Sunday Confessions

Yay, I'm back! And with my return some confessions:

Via

1. I had a dream about Essie's Fall 2012 collection, which is a little sad. But look at this amazingness...now I just have to wait for my local CVS to get the collection and I'll be set.

2. I have nothing to wear as the temperatures cool off. I thought I'd be going home sometime in September so I could pick up all my sweaters then, but it turns out I can't. Guess I'll be the only one on campus still wearing a mini skirt at the beginning of October. Gonna be outfits like this for the next couple weeks, just with jeans.

Via

3. My roommates are now all obsessed with Downton Abbey! And we pretty much want to live there--if anything, for the clothes and for people to cook all our meals for us. Apparently Season 3 premieres in the UK tonight, but the US doesn't get it until January.

Via

4. J.K. Rowling's new book is coming out soon, and I don't know how I feel about it. On the one hand, even though it's not Harry Potter, I think she's a great writer and I want to read something else from her. On the other hand--what if it's bad?

Via

5. I cleaned up the beach next to my apartment on Saturday for Ecology class extra credit. My favorite items found? A planter, full cans of beer and an iPod Nano (that still works!) Guys, the rocks are not your personal garbage, just so you know (but thanks for the iPod)...

Any of you have any Sunday confessions? Cheers to a new week!

5 Things to Do Before the Olympics!

The Olympic Opening Ceremonies are TONIGHT! 6:30 pm for those of us in the states watching on TV. I'm so excited, but trying to keep my hopes down...the opening ceremony for Beijing was so amazing that I have to keep telling myself that nothing will ever top that. But I did hear that Lord Voldemort is making an appearance...not even kidding. Harry Potter is gonna be in the opening ceremony!

I've been doing it up for the Olympics, and I made a list of the Top 5 Things you absolutely MUST do before the games begin!

5 Things to Do Before the Olympics by preppypremed featuring essie nailpolish

1. Download Olympics-Related Apps on your Smartphone
--Check out this infograph for a list of the best Olympic apps. I already have a bunch of these on my phone.

2. Write down a list of all the events you MUST watch
--For those of us in the U.S., go to NBC's Olympics website to check out the TV schedules. I made sure to write down all the nights I wanted to tune in at primetime, as well as what events I want to stream live on my laptop.


3. Paint you nails in your nation's colors!
--I'm alternating my nails in red and blue to represent the U.S., then painting my ring fingernails with white and a gold-sparkling topcoat. I'll be sure to show you all pictures!


4. Make an English meal for the Opening Ceremonies:
--I'm making fish and chips (out of a box...sorry, my cooking skills are below par) and this English trifle to celebrate the Opening Ceremony like any Londoner would.


5. Pre-program the Opening Ceremony on your DVR:
--Since the Opening Ceremony of Beijing was so amazing, be sure to record this year's Opening Ceremony as well. Odds are, it's something you'll want to see again and again.

Are you all excited as I am? Let the games begin (I want to pull from The Hunger Games and say "and may the odds be ever in your favor!")

The Best Summer Nail Polish Colors

One of the things about living in a dorm is that I don't have room to bring all of my nail polish with me to college (or maybe I just don't want to lose any...). Because of this, I split my nail polish collection in accordance to the seasons.

This is my abbreviated summer nail polish collection. Since there's only about 7 or 8 weeks left of summer, I chose my top 6 favorite summery polishes to bring to Chicago with me.

From left to right [links to my swatches]:
1. Essie "Pink Parka"
2. Essie "Orange, It's Obvious"
3. OPI "I Eat Mainely Lobster"
4. Essie "Peach Daiquiri"
5. Essie "Tour de Finance"
6. Sephora "Teeny Bikini"

I hadn't tried the OPI yet, so I decided to put it on today and see if it was the perfect coral my mom said it was. See, I kinda stole this bottle from her and brought it with me to college...I got a few angry texts from her about it.

