Literary Lacquers Lake of Shining Waters

Man oh man, do I have a polish for you today!  I think this one is back-up (or two) worthy!  I have tons of photos for you because I wanted to capture the teal holo in all it's glory.

I only recently became aware of Literary Lacquers through a swap group I belong to on Facebook.  It is a birthday group where we each send to the birthday girl during her month.  Due to a drop out (I am SO glad now), I got May even though my birthday is in October.

The mastermind behind Literary Lacquers, Amy, did not even know until today that I had a blog. That is how lacking I have been!  Amy sent three of her polishes to me in the swap and this one has not even been released yet.  It is Lake of Shining Waters from her Green Gables collection.  The collection is inspired by Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  More photos and information about Amy and her polishes after the jump.

Paris Sparkles Election Day ~ Perfect for Memorial Day

Surprise!  Did I shock you with my appearance?  

Today, I have brought you a polish perfect for holidays such as Memorial Day.  Paris Sparkles Election Day. This one turned out better than I had anticipated after seeing swatches online!  I am happy to see that I got a reformulated version.  I really like this polish and am so glad I chose it.  I have nothing like it and there are many possibilities with it.

I swatched this three different ways so you could see the variances based on what you decided to do for undies.  I think the thumb is my favorite but I imagine this polish would make a great jelly sandwich, too.

Per the Paris Sparkles etsy store, this is a "white base with beautiful holographic glitter and tiny blue and red hex glitters" and needs no base or top coat or undies.  Take a look at my pictures and judge for yourself.

I used Seche Base on all nails, various undies as noted below, varying layers of Election Day, Out the Door top coat on all nails.  These were all taken outdoors.  Pardon the "claw hand".  I don't like those images and I don't want to do them but when I've done such varying swatches on the same hand, it may be a good idea to do a claw hand so you can see it all at once.

• Pinkie Finger: no undies, three thin coats of Election Day
• Ring Finger: same as pinkie finger but attempted to make less jelly sandwich
• Middle Finger: two thin coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, two thin coats of Election Day
• Index Finger: three thin coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, one thin coat of Election Day
• Thumb: two thin coats of a Color Club white stamping polish, one thin coat of Election Day

You can visit Stacy's store, parissparkles, here.  I hope you have enjoyed the post.  Not until last night did I realize other bloggers only swatched one hand for their blogs.  Maybe that was why I felt like it was a tiring process. I thought it would look odd if I ran to the store, for example, and only one hand was complete. I am new to blogging; can you tell?!

Feel free to give me your input, via comment or email.  Should I have jumps for my posts?  Are the photos too large?  Do you prefer to click on them to make them larger?  Are my posts too long?  Should I make the photos smaller and more compact?  Do you like the collages?  Do you think I need less or more photos or are there just enough?  Do you prefer darker backgrounds?  Would you like photos taken indoors with indirect sunlight instead of outdoors?  I have an awesome camera but am a newbie to the features so future posts may be some playing around with different settings, backgrounds, locations.  Hope you all don't mind being guinea pigs!

Have a safe, happy Memorial Day! 

Disclosure: Election Day was sold to me by Paris Sparkles at a discounted price for review. All of the opinions in this review are completely my own.

Free shipping in the blog sale today

If you are able to pay shortly after receiving the invoice, you will get free shipping today only (with a $10 purchase). I will be adding more goodies all day!  Refresh every half hour or so when you visit!

Spring Essentials Multi-Blogger Giveaway -- 23 Winners!

Special thanks go out to Destany for putting together this graphic!

Here is the giveaway I told you all about yesterday.  There will be 23 winners!  I want to thank Alexis Leigh for spearheading this and for allowing me to be a part of it.  I feel very privileged to be a part of such a wonderful group of talented bloggers.  I am just getting my toes wet in the blogging world and am excited about this giveaway!  Good luck!

Here are all the prizes!  Aren't they fabulous!?!?  One winner gets one prize, selected randomly.  

From L-R here is a list of the blog names (corresponding to the prizes): XOXO Alexis Leigh, Lipgloss Break, LozLosa, Manicurity, InTruBeauty, Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom, Harajuku Girl FL, Lani Loves, Justina's Gems, (POREfessional) Beauty Info Zone, 10 Fickle Fingers, Polish Etc., The Fabzilla, Manicurator, Rachel's Makeup and Skincare, Sincerely Stephanie, Beyond Beauty Lounge, Lisa's Nail Obsession, Valiantly Varnished, Darling Girl Cosmetics, Midnight Manicures, Beauty and Fashion Tech, Beauty With a Twist.

