50 Follower Giveaway Winners!

I stayed up late - or was it early?- to organize the spreadsheet of entries and realized many hadn't really followed instructions. Sorry folks, gotta follow the rules or you don't get an entry...sorry, but I have a life beyond the blog and I just don't have time to fill in the blanks you left when you didn't fill in the form. I really am sorry. Once that was done, I gave my husband all the numbers in the range and asked him to pick 4. Being a geek, he swears they weren't actually "random" numbers, but since he didn't see the spreadsheet, I assure you, they were.

Before I announce the winners, I just want to say how much I enjoyed getting to know a little about each of you, finding some new blogs to follow and just appreciating each and every one of you who decided to check out my blog. I hope you'll stick around for future posts - I am geeky in my nail polish comparisons/reviews so stay tuned for that - and let me know what you'd like to see.  I'll accomodate when I can, but do keep in mind that I don't have the stash that many of you do, I dream of it, but don't have the space. :) Thank you for checking out my little blog of nail polish addiction. For those of you who blog, I do so enjoy keeping up with you. My life style doesn't afford many friends where I live, because so many just don't understand my choice. So I look forward to chatting with you and reading your blogs. :)

Now for the winners:
The winner of China Glaze Emerald Sparkled, Zoya Envy and Zoya Irene is....

Shortwidenails! 

The winner of Sinful What's Your Name and Let's Talk from the new Rockstar collection,and Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost is....

Arie!

The winner of Sally Hansen Haute Chocolate, Wet n Wild Carribean Frost and Sally Hansen Celeb City is....

Eva SB!


The winner of the fourth and final prize: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear minis (from the holidays) and the decals is...

Beauty Vibes!  

Congratulations to all of you! I've sent you each and email and you have 48 hours to get back to me, or another winner will be drawn for the prize.  Thank you again to everyone who signed up...my blog following grew quite fast because of this giveaway, and I'm already putting together the next one which will happen when I reach 150 followers. I also have some interesting comparisons and other silliness to share...stay tuned. 


Have a shimmery, shiny, glittery day! (or night!) 

NYC West Village - Borghese Plumaggio Purple Comparison

I thought these two might be dupes (they're close, but not quite) and thought I'd share pics in case any of you were wondering...or trying to pick only ONE of these two lovelies.
I like them both, but I'm happy enough with N.Y.C.'s price and the color that, had I known, I'd have saved my 8 bucks for some Nubar. LOL :)

Now, BEFORE You look at the pictures, I have to tell you that the length in that last mani was what I like to call "The Breaking Point" and I have a nasty tear on the index finger of my right hand. *tears* So, I got a week more out of the nail with my trusty Orly Nail Rescue, but after doing all the swatching I did Friday night and yesterday, it just wasn't holding well, and I need to give my nail a chance to grow out without making me BLEED. So I chopped 'em all down to a more "work appropriate" length (I can type faster now!) and yet they are still beyond my fingertips and therefore not nubbins. But I will tell ya, my fingers look nubby to me today! LOL. Long nails are slimming, period.

I give you my comparison: I have N.Y.C. West Vilage on index and ring fingers, Borghese Plumaggio Purple on middle and pinkie. My cuticles are dry from all the swatching. They're happy now, but cut me some slack for the next few posts. :)

in different lighting...

and a close up shot so you can see the different shimmer of each. NYC on the left, Borghese on the right

These both applied well, the brush in the Borghese is wider so smaller nail beds will struggle. They both seem to have the same teal base jelly with the shimmer adding the color. Both appear dark blurple but the Borghese has a red shimmer that adds to the effect. Doesn't much matter from a distance, but it's pretty up close. To prove my point:

So, how much are you going to spend for a drug store blurple? 

NYC West Village WNW Caribbean Frost Konad

I wasn't sure if I liked this one or not, but I did wear it for another 2 days before removing it to swatch and then settling on the next manicure which I'll show you in a few posts.

I used the dots on Konad plate M60. I am a bit frustrated by the last row of larger dots. It seems they are lined up just right for the scraper to leave a perfect line across their middle. I've seen that line on other blogger's designs too! I tried a few things to stop it, but generally gave up caring so I could get the damned thing finished.

I could use some Konading tips too...Those of you out there doing a bazillion Konad designs a day, share your tips on how you get the design straight, and other useful things please!!!

