Swatch the Seventh

Here's the promised review of the Nic's Sticks:

I picked up two colors from Tuesday Morning: Red Eye to NY (a red creme) and Baby Go Bye-Bye (a light blue creme).  The colors are very nice but the application was horrible and I would not recommend it. The brush is thick and uneven and as a result more polish is needed which resulted in a lack of control that caused cuticle flooding.  And watch out for splatter.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, it's open to Canadians now.



My First Giveaway-Now Open to Canadians!

Now that the Canadian Postal Strike appears to be ending I am opening up My First Giveaway to Canadian followers.  Make sure to you sign up today!

Thanks!

Swatch the Sixth

I headed to Five Below last weekend to pick up some great deals.  Check out this super halo glitter from Funky Fingers in Sand and Stilettos (that I snagged at the great price of 3 for $5):

There was so much glitter in this polish that it was completely opaque in two coats! Best of all it was smooth as a baby's bottom once a topcoat of SV was applied.  A word of warning though this glitter is not fun when it comes to removal so use sparingly.

Don't forget to check out my giveaway!

Manicure the Second

This week's manicure requires sunglasses for viewing.  I went with two very bright colors from Famous: #15 Baby Rose and #S31 Brazillian Waxed.  I had Tung alternate the colors on each nail with the tips being done the same way for a checker board look.  It was finished off with a holo nail glitter stripper and a top coat.

I love the look of the mani but let me tell you, the application was not easy.  Both polishes were very thin and required three heavy coats to cover and even then I still had bald spots and thanks to the numerous coats (including the top coat) there were bubbles visible on a couple of fingers. And the drying time took forever.  An hour after I left Tung's I ended up with dents and that's after a fast drying top coat, being under the dryer and drying drops.

Don't forget to sign up for my first giveaway!

My First Giveaway!

Picked up this cute little mini kit from ULTA and thought it would make for a great first giveaway to help bring on new followers.  It's not too big, not too small, just right.

This kit from ULTA contains mini bottles of: High Shine Top Coat, Sunbathing Beauty (pink), Beach Bum (green), Surfer Girl (blue), Bananarama (yellow).  All four polishes are Matte finishes but they do come with the high shine top coat if you prefer a shiney look.

So here are the rules:

1. Giveaway open to US and Canadian followers only.
2. You must be a public follower

3. You must blog about this giveaway (it is after all to encourage new followers)

4. Add me to your blog roll for an extra entry

5. Tweet about this giveaway for an extra entry

6. Contest winner will be picked randomly on August 1st.

How to enter:
Leave a comment with the following information:
1. Your google friend connect user name
2. Email address (so I can contact you if you won) 
3. The link to your blog post about this giveaway
4. If you tweeted about this an extra entry, provide a link to your twitter page
5. If you added me to your blog roll for extra entries let me know that too

Good luck everyone!

Swatch the Forth & Fifth

Another swatch from last week. I picked up a mini kit from Revlon the other day and decided to give it a whirl.

Inside were three mini bottles in Garden, Waterfall and Sparkle.  Garden is a lovely pastel shade of green creme, sparkle is a clear topcoat with small halo glitter mixed with larger hex halo glitter and Waterfall is a baby blue with some silver shimmer to it.

I started with the Garden and added the sparkle topcoat to it.  I have to say that I did not like the formula of either of the creme colors.  Both were a bit rubbish going on.  Either they were gloppy or there were bald spots and both colors took about three thin coats to go on opague if you didn't want the polish to pool at your tips.  The sparkle was decent but  I had to take three passes to get any of the hex glitter on my nails and even then I only got about five pieces total for all ten fingers. The green was easier to apply than the blue and I did leave it on for a day as the sparkle topcoat did cover up most of the issues.  The blue was bad enough (it bubbled on some fingers and was bumpy for unknown reasons on others) that I took it off immediately after swatching and put on something else.

Swatch the Third

Here's a swatch from last week. This is Nicole by O.P.I. in OMB from the Justin Bieber Collection.

It's a fantastic Fuschia glitter than can appear reddish indoors.  The new brush design is short and stubby but allows you to cover more nail in one swipe. It was opaque in two coats and because I was applying it before clocking in for work, I decided to leave well enough alone and just did an SV top coat.  And let me just add that I LOVE Seche Vite Top Coat, the stuff is just amazing.  I was typing away after just a couple of minutes thanks to this brilliant product.

After work I went and hung out with my parents and fellow nail polish addict, my four year old neice, Kara.  I painted her fingers and toes so she could match Aunt Mimi.  She loved it.  Every time I come over she makes a point to take my hands and go "oooooooo.....pretty" no matter how bad they look.  And sometimes when her mommie gets her nails done at Ms. Tung's Kara goes with her and gets her nails done too.  It's one of the few things that gets her to sit still for more than two minutes at a time.  She's such a little princess.

