I mentioned last week that I was still waiting for one more winner in my giveaway to contact me. Yesterday she did, just in time, as I was set to contact the backup choice today. So now I can announce all the winners!
Prize #1: Funky Fingers Glitter Toppers went to Cindi in Texas.
Prize #2: Salon Perfect Neon Collision Collection is heading to Sweden to join Emelie and perhaps make an appearance on her blog, Nails and All That Jazz.
Prize #3: SpaRitual Trio flew east to New Jersey to be a part of Alina's stash there.
Prize #4: Formula X Sextet was won by Stacy in Minnesota.
Prize #5: Orly Trio joined Prize 1 in going to Texas (it's a big, populous state); these will be gracing Elizabeth's nails there.
Prize #6: OPI Anniversary Duo will be crossing the border to Canada to be with Holly in Ontario.
Prize #7: Sephora by OPI Quintet is also going to Canada, but to Manitoba and Christine's stash.
Prize #8: Selections from Essence Aquatix went to Kathleen in Connecticut.
Prize #9: Essie Trio Featuring Flakies is the third package to go to Texas; they're now with Mel of Delicious Color (or soon will be).
Prize #10: Butter London Fash Pack Set went west to Colorado and Christina's stash.
Prize #11: Rescue Beauty Lounge Duo made record time and is already in Denmark with Maria of Maria's Nail Art and Polish Blog.
Prize #12: OPI Mad as a Hatter and Absolutely Alice will be going to Arkansas to live with Sarah (in a small city that coincidentally I once visited as part of a job I had years ago).
Congratulations to the winners, and I thank each of you who took the time to enter and especially those of you who added comments to your form, from a simple thanks to constructive criticism. I would not kept up this blog anywhere near as actively without the encouragement of those of you who read and comment.
A few data points:
1) Eight of the winners got their first choice prize; the remaning four got their second choice.
2) The most popular prize overall was #12, the OPI Alice in Wonderland glitters, with 18.5% of 1st Choice entries, 13.4% overall. #10, the Butter London Fash Pack, was a close second, with 12.8% overall, though it was third when considering just people's 1st choices, where it had 12.5% to 14.6% for the Salon Perfect prize pack. Third place overall was a dead heat between #2 Salon Perfect, #4 Formula X, and #7 Sephora by OPI.
3) #5 Orly was the least popular overall, with only 5% of entries. I'm curious how that might have been affected if that prize had more bottles in it, as when ranked on an "entries per item" basis, it was not at the bottom, #1 Funky Fingers was.
By the time my 6th blogiversary comes around, I will be retired, which means I should have more time for swatching and blogging but will definitely have less money for buying polish. There will still be giveaways, but whether they will be quite as big as this most recent one, I'm not sure. My current plan is to finally, finally do that blog sale I've talked about forever, and use those proceeds to fund my adventures here. I even set up a storenvy store before the whole Stripe debacle, so now I'm back to figuring out the best way to unload my excess pretties. I'd welcome comments with any suggestions you might have. Where do you look for stash sales? Do you like to buy single bottles or lots or both? If you've done a blog sale, what worked and didn't work for you? I'd love to hear any thoughts.
Showing posts with label p: contest winners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label p: contest winners. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Friday, June 27, 2014
Belated Blogiversary Giveaway Winners
I finally managed to finish up verifying entries for my Belated Blogiversary Giveaway and making sure everyone got all the extra chances they qualified for, so today I drew the winners. Thank you to everyone who entered and especially those of you who have added notes to your forms when you filled them out—seeing kind words made the process much more fun that if I'd just been dealing with numbers and links and such when reviewing the entries. I assigned each of the chances (3 if a first choice prize, 2 for second, 1 for third, plus the bonuses for follows/links) a number, then used random.org's sequence generator to give me the winning numbers.
Prize #1: Studio M Summery Colors was won by Halifax of Sparkled Beauty. This was the third most popular prize.
Prize #2: LA Girl Ombre Kit was won by Mai Tran.
Prize #3: Blue Cross Mood Struck was won by Kimberly Tiu.
Prize #4: OPI Serena Glam Slam Set was won by a mystery person whose email starts with g and ends with d@yahoo.com.
Prize #5: Patriotic Quartet was won by purplegreenpanda.
Prize #6: Color Club Take Wing Collection was won by leahsuzannev. This was the second most popular prize, which surprised me a bit; I don't know if there's more demand out there for Color Club than I realized or if these particular shimmery colors are just so summery that a lot of you wanted them.
Prize #7: Wet 'n' Wild Mermaid's Cove Collection was won by lily557_.
Prize #8: Cult Nails Trio was won by Mariana.
Prize #9: Oopsie Daisies and Friends was won by Teresa at Nailementary.
Prize #10: Julie G Frosted Gum Drops was won by another mystery person; this one's email starts with ha and ends with 98@gmail.com.
Prize #11: Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes was won by a mystery person in Iowa, at least I'm guessing from the email, which starts with ste and ends with @uiowa.edu.
Prize #12: Butter London Minis was won by a person whose email starts with az and ends with e@gmail.com who would have been very mysterious except she wrote a nice note on her entry form so I know she's in Australia. This was, not surprisingly, the most popular prize.
I have sent emails to all the winners; if you think one of these is you and you haven't seen a mail from me, check your spam folder and then if still no luck, let me know by emailing or tweeting or something.
Thanks again to everyone who entered!
Prize #1: Studio M Summery Colors was won by Halifax of Sparkled Beauty. This was the third most popular prize.
Prize #2: LA Girl Ombre Kit was won by Mai Tran.
Prize #3: Blue Cross Mood Struck was won by Kimberly Tiu.
Prize #4: OPI Serena Glam Slam Set was won by a mystery person whose email starts with g and ends with d@yahoo.com.