Then I wanted a whole 'nother look so I hit it with China Glaze Matte Magic.

It made the NYC polish look even more black and I noticed shocked looks at my nails from my co-workers. LOL. Oh well, I kinda liked the idea...but again, the execution needs work...looking for tips on straightening out Konad designs (especially helpful for those darned French manicure stamps!!!)

Thanks for looking! Wishing you a day of sunshine, I hope to get out today and enjoy some of mine!

Giveaway frustration, If you entered...did you fill out my form?

I am frustrated...my first giveaway and it seems to be a mess. *sigh*

I see some commenters didn't fill out my form, I see some form fillers didn't comment.

Do I extend the deadline for you all to make corrections to this or do I disqualify the ones who didn't follow the "rules."

I need input...comment your input please...I just don't know what to do. I'm tempted to start over. :(

Giveaway Deadline Imminent! Enter before Midnight Feb 26

It's almost time to close the entry list and get it all together for the hat program or random.org to choose my winner. (I am SOOO not going to cut paper right now...love you ALL, but it's tax season and I just ain't got the time right now!)

I'm cutting off entries as of Midnight in the last time zone of this ball we're all sailing through space on....so hurry!

Get your entry in now if you haven't already, open to all! CLICKETY CLICK RIGHT HERE!

Tomorrow I've got a fun comparison for you all my fellow holo whores out there!

Sparkles, shimmer and shine to you!

Update on Miss Marion "Garnet"

Happy Friday everyone!

Yesterday, I wrote an email to the makers of Miss Marion nail polish to let them know about the review I did and how I was disappointed to find "Garnet" wasn't what it used to be, or maybe I got a bum one.

I was assured that the color I shared with you is NOT "Garnet" but, in fact, a different color. Guess what it's called? Come on...guess! It's right there in the original post! You got it! "Tomato C! LOL

So there ya have it. When Miss Marion creates a color, they are dead on and name it appropriately. I will have the REAL "Garnet" on my nails soon and will share it's magic with you then. I cannot wait to show you the beauty that it truly is and I'll have more information for you about the company and hopefully some other co then.

I will tell you this: DO NOT PURCHASE FROM PEACHTREE WORLD. They sold me this relabeled carp. They haven't purchased from Miss Marion in over 3 years. This means their stock is old and they are trying to dump it and I fell for it. I will be contacting them for a refund though I doubt I'll get it. I will find out where you can get Miss Marion and let you know.

And the best part? Their polish is 3 free! Stay tuned! More Miss Marion to come! Can you wait?? I can't!

NYC New York Color Minute in West Village

This is the first NYC polish I've ever tried. I cannot believe such an inexpensive polish can be so delightful to use and be so pretty. I couldn't stop looking at my nails today. Paused a little too long at stop lights after they'd turned green because I was gazing into the blue depths of this rich, dark, Navy blue. Look!

It isn't quite dark enough to look black in low light, it's just like navy blue anything...is it black? not really, but let me put it by something black just to make sure...see! I knew it wasn't black. This is truly a lovely dark blue with some of the prettiest shimmer to give it just the right amount of depth. I think this is 3 coats, it was a little streaky the first coat, the second was ok, but I did get some pull so I applied the third coat a little more thickly and that was all she needed. I Love NY but I have no idea why this dark blue is named after the West Village. Any New Yorkers out here wanna clue me in?

These were all taken under incandescent like. I can't wait for the sun to come back to Santa Barbara, mostly the longer days will help me get sunny photos of my swatches...I'll sit at the beach and do them. People will think I am nuts...and I like that!

This was the last polish I swatched Tuesday night, so I topped it off with some Seche and went to bed. NYC polish retails here for $1.99 USD but I got this on sale for .99 I think I got a super sweet deal! Do you like it?

Just a couple more days left in my Giveaway! Get in while you can...closes Friday, February 26, 2010 at midnight in the last time zone of the world.

Zoya Anaka I love you.

I was really looking forward to this one from my latest Zoya Haul, and she did not disappoint. Thank goodness after that Miss Marion Fail!

Zoya Anaka is a gorgeous violet red with shimmer that seems to be multicolored. I simply love this one. Take a look! These are swatches, no top coat.

