The Polished Bookworms: March 2016

 Purchased By Me / Giveaway Prize / Press Sample 

Hi guys, I hope you're all doing well. Today I have another TPB mani to share with you. The book chosen for March was The Utterly Uninteresting & Unadventurous Tales of Fred, The Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes. I was inspired by Krystal dressing up like a devil for the high school reunion. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the book like I thought I would. I'm not sure if it was because I listened to the audiobook instead of reading it myself, but my library didn't have a copy of it. Fred was a bit annoying though, lol, but that's just my opinion. Well, anyways let's get to the mani.

I started off with black as my base color on my index and pinky, a reddish-black jelly on my ring finger, and a red glitter polish on my middle finger. Afterwards, I began to paint a devil tail on my pinky, first with white acrylic paint and then with red. I did the same thing for the pitchfork, the only problem was that the middle part was supposed to be longer than the sides but I forgot and noticed after I had already top coated. So yeah, lol. With black paint I outlined my ring nail and added criss-cross lines, then added the lips charm. For my glitter nail, I just sponged on the red glitter all over the nail and added one coat of the black/gray glitter, plus a rhinestone to add a bit more to the look.

Close-Up:

So what do you think? I wasn't happy with this mani, but I hope you guys like it.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time.
-Ana

Products Used:
Black: Wet N Wild "Black Creme"
Red Glitter: Wet N Wild "Make Them Boys Go Loco"
Silver/Gray Glitter: Wet N Wild "Black Metal Magic"
Reddish-Black Jelly: Wet N Wild "Under Your Spell"
Top Coat: Love, Angeline "Topped With Love"
Lips Charm: Simply Charmed Nail Art Pucker Up Charm
Rhinestone: Born Pretty Store item #21303

*Wet N Wild "Make Them Boys Go Loco" and Simply Charmed Nail Art Pucker Up Charm were giveaway prizes; Love, Angeline "Topped With Love" was a Press Sample.

The Polished Bookworms: February 2016

 Purchased By Me / Gift / Giveaway Prize / Press Sample 

Hi guys, I'm back with a TPB post. I actually finished the book this time, so hooray! Lol. Anyways, we read Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. I have to say that it was kind of difficult to get through the book because it was pretty violent and graphic. That being the case, I decided to base my mani off the book cover.

I started off with a white base, then followed with a gradient which was done with acrylic paints. I added a layer of top coat over the gradient so I could stamp on my nails. The bubbles and water wave images came from 2 different Bundle Monster plates from their Sun Kissed Collection. I stamped on the water waves with a blue polish first, but it blended into my gradient so I used white so they'd stand out. To make the necklace on my ring finger I picked up an image from a Born Pretty Store plate and took parts of the image away with some tape, then I put top coat over the image on the stamper to create a decal. The heart locket took me a while to make, I took some heart studs and "glued" them together by putting a strip of tea bag to connect them, and sealing it in with top coat. Afterwards, I just painted it with the gold polish and added a final layer of top coat to protect the charm.

I'm so happy with how the mani turned out, especially since I created the little charm myself. It definitely looked much better in real life, but I still hope you liked it.

Close-Up:

Locket Close-Up:

Well thank you so much for stopping by, until next time.
-Ana

Products Used:
White: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"
Gold: Elf Nail Polish "Pot of Gold"
Blue: Lavish Polish "Hydrangeas"
Top Coat: Love, Angeline "Topped With Love"
Bubbles Plate: Bundle Monster BM-505
Waves Plate: Bundle Monster BM-509
Necklace Chain Plate: Born Pretty Store item: #17267
Heart Studs: Born Pretty Store item: #7277

*Lavish Polish "Hydrangeas" and Bundle Monster plates were giveaway prizes; Love, Angeline "Topped With Love" was a Press Sample.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: December 2015

 Purchased By Me / Gift / Press Sample 

Happy Monday guys, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today I have a TPB mani for December's book, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I was unable to read this book so I decided to base my mani on the colors of the book cover instead. I was also inspired by @polishandbeyond on Instagram. She did a beautiful mani that I just had to recreate, but of course, I used different colors to match the book cover. Let's take a look.

