Happy Thanksgiving!

Well it's not quite Thanksgiving in the States yet but it's the fourth Thursday in China, so it's Thanksgiving for us! Honestly, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because there's no gift-giving. As much as I love Christmas, sometimes the gift-giving takes away from the true meaning of Christmas. There's something to be said about a holiday that makes people reflect about what they're thankful for in life. It's a very philosophical holiday, which I love.

Well, I've been saving this picture for forever, because this polish just screams Thanksgiving to me, Piggy Polish's Harvest Moon. To be honest, I know it's the name of a video game but I've never played it. But there's just something about this orangey brownish weird color that makes me want to dig into a pumpkin pie.

So what am I thankful of? The usual: family, friends, my health (though sometimes my lungs like to turn against me). I'm also thankful though for YOU, my readers, who have even decided to stick with me through my four month polish dry spell, lol. I will be even more thankful when I return back home to California and reunite with my massive nail polish collection.

Also, reader Brooke asked me about how to apply chunky glitters, like the NYC one I used for my 4h of July mani. The way I usually do it is by tilting the bottle slightly and then swirling the brush around before lifting the brush out of the bottle. Usually I'm able to get more of the chunky glitters. Hope this helps!

I will be having Chinese food this year probably instead of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, so eat lots for me!

Since I also know I have a few international readers too, I have to note that this whole Mumbai situation is distressing and sad. My sincerest condolences to anyone who has been affected by this.

Obamaramamania!

Wow, look at all the press coverage for Obama!

Being overseas during election year has been tough...I'm not going to say who I supported or anything because that's not really the point of this blog! I will say though that it's been really cool seeing history being made as the American presidency crosses an important milestone. In China they were playing the election results and stuff even on the public buses, so that was cool.

To celebrate my home country, I did allow myself to buy another polish. Pics will be coming on that, but it's very patriotic. Speaking of which, I do miss my large polish collection but I know that if I had that with me, this is exactly the mani I would do:

Readers might remember this pic from my Fourth of July post, but this is one layering combo that I never tire of. It kind of just screams America =)

Vamping It Up

Do you ever find yourself in "color moods"? It happens to me all the time, where I get into the habit of wearing pink five times in a row, and then switch to navy blue, and then I get a craving for some other color. Sometimes I get into seasonal moods too, where I wear brighter colors in summer and I wear more darks in the winter.

Dark colors can always look classy though. Take a cue from newlywed Scarlett Johansson, who was at last night's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's" benefit for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Photo Source: JustJared

Scarlett did a great job contrasting her nail color with what she was wearing Pairing short, polished black nails not only makes her nails stand out, but also draws attention to what she's wearing too because of the color contrast.

Usually I'm not a fan of being too matchy when it comes to polish but she did it really well here. I think the peep-toe helped, as you don't see too much of it.

For more information on the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is the largest private funder in the U.S. for Parkinson's disease, you can visit visit www.michaeljfox.org

Re: Minx Nails

Memory jog: this is in reference to this post

Hey guys, I e-mailed Minx about pricing, and it turns out that it's not a set price. Here's what their great PR person said:

We do not have recommended prices for the salons to charge for Minx, and it varies tremendously across the country. Some salons may offer simply Minx application with no accompanying manicure, while other salons may put together an hour "Minx-a-cure" involving reflexology massage, cuticle trimming, lotions, etc. together with the application. Also, you can imagine that salons in smaller cities charge less than those in expensive areas like Los Angeles or Manhattan. Because it varies so much, you may want to call two or three salons in your area and just find the average.

If you go online to www.minxnails.com, they have a Salons & Spas button where you can look up the nearest place to you that offers a Minx manicure. If anyone gets one, please share the experience!

More about Minx

This is the first time this week that I've had some extra time, so I decided to follow-up on my post about Minx nails

RIP, some nail pictures

I'm so sad! I got a new camera for my birthday, a Canon SD790. But, it turned out that it came broken so I now have to wait a bit longer to get it. I really like it so far, obviously one of the most important factors for me is the camera's macro mode, since that's what I use to take nail pictures. Zoom is also important to me too, and it seems to have decent zoom and macro modes, so we'll see!

Anyway, I popped in my 2GB SD card from my Kodak into the Canon to take some pictures before I realized the Canon was broken. Unfortunately, the Canon did an override or something and erased all the pictures on my SD card before the 25th. I feel stupid because I didn't realize that shuffling SD cards from one camera to another would cause such issues.

I downloaded the trial version of Card Recovery and it turns out that my pictures CAN be recovered. Of course, they tell me that I can only save my recovered pictures if I buy the full version, which is stupid and heartbreaking. Seriously, you're going to give me all this hope but then take that away from me unless I pay $35.00? No thanks...I'm not going to spend that much money on a program that I will only use once. I'm not that desperate.

I did have a decent amount of nail pictures on the card, but I will still try to find a way to recover it. Just know that there's been a setback for recent nail pictures.

Since it was my birthday though, I splurged and got two more nail polishes, a teal one and a green one =)

Blue Laguna Beach

The weather is finally turning cold here in Shanghai, which makes me happy. One thing that I've missed the most about Norcal is AUTUMN. It's my favorite season because I love seeing the leaves change colors and falling. It's so gorgeous.

Anyway, summer is long gone but this is perfect polish season, as all the limited edition summer colors are being discounted. One color to look out for is L'Oreal's Blue Laguna, which was a limited edition color over the summer for L'Oreal. It's a pretty blue color with some purple tones. Normally I don't like frosty polishes either but this was a gorgeous bright color without being too overwhelming. Here it is in the shade and in sunlight:



It really reminds me of the beach, which I also miss a lot! This picture was taken in Californian sun too...there's really nothing like it. Anyway, this picture shows Blue Laguna in three coats, although it was opaque in two. As with most frosts, you can see some brush strokes up close, but they were pretty minimal.

