Avon Seabreeze

Still rainy in the Cape.  Heading out to explore around.  Just a quick post to show you another Avon polish.  I am all about inexpensive and color.  Though I will buy a brand or two out of my price range if I love it.  This is Avon Seabreeze.  A little shimmer to it, I added a little more shine on the accent nail.  Came out nice and the nail art stayed on for the whole day.

Avon Luxe Lavender

The whale watch was terrible.  It was windy, cold and the seas were super rough.  We only saw a few whales and most were from a distance.  I will include one small pic at the end.  The best shot I got, which is pathetic.  The boat was so rocky, most of the ship was throwing up into brown paper bags (they supply), including my boyfriend.  He said guys don't take Bonine (apparently it is more cool to throw up in public).

I have my ipad here but I can't do any picture stuff with that so I also brought my old netbook which is so slow.  Picture editing is going to be a project and I don't want to spend a ton of time on that.  I have two nail challenges coming up and I really want to get some designs done before I leave here.  Thankfully, I downloaded some stuff I had already done before I came. 

A friend of mine sells Avon.  I used to buy their polish but then branched out to a variety of different brands.  Recently I purchased some from their newest collection.  Most of you know, I love experimenting with different brands but I am driven mainly by color.  All of my polish is sorted by color.  And that makes it easier to see what colors I am drawn to......green.  Weird.  I never new I cared for it.  But most tend to lean towards teal, turquoise, etc.  Today, I have for you....purple.  Avon Luxe Lavender that is, with white daisies and a little bling!!!



Have not used Avon in years but I love how it applied.  Smooth, even and great coverage in two coats.  Also.....inexpensive. it will be great for various nail designs. 

So, today it is POURING rain outside.  Not much to do.  We are renting the same house for the third time.  If anyone is looking to go to Cape Cod, I can recommend it.  Three bedrooms and, most importantly, a big fenced in yard for my dogs.  They do take pets. :)

Yes, it is a whale.  In the center.  If you squint, you can see it.

Color Club Wing Fling with dots

I finally arrived in Cape Cod.  I have been looking forward to a vacation and some time off from work.  We got upgraded at the rental car counter because they were overbooked.  Ended up with an Explorer for the price of a compact.  Good thing because I needed the space to store my nail supplies.  I only brought 100 of the polishes I really thought I couldn't live without for the week.  And a small box of various other art supplies.  The weather looks like it will be rainy here quite a bit so I am glad I brought it because it will keep me entertained for the week.  Before I show you my design for today, I wanted to encourage you to jump back to my post from yesterday.  I am two more followers closer to 200.  I want everyone to start thinking about the questions that I will be asking for when you enter. 

So, my design for today is Color Club Wing Fling with dots that have been placed heavier near the tip.  The first pic is indoors and the second shows the shimmer better in the sun.

Tomorrow, we are going to try and do a whale watch since it is probably going to be the only nice day for the week.  And....I will probably do some nails. :)

Orly Flash Glam FX Collection-and Giveaway????

So I reached 100 followers and started a giveaway.  By the time the giveaway was over, I was at 187 followers already.  I had kind of committed to myself that I would always give back to the blogging community.  Especially to all of the amazingly kind people that I have come across. So.....
I had today off to finish errands and pack for vacation.  I am bringing a small supply of nail stuff for the week and I needed polish remover so I stopped by Sally's.  The display shelves were totally empty.  I stared for a minute and then the woman in the store yelled to me and said she was putting new stuff out.  By new stuff, she meant the entire China Glaze Neon Colection and the entire orly Flash Glam FX collection. 
Question????  Is this bad timing or good timing?  I bought the whole Orly Collection.  Minus the black.  I have plenty of that at home.  I knew right away that I would take it home, swatch it and then hunker down until I reach 200 (which could very well be for another 6 months) and give it away.  More on this in a minute......with a SUPER interesting twist. 
But first, here is the final product with two coats on each finger over one base of another Orly (Glitz, Green Apple, Lollipop, Snowcone) and one Mattese Elite in Pucci-licious.

