Orly - Mermaid Tale

Good afternoon!

If you haven't yet seen my giveaway post, please check it out! I'm so excited about the prizes and I'm so glad to know you guys are too!
In that post, I showed a picture of my hand with a ring. The manicure in that picture got a bit of attention!
So I'll be showing that manicure today.

This green, sparking beauty is Orly - Mermaid Tale from the first batch of polishes in Orly's Flash Glam FX Collection.
Rumor has it there are going to be 22 polishes in that collection... That is a whooooole lot of glitter.
Five of them have been released so far at Sally Beauty Supply and I've got three of them.

I did not expect to love this one as much as I do! The sparkle was so intense and gorgeous! My nails were all like little emeralds.
I layered 2 coats over Color Club - Artsy Crafty, a forest green creme.

There are small and large green glitters in this polish and the big ones are holographic! It was hard to capture but you can see that in the photo above.

These pictures just don't do it justice. It is so freakin' sparkly. I'm in love!

If you can still find this one at your local Sally's, I would totally pick it up. The Flash Glam FX polishes are kinda pricey (between $8 and $10 depending where you are) but I'm convinced this one is worth it.

I haven't tried the others yet, but I hope they're as awesome as this one!

I ♥ My Followers GIVEAWAY!

Hello and welcome to my super awesome giveaway for my super awesome followers!

I've been wanting to have another giveaway for a while but couldn't figure out the right time or the right prizes. But it has finally come together!

A heart-themed giveaway because I ♥ you!

There are gonna be three winners! Let's see the prizes!

Prize #1 includes a bunch of stuff from yours truly! Heart-themed things and handmade things.

- A bottle of Rebecca Likes Cupcakes! This polish is hand made by me with lots of love.
- A bottle of Nicole by OPI - Love Your Life. A polish full of hearts!

- A Nail Art Diva "From The Heart 1" plate! This heart themed plate is just about the cutest plate ever.
Check this mani from my friend Leslie to see just how cute!

- Nail polish jewelery, also made by me!
A big ring, painted like one of my favorite heart manis!
As well as cute little earrings made with Nail-Venturous Floam. I ♥ these so much I had to make a matching pair for myself too.

That's a whole lot of awesome, right?
But wait, there's more!

Prize #2 is two amazingly beautiful Nfu-Oh polishes, donated by Nail Polish Canada!
The blue is #53 and the purple is #51. Holy crap, they are so stunning. I don't own #53 myself but I have a feeling I will need to buy it after seeing it in person, wow!
Scrangie has nice swatches of them - click here for 53 and here for 51.

And last but certainly not least:

Prize #3 is $30 for BornPrettyStore.com! As you probably know, Born Pretty carries just about everything you need for nail art plus much much more. This prize was donated by Born Pretty!

Are you guy as excited for these prizes as I am?!

This giveaway is open internationally and will close at midnight EST on July 20th, 2012.
I will let the first winner choose which prize they would like, and then the second winner can pick from the remaining two, and the final winner gets the last prize.

Thanks again to Nail Polish Canada and Born Pretty for their generous prizes!

Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!

framing fail!

I bet you guys have seen framed manis going around the nail world lately.
I didn't really like them until I saw this mani from my friend Kim @ feedkmayeorchids.
I redid it pretty much instantly after seeing it!

But I kinda failed. My stamping didn't come out clean and my frames were super uneven.
You probably don't see the flaws the way I do... But they are there!

I wanted to love this mani but I just couldn't see past the imperfections!
It's such a cool idea, though. I love the zebra and the pink and the gold!

The zebra image comes from Konad m57.
The pink is Color Club - Peppermint Twist.
The gold is Milani Jewel FX - Gold.
The mani began with a white and black zebra nail and I added the pink around the edge with a small brush.

Looks pretty cool from afar, right? Haha!

What do you guys think? Have you guys tried these difficult frames on your nails?

Born Pretty Color Change Polish!

Hey ladies (and some gents!)

Have you guys ever tried out polish that changes with your "mood" or body temperature? I had one when I was a kid that didn't really do much, and it was disappointing.
I recently got to try out one of the color change polishes from Born Pretty Store and my opinion of color changing polishes has totally changed!
This polish is SO cool. Check it out!

This is Purple/Sky Blue Color Changing #7 which you can find right here.
It works so well that you can see both colors on your nail at once if you have some free edge!
The tip of your nail is not attached to your skin so it is cold, and purple. The rest of your nail that is attached is warm, and blue!
It looks like a french manicure, but without the hassle!

The brand is Ylin Mood, and in the bottle you can see both colors which is really interesting. I tried to shake it up but it didn't mix.
As you're applying the polish is purple but quickly begins to turn blue once on the nail and warming up.
I had to use three coats for full coverage.

I will admit that when I put it on, I fooled around with warm and cold water for about 10 minutes, watching the colors change! It was a lot of fun because the change is SO fast and so intense.

A finger dipped in warm water and a finger dipped in cold water. Shows just how different the two colors are.
I kept showing the color change to friends, too. I was obsessed. It's so cool.

Too cool, you guys!

As always, Born Pretty ships free worldwide and you can get 10% off using my discount code!

Be sure to check back in the next few days because I might have something exciting from Born Pretty happening soon... :)

Betsey Johnson - Cartwheels on the Catwalk

It occurred to me yesterday while posting my ruffle nails that I hadn't yet posted a swatch of the base color I used for them!
And it is just a gorgeous polish, so I figured, today is the day you see it!

