In My Shopping Cart: Julep Maven Welcome Box & Erika Knight Yarns

My Julep Maven Welcome Box arrived last week! I've never really considered myself as a nails girl, I usually keep my nails short and round, and unpolished. At most I just color my nails in one color, with something I picked up from Sephora or the drugstores. 

But something about these Julep polish bottles really got my attention. They're so cute! And I really liked the club-membership aspect of it. It's like giving myself a present every month, without any huge commitment since I can skip or send it to another friend at any time. My sister definitely spends a lot of money on her nails so these will always come in handy as her gifts.

The welcome box was free so I signed up right away. It came with 3 nail colors and 1 plum color eyeliner, which is just PERFECT because I wear plum shades for my smoky eyes everyday.

I looked at Pinterest and Instagram for some nail design ideas, and they were all gorgeous, but I have NO IDEA how to execute it. So I just decided to wear all 3 colors in random order. 

I actually colored my nails last Thursday, using my usual base coat and OPI Nicole Quick Drying Drops, today is exactly 1 week from then. I cannot believe this but without any touch up, my nails look exactly like they were painted a week ago. I am pretty harsh with my hands, I do the dishes without wearing gloves, I type all the time, and hello, I knit all the other times when I'm not typing. Usually 4~5 days after the mani, I find little chips, wear & tear. These colors are pretty strong and I'm really happy with my purchase!

So it seems like Erika Knight's yarn line distributed by Blue Water Fibers in the US is no more. Back in October or November, I got an email from BWF that they will be discontinuing the yarn line, and then when I went to a local discount store, I found various Erika Knight yarns on sale there. So I picked up some Vintage Wool, 10 skeins total. (This was before my Destash Challenge!)

The deep purple is called "Mulberry," the natural/undyed one is "Flax," and the lilac colorway is called "Wisteria." It's a two-ply yarn, good quality 100% wool, I would say the softness is around 6~7 out of 10 being the cashmere soft. 

I'm thinking about casting on for a sweater, using all 3 colors. Colorwork? Maybe just simple color block sweater.. 

And my husband's cousin's wedding/civil ceremony was just beautiful! It was 70-something degrees, perfect Southern California weather today, and I was able to fit into the dress I made back in July! I didn't have to buy a new dress :P

I wore the dress I made back in July when I attended a friend's wedding in San Francisco. I was wondering if I should go shopping and decided to try stuff in my closet first. I was happy to find out that I still fit into most of my formal dresses, even though I kind of look ridiculous with the baby bump. I think the fabric was rayon challis and from fabric.com.