Something a bit different today....

Good afternoon darling readers!  Today I have something a bit different.  Instead of polish, I have eye shadow.  Hubby and I ran into town to rent a couple of movies and I asked to stop at Walgreen's to see if I could find the dupes of some eye shadows I'd been reading about.  I then told him about the Urban Decay Naked and Naked 2 palettes and how expensive they were and how I wasn't about to spend that kind of money for just 24 eye shadows.  $104 for 24 eye shadows seems a bit excessive to me, but then a lot of people think that when I pay $8 for a bottle of nail polish, that is too much, so to each their own.  We each have our own preferences when it comes to make-up products and what our limits are for what we will spend on them. (I read about the dupes here.)

To be completely honest, I quit wearing make-up every day when I had to quit working.  I really didn't see any reason to wear it since I wasn't going outside the house much and who dresses up to go see their doctors?  My doctors want to see me in my natural state not in full make-up and acting like there is nothing wrong, so I just never bothered.  A few months ago, I'm not quite sure what happened, but I decided I was going to start wearing make-up again.  Not because I was going somewhere or doing anything special, but just because it made me feel better.  It gave me some color and I liked it.  I still don't wear it every day, but I'm wearing it enough to want to buy more and experiment with it again to find the colors that work well with my skin tone, instead of just wearing everything I bought (like I did before I was aware that things worked and didn't work with my skin tone).

Read more after the jump.

November Ipsy-Glam It Up!

*This post contains a referral link*

Good afternoon, darling readers!  August was the last time I posted an Ipsy bag so I have a few to catch up on, but I did want to share this one with you because it was a special one.  Instead of receiving our regular 4 to 5 items, we received 6 items because everyone received an item from the new em Michelle Phan make-up line!  From what I gather in my Glam Room, the em Michelle item could either be a lip balm, an water liner, a lip stick, or a mascara.  To see which item I received, you'll have to keep reading.  :0)

Up first is the bag itself.  It's made of a gold lame fabric made to look like crocodile skin trimmed with a hot pink zipper.  The inside is hot pink and has the trade mark Ipsy tag sewn in.  It has a long wrist strap you can wear so you don't lose it while out, if you so choose to take it along on a night out.  All the items I received this month fit inside the bag, so it can hold quite a bit of stuff.  As with all make-up bags, I suggest not over-stuffing them as the zippers aren't meant to hold up to some of the abuse us ladies can put them through.

November 2013 Ipsy bag.

Inside view of November 2013 Ipsy bag.

To find out what I got in my bag, please continue reading after the jump.

My First Press Sample! Rainbow Honey-The Final Battle

*PRESS SAMPLE*

 



Good morning, darling readers.  I hope you are all staying warm!  We had our first measurable snow earlier this week.  It wasn't as much as they predicted it would be (1.5 to 2 inches) but we did get a good ground covering.  Thankfully it held off long enough for us to get our new back door installed.  Our old one, the dog was able to get his paw in between the door jam and the knob to let himself out for unannounced strolls through the neighborhood at 4 am.  With this one, he will no longer be able to do that as it is an inward swing door.  Even if he is able to manage to able to get his paw between the jam and the knob to open the mechanism, he won't be able to open the door unless he somehow figures out how to pull it to himself.  With the other one, he was just able to push it outward and off he went.

So today, I have my very first press sample for you!  I'm very excited about this.  Back in September, I got an e-mail from Rainbow Honey requesting that I update my info with them as they updated their system, then a few days later, I got another e-mail stating that I was going to receive a sample kit.  I can't tell y'all enough how excited I was to receive this e-mail!  Freebies and samples isn't the reason I got into blogging, I started because I wanted an outlet to share my little bursts of creativity with my friends and anyone else who might be interested.  I also wanted to be able to get to know those in the nail community a little better and thought I might be able to use my blog as a way to get to do that.  It certainly has helped in both of those regards, so having waited to do any press samples, in my opinion, has been completely worth it.  :0)

More after the jump.

Pardon my dust while I do a little updating...

I have decided to do a little updating to the blog.  Mainly some background changes, that you have probably already noticed.  I have changed to a fall background and as we get closer to the holidays, will probably change it again.  I tend to like to change things like that fairly frequently, so I hope y'all don't mind that.  I also got rid of the Give-Aways page and have decided to just list them as I find them, either here, Facebook, or on my Twitter feed.  I have also taken the Blog's I Follow off of the home page and put them on a page of their own.  I'll be adding to them in the next few days as I don't have them all on there yet.  I will also be adding to the FAQ's page by the end of the year as well.

I am also now accepting PR items, either press releases to be published or items to be reviewed.  If you are a company looking to have something to reviewed, please see my sidebar for more information!

If you have any ideas or suggestions for improvements you would like to see or if there is a polish on my inventory list you would like to see me wear or if you just want to say Hi, please drop me a note and I'll see what I can do.

Thank you for stopping by to see what I'm up to today and spending a few minutes with me this morning!  Huggles!

Quick morning photo

*photo provided by PetiteandSweetD

used by permission

 



Good morning darling readers!  Back when I had my last give-away, I sent the winner her prize and when she opened the package, she was disappointed to find out the bottle had shattered in shipping.  Thankfully, Julie of Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer had sent me an extra bottle for my own use, so I decided to send it to the winner because it wasn't her fault the bottle was broken during shipment.  The second bottle arrived to it's destination safely and here it is on PetiteandSweetD's nails.  Isn't it beautiful?

 

Thank you, PetiteandSweetD, for allowing me to share your beautiful mani with everyone!

That is all I have for y'all, for this morning.  Thank you for spending a few minutes with me this morning.  Huggles!

Happy Halloween...and why I've been gone.