Prize #5: Patriotic Quartet was won by purplegreenpanda.
Prize #6: Color Club Take Wing Collection was won by leahsuzannev. This was the second most popular prize, which surprised me a bit; I don't know if there's more demand out there for Color Club than I realized or if these particular shimmery colors are just so summery that a lot of you wanted them.
Prize #7: Wet 'n' Wild Mermaid's Cove Collection was won by lily557_.
Prize #8: Cult Nails Trio was won by Mariana.
Prize #9: Oopsie Daisies and Friends was won by Teresa at Nailementary.
Prize #10: Julie G Frosted Gum Drops was won by another mystery person; this one's email starts with ha and ends with 98@gmail.com.
Prize #11: Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes was won by a mystery person in Iowa, at least I'm guessing from the email, which starts with ste and ends with @uiowa.edu.
Prize #12: Butter London Minis was won by a person whose email starts with az and ends with e@gmail.com who would have been very mysterious except she wrote a nice note on her entry form so I know she's in Australia. This was, not surprisingly, the most popular prize.
I have sent emails to all the winners; if you think one of these is you and you haven't seen a mail from me, check your spam folder and then if still no luck, let me know by emailing or tweeting or something.
Thanks again to everyone who entered!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Cover Girl Hunger Games Giveaway
I went to Illinois this past weekend and came across a Meijer store with an untouched Cover Girl Hunger Games display, so picked up a full set of the Glosstinis polishes to give away.
To enter, fill out the form below. International entries are welcome. Being on my Google Friend Connect list counts for an extra chance (as long as they let me keep that feature, I'm gonna use it). Sharing a link to this contest in some public place also counts for an extra entry, so share away whether in a blog post or Tweet or whereever. I've set the form to allow editing your entry, so if you can't link now, you link later and come back and update your entry. I'll close the contest at midnight Eastern US time on October 23, 2013.
If you want to see swatches again before you decided whether to enter, they're here.
On a somewhat related note, it occurs to me that I never announced the winners of my NYC giveaway, despite having sent them their prizes some time ago. The Nostalic Trio was won by Anne in South Carolina, and the Bright Trio went to Christine in California.
***Contest is now closed.***
To enter, fill out the form below. International entries are welcome. Being on my Google Friend Connect list counts for an extra chance (as long as they let me keep that feature, I'm gonna use it). Sharing a link to this contest in some public place also counts for an extra entry, so share away whether in a blog post or Tweet or whereever. I've set the form to allow editing your entry, so if you can't link now, you link later and come back and update your entry. I'll close the contest at midnight Eastern US time on October 23, 2013.
If you want to see swatches again before you decided whether to enter, they're here.
On a somewhat related note, it occurs to me that I never announced the winners of my NYC giveaway, despite having sent them their prizes some time ago. The Nostalic Trio was won by Anne in South Carolina, and the Bright Trio went to Christine in California.
***Contest is now closed.***
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Birthday Week Giveaway Winners
It's finally time to announce the winners of my birthday giveaway—past time, really, as most of the prize packages got dropped off at the post office on my way home from work last night. But first, a few bits of trivia. The most popular choice of prize was #6, the Layla holos; I can't argue with that—they are great. #13, Dior Waterlily, took second in the popularity contest, with #4, Finger Paints Gumdrops & Lollipops, very close on its heels. The number of prize packages wasn't significant, but the total number of bottles was—there were 51 in all, because it was my 51st birthday. Most days I don't feel that old, and I like to think I don't look it, but it's true, and I'm not going to lie about it. I am going to keep dying my hair, though. I'm curious what I'll look like full grey, but I think that can wait 'til I'm retired. Enough about that, on to the winners...
Prize 1: Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Bloom Collection was won by Abigail in Connecticut.
Prize 2: Borghese Torta Dolce Minis are joining the stash of Sonya in Pennsylvania.
Prize 3: Wet 'n' Wild ColorIcon Be Jeweled Collection belong to someone with an email that starts with "bewitchingbr" and ends with "24@yahoo.com". If that's you, check your spam folder because I still need your mailing address.
Prize 4: Finger Paints Gumdrops & Lollipops Collection has started its journey to Aros in Hungary.
Prize 5: Roses from Claire's are going to Elizabeth L. in Wisconsin.
Prize 6: Layla Hologram Effect Duo was won by Tamarah in New Mexico, who told me these will be her first holos. Exciting!
Prize 7: Nicole by OPI Selena Sampler are on their way to South Carolina to live with Anne B.
Prize 8: Forever 21 Flowers are heading all the way to the Czech Republic to join Luci, who blogs at Lover of Accessories.
Prize 9: Sinful Colors Cool Pastels were won by Kelli, my neighbor to the west in Michigan, who posts nails and other looks at beautylish.
Prize 10: Sally Hansen Elegant Pastels are going to be experiencing Spain with Beatriz.
Prize 11: Sally Hansen Tropical Brights will be heading to NailsIT as soon as I get her address.
Prize 12: Studio M Spring Fling get to travel to beautiful Hawaii to be with Courtney of Courtney's Mind Grapes.
Prize 13: Karen's Spring Favorites are heading to Saskatoon in Canada to join Tara, the creative force behind the Pirate Polish etsy store.
Prize 14: Christian Dior Waterlily is on its way to Argentina to join Daniela T.'s stash. Her bilingual nail blog is Why only for parties?
Thanks to all of you who entered! I especially appreciated that so many of you included birthday wishes and other notes when you filled out the form—I love hearing from you, whether in comments or email or on Google+ or Facebook.
If you made it this far, here are some sock monkeys as a reward (I bought myself the birthday monkey as a present; I bought the other two to keep him company):
Prize 1: Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Bloom Collection was won by Abigail in Connecticut.
