Zoya Giveaway for the Sake of Having a Giveaway!

I know it's taken some time for me to get this going.  Thanks for bearing with me.  Life is absolutely crazy, and for added fun, I'm in the process of moving halfway across the country!  Eek!  I really appreciate all of you hanging with me and hopefully, I'll get more good stuff going soon.  This move and everything else is just demanding a ton of time.  But enough babbling.  On to the good stuff!

I have 5 pretty, pretty Zoyas up for grabs (including one of my all time favs).  Check them out!!!

L to R:  Nimue, Anja, Yara, Cynthia, and Tao

Due to limited funds and the impending move, this is open to only U.S. residents.  I'll try to get something up to include everyone again sometime after getting settled.  Sorry!

Please note that you MUST be a public follower of my blog.  You will be asked to provide your GFC follower name or, if you follow by some other means, a link to your user profile.

All entrants must also provide an e-mail address.  I absolutely will NOT share your e-mail address.  This is just so that I may contact you if you win.  Also be sure that if you choose to gain extra entries through sharing the giveaway on Facebook, the share must be public so that I can see it.

The giveaway closes on 22 July, and I will announce the winner on my blog and contact them via e-mail.  The winner will have 24 hours to reply or another winner will be selected.  All prizes are brand new and were purchased by me.  Good luck!!!  Oh...and my fav in this group?  YARA!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

These Are a Few of My Favorite...Swatches Part 2!

Coming soon...a review and a giveaway!  Woohoo!  And for today...

Revlon Not So Blueberry

Revlon Royal

SH DVD

SH Wined Up

SC Glass Pink

Spoiled I Don't Drink Cheap Wine

Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie

WnW 414

Do you think it's a coincidence that two of these names include wine?  Neither do I.

These Are a Few of My Favorite...Swatches!

Let's just dive right in!

CC Daisy Does It

CC Pardon My French

Ciate Guest List

CQ Golden Green

The Hungry Asian Strawberry

OPI DS Classic

OPI Take the Stage

Orly Rock It

PP The Right to Bare Feet

Pure Ice Magic

More to come tomorrow!

These Are a Few of My Favorite...Manis!

Wow...when life happens, it really happens!  With so much going on, my brain has gone into shut-down mode from information overload.  So, in an attempt to find some inspiration to help me get back on track, I thought I would go through and re-visit some of my favorite past manis.  I've added links that will take you to the original posts, if you are interested in the colors used, techniques, etc.

I also wanted to let you know to stay tuned!  A follower appreciation giveaway will be coming soon.  And later this week, I'll be posting my first review for Born Pretty Store.  In the meantime, if you are looking to pick up some items from them, use the coupon code in my sidebar to score 10% off!

On to the manis!

Angelic Silver Flowers

National Day of Silence

Hemi

Mermaid's Tale

Oz-olutely Fabulous

Queensday

Raging Olive Squared

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Nails

Scribble My Heart

Ski Teal We Tip

St. Patrick's Day

Stars and Stripes

Strawberry Top

Wicked Sponge

Born Pretty Store Coupon!

Hey there, everyone!  Check out the link on my sidebar...a 10% discount code for Born Pretty Store!  Just enter the code at checkout to receive 10% off your order.  I have personally shopped there.  They have a wide variety of products at reasonable prices and free shipping. 

In addition to new swatches coming soon, look for some product reviews from Born Pretty Store, too.  And you KNOW I'm working on a killer giveaway to say thank you for being so wonderful and patient with me over the past months.  You're the best!  So excited for things to come!!!

So Sorry!

Hey everyone!  As you may (or may not) remember, I have been out of town dealing with some stuff lately.  But I'm back and looking forward to get back to swatching.  And more importantly....USING MY LIGHT BOX!!!  If you've been following along, you know I've been missing my light box.  The slightly OCD part of me almost wants to go back and re-swatch all the polishes I've swatched without my light box.  Maybe someday, I will.  But for now, I'm going to surge ahead and keep showing you a new color each day.  And I hope to get back to bringing you some fun, weekly features, too.  I don't know if I will go back to my usual Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesday and Feature Friday posts, but I'll come up with something.  Would love to hear your ideas...anything in particular you would like to see?  Let me know in the comments!

