Hi everyone!  What are you doing with your extra day this year?  I have been joking that it was good to get engaged this month because I have an extra day for planning wedding stuff, but in truth I think I'd need a leapweek to feel like it was making any difference!

   Anyway - my quickie giveaway for the Timeless Trend calendars has just ended today, so I went ahead and found the winners...  Rafflecopter has spoken!!

   Congratulations to Ashley and Shalon!!

   As always I have to share the winner's blogs with you!  Ashley's blog is new to me, and I'm happy to say that I'm her Follower #25!  =)  I suggest going to check out:

   From what I have seen this girl has great nails and takes useful step-by-step pictures.  She does a variety of nail art, from basic layering to stamping and hand-painting.

   I sort of smiled to myself when Rafflecopter picked Shalon, because we've known each other via our blogs for quite awhile now, and I have won giveaways held by her.  She is one of my original followers!  Definitely go check her blog out:

   Shalon does reviews and shares all kind of nail polish on her blog!  She is one of the sweetest and kindest bloggers I've met in my travels Online.

   As for everyone else who joined, thank-you so much for following me!  I checked all the entries and every single entry was valid - wow!  Generally I find a few people who put in totally blank entries... which I don't know how that will help anyone if their number is drawn... but what I'm trying to get at is that it was great that so many people really wanted to give these little calenders a home!  It has been great meeting all of my new followers.  =)

  Both of my winners responded within the hour so these calenders are officially given away and they should be out in tomorrow's mail.  This giveaway is closed.  There is still a bit over 10 days to go on my Engagement Giveaway, so if you nail polish is your thing, consider entering!    Have a great "extra" day~

   Hello everyone!  I had a really busy weekend because I had my first Bridal/Wedding Shower to attend!  Well, not the first one I've ever been to, but the first one where I was the girl unwrapping the prezzies.  ;D  It was tons of fun, and I made chocolate fudge, deviled eggs, and... something that I threw together and don't know what to call! to take to the party.  You can see what I made after the jump!

   First though, China Glaze Sweet Hook.  This is what I had on my nails!  Sadly these swatches were done right after I peeled 18 hard boiled eggs, so my cuticles were not the happiest, but oh well.  The other thing is that I took these pics in sunlight, and the color got washed out.  The polish in more purple than this in person, and a little darker on the nail than in the bottle.

   Ever come up with something that you know is really pretty but you're just not sure if you love it on yourself?  That's how it is for me with this mani.  It looks beautiful, but I just wasn't feeling it the way I thought I would.  At any rate, here are what I call my "deep sea mermaid" nails:

   Gorgeous, right?  That is two coats of LA Girl Deep Sea Mica topped with one coat of Zoya Charla.  There are a few more pictures after the jump, including Deep Sea Mica by itself.

   I've discovered a handful of awesome giveaways again!  Gotta love those giveaways - I recently won one that I entered.  I actually was told I won on the day that I got really, really sick this week... lessee, that was Monday!  Yes, Monday.  Not a good day for me, but the friendly E-mail from a blogger friend saying "hey, you won!" totally cheered me up.  Can't wait to share my pictures of my prizes on the blog here!  Have you ever been having a downer of a day just to have it lit up by being told that you won something?

   What's cooler than February having 29 days?  How about a giveaway ending on that 29th day?  And what if that giveaway had two winners?  And the giveaway prizes were Thirteen Months of Beautiful Corsets calendars?  Well, I gotta say that would be pretty cool, and fortunately I am indeed hosting this giveaway so you won't be really disappointed in my opening statements!

   Since I'm sickly I've pulled out old pictures for my standby easy-to-throw-together posts: past hauls.  These are really late in the sharing, too.  I got these a month ago!  Sorry for the extreme delay...  I placed an order through Overall Beauty last month when she had some clearance sales going on in her Glitter Gal nail polish section.  These are the colors I came away with:

   Glitter Gal polishes in Blush, Frappe, and Not Another Red.  I already wore Not Another Red - you can see it on my nails here.  Also love the little ribbon bow!  I'm going to use it on the end of a braid sometime.  =)

   Ordering through Overall Beauty was great because the owner, Kim, kept in contact with me the whole time through both E-mail and Twitter!  It was friendly and added a personal touch.  Another personal touch was the included sample of her eyeshadow.  The color is called Lavender With a Twist.

