Merry Me

I'm finally getting around to swatching my Sephora By OPI Holiday 2010 Limited Edition Collection-Merry Me.  It's very beautiful!   Deep red base with silver, red and pink glitter.  No problems with the formula very opaque and only needed 2 coats.  I thought it would eat up some topcoat.  I was pleasantly surprised I only needed one coat of my Revlon Colorstay.  It glistens so much I can't stop looking at my nails.

Hold up wait a minute, the next day my topcoat was eaten up. Lol!  I applied another coat of Revlon Colorstay Topcoat.  Now it looks perfect :)

Psst:   Just want to share that Sally Hansen Hard as Nails clear is showing up at Big Lots.  It can be used as a basecoat, topcoat and the ladies from MUA said it's great to layer over holographics and it won't dull the effect. How great is that!!

Until next time please have a great nail polish day. (✿◠‿◠)

Hello Kitty From Sephora

Ladies,  I am highly disappointed.  Yeah, yeah the bottles are cute, but they are small.  With my gigantic nailbeds I'm afraid I'll use up the bottle with one swatch and on one hand at that. Lol!    My brush on Frosted cupcake needs a little trimming.




It's good to always  look on the brighter side.  I am very pleased with Purple Sprinkles it's in a purple base with multi color glitter teal, green, orange.  Frosted cupcake is nothing special just a pink with sugary iridescence shimmer.  Pink Sprinkles was sold out but from pictures I've seen it's pretty much a dupe to Confetti's Pink Confetti which I do have.   I can always keep the bottles to franken with.

(click to enlarge)

Hello Kitty Hotel in Japan

Swatches soon, Look at this hotel  isn't it cute...

 Have a happy 1/11/11
Until next time please have a great nail polish day. (✿◠‿◠)

Spring Beauty, Spring Cleaning Giveaway!

Hello ladies,

This giveaway is now closed. The winner's announcement is in this post. Thanks so much!

Welcome to the Spring Beauty, Spring Cleaning Giveaway! Here you will find earrings, nail polish, eye shadows and makeup primer to beautify yourself in Spring colors. There is also eye makeup remover and nail polish remover to help cleanup when you are done.

The giveaway package includes:

A pair of ivory freshwater pearl and sky blue chalcedony earrings handmade by Wildheather.

The Wildflower Collection of six eye shadows by Bella Sugar Cosmetics.

Four Brucci Nail Polishes: two shimmers, two creams.

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer.

Reviva Labs Eye Makeup Remover Gel.

Sephora by OPI nail color remover.

The total prize package value is $106.

First, let's peruse the Spring Beauty items.

These lovely earrings are made of sky blue chalcedony, ivory freshwater pearls and sterling silver wires and earwires. These were handcrafted by WildHeather.

Brucci shimmer nail polish in Typhoon Lagoon and Chris' Green Belt.

Brucci creme nail polish in Emmi and Olli Go Bananas and JT's Ocean Blue.

Bella Sugar Cosmetics Wildflower Collection.

Above: Crimson Clover, California Poppy, Buttercup.

Last Frost, Morning Glory, Gaillardia

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer

Now it's time for the Spring cleaning!

Reviva Labs Eye Makeup Remover Gel

Sephora by OPI Nail Colour Remover

The earrings were made by Wildheather for this giveaway. She will be creating a duplicate pair especially for the winner. The earrings pictured were provided for my consideration. Heather is quite wonderful. I know she has some pink and yellow chalcedony available if that would be more suited to the winner's taste. Heather will be shipping the earrings to the winner. Many thanks!

Bella Sugar Cosmetics sponsored the eye shadow portion of this giveaway. The Wildflower Collection was sent to me for review. The winner will be receiving her eye shadows directly from Bella Sugar. If the winner has already purchased colors from the Wildflower Collection or doesn't find certain shades to her taste, Bella Sugar is willing to make substitutions. Their customer service is impeccable! Also, check out their etsy shop.

