Sunday, September 15, 2013

I'm back!

I know I've been gone for a little bit. Life and work at Disney got super busy, and the biggest problem was my book ADD! A couple weeks ago, I found myself in the middle of six different books... all at the same time! And I just couldn't find one that held my attention enough to get through more than 30 or 40 pages. 

But not to worry!

I finally found a book that I've fallen head over heels in love with. One that I finished in just 24 hours, which I haven't done since my beloved Hunger Games trilogy. And that book is... Divergent by Veronica Roth! So many feels all packed into one book that Roth penned and got published by the time she was 23. I need to get working on my very own bestseller! 

Coming very soon will be my reviews of both Divergent, and its sequel, Insurgent. My nail art for those two books, however, will be on hold until the release of the much anticipated finale to the series, Allegiant, so I can do a series post! 

Happy reading!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Midweek Inspiration // Series



One of my favorite things about being a bibliophile is purchasing the newest sequel in one of my most beloved series, especially when its cover fits in perfectly with the rest of the books. So this week, I'm bringing a bit of book cover inspiration in series form. I'm definitely guilty of not buying a hardcover book if I have the rest of the series is in paperback, or vice versa, even if it means having to wait a little bit longer to read it! And you'll never find a movie poster cover on my bookshelves if I can help it. 

Take a look at these pretty series covers, and happy reading!

Harry Potter //
Photo via WeHeartIt
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo //
Photo via Puzzle & Tea
The Hunger Games //
Photo via WeHeartIt
A Series of Unfortunate Events //
Photo via Tumblr
Pretty Little Liars //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Gossip Girl //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Harry Potter //
Photo via Tumblr

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Midweek Inspiration // Purple



I loved creating last week's Midweek Inspiration post so much that I've decided to make it a weekly series! The color purple has been catching my eye a lot lately, and I can't help but be very inspired by so many of the purple posts I keep seeing on Tumblr, WeHeartIt and Pinterest. Whether book covers or pretty flowers, purple is such a beautiful and feminine color, which makes it perfect for decorating both my bookshelves and my nails.

Enjoy this purple inspiration and happy reading!

Photo via Tumblr
Keep Calm and Read // Paint chip //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Purple ranunclus //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Photo via WeHeartIt
The Secret Garden // Baby's Breath //
Photo via Tumblr
Bookshelf //
Photo via Books by the Foot

Monday, July 15, 2013

An Abundance of Katherines // Nail Art

Colin has a thing for girls named Katherine, just like I have a thing for awesome books and fun nail polish. So I have to be honest, this post was a blast to work on! I love the simple, white cover of John Green's An Abundance of Katherines, and the seemingly hand-drawn images and words gave me so many fun ideas for what to paint on my nails. 
I love a bright, white nail, so I was happily inspired by the novel's cover. Other than the heart, I wasn't too keen on the idea of having any of the little drawings (especially a parabola!) from the cover on my nails, so I knew I needed a couple of other fun images to use. I loved the use of footnotes throughout the book, so that was definitely something I wanted to incorporate on my nails. Also, Colin continuously refers to his heartbreaker as Katherine XIX, which gave me another cute idea for my nails.
As far as actual products I used for these nails, the white base is L'Oreal I Will, with accents of Ciate Mistress for the heart and Twilight for the numbers. The consistency of I Will is a bit hard to work with, as most bright whites are. It definitely takes a couple coats to get it smooth and without streaks. And like always, I love my Ciate mini polishes, so those are always a blast to use.

I'm on a John Green kick, so get ready for a review for An Abundance of Katherines soon! Happy reading!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Midweek Inspiration

I hope everyone is having a fabulous week! Seeing as it's almost Friday, I've decided to round up some of my favorite nail polish and bookish inspirations to get us through the rest of the work week. I found most of these little beauties on one of my favorite inspiration sites, WeHeartIt, and a couple I photographed myself!

Enjoy some inspiration and happy reading!
Essie Nail Polish // Lauren Conrad Novels //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Essie Nail Polish //
Photo via WeHeartIt
Photo via WeHeartIt
Essie Nail Polish // Bikini So Teeny //
Photo by Novels and Nail Polish
Julep Nail Polish // Emily Griffin Novels //
Photo by Novels and Nail Polish
Barnes and Noble Classics //
Photo via WeHeartIt


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Want to follow Novels and Nail Polish?

If you want to keep up with all the fun over here at Novels and Nail Polish, head on over to Bloglovin! There, you can find out all the new happenings, reviews and fun nail polish designs as they show up here on my little blog.

Happy reading!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Nail Polish Brands I Love

Spotlight: Julep Nail Polish

Julep Nail Polish Bottles

You'll become very familiar with some of my favorite nail polish brands, and one is definitely Julep Nail Polish. I am a proud Maven, which means I receive monthly packages delivered right to my door, dressed up with pretty ribbons and little extra goodies.

