Author Archives: Mary S.

China Glaze Texture Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

China Glaze Texture Collection Press Release & Promo PicturesIt’s no secret that I’m a fan of the texture nail trend. It’s different, and because it’s not sharp, I can get down with it.

The China Glaze Texture Collection due out in May features 6 shades! You’ve probably already seen early swatches of these floating around the blogging community, but I always like to share official press-release information with my readers in case you haven’t.

These China Glaze Texture polishes don’t seem to have any sparkle in them, so the texture is more predominant.

The blue, orange, and lime green caught my eye first. What about you? Are any of these shades stand-outs in your nailphile book?

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Haul of Shame: MAC Fashion Sets Collection Haul (Lipsticks & Lip Liner)

MAC Fashion Sets Haul, Photos & Pictures Heroine, Ablaze, Silly & Embrace Me Lipstick smallerI’m super excited to share this MAC Fashion Sets Collection Haul because I’m on such a bright-lipstick kick lately.

It’s probably because just swiping on some colour is enough to completely boost your spirits.

Lipstick is like nail polish with colour therapy, except you don’t have to wait for it to dry!

Although I’ve always been into lip gloss, I think the reason why I’m gravitating toward these bright lip colours is because they’re bolder, and they remind me of warm, sunny weather ahead.

So when the MAC Fashion Sets Collection came out, I was all over it!

Normally when a limited-edition MAC collection comes out, I prefer to place an online order to avoid the in-store madness that always ensues. But, this time I completely missed the early online release, so I tracked down 3 out of 4 of the MAC lipsticks in-store.

I was able to find MAC Silly Lipstick (light pink) and MAC Embrace Me Lipstick (bright pink) in-store, and then I got the very last tube of MAC Ablaze Lipstick (orange) from the MAC counter at The Bay.

The one I was most looking forward to, MAC Heroine Lipstick, seemed to be sold out everywhere, and I was pretty bummed.

Then a miraculous thing happened – the guy I’ve been dating more seriously for a couple of months managed to not only find Heroine, but he also bought me 2 tubes of it, plus the MAC Silly Lip Liner and a back-up of MAC Silly Lipstick! What an amazing surprise! 🙂

I thought it was pretty funny how so many women (like myself) were trying so hard to locate MAC Heroine Lipstick, and he told me that he literally just went to one store – there was no line-up, and (get this) they had 8 tubes of Heroine Lipstick left! *Gasp*

(I’m still getting a kick out of thinking about him walking into the store and saying, “I’m looking for heroine.” Hehe, ‘heroin’!)

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Nina Ultra Pro Pearly Brights Swatches & Review

Nina Ultra Pro Pearly Brights Swatches & ReviewMother Nature is acting like molasses, taking her sweet time to bring the warm weather our way.

So, this nailphile thought that coaxing her with some neon polish would be a good idea.

You simply can’t go wrong with a neon! It puts a smile on your face, and I feel like my fingernails also smile when I sport a super-bright shade! Or maybe it’s just me who personifies nails? Padded walls, here I come!) 😉

The gorgeous Nina Ultra Pro Pearly Brights first made its appearance in this Haul of Shame post where I shared with you a bunch of incredible polishes from Sally Beauty Supply that I purchased on sale or on clearance.

It took me a while to take Nina Ultra Pro Pearly Brights from the Untried bin to the Tried bin, but I’m glad I finally gave it a go. I don’t have many Nina Ultra Pro nail polishes in my stash, so I cherish it that much more.

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Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange Press Release

Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange 2013

Since I’m back to blogging (yay!), it’s Earth Day, and I received the official press release for the Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange, I thought it was fitting to share this information with you all!

It’s only available to those in the United States, but since the majority of my readers actually are American, I knew I had to let you know about it.

In case you’ve never participated in the Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange before, basically what happens is you order 6 or more polishes from Zoya and you get a discount. Then, using the honour code, you send them bottles of your old or unwanted non-Zoya, non-Qtica, or Non-Nocti polishes.

Zoya has some of the most interesting shades, and they always come out with tons of different colours in each collection. They keep you on your painted toes. 😉

If Zoya shipped to Canada and offered promotions for us, I know that my wallet would be much lighter!

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Blog News: Back to Blogging Again

In my previous post regarding my temporary hiatus, I told you about how there were some technical issues in the back-end of my blog that needed to be fixed.

If you’ve followed me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ll have seen that I still shared photos of my manicures and kept in touch regarding the blog’s progress.

I’m pleased to inform all my dear readers that a lot of changes and improvements have been made to the point where I’m now comfortable to resume blogging again!

You may have noticed that the layout was slightly tweaked so it’s more mobile-friendly. The other changes basically just affect me as a blogger, so they won’t be too noticeable for you, but they were indeed mandatory.

