Viva La Nails Sample Pack #2

Hi everyone, hope you're all having a great weekend. Just a post to let you know that Viva La Nails have released their second free sample pack, specially for YouTubers and Bloggers. They only had 100 packs available and I got email notification for this a few weeks ago. I received my pack on Monday. Here are the contents:

(Credits to Viva La Nails for the images)

So in total there were 8 water decal nail wraps with different designs and patterns. If you aren't sure what water decals are and if you've never used them before, I made a photo tutorial last year in this post here where I used water decals from Viva La Nails' first sample pack.

Now they have nail wraps using the same method of water decal-ing and you can check out all of their designs here

I'll soon let you know how you can obtain your free sample pack, but first let's take a closer look at the nail wraps:

 Simple step-by-step instructions, yay! 

Great for first time water decal-ers

 The clear plastic was sealed so tightly that I had to literally rip it to take it out

It was a sticky-sealed plastic covering as well so I don't know why it was this hard to open!

I think Viva La Nails should improve on this, hmm

 

 Ta-da

Now I was going to show you all a video demo/tutorial but... I failed at applying these water decal nail wraps :( I'm really not that good when it comes to nail art *sigh* but I usually do persist and keep trying. Except with these, I gave up after stuffing up two of the pieces. I don't know what went wrong! When I do eventually get it right I'll show you as a NOTD.

So you're probably wondering how to get this free sample pack (everyone loves a freebie). Here is how:

Firstly, this is an exclusive sample pack from Viva La Nails where you must be a blogger or a Youtuber. But not only that... you must have received sample pack #1 AND have mentioned it on your blog/Youtube channel as review/tutorial etc.

If you have done that then congratulations, you can get yourself a free sample package from Viva La Nails here, but keep in mind that you will have to pay for the shipping fee (it's only £2.95)

It's currently out of stock at the moment but you can simply request to be put on the waiting list when it does become in stock again. I'm glad I got in fast haha.

For those who didn't receive sample pack #1 or didn't mention it anywhere, I can give you the opportunity to try the water decal nail wraps (just because I'm in such a generous mood)

Kidding, I was intending to give away a few as I am not big with nail art and I had a fail attempt at applying these water decal nail wraps. Also, I don't think that I will have the chance to try them all out so for those who would like one to try out but have missed out on the opportunity to obtain a sample pack can now do so!

I hope Viva La Nails don't mind me sending three of their water decals nail wraps out to some of my readers If they did mind then these would just be sitting around unused ._.

This is just a mini giveaway for my readers who have stuck by me and have remained followers, even after my previous giveaway announcements. Yes, there have been people that have unfollowed my blog after my giveaways have ended because they didn't win (it just happened after I announced my May giveaway winners). Thankfully they didn't win because now I know their intentions and are just part of the small minority. Oh well, it's their loss instead of mine.

I know that there are some wonderful readers out there who have given my ongoing support - thank you once again! Here is a small giveaway for you all that will only go on for a week:

I will randomly choose 3 people to win one of the following sets of Viva La Nails water decal nail wraps

 The designs will be handed out at random, unless you would like to request a specific one

This giveaway will just be between me and my current blog followers, although new followers are also welcome. I don't intend on gaining more followers from having this giveaway. To enter, comment on this post with your name and email address so I know that you're entering and not just commenting :D

But that's not all - you need to let me know that you're actually into nail art (because the prize would be less useful for you than it is to me lol)

So don't just provide me with you name and email address, you must also answer my questjen of the week to have a fully qualified entry to my giveaway, which is:

How do you like to decorate your nails?

For me, I love to add rhinestones from my coloured rhinestone wheel because it totally blings up my nails. In the past I have used water decals and I loved them - they lasted so much longer than nail art stickers! I currently don't have any nail art brushes or dotting tools but i really want to get some! I need to learn more nail art skills since I am lacking soooo much that I end up with just having plain painted nails. I can't get my konad stamps to work as well so that's heading to the fail department too :( I don't know, I think I'm pretty hopeless with nail art so I tend to stick with makeup :P

Speaking of my lack of nail art skills, here's an NOTD I had last week for my 18th birthday. It sucks heaps I know lol, I was strapped for time and my nails weren't at the length that I wanted them to be T_T I wanted them to stand out against my black dress so I made them pretty colourful... it didn't turn out as pretty as I had imagined in my mind

 It would have looked better with just the green rhinestone tips but boo, I put the gold ones on first

 I liked my thumbs the best

The nail polish that I am wearing is Sephora by OPI's Handpicked for Me

Don't ask why and don't give me suggestions... I know I'll improve next time! I ripped everything off after my birthday celebration was over that night haha.

