October may seem like a calm month for some, but for me, my busy season is in full swing. Currently I am designing the next collection, booked almost every weekend for trunk shows across the country and preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip that fell into my lap last-minute (more on this later :). To keep my creative juices flowing and my anxiety at bay, my aim for this month’s Finding was to highlight someone with mega-watt talent and good vibes. Enter Nicki Sebastian, mama, photographer-extraordinaire and all-around magical creature! She spends most days behind the camera, shooting LA’s most sought-after brands - Jenni Kayne, Dôen, Parachute Home, and The Great – to name a few. She captures life’s sweetest moments during her family sessions and signature Motherhood Portraits and raises 2 daughters with her husband by the beach. During her styling session, it was apparent that my jewels resonated – she loves dainty, gold pieces that she can wear forever (literally, she never takes off her jewelry for fear of losing it). And as with her photos, there is something so “Nicki” in her jewelry choices – playful and sweet, authentic, eclectic and truly unforgettable. While I hope to one day be in front of Nicki’s lens with my own kiddo, I am honored to place this incredible woman in the spotlight for a change. | photos by annie mcelwain |

In her daily life, Nicki dons a stack of colorful friendship bracelets and delicate gold chains, but for our shoot, we decided to mix things up and go for a statement curb chain bracelet with 5 floating diamonds. She also wanted to show off her cute (and perfectly white) kicks with a celestial itty bitty diamond anklet. It was only recently that Nicki switched over from her classic sterling silver mood ring to dainty gold stacking pieces, saying she never grew up in her own eyes. She wanted to take her platinum wedding band (which she can’t even get off) out of the spotlight, by layering up a mix of simple yellow gold bands. She stacked the ring with the beaded gold band and styled a scattered diamond band and medium gold ring. On the other hand, she let our 2 linked thin ring do the stacking for her and added a couple of hammered bands on the other fingers.

For necklaces, Nicki gravitated towards a “tiny vibe,” starting her look with the birthstones of her children and husband with our bezel turquoise and diamond necklace. Then she went for one of our newest faves—a small padlock with an Old English letter “R” to rep her hubby. As a Brooklyn transplant to Cali, she finished off the look with an itty bitty palm tree pendant to keep the Golden State close.

During our styling sesh, it was my goal to get Nicki a bit out of her comfort zone with a few diamond and hoop earring options! I want all my muses to feel like themselves, but still have the courage to try something new! Since Nicki has so many piercings (yay!) we were really able to play with her look. On one ear she went with a celestial story, wearing the itty bitty star stud, pave diamond moon stud, and a prong diamond chain stud. (She especially loved the front to back sitch!) On the other ear, I convinced her to go bold for gold and she lined her lobe with 3 of our new hinged huggies in x-small, small and medium.

Nicki is a joy to be around, a dreamer, a doer, and someone who manages to make even the messy things in life more beautiful! I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see more of the world from her point of view!