I've always loved red nails but it's not a color I wear frequently and every time I do wear them, I am reminded at how much I love them. 

There are so many different shades of red with different undertones, and truly something out there for everyone. I usually lean toward cherry reds, and reds with blue undertones similar to a true red lipstick and it's been a little bit of a chore trying to find one that was exactly what I was imagining.

Until a beautiful little Olive & June package arrived on my doorstep.

 Another week gone and we're almost done with the first month of 2023. January has gone by in a mix of fast and slow; it feels like New Years was 200 years ago but yesterday at the same time. Time is a weird, funny thing.

The week flew by and I'm happy to see the weekend. It's the first weekend in a while that I don't have any social plans and I'm looking forward to relaxing, running some errands and trying to reset my life.

I need to do a separate post on this but I've been doing a low buy this month and have been pretty successful, but this weekend my sister and I are going shopping because we both have gift cards and have been fighting to the urge to spend them. I'm so excited to go to a real store vs shopping online. I spend less money that way and it's instant gratification.

I've felt so disorganized and I need time to clear my head and get myself together; there's a lot going on in the next few months and I didn't do as much planning and to-do list checking as I would've liked this month. This weekend that changes, maybe.

Let's get into the round up.

 It's been a minute since my last Current Obsessions post so I figured we should kick the new year off with one. I've been on a 'strict' no buy the past month or so which I'll talk about in another post but I've been limiting my purchases and it feels really good.

That being said, I've been shopping my stash and trying to use the items I have in my many collections of 'stuff'. I've rediscovered some favorites and have just been enjoying all these items... probably enjoying them a little too much as they are obsessions and I can't seem to get enough.

Mary Kubica has quickly become one of my favorite crime authors and I've had this book sitting in my Nook library for a while. The Other Mrs. was published in early 2020 and I just got around to reading it. I felt like I needed a quick read that hooked me from the first page and this definitely delivered.

I read it at the end of 2022 and flew through it within a few days. It was non stop thrill and suspense and honestly, so unpredictable I had no idea where this was going. 

It might get the award for being the most unhinged plot I've ever experienced and I loved every moment of it.

 Chanel bags have always been my end goal in life. I know that sounds insane but I am a materialistic, girly girl and I grew up salivating over designer items. No one in my life has ever had a Chanel bag until I got older; my aunt has one, a few of my friends had one and of course, every influencer and celebrity under the sun has one.

I remember learning about all the design houses, admiring Chanel from afar, not thinking I would ever be able to afford one. Granted, I still cannot afford a brand new Chanel bag but I'll get to that. 

I used to dream about what kind of bag I would get first; of course, it would be black and it would be a classic silhouette. I didn't know when the time would come where I would be able to purchase one but I knew that eventually, I was going to own one. 

Chanel was always the goal; it was what I've been working toward and as shallow as it sounds, it was a milestone I wanted to complete. 

Another week down, 49 more to go. No, but really, January has been so odd and I think that's because of the planets and retrogrades that have been going on, or at least that's what the TikTok astrologers have been telling me.

This was a short week and I happened to take a sick day on Wednesday because I was physically down in the dumps and needed a day to clear my head, rest and get myself together. 

Over the past 6 months or so, my mental health has been a lot better, better than it's been in years but the past two weeks have been rough. I've been having panic attacks left & right, waking up anxious and being a nervous wreck all day and falling into a deep depression. It's been a rollercoaster and I'd love to get off.

I'm hoping that if I could find a semblance of a normal routine that has a mix of relaxing and listening to my body I could get back on track. 

That being said, this weekend will be a mix of productivity, rest and socializing. I'm looking forward to it!

Let's get into the round up!

Emily Henry is the Taylor Swift of authors. She has the ability to take a trope, a situation, characters, and make you feel like you've known them your entire life. She has the ability to weave in real life thoughts, experiences and emotions into a fictional story, as if the story was written just for you.

When her third book, Book Lovers, was announced and released last year I was over the moon. I love books and books and a book named 'Books Lovers' which was about a pair of rival book agents/editors partnering on a new novel, sounded ideal.

However, I get into this place with books I'm really excited about where I can't read them right away. It's like I don't want to delve into the anticipation too hard or too fast. I wait for the perfect time to read my most anticipated books because I don't want to be disappointed or have that feeling go away.

It's very complicated feeling that doesn't make a ton of sense.

That being said, Book Lovers was the last book I read in 2022 and what a way to end the year! It was beyond my wildest expectations; it was better than incredible... it is indescribable how wonderful Book Lovers was. 

 "Plaza" is the last polish I have from the Olive & June Holiday 2022 collection that I hadn't tried yet. That changed last week when I used this dark purple polish for the first time.

This gorgeous, deep mulberry shade is perfect for the dreary winter months; it's rich, luxe and you have to remember: purple is the color of royalty. I love the look and feel of this nail color because it gives me the cozy vibes mixed with a rich, cool girl aesthetic. It's the best of both worlds! 

