Midnight Manicures One Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway!

Hi Folks!  Just as promised, my One Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway!  My blog anniversary is actually Mother's Day, but I wanted to be able to get the prizes to the winners by then if possible. This would not have been possible without some generous Companies and Friends, Thank You all!  This contest will run from April 1, 2012, 12:00am EST to May 1, 2012, 12:00am.  There will be 10 winners, please remember to list in order on the Rafflecopter form in which order if you are a winner, you would like to receive.  


Open internationally if allowed to ship prizes to that country.  28 entries available per person (except on the twitter and facebook daily option for additional entries).  If multiple entries are received, you will be disqualified.  Winners must answer emails with shipping address within 48 hours or new winners will be picked.


***More prize categories and items to present categories may be added, check back often.  You can fix the order of prizes if more categories are added, just go back to the entry form and edit.  If you would like have one of your polishes or products added to the giveaway, please email me at jeanie@midnightmanicures.com.  

Prize 1

Bracelet donated from GingerKittyDesigns.

You choose the colors from her list of polish.

Shown is the bracelet GingerKittyDesigns made for Katie Carzola of the The Painted Nail 

(and the great tv show the "Nail Files") to the Video Music Awards!

Prize 2

Lynnderella "The Glittering Crowd"

Donated by Llarowe.

Prize 3

Set of 8 mini's from SoFlaJo from her new Happy Hour Collection.

Donated by Jody at SoFlaJo.

Prize 4

3 polishes from Me!  A-Englands Bridal Veil, Hits Mari Moon Multichrome Darling 

and UpColors Flocado Viagem a 2!

Prize 5

Lemon Sugar Scrub donated by Kracked Kat.

Polish Holder donated by Lady Bug Nail Polish Holder.

Nail Stickers donated by Mystic Nails.

Impress Nails, Out The Door mini top coat, Sally Girl 

mini Cuticle Oil, Orly Nail Rescue and Sally Hansen Nail File by Me.

Prize 6

3 mini's - Pop Tart, Observatory and Galinda donated by Lacquer Convention.

Prize 7

Donated by Lori Hill Shadow, set of 3 Holographic Color-Changing Topcoats 

(shown over black).

Prize 8

Polishes by Girly Bits. You can pick 5 polishes total from the one's released previously and/or from the Newest Calendar Girls Collection - May, June, Julyx2 and August (coming out soon).

Prize 9

4 Franken's donated by Bloggers.

Glossy Mossy by No Naked Nails Allowed.

Pink Couture by Reflections, Sassy Nails, and Silly Diversions!

E=mc^2 and Copper-nicus by Elemental Styles.

Prize 10

3 Mini's from Domestic Goddess Polishes

Citrus, Black Eyed Susan and Algae

These polished are very Limited Edition and info will be released 

soon if they will be available to the public.  Stay tuned!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NK Nail Enamel - Charcoal Navy and Magical

Tonights manicure is NK Nail Enamel's Charcoal Navy and Magical.  This is an inexpensive brand ($1 each) that I recently discovered at one of my local beauty supplies. The application is really very easy and the wear is decent too.  

Two coats of Charcoal Navy.

One coat of Magical holographic top coat.  Flashes a beautiful green and blue.

NK Magical and Charcoal Navy.

What's your favorite inexpensive polish?  Are there any brands out there that you know of that most people don't?  If so, share with us!

Atena and Zeus from the Hits No Olimpo Collection

Tonight's swatches are from the Hits No Olimpo Holographic Collection.  Hits is Brazilian brand polish and one of my favorites from there.  They also have beautiful multi-chomes and flakies, I'll bring you more of all the collections soon.

My first swatch is Atena, a hot pink linear holograhpic polish.

Coverage was opaque in 2 coats and went on smooth.

Second swatch is Zeus, a charcoal gray linear holographic polish.

Again, 2 coats and no top coat.  

 Atena on left, Zeus on right.  They are 6ml (small) bottles, but worth it!

I love the theme of this collection.

I know you are thinking, how do I get my hands on an International Polish, almost impossible until this past year unless you knew someone or did a swap.  You can get these right here in the US and other countries (excludes Italy) from Llarowe.com now.  She carries many sought after International and Independent (Indie) brand polishes.  Shipping is very reasonable and free for orders over $50 in the US.  Check out her Facebook page at Llarowe.   Do you have Hits?  What are your thoughts about them?

Barielle's Myrza's Meadow - A Beautiful Spring Polish Color

Earlier today I entered Barielle's Glitter Polish Contest on their Facebook page.  I pulled out every single one of my glitter's from them last night and as pretty as they all are, Myrza's Meadow kept catching my eye.  It is a beautiful mint green with small holographic glitters in it.  This polish screams Spring and while being subtle indoors, the holographic glitters really shine in the sunlight.  I used 3 thin coats and it applied flawlessly.

Go on over to Barielle's Facebook page and "like" it and while you are there "like" my entry and all the other great manicures.  Everyone has done such a beautiful job!  Contest end's Friday March 30th, so if you have a Barielle polish to enter, you can still do so!

