KellieGonzo's 1000th Blog Post Giveaway Extravaganza! - CLOSED

As I am writing this blog post, I can hardly believe that I have done so 999 times before. This is officially my 1000th entry on this blog! I have had many ups and downs over the years but I have loved creating every one of those entries. I wanted to celebrate this milestone with you, my lovely readers, by holding a giveaway for 6 different sets of prizes, which means 6 winners!

Prizes

• One (1) Misa Cosmetics I Do Spring Wedding collection 2013
• One (1) OPI So So Skullicious Halloween Mini collection 2012
• Two (2) sets of three different Incoco Nail Polish Appliques
• One (1) set of three items from Illamasqua's Imperfection collection 2013
• One (1) mystery "grab bag" set of fabulous nail polishes of my choosing

Rules

• Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• Open to any legal resident of the 48 continental United States and District of Columbia (void in Alaska and Hawaii). Sorry no international entries this time.
• You must be 18 or older to enter (or otherwise an adult based on your local laws). 
• You can enter to win in seven different ways; telling me how you follow the blog as well as telling me your email address are both mandatory.
• The giveaway ends on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time). Full terms and conditions are available in the widget.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Thanks so much for taking this journey with me. I am so very happy to be here with you.


**CLOSED**

Some product samples provided.

OPI - What Wizardry Is This?

I showed you the OPI Soft Shades collection Oz the Great and Powerful a while ago, but omitted one polish from my post as I wasn't satisfied with the photos I had gotten of it. I have tried again and am moderately happy with the results so here they are.

OPI What Wizardry Is This is one of their texture polishes called Liquid Sand. It's crazy glittery, made up of olive, bronze, gold, and brown and some red bits. It dries down to an almost matte gritty sandy finish. The appeal of these type of polishes for me is that you don't have to be as worried about messing them up. This is two coats. 

Press Sample

Top coat totally changes up the look of these polishes, which is awesome. This is one coat of Seche Vite over WWIT. You can see the immense POW of the sparkle and the incredible depth that the shininess gives the polish. There are a lot of texture polishes that I prefer to leave alone but this is one that I definitely like more with top coat. 

OPI nail polish can be found in pro salons, Ulta, Dillards, JC Penney's etc. for $9. What do you think of the texture trend? Do you have this polish? Which way do you prefer it, matte/gritty or shiny/smooth?

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Mint Manis for Talia Joy

Hi everyone! Today I have an extra special post for you. The world lost an bit of sunshine this week when 13 year old YouTube beauty blogger Talia Joy Castellano lost her battle with childhood cancer. I personally was/am inspired by Talia, her smile was so bright and watching her live her life with such passion would've touched anyone, and did--her videos have been watched by so many people around the world.

Talia's last Instagram photo was a picture of her and her mom and sister wearing a mint creme polish, so as a sign of support for her life and legacy, the blogging community is posting mint manicures for her today.

I chose Mint Original Mint with an accent nail of Zoya Vespa. Original Mint is described as "part Tiffany's blue, part spearmint candy" which I feel is quite accurate. It's a great cream polish that applies like butter. Two coats. Vespa is a matte sparkle textured polish described as "a mint kiss with a sugared sparkle". I love this mani and I am wearing it with a heart full of admiration for the undeniable spirit of Talia Joy.

Press Sample

You can get Mint polish on www.mintpolish.com for $12 each and Zoya nail polish on www.zoya.com for $9 each. For anyone interested in participating by posting your mint manis on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or anything else, you can use the hashtags: #MintManisForTaliaJoy and #TaliasLegacy.

Remember, just keep swimming!

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Shimmer Polish - Jennifer

Hi folks! I have a beautiful nail polish to show you today from indie brand Shimmer Polish called Jennifer. The gal behind this brand names each of her creations after women she loves and admires. I was fortunate to be able to try out a few selections from her repertoire so you can look forward to more glitters from Shimmer soon.

This polish is a glitter mix of primarily vintagey blue pieces with other pastels, a few coppers, and dotted with some black pieces. I layered two coats over light blueish grey Illamasqua Raindrops, which I showed you in my last post. Shimmer glitters are quite dense so they are easy to use and don't take a lot of TLC to look nice, which I quite appreciate. I love the colors in this, though I could do without the black bits.

Press Sample

shade

Shimmer Polish is available on Etsy, from Harlow & Co., and the Shimmer website. Follow Shimmer Polish on Facebook, and the Shimmer Polish blog for updates. What do you think of Jennifer? I really like this. I need to try a glitter gradient with it!

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Illamasqua Pink and Original Raindrops Swatches and Review

I am revisiting an Illamasqua favorite of mine, Raindrops. It's a color that they made from a fan's idea; they produced three colors via a fan contest in 2010 to come up with their own dream nail polish color. The other two were great but Raindrops turned out to be the incredibly popular standout. I got it when it came out and I was not as thrilled with it as I had expected. I ended up swapping it. However, I have since regretted that decision and decided to buy it again.

Raindrops is a light blueish grey jelly with tons of light flakes of white shimmer. I remember the first time I had this, I remembered that it wasn't very opaque and I didn't give it a second thought, I just dismissed it as a disappointment. This time I took care to apply it evenly and used three coats, and it turned out to have great coverage. There is a chance that this was reformulated, as it has gone in and out of stock over the years. I love this, it's a soft and feminine look that is quite flattering. I'm happy to have it in my collection and glad I gave it a second chance.

Nothing to Disclose

A while ago, Illamasqua said that if their fan page on Facebook got over 10,000 likes, they would put out a special edition polish, a PINK version of Raindrops! So I, along with countless fans, spread the word like wildfire and they hit their goal. They produced a beautiful cool vintagey pink version appropriately named Pink Raindrops. It is more opaque and more of a traditional shimmer rather than a jelly. It's also got a bit of a metallic pink shimmer to it in addition to the micro flakes.

I find myself wishing it was more of a jelly-like consistency like the original, it was thick and might need some coaxing to make even but I didn't have too much trouble with it. I've heard different stories from other bloggers, and the initial swatches I saw of it didn't excite me, but I do really like the color on me and I am happy with it. This is two coats, although one might've been sufficient as it is very opaque.

I bought these both from Sephora.com for $17 each. They are also available on the Illamasqua.com website for £14.50. These are both beautiful nail polishes from one of my favorite brands and I love them. What do you think? Which one do you prefer, pink or original recipe?

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - Mana Ruby

Hi folks! Today I have a beautiful indie polish from Femme Fatale Cosmetics to show you. It's called Mana Ruby and I'm seriously smitten with her! This is a bright pinky red see-through jelly with matte red hex glitters and lots of blue iridescent glitters in varying sizes. This polish in the sun is like WHOA! I love funky unique polishes like this and was dying to get my hands on it. I'm so glad I was able to snatch it up! This is two coats.

Nothing to Disclose

Shade

The Australian owner of Femme Fatale Cosmetics doesn't ship to the United States but she has stockists that ship internationally. I picked this up from Llarowe a while ago for $13. It's sold out at the moment but you can sign up for alerts for when it comes back. What do you think of this jelly masterpiece?