 We are in the 2nd week of the new year and it already feels like January 2023 is lasting 500 weeks. It's such a weird feeling but the days are going incredibly slow; I'm not really complaining, just making an observation.

This week was long and I feel like I don't even remember half of it. Mercury is currently in retrograde and I felt the confusion in the air. Everything just felt off and I couldn't really function - I was just trying to get through the days and I did!

I have an exciting few weeks ahead of me, including a long weekend where I'll be hanging out with my friends and having fun. I'm ready to be social again after a long, fun holiday season.

Let's get into the round up!

Stacy Willingham's debut novel A Flicker in the Dark was one of my favorite books of 2022 so when I heard that her second novel was being released this January, I knew that it was going to be just as good.

I was correct.

I wasn't able to get an ARC of the novel, All the Dangerous Things but luckily, it was a Book of the Month choice for December. I decided to wait it out and read it was my first book of 2023 and it was the perfect way to kick off the new year.

This was an intense, wild ride of a novel with lots of ups and down, twists and turns, and plot points that you really couldn't prepare for. 

All the Dangerous Things was released yesterday, January 10th.

 I have too many lipsticks for someone who only wears a handful. My go-to brands for the past year have been Charlotte Tilbury and Pat McGrath, specifically the Bridgeton Collection. It's rare that I reach for anything else in my collection, until now. 

The Too Faced Cocoa Bold Cream Lipsticks were listed as 'coming soon' on all retailers for weeks and when they finally were available, I ordered two shades. I had no idea how they were going to look, feel or apply but I had extremely high hopes. 

I was correct.

Before this order, I hadn't been experimenting much with Too Faced because I hadn't seen anything that caught my eye. I love the chocolate line so having these lipsticks be in that category, I was hopeful I'd love them.

 This holiday season I decided to abandon my Sugarfina advent calendar in favor of something more useful. I've raved time and time again on how I love Olive & June so much so when I saw that they had an advent calendar in stock, on Black Friday, and I got 30% off it was a no brainer.

It took over two weeks for the calendar to arrive and we were nearly halfway through December at that point but I didn't care, I tore into the first few doors and was so surprised at how wonderful the entire calendar was. I mean, Olive & June is an incredible brand but advent calendars are always hit or miss. Not this one!

There were so many mini nail polishes, mini nail tools and even a full package of press on nails. It was the best value, the best price, and the best surprise to wake up to every day leading up to Christmas.

One of the mini nail shades included in the calendar was OJSM, which is named in honor of Olive & June's 3rd manicure studio in Santa Monica, CA. It's a shade I've looked at in the past but never thought to pick up from the website, though I'm not sure why. It's a gorgeous rose gold shade that doesn't necessarily have glitter in it, but more of a metallic finish; it reminds me of Penny Talk from Essie.

 Happy New Year! It's the first roundup post of the year and a fresh volume and week. I'm so excited for this fresh slate. I don't want to change up these posts too much as I like the flow but please let me know if there is anything you'd like to see in the weekly round ups. 

The first week of 2023 has been pretty good; I enjoyed the last few days at home before slowly easing back into work and it was the perfect way to kick off the year. I haven't been making excuses for myself when it comes to the goals I wanted to work on: tracking my WW points (yes I'm back on the plan), working out, and writing. So far, we're 6 days in and I'm doing very well. It's a small but mighty victory.

Another thing I'm working on is not shopping. I know, I know, I've said this all before but this time I am in a do-or-die situation; I hit my rock bottom last month and made a vow to stop buying so much crap and save my money. There are some other reasons that I'm not ready to speak about yet, but I definitely needed to nip my insane spending in the bud and start saving. 

I will be doing another post on this and what my guidelines are, and I'm hoping I can stick with it. I'm giving myself some grace and doing a no spend January vs entire year. We're going to do it month by month right now.

Let's dive right into the round up.

I have hundreds of books in my physical and digital libraries and my TBR list is miles long, but that won't stop me from being excited over upcoming books. 2023 is a huge year for book lovers, there are so many incredible novels, memoirs and self help books coming out and I cannot wait to read them all. 

I've never done a post like this before, but I've done similar things in my email newsletter so I'm excited to share it with you all. Truthfully, most of these books are on the list because of the authors, because I will read anything these people write so I'm automatically excited. 

I'll call out the books that I'm excited about because of the *plot* and not just the author! Let's get into it...

 2022 was a year of change and growth in so many ways. I learned a lot about myself, let go of past issues and feel like I came into my own. I felt like I woke up from a dream and started realizing how I want to live my life.

2022 was the year I turned 30 and while in January, I felt very hesitant and scared for how I would react to this major change, when it was all said and done I was pretty ok with this milestone. I didn't freak out, I didn't go running for the hills and rather I was completely at peace with turning 30.