Prize 2: Borghese Torta Dolce Minis are joining the stash of Sonya in Pennsylvania.
Prize 3: Wet 'n' Wild ColorIcon Be Jeweled Collection belong to someone with an email that starts with "bewitchingbr" and ends with "24@yahoo.com". If that's you, check your spam folder because I still need your mailing address.
Prize 4: Finger Paints Gumdrops & Lollipops Collection has started its journey to Aros in Hungary.
Prize 5: Roses from Claire's are going to Elizabeth L. in Wisconsin.
Prize 6: Layla Hologram Effect Duo was won by Tamarah in New Mexico, who told me these will be her first holos. Exciting!
Prize 7: Nicole by OPI Selena Sampler are on their way to South Carolina to live with Anne B.
Prize 8: Forever 21 Flowers are heading all the way to the Czech Republic to join Luci, who blogs at Lover of Accessories.
Prize 9: Sinful Colors Cool Pastels were won by Kelli, my neighbor to the west in Michigan, who posts nails and other looks at beautylish.
Prize 10: Sally Hansen Elegant Pastels are going to be experiencing Spain with Beatriz.
Prize 11: Sally Hansen Tropical Brights will be heading to NailsIT as soon as I get her address.
Prize 12: Studio M Spring Fling get to travel to beautiful Hawaii to be with Courtney of Courtney's Mind Grapes.
Prize 13: Karen's Spring Favorites are heading to Saskatoon in Canada to join Tara, the creative force behind the Pirate Polish etsy store.
Prize 14: Christian Dior Waterlily is on its way to Argentina to join Daniela T.'s stash. Her bilingual nail blog is Why only for parties?
Thanks to all of you who entered! I especially appreciated that so many of you included birthday wishes and other notes when you filled out the form—I love hearing from you, whether in comments or email or on Google+ or Facebook.
If you made it this far, here are some sock monkeys as a reward (I bought myself the birthday monkey as a present; I bought the other two to keep him company):
Friday, October 19, 2012
Revlon Sweetly Sinister plus Contest Winners
I thought I'd best swatch the four polishes in the Revlon Halloween collection before they disappear from stores. Left to right: Spooky Skull, Haunted Heart, Wicked Star, Black Magic.
Spooky Skull is a white shimmer on the sheer end of the spectrum. I used three coats for these swatches, no topcoat. It's just a tiny bit streaky, but not so much that it really bothered me. I could see wearing this alone for a clean, delicate look.
Haunted Heart is an orange shimmer. I used two coats, no topcoat. This is ever so slightly brushstrokey, but not too hard to manage if you just pay attention (which I sort of failed to do on my ring finger).
Haunted Heart really glows in some lights; here it is out of the lightbox:
Wicked Star is a green shimmer. Again, two coats, no topcoat.
Also again, it glows out of the lightbox:
Black Magic is a black creme. I used one coat, no topcoat. Another coat, or using basecoat, would have helped it look more even on my ridges, which is what I would have done if I were wearing it alone for a full mani. I can't recall the last time I wore an unembellished black creme mani, though.
I was surprised at how much I liked the shimmers; they're not crazy unusual colors (at least for a nail polish person) but the finishes are nice and the orange and green do glow so nicely. I couldn't tell any difference between the black creme and my go to Wet 'n' Wild at one-fourth the price, but I can see why Revlon needed to put it in this collection.
*****
And now for the 2012 Halloween Giveaway summary and results. The most popular 1st choice prize was the Fantasy Makers Tombstones, followed by the Sally Hansen Salon Effects and the Nightmare Before Christmas set. The most popular 2nd choice prize was Claw Polish Set #2, followed by a tie between Claw Polish Set #1 and the Fantasy Makers Tombstones. For 3rd choice, Pumpkins Set #6 came in on top, with a three way tie behind them among Claw Polish Set #2, Pumpkins Set #3, and Pumpkins Set #6. Even though the Pumpkins weren't at the top of most people's lists, they aren't unloved; 92% said "yes, please" to being entered in the consolation draw for pumpkin polishes.
The winners, as chosen with the help of random.org, are—
Prize #1: Sally Hansen Salon Effects went to the woman behind Beauty and Fashion on a College Budget. She still needs to send me her address, though.
Prize #2: Fantasy Makers Tombstones went to the mysterious Gato Negro, who also still needs to send me her address. Check your spam folder please!
Prize #3: Claw Polish Set #1 are heading to Canada to join Nkasi's stash.
Prize #4: Claw Polish Set #2 will be heading to join Erica, whom I actually know from a forum I've been on for ages, just not well enough to have an address for her.
Prize #5: Pumpkins Set #1 are destined for Carolyn of Notes and Nails. Who—you guessed it—still needs to send me her address.
Prize #6: Pumpkins Set #2 was won by Sarah Butler, whose spam folder has perhaps eaten my mail to her.
Prize #7: Pumpkins Set #3 is on its way to Tabitha in Florida.
Prize #8: Pumpkins Set #4 is heading to Michele in Maine.
Prize #9: Pumpkins Set #5 will be joining Ali in Ohio.
Prize #10: Pumpkins Set #6 is going to live with Stephanie in North Carolina.
Prize #11: Nightmare Before Christmas set is on its way to Toni of Nail Polish in My Eyes.
For the bonus pumpkins, I decided to give out pairs of them rather than trios so more people could win. The e-mails that random.org drew belonged to Alison in Florida, Becky in California, Tami in Washington, Marianne in Denmark, Trish in California, Lauren in Kentucky, and Tamarah in New Mexico. I've heard back from all of them, except Trish, and I know where to find her (nothing creepy, we're just on a lot of the same places online).
People I haven't heard from, please let me know where you are by Monday so I can try to get your goodies to you before the holiday.