Here is a photo of what I purchased to give away.  It is all from Cover Girl.  There are two Intense Shadow Blast Primer + Eye Shadow tubes.  One is in Blue Bomb and one is in Extreme Green.  There's also a pack of 3 Makeup Masters Sponge Puffs.  The Cheekers blush shade is in Natural Twinkle and the lipstick is Eternal.  I hope it's a nice selection for the winner!

Here is a breakdown of how you can win one of the great prizes.  Feel free to follow the lovely bloggers in other ways once you visit their blogs!  The more forms of entry you complete, the more chances you'll have. Enter via the Rafflecopter below the chart.

Participants	Forms of Entry	Prize
XOXO Alexis Leigh	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Bloglovin’	Sugarpill – Lumi LVX Cerulean
10 Fickle Fingers	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Bloglovin’	Covergirl Prize Pack
Beauty and Fashion Tech	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Pinterest	Sephora+Pantone Universe Precious Metals Shadow Palette
Beauty Info Zone	Like my Facebook page Email Subscribe to my blog	Benefit POREfessional
Beauty with a Twist	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Bloglovin’	4 Urban Outfitters polishes
Beyond Beauty Lounge	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Bloglovin’	Mac Eyeshadows
Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom	Like my Facebook Page Follow me on Instagram	Wet n Wild prize pack of palettes and lipsticks
Darling Girl Cosmetics	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Instagram	Darling Girl Cosmetics Cute De Grace Set
Harajuku Girl FL	Like my Facebook page Email Subscribe to my blog	indie eyeshadow, nail art, makeup brush, small mua palette, UD santa tanita
InTruBeauty	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Pinterest	Revolution Organics Freedom Gloss in Truth
Justina’s Gems	Like my Facebook page Follow me via GFC	Benefit eyeshadow
Lani Loves	Follow me on Pinterest Follow me via GFC	$20.00 Voucher to Llarowe
Lipgloss Break­­	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Twitter	Sally Hansen Salon Effects 2 colors of Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Sally Hansen Xtremewear Hard as Nails
Lisa’s Nail Obsession	Like my Facebook page Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email	3 polishes from CG Glitz Bitz 'n GlitterColletion
LozLosa	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Twitter	$25.00 Etsy Gift Certificate
Manicurator	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Bloglovin’	Dior Vernis Lime
Manicurity	Like my Facebook page Follow me via GFC	BL All Hail the Queen, A-England Lady of the Lake, SH Gem Crush Big Money
Midnight Manicures	Like my Facebook page Follow me on Twitter	$25 Gift Card to OverAll Beauty
Polish Etc.	Follow me on Instagram Follow via GFC	Nail art supplies (foils, studs, decals, glitter) and 1-2 polishes
Rachel’s Makeup and Skincare	Follow via GFC Email Subscribe to my blog	Lush Products
Sincerely Stephanie	Like my Facebook Page Follow my blog via GFC/Bloglovin’	Deborah Lippmann Mermaid’s Dream
The Fabzilla	Follow me on Twitter Follow via GFC	Stila Lip Glaze Set (3 pcs) + Pashmina-style shawl (teal)
Valiantly Varnished	Follow me on Bloglovin’ Follow me via GFC	Milani Texture Collection

Before you visit the Rafflecopter widget, please read the rules.  This giveaway is open March 21, 2013 until April 4, 2013 at 12midnight EST.  It is open to US residents only.  You must be 18 years old or older (or have legal guardian's permission).  Must input your email address into the Rafflecopter widget.

Participants

Forms of Entry

Prize

XOXO Alexis Leigh

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Sugarpill – Lumi

LVX Cerulean

10 Fickle Fingers

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Covergirl Prize Pack

Beauty and Fashion Tech

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Pinterest

Sephora+Pantone Universe Precious Metals Shadow Palette

Beauty Info Zone

Like my Facebook page

Email Subscribe to my blog

Benefit POREfessional

Beauty with a Twist

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Bloglovin’

