Gargantuan Green Grape

From: OPI Brights Collection

 http://olivianneshop.multiply.com/products/listing/10662/OPI_NAIL_POLISH_GARGANTUAN_GREEN_GRAPE

            Last night I attended a Paint Party, I wasn’t able to go to dayglow and this wasn’t 50 dollars, so it was a win in my books. It was extremely fun and worth the casualties I suffered. These casualties include, a pair of old tennis shoes, sequin spandex, a bruised knee, and, to my horror, my nails. While my 40 minute shower and Foam party I crashed after cleaned off almost all of the paint from my body and hair (I did find some paint in my ear this morning, but to be expected) it did not help my nails. Paint tends to stay on nails, and unfortunately it wasn’t a cool splatter effect but rather globs of yellow on my pink nails (ewh). So this morning as I was leaving, I grabbed some nail polish remover and a bottle out of my nail polish drawer.

            I grabbed Gargantuan Green Grape. It’s a light green color with yellow undertones, so not super minty. It is perfect for this nice sunny weather, and I’ll admit I was feeling a little colorless this morning. My only problem with this color is it needs 4 coats, which is a little excessive. But other then that it really does remind me of big, juicy, green grapes. Italy is the number one producer of grapes, with the US coming in third behind China. Now, I was born in the beautiful Napa Valley, California, which is wine country and covered in vineyards. So it might just be me who loves grapes and everything to do with them. I grew up next to vineyards, which is where grapes are grown, mainly for vine making. The Roman Empire invented the techniques for grape growing that we use today, though cultivation of grapes started much earlier then that.

            So while I was sad to see my nails destroyed, I love the new color on my nails, and its connection to my birthplace. Whether or not you’ve been to Napa Valley or even a vineyard hopefully you can still enjoy some grapes with this new nail polish shade!

Dulce de Leche

FROM: OPI’s Classics Collection

When I first heard this color I though of Lychee. My mom loves Lychee, and she must it in her fruit salad, which is apparently a dessert. I really am not a fan of Lychee, the taste isn’t half bad but it is the texture that I just can’t seem to get past. Lychee is a subtropical fruit found in South East Asia and China. It has an outer red skin with a white fruit inside. They are a good source of vitamin C.

After some more research, I was pleased to find out that Dulce de Leche, actual has nothing to do with the Lychee fruit. It actual means candy of milk, or milk jam. It is a jam popular in Lain American, it is also called manjar or cajeta. The French have their own version known as confiture de lait. It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a jam, which is basically caramelized sugar. It is extremely sweet and is often found in an ice cream flavor.  

I was excited about the sweet history of OPI’s Dulce de Leche, which is now part of their classics collection.  It’s a nice nude that goes on really well and will forever remind me of this sweet treat. I’ve attached a recipe for Dulce de Leche so you can enjoy some sweet jam, which goes well on baguette with your new OPI shade!

           

Ingredients

4 cups (1 quart) (1 liter) whole milk (cow's or goat's milk)

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put the milk, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda and salt in a large, heavy-duty 8 quart (8 liter) saucepan or Dutch oven. Place over medium to medium-high heat and bring just to a boil. Watch carefully, and as soon as the milk begins to foam up, stir with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, and reduce heat until the milk is just at a low rolling boil. (If the milk foams up too much, remove the saucepan from the heat until the foam starts to subside. Then return to heat.)

Continue to cook the milk, stirring the bottom and sides of the saucepan frequently, until the mixture becomes very thick and sticky and caramel colored. The more you cook the Dulce de Leche, the thicker and more caramel colored it will become. Once the Dulce de Leche has been reduced to about 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) it is ready. Remove from heat and strain, if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool before covering and storing. The Dulce de Leche can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a month.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/DulceDeLecheRecipe.html#ixzz1rqnk3RK6

My Pointe Exactly

From: OPI’s New York City Ballet Collection

           My mood for once has nothing to do with choosing this particular color.  I just really liked the name. OPI came out with six new soft shades that make up their new New York city Ballet Collection. “My Pointe Exactly” is a blue gray that is very sheer. All of the colors in this collection are sheer. Three coats are needed and you can’t have old nail polish on underneath.

            I was debating telling you guys about the history of pointes for this blog post, but I decided not to. Mainly because I still have scars (emotional and physical) from my pointes. Needless to say my ballet career ended very early on in my life.

            But instead I decided that I’d educate you all on the New York City Ballet. They are one of the best dance companies in the world and they train artist as well as create their own shoes. They perform in the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. They were the first ballet institution in the world! The company has 90 dancers as well as a school that has 350 aspiring dancers. The idea behind the company was to breed dancers from the US. They opened the doors of their theater in 1948.

            So whether you are like me, and scarred from adolescent ballet lessons, or you’ve never danced a day in your life you can still enjoy OPI’s New York City Ballet Collection