See you soon!!!  And as always, thanks for sticking around.  I'll work on a very appreciative giveaway for you guys!

I'm Swatchin' You - Revlon Cherries in the Snow

I think everyone has heard of this color, and loves it.  It's got quite the reputation.  This is Revlon's Cherries in the Snow.  A must-have dark pink (fuchsia) creme.  I did have some issues, but not with the polish.  More on that later.

First of all, this is only one coat.  The formula was excellent.  Absolutely smooth application, with no balding or streaking.  Everyone should have this in their stash!  Now for my mishap...

While cleaning up with my nail polish thinner and brush, the tip of my brush fell off and dropped into my bottle of thinner.  Not wanting to dirty a glass (a decision I will soon regret), I decide that I think I can work fast enough to pour the thinner into a plastic cup, retrieve the brush, and return the thinner to its bottle. So I begin.  Everything was going great until I started to return the thinner to the original bottle.  The plastic cup cracked, and thinner began to pour all over the tray I use to paint my nails.  I run to the kitchen to get paper towels.  The good news:  I got all of the thinner off the tray before any damage could be done.  The bad news:  I forgot about the plastic cup that was still holding some thinner, which was rapidly eating away the plastic cup's bottom.  Now there is more thinner on the tray, as well as melted plastic.  Finally got everything cleaned up with minimal damage, except for the plastic cup.  The best news?  I did all of this without messing up my nails!  Until........

I grabbed a new bottle of my OPI AvoJuice hand lotion, since I had just used up the previous bottle.  This one was called Peppermint Shimmer.  Didn't pay the name much attention.  I put it on only to discover that it actually does have shimmer, which, when photographed, makes it look like you either have very dry hands or sparkles all over.  I couldn't decide which.  C'est la vie.

Cherries in the Snow with actual snow as a back drop!

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Sally Hansen Lightening

Hello, everyone!!!
I know, I know...I'm so sorry for my unexpectedly long absence.  I have been (and still am) out of town dealing with some important family matters.  But, I have been slowly trying to get back to swatching my little heart out, and have finally gotten around to getting the swatches I have managed into posts for you guys!  Please excuse the pitiful state of my nails and cuticles.  They have been quite neglected for the past couple of months.  Actually, this may prove to be a fun little adventure.  We can see just how long it takes to get pitiful looking cuticles back into some form of decent shape.

I also need to throw out a little disclaimer on my photos.  As you can see, I do not have my light box with me or my little swatch background rolls.  So please excuse the craptastic photos that will follow.  Just bear with me as I play around with the options I have on hand until I find something that I like that works well for me.

Today, I've got Sally Hansen's Lightening, from the Insta-Dri line.  It's a rich yellow creme.  If you remember, I can't stand the paddle brush on the ID line.  That still holds true.  And the formula on this one wasn't that great.  I got some balding on the first coat, which got better with the second coat.  Usually, the ID polishes are one-coaters, but not this one.  It takes 3 coats for solid coverage, but I stopped at 2 for the swatch.

SH Double Duty and Insta-Dri for base and top.

I also want you all to know that I greatly appreciate you sticking around!  It's so great to be back and hope to be able to bring you lots of great colors, and maybe some fun, too!

New Swatches Coming Soon!

Hi all!  Sorry I've been a little absent.  I've had some things going on in my life that have kept me very busy and that has been demanding all of my attention.  I will tell you all about it soon.  Until then, please stick around.  I appreciate your support.  AND, I should be back to swatching away within the next week or so.  Please bear with me.

I also want to throw out a big huge OMG, THANK YOU!  Two hundred followers...and that's only through GFC.  You are all so great, and I really appreciate each of you being here with me!  You can bet I'm going to be working on a fan appreciation giveaway.  Look for details in the coming weeks!

Thanks again, everyone.  It's been a very rough couple of weeks, but I'm getting through and all will be well soon.  I truly am looking forward to getting back to getting some swatches up.  It seems like forever since I've even been able to paint my nails at all!

See you soon!
Gina Marie

Going on a Short Vacay!