Spooky Skull is a white shimmer on the sheer end of the spectrum. I used three coats for these swatches, no topcoat. It's just a tiny bit streaky, but not so much that it really bothered me. I could see wearing this alone for a clean, delicate look.
Haunted Heart is an orange shimmer. I used two coats, no topcoat. This is ever so slightly brushstrokey, but not too hard to manage if you just pay attention (which I sort of failed to do on my ring finger).
Haunted Heart really glows in some lights; here it is out of the lightbox:
Wicked Star is a green shimmer. Again, two coats, no topcoat.
Also again, it glows out of the lightbox:
Black Magic is a black creme. I used one coat, no topcoat. Another coat, or using basecoat, would have helped it look more even on my ridges, which is what I would have done if I were wearing it alone for a full mani. I can't recall the last time I wore an unembellished black creme mani, though.
I was surprised at how much I liked the shimmers; they're not crazy unusual colors (at least for a nail polish person) but the finishes are nice and the orange and green do glow so nicely. I couldn't tell any difference between the black creme and my go to Wet 'n' Wild at one-fourth the price, but I can see why Revlon needed to put it in this collection.
And now for the 2012 Halloween Giveaway summary and results. The most popular 1st choice prize was the Fantasy Makers Tombstones, followed by the Sally Hansen Salon Effects and the Nightmare Before Christmas set. The most popular 2nd choice prize was Claw Polish Set #2, followed by a tie between Claw Polish Set #1 and the Fantasy Makers Tombstones. For 3rd choice, Pumpkins Set #6 came in on top, with a three way tie behind them among Claw Polish Set #2, Pumpkins Set #3, and Pumpkins Set #6. Even though the Pumpkins weren't at the top of most people's lists, they aren't unloved; 92% said "yes, please" to being entered in the consolation draw for pumpkin polishes.
The winners, as chosen with the help of random.org, are—
Prize #1: Sally Hansen Salon Effects went to the woman behind Beauty and Fashion on a College Budget. She still needs to send me her address, though.
Prize #2: Fantasy Makers Tombstones went to the mysterious Gato Negro, who also still needs to send me her address. Check your spam folder please!
Prize #3: Claw Polish Set #1 are heading to Canada to join Nkasi's stash.
Prize #4: Claw Polish Set #2 will be heading to join Erica, whom I actually know from a forum I've been on for ages, just not well enough to have an address for her.
Prize #5: Pumpkins Set #1 are destined for Carolyn of Notes and Nails. Who—you guessed it—still needs to send me her address.
Prize #6: Pumpkins Set #2 was won by Sarah Butler, whose spam folder has perhaps eaten my mail to her.
Prize #7: Pumpkins Set #3 is on its way to Tabitha in Florida.
Prize #8: Pumpkins Set #4 is heading to Michele in Maine.
Prize #9: Pumpkins Set #5 will be joining Ali in Ohio.
Prize #10: Pumpkins Set #6 is going to live with Stephanie in North Carolina.
Prize #11: Nightmare Before Christmas set is on its way to Toni of Nail Polish in My Eyes.
For the bonus pumpkins, I decided to give out pairs of them rather than trios so more people could win. The e-mails that random.org drew belonged to Alison in Florida, Becky in California, Tami in Washington, Marianne in Denmark, Trish in California, Lauren in Kentucky, and Tamarah in New Mexico. I've heard back from all of them, except Trish, and I know where to find her (nothing creepy, we're just on a lot of the same places online).
People I haven't heard from, please let me know where you are by Monday so I can try to get your goodies to you before the holiday.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
2nd Blogiversary Giveaway Winners
I'm back at work today after the three-day holiday weekend, during which I spent very little time online. Mostly I lazed around the house, but I did talk Mr. Karen into going to see Dark Shadows with me and we tried a Mexican restaurant we hadn't been to before (I don't know that we'll rush to return, as it was very noisy, and not in a festive sort of way). Now that I'm back in front of my computer, I can announce the winners of my 2nd Blogiversary Giveaway as selected using the random number generators at random.org.
Prize #1: Ice Cream Cone Glitter Topcoats is heading to Tina, who's here in Michigan (though not so close to where I am that I considered being all stalkerly and dropping the package off in person).
Prize #2: OPI Serena Glam Slam Duo will be winging its way to Katarzyna in Poland.
Prize #3: Piggy Polish Trio is going to Spain to live with Sympathique. Perhaps they'll make an appearance in her blog.
Prize #4: Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie will be part of Naomi's collection.
Prize #5: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Trio are heading south to Brazil to be with Sara.
Prize #6: Milani 3D Holographics will be heading west to the woman behind The Days in my Life blog.
Prize #7: Studio M Trio are going to be with Justine in Massachusetts.
Prize #8: Spoiled Chunky Glitters will be moving in with Janay in Maryland.
Prize #9: Cult Nails Trio is heading across the ocean to Slovakia to be with Lubica.
Prize #10: Sinful Spring Shimmers get to retire to Florida to live with Kayla.
Prize #11: Jessica Disco Diva is going to Lendoxia.
Prize #12: Sally Hansen Duo will be joining Jenni in Pennsylvania.
The Google+ bonus prize is going to my crafting buddy Jodie (her knitting blog is Disasters with Yarn).
The most popular choices this time were the Milani 3D Holographics, RBL Scrangie, Sinful Spring Shimmers, and the Cult Nails Trio. Those Milanis seem to be an ongoing favorite; I included them this time based on their popularity in a previous contest and they were just as strong this time. Maybe I should pick up another set right now for a future contest just in case they disappear from stores as pretties are wont to do.
(Since I plan to be back later today with some sort of polish entry, I'm turning comments off on this one.)
