Birthday Giveaway Winner!

The winner of my birthday giveaway has been chosen!  Congratulations to Jen B.!!!!  She is the lucky recipient of this awesome package:

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and to everyone who takes the time to read my measly little blog.  I appreciate all of my followers and readers more than you know!  I'm sorry it took longer than I expected to announce the winner.  I hope to be giving away more goodies again in the future, so keep your eyes peeled!  :)

Polish Props: Zoya Jules

I'm baaaaccckkkkkk!! 

Once again, THANK YOU!! for all of the birthday wishes and kind words!  Turning 30 wasn't so bad, it was just...strange?  It's a whole new decade to get used to.  I had a fantabulous birthday though and enjoyed the time with my family and friends.  Unfortunately they left today so I'm a little sad and lonely.  As a distraction, I'm going to "bury my head" in nail polish.  :)

This post is the first in a new series I like to call "Polish Props!"  You hear so much about the special limited edition colors like OPI's Catch Me In Your Net or Merry Midnight, but how often do the shades that also deserve attention ever receive it??  The point of these posts is to bring to light the colors that get overlooked and that no one talks about.  Today's Polish Props features Zoya Jules!

Jules is a sparkling, metallic champagne with a golden shimmer - a perfect color for autumn in my opinion, even though it's not fall yet.  It's not your traditional gold because it has more silver and taupe undertones in addition to the gold shimmer.  The formula wasn't streaky per se, but imperfections are slightly noticeable where I know I fowled up.  I like working with Zoya's formula.  It applies smoothly and fairly evenly as most Zoya polishes do, and opacity was reached in two coats.   

The last picture is kind of crappy, but I thought I'd include it anyway to show what Jules looks like under dull light.  I'm not great with my camera, but I hope to get better at taking polish photos.

As most of you know, my birthday giveaway has ended!  Thank you to all who entered - I had over 60 entries!  I'm busy right now going through all of the comments and then I'm going to pick the grand prize winner!  I should know shortly who won and I will be contacting the winner tonight.  It was really fun for me and I'm so glad it was successful.  There will be plenty of giveaways in the future, so stay tuned!

OPI Skull & Glossbones

I wanted to thank you girls for all of your birthday wishes and for all of your kind comments about my blog.  I love how the polish community is so friendly and generous to other people who are just as passionate about nail polish as they are.  You girls are great and I couldn’t ask to be part of a better community!  My birthday giveaway has sparked a huge response so I’m very excited about it!  Keep those references and comments coming, and if you just stumbled upon this blog and haven’t entered my contest yet, you can do so here.

Before I get too busy, I wanted to share a quick swatch with you.  I’m a little late to the OPI Skull & Glossbones party.  I bought it when the Pirates of the Caribbean Stranger Tides collection was first released, but this is the first chance I got to wear it.  I was hesitant to pick this polish up because it looked kind of boring in the bottle and I was worried it wouldn’t look great with my skin tone.  But I got it anyway and I’m so glad I did!  It didn’t clash with my skin like I thought it would.  It’s a perfect shade if you need a subtle, conservative color for work but you’d also like it to be noticeable.   

All of these pictures were taken inside with artificial light - first 2 without a flash and last 2 with flash.  As usual with OPI polishes, the name describes the shade perfectly.  It definitely reminds me of bones, as morbid or weird as that might be.

I'm sorry if my posts will be few and far between for the next 2 weeks or so.  I will try to update when I have some downtime, as I have an idea for a series of posts that I think you'll enjoy.  Until next time...Happy Polishing!

Party Time!

Unfortunately in the game we call life, most people get older as the years pass.  And unfortunately I am one of those people – I’m still working on perfecting my Elixir of Immortality and one day I vow to get it right!  Until then, every time August rolls around, it punches me in the face (which I’m pretty sure causes more wrinkles) and adds another year to my fragile bones.  I’ll be turning 30 (in reality - 20 in my mind) on the 21st.  And to celebrate my 30 20 years of existence, I’m having a free giveaway! 

It’s my birthday and YOU get a gift!  How many other people can say that, besides Eric Cartman (random South Park reference)??  This is also to show my gratitude to those of you that are following or reading this blog.  What can you win, you ask?  I’ll quit stalling and tell you – bring out the goodies!

Everything here is brand new, except for the Extra Touch Wipes.  It turns out I didn’t really like the wipes, so I’d rather give them to someone who will actually use them.  This free package includes:

Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday glitter polish

Deborah Lippmann On A Clear Day Top Coat

Sinful Colors San Francisco (I wanted to include something that Happy Birthday would layer over quite nicely.)

OPI Extra Touch Wipes – box of 200 count (Minus the few wipes that I’ve used.)

Zoya Remove +  Polish Remover – 2 fl oz.

A pair of toe separators

It’s really easy to enter.  All you have to do is comment on this post with your name and your email address where I can contact you if you’re the winner.  Comments will be moderated for privacy so that only I can see them and they won't be published.  And don’t worry - I will not use your email address for ANYTHING other than notifying you that you’ve won the giveaway.  

And here’s where the odds of winning can increase.  If you refer someone to this page and they enter the giveaway by commenting with their name and email address, AND they say that you referred them, BOTH of you will get an extra entry into the contest!   They don’t have to officially follow the blog to win and neither do you.  So the more people you send to this page, the more chances you have to win!  

The deadline for submitting entries/comments is Wednesday August 24^th at 11:59pm CST.  I will draw the winner at random the next day, Thursday, August 25^th.  

Thanks for checking out my blog!  I know it’s not much, as I just started, but it’s been really fun so far, especially since I get to meet awesome ladies like you all!  I have family coming in from out of town to spend my birthday with me, so I’m not sure how much I will be able to write.  But the blog sale and the contest will still be going!  So gather up your fellow nail polish lovers and win something for free!  Good luck!  :)

Sapphires Are (Not) A Girl's Best Friend

Recently I caved and forked out money for OPI DS Sapphire.  I figured everyone wants it and therefore I must want it too!  I was so excited to get it because it looked gorgeous in swatches I’ve seen.  I bought it on eBay for a reasonable price and tried it on last night.  Unfortunately, I’m a bit disappointed.  Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a pretty light blue holo, but I don’t think it looks right with my skin tone.  It makes my hand look…washed out?  It just doesn’t stand out on me.  Here are a few photos:

Do you guys agree with me, or am I insane?  It was difficult to capture the holo effect, so these pictures aren’t the greatest.  I used Seche Vite top coat and it didn’t seem to mute the holo too much.  I thought maybe that was the problem, but I’m convinced that DS Sapphire is just not for me.  (FYI, the Seche Vite top coat DOES ruin the Nfu Oh holos – the rainbow completely disappears when you slap it on top.  But I’ve noticed on OPI holos that Seche Vite doesn’t really alter the appearance much.) 

 

I purchased 2 bottles of DS Sapphire so that I had a backup because I liked it a lot.  I guess I will be selling my backup bottle when I update my blog sale since I’m not too crazy about it now. 

Keep an eye on my blog - I will be revealing another giveaway and I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love it!  Until next time - happy polishing!