I used a dark blue on my index and pinky, gold on my ring finger, and white on my middle finger. Since I was going to add dots, I top coated the white and blue nails so the colors wouldn't run or mix. I used a dotting tool to do the blue dots, and a toothpick to add the gold dots. It worked out perfectly. I let that dry completely, and then added my final top coat. I love how it turned out, it's a simple but beautiful look.

Close-Ups:

With the Book:

Well I hope you guys liked this mani. By the way, we already have the TPB book line up for February-June 2016. You can still join the group if you'd like, the links are below.

The Polished Bookworms: Instagram - Facebook Group - Facebook Page

Like always, thanks for stopping by and until next time.

-Ana

Polishes Used:

White: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"

Blue: Elf Nail Polish "Skinny Jeans"

Gold: Elf Nail Polish "Pot of Gold"

Top Coat: Love, Angeline "Topped With Love"

*Love, Angeline "Topped With Love" was a Press Sample.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: November 2015

 Purchased By Me / Giveaway Prize 

Hi guys, I know this post is long overdue. I'm so mad at myself for not keeping up with my TPB posts like I did in the beginning, but hopefully I'll get better at it again this coming year. Anyways, November's book was P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, and my mani was inspired by the book cover.

I painted on my base color and used acrylic paints for everything else. I added an envelope on my ring finger, and white dots on the rest of my nails. Once the paint dried, I added a coat of top coat. Unfortunately, the top coat left some bubbles behind, which you'll see more clearly on the envelope close-up below.

Close-Up:

The last picture came out very dark and I couldn't fix it, so I'm sorry. Other than that, I hope you liked the mani, I think it came out pretty cute.

With the Book:

Thanks for stopping by and until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Blue: Wet N Wild "I Need A Refresh-Mint"
Top Coat: Glisten & Glow "HK Girl Glossy Top Coat"

*Glisten & Glow "HK Girl" was a giveaway prize.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: October 2015

 Purchased By Me / Gift / Giveaway Prize 

Hey guys, sorry for the huge delay with this post. I have not finished October's book just yet, but decided to do a mani anyways. I was really enjoying it, but got kind of busy and I stopped reading. October's read was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I took inspiration from the jewel that was talked about, the Sea of Flames, it was described as a beautiful blue stone with a hint of red at its center.

I started off with a white base to make the colors pop, and did a circular gradient with blue and red polishes over that. Once I was done with the gradient, I sponged on a red glitter jelly polish over the red, and a blue glitter jelly polish over some of the blue. I'm so happy that I did because it ended up looking so much more beautiful. It also gives it more depth. Last thing to do was top coat of course. I love how this came out, and I hope it was worth the wait guys.

Close-Ups:

With the Book:

Thank you for stopping by, and until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"
Sinful Colors "Keira Blu"
Elf Nail Polish "Skinny Jeans"
Elf Nail Polish "Smokin Hot"
Stardust Polish "Angry Angel"
Stardust Polish "Kinda Jazzy"
Glisten & Glow "HK Girl Glossy Top Coat"

*Glisten & Glow "HK Girl" and Stardust Polish "Kinda Jazzy" were giveaway prizes

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: September 2015

 Giveaway Prize* 

Hi guys! It's that time again. September's read was Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler. I have to tell you that I wasn't that excited about it because it's a sort of autobiography, that alone just made me not want to read it. For some reason that just makes me think the book will be boring, lol. Well I began to read it and I was actually quite enjoying it, but I wasn't able to finish it. Unfortunately, I put it off for too long and my copy expired. I do intend on finishing it, so once again I'm waiting for a copy. Haha. Since I didn't read much, (maybe 3 chapters or so) I didn't know what on earth I'd be doing my mani on. I started to think about what little I read and came up with this.