Prize #1: Ice Cream Cone Glitter Topcoats is heading to Tina, who's here in Michigan (though not so close to where I am that I considered being all stalkerly and dropping the package off in person).
Prize #2: OPI Serena Glam Slam Duo will be winging its way to Katarzyna in Poland.
Prize #3: Piggy Polish Trio is going to Spain to live with Sympathique. Perhaps they'll make an appearance in her blog.
Prize #4: Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie will be part of Naomi's collection.
Prize #5: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Trio are heading south to Brazil to be with Sara.
Prize #6: Milani 3D Holographics will be heading west to the woman behind The Days in my Life blog.
Prize #7: Studio M Trio are going to be with Justine in Massachusetts.
Prize #8: Spoiled Chunky Glitters will be moving in with Janay in Maryland.
Prize #9: Cult Nails Trio is heading across the ocean to Slovakia to be with Lubica.
Prize #10: Sinful Spring Shimmers get to retire to Florida to live with Kayla.
Prize #11: Jessica Disco Diva is going to Lendoxia.
Prize #12: Sally Hansen Duo will be joining Jenni in Pennsylvania.
The Google+ bonus prize is going to my crafting buddy Jodie (her knitting blog is Disasters with Yarn).
The most popular choices this time were the Milani 3D Holographics, RBL Scrangie, Sinful Spring Shimmers, and the Cult Nails Trio. Those Milanis seem to be an ongoing favorite; I included them this time based on their popularity in a previous contest and they were just as strong this time. Maybe I should pick up another set right now for a future contest just in case they disappear from stores as pretties are wont to do.
(Since I plan to be back later today with some sort of polish entry, I'm turning comments off on this one.)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Season's Greetings Giveaway Winners
Here are the ladies whose numbers came upon random.org when I drew winners in my most recent giveway:
Prize #1 Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore is going to Sarah right here in Michigan. Well, not right here, exactly, or I'd probably have tried to talk her into meeting in person to hand off the prize because I love getting together with fellow nail polish afficiondos.
Prize #2 Red and Green Glitter will be moving south to Florida to live with Michelle.
Prize #3 Blue and Silver Snowmen are heading all the way to France to join rock-or-not's stash.
Prize #4 Nails Inc. Glitters will be returning to their home country in the UK; they were won by Beauty Shades.
Prize #5 Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne is on her way to Deborah of Love. Varnish, chocolate and more....
I was right that not everyone loves glitter as much as I do; the most popular prize this time around was Anne. I wasn't sure how the Nails Inc. polishes would do, since I've never included gently used bottles in a giveaway and had no idea if my view that used polish is no problem (unless it's from a salon that thins with remover) was shared by a lot of other poeple. Evidently is it, because there were a lot of entries for that prize; it actually ended up in second place behind Anne. I'm glad, since I'm planning that 2012 will be the year of de-duping my stash, and surely there will be some prize-worthy polishes I need to let go of.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Prize #1 Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore is going to Sarah right here in Michigan. Well, not right here, exactly, or I'd probably have tried to talk her into meeting in person to hand off the prize because I love getting together with fellow nail polish afficiondos.
Prize #2 Red and Green Glitter will be moving south to Florida to live with Michelle.
Prize #3 Blue and Silver Snowmen are heading all the way to France to join rock-or-not's stash.
Prize #4 Nails Inc. Glitters will be returning to their home country in the UK; they were won by Beauty Shades.
Prize #5 Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne is on her way to Deborah of Love. Varnish, chocolate and more....
I was right that not everyone loves glitter as much as I do; the most popular prize this time around was Anne. I wasn't sure how the Nails Inc. polishes would do, since I've never included gently used bottles in a giveaway and had no idea if my view that used polish is no problem (unless it's from a salon that thins with remover) was shared by a lot of other poeple. Evidently is it, because there were a lot of entries for that prize; it actually ended up in second place behind Anne. I'm glad, since I'm planning that 2012 will be the year of de-duping my stash, and surely there will be some prize-worthy polishes I need to let go of.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Halloween Harvest Giveaway Winners
I've already heard back from all the winners of my Halloween Harvest Giveaway, so it's about time I announce them. As determined by random.org, here are the lucky entrants:
Prize #1: Ulta Glam Goth Minis went to Madeline of Girl Germs.
Prize #2: Ulta Ghoul's Best Friend Minis are heading to Anja in Serbia and Mihaela in Romania. Yes, you're reading that right; I ended up awarding two of this prize because I realized after I'd sent the winner notifications that I'd picked up the wrong e-mail from the Google Doc spreadsheet for this one. It was only proper that I get the prize to the right person, but it seemed crappy to say to "oops" to the first person and my Ulta still had a set of these left, thus two winners.
Prize #3: Studio M Fall Colors are going to live in California with Thuy, which is nice since Studio M usually has to stick around here in the Great Lakes and change of scene will be good for it.
Prize #4: China Glaze Glitters were won by Tracey, also in California.
Prize #5: Revlon Inspired by Chanel will be crossing the border to Canada to join Danielle of Polish Obssessed.
Prize #6: Pumpkins are also going to Canada, to be with Lindsey from Lindsey's Lacquer.
Prize #7: Sally Hansen Skull and Crossbones Strips are off to Wisconsin to join Leslie's stash.
The most popular prize choice was the China Glaze Glitters, followed closely by the Ulta Glam Goth set, then the Pumpkins and Studio M were neck and neck for third place. That all makes sense, since those are the ones that either aren't in available anymore or are available but not widely.
Thanks to everyone who entered! A special thanks also to those of you who regularly read my entries and comment—without you, doing this blog would be not nearly as much fun.
Did you like the 1st/2nd/3rd choice setup for this contest or do you prefer the raffle-style tickets option I've done before? Or something else entirely? Let me know in the comments, because I'm always adding things to my prizes box and they can't stay in my basement forever.
