Moving blogs

For anyone who actually reads this, I am starting my blog back up on another site so feel free to head on over there instead :)

http://amberinwonderland.co.nz/

Happy 2014!

Get inspired, get busy, get happy is my motto for this year. Last year I found myself struggling at loose ends quite often, and even though I had a lot going on, I often felt bored and listless. So this year I want to commit to doing lots of stuff. Whether its fashion, art, photography, craft or cooking, I just want to do all the cool stuff I see other people doing on Pinterest or blogs. In particular I want to get my blog up and running a lot more. 

I'm hoping it will help me with my New Years Resolutions as well. Last year I managed to complete one and half of two others, so this year I'm looking to do a bit better! Here are my resolutions:

• Find my own style
• Make the blog successful
• Have a group
• Save save save!
• Be a happier person
• Cut back on the sugar and eat better

Finding my own style is going to be fun. I've already started on a HUGE wardrobe clear out, which I will be writing about later. 

Here's to a happy and successful 2014!

Back to basics for New Years

Hello and happy 2014! 

I hope everyone made it out of 2013 in one piece! This year I took the week off and travelled to Raglan with my Isaac. We stayed in a tipi at an Eco retreat which was a great experience.

It was quite the adventure, I got bit by an eel, we got horrendously sunburnt, I caught some waves, we had to use a long-drop toilet and we saw glow worms every night as we walked back to our tipi. Here's what it looked like...

I love Raglan! It was such a gorgeous little town with so much character. In spite of what people told me I thought there was heaps to do, you just have to be willing and a bit adventurous. And if you don't mind roughing it, staying in a tipi might just be the thing for you! 

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Ahhhh the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. If you only ever watch one fashion show make sure it's this one; it's truly spectacular. The outfits, the models and the show as a whole is truly amazing. This year Candice Swanepoel wore the luxurious Royal Fantasy Bra, which is worth 10 million dollars. A tad extravagant if you ask me, but I'm just an average human being. Here it is...

So precious she has to wear gloves!

This year they had performances by Taylor Swift, Fallout Boy and Neon Jungle. I love Taylor Swift and I think she looked right at home on stage with all the models. 

This year the trends were British Invasion, Birds of Paradise, Ship Wrecked, Pink Network, Parisian Nights and Snow Angels. Of all the looks I loved Snow Angels the most. Of course each one of them looked amazing in white because they're all tanned, and the ladies with darker skin tones just stood out even more. I'm not so in love with the Pink Network looks. They're meant to represent the modern girl who is always on her phone, they have lots of text language etc, but I think some of it looks tacky. For Birds of Paradise they each channelled a particular tropical bird and the wings for these looks are simply incredible. Ship Wrecked was lovely and delicate, wispy and whimsical. The sexiest trend was Parisian Nights. You'll see why. 

Here are my top two looks from each of the 6 trends. 

British Invasion

Behati Prinsloo

Jourdan Dunn

Birds of Paradise

Maria Borges

Hillary Rhoda

Shipwrecked

Candice Swanepoel

Constance Jablonski

Pink Network

Malaika Firth

Ming Xi

 Parisian Nights

Adriana Lima

Barbara Fialho

Snow Angels

Toni Garrn

Candice Swanepoel

Sources:
http://www.homorazzi.com/article/2013-victorias-secret-fashion-show-best-outfits-segments-karlie-kloss-lily-aldridge/

http://gr.dentell.es/fashion/lingerie-12/l/victoria-s-secret-4007

http://www.cbs.com/shows/victorias_secret/photos/1000937/2013-victoria-s-secret-fashion-show/46133/

http://models.com/mdx/victorias-secret-show-2013/

Christmas Nails

Christmas is only two sleeps away, who's excited? We're so lucky to live in NZ, we get to celebrate Christmas in the sun :) The irony is that we still use a winter theme for most of our festive decorations!

Anyway, I did mine and my sister's nails all festive today so here are the results...

I still have to clean up the edges but I'm pretty pleased with the results! Mine are the French tips, which took a bit of trial and error. I initially did white nails with red tips (and one feature nail with the reverse) but the white took a lot longer to dry than my Revlon Top Speed, so I ended up taking them off and starting again. I really liked how the feature nails looked so I kept them and made the rest to match. The look like little Santa hats on my nails. 

For my sister's nails I used a nail pen that we got given ages ago, by Nail Supreme. I used the mug featured for inspiration and just went free-style :) Sadly she smudged quite a few pretty quickly after they're done so there may be a lot of touching up on those ones. 

I used Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud  and Revlon Top Speed Fire. It was really easy to do the tips, I've used a manicure strip here but you can also use cellotape apparently. The key is to make sure the bottom coat is completely dry, otherwise it all turns to custard.

Happy holidays everyone! Have a safe and jolly Christmas and a crazy New Year!