A big day and a little thank you to a fellow blogger!

Hi Everybody,

I hope you're having a good week so far. Today has been a pretty exciting day for me! It's my Mum's birthday, my boyfriend's step-sister had a baby girl this morning, my friend announced she's expecting baby number two, and I arranged for two sets of people to come and view my house. As I mentioned, we're moving soon, so the house we are renting needs new tenants. The sooner we get new people in, the less months of rent we have to pay because we're tied in until March! Fingers crossed the viewings go well, tomorrow I'll be frantically cleaning and tidying to make the house look as attractive as possible! 

Tonight I thought I'd do a bit of showing off, not bad showing off, but the good kind. I recently won a giveaway over at Confessions of a Small Town Girl. I never win anything, so to have my entry picked from over 600 was amazing. The funny thing is, Charlotte won my 30 follower giveaway a few months ago, our blogs love each other! 

I am amazed by Charlotte's generosity for her Autumn Pamper giveaway, it's things like this that make me love being a part of the blogging community.

Here is what I won, she put it all in the most beautiful box and included a card!

All packaged up so well!

Beautiful Prizes!

Included in this package was:

A card

A book

Perfume samples

Beauty Samples

Hair product samples

Full sized hair products

Kleenex blotting tissues

Body lotion

Face packs

Concealer

Lip gloss

Eye shadows

Nail polish (w7)

Tinted moisuriser

Rings

Isn't she lovely for giving all this away?! Thank you Charlotte for being so generous with your prizes, I love everything! I'm trying to think of what I can store in this pretty box, it's too nice for me to give away!

I started the book the day I got the package and it was perfect for me. I love this kind of "holiday read" because it's not hard to get through and this one was a real page turner, I was up until 3am reading it and finished it on Saturday night!

The main reason I did this post was to show you what you can expect to see on here over the next few weeks, as I'll be reviewing some of these products as I use them!

See you tomorrow! In the mean time, why not head over to Charlotte's blog and show her some love!

And the Winner is...!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Sorry it's such a quick post but I'm so tired and I have to be up early to take my son to an indoor play centre and try and scope it out as a possible venue for his party in October...

So down to what I actually came here to write! As you might know, I extended my giveaway and it ended this morning!

Here are the results:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you all so much for entering, and congratulations to Amalia!

See you all tomorrow!

Birthday Nails!

Hi Everybody! 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I did :) It was my birthday yesterday so I had an eventful day. My family came over to my house to give me my presents, I got very spoiled indeed! And then we went out to TGI Fridays for lunch. I ate more than I have in months and was very bloated and uncomfortable for the rest of the day and didn't need any dinner! In the evening I went to a local pub with my boyfriend, brother and a couple of his friends to do a pub quiz, which we won!!!!! We watched the Olympics Closing Ceremony afterwards so it was a lovely way to round off my day!

Today I was meant to be doing an activity that my brother had organised... One of my presents from him was a Segway Rally experience day, but the nearest available date is in October, so I'll be booking it for then!

Anyway, I did a special manicure for my birthday which was kind of thrown together last minute before I went out for the meal. I didn't have much time because I did a mani-pedi for my Mum! 

My brother bought me China Glaze Luxe and Lush, and I decided to incorporate that. I already had it but the formula on my bottle was horrific so I was glad to get a new one!

I won't go into details about the polishes I used but it was one coat of Cult Nails Nevermore, one coat Gosh Galaxy (swatches and review coming soon), one coat Luxe and Lush, and then one coat Models Own Disco Heaven. I used two coats of Seche Vite. 

Here it is:

I decided to mix it up a bit for the evening and added a matte top coat. I'm not sure how I felt about this, but it looked better in real life than in the photo! It looked like frosted glass! 

I'm really excited to show you all another of my birthday polishes. It's one I've wanted for ages but my brother is just waiting for it to arrive then I can have it!

Hope you liked my birthday mani!

Don't forget, you still have five days to enter my Olympic Giveaway to win a bottle of Barry M Jewel Britannia!

Olympic Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!

I'm so sorry I went AWOL yesterday! I had a post planned, then I was watching TV... All of a sudden I looked up and it was 11 o'clock so way too late to start. I had an early-ish morning today so I didn't want to stay up.

Anyway, you may or may not know that tonight is the opening ceremony of the Olympics. The highlight for me was the Queen, and the dancing through the ages, a lot of good songs were on there! Anyway, it's kind of a big deal and I have just the right post to celebrate!

A GIVEAWAY!  I know I said 75 followers would be my next giveaway but I thought I might as well do a little one! And it's a good time for my first Rafflecopter experience. Makes it easier for me anyway if I don't have to input entries manually!

