Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Blog Giveaway :) CLOSED

Looks like we reached 25 followers (well, 27!) so here's the giveaway as promised. Good luck, guys! And yes, I entered my own giveaway because I'm a dork and I wanted to see what it looked like on rafflecopter. :P

Please, enter the giveaway if you plan on hanging around. If you're just going to unlike me if you don't win, that's really shitty for the people that DO want to stay and support the blog. It's also shitty for you, because you'll be missing out on a lot of fun blog posts and exciting lacquer revelations+future giveaways that may or may not be previous follower exclusive. ;)



Hard Candy: Beetle *pic heavy

Today I have a really fun mani for you. I'm usually not a fan of duochromes. I don't know why. Maybe my first one was just a dud - but no more. I am in LOVE with duochromes. I went to visit my mother and now that she's caught word of my polish addiction (I'm good at keeping secrets, but why would I do that to myself?!) she bought me this:


It took me three coats to get full coverage. The formula is really nice and effortless. When you put this color on it looks more goldish-green, which initially I was not a fan of but after awhile it grew on me and I think it looks really fun. In the light it turns purple and in different lighting it turns an even brighter gold-green. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. You'll definitely want to enlarge these photos!

I tried to capture the purple in this but only managed to take one good purple photo w/flash. The rest I took under a flap and tilted my nail so you could see the different colors in the polish.


Below you can kind of see the green-gold-purple shimmer thing happening.






Final verdict: This is a really awesome nail polish and super affordable at 3.99-4.99 I've never tried any other hard candy polishes but if they're anything like this one I hope they come out with more colors because I am very pleased with the end result.

Did I mention I really need a new macro lens? I can't use flash with it because it creates a weird ring. Ugh.

Do you have any duochrome polishes? What's your favorite? What about hard candy?

Glam Polish Giveaway

Glam Polish is having a 500 follower giveaway. The Hunger Games collection by China Glaze! Click here to enter and good luck.

One more blog follower and I will have a giveaway!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Magnetix

I'm usually not into nail trends. I don't like mattes and I don't like crackle, but the magnetic polish is something that really caught my eye. I didn't want to pay $15 for a bottle, though. Then I found out Icing was carrying a line of Magnetic polish, and off I went to the mall.



I picked up the pink one. I don't know the name, I don't have the bottle on me but, wow. It's gorgeous, I love it. I think everyone should have at least one bottle of magnetic polish in their collection!

This was fairly easy to use. I just applied the polish, held the magnetic to my nail bed for 15 seconds and voila! Neat little designs. :) I might go back and pick up a few colors.

I bought more OPI through a Buy One get Two salon sale (Warm and Fozzie, Ski Teal We Drop chop-sticking to my story), my sister bought my Strawberry Fields China Glaze, AND I bought a nail stamper that I am very excited to use!

What is your verdict on magnetic polish?

For you, my swede

I mentioned a few posts ago that my friend passed away. It was very unexpected and I'm really heartbroken over it. She was such a sweet woman. She came here from Sweden to marry the love of her life - and they were simply adorable together. I did a manicure with the Swedish flag in memory of her.



I just free handed it. Zoya Breezi is the blue and Zoya Creamy is the yellow. I didn't use a top coat or a base coat for this.

One more blog follower and I will have a 25 follower blog giveaway. :)

giveaways for the day

Nail Polish Guru is having a 50 follower giveaway! Click here to enter. She's also having a 25 follower giveaway. Click here to enter that.

Dandy Nails is having a giveaway for the China Glaze prismatic polishes. Go here to enter and good luck.

Set in Lacquer is having a giveaway here

Sunday, January 29, 2012

REVISION

Just wanted to make a separate post saying I edited the valentine's day contest deadline. February 10th was way too long so I changed the deadline day to February 5th. Judging will be from 6-8 and the winner will be announced on the 9th.

HERE is the link to all the details. Enter, enter, enter! I'm loving all the entries!

Chanel: Miami Peach

I received Chanel Miami Peach in a swap on facebook. I was really excited to get her after looking at swatches online. I'm always on the hunt for the perfect peachy nail polish because that's the way I do nude.

She's very pretty but not completely what I was looking for. There are hints of gold shimmer which give this a really nice, feminine look. The color alone is a very beautiful peach shade. I think I would like this a lot more if it were just a creme. The picture above is three coats, and that still isn't enough coverage. I would need at least four for an opaque look. That's one of the reasons I'm bummed about this polish.

It definitely is staying in my collection, but I might put it over another polish to really make it pop.

