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"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2015."

This week you talked on and on about middle school next year and wanting to play in the band.  We are going to sign you up for beginners violin and I'm hoping you will enjoy it.

Foundation for Vacation

Hey Emeralds!  As you know, we are heading to Guam and since I know it's going to be extremely warm, I decided to pack light and only take my Smashbox BB Cream and my LA Girl Pro Concealer.  I wanted to only carry something light on my skin but still offer enough coverage that I can easily wear it for a night out.  My intentions are to not wear any foundation at all as I'm sure I'll have more in skin care products than makeup!  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Vacation Skin Care

Hey Emeralds!  Since I've been on a major skin care quest I wanted to make sure that I didn't neglect it while on vacation. I bought some products recently from Innisfree and after paying, they gave me an awesome freebie to try.  I'm currently using their olive oil line but since this kit is compact, I thought it would be perfect to take on vacation and try out.

It comes with a serum, balancing skin, balancing lotion and a balancing cream.  The only thing I will need to bring is my cleanser and toner.

12/52

This week was pretty quiet around here for us. You were irritated because you received a large pimple under your nose.  I guess it's time that we start to implement your own skin care routine.

Top 3 Vacation Lippes

Left to Right : MAC Ruby Woo, Velvet Teddy & Pink Plaid

Hey Emeralds!!  I'm back today to share my 3 favorite lipsticks to take on vacation.  We are traveling to Guam next month so I've been thinking ahead on what to pack in my makeup bag and I think that every gal should carry a nude, a pink and a red!

Of course these are all by MAC as it's my favorite brand for lipsticks and the ones you will catch me in on any given day.

I believe that each one of these would be perfect and suitable for any skin tone and definitely fabulous for my deeper Emeralds! 

11/52

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2015."


Hi Emeralds! I wanted to do Project 365 where you take a photo a day everyday in 2015 but I thought that would just be way too much pressure on me.  I do want to get better at photography and all the forums and posts I've seen related to getting better is that they embark on some type of photography project. I'm only learning the basics and pretty much teaching myself with the help of Clickn Moms and Karen Russells workshop but it has been amazing to see how better it gets and how 
much more of it I understand every time I pick up my camera. I only have the basic nifty fifty but I think many start learning with it and I don't want to invest in anything else until I master it.  That is my photography goal for 2015. Just master the damn nifty fifty. I did tell myself that I could at least complete Project 52 where you take a portrait of your child/children once a week every week in 2015.  I'm already 9 weeks behind but better late than never, right?!  This project I believe started with Jodi over at Practising Simplicity but if that's incorrect, please feel free to let me know.

My intentions are to make my project life better with quality images that really show our life and to also take quality images for my blog.  Nothing is worse than having bad photos and I'm really tired of relying so heavily on my iPhone simply because its easier and more convenient.

I hope you all will be inspired to take photos of your child/children or your significant other if you don't have children or your family members, or just photos of your everyday life to document you. I don't think making memories and keeping them only work for mothers or fathers. Just document who you are today and what makes you happy!  Please link up and share! I would love to take a peek!

xo - The Chic Emerald

Project Life January 2015

*Disclamer: this post is rather lengthy as I explain my process.

Project Life 

[my approach] 

As many know, project life is a system designed by Becky Higgins.  I've attempted this on and off for a few years but I successfully completed my 2014 album. I usually get started strong and then stop but being here has definitely made me feel the need to keep up. Our tour here is not long so I want to make sure I commit to documenting everything.  There are times when I like my layouts/pics and then I'll turn around and hate them but the point is to just document. There's no way that we are going to live overseas and not have it documented right?! I'm still not 100% sure on how I want it to look/feel but I do know that I'm going to just do it and worry about a style/look and feel later. 

[photos] 

I'm a working momma M-F from 8 to 5 so I don't have the opportunity to take out my DSLR and take photos throughout the week so I rely heavily on my iphone. I found the collectphotoapp thru Annette Haring on Instagram and fell in love with the ease of capturing a photo, journal my thoughts, save it to the app and then print it thru Persnickety Prints. It's perfect for those who like the 3x4 photos. I can add my journaling right on the photo in the app and have the date captured without the fuss. Simple enough for me. 