Amy talked about that little voice we all have that insults and criticizes us. I know by experience that that little voice can be mean, but we have to do our best and ignore it and love ourselves just the way we are. That's the reason I added the be[you]tiful to my nails. On the nail where it says "you", I used Berry Sorbet by Reverie Nail Lacquer as my base, a beautiful jelly polish with glitter. The rest of my nails were a different purple and Berry Sorbet represented us, that we're each different in our own ways, which is what makes us beautiful and unique. The letters were painted with acrylic paint. I know they're not perfect and I tried to fix them with the toothpick trick, but I guess the polish wasn't completely dry and it wouldn't let me scratch off the mistakes, so I did my best to make them look somewhat decent. I also ended up doing some glitter placement with glitter Michelle (Reverie's owner) sent me when I ordered from her. It gave it a little something extra, and made it more pretty.

Holding Reverie Nail Lacquer "Berry Sorbet":

Close-Ups:

Remember, you can join The Polished Bookworms if you'd like. I've linked the pages below.

The Polished Bookworms: Instagram - Facebook Group - Facebook Page

With the Book:

Well I hope you guys like what I came up with. Stay tuned for next month's TPB post, we'll be reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. As always, thanks for stopping by and until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Purple Creme: Lavish Polish "Tulips"
Purple Jelly: Reverie Nail Lacquer "Berry Sorbet"
Top Coat: Glisten & Glow "HK Girl Glossy Top Coat"

*Lavish Polish "Tulips", Reverie Nail Lacquer "Berry Sorbet" and Glisten & Glow "HK Girl" were giveaway prizes

The Polished Bookworms: August 2015

 Purchased By Me / Giveaway Prize* 

Hey guys! I'm a few days late, but I finally have my TPB mani. I had lots of ideas on what to base my mani off of, but when the time came to do the nail art, I couldn't decide what to do. I've also been struggling with a bit of nail art block which made it even worse, so I'm glad I was able to come up with something.

So for the month of August, we read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I absolutely loved this book and I highly recommend it. I was instantly intrigued by the magical story of the circus. The author did a wonderful job of describing the circus in detail, it just made you feel like you were there. I took inspiration from the reveurs, which is why I used red in my mani. The swirly black and white nail represents the circus, tents and color scheme of the circus. The black nail with glitter was inspired by the dress Celia wore in her performance. It was described as a black gown with sparkling crystals. Lastly, the tear-shaped stud stands for one of my favorite tents, the Pool of Tears.

Holding Stardust Polish "Angry Angel":

To make the swirl design on my middle finger, I used some nail vinyls from Twinkled T. I first used white polish as my base color and then did a coat of top coat. I let the top coat dry for 15-20 minutes so the vinyls wouldn't lift up the polish. After that, I put down the vinyl and sponged on the black polish. I took off the vinyl when the polish was still wet and let that dry until I could top coat. On the rest of the nails, I just put down my base color and added the glitter/stud. The stud is from a stud wheel I purchased from the BornPrettyStore, it's item #7277 in case you're interested. Remember, you can use my code ANNYW10 for 10% off your purchase.

Side-View:

Close-Ups:

With the Book:

Well I really hope you guys liked this mani as much as I did. Oh and you guys should check out The Night Circus, it's a great read. Now this month we'll be reading Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler. I'm still waiting on my copy from the library, so I hope I can get it in time. If you'd like to join the bookclub, I've added the links below.

The Polished Bookworms: Instagram - Facebook Group - Facebook Page

Thank you very much for stopping by, and until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Red: Stardust Polish "Angry Angel"
Black: Wet N Wild "Black Creme"
White: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"
Glitter Topper: Wet N Wild "Kaleidoscope"
Top Coat: Glisten & Glow "HK Girl Glossy Top Coat"

*Twinkled T vinyls and HK Girl Glossy Top Coat were a giveaway prize

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: July 2015

 Gift / Purchased By Me / Giveaway Prize* 

Hi guys! I can't believe it's already time for another TPB mani. Anyway, July's read was Along Came A Spider by James Patterson. It was a pretty long book, I felt like I'd never finish it in time. Lol! But I did, and I felt so accomplished. It was a good read, and it has a twist which I suspected since I've seen a bit of the movie. Actually my dad was watching it, and I happened to see a piece of it, haha. But yeah, I won't say what happens so I won't spoil it for anyone.

