Midnight-Manicures

Hi Folks!  Just as promised, my One Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway!  My blog anniversary is actually Mother's Day, but I wanted to be able to get the prizes to the winners by then if possible. This would not have been possible without some generous Companies and Friends, Thank You all!  This contest will run from April 1, 2012, 12:00am EST to May 1, 2012, 12:00am.  There will be 10 winners, please remember to list in order on the Rafflecopter form in which order if you are a winner, you would like to receive.   Open internationally if allowed to ship prizes to that country.  28 entries available per person (except on the twitter and facebook daily option for additional entries).  If multiple entries are received, you will be disqualified.  Winners must answer emails with shipping address within 48 hours or new winners will be picked. ***More prize categories and items to present categories may be added, check back often.  ...

Tonights manicure is NK Nail Enamel's Charcoal Navy and Magical.  This is an inexpensive brand ($1 each) that I recently discovered at one of my local beauty supplies. The application is really very easy and the wear is decent too.   Two coats of Charcoal Navy. One coat of Magical holographic top coat.  Flashes a beautiful green and blue. NK Magical and Charcoal Navy. What's your favorite inexpensive polish?  Are there any brands out there that you know of that most people don't?  If so, share with us!

Tonight's swatches are from the Hits No Olimpo Holographic Collection.  Hits is Brazilian brand polish and one of my favorites from there.  They also have beautiful multi-chomes and flakies, I'll bring you more of all the collections soon. My first swatch is Atena, a hot pink linear holograhpic polish. Coverage was opaque in 2 coats and went on smooth. Second swatch is Zeus, a charcoal gray linear holographic polish. Again, 2 coats and no top coat.    Atena on left, Zeus on right.  They are 6ml (small) bottles, but worth it! I love the theme of this collection. I know you are thinking, how do I get my hands on an International Polish, almost impossible until this past year unless you knew someone or did a swap.  You can get these right here in the US and other countries (excludes Italy) from Llarowe.com  now.  She carries many sought after International and Independent (Indie) brand polishes.  Shipping is very reasonable and free for orders o...

Earlier today I entered Barielle's Glitter Polish Contest on their Facebook page.  I pulled out every single one of my glitter's from them last night and as pretty as they all are, Myrza's Meadow kept catching my eye.  It is a beautiful mint green with small holographic glitters in it.  This polish screams Spring and while being subtle indoors, the holographic glitters really shine in the sunlight.  I used 3 thin coats and it applied flawlessly. Go on over to Barielle's Facebook page and "like" it and while you are there "like" my entry and all the other great manicures.  Everyone has done such a beautiful job!  Contest end's Friday March 30th, so if you have a Barielle polish to enter, you can still do so!

Tonight's mani starts off with Sinful Colors Cinderella.  This is probably my favorite color from this brand.  It is light blue with small pink shimmers/glitters in it.  This was 2 coats of polish and no top coat.  The polish went on smoothly and I was very happy with the end results.  Cinderella is available at Walgreen's and retails for $1.99.  About the same time I was fortunate to come across a brand I had not heard about or used before, NK Nail Enamel.  This can be found in beauty supply stores for about $1 a bottle.  This color is Mystical, a scattered holographic topcoat.  I used 1 coat over the Cinderella to add even more sparkle. Have you found your Cinderella yet?  It was kind of HTF for awhile because everyone was hunting it.  What do you think of this inexpensive mani?  I'm kinda loving it!

As promised, tonight my blog post is about Barielle's Nail Care products.  This picture is of 3 that they have recently sent me for review and I own quite a few more of their treatments, skin care, hand and foot care products. Left to Right Nail Rebuilding Protein, Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender and Intensive Nail Renewal Oil. This is a before picture of my nails and cuticles.  I will show you an after picture too. Kind of scary isn't it? ;) I have been using Barielle's products exclusively for the past few weeks.  With the Nail Rebuilding Protein , my nails seem stronger and more healthy.  I have been using the Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender as my top coat and then every other day on my mani's that I've worn for longer periods and it really does help my polish to last longer.  And finally, The Intensive Nail Renewal Oil helps hydrate your nails and cuticles.  Click on the links for more information on each product. To learn more about Barielle and ...

Tonight, I am bringing you two more of Barielle's newests polish shades, Shannon's Attitude and Daring Dahlia.  They recently released 90 brand new colors and I can't wait to bring you more, there are so many "must haves".   I have a drawer full of Barielles, new and old and hope to show them all to you at one point, tomorrow I'm going to blog on their nail treatments. This is Shannon's Attitude, it is a purple jelly base with multi-color foil pieces in it.  This polish is great alone, you can build it to the opaqueness that you want or use it as a layering polish as shown below, also great for a polish "jelly sandwich".  If you don't know what that is, I will post a blog on that soon.  I used 2 coats and as with most jelly bases with glitter, it was a little thick, but not hard to work with at all, the glitter applied evenly. This polish is Daring Dahlia, a shimmery Fuchsia color.  This polish finish really reminds me of the one yester...