Swatch the Second

I hit up ULTA on Wednesday and picked up this gorgeous bottle of pink from Essie called Mod Squad (along with a few other goodies) and I think this bottle and I are going to be new best friends.  I am just in love with the color. I couldn't stop looking at it when it was on my fingers. It is the PERFECT shade of pink for summer. The creme formula can be a bit iffy if you are not careful with application (leaving bald spots even with two coats) but otherwise it is fine.  I applied this Thursday morning before work with a topcoat of Seche Vite and then when I got home I added the pink and purple dots with a toothpick for fun super girly mani for the weekend.  The dots are in Essie's Guchi Muchi Puchi and Lilacism.

Pardon the slightly blurry cell phone picture but I just had to share this mani as soon as possible because I love it so much and didn't have time to bust out the camera.

Followers

I have FIVE followers!  Yipee!!!

Thanks you guys!

Giveaway Time

Check out this awesome giveaway from Canadian Nail Fanatic!

Deal the First

I also stopped by a thrift store this week and picked up three bottles of polish from L.A. Colors (Silver Metallic), Bon Bon (no name) and Wet n Wild (no name), total cost was $2.39.

Swatch the First

Came home with a bottle of CQ in Slate the other day and was dying to try it out.  Check out the results:

CQ's bottle is a squared oval shape that's easy to grip with a round handle and standard brush. The color is a deep green blue creme and it goes on opaque in two coats, one if you're careful.  And because I'm obsessed with Essie's Matte About You topcoat right now I did a matte topcoat with glossy french tips.

Enamel Girl Giveaway

Check out Enamel Girl's First Anniversary Giveaway:

Two winners, contest ends June10th.
http://enamelgirl.blogspot.com/2011/05/1st-blog-anniversary-giveaway.html

~Polish Freshie~: My Double Dose of Birthday Fun & Giveaway~

More fun Giveaways: ~Polish Freshie~: My Double Dose of Birthday Fun & Giveaway~: "Man, it's that time of year when I get another year older and realize time just flies by! I celebrate the big 27 today, truly can't believe ..."

Silence is Loud: 500 Followers Giveaway!!!

Another Day, another great giveaway: Silence is Loud: 500 Followers Giveaway!!!: "Yes, I realized that when the bf texted me and congrats me for having 500 followers already. I'm thankful and really appreciate the kind wor..."

Manicure the First

So here's the first manicure up for your viewing pleasure.

This week's colors were handpicked by Tung:

This is O.P.I Play Til Midnight with the tips done in Zoya Crystal and a Silver Nail Art Stripper. 

Play Til Midnight is a gorgeous shade of blue with purple and blue glitter/shimmer to it. It went on like a dream and was opaque in two coats.

Zoya's Crystal is a blue simmer with small light blue and gold glitter that went on opaque over the O.P.I. after one coat.

Both look smashing together.

Fashion Polish: A England Giveaway

A third great giveaway: Fashion Polish: A England Giveaway: "If you have already read my previous A England nail polish posts, you definitely know how much I love them. Adina Bodana, the woman behind t..."

Lulla Writes...: Lulla Writes Springtime Giveaway!

Another great giveaway, ends Junes 10th so hurry up and get over there: Lulla Writes...: Lulla Writes Springtime Giveaway!: "Today I have a very exciting post to do. This Post is about my 2nd Giveaway! whoo i loved doing the first one so much, that when it was over..."

GildedNails: 1500 Follower Giveaway!

Check out this great Give Away: GildedNails: 1500 Follower Giveaway!: "Hey everyone! As I mentioned on Tuesday, last weekend my blog clicked over the 1500 follower mark and to celebrate I'm holding another givea..."

The Neverending Stash

As promised, pictures of Tung's stash.

I've only just begun cataloging all of it.  I've logged over 230 bottles so far and have many more to go.

First the cataloged polishes:

And now all the goodies hidden away waiting to be cataloged:

For the last seven and a half years I have worn acrylic nails.  I get them done by a wonderful woman named Tung (pronounced tongue).  Not only does Tung do great work, she is a great friend.  She's my part time therapist, part time cook, sometimes entertainment coordinator, my nail tech and most importantly; my friend.  Every two weeks I visit with her and we pour our souls out, share recipes, watch movies, listen to music, eat good food, laugh, shout; all the things friends do together. 

Tung is the reason I love nail polish.  She has a knack for matching colors and a flair for design.  She hand paints every design she does and isn't afraid to try something new.  She pushes for you to try new colors and will never fail to tell you if a color doesn't look good on you.  When I first started seeing Tung, getting my nails done was a way for me to get out of the habit of biting my nails and so that I could look more professional at work, now I go because it is fun and I enjoy picking out what colors I'm going to use or what designs, if any, I will have added.  Now it is more about expression than function.

Tung is part of the reason I wanted to start this blog.  I want to share with you my experiences in her salon and show off her talent, I want to review every bottle of polish she has (and there are a ton!) and I want to spread the joy of nail polish every where I can.

So there it is, my reason for blogging.  I hope that you will stick around for the adventure.

Monday will be my first review post until then Tung's studio needs some organization and re-arranging and I plan on helping her out with that.  There will be pictures of course!  What's a blog without pictures?