Sinful Colors Cinderella and NK Mystical

Tonight's mani starts off with Sinful Colors Cinderella.  This is probably my favorite color from this brand.  It is light blue with small pink shimmers/glitters in it.  This was 2 coats of polish and no top coat.  The polish went on smoothly and I was very happy with the end results.  Cinderella is available at Walgreen's and retails for $1.99.

 About the same time I was fortunate to come across a brand I had not heard about or used before, NK Nail Enamel.  This can be found in beauty supply stores for about $1 a bottle.  This color is Mystical, a scattered holographic topcoat.  I used 1 coat over the Cinderella to add even more sparkle.

Have you found your Cinderella yet?  It was kind of HTF for awhile because everyone was hunting it.  What do you think of this inexpensive mani?  I'm kinda loving it!

Barielle Nail Care Products

As promised, tonight my blog post is about Barielle's Nail Care products.  This picture is of 3 that they have recently sent me for review and I own quite a few more of their treatments, skin care, hand and foot care products.

Left to Right

Nail Rebuilding Protein, Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender and Intensive Nail Renewal Oil.

This is a before picture of my nails and cuticles.  I will show you an after picture too.

Kind of scary isn't it? ;)

I have been using Barielle's products exclusively for the past few weeks.  With the Nail Rebuilding Protein, my nails seem stronger and more healthy.  I have been using the Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender as my top coat and then every other day on my mani's that I've worn for longer periods and it really does help my polish to last longer.  And finally, The Intensive Nail Renewal Oil helps hydrate your nails and cuticles.  Click on the links for more information on each product.

To learn more about Barielle and their history, read their About Us, it's very interesting!  Anyone else using Barielle products?

Barielle's Shannon's Attitude and Daring Dahlia

Tonight, I am bringing you two more of Barielle's newests polish shades, Shannon's Attitude and Daring Dahlia.  They recently released 90 brand new colors and I can't wait to bring you more, there are so many "must haves".   I have a drawer full of Barielles, new and old and hope to show them all to you at one point, tomorrow I'm going to blog on their nail treatments.

This is Shannon's Attitude, it is a purple jelly base with multi-color foil pieces in it.  This polish is great alone, you can build it to the opaqueness that you want or use it as a layering polish as shown below, also great for a polish "jelly sandwich".  If you don't know what that is, I will post a blog on that soon.  I used 2 coats and as with most jelly bases with glitter, it was a little thick, but not hard to work with at all, the glitter applied evenly.

This polish is Daring Dahlia, a shimmery Fuchsia color.  This polish finish really reminds me of the one yesterday (End Of The Rainbow) as it has a slight color shift at different angles.  This is 3 thin coats and application was wonderful.

This swatch is a combo of Daring Dahlia and Shannon's Attitude.  I think my flash went off in this picture as my camera was trying to catch all the goodness in this mani.  

On the left is Daring Dahlia and on the right is Shannon's Attitude.  I am in love with both, but was really excited to see Shannon's Attitude in person as I have a friend named Shannon from The Kracked Kat and this polish is so appropriate for her (even though I think it's really named after a race horse).

Barielle offers a total of 180 shades, Nail care products, Skin, Hand and Foot care products.  Their nail polishes retail for $8 and can be purchased online on their site and are always Buy One Get One 50% off.  You can also find their products in Ulta and I've seen the nail care line in Sally's.  You can learn more about the company by visiting their About Me page.  Their site is always running specials, contests and giveaways and you can follow them on Facebook at Barielle.  Stay tuned for more swatches of the new polishes this week and more info about their Nail care line.  What do you think about the new colors?  Have you ordered any or plan on it? 

Barielle's End Of The Rainbow and Starry Sky

Barielle recently released 90 new colors to their collection, I will bring you many more of them in the near future as well as some of their nail care products.  Barielle has really stepped their game up in the polish world to an even higher level now.

The polishes featured tonight are End of the Rainbow and Starry Sky.  End of the rainbow is described as a sheer aqua green with shimmer.  I used 3 coats here and I also think it would look wonderful over a darker color such as black.  This polish tended to shift in depth of the color depending on the light.  Excuse some of the reddish tones in my skin, I wanted to make sure the polish color was true to life.

Next I wanted to try Starry Sky and applied one coat over my mani.  This is a pretty clear jelly with silver foil flakes.  The flakes went on evenly and did not need any help covering the nail.

End Of The Rainbow and Starry Sky

Barielle offers a total of 180 shades, Nail care products, Skin, Hand and Foot care products.  Their nail polishes retail for $8 and can be purchased online on their site and are always Buy One Get One 50% off.  You can also find their products in Ulta and I've seen the nail care line in Sally's.  Their site is always running specials, contests and giveaways and you can follow them on Facebook at Barielle.  Stay tuned for more swatches of the new polishes this week and more info about their Nail care line.  What do you think about the new colors?  Have you ordered any or plan on it?

