Friday, February 28, 2014

The Lacquer Legion Adoration

Hey guys! Today is The Lacquer Legion's day to post your #LLadoration nail art! If you don't know about The Lacquer Legion, is a community of girls who have a prompt every month to get you inspired! This month's prompt is adoration. The Lacquer Legion is run by The Nailasaurus, Chalkboard Nails, Rebecca Likes Nails, and Work Play Polish! You can find the Lacquer Legion Facebook page here. If you want to, you can still get on some "adoration" nails for today!

You can go about the prompt any way you want! I did these nails based on punk music, which I love! It seems kind of weird right? A nail polish addict loving punk music? Well I do! Some of my favorite bands are Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Mayday Parade, and All Time Low.

My pinkie finger is Fall Out Boy's logo and my ring finger is Paramore's logo.

I used Sally Hansen Posh Plum, Silvery Streamers, and Gun Metal, Wet n Wild Disturbia, and Sally Hansen Wine Not.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Yet Another Nail Polish Haul

Hey guys! I went on another nail polish haul *oops*. I went to Sally Beauty Supply and Target, and I got the Nicole by OPI at Target, but rest are from Sally Beauty Supply. All of the polishes I got were either cheap or on sale! So lets just jump right it!

China Glaze There's Snow One Like You:

This is a white texture polish with medium sized hexagonal glitters, that are supposed to represent snow. I'm kind of right in between liking and not liking it. There really aren't many of the glitters in it, but it did have a good formula for a textured polish. You can see the glitters best on my pinkie nail. Here is two coats without top coat.

Sally Girl Butta:

Butta is a clear base with blue and black glitter. I like how the blue really pops out. The formula is good too. Here is one coat over L.A. Colors Black Velvet.

Sally Girl Cul8r:

Cul8r has a clear base with all different types of glitter mixed in. I did I have how much I hate the names of the Sally Girl polishes? Anyways, this is a great glitter and has a good formula. Below I have one coat over Elf Nude.

Sally Girl Rock Out!:

Rock Out has a clear base with small green and gold glitters. I like this glitter a lot. I think its a nice and fun one to wear. The formula was good too. Here is one coat over Sinful Colors Beau Khaki.

China Glaze Fairy Dust:

Fairy Dust has a clear base with small holographic glitters. I have heard so many good things about this polish, so I am not surprised to say that I love it. I made a few of these pictures a little blurry so you can truly see the holographic piece of heaven! The formula was great as well! Here is one coat over Elf Lavender Mist.

Nicole By Opi You're S-teal the One:

This is a shimmery blue polish with a hint of purple speaks to it! You can barely see the purple in these pictures, so I am sorry! This one was impossible to capture. But I like it a lot! The formula was great too. Here is two coats with top coat.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Insurgent Book Review

“One choice can destroy you.”

I always have a problem writing reviews on sequels. It is hard not to spoil like everything about the first book in the series. So for this review, there will be spoilers if you haven’t read Divergent. Insurgent was an amazing sequel. I will say that I think that it did lack a special quality that Divergent had. It wasn’t as special and addicting I guess. But it was really close. If I could, I would have rated Divergent 6 stars, but we only have 5 stars here. So Insurgent was perfect and Divergent was just past perfect, if that makes any since. See my review of Divergent here. You will probably be confused if you don’t read the review on Divergent.

In Divergent, Tris Prior chooses the Dauntless faction and everything changes for her. She has the pass initiation in order to become a full fledged Dauntless member. While there see meets some friends including Uriah, Christina, Will, and Four. She gets romantically involved with Four (swooooonnnnn). She passes initiation as a Dauntless. Her initiation day should be should be a celebration, but it isn’t. The Dauntless are programmed to kill the Abgenation but she doesn’t have the program because she is divergent. But she does end up killing Will and her mom and dad both end up dying for her.

In Insurgent, Tris is dealing with the intense grief of her parents and Will. While she grieves, the factions are at war. She is also having some romantic problems with Four. They keep a lot from each other, and it starts to become a problem. The leader of the Erudite faction wants all the divergent dead, including Tris. Her and her friends are on a constant run from trouble.

Insurgent is really emotional and intense. I’m not sure if I can even possibly give this series enough praise. I probably can’t. Sorry this review is so short, its just impossible to write a review on a book this good without spoilers. But if you haven’t read this series yet, go do it. Just do it.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Dream Catcher Tutorial

Hey guys! I am still waiting on any news on my application to a possible new job for me! But it has only been a few days, so I'm trying not to freak out about it! Anyways, my cousin and best friend requested that I make a dream catcher tutorial! I love dream catcher nails, there are so many different ways to do them. So today, I will show you how to paint a dream catcher and accent feathers!

