Color Club Revvvolution and Fashion Addict Pt. 2: The First Swatch!

Hello, hello! So I have began the swatching and wearing of one of those fabulous Color Club holos! Though of course, being such the planner I am, I decided to wear a holo on a cloudy day. Not ONLY that, but I'm going to wear one on ANOTHER cloudy day!

But I don't care! I still have pictures of Color Club Fashion Addict using the lights of my apartment and flash of my camera. I wore Fashion Addict yesterday because I honestly just wanted some purple. I plan on trying Revvvolution over the weekend, which means the final in the Color Club Holo Trilogy will be complete hopefully by Monday :-)

And the moment you've all been waiting for...COLOR CLUB FASHION ADDICT! I will simply be spamming you with pictures, because words aren't really going to work :-)

The formula on these is pretty decent. A little thing, but perfect coverage in two coats. I've been told to be careful with base coat on holographic nail polishes, so this is no base coat. But I did use a coat of Gelous and China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat, in an attempt to increase the wear time, because holographic polishes are notorious for chipping (I was unsuccessful, they chipped in the shower :-(...)

Coming soon: Part 3: The Second Swatch!

Color Club Revvvolution and Fashion Addict Pt. 1: The Capture!

Good afternoon, lovelies!!!

So I'm a little lack luster this summer, because I work in a school and am off of work. Why does this limit my polish time? Well, I live in a VERY rural area 45 minutes from work at an inner-city school district. Well, when I'm working, I go to the stores after work more often than I should (oops!). However, I need to find excuses to get to the city. And yesterday I had one.

I've been ALL OVER central and northern NY state with my husband, who is on the job hunt for a math teaching position. He's had five interview offers this summer, the fifth interview being tomorrow. He's also teaching summer school, so the interviews take time from his planning and teaching, and it's been hectic helping him get everything together.

BUT. My husband had an interview 45 minutes north of our home yesterday, then had to head 50 minutes south of our home to his summer school job to prepare for the day he was missing to go to today's interview interview (At this point he's had an interview Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week!). So I drove him to let him work during the 50 minute car ride, dropped him off, did some birthday shopping for my mom, and of course...POLISH SHOPPING!

Now, I wasn't just perusing (though I was checking at the Sally's to see if they had the China Glaze On Safari collection, which they did not :-(...) I had heard from the lovely Jen at Jen's Nail Files that Color Club once had some beautiful linear holographic polishes. Anyone who knows my lemmings knows I have CRAVED some holographic polishes.  BUT, from my understanding, when the U.S. stopped the use of the holographic material, Color Club recreated their polishes to be shimmers rather than holos. However, if you look right, the holos are still kicking around.

SO I decided to go to my Color Club and OPI store of choice: Beauty PLUS Salon in New Hartford. I knew I went there for a reason! They carry lots of Color Club colors, and they must have been kickin' around for a little while, because...

Looks innocent, yes/no? Left: Revvvolution, Right: Fashion Addict

BAM! Holographic goodness (you can see the holo better on this color in the full-size pic, but in person it's marvelous!)

Even MORE holo goodness! (it's pretty obvious in this one!)

So the first part of this adventure, as in the hunt and success, are captured.

 Coming soon: Part 2: The swatch!

The time has come....MY FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY!

YUP, YOU READ RIGHT!!!!

I, Jessica at Sparkle and Shine Nailz, decided because of all of the B.S. with Facebook giveaways, that I'm going to use my first Rafflecoptor widget and do a Zoya Giveaway! (Though I don't know WHY I never used Rafflecoptor before, its much easier!)

Why a Zoya Giveaway? Well, first of all, we have reaches 600 likes on Facebook, HOORAY! And I just happened to have some awesome Zoya promo codes that I can use to share my love of the product with all of you :-D

Now, rules and expectations:
1.) Fill out ALL areas of the Rafflecoptor (I can check for questions left blank, as a heads up)
2.) Open only to where Zoya ships, which unfortunately I believe is only the continental United States (Sorry to my international friends, I will someday figure out a way to ship to you!)

3.) Winner will be able to choose TWO, I repeat, TWO Zoya polishes available on their website.

4.) Contest ends on July 22, 2012 at midnight EST!
4.) Be excited! It's summer, and your nails can look fabulous in the sunshine-y days!

Legal stuff I have to say:

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. I hereby release Facebook of any liability.

Winner(s) will be contacted by email 48 hours after the giveaway ends. If you have any additional questions, e-mail Jessica (Sparkle and Shine Nails) at sparkleandshinenailz@gmail.com

Polish prizes are not sent for giveaway, but are purchased by me for your enjoyment :-)

AND THE RAFFLE! Best of luck to all you lovelies!:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Try it on Tuesday 2-fer! FLOAM and a hidden treasure...

Hello, lovelies! So I'm on dance party cleaning duty today, but I wanted to get this up before I forget today, hehe.