Come Closer...

Closer and let your focus blur a bit to enjoy the lovely multi colored shimmer that is Anaka.

Ain't she purdy??? This is a favorite for sure.
What do you think?

Blast from the Past is a disappointment. :(

So here she is, she's been reformulated or this is a bad fake...so the change isn't as dramatic as it was long ago when I was 18. I am so sad about this and plan to contact the manufacturer to find out if I got a knock off or if they did, in fact change the formula.

I give you Miss Marion "Garnet" She used to dry almost matte and about 5 shades darker than the bottle and you'd think, wth??? But now, that doesn't happen. It does dry about 1 shade darker, but not enough to blow your mind anymore. Here it is: I did 3 coats


The "special" thing about Garnet was the whole put the top coat and watch her shine and transform into this amazing Candy Apple Red. What I got here is more like Candy Tomato Soup. :( So disappointed!!!


There IS a slight difference, left side has no top coat, right side has top coat. Pardon my cotton fuzz, I was seriously swatching my brains out.


I'll let you know what I find out, and hopefully this is a knockoff. What do you think of it?

Milani Fresh Teal

Knowing I'd love Milani's Rad Purple Neon (that isn't neon) this one caught my eye. Teal is one of my 10,000 favorite colors and I realized I don't have any Teals in my stash, so this one went into the basket. I will admit that the Rad Purple swatches told me to open the bottle and peek at the polish inside and it was, indeed, teal. My photos are too blue. There it's weird though, the bottle is a different color than the polish, but still, it's really teal, not blue, and a simple, nice, creme.

It went on nicely and this is 2 coats, thick coats, but they didn't bubble. I think I've got the bubbling issue down to a science now. My only concern about this one is it took a long time to really remove it all, and it was just a swatch. Still, I always put my base coat on, because I don't want any staining happening and some polishes can really do a number on natural nails. This would, most likely, be one of those problem children. Took forever to remove every trace...and if you take a closer look at the Anaka swatch, you'll see remnants of this biatch there. Still, it's pretty and I'll see about longer wear affects in the near future. This is a nice summer color and so I'll wear it then.

I'm off to get some Nubars I've been lemming and then, I swear...no buy until I go thru what I've got and swap or clear some space. I'm nuts for Nubar...really.

Zoya Harley with a Konad Fail.

I swear I'm losing my Konadability. (Did I ever HAVE IT???)

*sigh*I could never get the middle finger straight...wonder what THAT means. ;) I used China Glaze Something Sweet. I suck at color mixing. I actually printed out a color wheel to help me out!

This next one is clickable, but it just get's blurrier. :( My son took one look at Harley and said it would go great with an old Eddie Bauer dress I have, and so I pulled it out and all I can say is I wish I had that talent. It was a perfect match for this faded lavender dress. I'm holding it here:

So, I failed again, the colors are pretty, but I gave up, removed the whole thing and did some swatches instead.

Harley grew on me, I'm keeping her afterall. But let's talk about Zoya polish for a minute. I am so not crazy about their formula. I have so many issues with application...but once it's on and dry, I have no complaints. This stuff wears really well. Of course I have no idea exactly HOW well since I change my polish more often than the average woman and you ALL know what I'm talkin' about here. How many of us, really...can talk about wear??? HAHAHA
The finish holds up though and it was gorgeous...and because of Harley, I purchased more Zoya and I'm looking forward to adding to my stash soon!

Latest Haul!

This has been a couple of days in the making, but I figured I'd wait til it all arrived in the mail before I posted them up.

Click for a closeup!

As I mentioned earlier, I picked up the 4 Milani Holos that I left behind the first time. Now they are ALL mine! BWAHAHAHAHA *cough* *ahem*
I picked up two of the Milani Neons too, I've seen Rad Purple so I had to have that and then Fresh Teal caught my eye because I had very few teals in my collex so I had to get it! (Swatch of Fresh Teal upcoming), while I was at it (and since everything was buy one, get one half off) I picked up two NYC polishes: West Village and East Village.
Got Color Club Fashion Addict, Rule Breaker, Wild at Heart and Revvvolution...an extra Fashion
Addict due to my missing that I'd put two in the cart (guess it will be part of another giveaway!)
After getting some of the pastels from the China Glaze Up and Away collex, then seeing the rest of them in Emerald Sparkled order I had to go back for Heli-Yum, Flying High and Happy Go Lucky. :) Thanks for that girl. :-p
Then I got my Zoya's from the spend $10 and get two free nail polishes. I got Anaka, Isla, Drew and Kalmia. Anaka is friggin amazing in a bottle. Poor Scandalous, I bugged her about which Zoya's I won in her giveaway so I wouldn't order something I already won. (Thanks for your patience with me lady!) Can't wait for that to arrive either! I won! Weeee!!!
And do you see that little bit of a white bottle cap handle just behind the Zoya? That's the blast from the past...coming up in a post very soon. :) I can't believe it's hiding, but that's really cool!

