All Black Wardrobe for my Minimalist Friends

If you are like me and the idea of streamlining your wardrobe sounds like a great idea .. then stay tuned. The principal is to help curate a closet of easily matching items to help with the morning hustle. The easiest way to create a capsule wardrobe is to choose a single color and use it as the primary color and maybe a second accent color. In most cases the main color is black because it can be found in all categories [dresses, jackets, shoes, tights, etc.] and the second color us usually white or grey but red or pink are also a good choice.

The Vivienne Files is a great resource for wonderful ideas-possibilities are endless

I would like to say that I have mastered the look of the all black minimal aesthetic but sadly I have not. Wearing head-to-toe black can be a bit tricky .. at my age one does not want to look like a goth reject or on our way to a funeral. Being that the Halloween season has started .. this might be a great month to try our hand at it and still fit in with the decorum of normal society.

Below are a few outfit ideas that should be suitable for both work or casual Fridays and weekend wear.

Broncos Toes ~ Play Offs

With last week being a bye week I had a bit of extra time to do a fun design but instead of coming up with a new one I did the toes from week 12. I was trying to use my camera phone but the pictures were coming out kinda pink (I can't figure out how to use the silly thing LOL) I used the same picture from the original post. Anyhow ... here is the color combination :: the orange combo is two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and the third coat is Sinful Colors # 853 Cloud 9. The blue combo is one coat of Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and a coat of NYC # 140 'Empire State Blue'.  On the big toes .. I started with doing 1/2 the nail with orange then taping it off-centered and swiped the blue ~ I did wait until this morning to add the dots. And that was done by using my trusty bobby pin (which I have one specifically for nail art and I keep it with my polishes) and the Apple Barrel # 20503 White and just dotted 5 small dots along the line. So far it is one of my all time favorite designs (along with the cupcake). LET'S GO TEAM!!!! One step closer to the Super Bowl!!!

Broncos Toes ~ 17

As you can see I kept the design super simple. The color combinations are as followed :: the orange combo is two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and the third coat is Sinful Colors # 853 Cloud 9  ~ I am telling you I am really liking the orange I think I will be purchasing a lot more tangerine colors for summer. The top/bottom stripes are Apple Barrel # 20503 White and I dotted Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal'  with my trusty bobby pin. I know it isn't much but with relatives coming this week to celebrate our family Christmas I am busy finishing last minute projects (I will let you know what they are when I know they have all received them) and getting the house ready. Hopefully this will be enough to keep the Team going.

Broncos Toes ~ 15 and 16

Where did the time go? I just started a new job and now I work a crazy amount of hours and once I get home I review my notes from work (does anybody else do that?) next thing I know it's time for bed and the moments I do have open have been filled with holiday shopping, gift wrapping, cookie baking and projects. I tell you what I am one tired Mrs. *_*  Getting a pedicure has been the last thing on my mind and I think our beloved team has felt it. So this coming week I will do something (I am not too sure it will be fancy but something is better than nothing) and get into a consistent rhythm and life will be beyond fantastic.

Broncos Toes - 14

This week I have been fighting such a sweet tooth that it has been unreal. I have started a new job and with that goes all the anxiety of meeting new people and learning new skills .. don't get me wrong I am LOVING IT .. but I could have definitely have eaten the whole bakery section at Sprout's *.* So instead of indulging in the temptation and regreting it afterwards I decided to do something fun and put it on my toes. Wow .. that does sound weird. I looked up on YouTube some cupcake nail art tutorials and doodled away. I kept my pedi very simple and did just the orange which I got the color by using two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and the two coats is Sinful Colors # 853 Cloud 9. I also did the orange on the top third of the mama nail .. taped it off and painted the blue combo which is one coat of Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and a light coat of NYC # 140 'Empire State Blue'.  After taking off the tape I let it dry over night before using the Apple Barrel # 20503 White  and my trusty bobby pin and did some rows of dots .. just don't cover the whole toe and make sure you keep the white 'fluffy'.  When that dried .. which wasn't long since I used the craft paint .. I did some tiny sprinkles in Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and topped it off with a cherry and heart in Sally Hansen Hard As Nails #450 Tons of Bricks and did a top coat. Doesn't this look super duper cute?!?! This was such a fun nail art project that I know I will be sad to take it off but I will definitely have to remember this design for my birthday month.

