Zoya Trixie

Is it bad that the blinginess of my nails is distracting me from studying?

Zoya Free Polishes!

Charla

Ivanka

Mimi

I love Zoya. Not only are they DBP, toluene, formaldehyde, and camphor free, they have beautiful colors that wear like iron on me, and they have these great customer appreciation events, like this one :) These were free, and I just had to pay for shipping. So excited for my pretties to come!

2011: New Year's Resolutions

1. Save more money.
2. Find a school-year research position.
3. Instead of buying more clothes, make better use of my current wardrobe. (i.e. wear skirts/dresses more)
4. Get more snacks from the farmer's market instead of Safeway or CVS.
5. Continue chipping away at the 101 in 1001.
6. Play guitar and piano more. Also, practice ear-training.
7. Eat less meat and dessert items.
8. Walk more, instead of biking or driving. Exercise more in general (I say that every year, don't I?)
9. Be more careful about le eczema.
10. Be a better listener. And quit complaining.

I looked back at my 2010 resolutions for inspiration, and apparently I cut my mom's hair the same time last year too. I must say that when I cut it a week ago, it was rather better than last year. It made her head look less flat. Yay.

LATEST PURCHASES (i.e. this is why I'm broke):

1. Seychelles Gypsy


2. Turquoise cami from PacSun

3. Thermal henley from PacSun

4. Maroon sweater from Gap

5. Hot Tools 1" Curling Iron


6. Western Digital Portable External Hard Drive


7. Black robe-sweater-thing from Nordstrom Rack

8. Calvin Klein bra, also from Nordstrom Rack

9. Anthropologie Molded & Melded Tee


10. Simply Vera brown opaque tights (gift)


11. China Glaze Mrs. Claus (gift, swap pending)

12. China Glaze For Audrey (gift)

13. American Eagle Boyfriend Cardigan


14. Aerie Cable Knit Fingerless Gloves


15. Gap button-down shirt from Goodwill


16. Aerie Patchwork PJ Pants


I'm not telling how recently I got these. It's nice to see them all laid out so that I can embarrass myself into not getting anything else in the next few months. Just-food January*, here I come!

*Not really just food, just no clothing, accessory, shoe, or beauty product purchases (Zoya free polishes excepted) without informing the other participants. I may just extend this to Frugal February too.

In other news, I've finally finished adding the side panels to that black pinstriped vest I was working on! I think I got it more than a year ago, just a bit too tight, from Crossroads in San Francisco. It took this long to get around to buying fabric, ripping out the side seams, and sewing in the panels. The process would probably have taken about a day (the whole day, but still) if I was putting my mind to it. This is why procrastination is bad, kids.

Picture-Heavy: My Lust List

Frye Melissa Button Boot (Cognac)


MICHAEL Michael Kors Hamilton Satchel (Black, Vanilla)


Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Clutch (Black)


Marc by Marc Jacobs Baby Groovee (Black)


Marc by Marc Jacobs Hillier Hobo (Sage)


J. Crew Jackie Cardigan (Breeze)


AE Striped Schoolboy Blazer


Kate Spade Fifth Avenue Stripe Earmuffs


Kate Spade Big Apple Owl Earmuffs


Zoya Charla


MoMA Sky Umbrella


Nikon D40 dSLR

Assassins and Nail Polish

I just got killed in our dorm Assassins game :( I actually made it to the end! I was the last one to die, out of 44 people (well, 43 dead). At least that part is exciting :)

I also got my Zoyas today! Of course, I had to do a photo shoot...

Akyra, Blair, Casey, Charla, Elodie

Irene, Kotori, Lael, Mieko, Posh

Rea, Richelle, Roxy, Suvi

Tammy, Valentina, Yasmeen

Family pic:

My pre-cleanup NOTN: Zoya Posh with Poshe tips (haha, didn't even realize that until now!)

