Nail Polish Collection

In order to truly appreciate these "Nail of the Day" posts, I thought I should back track and share my collection.

I can't get enough nail polish, even though I'm well over 60 different shades, colors, and varieties of nail polish. I found this picture on Pinterest and thought it was fitting for anyone like me who is continually, and obsessively, growing their nail polish collection.

Storage
I haven't needed to think of a creative way to store my polishes until my collection started to rapidly grow. I used to store them in a plastic box that I purchased from Target. As my collection began to grow, I found it increasingly difficult to organize my polishes and make it easy to browse through to select a polish. Now, I store my polishes in an over-the-door shoe rack.

As you can see, polishes are easy to see and are neatly organized. I have tried to organize them by shades and colors. The clear compartments make finding a specific polish a simple task. I have this hanging on the inside of my closet door, that way I can easily close the door and not have them just hanging on the door in the middle of my room. Maybe it's just me, but I don't particularly want them out in the open.

Lightsest: Baby Pinks & Nudes

From Left to Right
(All from Essie)
Angel Food, Ballet Slippers, Sugar Daddy, Fiji (my favorite light pink), and Topless and Barefoot

Darker Nudes/Dusty Rose:

From Left to Right
Essie Sand Tropez, Essie Buy me a Cameo, OPI Steady as She Rose, Revlon Cupid, OPI Sparrow me the Drama

"Hot" Pinks:

From Left to Right
Revlon Bubble Gum, Sally Hansen Digital, OPI That's Berry Daring, OPI Be A Dahlia Won't You (Fav!)

Neon Pinks/Corals/Deep Pinks:

From Left to Right
Essie Knockout Pout, China Glaze Pool Party, OPI Come to Poppy (Fav), OPI It's all Greek to me, Revlon Lava


Red-Oranges & Reds: 

From Left to Right
OPI Cajun Shrimp (Fav), OPI Monsooner or Later, OPI Friar, Friar Pants on Fire, Revlon Red, Revlon Red Carpet


Burgundies:

From Left to Right
Sally Hansen Wine Not, OPI The One that got Away, OPI Congeniality is my Middle Name, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest (Fav)

Light to Bright Purple: 

From Left to Right
Revlon Gum Drop, Essie Lilacism, Revlon Not so Blueberry, OPI Planks a lot, OPI The Color to Watch, OPI Purple with a Purpose (Fav)

Deep Purples: 

From Left to Right
Essie Jamaica Me Happy, Revlon Grape Icy, OPI 3 Plums, I Win!, OPI Pamplona Purple, OPI It's my Year, OPI Lourve me Lourve me not (Fav)

Plums/Violets: 

From Left to Right
Revlon Sugar Plum, Revlon No Shrinking Violet, Sally Hansen Uptempo Plum

Yellow, Green, Bronze: 

From Left to Right
Avon Sunshine, OPI Simply Smashing, OPI Stranger Tides, OPI Mermaids Tears, Essie Mint Candy Apple (Fav), OPI Warm & Fozzie (Fav)

Grey/Navy/Black:

From Left to Right
OPI My Pointe Exactly, OPI Russian Navy (Fav), Essie Smokin' Hot, OPI My Private Jet (Fav), China Glaze Smoke and Ashes

Glitters: 

From Left to Right
Sephora Good Tidings We Bling (Red/Green Glitter), OPI Show it and Glow it, Maybelline Guest List Gold, Essie Stroke of Brilliance, OPI I Lily Love You

Shatters:

From Left to Right
Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold, OPI Silver, White, Black

Base & Top Coats: 

Sally Hansen UV Top Coat, Maximum Growth Top Coat, OPI Start to Finish Base and Top Coat, OPI Top Coat, Sally Hansen Base and Top Coat, and my absolute favorite top coat Sally Hansen Insta-dry

Honorable Mentions: 
Also Known as: they weren't where they were supposed to be during their photoshoot ;)

From Left to Right
OPI La Paz-itively Hot and OPI Let Me Entertain You

As you can see, I have quite the variety of absolutely everything. I know some people may think "oh my gosh, how can you spend so much money on nail polish?" Great question. I used to love getting my nails done, which can get pretty expensive quickly. I didn't own more than maybe a handful of polishes, so consequently, I wanted to get my nails done all the time. I haven't paid to get my nails done in over 2 years, therefore I feel like I can spend money on polishes and not feel a "buyers remorse" afterwards. It may not be the same spa-like feeling of paying to get my nails done, but I can paint my own more frequently and feel good about the money I save on paying AND tipping someone.