The rules are: You must be a follower of my blog. That's about it! I know that annoys some people, but at the end of the day, giveaways are meant to do something nice for my followers who read and enjoy my blog. If you're a follower, you'll have up to 9 entries at first, and some can be done again and again.

The prize is a bottle of Barry M Jewel Britannia, very fitting! You can see my swatches here. This is a limited edition shade exclusive to Boots online and the Barry M website.

The giveaway starts today and ends on the 18th of August at 4am (sorry, Rafflecopter works in EST). This is in three weeks time and you can see a countdown on the widget!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! I'll be announcing the winner on the 18th of August! In the meantime, blogging will resume as normal! 

Have a brilliant weekend, I'm going to see my friend for a night out tomorrow (my first since February!) so that will be very fun!

See you on Monday!

And the winner is...........

Hi lovelies!

Sorry I know I'm half an hour late with this post, but I've been out all day and the dentist and then visiting family.

Today is the day! The prize draw has been done, and here are the results:

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH YOU ARE THE WINNER!!!

PLEASE CONTACT ME (trulypolishedblog@gmail.com) BEFORE WEDNESDAY EVENING WITH YOUR SHIPPING INFO.

Thank you everyone so much for joining to win this prize, I'm so pleased I finally got to do a giveaway. Your support for this blog is everything to me and I'm glad to be able to give something back.

If you're wondering when my next giveaway will be, I'm going to do it when I get to 75 followers. I think it'll be a Rafflecopter giveaway then, because it took me ages to type all of the entries into the list randomiser!

I'll be back tomorrow with a polish post, I'm not sure if it'll be a NOTD or not, it depends whether I can come up with something cool!

Giveaway Update, Nails Inc Reeves Mews and BLOG IDEAS?

Hi everyone,

I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far. I'm so sorry I didn't post last night! My boyfriend took me to the spa for the afternoon and we didn't get back until late.

It was so lovely! I had a back massage, but they had to cut it short because they mixed up their appointments. I was all ready to complain but then they offered us a complimentary couple's treatment that was a mud wrap and steam so I was really pleased. It was the perfect way to spend our last day and night together, because today he's gone away for six weeks to work. This means I'm playing full time single Mummy to my little angel (I wish!) I'll still be posting every day because I post in the evenings, so I'll have lots of pretty things to show you!

Anyway, today I have a Nails Inc to show you. This is called Reeves Mews and it's a gorgeous creme that's half way between teal and turquoise, which are two of my favourite colours (fun fact of the day... my full first name is Arabic for turquoise!).

The formula of this is what I've come to expect from Nails Inc, I used two coats for the photos below. Reeves Mews is actually slightly brighter in real life. My camera wouldn't focus on it properly so sorry that the photos are slightly blurry!

Natural light

Flash

Also, I'm looking to do more features on this blog, as well as more nail art designs. I'm really open to ideas, so if you have something you'd like to see on here, then drop me an email at trulypolishedblog@gmail.com

I also have a quick giveaway update. The draw was supposed to be at 12pm GMT tomorrow but I'm having to move it to later because I have a dentist appointment!

The giveaway draw is now tomorrow JUNE 10TH AT 5PM GMT

Giveaway Polishes!

Hi guys,

I've had such a busy day today, we had to go and get my son a new car seat, and I had to change a couple of tops, so of course that turned into a full shopping session! We went to IKEA as well, which takes a day in itself!

I announced my 30 follower giveaway yesterday and promised I'd have swatches of the polishes up tonight, so here they are! 

Catherine Arley 673

Catherine Arley 805

Hedys Ma.Nish.Ma Blaster and Way Out Fucsia

My full mani of these polishes

The holos are Catherine Arley 673 and 805. 673 is a gorgeous grape purple with a scattered holo effect and 805 is a black with scattered holo. The holo effect in these is very similar to in A England polishes, where sometimes it looks almost linear. The formula on both was really smooth, I used two coats for the black and three for the purple. 

The glass fleck polishes are Hedys Ma.Nish.Ma Blaster and Way Out Fuscia (their spelling, not mine...). Blaster is a purple/blue duochrome and Way Out Fuscia is a pink polish with a shift to blue, with orange at extreme angles. My photos show one coat of each layered over black. My index and ring fingers show Blaster, and I have Way Out Fuscia on my middle and little fingers. My thumb shows half and half.

I decided yesterday that seeing as I layered these polishes, that the prize would be incomplete without a black. So I will be adding a black to the prize! 

These means that the winner of this giveaway will win all four of the polishes shown above, with a black creme as well. It's worth mentioning that the polishes I swatched are my own, you'll be winning new, unused polishes!

