Official Grey Cup Nails!

It took longer than I thought... but here's the actual post with photos of the nails I did for the Grey Cup! These photos were actually taken a full day later, after they had gotten roughed up at school, so I had to replace some and fix up some other nails, which is why they don't look as good as they did on the first night.

Article: 34 Insanely Simple, Two Ingredient Recipes

I saw my sister post this on Facebook on my personal trainer's wall... she laughed of course since most of these are dessert items, however even though I can't eat many of them I wanted to share the link with you :)

Here it is!

It features really yummy recipes like vegan pinkberry and soda can cupcakes, definitely check it out!

Julie xo

Grey Cup 2012

Was anyone watching the Grey Cup last night? I was at my cousin's house with Jacob, and I am sooo glad that the Argos won! At the beginning it seemed that they would have an easy win but Calgary put up a good fight :)

of course, following my major sports game tradition, I of course did my nails with each team on one hand, since it was late last night when I finished them I'll have to take pictures of them once I get home so expect a post with pictures later tonight... unfortunately some of my nails aren't in the best condition since some things have fallen off, but I'll replace those and make them all nice for the photo, but here's the horrible quality photos I posted on Instagram:

Calgary Stampeders (booooo)

Toronto Argonauts (woo!)

 Have a great day, Julie xo 

Track Pants VS Sweat Pants

Fashion Police Announcement:
It has come to my attention recently that people don't actually know the difference between "track pants" and "sweat pants" and in all honesty, the two are completely different and I don't understand how people can get them mixed up. This is an issue that must be addressed.

Sweat Pants: are comfortable pants, usually made of a soft, fuzzy fabric, that people wear on days where they want to be comfortable or the weather is cold and they want to try to be warm.

They can look like any of the following:

Track pants, however....

They are made of a shinier, smoother material, are not usually windproof, and soccer players and actual people who do track and field like to wear them. Sometimes track pants will have a zipper at the bottom of each leg that goes up a few inches, others will have snaps down the sides of each leg to make it easier to rip them off quickly. Also, some of them have stripes down the side or are embroidered with the person's initials or a team name.

Some examples of track pants:

Are we good now?!
Have a great weekend!
Julie xo

Barren Wasteland... aka a Reservoir

So in my town we have a reservoir about 10 minutes away from my house, and I pass it almost every time I go driving with Jacob, and last week I noticed it was looking less like a reservoir and more like a barren wasteland........

So I went home and grabbed my camera and went out and I took a bunch of photos. My mother wanted to see it too, so she ended up coming along with me.

Officially My Best Gradient Manicure

So I am super excited to write this... I did this manicure about a week ago, but only got around to posting it now, but I was feeling up for a challenge so I decided to give myself a gradient manicure... only instead of a horizontal gradient I was going to do a vertical gradient instead!!

I am sooooooooooooo happy with the way it turned out :)

I used a matte top coat first but then I took some photos with a regular top coat on top of the matte one! Ready for the gorgeousness?!?!

BAM!!

Memories of Summer

I was looking through some old photos from this summer and wanted to share my favourites... summer definitely ended too soon and now it's cold and dark and not sunny any more!

Fall Nail Polish Favourites

I realized I haven't posted my top fall nail polish picks... oops!

I did swatches on a piece of paper to help make the colours and the microglitter (in some of them) stand out more and be more obvious, however the only thing is that Peridot is a much more multifaceted, dark green/pure green/gold mix, so I've included a better, higher quality photo underneath.

a close up of the gorgeousness that is Peridot by Chanel ♥

let me know what your other fall favourites are!

Julie xo

NOTD: Classy and Elegant

Two of my favourite polishes that go together are Snow Cone and Gum Drop by Orly. I purchased them at the same time because they went so well together, and also because they were polishes I didn't have before.

I did this manicure during the summer, when I was looking for something pretty, elegant, and kind of pastel-y, and I also wanted to try out some of the designs on my BundleMonster plates, and this is what I came up with:

Swirly Fall Nails

The other day I was looking at all the nail polishes I have and I was trying to pick out my #1 shade for fall.... and I couldn't pick just one!

So I ended up picking up 10 or so fall-y nail polishes and doing a sort of swirly/merging/blendy design with them, and this is how it turned out! I apologize in advance however for the tip wear and the bubbles on some nails, that was just caused by the topcoat I used.

*also note that I took these photos before I cleaned up the edges!

Do You Have Extra Halloween Candy?!

