manicure

Mani Monday: Pink Ladies & T-birds

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Did you guys watch Grease Live last night? I did, and I loved it so much that I decided to give myself a Grease-themed mani to prove it. I painted one hand pink for the Pink Ladies and the other hand black for the T-birds. I accidentally made my left hand pink, so I had to try and write the “T” with my left hand. That’s why it doesn’t look good (or as the T-birds would say, “cool”).


For my Pink Ladies hand I used these colors from above picture from left to right: Claire’s Paparazzi (Pink, white, and black sequin top coat on index finger), Wet n Wild Sparked (pink and silver glitter coat on ring finger), and OPI Techno Girl (pink base coat).


For my T-birds hand I used these colors from above picture from left to right: Sephora by OPI Are You Glistenin’? (silver glitter coat on thumb), Sally Hansen Black Out (black creme base), and Zoya Trixie (“T” on ring finger). I just now realized that used both of these silver colors in my last week’s Mani Monday.

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c/o of Fox.com

When I heard that Fox was going to do a live musical, I was excited because I am a big musical junkie. However, when I heard that they were going to do Grease, I assumed that they chose Grease because they could make simple sets and costumes. That assumption was incorrect. This show was extremely complicated. It was production coordinating genius. The way the scenes went from outside to inside must have been a nightmare to organize. The people at Fox really went all out. I didn’t like that they kept showing us the behind-the-scenes secrets because I felt like it took the audience out of the realm of the show. I wish they had shown all of that in a re-airing of the show or a separate after show. Yet I know how difficult this must have been for the cast and crew and understand why they wanted to show off a little.

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Twinsies, c/o CloserWeekly.com

Also, Julianne Hough looked so much like Sandy that it was almost scary. The only reason it wasn’t scary was because she looked so cute and innocent.

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c/o @MikeyDuffy_ on Twitter

All of the cast did a good job, but I really thought Elle McLemore really stole the show as Patty Simcox. She really stood out and stole all of her scenes in a good way! (Also, why are there no deets about her on the Grease Live cast listing? What a shame!)

Did you watch Grease Live last night? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

Mani Monday

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Today’s nails are my attempt at loving glitter yet also being subtle. I decided that using the same color of glitter topcoat and nail polish base would give me a look that was more about texture than sparkle. Inspired by the wintry cold weather, I chose Zoya Trixie as the base and Are You Glistenin’? by Sephora by OPI. (This really long name for nail polish reminds me of the episode of The Office where everyone keeps saying, “Based on the novel Push by Sapphire.” 🙂 )

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Anyway, I am really loving the cold weather. Snow really brings out the best in me. The plants and whatever pollen and mayhem that bring about my allergies die. I don’t sweat when I walk to the car. It’s socially acceptable to wear leggings and oversized sweaters. Really, I feel like winter has a lot going for it. Of course, the best part of winter is building a fire and roasting marshmallows. Nothing tastes better than food you roast over the fire. It’s a scientific fact.

Do you like winter? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments! (I’m not going to ask you if you like roasted marshmallows because the answer is obvious.)

Mani Monday & Face Mask Monday

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Mani Monday continues! I tried to use different lighting and filters to capture the sparkles on this manicure, but it was a cloudy day today. It was not good for my professional DSLR (aka my iPhone). The glitter topper I used is Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular! This glitter is pretty similar to Nails Inc.’s Soho Street that I wore last Monday. Sadly, this glitter is not full coverage. (Sidenote: I’ve already forewarned my husband that I will only be wearing bedazzled and sequined clothing when I am a senior citizen. I can’t wait to be old!)

The beautiful royal blue was a birthday gift from a good friend. (My friends know me well.) It’s OPI’s Right Off the Bat, which is from OPI’s MLB collection. Before I researched it, I wondered if it was part of a Batman collection. Obviously, I don’t think much of baseball. Ha! Anyway, this blue was very opaque after one coat, so I left it at that. However, if I was wearing it without the glitter topper, I would probably paint two. Part of my reason for only painting one coat was that the brush on this particular bottle was extremely wide. I had a hard time painting evenly next to my cuticles. I will say that this problem may be uncommon since I have small hands. (My wedding ring is a size 4.25 for reference.)

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50 Sheet Masks! (Minus the two that we used today and plus four from Etude House, so really 52 sheet masks!) My sheet mask collection makes me feel like the Uncle Scrooge of beauty.