4 Urban Outfitters polishes

Beyond Beauty Lounge

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Mac Eyeshadows

Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom

Like my Facebook Page

Follow me on Instagram

Wet n Wild prize pack of palettes and lipsticks

Darling Girl Cosmetics

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Instagram

Darling Girl Cosmetics Cute De Grace Set

Harajuku Girl FL

Like my Facebook page

Email Subscribe to my blog

indie eyeshadow, nail art, makeup brush, small mua palette, UD santa tanita

InTruBeauty

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Pinterest

Revolution Organics Freedom Gloss in Truth

Justina’s Gems

Like my Facebook page

Follow me via GFC

Benefit eyeshadow

Lani Loves

Follow me on Pinterest

Follow me via GFC

$20.00 Voucher to Llarowe

Lipgloss Break­­

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Twitter

Sally Hansen Salon Effects 2 colors of Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Sally Hansen Xtremewear Hard as Nails

Lisa’s Nail Obsession

Like my Facebook page

Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email

3 polishes from CG Glitz Bitz 'n GlitterColletion

LozLosa

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Twitter

$25.00 Etsy Gift Certificate

Manicurator

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Dior Vernis Lime

Manicurity

Like my Facebook page

Follow me via GFC

BL All Hail the Queen, A-England Lady of the Lake, SH Gem Crush Big Money

Midnight Manicures

Like my Facebook page

Follow me on Twitter

$25 Gift Card to OverAll Beauty

Polish Etc.

Follow me on Instagram

Follow via GFC

Nail art supplies (foils, studs, decals, glitter) and 1-2 polishes

Rachel’s Makeup and Skincare

Follow via GFC

Email Subscribe to my blog

Lush Products

Sincerely Stephanie

Like my Facebook Page

Follow my blog via GFC/Bloglovin’

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid’s Dream

The Fabzilla

Follow me on Twitter

Follow via GFC

Stila Lip Glaze Set (3 pcs) + Pashmina-style shawl (teal)

Valiantly Varnished

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Follow me via GFC

Milani Texture Collection

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An Update and Things to Come

Sorry for my lack of attention to the blog.  I would like to tell you all about my life away from the computer so maybe you will understand a little better.

I am a wife and mother.  I handle all finances and pay all bills.  I wash all the dishes in the house.  I wash all the clothes, too.  I am the one who vacuums and shampoos carpets.  I do all the cleaning and cooking.  Imagine living with three more of you and only one of you does anything in the house.  That is me.  However, I do sometimes get help taking out the trash. 

My husband is disabled and can not do much for himself.  Imagine your significant other being able to use his or her left hand and arm only 1% to 5% of the range s/he should be able to.  Imagine your significant other being able to use his or her right hand and arm only 5% to 10% of the range s/he should be able to.  Imagine not being able to wear pants or jeans that have buttons and/or zippers because you can't button or zip them.  Imagine one side of your body being 1/2 the size of the other side of your body.  Imagine taking thousands of milligrams of anti-seizure medications per day.  Imagine taking dozens of pills per day period.  If my husband wants or needs to wear jeans or pants, I need to fasten them for him.  If we want haircuts and face shaves to be free, I have to do them for him.  I have to portion out my husband's medications because he is on so many for so many different maladies that any average person would get confused.  When he has to take his medications with him to a doctor's office, his bottles have to go in a box with us.  He can't drive, needless to say, so I must do it all.  I fill many roles when it comes to my husband....nurse, maid, mother, wife, personal assistant, chauffeur, chef and so much more.

Our children are 16 and 14.  The 16 year old has no interest in driving yet so I am his taxi.  We have just one vehicle anyway so it's probably for the best.  We have two dogs, also.  I think they need the least amount of work and attention in this household.

I am not telling you all this so you'll feel sorry for me.  I am telling you all this so you will understand why I don't blog as much as others in the blogging world.  I do hope with all my heart and soul that I'll blog more often.  By the time I have time to paint my nails, it is late at night and I am so worn out that sleep is all I think of.  I take pictures the next day and you've already seen what my day entails.  If I am awake and in my house, I am busy doing something that is not for me, generally.

I will be posting a giveaway tomorrow so be sure to look out for that.  I am part of a multi-blogger giveaway and am excited about that.  The hostess put a lot of work into it and she surely deserves some praise.  I decided to have my prize be cosmetics.  I know we all have different tastes in nail polishes, clothes, cosmetics and more.  I decided maybe the cosmetics were the least varied and would be the safest to give away.  I hope the new followers (if there are any) will give me incentive to make more time for blogging!

Blog Lovin'

I have joined Blog Lovin. I feel Google Friend Connect will come to an end when Google Reader does, or shortly thereafter.