Broncos Toes - 13

Alright team that was too close of a game *_* Following last week I stayed away from having too much white and used it only as an accent color and color blocked using the team's colors. It is funny how I ended up still alternating with the same colors as last week. The color combinations are as followed :: the orange combo is two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and the third coat is Sinful Colors # 853 Cloud 9 and the blue combo is one coat of Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and a light coat of NYC # 140 'Empire State Blue'. I also did the above combos on the big toes .. I started with swiping the nail with the orange then taping it off and swiped the blue ~ I did wait about a day before I added the center dot using the Apple Barrel # 20503 White. I was going to dot the four corners but I ended up just doing the center instead.
 

Broncos Toes - 12

I was so unhappy with last week's game that this week I wasn't inspired to put any effort into my nail art. I was just going to alternating colors and leave it at that but I thought well maybe if I put some extra effort so will the team (because I have that kind of power LOL) and with that I did a small but cute design on the main toe. I did the shimmer overcoat again this week .. it just seems to lighten up the color and I like the combination better than the either color alone. The orange combo is two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and the third coat is Sinful Colors # 853 Cloud 9. The blue combo is one coat of Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and a light coat of NYC # 140 'Empire State Blue'. I also did the above combos on the big toes .. I started with swiping 1/2 the nail with orange then taping it off-centered and swiped the blue ~ I did wait about a day before I added the dots. The dots are super easy .. I used my trusty bobby pin (which I have one specifically for nail art and I keep it with my polishes) and the Apple Barrel # 20503 White and just dotted 5 small dots along the line. I am really liking this design .. I have to remember it for the holidays. Let's go team!!!

Broncos Toes - 11

This week's design was so much fun to do. I was just going to design the big and middle toes only but Oldest Princess suggested that I polish the baby one too and to also do both feet the same rather than alternating like I have been lately. So that is what I did. Look how cute .. I'm going to be sad when I wipe this design off. For this look I used the main 5 colors (2 blues, 2 oranges and the white craft paint) and my trusty Scotch tape. I started with two coats of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and waited until it dried then did the third coat with Sinful Colors # 853 'Cloud 9'. This added some really cool shimmer and lightens up the color just a bit. When the orange dried I taped off using the corner of the tape in an angle and did two quick coats of Pure Ice # 1094 'Teal Appeal' and a light coat of NYC # 140 'Empire State Blue' for that extra shimmer. I think the holiday season has gotten me shimmer crazy. LOL The blue toes is just a repeat of above. The white/orange combo is just the Apple Barrel # 20503 'White' tapped off the top and did a good coat of Pure Ice # 1029 'Drive Me Crazy' and waited for just a few minutes and then lightly went over the orange with Sinful Colors # 853 'Cloud 9' . Remember to take the tape off slowly and immediately .. you don't want to the polish to dry or you will be removing more than what you are wanted. I waited the next day to do the top coat just to make sure everything is thoroughly dried. Okay guys let's show those Rams how things are done!!!  

Broncos Toes - 10

How funny that the sun on my feet makes them look so splotchy .. if I was a vain girl I would have definitely taken this picture again. But I'm not .. so I didn't. This week I broke up the look with a half color block on my middle toes which was free handed with the Apple Barrel '#20503White' .. I like to use the craft paint when I need a single coat because it isn't opaque. The big piggy is color blocked with the two main colors ..  Pure Ice 'Drive Me Crazy' and 'Teal Appeal' and with Sally Hansen Hard As Nails 'Hard To Get #110' as the center white strip (which I did first ..  then taped it off and used the orange .. repeated again but with the blue). Okay maybe with some extra extra extra team spirit we can pull ahead of the Raiders.

Broncos Toes - 9

I only blame myself. Since Mr. and I have been crazy busy this weekend I didn't polish my toes until kickoff which means I didn't put out my team spirit vibe early enough and caused that disaster of a game. Also know that as soon as the game ended off came the polish. I don't want to carry that kind of bad vibe into next week's game and jinx it. LOL Okay enough fun. The weather this week was kinda nippy .. which means it was in the high 70s. So I have been baking and finishing holiday projects and this week my piggies reflect that with the snowflake-ish design. After letting the main color polish dry I used Apple Barrel #20503White and a thin artist brush I painted two Xs that crossed each other. After a few minutes I went back and with a bobby pin took the main color and placed a dot in the center. Since I was rushing my lines weren't straight - if I was taking my time I would have used tape to create neater lines. Maybe the team knew that I just didn't put my heart into it and hence neither did they. Next week will be a different story.

