500+ Likes and Valentine's Day Giveaway!

I recently hit 500 likes on Facebook, and decided I had to have a giveaway for the love. Since then, I have over 800 like (wow!) so this really is the time to celebrate. Maybe you also follow me on Instagram or Bloglovin. Either way, I would like to give a big thank you to all!

Being a part of the nail community is totally awesome and I love the people I've met on the Internet, and those I've been lucky enough to meet in person! Cheers to more blogging milestones and another year of great polishes! 

There will be three (3) winners total. One winner will receive the Orly Spring 2013 Hope and Freedom Fest Collection, which is an awesome collection I use in nail art all the time and one of my favorite Orly collections ever. Next, I have created two indie duos for Valentine lovers and haters. One winner will win the Lovers Valentine's Day Indie Duo. One winner will win the Anti-Valentine's Day Indie Duo. This giveaway is open to US only this time. Sorry international folks, but there will be some for you in the future! EDIT: If you are international, and have a US address (family, friends, etc.), you may enter the giveaway. All polishes are brand new and never used.

Winner #1: The entire Orly Hope and Freedom Fest Collection. HERE are some great swatches of the collection.

Winner 2: Anti- Valentine's Indie Duo with Red Dog Designs Tainted Love, Alter Ego Enamel Duct Taper, and Alter Ego Enamel She Shines Top Coat

Winner 3: Valentine's Lovers Indie Duo with Red Dog Designs Down with Love, Alter Ego Enamel Girly Girl, and Alter Ego Enamel She Shines Top Coat

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Giveaway Details:

• You must be 18 to enter
• This giveaway is open to US ONLY (I will do international in the future!)
• There will be three (3) winners total. One winner will receive the Orly Spring 2013 Hope and Freedom Fest Collection. One winner will win the Lovers Valentine's Day Indie Duo. One winner will win the Anti-Valentine's Day Indie Duo. All are listed and pictured above.
• Giveaway will run from February 1, 2014 to February 11, 2014 12:00 AM EST.  
• Prize must be claimed within 48 hours
• Please follow all the rules...follow and/or like all the provided links
• Red Dog Designs was purchased by me while the others were provided
• I am not responsible for lost, damaged or stolen goods

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Superficially Colorful Fascinated

Here's a special polish from the lovely lady behind the blog, Superficially Colorful. Jin is so sweet and has been making polish for herself for quite a while, and sent me some to try. I'll be showing you the four others later because I put this on and simply couldn't take it off! I kept it on for four days, which is a lot for me.

Fascinated in its cold form, is a gorgeous deep shimmery purple. The shimmer is strong. I actually put it on because it had matched my purple pants. When you are warm, it turns to a gorgeous deep cornflower blue with that same shimmer. For me, it was mostly purple because it's always freezing here right now, so I guess I should save my thermals for the summer! Haha. No sun STILL, so I had to use flash to show off the shimmer, but it is very strong (but not so strong that it's frosty). 

Here's way too many pictures to show you the variety in this thermal polish. 

Superficially Colorful Fascinated

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, natural light

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, natural light

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, natural light

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, flash

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, flash

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, flash

Superficially Colorful Fascinated, natural light

These aren't for sale right now, but Jin does plan to open up shop soon. I HIGHLY suggest you check out her blog and I'll be sure to update this post once her shop is open.

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Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Winter is still rearing its ugly head in the Northeast and we just keep getting freezing temperatures and snow. Go away! I actually saw my socks, which remind me of one of those "Ugly Christmas Sweater" themes and they inspired me to do my nails! It's fun to find inspiration in everyday items. 

I started with two coats of Island Girl Island Heat which is a blight blue creme with darker blue glitter in it. It's bright but also wintry. If I wore it alone, I would have done three thin coats, but two sufficed as my background to nail art. It's obviously not exact to the sock, but that's why I say inspired by.

It's not perfect and the lines aren't straight but that's okay with nail art. We are human and it's not supposed to be perfect. I used Essie Smooth Sailing, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Wall, Zoya Verushka, and Zoya Posh to paint on the details.

Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Winter Sweater (or Sock) Nail Art

Island Girl Island Heat, 2 coats

I have a lot of cool socks. I should look at them more often.

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Lapis Blue Skittle Manicure

Do you ever have polishes laying out (either on your Helmer, or your desk, or wherever) and boom, they look like a manicure match made in heaven?! The awesome Jen from My Nail Polish Obsession sent me over these two gorgeous Essies from their winter collection: On a Silver Platter and Lots of Lux--I wanted to use them somehow together. So, rather than skitlette, I did a SKITTLE mani (this is when each nail is different) all in the same rich, lapis blue color scheme.

Index: Kiko Digital Glitter Electron Blue, two coats. The sparkle of this polish did not was to photograph.

Middle: Two coats of Nails Inc. Baker Street with Essie On a Silver Platter dabbed on the tips

Ring: Three THIN coats of Essie On a Silver Platter. This has some awesome blue holographic glitter. I wish the sun came out for this. The last photo shows the holo.

Thumb and pinky: Two coats of Essie Lots of Lux, a gorgeous texture polish (Essie should do more like this; it was really stunning).

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Lapis Blue Skittle Manicure

Lapis Blue Skittle Manicure

Lapis Blue Skittle Manicure, with flash

These type of blues are difficult to photograph. They are bright but not neon. I really love how rich this blue is. Hope you like it too!

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Kiko 456 Teal Green Holiday Sugar Mat Collection

If you didn't know by this post that I was addicted to textures, maybe if I tell you that I have added at least 20 more textures to my collection (there's no stopping this addiction), now you'll believe me. I missed out on most of the Kiko Sugar Mat polishes from their first set (I managed to find three of them this past August in France though). When I saw the Holiday Sugar Mat set, no swatches needed, I immediately set up a swap for them. And they are soooooo stunning. The Kiko Holiday Sugar Mats are all sparkly and stunning. I needed a quick mani change, and I chose the teal green to match my teal pants.

Kiko 456 Teal Green

Kiko 456 Teal Green, no flash

Kiko 456 Teal Green, with flash

 I can't believe how well this polish matched my pants!

Kiko 456 Teal Green

Two easy coats of Kiko Tea; Green (456). Dries super fast. Once it dries, the sparkle sets and it simply looks stunning. These also last so long, so if you need a manicure to last, use a texture!

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