Happy Fourth of July!
Mani Monday: Stars & Stripes Forever
OPI
Mani Monday: OPI Sample Sale
Hello, beautiful people! I didn’t mean to take last week off, but I had a deadline that popped up and took all my time. I’m glad everyone liked the inaugural “Thrifted Thursday: Pink Peplum Dress 7 Ways” post. It is my most viewed post ever! I write this blog as a fun hobby, but it’s still fun to see that people are reading. Anyway, I have more Thrifted Thursdays lined up for the future, and I hope you all will share with me your thrifted finds too.
My nail polish today is OPI’s Sample Sale. Sample Sale is a shimmery candy apple red. I had problems with it bubbling during application, which is a disappointment because I love a good red. Sample Sale is one color from a huge box of minis that I got for Christmas a while ago. The set got bad reviews, but it is still fun to try out so many colors. (Also, mini polishes are great for traveling.) Many reviewers have said that the colors in these minis are inferior to the formula of the regular-sized bottles. So far, I have found that to be true of all of the pink polishes. The oranges and purples have been fine so far. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve tried every color yet, but I’m going to try to this year!
What are you wearing on your nails today? Let me know in the comments! I love to hear about new nail polish colors.
Just a Little Dangerous Nail Polish & a Day in Augusta
Last weekend I had an opportunity to go to Augusta on business. I was delighted to go because one of my college friends lives there. I spent Friday night at her place and painted my nails a dark purple called Just A Little Dangerous from Sephora by OPI from her nail collection. It is a dark purple creme, and it was very smooth.The wear time is good too. Unfortunately, Sephora and OPI have parted ways, but you can still find bottles of Sephora by OPI at TJ Maxx sometimes.
While I was in Augusta, I had lunch at the fabulous Boll Weevil. This cute hole-in-the-wall is known for their generously-proportioned cake, but I thought their fresh salad was delightful as well.
The Boll Weevil is conveniently located near the Augusta Riverwalk. Since it was a perfect spring day, I popped some allergy medicine and took a nice stroll. The pollen there was kicked up into mini-tornadoes by the wind, but I bravely soldiered through my walk with the help of my friends, the bees.
Gorgeous, right? I also did a little shopping. I accidentally spent too much at Ulta. I bought 3 lipsticks/glosses despite the fact that I have enough lippies to last me until I retire. I guess it’s like buying shoes. Shoes are easier to buy than pants, so shoe-hoarding happens. Anyway, I’ll share my lippie haul at a later date. Have you ever been to Augusta? What did you do this weekend? Let me know in the comments.
Mani Monday with Hearts
Happy Monday everyone! Sorry that I didn’t post my V-Day mani last week. It was a hectic week. We had a really good Valentine’s Day though.
Last week I painted hearts on all of my nails like I did on my ring finger for this week. I guess you can’t see it that well in the pic. Sorry, I just take pictures on my phone, so they’re not exactly high quality.
The red color is my first bottle of OPI nail polish. It’s called The Thrill of Brazil. It has a wide opening on the top and has that noxious smell of nail polishes made before the 5-Free movement. The black and white confetti topcoat is called Yin and Yang. The brand, Poparazzi, is sold only at CVS. So far, I’ve found that the Poparazzi topcoats have good coverage but leave a chunky texture which needs a clear coat on top. The pink heart is Access 24/7 from Sephora by OPI. This pink is supposed to be darker than Techno Girl (used in my Grease-inspired mani), but are basically the same color when painted on my nails. This is odd since they came together in a pack of mini polishes. Here they are side-by-side:
So what did you do for Valentine’s Day? We take turns being in charge of Valentine’s Day. When we were dating, Jono told me how much pressure guys feel on Valentine’s Day to buy the perfect presents and plan the perfect day. As a former commitment-phobe, I had only thought of Valentine’s Day in terms of the copious amounts of chocolate I would get from my girl friends and the Galentine’s Day we would spend together (which was before the term “Galentine’s Day” was even coined!). I hadn’t realized that V-Day could be loaded with so much gender inequality (a serious term for something not really that serious). Anyway, I told him I would be in charge of our first Valentine’s Day, and ever since then we have taken turns planning our V-Days.
I decided to make this year’s V-Day low-key since we have been spectacularly busy lately. I spent all of Valentine’s weekend making Jono’s favorite things to eat for Sunday. We had to lead worship at church on Sunday morning, so I tried to make as much as possible ahead of time. I made a dinner of homemade beef, feta, and mushrooms pizza with key lime pie for dessert. I also made homemade soft pretzels with homemade mustard sauce as a snack. I made the mistake of taking Jono to the mall to pick out a video game. The mall was packed. We couldn’t believe how many people wanted to go shopping on Valentine’s Day. I honestly thought everyone would be out at dinner or the movies.
What did you do for Valentine’s Day? Did you eat pizza or go to the mall too? Did you at least paint adorable hearts on your toes? No one will see them there!
Happy Korean New Year!
That’s me in the long gray hoodie.
Happy Lunar New Year! It’s a special day to eat tteokkuk (rice cake soup) and japjae (rice noodles) for good luck and long life!
Yum!
My Mani Monday nails have red and gold sparkles to celebrate.
The base coat is Zoya Taylor, which is a beautiful, cool beige color. I never thought I could pull of a nude nail, but I didn’t know about Zoya’s wide selection of both cool and warm skin-colored tones. You should check them out if you have been having a hard time finding your perfect nude. They have a lot of darker tones too. Just be forewarned that this particular color does stain my nails yellow.
The red glitter is Be-claus I Said So, and the gold one is Only Gold for Me. These both came in a set with Are You Glistenin’?, which I have worn the last two weeks. (I almost added it to this week’s mani, but I thought you might be tired of it.) Interesting tidbit: I wore Only Gold for Me at our wedding.
We actually celebrated Seollal (Korean New Year) on Saturday at a local Korean church. They made food and had fun demonstrations. They had the children bow to their elders, and then the elders would give them money and advice. I’m not sure why they made me bow with the teenagers, but I now I’m a dollar richer. Ha!
I know that I have readers from all over the world. Did any of you celebrate Lunar New Year today? Let me know in the comments!
새해 복많이 받으세요!
Mani Monday: Pink Ladies & T-birds
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.
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.
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.
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
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.” 🙂 )
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
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.)
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: Manic Matching
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!
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.)
2014
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.
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.
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.
What do you think? Does it look like me?
Life in Theme 