The Great Amorphous Purple Blob

But first, a NOTD - OPI You're Such A Kabuki Queen

You know, I may just stop taking pictures of my NOTDs until/unless I get a better camera. It doesn't look like this picture at all in real life. It's best described as, well, medium pink. Not jelly at all. It's so purdy! (contrary to what this pic suggests)

Moving on...the Great Amorphous Purple Blob.

It's been sitting in my room since yesterday night, and now it is in a cozy corner, perfect for basking in the soon-to-be spring sunlight. It's kind of huge. I'm going to dub it Barney, because what could be better than naming after the most famous Great Amorphous Purple Blob of all?

Genius Next Door

NOTD - OPI You Don't Know Jacques!
I love this color. It looks and sounds so awful (mushroomy taupe??), but it's actually perfect, and it looks really nice on my skin tone. It's actually a little more dusty in real life.

I'm trying to learn Regina Spektor's "Genius Next Door" on piano. I got the sheet music online but it's kind of wrong in some places, so I'm just going to use it to write out the right version. It is such a pretty song.

*update: I got an A on my PWR paper!! It's the first A I've gotten in a paper, like, ever. Maybe just in the last three years or so. I'm so excited!!!

My favorite opera arias

I think ever since we watched the modernized version of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman in IHUM last fall, I've been slightly obsessed with The Doll Song, aka "Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille."

Today I started listening to "Canzonetta sull'aria" from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. It was the song Andy Dufresne played over the PA system in The Shawshank Redemption. Absolutely beautiful. I was playing it in my head during my chem midterm, and it was quite calming.

I've also been listening to "Exsultate, jubilate", but on my recording on iTunes, not this youtube video, which is too vibrato-y, a bit too fast for my taste, and out of sync with the visuals. Plus Cecilia Bartoli has a crazed look on her face while she's singing. I don't know who sings my version though, because it just says "Vienna Symphony." It's from the 25 Mozart Favorites CD.

My other longtime favorites are "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen!", aka the Queen of the Night's Aria, and "Pa-pa-pa-pa" (which is the second Papageno/Papagena song, I think), both from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (aka The Magic Flute). Hmm, Cecilia Bartoli again. But she's vastly less annoying in this video.

So basically the reason I've been breaking out so much opera (besides the fact that it's awesome) is because it's midterm week, and I can't study to things with recognizable words. I have been listening to other classical music, but don't even get me started on that. (I did find out that my favorite composer is not Mozart, as I had previously thought, but Sarasate, with Paganini as a runner-up. Although Mozart is still high on my list. His pieces have a pretty good mix of playing ease and listening ease. *edit: I forgot Mendelssohn! His pieces are great too.) I actually only have one class with midterms, because the others have either weekly quizzes (stats) or papers (IHUM and PWR). Plus I'm taking a lecture series on professors' work. But there's also other stuff. Observe my schedule this week:

Fri: Research Grants Workshop
Sat: Job Fair, accupuncture
Mon: PWR paper #1 due, Chem pset due
Tue: IHUM paper due, stats quiz, CDC appointment (for finding summer job)
Wed (today): Chem midterm
Thu: lunch with pre-major advisor, PWR (short) presentation, getting stuff at San Antonio, Spotlight On (I'm not doing it, just attending)
Fri: Visit BOSP to ask about study abroad, visit GRT (weather permitting), and one of two campus music performances
Sat: Dance Marathon (24 hrs)
Sun: accupuncture
Mon: PWR paper #2 due (draft, but still)

And then I'm done. Wooooooo...

I've also been on a nail polish hiatus, until my gross eczema-ed fingers heal. I started putting Desonide on it, and it seems to work. When I start NP again, I'm going to do OPI You Don't Know Jacques on my tips and China Glaze Emerald Sparkle on my toes. Yeah, I know I don't have a toe polish ban, but I just haven't had time to do them. (Yet I have time to write out this blog post? If mum were here, she'd give me the look. I just know it.)

Weather Report

...Basically.

There's also supposed to be an earthquake today, between 5.0 and 6.0. It's missed its ETA, but it might come later. Yay (unless someone gets hurt)!

