Elemental Styles 500 Follower + 1 Year Blogoversary Giveaway!!!!! ***CLOSED***

Okayyyyy so you had to know it was coming soon! :)

I've finally reached 500 followers (yahoo!), and I have been so excited to host this giveaway for a while! AND my Blogoversary is on April 1!!!  

I'm so appreciative of all of my followers--I thank you so much for reading and commenting on my blog and supporting my Etsy shop!  (There are some potential future issues with my shop...but I'm not going to worry about it now, I'll explain it in another post!).  Thanks so much to all of you!

SO here's what one lucky winner can receive:

You can win: The five Finger Paints flakie polishes (Twisted, Motley, Flecked, Asylum, and Flashy)

oOOOh, they look boring in the bottle, but AWESOME on the nail!

AND (at least) two of my custom Elemental Styles Frankens: Iron Man-ia and Co-Balt of Lightning!

Iron Man-ia and Co-balt of Lightning...mixed by me, shaken up by the BF

I will be potentially adding more prizes and/or frankens to this giveaway once I get more supplies in :)  It may or may not be a polish or two from my upcoming collection ;) 

Here are the giveaway rules:

1) To enter you MUST be a follower via GFC.
2) This is open to ALL followers both national and international (if you are a non-USA follower, please be aware of your countries customs policies--I take no responsibility for polish removed by customs, so enter at your own risk)
3) Enter ONLY once, if you enter more than once you will be disqualified. Also normally I'm pretty lenient with entries, if you say you follow me on Facebook and it turns out you don't or you forgot, I've just been deleting one of your other valid entries and letting it slide.  Since I had so many invalid entries last time, you will be disqualified for ANY invalid entry.  So please, make sure what you say you did is true!  I hate disqualifying people, it makes me sad :(
4) **This giveaway is now closed!***

You get 1 automatic entry for being a GFC follower and filling out the form!  Here are some ways you can get additional entries into the contest:

-Follow @ElementalStyles on Twitter [1 entry]
-Tweet about the giveaway (provide a direct link!) [2 entries]
-Follow Elemental Styles on Facebook (provide Facebook name) [1 entry]
-Blog about the giveaway (on sidebar, giveaway page or blog entry--provide a direct link) [2 entries for a link, 3 entries if you use one of the pictures]
-Add Elemental Styles to your blog roll (provide a link please!) [1 entry]
-Check out my Etsy shop and tell me which polish you'd most like to try, and which is your favorite if you have any! [1 entry each]

Featuring My New Favorite: Zoya Charla

Hellllloooooo girlies!  I am so PSYCHED that this time next week I will be in Florida at Disney World!  Horray!  I am planning on taking fun, bright polishes, but if all goes as planned I won't even have time to do them :)  Zoya Pippa is definitely on my list lol.

So I'm always the last person to jump on the bandwagon for pretty much anything, Zoya Charla being one of them.  I've seen tonnnss of swatches and jewelry made from Charla and I always kind of wanted it, but I refuse to pay Zoya shipping.  So when their Valentine's Day sale came around for a free red polish and free shipping with any other polish purchase I grabbed both Charla and Ivanka!

Holy. Moly. God. Almighty.  I can't believe I missed out on this beauty for so long.  If you're like me and don't buy things that everyone else likes, forget that you're like that for 5 minutes and order this immediately because it's gorgeous!

I understand that all of these pictures are nearly identical, but I probably took 40 of them and had a hard time choosing, lol...

Charla is a super gorgeous blue/teal/green duochrome (triochrome?) shimmer polish that flashes all sorts of pretty sea-worthy colors in the sun.  Zoom in on that sparkle, seriously, it's worth it.  Charla went on opaque in just two coats and followed suit with all of the other Zoya polishes with great formulas!

I never used to wear cool colored polishes, it was just pinks and reds, and boy am I glad that changed.  Do you guys have Charla?

<3 Whitney

Julep Viola!