Happy Halloween, darling readers!  It's been awhile since I've blogged and I'm very sorry.  The last several weeks have been a bit rough.  I had surgery, again, September 24th.  This time was to move the battery I just had put in back in April of this year.  I had requested back then that they move it somewhere else because I was having an issue with it feeling like it was resting on a nerve, but my doctor thought, with it being a smaller battery, it wouldn't cause that feeling any more if he modified the pocket and made it smaller.  Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way.  The modification he made came undone and it was sliding back and forth and was resting up against the bone, as it had done with the larger battery.  He agreed, once he had the pocket open and the battery out, that I was right and it should have been moved when I had the first surgery.  The battery is now in the muscle of my mid-back, about 1.5" to the left of my spine.  Well, it's supposed to be there.  I think the doctor is going to be surprised when I go in for my follow-up check up to see that it's already popped out of the pocket he made for it.  But after he hears why, I think he'll understand a lot better why.

This was only the 2nd time that I've kind of had a bit of complications after a surgery.  The first surgery I had complications afterwards was my hysterectomy back in 1996 and they suspect that was caused because my appendix burst just as the doctor did the incision.  That was one of the first things I remember him telling me about when I regained enough of my senses after that surgery to recall anything.  He said he got the surprise of his life because it was the last thing he expected.  I ran a fever for nearly 2 weeks after that surgery.  The 2nd surprise with that surgery was finding out I was allergic to the surgical staples they'd used to close my incision with.  With this surgery, the doctor used a special glue to close the incisions.  I have two, one for the old pocket and one for the new pocket.  Both are maybe 3.5 inches long, if that and they might be 5 inches apart and both on the left side.  I'm glad my doc knows how to make a straight line.  ;0)

My husband and I really debated on if I should reschedule my surgery or not because his father had been admitted to our local hospital, I think it was on Sept 6th, where he spent a few days, before being transferred to a larger hospital where he underwent surgery for a possible bowel obstruction.  They did not find an obstruction, but the doctor did repair several small hernia's.  Overnight, after surgery, his heart started racing and they thought it best to transfer him to the ICU department.  They did a procedure to get his heart back in rhythm then he started having problems breathing and had to be put on a vent to help him breath.  There was some debate over this for awhile but I'm not going to get into that here.  I talked with a few members of my husband's family about if I should go through with my surgery or if I should reschedule it and those I talked with all said I should go ahead and get it done.  The night before, hubby and I talked and debated for a couple hours and I stayed up all night, going back and forth about it.  I had my hand on the phone to pick it up to cancel when I heard my hubby's alarm go off so he could get ready to go and I thought to myself that I'd better get it over with and I got dressed and now here I am, a month later, wishing I'd picked up that phone because 6 days after my surgery, my father-in-law passed away and I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to him since I was recovering from surgery when he was moved to hospice and it was suspected that he had MRSA in his lungs and it was too risky for me to go see him.

Back in 2010, when we lost my husband's mother, it was difficult.  She had heart problems and really started going downhill when Dad had surgery for an abdominal aneurysm in December of 2009.  He spent 17 days in ICU after that surgery, another 13 or 14 in a step-down unit at the hospital, then 2 weeks at a nursing home before he finally came home.  The same day we brought him home from the nursing home, we brought Mom home from respite care at hospice.  She passed away 3 weeks later, just after Dad had been re-admitted to the hospital for a UTI.  He was released from the hospital the morning of her funeral.  My husband was recovering from his first shoulder surgery at that time and although it was hard on both of us (me with my back problems and him with a bum shoulder), we were both thankful to have had those 3 weeks with both of his parents together.  (Yes, we moved in with them during that time to care for them.)

I almost forgot, October 10th, we had stopped to get a price quote on some items to do a home improvement project we want to work on soon (we're going to put a new door in) and decided to pick up dinner on the way home.  The main drag through town is a 4 lane highway with a lot of traffic lights and we were the first vehicle waiting at the red light.  Hubby and I were just chatting idly, about what, I have no clue now, when I saw the light change and the car to the left us took off like it had been shot out of a cannon.  All of a sudden, I felt a jolt go through me.  The car behind us took off before we did and ran into us!  Hubby hadn't even lifted his foot off the brake pedal yet.  The guy behind us hit us hard enough it pushed our car about 6 feet from where we'd been.  Thankfully there was no damage to either of our vehicles, but the jolt I felt left both my legs and feet numb for a few minutes and we thought it best if I went to the ER and got checked out.  The next day I felt as if I'd been hit by a train.  I still need to schedule my follow up visit yet but I don't think there is any lasting damage but won't know for sure until after my check-up.

There is some good news...I signed up with my first indie company to do a review and got my first polishes to swatch and review!  :D  Those came in the mail on the 10th (I had them on my lap when our car was hit and the first thing I said to the EMT when they leaned in the car was "You'd better take care of my nail polish!" ) and I'm very much looking forward to posting my review of them in the next few days now that things are starting to get back into a bit of a routine again around here.  I've really missed doing my nails (I've only painted them maybe twice) over the last few weeks.

Thank you all for sticking around and waiting patiently for me.  I appreciate each and every one of you who've stayed with me over this last year.  That is something else I missed, my first year blogiversary.  I'll try to get something going next month to celebrate it or maybe wait until December and do a bigger Christmas give-away.  What do y'all think?  Huggles to you all!

Give-Away is now over and a winner has been drawn!

Good early morning, darling readers!  Just a quick note to let y'all know I have drawn a winner for the Our Birthaversary Give-Away.  I have e-mailed her and she has 48 hours to respond.  If I do not hear from her, then I will draw another winner after midnight Tuesday evening.

I would like to thank everyone who entered and is now following my little blog.  I hope you all decide to stick around and see what is next here.  My blog anniversary is coming up (October 2nd) and I'll be doing another give-away then to celebrate.  :0)

Thank you for spending a few minutes with me tonight!  Huggles to all and Goodnight!

It isn't Sunday, but it's a Funday anyway...

