Barielle Facebook Sweepstakes!

Hey dolls! I've just been informed that Barielle is hosting an awesome sweepstakes starting today at 3p EST on their facebook page. You all know this is one of my favorite brands, so I'm always happy to share the Barielle love! Click the picture to enter!

Ten random winners will be selected for a prize package worth over $100.00. 

The prize package includes:

Any two of our 5 pack Nail Polish collections

One piece of Barielle’s Nail Strengthener Cream (full size)

One piece of Nail Rebuilding Protein Base Coat

One piece of Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender Top Coat

This is an awesome prize package, so make sure you head on over to their page! The sweepstakes ends on 10/31/12 at 7a EST. Happy hump day dolls!

Giveaway ~ Fall Beauty Envy Bag

Beauty Envy Bag

Are you a beauty sample subscriber? Never heard of the Beauty Envy Bag? That is because it is something new the four of us beauty bloggers decided to put together. The Fall Edition is the inaugural Beauty Envy Bag. This is what a beauty bag of goodies should look like. Full sized items, deluxe samples (not tiny bits of product swiped onto a card), and with a beauty bag so nice you can wear it on a night out. Luxe brands fill this bag. This was a lot of fun for us to put together, choosing items the we have used and love and being able to share them with one of you. This is something we hope to do quarterly, so look out Winter Edition!

Since some of you reading this may not know all of the bloggers involved, we would love to introduce ourselves:

Lakeisha is a nail polish blogger from

Florida. She is obsessed with polish,

fashion, and merging the two together.

She is the blogger behind

Refined and Polished.

Latoya is a beauty blogger from the East

Coast of Canada. While she loves all

things girly, she's also a closet gamer

and is a die-hard Walking Dead fan.

She is the blogger behind

Beauty Obsessed.

Leticia is a beauty blogger from the

Pacific Northwest. She is a dog lover,

sci fi nerd, handbag collector, and makeup

junkie. She is the blogger behind

Cosmetics Aficionado.

Lola is a Midwest blogger with a passion 

for polish, science, and music. She is the 

blogger behind Burb Beauty.

So what will be included in the awesome beauty bag you might ask? First we will look at the full sized items. These are to accompany the Calvin Klein red nylon wristlet with red leather trim. You can click through each one to read the reviews:

• Zoya FeiFei nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)
• Zoya Natty nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)
• Zoya Suri nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)
• Zoya Frida nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)
• Givenchy Acoustic Purple nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lola)
• Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in Shade #14 (picked and reviewed by Latoya)
• Estee Lauder Pure Color Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Pop Pistacio (picked and reviewed by Leticia)

And here are the deluxe samples that are also included with bag as extras:

• Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Illuminating Serum
• Laura Mercier Foundation Primer Radiance
• Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Sparkling
• Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Mascara
• Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover

Details! Here is what you need to know to enter:

• Must leave a blog comment (just one blog, doesn't have to be all four) letting us know what are your most favorite and least favorite things about beauty bags.
• Additional entries for following each blog on social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
• Open internationally
• Must be 18+
• Giveaway closes on Friday, October 5 at 11:59p EST 

Good luck to everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner ~ Barielle Shades & Treatments Giveaway

Hey dolls! I hope you all have been enjoying the first week of guest posts. I finally changed my nails yesterday for the first time since last Saturday! I've shown what I worn on Instagram (refinedandpolished), but I'll share them here soon as well.

Now for the winner of the Barielle giveaway. Many thanks to all of you who entered. The lucky person this time is:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Congrats to Heidi! I've sent you an email already and you'll have 48 hours to respond.

Have a great weekend dolls!

Barielle Shades & Treatments Giveaway

Last week I posted about Barielle's BFF sweepstakes and how awesome the prizes were. While there is still time to enter that sweepstakes, I have something special for my readers. I was allowed to choose the same prize pack for myself, but because I think you guys are awesome, I'm giving it away to one lucky reader. Here's what you can win:

Lily of the Valley, Starchild, Not That Kind of Girl

I chose 3 great colors from those newly released from Barielle. I've also reviewed the treatments here, so you can check out that post. I'm going to make this one easy on everyone, so you just have to complete the rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway will end on Saturday, 6/9/12 at 12:01a and is open to US residents only, 18 or older. Good luck dolls! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Barielle BFF Sweepstakes

