So, you may have noticed my lack of blog posting this month.  What exactly happened?  A little bit of everything.  February started off okay enough, but I was soon engulfed by work and exhaustion.  Seriously, for the past 3 weeks I've been home for food, rest, and bathing.  I soaked up all my free time with the most refreshing things possible: a bit of downtime with my husband and keeping up with my Bible study routine.  I pretty much stopped using the computer for two weeks.

   ...Don't get me wrong, I love going on "computer vacations", where I totally ignore what's new Online for a week, but they are usually planned!  This month I've watched my nails go unpolished as I've had to hurry to get as much housework done as possible before shuffling off to work and then come home late with absolutely no creative drive left.  The constant grey days haven't helped my motivation, either.  My sewing and nail polish room has turned into jumbled chaos thanks to my neglect.

   It wouldn't feel so bad if I didn't have a bunch of polish waiting to be shared and several other products sitting, waiting to be reviewed.  And I might feel a little more inspired to paint if I hadn't broken all of my nails...

   Review to come of the what caused all the breakage after I had finally gotten my nails to be really nice.  I don't mind their shorter length but if they aren't going to stay squared I'll probably lose my mind!

   Whenever things seemed like they might level out this month some horrible and often sad thing would pop up in the morning and change the days plans.  On Saturday one of our betta fish died; the one I had bought as our pet, to cheer my on-death's-doorstep fiancé up.  Right now the only pets we can keep are fish, and we both love our quirky little bettas, so it was a sad day.

   Through all of this my husband has been very supportive and helpful in whatever way he can be.  He's been there for me through my recent migraine headaches caused by things like dehydration and stress.  I've requested *less work* from work.  I'd love to say that I think everything will turn peachy by next month but we just had our hot water heater break down, so we'll see!  =P

   Giveaway entries are being verified and the winners will be chosen soon.  Keep an eye out in your Inbox if you entered!

Nail Art / Review

   This was actually a practice session that I felt turned out well enough to share.  I love glitter gradient nail art, but I'm not very good at doing them!  In particular the gradients that start at the cuticle and fade out.  Different Dimension All Red-y In Love is packed with glitter and easy to work with, so I think I did okay this time!  My base was two coats of China Glaze Frosty, a pretty white shimmer that is quite sheer.

   This macro shot of All Red-y In Love shows off the glitter, but none of my pictures is showing just how extremely sparkly it is!  A mix of red, pink, and silver holo glitters, including a dash of holographic red hearts.  I had left my bottle upside-down overnight before using it and had no trouble getting to the hearts that way.

   All Red-y In Love is one of the nail polishes I named!   If you'd like a bottle you can find it in the Different Dimension etsy shop.  =)

Swatch & Review

   Hello, princesses!  Last week I had very little energy and motivation for painting my nails.  Fortunately there was a side benefit to that; I picked a manicure that I could wear all weekend.  I think this resulted in an awesome combination!  This is one coat of Lush Lacquer Pink Panther over Zoya Wednesday.  Both were sitting in my untrieds - don't they look great together?

   Zoya Wednesday is my kind of green, so I love this creme polish, which does dry a little darker than it looks in the bottle.  It dries shiny without a topcoat but it had a few bubbles in it - odd!  It seemed a wee bit thick so maybe some thinner is all it needs.  It's super opaque at two coats and wears like iron.  The only downside is during removal my skin was stained green, and the "green thumb!" I ended up with wasn't nearly as beneficial as you'd think.

   Pink Panther is a really nice glitter polish for layering.  I was feeling a bit glittered-out, but the combination of matte hexes ended up being a good palette refresher.  It is a fairly simple polish but the mixture and colors are just right.  Coverage was very good at one coat, it was completely smooth under regular topcoat and removal was easy.  I'm really glad that I bought it!

   Surprise~!  Two of the items from my haul post were actually giveaway goodies!  These pretty necklaces from Sweet Tips Nails on etsy are going to find new homes with my readers!  What better way to celebrate a new blog domain name than with a giveaway that everyone can enter?  =)

The Prizes:

   Heart-shaped Pastel Rainbow Necklace - This has a soft rainbow sparkle as well as being painted in rainbow stripes!

   Flower-shape Hawaiian Dream Necklace - This is full of shimmer and glitter held a fun flower pendant, very unique!

   Both of these necklaces are ready for spring and summer!  I was going to start the mini giveaways this month, but I thought a nail polish jewelry prize would be much more exciting.  Rather than limit the giveaway to one prize being domestic and another International, these are both available to anyone, anywhere.  Which one will you choose?

The Rules:

   This giveaway is open to all my followers, new and old!  International followers are welcome but please be aware that I'm not responsible for missing or damaged packages.

   You should either be 18 years of age or older, or have the consent of your parents/guardians to enter.

   All entries are recorded using the Rafflecopter widget below, and falsified entries will be removed.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

   Or, why it's going to be easy not to buy any polish during February.  (So long as China Glaze doesn't release their new holographic polishes in the US.)

   I ended up with over 35 new (or new-to-me) polishes this month, the above photo is missing a few because they are either on loan or scattered through my house.  January was a good month for polish because all my end-of-the-year sale purchases arrived along with a few sakes that took place right at the beginning of January.

   I snagged some Black Cat Lacquer polishes from my wishlist, they are: I Want Candy, Let Them Eat Cake, Put a Bird On It, and Women & Women First.  These came from etsy.  These are all so, so pretty!

   I had a most wonderful package of Different Dimension nail polish arrive.  Mostly colors that I've helped name, but a few other pretties to swatch and review, too!  I've gotten to try most of these already, and their posts are up on the blog.  The polishes shown above are: Honesty Feels A Lot Like Mean, Orbital, Vervain, Aorta Miss You But I Don't, All Red-y In Love, A Love Hue, and Love Her? I Don't Even Lacquer!  Not pictured because it is on loan to my Mom: Yours, Mine, and Flowers.  You can find these polishes on etsy.

      I picked up a couple discontinued polishes from Laquerlicious, Invitation Only and Mint N Chip Frappe.  Along with those I was sent three minis to review, Melted Ice Cream, Rainbow Sugar, and Tart Taffy.  Go check out those swatches!  These also came from etsy!

   Lush Lacquer had a sale, so I picked up my first polishes from them.  The colors I picked are Glitter Girls, Mr. Bubble, Oopsie Daisy, Pebbles, Pink Panther and Slumber Party.  These are all so cute!  Visit the Lush Lacquer shop on etsy.

   I snagged a couple OPI polishes from my wishlist, My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Don't Touch My Tutu!

   When Zoya had their promo for three polishes my husband got me a few cremes from my wishlist: Breezi, Jolene and Wednesday.

   These polishes were partly from a trade and given to me.  Pure Ice Material Girl, Milani Hot Pink, China Glaze Peachy Keen and Luna, KBShimmer Oh Splat!

   And nail polish in another form - jewelry!  Sweet Tips Nails had an amazing sale, so I picked up some necklaces and other accessories.  These are really cute!  The shipping prices are really good, too.  And yes, these came from etsy, too!

   So, a pretty good haul, I'd say!  A lot of polish to keep me busy this month and a lot of it from indie sellers.  The plan this month is to be good and not buy much.  ;P