I spent some time swatching a few of these last night. So I'll post those up next!


Shine, sparkle and shimmer!

There are a bunch of giveaways happening NOW!

I hope to win them ALL Bwahahahaha!!!

But, in case you want a chance at 'em...here they are in no particular order: (just click the blog name to go straight to the giveaway!)

Konadomania is celebrating 300 followers by giving away a bunch of Konad Stuffs! (fave Konad for ME was feb 2, 2010 post)

Lacquerized is celebrating 250 followers and giving away two prizes! YOU get to pick the one you're playing like best. :) (I like the first set myself.)

Romika's Nails is celebrating 100 followers with manicure essentials and some lovely lacquers too!

Concrete and Nail Polish is having a follower appreciation giveaway with lot's of great stuffs!

Painted Lady Fingers is giving away some Man Glaze and Man Glaze Swag.

And Lacquer Laine is having a giveaway for some Skin MD sheilding lotion.

I think I'm missing a few...I'll keep looking. Some of these end soon, so get on over there!

Zoya Harley

I've been sharing a lot of photos taken with my cell phone and though it does a decent job, it doesn't have a macro setting and it isn't set up for me to take a picture without shaking the crap out of the phone and therefore being super lucky to get an in focus photo. By sheer accident last night, while I was putting my laptop away for sleepy time, I pushed on something and a little plastic insert fell into my hand. It said SD on it and was shaped like a little SD card. I have a different card reader on this stupid laptop that never worked...and I've been struggling to get good photos of my manicures with my phone so I could post at night.

I DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE!!!!

I can now take pictures with my camera and get them on my blog with ease. I swear I am not technologically challenged. This sucker was hidden!!! But you're here for the Polish, so...here we go:


I picked up the Zoya Twist collection back when they were offering the free greens with purchase of $X amount...this was back around the Christmas holiday and I'm just getting around to trying them because I keep buying new stuffs to put into my already overcrammed storage box!!


I bring you my photos of Ms. Harley under incandescent light because my sunset natural light photos from my phone were utter crap. These are true to color, as Harley is a lovely shade of gray with pink shimmer. This gives her a bit of a lavendar hue and makes her interesting for me to look at...otherwise, she'd be gone from my nails because I am not a fan of gray nails. At least, not on me. Take a look:

She's pretty, no?

Kinda boring tho' I'm thinking she need a lil Konad to bring out that pink shimmer.

So happy my laptop can now read the card from my camera! Look at that!!!

So, what should I use to konad her? Time to sort through my plates. Pics to come.

Also coming up: My stash grew by the Milani's I spoke about - all six holos, 2 neons and then a couple a NYC colors. Today I got my orders from 8ty8beauty and Zoya and my surprise polish!!! That will be the next manicure and then I have a surprise on top of that!! So excited to share my favorite from so long ago with you.

My giveaway is soon to be ending so get signed up if you haven't yet! I've enjoyed reading what everyone is looking forward to this year and it's boosted me on some dark days...more health issues and pain, but I'm determined to get better! So keep sharing your happy thoughts with me, they truly make my day. Thank you for being here, for reading my rants and checking out my pictures.

Wishing you all Sparkle, Polish and shine!

Cute Blog Tag!

Awww! I got a tag from GildedAngel of Naive Nails! How cute and cool is that? Thank you GildedAngel! The only rule in this tag is to tag 5 other cute blogs!

So I tag:

Emerald Sparkled
Tropical Mind
What Katie Did Her Polish
The Manicured Manatee so much more hilarity than cute, but I love this blog!
and.....
um....
alizarine claws because her stash helps me feel sane again...