I had no idea what I was going to do for my mani. I thought about the many events in the story, but did not know how to depict them. So, I decided I was just going to do the cover art. I did the gradient from the cover, and changed my mind about adding the house and spider from the cover. Instead, I got out some spider temporary tattoos and went with that. I added spiders and spiderwebs over the gradient, and it came out ok. I had some difficulty with the temporary tattoos this time around for some reason, so some of the spiders' legs didn't transfer on right. To correct that, I went in with my brush and some black acrylic paint. To finish the mani I used a matte top coat, I thought it'd look much better that way.

Close-Ups:

With the Book:

Oh, and if you'd like to join the book club, you can. I've linked the pages below in case you're interested.

The Polished Bookworms: Instagram - Facebook Group - Facebook Page

Well thanks for stopping by, I hope you all enjoyed this short post. Until next time, bye.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Purple: Beauty Concepts "No Name"
Pink: Wet N Wild "Dreamy Poppy"
Yellow: Lavish Polish "Daffodils"*
Matte: Wet N Wild "Matte Top Coat"

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: June 2015

Hi guys! It's time for another TPB mani, and I did it on time this month. Hooray! Lol. Anyways, this month we read The Giver by Lois Lowry. I have to say I enjoyed this book, it kept me interested until the end. The thing I didn't realize about the book though, was that it's part of a series, so it was left with a cliffhanger sort of ending. I hope to continue the series, because I really want to know what happens to the characters.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
What really stuck with me was the fact that the world the characters were living in was deprived of color. The main character, Jonas, was fascinated when he learned of them. I can't imagine living in a world without color, it seemed like a very plain and boring world. They also had a system of how they lived, and many rules. Families of 4, which were picked out by those in charge. Adults paired off and given 2 children. They'd be together until the children grew up, and left the parents to work and contribute to their community. There was a lot of talk concerning the elderly, people who violated rules, and newborns that weren't developing well. It was always said that they were released, which honestly didn't sound good to me at all, and it was later explained that "released" meant getting killed. Killing them off to not have to deal with them was just horrible to me. All to keep their world much simpler and easier. These kind if books make me think about how it'd be if we actually did live in a world like that. These books are usually interesting, but scary as well. Anyways, here's what I came up with for my mani.

My mani was inspired by the whole concept of color, as well as the Christmas memory the Giver gave Jonas where he learned of family and love. I saw it like a kind of coloring book for Jonas, since he little by little began to add color to his world, hence the watercolor look. I painted an apple because that was the first thing that Jonas saw with color. Then I added the river, I left some of it colorless since that's how he originally viewed it before knowing about color. I painted the rainbow the Giver showed Jonas in a memory, and the heart represents the feeling of love in the Christmas memory. All the painting was done with watered down acrylic paint and a brush, in case you were wondering.

Holding Sinful Colors "Snow Me White":

With the Book:

Well thank you for stopping by, I hope you liked the mani. Stay tuned for next month's book choice, we'll be reading Along Came A Spider by James Patterson. I'm actually still waiting for my library copy to be available, I just hope I get it in time. Also, if you're interested in joining The Polished Bookworms, just follow the links below.

The Polished Bookworms: Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram

Until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
White: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"
Top Coat: LACC Beauty "2013 Top Coat"

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: May 2015

Happy Monday guys, I know I'm late, but it's time for another TPB post. May's book choice was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I haven't finished the book yet, and unfortunately, I'm not enjoying it very much. Nevertheless, I do plan on finishing it when I find some time. Who knows, maybe it'll get better.

