Mani Monday:: Caviar Nails

Side Order of Caviar Please

Who needs the real expensive dish when it looks better on your nails? No, no, I'm not talking about caviar as something you eat, I'm talking about this season's latest style, micro beads on your nails!  When I saw this at Sephora, I just had to get them and try it out for myself.  I love playing with the texture of it and I absolutely love how its a different look that not everyone has.

First and foremost, wipe any polish off your nails, cut, shape, and whatever you need to do to them and then wash your hands.  Now apply one coat of whatever color you want.  I trial and tested and found that using white under the white caviar beads worked out he best since they were the same color and it help make it stand out more.  I then proceeded to paint all my other nails black.

Now you can start your coat and caviar process.  Start off by applying a second coat of color over the nails you want caviar-d, and let the polish get sticky for 10 seconds.  Then, over a sheet of paper, cup, or tray, pour the microbeads over the entire nail making sure to get all your whole nail covered. 

Now you can "Im-Press".  In this step, you want to gently press down on the caviar beads to secure the beads even more.  Then apply a thin layer of lop coat over the beads to ensure a longer life.  

A small funnel comes with the nailpolish set, so carefully use that to pour the excess beads back into the bottle for a future use!  Voila! You now have a classy, different look right on your nails!

 Happy Monday!

ps, don't forget to =)

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Mani Mondays:: School and Sorority Pride

School Spirit, rah, rah, rah!

So this week is my school's homecoming week.  And as y'all know by know, any reason for me to do my nails, I will! What better way to show school pride then to show some pride on your nails??  My school's mascot is the owl so I attempted my version of an owl with our school colors, black and yellow.  This week also has a competition between the different fraternities and sororities and so of course I had to show some Kappa Delta pride.  Check it out!

(excuse the sloppy work on my fingers and the avalanche of nail polishes behind)

First, I started off by painting all my nails black.  Next, I took my index finger and painting a thick white line across half of my nail. Then I proceeded to draw almost a triangle shape from the end of the white to the end of my nail like shown below.  This will be the owls ears.

Go ahead and dab another triangular shape on the other side of the nail like shown below. Can you start seeing the owl?? I promise it looks harder then it seems but you can do it!

Owls are known for their big eyes.  Since my school colors are black and yellow, I chose those colors when creating my owl.  I chose the darkest color, black for his eyes and yellow for his eyeballs.  Remember to just dot on these eyes.  I then made an upside down u-shape and filed it in to the edge of my nails, like shown below.

Now dab on a small upside down triangle and voila! You now have one school spirited set of nails!

On my right hand I decided to paint all my nails black to be in uniform with the other hand and still school spirited. But instead of drawing an owl, which would be 10x harder since I'm right handed, I chose to go for something easier and just show spirit in show of the games and my love for Kappa Delta!  I painted my index finger a light green like so.

This set of nails is definitely an easier one. All you do next is draw on "KD" with their other color white and voila! You're done.

Finish off your nails with a top coat and you're done! Cute and school, and greek spirited!

Happy Monday!

don't forget to =)

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Mani Mondays:: Burberry Inspired

Burberry Inspired 

So I must say I do love this style! I feel that it is classy and a great transition into fall with the red, beige, and black tones.  I've worn it only for a day and have gotten so many compliments!  Not going to lie, this one does take a little more time than usual and more concentration, but I am sure y'all can do it!

Start off by cleaning, cutting, filing, and washing your hands as usual.  You always want clean, polished hands when painting.  I used a champagne/beige color as my base that resembled Burberry's.

Now here is where it gets tricky.  Look at my middle finger with only the white lines drawn on it.  Thats where you will start.  Paint on with a thinner tip two lines horizontally and two lines vertically as shown above.  Leave enough space between so the black line could be drawn  right in.  

Next, fill in the lines with the black polish.  I painted on the vertical lines, to the right of the whites, two more black lines.  Then one black line horizontally in between the other two, as shown on the picture on the right. Remember, slow and steady wins the race!

                                

Then you can paint your red lines.  You just want two lines, crossing each other, as shown on my index finger.  These two lines will be on the other side, so on the left, of the nail.  Now finish up your other nails! 

              

And that is it! Finish it off with a top coat and you're done! You now have your timelessly created nails! Good luck!

Have a great start of the week!

ps, don't forget to =)

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What's to Eat??? Black Bean Burgers

Fresh Black Bean Burger

Since I am a vegetarian, burgers used to never even be on my list of food that I would eat.  Usually I'm not a huge fan of fast food veggie patties or restaurants'.  This past summer I spent my time at my sister's up north.  She is a huge foodie and cooks the best food  (besides my mom ofcourse)and she tries to make everything healthy too! 

So her and her husband introduced me to black bean  burgers.  Sounds normal right? Yes, I've had them before but they usually for some reason aren't THAT great.  But she made hers from scratch and wowzers! I fell in love!  Check this out and try it for yourself!