Good morning darling readers!  I'm back again with another polish from the China Glaze Spring 2013 Collection - Avant Garden, this one is the third of six I am sharing.  This color is called "Sunday Funday".  It's a bright blue creme and I like this one better than the first two I've shared.  I used one coat of China Glaze Strong Adhesion as my base coat, two coats of color, and to finish it off, I used one coat of Out The Door topcoat.  I thought this one went with my skin tone much better than the first two have and I know I'll be using this one much more often.

I broke my middle nail just after I removed "Mimosa's Before Mani's" so you'll notice it's a tad shorter than the rest of my nails.  I was hoping it wouldn't be too noticeable but then I went and broke the nail on my ring finger too, so I'll be filing the rest of my nails to match.  I am a reformed nail biter and even though it's been a few years since I last bit them, they still have moments when they feel very thin and will peel off.

What do you think of Sunday Funday?  Do you have any recommendations on how I can help strengthen my nails so peeling won't be so much of an issue?

As always, thank you for taking a few moments of the day to spend with me.  Huggles!

*tomorrow, "Tart-y For The Party"

Today, Mismoa's Before Mani's...

DISCLOSURE:

*polishes in this post were won in a give-away*

Good morning darling readers.  Today I have the second of six of the China Glaze Spring 2013 Collection - Avant Guard.   This is "Mimoa's Before Mani's".  This is an orange-leaning coral color with a slight shimmer.  I used China Glaze Strong Adhesion for my base coat, two coats of color, and to finish it off, I used one coat of China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.  To me it seemed this polish was a little on the thin side and it applied streaky on the first coat, but the second evened it out nicely.  As with "Keep Calm, Paint On", I thought it made my hands look pale.  I do think this would be a great stamping color for me, but not as an overall color.

So far, with this collection, I feel a little 'meh'.  Maybe once we get to the bolder/darker colors, I'll find one that perks my interest better.

What do you think of the first two polishes I've shown you?

As always, thank you for spending a few moments of your day with me.  Huggles!

*next up, "Sunday Funday"

China Glaze Spring 2013 Collection - Avant Garden

DISCLOSURE:

*polishes in this post were won in a give-away*

Good afternoon, darling readers.  I hope you each had a wonderful week-end!  I'm a little later getting this post up than I had planned to be.  I'll be back on track tomorrow.  This week I'll be covering six of the China Glaze's Spring 2013 collection.  It is called Avant Garden.  I won these from Of Life and Lacquer back in March, when she had a give-away for them.  The six I have are called:  :Sunday Funday", "Mimosa's Before Mani's", "Tart-y For The Party", "Keep Calm, Paint On", "Fade Into Hue", and "Fancy Pants".

We're going to start this week off with "Keep Calm, Paint On".  It's a very pale minty/sea foam green color with a slight shimmer.  I wore this with a coat of China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat, two coats of nail color, and a coat of China Glaze Fast Forward as my top coat.  The first coat of polish went on just a bit splotchy, but it evened up nicely on the second one.  I'm not really sure that I like this color on me, I thought it made my already pale hands look even paler.  This one may be  going into my blog sale box.

Sorry about the clean-up not being so good.  I thought I had it all done, then that mess showed up when I took the photo's.  Clean-up is still something I'm working on though, so please bear with me.

Do you have any polishes from this collection?

Thank you for taking a moment of your day to spend with me.  Huggles!

*tomorrow, "Mimosa's Before Mani's"

August 2013 Ipsy Bag

Good morning, darling readers!  Third day in a row for a new post, I think that is a personal record, for me.  lol  I'm going to try to start posting more, after all, I do have nearly 300 polishes in my collection right now and I haven't even begun to get them all on my nails yet.  I'm currently working on six of China Glaze's Spring 2013 Collection-Avant Garden.  I won these in a give-away that Of Life and Lacquer had back in February.  I thought it about time to break them out and share them with you.  So that will be what is coming up this next week.  I hope you like them as much as I have been.

And now, for today's post, my August Ipsy bag!  The theme this month is Glamour Academy!  With a lot of schools and colleges starting classes this month, I felt the theme appropriate.  The bag itself is a purplish-magenta color with gold Glamour Academy emblems on it.  I love purples, so this bag will get quite a bit of use, even though the emblems aren't one of my favorites.  I did forget to get a photo of all the products together but I do have them individually.  Enjoy!

More after the jump.

July Ipsy bag...photo heavy!

*disclosure, all items in this post were

purchased by me.

Good morning my darling readers!  I hope this Saturday is treating you well, thus far!  Since coming home from our camping trip up north in early July, I've been in another pain flare.  That is the reason you haven't seen much of me on here.  It's steadily gotten to the point that it has interfered with my ability to walk and even stand up straight.  I did have a check-up with both of my doctors earlier this week and it was decided, while at the pain management doctor, to relocate the battery for my SCS as we're pretty sure it is what is causing this additional pain.  I do not have a surgery date, as of yet, but will let y'all know when I do as I'll probably have to take more time off from here during my recovery.  Since the doctor is going to put it up higher in my back into a larger muscle, I'll end up with two incisions instead of just one.  I'm a bit nervous about it not working out in the new location, but I won't know if it will work until we try it.  Keep your fingers crossed it works.  Now let's get to what today's post is about....the July 2013 Ipsy Bag!


More after the jump.

It's a birthday...no, it's an anniversary...wait, shall we call it a birthaversary instead? Either way...it's a GIVEAWAY!

*disclosure, polish provided by

 Blue Eyed Lacquer for give-away* 

Good afternoon, darling readers!  It's FRIDAY!  Do you have any plans for the week-end?  Today happens to be my grandson's first birthday!  I have no idea where this past year has gone, as it's gone so quickly.  He just started walking on his own so now we have a mobile monkey to keep an eye on! lol

Back in June, as I was thinking about how my hubby and I could celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, I also started thinking about how I could share the occasion with y'all.  I ended up contacting my friend, Julie, over at Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl and we began discussing creating a custom nail polish. That is when Dream Weaver was born and why.  It is my little "Thank You" for celebrating our anniversary, and now, my grandson's first birthday with us.  I have decided to call this Our Birthaversary Give-Away.  Our anniversary was actually on July 12th, but due to my pain issues sneaking up and taking over, I hadn't posted the give-away, nor Julie's original guest post, until now.  Without further ado, for those who aren't familiar with her already, and for those who are, let's meet Julie and Dream Weaver!  