Prize #1: Ulta Glam Goth Minis went to Madeline of Girl Germs.
Prize #2: Ulta Ghoul's Best Friend Minis are heading to Anja in Serbia and Mihaela in Romania. Yes, you're reading that right; I ended up awarding two of this prize because I realized after I'd sent the winner notifications that I'd picked up the wrong e-mail from the Google Doc spreadsheet for this one. It was only proper that I get the prize to the right person, but it seemed crappy to say to "oops" to the first person and my Ulta still had a set of these left, thus two winners.
Prize #3: Studio M Fall Colors are going to live in California with Thuy, which is nice since Studio M usually has to stick around here in the Great Lakes and change of scene will be good for it.
Prize #4: China Glaze Glitters were won by Tracey, also in California.
Prize #5: Revlon Inspired by Chanel will be crossing the border to Canada to join Danielle of Polish Obssessed.
Prize #6: Pumpkins are also going to Canada, to be with Lindsey from Lindsey's Lacquer.
Prize #7: Sally Hansen Skull and Crossbones Strips are off to Wisconsin to join Leslie's stash.
The most popular prize choice was the China Glaze Glitters, followed closely by the Ulta Glam Goth set, then the Pumpkins and Studio M were neck and neck for third place. That all makes sense, since those are the ones that either aren't in available anymore or are available but not widely.
Thanks to everyone who entered! A special thanks also to those of you who regularly read my entries and comment—without you, doing this blog would be not nearly as much fun.
Did you like the 1st/2nd/3rd choice setup for this contest or do you prefer the raffle-style tickets option I've done before? Or something else entirely? Let me know in the comments, because I'm always adding things to my prizes box and they can't stay in my basement forever.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Recent NOTD: Putting the Ugh in Fugly
I don't like all the manicures I do equally well, but it's rare that I hate one. Today is one of those exceptions, an old Maybelline Express Finish I got at Dollar Tree because the name sounded good: Silver Lilac. Two of my favorite colors, what could be bad about that? Answer: brushstrokes galore, plus gloppiness and bubbling. It was so awful that I almost stopped after the first coat of color but decided to push on in case it would settle out as it dried. As you can see from the photos below, it did not settle. (Nor did it look especially lilac-y, even when I turned my tips this way and that searching for a hidden duochrome side of it.)
The only thing I could think of to try and salvage this was covering it up with something else, so I tried a half moon mani. I couldn't find the round hole reinforcing stickers in my office at home so cut gentle curves out of pieces of cellophane tape to use instead. I chose Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Perfect Match for the non-moon color, since red and silver is a classic combination.
Perfect Match was a little bit of a pain to clean up, though that's mostly my fault as I slopped it all over my skin to make sure I was covering up all the silver I could. My moon curves were a little too gentle, and a few were crooked on the nail, but overall it was loads better than the silver on its own.
Adding thinner would likely help the gloppiness and bubbling of Silver Lilac, but I don't think there's any solution to the brushstrokes. I'm not even sure I want to try frankening with this one, and I definitely don't want to foist it off onto an unsuspecting swap partner, so I think this one might just have to get disposed of. I don't mind the bottle, so I'll probably pour it into the jar where I collect such misfits and wait for the next hazardous waste collection day.
*****
On a happier note, congratulations to Erin, whose number came up on random.org when I drew the winner of the Apothica gift card giveaway!
The only thing I could think of to try and salvage this was covering it up with something else, so I tried a half moon mani. I couldn't find the round hole reinforcing stickers in my office at home so cut gentle curves out of pieces of cellophane tape to use instead. I chose Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Perfect Match for the non-moon color, since red and silver is a classic combination.
Perfect Match was a little bit of a pain to clean up, though that's mostly my fault as I slopped it all over my skin to make sure I was covering up all the silver I could. My moon curves were a little too gentle, and a few were crooked on the nail, but overall it was loads better than the silver on its own.
Adding thinner would likely help the gloppiness and bubbling of Silver Lilac, but I don't think there's any solution to the brushstrokes. I'm not even sure I want to try frankening with this one, and I definitely don't want to foist it off onto an unsuspecting swap partner, so I think this one might just have to get disposed of. I don't mind the bottle, so I'll probably pour it into the jar where I collect such misfits and wait for the next hazardous waste collection day.
On a happier note, congratulations to Erin, whose number came up on random.org when I drew the winner of the Apothica gift card giveaway!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1st Blogiversary Giveaway Winners
As usual for my contests, I used random.org to choose the winners of my 1st Blogiversary Giveaway. But first I had to do a little tweaking. In the case of duplicate entries, I kept the latest one, unless an e-mail exchange with the person in question or a comment left on the entry caused me to do otherwise. In the cases where the number of tickets put into the various prize buckets did not add up the number of tickets the entrant was eligible for, I allocated the correct number in the same proportion as the tickets entered.
The most popular prize was the Milani holos, followed by the Smoky Purples and the Essies. The Spring Sampler, Revlons, and Ulta cremes were the bottom three (but all still had hundreds of tickets voted for them).
The winners:
Prize #1: Hoof Hands Spring Minis Gabriela from Con B de Belleza.
Prize #2: Ulta Cremes Gwenn from Sweet Sugar. (She's having a giveaway, too; it ends today, so go enter if you haven't already.)
Prize #3: Spring Sampler Jennifer from Lacquer Lover. (You can enter her giveaway until June 1st.)
Prize #4: Essie Une Ruxi à Paris from, not surprisingly, Une Ruxi à Paris. (Her giveaway also ends June 1st; you can enter here.)
Prize #5: Milani Holos winner never got back to me, so I had to pick another.
