China Glaze OMG & QT

A sweet sweet lady by the name of Moxie sent me quite possibly the biggest lemming I've ever had, out of sheer kindness! I don't ever want to take this off. It's so eye-catching.  I can't thank you enough :D Ladies and ladies.. China Glaze OMG!

Three thin coats. No TC

It's hard not to stare at your hands all day when there is a frickin' rainbow on them, ya know?

Dollface sent me QT, too.  I'm the biggest pink holo h00r.  I can't contain myself when it comes to them.  They're just a perfect combination of everything I love: A. China Glaze B. Pink C. Holo. Wheeeeeee!

LOOK @ IT.

I stamped with QT.  The OMG's make such good stamping polishes.  I used BM224 for the flowers.

$40 Gift Card for $14 @ ImageBeauty!

PlumDistrict.com has another crazy deal for ImageBeauty aka www.discountbeautycenter.com.

Here's what you do if you're interested, click HERE to sign up. That's my referral link, no pressure if you'd rather not use it.  Anyways, when purchasing the deal you'll notice its a $40 gift card for $20 - Enter the promo code "spooky30" without the quotes to get 30% off - making your deal a total of $14!

ImageBeauty has quite the selection and I'm impressed at their prices. Essies are discounted, too.  I found the China Glaze winter and holiday collections all the way on page 17 if you're looking for them. I'm excited because this is the first groupon type deal I've encountered that sells China Glaze!

I must thank those who used my referral link last time - I appreciate it! (=

Don't forget about my Giveaway!

150 Follower Giveaway!!!

I am celebrating reaching 150 followers!  I am completely thrilled to have each and every one of you as readers to my blog, and to show my appreciation, I am hosting a giveaway.  I will put reminders for this giveaway on upcoming posts as well. Best of luck to all entrants! And thank you, very much, for commenting, reading and providing feedback!

The Prizes (=

Prize Includes:
-Funky Fingers Stage Dive
-Funky Fingers Monster Ballad
-Funky Fingers Sold Out Arena
-Four piece manicure set
-A book of twelve mini emery boards
-A hot pink scrubby nail brush

I personally own all of the polishes I will be giving away, too! They're great, you can see them swatched HERE.  All prizes are brand new.

Rules:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Sunday, November 20th EST.
4. Extra entry for adding me to your sidebar; not required.
5. This contest is open to the Continental United States Only; excluding Hawaii and all other countries.
6.  The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

If you're interested, please click HERE to fill out the entry form.

Annoyed

There seems, for the most part, a divided opinion on whether 'testing' nail polish is or isn't stealing.  Testing with a tester is not the same thing as testing with a product intended for sale.  That is an important distinction.  I think the concept becomes blurry because while they're not putting the entire bottle into their pocket and walking out of the store, they are indeed using part of a product that they're not paying for.  It's pretty black and white in my eyes.  Using something you're not paying for, that is supposed to be paid for, is, uh, theft.  Just because the bottle remains left at the store doesn't mean they didn't take product from the bottle. And just because someone only "used a little" of the product, also doesn't mean it's not theft.

I'm writing this because I'm kind of pissed off.  Most (hopefully!) of you who read know the difference, and anyone who is involved in this hobby usually aren't the types who do this.  We see swatches, and research the quality of something before purchasing it.  I almost feel as if I'm wasting my breath, because you aren't the people who needs to hear this. But alas, this is my soapbox.

Almost always, when purchasing a polish, I'll open it to check and make sure the threads aren't gunked up.  For whatever reason this time around, I didn't.  I went in to Walgreens specifically looking for the Coloricon glitters but a Sinful Colors that I hadn't noticed before caught my eye.  I grabbed it and continued to search for the Coloricons, couldn't find them, so I went to check out.  It wasn't until getting home and a few days later that I realized my polish was used, and noticeably used.

I take fault for not checking it out at the store, I understand that.  I think it's kind of absurd that I even have to have a habit of inspecting an item I want to purchase.

The idiots who test make up in stores are just that, idiots. Evidently they're incapable of NOT slathering the threads of a bottle too.  How hard is it to not do that?  They're not threading a needle.  The opening is big enough.

Thanks for the slop!

To whomever did this: you are a fucking douchebag :D There. I feel better.

My Bloom.Com Order

I was SO excited to get my Bloom.Com order.  It arrived Wednesday, just about a week after placing my order.  The shipping was free which is always exciting.  I paid $13 for my Plum District coupon/gift card and my total came out to $40.50 - with the gift card being worth $40, that means I only paid $13.50 for all of this stuff. I love that! Guilt free shopping has got to be one of the best natural highs, ever!

I must say I am quite impressed with Bloom's packaging. It arrived in a bold black box and had lots of hot pink tissue paper, along with bubble wrap and the larger packaged air.  The polishes had come unraveled from the bubble wrap, but all of the additional packaging kept them safe.

How cute is that?

