Well, hi there! No, I didn't fall off the face the earth. I'm sorry for the longer than usual blog break. My nails are finally starting to grow long enough where I feel comfortable taking photos, and overall I just needed a little break.

I'm off from work until Wednesday for Memorial Day, whoo! I have to work on some reviews to share with you guys. I will have the Zoya Island Fun, and Paradise Sun collection on the blog soon. I also have 6 new summer colors from SinfulColors to share with you as well. I will be super swatch busy this weekend!

I'm also excited because I finally have my own nail space! :-) I've never shared any posts about where I do my nails, because well, it was my dining room table. My very cluttered dining room table, lol. :-p I've wanted a table/desk to do my nails at for awhile. I've been eyeing this portable manicure table on Amazon for months. I watched the price drop from $100 down to $70, and I finally decided to order it. Free shipping! And- it arrived in 2 days! I set up my new space in the corner of our bedroom. My helmer fit perfectly beside it, the helmer is maybe inch to half an inch shorter than the table.
The best part about this table is there was absolutely no assembly required. I only had to take it out of the box, the storage bag, remove the foam and bubble wrap, and set it up. The table itself is sturdier and more well made then I expected. It has wheels so you can move it around, and it easily folds up to store again if you need too. It also has a small plastic drawer underneath that I am storing some nail necessities in.

There's also a wrist cushion- for doing someone else's nails, but I decided to put that in the corner of my table to keep things from falling down where the table curves against the corner of the wall, and it also works to prop up my Ottlite and other things. ;-)

I ordered myself an upholstered folding chair to go along with my table, but that hasn't arrived yet. The chair I ordered also had free shipping. I may get a more comfortable chair eventually, but this was all I could afford right now.

I'm super excited to finally have a permanent and functional place to do my nails, take swatch photos, or use my laptop to write blog posts. I'm also looking forward to getting back to blogging and sharing with you all again, I've definitely missed it. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

March 17th this blogs turns 7 years old! Though I didn't really start blogging about nail polish until 2011, this little blog started way back on St. Patrick's Day in 2008; more as a lifestyle blog at first. A place to share my thoughts, travels, pets, photography, and long distance relationship, at the time. And it has grown and evolved over the years. :)

Anyhow, I wanted to throw a giveaway to celebrate. And there will be two prizes! 1 USA winner will receive a $25 giftcard to KB Shimmer, and 1 International winner will receive a $25 giftcard to Harlow & Co. Each prize is an electronic gift card, so it is required you have a valid active email address to enter, since that's where the gift cards will be sent. (Please make sure to read the giveaway terms and conditions at the end of this post, before you enter!)

Terms and Conditions: Giveaway ends March 17th, 2015 at 12:00 am EST. You must be 18 or older to enter. Prizes purchased by: www.tunaynamahal.com. I have the right to request proof of age if it seems appropriate. All entries will be verified. No following and unfollowing once the giveaway ends. There will be 2 winners chosen. 1 USA winner, and 1 International winner. Winner(s) will be selected by Random.org and notified by email. Winner has 24 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. I may choose a new winner at my discretion for any reason. No giveaway only accounts. I am not liable for lost or damaged packages after you have redeemed your gift certificate. KB Shimmer, Harlow & Co, Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin’, and Instagram are in no way associated with this giveaway. Any personal information provided will be used only for the purpose of contacting the winner.

I've been messing around with the blog tonight, tweaking things. Below my header banner, you'll now see a 'recent posts' bar. This will help you access recent blog posts faster, instead of having to scroll down the entire blog. You'll see 8 thumbnails, and if you hover over them you'll see the blog's title. Click on any of the thumbnails and it will bring up the post for you. Let me know what you think! :-)

I've been wanting to write this article for awhile. To share my own tips and hints, and useful links that I've accumulated since I started this blog back in 2008. These may be helpful to an already established blog, or a newbie.

Okay, so you want to start a blog. Or maybe you already have one. What platform is best? For me personally, Blogger is best. It's extremely customize-able, and already integrated with a lot of Google's web tools. Wordpress is more limited in design. Tumblr is best if you like blogging photos, more than writing. (Most of these links and tips will be for the Blogger platform, but WordPress users may find them helpful too).

This is going to be a very in-depth article, so please see more after the jump below! 

So.... you may have noticed things look a bit different around here. I was up all night working on customizing a new layout for the blog. I wanted something a little wider and cleaner looking, but while still incorporating my favorite color (purple!) Let me know what you think in the comments below! :-)

✯ PR Samples Mentioned ✯

If you haven't guessed, my little blogging break is over. ;-) It was nice to chill out and take a break. Not worry about scheduling posts, getting things swatched every weekend. I noticed by taking a break, my creativity for nail polish came back. Since I was usually only creating one look to wear for the entire week, I was able to better plan out my designs and put more thought into them.

