Seizing My Golden Opportunity

It is a great pleasure to show you a swatch in GOLD!  Not just a regular gold but, a gold holo...

I got this at a new to me Beauty Supply store...you know, the ones that sell hair.  Hee hee!  This is Kleancolor's 'Holo Yellow.'  I quickly scanned the polish rack for other Holos and found 4 more.  I checked online and I got all from this collection except for a pink.

I'm not a fan of yellow polish at all.  Not that I don't think it looks OK on me, it's just not a color I gravitate to.  Not even in clothing.  But 'Holo Yellow' is a yellow with gold in it that got me to say 'it's doable!'

Here's why I couldn't resist...

A gold-ish yellow with enough glitter to keep the Tooth Fairy flush for a couple of years.  Lots and lots of gold and iridescent micro-glitter.  It was soupy the first couple of coats but, I got it in line after the third coat and gave it a 'wow, glad I tried this' nod.

Morning sunlight is sooo gorgeous to photograph with.  Too bad I'm not a morning person.  But I have been capturing some swatches first thing in the morning before I go out there and work.  My work tends to be very rough on manicures.  However, this is my ring finger and I like everything about this; the length of the nail, its shape, the way the color looks with my skin tones, and it doesn't seem to be a finger I choose to chew.  If my cuticles were cigarettes, I'd be smoking 2 to 3 packs a day!!! 

I have Seche Clear and then a coat of Nailene's Miracle Maker as a top coat.  'Holo Yellow' didn't need much help to be shiny though.  It held up to shine all by itself.  Reminds me of gold lame pants.

I'm not sure this is a true 'holographic' but, what do you think?  Do you wear yellow polish and if so, what brand?

Nailene's Miracle Maker was sent to me for review. These are my honest opinions on the product.

Winner of the St. Valentine's Day Marathon Manicure

Those that read my blog know I have a giddiness about 'pleasant surprises.'  This one has had me giddy all month.  :D

I had 50 comments during the 14 days of the Marathon.  Each comment became an entry.  I wanted to reward my followers that take a moment to share a comment with me.  I had my own Valentine's Day sweetie pick the winner.

The winner is  VANDALEYEZ MAKEUP!!!

Here's what you won Lissa...

The heart-shaped package has pink roses that are actually slivers of soap!  I got one too and put them in a heart-shaped glass dish and put a soft pink votive candle in the middle.  Makes my tub area feminine. :)  Hello, Kitty is a plush key or zipper ring.  From Claire's, nail art stencils so Lissa can do a much better job of using them than I did with my set.  Candy!!  I hope this one is her favorite because it's one of my favorite candy bars.

But wait....there's more!!!

Two Finger Paint's Valentine's polishes; a Milani pink polish that I found adorable, it has gold micro-glitter; Orly's 4 polishes from their Valentine's collection.
Some close-ups...

All items are brand new.  I purchased them all myself.  I hope this is a pleasant surprise for Lissa.

Lissa is a blogger as well.  She has a fledgling blog and an Esty store.  She makes her own mineral makeup.  Lissa, we have to talk...I love mineral makeup....LOTS!! ;)

Thank you all that visited my blog during my marathon.  And, Phew!  I'm glad it's over even though it was fun.  But I'm off to put on a raunchy yellow glitter polish!!!!  LOL!!!

Miss Independent - St. Valentine's Day Manicure Marathon-Day 14

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

This is the final day of the Manicure Marathon.  And even though I have had tons of fun, I'm pinked (and red) out!  I have past the finish line!  Well, not quite yet but, that's another post. 

My hubs got me this for Valentine's Day...

Thankfully, it's small and we did split it.  Very chocolaty!!

I got him this...

My hubs is a feracious reader.  Since retiring, he reads even more.  My brother and his family got me a Kindle for Christmas and my hubs has been pouting about it ever since. I share very easily but, he would have none of that.  So, I made him very happy with his very own.

I'm rounding out the marathon with a new Nicole by OPI nail polish.  This is my first Nicole purchase.  And this shade was the perfect introduction...

This is 'Miss Independent.'  I saved this one for the last day for a reason. 

If you are flying solo during Valentine's Day, it can be a very lonely day.  I had felt that way many times.  It wasn't until I embraced my 'single-hood' that I stopped seeing the entire world as 'coupled.'  So, I would spoil myself.  I'd get a special gift for myself.  I'd get a bouquet of flowers and put them on my kitchen table.  I spent the day gushing over everyone else's flowers they got at work and then would go home to make my favorite meal and spend the evening remembering that I had no one to account to, I could leave my clothes anywhere I wanted, I didn't have to ask anyone where they wanted to go out to eat!  I was Miss Independent.