It's definitely worth joining to win this prize! As I mentioned yesterday the draw will be on Sunday 10th June at 12pm GMT.

Home Sweet Home and 30 Follower Giveaway!!!!

Hello!

I'm so sorry I missed a day of posting without warning last night. My boyfriend got "the call" that he had to go away and work, so we had to pack up all our things and come home last night. We left the house at around 7.30, then stopped off at my friend's house on the way, and we didn't get home until 1am! So I had no time to write a post!

After such a long trip I was so glad to get home, there's nothing like coming home and getting into your own bed.

Anyway, I don't have a polish to show you tonight, but this is the official announcement of my 30 follower giveaway! I promised I'd do one and the prize got bigger and bigger while I was waiting, and this morning I gained follower number thirty and so the giveaway is going ahead.

Tomorrow I will be revealing the four polishes that make up the prize. There are two gorgeous scattered holos and two glass fleck duochrome top coats. I'll be swatching them tomorrow and then the photos will be up tomorrow evening. 

I've decided to throw another polish into the prize. The two holos can obviously be worn as they are. but the top coats need to be layered, so I'll be throwing in a black creme too! I'm too generous for my own good, but I'm so appreciative for the support you've given me that I want to give back! I'm giving myself a couple of extra days to make sure I've got the prize together

Here are some things you need to know:

1. There will be ONE winner who will win all five polishes

2. This giveaway is only open to those who follow via GFC. If you're already a follower on there you've done enough, but if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram then follow via GFC to be eligible to win.

3. This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY, but I can't be held responsible if your prize doesn't arrive in one piece, or at all. Customs is out of my hands...

4. The draw will be done by a random list by random.org and I'll post a screenshot of the results.

5. The draw will be on Sunday 10th of June at 12pm GMT.

6. When I post the results, the winner will have 72 hours to respond or I'll pick a new winner.

Any other questions, drop me an email at trulypolishedblog@gmail.com and I'll try my best to answer them.

All that's left to say is that I can't wait to do this giveaway! Stay tuned tomorrow to see what the prize contains!

Future GIVEAWAY and Cult Nails nail mail

Good evening everyone!

I've finished packing for Malta and boy was it a struggle! I just want to be there now! Today has been a really good blogging day though, I've gained two more followers on Twitter and four more on here!

If you follow me on Twitter you'll have seen I posted about a giveaway when I get to 30 followers. There will be one winner and the prize will be two 14ml nail polishes which will be revealed when I get to 30 followers! I thought I'd have to make sure the prize was in keeping with my personality, so the two polishes will be HOLOGRAPHIC! I'll say no more about it! The good news though is that I only have 11 followers to go...

Anyway onto the post! I got some nail mail yesterday and luckily it stopped raining for five minutes so I could take photos. My poor post lady must hate me. We've had so much rain recently and she has to patiently wait for me to find the door key to unlock the door to take my parcel off her! I don't think she cares how excited I am to get my parcels, especially where there's no customs dues to pay!!!

I bought three polishes in the $5 sale at Cult Nails a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wait to get them. I bought Let Me Fly, Enigmatic and Living Water, as well as a backup of Seduction. I love it and don't want to end up missing out once they stop selling it (I also have a backup of Toxic Seaweed - love the limited editions clearly!). Originally I wanted Hypnotise Me instead of Enigmatic but by the time I logged on (about an hour into the sale) it had sold out. Hopefully I can get it in the second backorder $5 sale, whenever that will be.

Now for some photos!

Nail Mail!

L-R Seduction, Let Me Fly, Living Water, Enigmatic

See individual photos after the jump...

Versatile Blogger Award!!!

Hi guys, hope you're all having a lovely day!

I've been so busy today, my baby is such a handful these days, he's so active and we're trying to pack for our holiday! We're going to Malta tomorrow so this is all very last minute!

Anyway, I've just received my second nomination for the Versatile Blogger Award! Crystal from Crys Loves Polish nominated me a couple of weeks ago, and now Apple from Apple Drops has nominated me! 

Thank you so much both of you! I started this blog as a way to get my passion out there and it means so much to me that people come to my page and read my blog! I really hope you guys enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoy writing it!

There are some rules for this award and they are as follows:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers that are relatively new to blogging.

2. Let them know you have nominated them.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

Now, I don't read 15 new blogs, the majority of the ones I read are a lot more established than mine and have been going a lot longer. However, I do read some new blogs and I think they're all deserving of this award, so I award it to:

Antique Purple

Apple Drops

Back for Tea

Crys Loves Polish

LacquerCareFactor

oKayeAmy

Find my seven random facts after the jump!