Truth be told, I love every single one of the blogs on my blog roll. I get inspired and laugh and cry with all of them. I envy some of them for their talent, some for their youthful hands, some for their photography skills, some for their writing skills, some for their way with color. I love them all and I am grateful to have been welcomed into this community of nail nuts. (We truly ARE insane and I'm glad to have found each and every one of my fellow lacquer lunatics!)

True story: On the way home tonight, I stopped in at CVS to pick up some V-Day candy on sale..."Look what you got me for me for V-day babe!" and to pick up the other four Milani Holos. I am a Holo whore I tell you! I walked out of CVS with the four holos, a couple neons and then the NYC's were on sale so I grabbed two of those. I also placed 3, yes 3 orders on line between yesterday and today.

I need to purchase another layer for my storage box and some plastic inserts for them. The cardboard ones are holding up fine, but I want the plastic because they'll take up less space (more polish can fit!) and it will look nicer. I swatched 15 colors tonight before settling on Zoya's Harley for my manicure and found a few "close-enough" dupes to put some up for swap...or whatever. I gotta go no buy for a bit, have a few more giveaways and save my money up to increase my Nubar collex. I really love Nubar, and Nfu Oh, and Essie and China Glaze, and OPI and Zoya and...see what I mean? I don't have room for this. I've gotta be selective, but all your blogs are creating lemming after lemming for me...I gotta get Gosh, RBL, Ilamasqua, Chanel, Dior, Nars, and so many others on my hands! (and I know you can all relate to this.) So THIS is why you all have that "lemming list" on your blogs.

I have no where to put a helmer! More details about why on my other blog which is seriously neglected due to this new addiction of mine.

I need to visit MUA more often and get swappin!

Til next time, wishing you color, sparkle and shine!

So Much FUN coming up and Knee update

The sun is coming back out and I've ordered some lovely new polish which I hope to have by next week sometime. Surprises await!

OH I can't WAIT!!! One of them, who's name shall not be mentioned until I have it on my hot little hands, is a throwback to my 20's...but I promise you ladies will love it as much as I do! It's just plain fun and I'm so excited I could find it!

I've been a little busy being the "licensed driver" cruising the streets with my son who is now a licensed driver himself and he'll be moving to Washington this Sunday night...so I'll not be around this weekend as I want to spend time with him before he goes. I'll share a picture of him here so you all can see what a handsome spawn I created. ;)

Christmas Day 2009, yep Christmas Day. I love Santa Barbara!

He despised having his picture taken...and I just don't understand why...
(I also don't understand why the second picture I post is ALWAYS unclickable)

See how handsome he is? Why wouldn't he want his picture taken???

(this one is from July of 2008)

Oh, they are soooo photogenic!

(This is November 2009, Thanksgiving day with his Twin Cousins.)

*Ahem* Proud Mom moment over now.

For those of you just chomping at the bit to find out how my leg is faring, I am doing much better! Seems the cortison shot was just the ticket and the knife has been evaded, for now. That Doctor was my bestest friend until he got more needles out and injected BOTH knees with Hyalgan (fake knee fluid) and I hobbled out of there to return again every week for the next two to do it again! I don't like him much right now, but in about 4 weeks, I will LOVE HIM. Unless my knee starts to "catch" and I am faced with the knife again.

I'll be riding my bike again in no time, starting right after this little rain spell is over! Of course I have to "ease into it" and I will do just that. I feel like such a little kid when I'm on those two wheels.

Giveaways!

Just a reminder that my giveaway is still going on HERE and the last day to enter is Feb 26, 2010...I also want to let everyone who's thinking of entering and everyone who has entered already that it is quite possible to win more than once. I won't limit the random-number-picker generator=thinger. :)

And while I have a fun bunch of items to give away, R3 Daily is also celebrating hitting the 50 follower mark with a wonderful array of items one needs for the perfect full manicure. From base coat to tools, she's offering it all right HERE so click now to enter!

Good luck to everyone on both giveways!

Tropical Mind

One of my fellow "Nail Polish Collectors" on Facebook, (yes,there is a group for all of us there, come join us!) and she's really the group admin, the one who started it all there, well she has a wonderful blog.