I love blogging about nail polish and I love doing reviews, but I'm no longer going to push myself to get several posts up a week. It was draining me out and I was starting to become frustrated with blogging. Instead I'm going to blog when I want. If I only get one post up a week, so be it. If I get on a stretch of posting a few times a week, so be that. I want blogging to be fun for me, and I want to be excited about sharing things with you all.

I have a few reviews coming up. Look for a review of two stunning polishes by Ice Polish and another review of Winstonia Store nail strips!

Today I wanted to share with you some of the looks I created while on break. Some of these were taken with my regular camera and others are cell phone photos.

Zoya Wendy with Zoya Jesy, and Winstonia stamp plate W-04.




 

Come join me on Facebook at the new Tunay Na Mahal fan page. I'll be posting blog updates over there, shout outs, contests, etc.

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, but I never actually sat down to do it. When I started Tunay Na Mahal back in March 2008 I started as more of a lifestyle & love blog. It cataloged my long distance relationship with my then boyfriend, now husband. We documented our immigration process, my travels overseas.

I've always intended Tunay Na Mahal to be my space. Where I can write about whatever I'm into at that moment. I've written about travel, books, music, I've shared recipes. I've shared about my pet rats on this blog.

The past several years, my big hobby has been nail polish. And lately this blog has started to become more of a nail & beauty blog. I've started doing nail polish reviews for different companies in exchange for samples, and I want to expand on that. Nail polish and nail art is a great hobby of mine. I find it relaxing and I love the art aspect of it (stamping, etc). I love the photography and photo editing too.

Tunay Na Mahal is still going to be my space. I don't ever want to box myself in. I want it to continue to be a place where I can come write about whatever. For the most part, lately this blog has been headed towards a nail & beauty blog. But occasionally between nail polish posts, I may post a recipe, share a day trip, or talk about books/music or share some photos of my rats, etc.

Hope you will stick around!

 

You can also find me:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Instagram 
• GoodReads

5 years ago today.... (yes on St. Patrick's Day)... I started blogging...


I've recorded and documented so many things here on my blog. It's my space to just be me. To blog about whatever is going on in my life. It's been a space to blog about our long distance relationship, our marriage, our immigration process. My Pets, my nail polish obsession, sharing recipes, trips I've taken in the Philippines, Philadelphia trips, etc...

I've also made a lot of friends blogging. Like Shannon, and Patty, Karen, Jacki, Stephanie, Georgia, Shawna, (and other friends). New blogging friends like Kelly & Faith. I get to keep up with family & friends by reading their blogs, like my SIL, My cousin Katie, my childhood friend Leah. Thank you for letting me read about your lives too.

As everyone has probably heard, this week Google announced, Google Reader will be shutting down in July of this year. I use Google Reader to follow so many blogs I read, because it's a simple format and easy to use on my cell phone, tablet or computer.

There's a petition that has currently reached over 122,000+ signatures and counting on Change.org. 


It's been covered hundreds of times in media around the world. Google will be watching closely over the next few days to see if the story dies out or if it keeps growing -- and that's up to you. Sign the petition and please share it on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully Google will see we don't want Google Reader to go anywhere!

But... if they still retire Google Reader, you can still follow my blog through BlogLovin. And you can import all your blog feeds from Google Reader to BlogLovin by clicking here.



P.S. I've started using The Old Reader. I think I like it better than Bloglovin because it's a very simple reader, like Google Reader. You can import all the blogs you follow too. :-)

I've updated my header banner with some cute little "Polaroid" photos. :-)

Click to view full size- or just look above! lol!

Thought I would share two albums I'm listening to right now:



Favorite songs off this album:

1. Teenage Dream    
2. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)      
3. California Gurls
4. Firework    
7. The One That Got Away    
8. E.T.
9. Who Am I Living For?    
11. Hummingbird Heartbeat
14. Part Of Me        
15. Wide Awake    


Favorite songs off this album:

1. One More Night
2. Payphone    
3. Daylight
4. Lucky Strike  
6. Love Somebody  
12. Beautiful Goodbye
13. Wipe Your Eyes

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)  

Today is my 4 year anniversary of blogging! I started 'Tunay Na Mahal' back on March 17th, 2008! It's been a space for me to share my long distance relationship, our immigration process, life in Philadelphia, travels to the Philippines; my pets & things I love!


P.S. Please check out these items I'm selling on Ebay!

I ordered a few Mark beauty products from my cousin Jessica's e-boutique last week. My ordered arrived a few days ago. And I wanted share what I ordered!

