Autism Awareness Giveaway!

As I mentioned in my post on Monday, I am hosting an Autism Awareness Giveaway!  This issue is something that is so close to my heart, so am so excited to share the giveaway with you.

The prizes consist of both nail products and other autism awareness products and they include...

1. Autism Awareness Jamberry Nail Shields 
2. Autism Awareness Tumbler
3. $15 GC to Jamberry Nails by Kate
4. Autism Awareness Socks 
5. Essie Mesmerize (one of my favorite blues and included because blue is the color of Autism Awareness)

To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter widget below.  Please note that due to size and the cost of shipping, this giveaway is for US girls only.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, please note I am giving extra entries if you participate in the Autism Awareness Fundraiser hosted by Katie, so for more information, please see my previous post.  The fundraiser ends on 7/31/2012, so you can only earn those extra entries up to that date.

Thank you so much for participating both in this giveaway and the fundraiser.  Good luck!

Prizes for giveaway were purchased by me, except for the Jamberry Nail Shields which were provided by Katie.  The bottle of Mesmerize included in the picture is my bottle.  You will receive a NEW bottle.  Links within this post are not affiliate links.

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness Recap

Hi everyone, as you may know, yesterday was my last day in my "30 Days of Blues".  I'm such a flake that I'm kinda surprised I made it.  :P

Just in case anyone missed a blue manicure and to put them all in one place, I am recapping all of my blue manicures for the month.  I hope this helps anyone if lemmings were created.  :)

This post is crazy full of pics, so I am inserting a jump.  Please click "read more" to see all the 30 blue manicures I posted during the month of April for Autism Awareness.



For each day, the polish name is a link that will take you directly to the post for that day.  If you would like to know stamping plate numbers and more details, please click the link.


Day 1

Zoya Tallulah

Day 2

Deborah Lippmann Today was a Fairytale over Julep Jessica

Day 3

Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst

Day 4

Essie Mesmerize with Barielle Starchild

Day 5

Blue Glitter Layering (for all the polishes used, please click to view the post)

Day 6

China Glaze Sky High Top with Cina Decals

Day 7

Zoya Robyn with OPI Alpine Snow and Konad Black Special Polish on accent nail

Day 8

Zoya Yummy with Zoya Pippa on accent nail.  White Special Polish was used for stamping.

Day 9

OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It!

Day 10

Nina Ultra Pro Out of the Blue with Misa Got to be Real and ChG Passion

Day 11

Julep Taylor

Day 12

Zoya Breezi with Konad Black Special Polish

Day 13

Blue Half-moon with OPI Roadhouse Blues and Julep Jessica

Day 14

OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It! with Konad White Special Polish and OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It

Day 15

Zoya Wednesday with Konad White Special Polish and Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment

Day 16

Nina Ulta Pro Sailor with Konad White Special Polish and Zoya Shelby

Day 17

Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air over Julep Jessica

Day 18

Zoya Phoebe with Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore accent

Day 19

The New Black Horizon 5 pc Ombre Manicure Set

Day 20

Orly Snowcone with Konad White Special Polish

Day 21

Nubar 2010 over Barielle Berry Blue

Day 22

Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012

Day 23

Orly Royal Navy

Day 24

Revlon Royal

Day 25

BB Couture for Men Impact Driver

Day 26

OPI Absolutely Alice

Day 27

KleanColor Chunky Purple Holo over Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like

Day 28

Nicole by OPI "Baby" Blue with Nicole by OPI Rich in Spirit and Konad Black Special Polish

Day 29

OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue

Day 30

Zoya Jo with Nfu Oh 61 and Konad White Special Polish

That's it.  Whew.  Thanks again for reading my posts for Autism Awareness.  When I started this, I thought it would be a piece of cake, because 1. I'd gotten back in to the habit of polishing daily and 2. I love blues.  Well, it was a little harder than I thought.  Nothing bad, but it been a little challenging.  That said, I really felt like it was something so small and so simple that I could for autism awareness.  

Also, and this is a bonus, I feel like I have really improved as a blogger this month.  I feel like the quality of my swatches and pictures from now, at the end of the month, back to the first of the month has greatly improved.  It was unexpected, but daily posting really made me up my game.  Yay!  :P

FYI, I didn't check the links in this post.  What can I say... lazy.  If you happen to find one that links to a wrong post, please let me know and I will change it.  

