Want to name a Zoya polish??

Have you ever dreamed of naming a Zoya Color? This is your big chance to join in on the color naming fun... Zoya Creative Director, Rebecca Isa has created 3 gorgeous, new colors for Redbook and the magazine is running a naming contest for them in the September 15 Issue (page 60).


· Creamy Cherry Red

· Metallic Plum

· Sheer Sparkly Gold

As you may know, Zoya names all of our colors after women - so submit your Mom or Bestie or Idol or even your own name to maybe become the next new Zoya!

ENTRY FORM: http://redbook.hearstmobile.com/sweepstakes/31602

CONTEST RULES: http://www.redbookmag.com/sweepstakes/rules/a39228/september-2015-contest-official-rules-5-beauty-tricks-i-just-learned-zoya-contest/


OR USE THE QR CODE PROVIDED HERE FOR DIRECT ACCESS.

After the winning names are selected by the Redbook team, the colors will be available through December on Zoya.com as a full size (0.5 oz) trio - $27 (US).

And as individual colors in salons and ULTA stores - $9 ea. (US).

Win $100 shopping spree in Barielle's Valentine's Day mani contest!

Hello!!

Barielle is running a very cool Valentine's Day manicure contest, with a $100 shopping spree as the prize!

$100 can get you a lot of awesome nail product, so let's see your best Valentine's manis! You can enter by clicking here. :)

Good luck!!
M.

Fix My FAIL: For-fun contest WINNER!

Hello everyone!

I was so happy that I got a several entries into my Fix My FAIL for-fun contest--so many that it was very hard to pick a winner! Because just like I suspected, you all did a really great job of coming up with great ways to fix them fails. :)

To refresh everyone's memories, here are the two FAIL manicures I posted; the point was to improve the FAIL by taking the elements and reworking them. You didn't have to use all the same elements, but the more you could manage the better:

I had a really, really, really tough time picking a winner; in particular there were two people whose entries were just awesome and I had a hard time picking only one of them.

Then I realized, this is my blog, darn it, and I can have both if I want to! More manicures for everyone to love, right? So, I have two winners tied for first place:


First let's look at what Miss Intensity Nails  did:

She explained on her blog post that her concept here is that these are like shooting-star flowers and the dots are the trails being left behind them. Of course I love that she changed the regular purple to a holo purple--it adds just an extra bit of sparkle and pretty without being overwhelming. I love the clean look of it, and I think she improved on the colors I chose a bit, making them a bit more sophisticated. And it's really summery and fun. :)


Next up there's the entry by Sparkle And Shine Nails; she chose to rework both manicures (this was allowed), and it turns out I love them both:

This makes me think of peppermint candy, you know the kind with the red and white swirls, that taste like candy canes? They always remind me of Christmas, and my FAIL was an attempt at a Christmas mani, so I love that she captured that feel in this manicure. Also, that's some really cool glequin work there--not as easy as she has made it look. Sleek, sparkly, and fun. :)

This is her re-do of my Margarita fail--she actually made a glitter sandwich to capture the look of the base polish! How creative is that? She also threw out my annoying dashes, and did a much better job of controlling her dotting work than I did. :)

Thanks to both of the winners, and to everyone else who entered for all of your wonderful work!! If anyone wants to see the other entries, you can find them on the Lacquer Or Leave Her Facebook page (I'll be loading them all into an album). And if you have a moment, please check out both of the winners' blogs, you won't be sorry you did. :)

I want to end with a question. I've really enjoyed having the for-fun contests, but I'm wondering if I should try something new. What do you think? Should I do another version of Fix My FAIL, or maybe mix it up and make the next one have a theme of some sort, maybe something summer or beach related? Let me know what you think. :)

Thanks for reading, and big hugs. :)
M.

Reminder: Fix My FAIL for-fun contest closes tomorrow!

Hello!

Just wanted to remind everyone quickly that tomorrow is the last day to submit entries for the Fix My FAIL for-fun contest.

If you missed it, you can find it by clicking here. :)

The winner will be featured on my blog...so far, there is only one entry so your odds are good!

Big hugs,
M.