For my mani, I decided to do a New York skyline because the story is set in New York. So I started off with a coat of white polish to make the sunset gradient for my background. I used all polish for the gradient, and this time I changed my technique. I didn't get many pieces of the sponge stuck to my nail this time, which is an improvement. I didn't dab the sponge on, I rolled it from one side to the other on my nail. Not sure if it makes sense, but it was kind of like when people stamp on a design. Well I did that with the sponge, and it was still very messy, but the end result was decent. The one thing I did not like was that the colors didn't really blend the best. I just need to keep practicing. Well anyways, I topped off the gradient with top coat to blend the colors a bit better and to seal in the gradient. I painted the skyline with black acrylic paint and a brush. Once it all dried, I added a coat of top coat to seal it all in.

Glossy:

Matte:

Glossy:

Matte:

With the Book Cover:

So what do you guys think? I'm actually very proud because the bridge and statue of liberty were pretty hard to do since the details were tiny. It's not perfect, but it looks okay. If you'd like to join this wonderful group, the links are below.

The Polished Bookworms: Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram

Thanks for stopping by everyone, I hope you enjoyed this short post. Stay tuned for this month's read, The Giver by Lois Lowry. Until next time.

-Ana

Polishes Used:
White: Wet N Wild "French White Creme"
Yellow: NYC "Copabanana"
Yellow-Orange: Wet N Wild "Sunny Side Up"
Orange: NYC "Times Square Tangerine Creme"
Top Coat: LACC Beauty "2013 Top Coat"
Matte Top Coat: Wet N Wild "Matte Top Coat"

An InLinkz Link-up

The Polished Bookworms: April 2015

Hey guys, it's time for another TPB mani. This month's read was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Confession time: I didn't read the book this month. *Gasp!* I only read a chapter or so, and never finished it. But, I didn't want to completely fail so I went ahead and did a mani inspired by the book cover. Lol. Therefore, I must ask you guys not to spoil it for me. Well anyways, this doesn't mean I won't be reading it. It'll be a challenge but I'm going to try to read April's and May's book choices this coming month. I don't want to miss out on any of the books, even if I have to read them all late. So, since I have no idea what the book is about, I used the book cover as inspiration for my mani. I like how they turned out, especially because they're galaxy nails.

For this mani, I first put on my trusty diy glue peel off base coat. I then did a coat of Wet N Wild "Bijou Blue", I waited until it dried and then added blobs of different shades of blue on my nail. I cut up some pieces from a plastic baggy to place over the blobs of polish and pressed down so they could blend together. I'm not sure what the technique is called, but Claire from @practise_makes_perfect on Instagram recently posted about it, and she called it the saran wrap technique. So I did that and once blended, I removed the plastic and it left a pretty cool blend of blues. I let that dry and sponged on white across all my nails, and sponged on WNW "Bijou Blue" and Black Label Nails "Frosty's Mistress" over so it wouldn't be too white. After that, I added a coat of WNW "Kaleidoscope" for the sparkly stars. The acrylic paints came next, I used a toothbrush and the white paint to splatter on some stars, and also added some with a toothpick. Then, I began to paint the little planets. First with white so the colors would pop more, and once I had the shape painted on, I added the colors. I let it all dry and added top coat.

With the Book:

I loved how the galaxy mani came out on its own, check it out, here it is without the planets and stars.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post. If you'd like to follow and join our Book Club, I have the links below.

The Polished Bookworms: Instagram, Facebook Group, Facebook Page

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for next month's book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Until next time.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
Wet N Wild (Wild Shine) "Blue Moon"
Wet N Wild (Wild Shine) "Bijou Blue"
Frankenpolish I made with different polishes I named "Elsa"
Wet N Wild (Wild Shine) "French White Creme"
Wet N Wild (Wild Shine) "Kaleidoscope"
Black Label Nails "Frosty's Mistress"
Wet N Wild (Wild Shine) "Matte Top Coat"
LACC "2013 Top Coat"

Acrylic Paints Used:
Apple Barrel White
Apple Barrel Lime Tree
Craftsmart Grey
Craftsmart Holiday Red
Craftsmart Pool Blue
Craftsmart Plum

An InLinkz Link-up