Thanks for reading guys, take care!

Winners of my May Giveaway!

Hiii! Ah it's so exciting to finally announce the winners of my May Giveaway which ended on my birthday. Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes last week ^^ Being 18 has been awesome so far hehe.

Let me just start off by saying that there were SOOOOOO many entries! Thanks to those who participated :D It took me ages to count up and collate but I managed to do it all within the time span of one week which I promised. Luckily I've finished all of my university assignments for the semester so I had more time on my hands than usual :)

So there are 4 different winners who have been randomly chosen through random.org (I put all of the entries on an excel spreadsheet so each entry had been allocated a number). I even felt the suspense building up inside when I went onto random.org and generated the random number!

I filmed the processes of picking out the winners but it was so dragged on and unnecessary so I ended up taking screenshots from my video footage to show you guys the 'proof' of the winners.

Without further ado, here are the results!

And just to refresh your mind, these were the prizes...

Number of entries: 176

Random.org generated this number:

Who's entry is #121...

CONGRATULATIONS SINYEE!

Here I am showing you all the entries that SinYee had to show you that one entry may not be enough for you to be a winner. The more entries you put in, the higher the chance of you winning ;)

Number of entries: 95

Random.org generated this number:

Who's entry is #86...

CONGRATULATIONS ELENA!

Again, if Elena had only put in one entry, she wouldn't have been the winner of this prize. Each entry makes a difference!

Number of entries: 195

Random.org generated this number:

Who's entry is #17...

 CONGRATULATIONS JEL!

Having at least 3 entries is ideal for a giveaway, but obtaining the maximum number of entries is what I'd do :) Won't hurt to do a little extra which could make a heap of difference!

Number of entries: 46

Random.org generated this number:

Who's entry is #29...

CONGRATULATIONS CONNIE CHEN!

Connie having multiple entries really paid off in the end as her third entry happened to be the one that was picked.

I'll be contacting the winners shortly, so please be on the lookout for an email from me! I will give you guys 48 hours to reply to my email/tweet or else I will have to pick a replacement winner.

That's it from me, I'll try to blog again very soon since this doesn't really count as a blog post. Maybe you'll hear from me again tomorrow :)

Oh and don't feel disheartened if you're not a winner, I will be having another giveaway soon since I have recently reached 600+ blog followers. Keep your eyes peeled for that and maybe you'll be one of the lucky winners then, okay!

I always say this after I announce giveaway winners but I'll still say it here - any blog unfollowers will be disqualified from future giveaways hosted by me. I will keep track of anyone who does, I've caught out at least 5 people who have unfollowed my blog and re-followed when there's been a new giveaway from me. They have been permanently disqualified without notification but I'm sure they know who they are.

It's My 18th Birthday~!

Hi guys! Just letting you know that my giveaway  isover and that I am now 18 years old :D I know this post says 'May 23' but I actually created this on May 22 D: So yeah, my birthday is May 22 not 23!!

It's so exciting for me because I am now at the 'legal' age and in Australia, that's a pretty big deal haha. I know in other places, the legal age is 21 so 18 in Australia is sort of like turning 21.

I made a vlog which is a little boring a long haha. You don't have to watch it x) Just about my night and the gifts that I received. The volume is a little low so you may want to turn it on full blast.

I didn't edit the video at all, I filmed it and uploaded it straight away so please don't mind the fast-paced talking - I tried to do it as quickly as possible and I didn't plan anything beforehand, just started talking to my webcam!

And also, I reached 600 blog followers today ^o^ Thank you all!

Haul - Blog Sale Purchases

Hello! I'm so glad that Blogger is no longer down :) In the past couple of days there were errors and maintenance work happening so none of us could access it. Apparently some people have had their latest blog posts removed along with some comments but Blogger is going to try to get them all back, so fret not! It was nice talking to some of you on Twitter while Blogger had errors.

Time to do a massive photo-spam haul for you all, with the majority of my pictures taken from my new Samsung digital camera. I got a microSDHC card for it a few weeks ago, it's only 4gb which doesn't seem like much compared to my 64gb iPod lol. I can only record around 10 minutes worth of video footage on my camera :|

These items that I purchased were from MisoJenny's Japan Tsunami Donation Blog Sale where all of the proceeds went towards the Red Cross. You may remember me having my own blog sale like this but it was no where near as successful as Jenny's! With all the items that she had for sale as well as donated items from other bloggers/Youtubers including Fuzkittie, the amount raised was $804.44!

