Inspired Instas {6}

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 1 Comment

A funny thing happened this past week on Instagram. For the first time, I experienced people stealing my pictures/ideas! On one hand, I am flattered that people like my photos and manicures that much, but it mainly disappoints me that a simple fix of tagging me in the photo would totally avoid this problem. Thankfully, there haven’t been A TON of occurrences for me, because I know some people have to deal with that a lot. I just wish people had the respect to always give credit where it is due!

Enough of my soapbox though, back to the prettiness! I think I’ve finally found a general Insta theme that I really love. From the beginning, I tended to use the same handful of filters: Valencia, Walden and Nashville. Recently, I tend to gravitate toward Nashville in almost every photo and I’m really happy with the way my photos look!

Motivational Monday: I love to doodle pretty words and quotes from time to time, and one morning, I felt I needed a little extra oomph to get me through the work day. This quote, plus the pretty peony on my desk, made the day fly by!

WIWT: A great outfit + great book can have an incredible effect on your day and self-confidence! We had a mini fashion shoot in my office this day, and it was too fun.

Naked Bookstack: There is so much beauty in pretty dust covers, but there is equal amount of beauty in a naked book! Some covers just shine when naked, and these three were perfect together!

TATBILB Cover Inspired Manicure: This is one of my favorite book manicures I’ve done to date! It conveys the feeling of both the dust jacket and naked cover, while being simple enough to stand as chic manicure without the cover for explanation!

Welcome Fall: Autumn is back! I love boot and sweater weather! Bring on the changing leaves and chilly nights.

NailKale Manicure: The kale trend has been hot for the last couple of years, but the closest I’ll get to the nasty green stuff is on my nails in the form of Nails Inc. NailKale! Its application is wonderful and has great staying power! Can’t wait to purchase more colors from the line.

fREADom: Last week celebrated Banned Book Week. I grabbed a couple of my favorite banned books and made this pretty stack!

Fall Sky: The past weekend was gorgeous here in Southern California. There was a slight chill in the breeze and the sky was bright blue! I had to take advantage of it while reading We Were Liars (which was incredible and will have its own cover-inspired manicure soon).

Fangirling: Some of my favorite posts to create AND some of the most popular on my Instagram have been quote posts. I love finding my favorite quote and telling a story through it.

National Coffee Day: Yesterday was National Coffee Day, and unfortunately I wasn’t feeling too hot. But that was improved a bit by a good book and a pretty mug.

Happy Reading!

Nail Polish Favorites // Fall 2014

September 26, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 4 Comments

It’s time to fall into autumn! Gone are the days of sweltering temps and short shorts (unless you’re in Southern California like me), and here are the day of sweaters and falling leaves. The transition between summer and fall is one of my favorite season changes. By this point, I’m always ready to pull out my boots, scarves and most importantly, fall nail polish!

Crisp air and a more dramatic, moody color palette screams fall, and that is why I love these colors for this time of year. My selections for Fall 2014 include rich blues and reds, mixed metals and of course, grey.

Mixed Metals: I am a lover of gold things, so any chance I get to wear some variation of sparkle, I’m happy. For this season, grey skies look great against a metallic duo of brushed silver and dragonfly gold. Julep’s Brit and Harlow are up to this job! Harlow is wonderfully multidimensional, with its green gold shimmer. And Brit, one of my all time fav Julep polishes, dries matte, a perfect touch for fall.

Burnt Red: Julep Sheila has just enough twist on the classic red to work for autumn months. It’s burnt red hue adds a warmth that chilly afternoon’s need.

Warm Grey: Who doesn’t love grey for fall is the real question here! It is basically the perfect color for sweater weather and all that jazz. It’s timeless and low maintenance, which makes it easy to throw on in a hurry!

Navy and Cream: Navy and cream are the perfect bookends of the light to dark spectrum for fall colors. Summer brings out bright white polishes, so the way to keep that look going into autumn is with a smooth cream. It has enough personality to stand up to the darker hues of fall, while still giving your hands a fresh look.

The easiest way to go dark, without going all the way black, is navy. It’s sexy and sultry and so great for fun fall nights!

What colors are you obsessed with for fall? Happy Reading!

To All The Nail Polish I’ve Loved Before

September 22, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 3 Comments

TATBILB Cover Inspired Manicure There is something so sweet about young love. It brings you back to a simpler time, when you thought you were in love with every single boy you had a crush on. There is also something so annoying about it. And To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before captured all of these facets. Half the time, I found myself back in high school, without a care in the world, aside from the next time I was going to see my crush. But the other half? I was frustrated out of my mind by the naivety of Lara Jean and the other characters that sounded much younger than their assigned ages.

Don’t get me wrong, I truly enjoyed this fun, quick read! It was everything I wanted it to be! I just happened to find myself a tad bothered every once in a while.

