OPI Miss Universe Collection Giveaway!!!!!!

Courtney and I are SOOOOOO excited to bring you our first giveaway!  The Miss Universe Collection by OPI is the first full collection I've wanted (which is a bit of a cop-out for me, cause it's only 4 polishes), but we figured this was the perfect opportunity to give away something to our amazing followers.  We are a small blog but we so appreciate the love you give us - here is our way of saying THANKS!

OPI's Miss Universe Collection includes 4 polishes. In this giveaway, one lucky winner will have all of these babies delivered to your door!

• Swimsuit...Nailed It! An itsy bitsy teenie weenie vibrant shiny-blue bikini.
• It's My Year It’s about time for this champagne-rose to shine!
• Crown Me Already! A sassy silver sparkle that knows what it’s worth.
• Congeniality is My Middle Name And berry-wine shimmer is what I do best!

Swimsuit...Nailed It!,  It's MY Year, Crown Me Already!, and Congeniality is My Middle Name

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EDIT:  I've now got swatches up of the full line.  Go here to see them.

Contest rules and information:

1. You must be a public follower using Google Friend Connect (GFC).  New followers are welcome.
2. To be a contestant of this giveaway you must fill out the form below.  One form per person. Required information is your GFC name and email address (for contact purposes only).
3. One entry is automatic for all contestants.  A second entry can be earned by linking to this contest. 
4. The giveaway will close on Sunday 7/15/11 at 10:00PM E.S.T.
5. The winner will be selected using random.org.
6. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond.  If the winner does not respond a new winner will be selected.
7. The contest is open internationally.

Good luck everyone!!!

THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!!!!

The Foil Method

"The thing about glitter is, if you get it on you, be prepared to have it on you forever, 'cause glitter is the herpes of craft supplies." - Demetri Martin 

So true, Demetri.  So true.  Ever tried removing a glitter manicure?  It takes forever, your cotton pad/ball/felt gets destroyed, and glitter gets everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  In summary, it's nothing short of a complete pain in the ass.  Some folks even shy away from wearing glitters, out of fear of the imminent torture that is removal.  Never fear!  The amazing (AMAZING!) girls over at MUA have a fool proof method for getting that stuff off without all the work.  This isn't my method, but I've used it countless times, and I'm happy to share it with you!  I present....The Foil Method!

First up:  the cast of characters.  You'll need pure acetone (You can use acetone polish remover, but it may not be as effective.), small felt squares/cotton pads/cotton balls, and cut up pieces of aluminum foil.

Soak your cotton pad with acetone, and press directly onto the nail.  Cover as much of the nail with the cotton pad as possible.  (A sincere thank you to my wonderful hubby for taking all of the rest of these photos for me, since I don't have three hands.)

Cover the cotton pad and your finger tightly with a piece of aluminum foil.  

Do the same to all your fingers on one hand.  (I highly recommend doing one hand at a time.  That way you'll have one free hand to work with.)  ROBOT HAND!!!  LOL  Leave the cotton pad and foil on for 10-15 minutes.  

*NOTE:  Everyone else in the world says this should only take 5 minutes.  I have NEVER had success leaving it on for only 5 minutes.  I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I usually do 15 minutes and it works great every time. 

After letting it soak, peel back off the aluminum foil, but leave the cotton pad on your nail.

Push down on the cotton pad and slide off the nail.  

VOILA!  The glitter slides right off the nail and onto the cotton pad.  Repeat all these steps on your other hand, and you're done!  Pain-free glitter removal!  (Ignore the fact that my nail is horribly stained.)

And that's it!  I hope you guys give this a try, if you haven't already!  It's super easy and keeps messes to a minimum.  Those MUA ladies sure are geniuses!

Time to bust out your favorite glitter!  :-D

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant

I know, I know, I'm a nail polish snob.  I can't help it.  Honestly, once you have had a good formula (even at $18) you'll know why.  And don't get me wrong, while I love me some Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) polishes, I also have a very deep serious love for Deborah Lippmann polishes.  I haven't tried any other high end brands, but if they are anything like these ladies' polishes, sign me up!

So how does one afford to buy $18 polishes on a budget?  You save your purchases for really special polishes that you can't get elsewhere, that will really complete your collection and will be ones you will wear! Well at least that's how I do it, and eat lots of ramen :).  Just kidding!

