OK, I've been a little quiet lately...I know it...

Been busy getting your pretties out to you, those that won.  Don't worry, it won't be long before we have another giveaway.  :D

In the mean time...watch for my reviews on:

My FIRST Square Hue box...yup...I succumbed...
Slick Lacquer by Suzzie reviews...
Recap of all of the Juleps I have gotten in the last 6 months...
My NOMORERACK.com purchase...OH YEAH!  LOL!

Yeah...there are  more...but some are surprises...so stay tuned!

XO, Sandra

Did you see it!? It's MY giveaway! 22 Prizes and counting!

Ok...this has been a long time in coming...and a short time in planning/getting it moving.  LOL!

This giveaway was all put together over about 5 hours.  :D

Why am I having a giveaway?!

Go find out here!  See ya there!

XOXO

Pretty and Polish Part 1 Spring Color-Changers...

OK, so I love sayings that remind you of how the weather behaves...

March can come in and out like a Lion or a Lamb...
Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight...
A Sunny Shower won't last an hour...
A wind from the south has rain in it's mouth...
And other such phrases...

But my favorite saying is April Showers bring May Flowers...In a burst of creativeness (no surprise), Ms. Chelsea from Pretty & Polished created these two color-changing polishes:

April Showers:

May Flowers:

These are sooo sweet.  April Showers remind me of our Iowa weather currently...some rain...cool temperatures...a touch of snow/sleet...all for the betterment of the flowers to come later in the spring, hence, May Flowers.  Grass-green to white color-changing base, purple, pink, yellow hexes and small dark green hexes.

I left both sans topcoat...because, well...I messed up the April Showers while it was drying With Top Coat..and couldn't get a photo of it first.  So I decided to leave the other that way also.  I personally LOVE them without a topcoat, though for durability, I would recommend one coat...it won't kill the texture but it will be sealed and protected.

Nice job, Chels.

Thanks everyone for taking a look.  If you'd like to get some of Ms. Chels' polishes, go here!

Slow period?

Hi all!  Yep...it's been pretty quiet around here.  Why?  Um well, several things:

My laptop died twice.  The first time, they replaced the motherboard.  This time they replaced the whole thing, which means...NO SWATCH PHOTOS!   WAAAAHHH!

Yep, all of my Christmas swatches are GONE.  Poof!  So the only ones I have are the ones still saved to my phone AND the ones here and on my FB page.

That will teach me to save to my "brand new" laptop.  O.O

Getting something set up so that I have a thumb drive for my blogging photos, so that this doesn't happen again.

Hoping for more action  coming into spring.  :D

Sneak Peek of Nail Art Society's May bag!!

Nail Art Society is teaming up with KISS Nail Art supplies for their May 2013 bag!  It look HUGE!  For only $9.95 monthly, you can enjoy mailing of different nail art trends.

Did you see what I got for April?

http://sandrabpolishreviews.blogspot.com/2013/04/nail-art-society-april-2013-bag.html


Ok, so the really exciting news?  They put up a sneak peek of next months bag on their blog!

www.nailartsociety.com/archives/2782

Go check it out!

Nail Art Society April 2013 bag

Ok, so I've been getting the Nail Art Society bag for several months now...pretty much the beginning I think, if not THE beginning and they have been getting progressively better and better.

Here is what I got for the April 2013 Nail Art bag:

KISS Nail Art Striping Polish: purple, pink and turquoise.

In the KISS Nail Art striper set there were these nifty nail guides and gems!  SWEET!

Here are the bows by Adoro...called Love Stones.  So cute!  Comes in a great storage case.  

Nail Art Striping Tape in turquoise.  Couldn't really tell what the brand name is, but if you know it please let

me know so that I can give credit where credit is due.

And last but not least, a staple for any nail art person: Nail Art Glue.  Handy for quick fixes too.  :D

And here it the manicure that I finished up using one the Bows.  The polish is Different Dimension Vervain, a white-based multiple size purple glitter polish.  YUMMY!  I didn't want to take it off.  LOL!

So anyway, there ya go!  I think the NAS did a great job this time...and I can see it just getting better.