Happy Halloween

I know ~ there is a lot going on but it was such a fun project. I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to try something different besides dots and stripes. When I looked on-line for suggestions I was completed bombarded with all these designs that I was feeling even more confused. So I took a breath ... went into the polish stash and looked for what I had since this would give me the base as to what I could do. I did see a cool mummy idea but when I did them it was such an epic failure ~ I almost kept them just for the hilarity factor alone. Instead I did the ghosts and the pumpkins. For the mama toes I used NYC Long Wearing #139 Plaza Plumberry this is such a wonderful deep berry color which goes great with cool season fashion and I used Apple Barrel #20503 White acrylic craft paint for the ghost. The middle toes got a swipe of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails #110 Hard To Get for the base and to really make it opaque I used the Apple Barrel #20503 White acrylic craft paint again. For the tiny pumpkin I used the same orange I use for the Broncos toes Pure Ice #1029 Drive Me Crazy and the steam is in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure #430 Glass Slipper. To me it still looked like a large orange dot with a small green stripe so I added Sally Hansen Hard As Nails #450 Tons Of Bricks on the outside of the orange to give it some dimension. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure #430 Glass Slipper was used on all the other toes. Finished off with OPI Top Coat and there you have it.

Isn't pumpkin carving supposed to be fun? There is so much excitement that goes into picking the pumpkin and design that you would think that the rest of it would be just as fun. But then the paper won't stick right and it does seem like an eternity scooping out the inside (which I heard that you can use hairspray to preserve the inside of the pumpkin) and then your hand and arm start to itch due to the pumpkin enzyme and it takes like a billion little holes to outline the design and your hand cramps up from holding the knife so tightly ... oh and don't forget the death defying trick of trying to light the tea candle with out burning yourself. But in the end you almost have this strange sense of accomplishment when you see your pumpkin all lit up in the dark. This year is our youngest grandbaby's first pumpkin carving and we figured since she looooves playing with her food that she would have a blast ... instead she made some strange faces and started to get really fussy and upset ~ the poor thing. So while everyone else was carving pumpkins and after her bath, Tiniest Princess and I baked cookies and watched one of my all time favorite movie ... It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. She didn't make it all the way to the end but that is okay ... I will have tomorrow (and other holidays) to show her the awesomeness that is Charlie Brown. Linus's reaction to the pumpkin carving is priceless.

 

Broncos Toes - First 8 Games

 

Well I guess technically it is 7 games plus 1 bye week but boy has it zoomed. I have been having so much fun sharing getting in the team spirit with you ... that I really haven't minded. It has definitely stretched my creativity and it is so funny just when I think I don't have any new ideas BOOM! a new one pops in my head. Since the team played this past Thursday they don't play today ... which means once again I have a free weekend to polish my toesies with any other colors. So no orange, blue or white and I did red on the bye week ... so maybe purple, green or pink. But with Halloween coming up maybe I will trade my blue for black and do an orange/black theme or better yet trade orange for yellow and have a yellow/black theme. Oooooo ... I like that idea. Okay well then I am off to figure out what I can do that is fun, festive and cool for the beginner nail artist in me.

Broncos Toes - 1
Broncos Toes - 2 

 Broncos Toes - 3

Broncos Toes - Bye Week

Broncos Toes - 5

Broncos Toes - 6

Broncos Toes - 7

Broncos Toes - 8

Broncos Toes - 8

 

Man ... this picture makes me look like I have Hobbit feet YIKES Anyhow, a short week means coming up with a second design before I am ready. Last Sunday's toes alternated colors from one side to another which was cute in theory but I didn't like the fact that ALL the blue/white were on the same side .. it made me feel like I am a Cowboys or Colts fan and I CAN NOT have that. I'm kinda surprised Mr. didn't say anything but to give him a fair shake I don't think he even notices my feet. LOL So this week I kept the alternating look but had the 3 colors on each side and I like it soooo much better. On the mama toes - I taped over the colored stripes and added 3 more going horizontal and polished 2 coats of NYC Empire State Blue and Sinful Colors Cloud 9 and it made this cute checked/gingham look. Finished with a top coat and there you have it .. super fun toesies =D 

Broncos Toes - 7

 

 

This week we are going against the San Fran 49ers ... some of the names of these teams just crack me up =D I liked the stripes so much that I kept them and alternated the smaller toes with the big toe color. Quick and easy ... now pass the humus :p

Broncos Toes - 6

I'm sorry but every time I see the NY Jets all I do is annoy everyone around me by singing 'Bennie and the Jets'. Don't pretend that you don't do it too =D  Does anyone else think that their green is hideous? This week I did something a bit different. I polished all 10 toes in Sally Hansen Hard As Nails 'Hard To Get #110' and when that dried I cut strips of tape and polished the momma toes in team colors ... Pure Ice 'Drive Me Crazy' and 'Teal Appeal'. They kind of remind me of a circus tent but I am kinda liking the white on the little toes.

