*CLOSED* 100 Follower Giveaway!

To thank all of you that have read my blog one time or another, I am hosting a giveaway!

From Left to Right:  Cover Girl Moon Glow, Cover Girl Midnight Forest, Cover Girl Crackle, Wet n Wild Party of Five, Kleancolor Mermaid, Kleancolor Sheer Pastel Nude, Kleancolor Forest Fairy, Kleancolor Pastel Teal

One (1) winner will receive the items pictured above (click the picture for a closer look)!

Rules:
-Fill out the form below by 8:00 PM EST on April 18, 2011
-New followers are welcome.
-This is an international giveaway.
-Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. If winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen.
-Winner will be chosen via Random.org

Never Thought This Would Happen...

I just hit the 100 follower mark!! I honestly never thought my blog would get more than 10 followers, let alone 100! To some, this number may not seem like much but I am overjoyed at the thought that 100 people have enjoyed reading my posts at one time or another.

Look out for a giveaway that I will be posting by this weekend! Thank you all!

Help Japan through Swag Bucks!

As most of you have heard by now, on March 11, 2011 Japan was hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami. The result of these catastrophic events have left the people of Japan in a state of emergency. Thousands of people are left homeless and thousands are still missing.

Many of you have been looking for ways to help out, whether it may be through monetary gifts or donating clothing and food. For those of you that may not have money to spare, there is still a way to help and that is through donating Swag Bucks.

SwagBucks.com is a search and win website in which you win Swag Bucks by searching, watching videos, completing special offers and special swag codes. It is completely free to sign up and very easy to use!

Now you may be asking, what exactly are Swag Bucks? You can exchange your Swag Bucks for numerous prizes and sweepstakes (known as Swagstakes). These prizes include Amazon gift cards (the most popular and my favorite as well), PayPal money, iPods, video games and more.

Here is how you can help Japan through Swag Bucks. For the past few weeks, Swag Buck users have been able to donate their Swag Bucks, which are being converted into real money that SwagBucks.com is donating directly to All Hands Volunteers, a non-profit organization that assists in disaster relief worldwide.

Here is the conversion chart, provided by SwagBucks.com :
10,000,000 SB = $100,000.00
7,500,000 SB = $73,750.00
5,000,000 SB = $47,500.00
2,500,000 SB = $23,250.00
1,500,000 SB = $13,750.00
1,000,000 SB = $9,000.00
750,000 SB = $6,375.00
500,000 SB = $4,050.00
250,000 SB = $1,925.00
200,000 SB = $1,500.00
135,000 SB = $1,000.00
68,000 SB = $500.00

As of March 24, 2011, over 1,590,335 Swag Bucks have been donated. This converts to over $14,000 US and this number is still growing!


SwagBucks.com has provided me with a 50 Swag Bucks bonus registration code for my readers to help you guys get started on SwagBucks.com. Even if you decide that you don't have time to use the website, you can sign up and donate those 50 Swag Bucks that you get for signing up!

Head over to SwagBucks.com and enter "HelpJapan" (without the quotes, of course!) into the registration section and just verify through your email. You can start earning Swag Bucks right away. To donate your Swag Bucks, head over here and enter the amount of Swag Bucks you want to donate! Donations on the SwagBucks website will conclude May 2, 2011 at 12pm PDT. It is a very simple and fast way to donate, especially if you do not have the spare cash to donate out of pocket!

For those of you that may be a bit skeptical about this website, I have earned over $100 in Amazon gift cards since joining the website in November 2010! =]

*I was not paid to post this. SwagBucks.com had provided me with a bonus registration code for the readers of this blog.

OH you fancy, huh?

 

First off, please excuse the crappy lighting in this picture but at least it shows the true color of this nail polish!

This is three coats of Icing Pinot Noir. It is purple toned burgandy nail polish with a pretty bad formula. It did not apply well at all! To spruce it up a bit, I added Milani Jewel FX Gold, which I have been LOVING!

I want to say thank you to all my new and old followers! There is going to be a giveaway in the very near future!

