Giveaway Reminder & Questions

My Follower Appreciation Giveaway is ending very soon! I can't believe it's been a month already. However, I'm very excited to finally get to choose a winner and get the prizes shipped out.


There's still time if you haven't entered or simply want more chances to win (each time you post about my giveaway on Facebook or Twitter is one extra entry) go do so now!! If you don't enter you can't win after all.


Good luck to all those who have or will enter!!


As for my next giveaway, I have a few ideas. I'm trying to come up with things that can be shipped internationally this time. With this in mind, how do you gals feel about artificial nails? What about if they are designed and painted by me? What about preferred lengths? Short, medium, long? What about things that aren't nail related but simply beauty related? With this idea, I've heard that some countries don't allow the shipment of cosmetics. I would have to do a bit of research to find out which countries.


I'm open to suggestions for prizes. If you have something you'd like to see in a giveaway you can post ideas in the comments or use the 'Contact Me' section of this blog to find my email.

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Dots Galore

Hello, my lovely followers!! I hope everyone is doing great today. I would be better if it didn't insist on raining. Still, I managed to get enough sun for pictures so I can't complain too much.

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but I did a standard trim before painting my nails for the last post. I hadn't realized how long they were getting, and I'm really beginning to enjoy them short. I'm happy to say that this nearly evened out the break of my index nail. It's nearly unnoticeable now. Yay!


I also want to give you an update on my 'Electrify on Fast Track' mani. Electrify may be the prettiest glitter I own, but it's still a glitter. I seem to have forgotten that while I was enjoying it so much. It took me nearly an hour to remove Electrify from the tips even using the foil method. It was a painful reminder of the tediousness of removing glitters. By the time I was done there was bits of red and gold glitter everywhere and my nails were scrubbed raw. Glitter reminds me of sand in the way that it gets everwhere!!!

Full Sun

My left hand with its pretty purple thumb.

With this fresh in mind, I went for a very simple mani today. It's a recreation of The Polished Perfectionist's Polka Dots mani. I went with a different color theme and they turned out nice, but I still think hers are prettier. I definitely recommend that you go take a look at this mani as well as others by her. :) I loved her idea of taking a picture with hands wrapped around a cup so you can see the full effect, so I borrowed that as well.


Have I ever mentioned my love of my dotting tool? I bought it years and years ago as a tool for clay working. While I left the clay behind I found another use for it with my nails. I would love to pick up a set of various sized dotting tools but for this mani my medium sized dotter gets the job done nicely.

Natural Light, Slight Cloud Cover

My left hand with its mint green thumb.

I think these are a perfect combination of Spring and Easter. Everyone who saw them thought they were Easter egg nails.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brillante
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Borghese - Buon Viaggio Mauve
• China Glaze - Secrete Peri-Wink-Le
• Sinful Colors - Beautiful Girl
• Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
• L.A. Colors - BCC 561 (White)
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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Electrify on Fast Track

I am absurdly pleased to start this post with the happy, happy news that I now own both Electrify and Riveting from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection, Capitol Colours. I'm still trying to find Luxe and Lush, but that's not what this post is about.

Cloudy

2 coats Fast Track, 1 Electrify, 2 top coat.

Taken while out; I didn't have a nail polish bottle handy so forgive the partial zombie/lobster claw I have going on.

I was hoping to get better (read: sunny) pictures of these nails, but we'll all just have to make due with what I do have because it's a rainy mess in small town Pennsylvania right now.

Still, look at just how great Electrify looks with Fast Track. Personally, I think Electrify is one of the prettiest glitters I own with its small gold hex glitters and its larger bright red hex glitters. The red and gold really brings out the golden shimmer in Fast Track and adds spice to it's nude/tan color.


Luck shined upon me today ... with sunlight!!

Morning Sunlight

Ignore the wear at the tips. I was particularly hard on my nails this weekend. Actually, they held up much better than I expected with only slight wear & no chips.

