DIY: Cheap & Easy Spring Trend Jewelry

Hey, everyone!
Emilyann here, and I'm very excited about the post I have for you all today.  I'm not usually one to follow trends religiously, but there is one trend that caught my eye this season, and that is the neon trend.  Literally everything on the store shelves is neon, and I couldn't be more happy!  One of my favorite fashion eras is the late eighties.  While the nineties influence my style much more, the eighties has that creative pop of color and texture that adds something to any girly outfit.  Neon is a product of the eighties, and I'm happy it's coming back.

Good jewelry can be pretty expensive, and it goes in and out of style faster than you can say Tiffany's.  While most of us succumb to the settlement of Forever21 jewelry and Claire's, I would argue there is a better alternative.  If you've read my posts before, you know I am a huge fan of thrift stores.  I buy in bulk.  It's inexpensive and often extremely rewarding.  I plan on doing a post with some of my best thrifting finds.  Let me know if you're interested in that post.

A lot of the time, the jewelry at thrift stores can be old lady-ish and boring.  But my number one tip for thrifting is to keep an open mind.  Everything has potential.  Including the old lady jewelry at Goodwill.  I went to my favorite thrift store in the town I'm in and got a couple pairs of really big, obnoxious earrings.  Most people would think I was totally crazy.  But my mom gave me a great idea.  In the eighties, she used to buy the one "in" pair of earrings, in white, and then paint them with nail polish to incorporate them into any outfit.  My immediate thought was "neon".

All you'll need for this DIY is:

• Plastic or similarly textured jewelry
• Neon or brightly colored nailpolish
• A paper towel
• Ear piercing cleaner or rubbing alcohol

Firstly, if you bought the earrings from a thriftstore, you need to soak the earrings in some kind of cleaner.  I use the ear cleaner that I got from Claire's when I got my cartilage pierced.  You can also use rubbing alcohol. Once you've thoroughly cleaned the earrings, and the other jewelry, take part of the earring that goes through your ear and hold it up, now you have a good hold for painting it.  Take a neon colored nailpolish, I chose 24/7 by Sinful Colors.  This color is both neon and dries matte.  Make sure to paint in one direction. If it's zigzagged it will look messy. Don't forget to cover the sides.  Once you've painted in one direction, let it dry.  Then paint against the grain. If you painted across, now paint up & down. This will give full coverage and color to the earring.  Let them dry.

If you are using an earring that has a previous color, never fear.  I took this pair of yellow triangle earrings and painted on a base of a light, cool green color by Forever 21.  It's nearly white, so it cancels out the yellow and provides a clean base for the green. If you don't have a color like this, white should work fine.  After letting it dry, go ahead and apply an actual green.  I chose Sally Hansen's Green With Envy.  With this pair of earrings, I decided to use another spring trend- animal print.  I took a paper towel and rolled the earring, still wet, across the towel.  This gave it a snake skin like texture.  You can see the light green and even a bit of the yellow peeking through. I love it.

Do this to any jewelry you want neon and hop on into spring!  This DIY is great because it's incredibly simple, and it's nailpolish, so it comes off!  Just use a cotton ball and nail polish remover and you have your normal jewelry back.  Have a great spring, everyone!

xx,
Emilyann

I don't want to be dramatic or anything but THIS ONE'S A GAME CHANGER

Sup?  It's Caroline.

My hair and I have been at odds for quite sometime.

Remember when I did that hair poll?  Well, ombre hair won.  So I tried and failed twice to get some blonde to stick in my hair.  I have a little bit of ombre action going on but it's not very noticeable.

Suffice it to say, all that coloring has completely destroyed my ends.  I'm also cheap and don't want to pay to get it all cut off, plus, I'm trying to get really long hair.  So I (don't kill me) trimmed my own hair and cleaned up the worst of it.

No I just find that the ends of my hair never look smooth.  They're always frizzy and it was driving me absolutely bananas.

via

Fast forward to about two weeks ago.  I was watching a youtube video and this girl (I think it was MissGlamorazzi but I don't have the time to go make sure) was talking about Lush.  I've loved Lush for ages, and have been happy with pretty much everything I've bought from them.

She mentioned their solid shampoos, and my first thought was "Uh. No way."  But she sounded like she loved them.

Fast forward now to this weekend.  I was in Dublin for spring break and I went into a Lush store on Grafton street.  I loved that everything was in English... I'm tired of trying to figure out Lush in French.

I picked up a massage bar that smells like chocolate (I love it, by the way) and then went over to the solid shampoos.  I grabbed "Seanik" because it said it would make my hair soft and shiny, and plus it didn't smell quite as nasty as some of the other ones.  It just has a very light smell that's reminiscent of a trip to the beach.

I brought it back to the hotel and tried it that night.  I figured out that the best way it to "warm" it up by rubbing it on your hand for a few seconds, and then just rubbing it on your scalp.  I did four quick swipes over my hair and then put the bar down, and it lathered unbelievably.  Just a little of this goes a long, long way.

I went to bed with wet hair.  I do it all the time and people need to not judge me, ok? Thanks.

I woke up the next morning and my hair was absolutely crazypants.  I had kinks and waves out the wazoo.  After freaking out momentarily, I brushed it out and BAM.

My hair was silk, beach-wavy, and softer than it's ever been.  My ends were waved in perfectly, and I didn't have any product in my hair but shampoo.


Long story short?  It's a winner, guys.  I think it was about 6 euro 50 cents at Lush in Dublin, but it's more expensive in the US.  But well worth it!  It will last you forever, and it's great for traveling because you don't have to deal with messy liquids and you can put it in your carry-on.

I dig it, guys.  I'm giving it four and a half out of five stars, and that only because the smell isn't all that special.

Here's the link.  Buy it.  Use it.  Love it.

-Caro

FTC business:  I bought it with my own, hard-earned, babysitting money.  The child spit up all down the front of my shirt and yanked out some of my hair, so I think it's worth it.  I was not sent this, and this is an honest review.  I just really like it and want y'all to like it too.