Please join me on Blog Lovin. You can either do it here from the link in the sidebar on the right or you can go directly to Blog Lovin for my blog at http://www.bloglovin.com/10ficklefingers

I will do more polish related posts soon! Thanks for liking and following.

Paris Sparkles -- Celery Stalker

You know how you always have good intentions to do something specific but then life gets in the way and those specific things have to be put on the back burner?  That is what has happened with my blogging.  It has been put on the back burner.

On to the good stuff without any more ado.

I was recently playing around with the Paris Sparkles Celery Stalker indie polish.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to do undies (a polish under the Celery Stalker) or not.  I thought about doing green but ended up using Sinful Colors Candy Coated.  Candy Coated is a lavender with shimmer.  I didn't realize there was shimmer in it until I had it on my nails.  Nice surprise!  However, I do now regret using underwear that was a different color family from Celery Stalker.  Hindsight is 20/20!  Next time, I will use a green underwear or no undies at all!

All photos are after 45 hours of wear.  I had hoped the Paris Sparkles Celery Stalker would be milkier than it is.  I used one coat of Seche Base, two coats of SC Candy Coated, three coats of Celery Stalker, one coat (which was not enough) of Out the Door top coat.  I thought one coat of INM would be enough to make the manicure slick and shiny.  It did not.  I did not like how the manicure looked after one coat of Celery Stalker probably because of the lavender underwear.  I was not too fond of how it looked after two coats of CS either.  So, I opted for three coats.  The first coat was thin and each coat after that got a little bit thicker.  I see I failed to completely cover the undies.  I also see there is tip wear after 45 hours but I did hand wash dishes and do every day tasks during that time frame.  Celery Stalker also pooled in some areas around my fingernails.  I didn't clean this up during clean up just so my readers could see this.

The photos were taken in the sun and in the shade.  None were taken indoors or using artificial light.  Stacy describes Celery Stalker as "a soft green base with beautiful holographic glitter and tiny explosions of color."  Per the etsy listing, "Paris Sparkles nail polish stands alone [and has] no need for a base coat, top coat or anything in between like so many other polishes."  I will try Celery Stalker again with no underwear but not sure about the base coat or top coat.  In my opinion, a top coat is most certainly needed.  

Do you always use undies in the same color family?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  Do you have Paris Sparkles Celery Stalker and does it look like mine?  You can see Stacy's creations here.

Disclosure: Celery Stalker was sold to me by Paris Sparkles at a discounted price for review. All of the opinions in this review are completely my own.

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Update

I have so many posts in the works.  I have some nail mail and haul photos to blog about.  I have not really done a manicure this week so I do not have a post about swatches or nails of the day, etc.  I have been recovering from the stomach flu, still!  I got better for a day or two and then it returned.  GRR!

I have posts I am working on for the Versatile Blogger Award and for the Liebster Award.  Thank you so much for the nominations ladies!  However, I need to find more blogs to nominate myself.  I can't publish those blog posts until I have all the blogs I need to nominate.  So, if you know of some that qualify, please let me know!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  Do you have any special plans?

Glitzology -- Cotton Candy

Sorry for my absence as of late.  We have all been sick in my house.  I may have gotten the worst of it.  I am still not back to 100% but am much better than I have been in the past week or so.

With that said, here is Glitzology Cotton Candy over Color Club Hydrangea Kiss.  I like this combination.  Cotton Candy was easy to apply (my first time using a Glitzology polish).  It was not too thick nor too thin.  I used two coats of top coat but could have used three, or added Gelous to the mix.  If you want your nails to be completely smooth, you will have to use more than two coats of top coat.

Per the Glitzology shop on etsy, which you can find here, Cotton Candy has a very light lavender jelly base with pale blue holo glitter, white and pink satin glitter, matte and satin pastel blue, white, pink, lavender squares, hexes and shreds in various sizes.  I purchased several mini bottles of Glitzology polishes because I wanted to try them out before investing in full sizes....and because I found so many I wanted!

These were taken three days after application.  I did not do any clean up since I was not feeling well. Not too shabby if I must say so myself.

This is one coat of Seche Base, two coats (I think, I was ill remember?!) of Color Club Hydrangea Kiss, one coat of Cotton Candy, two coats of INM Out the Door.  None of the indoor photos turned out well.  No where near close to being usable.  Therefore, all of these are sun and shade shots.

