There is so much to be thankful for in my life currently. I have the most incredible family, a job I love, friends I can count on no matter what and enough nail polish to last for a long time! But there’s one other thing that has done so much for me and asked nothing in return, and it’s books. I wanted to take the time today to shine the spotlight on a couple novels and series that have meant so much to me through the years.
First, I want to send my love and prayer to the community of Ferguson, and say that I’m Thankful for the Ferguson Public Library for knowing that books can change and save lives.
What can I say about the Harry Potter series that hasn’t been said before? I was one of the lucky ones that grew up as Harry, Ron and Hermione did, and I can honestly say that I don’t think my love of books would be what it is today without this series.
Gone with the Wind was the first classic that I truly fell in love with, and it gave me a story that I can come back to time and time again. And with her sassy and bold personality, Scarlett is my favorite literary heroine!
The Hunger Games series came to me when I needed it most. I’d just started college and recently moved away from home. On top of that, the end of Fall Semester brought a breakup for me and my then-boyfriend. I wasn’t happy, and I was looking for something to pull me out of that really hard time. That was The Hunger Games for me. My best friend let me borrow it, and it was so incredible, I went out and bought it for myself! Catching Fire and Mockingjay were no less amazing in the following years, and the movies have added, not taken away, from their magic.
What books are you thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Reading!
Lights out, plague, birds. Would you have survived the first 4 waves? NOPE. I definintely wouldn’t have! The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is an intense, Sci-fi YA thriller packed with action and adventure. Of course, since it is a young adult book, you have to throw the love interest and strong familial ties in there too!
I feel like I’ve really been looking for a book like The 5th Wave recently; one that isn’t so much dystopian, but more action/science fiction. I mean, who doesn’t love a good alien takeover? I was intrigued right away, it held onto me the whole time and left me wanting more as soon as I realized I only had a couple more pages left!
I’ve just started The Infinite Sea, so a review of that will be coming later. But once I had both of these books together, my manicure inspiration hit me almost immediately, and I couldn’t wait until I finished the sequel to do it.
One thing I do want to mention before we get into the manicure is that my inspiration for this look really came from the colors of the naked books, as opposed to literal interpretation of the dust jackets! I will talk more about that below, but I wanted to throw it out there first. Now, let’s get to the polish!
Tools I Used // Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low + Ciate Ladylike Luxe + Julep Cleopatra
Lining up the two naked books next to each other, you see there’s one main color, black, and two accent colors, silver and gold. Those three colors together ARE MY EVERYTHING! That is what really got the inspiration wheels turning, even before I’d left Barnes & Noble with the book!
I rounded up three trusty colors: Julep’s Black Latex Cleopatra, Essie’s Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low from their Winter Collection and Ciate’s Ladylike Luxe. Now, Essie describes Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low as a bold molten gold, but I’m really not sold on that description. It’s definitely silver, possibly with a hint of gold, but not much more than that.
One of the classiest AND easiest nail art techniques I’ve tried is the Ruffian manicure. It’s a reverse French Manicure that follows the shape of the nail bed. I’d only tried it once before, but I adore the striking look it creates if done with the correct contrasting colors.
To create the Ruffian look, start with your base coat. Try to concentrate the color closer to your cuticles, as you will be covering the rest of the nail with a second color. Once it dries completely, you have two options. The first is using tape or a stencil to create the look, and the second is doing it free hand. I chose to run with it free hand, which speeds up the process because you don’t have to wait for the full dry you need when sticking tape to your nail.
If you free hand the design, start with a good amount of polish on the brush. Place it where you want to start the second layer, and gradually spread it out from the center of the nail to the edges in one smooth movement. You can always go back in with a smaller brush and touch up any rough edges, but it works best if you can do it all at once.
In The 5th Wave, one overarching theme that really resonated with me was that of hopelessness. I took that fear of the unknown, as well as the clean lines of the naked covers, and created this manicure. The black represents the fear the aliens have instilled in the human race, and it is covering up the gold and silver, which is their hope for the future. On my accent nail, I drew from Cassie’s strength, which is the reason for the reversed colors, covering the desperation and letting her perseverance shine through.