Milani Jewel FX Gold

After a few months of searching I have FINALLY found Milani Jewel FX Gold. Seriously, everytime I go into a drugstore or any store with a Milani display, I desperately searched for this gold hexagonal glitter polish. I finally found it yesterday at a Walgreens about 5 to 10 minutes away from my house. Go figure! There were also two bottles of Milani Jewel FX Gems in the display but I decided to leave those alone because I already have it, after finding it at a CVS about an hour away from my home ;x

The above manicure shows Milani Jewel FX Gold on the accent nail. To get it to completely cover the nail I had to pat it on and maneuver some of the glitter into the place I wanted it to be. It is definitely not hard to work with though!

The rest of my nails are painted in two coats of Cover Girl Midnight Forest, which I showed you all in my Dollar Tree Haul.

Blue Skies and Green Grass

From L to R: Kleancolor Neon Green, China Glaze For Audrey, Confetti Wedding White

Being that yesterday was the start of the Spring season, I decided to do a quick manicure based on what I love about the Spring season: warm air, blue skies and bright green grass.

A little side note: I am 7 followers away from having a giveaway! Come on guys! Help me hit that 100 GFC follower mark!

Lookin' like Birthday Cake

From L to R: Party of Five, Garden Hose, Collecting Pollen

I think it looks a bit like birthday cake, don't you? Or a decorative Easter egg!

Base Color: 3 coats of Collecting Pollen
Wavy Tip: Garden Hose and Confetti Wedding White
Accent: Party of Five

I picked up these three Wet n Wild polishes at Harmon's Discount. I heard about this store on someone's blog and decided to check it out. WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS PLACE BEFORE?! It is amazing! Such a great selection of nail polish, makeup and other beauty products. I am lucky enough to have two of them within a half hour of where I live.

Spotlight: drewby1xo

Its about that time again to step aside from the normal posts of nail polish and body products! Today's Spotlight post will be showcasing another very talented YouTube star.

Her name is Drew (drewby1xo) and she makes YouTube videos covering songs and adding her own flare to them! I absolutely love this girl's voice. Honestly, this girl is amazing!! Check out her cover of "Blow" by Ke$ha. If you have ever heard the original, it is a load of crap compared to Drew's version. Check out her YouTube channel and be sure to subscribe to her!

Nature's Essence

Like I said before in previous posts, I've been a bit lucky in winning some giveaways and contests lately! Below are my prizes from a company called Nature's Essence, which is a company that specializes in bath and body products. I entered the contest through the shop owner's YouTube channel. Dani, over at Nature's Essence, is such a sweet lady and makes awesome videos showcasing her items that she sells in her Etsy shop. Make sure to check out her site and subscribe to her YouTube channel!

Dani sent me 3 bars of soap and she even threw in an extra surprise - a little cupcake soap! The soaps are creamy, which I LOVE!! They also carry a pretty good lather and do not seem to dry out my skin! She packages everything so well and this is definitely a company I would recommend to you all.

Angel- This white, pink and green swirled soap smells very floral and perfumey. I didn't cut this one up as yet because I will probably be giving this to my mother!

The top of the soap decorated in fine diamond glitter. So cute!

Macintosh Apple- This soap smells JUST like apples! So yummy and fresh.

I cut the soap up into 6 slices for easier use in the shower!

Butt Naked- This soap is my favorite out of the bunch. I mean, besides the silly name, this soap smells AAAMAZING! I can't even put my finger on the scent but it is fruity and sweet, but not too sweet. Yum!

Look at the creaminess of this soap. I cut through this baby like butter!

This cupcake was the extra surprise in the package I received. the base doesn't really have a scent but the green part smells citrusy. This one did not come with a label.

Thank you so much Dani! I encourage you all to check out the links above!

Nail Polish (and some bath products) Storage

Today seems to be the most boring Saturday ever!! *sigh* Anyway, in today's post I am showing you how I store my nail polishes and some of my bath products. Currently, I store them in a 4 drawer plastic storage bin that has wheels and I keep it in my closet. The first drawer, which I have not posted a picture of, has a bunch of different things inside: washcloths, Q-tips, some makeup and whatever else I could fit in there.

This is the second drawer where I keep some bath products. There is some LUSH bath bombs, bubble bars and massage bars. There is also some Fortune Cookie Soap products, Yester Year Soap products and another company's soap which I will be posting about in the near future! I also keep my extra PocketBacs in this drawer as well.

