**CLOSED**Double Glitter Bomb Giveaways

Happy New Year and all my very best to you!

I'm ending/starting things off on a fun note: A DOUBLE GIVEAWAY!
And not just any giveaway, but with my favorite type of polish: GLITTER! Two prizes to be given away.

First Prize: Ice Baby Collection from Wet 'n Wild

I want to make this very, very clear: FIRST PRIZE IS FOR ONE SET OF THE ICE BABY COLLECTION. (That's a total of 8 bottles.) That second set is mine. :) (Shoot me an email if you don't understand or have questions. When you enter this giveaway, it is understood that you know this is for just one set.)

Second Prize:  Color Craze Glitter Brights from L A Colors

This set, as well as the Ice Baby Collection, are all brand new, never opened. I purchased these myself and want to share with my readers. (You are a reader, right?)

Here's how to enter the giveaway:


1) You must be a follower (MANDATORY). In the comments, let me know how you follow my blog and the name you use.

2) In that same comment, give me an email address so I can email you if you are a winner. If the address isn't valid, I'll draw another entry.

3) (OPTIONAL) One extra entry if you post this giveaway on Facebook. Put the site location in the same comment as your email addy. (Invalid entries are disqualified.)

4) Giveaway is international. WooT!

5) Giveaway ends Sunday, 01/08/12, 8 PM EST. (Hey, it starts right now; what are you waiting for!!?)

Good luck!!!

Snow Light Blues

Yesterday I posted on a Sally's Girl polish that, even though has no name, is still a crisp and shimmery steel blue-gray. I gave it a make-over and it came out fairly better.

First, I want to show you the Cosmetic Arts polish that began this evolution...

Cosmetic Arts doesn't name their shades, but doesn't this one just scream for one? Screamin' Steel? Eh.

But, oh how lovely this steel blue is...

This is with four coats and I still didn't get the same opaque look I wanted. I just wanted it to look like it does in the bottle.

Here is a photo in the shade...

Too sheer for the look I was going for. However, as I was sitting there with a grimace, I glanced over and saw the Sally's Girl, again no name, that I had just swatched. I got a simple idea...

Check out the micro-glitter in the bottle, and there is the slightest of shimmer on my nail...

It's there, on the nail, but ooooh, so subtle. In the sunlight, and rolling my nail back and forth, I could see all the different colored glitter twinkling like a night sky.

Using Sally's Girl polish, as the base coat for Cosmetic Arts, gave me more of the look I was hoping to achieve and with less coats. I used 2 coats of Sally's Girl and just one coat of Cosmetic Arts.

If I was a Franken Fashionista, I would franken these two and see if I could get the wanted look in just a single polish.

I'm sort of partial to icy blues during the winter. I got a photo of this over Christmas...

A Grand Blue Christmas

Here's something I got for Christmas...

Fresh, new-fallen snow. Living in Orlando, this was a wonderful Christmas gift. I went to Denver to see my family over Christmas and it snowed the evening I got in.

Before I left, I happened to pick up a new Sally's Girl polish. Alas, it has no name, but I think it is pretty...

Just a cute silvery, dusty blue that has a shimmer. But, I didn't stop there.
Here's what Sally's Girl polish looks like all by itself...

The second photo isn't as good as the first, but I wanted to show that the first one has a glare on it; not a ding.

However, I wanted to play with my new Finger Paint flakies some more and I thought this dusty blue was just the right pairing.

First, on my left hand, I used 'Flashy'...

 

Even though I did 3 coats of Sally's Girl, I only did one of 'Flashy.' I think another coat would have made the flakes show more.

On my right hand, I used 'Twisted'...

Remember, it is my ring finger, here, that has no flakies on it. Again, just one coat of 'Twisted.' I do wish I would have remembered to apply two coats.

Sally's Girl dusty blue is pretty. But if you have ever purchased one of these, you know the bottle is puny, the brush is sub par, and the top sometimes doesn't stay attached to the brush. If you know these things going in, then you'll know you get what you pay for, most of the time. I was, most definitely, wanting it for the color.

Tomorrow, I'll show you Sally's Girl with a different top coat and see how that strikes your fancy.

I had a grand time with my family this Christmas. My brother and his family live in Denver. My sister and her husband, my dad and step-mom, and my sister's daughter and family all came in. We had a house full. A lot of things happened during that week and one of the best things to come out of it...I realized that my sister-in-law is one of my best friends.

Did you have a grand Holiday too?

I Have Some Flakies On My Fingers And It Isn't Snow

One of the best Christmas manicures I can remember...

Everything is early about this manicure. First, Finger Prints Special Effects Top Coat collection wasn't supposed to be released until next month. Today I spoke with a Sally's employee and she said that they got the go ahead from their office to put them out for sale. Lucky us!!!

Next thing that is early is that I'm leaving for vacation and this is the manicure I will sport for Christmas. And the last thing that is early is my sincere wish to you all a very Happy Holiday season.

