Enter my 100 follower giveaway! [CLOSED]

[THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]

I'm so happy to be having this giveaway! When I first started my blog, I thought it would be forever before I reached 100 followers, but lucky for me the day came sooner than later. Thanks to everyone who takes time to read my blog and look at my nail art, it always brightens my day to share it with everyone.

Here's what you can win:

6 Polishes from China Glaze's Anchors Away Collection and Color Club Covered in Diamonds!



Life Preserver, Ahoy!, Hey Sailor



First Mate, Starboard, Lighthouse

Covered in Diamonds

All these polishes are brand new and purchased with my own money.

This giveaway is international and will run up until July 1, 2011.

Here are the rules:
You must be a public follower on GFC and provide me with your email address to enter (one entry).

Extra Entries:
+1 : Blog about this giveaway using the first photo.
+1: Add me to your blog roll.
+1: Like my page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/heartNAT24

Reggae Inspired Nails

I've done gradient nails before, but it wasn't anything spectacular. After learning a few tips from Rebecca at Rebecca Likes Nails, I really wanted to try it again. The link to her gradient tutorial is here. I don't know if you'd call this gradient because the colors don't exactly "blend" together, but it's the same procedure. I first painted all my nails with one coat of China Glaze in Hey Sailor. Then I sponged on China Glaze in Happy Go Lucky. The last color I used to sponge was China Glaze in Starboard. Lastly, I stamped using BM 208 with Konad black. I wanted to use zebra print pretty bad, but I wanted to change it up a little since I try not to copy people's nails exactly, even when I give credit. It just feels a little weird. Ok anyways, I LOVE how this turned out! I'm totally going to do this more often!

Don't mind my thumb. I forgot to sponge all the way to the sides and only noticed it after pics.

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Antiqued Gold

First off, I'd like to say THANK YOU to all of my followers, old and new. I reached 100 followers today! I was so thrilled to see it today after work. I will be putting together my 100 follower giveaway on my next day off so keep your eyes peeled this week!

This is my last crackle to show you guys. It's Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Antiqued Gold. It's a fitting name because it's a dull gold. I did post one pic of this earlier last week, but it was a bad pic of my right hand, so I decided to try it out again. I didn't like how it came out much the first time, and I'm not crazy how this came out this second time around either. I'm not sure if it's the way I'm applying it or if it's the metallic formula. It's a thicker formula than the red, white, and blue crackles from Sally Hansen. Application was decent, but it didn't crack very well for me. China Glaze is coming out with some Metal Crackle next month (6/15/11) so maybe you should wait and see if those metallic formulas work a bit better.

Outdoors with flash.

Indoors with flash.

China Glaze First Mate & Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Snow Blast

I actually had tried Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Snow Blast (white crackle) with another polish first, but it was a total fail so I wanted to try another color to see if it might have been the color. I used China Glaze in First Mate from the Anchors Away collection. First Mate is such a perfect navy blue creme. I used 2 coats for opacity. It totally reminds me of sailor colors and suits the collection well. I was happy with how Snow Blast crackle came out. The application was a breeze and it cracked really well.

I'm adding these next couple pics to show my first try with Snow Blast crackle. I used China Glaze in Four Leaf Clover as the base color and then used Snow Blast on top.

The white crackled turned yellow! I added the second pic from my iphone because it shows how yellow it looked IRL. I think it may have been because the polish is so pigmented. My nails did stain after wearing this color for like 40 minutes. I first applied Snow Blast to my pinky without topcoat, saw that it turned yellow, and added topcoat to the rest of my nails. I then applied Snow Blast to the rest of my nails and it still turned yellow. I'd say this was a fail, but my fiancee and sister don't seem to think it turned out too bad. They just think it looks like yellow crackle haha. What do you think?

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Fuchsia Shock

I decided to try Fuchsia Shock over a few different colors to see what different combos I'll be able to wear with it. I've seen China Glaze Broken Hearted (pink crackle) with a variety of colors on other blogs so I was pretty excited to try this one for myself. I just used some pretty basic polishes for the base colors.

The application was really easy and the polish cracked great. My favorite bases to use with this Fuchsia Shock crackle were the white, silver, and yellow. I still like the black and turquoise bases, but using these darker colors show how the pink is a little sheer. I'm happy I got this one, but I'd go for the China Glaze Broken Hearted Crackle if I really wanted an opaque pink crackle to use with some darker colors. I have one last crackle to try out and then I'll have some real nail art up again!

