I've decided to start featuring nail polish Instagram accounts every Sunday. There's so many neat accounts on IG that really deserve to be featured. And while some of these ladies do have blogs too, it's their Instagram I want to give a shoutout! :-)

Today's IG feature is Kirby, from @themercurialmagpie. Nail polish & beauty reviews, cat's and her fuzzy chow chow Mugen! Check out her Instagram & give her a follow!


 

I Love Nail Polish: Sirene, was one of three spring colors I recently picked up. (I'll have Mega and Kings & Queens in separate posts soon). As soon as I saw Sirene I thought of my dear departed Dance Legend, Sully. The colors are very similar. Though Sirene, color shifts even more than Sully. There's blues, purples, pinks, green, aqua... so pretty. (You also don't need a black undercoat with Sirene, like you do with the Dance Legend polish). I really hope they make a holographic version of this sometime, like they did with some of the other ultra chromes.

My CVS finally had some of the Revlon Parfumerie nail polishes. There are 24 colors in the collection and they are all scented. I decided to get Surf Spray a pretty shimmery blue color with purple in it. When it's dry it smells like a fresh beachy floral scent, which you can smell even through my Seche Vite topcoat. I like strong floral scents, but if you don't this may bother you.

Surf Spray is also incredibly sheer. I find I like it best when I layer two coats over black polish. The color is more vibrant that way. On it's own, you're looking at 3-4 coats to get it somewhat opaque. Even at 4 coats my nail line was visible.


I don't own many Revlon polishes, but I really like the Parfumerie collection and there's definitely a few other colors on my wish list: Wintermint, African Tea Rose, Wild Violets & Autumn Spice.

Do you own any of the Revlon Parfumerie polishes?

P.S. This is the best black polish ever! It doesn't stain, opaque in two thin coats. It's a mini I got in one of the L.A. Girl Ombre Kits: (Midnite) a few months ago. I need to see if they sell a full size because I love layering polishes over it.


 

Today I have a custom glitter topper from Painted Polish to share with you. Every month Painted Polish holds a contest on Instagram for a custom glitter topper. To enter you post a photo of your latest Painted Polish order. I was lucky enough to win the last contest. :-)

I mentioned to Lexi my favorite colors and that I like holo glitters, and said surprise me. I love how it turned out! There's purple, silver, aqua, blue, black glitter & holographic circles in my custom glitter topper. I decided to a glitter gradient with them over Sally Hansen Triple Shine: Vanity Flair & OPI Can't Find My Czechbook.





I also really love her new logo and bottles. The new bottle is larger and the brush is bigger and wider. It really picked up the glitter, and I didn't have to fish too much for the circle glitters.

 

✯ PR Sample ✯ 

I have the Zoya Awaken spring 2014 collection and Zoya Monet to share with you today. The awaken collection has 6 spring colors in cremes & shimmer. Monet is separate. Monet, is an iridescent glitter topper.


Hudson: is probably my favorite out of the entire Awaken collection. I have a weak spot for purples, hehe. Hudson is described as a metallic purple orchid color. It has silver shimmer throughout. I used 3 thin coats of Hudson for the photo below. Zoya Cosmo from the Magical collection is on my ring finger.


Dot is a pastel pink, it's also a bit sheer so I needed 3 coats to make it opaque. On my ring finger is Zoya Lux from the Magical collection.


Rebel: is a beautiful bright metallic blue with silver shimmer. This is my 2nd favorite out of the Awaken collection. I used 3 thin coats. Zoya Vega from the Magical collection is on my ring finger.


Dillon: Dillon is a metallic mint green color with silver shimmer. I used 3 thin coats for Dillon below. I don't wear green's as much as I do aquas, but Dillon is really pretty.


Cole: In person Cole is more of a peachy color than straight up orange. It's a bit sheer, I used 3 coats and I could still see my nail line a bit. Monet looks especially nice over Cole.


Brooklyn: is a light metallic gold color. You only need two coats to make it opaque but it shows brush strokes and isn't very flattering on my pale skin. I think it would look nicer against the contrast of a darker skin tone, I think.


Monet is separate from the Awaken collection. It's an iridescent hex glitter topper. I think it's really pretty but it's hard to work with. The formula is very very thick, almost gluey. I found it bubbles and sinks into the cream polishes when dry, giving it a bumpy texture without topcoat. I'm going to try and add some polish thinner to my bottle to see if it will improve the formula.

(I added polish thinner to Monet and it definitely helped!)

I wanted to compare it against another iridescent glitter I own. China Glaze, Make A Spectacle. They aren't exactly alike. Monet's glitter is hexagon shaped and MAS is round. Also MAS has smaller glitters.

I decided to hold my first Instagram giveaway, since I have over 600 followers now! :-)

I'm giving away 1 brand new I Love Nail Polish in Mega, 1  holographic Revlon Makeup bag & 1 black sparkly Revlon emery board to one lucky winner!

Here are the rules:

□ 1. Must be following @tunaynamahal82
□ 2. Repost giveaway photo (below) on Instagram with caption: #TNMhologiveaway @tunaynamahal82
□ 3. Profile must be public so I can see your entry! (only exception: private profiles that I AM already following).
□ 4. Open Internationally!
□ 5. Must be 18+ or have a parents permission to enter.
□ 6. I am not liable for lost or damaged prize package. (I only have 1 prize package!)
□ 7. Ends: 3/14/14.


*Prizes were purchased by myself.

 

I recently paid off my car. I bought my Nissan Versa back in February of 2009 brand new for $13,000 after taxes, and it's been 5 years already of paying it off. When my balance got down to around $2,500 I had the idea to pay it off with my Citibank credit card which has a lower interest rate. Plus, the flexibility works better for me. If I'm furloughed from work or don't quite have enough money that month, I can just pay the minimum and not worry. With the car loan there wasn't too much flexibility since it was one set payment every month.



The next step is working towards paying off my Citibank card by paying $200 every month. I have a $8,000 balance at Citibank with the rest of the car on there now. I had 3 week Government Shutdown & then a 5 week furlough last year. I had to borrow money to pay bills so my balance got quite high. Now that the car is "technically" paid off I can work towards paying down my credit card. I also always give my tax refund every year to my biggest balance credit cards. So hopefully *fingers crossed* by next year I will be looking at a lot less credit card debt.

 

✯ PR Samples Mentioned ✯

I have a bad addiction to Indigo Bananas cuticle balms now. (I blame The Mercurial Magpie!) I just love it. I can apply it all day long and when it dries it's not greasy. If I applied a regular cuticle balm or a lotion... my hand would be sliding around on the computer mouse at work, lol. :-p


This time I ordered two of the winter scents Cocoa & Peppermint. Peppermint is also lip safe so it double's as a lip balm. And Cocoa... oh em gee.... it smells like rich chocolatey fudgey hot chocolate. I absolutely love it!



I got these cute nail vinyls from The Mercurial Magpie when she sent me her Ipsy polish. So I decided to use the heart nail vinyl and fill it in with 2% Butterscotch Ripple. I layered 2 coats of 2% Butterscotch Ripple over Zoya Odette (press sample). Topped off with Seche Vite dry fast topcoat. Gosh I love this polish... it's gold... it's glittery, it's got a nice raspberry base to it that really works splendid over Odette. Just stunning...