I put together a collage here so you can see one versus two coats.  The larger photo of all nails has only one coat and the smaller picks surrounding it have two.

Thumb-"Sashay My Way".  This is a mixture of gold hex glitters and gold tinsel in a clear base.  It went on smooth but the glitter was a little sparse compared to the others.

Index-"Be Brave".  This was a strange addition because it had no hex glitters like all the rest.  it was purely tinsel but it really sparkled in the sun and went on well with good coverage.

Middle-"Mermaid Tail".  This is a mixture of hex glitter along with smaller glitters.  The glitters turn from blue to green in the light.  If I were to do it over, I might have put it over a deeper blue because I think it would look terrific and bring out the bluer tones more.  This got a little thick and was harder to work with than the others.  Not as hard to work with as the last two.

Ring- "Can't be Tamed".  This was very thick and looded with Purple hex glitters and smaller silver and purple glitter.  Tough to work with and started to get a bit lumpy but it is so pretty on.

Pinky- "Spazmatic".  Wow, this was amazing .  Like blue foil on your nail.  it also had a nice surprise and that was some holo in the base.  So pretty in the sun.  I am usually a purple girl but if I had to buy one, this would be it.

So.......ready for the UNUSUAL part??  I think there are a lot of amazing bloggers here.  I like them all for so many different reasons.  Some people take great pictures, some are good educators, some are super supportive of newbies and fellow bloggers, some take amazingly good care of their nails.  I think many people don't really know how much they are respected by others for their various levels of expertise.  When I start the next giveaway (at 200 followers), I will again be using the rafflecopter but with a twist.

Each person who enters will be asked to answer a series of questions (no wrong answers here).  You will be nominating a fellow blogger in a particular area of expertise. For example, best blog layout, best tutorials, best photography, etc.  So start thinking about your community while you are looking through blogger and put some thought into whose stuff really inspires you to be better and gets your creative juices flowing.  When I announce the winner, I will also post the list of blogs that received the most nominations in each area.  I think it is a great opportunity to let others know how great you think they are.

Floam Sunflowers

So, as mentioned yesterday, I did a Floam design in honor of my giveaway ending and Floam being the winning prize.  I didn't want to post because some other bloggers were doing a Floam day, which I was not a part of and didn't want to confuse matters.  They all did some really cool things.  Loved seeing all the creativity.  I used my favorite Color Club Twiggie which I find I use A LOT for the base coat.  Then topped it with two coats of Floam.  Looks awesome.

Next I freehanded on some sunflowers.  Amazingly, I managed to do both hands and they came out looking almost equally presentable.

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the giveaway, Maribeth is super excited about it so I am glad that it is going to a good home where it can be appreciated.  

100 Follower Giveaway WINNER

And the winner is.......Maribeth from Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite.  Congratulations.

Floam Giveaway Reminder

So today at work, I pondered what I would do tonight for my post.  I was sad to take off my Memorial Nails because I was in love with them.  Then I remembered that tonight was the last day of my 100 follower giveaway.  When I took a peek at my blog to check the exact time it ended, I saw that I had accumulated an extra 40 followers overnight.  After a little research, I was able to determine it was from a blog post by Sarah at The Giveaway Lifestyle. So, thanks Sarah.  Hopefully, I will keep some of them and they will like what it is that I do here.

Anyway, I decided that it would be a nice tribute if I were to use Floam for the first time (I snagged a few bottles during their last sale).  I haven't cracked it open yet. The problem........after I took about 1 and 1/2 hours painting and designing and taking pics, I took a break and starting looking at the blogs I follow.  YIKES!!!  Everyone I follow is doing Floam day.  Where the heck was I?????  I would have totally participated in it but didn't know anyone was doing it.  Now I am in a quandry.  I don't want to look like I am a copy cat but I want to show them off because they look so cool. But, I feel that it is respectful to wait.  I think there is a lot of drama in the nail polish blogging world and I don't want to add to it.  So....I will post in a few days. 

Anyways....as I started before my long drawn out sob story....my giveaway ends tonight at 12:00.  Good luck and welcome to all of my new followers.  If you have your own blogs, I look forward to seeing what you have to share with the world too.