In the third drawer I keep my manicure tools, nail art supplies and some nail polish. There are files, clippers, pure acetone, hand scrubs, hand creams, cuticle removers, nail polish thinner, dotting tools, fimo slices, rhinestones, etc. I organize my nail polish by color. This drawer has yellow, orange, tan, white, gold, silver, gray and black. I also keep various top coats and base coats here.

The bottom drawer contains the bulk of my nail polish. There are various shades of red, pink, blue, purple, and green. For someone that doesn't really like red nail polish I sure do have a lot of it!

I am thinking that this is just going to be my temporary storage and I will probably be purchasing wall mounted nail display racks. I am probably going to have to convince my parents on that one because they don't really like putting holes in the walls lol!

I have updated my nail polish stash page so click the link on the top of the page to check it out!

Small Bath and Body Works (BBW) Haul and Update

This haul is definitely long over due! I bought this stuff a few weeks ago but never got around to posting it up. I went into Bath and Body Works to pick up my free gift for the month of February and also purchased a few PocketBacs.

How cute are these PocketBacs?!

The free gift for February was a free travel sized lotion, shower gel and body spray. I chose Japanese Cherry Blosson body spray, Coconut Lime Verbena shower gel and lotion.


Hope you guys enjoyed this mini haul!

I just want to give you guys a little update on what is to come. I have tons of posts planned over the next month so definitely stay tuned for that.

Also, I have been gaining followers lately and I want to thank you all for following, reading and commenting my blog. I get so excited when I get new followers and comments because I really do appreciate everyone taking the time out of their day to visit my blog.

I am gearing up for a giveaway in the coming weeks so keep an eye out!

Dollar Tree Haul

Ok guys! Here is the Dollar Tree haul I promised you guys a few days ago!

From L to R: Cover Girl Sand Dune, Cover Girl Moon Glow, Cover Girl Sun Kissed, Cover Girl Gold Front

From L to R: Cover Girl Bronze and Maybelline English Toffee

From L to R: Cover Girl Crackle Boo, Cover Girl Sheer Orchid, Cover Girl Midnight Forest

Stay tuned for reviews/swatches on these polishes in the future and check out the manicure I did with Cover Girl Crackle Boo and Maybelline English Toffee here.

Feeling Lucky!

Lately I have been winning a few online giveaways from a few different companies. Am I lucky or what? I have never been much of a lucky person but lately it seems my "luck" has been turning around!

Below are two prizes I have won from FortuneCookieSoap.com ! I won them during their BlogTV contests a few weeks back. Add them on Facebook and Twitter to keep updated on their promotions, sales and new products!

Pink Watermelon Gelato Bath Bomb:

Cherry Limeade Bar Soap:

Cover Girl Crackle Polish

I finally found those Cover Girl 2 per pack nail polishes at Dollar Tree. I will show you all my complete haul in my next post but for now I will show you my favorite polish out of the bunch! I was so excited to get these packs and even more excited to see they had some Crackle nail polishes. I have been waiting for Sally's Beauty to get the China Glaze Crackle polishes. I will love this Cover Girl crackle polish as if it is my first born baby! (OK, maybe not but you get the idea!) Plus, from the swatches I have seen of the China Glaze crackles, I much prefer the crackle effect of the old school Cover Girl version!

There was only one shade of the Crackle nail polish in the packs I searched through, which is the one in the above manicure. It is called Boo! I am a little confused about what the color of this nail polish actually is. I mean, when I look at the bottle at different angles I see emerald green and a deep purple. In the pictures above the bottle looks to be a dark navy blue. When applied to the nail, the polish looks black! *shrugs*

I layered a thin coat of Cover Girl Boo! over Maybelline English Toffee, a pink coral shade (another old school polish from my haul). I made sure not to apply it thick or go over any of the crackle polish I had already painted. I began to see it crackle within 15 seconds and it completely crackled within 40-50 seconds. A top coat was definitely needed, otherwise the crackle polish who have just came right off.

Do you have any of these old school Cover Girl Crackle polishes? What do you think of them?