Here's my swatch:

Sorry, but I will never be one of those bloggers who can hold the nail polish bottle like that while showing off their freshly painted nails. That's just too much coordination. My fingers can't handle that kind of flexibility, I guess, because that's as good of a picture as I could get!

What polishes are you loving right now?
--Becky

Beauty Tip: Drying Nail Polish with Cold Water

I don't know about you, but waiting for my nail polish to dry is absolute torture. I just don't like to sit still, and I have a problem where I'll touch my nails to see if they're still wet. As you can imagine, from this they always get smudged, and look like a seven-year-old did them.

SO I was excited to find on Pinterest an easy way to dry your nail polish in three minutes. All you do is submerge your nails into ice-cold water for three minutes while they're wet. According to Pinterest, they'll dry immediately and the polish that got on your skin will peel off.

I had to try this one out for myself, because it sounded like a life-changing tip.

I got my bowl of water and my nail polish ready. The teal is Sephora's "Teeny Bikini", which I got during my time in Rome. The other polish is OPI's "I Eat Mainely Lobster", but I'll save that for a different post.

Right after I did two coats, I slowly put my hand in the ice-cold water bath and set a timer for three minutes. Trust me, those three minutes seem to go on forever--your hand starts getting really cold towards the end.

So...did it work? Not perfectly. As you can see, not all of the polish on my skin peeled off. The nails were somewhat dry, but not completely. The water definitely sped up the process, but it didn't make them instantly dry like Pinterest claimed. I waited another five minutes before putting on a top coat, and then I was done! 


Would I do it again? Probably. Like I said, the water speeds up the drying process. Try it for yourself and see if it works better for you!

Pinteresting Wednesday (2)

It's time for another week of "Pinteresting Wednesday!" For the past few weeks I've been pinning mostly DIY ideas for moving into my apartment (okay, officially it's a dorm, but calling it an apartment makes me feel more independent) next year. I've been pinning a few random things too, though!

Source: mydeco.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: oldegreencupboard.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: cheerfulsimplicity.wordpress.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: adayinthelifeofmisskranz.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: fabfitfun.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: rubymurraysmusings.blogspot.ca via Becky on Pinterest

Source: thehandmadehome.net via Becky on Pinterest

Source: lifeguardpress.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: media-cdn.pinterest.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: si.smugmug.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: themetapicture.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Becky on Pinterest

A Classic Look--Red Nailpolish

Nailpolish has all of a sudden become a HUGE thing in the fashion world. I jumped on the bandwagon the summer before starting college. I went from being the girl who barely knew what a cuticle was to one following nail blogs, walking to CVS to get new colors every other week, and having failed attempts at nail art.

I've done all the funky, trendy colors, but sometimes I just want to go back to the basics: red.

Right now I'm wearing Essie in "Forever Yummy". It's fire-engine red that reminds me of all the red dresses celebrities have been wearing this year at award shows. If I could rock the red lip trend, my lipstick would be this color.

Still, spring is coming soon and my favorite red nail polish isn't going look as nice when the flowers start coming up and the snow melts. I really love the new red that is in Essie's Spring Collection, "Ole Caliente", pictured above. Essie describes it as a red/orange color, but in the bottle it looks red/pink to me. Perfect combination between my two favorite colors!

I also own this red from OPI's 2010 Winter Collection, which had a Switzerland theme, called "So Hot it Berns". Really, when I think of Switzerland I don't think of hotness or red at all, but whatever...OPI just needs to keep up their puns, I guess, even if they don't make any sense. This is more of a brighter, tomato red and makes a statement whenever I wear it.

I was disappointed to find out that China Glaze's upcoming Hunger Games collection won't have any reds in it. Apparently OPI is making a Spiderman collection to tie in with the movie...and that doesn't have any reds in it either. I mean, really. Spiderman is red. When I think of Spiderman, I think red...not green, or white, or any of the other weird colors they have in that collection. 

The point is, I'm a sucker for reds and I'm looking for more. Anyone have any suggestions?

--Becky