Thank you to all those who have been patient with me! I always appreciate your support, and I’m happy that even though I took a short hiatus, many of you sent me encouraging words saying that you’d wait for my return. That meant so much to me! 🙂

Considering that I’ve been blogging daily for quite some time, it felt extremely strange to not blog. So I’m excited to be back in action.

One Major Change Going Forward

I am fully committed to blogging, however, I’ve made the hard decision to cut back a little, so as not to spread myself too thin.

Instead of blogging 7 days a week, I want to try blogging 5 days a week (Monday to Friday). This keeps my weekends free, and it also gives me some extra time to prepare posts. Additionally, it gives me time to do some blog maintenance.

If that’s still too much, I may need to blog less, but I want to try for 5 days to start. (Of course, if I have something very important to share, I may post more. But I want the standard to be 5 days per week.)

My full-time job takes up the majority of my time, but after hours, I keep an extremely busy schedule with freelance jobs and socializing. I fancy myself a great ‘juggler’, but I can’t ‘burn the candle at both ends’ for too long.

But What About Smorgasbord Sundays Posts?

Those who regularly follow my blog are probably wondering about the Smorgasbord Sundays feature where I post random things.

Even though I plan to blog Monday to Friday, occasionally, I may add an extra post for Smorgasbord Sundays. So it won’t be the end of that completely – it just won’t be a weekly thing. (I had fun going off-topic for that feature, so I couldn’t chuck it aside!)

Thanks, Again, Dear Readers for Sticking By Me

Without dedicated readers who have heart, a blog just isn’t the same. You all have brought a smile to my face, and I’m very appreciative!

I look forward to blogging again, reading your wonderful comments, and replying to you all.

Something VERY Exciting Is Around the Corner

Also, I want to take this time to let you all know that I’m currently working on something pretty huge that I can’t wait to unveil! It won’t be much longer before I let the cat out of the bag. (Hehe, what a terrible saying. Poor cat! :P)

When you read my announcement about it later, you’ll know it’s the big news I’m alluding to. 🙂 Basically, if you love nail polish, you’ll be excited along with me. It’s going to be something really special for my readers, too. Andddd, that’s all I’m going to say so far! 😉 More details to come!

And now, let’s get this blogging show on the road!

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Blog News: Temporary Hiatus Due to Unexpected Problems

Hey everyone! This is a quick note to let you know 2 important things.

Tomorrow, I’ll Announce the Giveaway Winner

Tomorrow, I’ll be randomly picking and announcing the winner of my OPI The Man With The Golden Gun giveaway as mentioned in the post where I met Suzi Weiss-Fischmann of OPI for a 2nd time. (I’ll announce it on my various social-media platforms.)

Blog Issues

After it was brought to my attention by several readers, I will need to look into some issues that are affecting my blog.

Since I have a full-time job and only blog in my spare time as a hobby, unfortunately, it’s going to take me quite some time to work on these important issues and investigate what’s causing the problems. I will try to fix them as soon as possible. However, I have no idea how long or even if I can fix the problems, as I don’t have a technical background. I’ll do my best.

During the time that I devote to figuring out the solutions, I won’t have time to additionally prepare regular posts. It’s really a one-or-the-other type of deal. And the blog problem is an issue that takes precedence.

I wasn’t planning on taking a blog-posting hiatus, but with these major problems, I must.

Thank you for understanding, and I’ll do my best to be back as soon as I can.

In the Meantime…

I will try to be active especially on Twitter if you need to get in touch with me. (Please follow me on there to stay up-to-date on Swatch And Learn news and when I’ll be back up. Your support would be appreciated, as I’m currently pretty stressed out.)

But, if you need to get in touch with me to inform me about certain blog issues that may help my investigation, please reach me through my e-mail instead, which is SwatchAndLearn (at) gmail (dot) com.

Please help me spread the word about my temporary hiatus & the reason!

I don’t want people to think that I’ve abandoned my blog! I have full intentions of blogging regularly once everything is running again normally.

There are critical issues behind the scene that I need to fix first, and I unfortunately don’t have a technical background, so it could take me any time from a week to several months. I really hope to be back quickly because, as you know, I love blogging and interacting with my readers is something that brings me a lot of joy!

I hope that during this process, you will stick by me and support me during this tricky time.

Thanks,
Mary

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OPI Honey Ryder Swatches & Review

OPI Honey Ryder Swatches & Review As of today’s review on OPI Honey Ryder, I’ve now finished swatching and reviewing all 6 shades in the OPI Bond Girls Collection due out in May!

Honey Ryder is a light gold, which could work as an interesting neutral for some skin tones. However, on me, I wasn’t in love with it. It was a bit too yellow for me. Also, you know how I prefer high-contrast colours against my skin tone.

Still, as Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work!” So, I did. You’ll remember that not long ago, I showed you some nifty nail art I did using this plus another Liquid Sand nail polish from the same collection.

After that, I think Honey Ryder is a great base for textured nail art. It’s a great neutral that allows any design to really pop.

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