Nail polish wasn’t the only thing I got for my birthday. I got so many nice presents from my friends and family. I also got money, which I promptly spent at Memebox on 50 sheet masks. (Memebox is a Korean beauty site that I am not getting paid to endorse. However, if you buy something after clicking on this link, I get points or something. So far, I have zero points. 😛 )

The sheet masks that we tried today are from a brand called Leaders Insolution. This is my first time trying this brand. I thought I read all the ingredients in the listing, but I missed the Witch Hazel Water. Normally, I wouldn’t mind an astringent in my mask, especially at so small a percentage. However, my skin still hasn’t recovered from my dry Arizona Thanksgiving trip since I have been sick so many times since. It stung a little bit after the initial application, but I’m sure my normally oily skin would’ve benefited from the Hamamelis Virginiana. Otherwise, I liked this sheet mask. My skin feels softer and more moisturized now.

I hope this review doesn’t scare you from using sheet masks. They are amazing. Let me tell you why. First of all, sheet masks are a total game changer. If you are not using them, then you are missing out on soft and glowing skin. They make me look human even though I have been sick for what feels like two decades. Second, they are really fun to put on with your husband. I have no photographic proof of this sorry. Third, they are really relaxing. Do you use sheet masks? If so, which ones are your favorites? Let me know in the comments so I can go buy them!

 

Mani Monday: New Year, New Nails

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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that you are having a great start to 2016. Although my husband is sick and I am behind on pretty much everything (a small price to pay for an extra long Christmas vacay), we are loving 2016. 2015 was a good year for us, but we have some tricks up our sleeves to make 2016 even better. 😉

If you have read my blog before, then you know that I am glitter obsessed. I am sorry to show you a polish that is discontinued, but I had to wear it because it is pretty much a New Year’s party in a bottle. This is Soho Street by Nails Inc. I’ve never been to Soho (London), but I now have larger than life expectations of it due to this color. Soho street is not a full coverage glitter polish. However, if I did a couple more coats (shown above is two coats), it might get there.

(Side note: you may remember this beautiful full coverage green glitter polish also by Nails Inc. from my St. Paddy’s mani. Why are these colors discontinued, Nails Inc.? WHY?!)

What’s your New Year’s mani look like? Are you ready for 2016? (Full disclosure: some of my calendars haven’t even been shipped yet! Ahh!)

Mani Monday: Manic Matching

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Sometimes you have to match your nails to your Christmas sweater. Why? Mostly you do it because you’re on vacation and have nothing better to do. I wished I had picked a brighter red to match my sweater better (say that 3 times fast- sweaterbettersweaterbettersweaterbetter), but I grabbed these colors as an afterthought as we were heading out the door the other day. The red pulls a bit burgundyish on me. It is OPI’s Red Fingers and Mistletoes. The green and silver topcoat is OPI’s Fresh Frog of Bel Air.

Today I have mostly been running errands and watching Christmas specials with the family. So far today, we have watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Holiday Celebration with Mickey and Pals. (The latter is a volume of 9 classic animated shorts.) What did you do today? Are you rocking festive nails? Do you like your nails to match your clothes?

 

I Want a Snoopy Sweater for Christmas, Charlie Brown!

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Exactly one year ago, I started the 12 Days of Christmas Sweaters 2014 with this same sweater. I just happened to wear it today because we had plans tonight to watch “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown!” (Seriously, I should get a kickback from ABC for all the free advertisement I give them.)

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2015

If you are a frequent visitor of lifeintheme, then you know that I am a big fan of Peanuts. Snoopy and the gang remind of watching TV as a little kid with my younger brother. So of course I went to see the new Peanuts movie when it came out.

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I thought the movie was very well done. I was uneasy about the computer animation, but they really tried to keep the same tone as the other Peanuts movies.

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It was also very well marketed. Peanuts was everywhere, and I bought it all! Okay, I didn’t buy the expensive Peanuts Coach purses. I did buy the Peanuts nail polish and Happy Meals though. Also, it is very fun to Peanutize yourself.

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What do you think? Does it look like me?

Mani Monday and Snowmen

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It’s Mani Monday and also the second day of the 20 Days of Christmas Sweaters. My nails are wearing OPI’s Smitten in Mittens, a darkly beautiful red glass fleck polish. The rest of me is wearing striped flannels and snowmen.

I’m feeling a little better, but I’m not 100%. Our apartment complex had Santa Claus come for photos today, but I wasn’t feeling up to greeting him. I’m trying not to feel too disappointed. 😉 I’m saving my newer sweaters for when I feel better because they are quite dramatic. Look forward to it!