More after the jump:

Have you seen this before? It has me baffled.

Hey y'all! It's August and I'm not sure where the time is going. July just slipped by. My hubby and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on the 12th and our grandson will be turning a year old the 23rd of this month! I was going to have a give-away last month to celebrate our 25th anniversary and even created a polish with the wonderful Julie, from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer, but then we took a trip up north to get together with some friends from one of my pain support groups and I've been struggling since we got back home with the pain. I started getting muscle spasms in a new place just before we left on our trip and they've gradually been getting worse. The last couple of days, I've noticed that my right hip has decided to start lending it's voice into this chorus and today decided that I've had enough and am going to do something fun despite it.  I'll be doing the give-away next week and will be turning into a combo Belated Anniversary/Birthday Give-Away. :D  Now,  let's get on with what we're here to do, shall we? :)

 I stripped off my old polish to find this.

Can you see the black lines on my index finger and middle finger nails?  I have absolutely no idea what it is or where it came from.  I'll try to get a better photo up here in just a bit so you can have a better look at whatever it is.  I was just in a hurry for y'all to have a look at whatever that is and to see if maybe someone else knew whatever it is.  To me, it almost looks at if someone took a marker to my nail.  Looking at it from the underside of my nail, you can't tell it's even there unless I hold my finger at a certain angle.  If any of you nail techs out there have any ideas, could you please let me know.  Growing my nails out another few weeks and clipping or filing it off  will be the plan for now, unless a tech thinks it's a medical problem that needs to be addressed asap.  I do have a appointment with my primary care doctor on August 21st and if it is still there, will show it to her, just in case it's something medical.

Anyway, that is what has been up with me the last few weeks.  I hope all has been well with y'all.  Don't forget, I will be starting a give-away next week!  Have a great day y'all and as always, thank you for spending a few minutes of your day with me. :) Huggles!

6:23 pm---I replaced the photo above with one that was of better quality and have added this second one.  Anyone have any ideas what it might be?  I have a little irritation going on at the cuticle too.  :(  Not quite sure what I did to that.

D'oh, it would have been nice if I had remembered to include the photo, huh?  lol

Google Friend Connect Reminder

Good early morning, darling readers!  This is just a quick reminder that Google Friend Connect is supposed to be going away as of July 1, 2013.  If you aren't already subscribed another way, please either sign-up to continue reading my blog via e-mail or through Bloglovin' below. Thank you! Follow my blog with Bloglovin

June Ipsy has arrived!

Good afternoon, my darling readers!  How is everyone this HOT afternoon?  I hope y'all are able to keep yourselves cooled off.  My a/c isn't working so it's hot, HOT, HOT here!  And the heat has made my pain levels go a little off the rails the past few days so I've been behind in getting things done.  To the winner of my give-away, I do apologize, your prize package will be going out with the mail first thing in the morning and I'll e-mail the tracking number to you!  Now let's get on with why we're all here....today it's not nails, but make-up!  That's color too, right?  *grin*

I received my Ipsy glam bag last week and let me tell you, I am so in love with the bag itself!  Anything cheetah print is just too cute, in my opinion.  Even though I don't wear it myself, I think it's just too adorable on those who can and do wear it.  I might be able to wear it, in all honesty, I've never really tried before.  Most of y'all have probably already seen what other bloggers who belong to Ipsy have already posted, but let's take a look at what I received this month, shall we?

I always love seeing this pink bubble mailer in my mailbox.  I always know it's Ipsy time!

The theme for June is "On The Wild Side".  On the back of this card is discount offers from all the companies that had products in the bag this month.  Not everyone received an item from each company but it's nice they offer a discount to every member any way.

Isn't it adorable?  I forgot to get a shot of the inside of the bag, but it's the same color as the zipper, a neon green, which for some reason looks yellow.  Forgive my camera please.

And now for the items I received: Cailin Line-Fix Gel Eyeliner in Purple, Chella Ivory Lace Highligher Pencil, J.Cat Sparkling Cream Palette in Volta, NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Glow, and Starlooks Liplining Pencil in Bare.

The cost break-down:

Cailin Line-Fix Gel Eyeliner          $21.00

Chella Highligher Pencil                $18.00

J. Cat Sparking Cream Palette     $  4.49

NYX Rouge Cream Blush           $  6.00

Starlooks Liplining Pencil             $12.00
                              Total Value  $ 61.49

All of my items were full size, except the Chella Highligher Pencil, which was a deluxe size.  I did list it at a full-size price in the break down as they didn't have a size listed on their full sized one on their website and the one I received has a different cap and does look smaller.

For those not familiar, Ipsy is a monthly subscription service you can sign up for that cost $10 a month.  You can take a quiz to find your own beauty profile and they base the product that is in your bag to your profile.  It may take a month or two for it to become a bit more custom to you, but they will get it eventually. :)  They also started something brand new in the month of June and that is the ability to leave feedback on what you receive in your bags and you can rate it from Yes, I'd love to receive it again! to No, I never want to get that again! which I think is awesome.  Sometime there is a wait list, so if you want to sign up, I wouldn't wait.  And if you'd like to help a gal out, here is my handy dandy referral link.  If two people sign up, I may get a little extra something in my next bag!

As always, thank you all for spending a few moments of your day with me and please, stay cool, we don't want any of you getting heat stroke!  Huggles!

We Have A Winner!

Good early, early Monday morning or late, late Sunday evening (depending on where yiou are) y'all!  I just wanted to do a quick post to let y'all know:

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

In the May NAS Kit Give-Away.  I would like to be the first to say Congrats to ERIN O!  Erin has been e-mailed and has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be drawn.  I also wanted to say Thank You to everyone who entered.  