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - Zoya Jo

Welcome to DAY 30 (!) in my "30 Days of Blues".  I care about this cause so much, and this was such a little thing for me to do, but dang if I don't want another color on my nails.  LOL.  

For today's manicure, I went back to probably my favorite brand, Zoya, and picked an untried for me.  This is Zoya Jo...

This is 2 coats of Zoya Jo, a medium, dusty, denim blue shimmer.  I used Nfu Oh 61 and BundleMonster plate BM21 for the bottom stamped design.  I then used Konad White Special Polish and BundleMonster plate B11 for the flower.

I kind of did this out of necessity because the BundleMonster full-nail designs don't completely cover some of my wider nails.  Thus, I applied the flower as a way to mask this.  However, I really love this design.  I'd forgotten just how much I love layering stamped designs.   

Thank you again for reading.  I have appreciated all of your comments and emails.  They have meant so much to me.  I hope you have enjoyed my "30 Days of Blues".  I will be posting a recap post tonight of all 30 of my blue manicures for the month.  I think after this, I will need a week of Pink Detox.  :)

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue

Today is Day 29 in my "30 Days of Blues".  This is OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue...

This is 2 coats of OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue, a deep blue shimmer from OPI's 2009 Spring India collection.  I just checked and it looks like it's still in OPI's line-up.  

Come back tomorrow for the last day in my "30 Days of Blues".  

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - Nicole by OPI "Baby" Blue

Today is Day 28 in the "30 Days of Blues"...

This is Nicole by OPI "Baby" Blue, a light blue, as the base color.  I then topped Baby Blue with a coat of Nicole by OPI Rich in Spirit, a silvery-blue foil, on my tips.  I then stamped a design using BundleMonster plate B39 and Konad Black Special Polish.  

Sorry so short today, but I have a gazillion things to do.  Plus, it's one of those rare days where I'm just not feeling very wordy.  

Thank you so much for reading my "30 Days" posts.  Just 2 days left.  As always, you can email me at megan@apolishproblem with any suggestions, questions, or comments.

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like with KleanColor Chunky Purple Holo

Today is Day 27 in my "30 Days of Blues".  If you remember me lamenting over Julep Taylor, you may know that I was trying to find my perfect periwinkle blue nail polish.  I thought that Taylor was much too purple, so after I removed it, I started searching for just the right shade.  And I think I may have found it in I Know What Boys Like...

It is just the perfect dusty shade of periwinkle.  Unfortunately, I had topcoat bubbles (which make me stabby), so I had to slap some glitter on it to mask them.  I chose KleanColor Chunky Purple Holo, which is a clear, light purple base loaded with multi-chrome glitter (it's not a holo).  

This 3 coats of I Know What Boys Like, and 2 coats of Chunky Purple Holo.  Best part?  I know have  the song by The Waitresses running though my head.  :P  And now you may have it, too.  LOL.

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - OPI Absolutely Alice

Today is Day 26 in my "30 Days of Blues" and today, I have for you probably my favorite glitter polish and one of my favorite polishes all together. This is OPI Absolutely Alice...

Absolutely Alice is a blue and gold glitter polish that was released with OPI's 2010 Alice in Wonderland collection.  I have both Absolutely Alice and it's glittery sister, Mad as a Hatter, and I have to say that Alice is my favorite.  

I adore this polish.  It's one of the more prized polishes in my collection.  The application on this one is perfect.  It takes 3 coats to reach opacity and there are none of the issues that I typically associate with glitters, like drag and leveling.  I'm assuming that's because the glitter in this is fairly fine.  It's also really even after 3 coats, but I still recommend a topcoat (as shown) as it does dry a little dull.

Unfortunately, Absolutely Alice is discontinued (isn't that always the way), though I did see bottles on eBay.  

A Face of Autism

During my month of blues for Autism Awareness, I had plans to take short breaks from the polish and share a little bit about us and our journey with autism, and I have just been so busy, I haven't had the chance.  Well, I'm taking it now.

This is Blake...