For-Fun Contest: Fix My FAIL returns!

Hello!

It's time to take another shot at 'Fix My FAIL'!  ::crowd goes wild::

The premise here is that I will show you one or more manicures where I tried to make a pretty manicure and failed utterly, and you will have the opportunity to show me what I should have done to create a better mani.

This is a 'for fun' contest, meaning there is no prize, it's just for fun. Send me your attempt to improve my manicure(s), and I will pick the ones I like best and feature them in a future blog post, including links to your blog/Facebook page/Instagram/etc.

When I did this previously, I had people post their entries to my Facebook page, but some people don't have access to Facebook that wanted to enter, and couldn't. So this time I'm going to do this a couple of ways. You can:

1) Post your entries to my Facebook page, which you can find find by clicking here.
2) Create a blog post, tweet, or Instagram of your entry, and link it in the comments below. Only links to entries will be allowed; any other links left in the comments section will be deleted.
3) If you don't have any of those media, you can e-mail your entry to me at lacquerorleaveher@gmail.com.


Okay, let me show you the two manicure FAILs I have for you to fix, and then I'll talk a bit about the rules. First up, my Zoya Blaze FAIL:

Zoya Blaze

Zoya Blaze FAIL

Aphrodite Lacquers Margarita FAIL:

Aphrodite Lacquers Margarita

Aphrodite Lacquers Margarita FAIL

In both cases, I took a really pretty polish and managed to completely ruin it with my disasterous design, lol. I'm sure you can do better--so show me!

What are the rules? Basically, there is only one rule, and that is that some element of my original manicure must make it into your manicure. For example, you might:

1) Keep the base color (it doesn't have to be the exact same polish, just a similar one), and do something different with it. For example, you might take Zoya Blaze as your base polish (or another similar sparkly red), and decorate it very differently.

2) Keep one or more of the design elements. For example, in the Zoya Blaze FAIL, you might decide you want to do something with green glequins. In the Margarita FAIL, you may decide you want to use the same stamp I used, but change everything else.

3) You only have to do one of the two manicures, but you can do both if you want to. :)

Of course, the more of the original design elements you can keep and come up with something awesome, the more impressed I will be and the more likely you will win. So maybe in the case of the Zoya Blaze FAIL, you decide you're gonna use the same polish, green glequins, and silver bar glitter, but you have a way better idea about how to put all three of them together. That would be awesome and amazing and I would love it!

So, submit your pictures of links to me by the end of the month; the deadline is June 1st at 12:01am. And good luck!!

Peace and love,
M.

Winner: Fix My FAIL!

Hello everyone!

I have the winner of the 'Fix My FAIL' fun-test: It's Rithika from Closet Diva!

Here is the manicure I asked participants to deconstruct and reconstruct:

And here is how she fixed it:

I love that the glequins give it more definition and cause the glitter to pop more than on my manicure; I also think the fact that she used a creme under helps the pop, too.

While there is no prize for the fun-test, the winner gets to be featured on my blog and gets a shout out to her blog, so please take a moment to check out her blog at Ramblings Of A Closet Diva. :)

Also, I didn't get many entrants for this fun-test, so I'd like to ask for feedback. Should I do it again or not? Would people participate if I do it again? Should I give more than one manicure to choose from? More/less time to enter? Or is it just a stupid idea and I should abandon it, lol? Please let me know either in the comments here or by giving me feedback on my Facebook page. .

Thanks for looking,

Xoxox,
M.

Contest honorable mentions: Empowering Women contest!

Hello!!

I'm a little behind in presenting you the two honorable mention picks from the Empowering Women contest; I get the feeling it was harder to pick the two honorable mentions than the winners! I know it was a difficult choice for Jenny to make all-around because the entries we got were very cool. :)

Here are the two honorable mentions:

One is the entry we received from Norma Maria: 

Here is what Norma Maria wrote about her submission: Hello, here is my entry to the nail art contest. My main idea was to demonstrate how women can support and empower each other and how some women might feel isolated (looking at one nail) but looking at the bigger picture (all the nails) there are other women around them, with open arms, ready to go together and support each other. I am aware that my design looks rather simplistic but I wanted to take part of the contest to raise awareness of empowering women and people overall, being a mentor for a teenager myself (unfortunately for another charity), I know how rewarding the job is and how much it helps people in need. Mentoring online sounds very interesting and definitely has big future because of the accessibility. I hope more people will join IM2A mentoring in the future.

