The Liebster Award & Nominations

"The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome."

I've been nominated by Oanh at Indefinite Style for the Liebster Award. 

The rules are:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

Here are 11 things about me:
1. Right now I speak only English fluently, but am learning Italian. After that, I'd like to go back and polish up my French and learn Spanish as well.
2. I've only left North America once, on a trip to Italy.
3. Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday because my whole family on my mom's side gets together.
4. I'm pretty sure the first day of autumn used to be on my birthday (September 21st), but has since migrated to the 22nd. This really cheeses me off.
5. I adore mystery novels and am excited to have recently discovered the neo-noir film genre.
6. I love television shows which demand the contestants/actors display some sort of natural skill, e.g. "So You Think You Can Dance" and "The Glee Project."
7. My father is an artist and graphic designer which has given me very specific tastes in aesthetics. For example, I adored the art deco-inspired posters for the film "Black Swan."
8. Although not a natural-born comic book nerd, I do love Captain America. One of my friends often teases me by sending me .gif images of Steve Rogers' (a.k.a. Chris Evans') backside from the opening boxing scene in "The Avengers."
9. Florence + the Machine is my favourite band, and I am longing for the day I get to see them in concert.
10. As a child, I wished for red hair. I'm pretty much the opposite of Anne Shirley.
11. The most enjoyable sports I've ever gotten to try are fencing, boxing, and archery.

Indefinite Style's Questions:
1. What's your most worn item at the moment? This is between a white ballet leotard-style t-shirt (which goes with everything), and my coral striped shirt from Hollister (I love the fit, colour, everything).
2. Name one place you want to visit. It's hard to pick just one, but a place I'm definitely already planning to visit is Venice, or Venezia in Italian. I'll be travelling back to Italy once I've got my degree and would like to spend some time in the more northern cities, as the last time I went I hit mainly central Italy. Other than that, the Harry Potter theme park, hands down.
3. Favourite store/online store? Forever 21 is definitely the store I most consistently buy clothing from. MAC is the store I'm most excited to be in (I could honestly live in there). Anthropologie is the online store I most frequently browse through, but I've never bought anything from them because I have no money :)
4. Best purchase of the month. My burgundy cords from Joe Fresh. They fit amazingly and were only $19 (Canadian). So exciting!
5. What is one blog that you check religiously? Definitely Cee's blog Coco and Vera. She is one of the classiest dressers I've ever seen, while still having a style which is not unrealistic for the average woman.
6. What is your go-to outfit when you don't know what to wear? Either a nice pair of jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of interesting detail and a bright colour, or the same kind of top with any white bottoms. I've always got to be wearing some sort of rich colour. 
7. What is the newest beauty item you've tried? At the moment, my Sonia Kashuk blush in "Flamingo," which I picked up after reading rave reviews. For a beautiful colour at a really good price ($8 American maybe), it definitely doesn't disappoint.
8. What is your dream job? I would love to work either in public relations or at a publishing house. I love to read, write, and speak in front of people. Being surrounded by literature would be a dream.
9. Name an item you can't live without? I might have to be really arrogant here and say there's really no material thing I couldn't do without. I'm not at all addicted to modern technology, so I guess. . . soap? That's pretty essential, right?
10. What is your favourite season? Why? Definitely autumn, because it's when all the best things happen. School starts (yay English!), it's when I persist in thinking my birthday is (see #4 of things about me), there are fall fairs, crunchy leaves, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and lovely sweaters.
11. What is one thing you wish people knew about you? I think there are very few things that can't be achieved with respect and honesty. I will always act and make decisions based on these two qualities. Also, I once had a fish named Zeus.

My Questions:

1. If you had the chance to style any celebrity, who would it be?

2. What are your favourite physical and personality traits in yourself?

3. Name one distinct phase you went through clothing-wise (e.g. constantly wearing the same shirt, being all about tie-dye [please don't answer that one!]).

