Wednesday, December 10, 2014

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day 5 Ice Blue & White

Hey guys! Sorry I have been kind of missing for a while. My birthday was on Monday, we decorated cookie houses over the weekend, and I have been sick since Monday night! I have also been busy swatching all of my 20+ polishes I got for my birthday. I should have a haul up by the end of the week!

So today (technically yesterday) is the 5th day of the 12 Day of Christmas Challenge I am taking a part of! I wanted to do a water marble but it wasn't working out, so I ended up doing a dry marble. I'm not really a fan of it but its okay and I really don't have the time to redo it. I used NYC French White Tip, NYC Skyline Blue, and Orly Skinny Dip for the dry marble!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Days 3 & 4

Hey guys! So I was one day behind on the challenge, so I am doing two in one today! Day 3's prompt is snowmen and day 4's is santa and/or elves. For day 3 I painted my snowmen using a nail art brush. I used NYC French Tip White as a base. I used NYC Black Velvet and Nina Pro Orange Flame for the snowmen. My two accents nails are China Glaze There's Snow One Like You.




For day 4 I used a dotting tool and a nail art brush to make santa hats. My base color is China Glaze Mingle with Kringle. I painted the hats with L.A. Colors nail polish.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day 2 Christmas Trees

Hey guys! Today is my mom's birthday and also the 2nd day of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge that I am participating in! We had cake for my mom's birthday and I have some nail art for you! :)

Today I decided to go for a more modern tree made of dots. My base color is NYC French White Tip for the trees. Under the glitter is OPI Jade is the New Black. The glitter itself is from China Glaze's 2014 Christmas Collection and it is called De-Light. The tree dots are Sally Hansen Green With Envy, Sally Hansen Tan Lime, OPI Jade is the New Black, and E.l.f. Smokin Hot. I topped it all off with Essie Good to Go.

Monday, December 1, 2014

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day 1 Snowflakes

I love challenges. Its nice to have an idea when going into nail art and fun challenging myself! So I joined a group on Facebook called Challenge Your Nail Art! They have little prompts for short weeks and other fun challenges. This is the 1st day of the Christmas Challenge and the prompt is snowflakes. And I'm happy to share my awesome snowflakes & gradient with you all! FYI: I'm sorry about the bad lighting in these pictures, the sun had already gone down when I finished these, so I had to go for artificial lighting!

First I did the gradient with NYC Purple Pizazz, Orly Skinny Dip, and NYC Skyline Blue. The snowflakes are free handed in NYC French White Tip. The glitters are from the dollar store. I topped it all off with Essie Good to Go!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

#31DC2 Day 19 Art

Hey guys! Today I have today 19 from the 31 Day Challenge for you. I am really behind but I still plan on doing finishing it, just not sure when I'll finish. Today's prompt is based on art and I chose the painting Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky. 



I painted these free hand with a nail art brush. I used a lot of polishes for this but some of the main ones are Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights, NYC Red Velvet Rope, OPI Jade is the New Black, and NYC Hampton's Peach. I topped it off with NYC Matte Me Crazy. 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

The Raven Boys Book Review

Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Boys #1
Rating: 4/5 stars
Bookshelves on Goodreads: books-i-own, damaged-guys, have-high-hopes-for, mythology, romance

“My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.”

The Raven Boys is super fantastic and unique. I liked Stiefvater's Shiver series but The Raven Boys was better. I seriously loved the whole setting and atmosphere of it. Its southern without the annoying accent writing and has a boarding school without bad school drama. Gansey & his friends live in an abadoned building and has book stacked up high, it sounds like heaven. The whole book is mysterious and perfect.

The Raven Boys is about Blue Sargent, her mom is a physic and she lives with her physic family. Blue herself has the weird ability to lend energy to others, making things stronger and clearer. She goes to the church, like she does every year, and watches the dead pass. She isn't supposed to see them because she isn't physic, but she sees Gansey. She could see him either because she is either his true love or she will kill him. Blue gets dragged into the exciting world of the raven boys.

The raven boys is a nickname that is given to students of an all boys boarding school. We get to met four: Gansey, Adam, Noah, and Ronan. Gansey is a boy with everything, on a quest for a mythical man on the lay lines. Adam has trouble at home with his dad, and often escapes to help Gansey with his quest. Noah is a quiet boy with a weird and dark past. Ronan watched his father his father die and is paying the price with anger and depression.

I loved all of the characters in this book. Blue was really independent and selfless. Out of all of the raven boys I liked Gansey best with Ronan being a close second. I also really liked Blue's mom, she was a bad ass.