I love this manicure. I love the representations of women reaching out to help one another, and the pretty blending colors behind them just make them all the more beautiful. Norma Maria calls them 'simplistic', but I don't think that's right at all--there is a difference between 'simplistic' and 'simple' in my mind, and sometimes a simple symbol is the one that drives home your point most effectively. :)


The other is the entry from Gin Shivers: 

This is what she wrote about it:

This is my Empowering women nail look. It has a simple base and over it OPI Spotted black that represents that a strong women can always get what she wants no matter how hard is it to attain. Over it I added some Essence flakies that give the impression of fire wich represents the passion that makes this woman an inspiration to others. And on top there are some studs becouse a strong modern woman must be though.

I love this look because of the way she represented passion and strength; these certainly are the nails of a modern woman who can accomplish anything she wants in this world! I love the strong colors she chose and I agree with her that the studs really bring that edge of strengh to the design. :)

Thanks to everyone for being patient during the wait for these! And thanks again to all of the lovely ladies that participated in the contest. You all ROCK!!!

Xoxox,
M.

Empowering Women Contest: Last chance to enter!!

This is the final reminder to get your entries uploaded by noon today (20 Feb 13) for the 'Empowering Women' nail art contest!

Here are the details about the contest:

• To submit your entry, please upload it to the Lacquer Or Leave Her! (LOLH) Facebook page, which you can find by clicking here.
• One entry per person, please.
• The manicure must include at least 4 fingers of one hand; you don't have to include the thumb in your entry, but we'd love it if you do!
• Please include an explanation of why your manicure fits the theme. This may be especially important if you do a design that is more abstract than literal.
• The deadline to submit your entry is noon on February 20, 2013. 
• Since Jenny is not a nail blogger and doesn't follow nail art blogs (she doesn't even know who Scrangie is--OMG), she will be the unbiased judge who will pick the winner, along with two honorable mentions. Her decisions are final.
• The contest is open to anyone who wants to enter; Llarowe ships internationally to most countries, however there are some exceptions, and it's up to you to make sure you can use the gift certificate should you win it; we can't make substitutions. 
• Pictures submitted to the contest may be used by LOLH, IM2A, or Llarowe, with proper photo credit to you and/or your blog.

The nail art entries for the contest will be posted to the LOLH and IM2A Pinterest boards; they will also be featured on the IM2A site, in an article about the contest and event (we will post these as the come in). Finally, the winning entry will be featured on the cover of IM2A's Facebook page for a month! 

UPDATED: Reminder: Nail Art Contest, empowering women!!

Hello everyone!

I just want to remind everyone about the nail art contest I'm running with Inspire Me 2 Aspire! The theme is 'Empowering Women', and the prize is a $50 gift certificate provided by Llarowe. As of right now the number of entries are small, so your chances of winning the contest are great! You have a few days left to enter, so please check out the details listed below. :)

I also wanted to remind you that Inspire Me 2 Aspire needs female mentors for teens, to take part in a chat event on International Women's Day (March 8th). To be clear, you do not have to sign up to be a mentor to enter the contest, these are entirely separate. But please take a minute to check out the link and consider mentoring. Just a few words can make a huge difference in a young girl's life. There is no obligation outside of the chat event, but of course if you want to be a mentor on an on-going basis, we'd love to have you do that, too!  The last day to sign up for the chat event is Tomorrow, February 15th, and we need you!!

But back to the nail art contest. :) Please be sure to post your entry and your description onto the timeline of the Lacquer Or Leave Her! Facebook page; this link will take you to it.  I will then upload it to the contest album for you. See below for the details about the contest.

Thanks for reading! Xoxox.
M.

