Author Archives: Mary S.

Urban Outfitters Green Holo Swatches & Review

Urban Outfitters Green Holo Swatches & Review If you’re a fan of holographic nail polish (who isn’t?), you’ll totally flip over Urban Outfitters Green Holo!

I’m the proud owner of this ridiculously amazing nail polish because my friend, Carmela from Polished Indulgence, surprised me with it as part of a Christmas present! (Thank youuuu!)

You get the entire rainbow in a bottle, and what I especially appreciate is that it translates onto the nail beautifully.

This is a must-have polish, but then again, all strong holographic polishes are must-haves to me! 😉

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China Glaze Calypso Blue Swatches & Review

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China Glaze Calypso Blue Swatches & Review China Glaze Calypso Blue from the Bahama Blues Collection has been in my stash since it was released in 2008.

The odd thing? This is the very first time I wore it!

Yes, I hoped that Calypso Blue would forgive me for overlooking it just because a lot of flashy pretty things sauntered by and distracted me.

I took it out for a spin, and we fell in love. We went to dinner, saw a movie, and stared at each other by candlelight while sipping on some wine and having a heart-to-heart conversation. 😉

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Pretty Serious Seasonal Sunset Swatches & Review

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For my New Year’s Eve manicure, I nearly went for OPI GoldenEye. Instead, I chose Pretty Serious Seasonal Sunset to ring in the New Year!

It’s from the Christmas Without Snow Collection that went on sale December 1st, 2012.

What was on your nails when you were celebrating the beginning of 2013?

Pretty Serious Seasonal Sunset has everything I was looking for – saturated colour and plenty of sparkle.

When it arrived in the mail, I tore open the package like a sewer rat looking for lunch. I was extremely excited because I’ve never tried any Pretty Serious nail polishes before!

This did not disappoint!

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Happy New Year!

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Dear Swatch And Learn Readers,

I wish you good health, happiness, and humour! May you challenge yourself more, develop new skills, and befriend colourful characters in 2013! 🙂

Love,
Mary

The Best of 2012

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The Best of 2012 Another year is coming to a close! Are you ready to see what 2013 brings?

What you probably didn’t know is that in 2012, I faced a lot of stressful issues in my personal life that caused me great emotional pain.

Blogging and interacting with you helped me push through it instead of giving up.

If you’ve been following Swatch And Learn for even a little while, I hope it’s evident that blogging and interacting with readers bring me a lot of happiness. Yes, it is hard work and very challenging to keep up, but I’m not the type of person who’s afraid of pulling up my sleeves to get things done.

Thank you for listening to what I think and for valuing my opinion, post after post and tweet after tweet. That is a big compliment!

Most of all, thank you, dear readers, for being encouraging and kind as well as for cracking the much-needed joke.

You remind me that genuinely good people are still out there. I needed that reminder, and you gave it to me in spades!

So, while in this post I list the best of 2012 in terms of nail polish, nail art, etc., I want you to know that Swatch And Learn readers are really the best of 2012!

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Smorgasbord Sundays: Knitting a Green Beanie

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Knitting a Green Hat No idle hands here! They’ve been busier than ever this month with knitting Christmas presents.

I completed the pom pom baby blanket for my niece that I shared with you before. It used up 5 balls of yarn. And although it wasn’t perfect, each stitch was made with love.

In addition to knitting a dark-cranberry cable cowl for my mom, I also made one in a dusty rose for my sister-in-law.

The purple cowl I showed you before on here is the same style. I ended up keeping the purple one for myself because it was more of an ‘experiment’.

The following two cowls were super-quick to complete. I literally finished knitting 2 cowls in about 5 hours. It’s a fun and easy pattern that I recommend you try.

So, now that Christmas is over, I’m back to knitting another hat. It’s no secret that green is my favourite colour, so now I’m Knitting a Green Beanie.

(Yup, it’s the same style as the mustard hat and the purple hat you’ve seen before. I just love the style, and it’s very warm. Hehe, told you that I was going to make it in every colour!) 😉

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What I Wore on My Nails for Christmas

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Christmas Manicure Swatch Now, I told you (and showed you) in yesterday’s post that I overcompensated this year by wearing China Glaze Party Hearty a lot to make up for not sporting it last year.

The one Instagram photo I snapped with my iPhone was insufficient. When you go overboard, you have to really go overboard, take the plunge, and throw all the sailors off the boat with you! (Just make sure they can swim first!) 😉

So, here are lots of photos of my Christmas Manicure that I’ve been wearing since December 25th all the way up to today. (Plus I only took the photos for this post with my proper camera yesterday evening. While it’s no longer a fresh manicure, I still loved it so much and wanted to share some holiday spirit.)

Some of you may know that I spent the holidays at my mom’s place. We were pretty busy, and I literally painted this 30 minutes before guests arrived because I didn’t want my nails to be naked for a special occasion. (Thank goodness for the miraculous Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat…hehe!)

Layering Party Hearty over dark green is my favourite so far. What other colours have you used under it? I’d love to see it over a purple.

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