Ü My Other Passion Ü

Sorry for not posting in a week.  I have been needed elsewhere.  

I have always been an animal/dog person/lover.  When I was born, my parents had a dog and I grew up with her (Mandy).  She was always basically the same age as I.  I can't remember a time I was ever without a pet, usually a dog (or several!).  

Below are the faces of dogs I have helped save from euthanasia this week, through sharing their plight, finding donations for their rescue, finding a rescue organization to pull them from the kill shelter and many other ways.  Some dogs are strays.  Most dogs are taken to the shelters by their owners (and I use that term loosely) for any number of reasons: having a baby, moving, dog got old, "too much puppy", landlord said to, etc. etc.  

This, these, are another passion of mine.  I have plans to post a nail mail post tomorrow and hopefully that will happen.  If I am needed to assist with saving a life, or arranging transport of a rescued dog, or sharing dogs on death row, then that is where you'll find me.

Sadly, animal cruelty, neglect, abandonment, death is a part of life every single day.  If only I could win a multi-million dollar lottery........

Who am I trying to save now?  There are tons -- but Bard needs me most right now because he needs donations for his rescue.  There is a rescue group interested in him but he must have funds for his boarding, transport and other needs.  If you'd like to donate to his rescue, you can visit his Chip In.

What other passions do you have?

Sale at Paris Sparkles

I just wanted to share a sale with you guys.  Better hurry, though, because there is only one more day left!  Stay tuned for swatches of Paris Sparkles polishes once I get them.

For every two polishes purchased, you will get one free!  At checkout, just note in the comment section what you'd like for free (don't add it to your cart).  Buy multiples of two and get the appropriate number of bottles free.  For instance, if you buy four bottles you will get two free.

Stacy has said the sale will not be back for a while so order now while you can!

Visit Paris Sparkles on etsy here.

An Epic Manicure Failure, Twice

This post will be short and sweet.  I did this manicure twice.  What a time-consuming waste it was. The glitter polish I used on top was so thick, it caused air bubbles.  I used (or tried to use) thin coats but that didn't remedy the problem.  Removed the polish, added lots of thinner to the glitter polish and tried again.  Below is the result.  See it and weep, or laugh if you so choose.

What do you do when you get a manicure full of air?  I know I didn't use thick coats; I think it is the super goopy, thick polish. 

This is with no clean up and no top coat -- why waste products!?

Models Own -- Boogie Nights

Today I have for you Models Own Boogie Nights over American Apparel L'Esprit.  Whenever I see the name of this polish, I always think of the Mark Wahlberg movie with the same name.  Shame on me!

Boogie Nights (the polish) looks fun but was not necessarily fun to apply.  The smell of the polish was awful.  The glitter didn't apply uniformly and I had to dig in the bottle for glitter and then try to apply it where I wanted it to be on my nails.  Even after two coats of top coat, I still had glitter sticking out past my fingertips.  Hungry glitter that definitely needed Gelous.  I didn't have any when I did this but I have since purchased some.

Boogie Nights is part of the Models Own Mirrorball collection.  This polish was one of the extras I received in a swap and was part of my first post showcasing my epic nail mail day.  Models Own classifies this as a "nail frosting" and a "glide on glitter".  I am not so sure I agree with either of those descriptions.  But, I am not part of Models Own (wouldn't that be awesome?!) and did not have the luxury to try and come up with descriptions.

I used one coat of Seche Clear base coat, two coats of the AA L'Esprit, varying coats of Boogie Nights depending on what nail needed what, two coats of INM Out The Door quick dry top coat.  In the future, when I use glitter polishes such as this, I will add Gelous before my top coat.

Inside using artificial light

Inside using artificial light

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Boogie Nights can be purchased directly from the Models Own website and L'Esprit can be purchased directly from the American Apparel website.  I found L'Esprit much easier to apply than Coney Island (as used in my last post).

What do you think about all the different shapes, colors and sizes of glitter in Boogie Nights?  

Would you like to see bottle shots on the blog?  Do you think the pictures are too large?  Do you prefer smaller pictures on the posts and then the ability to click on an image to enlarge it?  Do the watermarks going different directions bother you? (Remember when I said I am a perfectionist with some things!)

Do you have short fingernails, too?  I enjoy seeing blogs where the blogger has fingernails like mine. That way, I know what a polish would look like more so than on really long fingernails.  Again, remember my cuticles are a work in progress :) but I did purchase a curette today so that should help.