Tropical Mind is about all kinds of girlie stuffs! From clothing finds, to cute new cars, makeup, music, and SHOES! I'm looking forward to her posting the latest in Flip Flops for the rest of us...and all things Sandal for the spring/summer months.

Check out her blog and see if you like it as much as I do. Click HERE.

And when your done there, come on over to Facebook and join the Nail Polish Collectors group.

See you there!
Wishing you all Color, sparkle, shimmer and shine!

Free Zoya Nail Polish with $10 Purchase Wed thru Friday!

As seen HERE

In honor of NYFW Zoya, The New Color of Fashion, wants to give a "Fashion Reward" to all our followers and fans.

Place any Zoya or Qtica order of $10 (on http://www.zoya.com/, http://www.qtica.com/ or http://www.artofbeauty.com/) and get any 2 Zoya Nail Polish shades (0.5oz bottles) of your choice as our Free gift to you.

Simply add all the items that you want to purchase online to your shopping cart. Enter the code NYFW in the "code" field and press the "update" button. A $14 discount will appear in the shopping cart for the value of the 2 Zoya Nail Polishes.

Offer valid from Wednesday, 2/17/2010 - Friday, 2/19/2010, at 5PM ET. Standard shipping charges apply. Offer valid for consumer online orders only. Free ground shipping for orders over $55 in Continental USA only.

FAT TUESDAY!

I have never been to New Orleans and therefore I have never been to Mardi Gras. I've been to many a Mardi Gras themed event and had to wear ridiculous costumes for work promotions. I love the architecture of New Orleans and do hope to get there one day. I'd love to try Beignets, mint juleps and some King Cake!
With King Cake in mind, I give you my Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras Mani! Enjoy it's colorful yumminess as you gaze upon the polish porn!

All photos taken under incandescent light with my phone camera. I'll take some sunny ones and post 'em up later today.
I used China Glaze Grape Pop, Emerald Sparkle and Twenty Four K.
I used French manicure guides applied upside down to guide my application of Emerald Sparkle, pulled those off while the polish was still wet, then filled in with Grape Pop to the tips.
Then I stamped with Konad M22 for the music staff on my Thumb and M40 for the beads and the crown on my fingers. After that, I fumbled and struggled and still don't have the right brush but I did my best to paint a line of Twenty Four K on the seam between the two other colors.
The shape of this mani was inspired by the nails created by CND for Ruffian that I saw on PolishSwatches HERE
I don't have the steadiest of hands...for painting of picture taking it seems.

Colors are pretty accurate! It was fun, it's different and I'm hoping someone will notice it today!

If you find yourself lucky enough to be there, please celebrate responsibly and send me some beads! lol

Fish Tail Nails?

Here's a VD Mani for you! I love the colors and they idea...the nail shape is er...interesting? Actually, I kinda like it for an artificial nail shape...I mean, they're artificial, why not shape them in fun ways? They don't look real anyway so have some fun with their shape. I think this is artistic and pretty darned coolio.

From Nailsmag.com blog 365 days of Nail Art

I would be a little afraid of scratching myself with them though...

VD Fail #2!

Hi there!
As I mentioned in my last post, I spent last night giving myself a new manicure. I used The Manicured Manatee's Tip found HERE (THANK YOU for that one Lady!), and started with my usual base coat (more on that in another post) followed by 2 coats of Diamond Cosmetics Nice 'n Naked, 3 coats of Essie Huckle Buckle, two coats, sort of applied gradiently, of the pretty Borghese Holiday sparkly stuff and a little bit of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear In the Spotlight on the very tips.

I think the Xtreme wear was overkill, but I was having fun and kind of in a ZONE...does that ever happen to you? You just start trying this and that and your in this space where it's just relaxing and your just painting away and the next thing you know you have the unbelievable 12 or 13 coats of nail polish on your nails!!! ROFL!!! I sit here in amazement just realizing this! That's a zone alrighty!

I give you the results of my relaxing creativity that just seemed to flow out of me and out of all the different bottles and onto my nails. :) And I'll tell ya, the zone flowed so well, that I had to do absolutely NO cleanup. I love the formula of Diamond Cosmetics and Essie. They go where ya tell 'em to and stay there quite nicely. After years of using nothing but drugstore brands this is such a sweet treat!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Polish Porn starts NOW!