I fell in love with Julep right off the bat because of the bottle's elegant design. Its tall, rectangular style is easy to hold while painting my nails and stores very easily, especially since I have a huge collection! Another aspect I love about this brand is the fabulous brush style, which follows the finger nail's natural shape. The brush is slightly wider and more flattened than many other nail polishes, which allows for spreading the lacquer much more evenly.

Some criticism of Julep Nail Polish falls on its thick consistency, but I love that it is rich enough for the color to come out completely opaque. It does take a bit longer to dry, but a good quick-dry top coat fixes that problem in a snap!


Whether you're yearning for a soft, pastel mint, a bright blue or a full-coverage red glitter, Julep has a huge selection. If you want to become a Maven too, head over to Julep's website and they'll help you step by step find out your style profile and get started with your first box! Get those nails painted and happy reading!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Favorites Friday // Quotes



For my first ever Favorites Friday, I wanted to share a couple quotes that I find memorable. Whether it be touching, inspirational or plain laugh out loud funny, these are moments in some of my favorite novels that moved me enough to deface my lovely books and underline them!

"If you were drifting with a thousand other people, could you really still say you were lost?" Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult 
"So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane." Looking for Alaska, John Green 
"Oh, I wouldn't mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." The Fault in Our Stars, John Green 
"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." Inferno, Dan Brown

I hope these little snippets of memorable text will brighten your day with a smile, make you think or even allow you to happily remember the first time you read these books. Are there any quotes you particularly love, especially from any of these books? Let me know!

Enjoy and happy reading!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Looking for Alaska // Review

If you're looking for a book that will make you cry, laugh and feel it deep in a hidden place that is only reserved for the strongest of feels, you've got your book right here!  Looking for Alaska is the novel that launched John Green's career, and for good reason! A unique structure, plus characters that have genuine heartbeats and questions about life, makes it impossible to put down until you've read its very last words.

John Green's novel, Looking for Alaska

Immediately, I was hooked wondering what "before" was referring to, and as the days counted down to after, nothing other than work could keep that book out of my hand (and even sometimes during work, I would sneak a page or two!). And well, after, I needed to know why everything happened. Now, don't worry, if you haven't read it yet, I won't actually spoil what happens. But if Looking for Alaska is on your "To Read" list, have that box of tissues on hand!

One thing I love about the novel's structure of "before" and "after" is how much thought John Green put into choosing this particular idea. In interviews, Green noted that many important events in history or great works have a defining moment in which everything is changed for good: 9/11, Hiroshima and even the birth of Jesus Christ. Christians, for that matter, annotate the passage of time as BC and AD. I can't think of a better structure for this wonderful piece of writing, because it not only adds suspense, but truly highlights the gravity of the novel's life-changing situation.

Photo via WeHeartIt
When it comes to character development and John Green, there is no finer artist. I BELIEVED these people were real, which is so hard to do when it comes to YA fiction. I believed them almost too much, because I would often times find myself frustrated and annoyed with Alaska's impulsive and quite selfish actions. I wanted to guide Miles through his first awkward moment with a girl, and I wanted to hold each of them when everything came crashing down around them. And then, all at once, I remembered that I wasn't a student at Culver Creek and I couldn't fix all of their heartbreak. And even though I knew I couldn't, I was so happy! So wonderfully overjoyed that I even cared for characters I read about on pages of a book this much! And that pretty much sums up my love for this beautiful, crazy story.

Have you read Looking for Alaska? What are some of your thoughts on John Green's first novel? Let me know! Happy reading!


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Looking For A.... Perfect Manicure

I adore John Green! He is a wonderfully talented writer who creates stories that wrap you up in a perfectly constructed quilt of complex characters and heartbreaking romances. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use the very intriguing cover artwork of Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, as inspiration for my first manicure to be featured on Novels and Nail Polish

 

You'll come to learn I have a few certain brands of nail polish that I love to use, and one is Ciate nail polish! I used Vintage, a rich shade of asphalt grey, for the base color. It applies very smooth and only takes two coats to become completely opaque.

My review of Green's first novel is on its way soon. Happy reading!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

A Touch of Character Development

Allow me to start by introducing myself. My name is Taylor, and I am a bookaholic. Literature is my draft beer, short stories are my whiskey and novels are my fine wines. There is a certain high bookworms get from finding that perfect book or catching a whiff of the classic library scent we all know and love. Gone are the days when books were just for the nerds and outcasts. Today, us bibliophiles are able to stand proud and tall in front of the rest of the world and proclaim how much we love the handsome Peeta Mellark or relate to the strength of Katniss Everdeen.

And as much as I love pages of words sewn together in beautiful sentences, I equally adore anything girly. That, of course, points directly to my Achilles Tendon in any drug store or Target, nail polish. If a newly released hard cover novel is my Whiskey Sour, then a brand new bottle of nail polish is a perfectly aged Port. A stylishly manicured set of finger nails is just like that striking book cover that catches your eye from across the Barnes and Noble.

I have come to the conclusion that it is time for my loves of both nail lacquer and literature to find a home, together, on this blog. Here go my adventures in nail art inspired by the beauty in the books I read. 

Welcome to Novels and Nail Polish. Happy Reading!