OPI Last Friday Night & Sally Hansen Distressed Denim Crackle Overcoat

I've been having so much fun this week playing with all my new crackle polishes! I chose the combo today because my sister suggested I do it, so I did haha. I love how this turned out, I'm not super crazy about blue, but I really liked this one. I used 4 coats of O.P.I. Last Friday Night from the Katy Perry collection for the base color. It's really sheer no matter what, I'd probably only wear it as a layering polish, or under blue crackle of course.

Outdoors with flash.

Indoors with flash.



This is very close to the true color of the crackle.

Closeup of how well the Distressed Denim cracked.

I was so pleased with the formula of this one! It was easy to apply and it cracked great, much better than the Vintage Violet one I used yesterday, which was also from Sally Hansen. IRL, this blue crackle is fairly dark and matches the color of the polish as it shows up in the bottle. It is not opaque, but I kind of like it because it won't completely cover up whatever base you decide to use with it.

3 More Awards in One Week!

Whoo hoo. I feel so loved this week! I received 3 awards this week, two of which I have already received before.

Thank you to Vanessa from Nail Stories for giving me the Liebster Blog Award, which is designed to recognize bloggers with less than 300 followers.

Thank you to love4lacquer for giving me the Kreativ Blogger Award

And thank you to Sara from Sara Loves Pretty Little Things for giving me an award I have not received in the past-- The Top 10 Blog Award!

Sorry for not doing the whole tagging thing again >.< , I did that already, and it can get to be quite time consuming.

Thanks to ALL of my followers, I'm almost at 100 and yes, I have some nail polish that's ready to be given away! Hopefully I'll be able to start up the giveaway within the next week!

China Glaze Papaya Punch & Sally Hansen Vintage Violet Crackle Overcoat

I didn't know what color to use with SH Vintage Violet Crackle, but I decided to use China Glaze Papaya Punch because my fiancee keeps telling me to do Phoenix Suns nails. I figured using orange polish and purple crackle would be super easy to get it out of the way haha. I LOVE CG Papaya Punch. I just got it in my haul yesterday and I'm so glad I tried it out already. It's such a beautiful bright tangerine creme color. I was worried it would dry matte, but it dries shiny, and fast! The Vintage Violet Crackle on the other hand, I wasn't too crazy about. From all the crackles I've used, this one is my least favorite. I think the shimmer in the formula had something to do with it. During application, the polish dried so fast on the nail and on my brush that it was becoming kinda goopy. I guess it looks decent, but I don't like how I got such an uneven application. Yay or nay on Vintage Violet?

No topcoat.



Pretty blue shimmer inside.



Zoya Faye & Sally Hansen Cherry Smash Crackle Overcoat

I promised to use Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat polishes this week and I'm totally sticking to it =] I decided to use the red one first. It's called Cherry Smash. O.P.I. has released a Red Shatter with a mauve color called Rally Pretty Pink. I really wanted these, but I heard Rally Pretty Pink is an exact dupe for Zoya's Faye, which I own already, so I decided not to buy that set. Instead, I will use Zoya'sFaye and Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Cherry Smash to try to get the same result as the O.P.I. set.

I was actually surprised at how well this turned out! I used a medium coat of the Cherry Smash crackle and it turned out great. I tried out thin and thick coats on my right hand just to play with how well it works. A thin coat almost completely covered the base color (I wouldn't recommend it) and a thick coat worked well. Sorry no pics, I suck at taking pics of my right hand. Also, I think you can see this from the pictures, but the Cherry Smash crackle is not opaque. I wouldn't say it's a good or bad thing. Maybe with a different color combination I'd be able to make a decision on that. I totally recommend this as an alternative to O.P.I. Red Shatter, although I think Red Shatter may be just a bit more opaque than this one.

Pirate Mani 6

So this is my last pirate mani. I actually wore this for the Pirates premiere this whole weekend because I work at a movie theater so it suited the occasion. When I think of pirates, I think of treasure and skulls so I wanted to incorporate that into this mani. I used China Glaze in Passion for the base color. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out for the sponged tips. I could've done some more sponging to make the tips look cleaner, but I was kind of rushing because I had to get ready for work. I stamped using BM 211 in Konad black. Now that pirates week is over for me, I can finally try out all my Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat polishes!