[weekly vs monthly] 

I decided to take the stress off myself by doing PL monthly instead of weekly. As I said, I work M-F so I don't capture much until the weekends but even then it can be limited so doing it this way really takes the pressure off from trying to capture enough photos for the week or feeling stressed because I don't have enough. Project Life is intended to be easy not stressful so I had to simplify things. 

[12x12] 

I thought at the beginning of the year that I was going to use a Studio Calico Handbook and go with the 6x8 size but quickly decided against it after feeling like it wasn't enough to cover all that I wanted. I think I'll save that size for mini albums or December Daily if I decide to do one. I am using Design F page protectors from Becky Higgins which can hold 10 3x4 photos and a 4x6 photo that is good as a title card or I can add 2 additional 3x4 cards for a total of 12. There are days throughout the month that I may miss a photo or take multiple photos so having these pockets makes it easy to use one page protector for 24 photos. I won't be using Design F exclusively as there may be a month where I take more photos with my DSLR vs my iphone or the combination of both and I want to be able to switch things up. I have a ton of Design A page protectors that I intend to use up. 

[style] 

I don't have one. I've tried it a few different ways and I don't know just yet what is going to work. I love the feeling that I get when I see Pink Ronnie's PL, I love the look and feel of how Liz Tamanaha does her PL and I've recently loved looking at Wilna's approach to PL or pocket scrapbooking and I adore all her cut files. They are amazingly beautiful. 

[album] 

Currently right now I'm using the Becky Higgins Midnight PL 12x12 album.  

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation

Hi Emeralds! Just wanted to post my beauty and fashion favorites of the week.  I'm hoping that I can make this a weekly series on my blog.  I love reading and seeing what others share as their favorites so I hope you share what you have as some of your favorites.

If you love makeup then you know that EVERYONE and their mommas are talking about this foundation. There are mixed reviews on those who love it and those who hate it.  I happen to absolutely love this foundation and I fell even more in love with it when I applied it to my face using only one pump and my fingers.  This foundation does for me what it says it does.  Its luminous and weightless and light enough that my imperfections still show but provides enough coverage that you can know that they are there but not really, am I making sense?!  You just have to try it.

Here's what's on the Sephora website regarding this foundation:

Achieve full-coverage, lightweight foundation that leaves a natural finish. Highly pigmented and perfectly balanced, this breakthrough, full-coverage formula builds and blends effortlessly. Its Even Tone Technology instantly neutralizes redness and dullness, while it works to reduce discoloration for more even, uniform skin. Perfect for all skin types, it features Weightless Long-wear Technology, an exclusive blend from NARS with flexible polymers and treated pigments that move with the skin while providing 16 hours of staying power. 

I believe NARS hit the nail on the head with this foundation. I completely love it. I'm in the color Trinidad and I also love that they named the foundation after famous countries and states (New Orleans, Siberia, etc)

Next to the foundation I also purchased the Radiant Creamy Concealer in Amdande. It's sold out right now but Emeralds.... when I tell you that this is now my holy grail concealer, I mean its amazing. It's creamy, super blend-able and melts into the skin like butta, yes I said butta, not butter! I blend this concealer with a beauty blender and it's FLAWLESS.

I ordered from Sephora.com and took a chance on the color b/c I'm not in the US to test it but if you can, stop by a local Sephora and try a sample or two of this foundation.  If you have it, let me know if you like this foundation or not and if you want a more in depth review on it plus a demo, I'll be glad to post a video on youtube!

xo - The Chic Emerald

10/52 and Welcome Bella

We adopted Bella over a month or so ago from an agency here in Korea and Aniyah has grown so very attached to her.  She's wanted another pet for a while but I was always too skeptical about getting another pet. Jackson is easy so the top requirement for me was for any pet that we got that it would have to be house trained.  I can not handle cleaning up pee and poop, just not my thing at all but Bella is a much older dog. She's about 8 years old and my thoughts initially were that she would be easy because she's much older but I didn't realize that because she's much older, it could also mean that she would already be set in her ways and habits.  It was definitely rough in the beginning because she had quite a few accidents in the house but I was determined to not give up on her because I do know that she's older.   She's definitely much better now with occasional accidents but we love her and are so glad that we've adopted her.

Aniyah completely loves and adores her.

We definitely couldn't leave Jackson out of this post.  He's our first love!