   It comes sealed with plastic.  I've used this a couple times and I love it - swatches to come!  You can also purchase Kim's mineral eyeshadows from her etsy store, and here is a direct link to this lovely color.

   I'm happy with how my order was handled and Kim's customer service.  I got my items quickly, and while I don't have pictures I can tell you that everything arrived in cute green bubble wrap and a plastic bag decorated in stars!  It made my day.  =)  I recommend checking out Overall Beauty for some neat polishes and plenty of other beauty items, such as the namesake mineral make-up line.

   Here are my nails with one coat of China Glaze Drawn To You.  I used the magnet from my blue Icing MagnetiX polish - which I'm giving away a set of - don't forget!

   My alignment on some fingers was a little wonky and my ring finger didn't turn out so well, sorry about that!

   I finally have some Glitter Gal goodness in my collection!  I've actually had a few for awhile now, but with the lack of sun I haven't been reaching for my holos very often.  I decided to try Not Another Red by Glitter Gal earlier this week.  Here it is at just one coat.  I must apologize because my nails were extremely shaky when I painted my nails and also while I was taking pictures.  Low blood sugar & pressure issues, I believe.  =(

   Lookit how pretty it is anyway, though!  This is one of their discontinued colors, and I'm so glad I grabbed it.  It is a very saturated pink-red.  Under yellow lighting it had a coral tone to it.  The holographic effect was amazing under intense light, but it was visible under regular lights, too.  The orange and purple stood out most then.  And under low light conditions it became a lovely red creme polish with fine silver shimmer showing in it.  I loved wearing this!

   I've been drawn to lighter colors lately.  Maybe it's because we are nearing spring, which I love, or maybe it's because I've been in such a good mood lately.  I'm not sure, but that is besides the point.  When I was looking for a color to wear on my nails yesterday I knew it had to be either China Glaze Kinetic Candy or Sweet Hook.  I was thinking of using both.  But then I spied my lovely new Milani glitter, and realized that the color paired perfectly with Kinetic Candy.  I'll try Sweet Hook another day!

   I strongly suggest clicking to see the larger versions of my pictures for this mani because you can make out all the tiny glitters!  Super awesome!  In fact, I distracted a manager at work with how sparkly they are!!  This is also my very first glitter gradient manicure.  =)

Shown above: Timeless Trends White Satin Overbust Corset

   Yes, that is correct, I am engaged!  I am such a happy girl.  =)  This happened on February 3rd and I've been keeping it a big secret in order to announce it with a celebratory giveaway.  It has been a busy week!  I suppose this also counts as my 200-follower giveaway, since I have a few lovely girls from HelloCotton joining my reader ranks.  Read on below to learn how you can enter to win!

   Title based on polishes used!  I chose China Glaze Pull Me Close which is of course from their new Magnetix line.  I did a coat of Pure Ice Don't You Wish on each ring finger.  Sadly my pictures didn't turn out so great today.  My nails look better in person despite the topcoat issues I had - it kept creating bubbles!

   One of my favorite things to do when I get new cremes is to come up with a rainbow mani of coordinating colors.  It's so cute and gets tons of compliments!  And I get to try several colors at once, heheheh.  ;D

  The colors I used are China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Aquadelic, Dance Baby, and Bahamian Escape.  2 coats of each and they were all a dream to use.

   I'm so glad I got Aquadelic!  Yes, it is super-similar to For Audrey, but it is more green and doesn't have the dusty quality that For Audrey does.  They are both lovely colors, I know I'll use both.  Did you get any of the new Electropop colors yet?

   These are just a few teasers from my blog sale!  I have lots of new stuff added so you'll have to check it out to see the rest.  Highlights in nail polish: China Glaze, Essie, magnetic nail polishes, flakies, and more.  Great new accessories: if you like bows, check this out!  I added more perfume: some of my favorite scents and a very rare collectable S.Cute!  There is also FREE STUFF up for grabs for anyone who wants to pay the shipping price.  Please check it out, thanks!

