A Few of My Favorite Things Giveaway!

Pin It Apparently my husband thinks I sound like Oprah with this giveaway title . . . I don't remember; is that what she called her giveaways? I am certainly not Oprah, or else I would be giving this to all of my followers. I can only give out two prizes packages this time. Maybe when I win the lotto . . . I probably have to start playing the lotto though. Moving on.

Since I began blogging, I have collected some of my favorite manicure products. I have talked about some of these on here, but I wanted to really share them with you. This is two giveaways in one. Only US residents are eligible for Prize A or US residents could select Prize B, which is opened internationally. You must be a GFC follower of this blog, you must choose a prize and you must provide an email address to be eligible to win.

Entries will be accepted until Monday, July 23.

Prize A:

New bottles (L-R):  Nfu Oh 51, Sonia Kashuk Fairy Princess,  Aili's Violet Dream (a franken by me), China Glaze  Surfin' For Boys, and Sinful Colors Green Ocean

New containers of Badger Cuticle Care and JASON Natural E.F.A. Hand & Body Lotion

Prize B:

A set containing 12 floral water decals, 2 packages of nail stickers (14  stickers in each)

3 new stamping plates

A set containing 16 gold nail foils

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All products are new and were bought by me. The winners will be selected within a week following the end of the giveaway and notified by e-mail. Winners must respond to e-mail within 48 hours or a new winner will be selected.

Good luck!
~Alexis

Green Ocean glitter gradient manicure

Pin It

Hello again. Today I share last week's sparkly manicure. Following the tutorial from The Hungry Asian, I created this green glitter gradient french manicure. First, I painted the white of my nail with Sinful Colors Green Ocean, then a second coat of Green ocean extending a little below the white onto the nail bed. The next layer of polish I added was Finger Paints Twisted and I finished off the glitter with Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope. I then painted the whole nail with a clear gloss polish and finally a layer of quick dry topcoat. I was happy with the effect, but if I were to do it again, I think that using a more opaque polish than Green Ocean as the bottom layer would give an even better effect.

This manicure held up remarkably well, much better than I expected from a glitter manicure. Green Ocean goes on pretty thick, so I expected tons of chipping. At the end of the third day, I had a bit of tip wear and a tiny chip on the edge of my left middle finger. By the time I took off the polish, after six days, there were very small chips on both thumbs and a chip on each middle finger.

I love the look of glittery polishes, but oh, how I hate removing them. It seems to take forever and my hands are covered in sparkles afterwards. By the way, sorry about the blurry images. I will try to be better about that.

We put an unstained door up in the entrance to the family room about two months ago. I knew at the time that I would finish the door with Briwax, a wood wax that leaves a rustic finish with a beautiful patina. Briwax works best when it is a little warmer and you definitely need to open windows. I was finally able to wax the door with the warmer weather and while it didn't beat up my nail polish, it did a number on my fingernails. I wore a double layer of gloves and took off my gloves to discover two chipped nails. I still need to do one more coat of wax, so I hope that my nails survive it all.

I also learned why you should stain or finish wood as soon as possible. You can see little finger marks in this picture. Oh well, I'll have to live with that bit of imperfection.

Next week's manicure will be festive St. Patrick's Day nails. I'll post early to show off the green in time for the holiday. Until next time, take care.

~Alexis