Over the last few days I've been playing around with my kit and I will start posting the results I got with it over the next couple of days so please be on the lookout for those.

Again, congrats to Erin!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

May NAS Kit and A Give-Away!

Good morning my darling readers!  I hope this early Tuesday morning is finding you well.  I'm up early because hubby is on the early shift starting today.  Sometimes working swing shift work completely sucks, but he's been doing it nearly 23 years now.  Day shift just happens to be the shift we least like since we're both more night owls than early risers.  He works in a glass factory that makes drinking glasses, bake wear, and the like.  The machine he runs usually produces mixing bowls, baking dishes, lids, and things like that.  Our youngest child also now also works there and just became a journeyman machine operator last year after completing his 4 year apprentice program.  We're very proud of him for his accomplishment as in this day and age, most people are lucky to have a job let alone one that pays fairly well and offers benefits.  I count ourselves very blessed at the moment and we keep our fingers crossed both will stay gainfully employed for some time to come.  And now onto what y'all are here for, nail stuff!  :0)

Most everyone who is a member of Nail Art Society has received their May kits and posted and ooohh and ahh'ed about them, well, except me (there may be a few others as well and I'm sorry for your delay too and hope you got the same fabulous customer service I've received!).  I got a tracking number and waited.  Tracked the package, but it had no activity.  A few days later, I was e-mailed a different tracking number, so I figured the first one either hadn't gone out or something happened to it, so I started tracking the second package.  Out from California it went and I thought eastward it would come.  The next destination it hit was Seattle Washington.  I thought, okay, it's taking the scenic route.  By the time it was all said and done, it was delivered to an address in Juneau Alaska.  That's a long way from the southeastern part of central Ohio, right?  So over Memorial Day week-end, I e-mailed customer service and CC'd Tia (the owner of NAS) to let them know about the mix-up (I'd either been e-mailed a wrong DC number or the package mailed to the wrong location) and I got a response from Tia herself, which I really didn't expect.

To make a long story short, Tia apologized for the error and said because of the inconvenience that she would send me 2 kits.  The level of customer service I received, well, I can't say enough about it because Tia went above and beyond anything I expected.  I thought maybe I might get a nice, form e-mail to say thank you for letting us know of  the error and we'll get your kit to you as soon as we can and that would be the end of it.  I never expected a 2nd kit, nor it to be mailed to me via priority mail.  Because of her generosity, I have decided to spread the love and share the 2nd kit with one of y'all!  If you haven't seen what is included in this kit yet, prepare yourself, I think it is the best one they've put together yet!

More after the jump.

Aggreviation!

I was going to post a give-away, starting last night, but it seems as if the hard drive in my desktop computer had decided to bite the dust.  Soooo it will be a couple more days before I can get this give-away started while I retake and edit photos. Please bear with me in the meanwhile.  Thanks!

My storage....photo heavy.

*Nothing to Disclose*

Good evening, darling readers.  I hope this Friday is finding you all well.  It's a rainy evening here in the southeastern part of central Ohio and I've been listening to the thunder bounce around in the hills where I live. Most of the time it is really hard to tell where it really originates from because it echoes so much.  I've had a lot of people tell me, that until they've come to this part of Ohio, they didn't realize we had so many hills and valleys.  Yep, Ohio is hilly in some spots.  And we have some wonderful places to explore all over the state.  I just happen to like our part of the state because we have caves, cliffs, and a lot of lakes to go fishing or swimming in.  I live just a few miles outside of what is known as The Hocking Hills.  Besides the state of Vermont, this area is known in October for having some of the best fall views in the US.  Unfortunately, because of my physical limitations, I can't enjoy it as much as I did when I was younger, but we do go for drives down in the hills a lot just to enjoy the views and get out of our own little world for a bit. Sometimes that is just what the doctor ordered.  :0)

More after the jump.

April NAS Gold Ticket Prize!

DISCLAIMER:  Items received in this post were received as a prize in a monthly subscription plan of which I pay for out of my own pocket.  This in no way influences my opinion of the product one way or the other as I will always provide honest feedback.

Good late Friday night/early Saturday morning, darling readers.  I hope this evening/morning is finding you all well.  It seems that summer has found it's way to the southeastern part of central Ohio already.  It's been hot and humid all day despite a thunderstorm that started the day and fog so thick you couldn't see your hand when you waved it in front of your own face.  It's late evening/early morning and still 70 degrees outside.  If it weren't for the fact that my hubby works in the furnace room of a glass factory (it can be upwards to almost 300 degrees in some areas in there for brief periods of time) and he tends to get cold when it's under 80 degrees, I would turn the a/c on.  Time enough for that later, I suppose, when the weather gets warmer since it is only May, right?  I have a feeling this is going to be a HOT summer.  Thankfully I have nail polish and y'all to help distract me this year.  :0)

Last month, when I received my April Nail Art Society (NAS) kit, I also was one of five people who also was lucky enough to receive a gold ticket in with my items.  This gold ticket entitled the holder to an extra goodie, provided they followed the directions and properly claimed their prize.  As of the last time I heard, only four people had come forward to claim their prizes so NAS was going to come up with an alternate way to give the 5th prize away.  I probably should go check to see what they came up with, but haven't done so yet.  Anywho, I finally got my prize in the mail about 10 days ago.  I would have posted about it as soon as I received it, but there was a slight little problem with it and I had to wait on part of it to be replaced, which it finally has been.  So now I can share with y'all what my Gold Ticket prize from my April NAS kit was.  :0)

Without further ado, the photo's of my Gold Ticket prize:

The bubble envelope bag my prize came in.  Mr. MoJo has decided to be guard kitty instead of inspection kitty this time.  After I took this photo, he didn't want me to touch the bag and kept attacking my hands every time I reached out for it.  lol

Mr. MoJo finally lost interest in the package and decided to knead bread on the red fleece blanket instead.  Thankfully I wasn't under it that time.  I still have a couple of bruises from the last time he decided to knead bread while I was under the blanket.  He mixes bread quite hard!