This was probably where my makeup-purchasing ban ended because I purchased quite a bit x) However I didn't feel guilty about splurging because they were bargains and I did my bit to donate to help Japan. It actually made me feel good :) Also, it allowed me to try new brands and products which you'll see soon.

So here is a picture of all the things I managed to get from the blog sale:

This post will only have swatches because it'll be too long if I review as well! I'm going to start from the top of the picture to the bottom.

  

My Beauty Diary Masks

5 Cooling Masks + 5 Mixed Berry Masks

= $9.78

Usually a box of 10 My Beauty Diary masks cost $10 plus and they're hardly ever mixed so I'm glad that I can try two different masks for the less than the price of one box. I haven't had the chance to try them yet but when I do, I may do a review on them!

NYX For Your Eyes Only - Mysterious Brown Eyes Palette

 

= $7

I think I purchased this by impulse because it wasn't something that I needed or had my eyes on but nonetheless, I'm happy with this palette. Here are some swatches:

First row

 Natural lighting + with flash

Second row

 Natural lighting + with flash

I love how they look so metallic and that they aren't heaps shimmery, just packed with lots of colour. There was a little bit of fallout when I swatched them but I blew them away. The eyeshadows had a very smooth texture which easily glided on my skin. I really like the neutral colours. I'm glad that I didn't previously own any neutral shades or palettes so this will come in handy :)

 NYX LIP PRODUCTS ♥

NYX Mega Shine Lip Glosses

= $9.99

  

How cute are those bows at the top?!

The 3D bows at the top of the lids make the product have more of an 'Asian' style to them. I guess it's because these glosses were made in Taiwan *_*

Swatches

 L-R: Natural, Beige and Smokey Look

With just one swipe, you can see that they are super pigmented :D I love all of the shades that I got, especially 'Natural' because well.. it looks so natural on my lips hehe. I don't have lip swatches at the moment but if I decide to review the NYX products then yes I will have lip swatches up. I must say that these lip glosses aren't sticky at all and they last quite long. I'm glad I snatched these up for less than $4 each.

NYX Lip Smacking Fun Colours

 = $9.60

Swatches

 L-R: Thalia, Indian Pink, Frappucino and Louisiana

These are my first NYX lipsticks and I'm so glad that I've had the chance to try them. I'm quite impressed with their formula - they have such a silky-smooth texture and nice pigmentation. It's great how they have the exact shades at the bottom of the lipsticks so you can tell exactly how it looks like and you can easily pick the lipsticks out from your collection without needing to look at the names.

Revlon Lipstick in 020 Baby Pink

= $4.50

It's great that the colour on the lid is the exact colour of the lipstick itself. Sometimes they can be a little misleading but this one isn't at all. It's quite sheer when swatch however, I like that about it because the colour is buildable. It reminds me of my Rimmel lipstick in 006 Pink Blush which supposedly is a dupe for MAC Viva Glam Gaga #1. $4.50 is really cheap for this lipstick - in Australia these lipsticks are $20+ dollars each!!

Jenny included some 'freebies'/gifts for me as a way of saying thanks for my contribution to the appeal. I was going to talk about these at the end but since they're lip products, I might as well continue talking about them and show some swatches:

Covergirl Natureluxe Gloss Balm in 210 Thistle Cardon

Stila Lip Rouge Liquid Lip Stain

I had never seen or heard about the Covergirl gloss balms until I saw them on Jenny's blog sale. They aren't sold in Australia (yet) but I think they should be because it's quite nice :) And this is my first Stila product, yay.

Swatches

L-R: Stila, Revlon and Covergirl

The Stila Lip Rouge is so much like a permanent marker o_o I swatched it and it was soooo hard to remove without makeup remover! It definitely has that stain-like effect, it's incredible. Unfortunately, I'm not fond of having red lips - especially stained ones :/ So I won't be using this Stila product. I was thinking of selling/giving away but since it was gifted so I should keep it. I'll be using it as a permanent marker haha. At least I'll be making use of it, right?

Now to the nail polishes :D These came in a separate package to the above items because it would have been way too heavy for one big package, plus the shipping would probably cost a bomb. In total, my items came in 3 separate packages. I'm glad Jenny did that because if the whole package of all the items got lost, that would be so bad!!