I'm thinking about making my own light box. I saw a tutorial online. It's very simple, just a 12x12x12 cardboard box, black poster board, white poster board, and some tissue/tracing paper. I'm hoping it will help my photos look better. I know half it it is my macro lens - it's a very cheap lens that makes my photos warp on the edges so it's hard to get a good photo. Alas, it's all I can currently afford.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

EXCITING

Something very big and very exciting is happening at The Beauty and the Beast

She is organizing a gigantic Valentine's Day blogger swap. You're matched with another blogger and you send them a box of your favorite beauty items, and they do the same. Click here for more information and sign up if you're a beauty blogger.

I cannot express how incredibly excited I am to be a part of this!

On another note, I finally used Chanel Miami Peach and she's pretty, but not what I was hoping for. Maybe I'll franken her?

Sinful Colors+Julep

Yesterday I went to Walgreen's and looked at their Sinful Colors display. They had this mini valentine's day display with a few pinks and dark reds. I picked up "Glass Pink". It's a sheer, glittery pink. I bought it with the intent on wearing it alone but quickly realized that it's best for layering. I looked through my collection and saw a Julep I just received in a swap: Carrie. I love creamy, bubble gum pinks.Unfortunately, the few I have are horrible formulas so I never wear them. Carrie is no different. She's thick and streaky. This is 4 coats, with Out the Door as a top coat.




This is "Glass Pink" layered over Carrie. Glass pink is sheer with some gold glitter in there. It looks really pretty in the bottle but for me it doesn't translate on the nails. I'm less than enthused. It isn't as pretty as I was hoping. These two colors will probably head to my "future giveaway" pile that I've started. :)

I should add, that I absolutely love 'Out the Door' and will be purchasing it again. I like it better than Seche Vite. I'm thinking about swapping my Seche Vites for Out the Door, so if you know anyone who would be interested in that, let me know! I have two unused Seche Vites.





What are your recommendations for a nice, bubble gum pink?

Friday, January 27, 2012

Post and run.

Hi guys! Super bummed I don't have a new mani for you tonight, but I did spot the display for the new Essie Spring 2012 Navigate Her collection at Walgreens! I think they were just setting it up because it was totally empty. That or it was sold out, but I thought the collection would be available in Feb. so I believe they're just setting up. :) I'm excited to buy Acrewed Interest and Navigate Her, what about you guys?

I'll have a nail haul picture, new mani, and possible dupe swatches to show you guys tomorrow.

Goodnight :D

Quick drop in

Go over here and like Cult Nails FB page. At 4000 followers she is doing one amazing giveaway for two lucky fans.

Another blog giveaway Nail Polish Addiction

Nail Polish Addiction is having a blog giveaway. Click here to enter and best of luck to you guys!

Anyone catch the ridiculous-ness on the Zoya FB page? They had a fun trivia promo and CHEATERS had to go and run it. Oh well. Maybe another time it will work out.

holy crap!

This girl is super generous and having one massive giveaway a-la Oprah. It's a list of her favorite things including Zoya and Dior. How sweet! Good luck, guys!

Giveaway

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Zoya Bevin + Essie SOTT

 Here is just a quick mani I did this evening. First we have Zoya Bevin. When I originally saw the promo photos and swatches for the Zoya True collection, the color that grabbed my attention was Bevin. She's a very pretty, creamy sage green color. It's a nice way to wear a fun color without it being overpowering. IMO, it's work friendly. Here is a swatch of Bevin:


As you can see, she's really pretty, fairly neutral and flattering.

I'm not in the business of having to tame down my mani's though. The only issues I run across are, "will this dry before my toddler wakes up?" So I added Essie Shine of the Times.


I really love Essie's SOTT. It looks gorgeous in the bottle and is a fun, easy way to jazz up most colors. Flakies seem to be super hot right now so I would pick this up and add it to your collection since it's one of the easier flakies to find. At $8.00 it isn't the cheapest, the Finger Paints are the cheapest, but those sell out really fast! The colors are really obvious in this flakie: I usually just see gold, red, and orange but if I tilt my nail up I can also see green.

Also, I have no idea what's going on with my finger in the second picture. I swear I don't have super powers. What I DO have is an incredibly cheap macro lens that adds vignetting to my photos and bulges on the outside - which is why the focus is "off" in a lot of photos. I need to figure out a new way to take pictures with this. Maybe setting up my tripod would help.

Oh yeah, have you entered my contest?

Giveaway

While I'm trying to figure out which color to use next, here is a giveaway from the Trace Face Philes. She's reached 2800 followers which is an amazing feat and is giving away the entire Zoya Feel collection! That's so sweet of her!

Click here to enter and good luck, guys!

Problems.

Yeah. So that just happened to me. I was looking at Gia and was just not happy with how I applied her so I took it ALL off. I'm still working on getting the red out of all the cracks. I'm going to try something else entirely. Maybe a pink this time? I have no idea yet. I'm going to go stare at my drawer of polish for a little while.