Click Here to go to the Blog Sale!

   Hey!  Time for another little giveaway post from me, right?  Lots of bloggers are sharing the beauty love right now!  Right now I am so, so close to have 200 followers here myself.  I'm sure we could round up a few more followers before this week is over...  I have huge news to post about and I'd like to announce it with my 200-follower giveaway!  I know it's not a huge amount of people but it means a lot to me.  Please help?

   More Glix nails to share!  The colors I wore are Mystique and Going Gaga, they are layered over Color Club Blue-topia: any navy blue polish you see peeking out is from Blue-topia.  Both of these Glix polishes have a black base.

   Mystique is the blue glitter polish named for a certain shape-shifting mutant.  It contains larger hex glitter - blue holographic and non reflective clear pieces, as well as small blue and green glitter.  This is gorgeous in the bottle and wonderful on the nails!

   Going Gaga has mostly pink glitter.  I love this one, too!  It's large fuchsia hex glitter reflects a holographic rainbow of colors.  It has pink, green and blue smaller glitters.  Mostly pink but you get a rainbow of purple, blue and green sprinkled through it.

   Both of these polishes have a very pigmented black base - I used two coats but I really didn't need to, because it buried a lot of the glitter.  You are essentially seeing 1 coat in these pictures.  I don't think I would even need a base color for these polishes.  Don't Mystique and Going Gaga compliment each other nicely?

   Application was easy and these dried with very little texture.  I added top coat and then they are awesome.  Wear time/durability was also very good.  I have just slight tip wear when I took it off after wearing these colors a few days.

   Disclaimer:  I bought Mystique for myself and Going Gaga was sent along for review.  I have shared my honest opinion about both!  As always you can find Glix polishes (and a whole lot of other neat polish items) in the Glitrix etsy store.  Which one is your favorite?  =)

   Hello everyone!  I'm taking a break to type this up with gloves on my hands.  My cuticles are turning scary because I haven't been giving them enough love.  Trying to make up for lost time with oil soaking on them right now.  Please ignore the dried skin, but enjoy the polish!

   I wanted something light, and I had a new polish to try.  I picked up Starry Silver Glitter by NYC and these are the two polishes I used along with it:

Sally Hansen Xtremewear Lacey Lilac, Nfu-Oh "Firefly Bums" #39, NYC Starry Silver Glitter

   Yes, I am taking the opposite of a snow day.  When I announced the theme for today's Picturesday post, Snowy, there was actually snow on the ground here.  Finally.  Our weather is usually a frozen tundra for 5 months of the year, but this time it just won't stick.  So, I picked the theme thinking I'd be inspired to round up some neat snowy pictures from other bloggers to share.. but guess what, I didn't.  The snow melted off again and I actually got fed up with it being so mild.

   On a sad note, the constant shifts in weather means our pond has been freezing and thawing every few days.  I've been worried about how our fish could be holding up.  Unfortunately, one of our large koi was found dead this morning.  =(

   So, I'm giving up on snow fort-building weather and ready to move onto spring!  I love spring!  Anyway sorry for not rounding up pictures to share today.  I have hardly had the time or gumption to blog these past two weeks.  Since I'm feeling uninspired (or perhaps inspired by everything!) here is the theme for two weeks from today!

"Anything Goes!"

to be featured February 16th, 2012

   If it fits within the guidelines and basic rules for Picturesday, you may submit it!  Show a favorite picture from the past, something new, or something made by you!

   Here is a refresher on the details of Picturesday: http://elle-hime.blogspot.com/p/picturesday.html

   One week later... finally getting to show how I wore LA Colors Pink Chiffon and Glitrix/Glix Dianthus together.  Here are my nails with one coat of each.

   Dianthus is packed with glitter, and I love the color of the pink!  It matched with Pink Chiffon really well.  It also contains silver glitter, and sparse color-changing glitter.  I would see some sparks of blue-purple, yellow-green glitter.  Would love for there to be more!  There are star-shape silver glitters in the bottle but none came out.