On a happier note...

I got OPI Absolutely Alice! I loves it. But I put a layer of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme under two coats of this so that hopefully the glitter comes off more easily.

NOTD - LH China Glaze Orange Marmalade, RH China Glaze Strawberry Fields

ChG Orange Marmalade. I <3 this color. Apparently OM and SF (below) and all the other polishes in the Summer Days collex are "glass-flecked." I don't know how people know. I just know that glass-flecked polishes are shimmery, "like crushed diamonds are in it." Huh.

ChG Strawberry Fields. I don't know if I like this color. It's pretty, but a tad too cool for me. But it has gold shimmer. I'm so confused. I think I'll keep it for now, pack rat that I am.

I'm impressed with the staying power of these. This is the second time in my life I've ever worn China Glaze, and I must say they are holding up very very well (this is the third day). Like Zoyas, which are my first love, but a little $$ without discount, they wear like iron on me (base coats: LH has Essie Fill the Gap!, RH has Barielle Nail Camouflage). I frickin played guitar with them and they didn't even chip, only a bit of tipwear. And I use my nails as a guitar pick, because I suck at using a real pick. These babies didn't even have topcoat. I thought topcoat was overrated, and I was half right. I don't seem to need it to prevent chipping (at least for these), but I was rushing to chem after I did my nails and dinged three of them. Yay for quick-dry topcoat...

And, please excuse the grody eczema-ed ring finger. The shininess comes from Neosporin. That's why I keep a blog, right, for posterity?

As you can see, I have not mastered the art of taking color-accurate photos. (I look like a white person! or dead! or, no, wait for it, like Edward Cullen! Just in the first pic, though. And not really, even.) Nor have I mastered the art of remembering to wash your hands and clean your nails before taking a picture of said nails. My apologies.

OMGOMGOMG!!

I was at my local Peninsula Beauty Supply and they had the new OPI Alice in Wonderland collection. Absolutely Alice is the most absolutely gorgeous polish ever. EVER.

Pictures do not do it justice.
I did not buy it, because it was full price and I was cheap. But I might just have to suck it up and get it. However, the swatch on the plastic nail did not wow me; maybe they didn't put enough coats on.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My family actually doesn't celebrate Christmas; I used to be the only one putting up stockings and erecting a tree, because Christmas was (is) my favorite holiday in principle (it's so cheery!). This year, I decided to take years of present-less-ness into my own hands and made a ~$65 nail polish haul (oh gawd!) from transdesign. Then today I pulled the trigger on an online American Eagle purchase to take advantage of their free shipping + 20% off Christmas Day sale. It was a grey cardigan I've been eyeing for some time. I do hope it fits. That's what I hate about online shopping - you can't feel the fabric or try it on. I already tried this cardigan on in stores, though. But I really really want a pair of jeans and a decent strapless/convertible bra that fits my small misshapen boobs, but although AE has them online, I'm too scared they won't fit. I love AE jeans and knew my size up to about a month ago, when I'm pretty sure they all got blatantly vanity-sized. Grrrr......

Speaking of bras for small misshapen boobs...I have been trying forEVER to find a nice bra that fits. I think it's so tough to find one because I have small boobs and a large ribcage frame. A book I was skimming through in Borders recommended three websites for small-busted women: The Little Bra Company, Itty Bitty Bra, and Lula Lu. I really want to try them out, but they're frickin expensive. Hopefully there'll be after-Christmas sales.

My first ever HTF NP!!!

...first ever hard-to-find nail polish, that is. I was looking for a nice fabric shop in downtown Los Altos when I chanced upon a Peninsula Beauty Supply.


First I found a backup for my mini Poshe topcoat. And then I debated getting this cute little mini CND Solar Oil. And then...


BAM! A mini Essie Ruby Slippers, found in the "buy one get one free, discontinued polish" bin.


I ended up getting an Essie Glass Slippers to accompany it, because it was BOGOF. Now they can go off and be slipper sisters.



Ahh, look at that sparkly goodness.