Zoya Giveaway Sponsored by Verve 360

Here's how you can get your hands on 2 polishes from Zoya's Beach & Surf collection! Tracie and Myrta!

(you can see swatches of Tracie and Myrta here and here on Scrangie's blog)

 Thanks to Verve 360 hair salons in Pittsburgh for providing the prize!

Just comment below for a chance to win!

Rules:

• Limited to the Continental US (Sorry international ladies! No Hawaii or Alaska either....)
• Limit of one entry per person.
• Contest will be open for 7 days, end time will be midnight 8/8/12.
• There can only be one winner.
• I will randomly select from the comments using a random number generator.
• Once selected, the winner will be contacted by Verve360 and they will ship your prize to you.

To enter:

• Leave a comment to this post including your name, email address, & why you like Zoya or would like to try Zoya.

Edited update!
-As of 8/13/12-
I finally got the chance to pick the winner and the random # generator picked 7, so Amanda Reyes, you win! I've turned your information over to the ladies at Verve 360. So they will be in contact with you concerning your prize. Thanks so much to everyone that entered!

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The Berenstain Bears

I haven't forgotten about doing cartoon nail art, just after the 31 day challenge (which I still really haven't "finished") I've been kind of burned out on cartoons.

The Berenstain Bears are well known children's books that are full of moral lessons.

 From left to right : Sister Bear, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, & Brother Bear

The base polish is Sation Board Girl Blue, with all details done with acrylic paints.



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Another Giraffe

My freehand giraffe print tutorial is one of my most popular posts (you can find it on the right toolbar). I think it may be my favorite animal print. The base polish here is Zoya Dea. I stamped using Essie Good as Gold and Bundle Monster BM 313.

Jeez I should have wiped that bottle off. You could steal my fingerprints and commit a crime with that sample I've given you...  



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Sinful Colors Rain Storm & Essie Blue Rhapsody

Here is a great way I tried out two new polishes and a new image from Bundle Monster.

The image plate I used here is BM322

The base polish is Sinful Colors Rain Storm. I love blues and this is a gorgeous deep navy. It also could have been opaque with just one careful coat! (Here I did 2 for the heck of it)

Essie Blue Rhapsody is from the Mirror Metallics collection and my Wal-Mart had them marked down to $3/each! So I picked up this blue one and the gold one. Just a quick swatch on my thumb. Here is 2 coats on my thumb. If you find it has too many brushstrokes for your taste, try out this method here.

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Born Pretty - Hot Pink Studs

These are some fun bright studs you could incorporate into a nail art look. They are 2mm in diameter. Hot pink color. Here I just used them in a spaced out pattern. The base polish is theBalm Mellow Yellow.

 You get PLENTY in the little bag that they come in.

I just stuck them on while my topcoat was wet.

They provide a lot of texture because they have a bit of height to them.

These studs can be bought here for $4.84. You can do lots of different things with these and I really love the bright color. If you'd like to purchase them, don't forget to use my coupon code below.

 



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Born Pretty - 5 Nail Art Stamping Polish Set

These polishes were sent to me for review. They can be found here for $6.93 for the entire set of 5.

On a sad note, my red bottle came broken. :( It has a chip out of the edge, so the entire contents were dried up. It didn't appear to happen in shipping because there was no polish that leaked out on the other bottles.

:( No amount of thinner could have restored this...

Here is how the bottle compares to a regular 14mL bottle of Seche Vite.

Here's how I tested these. I wanted to share how well they show up on both dark and light colors. Also how they compare to other polishes of that color that work for stamping.

Over white and black.

Born Pretty stamping yellow is across the top half.

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightening is across the bottom half.

Over white and black.

Born Pretty stamping blue is across the top half.

Barielle Berry Blue is across the bottom half.

Over white and Barielle Berry Blue.

Born Pretty stamping black is across the top half.

Konad Special Black polish is across the bottom half.

Over Zoya Dove and black

Born Pretty stamping white is across the top half.

Konad Special White polish is across the bottom half.

Overall opinion? Just meh. It's better than nothing, but I think you can get better quality stamped images with other polishes.

The brushes are pretty wonky too. Kind of mop-like and ineffective. But you really don't need a stellar polish brush for stamping am I right?

If you're interested in these don't forget to use my coupon code when you checkout!

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Born Pretty Store - Small Glass Dappen Dish

I was pretty stoked to receive this item for review. And it's such a simple thing to be happy about, but whatever. ;) It can be found here for $2.25.

It's quite small and you can see here how it compares to the size of a 14mL Seche Vite bottle.

So what do you use it for? (Thanks to Puja & Tinka for the name) It's a dappen dish used somehow when doing acrylics..... but I don't do acrylics.....

So I use it when I'm cleaning up with an angled eyeliner brush.

I used to pour a bit of acetone in the bottle cap, and then dip my brush in that. This little glass container makes me feel a bit more professional ;) And it's a lot less messy than pouring into the cap.

Two thumbs up!

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Glitter Gal - Contorted Mauve

My first ever Glitter Gal! Therese from Beautometry gave me this as a present for hosting her Glitter Gal giveaway.

This polish is sheer on it's own, so here I layered 2 coats over black.

 Duochromes are so much fun. I made a gif to hopefully show the color shifts. Purple to gold to green. Those were the main shades I could pick up with my camera. I wish more of the colors showed up on the nail like how the bottle looks. The bottle shows some blue and teal, but it doesn't make it to the nail.



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Test for Sherill

Just another test post for the contest.

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Love & Beauty Confetti Crush

This is the Forever21 version of Icing After Party. It can be found here for $2.80. I don't own any of the other "shredded" type glitter polishes so I jumped to try this one out.

Pictured is two coats over Barielle Expressive.

What do you think? do you like shredded? Or are these type of glitters too messy looking to you?

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Autism Awareness Nail Art

A different kind of awareness inspired this manicure. The jigsaw puzzle pattern on Bundle Monster BM313. It reminded me of the Autism Awareness ribbons. So I combined primary colors and this stamp to get the following manicure.

I painted my nails white then added dots of the following polishes: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red, Lightening, ChG Electric Beat & Ride the Waves. Then I stamped the BM 313 image using Konad Special black.

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Photos for Contest

This isn't a real/full post. This is simply for me to be able to link to these ladie's pictures for the contest.



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Awareness

Bundle Monster got on the awareness ribbon train! Hooray for easier awareness manicures! Here I went for Breast Cancer awareness. Barielle Expressive stamped with BM321 and Sally Hansen Presto Pink.

Were you "aware" of this image plate?

;)

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Love Letters

When I received the newest set of Bundle Monster plates, I knew I wanted to do this right away.

I started with a base of OPI Skull & Glossbones. Then I stamped using the image plates BM311 & BM323. The stamping polishes I used: Konad Special Black & Nail Art Diva Red

Some of the lettering smudged with my topcoat application, but it kind of adds to the effect of ink and writing.

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OPI You Don't Know Jacques!

An oldie, but a goodie. A staple to any collection.

My bottle had gone a little thick from age, so I added some thinner and painted 3 thin coats in these pictures. It applied easily and leveled beautifully.



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