OK, this is what I did; I started with China Glaze's 'Near Dark' because I wanted something dark and a creme. I thought that would best showcase the Special Effects. I didn't want to use just a simple black because I think you'll see a lot of that look with other bloggers. And, I wanted to, somehow, keep it close to a Christmas/Yule look.

'Near Dark' isn't quite near perfect, however. It was patchy. And even though I thought I got them all, sure enough, out in the sunlight and doing a macro shot, nothing escapes scrutiny!

Next, I slapped on those Special Effects. These polishes leave me feeling soooo giddy! I guess I have never purchased so many flakies at once and I'm in overload. Usually, we'll get one per collection. But an ENTIRE collection!!! I better sit down and fan myself!

So I could keep these all straight, I applied them in alphabetically order. (Don't laugh.) From the thumb over; Asylum, Flashy, Flecked, Molten and Twisted.
Look closely...

 Asylum

 Flashy

 Flecked

 Molten

Twisted

I posted about the first 4 here, and then today, I picked up 'Twisted' to round out the complete set.

And, to give you another look, I did the right hand the opposite direction...

Taking it from the thumb down: Twisted, Molten, Flecked, Flashy, and Asylum.

It's no secret that my middle finger on my right hand got a serious break. And I'm too stubborn to even them all out. It's just going to have to catch up.

If I had time, these would be fun to matte as well. Even still, these are mesmerizing.

My eyes bugged out of my head today at Sally's, though. The display for these was put on the bottom shelf!!! In merchandising, we call that the 'kill zone.' You do NOT put your best sellers or your newest items down at the bottom. That will 'kill' your sales, i.e., profits. Good thing I know what I'm looking for! And you will too. :D

It is too bad I'm not taking these lovelies with me. But I am not taking the chance with these at airport security. I got them on as a mani, I'm good to go!

Eck! No thumb!!!

Are you getting these? Will you get them all or is there just one or two you want?

I Spy....Sally Hansen Polishes at CVS 12/16/11

I really wasn't looking for anything in particular when I went into CVS but I found some goodies.

First, I saw a display of Sally Hansen polishes that are new to me...

Looks to be polish that smooths out ridges on the nails. Now that would be a nice effect!

Here are the shades...

Creamy and pastels. Not any that set the world on fire, for me. But I think they are going to be very popular for those that like a more quiet statement with their polishes.

Then I found a heck of a deal...

These Physician's Formula creme eyeliners are on clearance. They are normally priced at $10.99 each. They are clearance at $2.75 each. So I saved a total of $32.96. I'm a happy shopper. And, I have to mention, I purchased the green palette first. I loved it and went back for more. These have real staying power. And they are pigmented 'deluxe'. I highly recommend these! Get in on that savings.

What's your opinion on the new Sally Hansen bottles? And, yes...I mislabeled these as Essie. They sort of remind me of them. How about you?

Finger Paint's Special Effects Top Coats-FOUND!

When my friend, Alli, tweeted, yesterday, that she found these...

at a Sally's close by her, I couldn't sleep! I was up early the next day (dear gawd, and it was a Saturday!), got my run in, showered, dressed and out the door I went!

Here's the poop...these babies are to be released in January...like, next year, 2012. For some reason, which I didn't ask because I wanted to get mine first, this particular Sally's store had made the excellent, and favorable, decision to put them out for sale. Even when I paid for these Finger Paints, the sales woman stated that they were out early and she had to put in another code so the register would 'take' it. All I could choke out was 'Oh!' I think I was actually having a panic attack getting them because I was afraid some mean Sally's worker was going to come out of the back room and scream 'You can't have those yet! Give 'em back!' I didn't feel safe until I got in my car and locked the doors. Then, I took them out of the bag and drooled all over them.

To anyone else, they may look the same. But to us, nail polish enthusiasts, do we NOT know better???!!!!

This is 'Flecked'. I'm not even going to pretend I know what this flakie color is. Well, I know it's WORRRRD!!

And, this one is 'Motley'. I know what a 'Motley Crew' is but why were they using it to name a polish? Googled it:

adjective

1. exhibiting great diversity of elements; heterogeneous (composed of parts of different kinds; having widely dissimilar elements or constituents): a motley crowd.

2. being of different colors combined; parti-colored: a motley flower border.

3. wearing a parti-colored garment: a motley fool.

 

noun

4. a combination of different colors.

5. a parti-colored effect.

6. the parti-colored garment of a jester.

7. a heterogeneous assemblage.

8. a medley.

 

Now I get it!

 

I have a couple more for ya...

This is 'Flashy'. I want to say a great, big 'DUH' to that one!

 

The last one I have to show is 'Asylum'. Wow, I'm sufficiently blown away.

 

They didn't have 'Twisted' so I will be looking forward to nabbing that one for the complete collection.  And, at the moment, I am working on applying a dark green from China Glaze to show these off. I can hardly wait!!! But I want these to look out of this world!!! 

 

In the meantime, if you'd like to see them swatched, click over here to my friend, Nail Polish MD's blog and she'll show you the awesomely over-the-top flaky top coat wonderland.

 

No one else wants these, right????