So what makes Insouciant so special.  First the formula, its goes on amazingly smooth and pigmented.  I barely had to do cleanup with this one, the polish just flows on itself.  What you end up with is a beautiful dusty lavender full of secret blue shimmer.  It's pretty obvious on the bottle, but not the nail.  You can see it, you just have to look hard for it. :)  The shimmer just gives the polish a wonderful sophistication.  Take a look!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant
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Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant
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Bad news guys, Insouciant is sold out and it was limited edition so it's not coming back (at least not yet!).  But you can still find it on Ebay sometimes.  Or if you have to have this polish, you can try swapping for it on MakeupAlley.com! :)  Happy hunting, it'll be worth it.

OPI Glam Slam! England - Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle

Good Morning everyone!  Today I'm totally excited to bring you the new OPI Glam Slam! England set.  I was able to snag this up online last week, so I can bring it to you before it's available at Ulta stores.  I am even more in love with this set then I thought I would be.  I new I wanted it as soon as the press release came out, and then when I saw Scrangie's pictures of it and described it as a less black version of OPI Ink.  OPI Ink is one of my favorites, so I was excited about this one.

First up is Grape...Set...Match.  I'm not into tennis, but that's a super cute name!  It really is a less black version of OPI Ink.  It's a duo-chrome that almost got a foil finish to it in a gorgeous deep grape purple color.  The foil-like finish is due to the tiny sparkles in the polish.  These pictures aren't 100% accurate, it was hard to do this polish justice.  The picture also look like the polish is gritty, but I promise you it's not.  My camera and I are still fighting, but it's getting better.  Now I know why Courtney is always so frustrated photographing purples.  As for the duo-chrome - depending on the light it either looks this royal purple seen here or a more red based purple (you can see it in the bottle in these pics).  I even took a little video for you so could see a better representation of the color, finish and sparkle.

OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Grape...Set...Match

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Now it's time to layer on Servin' Up Sparkle!  This is a glitter top coat.  No, scratch that, this is an AWESOME glitter top coat.  It's got a ton of tiny silver holographic glitter, and some larger hexagon shaped holographic glitter. All you need it one coat to get the perfect density of glitter.  You will need a thick layer of top coat to get a smooth finish though, due to the hexagon glitter.  Scrangie's post has some great pictures of Servin' Up Sparkle alone, but I just wore it right on top.  I can't wait to try this polish layered over black!  I included another video so you can really see the holographic glitter in action!

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
Blurry pic to enhance the sparkle!
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
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If you love purples, OPI Ink, or holographic glitter top coats, I suggest you pick this one up as soon as it's available.  I got mine from NailSupplies.us, but it's currently out of stock.  You might have to wait for this one to come to your local Ulta or salon.  It should retail for around $17.

And apologies still for my pictures.  I'm working hard to get them looking good, but I'm still have trouble.  I did a mini-crash course with Courtney last weekend and I think there is some improvement, but it still looks like my camera is focusing on the  finger rather than the nail.  I also get wicked glare... maybe I'll try a light diffuser?  My biggest issue is my camera's auto-focus, it really hates me and it continuously refusing to focus on macro pictures when I'm close up.  Let me know if you have any tips for me on how to improve my pictures.

OPI Glam Slam France: Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter

After my vampy-on-the-first-day-of-summer fiasco, I made sure to go for something that screamed summer for my weekend mani.  Summer means sunshine, and what could rival a holo for sunny day mani?  GLITTER!  I dove head first into OPI's French Open Glam Slam duo.  Created with Serena Williams, the France duo contains a sparkly glitter and a brand spankin' new white shatter.  Bring it, summer!

I started with the glitter - Spark de Triomphe.  It's a combination of gold and silver glitter in different shapes and sizes, including small and large hexagonal and round glitter, all suspended in a clear base.  The gold and silver together give an overall color that's somewhere between champagne and pale gold, depending on the light.  It applies pretty easily for a glitter, but unless you want to layer this over another color (Two coats over OPI Glitzerland would be perfect!), you're gonna need at least three coats (shown here) to get this one opaque.  It dries rough and bumpy, as with any glitter, but you can smooth it out with a coat of Gelous or Instant Artificials (both thick, acrylic-based base coats found at Sally's) before your top coat.  Pleeeeease click to enlarge these photos to check this one out up close!