This is definitely one manicure I have no want to remove! :)

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BELATED: Walking Dead Season Finale Mani!!!!!

Morning, I'm almost 100% sure that my butt is in bed while you read this, having just watched The Hunger Games. Who knows though, I could be up with Jack and Meg, having a drink, enjoying my day off, talking about the movie by fire in our back yard. In my world, you just never know :) Either way, on to the post.


Okay, so yeah, I mean, why would I have posted this on time. That's just boring, hee hee       O_o
I was going to post this last Sunday, ya know, since it was what I was wearing for The Walking Dead season finale, but somehow forgot.

Jack and I are big zombie freaks, almost to the point of being a sad and pathetic couple, but maybe that's why we work, lol.  Well when I was shopping Dollish Polish on etsy and saw this one, Zombie Flesh, I didn't even hesitate putting it into my cart. I'm not even sure I enlarged the pic or read the description first.

Then last Saturday night, while deciding my mani, I couldn't think of a better polish to wear. For this I did do 3 coats, and 1 coat of SV

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Rimmel 1000 kisses lip tint review and swatches

Lip tints. An alternative lip product which offers good coverage and long lasting ability. Revlon (7.99) were the first ones to release a lip pen followed by Max Factor (7.99) and now Rimmel (6.99). Rimmel's lasting finish lip tint's come in four different shades (watched below). I have 'Carry on Cherry' which is a deep cherry red colour. The pen applicator makes it easy to apply. It also comes with a lip balm - this is essential as I found not using this my lips felt really dry.

A downside to this product is that the lip balm doesn't twist, I think it would be better if it did as  you would get more product. Also, It would be nice to see a wider range of shades in the collection. Saying that, I have my eye on the pink and peach ones! 

Popped into Boots to check out the other three shades!

I would buy another lip tint and recommend it to others. The concept is great & perfect for lipstick wearers wanting a longer lasting finish. 

 

OVERALL

This product is great if your going out for a meal/drinks and don't want to worry about having to re-apply your lip product throughout the evening. Or, like the product suggests you plan on kissing 1000 times. I am yet to try out the latter, however, for review purposes, I am willing to test out this theory. Please let me know if you have a brother around my age. Thanks!

Available from Boots and Superdrug - RRP �6.99


- To prevent your lip stain/ tint drying out, store it with the pen facing down! 

  *Pr Sample

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Vintage Inspired

Can I just say thank you for all the wonderfully sweet comments on my Spring mani? I know I don't answer the comments as often as I should, but I just want you guys to know that you really know how to turn a bad day around and make a girl happy!! I treasure each and every comment.


I decided to stick to the theme and do something with flowers again. I know this has been done a thousand times before by others but this is a mani I haven't tried before.  So, I figured, why not give it a try? Vintage inspired, here I come!

Natural Evening Light

I tried to keep everything soft without bright sunlight. It just felt right with these nails.

Yep, that's a broken nail. Both index nails broke yesterday and contributed to my very bad day. Sadly, this hand, my left, is by far the worst. And it just grew out from the last break too!! :(

I did a Google search for vintage and came up with this vintage floral wallpaper. That and the tons of other vintage floral nails are where this idea comes from. With this design, I really don't think I can claim anything as mine since it's all been done before. So I give credit to all the nailers out there who have done this design before me!!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of swirled roses. It only took two days of near non-stop practice.

Is there anything you guys would like to see me do on this blog? I'm open to suggestions. :)

Polish Used

• Borghese - Brillante
• Sinful Colors - Beautiful Girl
• Wet n Wild - French White Creme
• Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
• Sally Hansen - Green With Envy
• OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window
• Hard Candy - Matte-ly In Love

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Katniss Everdeen, GIRL ON FIRE!!!!

OMG OMG OMG, I cannot freaking wait until tonight!!!!!! For those of you that read the book, I'm sure you remember that Katniss's nails were painted with flames on them. So here is my tribute to her for tonight! Oh and since I am no good with nail art brushes I grabbed my tool, tape :)

For this I started with Sinful Black on Black on all my nails except my 2 ring ringers. On them I used 2 thick coats of China Glaze Electrify.