Have you done a Ruffian Manicure before? I’d love to hear your techniques! Happy Reading!
I have a little story for you today. Picture this…
Once upon a time, a fair maiden lived in the enchanted southern region of California. She longed to see something she’d only heard tell of in her mother’s stories: Autumn. You see, where she lived, there was only one season: warm. But she knew there was a way to make her dream a reality, by making the pilgrimage to the mystical Tree of Fall.
And you know what? She did just that, and there she was rewarded with leaves of scarlet, gold and orange. She was filled with joy and contentment , and she lived happily ever after.
The ‘once upon a time’ of that story was this past weekend, the magical princess is me and the ‘Tree of Fall’ is the ONLY tree on my street that makes it look like November. All I wanted was a few pictures of my new TBR list additions with the pretty fall leaves, but that’s a tall order in SoCal. All of the damn leaves by my house are GREEN, just as the sky is still blue. But I found the perfect tree, which allowed me to take the perfect pictures.
Have you read either of these contemporaries? I’d love to hear what you think of them! Happy Reading!
Buying and trying a new brand of nail polish is a bit like Christmas morning for me. You open this package and aren’t exactly sure what you’re going to get, but you hope it’s going to be good! Well, Santa was good to me today!
Zoya Noir + Taylor + Odette
I grabbed these three gorgeous colors during Zoya‘s 3 for 15 sale a couple weekends ago. I was really overwhelmed with all of the polish shades they have, so choosing only 3 definitely took a lot of self-control. Obviously I had to get the polish named after me, Taylor, a creamy fair nude from the Naturel Collection. It’s completely opaque in 1-2 coats, and its rosy undertones look really nice with my skin tone!
Zoya’s Pixie Dust polishes are unique to their brand, which is what brought me to choosing Noir. I was incredibly impressed with this glitter polish (until it was time to take off!). Noir is a deep, vampy opaque glitter plum, and while photographs don’t truly do the polish justice, its absolutely gorgeous.
But like any glitter nail polish, it’s a pain to take off. I had to soak my nails in acetone, which I hate doing because it dries out my cuticles and nails. I’ll have to reserve this beauty for special occasions, when I plan to leave it on for a longer period of time!
The third polish I chose was Odette, another member of the Naturel Collection. This sultry orchid maroon cream is vibrant and natural in one, and I’m completely obsessed. It’s flirty and feminine without being over the top, perfect for a classic manicure.
After this purchase, I’m in love with Zoya polishes, especially these three. Their application is flawless and fully opaque. It’s nice to have polishes that are a bit thinner sometimes, because the polish spreads across the nail so much easier.
Do you have a favorite Zoya polish? I’m always looking for new colors to buy, so let me know! Happy reading!
A fun and CUTE character like Pinny definitely deserves his very own mani! I wanted to create a design that would say PINNY right off the bat.
I was inspired by the look of a bowling pin, with the double red stripe on the stark white background. It creates such a clean, sleek look that can be worn without an explanation, but at the same time represents the book. I threw in a bowling ball accent nail inspired by the color of the book’s ball that can’t knock Pinny down.
The bowling ball in the story was brown, but I wanted to add a bit of pizzazz to the mani. I grabbed Julep Candace, which is a beautiful black/brown shimmer, and used their Black Latex for the finger holes. The matte texture of the black is perfect to create contrast between the shimmer and the dot!
I had so much fun getting to know Pinny and Leah during the blog tour, and I’m so glad I could honor Pinny with this fun manicure. Make sure to check out the next stop of the blog tour over at Milliebot Reads! I hope you enjoyed the last three days as much as I did! You should definitely become friends with Pinny when his book comes out on November 21st! Happy Reading!
Welcome back to Day 2 of the Novels and Nail Polish stop of the Pinny Blog Tour! Today, I have an awesome Q&A with Leah Ward, the author of Pinny the Bowling Pin!
How and why did you start writing?
Leah Ward: I began writing poetry in high school as a freshman. I wrote a few short stories and had ideas for novels but never actually pursued that until college. I started writing poetry because I had a knack for rhyming and felt that it was the best way to get things off of my chest. Poems can be so powerful, and that is what I wanted my words to be – powerful!
Why YA & children’s books?
LW: Young Adult and Children’s books because they are my favorite to buy and read as a reader. I wanted to write something that I would walk into a store and buy myself. Plus they are just so fun to write!
Where do you find inspiration as an author?
LW: Most of my inspiration is random and the ideas tend to apply to my life in some way. Also, seeing other indie author’s go on book tours and get on the best sellers list is a huge inspiration for me. That’s what I want to do, I want to make a career for myself and what better than writing funny stories about the lives of bowling pins?
When writing a story, how do you know when it’s done?
LW: I normally set a page number guide, so I know what to shoot for. Mostly though, I just sit down, write my heart out, and then make sure all the ends meet!
What was your general inspiration for writing _Pinny The Bowling Pin_?
LW: Pinny was actually created because of how bad I bowled one day. I thought to myself that this seriously cannot be an operator error, it just had to be the pins! And then, as the light bulb lit above my head, I thought ‘what if there was a pin that simply couldn’t fall? That it just stunk at being a bowling pin?’ And BAM! Pinny was created, and his overcoming tale!
What is the most important thing you want readers and kids to take away from the book?
LW: Pinny provides such a great message to children! First off, that you are not limited to what the others surrounding you are doing. You can reach for the stars if you so desire! And if they tell you that you can’t, or pick on you for dreaming big, don’t let it douse your fire because not everyone was built the same! It’s definitely a story that promotes anti-bullying, and to never give up.
Describe your writing style in one word!
LW: Random!
If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be? LW: Hm… Probably Jennifer Lawrence. I feel like our personalities would mesh so well together. She is hilarious!! And of course, she’s KATNISS!
Fast Facts!
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate definitely.
Summer or Winter? SUMMER
Morning or Night? Night!
Favorite color? Turquoise
Favorite book? The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. The entire series is amazing and just a brilliant and original concept.
Check Leah out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (both: @LeahWardAuthor)! Happy Reading!
What if you were a bowling pin who just couldn’t fall down? Well that’s just Pinny’s luck! Brand new children’s book, Pinny the Bowling Pin by Leah Ward, follows the story of Pinny, a bowling pin who is teased and rejected by everyone because he can’t seem to do his job and FALL DOWN!
Goodreads Summary – Bowling Pin’s have feelings, too, in this funny, uplifting and overcoming story of the pin who felt alone because he couldn’t seem to do what all the other pins did – fall.
Poor Pinny just wants to fit in. He is tired of being the last bowling pin standing, making it nearly impossible for kids to bowl a strike. Everyone dislikes the last pin, the lone pin, the one who won’t fall no matter how many others do. As if it isn’t bad enough that the kids don’t like him, even the other pin’s don’t! He is making them look bad after all. But maybe, Pinny wasn’t meant to fit in? Maybe he was meant for something greater! Perhaps a doctor, a rockstar, or even the President!
Kids will be imagining their own humorous occupations for Pinny, and sharing a laugh with the lovable character and the author who finally revealed the truth behind the bowling pins lives. This story is a perfect gift for anti-bullying, for a reminder to kids to never give up, and for those who just want to know why it’s so difficult to bowl a strike!
This is my first children’s book review, and I thought it was very cute and heartwarming. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to read a book with pictures! I will say that the illustrations and images outshine the book itself. While the book has a wonderful message about anti-bullying, I felt it was a bit difficult to connect with the story from time to time. One trap some children’s books fall into is repetitive sentence structure. When this happens, it starts to feel like the sentences are all the same short length, and that was sometimes the case here. That aside, I really was very entertained throughout the whole story, especially because of the humor Ward was able to weave throughout!
Check back tomorrow for a Q&A with author Leah Ward and Wednesday for my Pinny-inspired manicure! The Pinny Blog Tour continues on after that and heads to Milliebot Reads! For the rest of the tour schedule, you can check out Leah Ward’s website. Happy Reading!