Happy Daylight Savings Day!  Did everyone set their clocks forward?  I actually can't believe it went by so fast since I set our clocks back...I just saw the other day that I missed the one in our guest bedroom and almost changed it until the BF told me that there were only a few more days before they switched again!  Cray-zay.

Before it's officially "spring" I've got one more dark wintery polish to show you: Julep Viola.

Viola is a deep purple-wine colored jelly with red undertones that looks purple in the bottle but appears nearly black n the nail after just two coats.  Initially after one coat, even though it wasn't totally opaque, you could still tell it was purple, but after two coats, it was hard to tell unless in direct sunlight.

Natural lighting

Natural lighting

Artificial Lighting...you can see a bit of purple in the bottle here

Even though Julep isn't my favorite brand, the formula on this jelly was pretty good.  And normally I'd be happy about a 2-coater, but I was bummed it seemed more black than purple.

I think I've actually got the hang of Julep polish application down now pretty decently.  Even though the brush is absurdly long and I normally have issues with a glob of polish running down the length of the brush and ruining the polish.  However, I found that if you get the timing down right, you can paint one nail and up to two or three more with the excess polish without dipping the brush back into the bottle.  So that was cool for me, haha.

Anyway, I like this polish more in the bottle, but it's just too dark for me to wear normally.  I've put this polish, among others, for sale on my blog sale, so you should check it out!  I recently added a few more polishes and lowered some prices!

<3 Whitney

Bright Yellow! Zoya Pippa

Ahh Zoya Pippa is another polish that had been on my wishlist for foreverrrr!  I love, love love yellow and regardless of how it looks on me, I will continue to wear yellow polish, lol.

Check it out: 

Artificial Lighting

Oh goodness, I love this so much!  This is a perfect color for spring or summer, and I am super psyched to bring this with me when I go on vacation :)  Zoya Pippa is a lovely bright yellow cream.  It has kind of a thin formula and took 3 coats to become opaque.  Normally China Glaze Happy Go Lucky is my go-to yellow, but I think I'll be switching it to Zoya Pippa from now on!

I think I like this color so much because it reminds me of when I lived in Ohio.  This is similar to the color I had painted my room, lol.  It was kind of abrasive to others but I loved it and it made me happy when I was in there! I'll definitely be taking this with me next Saturday when I leave here for DISNEY!!!

Do you guys like yellow polish? I know it's kind of hit or miss with people, but if you're a yellow fan, I urge you to pick this up!

<3 Whitney

Featuring a Pretty & Polished Franken: Party on My Yacht!

My friend Chelsea at Pretty & Polished makes some pretty sweet franken polishes!  I bought one recently off of her called Party on My Yacht, and I LOVE it!  Check it out:

Party on My Yacht is a pretty white based polish with purple, pink, green, and gold fine glitters.  I was surprised that this polish only needs 2 coats to be opaque, but I used 3 for these pictures to get some extra glitter on there!  It reminds me of some sort of candy like a jawbreaker or cookies 'cream white chocolate or something!  Although she does have another polish CALLED Jawbreaker, lol.  It's beautiful and I've had it on for days! 

If you are interested in purchasing her polishes, you should check out her Etsy shop!  She's getting pretty popular!

<3 Whitney

NEW Color Club Magnetic Force in Hipnotic!

I hadn't been able to get my hands on any magnetic polishes until recently...okay, that's not true, I saw them at Icing and thought they were too expensive and didn't look that cool.  All lies, guys, all lies.  I want them all now, muwahaha! 

I recently ordered a handful of the China Glaze Capitol Colors off of Victoria Nail Supply and I figured since I was already paying for shipping there, I'd try one of the new Color Club magnetic polishes!  They've got 6 and since I'm a sucker for pinks I automatically was drawn towards Hipnotic.

Nowww in hindsight I probably should have practiced with the magnetic first on the hand I DON'T photograph, but I was just too excited!  Lookie lookie!

