Bundle Monster CYO: My Designs

I got my Bundle Monster plates, and they used three of my designs! If you'd like to see the whole collection, just click here. Here are the two with my designs - I highlighted around mine.

Candy Hearts

I entered these candy hearts before they released the Holiday set earlier this year, which has some candy hearts, so I'm not sure why they chose more. But I like them, and you can choose which to use, based on your opinion of Valentine's Day. I'll probably use both (maybe in the same manicure!), because I'm silly like that.

Candy Cane Stripes

I love this one, even if it's a bit boring - I can't draw straight lines to save my life, and just wanted some neat diagonal candy cane stripes to play with. I think this design will be pretty popular in December.

Seeing which they chose made me laugh, because they were the least exciting/creative of the ones I entered.  (The others ranged from really girly to really nerdy.) But I'm just happy they chose any of them, so I can't complain. I really can't wait to use these, my own and all the rest! I would love to hear any thoughts on them, or if anyone would like to see what else I entered.

Bundle Monster Contest Announcement

OMGWTFBBQFTW! I'm so excited, I'm mentally running circles and yelling here, interspersed with a mental happy dance.  I almost never win anything, especially "official" contests like this (extra-especially anything that required work, and wasn't just a random drawing), so I'm super excited about this. I sent the max ten designs, and I don't know which one(s) they picked yet - I probably won't know until they send me the set in mid-late September. But as soon as I do, I'll post about it. I can't wait to see which of mine they chose, not to mention what the other winners designed!

PureIceMyCity contest

NAME: Alice's Restaurant

CITY: St. Paul, Minnesota

WHY I LOVE IT: I love snow, and get tired of so many people around me complaining about the weather. That's why I think it's awesome that St. Paul celebrates winter every year with the Winter Carnival, The Coolest Celebration on Earth. 

Contest FYI

Sarahlouise1986, of Spellbinding Nails, is celebrating 2,000 followers with an epic giveaway. Check out all those prizes!

Prize One

Prize Two

Prize Three

Bundle Monster Contest Entry

Update: I didn't win, but thanks to everyone who voted for my Easter Basket! It was fun, and I might recreate it for my 'official' Easter mani. (And my husband has already promised to get me the Bundle Monster plates for my upcoming birthday...)
Hi Everyone -
I'm posting to beg shamelessly for votes on my Bundle Monster Nail Art Contest entry. I really love stamping, and the new plates look awesome!
Here's the mani I entered:

Easter Basket

I'm especially happy with the "Easter grass" under the eggs, and how the eggs look almost 3D. And yes, that IS a hand-painted Peep on my thumb. Give Peeps a Chance! Envision World Peeps! 
Hope you like it, too! (No, really, please 'Like' it on the Facebook Contest page HERE! There's a thumbs-up button to the upper right of my photo.)  You can vote once per day until April 20. Thank you!
If you want specifics for colors, technique or anything else, leave a comment or ask via Formspring - I'd be happy to share!

FYI: Giveaways

I've been using a Contests/Giveaways page at the top of the blog to alert readers to other bloggers' celebrations for awhile now, and thought I'd take this opportunity to let everyone know. You can click either the blog title or the picture to be taken directly to the giveaway post.
Both The PolishAholic and Konad-licious are celebrating 1,000+ followers. Congrats, both of you, that's truly awesome, not to mention well-deserved! Keep up the good work!

• Jen, of The PolishAholic, is celebrating 1,000+ followers by having an awesome, huge giveaway, featuring all kinds of lemming-worthy loot, through Feb 15. Check it out:

• Konad-licious is also celebrating 1,000+ followers with an equally awesome, huge giveaway through Mar 1. Check it out:

Zoya Greens

I'm really excited about this post, because these are the polishes that I won in JP's giveaway on nails of the day. *Drum roll, please!* May I present the greens:

Aren't they lovely? On top, we have Veruschka on the left and Envy on the right. On the bottom, L-R are Suvi, Irene and Midori. (Sadly, there was a USPS mishap, and Tangy was released into the wild. :p)
I'm gonna be right up front and say that these pics are a bit sad looking, darn that macro setting! Anything fugly here is strictly due to n00b error and hurried swatching, not the fault of the polishes themselves. The application was actually easy and wonderful - no issues whatsoever, just my usual sloppiness. Sorry!
Also, I love the matte trend, so I matted the middle nail with China Glaze Matte Magic in several of these. So, on to swatches!