Reviva Labs sponsored this giveaway by offering their MakeUp Primer and Eye Makeup Remover Gel. I am delighted to be able to share these fabulous products with readers of painted Lady fingers.

I purchased the Brucci nail polishes and Sephora by OPI nail colour remover. I will be shipping these items directly to the winner.

All of the sponsored items and items I purchased are brand new!

Spring Beauty, Spring Cleaning Giveaway is open internationally for followers and e-mail subscribers. The contest runs through the end of the day May 25th. To keep this simple, I am willing to count the date as the last available time zone worldwide. As long as it is May 25th somewhere on the planet, you may still enter.

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory:

1) Become a follower or e-mail subscriber of painted Lady fingers. If you are currently a follower or subscriber, that certainly counts! Please let me know in the comments which option you choose for keeping up with painted Lady fingers. For example: I follow via Google Friend Connect or I subscribe via e-mail. Be specific. I check entries very carefully.

If you follow via Google Friend Connect, log into the proper account when you leave your comment. If you follow via Google Friend Connect, your account has to have some public aspect. It is okay if you don't follow publicly, but there needs to be some signs of humanity on your profile page. If you subscribe via e-mail, your e-mail address must be confirmed through feedburner. If you have never received an e-mail related to painted Lady fingers' blog posts, you do not have a confirmed account. 1 entry.

Optional extra entries. There are lots this time!

2) Let me know: What item or items are you interested in from Reviva Labs other than the two items in this giveaway? Please check the site carefully. Your comment can influence what items are reviewed at painted Lady fingers and what could possibly show up in a future giveaway. I really pay attention to reader input. 1 entry.

3) Blog about the contest. It certainly counts if you have a special area in your sidebar for contests. I will definitely count your entry if your blog is not written in English. I will also count your entry if your blog is just getting started and has a small number of followers. These extra entries are meant to be inclusive and fun. Please provide a link. 2 entries. If you use one of my contest photos, add another entry.

4) Tweet about the contest. Only once, please. Please provide a link. 1 entry.

5) Have painted Lady fingers on your blogroll or add painted Lady fingers. Please provide a link if I haven't already commented on your blog. Otherwise please remind me. I want to be sure to count the entry even if painted Lady fingers has been on your blogroll for a long time. If you have a nail polish blog and you would like to be on my blogroll, please e-mail me. 1 entry.

6) In appreciation, I am going to add an extra entry for those who comment regularly on non-giveaway posts. I do enjoy reading your feedback! Thank you! Not to worry, I am very inclusive with this extra entry. 1 entry.

7)Become a follower of Wild Heather's blog. 1 entry

8)Add Wildheather's shop to your etsy favorites. Please provide your etsy user name to qualify. 1 entry

9) Become a follower of Bella Sugar Cosmetic's blog. 1 entry

10) Become a fan of Bella Sugar on FaceBook. List your user name on FaceBook to qualify. 1 entry

You are welcome to put all your entries in one comment or return to the contest post with comments for each entry. Either way works for me. Your entries don't have to be sequential. Enter in any way you like whenever you like before the end of the day May 25th. For the ease of your contest host, please include your e-mail with your entry to qualify. If you forgot to write your e-mail in with your contest entry, leave me another comment with your e-mail address. Thank you, ladies! xoxo!

This giveaway is now closed.

Birthday delights

Hello ladies,

Thank you for all of your birthday wishes yesterday. It was so sweet to have your lovely comments waiting for me when I returned from the day's festivities. I will share my day with you and then delight your eyes with my celebratory manicure. I met my girlfriends, Lisa and Cassandra for brunch at Max Brenner, a chocolate theme restaurant. I ordered the Well Mannered Omelette with fresh spinach and goat cheese. On the side were spiced home fries and a sugared biscuit with chocolate dipping sauce. We chatted about Essie Fall Color and the Milani Black Magic collection over coffee and chocolate drinks. Lisa and I brought bottles to gaze at. After such a pleasant time, they made sure I took home a treat to remind me of the day: Max Brenner's Madagascar Vanilla Hand Moisturizer. I plan on doing a review for you ladies soon. The font in the birthday card Cassandra chose would translate well into nail art. It was perfect! After brunch, Lisa and I strolled to the garden for meandering and photography. 