Prize #6: Revlons everythingsdiamond, who tweets as @Somecrazylady.
Prize #7: Essence Fairytale Elena from Endless Summer.
Prize #8: China Glaze Tronica Kitty from California.
Prize #9: Claire's Mood Polish OohLadyBeGood, who blogs here.
Prize #10: LA Splash Glitter Marietta from Maine.
Prize #11: China Glaze Crackle Patricia from Spain.
Prize #12: Smoky Purples from Cult Nails and Butter London Silence is Loud from Silence is Loud.
Thanks to all of you who entered! I especially appreciated the sweet comments that many of you added to your entry forms.
The most popular prize was the Milani holos, followed by the Smoky Purples and the Essies. The Spring Sampler, Revlons, and Ulta cremes were the bottom three (but all still had hundreds of tickets voted for them).
The winners:
Prize #1: Hoof Hands Spring Minis Gabriela from Con B de Belleza.
Prize #2: Ulta Cremes Gwenn from Sweet Sugar. (She's having a giveaway, too; it ends today, so go enter if you haven't already.)
Prize #3: Spring Sampler Jennifer from Lacquer Lover. (You can enter her giveaway until June 1st.)
Prize #4: Essie Une Ruxi à Paris from, not surprisingly, Une Ruxi à Paris. (Her giveaway also ends June 1st; you can enter here.)
Prize #5: Milani Holos winner never got back to me, so I had to pick another.
Prize #6: Revlons everythingsdiamond, who tweets as @Somecrazylady.
Prize #7: Essence Fairytale Elena from Endless Summer.
Prize #8: China Glaze Tronica Kitty from California.
Prize #9: Claire's Mood Polish OohLadyBeGood, who blogs here.
Prize #10: LA Splash Glitter Marietta from Maine.
Prize #11: China Glaze Crackle Patricia from Spain.
Prize #12: Smoky Purples from Cult Nails and Butter London Silence is Loud from Silence is Loud.
Thanks to all of you who entered! I especially appreciated the sweet comments that many of you added to your entry forms.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Valentine-y Giveaway Winners
This morning I used random.org to choose the winners of the prizes in my Valentine-y Giveaway.
#1: OPI Pinks—Jette from Vettelicious Blogspot
#2: Shaped Glitters—Alice from Nails by Alice
#3: Ulta Spring Chic minis—shopgirlon from Portugal
#4: Studio M Glitters—insert_cliche_here from New Jersey
#5: Wet 'n' Wild FastDrys—Crazy for Polishes
#6: Elle's Spell and Cuticle Oil—Eboneezer McScrooge from New York
Thanks to everyone who entered! The most popular prize was the Studio M set; I'll try to include those in a future contest too so if you missed out this time you'll get another chance.
#1: OPI Pinks—Jette from Vettelicious Blogspot
#2: Shaped Glitters—Alice from Nails by Alice
#3: Ulta Spring Chic minis—shopgirlon from Portugal
#4: Studio M Glitters—insert_cliche_here from New Jersey
#5: Wet 'n' Wild FastDrys—Crazy for Polishes
#6: Elle's Spell and Cuticle Oil—Eboneezer McScrooge from New York
Thanks to everyone who entered! The most popular prize was the Studio M set; I'll try to include those in a future contest too so if you missed out this time you'll get another chance.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Holiday Giveaway Winners
I realized I never publicly announced the winners of my holiday contest. I mentioned I'd chosen them and notified them by e-mail but neglected to follow up with details as I'd intended. No time like right now. As with previous giveaways, I used random.org to draw numbers corresponding to lines on the spreadsheet that Google Docs generated from the entries. Here are the winners:
Prize #1: Ulta Wicked Wonderland mini set went to Mel from Delicious Beads.
Prize #2: Savvy Red Caviar and Garland are heading to Biba of Biba's Beauty Corner.
Prize #3: Snowmen in tropical colors are going all the way to India to live with Rhea of The Chain Nail.
Prize #4: Snowmen in blue and silver were won by Margaret in Canada.
Prize #5: Snowmen in Christmas colors were won by twistergirl85 of Twisted Nails, who still needs to tell me her address.
Prize #6: Snowmen in Christmas colors v2 will be moving in with CucumPear of CucumPear's Onyx Phalanx.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Prize #1: Ulta Wicked Wonderland mini set went to Mel from Delicious Beads.
Prize #2: Savvy Red Caviar and Garland are heading to Biba of Biba's Beauty Corner.
Prize #3: Snowmen in tropical colors are going all the way to India to live with Rhea of The Chain Nail.
Prize #4: Snowmen in blue and silver were won by Margaret in Canada.
Prize #5: Snowmen in Christmas colors were won by twistergirl85 of Twisted Nails, who still needs to tell me her address.