Okay so I'll admit... I have a ton of extra candy left over from Halloween (mostly Rockets and Starbursts) and while surfing my favourite cooking blogs, I saw a post that the wonderful Shelly from Cookies and Cups wrote a post about how to use up any extra Halloween candy so after the jump I've put a few more websites just in case you have extras and are looking for some ways to use them up...

However, if you have a significant other that loves candy as much as Jacob does, that candy should be done in no time! :)

NOTD: Glorious Blue Houndstooth!

I was craving a classy yet pretty manicure the other day, and while I was cleaning my BundleMonster plates I remembered the success I had with BM 322, with the houndstooth pattern so I decided to use that.

I was wearing blue that day so I decided to use two blues to go along with my outfit, and this is how it turned out...

It's Fair Time!

I'd like to apologize for my lack of posting, I've been sick (I know, again) a lot recently and I had internet problems but hopefully I've got those all sorted out so I can start posting regularly again.

So a while ago, my boyfriend, my mother, and I took a trip up to my hometown to go see the famous fair they have and also to see some friends! The end result  being lots of fun times, lots of heavy horse competitions watched, and lots of Beavertails and poutine were eaten!

One of the big attractions there is the heavy horse competition - basically where heavy horses compete in in hand/conformation, as well as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 horse hitch competitions!

One thing that Jacob could not believe was how loud the pounding of the horses hooves were when they went past in their pairs, well when your hooves are about the size of a large dinner plate (which is further emphasized by scotch bottom shoes*) you can't help but make lots of noise :) but that's part of the whole heavy horse thing, if you're a horse person and think of heavy horses, I'm sure one of the things that come to mind is the pounding and the ground shaking when they go past!

Basically at the fair, there is:

• two heavy horse rings, sometimes with no separation to form one big ring
• rides (rollercoasters, etc)
• games like pop the balloon etc with carnies shouting at you to play
• vendors who sell everything from leather belts to knockoff band tshirts to wood signs
• lots of food vendors (Beavertails!!!!!)
• two light horse rings
• a pavillion where there are the results of the craft/food/agriculture competitions
•  small petting zoos
• local businesses advertising
•  4H barns and competitions
• tractor pulls!
• strongman competitions!
• a barn with a massive miniature train set!

I took lots of photos of course, and here are some of my favourites!

view of some of the Fair from the top of the Ferris Wheel, you can see the heavy horse rings and the vendors, also on the far right in the "back" the light horse rings

Six Horse Hitch competition! These were a really nice spiffy team of Percherons!

A panorama of the six horse hitch competition! You can see the Ferris Wheel and some of the rides to the right.

A goat that never left Jacob and I, we named it "little girl" :)

there are no words for this picture! It makes me smile every time I see it :)

the petting zoo had these weird geese with... neck fat? This one is staring me down.

This is what it looks like when a goat tries to sniff your camera!

a chameleon in the reptile booth!

a pair of gorgeous Clydesdales!

A gorgeous young draft horse!

a view of some of the six horse hitches from the top of the Ferris wheel - there were so many in the class they had to split the class in half and do each separately!

 Anyways, I have lots of nail posts coming up, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about those! I've also been cooking lots since I've been sick, and I have lots of recipes that I could share on here which I just might end up doing!

Have a fantastic weekend :)

Julie xo

NOTD: 3D Glitter and Pearls!

This manicure is inspired by the really cool 3D nail designs that Japanese people always have that are pink and glittery and have bows and pearls and massive gems on them! Here's what it looks like:

It's School Time!

Unfortunately, it is that time again - which is why my blog posts have been scarce!

I'll try to post a few times a week, however I'm not sure how well that will go since I have a pretty heavy workload....

I hope you all are taking care of your self and staying healthy!

I got sick with sniffles and a wicked cough two days ago and so I've spent most of my time yesterday and Monday in bed with the Kleenex box beside me and watching episodes of Toddlers And Tiaras on my iPod with a Kleenex box beside me :)

I've acquired some new polishes recently, so I'll be posting swatches of those up soon hopefully. I might be going up to my hometown with my boyfriend and mother over the weekend, but I should have something up before then!

Julie xo

DIY Key Revamp!

Today I was browsing on YouTube and I came across this cute video on how to use nail polish to revamp and blingify ordinary keys!