I then cut some fire/flames out of tape. I forgot to get a pic before I placed it on my nail and polished over it, so that is why the black polish is already on it, oooppps.

and here is the final result. I didn't do all my nails, like I vision hers being done, because I just thought it would be overkill. 

Oh and YAY and side note, my phone just rang and I have the the Hunger Games whistle as my ring tone. Dork, I know. 

Okay back to the mani, It was so hard to get a good pic, to show the effect and not have it distorted by the glare, but I tried :)

This is going to be the looooongest day ever!!!!

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Hello Spring!

And hello to all you wonderful followers, and happy spring! I became oddly attached to my 'Feeling Blue' mani, so I left doing a Spring mani to the last second.


Forgive me for at least some of the messiness of this design. My beloved nail art brushes are beginning to fray. They are old and I knew this was coming, but I'm still terribly sad to see them go. I've been putting off get new ones, but I think it's finally time.

I had a lovely sun going on my thumb but bumped it while it was still wet and sloughed off half the polish. :(

Today was a lovely day to begin spring in my small town. Slightly cloudy at various points in the day but it reached into the low 70's so I can't complain. I had the blinds and the windows open enjoying the sun and cool breeze. It's turning into a perfect evening as well.


How is the weather in your part of the world?


Polish Used

• Sally Hansen - Blew Me Away!
• Pure Ice - Free Spirit
• L.A. Colors Art Deco - Bright Green
• Sally Hansen - Green With Envy
• Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
• OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window
• Wet n Wild - French White Creme
• Revlon - Cloud
• Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
• Sally Hansen - Fuchsia Power
• Revlon - No Shrinking Violet
• L.A. Colors Art Deco - Yellow (unseen sun)
• Pure Ice - Siren (Whoops, forgot this one)

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The nail varnish tag and storage

Favourite Nail Varnish Company?
I am one of those people who HATE spending over �5 for a nail varnish! So my collection mainly consists of high street nail varnishes. My Favourite Brands are Barry M, No 7 and Collection 2000. 



Glitter or no glitter?
Glitter all the way! It can be a bit messy sometimes but i love the way it looks. You can see me wearing the GOSH glitter here (LINK).



OPI, China Glaze, or Essie? 
OPI is the only one i have tried from those three so i would have to go for that one. China Glaze and Essie are nice but at �9 a pop i know i'll be able to find a cheaper dupe on the highstreet. With the two OPI polishes above, the colours are quite unique so i don't mind spending a bit extra.


When do you change you nail varnish?
Every week. I take it off on Friday - before work on Saturday. Then on Saturday night/Sunday i'll paint my nails. 



Favourite Colour?
I brought it from boots in a city i've forgotten about 5 years ago. I never see this brand any more and i should really through this away but i just love the colour. Yellow just seems to brighten up my mood.



Dark or bright?
Bright all the way for me, dark colours don't really suit me. The darkest i would go is the dark blue above & i normally just save it for my toes.



What are you wearing on your nails now?
I brought this on Saturday with a �5 No 7 voucher. I do like their nail varnishes but i just can't justify paying full price for one! But, maybe one day, i'll go completely crazy and pay �7. This is called 'Highland Mist' & i quite like it!

Matte Nails?
I think this looks really cool & it's a nice change from shiny nails. You can see me wearing this here (LINK).

French Manicure?
I think it looks nice & professional but.... a bit boring? I'd rather have a splash of colour on my nails.


Favourite Winter Colour?
Every is so grey and dull in the winter I like to brighten things up with a bright colour on my nails. And when it gets close to christmas i go for glittery nails to get in the festive spirit! 

My current nail varnish storage, need something bigger! Any ideas? 