Envy. Yellow-leaning deep green creme. I really like this, even though it's nearly black in most light. There is the subtlest hint of shimmer in the depths, but it mostly comes off as a creme. The second pic was with flash, so you can see the base color better. 2 coats.

Irene. Mossy green base with bright green shimmer. This one is gorgeous! The base color is definitely mossy, leaning warmish, and the bright green shimmer just glows.  I was afraid it would be too warm for my skin tone (like Sinful Show Me the Way), but it really is very neutral and easy to wear. 3 coats.

Midori. Dark melon green with yellow, green and gold shimmer. Zoya's website simply calls this medium green shimmer, but that doesn't cover it at all! This little minx was very difficult to capture, because the green kept shifting from cool to warm. I took at least a dozen pics, and these two seem to come the closest to real life. As I was showing these polishes to my husband, twice he said this was his favorite, so of course I had to wear it first! I still have it on and it's mesmerizing. If this is what ChG Moonpool looks like, I can definitely see what all the fuss is about. I haven't matted this one yet, since it's my current mani, but I'm guessing it would be fantastic. 3 coats.

Suvi. Deep emerald green shimmer. Lovely, just lovely. You must enlarge these to get the full impact of the shimmer. I love this! Zoya's website describes this as metallic, but I'm not sure that fits. The shimmer is definitely dense, but it's not at all brush-strokey, so don't let that scare you if you normally avoid metallics. 3 coats.

Veruschka. Rich emerald green shimmer matte. As I said earlier, I love the matte trend! This one is totally on par with the other Zoya mattes (I have Posh and Loredana), and reminds me of the OPI Suedes. I added a coat of Seche Vite on the middle, and it's just as gorgeous shiny, too. Love it! 2 coats.

All in all, this is a wonderful collection of polishes. I'm really impressed with the Zoyas I have so far, and I will definitely have to get more. Thanks again, JP, for enabling! :D

Thanks for reading!

OMG Water Marbling WIN

I ordered the China Glaze water marbling set from Sally Beauty the other day, because 1) I didn't own any ChG OMG polishes, which should be a crime! 2) I didn't own a dotting tool. 3) I really wanted to succeed at water marbling, hoping that the polishes used would be the key (it is).
In case anybody reads this and is wondering, this set comes with: OMG, BFF, LOL and DV8, as well as the dotting tool and instructions. I used all 4 colors in my marbling efforts.
The pics really say it all:

Please ignore the bubbles, I think it was the topcoat. :( But I had to show my right hand because the holo effect really showed up in this one! Love it.
This was SO easy to do, too. I used masking tape around all of my nails, cuz I learned the hard way how messy the process is without it. Thanks to the bloggers and YouTubers for that little tip! The whole process, including base coat, 2 coats of DV8, water marbling and topcoat took under an hour total. I'm not exactly sure how long, because I did DV8 one day, and the marbling the next day.
Here's the DV8 bottle, because that's what I used as the base color, and to show the holo goodness. Nom!

On another note, I was totally bummed that Green Friday came and went at Zoya, and I missed it because my Mom was visiting! Grrr... Oh well, I can't really blame Mom, can I? Can I?!?!
But I refuse to miss a contest that is giving away the six beautiful green Zoyas that I missed out on! Here's a link for a blogger who is doing just that: http://nailsoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/win-six-gorgeous-zoya-greens.html, Thank you, JP! If I win, I will totally swatch all of them, because they're beautiful.

Another contest mention while I'm on the subject is at Fantabulously Frugal. Check it out at this link:You Deserve The Best Giveaway. There are 3 outrageously cool prizes, with plenty of beauty products involved. Thanks to Sparkled Beauty for the heads-up, and for yet another blog to follow! (;D)

Thanks for reading!