6th Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Tinsel Town"

If you haven't already noticed, China Glaze has been featured in almost every single one of these holiday manicures, which just goes to show how much I love their Holiday Collections. Aside from this year, China Glaze usually takes the crown for Holiday collections. Today's holiday-inspired manicure is a basic one-polish manicure, "Tinsel Town," from last year's holiday collection.

5th Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Frosty" + "Snow Globe"

For the 5th Day of Christmas I have a manicure that I loved wearing last winter and still love for this coming winter as well. The combination of China Glaze's "Frosty" and "Snow Globe" really create the effective of a gorgeous, glimmering snow globe.

4th Day of Christmas: OPI "Goldeneye" + OPI "The Living Daylights"

Today's 4th Day of Christmas Manicure is fun combination that uses two polishes from the newest OPI Skyfall Collection, "Goldeneye" and "The Living Daylights."

3rd Day of Christmas: China Glaze "White On White" + China Glaze "Party Hearty"

Today's manicure is for one of my favorite holiday nail combinations and it is the pairing of a white polish, China Glaze's "White on White," with my second favorite holiday glitter, China Glaze's "Party Hearty."

2nd Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Frosty" + OPI "Gone Gonzo"

Hello there!
I have for you today the 2nd of the 25 Days of Christmas Manicures. This combination is of China Glaze's "Frosty" and OPI's "Gone Gonzo."

1st Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Twinkle Lights"

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. (:

Today is the first day in my new series, 25 Days of Christmas Manicures, and I have for you a simple single-polish manicure, and my all-time favorite Holiday polish, China Glaze "Twinkle Lights." This polish is THE BEST Holiday polish. It's a full-glitter polish that exudes holiday spirit. Whenever I wear this polish, I always get compliments without fail.

25 Days of Christmas Manicures

Happy Black Friday everyone!

I wanted to make a post now that Thanksgiving is officially over and the winter holiday festivities can commence and introduce a fun idea I had for fun holiday-themed manicures.

If you can tell by the post title, I intend to do 25 holiday-themed manicures before Christmas, beginning tomorrow. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then think of it as just a title. The manicures are simply inspired by the colors associated with the winter holiday season.

Giving Thanks, 2012

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and as big holidays approach I always think back to what I did last year and how much/little things have changed.

So, I wrote this whole post about each person I know who I wanted to give individual thanks to this Thanksgiving, but it was too touchy-feely for me and I'm just going to be a horrible person and say this: to those of you in my life that I talk to (that includes anyone I text/call/actually meet up with in person, because I don't often voluntarily talk to those I don't like), I am thankful for your existence. Yes, sadly, that is the best I can do. Pathetic, you don't have to tell me. I'm not amazing at expressing how I feel. It's a problem that will probably come back to bite me in the ass, but if you're important to me, hopefully you understand that without my having to write out an entire paragraph dedicated to why that is so. Aren't I super cheery?

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Get those elastic-waist pants on!

The Hobbit: A Book Review

This book review contains NO SPOILERS. Enjoy! (:

I am overwhelmed with excitement to write today's book review, because it is a book I read over a decade ago when I was in the sixth grade. I was anxiously awaiting the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and my sixth grade teacher, who saw my impatience, lent me her copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and told me to read it and I'm forever grateful she introduced this book into my life. I'm ashamed to say that in relinquishing the copy of The Hobbit back to its owner, I never sought out to get my own copy and, frankly, I don't know what took me so long to finally pick it up and reread it. Books like The Hobbit lead me to years of writing amateur adventure stories and drawing maps of uncharted, imaginary lands, similar, but less sophisticated, than the ones Tolkien offers.

(photographed: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit)

For those of you unfamiliar with The Hobbit, here is the back cover description of J.R.R. Tolkien's amazing prequel to the Lord of The Rings trilogy:

"Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest, facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse, unknown dangers. Finally, it was Bilbo- alone and unaided- who had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of an entire countryside."

China Glaze "Harvest Moon"

Today's nail of the day for China Glaze's "Harvest Moon" is one that I find very appropriate for the Autumn season (despite it's release in the Spring Hunger Games collection). This polish is a gorgeous bronze that is hypnotizing to look at.

(photographed: China Glaze "Harvest Moon")

Tuesdays With Morrie: A Book Review

This book review contains NO SPOILERS. Enjoy! (:

The book review I present today is the first Mitch Albom book that I ever desired to read. And like I do with food, I wanted to save the best for last, so I started a few years ago by reading Albom's other well-known novel, The Five People You Meet In Heaven. Though I did enjoy the book, I wasn't thrilled and my desire to read Tuesdays With Morrie dissipated. On a trip to one of Border's final closing sales, I picked up For One More Day at 40% off and read that just this year (if you're interested in that review, you can find it here). That book didn't fuel my desire for more Albom either. However, I decided to finally pick up Tuesdays With Morrie once and for all, and here is my spoiler-free review.