You will need::
1 can of black beans (will give 8 patties) ***UPDATE*** (look below for an update of the black beans!!)
-You will want to mash up and beat the black beans up until it is nice and mushy.

Then whip out the food processor.  You will now need::

-half of an onion

-4 cloves of garlic

-1/2 of a bell pepper

-Put all these ingredients in the processor and start it up till it's mixed well.
-Then using your hands or a cheese cloth,  squeeze all the water you can out.  Doing this helps with the texture and tastes better too.

Now mix the processed, watered-out mix with the mashed black beans. Mix this mix really well.

Seasonings::

- 1 tomato can paste(a substitute for 1 egg)
1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder (add more depending on how much you like garlic)
2 teaspoons of oregano
1-2 teaspoons of chili flakes (again, add more depending on your tastebuds)
 1/2 taco seasoning mix packet

Mix all of these ingredients well.

Now mix the seasonings with the black beans mashhup.
This mix is going to be wet so add about 1/2cup to 1 cup of breadcrumbs until the mix doesn't stick to your hands anymore.  You can now form your patties and put onto a Pam-ed cookie sheet.

If you want to bake::

Bake  your patties @ 375 degrees for 30 mins.  

15 mins in, turn over the patties to the other side.  

If you want a little crispy, after 10/15 minutes into the baking,  turn it up to 400 degrees.

If you want to grill::
You have to freeze the black bean burgers for at least 30 minutes so it's solid enough.
Place the burgers on an aluminum sheet and then onto the grill for 10-12 minutes on each side at about 400 degrees.

Get whatever you want to put in your burger, some tots, fries, corn, salad  and eat away now! :)

The best thing about this is that it is fresh and you can also put them in the freezer and whenever you want to eat it, you can just pop it in the oven!  You can also grill these.

Enjoy eating fresh black bean burgers!!

ps, don't forget to =)

**UPDATE!!** Click on the link below for an awesome Black Bean recipe instead of using a can! Fresher and healthier and even tastier!
Fail Proof Black Beans

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Here's some of my favorite funny Fridays! 

Favorite Funny:: haha!

Favorite Detail:: monograms!

You can find them here:: http://www.zoubaby.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=boot-wo

Favorite funny video:: this guy's videos are hilarious!

Favorite group of people:: (may be a little biased but I swear these girls are the best!)

Enjoy your weekend loves!

ps, don't forget to =)

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OOTD:: Splash Of Sunshine

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love the color yellow! Not only is it associated with for sunshine, warmth, beach, joy, and other words, but it looks amazing on my tan skin! Haha. 

Last week I actually went to one of my favorite tex-mex restaurants in Atlanta called Bone Garden.  I mentioned it on my last Friday Favorites post along with the website.  They were doing a special there and this local Atlanta show to be airing this Fall called "Atlanta Eats" were filming top restaurants in the area and my friend and I went.  They actually interviewed us both so watch out for us whenever it airs! :) 

I paired this light yellow, white polka dotted with a white skirt.  It isn't too fancy, but a bit more done for a tv show.  I love colors so I paired this yellow and white outfit with forest green wedges.  I absolutely love bows as well and this just so happen to have one.  I think small details like that are what makes items great.  It was a perfect outfit for this bright, sunny day.

Check out the restaurant and try some yellow on your style!

ps, don't forget to =)

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OOTD:: Rainy days

So it is extremely easy to wake up and see that is it raining outside and just throw on a pair of hoodie, baseball hat, and sweats and go on  to your day.  But dare to be different!  Who said you can't look cute when it rains?  I've compiled three different outfits to wear on a dreary, rainy day that isn't too fancy but yet a nice change to the usual dressed down attire.

Above, I decided to casually dress up.  I'm still wearing something close to shorts and a sweater but dressed up just a tad bit.  It is a cleaner look without being done up too much.  The light sweater will still keep me warm yet wearable during this summer heat.  

I don't know about ya'll but I absoluuuuutley HATE when the bottom of my pants get wet! It is such a huge pet peeve.  So in order to avoid that, I will wear either rain boots with whatever style or if I don't have any or don't want to wear them, I make sure to wear shorts or a dress so I don't go into school or stores looking like a hot, drippy mess.

I decided to go more bright with this outfit and thrown on a pair on green pants.  What better way to stand out  of the usual attire then to wear bright clothing?  I paired a simple, light blazer, again for if it ends up getting a little chilly.  So a pants/tank top/ blazer variation always is a great choice to go to.

So this outfit is for those of ya'll who do not have rain boots or prefer not to wear them.  I would suggest wearing flats at least so your toes don't end up getting wet and dirty.  This outfit is just a simple dress paired with a rain jacket.  It works perfectly for those days you have to dress up and still have to conquer the rain.

Tips:: Don't do much to your hair on rainy days, obviously it will most likely end up being different by the end of the day then when you started it out.   A simple braid is cute and effective.

ps, don't forget to =)

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