50th Follower Giveaway Winners!

Hello Babes! I know this is waaaay overdue but when I say that I have had A LOT going on, I mean I have had A LOT going on. I know you understand that life happens, and on top of that I traveled a lot for the holidays. Next time I will make sure that a winner is drawn and announced the very next day. I was very frustrated with how I had to sift through all the entries individually because I had the first Rafflecoptor form and something somehow got messed up and so on. It was just time consuming so as I was going through the entries I would write a name on a piece of paper and put it in a bowl as I went through and verified each entry. For example if you had 3 entries by tweeting, fb, and posting my giveaway, your name was on 3 different little scraps of paper. I put the lid on, shook up the bowl really good, and just picked out 2 pieces of paper. My next giveaway will be done through the simple form and chosen through the Random application to make things easier for myself. Enough blabbering and onto the winners...

Prize #1 Winner: GFC Marta Warmuz of Chit Chat Nails

Prize #2 Winner: GFC KayJay at Refined and Polished

Both winners have been notified by email and have 48 hours to respond. If there is no response new winners will be picked.


Kisses
Marketta

Bettina Grape

Good Afternoon Babes! Today I have Bettina Grape from the Candy Collection (which I still need to share swatches of). Candy is a pretty periwinkle blue creme that took 2 coats to become fully opaque. Dry time was really good and it dried to a nice glossy finish. For the swatches below I used Konad ip m78, special white polish, and SV as my tc.

 

Here's Grape on it's own...

What do you think about Grape? I really love this blue, but I absolutely hate my nubbins! This stamp was actually too small for my nails before, so I'm happy to be able to go stamp crazy. However, I can't do this short of length, so I will grow them out to a nice comfortable short length that I'm happy with and can still enjoy stamping. Thanks for stopping by to let me share with you :o)


Kisses
Marketta

Readers Request: Models Own Emerald Black

Good Morning Babes! Today I'm sharing Emerald Black with you from the Models Own Beetlejuice Collection. Marisa from Polish Obsession asked me if she could see a swatch of this beauty because I raved about it on Twitter, so of course I had to post it because she's the nicest girl ever. I was up late with Rie (Nails and Noms), and Jen (The Polishaholic) waiting for the clock to strike and the sale go live, but after the order was placed it was a little bit of a nightmare for me. I will get into that story at a later date when I swatch the rest of the collection. For the swatches below I used 2 coats and no top coat. Application was very good, and so is the formula. The duochrome effect is very subtle in this baby but its there. I really love this one and its my second favorite from the whole collection, and I wasn't even going to get this one if I had to pay for them individually and not the set. Onto the swatches...

What do you think about Emerald Black? I really love this shade, and I will definitely be getting my moneys worth out of it and not collecting dust. This is my last post with my long nails :o( I have super nubbins right now because this winter is taking a toll something serious on my hands and I have some peeling. So tomorrow will be nubbins! Thanks for reading :o)


Kisses
Marketta

Readers Request: Essie Ruby Slippers

Good Afternoon Babes! Today I have a readers request from the lovely Maria from Nails Made Simple. A few of my fellow bloggers and I were talking about polish on Twitter and Ruby Slippers came up. I said that I have it  but haven't swatched it yet. Maria asked if I could so she could see it on a similar skin tone, so of course I said yes because she's such a sweetheart. Essie's Ruby Slippers is an amazing red jelly packed with red, golden copper, and very sparse silver glitter. The golden copper glitter is what gives it that "glow from within" look and a lot of depth. The formula is pretty good for an intense glitter and was fully opaque in 2 easy coats. A little wait time is suggested between coats or you will have some drag going on. Dry time was reasonable, but it does dry a little dull with texture, so a nice thick tc (I used SV) is necessary. RS is very much on the HTF side and is the original Ruby Slippers released. OK enough of the rambling and onto the swatches...

This polish is 10x as amazing in person, and I definitely consider it to be a necessary part of every polish addicts collection! I'm not crazy about red but I love this! The last picture is intentionally blurry so that you can see at least some of the copper that is VERY much there in person. What do you think of Ruby Slippers? Thanks for stopping by :o)


Kisses
Marketta

Cult Nails Tied Up

Good Morning Babes! Today I'm sharing Cult Nails Tied Up with you. Tied Up is a dusty medium toned (cornflower some would call it) blue jelly/creme hybrid. I'd guess that dropping a little bit of black into a bottle of periwinkle blue polish would give you an idea of how it looks in person. Maria describes it as a smurf blue, but to me its not bright enough to be smurf blue. I LOVE THIS POLISH! Did I mention that I love it? Well I absolutely do and I have nothing like it in my stash. The formula is amazing on this baby, very easy to apply, and is fully opaque in 2 easy coats. I used Red Angel ip RA-114, special black polish, and Seche Vite as my tc in the swatches below.

Here's the lovely Tied Up on its own. Dare I say that its my new favorite blue? Let me show you why...