Mani Monday: Paprika

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Dear Readers (mostly my supportive husband and mother-in-law),

I am sorry that I have been so remiss in posting to my blog. I even forgot to post pictures of my back-to-school sweater. I am very sorry. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me. I know you will because I have some awesome fall sweaters that I plan on wearing ASAP.

Now, let’s move forward together. It is Mani Monday, and I have a beautiful coral to share with you. It’s Paprika by OPI. In the bottle, it looks quite reddish. In the warmth of incandescent lights it looks more orangey. However, in direct sunlight it is almost neon. It’s quite a stunning shade. It was on clearance for a buck in the Ulta clearance section, and I’m glad I “splurged” on it.

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I would really like to start my own nail polish line so that I could name the colors. Should I start a Kickstarter to make it happen? Actually, Kickstarter takes a big percentage of the money given, so forget that. You can just hand me the cash directly. As Sally Brown once said in a letter to Santa, “Make it easier on yourself. Just send money. How about tens and twenties?”

Greed never looked so cute...

Greed never looked so cute…

Mani Monday: Back-to-School Blues

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chambray 2

Guess who’s back? Back again? Mani Monday’s back. Tell a friend.

(I’m sure that Eminem won’t mind me misusing his lyrics to bring back Mani Monday.)

I recently lucked out at Ulta and scored a bunch of OPI and Zoya nail polishes on clearance for $2 that were also usable with their in-store coupon. It’s like God was giving me a sign to continue Mani Mondays. As a Christian, I find it is my duty not to ignore signs from God, so I am back to blogging my nails.

Since teachers and students are going back to school this month, I have decided to go with this chambray color from OPI called “Dining Al Frisco.” This color reminds me of blue jeans and the 90’s, so I believe it is the perfect color for the first day of school.

CHambray 1

I really like this color. It leans more gray-blue in real life, but it is hard to capture with my camera (phone). Unfortunately it does not last very long. I have some rather large chips after two days of wear.

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As I was researching this color, I realized that I had another color from the OPI San Francisco collection, Alcatraz… Rocks. This is an amazing royal bluish (navy/purple) textured glitter color that I wore on the red carpet for my husband’s movie Moms’ Night Out.

Moms' Night Out Premiere 2014

Moms’ Night Out Premiere 2014

That is Alcatraz… Rocks on my nails. Hmm, I really had planned on just talking about school stuff, but all of these San Francisco names are making me reminisce about my trip to San Francisco for my best friend’s 30th birthday. Forget going back to school! Let’s just focus on vacations!

Alcatraz

Alcatraz

San Francisco Bridge

Some old red bridge

I hope that you have enjoyed my rambling trip down memory lane. I know I have. I will save my back to school memoirs for another day.

Mani Monday: Negative Space

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I don’t know if you know this, but negative space is cool. What’s negative space? Well, it’s the part of your nail that you don’t paint. Why? It’s cool. Cool things are beyond all reason.

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This nail art is inspired by the lovely Jinsoon Choi and are my entry for her Instagram contest.

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Who is Jinsoon? Well, she is a celebrity nail artist.

c/o jinsoon.com

c/o jinsoon.com

I follow Jinsoon on Insta because her nail designs are creative yet attainable. Jinsoon always knows what’s next in nail fashion, and what’s next never involves cheating with Sharpie paint pens and stickers. The omission of stencils and stick-ons allow her designs to have elegance but still retain the imperfection of being made by a human hand. I love that. (Plus, she’s Korean. Who doesn’t love a Korean girl?)

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I hope you are well-rested from the weekend. I am still a bit tired from waking up early to grab some Lilly Pulitzer pieces from Target. There were women who had been waiting outside of the store at 5:00am. (I got there 5 minutes before the store opened and thought I was pretty crazy.) These women were Lilly hawks. Here are all of the ladies lined up outside the dressing room. None of these women wanted to try anything on. These ladies just wanted to snatch up all the rejects. They were all pretty upset when they found out my rejects were from the children’s section.

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While I was trying things on in the dressing rooms, some crazy ladies decided to try their clothes on outside in public. They did not pull their Lilly Pulitzers over the clothes they were wearing. They took off things and exposed themselves to my husband. When I returned from the fitting room (where normal people undress themselves), my husband was quite upset about the assault on his eyes. However, as artists, we took it upon ourselves to become inspired by what had transpired. Here is our reinterpretation of the great Lillygate of 2015:

Here is art imitating life. Life is tired.

Here is art imitating life. Life is tired.