Prize #6: Snowmen in Christmas colors v2 will be moving in with CucumPear of CucumPear's Onyx Phalanx.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
500 Followers Contest Winners
It took me a little longer to complete the draw for my 500 Followers Contest than I'd expected. I wanted to be sure everyone had ten tickets to start with, that I wasn't excluding any entries that were valid, and that I was fairly weighting the entries for frequent commenters and early followers. I then used Random.org to generate numbers for each of the ten prizes and consulted the spreadsheet to find which entries those numbers corresponded to. Finally, I e-mailed the lucky winners, who are:
Prize #1, Sally Hansen assortment: Ping from Another Nail Blog
Prize #2, Wet 'n' Wild collection: Jo Tee
Prize #3, Across the Universe: Varnish Vixen
Prize #4, Paradoxal: Zara from Never Unpolished
Prize #5, Revlon glitters: alice.left
Prize #6, glow in the dark pumpkins: BV from Beauty Verdict
Prize #7, chunky glitter pumpkins: throuthehaze
Prize #8, Khaki vert: Jen from The PolishAholic
Prize #9, Borghese assortment: [see Holiday Giveaway post for an update]
Prize #10, Milani assortment: xtinaaj from Polishious
I'm happy to see that the random numbers resulted in a mix of winners: some people who've been following and/or commenting here since early on and some I've "met" much more recently, some people with blogs and some without, some names I recognize and some I don't, some in the U.S. and some not. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Prize #1, Sally Hansen assortment: Ping from Another Nail Blog
Prize #2, Wet 'n' Wild collection: Jo Tee
Prize #3, Across the Universe: Varnish Vixen
Prize #4, Paradoxal: Zara from Never Unpolished
Prize #5, Revlon glitters: alice.left
Prize #6, glow in the dark pumpkins: BV from Beauty Verdict
Prize #7, chunky glitter pumpkins: throuthehaze
Prize #8, Khaki vert: Jen from The PolishAholic
Prize #9, Borghese assortment: [see Holiday Giveaway post for an update]
Prize #10, Milani assortment: xtinaaj from Polishious
I'm happy to see that the random numbers resulted in a mix of winners: some people who've been following and/or commenting here since early on and some I've "met" much more recently, some people with blogs and some without, some names I recognize and some I don't, some in the U.S. and some not. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Summertime Blues Winners
Appropriately, Mr. Karen and I spent the last weekend of summer vacation season traveling, including attending our 30 year high school class reunion. That's my senior portrait on my nametag over there. I can't quite believe it's been 30 years, but evidently it has!After I got back, I used the Random Line Picker to choose winners of the Maybelline Denim Collection giveaway. Yes, I said "winners" with an "s"; I was lucky to find enough bottles to complete another set, and there were over 250 entries, so I figured that warranted increasing the prize pool. So, congratulations to Amy B. and Sarah B.! (I just now noticed the two B's.) I've already heard back from both ladies, so it's all over but the shipping.
Not to fret, though, because I'm tickled as can be to see I've now got over 500 followers, so there will be another contest soon. I've been gathering prizes for that one for a while now, hoping I wasn't being too full of myself to think this little blog would keep growing to that point. I hope to get that all organized for an announcement next week, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading! While I would paint my nails anyway, it sure it nice to know from your comments that other people get enjoyment out of my hobby, too.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Choose Your Moods Winners
Thanks to everyone who entered the Mood Struck giveaway. This morning I updated my spreadsheet with the last few entrants from comments that came in overnight and checked my e-mail one last time to make sure no new entries had come in that way, then picked names using the Random Line Picker. The winners are—
Prize #1, Warm Brights: Anur
Prize #2, Cool Tones: MissMidnightBlue and Allya of Painted Tips
Prize #3, Soft Shades: dr4g0nf1y
Ladies, I've e-mailed you; if you don't see a message from me, e-mail me at the.karend at gmail dot com.
You may notice that I awarded two #2 prizes. When I added up all the entries, that package had a lot more people who'd put their names in for it. Since I could still get more of those same colors and wanted everyone to have a similar chance to win, I decided to just double up the prize for that one, which put the chances of winning it right between the other two packages.
Though it might be a bit presumptuous, I'm thinking ahead to my 500 followers giveaway and have gathered some polishes for it already. I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd rather have one big prize package or several smaller ones, so let me know in the comments or e-mail me. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Second Contest Results
Last night I drew names for my Wet 'n' Wild 100 followers giveaway, which ended up turning into my 200 followers giveaway, thus I'm awarding two prizes (while I was on vacation I did find the last color I needed to complete the second set, so both winners will get all new polish). The winners are:
Li Lian of nails nails nails
and
kate espinoza (who doesn't have a blog, as far as I know)
I've already heard back from the e-mail I sent Li; kate, message me in the next week, please.
I've already been gathering prizes for my next giveaway; right now I'm thinking of summertime blues theme, but something else sparkly may capture my imagination in the meantime.
*****
As part of the contest, I asked for suggestions to improve this blog, and I appreciate everyone who took the time to add their thoughts on the subject. The most common suggestion was spicing up my layout: adding a header image, background colors, etc. When I get a bit more caught up from vacation, I plan to explore some ideas in that area. I'm a big fan of white space and clean designs so I don't expect I'll be blinging it up too much, but right now it's a bit too plain even for me. Comparisons got the second highest number of mentions, so I'll be continuing those—just as soon as I get some time to sit down and swatch. If there are any particular polishes or color familys you'd like to see comparisons for, let me know in the comments. Nail art took third place; that should be interesting, as I've done so little of it you'll get to see me learn as I go. The only other big vote getter was stash, so I'll be snapping some photos of my Helmers soon. I'm leaning toward reorganizing them and was going to wait until I did that, but given how I tend to procrastinate on things like that, I figured I should just go ahead and show them as they are—then when I do get them re-sorted, I can share them again. I'll likely also be acting on some of the other suggestions; thanks again to everyone who shared them.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
First Contest Winners
I'm happy to say I did surpass 50 followers before my Hidden Treasure contest closed last night, so that meant I drew two names this morning. I used this Random Line Picker and the winners are:
Sammersaurus of The Nailasaurus
and
NY*NAIL*DIVA
Congratulations, ladies! I've sent you both messages via Google Friend Connect; if you do not get them, please e-mail me so I can get your pretty on its way to you.
I'm already thinking about my next giveaway--I'm leaning toward something bright and summery. Stay tuned!
Sammersaurus of The Nailasaurus
and
NY*NAIL*DIVA
Congratulations, ladies! I've sent you both messages via Google Friend Connect; if you do not get them, please e-mail me so I can get your pretty on its way to you.
I'm already thinking about my next giveaway--I'm leaning toward something bright and summery. Stay tuned!
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