Hey dolls, Barielle is doing an awesome sweepstakes on their facebook page that you have to check out!  Up for grabs for 20 lucky people is the:

• Barielle Nail Strengthener Cream (full size)
• Barielle Base Coat
• Barielle Top Coat 
• 3 Shades polishes of your choice

The prize package retails at $74.50, so this would be a great opportunity for you to try the treatments that I've reviewed here. Long-time readers will know that Barielle is one of my favorite brands and the Nail Strengthener Cream is a constant part of my nail regimen. I have an entire album of Barielle polishes on my facebook page, so feel free to check it out if you need help choosing colors you would like. The sweepstakes is going on from now until June 30, 2012 at 7a EST.

Enter the sweepstakes HERE!

Zoya Polishes & Mossimo Clutch Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered my last giveaway in the week of anniversary fun! I really enjoyed looking at all of your inspiration boards and I definitely have some ideas for new outfits and accessories (I WILL get an envelope clutch from ASOS). There were 18 entries and random.org selected #5. That lucky person is Felicia Baskerville!!! Here is the board she submitted:

Congrats Felicia! Please email me your mailing address as soon as possible. Once again, thanks to everyone who participated in all of the weeks' activities. I received a lot of great feedback that many of you liked my non-traditional giveaways, so I'll be sure to try and plan some more fun for the future!

Striping Tape & Dotting Tools Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the striping tape and dotting tools giveaway is...

Happy 1 Year Birthday to Me & Giveaway #7

*Singing* Do you know what today is? It's my anniversary...ANNIVERSARY!

Who would have thought that this little blog would have grown the way that it has and still be around one year later. I'm extremely grateful to those of you who keep up with me, comment on posts, and enable me to buy more polish. Over the course of the year, this blog has helped me to keep my sanity at times as I juggle work and my doctoral program. It has been a stress reliever and just a great way to have dedicated me time. I'm still amazed at how many great ladies I've interacted with over the last year and have created e-friendships with. I have no clue what's in store for the next year, but I hope all of you stay along for the ride.

There is one last giveaway in the week-long celebration and it involves one of my favorite brands. Up for grabs is 3 shades from the new Beach collection and a super cute colorblocked Mossimo clutch from Target.

Shelby, Tracie, Wednesday

As you all know, I love merging my interests in polish and fashion together. In this giveaway, you'll get to do the same. Here are the pertinent details:

• Create a fashion inspiration board based on one of the nail polish trends for spring that I have posted about previously. 
• The trends to choose from are pistachios, neons, pastels, fuschias, or tangerines.
• Include one polish in your fashion inspiration board.
• Follow Refined and Polished on Pinterest by clicking here and then pin your board on Pinterest and tag me using the @ feature. 
• Each entry will be assigned a number in the order they are submitted and a winner will be picked using random.org.
• This giveaway closes on next Wednesday, April 18 at 9p EST.
• Participants must be 18 or older.

Fashion boards like the ones I use here on Refined and Polished can be made at Shopstyle or Polyvore for free. By some chance if you aren't on Pinterest, email me and I'll invite you or you can send me your board and I'll upload it. Feel free to be as creative as you like! 

Revlon Mini Sets Winners & Giveaway # 5 ~ Striping Tape & Dotting Tools

Hi dolls! Thanks to all of you who entered my Revlon Mini Sets giveaway. The winners are...

Giveaway # 3 ~ Recreate My Nail Art

Hey dolls! While I try every so often, you all know that I am not the best when it comes to nail art. I have gotten better over time and it's fun to attempt new techniques. Now it's your turn! The next event in our week-long blogaversary celebration is a "Recreate My Nail Art" contest. Up for grabs is a $10 Amazon gift card.

Here are the rules and other pertinent information:

• Find a photo of my nail art that you would like to recreate from the blog or in the Nail Art Attempts album on my facebook page.
• You may use my look for inspiration or duplicate it exactly.
• Upload your look to my facebook page and tell which one of my photos inspired you, along with the polishes used.
• Each entry will be numbered. When the giveaway closes, I will use random.org to chose a winner (that way there are no unfair advantages).
• Photos must be uploaded by Saturday, April 14 at 8p EST and only one entry is allowed per person.
• Participants must be 18+.
• The winner will be emailed the giftcard code for use on Amazon.