Zoya Gia

I love red. I own many red polishes and my favorite out of all of them is Zoya Gia. Sooki gets a lot of love for being the perfect red made by Zoya, but I disagree. Gia is where it's at!

Red is just...so messy. Maybe it's just me but my skin always stains. I tried hard to clean her up. Hopefully after my shower things will look a little better. Later tonight when this is for sure dry I'm going to attempt the rest of my v-day mani for you guys.


Gia is a great red, not as orange as the pictures are showing. In fact, not as orange at all. I'll have to work on that next time. The formula is great and I only need one coat for this. If clean up wasn't so messy for me she would be a great out-the-door polish.

For this mani used Seche Vite Ridge Filling base coat, Zoya Gia and Seche Vite fast try top coat. I also used my Zoya Fast dry drops. I love the fast dry drops. Unfortunately I'm almost out. :(

On a different note, I ordered some Biotin the other night. I heard it helps your hair and nails grow faster. My nails need some serious help so I'm anxious for my order to arrive! I also ordered Cod Liver oil because it's supposed to be great for your skin, and some Vitamin D because we all need some extra Vitamin D in the winter.

The Nail Polish Tag!




Mixed Mama tagged me in this post. I'm tagging:

Polish and Charms
Love for Lacquer
Just Nailing It
Polished Not Put Together

& Anyone reading this who wants to do it! If you do it, please comment on this post and link so I can read your answers!





 Rules:
Answer the questions
Tag 5 other bloggers
Let the bloggers know that they have been tagged 
by leaving a comment on their page


1. How many nail polishes do you have? Around 110.

2. What is your favorite brand of nail polish?
Zoya. I love the formula, the range of colors, and their lack of harsh chemicals.

3. Do you like crackle polish or do you hate it?
I hate it. My mom actually bought me the crackle from the Nicki Minaj collection. She told me she bought one and I was super excited, then saw it was the crackle one and was really disappointed, haha. She didn't know, though. So I exchanged it for Fly, which I love (and she was okay with me exchanging it!)

4. What was your first nail polish brand?
NYC

5. If you are going to have a nail polish line, what are you going to name it?
I would name it Bare. Not for a lack of color, but because it would be free of harsh chemicals and it would be vegan friendly. :)

6. What nail polish colors do not compliment you?
Frosty colors and light neutral taupe and browns. I'm not a fan of the mannequin hands look. They look super weird on me.

7. What nail polish colors do compliment you?
All cool tones and orange-reds, light pinks look really nice too. Bright blues.

8. Name two of your best nail art friends.
This is really sad but I don't have any friends. I'm a stay at home mom in a college town. I don't share the same interests as anyone here. Everyone wants to party and I'm just trying to figure out how to get my 21 month old to verbally communicate. It's pretty lonely, that's why I started this blog.
9. What was the best nail polish gift that you ever received? My S/O and I are going through a rift in the relationship currently. We went into Walmart and he disappeared, making me angry because I couldn't find it him and our toddler was flipping out. He shows up and slips something in my back pocket. He ran off and bought me Cha-Ching! from the Gem Crush by Sally Hansen line. 

10. Make a speech thanking the blogger who gave you this tag. Thank you Mixed-Media for tagging me! I love looking at your nail art, it is gorgeous!

11. What is your second favorite nail polish company? Essie.

12. Glitter or no Glitter? Yes, I love glitter!

13. OPI, China Glaze, or Essie? 1. OPI 2. China Glaze 3. Essie

14. When do you change your nail polish? Whenever it chips, which is usually only after 2-3 days. Which is fine, I love rotating colors.

15. What's your favorite color on your nails? Red. It's incredibly chic and goes with everything.

16. Darks or Brights? I prefer brights but I do love darks on occasion. I just don't like the mess they make during clean up.

17. What are you wearing on your nails right this moment? Nothing. I tried doing a V-day mani last night and was impatient and tired. I'm retrying it when I'm done with this survey. I just put the little-bit down for nap so I'm home free for an hour or two.

18. Matte Nails--In or Out? Out. I don't like it, honestly. It looks like a really old/bad mani that rubbed off and was never fixed. It does look good as a tiny accent, though.

19. French Manicure? They're cute.

20. Favorite Winter Color? Hm, that's hard. Essie Eternal Optimist for a light neutral and Zoya Cynthia for a nice, dark blue.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Nail Haul/Mail

Yesterday I went out of town to pick up some groceries. Naturally I had to hit up Sally's and a few other stores or nail polish. I went into Walmart and their salon had Buy One get TWO free! So I purchased 3 OPIs for the price of one. Then I went to Sally's and as soon as I walked in they were setting out the Electropop collection, so I picked up Techno and Gaga for Green after staring at the stand for half an hour and picking up each polish 15 times. They also had one of the finger paint flakies left. I had that in my hand but left it. I own Essie's Shine of the Times and don't wear those polishes enough to justify owning two.