4. What is one goal you have for your blog?

5. What is the first thing you remember wanting to be when you grew up?

6. Do you have any odd talents?

7. What is one item you wear (makeup, clothing, or accessory) that one of your family members, friends, or significant other can't stand?

8. In a group of individuals representing cliches, which one would most suit you: the sweet one, the smart one, the funny one, the shy one, the center of attention, the tomboy, the clumsy one, the artist, or the [insert other more applicable cliche here]?

9. Is there a fictional world (either film or book) you would like to be a part of? Which one, and why?

10. Which individual or band (alive or dead, or split up) would you kill (not literally) to get tickets to see?

11. Name one thing that you would love to have in your wardrobe/makeup collection that is totally impractical (due to the limited number of times or places you could wear it, due to price, due to it belonging to a celebrity [helloooo "Thriller" jacket!] etc.).

Nominations:

1. Little girl, big thoughts

2. The Tyrannosaur 

3. The Treasure Chest

4. Nestled

5. EleanorGrace 

6. L. loves to share

7. Obsessed About Beauty and Fashion

8. Sophia x

9. Style Rhapsody

10. Confetti Letters 

11. Betsy Boat 

Thanks again to Indefinite Style!

-C

De nails

My, my, my, this post's title looks almost normal, doesn't it? That's because you're missing the necessary audio accompaniment. This very short quotation is derived, again, from Shakespeare's Henry V. In the scene from which it comes, the French princess, Catherine, is attempting to learn some basic English terms in case of a British takeover. Naturally, she opts for the most useful of words: naming the hand, the fingers, the nails, etc. Obviously I'm kidding about the practicality of studying the names of only a few physical attributes during a major military attack, but I thought that the focus on purely aesthetic qualities wasn't a terrible fit for a blog often centred around clothing and makeup. The real humour of the scene I've described is in Catherine's rough pronunciation of the English words she's taught. . . hence "de nails" instead of "the nails" (in both the Olivier and Branagh film versions of the play, "nails" is also said more like "niles"). Likely not the most politically correct interpretation of the French, but the whole point of the play was to make them look foolish and portray the English as the deserving victors. You can also tell that I'm not trying to insult anyone by proxy since Catherine's English likely sounds equally poor as my Italian when I speak it to my professor in class. I'm sure anyone who has taken grade 9 French can relate.

Now that we've wandered a sufficient distance down the Shakespeare trail, let me get back to the real topic of this post. Nail polish. We love to put it on, we hate to take it off, we pretty much want to maim or seriously injure (phrase cred to Dobby the house elf) anyone who causes it to come to any harm. I've had a love-hate relationship with my nails. They're strong and they grow very fast, which many people of lesser strength, short nails, will no doubt be envious of. The issue for me is that this rapid growth (that sounds a bit gross, actually) makes it difficult to text, play the piano, or accomplish other tasks for which the use of the actual finger pad is required. My solution has always been to just cut my nails as short as I could (without inflicting pain), but I also like to paint them and once they're cut that short, it becomes quite a trial. Getting nail polish all over the ends of your fingers is not a very fun time. Plus, you then have to get the polish remover out to fix everything up and the whole process ends up taking twice as long as you'd planned!

In an attempt to sidestep my previous issues with the clipping/painting of my nails, I've been letting them stay long for a little while, and I'm actually enjoying the change. The only thing now is that I've realized I need new polish. It's not that mine is incredibly old or anything, but I find that I tend to go back to my three favourite colours (Sephora by OPI's "Special Request" and "Opening Night," and China Glaze's "Midnight Kiss") time and again, and I'd really like to try something different. Below are a few of the polishes I'm currently considering. Have you tried any of these? Are there any colours you've been loving that you'd like to recommend (especially if you know of a nice light pink)?

Essie's "Flawless"

Essie's "A Shine of the Times"

Essie's "Mademoiselle"

OPI's "Italian Love Affair"

OPI's "Gouda Gouda Two Shoes"

Julep's "Hayden"

Butter London's "Knackered"

-C