Blog | Page 7 of 17 | Alexandra Adams

February 3, 2016 — 12 Comments

Pink and Red Valentine Manicure

By this point, you guys must know how much I love Valentine's Day. I don't always wear a ton of pink and red (although I'm slowly incorporating more of it into my wardrobe), but I'm always up for wearing it on my nails! This manicure is so cute for the holiday or for every day. You just need red and pink nail polish, and some sort of tape to do the color blocking.

Paint your nails with a base coat for to keep them from staining. Y'all already know this base coat is one of my favorites.
Then paint on your red polish and let it dry.
Tape off the tips of your nails—I'm using these white tip guides meant for making french manicures to make it super easy. If you have a steady hand, you can do this part without the tape.
Paint the tips in a light pink. When the paint is mostly dry, peel off the tape and wait for the pink to finish setting before polishing the whole thing off with a clear coat!

The best thing about this manicure is that it's more subtle than painting a heart on your nails, but it still matches pretty much everything related to the holiday—so you'll want to pick up everything red and pink you can find!

You can totally switch up the colors and do pink with red tips too. Tag me in pictures of your manicures on instagram @xheightment!

Published by Alexandra Adams in Beauty, Holiday, Nails

February 1, 2016 — 2 Comments

Valentine’s Day Phone Wallpaper Downloads

Valentine's Day is in just two weeks, and I've been loving all the pinks and reds taking over my social media recently. It's been a couple months since I made the holiday phone wallpapers, and it's definitely time to freshen up your phone background! Just click the link below for your phone size and save the image. I sized them for iPhones, but if you have an Android, just choose whichever one is the best resolution for your screen.

iPhone 5 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6+

iPhone 5 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6+

iPhone 5 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6+

iPhone 5 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6+

Let me know if you're using any of these wallpapers this month in the comments below or tag me on instagram: @xheightment!

Published by Alexandra Adams in Design, Download, Holiday, Valentine's Day

January 29, 2016 — No Comments

Monthly Favorites: January 2016

I cannot believe January is already over. Fastest month ever, am I right? This has been a month of trying new things, starting (and abandoning) new habits, and pretending like it's still Christmas. Here are some of my favorite things this month!

Butter London Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat

I use this base coat on my nails every single time I paint them. It works better than a top coat (seriously) for adhering to the polish and helping it last a long time. And as a base coat, it helps keep darker polishes from staining my nails. It's win/win.

Jane the Virgin

If you don't already watch this show, now is the time. It's been on my list since Gina Rodriguez won the Golden Globe last year, but I only just started watching it this month. And I watched all of season 1 and the first half of season 2 twice in a row already, so I'm glad it started up again this week. Jane Villanueva has become one of my favorite fictional characters ever–she's so honest and great. In fact, almost all the characters on the show are just so darn likeable! It's crazy and funny and sweet and I don't want to give away any spoilers, so just go watch it so we can talk about it, okay?!

Snow

Oh my gosh, I love snow. The blizzard last weekend gave us over two feet, and I just love looking at it! My dogs love it too, especially Brooklyn. She just rolls around in it and takes off tearing through the yard until she's completely covered; it's so cute. I love the sparkle of it, the playing around in it, the sweaters and scarves you wear in it–it's all good to me!

Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Champagne

You guys, this is the best. It's a killer eyeshadow primer; anything you put on top of it isn't going anywhere. But it's perfect on its own, too–a little pink, a little gold. It's basically the same color as my go to eyeshadow shade, which makes this the ultimate lazy day product. This and some mascara is all you need!

Martha Stewart Plush Robe

I never really considered myself a robe girl, but oh man. My life has changed. This is the softest, coziest, best thing I have ever worn. You seriously don't know how soft this is until you touch it–Martha Stewart knows what she's doing. I wear it nearly every day when I'm working from home (and I'm pretty sure Martha does too). I'll even put it on over my regular outfit. It's like being wrapped in a blanket all the time—how could you go wrong?

What have been some of your favorite things this month?

Published by Alexandra Adams in Monthly Favorites

January 27, 2016 — No Comments

Fitness Faves: January 2016

If you recall, one of my goals for this year was to get fit. (I know right, me and the rest of America.) In an attempt to hold myself accountable to that goal, I thought I'd share some of the things I'm doing/liking/using to achieve it every month. So here's my progress report for January!

LBS LOST: 8.1

Current Faves:

7M Workout

This app is my go-to exercise app at the moment. You can set your preferences, difficulty level, and more. It's a lifesaver when I know I don't have time to go to the gym–an entire workout seriously is only 7 minutes! You can opt-in to a warm up and cool down, which generally takes your total up to ~10 minutes, but seriously, who doesn't have 10 minutes to spare? I've actually started trying to get into the habit of doing it in the morning and again at night, but that's only happened a couple times so far.

Workout clothes I actually like wearing

This is so key for motivating me to actually get my butt to the gym. It's like buying a new outfit and wanting to run into everyone you know the first time you wear it. Cute workout gear totally helps my state of mind when working out, too. You look good, you feel good.

Dumbbells

These little guys are my best friends. Okay, not really, but I do use them all the time! It's so easy to add them to lunges, wall sits, and any other exercise you want to make a little more challenging for yourself.

Yoga

I have to admit, I'm not totally on board the yoga train yet, but I'm working on it! I'd like to be good at yoga, so I'm trying to work it in a couple times a week. I'm loving Yoga with Adriene lately, if only because I don't get embarrassed when I'm doing something wrong since I'm by myself!

How well are you sticking to your resolutions this year? What are some of your fitness faves this month?

Published by Alexandra Adams in Fitness, Lifestyle

January 25, 2016 — No Comments

Cozy & Snowy Winter Party

I'm sure you've heard by now that we got so. much. snow. over here on the east coast! I love snow so much, and watching it fall for basically two full days was amazing. And when two and a half feet of snow is covering everything outside, snuggling up in sweaters with some hot chocolate is basically required.

These sweet treats are perfect for a snow day spent inside with some friends before (or after!) traipsing out to play in the snow. And with the colors, you could totally transform this into an early Valentine's celebration.

Chocolate chip cookies are a must. I probably ate five of them by the time the day was over! They're the perfect all-occasion treat. And rice krispie treats are the same way—just change the sprinkles to fit the theme of the party.

Hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows is another obvious choice for a snowy get-together. Make a large batch in a crock pot if you're making it for a larger group! Muddy buddies (also known as puppy chow) are also a great snack for everyone to munch on throughout the party.

Break out the board games! I love using Scrabble tiles to add cute decorations, but by then you've already pulled the game out...so you might as well play, right?! Having several games is also great to help split up a big group into smaller ones if you need to.

How do you like to spend your snow days?

Published by Alexandra Adams in Entertaining, Lifestyle, Party, Valentine's Day