I found this video of Elton John doing 'Bennie and the Jets' on Soul Train. I often wondered how to dance to this song and now I know. LOL And the fact that he is wearing the NY Jets team colors (even though not exact) of green and white is just an added bonus. Enjoy =D

 

 

Broncos Toes - 5

This week we were a house divided. Well ... kinda. Our Broncos Princess has a Cardinals Guy. Do not worry we don't make him sit outside in his red shirt during the game or exile him to one of the back rooms. He ... like my Mr. ... is born into his team but unlike my Mr. he isn't a follower of football.  He doesn't get wrapped up in pre and post game shows .. he barely cares what is going on with the other teams and about how they affect his team's standing. He is just a team loyalist. Period. My Guy ... well ... he really enjoys of the game and all that it entails. He isn't a fanatic ... just a fan of the sport.

So yesterday when we arrived back home off came the red and on came our team colors. The 8 little pigs got a few coats of Pure Ice 'Teal Appeal' and the 2 momma toes got Pure Ice 'Drive Me Crazy'. Once the orange polish dried I swiped a stripe of Apple Barrel 'White #20503' and added 3 large dots with a bobby bin. When the white dried I did 3 small dots with a bobby pin on top of the white with Pure Ice 'Teal Appeal'.

Broncos Toes - Bye Week

Wait! What? There is no game is week? That's right this week is a bye-week ... I guess it's a rest week for the team. What does that mean to me ... no need to wear anything orange, blue or white. So I put on my thinking cap for ideas but it was full of Gilmore-isms ... my mind kept wandering about the fact that on Oct. 1st Netflix is releasing all 7 seasons. I don't know why I am so excited about this I own all 7 seasons but I am. So the opening of episode 2 in season 1 Lorelai is polishing Rory's toes for her first day of private school . Lorelai's says  '... bad girls always wear red nail polish'. Truth be known I am not so bad but at times I do sport the red polish and one of my favorites is Sally Hansen Hard As Nails #450 Tons of Bricks ... it has a bit of shimmer and it makes for the perfect Christmas holiday nail too.  

Below is the Gilmore Girl bit and the other one is the song that plays at the end ... XTC 'I'm The Man Who Murdered Love'. Which XTC's 'Earn Enough For Us' was part of the super cute opening skit for episode 12 of season 1. And a bit of side trivia ... Sir Richard Branson (yes as in the Virgin Media/Airlines guy) is in the XTC 'Majors and Generals' video. I can't find an exact story about he got there but he looks exactly the same!

 

Broncos Toes - 3

I will admit it .. I love dotted toes. I find them so much fun. This time I did my toes in Pure Ice 'Drive Me Crazy' with a swipe of Sinful Colors 'Cloud 9' and for my BIG toes I did Pure Ice 'Teal Appeal'. For the dots I used a bobby pin and craft paint in Apple Barrel 'White #20503'. If you watch nail art videos on YouTube you will notice that most will use regular acrylic craft paint for the designs - the reason is that the craft paint is very pigmented and will hold the color with one coat and it dries super fast so you can layer your design. Some hints: just make sure you use a top coat to seal your design and use regular nail polish for your base (craft paint doesn't adhere as well to your nail like nail polish does). We have a tough game today with Seattle ... I hope our team will pull thru.

Broncos Toes ~ 2

This week has been so super CRAZY!! So all I ended up doing was swiping a fresh coat of NYC Empire State Blue and adding a white French tip to the orange. The white is Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get #110 .. it has great coverage and wearability. A word of caution :: it seems that babies are fascinated by the orange/white combo .. every baby I saw wanted to play with my toes. Weirdness =D

Broncos Toes ~ 1

Our first game of the season is against the Colts (which can I say I really like their team colors and logo) and I got myself and our youngest grand-baby ready for the game by doing a simple two tone toes. She is a wiggle worm and I  had a hard time just staying on her nails much less do something fancy. But it was a fun project. For fun projects like this I tend to use the cheap drugstore polish and in my stash I already have NYC Empire State Blue and Sinful Colors Cloud 9 #853 - both have a bit of shimmer but are on the transparent side. I am using 3 coats of the blue but the orange wasn't going to hack it. So I used my daughter's Pure Ice Drive Me Crazy #1029  and I was really surprised on how super pigmented it is. It is definitely a one coat polish, which I own another Pure Ice product and it isn't as pigmented and it chipped easily. But it is matte so I just used my orange over it to add a bit of shimmer. And now we are ready for game day!!