Hobby Polish Bloggers Giveaway!

The Hobby Polish Bloggers facebook group have joined forces once again to offer an amazing giveaway!

The giveaway starts today, September 17 and ends September 30th. It's open worldwide to those 18+
(please see terms and conditions on the widget for more info)

Prizes include:

First place $165 USD

Second place $90 USD

Third place $75 USD

The giveaway is sponsored by these lovely bloggers:

A Little Polish http://alittlepolish.blogspot.com
acidicice http://www.acidicice.co.za
Addicted to Polish http://addictedtopolish.blogspot.com
BeginNails: Every Journey Has A Beginning http://www.beginnails.blogspot.com
B'Nails http://boomernails.blogspot.com/
Canadian Nail Fanatic http://canadiannailfanatic.blogspot.ca/
Carinae L'etoile's polish stash http://www.carinaeletoile.com
Copycat Claws http://www.copycatclaws.blogspot.ca
Doctor Crafty https://doctorcrafty.wordpress.com
Fashion Footing http://fashionfooting.blogspot.com
I Feel Polished http://www.ifeelpolished.com
Imperfectly Painted http://www.imperfectlypainted.com/
LacqueredGeek http://www.facebook.com/lacqueredgeek
Lavish Layerings http://www.lavishlayerings.blogspot.com/
Les essais beauté de Schette http://schette08.free.fr/essaisbeaute/
Lit From Within http://beautylitfromwithin.blogspot.com/
Lustrous Lacquer http://www.lustrouslacquer.blogspot.com
Manic Talons http://www.manictalons.com
Manicure Addict http://www.manicureaddict.com
Pamper with Polish http://www.pamperwithpolish.com
Peer Pressure Polish http://www.peerpressurepolish.com
Plump and Polished http://www.plumpandpolished.com
Polish Galore http://www.polishgalore.com
Polished and Glittered http://www.polishedandglittered.com
ProcrastiNails http://www.ProcrastiNails.com
Sammy Gail's Nails http://sammygailsnails.blogspot.com
Sassy Shelly http://www.sassyshelly.com
Shelby Lou Nails http://shelbylounails.blogspot.com
The Dalai Lama's Nails http://www.thedalailamasnails.com
The Polished Hippy http://thepolishedhippy.blogspot.com/
The Polished Mommy http://www.thepolishedmommy.com/
The Sparkling Hoard http://www.thesparklinghoard.com/
xoxo, Jen http://xoxojen.com

Good luck!!

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Hobby Polish Bloggers Giveaway!

The Hobby Polish Bloggers are having their first ever multi-blogger giveaway just in time for Halloween! To enter, please allow the Rafflecopter widget to load below. All Terms and Conditions may also be found in the widget. Please visit the following Hobby Polish Bloggers members who are bringing this to you! You may enter using Rafflecopter from any of the below blogs but your entry will only count one time. You may, however, tweet about the giveaway (the last option) once a day for the duration of the giveaway.

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Hobby Polish Bloggers


Carinae L'etoile

Fairly Charming

From Polish, with Love

Geniabeme

I Feel Polished

Imperfectly Painted

Kat Stays Polished

Lit From Within

Love. Varnish, chocolate and more...

Lucy's Stash

Manicure Addict

Manicurity

Pamper with Polish

Peer Pressure Polish

Polarbelle

polish insomniac

Polished and Glittered

Polished Prescription

PolishGalore

PolishNV

pretty tough nails

The Dalai Lama's Nails

The Sparkling Hoard

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Hobby Polish Bloggers - Summer Love

Ah, summer lovin'.  I remember one summer I spent in Mexico with my extended family.  I was in High School, and I met a boy that would become my first real boyfriend.

He was so sweet, just like this Sinful Colors Genteel, a pretty pink with a little shimmer.

At first, I was swept off my feet - so happy that I no longer needed to eat because I was no longer hungry; so giddy that I no longer needed to sleep.

It was hard to leave him and go home, but between the distance and the two-week intervals between our letters (real letters! No e-mail then.) our romance quickly cooled, and then ended.

So, I decided to do a French tip in an ombre, starting with a red hot holo, and cooling to heartbroken black.

Then I used a dotting tool to make hearts in the corresponding colors.

He was only my first boyfriend, and even though it was sad, I did *sniff* learn to love again.

In order of red hot to heartbroken, the bottle shot:  Sinful Colors Genteel (base color) Hits Ares, Bondi Fuschia-istic, Zoya Pepper, Zoya Paris, and OPI Black Onyx.

Have you ever had a summer love? 

Hobby Polish Blogger Challenge - Summer Fruit

How can I possibly pick *ONE* fave summer fruit?  It's like asking me to pick my fave way to eat potatoes.  Just can't do it (Wouldn't be prudent)

So I picked *A* fave.  I started with a brand that is new to me - Chaos & Crocodiles.  This is Nothing Sweeter, and when it comes to ripe fruit - or this pink polish, I guess that's true!

Really pretty shimmer!

Not too many pinkish fruits, I suppose!  There is usually some red coloring, too, which I emulated with Sally Hansen Beautiful Berry (how apropos) and some black dots, which I made with Nubar Black Polka Dot.

Have you guessed what fruit I'm trying to paint?  For a regular mani, I would have left it like this.  I rather like it!

But, this is a challenge mani, and I had to go the distance.  So I cut some fimo slices.

When I showed this mani to my hubby and asked him to guess the fruit, he said, 'Watermelon?' smh.

