300 Followers Giveaway! [EVERYONE!] Winners!

Again, thank you to all my readers for following me and motivating me to keep blogging!


I decided to use the Random Number Generator located here http://www.psychicscience.org/random.aspx this time, just to switch things up.  To keep things easy, you were assigned the number on my Google Form in the order you signed up for the giveaway.  Duplicate entries were deleted, keeping the original entry in its spot.  I listed the prizes in the same order that I listed them on the giveaway.



1) Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
2) OPI Havana Nights Minis
3) OPI Tiny Takeouts Minis from the Hong Kong Collection
4) OPI Modern Flower Minis
5) OPI Shrek Minis

Prize 1) #108 Annie
Prize 2) #130 Emilie
Prize 3) #61 Jessica K.
Prize 4) #3 Ivy
Prize 5) #111 Aimee W.


Thank you again and congrats!  I have sent you all an email asking for your information.  If I haven't heard back from you by Monday, June 7 at midnight:01 GMT, I will choose a new winner.

300 Followers Seche Giveaway! [Winner]

First, thank you to all my readers for keeping me motivated to do what I do.  Secondly, thank you to Seche for hosting this giveaway - I am very grateful for it.


I decided to use the Random Number Generator located here http://www.psychicscience.org/random.aspx this time, just to switch things up.  To keep things easy, you were assigned the number on my Google Form in the order you signed up for the giveaway.  Duplicate entries were deleted, keeping the original entry in its spot.


First off I drew 2 winners for the Seche Pack that contains one (1) bottle of Seche Vite Crystal Clear Top Coat, one (1) bottle of either Rebuild, Recondition or Retain (winner's choice), and one (1) bottle of Seche Restore.

Next I drew 2 winners for the "Secrets to the French Manicure" FULL SIZE SET.

YAY to the winners!


Oh, I guess you need to know the winners.  ^_^


71) Lily
11) Mai


46) Meryl C.
69) Hillary


I have sent you all an email asking for your information.  If I haven't heard back from you by Monday, June 7 at midnight:01 GMT, I will choose a new winner.


Thank you all again!

OPI What's with the Cattitude?

On one of my recent trips up to a bigger city, I went into a place called Trade Secret, which sells OPI.  They have tons of colors, but what gets me the most were the Minis.  I love miniature items.  The one big gripe I have about OPI minis is that the name is not on the bottle.  Rawr!  I'm almost thinking of making little labels for them, because it drives me insane not to know the color of a bottle.  I have 4 other OPI minis that I stupidly threw away the box, so I have no idea what the names are.  There is only a code on the bottom of the bottle.  The code on the bottle of this bottle of OPI is NLB90 10062


Oh man, awesome.  I just realized that the number on the bottom (the NL part) is also listed on OPI's website.  Their iPhone app has not been updated with the Shrek colors, but the others are on there.  SCORE.


Back to the polish.  Now these bottles are MUCH smaller, at only 3.75 mL instead of a normal bottle of 14 mL but when you don't use much as it is, I'm okay with it.  The package of 4 colors cost me $12.50 so the bottle was about $3.12.  That's still super pricey when you think a 14 mL bottle of China Glaze can be purchased online for $3.50.  Oy, I can't think about that much.  This is why I hate math.


I really like this color.  It's almost a cotton candy blue creme - quite light.  OPI says it's a moody light blue that's really a pussycat.  (Remember, these were Shrek related.)  I used Seche Natural for my base, 3 thin coats of What's with the Cattitude, and a top coat of Seche Vite.  I did have a big of an issue with covering bald spots, but I think that's my base and top coat (more on that later).

See, isn't this a pretty color?  I had a bit of an issue holding ON to the bottle hah, it's so small!

Shade picture here - again just a really happy color.  I'm a fan.


Now, as soon as I got back into the house, I touched my nail and it wrinkled under my top coat.  What?  Now, I was using Seche, which goes great with China Glaze, but won't work with Zoya.  Looks like OPI doesn't play nice with Seche either, which is why I was having bald spots and wrinkling issues.  So now I'm going to try and get a bottle of the OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, and I found out that I have not one, but two bottles of RapiDry OPI Top Coat (minis), and I'm almost interested in the OPI DripDry Lacquer Drying Drops too.  I'm a little apprehensive of drying drops after not having the best results with my Zoya ones.


I have like 20 OPI minis and 2 full size bottles of OPI to review still.  Please note that OPI is officially on Facebook [official Facebook] and Twitter [official Twitter] now (they joined last week), so be sure to follow them.  I know there has been a lot of controversy regarding their lawsuits with etailers, but I'm not going to get into that, partly because I don't agree with the "popular" side, and secondly because I don't know enough about it.  I'm just glad that I'm near a salon that sells OPI - regardless.  ^_^


OPI is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and Ulta, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. Please visit their website for details [official website].  

