Lacquered Literati

I know this blog will end up being mostly about polish, but I'm going to try and include random blurbs about my life as well!  Lately, the weather has been really pissy here on the Central Coast of California, but we've had a few days of sunshine.  I wanted to show you a little bit of my "home" with these Iphone photos I took.  I went walking along the beach the other day to take advantage of the sun!

I hit up Kmart yesterday for no real reason and found that they carry a decent amount of polishes.  Sadly, the Milani's had all been picked over and there wasn't anything good in the random bin of OPI polishes that were there.  OPI at Kmart? I know right? Here is one of the things I ended up purchasing...

  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

  And the mome raths outgrabe."

I'm sure everyone is tired of seeing polishes that have been done 50 times over, so here is the last of the '08 collection!  Here is OPI Don't Toy With Me! This is one of the few red family colors I own, because I really only wear them on my toes.  This picture shows the color as far more red than it actually is.  It's much more magenta in real life! Such a pretty color.

Also, Betsy over at Short 'n Chic is having a contest for a lovely piece of nail polish jewelry.  Click the link to go check it out!

Happy Monday, everyone.  Hopefully, your week will start out well. Mine is going okay so far.  I broke off two nails on my right hand yesterday at my brother's bowling party!  I didn't even score well enough to make the breaks worth it! I have to file down my nails now grr...
Many thanks to Brooke over at GetchNailsDid for including me in her New Blogs on the Block! I greatly appreciate the nail polish community and Brooke is great for welcoming us newbies in!

Well, I'm off to repair my bowling nail fiasco and I'll probably be rocking shorties for awhile.

Since it's freezing out here, I thought it'd be a good idea to post another of the OPI's from last year. Following suit, is Baby It's Coal Outside! Dear lord is it ever cold outside.  This is actually my favorite "black" polish.  I'm literally like a raccoon when it comes to polish. I gotta have some glimmer or shimmer on my paws.  This isn't quite black, it's almost like a super dark grey, but I think that is the effect the fine silver shimmer gives to the polish.  So, when I can't just reach for black, I reach for this one instead.
Also, I didn't roll my hands in Crisco like my picture might suggest.  I was a bit haphazard with my cuticle oil today, so pardon the Pollock-like application :)

The weather today was absolutely bipolar. I woke up to lightning, thunder, rain and the sound of my fence being blown over. Much to my dismay, the power was out as well.  A few hours later the sun came out long enough for me to snap a few photos.  I got a few before the weather gods decided to make me one of those lightning strike statistics.

Well there is no sun in my neck of the woods today, just rain and wind.  This weather always makes me feel cozy and provides a good reason to stay indoors and read.  So no polish today, but a book review instead!


Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Highly
Quote: "So many humans. So many colours. They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. I see them tall in their heaps, all mounted on top of each other. There is air like plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are skies manufactured by people, punctured and leaking, and there are soft, coal-coloured clouds, beating, like black hearts. And then. There is death. Making his way through all of it. On the surface: unflappable, unwavering. Below: unnerved, untied, and undone.” (p.331)


For some reason, I am greatly interested in Holocaust literature, but I couldn't really explain to you why. Just the raw human emotion and devastation that is written about in books like this really grabs me.  I've read children's literature and regular adult lit about the topic, but this was my first Young Adult novel on the topic. This book should be on everyone's shelves. I couldn't put the book down because I became so involved with the character's lives. It isn't about working in the concentration camps or having to survive one, but about a young girl struggling with her adopted family to avoid being noticed by the Nazis.  The novel itself was told from death's point of view and I think this was a fantastic use of the narrative point of view.  Personifying death was grave, but necessary for this book and I think it showed human nature from a perspective seldom seen. 
This book is sad, but never morbid. The author's care in this story is very apparent and provides a sad, but not always bleak view of the Holocaust. 

Meet, China Glaze's Watermelon Rind from their Summer Days collection.  This is one of the first polishes I obsessed over last year.  I first saw it on VampyVarnish and would go back often to ogle it.  Very sad, but true. I finally got my hands on it after lurking Sally's enough for them to know my name.
This picture makes the color look a little darker than it actually is, but you can see the wonderful glass-flecked finish this polish has.  I picked this color as a little pick me up from all this grey weather we've been having.  I think I like non-vampies when its grey out because there won't be a tendency to look black in low lighting.

This is late, but here is was my Christmas mani, the very famous Emerald Sparkle.  This was rereleased this year in the "Love You Snow Much" collection along with a few other polishes.  This is the better of the two versions that were released.  I don't think I've ever seen the other less sparkled version, so I'll count my blessings.
I can't say enough about China Glaze's nail polishes.  Their color selection is fantastic and I've never had any issues with any of them.  They put out fun collections and I'm looking forward to seeing what they have on display this year.

Oh boy. This is my first step into the blogging world, so I just thought I would say hello! My name is Allegra and I'm a recent graduate with a B.A. in English. Naturally, I've always loved books and wanted to write about them. Within the last year or so I have become an eeeeeennnssssyyy bit obsessed with nail polish and if you check my blog roll I've got all kinds of fuel for that obsession. I decided I would create my own blog to document my nail polish adventures and literary ones as well. So, welcome to my corner of the internet!
Onward!!

OPI DS Glamour is definitely in my top 10 of nail polishes.  It is probably one of the first holos I ever purchased and I can't help going back to it time and again.  Look at all that shine! I get grouchy with OPI polishes from time to time, but this one was a home run for me.