Hipnotic is a dark fuchsia polish that smooths on awesomely in just one coat.  The magnetic that comes with it (the whole big round lid is removable, the second lid/brush is underneath), is a wavy design that translates quite nicely to the nail, but mine are kind of nubbins right now...it'd look much better on longer nails. 

The directions tell you that while the polish is still wet, hold the magnetic as close to you can get to the nail without touching (there is a little barrier that helps you not hit your nail), for 15 seconds.  Once you pull the magnet away you have a cool wavy design in a lighter pink!  However, after a little while while the polish finishes drying, the design kind of spreads out...so what I'm THINKIN' is that maybe let the polish dry just a tad and THEN use the magnet.  What I did was paint one nail and then put the magnetic over it immediately, and since the polish was still pretty wet when I removed the magnet, it spread out a bit.  What do you guys think?  What's the best strategy for magnetics?

Overall, regardless, I love it.  I can't help but love one-coater polishes and since you don't have to add additional coats, you can spend your time playing with the magnet and get a cool nail-artsy manicure in no more time than it would take you to do a normal manicure!  Weee!  I'm so psyched I bought this and now I want more. 

Send me all your magnetixxxx! :)  No seriously...I will take them and give them a good home if you don't like them, lol.  Any application tips are appreciated as well!

<3 Whitney

Color Club Spring Colors!

Hello my lovelies!  Have you guys been to Ross lately?  Apparently they are selling some shiesty sets of Color Club polishes...I went there the other day looking for the new 2012 Blossoming Collection, and what I found was this:

Mysterrryyy Collection!

Now it says this is the Alter Ego collection, which came out last spring, but when I brought it home and looked it up, I found out that these are, in fact, not Alter Ego colors...or Blossoming colors :( BUT after some help from Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails, we deduced that at least 4 of these colors are from the Pardon My French collection (the 1,2,3, and 6th in the pic)!  SO here are the four we determined are from that collection:

First up: Au Naturale

I am still not 100% sure if this is Au Naturale or not, because Rebecca's swatches are a little more peachy, so if you know what it could be, let me know!  ANYWHO this ended up being quite a pretty color but the formula was very runny.  It took three coats to be opaque.  It looked streaky during application but after it dried it had spread out a little better.  I'd fight the crap formula to wear this again, though!  I also should mention that it dries slightly darker than it appears in the bottle.

Next up: Hot Couture

This pretty pink polish is Hot Couture.  This polish also took 3 coats to become opaque, and you can still see the ridges in some of my nails.  This formula was quite runny as well.  I did have some issues with bubbling on my index finger, but it might've been because I drug my hair through it while it was wet and globbed on a 4th coat to cover it up, haha.  It was very pigmented compared to Au Naturale and Pardon My French.  This polish also dries a little bit darker than it appears in the bottle.

Next: Pardon My French:

Pardon My French is a gorgeous light pink polish, but probably had the worst formula out of the four I'm reviewing here.  It was so watery and seemed streaky, but like Au Naturale, it actually smoothed out a lot (after 3 coats) while it was drying and you can't see the ridges in my nails like you could from Hot Couture.  This is such a light pink it appears kind of like a "nude" on my pasty untanned hands, lol.  After I applied it I immediately thought of Butter London's Teddy Girl (since the color and formula are similar) and thought I'd compare them real quick:

Color Club Pardon My French vs Butter London Teddy Girl

 As you can see they are quite similar, but Teddy Girl is a few shades lighter.  The formula's are quite similar as well, and I remember having a hard time applying Teddy Girl when I reviewed it last year.  However, with the $14 price tag of Butter London polishes, I'd gladly pick up Pardon My French instead, which comes in a set of 7 polishes for $8.

Last: Meet Me At My Chateau

This polish ended up having the best formula of the four.  It was still very thin, but it was also quiet pigmented and it only took 2 coats to become opaque.   This color is such a pretty robin's egg blue color that is perfect for spring.  I actually have nothing else like it in my collection, so I'm glad I picked up this set, even though it isn't what I expected it to be!