He is 6 years old.  He was officially diagnosed with autism last year.  He and his twin sister are my most favorite people.  He loves to play on computers and his Nintendo 3DS and basically anything that makes boops and bips.  

He has a dog.  His name is Sam.  Well, we have 2 dogs, but he and Sam are BFFs.   He loves his sister, but she drives him nuts.  He loves to cut his hair (see his handiwork?).  He says "take a nap" when he's had too much interaction.  He doesn't want a nap.  He just wants you to quit bugging him.  

He is scared to death of Spongebob Squarepants, but he loves Dora and will laugh uncontrollably at Wow, Wow, Wubbzy.  His favorite TV channel, outside of NickJr, is The Cooking Channel and his favorite chef is Julia Child.  

He had some hard times at school, but now he has found an amazing place.  His favorite friend at school is Zach.  He can READ.  Not just "moon", "dog", and "cat".  He can really read.  Better than his 8 year old cousin.  It's amazing.

He has come so far in such a short period of time.  He is now conversing with us, and we are actually seeing more of Blake every single day.  He is an amazing little boy, who has challenged me in every possible way.  I am better person because of him.  He has changed my definition of normal.  He has taught me what "true love" means.  Things can still be hard and everyday has a new challenge, but I no longer see autism as a bad word.  I just see Blake.  

<3

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - BB Couture for Men Impact Driver

Today is Day 25 in my "30 Days of Blues".  I'm nearing the end, and I'm so happy.  Because as much as I love blues, and as much as I love this cause, I really want to wear some other color on my nails.  LOL.  

Also, I think I may have OD'd on cobalt blues, so today, I have for you a deep grey/blue shimmer.  This is BB Couture for Men Impact Driver...

This is 3 coats of Impact Driver, which is a deep grey/blue base with multi-colored shimmer. I picked this one up awhile ago, because I had read that it was a dupe of Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H.  Honestly, I don't think it's a dupe, as Catherine H. is more of a Wedgwood blue, rather than a greyed-blue.  That said, it's still an amazing shade.  FYI, be sure to enlarge the pics, so you can really see the shimmer.  It's fantastic.  The formula on this one, like all BB Couture polishes, was perfect. 

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - Revlon Royal

Today is Day 24 in my "30 Days of Blues", and today, I have for you a polish that was a recommendation in several comments in my cobalt blue posts.  Many of you told me that Revlon Royal may just be what I was looking for, and I think you may be right...

This is 3 coats of Revlon Royal, a bright, cobalt blue jelly.  I did 3 coats, because I had a thin spot on my ring finger. If I had waited more time between my first coat and my second, I wouldn't have had the thin spot, as it was from drag.  So it's definitely a polish that can be opaque in 2 coats, just make sure to go slow.  I also recommend 2 coats, if you can, simply because it's brighter at 2, rather than 3 coats.

I'm not sure why I hadn't picked up Royal before.  I'm not a huge fan of Revlon's formula, so maybe that is why.  I also thought it was going to be more of a creme, rather than a jelly.  Not sure where I got that.  LOL.  Anyway, Royal is a perfect cobalt jelly.  I hate to say it, because essentially it means that I wasted $20, but this is so much better, in my opinion, than RBL IKB:2012.  Though, I do need to do a direct comparison between IKB and Royal just to make sure, I think that this polish is what I wanted IKB:2012 to be.

Best part, this Revlon cost me $6 and that was at Walgreen's.  If you can get it at a big box (which the ones around me are always OOS of Royal), it's less than 5 bucks.  

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - Orly Royal Navy

Today is Day 23 in my "30 Days of Blues".  After my somewhat disappointing experience with Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012, I wanted to use the other cobalt blue in my collection for today's manicure.  This is Orly Royal Navy...

This is 3 coats of Royal Navy, which is a bright, cobalt blue jelly packed with aquamarine micro-shimmer.  I love this blue.  It definitely hits all my check-boxes that I was looking for in a cobalt blue.  I kinda wish they'd make this without the shimmer.  Though, it is fantastic with the shimmer.  I hate to say it, but sans the shimmer, this is what I wanted IKB:2012 to be.    

Thank you for reading.  As always, you can email me suggestions or questions to megan@apolishproblem.com.