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.