The invoice included a nice handwritten note from my new beauty BFF, Jenna! Such a nice sentiment that they take the time to do that.

The 3 free samples I was able to choose came with a high gloss card in a cute little bag.  The back of the card suggests reviewing the sample products online for my fellow beauty fiends. (In nicer words, of course.)

 My first Zoyas!  I've always heard such great things about this brand and was so excited to be able to try them at such a great price.  I choose Neeka, Maya and Mira.  I also got POP Beauty Jade Metal and thought I've give CND Stickey Base Coat a try. All of that for $13.50!

Realistically, I probably won't order from Bloom.Com again unless there is another exceptional offer such as the Plum District one.  If I'm looking for something that I can't find elsewhere, I would definitely consider them as their shipping is free and I hate paying for shipping.  Their package felt so personal and warm; it was a delight shopping with them!

Halloween Shatter

Black Shatter is such a harsh looking finish; I really think it only works for Halloween.  I like my pink shatter, the rest I could do without.  I wanted to create a Halloween color scheme for this mani so I used Orly Green Apple and Orly Life's A Peach with OPI Black Shatter.  Topped with a coat of OTD TC, and this was a simple and quick manicure!

I used 3 coats of both Orlys to obtain opacity.

The green and black look inherently Frankenstein-y.  I removed this after about 12 hours of wear; I have a hard time loving the Black Shatter, really. Blarghork.

Halloween Dotticure

Some of my favorite holiday inspired manicures have more to do with color themes than more literal designs.  I love colors and I love playing with colors, so I decided to make somewhat of a Halloween dotticure for the occasion.

It's not deliberate in your face Halloween, but I think the colors give a nice nod to the holiday!  I started out with two coats of Revlon Royal Cloak. Such a pretty color, I really do think it could place in my Top 20.

Two coats of Royal Cloak, OTD TC.

I wore RC for a day before I added the dots, so there is a bit of tipwear.

For the white pattern, I used BM209 with Konad Special White.  After it dried, I used 3 additional colors and covered up some of the white dots.  I used Orly Green Apple, Orly Liquid Vinyl and OPI A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find for the dots.  Then I added another coat of OTD TC. I love my dotting tools. So much.

AveYou Haul + Essie + Magnetic Nail Polish

First we'll start with my aveyou haul!  Their warehouse (?) is about an hour from where I live, so I got it the next day! THAT WAS EXCITING. I used my kgb gift certificate code thing and after all the math is done, I spent around $40 on $80 worth of stuff! WHOOO!  Aveyou.com still has a code you can use, "GiveMe15", without the quotes, and you'll get $15 off a purchase of $75 or more.  The code is good until January 2012.

On to my pretties!

Warm & Fozzie - Excuse Moi - Ski Teal We Drop - Teenage Dream

Da Bush - School of Hard Rocks - Changing Lilac - Turquoise Wave

I have two from that haul to show you now.  The first is Essie School of Hard Rocks.

3 Coats. Easy!

Then I got bored and decided to put Turquoise Wave over it.  This was my first time using the magnetic polish so it's not perfect, but I like how it came out!

It's so cool in real life! Ohmigod it looks 3D.  When you move your nails back and forth and stuff, it looks like you're looking at something with those dorky glasses. Love it! Easy application, easy to figure out, my pinky was the first shot - can't you tell?  I love how it looks.  These were $15.50 each so I will not be buying anymore, probably ever. But I'm glad I got two pretties to play around with now.

What do you think of the magnetic nail polish trend?

Revlon Facets of Fucshia and a FAIL

This manicure started of so unsuspecting!  It was pretty and had depth, it was fun to look at. Sometimes my creative juices get flowing in the wrong direction.  I have a wonderfully fabulous "WTFAIL" manicure for you a little further down.

Three Coats of FoF

I'm pretty sure it's three coats, at least!  If it's not three, its two.  I cant remember as I did it about a week ago.  I need to take notes when doing them, because I never remember )=

Lovely!

It's a much less obvious Halloween polish.  Black and purple certainly can create an eerie feel.  I didn't like this one and had passed on it a ton.  Finally I saw it and just couldn't resist.  I've seen hundreds of wonderful swatches and I caved. They're all enablers. YOU HEAR THAT? YOU'RE AN ENABLER.

It only cost me $3.59 at Harmon so, I didn't pay full drugstore price (around $6) for it. Application was surprisingly easy.  Love this one, definitely recommend.  This one is from the same collection as Starry Pink.  They're both in the Expressionist Collection.  There is one more I need to wear, Blue Mosaic. Oh its gorgeous, too.

ANYWAYS.. ONTO THE ANOMALY.

What's that kitty? You sense fail? OH NOOOOO.

Let me start by explaining what I wanted to do, what my vision was.  I wanted to make a jelly sandwich sorta. I wanted FoF to be on the bottom, and then use a different jelly over top. But I wanted to sanwich some konading in between the layers. Well, it didn't work so well. And it didn't look so hot. But here it is:

Started off by stamping.