Here are the details about the contest:

• To submit your entry, please upload it to the Lacquer Or Leave Her! (LOLH) Facebook page, which you can find by clicking here.
• One entry per person, please.
• The manicure must include at least 4 fingers of one hand; you don't have to include the thumb in your entry, but we'd love it if you do!
• Please include an explanation of why your manicure fits the theme. This may be especially important if you do a design that is more abstract than literal.
• The deadline to submit your entry is noon on February 20, 2013. 
• Since Jenny is not a nail blogger and doesn't follow nail art blogs (she doesn't even know who Scrangie is--OMG), she will be the unbiased judge who will pick the winner, along with two honorable mentions. Her decisions are final.
• The contest is open to anyone who wants to enter; Llarowe ships internationally to most countries, however there are some exceptions, and it's up to you to make sure you can use the gift certificate should you win it; we can't make substitutions. 
• Pictures submitted to the contest may be used by LOLH, IM2A, or Llarowe, with proper photo credit to you and/or your blog.

The nail art entries for the contest will be posted to the LOLH and IM2A Pinterest boards; they will also be featured on the IM2A site, in an article about the contest and event (we will post these as the come in). Finally, the winning entry will be featured on the cover of IM2A's Facebook page for a month! 

Nail Art Contest: Empowering Women

Hello everyone!

I'm extremely excited today to announce that I, along with a friend and colleague of mine, am hosting a nail art contest!

The prize will be a $50 gift certificate to Llarowe:

Leah Ann, the owner of Llarowe and purveyor of fine hard-to-get polishes, has very kindly offered to sponsor the contest by donating the gift certificate prize in support of our cause. What's the cause, you ask?

The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness about Inspire Me 2 Aspire, a social media networking site that connects teen-aged girls with adult mentors:

I have been helping the creator of Inspire Me 2 Aspire (IM2A), Jenny Ellis, to get the program off the ground, and we are looking for women from all walks of life to be mentors for a chat event on International Women's Day (March 8th). For more information about this event, please click here.

In light of that, the theme for the contest is 'Empowering Women'. This is a broad topic designed to give you freedom to express ideas about supporting other women, empowering them, helping them to achieve their dreams.

Here are the details about the contest:

• To submit your entry, please upload it to the Lacquer Or Leave Her! (LOLH) Facebook page, which you can find by clicking here.
• One entry per person, please.
• The manicure must include at least 4 fingers of one hand; you don't have to include the thumb in your entry, but we'd love it if you do!
• Please include an explanation of why your manicure fits the theme. This may be especially important if you do a design that is more abstract than literal.
• The deadline to submit your entry is noon on February 20, 2013. 
• Since Jenny is not a nail blogger and doesn't follow nail art blogs (she doesn't even know who Scrangie is--OMG), she will be the unbiased judge who will pick the winner, along with two honorable mentions. Her decisions are final.
• The contest is open to anyone who wants to enter; Llarowe ships internationally to most countries, however there are some exceptions, and it's up to you to make sure you can use the gift certificate should you win it; we can't make substitutions. 
• Pictures submitted to the contest may be used by LOLH, IM2A, or Llarowe, with proper photo credit to you and/or your blog.

The nail art entries for the contest will be posted to the LOLH and IM2A Pinterest boards; they will also be featured on the IM2A site, in an article about the contest and event (we will post these as the come in). Finally, the winning entry will be featured on the cover of IM2A's Facebook page for a month! 

While it is absolutely not required in order for you to either enter or win the contest, we hope you will also take a moment to visit the IM2A site, and consider becoming a mentor. Please also spread the word to anyone else you know who might be interested--and remember, this isn't just for career women. It's for anyone who has overcome obstacles in their life, pursued a dream, or contributed to the world in a positive way from raising a child to volunteering for a cause, to, well, anything. We believe that every woman has something valuable to give back to the next generation--yes, that includes YOU. Click here to visit the site; if you scroll down to the bottom, there is an 'apply now' button.

I can't wait to see the nail art you all come up with! I know there is amazing talent out there, bring it!!

Thanks for reading, and a huge THANKS to Llarowe for generously providing the prize for the contest!!!!

Xoxox,

M.