I could go on about nails all day - i tag YOU all to do this 

x

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Feeling Blue

I've been having problems with breaks along the edges of my nails lately. I've attempted trimming them way down. I'm sure you've noticed the differences in nail length since I started blogging. This has really helped the strength of my nails but hasn't stopped the edges from bending and breaking regularly. Recently, I tried rounding the edges a bit more than my perfectly squared off tips. I'm hoping this works, but I have a feeling it won't. Does anyone know any good remedies for brittle, easily broken nails?


I'm really excited to show you today's nails. There's really nothing extraordinary about them, but I was lucky enough to find Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor again. Pearl Harbor is part of my Follower Appreciation Giveaway; the one that almost didn't make it into the giveaway after I saw the bottle in the sunlight. I picked it up in my last haul and finally got around to using it today. It's such a real gem. These pictures just can't capture the awesomeness of Pearl Harbor.

2 Coats Polish + 1 Coat Glitter + Top Coat
Sunset Lighting

I adore Pearl Harbor over China Glaze First Mate, but it is just as lovely over China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le ... just in a much more subtle way.

It's amazing how different Pearl Harbor can look over different colors. Over First Mate, the dark blue, it looks like a teal or a Persian green. While over Secret Peri-Wink-Le, it looks aqua or even robin egg blue. I'm eager to see this glitter over a variety of colors.

If you like this glitter and want it for your own, head over to my Follower Appreciation Giveaway and enter for a chance to win it!!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Hey guys!!!! Whew, I've been so busy today getting ready for our neighborhood St. Patrick's Day party. I did manage to make time to get pics of my mani and post, whoo hoo! This will be short though sorry, because I have to wake Jack up and go run more errands.

Hope you guys have a great day and night!!!

I started with Nubar Reclaim for the base of my St. Patty Day mani

I then used Claire's 14 Karats gold polish and my Bundle Monster plate BM19 for the polka dots.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my lovely followers! I had absolutely nothing planned for today as I was so excited by the China Glaze Hunger Games collection. Still, I felt I had to do something. I hardly ever let a holiday go by without giving at least a slight nod of acknowledgment.


So, I went with something very simple. This is a design that anyone can do. (Which is always great, right?) It's simply two coats of white polish on all my fingers, then I used a semi-small dotting tool for the dotted nails; you can use a different size or even a toothpick to get your dots. The rainbow nail is my shaky freehand (way too much coffee lately) but you can use the tape method to get near perfect lines. It's all very simple but gives a very eye-catching set of nails.

Full Sun

A hint for doing dots? Do them one line (up and down) at a time and stagger them. Every other line should match up. It's so much easier than trying to do them vertically across your nail. 

Flash

What's on your nails for St. Patrick's Day? I would love to see any designs you guys have come up with. ?

Polish Used

• Borghese - Brilliante
• Sally Hansen - White On
• Pure Ice - Siren
• Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Pure Ice - Free Spirit
• Sally Hansen - Blew Me Away!
• L.A. Colors - BCC 590 (Purple)
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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Burt's Bees 24 hour Body Lotion

Oh Burt, you've done it again. Following up on my last Burt's Bees post (here) I've been trying out some of their other products.

 Now the season is changing to Spring, it's still really important to keep skin moisturised. I don't what anything to heavy on my skin so i've ditched the body butters/oils and moved onto body lotions. 

 Four different scents for four different skin types. All are 99% natural and offer 24 hour moisterization. 

 My favourite one out of all of them is the Milk & Honey lotion for normal to dry skin mainly because it smells delish!

As you can see from the swatch it's quite a thick body lotion and takes a few minutes to completely sink into the skin. If you don't have time and prefer a thinner moisturiser try something like Garnier.

Overall, I love these. The packaging, the product and the way they leave my skin feeling gets a thumbs up from me. I have one on my bedside table, in my bathroom cabinet and in my lounge encase of any dry skin emergencies! 

RRP �12.99 for 170g available from Boots or you can purchase through the Burts Bees website here. 

If you want to try something from Burt's Bees for the first time - opt for their cheapest product, think it's their lip balms, to see if you like the brand. Or you could just add it to your birthday present list...

*pr sample

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