One thing I recommend if you're trying to expand your collections is to check out your local CVS pharmacy. They frequently have great deals on polishes, like Revlon. With their "extrabucks" system, you can scan your card in instantly get rewarded for polish. For example, you may be purchasing a nail polish that costs $6 and they may be have a deal where you get $3 "extrabucks" back. Granted, you then have to use those "extrabucks" at CVS, but there are always great deals that you can turn around and use those "extrabucks" to purchase.
A second recommendation is purchasing nail polish from sellers on Amazon. Frequently you can find notoriously expensive polishes, like OPI and Essie, for several dollars cheaper than full retail value. That's the way I grew my collection; it's hard to turn down $4 or $5 OPI or Essie polishes.

I suddenly feel like painting my nails. The hardest choice: what color will I choose today?

xx Anna

OPI LA PAZ-ITIVELY HOT

It's currently about 12 degrees here in Indy and to beat the cold-weather blues, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to paint my nails a bright color. I've had this OPI polish, La Paz-itively Hot for about a year now and I fall more in love with it every time I wear it. It really is the perfect bright pink, without going over into a territory I don't feel comfortable: neon. I wanted to make sure to get a picture in natural light specifically because I hate when I look up a polish that I want to buy and then when I use it, it doesn't look the way it did online.
As we near the end of winter, I'm definitely over the darker polishes that I have used in the past couple of months. I'm ready to start wearing my favorite baby pinks, like Essie's Fiji, or one of my favorite bright reds, OPI Cajun Shrimp.
I figured La Paz-itively Hot was the perfect polish to begin my "Nail of the Day" posts because it is one of the polishes that I always find myself coming back to. One of the reasons I love this color is because it doesn't have glitter, but yet it shines as if it did. Don't get me wrong; I do love glitter, but sometimes the less-flashy polishes look better than the gaudy ones. Being fair-skinned, I also try to wear polishes that don't make me look even paler. This polish, however, I think flatters the pink undertones of fair-skin.
OPI polishes are known to be expensive, at around $8 for 0.5 ounces of product. However, I do believe that you get what you pay for. I find that OPI polishes don't chip as easily, without a top coat, and they apply perfectly with only two coats. I've used other, less-expensive, brands that chips almost instantly and required four coats to get a good color payoff. The best part is that I actually found this polish on Amazon for under $6, which I think is a total bargain when it comes to OPI. I have my own personal policy, which I can actually achieve thanks to Amazon, that I won't pay more than $6 for nail polish.





xx Anna

Cinnabon Creamer: Hit or Miss?

I've said before how much I love to vary my coffee, which is why I love my Keurig. The Keurig brewing system allows me to choose my coffee based on my mood by being able to have five or six different flavored coffees at a time. I would think that the average coffee drinker with a traditional drip system would only have a couple types of coffee in their cabinet. I'm also someone who loves to try new coffee creamers. I think I have at least four or five in the fridge right now. I know that sounds bad, but like I said, coffee is my thing so I don't mind that I have a few too many bottles of creamer. I was in the grocery store the other day, not necessarily shopping for a new creamer, but I was drawn to the refrigerated section anyway. I started at the top shelf and then worked my way down, only seeing things that were either currently in my fridge or I had tried before.....until I spotted the International Delight Cinnabon flavored creamer.

You may not be able to tell by the picture, maybe you can, but I first of all have to comment on the packaging. I feel like bottled creamers typically are boring or average as far as packaging goes, but I think whoever was involved with the packaging design of this particular creamer deserves a raise. Because it is a somewhat brighter color, my eyes were instantly drawn to it. The bright-ish turquoise color makes it nearly impossible to overlook. I instantly placed this beauty in my shopping cart and was on my way.

One of the things I think about before buying certain flavored creamers is "Do I have anything that this would go with?" If yes, I don't hesitate to put it in my cart. If not, I try to think of something I could get to go with it. The big bottles of creamer can seem intimidating, especially if it's a flavor you don't know if you like yet. However, if I'm looking at a limited edition creamer (like this one) I don't hesitate to buy it and then will just buy a particular flavored coffee later to go with it. I'm hoping that ID decides to keep this flavor, and not make it limited edition, because I have seriously fallen in love with it. This is by far one of the best flavored creamers I have tried this past holiday season.