From left to right we have: Don't Mess with OPI, Houston We Have a Purple, A Good Mandarin is Hard to Find, Big Hair Big Nails, and Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear?  *ahem* One, or maybe two of these will be stowed away for future giveaways!

Here we have China Glaze Techno and Gaga for Green, sitting on top of a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in White. The box of Solar Oil is this cuticle/nail oil. It was a part of the Buy one Get Two promo at a THIRD and different salon, so I purchased that and got two of the above OPIs free. The oil is really nice, I like it! And lastly we have my new beauty received in a swap on facebook: Chanel, Miami Peach.

My heart is aflutter for this polish and I cannot wait to wear her. I love her so much I put her in my purse and showed some random lady in Icing that I had it. She did not care. Not pictured is a crystal nail file. It works pretty nice. It's much easier on my nails than the other papery cardboard like file I was using. The file is fairly large and only 2.99. They had glass but those were 7.99 so it was a bit out of my price range.

SO! The point of this post? START CHECKING YOUR SALONS! It looks like the entire OPI Touring America collection is either 60% off or BOG2!

And remember to enter my valentine's day contest!

BLOG CONTEST!

Woke up to chips. I am not a happy camper. So I thought to myself...what can I do to get the rain out of my potatos? A blog giveaway! My first blog giveaway. I've thought of a few ways to do it and I decided I want it to be something fun. I'll definitely be doing just straight up giveaways with a random rafflecopter generator, but I want this one to be personal. I want to connect with you guys!

This blog is just starting out and so is the facebook page. The facebook page could really use some help in the beauty department, so how about a nail contest?

Valentine's Day is right around the corner so I think a Valentine's Day themed manicure is appropriate!

RULES

1. This is only a U.S. giveaway!
2. This giveaway is for blog followers only! Please follow the blog via GFC before entering.
3. Email your Valentine's Day themed manicures to sundriedlacquer@hotmail.com. Please inlcude:
  • Your Name
  • City, State
  • Email address (to contact the winner)
  • The name you follow my blog with (your GFC name) and a link to your blog if you have one
  • FB name you liked the FB page with - this is not mandatory as I know not everyone has  FB page, but if you do it would be nice if you liked us. :D
  • The picture to your manicure! I suggest uploading it to facebook or flickr and sending me the link. Your mani can be anything, just have fun with it. The only rule is it must be Valentine's Day themed!
The contest is open from January 25 - February 5th. After February 5th I will upload all the pictures to the sun-dried lacquer facebook page for voting. Voting will last from Feburary 6-8th.

The mani with the most likes wins! I will announce the winner on February 9th. The winner gets a very sweet (no, it isn't candy LOL) prize and, if they want, their mani gets to be the display picture on the FB page for the month of February! :)

Good luck, guys. I can't wait to see what you're going to create!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Illamasqua: Muse

Here is Illamasqua Muse. I'm having a moment with teals and blue for some reason. I was looking at my collection and realized I had very few blue shades. Then they just started pouring in. I tend to buy nail polish in color phases. My most recent phase is green, but more on that tomorrow.

On to the picture! Now, I realize a few things and I'd like to comment on them first. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I love clean nails, clean lines. I'm organized and I enjoy order in my home. That being said, I realize my manicure needs significant improvement. The lines need to be straighter, the clean up needs improvement, the photo angles need to be different, and my cuticles/hands in general need some TLC. I'm always striving to improve and try better, so I hope you guys stick with me and watch me, the blog, and community grow! I'm just starting out and while my love for nail polish has been forever with me, my steady hand is still developing. :)



This is my first experience with Illamasqua and I am head over heels for it. I obtained this through a swap on facebook. The formula of the polish is beautiful and the color is amazing. This is one coat of Muse. I used Seche Vite Ridge Filling base coat, and Seche Vite fast dry top coat. I fully intend on buying more. I have about 4 in my cart right now on sephora.

Have you tried Illamasqua? What colors are your must haves for this brand?

new giveaway link+apology

Sorry I haven't posted. I started this and each time I tried to do a mani to swatch it smudged or my battery needed to be charged.

Excuses, excuses. I hope to have a picture up today.

Anyway, I'm posting because I added Deuce Beauties: 1,600 Followers Giveaway link under the giveaway tab.

She's also having a blog sale. A HUGE blog sale that includes a lot more than nail polish! Here is the link to the blog sale.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Welcome

Welcome to sun-dried lacquer! Here I will be blogging about my nail polish reviews, finds, wants, other blogs I follow and enjoy, contests and giveaways, new collections, pictures of my swatches, and sometimes we'll veer off topic. (: