Mega Monday: Onyx

Mini Mani Monday:

I'm wearing

Sinful Colors in Winterberry on largest section

Art Deco in Silver Glitter to separated the two main colors

Rimmel in Wild Orchid on on tips

Seche Vite Top Coat (this is the BEST stuff ever)

Amazon book description can be found here.

My thoughts...

***Possible Spoilers to follow. Continue at your own risk.***

I really like the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. What is unfortunate is that I was sick while trying to read Onyx. I still enjoyed it but my constant coughing and consistent headache made it difficult to read than a couple pages at a time, which really messed with my concentration. BUT even with all that going on, I STILL totally enjoyed this installment. This is book two in the series, the first is Obsidian (see this post for more info). Onyx continues with the characters and exploring the repercussions of actions established in book one. Onyx also introduces some new characters to the mix and of course creates inta-drama that forces the hand of some of our beloved characters! Our herione Katy is trying, not always successfully, to come more into her own.The relationship between her and Daemon is changing. There are some heart wrenching parts and some parts that are just hawt. There is excitement and action. It ends on a super excellent cliff hanger that will have readers begging for the next installment, Opal (which is set to release in December 2012. YaY!!!)

For a bit of creativity: 

Per my usual, I couldn't just leave the story alone once I was done reading. I wanted to have a part with me. I got to thinking about Katy wearing her obsidian necklace Daemon gave her. And I decided I had to have one! After several hours in two different craft stores and a very helpful hubby this is what we came up with based on the description in Obsidian. (p.s. SPOILER ALERT: Katy's still wearing it in Onyx.)

Me wearing my "obsidian necklace"

squinty eyed and all!

*By the way..thanks hubby for being my official photog for this post! 

Isn't he the best? 

And wish hit a happy birthday, it was yesterday!

p.p.s. Sorry about my vanity in this post. I mean two pics featuring me! Geez!

*I was sent a review ARC by the publisher*

Mani Monday: Shadow and Bone

So a while ago, I wrote about how much I LOVED Shadow and Bone. You know, "one of the best books of 2012." The book that gave me a "book hangover" for days and made it impossible to read anything else! I still haven't gotten this book out of my head. And in honor of the book club I was attending where this book was to be the topic of conversation, I painted my nails with a Shadow and Bone inspired motif. This actually doubly cool because I was looking around on author Leigh Bardugo's website and discovered she used to be a make up artist. She even had special Shadow and Bone nail polish she was giving out at some of her events like Comic Con (which I would have loved to be at!). Since I didn't get the official polish, I had to make do with my own supplies. Here's what I came up with:

I love the cover. After you've read the book

you can see all the symbolism there.

Close up on the nails.

Matte gray with 

black with glitter on 

ring finger accent.

Here's the polish I used to create the mani.

Wet 'n Wild: Black Creme

Spoiled: Shuffle the Deck

NYC: Steele

Hard Candy: Matte-ly in Love

(top coat to matte the gray)

Mani Monday (on a Tuesday): Independence Day Edition

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~Lee Greenwood

I love having my nails "themed" to whatever is going on. Since Wednesday is July 4th, Independence Day, I decided to do my nails in a patriotic design. I did a image search online saw lots of cool designs and finally just decided to try out a few of my own.

These are the colors I had to work with.

Here are some of the designs I was toying with. 

(These color wheel things are awesome! You can get them at the beauty supply store and they are pretty cheap!)

My patriotic heart beats red, white, and blue.

~Author Unknown

These are the colors I finally picked to use.

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.
~John Dickinson

And here's my final manicure, kind of flag inspired if you will.

I painted my thumb and index finger with the dark blue and then a coat or two of silver glitter for the stars and then I painted my other three fingers with red and then used the white to make stripes. 

Hope you like it!

Happy 4th of July!