with some MAC Cosmetics paint to hold the colors in place on my lids. With pre-cocktail patience, I finished  with some winged eyeliner from Rimmel London that I received in my Influenster VoxBox.

I am now ready to indulge in some sparkling cocktails made with Smirnoff's Whipped Cream edition Vodka and Moet & Chandon. Here's a mixologist's recipe:

The SMIRNOFF Limelight

Serves 1

·         1.5 oz.  SMIRNOFF® Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka

·         4 oz. Ginger Ale 

·         .75 oz. Simple Syrup

·         Squeeze of Lime

Preparation: Combine all ingredients, except for ginger ale, in a shaker with ice. Shake well, strain into glass and top with ginger ale and garnish with a lime wedge.

Now enjoy your New Year's Eve in style!

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Be My Sweetheart: I Heart Nail Art Contest

February is the month of sweethearts!  Whether that is between you and a partner, yourself or your makeup bag... I was asked to create a nail art look for this romantic theme, so I called upon my art school skills to devise a design in miniature.  I chose to use a trio of my favorite colors and pair it with a heart-print Tory Burch dress and spent an afternoon with my girlfriends.

Sally Hansen provided a terrific nail art kit for my palette.  I used a base of Insta-Dri Cinna-snap for a deep oxblood color as my canvas. I used their Nail Art Pens in hot pink and black to create sweet little heart-shaped flowers as my artwork.

To create the look, I first painted my nails with the Cinna-Snap.  The nail polish really does dry in about a minute (yes!).  Then I used the hot pink nail art pen in a small 'V' motion, using the wet tip to slowly fill in the V-shape until it looked like a heart.

For my pinky, I use the hot pink pen to draw an outline of a heart at the tip for something different.

Using the black nail art pen, I drew the stems of the heart flowers to the edge of the nail.  For the pinky, I filled in around the hot pink heart outline to highlight the heart tip.

The beauty of this design is you certainly don't need an art school background to do it.  It is simple enough to do with your left or right hand.  Hearts don't have to be perfect and the stems can be squiggly and look organic.

Are you ready to get creative?  If you are an artiste of the manicure genre, you could win $2000 and be appointed Sally Hansen's brand ambassador.  You just need to share photos of YOUR nail art on their Facebook page, or via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #iheartnailart. 

Feel the love!

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or Use The Hashtag #iheartnailart on Twitter or Instagram to Share your Looks.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Sally Hansen via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Sally Hansen.

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