The first item I pulled out of the bag was for the LVX brand.  I had heard of it before, but didn't know much about it until after I received this.  Still don't know a whole lot, but like what I know thus far.  :0)

Are these fancy boxes?  I was surprised to receive two!  I decided to keep the boxes just in case I decide to trade later on.  You never know.  :0)

This is a 3-in-1 treatment and this is how it looked when I took it out of the box.  It had leaked and just under 1/4 of the bottle was gone.  I sent a message off to NAS on their Facebook page and had a response back within minutes, letting me know that they would have a replacement out to me as soon as they could.  This sells for $18 on their website.

And here is the replacement.  I received this either last Friday or this past Monday.  And guess what I got in the mail yesterday?  Yes, a 2nd replacement bottle.  I sent another message today asking if I should return it to LVX or to NAS and was told to keep it or to share it with a friend.  So guess what is going into the box of items I have stashed away for a give-away I want to do soon?  ;<)

And this is what was in the other box.  This color is called Viridian and is an Emerald Green opaque creme.  It's based on the Pantone Color of the Year for 2013, which is Emerald.  This is $16 on their website.  I don't usually wear a green color unless it is on the darker side, but I did promise Tia at NAS I would try it out and I am actually wearing it on one hand right now and it doesn't look too bad.  This one looks more like  green, green grass than an emerald green but I do believe there are several different shades of emerald green that range from a pale green and goes all the way  to almost a pine green.  I will try to post the  mani  I'm currently wearing within the next few days.

Overall, even though it's a color I probably won't wear very often, I am really happy with my Gold Ticket prize and didn't expect the value to add up to what it has.  I didn't use the 3-in-1 as my base coat since I needed a ridge filler (I've devloped really bad ridges on 3 or 4 of my nails in the last couple of months) but I did use it as a top coat and it seems to be holding up really well despite washing quite a few dishes without using gloves (can't stand those things!), cooking dinner, washing more dishes, and typing quite a bit today.  LVX is definitely a brand I can see myself splurging on once in a great while.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my May NAS kit to see what kind of KISS products that were chosen for me.  I've already seen a sneak peek and it looks like it's going to be a great kit!

For those not familiar with it NAS is Nail Art Society, which is a monthly nail art subscription plan that cost $9.95 per month.  Right now there is a wait list so you have to sign up and they will e-mail you as soon as a spot opens up.  I have no idea how long it might take to come off the wait list though.  Currently, they do not have a referral program so I won't get anything special if you sign-up using the link at the bottom of this page.  If that ever changes, I will change the link to reflect that. :)

What do y'all think of my Gold Ticket prize?  Would you have been excited to receive it?  Have you ever used LVX before and if so, what do you like/not like about it?

As always, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to spend some time with me this evening/early morning.  Sleep well for those going to bed and for those staying up or already well into your day, please have a good day.  I shall return again soon.  :0)  Huggles!

Nail Art Society can be found here at this link

Three months of Ipsy, starting with May....

DISCLOSURE:  Referral Link contained within this post.

All items were paid for out of my own pocket and were not provided by any company mentioned.

Thank you for reading!

Good early morning (or late evening, depending on where you are) darling readers!  I apologize for being gone so long.  My surgery went well and I'm nearly healed.  My new SCS battery is working very well and doing a good job for me.  Right now I only have a few settings, but will be meeting with the company rep again at my next doctor's appointment to do some more programming and that will make me a very happy patient.  :0)  This new system I have is called an Eon Mini and is half the size of my previous system.  It's also rechargable, which means I can recharge the battery when it needs it.  I usually don't wait until it needs it however, I charge on a weekly schedule because it's easier for me to remember.  The old system, I would plug my charging unit into the wall and then put the antenna where it needed to be and sit as still as I could while it did it's thing.  This new system, I can take with me.  It's completely portable!  Once I'm done charging, then I can recharge the charging unit with a wall charger.  Kind of neat, but it's also kind of a pain in the tush because my charging sessions are now longer.  Before, they were 45 minutes to an hour long and now they are just short of 2 hours, so far.  I far prefer the shorter charging time even if it means the inconvenience of sitting still for an hour so if, in 7 to 10 years, when this battery reaches its end of life and there are no other options and I can have a choice, I am going to see if I can go back to the other type of system unless I can get used to this one in the meantime.  Okay, enough of my complaining about medical stuff and onto the nail, or in case of today's post, make-up, stuff!  :0)

Today, I have for you, three months worth of Ipsy! Back in mid-January, I read a review on someone's blog about a subscription service called MyGlam or Ipsy as it is now known.  For $10 a month, members receive between 4 to 6 deluxe or full-sized samples.  On the website, you can upload or view member videos and partipate in product discussions.  There is also a new referral system that just started in May.  If you would like to join Ipsy, you can do so here.  At the time I read about it, Ipsy had a waiting list, so I didn't get my first bag until I came off the wait list at the end of March.  But since I just received my May bag, I am going to start with that one and work my way backwards to my first bag I received in March.  :0)  Since this is going to be a long post, I will add a jump after I am finished with May's bag.

Without further ado, a photo of what was included in my May bag:

The theme for the month of May is:  Spring Fling!  I think the colors of the bag reflect this very well.  I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself if I had gone to the store, but now that I have it, I do like it.

Normally all Ipsy bags are very similar with only 1 or 2 items slightly different, but this month, there were quite a lot that were very different from each other as there were several different item options.  From left to right, these are the items I received with suggested retail prices.

Pacifica Coconut Crushed Pearl Bronzing Body Butter 2 oz tube $7

Zoyz Nail Lacquer $8

Yaby Concearler in Buff $5.06

Mirabella Perfecting Powder $30

Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink $12

Total value of bag $63.06

Same items, but with the boxed items unboxed.  Now you can see the color of Zoya I received.  It's my favorite color, purple!  The name of it is Julie.  I'll be trying it very soon.