China Glaze Stroll vs Ruby Pumps

So if you're on my Twitter, you've seen it blow up over the HBO True Blood Ultimate Fan Experience in the past week.  Here's the low down - on June 1st, HBO is hosting a Live Q&A session with Alan Ball (creator) and some of the cast members, following is a showing of the Season 2 Season Finale (previously aired) and finally a sneak preview of Season 3 (rumors are swirling that we'll actually see the first episode of Season 3, unconfirmed).  To win, people had to log on to True Blood's Facebook page in the 6 minute window that your theater city was announced, and click to see if you were a VIP winner.  There are only 50 theater cities in the USA, and a minimum of 50 people were chosen per theater.  Each winner received 2 tickets... so we're talking a minimum of 100 people per theater but they were also giving away General Admission tickets at some theaters, so .... I have no idea how many people will truly be there.


Now, HBO is pulling out the stops for this one.  Each theater city will have a red carpet entrance complete with photographers and whatnot.  The event starts at the same time in each theater, 11:00 p.m. for us Central Truebies (as they are called).  So it's going to be a late night.


IN ADDITION, HBO asked for "sheriffs" to call out from each theater city.  No one knows fully what they do, or what they will be asked to do, despite at least one leaked document online that may or may not have been genuine...  anywho, I "applied" and well, I won!  There is only 1 sheriff per theater city, so 50 sheriffs throughout the entire event.  ^_^


I haven't completely figured out what I'm going to wear.  Some people are seriously going all out - fangs, capes, the whole nine yards.  I originally signed up on the site as a Fangbanger which is the character that willingly allows a vampire to feed on them (awesome, huh?).  Typically in the show, fangbangers are kind of the equivalent of a groupie.  (Sorry Mom.)


While I'm still assembling my outfit, now I'm stuck on nail polish.  I originally was thinking of a vampy red or maybe even a hooker red, but I forgot how boring cremes are for me.  I want something that pops, so I went through about 10 polishes and finally settled between two.


China Glaze Ruby Pumps is a red glitter in a red base and it sure does shine.  I'm wondering if it's too much shine for this event.  China Glaze Stroll (from the Retro Diva collection) is a reddish gold glitter in a dark fuchsia base.  I used Seche Natural for my base, three coats of each polish, and a layer of Seche Vite to top it off.


Now I just need to pick one!  Please vote for me in the poll below ^_^

Which color should I wear to the True Blood Ultimate... » create a poll
Tags : beauty nail polish

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Flip Flop Fantasy is the "neon coral" from the Poolside collection.  As you can see, I had to do a ridiculous amount of color correction on this one, and it's still not absolutely perfect to the color that FFF is.  China Glaze's own polish swatch shows this a little more like a salmon pink

Yeah, not the same.  Hah.  I've worn this color on my toes twice now, but not on my hands for a day.  I used a base coat of Seche Natural, a white coat of CND Brilliant White (it was on my desk), and then 2 coats of Flip Flop Fantasy.  On my pointer and ring finger, I added a layer of Seche Vite, but let it matte on my middle and pinkie fingers.

This is a little more accurate to "real life" - a nice coral pink.  You can't tell too much of a different between matte and shiny in my sun pictures.

Pretty good application on this one - just a slight pooling into my cuticles on my pinkie finger.

This shade picture is awesome - you can literally see the bottle glowing to the left of my hand.  You can also really tell the difference in the matte vs shiny here.  Oh neons - I heart thee.

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

ManGlaze Hot Mess

I have to admit, I love the artwork on these babies.  Reminds me of the local band here "The Reely Rotnz" that I would jam out to as a teenager.  Two of the band members were family friends, so I felt like a VIP since I had their CDs and stuff.  Anyway.


Hot Mess is the obnoxiously awesome silver microglitter top coat in a clear base from ManGlaze.  I think "Hot Mess" is one of my favorite things to say, as well as its an awesome song by Cobra Starship.

I wanted to see how this would work over a variety of nails, so in the sun we have Hot Mess 2 coats on the pointer finger by itself.  Almost opaque but still has a bit of VNL.  Middle finger has 2 coats of Hot Mess over 2 coats of #Matte is Murder.  Ring fingers has 2 coats of Hot Mess over 2 coats of Fuggen Ugly.  Finally my pinkie has 3 coats of Hot Mess over 2 coats of Fuggen Ugly.  Which do you like best?