Barielle recently released 90 new colors to their collection, I will bring you many more of them in the near future as well as some of their nail care products.  Barielle has really stepped their game up in the polish world to an even higher level now. The polishes featured tonight are End of the Rainbow and Starry Sky.  End of the rainbow is described as a sheer aqua green with shimmer.  I used 3 coats here and I also think it would look wonderful over a darker color such as black.  This polish tended to shift in depth of the color depending on the light.  Excuse some of the reddish tones in my skin, I wanted to make sure the polish color was true to life. Next I wanted to try Starry Sky and applied one coat over my mani.  This is a pretty clear jelly with silver foil flakes.  The flakes went on evenly and did not need any help covering the nail. End Of The Rainbow and Starry Sky Barielle offers a total of 180 shades, Nail care products, Skin, Hand ...

Tonight, I am bringing you two colors from the China Glaze Capitol Colors collection.  This collection was inspired by the book series The Hunger Games, which also has a movie releasing tonight at Midnight est!  The collection consists of 12 colors and you can see the China Glaze Press Release here . The first color is Riveting, this is an bright orange shimmer and one of my favorites of the collection.  I used 3 thin coats for this swatch.  It went on easy and smooth, I am sure to wear this color many times this summer. The 2nd color is Dress Me Up, it is a rosy pink cream and was opaque in 2 coats...I could have almost gotten away with 1 coat.  As you can see it dried to a very pretty color and would look good with most skin tones. I have not read the books, but I will go see the movie, what are your plans?  The two colors above was provided to me by China Glaze for my unbiased review.  I will bring you more of this collection this week, so stay...

Tonight, I am bringing you a beautiful Brazilian polish called Up Colors, it's from their Holografico Collection called Chuva de Prata, it is a silver linear holographic.  I used just a regular basecoat and 2 coats of the polish.  This polish went on amazingly smooth even without any special base coat.  It was opaque in 2 coats.  The first two pictures are in the light box, the last was in the sun earlier today.  Wear on this is good so far for a holo, I applied last night and no tip wear or chipping yet. sunlight 10 ml bottles You can purchase the brand Up Colors from the US distributor  Llarowe , they are very reasonably priced (holos $9 and flakies $8) and shipping is very inexpensive and fast.  What do you think about this polish?  Are you considering it?

Today I received my Julep St. Patricks Day Mystery Box that was recently available for $19.99.  I am very happy with what I received.  Included was 3 polishes, Anne, Sofia and Selena, Cuticle Oil, Nail Appliques, A glass file, hand cream and a makeup/nail polish bag.  Total retail of this mystery box is $122.99!   If you would like to become a Julep Maven just click this link or the one on my sidebar.  You can become a Maven for just a penny and receive over $40 in products and also get great offers like the one above.  You also get to choose whether to remain a Maven, skip a month or even send your next box to a friend.  For every 2 new Maven's that remain for 30 days, I receive a free month.  Thanks to everyone that has signed up previously, this helps me bring you new swatches every month.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me or call Julep Customer Service.

Announcing Summer 2012 nail color by Zoya Nail Polish! BEACH   and  SURF  dive into the color... OFFICIAL RELEASE INFORMATION - March 17, 2012 New nail color - coming soon to a salon near you and  Zoya.com ! Summer 2012  is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections, Beach  and  Surf , from the new color of fashion,  Zoya ! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula. Dive into the creamy shades of the  Zoya Beach Collection  or the shimmering sea foils of the  Zoya Surf Collection . The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash! Zoya  BEACH  Collection Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream Tracie (ZP618) - sea...

Julep Nail Polish is running their special once again, this is a great way to try out their polishes and other nail care products.  Just click the link below or the Julep picture on the right side of my blog and use code:  SHAREONMARCH and you will pay 1 penny.  If you have any questions, just leave me a comment or email me, I'll be happy to help. JULEP MAVEN FOR A PENNY!

            Los Angeles, CA -  (March 2012) : Array your nails in a myriad of color this spring with China Glaze®’s limited edition  Prismatic nail polish collection!  Inspired by the colors formed by the refraction of light through a prism,  Prismatic by China Glaze® combines glitter and holographic particles to create the ultimate eye-catching, 3-dimensional manicure.  Bursting with color and dimension,  Prismatic  shades include: ·           Ray-Diant  – Greenish-gold shimmer filled with specks of silver, pink, green, orange and blue ·           Polarized  – Silver metallic sheen sprinkled with yellow, pink, orange and green glitters ·           Liquid Crystal  – Bright blue holographic with purple tint dusted with silver, gold, green, pink and ora...