Sunday, November 24, 2013

Football related food and a giveaway link!!!

So, three weeks ago, I beat my opponent, but only because he didn't update his lineup.
The last two weeks my opponent had the best/luckiest line up and I lost.
This week I will not lose!!!  Gotta hit up the waiver wire and redo my team.. so many of my players have gotten hurt...
So, instead of focusing on the fantasy football aspect, let's talk the sports bar that has just opened up a half a block from where I live:
https://www.facebook.com/TheRedZoneBham

This sports bar and grill now has the absolute best sushi chef in five points.  Weird, huh?  I'm not complaining.  Their lunch menu is also a really awesome deal: $6 gets you sweet tea and a meal (burger, chicken tenders, etc).  Their sweet tea is way too sweet for me (and I used to work at McAlister's!!), but they are never averse to bringing me a half sweet/half unsweet glass.  The staff is fantastic, and the food is awesome.  Their version of a philly cheesesteak sandwich is pretty amazing.  The only thing I'm upset about is they're talking about getting rid of the chocolate cake on the menu.
So if you are in the Birmingham area, check them out!!!
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Also, over 50 beauty-related prizes in this awesome giveaway!!
http://happyinholospolish.blogspot.com/2013/11/super-mega-holiday-giveaway-50-prizes.html

Thursday, November 7, 2013

My students designed nail polish...

So, most of you know that one of my goals is to raise money to fund arts and crafts projects in the residential program where I work.  I donate 10% of sales to the Horizons Residential program and as soon as we have enough raised for our first project, I will blog about it.

However, this project was put into place so the students could design nail polish for themselves (or a family member as a present), and we would sell a copy of each student-designed polish on my Etsy page to raise money for the school in general.

I had some extra old bottles for the bottles to sell, mixing balls, pigments, and a few types of glitter I donated. I also enlisted help from the general populace for a more diverse selection of glitter (I have 17 girls and some of the guys want to be involved as well) and Nikki from Glitter Unique stepped up.  She donated SEVERAL packets of samples of glitter and was absolutely the kindest toward our cause.  We are going to be able to do two activities thanks to the plethora she donated!

The work of a saint.  Glitterunique.com is now my go-to for glitter, for sure!

I cleaned out all the bottles by hand.  It was easier once I found a tip in the comments of the video that mentioned using salt with the polish remover in the bottle.

            

40 bottles later , it is finally time to have a blast!

I got some semi-candid photos of my students as they got ready for polish.  We used the evening as a chance to socialize and get creative.  15 students showed up out of 31 I have total, so that was fantastic.  Four of them were boys making polish for family members or girlfriends.  I literally had so many show up that a couple of them will have to work on their polishes tomorrow!!!!




We got to making the polish (they directed me while I poured pigment, glitter, and suspension base), and since it was bottle by bottle, there was a LOT of shaking to be done!




Finally, we have 13 polishes with more to come tomorrow!!  This means we currently have $130 worth of donations going up for sale in the shop under the Horizons Students tab starting tomorrow morning!



I will swatch these in the sun and place them in the shop tomorrow afternoon. ^_^


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Julep's Champagne Trio and Giveaway Link

So, a little while back I received Julep's Champagne Trio as a gift.  I love Julep because most of their polishes stay on FOREVER on my nails.  I introduced my mom to them as well and she's in love too. ^_^

So here is my review of the three polishes that come in this set:
At 8 oz/.27mL for each bottle, 3 bottles, and the set costing $28 as a maven, this set is pricey.  They also dry out in the bottle after a couple of uses, but it is nothing a little polish thinner won't fix.  The unique colors and the fact the lacquer stays on three times as long as any other brand makes the price worth it to me.

Clio
This multidimensional glitter is one of my favorite toppers.  It smells weird during application, but I think that may be the suspension base and it is gone by the time it dries.
In the photo below, I've swatched it, one coat, on one hand.  In the reviews of Amity and Reiko, I will use it as an accent over them.

This Rose-gold color is one of my favorites to wear.  It dries quick and is opaque in two coats.  Here it is on one hand with Clio as a top-coat accent on my ring finger

Amity
Here is the last of the three polishes.  This sparkly white-gold is really pretty, though it takes three coats to be completely opaque.  It also looks a bit spooky, so it satisfies my love of the legend of Amityville. =)  Here it is, again with Clio as the accent topcoat: