If you are a YA fan and haven’t heard of All the Bright Places yet, I would bet my entire library of young adult fiction (probably valued at some absurdly high amount) that you’re living under a rock! As one of the most highly anticipated books of 2015, it definitely didn’t disappoint. This gem of a novel follows the story of a boy named Finch and a girl named Violet. It’s an incredible journey of self discovery, love and loss, and it’s hard to accurately express the beauty Jennifer Niven was able to craft through written word.
Jennifer tackles some really heavy topics in this novel, but does very well not to romanticize or make light of them. I think this comes from her ability to (unfortunately) relate well to the subject matter and speak very honestly about the topic of suicide and survivors of suicide. On the real, I spent the last 50 pages bawling like a baby with my winged liquid eyeliner running down my splochy face. But I wouldn’t have it any other way! All I can say is thank you Jennifer for creating a book that will stay with me long after I put it down.
Now let’s talk mani!
I am stoked on life to share this manicure with all of you! It is absolutely one of my favorites (and one of my best, if I do say so myself), and I had the pleasure to show it to Jennifer herself at the Pasadena Loves YA festival last week! I’m inspired by a lot of covers, but there was something so pretty about this one. I didn’t want to paint it, I NEEDED to paint it.
I started off with two coats of my fav light blue polish, Essie’s Find Me An Oasis, except on my ring finger, which I used Mint’s grey Fancy. My intention with that (because the colors are so similar) was so that I could use the blue as one of the Post-its on my ring finger. Throw on a quick coat of Seche Vite, and we’re good to start with the details!
I think we should start with the squares, or Post-its, from the cover. I took a bit of artistic liberty and cut the 8 squares down to 6, because in reality my nails aren’t THAT long! I grabbed some thin nail tape and worked out the grid. To get the colors just right, I had to add a bit of white to the Ciate polish to tone it down. From there, I used the Julep Plie Wand to fill in each space, and voila! You’ve got yourself some Post-it notes.
When it came to the violet, I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would come out. And what do you know, it actually looks like the violet on the book! I took the Julep Plie Wand and sketched out the general shape and then filled it in with the purple, black and yellow details. I had fun challenging myself to paint something freehand, a lot like the desk chair from my Attachments mani. It’s with these types of manicures that I find my passion most rewarding!
Have you read All the Bright Places? Tell me what you thought! Happy Reading!