An inside view of the bag.  Very pretty!

And that is my May Ipsy bag.  Do you subscribe to Ipsy?  If so, what did you get that was different?  Were you able to take advantage of the referral program to earn either of the bonus items?

What I did with my April NAS kit...

Good early morning, my darling readers.  I hope y'all are doing well.  Last night I decided to do something with the Kiss Artist Paints and Tip Guides set that came in my April Nail Art Societ kit and this is what I came up with.  Without further ado, the photos:

Both photo's were taken outdoors, in natural light.  For my base coat, I used Nail Nation 3000 Green Apple base coat, then I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Hard to Get as the base of the design.  I didn't want to go with anything in particular so I did an abstract and each nail is slightly different.  I used the Turquoise striping paint first and brushed it on, let it dry, then brushed on the Lavender striping paint.  Then finally, I used the Hot Pink striping paint.  I had a lot of fun using each of these.  This was the first time I've used striping paints even though I've had some for quite awhile.

This was before I added a top coat of Seche and before cuticle oil.  My cuticles are super dry right now.  Sorry y'all had to see them that way.

For those interested, I have a peek at my SCS equipment.  This is the St Jude Eon Mini that was implanted last Tuesday into my upper left buttock area.

At the top, leads plug into it and go up into my spinal canal.  The object of this is to interupt the pain signals before they reach my brain and replace it with a slight tingling sensation (electronic pulse) before I feel the pain.  I have two of these leads, photo below.

And finally, there is a remote that I have that operates the system.  It has different programs that allows me to change the sensation that I want to feel.  

That is the SCS in a nutshell.  The previous battery I had was double the size of this little mini I have now.  The life span of the battery is 8 to 10 years but my doctor tells me to expect about 7 years because of how I use it, 24/7/365.  I rarely ever turn my system off unless I am having medical tests done that requires it to be turned off, like an EKG or CT Scan.  

Do you ever just do abstract art on your nails?  If I had added rhinestones, do you think that would have been 'too much'?

As always, thank you for taking a few moments of your day to spend with me! Huggles!

A completely non-nail related post...

Good evening, darling readers! I thought, while I was up and feeling up to it,  I would take a few minutes to let those who are interested know that my surgery went okay today.  I also thought I would explain what a spinal cord stimulator is and what it does because I'll probably refer to it from time to time and some people may ask themself "What the heck is she talking about?" :)

A Spinal Cord Stimulator, or SCS for short, is kind of like a pacemaker, only instead of regulating the heartbeat, it gives off a gentle electrical stimulation or vibration that takes the place of their pain.  A lot of times, they are used as a last resort after other methods of pain control, or other treatments have failed.  If you've ever used a TENS unit,  it kind of feels like that, only everything is internal instead of external.  If you haven't, the best way I could explain it would be is that it kind of feels like sitting in a massage chair.

There are 3 major companies who make the stimulators right now:  Boston Scientific, Medtronics, and St Jude.  I have St Jude.  Most of the people I know who have them have Medtronic models.  They all work on the same principal though.  My original implant was done in October 2004 and was done with a non-rechargeable system that was supposed to last 3 to 5 years.  Two yearrs, 2 months, and 2 weeks later, it died, so I was put on the list to have it replaced, which is called a revision.  Four months later, I finally had my revision done.  This time, I got a new type of system that allowed me to recharge the battery when it started to go low and it had a longer life-span, 8 to 10 years.  I had that revision done on my hubby's birthday, January 16, 2007.  :)  A year later, I had to have a revision done on the lead wires that run from the battery to the wires in my spinal cord because one of them had quit working, so I had that done.  And now, 5 years later, here I am, recovering from another battery revision, but this time, there is another, better system.  During the surgery, the doc makes a little pocket, using the person's body fat, to tuck the battery into.  Today, part of my surgery was to repair the pocket because I've lost 105 pounds over the last couple of years and the pocket the last battery was in was way too large to hold the battery and it was resting up against a bone, which was causing more pain instead of helping, like it was supposed to.

April Nail Art Society Kit and Surgery Update...

Good early Tuesday morning darling readers!  Today I have an update for you regarding my surgery.  It is finally scheduled and is just hours away!  I didn't mention it earlier because I was afraid if I did, I'd jinx it.  :)  It is 1:50 am here now and I have to be at the outpatient surgical center at 6:30 am this morning.  Surgery is supposed to start at 7:30 and will take about an hour to a hour and a half.  After about 30 to 45 minutes in recovery, I'll then have a programming session with the representative of the company who makes the spinal cord stimulator to set up enough programs to get me through the next 2 weeks until I meet them in the doctor's office for further programming.  Hopefully I will be home and comfy in my own bed by noon.  :0)

Let's get on to the April Nail Art Society kit shall we?  I just got it today and really liked it!  I did see a sneak peek of May's kit and think I'm going to LOVE that one as well.

The whole kit & ka-boodle.  What is that I spy there in the upper right corner?  Yes, it's a golden ticket!  It states on it, "Greetings to you, The Lucky finder of this golden ticket! From the Nail Art Society! Send us an email to (has a special email address) and claim your prize for a secret surprise!"  I have sent the email but have not received a reply as of yet.  I will let y'all know what the secret surprise is as soon as I find out what it is.  :<)

Kiss brand Nail Artist Paints and Tip Guides, also has some rhinestones included.  Colors are turquoise, pink, and lavender. 

These are called Love Stones.  They're all shaped like bows in different colors.  Very cute.

There was also a bottle of nail glue and a roll of aqua colored striping tape in this month's kit, as well as the decoration idea card titled Bows & Stripes.  On the back of the card it says there were 5 golden tickets sent this month, so I guess I am one very lucky lady to have received a golden  ticket.  For some reason, I feel like Charlie in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  lol

Do you want to take a guess as to what the secret prize could be?  Let me know in the comments.  :0)

As always, thank you for spending a little time with me today.  I will be gone a few days, recovering from my surgery and I hope, getting some nails done too, and painting some swatch sticks, since it I did receive those and got them all labeled and all I have to do now is put the polish on them.  Please take care y'all and I'll catch up with you in a few days to let you know how things went.  Until then, huggles!