Shade picture:

My hands are having issues right now.  I'm working on that.  I also have a HUGE bruise on the top of my polish hand where my nurse completely mangled me with my IV last week.  Thankfully it doesn't hurt, but between that, and the other nurse who bruised my inner elbow drawing blood, I look like some kind of junkie.  Awesome.


Now, this is a glitter so I had to take my felt and scrub a bit.  I am just not patient enough to remember to PLACE the felt around my finger (and I never use foil, but I should, and will, I promise), but overall it ALL came off on the felt, no crazed microglitter on my hands for hours.  Yay!  


You can purchase ManGlaze on their website [official website].

Essie "Color Your Prom Night"

Please click on the image to see it larger.

Oh Prom - remember that night?  Yeah, I had a horrible prom too.  I actually got fake acrylics for the first time for my senior prom.  Yeah, dumb of me.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

ManGlaze #Matte is Murder

Also in my package of ManGlaze (snickers) was the #Matte is Murder, which is the black matte of the group.  Not sure why there is a number sign before the word matte.  It's that way with #Matte Astrophe as well.  Insight?  I've always been a bit shy with black polish but a black matte reminds me of a chalkboard, and I've seen some awesome black on black nail art lately, with matte and shiny coats being intermixed.


I used a base coat of Seche Natural and 2 coats of #Matte is Murder for this - again this polish was nicely mixed, good consistency and great dry time.  It's a great black matte, but I really think I like Fuggen Ugly better.  Sun picture!

Shade picture!

My hands have looked increasingly red lately.  I'm working on it.  New meds and stuff.


And of course, a layer of Seche Vite to make things shiny!

WHOA.  This one has even MORE rainbow goodness to it - check it out!  Seriously, click the picture and make it larger.  I was in LOVE.

You can see more of the green sparkle in this one - thanks green grass that is taller than me in some places (tomorrow is "mow the lawn day").  Rain + insane heat = tons of grass.  And mosquitoes.  :[


Again, another winner in my book by ManGlaze.  I like that you have two very different looks - a matte or a rainbow shine.  Always fun to get more than one look out of a polish.


You can purchase ManGlaze on their website [official website].

ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly

After seeing tons of blogs review ManGlaze, I wanted to try it out myself, so I bought the whole line (don't faint, it's only 4 bottles) and will be reviewing 3 of them over the next few days.  Gotta admit, I was a little apprehensive at first buying something called ManGlaze, but I figured it's a good ice breaker.


Fuggen Ugly is the "grey" of the group.  This is the original matte nail polish, marketed in 2007.  I have purposely avoided matte polishes because they normally chip after just a few hours, but ManGlaze is one that's a laster.  I can't wait to do an actual "last test" soon - it was supposed to happen this weekend, but my son had other plans for my hands (he wouldn't sit still).


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, and then 2 coats of Fuggen Ugly.  I was really happy with the dry time and consistency of this polish - most mattes dry so fast on the nail that you can barely get one coat on evenly, but this had just the right dry time to it.

Check this out!  It's the perfect steel grey that I've been looking for, and such a great application!

I really am happy with this color - it's probably my new favorite "quick" polish that doesn't take a long time to apply or dry.

Even in the shade, this picture holds up quite well - it's a pretty solid grey... no blue or purple undertones to it like some greys.


Now, for fun, I added a top coat of Seche Vite.  My pointer finger was smeared about 5 seconds into it though - again, my son was just full of snips and snails and puppy dog tails that day.

Do you see that rainbow sparkle?!  Holy cow, I was in LOVE.

You can see a little more of the rainbow in this one (middle finger).  Holy hotness, the Seche really blings this out, but as you can see, you could also just wear it matte and still have a wonderful manicure.  Aces, ManGlaze - aces.


You can purchase ManGlaze on their website [official website].

Wet n Wild Morbid

I remember Wet n Wild back when I was a teenager, but a lot has changed with this brand.  Surprisingly, they don't have as big of a following as I thought they would, despite their new marketing campaigns - better packaging, a Twitter account that is quite active - Facebook and MySpace, and then their official website has all been overhauled as well.  They also have a VIP program where you can apparently get free products and I'm guessing coupons.


The "Craze" collection came out in summer of 2009, but I'm a bit late to the party.  These bottles are smaller than your average China Glaze or Zoya (0.34 fl oz instead of 0.5 fl oz) but the price tag reflects it.  I only paid $1.99 for this (and I got another bottle to be reviewed later).  One bad thing with a small bottle is a small brush too.