I took my car key and looked through my nail polish and decided to do a purple-black ombre and used a jelly polish from Icing with some small and mid sized holo sparkles and some big star shaped pieces in a purple suspension base layered over that. The end result looked like this:

Read on for a step-by-step on how to do revamp your key like I did!

The Best Smoothie Recipe Ever!

Have any of you guys have ever woken up with a craving for a nice, cold delicious smoothie? I know I have!

So here is my immediate, "go to" smoothie! It's versatile - you can sub in different fruits or add some chunks of a different frozen fruit you have on hand. One of the reasons that I love this so much is that it has a ton of blueberries in it - and like everyone knows, blueberries contain lots of antioxidants which are good for your skin!
You can also always add protein or whey powder to give smoothies an extra punch, or matcha powder if you're looking to give your body and skin a big boost!

It's Horse Show Season: Angelstone National Phase 1 CSI**

Yann Candele on Carlotta Singular la Magnifica

So on Friday, I was looking at a piece of paper on the barn notice board that had our show season on it and the dates and places we would be competing in, and because there was one this weekend I wanted to go to take photos!

I did my research, downloaded the order of events and a map and all the orders of go, invited my boyfriend and my mother and went off for an hour drive in the country to go find the show grounds!

The thing that I didn't want to miss was the $50,000 Grand Prix at the end of the day: there were two Olympians riding in it! My favourite was my idol, Ian Millar :)

Waaaah!

I'm sorry guys!

All the posts that I had written with my iPod and I thought I had cued, hadn't! :(

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what went down but I've now deleted the Blogger app - so I'm sorry for my unintentional absence! 

A lot has happened - my two longest nails broke while I was at the barn (boo hoo) and my parents went away on vacation for a week and my boyfriend was away for two days shopping in the States and I had to look after his two dogs but I promise I'll catch you all up with everything! 

Yesterday I convinced my boyfriend to come with me to a pretty big horse show - I was driving so he agreed to come along - I downloaded all the schedules and the lists of who was competing in each division, my reason for going besides the fact that being a rider means I love horse shows was that there were some people from the barn where I ride at the show! Unfortunately because of the hour drive there, I missed all of their classes :(

Stay tuned for the post later on today after I finish uploading all my 840 (yes, 840) photos from the show!

Julie xo

NOTD: Hexy Glitter Accent Manicure!

I know, I've been gone for a while... bad Julie is bad! However I was doing a kid's camp all last week and most of my other time was spent with my boyfriend - that's not to say that I didn't do my nails!

There was this cute little girl in my 'crew' named Lily who developed an obsession over my nails and she would look at them every day and tell me what I should do the next! She had these gorgeous golden blonde curls too - it reminded me almost of what I was like when I was a little kid!

Now to the important part: today's manicure!

My Backyard ♥

My backyard is one of my favourite places to go when I need to relax or take a breath of fresh air, or get some inspiration, or to sit and eat a popsicle on a hot day!

Even though we've been having a really dry summer so far, the potted flower plants are still in bloom even though the grass is as dry as ever. Tomorrow is the day of the week where the city allows us to water our lawn... I keep on telling mum that she needs to buy a sprinkler but she hasn't gotten one yet! It would save me having to stand outside in the prickly grass for an hour or so☺

Things with me have been busy the past week so that would explain my absence for not posting, but I get home around 3:30 and then I usually have chores and other misc things to do (like watching more episodes of NCIS LA with my boyfriend - I'll admit it, he's got me hooked!) But I was able to get outside yesterday while photographing my pastel macaroon/houndstooth manicure to show you some of the flowers in the potted plants and the favourite part of my backyard, my waterfall!

First Bundlemonster Manicure!

So with my Bundlemonster plates that came in the mail today, I was really eager to try them out so originally I decided to do one nail a different colour with a darker/lighter shade used to stamp with a different design on every nail... but after several attempts at a finicky small design I decided to go with something bigger ☺ for some reason with just having the base colours my nails reminded me of pastel macaroons... yum!

Konad + Bundlemonster Stamping Plates

Yes, my Bundlemonster plates finally arrived!!!!!

packaging it came in!

China Glaze "Prism" Swatches

You know the purple unicorn that everybody imagined when they were kids that I was talking about? Well, the polish is called "Prism" by China Glaze... 

Now unfortunately, my camera spazzed at how glitter packed this nail polish is so it didn't capture the sheer glittery awesomeness of it :(

Waterdrop Manicure

I can honestly say that this is probably the manicure that I'm most proud of... and it took me a long time to do it as well!

