Liquid Crystals

Finally the internet is back up!
I tried the China Glaze Liquid Crystals from one of my recent posts. :)

Oh, I wish I could get this to photgraph well! It's a silvery-blue base, with blue and purple highlights and multi-colored holographic glitter. It's amazing. I especially like it because so many glitter polishes I have look awesome in the bottle, but they're so sheer it's hard to use them as anything other than an accent coat over a solid color.

However, this is also pretty sheer, but I was able to get a good application with two coats.

This better shows the blue it has in it.

Ergh

So, the Internet is down AGAIN....hence why I haven't posted for the past day or so.

Hopefully it will be back up soon, because uploading pictures from my phone is a pain.

Lemony Goodness

I tried China Glaze's Lemon Fizz once, and it was somewhat streaky and hard to get even. I was impatient and ended up removing it from my nails.

Well, I'm glad I gave it another shot, because it's actually awesome. I just had to take my time and build it up gradually.

I got so excited I took the picture before I even cleaned up my cuticles from the spare polish. Haha. :)

The glitter topcoat is Rainbow In The S-Kylie, and the accent nail is Shell Me The Truth, both from Nicole for OPI.

This makes me think of the first daffodils that come up, a sure sign of spring when everything bursts into life!

Some Goodies

Let me start off this post by showing the fake nails I currently have on. They are pretty and subtle, and only $5. For some reason, I have the worst luck getting fakies to stay on, but they are nice for a weekend. Feels weird to type with them, though....

I picked up some Burt's Bees cuticle cream, because I realized with how much I LOVE nail art and polish, I was embarrassingly not paying enough attention to taking care of my own nails. So, just like how I make sure I moisturize my skin, I will be doing the same for my nails.

Lastly, I picked up a Burt's Bees lipgloss in Strawberry color. It gives a soft boost of color and shine to my lips, which admittedly, are already a nice, natural pink. Plus it is scented like peppermint and makes them tingle! :)

Time to go do some cardio and take a shower. :)

Flower Sound Orchestra Book!

As much as I love Kanon Wakeshima, I can't help but be extremely jealous of her. She's a beautiful singer, she plays the cello, and she's also a great artist?!

Seriously, why is it that some people get so much talent and the rest of us have to muddle through? Sigh.

Flower Sound Orchestra is a mini artbook that was only available in very limited quantities at Con. At only about twenty pages, it was kind of pricey with a $18 price tag, but because I love Kanon and wanted to show my support of her, I bought it. Her art style is cute, feminine, and Gothic Lolita-flavored. It's a nice departure from the many overly-sexual anime and manga art out there.

I love this one especially because I have the album and got to see kanonxkanon perform it in concert. :)

I love Halloween themed images anyway, but this one is especially awesome because it's sweet and doesn't rely on pretty girls in skimpy costumes.

...And a Rant

Of course I couldn't put all of those books without looking at them. That made me start thinking and lamenting over the deterioration of Nail Venus magazines.

This is one of the first volumes of Nail Venus I ever purchased, back in 2006. For several years, Venus was a strong competition to Nail Max for my favorite nail magazine. Though I personally hated---and still do---the stapled spine, as opposed to the perfect-bound spine of Max, the nails are equally beautiful. Or they were. Now, honestly, they bore me.

Look at these nails from the above 2006 issue:

Pretty! Unusual! A little extravagant on a couple but still very lovely and wearable.

Now, look at the Spring 2012 issue:

Well, the cover is nice. How are the contents?

YAWN.

I have noticed the shift in nails for the past year or so, and because of that have stopped buying pretty much all Nail Venus issues. The fact that Max continues to improve and showcase more beautiful nails with each issue keeps me content. Now, I know there's been a change in fashion from the more outrageous nails to simpler ones, but it doesn't explain how Venus's nails have started to bore me while new issues of Nail Max have simpler nails, but are still very exciting. It's disappointing, and frustrating. The only plus side to this is the fact that my wallet doesn't have to shell out money to buy two series' worth of issues.

Note: The Nail Venus Bibles, released once a year and very similar to Nail Max Collections, are still quite nice, though the 2012 edition wasn't up to par with the ones in years past. Still, I'm much more likely to buy one of those, than the regular issues.

A Bookcase

My bookcase is finally put together, and I was so excited that I started moving books into it before work. :D

I need to do some fiddling, though, because the shelves are giving me trouble. They have a lip, so I have to make sure I have enough space or the tops of my beloved books get caught and removing one to look at becomes a chore. Definitely not how a bookcase should be.

I also need to re-think some of the titles I put up....I put my artbooks (the heaviest ones) on the bottom shelf for obvious reasons. But, I don't always look at all of them. I might have to put some in storage and put only the books I look at a lot up. Also, I'm trying to put books up that I would want to take with me to California, which narrows it down to my nail books/magazines, cookbooks, some art technique books, a few fashion books...and a couple art books I really, really like, like the Green Glass volume.

Yep.