Have you guys seen any of these wacky sets at Ross lately?  There was more than one of the same mixed-up set at mine, so I imagine they're going around!  Let me know if you think I ID'ed any of these polishes incorrectly!

<3 Whitney

China Glaze Capitol Colors: Harvest Moon and Fast Track!

Ahhhh I am SO excited for the China Glaze Capitol Colors Collection which is based on the book/movie Hunger Games, one of my favorite series of all time!

Initially I was going to pre-order this whole collection since I love the books so much, but my wallet is sad since I've spent so much money on frankening supplies, so I poured over swatches and decided I only needed 7 of the 12, haha!

Howeverrrrrrr when I went to Sally's the day it was supposed to be released, the display had been nearly wiped out and the only two they had I wanted were Harvest Moon and Fast Track!  I grabbed those and ordered the rest online...so when I get the others that I want, I'll post those as well!

So here we go, first up Harvest Moon.

The first four pics are in natural lighting:

Artificial Lighting

Harvest Moon is a beautiful bronze/brown metallic polish.  Initially when I put on the first coat, I was quite disappointed because it seemed streaky and runny.  However, it evened out beautifully after the second coat and turned completely opaque!  I ended up really liking this color, even though metallic polishes aren't my favorite.  I heard great things about it and I'm very glad I listened and picked it up!

Next up: Fast Track!

Artificial Lighting

Artificial Lighting

Wow, okay, I think this may be my next go-to polish!  It only took two coats to become opaque, which is great for a nude!  Fast track is a great nude color packed with a dense gold shimmer.  Nudes don't really appeal to me much, I don't really have any nudes because you have to match them with your skin tone and I'm just iffy about it.  This one, however, ended up looking great with my undertones, and the gold shimmer gave it a great amount of unique-ness to it.  Even though it's got a shimmer to it, I'd be totally comfortable wearing this to work...or pretty much anywhere!

Have you guys picked up any of the Capitol Colors yet?!

<3 Whitney

Another I'm Feeling Nail Venturous Franken!

I knowwww I haven't been doing any main-stream polish reviews lately!  I've become totally obsessed with Etsy and other bloggers franken polishes, hah!

I've got another one to show you from Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous, and it's called Floam!  Do you remember that weird clay/foam play-doh stuff from the 90's called Floam?  It looks JUST like that.

Floam is a glitter polish made with non-shiny very, very fine blue and neon green glitter.  It looks so cool on the nail.  All of the pictures shown below are with 2 coats:

I was surprised that this polish covered the nail completely in only two coats, because it's unusual for glitters to do this.  It's obviously very dense, which makes it slightly thick but it's not unmanageable and spreads pretty easily.  I really like this, it's a very summery and fun color and matches just about everything in my closet, haha!

Amy is super talented, I really love her frankens.  She is going to open her own Etsy store in the next couple of weeks so please keep checking out her blog for her announcement!

So stay tuned for that!  I'll probably post about it when she opens her store, too!

***UPDATE!!** A few of Amy's polishes are now available on the AWESOME new polish site: Polish Ninja! Check that out, AWESOME international polishes available for great prices! Glitter Gal, Ludurana, Hits, etc!!!


NOW, let me pimp my own frankens for a second, hah!  Some of my lovely blogging buddies have reviewed some of my polishes for me!  Let me link to these lovey ladies so you can check out reviews that aren't mine (aka kind of biased lol) :) And if you aren't following them, you should!!

Jen at Fingers Polish Mania reviewed Co-Balt of Lightning and Copper-nicus!
Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous reviewed Fool's Gold and Iron Man-ia!
Carly at Lacquered Lover reviewed Manganese, Please! and Co-Balt of Lightning!
Sarah at Chalkboard Nails reviewed Fool's Gold and Manganese, Please!

I just restocked some polishes that had sold out, so check out my store!

<3 Whitney