A Blockhead's Breathmint

While I have a nail polish collection that is slowly (but surely) taking over my bedroom, there is another interest of mine that takes up even more space.

(If you're just looking for the nail polish, fast-forward toward the bottom. This'll take a while.)


I am a Peanuts fanatic. One bookshelf is exclusively Peanuts strip collections; the top of another contains stuffed Snoopys with many Peanuts-related ceramics. This does not include the many other trinkets hidden in storage boxes underneath my bed.

Ever since I could remember, I loved the comic strip. My childhood stuffed animal was a Christmas Snoopy that my mother bought at a garage sale. Snoopy has since lost the hat and even accompanied me during my study abroad stint in the UK. BFF1 has gotten me a Snoopy figurine every Christmas for well, a while. I recently finished the extremely long biography Schulz and Peanuts. While the book has courted its fair share of controversy due to the Schulz family's objections to the portrayal of Charles Schulz, it definitely gave me a new look at the strip. Pretty much, my happy childhood memories of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends contrast with the cold, biting humor the strip thrived on.

Earlier today, I received the script of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead that I ordered online. The play is a parody of Peanuts; the characters are now teenagers with Charlie Brown coping with the recent death of Snoopy. This play is the best thing I have read in a long time; I hope I will get to see it on stage in the future. While it is a drama, it is hysterically funny, lampooning childhood icons as modern-day teens. However, like modern-day teens and Peanuts itself, there is an underlying tone of exclusion and discrimination. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it can be described with one word: powerful.

Now on to nail polish...

According to the internet grapevine, MAC's nail polishes from the Sugarsweet collection are sold out online. Thanks to extreme luck, after reading Dog Sees God by the pool, I scooped up Peppermint Patti at my local MAC counter. I also spotted Chanel's summer collection at the mall and continued to be unimpressed by their nail polishes this season. Besides, who wants boring peach or bronze when you can get MINT GREEN! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've converted to green. This might be number one so far for 2009; it's too early to tell.


In honor of its namesake, I tried to illustrate the "mint" adjective. I apologize for the sloppy application; it was an idea I wanted to try out as soon as possible before I forget. (ADHD tendencies: they're a bitch.)

There is a major drawback to Peppermint Patti: the application is a huge pain. S-T-R-E-A-K-Y. This is without base coat; I'll experiment later with Barielle Camouflage. I've been having trouble with lighter colors and streakiness; I'll discuss this in the next blog thanks to a bunch of adorable Claire's colors I picked up earlier this week.

Continuing on with the Peanuts theme, I find it ironic that of all the strip's female characters, it's the tomboy who shares a (okay, modified) name with a nail polish. But she's often seen wearing green; I think she'd approve :)