Overall this was a great story. I'm happy with how it ended and also happy that I started it so late, so I don't have to wait for The Dream Theives. Doesn't title just sound awesome?! *running to the bookstore to buy the next book*  

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Succubus Blues Book Review

Title: Succubus Blues
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Georgina Kincaid #1
Rating: 4/5 stars
Bookshelves on Goodreads: angels, books-i-own, book-boyfriends, have-high-hopes-for, immortals, other-supernatural, romance, vampires, adult

“Look, don’t get me wrong. I worship the ground this guy walks on. I’m excited to meet him tonight. I’m dying to meet him tonight. If he wanted to carry me off and make me his love slave, I’d do it, so long as I got advance copies of his books.”

Richelle Mead probably my favorite author of all time. First I read her Vampire Academy series and truly fell in love. Then I read the Bloodlines series and it redefined what I thought love was. So I was super super super hyped about finally getting to read this. I was a little weary because its an adult book and very umm.. adult? I mean the cover screams sex. Some authors really overdue it with that, and forget about a plot, but Mead didn't.

So I didn't love it as much for Vampire Academy or Bloodlines for sure, but Succubus Blues was pretty great. It took me a bit to actually get into it, then I couldn't stop reading. Georgina was just as much as a badass as Rose & Sydney. The men in this are adorable. There is Seth & Roman. Roman was typical- good looking, charming, confident. Seth was all of those things except for confident, and he is a writer. So I liked Seth more, not gonna lie.

Succubus Blues is about a succubus named Georgina Kincaid. Her life force comes from sexual acts. She doesn't really like what she is, but lives a more simple life. She works at a bookstore and loves to read and drink coffee. Her favorite author, Seth, moves to town and works at her book store. They develop a relationship but Georgina can't have physical contact with him, in fear that she will drain his life force. Kind weird, I know. Then murders of other supernaturals start to happen all around town and Georgina finds herself right in the middle of it.

I liked Georgina as a character but wasn't blown away or anything. The one character I really really loved was Seth. There again goes Mead's amazing talent at writing up the sexiest boys in the fictional world.

This was Mead's debut book and it shows that even from the beginning, she has a beautiful ability to write perfect books. I can't wait to go read the sequel!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Nailing The Book: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Nail Art

Hey guys! I live in Minnesota and it has been snowing since last night. Ahhh the horror. It's kind of ironic, because even though I live in Minnesota, I hate snow with a passion. So I haven't left the house today and I'm probably not going to until Spring. (I wish) The only things lighting up my mood are coffee, my late night date with The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey, and the fact that the Voice is on in 15 minutes.

Today I have some nail art inspired by Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs for you. I finished this book yesterday and fell in love. It was so beautifully written and the pictures added another layer of perfection to this mystery adventure. You can check it out on Goodreads here!
This nail art is based on the dark design of the book. (soooo beautiful!)

I only used two polishes for this design: NYC  Black Velvet & French White Tip. I mixed the too for the grey. I drew this design free hand with my small nail art brush. I topped it off with Essie Good to Go!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Monument 14 Book Review

Title: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Series: Monument 14 #1
Rating: 4/5
Shelves on Goodreads: book-boyfriends, dystopia, have-high-hopes-for, books-i-own, love-the-cover

"But the truth is:
I am the light. You are the light.
We are lit up together."

I remember when I was a kid, when I would go grocery shopping with my mom I would hide behind all the paper towel bundles and make a fort. I always kind of wanted to live in a store. I mean, you would have everything and anything at your disposal. So when I saw Monument 14 at Half Price Books and read the summary, I instantly knew that I was going to go read this and indulge my childhood.

I really enjoyed Monument 14. Sure, it had its quirks and disappointments, but I had a lot of fun reading it. Monument 14 revolves around Dean, a teenager who gets stuck in grocery store with a group of other kids and teens. The world is ending and is stuck with a ton of natural disasters. The kids get stuck in a huge hail storm on a bus until their bus drives straight through the doors of this grocery store.

So they set up shelter there. The teens take care of the kids and almost form their own little tribe. Everyone has a job. They even build a huge fort that they sleep in. Dean's little brother is among the group, with some jocks, and his crush. So much drama in one grocery store.

I found that the characters were either a hit or miss for me. I liked Dean, he was nice, kind, and a writer. I liked Jake, Niko, and Dean's little brother. But I didn't like Astrid or Josey, they both were selfish and annoying as hell. So this was one of my issues with this book.

I was surprised because with a book full of kids, you would expect it to be less brutal. There was a ton of action, deaths, a sex scene, and a near rape. It was interesting and action packed, which I found to be an almost added bonus because I really didn't expect it.

Overall this book was really fun and interesting. While it wasn't perfect, it was a good read. I can't wait to read the next one!  
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