I thought of the idea the day I was doing my Euro 2012 nails, and on my pinky finger I was doing "2012" in acrylic paint... to my surprise when I watered it down to make it a little bit easier to work with, it created this transparent colour, so I took that and ran - I've done watercolour manicures before with nail polish and acetone/nail polish remover but I decided I would make a different kind of effect, kind of like translucent water drops!

the final effect...

EURO 2012 nails (old)

So I know that Euro ended a while ago, but I was looking through photos of nails that I've done and wanted to post these! 

I apologize for the tipwear and the hang nail on my pointer as well, but as you know the show must go on... ☺

KONAD Stamping!

So yesterday, not one good thing happened but two!

First of all, my sister's package came in the mail... it took long enough! And second of all, I went to my local KONAD kiosk in the middle of the mall here, and I got a stamping kit :) because the BundleMonster kit doesn't contain a scraper or a stamper you have to get your own, which is a downside but it does make it cheaper.

I got the starting kit that contains plates M2 and M3, as well as red, blue, and white of the mini polish! Having never stamped before, it took me quite a few tries in order to get the hang of it, but I finally got it :)

I have a funny story about the sales lady at the KONAD kiosk: she had a quite a bit of an accent, I'm not sure if she was from Poland or the Netherlands but instead of pronouncing "scraper" with a hard "eh" sound, she said "scrapper"... but I heard it as "crapper"! I had to try hard to keep myself from laughing when she was talking about using the 'crapper' and now that's what mother calls it now!

I also got another nail polish, and I'll also be posting photos of that later tonight as well as photos of the plates :)

The nail polish however if you want to get a reading on it is is Prism from the China Glaze Prismatic Chroma Glitters Collection, it's a gorgeous colour with purple holographic microglitter  and chunkier multicoloured glitter. You know that gorgeous glittery purple unicorn that everybody imagined when they were younger? This polish is exactly that shade, it's a gorgeous shade of glittery lilac!

Knowing my camera, it'll spaz out when I try to take photos of the glitter and it won't show up half as amazing as it looks in the bottle... but I'll try to photograph it accurately!

Julie xo

This Week I've Been Listening To...

I thought it would be cool to make a little blog post every week on Friday about what I've been listening to the past week!

I usually listen to more than one artist per week, but this week is an exception... 

To The Vet's and the Mall!

Good morning world!

I have gotten neither of my packages in the mail so far, however I have a feeling that one will come today, fingers crossed!

However today is the special day... my guinea pig Maddie has an appointment this morning at the vet's (she doesn't know about it yet) to get her toe nails trimmed!

my cute little piggy ♥

Ridiculous Summer Weather + Rambly Bits

So, this morning I woke up at 5:00am to my surprise... and it wasn't like a slow wakening kind of thing, it was a BAM I'm wide awake! I ended up staying up for two hours after that and watching the sunrise from my window... and also pulling on one of my boyfriend's sweaters because I had my window wide open so the cool morning air could come in - it was a little too cold for me under my sheets however!

How To Have a Lovely Day - Pic

I think this has to be one of my most favourite images I've seen in a long time! These 13 things are very simple tasks and sometimes it's just the small little things that can make such a big difference to your attitude☺

Mail Anticipation!

This week I am waiting for two very important items to come in the mail... a package from my sister and the 2012 Collection of nail plates from BundleMonster, which I ordered on the 30th of June and I got the email that they were shipped on Monday, so they should be here soon - but I'm not sure how long it takes a package from Hawaii to ship to Canada!

Today's Manicure - Drippy Pink Glitter!

So this morning I was wondering what I should do with my nails, and I decided to do something pink, because I honestly don't wear pink that much on my nails... 

I remembered seeing this picture on Beautylish a while ago and I remember at the time I wondered how she had done it... so today I remembered and decided to create a drippy glittery manicure of my own!

Welcome to Starring Sparkle!

Hello world and welcome to my blog!

I will be posting a miscellaneous of manicures and nail polish posts, as well as general interest things posts (for example posts from the antique car show I went to recently!) and makeup, and books I've read and when school starts up again I'll be posting about school and assignments and friends and all the interesting things I'll be doing. I'll aim to post every day, but no guarantee... however I'll try my best to post once a day!

If you want to keep in touch with me and what I'm doing otherwise... check out the "Find Me Elsewhere" page and you can find a bunch of sites that I'm on ;)

Take care, Julie xo