Shade, and yes I am showing my rings here on purpose. Both were gifts from my husband. The opal was our first Christmas together, and I think it's so cool that the wedding set design is so similar to the very first ring he ever gave me. :) Close up to show the blingtasmness of this lovely color. I love Huckle Buckle.

See those little holographic strips from In the Spotlight? overkill, but oh well. :)

Have a colorful, sparkly and shiney day!

Valentine's Day Manicure FAIL.

I am jumping on the Valentine's Day Manicure bandwagon. We don't do much for Valentine's Day, the Husband and I...we figure we need to be showing each other romantic thoughts all year long and not just saving it up for one hallmark holiday. :) Though I am not against a little something for the day. So we exchange cards and sweet sentiments and that is enough. Of course, if he wanted to give me a gift, I would certainly accept it! :D

This year though, he is off on a lone motorcycle ride clearing out the cobwebs of his mind while I enjoy some alone time at home - doing my nails, hanging out with my son, relaxing - So we'll share our cards later, when he gets home.

The manicure you see before you is already changed. I did say I was doing my nails while hubby is away! This is Essie Fishnet Stockings - an absolutely gorgeous, sexy, back to the 40's red. I love it. Picked this lovely up along with Berry Hard and a mini ridge filler at Ross a few weeks back. I then ATTEMPED to Konad heart tips using Konad #M73 and China Glaze Good Witch? and that was a horrible fail. So I grabbed a striper brush and did a messy angled line across to try to make it look fun...then used a dotting tool to put some dots on the thumbs...thought about other fingers...actually did a dot or two and decided against more... And so here I give you: Valentine's Day Fail #1!! The ONLY reason this stayed on for a couple days is because I loved the Essie color! Then I noticed some of my dog's hair in the topcoat...stuck in there til I removed the mani...so it had to go.




My dog has the softest fur...it's like cat fur...floaty, soft and gets into EVERYTHING. It's a good thing I love her, because she has such a sheddy attitude! Always making more fur, that one! But I'd rather she make fur than the alternative. :) HEHEHE, if you click on the bottom pic and look really carefully at my middle finger...you'll see that darned hair!

As I said, I've already changed it, and I took my time last night...relaxing and creating something pretty for today...and I just kept going and going and going until I created Fail #2!!! It's sparkly and fun, but a little overdone...however, the point was relaxation and that is what I did...I spent at LEAST 2 hours, just playing with polish and creating the fail...pictures in the next post.

I hope all of my readers enjoy a special moment today, whether you are single or attached, take some time to share some love with someone you care about today/tonight. And think of ways to keep doing that all year long.

Wishing you a colorful, sparkly and shiney day!

Fifty Followers and my first giveaway!

I've only been at this a short time and it's been a blast. I keep reading other blogs and learning tips too (see a most excellent one HERE ), but I would be doing this for nothing if I didn't have people actually reading what I type or, at the very least, checking out the polish porn.

I have, by some miracle, reached more then 50 followers and so, as promised, I present to you, my first ever and probably my only for a little while...giveaway!

Let me start by saying, it's a tough economy and I am no stranger to it so I wish I could do so much more, just because that is my nature, but the financial times say I gotta be realistic here and so I did the very best that I could. I hope that you like what I've put together.

I wanted to make it fun and have more than just one winner so, after scouring through my stash, doing some shopping to pick out some other fun stuff and here is what we have:

China Glaze Emerald Sparkled, Zoya Envy and Zoya Irene

for one winner

Sinful What's Your Name and Let's Talk from the new Rockstar collection,

and Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost

for the next winner

Sally Hansen Haute Chocolate, Wet n Wild Carribean Frost and

Sally Hansen Celeb City

for another winner!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear minis (from the holidays) and the decals here below For winner #4!

These are all brand new, never used polish bottles.

Here's how to enter:

ANOTHER EDIT to add: The deadline for entry is February 26th - so that I have the weekend to draw winners and post it up! You have to be a follower...that's what I keep seeing and I think that's a good idea, so yeah, you have to do that.

Leave me a comment below telling me something you are looking forward to in the coming year, with everything being so challenging, let's see if we can't focus on some positive stuffs, ok?

That's almost it...if you want to have extra entries, please tweet, plurk, buzz, blog or facebook about my giveaway. Edited to add: I almost forgot! You can add me to your blogroll for another entry too.