Sephora by OPI - Cartwheels On The Catwalk
This is a gorgeous dusty light blue polish from the Betsey Johnson collection. (You may remember seeing the mini collection here and It's My Pink here.)
If you haven't heard already, Betsey Johnson is going out of business. This makes a Betsey fan like me really sad. I guess I'll have to weep over the few Betsey things I've been able to find, and keep stalking eBay for more!

I'm glad $OPI put out Betsey polishes, more Betsey for me to hoard.
At first I didn't think I needed this color - don't we all have 10 dupes?
But in person I realized it is actually quite different from For Audrey and all the other similar colors. I didn't do a comparison but you can trust me. This is prettier and more... Vintage? I don't know. Prettier. Less stark. 2 coats is all you need for good coverage.

Whoops, that's out of focus. But you can still read it!

*Sigh.*
I'll miss you, Betsey!
Even if you won't be doing your cartwheels on the catwalk anymore, I'll still be wearing my Cartwheels on the Catwalk.

ruffle mani à la chalkboard nails

Bonjour!

Many of you have probably seen the Ruffle Manicure Tutorial from Chalkboard Nails.
I've always thought those ruffle manis were adorable and I really wanted to try it!

I'm sad to say my first attempt wasn't spectacular... But it is still cute!

Creating this look is really easy but getting it perfect takes a lot of patience and careful dotting!
As you can see, mine is far from perfect. But I still like it!
Next time I try this, I will definitely take my time and try to line it up better! Haha.

I really like the colors I chose for this mani! I didn't really have a color scheme in mind and I just started pulling things out of my drawers that looked cute together.

Here are all the polishes I used:
Sephora by OPI - Cartwheels On The Catwalk (base color and also at tip)
China Glaze - Recycle
Essence - Joe
Zoya - Megan
Essence - Viva La Green
Essence - Movie Star
Essence - Absolutely Blue
Essence - Got A Secret 

I think I applied this too thick, I couldn't really get it to dry. And I dented my middle finger. Pay no attention to that.

I look forward to trying this again. With quick-dry polishes. And more patience.

Have you guys tried a ruffle mani yet? Did you do it better than me?

Verve 360 Zoya Giveaway Winner!

Hey everyone! This is probably the fastest giveaway result announcement ever - it only ended 22 minutes ago!
There weren't too many entries to go through so it was easy.

As a reminder, here's what a lucky reader is about to win!

Tracie and Myrta from Zoya!
Again I'd like to thank Verve 360 hair salons in Pittsburgh for allowing me to have this short-and-sweet giveaway!

I deleted the comments that did not count as entries and that left me with 87 potential winners.

I went to random.org to select a winner...

And the 59th comment belongs to...

Laura! Congratulations Laura, I'm about to email you to get your mailing address!

Thank you for entering, everyone!

If you didn't win this time, never fear! I have another giveaway coming up very soon, I'm just waiting for a prize in the mail! And there will be three winners... Lots more fun to go around!

Glitter Gal - Soft Violet

Afternoon!
Today I've got the third polish review from Glitter Gal to show you! This one is different from the others and probably won't get so much love, but it is nice, in its own ways.

Glitter Gal - Soft Violet
This polish is from the new Transitions line from GG - sheer shimmer polishes that can be worn alone for a subtle look, or can be layered over other things to change the color.

On it's own, shown at 2 coats, it adds a nice pinky/purple shimmer to the nail. Great if you like doing french manicures and adding some "oomph" to the natural part of the nail.
Also, this is the type of color my mom adores wearing, just on its own.
There's definitely a market for this type of polish, even if it isn't something I would wear myself.

Layering is more fun!

That is one coat over black. It's a little bit streaky but I think that also had to do with poor application of the black polish underneath (I think my black needs some thinner!)
I really like the color it turns into though! 

Even better? Layering it over other GG polishes...

Here it is over Wild Violets over black. The combo of these was stunning! It added a purple sheen over the entire nail but did not hide the duochrome underneath. I loved it like this!

So overall, this polish might not be everyone's favorite, but I do think it has its place in the nail world. And it can create some seriously cool combos!

This polish is available on Ninja Polish for $17.95!

Product provided for honest review.

when you can't decide what to wear...

When you can't decide what to wear... You keep layering.

And it doesn't always turn out fantastic. Here's an example of that.

Orly - Halley's Comet
One of my faves! Good start.

Color Club - Clean Break
Yes! White Crackle that works! All hail Color Club Crackle!!!

piCture pOlish - Peacock
...Not as I had hoped.
I thought the purple base and green glitter of peacock would create something magical over the blue and white base but really it just got kinda lost.

It's nice but not the best combo I've ever done.

I should have stopped with the white crackle because I loved this look! It kinda reminded me of icebergs floating in the ocean. And have I told you how much I love Color Club crackle polishes...?!

Did you guys notice that my watermark now proudly says rebeccalikesnails.com? I've finally made the jump to my own domain!
The whole blog should be transferred over within 3 days so if you have any issues with my blog right now, it's most likely due to this change. Please be patient. :)
I feel very official, owning my own .com site. Now all I need are business cards and I'll be a regular pro.

P.S. Have you entered my Zoya giveaway? Just 2 days left!