Then I put 2 coats of a blue franken jelly. And one coat of
a GitD Pumpkin glitter polish. It got ugly fast, didn't it?

Blarghork.

Happy Halloween time!

Scrapbook Punch Out Thingy Tape Manicure

Hey gurlfran! I've been so sick this week.  I thought I'd kind of "walk it off" but I really didn't.  I waited too long to go to the doctor which prolonged my misery.  I went on Friday, finally, got some medication and I'm getting much better now, yay!  I literally did NOTHING this week. Seven straight days of pure crap.  Anyways, when I wasn't curled up sleeping, I had some energy to play with my nail polish. I revisited an old idea.

Sometime early this year, I used a scrapbooking punchout thingy with scotch tape, tutorial seen here.  This time I used different colors;

I started out with two coats of Ulta Tutu Cute.  Perfect formula and application, really.  I couldn't have asked for a better application.

IT'S SO PRETTY RIGHT? I love purple (=

I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover for the green and blue painter's tape.  It's much easier to work with than scotch tape as it doesn't peel and shred as easily when removing it from the punchout thing.

Sealed with a coat of Out the Door TC and done! Groovy, baby!

Breast Cancer Awareness Manicure

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  It's been four years since my dad was diagnosed with male breast cancer.  Luckily, it was caught in time and he is doing just fine now.  I always try to buy the things that have pink ribbons on them, the packaging that says it donates to this or that breast cancer foundation.  I've never made a direct monetary donation but over the years I'm sure I've accumulated quite a bit in donations.  So many things I own have the pink ribbon on them. Every little bit helps.  I do have it tattooed on my foot too; that's more about awareness though, and in honor of my father.  I did a manicure for breast cancer awareness this week.

This is 3 coats of China Glaze Strawberry Fields with one coat of OPI I Lily Love You and I used a pink striper for the ribbon.

Stay safe and stay healthy.  Check your boobies. Have your doctor check them, too.  Early detection is key! Ladies, be sneaky and try to check your husband's boobies, too.  Men get breast cancer.  Breast tissue is breast tissue.  Most men dismiss any lumps; be sure to take them seriously. Don't check any stranger's boobies though. That's assault!

New Funky Fingers Foil Collection Swatches

Oooh these are excitingly beautiful!  As many of you know, Funky Fingers and Color Club share the same mother company, Forsythe Cosmetics Group.  These are dupes of the Color Club Foiled collection.  The only differences I've spotted so far is that the light pink in the Color Club collection ("Foil Me Once") is actually an older Funky Fingers polish named "Favorite Girl" (I think); additionally, "Power Chord" is not in the Color Club set.

At my Five Below, "Favorite Girl" was plunked right next to all of the other new foils.  It's not a new release, however and doesn't have a name change.  Another fun yet confusing fact to throw into this mix is "Platinum Record" seems to be a renamed re-release of "Down To Earth". If this is the case, than FF is releasing old colors with new names.  I'll do a comp eventually.

Among the foils there was a chunky silver hex glitter, Stage Dive, which is swatched on some nails.

Anyways, onto the beauties!

Monster Ballad:

This is only one coat!  Monster Ballad applied so nicely, a lovely magenta foil.  This one stood out among the crowd, it's so bold.

Sold Out Arena:

One Coat of Stage Dive

This is two coats. I wore this for like, a solid two days and loved it. I'm sure its not the first minty foil but its my only as of now.  This was two coats. Somewhat runny formula but workable.

Power Chord:

One Coat of Stage Dive

I had some trouble capturing this color really well.  It's a dark plummy kind of purple but it catches gold on camera.  This was two coats, could've used a third for sure.  This was the runniest of them all, too.  Very pretty though.

Sound Check:

GORGEOUS vibrant blue.  This one is really super pigmented, like Monster Ballad, and could be done with one decent coat.  This is one splotchy coat but I do believe you could get away with one coat if you paid attention.

Guitar Solo:

One Coat of Stage Dive

An icy icy blue foil.  This one was easy to apply, the formula ran so inconsistently in this collection.

Platinum Record

One Coat of Stage Dive

A gold foil, seen it 100 times. Nothing too 'stand out' about this color, it washes me out, too.

So this whole collection is kind of confusing.  Two colors look like previous FF colors, one has a name change and one doesn't.  It's hard enough keeping it straight between FF and CC, but if they're really releasing the same things with different names, then my head will explode. I'm looking at the bottles now, and the one seems to be a bit grittier than the other; so hopefully they are different.

Additionally, the formula is somewhat all over the place.  Some are super pigmented and a nice consistency, while some are runny and need multiple coats.  Maybe that has more to do with them being foils and less about their maker, I'm not sure.  I do love the color range of this though, so many to choose from.  I bought this entire collection for $12 at Five Below so I can't complain too much. Which is your favorite?