Pirate Mani 5

The other day I said I wanted to do a mani resembling a mermaid's tail, so here it is! I used OPI Mermaid's Tears again because it's such a perfect color for the mermaid theme and also because I only wore it for one day and that wasn't long enough for me! I stamped using Bundle Monster BM 215 with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep. I think this idea was executed perfectly! I have one more pirate mani tomorrow and then I'm all pirated out =P

Pirate Mani 4

If anyone thinks this mani is not totally cute you're crazy lol! Jk. Go ahead, but I love this little skull image! I'm actually having quite a good time doing these Pirates of the Carribean inspired manis this week. I hope you guys aren't sick of them yet because I have a couple more. I used fauxnad M39 for the little skull with crossbones and I used Konad M64 for the tip design. I stamped in Konad white.

Pirate Mani 3

So as you guys know, there are mermaids in the POTC movies, so of course I had to have at least one mani with a mermaid. Too bad the fauxnad plate I own with a mermaid totally sucks and I could only get a clean pick up of the image once =[ For the base color I used Orly in It's Up to Blue. It's pretty sheer, I used two coats, but three would be better for complete opacity. The mermaid is from fauxnad M72 and the fish are from fauxnad M14. I stamped using Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Silver Sweep. I wanted the tips to look like mermaid tail scales, but my fiancee thought they were waves so I'll have to do another mani that actually looks like a mermaid's tail, but for the design I used BM 217 and also stamped in Silver Sweep.

I went to bed before topcoat and I got lines all over my nails =|

The mermaid! Too bad she didn't want to cooperate with me.

Pirate Mani 2

This mani doesn't look "pirate themed," but I used the OPI Pirates of the Carribean polishes so I'm pretty sure it still counts! I used OPI Mermaid's Tears and OPI Silver Shatter. This combination looks B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Mermaid's Tears is a pastel minty creme. Like most other reviewers have said, it's truly unlike any other polish I own in my collection. I'm so happy I got this one from the POTC collection. I used 2 coats for a completely smooth, opaque finish.

No topcoat



(Right hand shown with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat)

Bonus pic: The last pic shown is with the new Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat. I wish I just waited to do a full mani with the gold crackle because it was such a pain to try to take a picture of my right hand with my SLR camera, but I really wanted to try it out! The brush is so much narrower than O.P.I. that it was a little weird to use at first. The formula is also a little more watery than O.P.I.'s, but I'd say the end result was still pretty good. It cracks a little less and in bigger chunks, but I'm still happy I got it. I used this over Mermaid's Tears because I read a few people saying that it would look better with gold crackle, but after trying it out for myself, I say Silver Shatter is definitely the way to go!

Pirate Mani 1

Arggh mateys! Pirates of the Carribean On Stranger Tides comes out this Friday! I want to do a few pirate themed nails. This is partly because I work at a movie theater so I will at least have a purpose to wear crazy pirate nails =] This is something I did really quick before bed so it's not perfect, but I think its pretty cute. I stamped using BM 225 in Konad white. I did a different mani last night but I'm not sure if I'm going to post it because my stupid fauxnad plate with a mermaid barely picks up on my stamper. Oh well. Who else is going to be doing pirate nails?!

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat Haul!

My friend at work told me she got Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat this weekend, so yesterday I went to Walgreens and bought one of every color (except black because I already have one)! They were $6.99 each and I had 2 manufacturers coupons and got $2.00 off my purchase. I would have printed more, but I wasn't sure I could use more than one so that's all I printed =[ I'll be using these probably after this week because I want to do a few differnt pirate themed nails for the opening week of Pirates of the Carribean On Stranger Tides! Anyways, here's what I bought:

L to R: Antiqued Gold, Snow Blast, Fractured Foil

L to R: Fuchsia Shock, Vintage Violet, Cherry Smash, Distressed Denim

Zoya Apple & Konad M73

This is the third color I got from Zoya's Sunshine Collection. I love green, but I just don't wear them for too long because I'm worried my nails will be super stained. I like green so much that I ended up buying both Apple and Ivanka from Zoya! I'll show Ivanka in a later post. This is a green color that has a yellow tone to it. It has beautiful gold glitter in it that makes it super shimmery. I started to stamp with yellow in top of it, but it wasn't showing up, so I chose white instead. I used Konad M73 and stamped in Konad white.