Meet my newest American-made fav:  Prescripts Jewelry – jewelry with a purpose.

What is the purpose you ask?  Well, not only are these handmade bracelets stunning, but they can actually affect your well being.

According to Amy White, the creator of Prescripts Jewelry:

“Semi-precious gemstones and crystals are known to hold earth energy that can assist the wearer in overcoming obstacles, attract love in all forms and support manifestation and realization of life’s goals and dreams. Additionally, many of the stones have healing properties that address the health and well-being of the physical body – promoting overall healthy living.”

I have “Courage” and “Stress Relief.”

Who couldn’t use less stress and more courage?  Added bonus:  they are positively lovely.  You’ll have to believe me when I tell you that the stones are even more gorgeous in person.

For me, it was love at first sight – so much so, that I think I need to tell you a little story…

When I first talked to Amy about her jewelry line, we decided to run a feature plus a giveaway.  She was gracious enough to send me a bracelet for myself and one to give away as a prize.  Well, upon opening her beautifully wrapped package and seeing the bracelets first hand, I decided that I could not part with either.

Sorry, I’m not sorry.

There was no way I could choose one, so instead of giving away one of the bracelets pictured above, I am going to let the giveaway winner select the bracelet of her choice.  You pick the one that speaks to you, on me.  I think that’s only fair.  We’ll call it a win-win.  **wink**

In addition to being beautiful, all Prescripts Jewelry bracelets are blessed and infused with Reiki energy.  They use the healing energy of the earth to help you rewrite your internal scripts and provide support along your life journey.  How cool is that?!

Here is how I’ve worn mine:

I can’t wait to see how you wear yours.  Click here to shop for a Prescripts Jewelry bracelet to infuse your life journey with beauty and positive energy.  I think we could all use some more of that!

And if you’re feeling lucky, enter the giveaway below to win the bracelet of your choice.

xoxo

Jenny

This summer, I gushed over my experience with Firmoo Online Optical Store. This site has great prices, is easy to navigate, and boasts an expansive collection of fashion-forward frames in a variety of styles. I love my Firmoo frames so much, that when they reached out to me to feature a new pair of eyewear on my blog, I jumped at the chance.

This summer I opted for a more rounded tortoise shell pair:

But this time, I went for a pop of color with these green wayfarers:

In case you haven’t heard…here’s a Fashion Newsflash: glasses are the new black. OK I’m not really sure what that means either, but you can blame the nerds, the hipsters, and all the nearsighted people of the world: geek is the new chic and today’s frames are yesterday’s statement necklace. I would even argue that fabulous frames are just as eye-catching as the latest pair of Jimmy Choos.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

For me, glasses are just another fashion accessory; I love to coordinate them with my outfit. Unfortunately, this can get pretty pricey shopping at traditional eyewear stores and shelling out a few hundred dollars every time I want to update my frame collection.

Well fashionistas, thanks to Firmoo, times they are a-changing. Now you can add to your arsenal of outfit-finishing eyewear for under $40 (I’ve seen frames on sale for $8! – that’s like a venti mochochocolatta!).  I totally just made up that word…

Think of them as the cherry on your style sundae.

Here are just a few of the times my glasses were the finishing touch on a look:

Dying for a new pair of frames? Check out Firmoo for prices to make you smile and glasses to enhance your style.

xoxo

Jenny

We’ve all been there- You spend a good hour or so strategically painting your nails… they look amazing, no smudges, none got on your cuticles, and they look shiny and perfect! In hopes that they will last few days, you are so excited to show them off… maybe even match your outfit or lipstick to them! A full day goes by and they look flawless as ever. Then day 2 or 3 rolls around… and what is that you see? A BIG FAT CHIP!!!!?? If you are anything like me, I have a slight case of OCD (ok, maybe a huge case of it) and the sight of even the tiniest chip in my polish sends me into an emotional outrage- resulting in me having to wipe it completely off every single nail and start over! (I know some of you out there like to wear your polish until it completely is disintegrated into a few small specs on your nails -you know who you are!- and that sets me into a downhill, whirlwind of insanity as well.) Well, I have come up with a list of tips and tricks to help you keep that polish on for a little longer than just a day or so… without having to go and get a professional gel-manicure!

Wipe natural nails with nail polish remover:

Before you apply any sort of polish or base coat, make sure to take a cotton ball and wipe your nails with a little bit of nail polish remover to dry them out. You want to take the natural oils from your nail so the polish will hold much longer on them. When your nail beds are on the oilier side, they tend to cause the polish to loosen up and rise up off your nail much faster. I recommend using pure acetone because it tends to dry them out a little bit more.

ONYX Professional- 100% Acetone (Wal-Mart)

Always use a base coat

This gives your nails a nice smooth surface for the polish to adhere to. If you happen to have yellow-stained nails (from wearing too much polish) there are base coats that are tinted with a beige color to conceal the yellow. And if you tend to have ridges in your nail beds, then there are base coats called “ridge fillers” that you can apply to smooth everything out so your polish goes on as flawless as possible. By using a base coat, it prevents your polish from staining your nails, especially if you use extremely dark shades or bright reds.

OPI- Natural Nail Base Coat (Ulta or Sephora)

Splurge and buy a more expensive nail polish

Nail polish is sort of like clothing- you buy cheap clothing and it falls apart and fades after a few washes. Same with polish. You purchase a cheap polish- it’s going to chip and crack after a day or two. You need to splurge and buy the higher-end polish if you really want your nails to last! My go-to polishes I always use are OPI, Essie, Spa Ritual or Zoya. Lets face it… you get what you pay for!

OPI, Essie, Spa Ritual and Zoya (Ulta or Sephora)

Paint the inside tips of your nails

Have you ever noticed when you get a professional manicure how the technician always takes the time to paint the inside tips of your nails? This is to prevent chipping due to the edge of your nail scraping or bumping up against things. So next time you paint, make sure to take an extra few seconds to go along the outer edges of your nails! Some people even like to have fun with it and paint the whole inside of their nails a different color

“Christian Louboutin Nails” (red on the inside to look like a Christian Louboutin shoe!)

Use a good top coat

Applying a thin layer of top coat always helps to prevent nails from chipping! Be careful not to put it on too thick or it will take twice as long to dry. I always recommend waiting for your color to be fully dry first before applying your top coat or else your nails will be tacky and have a high risk of smudging! The best kind of top coats to use are the fast-drying kind. Not only are they high in shine, but they smooth out your polish and dry much more quickly so you can get on with your day faster. My favorite one to use is by INM called Out The Door.

INM- Out The Door (Sally Beauty Supply)

When all else fails…. add glitter

We all know that glitter is impossible to take off our nails… so I usually paint glitter on mine when I know I’m going out of town for a few days and don’t want to worry about my polish chipping. For some crazy reason, when you put glitter over your polish- it lasts forever! (Especially on your toes!)

Not all of us have the time, nor money, to go get our nails professional done with a gel polish, so hopefully my tips and tricks help your at-home manicure last just as long!

Stay Beautiful,

Laurie

Laurie Berry is a professional makeup artist and stylist. In addition to being the Beauty Correspondent for Flower City Fashionista, she also blogs about all things preppy, fashionable, and fabulous at Upstate Stylista.