Tuesday, June 21, 2011

NOTD: Essie Turquoise and Caicos


So...there is definitely a love-hate relationship with this nail polish. This color was really hyped on Youtube as a great summer color, and I've been wanting to try a mint green nail polish for a while now. I got this while Essie was still on sale at Longs so I got it for about $6.
I was so disappointed with this one! I loved the other Essie nail polish I got so I thought this one would be similar but the formula was just SO hard to work with. Maybe it's just that I'm not good at applying nail polish in the first place, but the consistency was quite runny and very streaky when applied on my nails. I used the usual 2 coats and still found it patchy and streaky as you can see in the picture. I used 3 coats on the ones that looked really bad, but just stuck with two on the rest since I don't plan on wearing this for long.
I love the color and it has the same glossy finish as the other Essie polish I have, which is the only good things I can say about this. I probably won't be using this again. Anyone have suggestions for another mint green nail polish?

Sunday, June 19, 2011

NOTD: Essie- Damsel in a Dress



This was the first Essie nail polish I bought. They recently started carrying it st Target, but I actually got this 20% off at Longs which also has Essie now.
At first glance in the bottle it doesn't really look like anything special (picture doesn't really so it justice =/), but this is a really unique color. Side-by-side in the bottle it looks a lot like OPI's Meet Me on the Star Ferry, but that one is much more shimmery. Damsel in a Dress has subtle shimmer, and is more purple-toned. In some lights it look really purple-ish but in others it looks more burgundy. Very unique and I loved the nice and glossy finish (with no top coat). I couldn't stop looking at my nails! The application could've been better. I found the formula to be quite thick and a little hard to apply especially with the thin brush. Other than that, this is a really pretty color!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

K-Drama Review: 인생은 아름다워 / Life is Beautiful


For the past month or so, I've been completely addicted to this Korean drama called Life is Beautiful. I remember reading about this show on Soompi forums and got hooked after watching the first episode on Mysoju.com. By addicted, I mean I watched the first 20 episodes in 4 days (that's 5 hours a day!) This is not your typical Korean drama with a lot of lying and backstabbing, and is probably one of the most realistic ones I've seen in a while.
The story revolved around a (fairly large) family who runs a pension in Jeju. I have to admit, there are a lot of characters in this show so the first episode is quite confusing, but it does get better as you get to know each character's story line. The main reason this drama caught my attention in my first place was because one of the main story lines in this series revolved around the family's oldest son who is gay. Throughout the show, you see how he struggles dealing with his sexuality and coming out to his family, and dealing with the relationship he is involved in, as well as his partners family. It was really interesting to see how homosexuality is viewed in Korean culture, and I think it is good to see that this drama gained such popularity. This story line was by far my favorite throughout the series because I think I can relate really well to the two characters.
Overall this drama was really well written and acted. It's funny, depressing, romantic and upbeat at the same time. I also like how each episode ends with one character tripping or falling, though I'm not sure what the significance (if any) was. It has a total of 63 episodes and I found a majority of the episodes online at Mysoju.com, although toward the middle of the show I had to download raws with subs because a lot of the links were broken. Anyway, highly recommended! Definitely give this one a chance if you haven't seen it!