(photographed: Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie)

As usual, I'll start off with a quick synopsis. Since the back-cover of this book is simply filled with praise, and going onto Amazon to copy and paste the book description is far too much work for me, I'll write a short and sweet description myself.

Tuesdays With Morrie is a memoir that shares the story of an aging professor, Morrie, and his former student, Mitch, as they spend the remains of the man's dying days together pondering questions of life.

OPI "Warm and Fozzie"

Today's nail of the day is my favorite polish from OPI's Muppet Collection last year, "Warm and Fozzie." This polish was my runner-up polish to wear for Thanksgiving Day 2011 and is a brown foil with multi-colored shimmers. Even those words can't explain how amazing this color is.

(photographed: OPI "Warm and Fozzie")

The Handmaid's Tale: A Book Review

This book review contains NO SPOILERS. Enjoy! (:

Today I present to you a book review on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. This book is one that I have heard whispers about from time to time. I think someone once warned me it was another dystopia novel, but somewhere along the way, I forgot even that. It was just another mysterious book I had on my list and decided to finally check it off.

(photographed: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale)

And because I know I am unable to summarize a book better than the back-cover descriptions, here's this one:

"Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone ..."

China Glaze "Phat Santa"

Today's nail of the day post is for one of my favorites reds, China Glaze "Phat Santa." This polish was from the China Glaze holiday collection two years ago. I have never been a huge fan of reds and "Phat Santa" is the only true red I own. The rest are either in the berry/wine/blood red family. This polish is a bright jelly red that is perfect for any time of the year.

(photographed: China Glaze "Phat Santa")

OPI "Pros and Bronze"

Today's nail of the day is one of my favorite polishes from 2011, OPI's "Pros and Bronze" from the Serena Williams Glam Slam collection. "Pros and Bronze," unlike it's name, is not bronze relative to other polishes such as OPI's "Brisbane Bronze" or China Glaze's "Harvest Moon." It is a golden-orange foil with some multicolored glitter in it. It is a very unique color and I love it.

(photographed: OPI "Pros and Bronze")

Dracula: A Book Review

This review has NO spoilers. Enjoy! (:

Today I have for you a review that is long overdue. Bram Stoker's Dracula is a book I began for Halloween. Regardless of that, it is a book that is appropriate throughout the year. I had been meaning to read this book for quite some time. Not being a huge fan of modern Vampire novels I wanted a taste of a classic and used Halloween as my excuse to finally pursue this novel.

(photographed: Bram Stoker's Dracula)

As usual, here is the back over description:

"Count Dracula sleeps in a lordly tomb in the vaults beneath his desolate castle. His stony eyes are open. His cheeks have the flush of life beneath their pallor. On his lips are a mocking, sensuous smile and fresh blood. He has been dead for centuries, yet he may never die....Here begins the story of an evil both age-old and forever new. It is the tale of those who instill a diabolical craving in their victims, the men and women from whose blood they draw their only sustenance. It is a novel of peculiar power, of hypnotic fascination. The reader is warned that he who enters Castle Dracula may not escape its baleful spell even when he closes this book."

China Glaze "Ruby Pumps"

Today's nail of the day is for the polish that began my nail polish addiction, China Glaze's "Ruby Pumps."

Growing up, I was the kind of girl who painted her nails maybe once every month at the most. My view of nail polish was that there were fun shades that younger girls wore, such as bright blues and pinks, and the boring "mommy" colors that working woman tend to sport. It's was a naive point of view, but it was my point of view nonetheless. When I first laid my eyes on "Ruby Pumps" and read the name, being a Wizard of Oz fan, I was utterly taken aback by how creative nail polish brands can be with their colors. "Ruby Pumps" looks exactly like Dorothy's pumps and had a name to match! I knew I had to buy this polish. And thus began my love for China Glaze, still one of my current favorite brands, and my love for nail polish in general. 

(photographed: China Glaze "Ruby Pumps")

Wet n Wild "Party of Five Glitters" Review

Today's post is going to be a review on Wet n Wild's "Party of Five Glitters." I have an addiction of glitters in clear bases, mostly for their versatility, and thought I would pick this one up since Wet n Wild polishes are relatively inexpensive.

(Wet n Wild "Party of Five Glitters")