My First Giveaway!

I've been blogging for over a month now, and I have over 25 followers and over 1,000 page views, and to celebrate, I'm having my first giveaway!  I am not publicizing this giveaway much because I want my first few followers to have a better chance of winning.  You don't need to be a follower to enter my giveaway, although I would love to have more followers, so hopefully you will like my blog enough to follow it.  I also have a Facebook page here, but you don't have to like it in order to enter this giveaway, although I would appreciate a few more likes.  All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below and add a comment to this blog post letting me know what your favorite polish color and favorite polish finish are.

The giveaway prize is two bottles of Finger Paints Special Effects flakie top coats (Asylum and Motley) and one bottle of Essie's Shine of the Times flakie top coat.  These bottles are brand new and have never been used or swatched. I bought them myself, and I bought them specifically for this giveaway.  I have no association with Finger Paints, Sally Beauty Supply Stores, or Essie.

The Finger Paints Special Effects polishes were only sold at Sally Beauty Supply Stores and not online, and they sold out quickly.  You can no longer find them in stores.  Asylum has red and blue flakies.  Motley, a favorite flakie of mine, has green and blue flakies and looks amazing over dark green polishes like China Glaze Glittering Garland.

Essie Shine of the Times is a multi-colored flakie that over a dark polish flashes some beautiful gold and green colors.  I especially like it over Essie Little Brown Dress.  It looks like fall in a manicure that way.

From left to right:  Finger Paints Asylum, Essie Shine of the Times, and Finger Paints Motley.

At number 14 on the nail wheel is Finger Paints Asylum over Wet N Wild Black Creme.   At number 15 on the nail wheel is Finger Paints Motley over Wet N Wild Black Creme.  At number 17 on the nail wheel is Essie Shine of the Times over Wet N Wild Black Creme.

The giveaway is open to those people in the continental United States only.  I had to educate myself on the post office's laws with regard to nail polish.  In summary, I can ship the nail polish by ground transportation only, not by air, so I'm keeping things simple by limiting the giveaway to the continental United States.  In the future, I will try to figure out international shipping rules, but right now, for my very first little giveaway, I don't want to have to worry about customs forms and customs taxes for internationally shipped products.  If you are outside the continental United States but can provide an address in the continental United States, for example if you can use a friend's or a relative's address, then by all means enter my giveaway!

I will do my best to package the polish securely, and I will get a tracking number.  However, I cannot replace the polish if it gets lost or stolen or breaks in transit because I don't have more bottles of these hard-to-find Finger Paints Special Effects polishes to give away.

This giveaway ends on May 31, 2012.  I will notify the winner by posting the winner's name (the name that shows up with their blog comment below) here on this page and also on a separate post once the giveaway is over, and I will post the winner's name on my Facebook page.  If I don't receive an e-mail from the winner (with their mailing address where I can ship their prize) within 72 hours, I will have to pick another winner.

You can enter my giveaway by following the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below.  Please give Rafflecopter a few seconds to fully load before you start your entry.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Revlon Colorstay Polish Going on 9 Days Now + Nabi Polish Display at Walgreens

I put on the Revlon Colorstay nail polish on Sunday, April 1st, and now it's Monday, April 9th.  The polish was actually in perfect shape until Friday night when I hand-washed one of the dog's kennel towels in the hotel sink.  After that the polish started to lift off the nail on a couple of fingers.  Tonight, if I can get over the migraine I have now, I will finally remove this polish and put on some Sally Hansen nail polish strips.

I took the picture below last night, in the hotel room, so the polish is a week old in that picture.  I last touched up the tips a few days ago and since then have only been putting on a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat every morning.  Sorry about the lack of cleanup on the top coat; I didn't bring polish remover with me on our trip (so I'd have an excuse to go to local drugstores).

So, I went to a Walgreens in northeast Florida on our way north to Savannah, Georgia, with my excuse reason being needing some polish remover.  I saw a huge Nabi polish display (picture below), and I got very excited thinking it might be a display of the Nabi magnetic polishes that Scrangie found at her Walgreens (see her post here), but it was all crackle nail polish.  I never got into the crackle trend.  My sister-in-law likes crackle polish, though, which I only remembered after I had already left the store, or I would have bought her some bottles.  Anyway, for those of you who love crackle polish, this is an amazing assortment of colors, and the colors are vibrant and beautiful, and you can buy three bottles for $10!  We do not have any Nabi polishes at all in my local South Florida Walgreens stores.  Here's a picture of the display.

Below is a picture of my manicure today, in our hotel room in Savannah, Georgia.  I took the picture in the sunlight from the picture window in our hotel.  Day 9 of the Revlon Colorstay manicure!  Can you believe it?

Base coat, two coats of Revlon Colorstay Indigo Blue, 1 coat SV, 1 coat Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat, 2 coats Finger Paints Motley (blue-green flakies), 1 coat Seche Vite, and another coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat each day for 7 more days.  That's 15 coats of polish, if my math is correct.

I will update the Colorstay polish posts if I get any staining when I try to remove the polish.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Blue Nails, Day 5

I took these pictures yesterday afternoon, Day 5 of my blue nails.  I do patch up the tip wear every morning and add another coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.  Didn't have time to do a full clean-up before heading out the door.  These are all in the afternoon sun in my car.  Most are in direct sunlight and the last picture is in indirect sunlight.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Blue Nails, Part Two

Yesterday I added some flakies to my blue manicure from World Autism Awareness Day.  I used Finger Paints Motley, which has blue and green flakies in a clear base.  The flakes leave a dimpled appearance on the nail after top coat, but it's still a relatively smooth finish.

In the pictures below I have one coat of Sally Hansen's Age Correct Growth (discontinued) as a base coat, two coats of Revlon Colorstay Indigo Night, one coat of Seche Vite, all applied on Sunday, one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat applied on Monday, two coats of Finger Paints Motley and one coat of Seche Vite applied Tuesday, and a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat this morning.  I couldn't get the sparkliness to come through in the pictures.  The Finger Paints Motley creates the look of dimension, and it makes my nails look like stone with other little stones embedded inside.  The blue flakes in Motley flash a deep neon indigo blue, and I couldn't get that to show in the pictures either.

In my office, with flash.  You can see a little of the dimpling.

In the car in afternoon sunlight.

In the car.  Indirect sunlight.

Also in the car, in indirect sunlight.

Thank you for reading my blog!