I seriously thought this brush was going to be the death of me, but thankfully it wasn't that hard to work with!  I don't have petite hands, but I don't have huge man hands either - but the cap settled nicely in my hand.  Reminded me of a big crayon.


Wet n Wild is big 3 free, and it appears from a link on their website that they do NOT animal test - so those of you who are really big on that, yay for Wet n Wild!


Morbid is a dark green with teal shimmer in it.  It's definitely a unique color.  In the bottle it looked like dark moss green to me - like, it's been swimming in a scummy pond for awhile, but on the nail, it reminded me of a dark cousin of China Glaze Emerald Sparkle!  I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Morbid and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Here's Morbid in the sun - the shimmer almost looks like a microglitter from here (remember all pictures are click-able to show full size 450x600).  You can really see that murky green in the bottle there.

Here on the side, you can see how it looks more like a dark cousin of Emerald Sparkle.  It's a nice vampy green that looks really different from each angle you look at it from.  I was a fan.

And a shade picture - I'm having a bit of an issue getting my outer pinkie polished as you can see.  I'm still learning ^_^


Overall, I was happy with this, especially knowing I only paid $2.  My recent Walgreens trip for the new Sally Hansen HDs ended up running me $50 for all 6 bottles and that's not fun to swallow.  I could definitely see this as a good wintery (or even fall!) night color.  I also would like to try some Konad with it someday! 


Wet n Wild is located at a variety of drug and grocery stories.  You can use their product finder on their website [official website].

My Hair

I'm totally deviating from nail polish in this post to talk about my hair.  I started putting highlights in my hair when I started my freshman year of high school.  My hair dresser started cutting my hair when I was 3, despite a few years of not seeing me when I moved out of state.  I trusted her completely with my hair, and so she put in some cap highlights in a pretty light brown color.  From there, I just started playing a bit.  In my junior year, I went for red highlights, which I LOVED and on my graduation of college, I went for RED hair.  The salon I was going to, specifically used Redken products [official website].

College was the time of experimenting.  On top of going to the salon to get red and blonde highlights (including one "omg" moment when my hair turned out orange and blonde - not sure what happened there), I started playing with box dye too.  My favorite was Clairol "Herbal Essences" in Cinnamon Stick, which was a Medium Warm Brown.

In 2005, I started to shake things up a bit, by going BLACK.  So there is a story here.  I was a radio station DJ, and every year on "Dead Day" (the day before finals start), we held a concert for the University.  This year, my friends and I decided to dye our hair... me with black, Al with red, and Sonny was going blue.  We show up at the concert, and I was the only who went through with it.

Pretty much after this, I quit playing with my hair for about 3 years, and just let it grew out.  2008 was the year of "fun".  First I tried to give myself highlights from a box with a wand and ended up with this.

I also went red

And did red highlights

Then I quit playing again.


Well, this year I decided it was time to play again.  First I went and dyed my hair dark and got bangs.

Then last week I decided I wanted to go purple.  Now, purple is not a very easy color to achieve, and I wasn't about to do it myself.  I was really excited to let my new hair salon and stylist play with me, and even though I fretted about it for days, I figured it was enough fretting - this is just hair!  Look at how much I've abused it already!


The salon I go to now, Bella Bella [official website] uses Goldwell, and this process is called Elumen [official website].  The best thing was that it DID NOT SMELL BAD.  In fact, they make it a point to have GOOD smelling products.  Um, yay!  I wanted violet peek a boo highlights, so first, we took up one layer of hair and put it to the side and started the foiling off of my section to be bleached.  I did the "10 foil" method which meant I had 10 foils on each side.  Now, we were lucky, and my hair took to the bleach very well - we got a "10" on the lifting scale and I was left with some BLONDE hair.

Next it was time for the purple.  Overall the process took about 2 hours, and again, the smell was not bad at all.  Now, I don't have any pictures (yet) from the immediate results, but I've been taking TONS (as I find time) of my hair, which I LOVE.

Ignore my face, haha - you can just barely see it peeking through.

But surprise!!!!

I can totally hide it too.

I'm super happy with it.  This salon also told me stuff that I didn't know, like that moisture is HORRIBLE for hair dye.  So now when I get out of the shower, I quickly go dry my hair.  I also use the Elumen shampoo and conditioner only, so that helps too.  I'm super happy with it, and it's so striking.  These pictures were taken about a week later, so you can see that the color is still super vibrant.  This color should last 4-6 weeks before fading to a lighter purple, at which point I'll see where I want to go from there.  This isn't very cheap though - for the bleaching and coloring of 10 foils was $190, but again I'm very happy with it.


More nail polish coming tomorrow. ^_^