So once again I am showing off in the fabulous Jill at Jilltastic Nail Design's Try it on Tuesday. Now, today I technically have TWO entries, a mani AND a pedi (which I normally don't show off, but had to today for a reason you will see), though one doesn't technically qualify for what TIOT actually is.

I'll start with one of my BIGGEST lemming's come to life. You all know I've been hard up for some Floam by Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-venturous, which is one of the coolest polishes out there besides linear holographic (my next big lemming, FYI!).  WELL lo and behold, Ninja Polish came through, I got the e-mail, and got me some Floam! It was fabulous service, got here within a week, and even had a smiley-face on the receipt (how awesome, right?). Because I technically just got Floam Thursday, it really shouldn't count as a TIOT polish. BUT it has been sitting in my stash since THURSDAY, and for Floam that's crazy!

And here is the amazing results!

In the shady part of my car (I couldn't resist taking these pictures while I was at the laundromat)

In direct sunlight

Indoors

This is done with China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat, two coats of Floam, one thick coat of Gelous, and one thick coat of China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat. I think two coats of topcoat would have been perfect, there is a slight bumpiness to the nail. I also think three coats of Floam will have optimum coverage, two coast did pretty good, but if you look close enough I can see bare speckles.

Part 2:

So not only did I decide to paint fabulous Floam on my finger nails, my toes were in need of a little TLC, and I haven't had time for a salon pedi. So I decided to try my Sally Hansen Xtreme-wear Gunmetal that I won in a nail-care basket for my Relay for Life team raffle (this part is my TRUE TIOT post). It was a beautiful gunmetal color, and could have been left alone without a care in the world, because it's gorgeous!

BUT! When can me, Jessica, queen of sparkles, ever just "leave something alone?" So I turned to one of my oldest and still lovely polishes, NYC Starry Silver Glitter. I bought SSG back in high school, when the local Wal-Mart first opened in my rural area of Central/Northern NY (I graduated in 2006, so not decades ago, but still 6-8 years having one bottle of polish).

And I've always thought it was cute when I used it, it has small silver glitter, with blue and lilac hex glitter. HOWEVER, I completely forgot about the holo-goodness in the small silver glitter! So, without further ado, here is SH Gunmetal and NYC Starry Silver Glitter!

Two coats of Gunmetal and one coat of SSG

Closer shot of the big toe

Blurry picture to highlight the holo-goodness!

Isn't that such a gem? It's uber-cheap (under $2), uber-cute, and uber-easy-to-find! Both polishes are easy to find, actually, at many drugstores/department stores (unlike my Floam mani counterpart!).

Be back soon with a possible post that EVERYONE will enjoy!

Jamberry Nails: I believe this is my first review!

Good evening all! So I've been having a great summer so far, I hope all of you are! I've spent lots of time at the lake, hanging out with family, drinking Alabama Slammers, and of course painting my nails, hehe.

However, I'm rather behind on some of my responsibilities to this page here! SOOOO This is my first duty: Quite a while back I received an offer for a free sample of Jamberry Nail Shields from independent consultant Carson Weir. Jamberry Nail Shields are pre-done nail art strips you stick to your nail, similar to those that Sally Hansen have done and OPI is coming out with. I have personally never used them until my experience with Jamberry, so it was neat try!

These are first of all, NOT pure polish like many of the other companies do. These strips are a thin pliable sheet that sticks to your nail and stays there after being pressed on and heated directly to the nail. No topcoat or basecoat is required, and actually not recommended.

The possibilities of designs is endless! Jamberry offers dozens of cute, fashionable designs from classic and subdued to hip and edgy. I received one strip of Mulberry Flower on White, which was enough to apply to both of my ring fingers as an accent nail. Each order comes with enough strips to do 2-3 manicures, which is nice!

And here's my pictures. First, though, I will apologize for the somewhat blurry pictures I always have. I always work with a basic 14 MP Kodak, so until I get an awesome camera my pictures are limited in quality :-( Someday though, I'll have an awesome camera that takes polish pictures with the ranks of some of my favorites, such as The PolishAholic and Love for Lacquer!

 As I said before, the pattern of the Jamberry nail shield is Mulberry Flower on White, found with their "Flower Power" designs. The pink polish is Zoya Kimber for the record.

Positives:
+Lots of fabulous designs for those like me who struggle with actual nail art.
+Not overly difficult to apply initially IF DONE RIGHT.
+Long durability if done right.

Negatives:
-If your nails aren't perfectly clean and dry, the strips have trouble sticking (especially to the end of the nail)
-Sizing may be tricky.
-Require heat to apply, which can get a little painful.

You can find Jamberry Nail Shields via any independent consultant, the one I received my sample from is Carson Weir found here. They are $15 for a set that does two-three manis. Right now, there is a buy 3 get 1 free sale, so if these types of nail art are your thing, go for it!

Me personally, even though I'm not good at making my own designs, I find more comfort in painting nails. But for those that like instant cute nails, I would suggest these :-)