When bad pictures ruin good manicures

Posted on May 30, 2014 in Beauty, Manicures |

When bad pictures ruin good manicures

As you may be able to tell, I’m a novice at beauty blogging.  My first post about my nails was June 2013, so I’m about at my 1 year mark.  Heck, despite being 33 years old, I’m pretty much a novice at beauty – period!  But a while back I did up my nails and for the life of me, I could not get a good picture. So bad was the photo that I JUST remembered what colors they were after looking at my swatch wheels and thinking “I SWEAR I used these colors already… where’s the photo?”

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Julep Polish Giveaway! Valerie and Glam Roc

Posted on May 28, 2014 in Contests | 23 comments

Julep Polish Giveaway!  Valerie and Glam Roc

Enter to Win one of 2 Julep PolishesRecently Julep was offering a Golden Ticket Mystery Box with the potential opportunity to name one of their new polishes.  You won this opportunity if your box included a gold-topped Gold Star Glitter polish. Well heck, I just wanted the gold star glitter, so I ordered away! (okay, I really did hope to name a polish Trisha too lol). My Golden Ticket Mystery box did not contain one of the Golden Ticket polishes (sad for me) but it certainly did not disappoint in it’s abundance! I ordered one of the Mystery Boxes (#3 cause that’s my lucky number) and went with a Mystery Add-on too, so all told I spent about $40 and I definitely got my money’s worth. Here’s the impressive haul:

Quite the hall, and well worth the $40 as this is over $100 in value just in the polish alone.  I’m pretty excited for the Freedom Polymer Top Coat since I haven’t tried it yet.  I probably won’t be buying another Mystery Box any time soon, only because I now have these polishes to try out first!  The astute reader, however, might notice that there’s a couple of duplicates in that list of polishes.

I already own Valerie (a cool jade creme with subtle golden sparkles) and Glam Roc (a purple and gold sparkle textured polish).  So I’m having a Julep Polish Giveaway!  Of course, I’m keeping the ones I’ve already opened (duh) and giving you the brand new ones I just received.

How do I win the Julep Polish Giveaway?

Complete the tasks in the Rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win – the contest starts RIGHT NOW (or, 10:45 AM PST 5/28/14) and ends in 1 week (or, 11:59 PM PST 6/4/14).  Two winners will be chosen and one will win Valerie and one will win Glam Roc (chosen at random by Rafflecopter). Winners must live within the US or have a US mailing address for shipping.

There are many opportunities to increase your entries and chances of winning, so get going with this Julep Polish Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Zazzle Custom Minx Nail Wraps!

Posted on May 26, 2014 in Beauty, Crafts, Manicures |

Zazzle Custom Minx Nail Wraps!

Cafepress user from way back.  I know Zazzle is around, but generally speaking when I think of custom print-to-order items, I look at Cafepress first.  MAN was I doing a disservice to myself, a mistake I shall not soon repeat as I discovered something on Zazzle recently that is exciting beyond comprehension!

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April Julep Maven Box’s Vivid Collection

Posted on May 23, 2014 in Beauty, Manicures |

April Julep Maven Box’s Vivid Collection

A little late, but I’m just now ready to write about what I received in my April Julep Maven Subscription box.  I was excited for colors this bright, but I have to say in execution I was disappointed.  Which is the first time I’ve been disappointed in anything I’ve received from Julep.  Overall I think their products are amazing and their Plié Wand is a total game changer, and most of their polishes are one-coat wonders, but the two I received, besides being dupes of things I already have, missed the mark in the application test.

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Radiant Orchid Manicure: Pantone Color of 2014

Posted on May 21, 2014 in Beauty, Manicures |

Radiant Orchid Manicure: Pantone Color of 2014

Paying more attention recently to nail polish trends and fashion trends too, it did not go without note that Pantone named Radiant Orchid as the 2014 Color of the Year.  It’s a nice light purple, and I’m on board for anything purple.  I’ve seen lots of representations of what Radiant Orchid is, which seems odd considering that Pantone is a system of colors for designers that’s very exact.  I have had so much nail polish come my way that I hadn’t bothered to look specifically for a polish to jump on this trend.

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April Showers Bring May Flowers Manicures

Posted on May 19, 2014 in Beauty, Manicures |

April Showers Bring May Flowers Manicures

April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes.  Well here in California, we’re in the middle of a pretty bad drought.  Of course the only showers that we really saw during April were during the weekend I decided to get away and go out of town to rescue my sanity!  Nevertheless, I was in a sunny disposition when I decided to get a neon orange done on my toes at my last pedicure, so I matched with a bright and happy neon orange on my nails for this May Flowers manicure.

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