The Face Shop nail polish

 

= $1.99

You can get Face Shop products in Australia but I never have before. There's one store in my city and it's really quiet. In case you haven't heard of The Face Shop before, it's a brand from South Korea. I got this because it was only $1.99 and I don't have any gold nail polishes like this.

2 coats

It's a sheer nail polish so 2-3 coats is ideal. There were no streaks when I applied it and I was quite happy with the time it took for the coats to dry. For $2 it's okay, its RRP is $2.99 so that's reasonable. The leaf groove on the lid is really unique.

Essie nail polishes

= $4 each

I'm still so glad that Jenny had Essie nail polishes for sale because I've been wanting to try them! In Australia, they are around $18 each whereas I only paid $12 for 3 of them ^.^

Of course, it's silly to do skin swatches so I painted all of my nails on one hand to show you proper swatches:

 Eternal Optimist

(1 coat)

 Demure Vix

(2 coats)

 Turquoise & Caicos

(2 coats)

I had high expectations for these nail polishes because of their high cost in Australia, and you know what? They exceeded my expectations! I swatched the 'Eternal Optimist' nail polish first and I was AMAZED at how pigmented it was for just one coat. The others were more sheer so they needed another coat or two. Applying the nail polishes on was such a breeze as there was no streaky-ness. The staying power is fantastic, I was able to wear 'Eternal Optimist' for over a week without any chipping! I swear it could have lasted so much more than a week - I didn't get to test exactly how long it would last because I removed it to do more swatches. I want more Essie nail polishes for $4 each lol T_T

 Sephora by OPI nail polishes

 = $4 each

I was also happy to see some OPI nail polishes on the blog sale! I've heard so many good things about OPI and I had been wanting to try them out! These aren't the original OPI ones that are really common but the formula should be the same. Again, these nail polishes are majorly overpriced in Australia, retailing for around $20 each (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't bring myself to splurge on high-priced makeup yet.

 Havana Dreams

(2 coats)

 Under My Trench Coat

(2 Coats)

 Handpicked for Me

(2 coats)

So happy to have a pale blue and brown nail polish to add to my growing collection. They have a ball inside which is good for shaking the bottle. They're quite sheer for one coat except for 'Under My Trenchcoat' which I'd be fine to wear as one coat. When I think about their RRP Australian prices, it makes me expect more from these nail polishes. If I had purchased these here for ~$20 each, I wouldn't be overly impressed. Sure they'd last long without chipping but I didn't expect them to be sheer. However for $4 each nail polishes, they are impressive =]

That's it for my massive haul! I was going to do a video but it would have taken me forever and editing is such a pain *props to Youtubers*. Even this post took me hours to do, no joke!

Thank you Jenny for holding such an awesome blog sale for a worthy cause. The items for sale were amazing and the people who donated items were so generous. I'm really glad that I've had the chance to try some brands that I previously didn't own like Essie, OPI and Stila which cost heaps in Australia.

Blogging is really rewarding, not only for the friendships and being part of a community but also for the blog sales and giveaways ;)

Speaking of which...

There's only 1 week left to enter my May giveaway (ends 22nd May)! Which also means that there's 1 week left until I turn 18 ^_^

I hope you enjoyed reading about this haul. Should I haul more often? I will have reviews for some of these items such as the NYX lip products since that has been requested :) Feel free to leave your requests below.

QuestJen of the week is:

Have you or would you ever purchase from a blog sale?

This was actually my first time purchasing from a blog sale and I had wanted to purchase from other blog sales but the items were snatched up pretty fast. I find them interesting to browse through and it's hard for me to resist a bargain when I see one. With this specific blog sale, I wasn't feeling skeptical about it because I had already known of the seller, Jenny. She has a Youtube channel as well as a blog so she definitely isn't some random person who has decided to sell things online. When purchasing from a blog sale, you need to be aware that the items may not be in mint condition as they could have already been used etc. The prices are discounted from the RRP for a reason - you pay for what you get. You also need to make sure that they are legit and are not scamming you. I haven't come across anyone who has been scammed from a blog sale but it could happen to anyone who isn't being careful. If you ever feel unsure about a blog sale, ask other people about it just in case it turns out to be fake or misleading.

If you know anyone who is having a blog sale now, feel free to link them to me! I'd love to have a browse.

PS. The next time you hear from here me will probably be when I'm officially a year older. Ooh!