I ordered a snap to it mini & two Mark Metallic eye shadows in Truffle & Goldi Luxe. They are super shiny. My cousin said they were like MAC eyeshadows and they are very concentrated like the MAC pigments that I use all the time. The snap to it mini is pretty neat it has a magnet in it and you can pick or choose which eye shadows to put into the case. I don't like their eyeshadow applicator all that much. I buy extra Cover Girl eyeshadow applicators. But I think an eyeshadow brush would work nice with these shadows too. 



I also got Glossblossom Ripening Lip Tint. It self adjusts. It turned out to be a nice rosy pink on my lips which is what I usually go for when I buy lip gloss. It's not sticky which is nice and it has a nice scent to it. But the tube is also pretty small, so I'll be sad when I use it up. 


And this! Oh my gosh! I love this scent! The Luxe Lemon Sugar Set! I thought it would be really sweet smelling. It has a nice lemony citrus scent to it, but it also has a grownup kind of cologne smell which is really really nice! (It has jasmine scent too.) I love the body spray the best. The bodywash is nice too, it says you can use it as a shampoo- but you better use a separate conditioner with it. (I have straight fine hair and got tangles when I went to brush after my shower- so I put in a leave in conditioner.) I love the thick body butter. I put it on after I showered. And the purple makeup bag is really big and roomy. I have all my makeup stashed in it right now!


I loved everything I ordered, and there are still a few more things I'd like to order soon. I can definitely recommend the products I ordered!



Hope you all like the new design & layout! ♥

I'm guest blogging at A Day in my NYC today! Please check out Patty's blog, she is one of my long time blog readers & one of my good blogging friends! My guest post is about long distance relationships, something I am very familiar with! :-)

Here is the post I wrote:

Hello! I'm Sarah Lynn from the blog 'Tunay Na Mahal' (which translates to "true love" in Tagalog, the Philippines national language). Patty asked me to do a guest post and I wanted to speak from something I have a lot of experience with. Long distance relationships!

If anyone is the queen of long distance relationships... I am probably it. My husband and I dated for 5 years long distance before getting married in December 2009. We even spent the first year of our marriage apart due to immigration.

And when I say long distance... I mean it! My husband is from the Philippines. A whole day ahead from Philadelphia. 12 hours apart- (13 hours during daylight saving time). Somehow during our 6 years apart, we made it work. And now we are finally together in the same time zone! Long distance relationships are not easy but they can work if you put enough time and commitment into them. My husband and I are proof of that. We have been together seven years now and married almost two.

How did we do it? LOT'S of communication and trust. Unfortunately it's pretty expensive to call the Philippines ($1.99 a minute!) My husband and I only talked on the phone for special occasions (birthday's, anniversaries, etc). I kept a phone card handy for those times because the rates were cheaper.

We made time to have a "date" every weekend. This took some commitment from both of us. We would meet online every weekend on Yahoo messenger. We would meet on my lunch break at work; while in the Philippines it was 12am and my husband's day was ending.

We texted. A lot. We emailed each other several times a week. We wrote letters and sent packages for special occasions. My husband didn't have a webcam because he had dial up internet, but I'm sure if we had both had a fast internet connection that would have been another way for us to connect. We were able to chat sometimes through headsets on Yahoo messenger, if the connection behaved.

I traveled to the Philippines almost yearly. And yes; it was very expensive. I worked all year long to save up enough money. I would get 0% APR credit cards and buy my plane ticket and then work hard the rest of the year to pay off that $1,200.

Sometimes it sucked and we really missed each other. Going out with friends and seeing them with their significant others, while yours was hundreds and hundreds of miles away was not easy. Sometimes we just wanted to be a normal couple, to be together in the same place; but it wasn't the right time yet. We persevered. Patience is huge thing in long distance relationships.

When we did get to spend time with each other in person it was exhilarating. They say to live every day of your life like it's your last, and the times we were together, we definitely did that. We would have to cram so much into a small amount of time.

One book that really helped us both during our time apart was The Long-Distance Relationship Survival Guide, by Chris Bell & Kate Brauer-Bell. We each had a copy.

Long distance relationships require 100% commitment & trust from each partner. They require loads of communication. Sometimes, years of patience and perseverance. But they do work. And if anything sometimes they are even richer when you finally are together, because you've put so much work & communication into your relationship.

*~Sarah Lynn~*

Tunay Na Mahal

http://www.tunaynamahal.com

I've finally done it! After nearly 4 years of blogging, I have finally taken the plunge and bought my own domain! Whoo hoo! :-)

Please update your blog readers and bookmarks. The new address for this blog will be: www.tunaynamahal.com 

I won a free hardcover Shutterfly Photobook from Shannon at Misguided Mommy last month! I just got around to organizing the photos I wanted and it arrived the other day. It's really nice! I decided to put together a small wedding album for my prize.

These are just some of the photos:


 Thanks Shannon!