Yes, dear.  Because watermelon looks exactly like strawberries.  This is one of the reasons we do the grocery shopping together.  I should tell you that this man has a Ph.D.

Bottle shot!  Chaos & Crocodiles Nothing Sweeter, Nubar Black Polka Dot, and Sally Hansen Beautiful Berry.

Have you done a fruit mani?  Do my strawberries look like watermelons?!

Hobby Polish Blogger Challenge - 3D

Let's go back..back..back in time to last week, when I was supposed to do a 3-D mani instead of the neon one I did.

This is a polish that I've wanted to try for a long time, but just hadn't found a good price for a bottle of it.  It's OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress.  My fave OPI Red is SoHo Nice To Meet You (one of the few bottles I've almost finished!) and this is pretty close, though not a dupe for it.

For my 3-D effect, I decided to use tiny black studs on a rounded diagonal.  I think the studs came from Born Pretty Store.

I love how this came out - a little pretty, and a little badass.  These were not easy for me to work with!  A lot of them were stuck together, and, even after getting them apart, they wanted to stick to the dotting tool I used to apply them, and not my nail.

I'd do it again, though.  It's probably easier to just use polish and a dotting tool, but these are pretty cool looking.  Would you go through the trouble of positioning studs, or just use a dotting tool and black polish?

Hobby Polish Blogger Challenge - Skittle

I don't know why, but I find skittle manis to be among the most challenging!  I have a hard time finding 5 colors that belong together, but that aren't an ombre.

So, for this challenge, I decided to go with a collection from OPI... and a ringer, since I don't have the entire collection!

It's a pretty famous collection, so I'm sure some of you recognize it.  And some of you have even figured out which one doesn't belong.

It's the Shrek collection!  Index - What's With the Cattitude, middle - Who The Shrek Are You?, ring - Ogre the Top Blue, and pinky - Funky Dunky. The thumb is the ringer - I didn't have Rumples' Wiggin, so I used Butter London Muggins, which is supposed to be close.

Here are the true members.  Do you think they make a nice skittle?

Bottle shot.  Boy, does that Butter London look out of place! Muggins is first, then OPI WWTC, Who the Shrek are You? Ogre the Top Blue, and Funkey Dunkey.

I guess I really do need Rumples Wiggin, now!

Hobby Polish Bloggers - Recreate Your Favorite

Here we are, the last day of May, and the last entry for my Hobby Polish Bloggers May Challenge!  Whew, I made it!

I've reviewed the entries, and have chosen my favorite to recreate. And the winner was The Polish Playground, inspired by nature.  *golf clap*

I suppose it's a dubious honor, since the only prize is to have me try and copy your work... 

Illamasqua Serenity.  I new I was a nail polish fanatic when I spent the time to figure out how to both spell and pronounce "Illamasqua".  Totally worth it.  I love this color, and I didn't know it was a rubber finish when I chose it for this challenge, but I likey!

Then, I added the cutest fluffiest clouds ('They're so fluffy, I could DIE!") with a dotting tool and Sally Hansen White Tip.

OPI Black Onyx.  Not the greatest black for nail art, it gets kinda goopy.  Some of my seagulls got a little stringy.  And nobody likes a stringy seagull.

So dreamy...

Bottle shot:  Illamasqua Serenity, Sally Hansen White Tip, and OPI Black Onyx.

Hope I did Lisa of The Polish Playground proud with my rendition of her art.  If I were fishing for compliments in the comments, what would you write to me?

Can't wait to see what the other challenge participants create! 

Check out these other Hobby Polish Bloggers challenge manis!

Hobby Polish Bloggers - Inspired by the Beach

 

I live about 20 minutes away from many of the beaches in the Daytona Beach area, and, while I don't go very often, I like that it's nearby.  There's something magical about driving over the bridge over the Intercoastal, and seeing the Atlantic in the distance.

For me, the beach will be about blue skies and blue water.  So, I did a blue mani.

I used Models Own Beth's Blue, a creamy light blue, for all my fingers save my ring finger.  Love this color.

For my ring finger, and thumb striped accent, I used LynBDesigns Don't Torture Me!, a perwinkle with tiny flakies. Then, I dotted with Beth's Blue.  It's like the blue sky, frothy ocean, and fluffy clouds - a perfect day at the beach.

Bottle shots:  LynBDesigns Don't Torture Me! and Models Own Beth's Blue.

So, are you transported to the beach yet?  Can't you almost imagine the palm trees swaying in the breeze?

Check out these other Hobby Polish Bloggers challenge manis!

Hobby Polish Bloggers May Challenge - Inspired by Fashion

Aside from the Adventures in Stamping, I haven't really done a challenge before.  Usually, they are 30 days of different challenges every day.  This one is a little more loosey-goosey in that there are 4 challenges, and no set due date, so long as they're done sometime in May. 

The first one is inspired by fashion.  I interpreted this one as being inspired by MY fashion. 

I got this awesome dress 75% off.  That's fashion to me!

I got this awesome bracelet to go with it from Cheeky Vintage, a shop on Etsy run by a fellow polish lover.

And then I did my nails to match the dress pattern.  I started out with A-England Percival, a gorgeous red that simply glows.  I stamped with Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Pueen10.

Even in the bottle, Percival is gorgeous.

I love how the pattern looked so much like my dress!

I felt like a million bucks, though I spent so much less!  Have you done a mani inspired by fashion?  Did you look at your own closet, or at the runway?