Hi all!  So, I am still working hard on getting my nails back in shape after a few weeks of neglect during my study abroad trip.  And with summer coming to an end, with friends and family to spend time with, I have decided to go on a short blogging vacation.  I truly appreciate everyone who comes by to visit, especially those who take the time to comment.  I cannot express how very much I value your time and support, and I hope you will stick around.  I will not be gone for long.  In fact, I am planning to have new posts coming at you as of 13 August.  I just need a short break to get back on track and recharge my batteries...and get my nails back in shape!  Especially after all the hard work I did to put my blog on auto-pilot while I was gone last month.  So please stick around.  I'll be back soon.  I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer, and I look forward to being back here on the 13th.  Thanks all!!!  Oh, and I decided to share with you one of my favorite pictures from my study abroad trip.  This was taken in Nadi, Fiji.  It was the sunset from my last day in Fiji.  I thought it was appropriate as we near the end of summer.  See you soon and take care!!!

I'm Back! And I'm Swatchin' You - Color Club Daisy Does It

Hello everyone!!!  My blog is finally off auto-pilot and I'm glad to be back!  Thanks for sticking around.  So, for the month of June, I had the incredible opportunity to go on a study abroad trip to finish off my M.Ed.  I was in Fiji for one week and New Zealand for two.  I'll try to do up a post to show you some of my favorites pics from the trip and give you some details.  But for now, I'll just say I loved the trip and had a wonderful time!  However, three weeks of constantly dragging bags, packing, unpacking, packing again, and going from a dry summer, to wet tropical weather, to a cold winter, and back to dry summer has most definitely taken its toll on my nails and cuticles.  They are quite ragged.  I'm hoping to be able to get back to swatching soon.  Until then, I'll be digging into a few more archived colors.  Well, let's get on to today's color.  I know, I know, it's Tuesday.  My brain isn't quite working well enough to come up with a good tip, trick, or tutorial.  In fact, I most likely will be trying to come up with a different weekly series.  Until then, bring on the swatches! 

After an epic water marble failure, I rocked this color for my graduation!  This is Color Club's Daisy Does It, from their Take Wing collection.  It's a beautiful yellow glass fleck that looks stunning IRL.  Both the formula and brush were great.  This was just about opaque in two coats, which you are looking at below.  A third coat would have really been solid, but I left it at two.

Sunlight

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

Tiered Shelves Revisited, the Stash, and Stuff

This isn't a tip, trick, or tutorial, but it relates back to the tutorial I did on making these tiered shelves.  You can find the original post and tutorial on how to make them here.  Well, I have since made two more.  And, I finally populated them with my newly organized stash!  I had my pollies organized by brand, then color.  But I found that most of the time, I go looking for a general color, rather than a particular color or brand.  So I re-organized by color only.  Which is actually really hard to do!  So, it is just generally organized by color.  I actually find what I am looking for much faster now.  Take a look!

I also wanted to let you guys know that I am going to be gone for awhile, but I have been working very hard to line up a bunch of posts.  You won't even know I'm gone!  However, I won't be able to respond to your comments immediately, like I usually do.  Please feel free to continue commenting, though!  I promise that I will read each and every one when I get back and will respond.  And I will give you all the details, and hope to have some surprises, when I get back.  So stay tuned!


Next, I am starting to run out of ideas for Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesdays.  I am thinking I would like to come up with another series for Tuesdays once I get back.  I would love your feedback and ideas!  Think about it, and leave comments over the next couple of weeks.  I really appreciate your ideas!

To close, I thought I would show you a couple of things I've made recently.  I know I don't always get too personal (except for when I have responded to blog awards and tags).  So here is a little personal tidbit for you.  In my spare time, which is sparse, I like to knit.  However, I hate knitting anything that will take too long.  So I stick to hats, scarves, and things that I affectionately call "stuff."  If you entered either of the giveaways I hosted on my blog, you know that I asked some "odd" questions for the blog post comment entries.  Now that the winners have received their packages, I thought I would explain.  For the 50 follower giveaway, I asked what was your favorite fruit.  The winner said she liked tangerines, so I knit one for her.  In knitting, it's a little difficult to distinguish between an orange and tangerine, so I knit a longer, thinner leaf for the top.

For the 100 follower giveaway, I asked for two colors you liked together.  The winner specified purple with grey, so I knit her a cup cozy in those colors.

Enjoy the rest of your day!