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Ohhhh, you guys, I am in LOVE with this polish!  I'm not a huge glitter girl, but I love everything about this polish, from the name to the color, to the sparkle!  And boy, does it sparkle!  Even in low lighting, it was gorgeous!  My pictures don't even remotely do it justice!  I loved this so much, I wore it alone for three days!

...And then I added White Shatter.  I'm gonna be honest.  I never intended to get the White Shatter.  I really only wanted Spark de Triomphe, so I tried swapping for it.  Turns out my lovely swapper wanted to swap the set, so the shatter found its way home to me.  I loved Spark so much on its own, I was kind of sad and scared to cover it up with the shatter.  The two were meant to go together, so I forced myself to try it out.  One medium-thin coat of shatter later, and here's the result:

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Well.  It's not as bad as I feared it would be, but I just really don't love it.  White Shatter was super easy to work with, it's totally opaque, and I think it looks cool with the glitter poking through the cracks, but Spark de Triomphe is the star in this duo, and it's just too gorgeous to cover up!  It's a good look, but I prefer the glitter all by its sparkly self.  :-)

So, White Shatter gets a pass from me, but Spark de Triomphe is a MUST HAVE.  MUSTTTT HAAAVE!  It's stunning!  Perfect in every way, shape, and form!  This duo was part of OPI's May Glam Slam collection, so you should RUN (don't walk!) to your nearest Ulta to grab it while you can!  I'm telling you guys - it's all that and a bag of chips!  Mmmm...chips....

Sally Hansen Barracuda

Isn't it always the case, the ones you love the most will hurt you.  Barracuda is that for me.  The color is to die for.  Perfect for summer; perfect for my skin tone.  It almost takes the place of my top blue polish - that would be RBL 360, unless we count teals too, then OPI Catch Me In Your Net gets involved.

Anyway, let me tell you first what I love about this polish.  I love the color.  It's a creamy light blue, with barely any green in it (just enough to make it look not washed out and super summery).  It just screams put on a cute sundress and go for a stroll on the beach.....

And then, there is the formula.  Honestly, it's crap.  You open the bottle and the formula and consistency looks great, but 1 coat in, it's uneven, refused to flow, and starts to lump up.  I needed 3 coats, and by coat 3 it was a blobby mess.  I literally took it off and restarted this mani 3 times, each time putting in more and more thinner.  I still wasn't happy at the end, but I got tired and gave up.  You should be able to see the uneven generally crappyness in these pictures.  To top it off, with layering on three thick gloopy coats that weren't even on themselves (the polish literally just stays where you put it and refuses to flow across the nail no matter how hard I try), I got MAJOR cracking along the edges the next day.  UGHHH!  Ironically no tip wear though...

Last gripe is about this brush.  So this is my first Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.  I heard the brush was huge and paddle shaped, but had never seen it in real life. SERIOUSLY?!!!  Who likes brushes like this. OK, well I'm sure some people do, but I am not one of them.  I'm all for a thick brush (love the OPI Pro-Wides) but this brush has no give at all.  I honestly think I'll put this polish in the next top coat bottle I reach the end of, I hate the brush that much.

Alright, enough of my complaining - onto the polish!

Sally Hansen Barracuda
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Sally Hansen Barracuda - slightly different lighting
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Sally Hansen Barracuda - after 2 days of wear - HELLO cracks! Can you spot them?
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The Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line is available at Target and Drugstore and usually retails between $7 and $8 dollars.  It's supposed to be used alone without basecoat or topcoat.  I ended up not using a basecoat (no staining!) but did put some Seche Vite one (after 3 failed manis I was tired and wanted to go to bed).  Barracuda is part of the Limited Edition Summer 2011 Series designed by Tracy Reese.  It's pretty hard to find (it took me 5 stores before I found a display that still had Barracuda in it), but it's technically still available.

Making it Officially Official!

It's been so much fun having Jessie post on here as a guest blogger over the last couple of weeks!  I love the different perspective and different style that she's brought to the blog, and I'm sure you guys have enjoyed reading her posts as much as I have.  She and I have become such a great team, and I'm soooooo ridiculously excited to finally bring her on as a co-blogger!!

I can't wait to see how our blog grows!

WELCOME, JESSIE!!  :-D