Hunger Games - China Glaze Capitol Colors - Riveting and Dress Me Up

Tonight, I am bringing you two colors from the China Glaze Capitol Colors collection.  This collection was inspired by the book series The Hunger Games, which also has a movie releasing tonight at Midnight est!  The collection consists of 12 colors and you can see the China Glaze Press Release here.

The first color is Riveting, this is an bright orange shimmer and one of my favorites of the collection.  I used 3 thin coats for this swatch.  It went on easy and smooth, I am sure to wear this color many times this summer.

The 2nd color is Dress Me Up, it is a rosy pink cream and was opaque in 2 coats...I could have almost gotten away with 1 coat.  As you can see it dried to a very pretty color and would look good with most skin tones.

I have not read the books, but I will go see the movie, what are your plans?  The two colors above was provided to me by China Glaze for my unbiased review.  I will bring you more of this collection this week, so stay tuned! 

Up Colors Holografico - Chuva de Prata

Tonight, I am bringing you a beautiful Brazilian polish called Up Colors, it's from their Holografico Collection called Chuva de Prata, it is a silver linear holographic.  I used just a regular basecoat and 2 coats of the polish.  This polish went on amazingly smooth even without any special base coat.  It was opaque in 2 coats.  The first two pictures are in the light box, the last was in the sun earlier today.  Wear on this is good so far for a holo, I applied last night and no tip wear or chipping yet.

sunlight

10 ml bottles

You can purchase the brand Up Colors from the US distributor Llarowe, they are very reasonably priced (holos $9 and flakies $8) and shipping is very inexpensive and fast.  What do you think about this polish?  Are you considering it?

Julep - St Patrick's Day Mystery Box

Today I received my Julep St. Patricks Day Mystery Box that was recently available for $19.99.  I am very happy with what I received.  Included was 3 polishes, Anne, Sofia and Selena, Cuticle Oil, Nail Appliques, A glass file, hand cream and a makeup/nail polish bag.  Total retail of this mystery box is $122.99!  

If you would like to become a Julep Maven just click this link or the one on my sidebar.  You can become a Maven for just a penny and receive over $40 in products and also get great offers like the one above.  You also get to choose whether to remain a Maven, skip a month or even send your next box to a friend.  For every 2 new Maven's that remain for 30 days, I receive a free month.  Thanks to everyone that has signed up previously, this helps me bring you new swatches every month.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me or call Julep Customer Service.

Press Release - Zoya Nail Polish - Summer 2012 Beach & Surf Collections

Announcing Summer 2012 nail color by Zoya Nail Polish!
BEACH and SURF dive into the color...

OFFICIAL RELEASE INFORMATION - March 17, 2012

New nail color - coming soon to a salon near you and Zoya.com!

Summer 2012 is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections,Beach and Surf, from the new color of fashion, Zoya! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula.

Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash!

Zoya BEACH Collection

• Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream
• Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream
• Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream
• Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream
• Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic
• Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream

Zoya SURF Collection

• Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic
• Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic
• Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic
• Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic
• Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic
• Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion... 

The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya BEACH and SURF as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors:
Available April 1, 2012 (USA)
www.zoya.com

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).

Julep Maven Intro Box for just 1 penny!!! Again! Get it while you can!

Julep Nail Polish is running their special once again, this is a great way to try out their polishes and other nail care products.  Just click the link below or the Julep picture on the right side of my blog and use code:  SHAREONMARCH and you will pay 1 penny.  If you have any questions, just leave me a comment or email me, I'll be happy to help.
JULEP MAVEN FOR A PENNY!

Press Release - China Glaze Prismatic Chroma Glitters

           

Los Angeles, CA - (March 2012): Array your nails in a myriad
of color this spring with China Glaze®’s limited edition Prismaticnail polish collection!  Inspired by the colors formed by the refraction of light through a prism, Prismaticby China Glaze® combines glitter and holographic particles to create the ultimate eye-catching, 3-dimensional manicure. 

Bursting with color and dimension, Prismatic shades include:

·         Ray-Diant – Greenish-gold shimmer filled with specks of silver, pink, green, orange and blue

·         Polarized – Silver metallic sheen sprinkled with yellow, pink, orange and green glitters

·         Liquid Crystal – Bright blue holographic with purple tint dusted with silver, gold, green, pink and orange

·         Prism – Grape purple holographic gleams with pink shimmer and glitters with pieces of pink, blue,green,orange, silver and gold

·         Full Spectrum – Baby pink bursts into holographic magenta to party with silver, gold, blue, pink and green particles

·         Optical Illusion – Aqua green glimmers with a hint of purple filled with pink, yellow, silver, orange and green flecks

China Glaze® Prismatic will be available April 2012.  Individual shades retail for $8 MSRP.  The collection will be available in a 3-D 12-piece counter display and as open stock colors.

China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit:www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

China Glaze is a division of American International Industries.

About American International Industries

For nearly 40 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines include Ardell, Andrea, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, Jeris-Lustray, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.