Do you love this or what? I'm going crazy over Tied Up and then the stamping... I almost cried when I had to take it off to continue swatching, but I plan on wearing this mani next weekend! If you don't have the Red Angel set you absolutely HAVE to go on Amazon and order it! Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your day :o)


Kisses
Marketta

Cult Nails Feel Me Up

Good Morning Babes! Today is day 1 of Cult Nails Week! If your new to reading my blog, last year I was supposed to do a weekly series for a month in an attempt to dwindle down my untried's (I have over 200 :-/). I went to visit family for a few weeks, and with all of the holiday madness I didn't get to finish that or my Christmas challenge. So what you will be seeing from me is a lot of catching up. Feel Me Up (funny story here behind the name) is a lovely buttercup toned yellow jelly/creme hybrid. I got this baby along with the other 3 LE's during the Black Friday sale as an early Christmas gift from my parents. The formula was amazing which I hear is not the case for most yellows, and its fully opaque with 3 thin coats. Yellows frighten me a little because they don't normally play nice with those of us who have a lil bit of melanin going on in our skin tone. BUT I love this and actually got many compliments in person around my neighborhood and on twitter when I tweeted a little sneak peek. Enough rambling and onto the yumminess...



What do you think of Feel Me Up? Maria of R3 Daily and founder and creator of Cult Nails has been hitting it out of the ballpark with all of her collections. I own 11 of her lacquers and all 11 have amazing formulas (which I heard almost all the others do also) which I can't say about a lot of major brands. Have you tried Cult Nails yet? Thanks for stopping by and letting me share this lovely with you :o)

Kisses

Marketta

Dr's Remedy Positive Pink

Good Morning my loves! Today I have a lovely pink from Dr's Remedy to share with you. Positive Pink is a dusty pink creme that is in the Barbie pink family. PP was released for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 2011. The formula was a little on the thin and runny side, but it was easy to manage and fully opaque in 3 thin coats. Dry time was pretty good, and it dried with a nice glossy finish. IRL its a tiny bit darker, and dustier. It reminds me of Sparrow Me The Drama by OPI (which I will do a comparison for soon). In the swatch below I used no tc.

Just because I wanted to try out my Red Angel plates that I got for Christmas I decided to spruce this mani up a little. I just picked a random plate and design and didn't put much thought into it. I used special polish in Psyche Pink, ip RA-108. I don't care for how the design came out all. It would probably look much better on a black and white combination, blue and white, any other combo than what I chose lol. That aside that plates stamp wonderfully, because the images are etched out nice and deep and grab easily. I think I just pressed down much to hard (because its a little smudged together) because that's what I had to do with all the other ip's to get a good transfer. The picture with flash shows the design a bit better...

What do you think about Positive Pink? Positive Pink I like, the stamping eh bleh. Perhaps I will try something a bit more delicate next time, last time I will do a blind pick lol. Thanks for stopping by babes :o)

Kisses

Marketta

                                                                               (***Product Sent For Review***)

Revlon Whimsical

Good Morning Babes! Today I have a longtime lemming of mine to share with you, well kind of lol. I've wanted GITA for a while now, and if you follow me on Twitter you've seen me mention it from time to time. I just couldn't bring myself to pay almost $20 (well more actually when you calculate in shipping) for a single lacquer when so many great collections have been coming out and I payed that much for the China Glaze and Color Club holiday collections among others. Thank goodness for Revlon and their dupe spree they've been on this year. They've been on a mission slaying these DL's and this time I reap the benefits. Whimsical is an exact dupe for Glitter in the Air by Deborah Lippmann, and my friend Mandy from MandysSecrets (don't sleep on her blog, its amazing) sent it to me as a Christmas gift! Whimsical will never be opaque, so its best when layered. I originally wanted to layer it over Bikini Bottom by Rescue Beauty Lounge because its the exact same color as the base, but those bad boys are the same price as DL, so I will pass on that lol. So I went hunting and found Sea Spray by China Glaze, and have been holding onto it for months until the day where I could splurge on GITA. So thanks to Mandy my lemming has more than been cured! Sea Spray is a light blue toned grey with a gorgeous subtle silver micro shimmer. I love this color so much and can't believe I'm just now swatching it. The formula on this baby is amazing and fully opaque in 1 coat! Can you believe that? A light color with a 1 coat formula! Then I layered 1 coat of Whimsical over SS and I'm in love. I had to persuade the glitter to come out and play but besides that application was no problem. Next time I will add another coat for more glitter but for now I am loving it just like this. Onto the yumminess...

Are you in love? I know I am! My 2 favorite colors in 1 lacquer is love at first sight for me! The fact that its amazing is just the cherry on top! I will swatch Sea Spray on its own and share it on another day, because its just to gorg to not revisit and play with. Ahhh Whimsical is finally mine! Thanks Mandy Girl! Thanks for stopping by to see what I have going on today at P.P.A. :o)


Kisses
Marketta

Pink Wednesday!

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKK LOL! Good Afternoon Babes! Its feels like its been foreverrrrrr! I went to Florida to spend Christmas with my family for a little over 2 weeks and just got back a few days ago. What better day to come back than to a Pink Wednesday? What I'm sharing with you today is Excuse Moi! from the OPI Muppet's Collection. Excuse Moi! has a pink jelly base packed with pink and silver micro glitter, and bigger yellow, pink, green, red, silver and blue glitter. The formula was a tiny bit thick, but not goopy like NOPI Wear Something Spar-Kylie (which I think would be a dupe of EM if you eliminate all the glitter except for pink) which was super goopy. Application was very good on this beauty, and was fully opaque in just 2 coats. Dry time was very good, but it dried a little on the dull and textured side. EM is top coat hungry and required 2 coats of SV to get a smooth shiny finish.

I looooooove this so much! Its special to me because it was my #1 pick from the entire collection, and my sister Jessica bought it for me for Christmas. I know everyone has swatched it but I don't care, I haven't so I'm sharing it today ;o) . Thanks for stopping by and letting me share this sparkly Pink Wednesday mani with you!


Kisses
Marketta