When I open a new bottle of creamer, there is typically a little plastic type thing on the bottle. I'll be the first to admit that I will taste the creamer when I take this plastic off. I'm going to throw it away anyway, so why not taste the product itself? I have to say that when I tasted this creamer alone, it tasted just like the icing that is typically packaged right along with cinnamon rolls. I was in absolute heaven.

The first type of flavored coffee I chose to pair with this Cinnabon flavored heaven was a cinnamon pastry flavored coffee, naturally. I have literally had this pairing every morning for the last week. I only have two of the cinnamon pastry k-cups left, so this morning I decided to try the creamer with a creme brulee k-cup. I have to say that even with the creme brulee coffee, it was seriously good. The creme brulee/Cinnabon pairing was definitely sweeter than the cinnamon pastry/Cinnabon pairing, but that isn't a bad thing. Obviously I like creamer in my coffee, so sweetness isn't an issue :).

 
I purchased both of these flavors directly from the Keurig website: www.keurig.com.

If you can get your hands on this creamer, do so and do it fast! I purchased mine at my local Kroger.

Happy Sipping,

xx Anna

1st Week of School

I was absent from the blogosphere this week because I finally started back to school. It's hard to believe this is it. No worrying about next semesters schedule and trying to get requirements completed. This is it. It's strange to think about, especially when my youngest brother, Aaron, is a senior in high school just about to begin his college journey. I said to my parents the other day that we've always seemed far apart in age, which I guess technically we are (I'll be 22 in April and he'll turn 19 in July). It may not seem like that many years apart, but anyone with a younger or older sibling knows that 3 years is enough to give everyone separate interests. However, now that I'm about to graduate from college and he's about to start, we don't really seem all that far apart. We're also dealing with similar things in our relationships, being that his girlfriend attends college 3 hours away and he doesn't get to see her as often as he would like. I always remind him that I see my husband less often (which will all change once I graduate and we move!!), and he perks up realizing that he's actually lucky. Plus, cell phones and Skype make long-distance relationships easier than 100 years ago so we really can't complain. As I began my first week of school, I was actually excited. Normally I'm always anxious on the first day of school, that's just me....in fact, I can get anxious about anything (definitely a flaw of mine). I am lucky enough to have packed my schedule by having 4 classes on Monday, 5 on Wednesday, and 3 on Friday. Even luckier was me not having any classes on Tuesday or Thursday! My first class, Psychology 120, begins at 10am, but being a commuter means that I have to wake up earlier and leave earlier than I did when I lived in the dorms. I wake up at 7:30, giving myself plenty of time to shower and get ready, but also eat breakfast and actually feel awake and ready before heading to school. My alarm goes off at 7:30 and I make it a point to be in the shower by 7:40. For whatever reason, I was moving at snail speed that morning. The biggest reason I can think of is that I actually cut my thumb the Sunday before and having to try and keep my poor, bandaged thumb out of the stream of water makes showering a lot slower. It's not that easy trying to wash my hair with one hand, but I suppose it could be worse. My original thought behind waking up at 7:30 was to hopefully be completely ready by 8:30 because I typically take an hour to get ready from start to finish. However, I wasn't ready until 8:45 and I was planning to leave at 9:15. I hurried downstairs and tried to eat some breakfast, but I was slightly nervous about running late so I didn't exactly have an appetite. I brew my coffee from my lovely Keurig and decide to run outside and start my car (it was FREEZING that morning) while I waited on my coffee. I get outside and I can't my door open. I tell myself not to panic and try the other doors. Nothing. I run back inside, try and find the de-icing spray and silently pray that it will help. I douse my car in the spray, but still nothing. I'm about to full-on panic at this point, but I run back inside and take a few gulps of coffee. My only hope at this point is to wake up my other brother and hope that he can get my car open. Luckily for me, he was half awake. He comes out to try and help me, but he can't get any of my doors open either. Now I'm really freaking out. He tells me he's going to try to get his doors open, but he has no luck either. At this point, it's almost 9:10. The purpose of me leaving by 9:15 was to actually be able to get a parking spot, which is becoming impossible at Uindy. So at this point my only hope is to call my grandma because both of my parents are working. I call her and she had just gotten out of her bath and her exact response to taking me (and saying that my class started in 45 minutes) was "Oh, shit". That was wonderfully reassuring to hear from my 73 year old grandmother. Literally as I hang up, my brother yelled that he was able to get one of his doors open. I called my grandma back and told her I didn't need her to come get me, and my brother and I were actually able to leave by 9:15. Then, of course, someone had to come get me at 5:20 when I was done with school. It instantly brought me back to being 15 and relying on someone else to pick me up or take me somewhere. That was just my Monday morning. Actually, that was just about 15 minutes of my morning. My classes were fine, but I kind of realized that this semester wouldn't be easy. I can't actually recall a semester that I thought was "easy", but I was hoping this would be it. Nothing particularly interesting happened the rest of the week, which I suppose is a good thing considering all the excitement on Monday. Until next time, xx Anna

Maker of Choice: Keurig

Okay, I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a coffee snob. I like my coffee a certain way, a certain temperature, a certain strength, etc. The Keurig brewing system allows you to literally be your own barista. I can change the temperature that the brewer brews my coffee to all at the click of a button. I've been a satisfied Keurig owner for just over a year, and I'm thinking it's about time that I share the adventures I go on with my brewer. However odd that might sound, fellow coffee addicts/lovers/snobs will understand completely.

I thought I would introduce this part of my blog with a basic introduction to the little beauty that keeps me going, and prevents anyone from losing their life. I'm not a morning person, and no one should really interact with me before I've had at least one cup of coffee.

Reasons To Love Keurig:
1. I love that I can customize pretty much everything about my brewer. (like cup size and temperature)
2. The reason I have moved on to the "single cup" brewer is because I typically don't drink more than one cup of coffee and I don't need a coffee maker with the capability of brewing 12 cups.
3. I can purchase my coffee from anywhere I please. I usually buy it from the Keurig website because I can buy the "k-cups" in larger quantities for less money than Target or Kohls, for example.
4. Easy to clean & descale. I love that the only part of the brewer I can't put in the dishwasher is the lid of the water reservoir. I'm not sure why you can't put the lid in the dishwasher, but I'm not one to experiment and find out. Another important step is periodically descaling the brewer, due to the gunk that can build up in the brewer. It's as easy as filling the water reservoir with vinegar and brewing steamy cups of vinegar. You do this without a k-cup in the machine, and until you are satisfied. I find that the brewer becomes loud when build up forms, and you will notice the machine gradually becoming quieter. Just make sure you brew plenty of water AFTER you're done with the vinegar, otherwise your creamer will curdle. You'll only make that mistake once, my friends.

Reasons NOT to Love Keurig:
1. One of the only downsides to this brewing system is that the k-cups can be pricey. However, if you're someone who adores coffee then you may be as willing as I am to pay for a quality cup of coffee. It's not like it's going to break the bank, but it's a little more expensive than buying your own beans of bags of coffee groups.

Solution:
Keurig actually sells a removable & reusable "k-cup" of their own. For those that want to use cheaper coffee, the good news is that you can buy one of these gadgets (I purchased mine at Amazon) and still enjoy a single cup of coffee. On the flipside, I feel like I can have a wider variety if I use k-cups because I can buy multiple boxes of coffee and not worry about their freshness.



  So that is basically the introduction to my brewer. I try new coffee (and creamers) about as often as I breathe. I'm someone who enjoys variety and my Keurig brewer allows me to do so. In posts to come, you can expect full reviews on coffees I try, my recommendations of coffee+creamer pairings, and any creamers I try.
xx Anna

Making Money by Blogging?

One of the things that fascinates me about the internet and social media is the fact that people are able to make a decent amount of money by blogging about really anything you could imagine. As someone who loves to write, and finds blogging as an interesting tool of expression, I'm becoming increasingly curious about what it takes to make money via blogs. Most people that blog have a specific interest, which is what makes them money. The problem I have is that I find multiple areas of life interesting. I am interested in all things beauty (which I feel like is one of the most blogged about topics), nail polish, cooking, reading, etc. While it is okay to blog about things that other people blog about, the important thing is to find a way to make what you have to say stand out.

I love writing on this particular blog to basically speak at random. I feel like this blog will be an outlet for me in the upcoming months before graduation and moving, but also a way to continue to share part of my life with family and friends that I will no longer see on a daily basis. I realize that it will take time to make any sort of money via google's adsense, but I'm curious to find out what it takes.

So here is my proposition:

I'm going to create two new blogs on two things that I think about, research, or use on an daily basis.
1. Coffee
and
2. Nail polish.

Clearly this is why I have to create two separate blogs....those two topics couldn't be farther apart. However, after researching a little about adsense, I have found that your topic has to be something that there is an ad for (and that could be profitable). Therefore, I feel like the "review" type blogs would be the most applicable to their requirements. I'm also creating two, because lets face it, I'm fairly random and feel like I would need two in order to steer clear of the "randomness" that people may not find appealing. I view this blog as a diary and will continue to use it for the purpose that is clearly stated in the title....however, I haven't started the semester yet so I haven't had anything to say about school.

Anyway. My goal is to see a few things: 1. How long does it take to make money using blogger and adsense? 2. What type of blogs are viewed as "ad-worthy"? 3. And can the review type blogs give me the platform I want in order to earn money?

I realize that getting traffic will be one of the starting points, which means I have to find similar blogs about nail polish and coffee, comment on those sites, and cross my fingers that it directs traffic to my site(s). I have a few ideas for beginning this game plan.

1. Write a few blogs reviewing products:
As far as coffee goes, I have a Keurig coffee maker. I think this opens the doors for plenty of things to write about, including the coffee maker itself, as well as all of the coffees I have tried, liked, and hated.
In regards to nail polish, I have so many different brands, colors, etc. that I think I could write a blog for quite a while. I also add new polishes to my collection about every month.

2. After writing a few blogs, reading others, and hopefully gaining traffic:
I feel like I will have to write blogs and gain more traffic in order to even try to get adsense to notice my page. This is what might take time. But, that is what I'm trying to figure out here: How long does it take to many money via blogger and adsense?

These are a few of the thoughts I have right now, but I have plenty I need to research so I think this is where I sign off. The good thing is that the worst thing that can happen is that I put my thoughts and reviews on products out there and I may not make anything off of it. However, my goal is to see how long it takes to make money....so we'll see how that goes.

xx Anna

Back in 2013

Well, hello! It's been awhile. I haven't blogged in a while because the holidays got pretty hectic and my husband was home for about a week and a half. It was really special this year because it was our first Christmas as a married couple, and also his first Christmas home in 2 years. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about how stressful the holidays would be because of all the places we had to be. With his parents being divorced, we definitely had to spread our time around, but overall I'd say we made it through the holidays pretty well!

I've blogged before about where we will potentially end up after I graduate in May. We were hoping for North Carolina (or more specifically, Camp Lejeune) and it looks like we're getting our wish. I don't want to get my hopes up JUST in case it doesn't work out that way, but I seriously am so thrilled. It's only a 13 hour drive from Indy, whereas California would mean that coming home/being visited by family would literally be impossible). My husband will be coming home April 15th (which is awesome because that is 3 days before my birthday!) and we'll leave either the day after I graduate or the day after that (either May 5th or 6th). I'm really hoping that this works in our favor, but sometimes you never know with the military.

I still have another week before school starts and I'm definitely ready to begin this semester. I'm getting a little bored, especially now that my younger brother has started his final semester of high school. This semester will hopefully go by as quickly as the last, and I'm sure it will because I have just under 4 months until I graduate. It's more like 3.5 months, by the time school actually starts. Not to mention that I only have classes on MWF, so I'm sure that will definitely speed the process along.

It seems crazy that I'm about to start my final semester of college. It seems like just the other day that I graduated from high school and started college. I do, however, feel fortunate that I have my husband to lean on during the transition from student to actual adult in the real world. Speaking of which, he's actually starting to take online classes towards his degree.....so we're basically switching roles!

I feel like 2012 was such a great year for me and 2013 only holds more promise. We'll celebrate our anniversary on Feb. 3 (yes, conveniently on super bowl Sunday), I'm turning 22 in April, graduating (and also moving) in May. I've lived in the same place for almost 22 years, and my mom, grandma, and great grandma have lived here all their lives. I will definitely appreciate home more after we move, and will also look forward to moving back whenever my husband finishes his commitment to the Marine Corps.

I'll try to be better about blogging my final semester, since that is what this blog is about anyway. Clearly I should add "blogging" to my list of resolutions. :)

xx Anna