Better late than never, March NAS Kit!

Good Wednesday afternoon darling readers!  I hope you all are having a great week so far.  For those who work a traditional Monday through Friday work week, we're over the hump and half way through now!  Before you know it, Friday afternoon will be here!  If you work a schedule such as the one in my household, swing shift with rotating days off, hump day is whenever it's the middle of the work week.  Today happens to be the day off for the other half so this next week, hump day will fall on Saturday.  It can be confusing for those not used to it, but we've been working with this schedule 23 years now and it works for us. :)

Today I have for you the March Nail Art Society Kit.  Better late than never, right?  I had heard a bit of grumblings from the midst of the great interwebs when people first started receiving this kit, especially since it was still under the old pricing structrure, and I could see where, for some, it might have been a bit disappointing, but for me, I liked it as I have every kit since I started with the club in December last year.  One of the biggest reasons I decided to try NAS was convenience.  Before I started this blog, I gawked at and over all the beautiful nail art that was being created and wondered where everyone got all the items they had used to create their beautiful works of art.  Then I found NAS and thought what a wonderful way to try different things without having to plan a shopping trip and maybe being disappointed because I couldn't find something I was looking for or having to buy online and wait 2-3 weeks for shipping.  It was already put together in one little convenient little package mailed right to my door!

Link to another Pinterest Board and Last Nail Wheel

Good early Tuesday morning.  Can you believe we're coming to the end of March already?  I can't believe there is almost three months gone of the year.  I do have a quick doctor update.  I have an appointment with a cardiologist Thursday afternoon.  Hopefully he'll give me clearance for surgery.  If so, my pain managment doctor can get me on his surgery schedule as soon as next week, which will be fantastic as my hubby will still be on vacation.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I had a request to put a link to my Pinterest board of the polish that I already own so I did.  You can find the link located at the top of my Current Polish Inventory page or by clicking here.  I also have the last of the 4 nail wheels in this series of wheels I've done.  I might do another set for the Wet & Wild polishes I own if my spoons don't arrive this week.  If they do, then I'll be working on those instead and will share those will y'all as I get each set of brands done.  And now, without further ado, for your viewing pleasure:

These are all Julep polishes I've received since joining Julep a few months ago.  Julep is a subscription plan that is $19.95 a month and has different style profiles based on a quiz profile you take when you join.  You can skip months at any time you want, even several in a row.  I do like their polish, but am going to be skipping my boxes with them for awhile while I try some other programs out for awhile to see if I get 'better bang for my buck' so to speak.  I have started getting the Ipsy bag as of last month and will review it, if everyone would like me to, although I would mainly like to keep this blog about polish.  Now, onto the polish, all at 1 coat, as I forgot the 2nd coat before I took the photo.  Ooops.

  Starting from the top and going to the right:

1. Bette
2. Ivy
3. Joan
4. Lynn
5. Madison
6. Marion
7. Molly
8. Morgan
9. Niecy
10. Oscar
11. Rebel
12. Rose
13. Trina

Some small changes and 2 nails wheels

Good early Sunday morning!  Since I missed yesterday, I decided to do 2 nails wheels today.  I have also done a couple of small changes.  I added a link to my Pinterest Wish List on the Wish List page.  This will probably be constantly changing as I add things and once in a great while, take things off, the list, as I change my mind.  I also have a board on Pinterest for polishes I currently own but it is still a work in progress.  If y'all want, I can also add a link to it.  Okay, let's get to today's nail wheels.  :)

The first one will finish up the China Glaze polishes I have.  Of these 16, 4 I have won, 3 I have worn, and the rest I just received within the last few days and haven't had the chance to do more with than just swatch onto the nail wheel yet.  For your viewing enjoyment, here is the China Glaze nail wheel #2:

Starting at the top and going to the right: (2 coats unless noted otherwise)

1. Splish Splash
2. Strawberry Fields
3. Sunday Funday (won in a give-away)
4. Tart-y For The Party (won in a give-away)
5. Want My Bawdy (won in a give-away)
6. Black Diamond
7. Coconut Kiss
8. For Audrey
9. Innocence (3 coats)
10. Evening Seduction
11. Limbo Bimbo
12. Moonlight (3 coats)
13. Re-fresh Mint (3 coats)
14. Sex In The City
15. Sexy Silhoutte
16. White on White (3 coats)

And here is the 2nd wheel for today.  This wheel is of mixed brands such as Orly, OPI, Zoya, and Savina.

Starting at the top and going to the right: (2 coats unless otherwise noted)

1. Orly Blue Collar
2. Orly Fowl Play (3 coats)
3. Orly Haute Red
4. Orly Naughty
5. OPI Have You Seen My Limo
6. OPI Lincoln Park After Dark
7. OPI Love Is A Racquet
8. Nicole By OPI Penny For Your Thoughts (3 coats)
9. Zoya Blaze
10. Zoya Jem
11. Zoya Juno
12. Zoya Isla
13. Zoya Tart
14. Zoya Tori
15. Fingerpaints Romaniticism Ruby
16. Savina Hearts
17. Savina Teal Shimmer

Do you have any of the above colors?  Do you have any of the above on your wish list?  OPI Lincoln Park After Dark was my very first OPI and I've used it sparingly because I've been afraid I wouldn't be able to replace it if I used it all, but it seems to be a popular color and I've since fallen in love with Zoya and several other brands as well so I've let loose of my OPI a little bit since I first bought it oh so many years ago.  Do you have a bottle that holds a special memory for you?

As always, thank you for spending a few moments of your day with me.  Have a wonderful Sunday!  Huggles!