If you aren't on facebook, but would still like to participate, you can email your photo to me and I will upload it. I hope that you all have fun recreating my looks and I can't wait to see the photos!

Revlon Mini Set Giveaway ~ 2 Winners

Hey dolls, here is the second giveaway for my week of celebrating! I found these super cute Revlon Mini sets at Kmart and I thought they would make a great giveaway. The colors are perfect for spring and summer. The sizes on each are 0.25 fl.oz, so it's a relatively large mini. I hope these are still there when my no buy ends. :)

Prize 1: Waterfall; Sparkle; Garden

Prize 2: Butterfly; Moss; Tulip

All you need to do is fill in the Rafflecopter widget below! There will be two winners. This giveaway will end on Monday, April 9, at 12:01a EST and is open to US residents only, 18 or older.

Scavenger Hunt Clues & Answers

Thanks so much to all of you who participated in the Scavenger Hunt earlier tonight and congrats to the winner Lee Ann S. who guessed the word with 7 clues!!!!

Just in case any of you were interested, here were the clues and the answers.

• Clue 1: Gray base with pink glitter gradient – 5^th word, 1^st letter
• Answer: Pink Wednesday ~ Essence Time for Romance - "F"
• Clue 2: International purple that is fit for royalty – Last word, 3^rd letter
• Answer: A England Avalon - "A"
• Clue 3: Gorgeous, shimmery white (oui, oui madam) – 2^nd word, 1^st letter
• Answer: Orly Au Champagne - "A"
• Clue 4: It’s peanut butter JELLY time…My first time making a jelly sandwich – 4^th word, 6^th letter
• Answer: Pink Wednesday - Jelly Sandwich Mani with OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y? - "I"
• Clue 5: *singing* Let’s get together and feel alright…China Glaze duochrome that makes me think of music – Last word, last letter
• Answer: China Glaze Reggae to Riches - "S"
• Clue 6: Blue glitter that had everyone rushing to their local drug stores and Targets (it was released with 2 other glitters...one that was a high end dupe) – 3^rd word, 5^th letter
• Answer: Revlon Blue Mosaic - "I"
• Clue 7: Sparkly holo top coat that was layered on top of an Essie (It's easy, breezy, beautiful) – 3^rd word, 1^st letter
• Answer: Cover Girl Sparkling Topcoat Goddess - "S"
• Clue 8: This orange Barielle brings me joy – 2^nd word, 6^th letter
• Answer: Barielle Joytini - "N"
• Clue 9: Amazon freebie that shines in the sunlight - 1^st word, 3^rd letter
• Answer: Latest Free Purchase ~ Nubar Reclaim and a little pink for Wednesday - "T"
• Clue 10: Inspired by blogger Nailside – 2^nd word, last letter
• Answer: Clouds with Zoya Jacy - "H"
• Clue 11: Pictorial completed with red and white polishes  - 4^th word, 2^nd letter
• Answer: Pictorial~ Ombre Manicure ~ Zoya Sooki - "O"

The answer was FASHIONISTA. This was really a lot of fun and I hope that all of you who participated enjoyed it as much as I did! Thanks for making the first giveaway a success. Stay tuned to see what's up for grabs tomorrow. 

Scavenger Hunt!

I will be hosting a scavenger hunt on my facebook page tonight at 8p EST. A brand new bottle of the limited edition Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed is the prize.

You will be given clues to find several letters, that when unscrambled, make up one word. All of the answers will be found here on the blog. Here are the rules and all other pertinent information:

• A clue will be provided at 8p EST and additional clues will be given at 10 minute intervals.
• Each clue will lead you to one letter in a blog post title.
• Example clue: Zoya + polka dots = happy me; 2nd word, 3rd letter
• The correct post is Pink Wednesday ~ Zoya Pink Polka Dots; and the letter for the secret word would be "d"
• I will have a status that says "Make your guesses here" after the first clue is given. Post your guess there when you think you have the correct word.
• The first correct response will win Toxic Seaweed.

All you need to do is have my facebook page "liked", be over 18 years old, and get ready for some fun. 