My friend David took me to Longwood Gardens in the late afternoon. We initially were planning on seeing fireworks, but we discovered it was a ticketed event and was sold out. Neither of us had ever purchased tickets to see fireworks so it didn't occur to either of us to reserve them. We both felt the kinship of good company and were set to have a nice time no matter what the arrangements. We walked through the grounds for about an hour and a half, comparing the perfume of heirloom roses and getting lost in the saturation of color in the trial garden with the bees and the butterflies. We went for a country drive for much of the way to the waterfront in Delaware. I love seeing light reflected on the water at night. It was a beautiful walk. 

We journeyed back to Philadelphia for dinner at Bindi, serving modern Indian cuisine. David loves to explore as many offerings as possible when dining so he encouraged me to order whatever interested me on the menu. I had an amazing dining experience and a satchel of leftovers. For an appetizer, I had spring pea and potato samosas with mango-date chutney. I chose sweet goat cheese paratha for bread. It was stuffed with small pieces of coconut, dates, and pecans and was drizzled with wildflower honey. My entree was a vegetarian thali with saag paneer (creamed spinach and cubes of Indian cheese), spiced cauliflower, chana masala (chick peas, tomato gravy, spices), raita (a cooling yogurt sauce) and pulao rice with cashews and golden raisins. It was an absolutely incredible meal. I must say I was so thankful David had requested that we walk across town to Bindi in lieu of driving. It was one of the most beautiful days of the year weather wise. It was so pleasant to have the company of good friends on my birthday with so many treats for the senses. I am very thankful. 

I wanted to do a celebratory manicure for my birthday with an abundance of sparkle. Lauren from Dizzy Nails recently showed a look with layered Nfu Oh polishes. Inspired, I decided to build the flakies to resemble the start of fall leaf changing. Beginning with two coats of Sephora by OPI Dark Room over CND Stickey base coat, I then added one coat each of Nfu Oh 60, 51, and 56. All of the pictures below can be enlarged by clicking. Enjoy.

The variety of the dahlia above is called Peaches and Cream. How perfect!

Here's David making fun of me with his giant hand and similarly proportioned flower. I have been trying to get him to model a matte black or grey polish for you ladies, but he hasn't taken to the idea.

Above and below are the Nfu Oh polishes with different levels of sun brightening them. They are positioned in order of application: Nfu Oh 60, 51, and 56. 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the remembrance of my birthday. 

Happy painting, ladies!

A cosmos in miniature

Hello ladies,

I found a tiny cosmos in a bottle for you today in the form of Sephora Blue Sapphire. It's a Sephora store brand mini polish in a 5 ml bottle. You could fit the contents of three bottles into a full size 15 ml OPI. The bottles are adorable, though not wholly practical. Since the polish has a planetary vibe, I set my deep blue sodalite sphere into orbit. 

What makes Blue Sapphire remarkable is it remains color accurate to it's name in almost every light. It doesn't venture into the almost black woods. It stays blue. The glitter is a combination of blue and silver pieces with finer shimmer stirred in. The jelly finish suspends the glitter without obscuring it. The formula managed to be opaque in two coats. 

The application was easy, excepting the bottle. I was apparently overly aggressive with my brush wand. My open bottle toppled and clattered around the sink. Thankfully not a molecule of polish was wasted. Watch out for those Sephora minis! Dastardly rapscallions! 

I think this is a color for which I am justified in purchasing a back up bottle. I may be resurrecting Blue Sapphire for a midwinter manicure with silver Konad snowflakes. So nice to consider in August!

I will be creating more looks from Coraline Kit A in the next couple days. 

Happy painting, ladies!