One thing that never, ever bothered me was the gorgeous cover! I love feminine and floral and soft and everything in between. And well, I LOVE PINK. This made creating a cover-inspired manicure easy and hard. Easy because I had so many ideas running through my head, and hard because… I had so many ideas running through my head!

TATBILB Tools I Used — Tools I Used // Essie Blanc + Julep Avery + Washi Tape

Someday, I will not be able to go into my Julep Nail Polish collection and find the exact color I’m looking for to match my book. Today is not that day.

After a quick look through my polish stash, I grabbed Julep Avery, a bright, vibrant pink that matches the exact shade of the book. Paired with Essie’s Blanc, you have a winning combo!

I’m going to level with you guys. Washi Tape is definitely one of my best friends! So of course I broke it out for this mani. To create the color block design, I began with my white base coat. After letting it dry, I taped out my diagonal designs. One of the best tips I’ve learned about using washi tape when painting your nails is to get rid of some of the adhesive before putting it on. I press the sticky side to my palm a couple time, and that does the trick. That way, there is less risk of it ruining the base coat.

Hand lettered book titles and covers make my heart smile. Calligraphy is one of my more recent passions, and while I’m just starting out, I love to find inspiration in other hand lettered beauties. The black cursive on the spine of the book was the inspiration behind the black stripe between the pink and white color blocks. I wasn’t sure if I trusted myself to paint a perfectly straight line, so I grabbed my Washi Tape, painted it black and voila! Perfectly straight lines chalked up to another win for Washi Tape.

Have you read To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before? What did you think? Happy Reading!

Literary Love {Engagement}

September 19, 2014September 19, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 1 Comment

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved everything surrounding weddings. The attire, decor, venue and especially the most important part, LOVE! I’ve interned at multiple business involved in the wedding industry, everything from planning events to doing social media and PR for wedding brands. Because of my experiences, I pretty much have my entire wedding planned out already.. except for the groom! But that hasn’t stopped me from dedicating multiple Pinterest boards to my future big day!

One thing I’ve always known is that I need books involved in my wedding in some way. My dream wedding would look a lot like the amazing Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs’ nuptials, filled with the most gorgeous incorporation of literature I’ve ever seen!

Over the next couple weeks, I will be sharing inspiration for each part of a literary-themed wedding!

Let’s start at the very beginning: Engagement Photo Shoot!

Book Engagement — Image // Green Wedding Shoes

From book pages to photo shoots in the library, literature can easily be incorporated into an engagement shoot. Add tiny details, like vintage books on a table, or go all the way and spend entire afternoon in the book stacks.

Book Engagement Shoot — Image // Savvy Deets Bridal

You know what they say about what goes on in the book stacks!

DIY touches are always welcome in the bookworm community! Love the non-fiction reference.

Did you have a literary inspired engagement photo shoot? I would love to see the gorgeous photos! Happy Reading!

Inspired Instas {5}

September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve done an Inspired Insta post, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been active on Instagram. In fact, I would love to take this moment to thank everyone who has followed me over the last month because… I REACHED 500 FOLLOWERS! It stuns and humbles me everyday that people love the things I am passionate about and find pretty!

Now that I’ve gotten my gushing out of the way, lets get to some of Novels and Nail Polish’s most popular Instas this past month!

R is for Rainbow Rowell: It is no secret that I love everything Rainbow Rowell! My name convinently ends in an “R,” which gave me the perfect prop for this photo! It features one of the pretty letters that spell out my name on my bookshelf!

Kate Spade Goodies: I am obsessed with a few things: books, bows and gold. Luckily for me (but not for my wallet), Kate Spade is all about those things too! So in love with my bow push pins and pretty notebook/2015 calendar!

5 Shades of Grey Ombre Mani: While I didn’t love the books, I love the inspiration I found from the 50 Shades Trilogy!

A Great and Terrible Beauty Polishes: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy has been one of my favorite series since the end of high school. I was so happy to find the perfect colors in my Julep collection to match the gorgeous covers!

Gone Reading: Labor Day this year was a time for relaxing and enjoying my family’s company! BRB, I’ve gone reading!

Fight On: I am a proud USC Trojan! It is my Alma Mater, and I love dressing my nails up for Gameday!

To All The Boys: I’ve been seeing this pretty book all over the internet, and it is just as cute as it is gorgeous to look at!

Pastel Book Rainbow: Who doesn’t love a good book rainbow? I know I do! I also found out that I don’t have any pastel pink books. I gotta work on changing that!

Gone With The Wind: If you’ve paid attention at all, you probably have realized that Gone with the Wind is my favorite classic of all time. There is just something so compelling about the details and characters. And pretty much the most famous quote in life… EVER comes from it!

Happy Reading!

Classics Favoritism

September 13, 2014September 13, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 3 Comments

I’ve recently become aware of an interesting phenomenon that I have decided to dub “Classics Favoritism.” While all men may be created equal, literary works are not, and this has become apparent in the misguided distribution of redesigned book covers.

So many of us book lovers find joy and inspiration in beautiful redesigned covers of our favorite classic novels. I must admit, my obsession with lusting over fresh Classics began the moment I laid eyes on the F. Scott Fitzgerald beauties by Coralie Bickford-Smith. I mean, come on! If that doesn’t say opulence and jazz, I don’t know what does.

Since that day, I’ve scoured each and every publishing website to find new, beautiful covers to decorate my shelf. But the more I looked, a sad realization dawned on me. What am I supposed to do with 10 COPIES OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE? Does Little Women end differently in the pretty Penguin Threads edition, or does Beth live in the Mr. Boddington version? While I can appreciate purchasing pretty books, at what point does it become excessive? These words generally never come out of my shopaholic mouth, but I really got to wondering.

Why not branch out from the Jane Austens of the world? I will say though, the Leanne Shapton Jane Austen collection is GORGEOUS:

Jane Austen Collection by Leanne Shapton

Maybe this rant is coming from a place of jealousy that my favorite classic, Gone With The Wind, isn’t one of the lucky ones handed a new cover every 6 months. Even so, I believe I have a valid argument, supported by photographic evidence below. I invite you to gaze upon a couple collages of Classics that seem to find themselves lucky enough to get all of the cover redesigns. I will begin with Little Women:

This book is one of my favorite children’s classics, and I’m also a HUGE fan of its musical theatre adaptation. I own the Penguin Threads edition of this novel, and it is one of my prized possessions without a doubt! The other two shown above, Mr. Boddington for Anthropology and Anna Bond’s Puffin in Bloom covers for Rifle Paper Co., are equally gorgeous, and fill me with the knee-jerk reaction of an impulse buy waiting to happen. It was coming down from that high that actually inspired this post!

Pride and Prejudice. What is there to say about this work of art that hasn’t already been said? I read it in high school, and (here comes unpopular book lovers opinion time) didn’t particularly enjoy it. It required a book report and hideous video project, in which I played Mr. Darcy because I was the “theatrical one.” I haven’t be able to force myself to read it again as an adult, but buying one of these pretty versions (Mr. Boddington, Penguin Classics Couture Deluxe Edition and White’s Fine Edition) might help!

Other lucky classics include novels by the Bronte Sisters:

Wuthering Heights

Jane Eyre

In the end, I will probably still end up with multiple versions of these beloved classics. I’ll be the first to admit that I can truly admire pretty things, and these covers are just that: WORKS OF ART.

Do you collect redesigned classics? Are they to read or to act as decor/art? Happy Reading!

{Note: These gorgeous pictures were found via the most amazing searches of Google and Pinterest. I do not claim any of them as my own!}

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

September 6, 2014September 6, 2014 ~ Taylor Justine ~ 2 Comments

My favorite season is BACK! No, it’s not the end of summer, with its last stolen visits to the beach, or fall, with its cooler days and chunky knit sweaters.

IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON!

My mom and uncle graduated from the University of Southern California, so I grew up a HUGE USC Trojan fan. Games every Saturday, jerseys of the current quarterback, FIGHTING ON, all of it. When it came time to choose a college, USC was a no-brainer for me. I am so blessed to call this wonderful university my Alma Mater, and my love for it and its football team only grows every year.

USC Trojans Gameday Inspired Nail Polish — My Graduation Stole!

When you’re a USC Trojan, you know the importance of gameday. Tailgates, road trips, kicking the flagpole as you cross Exposition Blvd on your way to the Coliseum! It’s the tradition. Everything is tradition when it comes to USC, and that’s part of the reason I love it! Well, one of my own little traditions has become creating new gameday nail art for the games each year.

It started back in my sorority days (Go Gamma Phi!), when I would sit around with my roomies and sisters the night before a game and paint all of our nails. Here we are today, and my tradition of cardinal and gold nails continue. This week, I went with a simple, yet very effective display of the USC Trojans’ colors.

I’m IN LOVE with Julep’s Tazeen, which is a full-coverage gold glitter. It looks like you have a nail made of glitter, yet it doesn’t have the horrible texture some glitter polishes have once dry. The red is Julep’s Myrtle, which is a nice scarlet.

The stripes were a bit tricky. I don’t think I’ve ever used the tape technique with glitter nail polish, and I didn’t account for bits of glitter pulling off with the tape, making the lines wavy! I had to touch them up a bit after, but overall, the tape did its job!

Do you have a favorite football team? I’d love to hear about your gameday ideas! Happy Reading!

Novels and Nail Polish

A pretty, little blog that celebrates well-written books and beautiful nail polish.

Month: September 2014