*Hint: This word can be found in the urban dictionary, but not on dictionary.com.*

1 Year Blog Anniversary ~ Week of Fun!!!

Hey dolls! It is amazing how quickly time flies. Next Wednesday on April 11, Refined & Polished will be turning 1 year old!

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This calls for a big celebration! I'm so appreciative to all of my readers, those who take the time to comment, and everyone I've met in this polish world. Blogging has been a great outlet for keeping my sanity while working and finishing up my doctoral program. I started this blog a year ago because I've had a love for polish since I was a kid and I wanted to provide pictures of polish on brown skin, as I couldn't find many swatches.

Starting tomorrow and going all the way through my anniversary, there will be several giveaways, scavenger hunts, and fun competitions. Here is a sneak peek of just a few up the things that will be up for grabs.

Yes...you are seeing a 3 piece Zoya gift set and a bottle of the limited edition Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed among the prizes! There are more items as well, but you'll just have to check back daily to see what's happening. All gifts were purchased by me just as a way of saying thanks to all of you!

The fun will start tomorrow evening at 8p on my facebook page with a scavenger hunt to win a brand new bottle of Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed.

Full details and reminders will be provided tomorrow. I hope you all are ready to have some fun with me!!!

300 Follower Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway! I didn't realize so many people couldn't find these at their local Targets. The winner of the 3 Revlon glitters is:

AshleyK

AshleyK has already been emailed and has 48 hours to respond to claim her polishes. I appreciate all of you and your feedback. Stick around for more great things to come!

300 Follower Giveaway!!! ~ CLOSED

Hey dolls, I just realized yesterday that I had reached 300 followers!!! Welcome to all my new followers and I hope you enjoy my little corner of the nail world. I wasn't planning on doing another giveaway, but I picked up an extra set of the new Revlon Glitters last week for swaps. I think it'll be even better to give them to one lucky follower!!!

Up for grabs is Revlon Facets of Fuschia (Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance dupe), Starry Pink, and Blue Mosaic. Thanks for following and good luck dolls!

Teal Toes Giveaway Winners ~ Redraw

Unfortunately, I never heard back from the winner who was picked from facebook. So I went back to random.org and we have a new facebook winner. It is...

Ashley Marie Riveria

Congrats Ashley! Please email me at refinedandpolished@gmail.com with your address within the next 48 hours to claim your polishes.

Teal Toes Giveaway Winners!!!

Hey dolls! Many thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway. I loved reading your responses and I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of teal toes (well, you'll only see my nails) on September 2. The blog winner is:

beachgal

The facebook winner is:

Kell's DIY Nails

Source

Congrats to both of the winners!!! Please email me at refinedandpolished@gmail.com with your mailing address within the next 48 hours to claim your prize. Lots of you mentioned how you would like to spread the word about the Teal Toes campaign. If you would like a couple of the Teal Toes cards to share with those around you, please email me as well!

Teal Toes Giveaway! ~ CLOSED

Hey dolls, thanks to a fb polish friend, I was recently introduced to the Teal Toes campaign. He sent me several bottles of the polish above to not only have all to myself, but to spread the word about this campaign by giving them away. At Teal Toes:

Our mission is to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

How? By painting your toenails teal, the ovarian cancer color. By getting your friends to paint their toesnails teal too, and then by talking with people when they ask about it, to make sure that they know the signs of this whispering killer.

Some of the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer are:

• Bloating that is persistent
• Eating less and feeling fuller
• Abdominal pain
• Trouble with your bladder

Ovarian cancer awareness month is in September. To help spread the word, a group of polish friends will be wearing teal on September 2. I would like for all of you to join in as well! Here's the good news...2 of you will be able to wear the same polish as me that's pictured above: Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away (They donate $0.25 of each bottle sold to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition). I will randomly choose 2 winners: one from the blog and one from my facebook page. You may enter both ways if you like. You must be a follower of this blog to be eligible to win. Please complete the form below for your chance on the blog. In order to win on facebook, you must like the page and leave a comment on the same Teal Toes picture above that is posted on the wall. Check out the Teal Toes facebook page to learn how you can contribute to this campaign. Good luck dolls!

Barielle Soul-er Powered Winner!

And the lucky comment winner is...

Jossie

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Congrats Jossie! Please email me at refinedandpolished@gmail.com within the next 48 hours to claim your polish. Thanks everyone for all of your comments!