100th Post!

I was catching up on some beauty blog reads (still no access to ALU, Scrangie, Polish Addict, etc.), and found two quizzes on BellaSugar about nail polish history. Put your knowledge to the test!

Nail Polish History Quiz Pt. 1
(I got 6/10 on this one)

Nail Polish History Quiz Pt. 2
(I got 4/6 on this one)

Both quizzes were interesting, I knew some and guessed on a lot but it was quite informative! Well, it's been, oh my, about half a year and 100 posts....I'm looking forward to what the next 100 will bring =)

Change Myself

This weekend I got a once-in a lifetime opportunity to go see one of my favorite Chinese singers, 王力宏, or Lee Hom as he's known in English. The title of the post is the English translation of his last album title. He's super talented and super cute, and I paid a little less than $60 USD for tickets. My dad seemed to think that that was expensive, except he probably forgot how much I paid for Christina Aguilera and Spice Girls tickets...and the seats weren't too bad, all about the same. I wish the screens were bigger, but the acoustics were good. And Shanghai Stadium is HUGE! My camera never takes good pictures at night but here's a fairly ok one of the concert:
I just need to see my favorite band, Keane, performing sometime and then my life, concert-wise, will be complete.

Anyway, I've been getting lazy about my nails since I've been sick on-and-off ever since I got back from my National Week holiday to Beijing and Dalian. But, the good news is that I do indeed have new pictures of a polish I got here in Shanghai called Rose Sheer. Not really the color you'd expect though....

Sorry for the extreme cloudiness in these pictures, I thought I fixed that with Picasa but it's just the angling of my camera and the smoggy sun

I did nail decals for the first time ever!

I didn't do so well on the nail decals this time but my ones right now aren't too bad. Anyway, yes the name really is Rose Sheer, I double-checked the label and the box. It's actually black with mostly a great olive-green shimmer but also has some blue shimmer. It's subtle but I like it. The application wasn't too bad at all, but the thing that disappointed me the most was the richness of the color. It's not exactly the most opaque of blacks, and definitely not as rich as Red Earth's polish. We'll see though.

Seventh Sense retails for 68 RMB (about $10USD) and can be found at Sasa stores in Shanghai.

Minx Nails

As you guys know, one of my weaknesses is the shallow world of entertainment- I frequent celebrity gossip sites every day (then try to justify it by spending lots of time on BBC.com, ecogeek.org, and newsweek.com). Anyway, I was reading an blurb on JustJared.com about Minx Nails, which recently did Beyonce's nails for the music video for her new single, "Single Ladies. " You can read the post here. I was interested about Minx Nails based on what Jared posted, so I decided to contact them directly.

Their PR person, Janice Miller, couldn't have been nicer, and I got to find out a lot about Minx Nails. Basically, it's going to change the face of fake nails forever (in a good way). Unlike a traditional nail polish, Minx is applied in polymer strips that are heated and them applied with pressure onto the nail, where it then cools as a type of shrink wrap. The benefits of there not being an actual "polish" is that because it's a polymer, there is no chipping or smudging, and no drying time is needed. Plus, there are no fumes.

Something else that really stands out about Minx is that it doesn't require nail polish remover to remove, nor does it require prying the strips from your nails. Or soaking in any type of crazy solution. The simple way to remove Minx? Heat. Here's what their official website (MinxNails.com) advises:

Removing Your Minx Although Minx can last a awhile, you will eventually have to remove it as your nails will start to grow out. Do NOT use nail polish remover! We are proud that Minx is a green product and does not require chemicals to apply or to remove. We want to do our part in keeping mother earth healthy and happy. When you want to remove your Minx (so that you can put on a new set, of course), place your nails under a heat source (a hair dryer will do) and work loose an edge of Minx near a lateral nail fold. Slowly peel Minx off the nail plate going from side to side (not top to bottom). Apply a nail moisturizer when you are done, and have a back rub and a cocktail while you are at it.

The application process is similar to those stick-on nail strips that Avon and Incoco sell, but Minx is offered in lots of different colors, even metallics (which is a huge selling point for celebs). Or, they can be custom-made, as Janice told me that currently Beyonce and her sister Solange are sporting "OBAMA" Minx nails of black with silver letters. (To be politically equal because I try to be fair, I suppose you could customize them for McCain as well, with the Mc part on the thumb. If one really wanted to.)

Of course with such a high-tech and cool product, I admit I was a bit afraid to ask for the price. But, I am curious so I'll probably save up to try it sometime when I get back to the States. I love my polish, but it's interesting to try different products. Not to mention if Minx really does live up to it's claim of being chip-free, it would be the perfect solution for chipped nails on short vacations or especially business trips. I can sense this being a powerful asset for corporate women who are always on the go but want to keep a polished image.

Here's a picture of what "Golden Lightning' looks like (the same color Beyonce wore in her music video):

Photo credit: Michael Marker
Source: Janice Miller, Minx Nails

What do you guys think? It's a neat concept for sure though. I know it can't replace nail polish entirely (nor would I want it to, otherwise I'd have to find something else to blog about!), but I think as a once-in-a-while splurge, this could be a good short-term investment. It's definitely the most gentle alternative to acrylics or other fake nails, as there's no drilling and no industrial-strength glue. Alternatively, if anyone's tried it, I'd love to hear your experience.

Ok and as a sidenote, anyone who has a Nintendo DS and a R4 card, download Taiko No Tatsujin. It's such a fun game, and I've been obsessed with it. I love rhythm games, because my hand-eye coordination has only improved from playing video games lol.