Dream Catcher

What you will need for this design:
- Base and top coat (Optional)
- Nail art brush
- Dotting tool or something to make dots with
- A light polish like white, for your base color
- Two polishes of your chpice
- Black polish

Step one: Paint your nails your choice of a base color. I would go with something light so you can see the dream catcher! I personally like white the best, but it's your choice.

Step two: Take your nail art brush and some black polish and paint a half circle on the top of your nail like I did, in the picture above.

Step three: Paint lines in any design you want, or just random lines, in the half circle.

Step four: Paint three black lines coming down from the half circle to the tip of your nail.

Step five: Take two colors of your choice and make dots on the line and in the half circle.

Step six: Clean up with acetone and a brush and finish with top coat!

Accent Feathers

What you will need for this design:

- Base and top coat (Optional)

- A base color of your choice

- Black polish

- Two or three versions of the same color of your choice (Like 3 different blues)

- Nail art brush

Step one: Paint a curved black line on your nail. Then take one of your colors and draw lines coming out of it, like I did above.

Step two: Take your next color and put thin lines over the first, so you can see both colors. Keep doing that with the rest of your colors.

Step three: Paint the black line again, over the first one, so you can see it again. Then clean up with a brush and acetone and finish with top coat!

Let me know if you try this, I would love to see your take on it! Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Nailing The Book: The Fault In Our Stars Nail Art

Hey guys! Today has been very exciting. I just submitted my first ever job application! I am applying for a part-time job as a sales associate at my local Goodwill. So I would be stocking shelves and helping customers and such! I am really hoping for this job! Wish me luck!

Today I have nail art inspired by the book, "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green. I did a review on this one not too long ago which you can find here. For a short summary, this is a love story about two kids with cancer. It was such an amazing book, it blew my mind. In the book, they use the word okay as kind of a flirty word all the time. So I decided to make some nail art out of it! This design is everywhere, so I don't take credit for it by any means, this is just my version.

For this design I used Sonia Kaskuk Contessa as my base color for each nail. I picked the stars out Fingrs Star Crossed Lovers. Then I free handed the clouds and words with L.A. Colors Black Velvet and NYC French White Tip. Then I topped them with Seche Vite top coat!

What do you think you these? Have you read the book? Let me know in the comments and have a great day!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Thirteen Reasons Why Book Review

I know most of you are probably wondering why I would give this one 3 stars. Since I review completely by the Goodreads system, I gave it three stars, because I liked it. I didn't think it was ok and I didn't really like it. There are some aspects of this novel, that I like. Then there are some that I don't like and I will tell you more about them later.

This novel is about Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker. Hannah Baker commited suicide two weeks before the start of the story. She makes 7 cassette tapes, with thirteen reasons why she did it. But it isn't just thirteen reasons, its thirteen people. These tapes get passed around to thirteen different people that she blames from what she did. Well maybe blame isn't the right word. More like thirteen people that did bad things to her in the past, even if they don't know it. So after you get done listening to the tapes, you pass them on.

Clay was friends with Hannah. He was torn when she commited suicide. When he got the tapes, he has no clue why he would be on them. So he listens to each tape in one long night, traveling around town. He discovers things about his class mates and him, that he never wanted to know.

So I'll give you the reasons why I didn't like this first. The main reason was that it just pissed me off. Hannah reached out to so many people, and they like pushed her down farther. It wasn't the good emotional type of pissed of either. I was just pissed. I also didn't really like the flow of this novel. Clay would talk while listening to the tapes, so this would happen all of the time.

"Hello, boys and girls. Hannah Baker here. Live and in stereo.
I don't believe it.
No return engagements. No encore. And this time, absolutely no requests.
No, I can't believe it. Hannah Baker killed herself."

You see what I mean? It was so hard to follow. But the main reason that I liked this book, is because I liked Hannah. I really liked her character and her since of self. So don't get me wrong here, you should go read this. I did like it but it did have some flaws. I am disappointed though because she many people just loved it, so I was hoping for the same reaction.

It did have a message though, if you see someone struggling help them. Because if you read this, you know how much it will haunt you if you don't. It was very real and a very emotional read!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Divergent Book Review

"I am brave. I am selfish."

I think its a record guys. I read 487 pages of beautiful literature in 3 days. I don't like math, and it doesn't like me. But that is like 150 pages a day. I normally read 50-100 a day. That is how damn good this book was. It was near impossible to put down.

Divergent is perfection. It is packed full of action and suspense and bravery. The story is just amazing. I know that it is going to stay with me for a long time.