Wanna sign up?  Here is the link: http://nailartsociety.com/join-now
$9.95/month, debited monthly from your choice of accounts.  :D

Bloglovin' Link up Post (Please Ignore)

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5220697/?claim=yuhrh9cja3c">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Urban Lacquer "The Wife"

Brenda at Urban Lacquer asked me to review and post swatches of one of her Valentine's Day polishes.  It comes as a 3 piece set: The Husband, The Wife and The Mistress.

Ok, first off, I am glad that I was sent "The Wife".  My hubby was like, "Is there a Mistress?" and I said yes.  He was like, well, glad it was this one then or I'd have to be worried.  We laughed about that for a bit.

The Wife is a Jelly.   Here is her description:
"The Wife is part of the Love Triangle Valentine's Collection, and is a beautiful, feminine, sheer jelly nail polish. My friend described the color as "fine raspberry wine", and I have to agree! A gorgeous, sparkling color that can be worn all year long, and for any occasion!"

I love the color in the bottle.  So deep and rich. Tilt it slightly in the light and you can see the fire inside.

This post might be a little photo heavy, as I did two different swatch sets.  The first one, I used a cheapie topcoat on that I substituted temporarily for my usual swatching topcoat.  It caused shrinkage that I did not expect (normally it doesn't, but I usually use it with glitters and crèmes), so I reswatched using Seche Vite.

 

^^These two photos are light one coat, for those that love just a hint of colorVV

 

VVVThese two photos look terrible, but the color is VERY true here, so I left them.  This was actually a sunny morning...so pretty.

 

**************************

 

All photos from this point on are color coats. 

 

Index to Pinky: 4, 3, 2 & 1 coats respectively.

4 coats was not *required* but just made the color darker.  I had full coverage at 3 coats, no undies.  With a matching/similar crème undie, you'd only need one coat.

Yes, it required several coats...but as long as you don't glop it on, it dries SUPER FAST!  Using thin, even coats keeps it from running or creating uneven color.  It is thinner than some of the Jellies I've used, but very versatile.

^^^Please forgive my cracker crumb cuticles...winter hates me--this was in the middle of a cold, windy week and my cuticles were screaming.

 

Same photo as the one below almost, just this one is blurry...but I kept the top one here because it really shows the reflective quality of the polish.  More or less giving you and idea of the shift when you move.

I got frustrated with the tips so I re-did the swatches.  This series of 4 photos is the second go-round with Seche Vite as the top coat.  No shrinkage.  YAY!  

SO, what do YOU think.  Aside from my horrendous cuticles, I mean.  I think it's pretty. It's a glamorous color.  Deep yet a bit of spark.

If you are interesting in acquiring The Trio, as I've been calling them, go here, or to Urban Lacquer!  They are available separate and as a set.  Only available until March 1st, unless it sells out sooner.  I am very tempted to get the rest from her.  :D

Julep Colbie: Glitter-Tastic...

Hi all!  I decided to give everyone a glimpse of the Julep Polishes that I got this year.  My last one was purchased from someone other than Julep, but I am also going to include it.

 



I decided to start in alphabetical order with a few exceptions.

 

Here is the first one...Julep Colbie.

 

The name reminded me of Colbie Caillat the singer.  I like her music. Click on her name for my favorite song of hers.

 

I start with a base coat and applied Zoya Apple on two fingers as undies. 

 

This is a yummy color all by itself. 

Then I put the Colbie over it:

 

I think I like it better over the Zoya polish.  Not a fan of it by itself...it would look pretty over other shimmers as well.

Application was a little thick, but yet sparse...if that makes sense? It tended to run forward to the tips while applying.  Decided to agitate and roll it even  more to see if that fixed the problem. Nope.  If anything, I think it got worse. My mantra with this one was "Thin Coats. Thin Coats. Thin Coats." I had to re-do it on a couple of nails and got frustrated with my second attempt (index and pinky) so I finally just left it at 2 coats. Surprisingly, the ones with undies I only needed one coat to make it look good.

Overall on this one: C as a stand-alone. B as a one-coat overlay.

A little behind...

I have my Julep post to make here, but I've gotten a little behind.  I will do individual posts for each Color...

Stay tuned...