Category Archives: Blog News

Giveaway: Canadians, Win the Entire OPI Couture de Minnie Collection!

Edit (Saturday May 25): Congratulations, Jess! You’ve won my giveaway! You have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail in order to claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone for participating!

I’ll be having another Canada-only giveaway soon, and later, I’ll have one that’s open to readers outside Canada, too. Stay tuned!

————————————–

Surprise! 😉

Canadians, enter to win the entire OPI Couture de Minnie Collection!

Win the Entire OPI Couture de Minnie Collection

I teamed up with the amazing OPI PR team to make this giveaway possible. (I’ve done international giveaways before, but this time, I want to reach out to my fellow Canadians.)

As a blogger, I’ve collaborated with several PR firms and companies. I’ve been privileged to review new nail polishes that sometimes haven’t even hit the stores yet. It’s really exciting! So, I wanted to share that excitement with Swatch And Learn readers by offering you a chance to get brand-new polishes before they’re officially released. (The OPI Couture de Minnie Collection will officially be released in June, although sometimes there are stores that seem to carry them a little sooner.)

My loyal readers know just how to turn even my worst days into the best days. You’ve left me thoughtful comments and even welcomed me back after I took a short hiatus. Thanks for reinforcing why I blog – to connect with people, to share a similar passion, and to learn from and be inspired by others!

Swatch And Learn readers are the best!

Thanks for touching my heart, opening up to me, caring about what I have to say, and laughing at my jokes. It is greatly appreciated!

To find out how to enter, please carefully read the rest of this post.

Continue reading →

Blog News: Back to Blogging Again

60 Replies

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!

Blog News: Temporary Hiatus Due to Unexpected Problems

32 Replies

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

Blog News: I Met Suzi Weiss-Fischmann a 2nd Time & Attended an Exclusive OPI Product Launch (Plus Surprise Giveaway!)

180 Replies

SwatchAndLearn Suzi Weiss-Fischmann If you’ve visited Swatch And Learn or followed me along social-media avenues in the last few days, you’re well aware of some pretty big news: I met Suzi Weiss-Fischmann (Co-Founder, Executive VP & Artistic Director of OPI) a 2nd time and attended an exclusive OPI product launch!

You’ll remember that back on October 14, 2012, I enjoyed an exclusive dinner with her. That was a major event in my blogging career, and I wrote a very long and detailed post about it.

I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. But, Fate dealt me a Royal Flush in the game of polish poker. 😉

On February 20 (which is actually around my birthday!), Langton Communications, one of the PR firms I’ve collaborated with since August 2011, e-mailed me an invitation to attend an exclusive OPI product launch of the Fall/Winter 2013 collection! (A big thank you goes out to the entire Langton Communications team. Their professionalism and ability to get things done with flair never ceases to impress me.)

When I read the message on my iPhone, my heart was racing like Usain Bolt.

It’s every nailphile’s dream to meet the creative visionary behind the leading nail-polish company. But to have the opportunity to do it twice? “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!” 😉

There probably was a cloud of smoke rising as I RSVPed. Pig Pen from Charlie Brown would’ve been impressed, even if it wasn’t a cloud of dirt.

Eventually, my heartbeat went back to its usually rhythm (Kes the Band “My Love”, if you must know the exact beat…hehe!).

From now on, I’ll always remember Monday March 18 as the day I got to meet Suzi Weiss-Fischmann a 2nd time!

This time, it was held at the Aria Ristorante in the heart of downtown Toronto. What a classy venue!

In this post, I’ll go into the details about the whole experience. There’s so much I must tell you, and I hope that we can share the excitement together as nailphiles!

Also, I’m sneaking in a surprise giveaway for my blog readers. I hope you like it! 😉

Edit: CONGRATULATIONS, Floria! You won my surprise giveaway for an autographed bottle of OPI The Man With The Golden Gun! Please reply to my e-mail within 48 hours to claim your prize. Thanks to everyone for participating!

Continue reading →

Blog News: Today I’m Attending an Exclusive OPI Event with Suzi Weiss-Fischmann

36 Replies

I’ve kept this quiet for a while, but I’m finally letting the cat out of the bag! 🙂

You may remember that back on October 14, 2012, I was invited to attend an exclusive dinner with Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, the Executive Vice President and Artistic Director of OPI.

Well, I was invited to another fabulous event! I feel so honoured to have such an opportunity!

This morning, I’m heading over for an exclusive unveiling of the OPI Fall/Winter 2013 product launch!

Suzi Weiss-Fischmann will be there, and PR has arranged a brief period where I’ll get to speak with Suzi one-on-one! This event is projected to have 60 attendees, so it’s a much larger venue than the one I previously attended.

Thanks to my awesome boss, I was able to take the day off work to go to this once-in-a-lifetime event!

We will have lunch at a fancy restaurant, and my tummy is looking forward to everything that awaits. 😉

To put the icing on the cake, I was also offered an opportunity to have a professional mini manicure with the colours from the OPI Fall/Winter 2013 collection!

(I’m curious to see the new shades, but also I’m excited since this will be my very first professional manicure! I’ve never gone to the nail salon before. I’ve always just painted my own nails, so I’m curious to see the techniques of a professional.)

After the event, I’ll surely put together a post to tell you all about it.

I’m bringing my DSLR camera and my iPhone, so I’ll probably snap a few photos to share with you. More details to come!

(Psst! If everything works out, I hope to have a little ‘surprise’ for my blog readers. Hint hint!) 😉

Blog News: No Blog Post Today

18 Replies

Although I’ve been pretty good about blogging daily, today, there won’t be a blog post.

Things have been hectic for me, and I’ve been dealing with some bad back pain.

I’ll try hard to get something up soon! Thanks for understanding. (My readers are the best!)

Edit (7:36 pm): Thank you all for your heartfelt comments and tweets. My back pain is lessening. I’ve been dealing with it for several days, and the past 2 days were absolutely terrible. It’s the first time I’ve ever experienced back pain, and boy, it sure isn’t fun. I’m NOT planning on taking a blogging hiatus (because I enjoy challenges and pushing through them), so expect a new post really soon.

(CLOSED) Giveaway: Enter to Win Illamasqua Raindrops! (5 Winners)

354 Replies

Edit (February 24): The 5 winners are…Jasmine, Stella, Cara, Lilnol, and Proudmar98! Congratulations! Please check your e-mail shortly. You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize from the time I send the e-mail. The giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone for participating!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Will you be my nailphile Valentine today? 😉

I thought it would be cool to have a special Valentine’s Day giveaway. (If you follow me on Instagram, you were the first to know about this well in advance with specifics! Only yesterday did I post a pre-announcement on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.)

Today’s the perfect occasion to share the love and give back to my loyal readers. (I really appreciate your support and all the thoughtful comments you’ve left on here.)

Illamasqua-Raindrops-Giveaway-SwatchAndLearn

I reached out to Illamasqua and asked if we could team up for a fun giveaway. They were incredibly generous, and not only did they say yes and offer Illamasqua Raindrops as the prize, but they also said that they’d supply 5 (FIVE!) bottles! Yes, that’s right – there will be 5 winners, and guess what? Anyone in the world can enter – nobody is excluded!

A huge thank you to Illamasqua for making this possible for Swatch And Learn readers!

Please continue reading the rest of this post for the details on how to enter.

Continue reading →