In the world of Divergent, the world is divided into 5 factions. Factions are like a community that all have one very common characteristic. Abnegation people are selfless, Dauntless people are brave, Erudite people are intelligent, Amity people are peaceful, and Candor people are honest. When one is 16, they take a test on factions, then they decide what faction they want to join. Once they leave, their faction is their family and they don't see much of their old family.

"Factions before blood."

Beatrice Prior (Tris) is our main character. She is from an Abnegation family. When she goes to take the test, she gets mixed results. The test is supposed to delete all options but one, but hers doesn't. They call that divergent. Being divergent is very dangerous, so she has to keep it a secret. She chooses Dauntless.

The story basically follows her going threw initiation, which is like a test to become a Dauntless. Four is her instructor and her love interest. I know what your thinks, but no. Their is a two year age difference between Four and Tris, so its not another Vampire Academy. (Which I totally wouldn't complain about.) Through out the book, they find out their world might be as perfect as they think.

Divergent is by far my favorite dystopian novel that I have read. Yes, even above the Hunger Games, that is how good it is. It is intense and truly unforgettable. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

18 Nail Art Ideas for Valentine's Day

Hey there! Do you guys like Valentine's day? I honestly... don't. I think that it just makes singles feel bad. Plus, why can't we just love each other and go on dates every day? Why do we have to limit to one oh so special day? But I figured I would do some Valentine's Day nail art anyway, for all of you! I'm not sure if I will do a Valentine's Day mani on Friday or not, so if I don't hopefully this will make up for it!

You may notice that I started to put water marks on my pictures! They aren't perfect, I know. But it is a start! I am currently using Picasa 3, which is a free program from Google.

I got this nail wheel from Sally Beauty Supply and you can buy some here. All of these designs are free hand. I can't name all of the polishes I used, it was at least 20 or 30. But I did use Seche Vite Top Coat on all of them, except for the matte design, which I used NYC Matte Me Crazy. I used a nail art brush that I found at Sally Beauty Supply and some dotting tools from Amazon. One finally thought: I know that I can't draw hearts, don't judge me.

From left to right: Matte glitter sandwich, hearts on a stick over a gradient, kisses, pink and red water color design, and a chevron.

From left to right: A heart made of dots (Sorry, I put the top coat on early and it smeared.), heart beat, patchwork heart, and a glitter gradient.

From left to right: Sugar spun gradient, heart with glequins, valentine's day heart candy, XOXO nail art, and a glitter sandwich.

From left to right: Pink and white crackle, and cursive love.

What one is your favorite? I personally love the cursive love words the best. I may actually do a mani on Valentine's day with it! Let me know what you think in the comments and thanks for reading! And leave me a link if you try any of these here, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook! Have a good day!

Monday, February 10, 2014

City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments # 5) Review

(Spoilers on all of the books in the series, but this one. Not crazy spoilers but still. I feel like I should warn you.)

I finished City of Lost Souls last night, but I have just kind of been sitting around because I have no clue how to write this review. It seems like my thoughts just don't want to go on the paper. I loved this book, I really did. It wasn't much a surprise either, because Cassandra Clare's books are always sooo good.

I stayed up until 2 am, on a school night reading this. I had like 200 pages left, but I just kind of flew threw the ending. Like the rest of Clare's books, CoLS was full of suspense, romance, action, and humor. Some parts of the books just came out and completely shocked me. For you guys who haven't read any one of the other books in the series, most of the main characters are shadow hunters. Shadow hunters are half angel- half human and they fight demons. Clary, Jace, Isabelle and Alec are like the main shadow hunters in the series. Then there is Magnus, and he is a warlock. Then Simon is a vampire, and some of the other characters are werewolves. So this book has a major supernatural theme in it, but its not cheesy (Twilight, Vampire Diaries, etc...).

The main relationships are Clary and Jace, Isabelle and Simon (Kind of?), and Alec and Magnus. I love Clary and Jace. They have great chemistry and are just a great pair. Isabelle and Simon are kind of on and off, but I like their relationship as well. Magnus and Alec, are of course gay, there relationship is probably the best of the three. Magnus is freaking hilarious. I find myself laughing at his lines all the time. (For those who read this book, page 511 ISN'T REAL. IT CAN'T BE.) So yes, this book had plenty of romance, but no insta love or anything like that.

I really don't know what to say. I think I have probably said it all in my other reviews of the Mortal Instrument series, which you can find here and here and here and here. I really can't praise this series enough. Those who haven't read it, need to! *me sounding like a cheesy car saleswoman* You won't regret it!

A Polished Bookworm