Once you've determined how many entries you've got, make a note of your links and then...Fill out my form by clicking HERE
Good Luck Everyone! This giveaway is open to everyone, foreign and domestic. ;)

Putting a giveaway together....

I had some fun today picking out some items for my first giveaway...I'll be posting it up this weekend along with my train wreck of a "VD Mani"...so stay tuned!

See you all Tomorrow!

Barbie in pearls

Hey everyone! I actually have a manicure to post!!! I was going to do something Valentine'sy, but with the pain meds and all the hassle just to get BARBIE to cooperate, I gave up and just went with a fairly basic manicure.

I am not sure I like Zoya very much, but this is only the second one I've worn since taking advantage of the free greens special. Veruschka is lovely, and a sweetheart to put on, but Barbie...well, Barbie is a bitch! She went on gloopy, took forever to dry and then decided to give me hell when I put pearls on her! Borghese Patina Pearl to be concise. Topped them off with Seche Vite and allowed them to dry for HOURS before bedtime and yet still she's wrinkly. However, I did this Mani on Saturday...and it is now Wednesday night. So I am VERY impressed with the wear on this brand. Been pushing paper and ticking along on the keyboard all week!

I just took these photos with my phone camera because my laptop doesn't want to read my camera card. I hate it when technology doesn't work like it's supposed to. Anyway, these are the best I can do tonight so I apologize in advance for crappy photos. The color is true though, so that's a good thing.

Patina Pearl is a gorgeous color and I may one day try to wear her all by herself to see if she does well at 3 or 4 coats. Until then, she made Barbie feel Sexy and that's what I was going for.
Enjoy!

Until next time, wishing you color, glitter and gloss!

Update on my knee

Hi and thanks to all the well wishers, I really appreciate all your kind thoughts and words.

I saw the doctor on Monday after having an MRI on Friday, before he saw me, I had x-rays that he never looked at..so I'll be fighting THAT bill for sure. Anyway, the verdict is that I did tear a ligament. The ligament I tore is the meniscus (the cushioning stuff between the knee bones...kind of a figure-eight shape of cartilage. I tore a bit at the inner part of my knee - that's the side facing my left knee.

The treatment options were A: get a cortisone shot directly into the affected area and hope that allows for normal functioning - pain free and freedom of movement - and hopefully allow it to heal without surgery. B: have surgery to clean up the tear, reattach if possible or remove it if necessary.
I went with A and am hoping for the best. My spirits are kinda sucky, I'm on codeine again because that damned shot reawakened the beast and I couldn't sleep until I got the pain under control.

I have a confession to make... I am a weenie when it comes to pain. I don't know how I went through 33 hours of labor to give birth. I really don't! I cried when he gave me the shot. I cried when he told me I had a torn ligament. I cried when I went home to rest my knee and allow the cortisone to start working. I am a cry baby...and I'm ok with that. I just wish the doctors, dentists and nurses would fricken BELIEVE me when I tell them I am a weenie...they never do, push me to tears and then apologize. I wish they'd be proactive. I know I look strong and I truly am...until there is pain involved. Then, please, for the love of Pete, give me drugs.

I did do my nails on Saturday. I will post about that tomorrow. The codeine is kicking in...and so it's bedtime.

Til tomorrow! Wishing you color and glitter and shine!

Wow, Almost 50 followers! Giveaway imminent!

I can't believe it! I've not posted a single picture all week and I've reached 45 followers! I hope I am keeping everyone entertained and that the 50 follower mark isn't far away. I've got a small giveaway planned for that milestone...so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I thought I would share a picture of my Ally-girl. She came into my life at the end of my first marriage. Sweet doggie heart of a puppie she was back then...she's been with me since 1999. This year she'll be 12...wow. 12. I can't believe she's been a part of my life for 11+ years now. She was 8 months old when I found her in the "giveaways of the local paper, drove 45 mins to see her and within 2 minutes told her to hop in my truck. Shortly after I took her home, my marriage ended...

My husband, when he was courting me, decided he'd win my doggie over first...she's still his bitch, but she knows who's alpha around here...she's an all american Mutt and I adore her!
at our wedding

Kickin it at home. Ignore the mess behind her please. :)