We Got An Elliptical, Some OOTD's & OPI's "Midnight in Moscow" Polish

Hello ladies!  We made it through another Tuesday!  Today was an exciting day for me because we got an elliptical machine! The wonders of Facebook connected me with a friend who was selling hers and so we got this lovely elliptical for just $100.  It's so essential for me to get cardio since I quit the gym so this will be perfect for me.  It's not a fancy one like they have at the gym, but it will serve its purpose for me. Here it is in our second bedroom:

It even has a fan which is great! I must admit that cardio is my weakness. I hate it. But I figure I can watch some of my YouTube subscriptions or flip through Us Weekly while I'm working out in the comfort of my own home. Do you have workout equipment at home?   In addition to this elliptical we have a bunch of other things in our home gym and you can check those out here.

Here are my outfits for the past two days!

Shirt- Forever 21
Necklace- Forever 21
Skirt- Banana Republic
Shoes- Me Too @ DSW

I also snapped a shot of my nails this week too because I tried a new dark color introduced to me by the lovely Candice- OPI's "Midnight in Moscow." It has quite a pretty sheen to it but not obviously metallic at all.

I LOVE to wear dark colors in the fall and winter almost exclusively!  My next one to try is a light gray color.  I've never worn a color like that so we'll see how it goes.

Today's outfit was a dress I got at Marshall's a couple of weeks ago for $29.99:

Dress- Marshalls
Shoes- Jessica Simpson

Bag- MbMJ Hillier Hobo in "rosie"

Hope you are all having a great week so far!  Before I go, I wanted to share the article I wrote about the Napoleon Perdis event I attended last week.  You can read it here, on CultureMap.

You can also ENTER MY 1000 PLUS SUBSCRIBER CONTEST HERE and read my latest MOTIVATION MONDAYS post HERE!

xoxo,

Veronika.

NOTD: Essie's "Splash of Grenadine" and "Chinchilly"

As you all saw yesterday, I got some gorgeous new Essie nail polishes. I think I must be in a purple phase in my life, because lately all I'm buying is purple.

The new couch pillows (for our new couch- all from West Elm).

This new VS PINK tee I picked up today after returning the HEINOUS "Pink Nation" dress I got for $10. I don't know if anyone else got it, but it was the most unflattering cotton dress ever. If you are a member of PINK NATION you probably got the promo coupon.  Anyways, I returned the dress for this adorable tee:

Do you love my sweat pant look? LOL. This is the kind of stuff I wear to lounge around at home, and yes, I've worn them to the gym and in public before. We all have our lazy sweat pant days!

Here's Essie's "Splash of Grenadine":

I am just having PURPLE FEVER right now. I just love love love purple. From OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavender to Essie's Lilacism to this gorgeous Essie shade, I just can't get enough of purple right now. I love how bright and summery this color is. I would say it is just a tad bit darker and brighter than these pics.  Definitely a must-have, IMO.

On my toes, I did a grayish color called "Chinchilly" by Essie. I also love this one and plan to try it on my nails soon too.

I just realized my gray toes and purple nails match my couch and the pillows. Coincidence? 

What nail colors are YOU loving lately?

Have you entered my contest yet? I hope you will!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Contest: Big Hair, Big Lashes- 350 Plus Subscribers!!!!!!!

I finally made it out to Ulta today to purchase some goodies for a blog contest. Right now I am at just over 350 followers and I am so grateful for your readership and for contributing so much to this blog.

I made the theme of this contest "Big Hair, Big Lashes" because I am obsessed with volume. Big hair, thick lashes, ruffles and all kinds of voluminous texture in my clothes...you get the picture.

The contest prize is the following:

1. Redken "Guts 10" mini, which is a volumizing spray (Elle- AllThatGlitters21 on YouTube) recently recommended it, so I picked one up for the contest (and one for myself too!)

2. Redken "Satinwear 02" mini, which is a smoothing blowdry lotion (gotta do the blow dry to get the volume!)

3. Redken Extreme "Anti Snap" mini, which is a leave-in protein hair repair treatment. I have been using this product for awhile now and I like it. I am not sure how much of a difference it makes, but I do like it.

4. L'Oreal Volume Collagen Mascara (waterproof) in "Blackest Black." This is my favorite mascara right now, so I decided to spread the love so someone else can full, thick, luscious lashes. See my rave about this mascara here.

Here are the rules for this contest:

1. You must be a subscriber/blog follower, (please enter once only)

2. You must enter your comment with a valid name/login. No anonymous entries will be accepted. A simple "enter me" is all it takes :) or you can write a longer comment, whatever you desire!

3. You must provide your email address in your comment so I can contact you should you win. You can write it like this: veronabrit at gmail dot com (less chance of spam this way.)

4. The contest closes on Friday, February 26th at midnight CST. No entries will be accepted after that time.

5. I will announce the winner next Saturday, February 27th. UPDATE: as with my last contest, I will choose the winning comment using RANDOM.ORG. Sorry I forgot to include that!

6. You must provide me with your mailing address if you win so I can mail the package to you.

I hope you will enter this contest :) I bought the same products for myself, so hopefully we will both enjoy them/explore them. I also got myself a mini of the volumizing mousse, because I am always looking for something to out-do my Garnier Fructis XXL volume mousse.

While at Ulta, I also picked up some Seche Vite topcoat, which Tiffany D raves about. I just used it on my nails and it really does work. I like it better than the OPI brand topcoat. I did 3 layers of nail polish and used this topcoat, and I notice my nails did dry faster.

The color I painted my nails with is from OPI's new Hong Kong collection. It's called "Lucky Lucky Lavender." I really like it. I haven't had a chance to clean up the sides yet, but this is a pic of the color. It actually reminds me of the color of these pretty J.Crew pumps.

The color is a bit darker than the pumps (I used 3 coats) but I absolutely love it. I am seeing a lot of lilac everywhere for spring. I love the soft pastels and brights that come along with spring. It inspires me to add some color to my usual black ensembles.

Speaking of awesome shoes with bows, I just ordered these gorgeous Paris Hilton pumps. I just couldn't resist the amazing bow. I got them in black and they have hot pink underneath (no doubt a nod to Mr. Louboutin.) They are called Paris Hilton- Senorita Peep Toe Pumps and I got them from Macys.com.

I have been looking for shoes like this for a long time. I saw some at Ann Taylor a couple of weeks ago, but the bow just wasn't bold enough. I love that the bow on these is more dramatic. I can't wait until they come in. I loved them in gold too, but black just seemed more versatile. I can see these becoming my favorite pumps. A lot of people have said that these are a replica of the Valentino pumps. I can't afford Valentino, but give me a black pump with a huge bow by any brand I can afford, and I'll take it! They were $89.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you so much for reading, and if you're interested in the products above, please do enter the contest.

xoxo,

Veronika.