The promotional piece from Nicole by OPI states that this is a lavender.  It's a metallic lavender, yes.  Yet, it's pastel, soft, pretty and reminds me of Valentine's Day cards from the Victorian age.

The brush is a fat, flat one and I do like how it performs.  The polish did have some buckling and it didn't dry as fast as I thought it would.  Hence, some smudges.  But I am in serious 'like' over the color.  I have 3 coats and, 2 would have been just fine.  I have a coat of Nailene's Miracle Maker as the top coat.  One negative, I don't like the shape of this bottle.  It makes it clumsy to hold while polishing.

'Miss Independent' wore fairly well.  I am showing it the 2nd day of wear.  It didn't chip or peel.  And, metallics can get streaky but the brush, I'm sure, helps eliminate that issue.

How do you like the fatter, wider brushes?  Do you like this color for a Valentine's day polish?  What has been your experience with using Nicole by OPI?

Nailene's Miracle Maker was sent to me for review. These are my honest opinions on the product.

Dolly Lips - St. Valentine's Day Manicure Marathon-Day 13

It probably is quite clear, even though I haven't flat out said it, that I don't have kids.  Reason: I don't want kids.  This should have been evident when I was a child.  I didn't play with dolls, instead, I had a microscope.  While other kids played 'dress up', I read a book. 

However, this doesn't make me oblivious about baby dolls.  My sister, who has 2 adult children, had lots of dolls and loved playing with them.  I think she had about 10 Barbies and a couple extra from me that I got as gifts.  So, I DO know what color dolly lips are...

I have never heard of Cosmetic Arts before.  But I found a full display of them at Ross.  I got this pink creme and 3 other colors; all creme.  If those other colors work like this one, I'm going to end up liking cremes more.

This color is like no other pink I have.  And they didn't even name it.  Thus, 'Dolly Lips'...

I would almost say this is a day-glo color.  It's super bright and an in-your-face pink.  I got 3 compliments wearing this polish.  And, one was from a self-professed polish addict that works at Ulta.

I've mentioned before how cremes do not like me.  I think I found the exception.  This is 3 coats with  Quick & Slick top coat that made it shine way more than the camera is showing. 

I'm fair skinned and this color looks great on me.  But I bet it would really rock on someone that's darker or tan.  Perfect for summertime.  Or...for Valentine's Day.

Did you play with dolls as a child o,r where you nerdy like me?  I had one of those huge Barbie heads that I could apply makeup to and style the hair.  It was a complete fail, so I used my sister instead.  Did you have that make-up Barbie head too?

Loving My Hearts - St. Valentine's Day Manicure Marathon-Day 12

Wow!  Only two more days after today!  This Marathon has gone quickly since I have done a post every day.

This is my favorite St. Valentine's Day manicure polish for the entire marathon.  This is Finger Paint's 'Up & Coming Artist'...

 

 It's a bubblegum pink and it's a girly pink-slight-shimmer color.  There are several reasons I like Finger Paints.  One is they are affordable.  Another one is that they have a wide color assortment.  And yet another, they have clever names.

It just would happen that my nails would break and then they'd all be uneven lengths.  Man, my right hand is even worse!  Hopefully, 'Up & Coming Artist' is so pretty that it distracts from the uneven lengths and the crying for moisture cuticles.

I even noticed that my adidas shirt I had on when photographing this manicure matched...

So, could I play around with this manicure and add in some love?

But, of course!  I didn't own one single Nicole by OPI until about 25 days ago.  It was that Spawn of Satan, 'Justin Bieber' that had a collection done by Nicole that possessed me.  Then I saw 'Love Your Life' and knew it would really work for this Manicure Marathon.

I tested 'Love Your Life' on some wax paper to see how dense the heart glitter was.  Well, it wasn't very dense at all, which has been my experience with mega glitter polish.  So, using the same wax paper, I swiped polish on it til I got a hold of some hearts and then transferred them onto my nails.  I still had to stroke the polish on the nails because there is pink and iridescent  micro-glitter in it.  But I manually, randomly placed the hearts.

The heart glitter is subtle enough that it doesn't make me look like I'm 13.   But then what would I know; I act 13!

I put on a couple of coats of Seche Clear to trap the glitter down.  It worked on most of them.  I think I only lost one the day and a half I wore this manicure.

Sweet enough for a St. Valentine's Day manicure.  Oh, and yes, that glitter didn't come off the nail easily at all.  At that point, it ceased being a sweetheart!

Do you have any mega-sized glitter polish?  If you do, what's the shape?