Would you like to receive a $500 Visa Gift card? Who wouldn't?!?! You have the option to win one thru a giveaway by the Beauty Blog Coalition.

The Beauty Blog Coalition is a group of Beauty Bloggers who work to bring you the latest on all things beauty. This spring we have collaborated to put together a giveaway of $500. Follow the Rafflecopter instructions below to enter. Giveaway is open to international participants.

Here is a list of the member's participating in the current giveaway - be sure to check them out for some enjoyable reading while you wait for the Rafflecopter widget to load:

Blushing Basics
PolishGalore
Clumps of Mascara
Justina's Gems
Beyond Beauty Lounge
Beauty 101
Cosmetics Aficionado
Just For Trendy Girls
Peek & Ponder
Pretty In Pink
Aquaheart's Obsessions
InTruBeauty
Beauty Info Zone
Moxie Reviews
Prime Beauty
Midnight Manicures
Geniabeme
Blushing Noir
Beauty by Miss L
Peace Love Lipgloss
TheFabZilla
polarbelle
My Highest Self
MinaSlater.com - Fabulous Awesomeness
george&bear
Lipgloss Break
Painted Ladies

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thank you for entering and good luck to you!!! Entries are closed on May 17, 2013.

CND Vinylux Weekly Nail Polish Pics and Swatches!!

There aren't too many things that get a beauty junkie more excited that a new line of nail polish from a trusted company. Have you heard about CND's new nail polish line called Vinylux Weekly Polish? WEEKLY!! That'll get a nailphile really excited!

The bottles are pretty, aren't they?



Vinylux Weekly Polish needs no base coat. It uses a new patent pending "Pro-Light" technology which creates a long lasting polish that increases it's strength and resistance to chipping over time. It cures using natural light and the use of the Vinylux Top Coat strengthens the polish as time goes on.



It sounds awesome. I've swatched the ones I picked up for you so that you can see the colors and next week, after I have my surgery, I'll put them to the wear test and report back to you on if it really lasts a week without chipping. There are 62 fashion forward colors plus the top coat. They even have a color that is a close dupe to Chanel Peridot. I've only seen about half of the colors so far.



The colors I purchased are, left to right, Hollywood, Tropix, Tutti Frutti, Beau, Sugar Spice, Water Park, Daring Escape, Steel Gaze, Overtly Onyx and Midnight Swim. Some of the colors have tiny micro-particles that my camera can't pick up but enhance the color. For instance, Hollywood has golden micro-particles in the bottle but they blend into the polish and create a glow in certain light. I thought it would be a red with glimmer, but it's not. It's more of a red that sometimes shows some golden tones.



Tutti Frutti has a violet iridescence that makes it a really nice fucshia. Daring Escape has a tiny bit of sparkle to it and I really think, in all my stash, I don't have anything quite this color. Midnight Swim has awesome shining midnight blue particles in it.



I can tell you, from swatching on this wheel, that the nail polishes are very smooth in application. Each layer blends seemlessly to the previous one. It's like nail polish magic!! There is nearly no dry time between coats. I can't wait to wear these!!!

When I first lined up the polishes to photograph, I forgot Midnight Swim on another table, so you won't see it in any of the following pictures, but I am gratuitously posting more pictures for your consideration.









I suspect these will be sold to salons, but I don't have that information yet. As soon as I find out if they're available publically for sale or online, I will let you know.

Surgery and Blog Delay Due To Illness

My neck surgery that was scheduled for last Monday was delayed because I'd developed a pneumonia the weekend before. I was too sick to tell you guys. I am rescheduled and hoping to get better enough to get rid of the pain in my neck...(no, not my family, lol). I am hoping to get some pictures of things up that I have to review for you. There's a lot of interesting press releases that have come in...I hate being too sick to blog, but that's how it happens sometimes. You can probably tell I'm a little disjointed but I just wanted to update you guys for now. This past week, I was too sick to shop. That's how bad it was, lol. Anyway, here's to hoping I get a few pretty pictures up for you this week!!

Color Club Miss BlissNail Polish Swatches, Review And Beautiful Pictures - Guest Post

Today we have the most gorgeous post by my friend Marcia whom you may know from Beauty Info Zone.  Be prepared to be wowed by some truly amazing pictures.

Some people like nail polish, some people have no opinion about it and then there are the ones like me (Marcia from Beauty Info Zone) who goes absolutely nuts over nail polish. The last few years have been nail polish heaven for me. I am trying hard to resist a lot of polishes but when I learned about the new Color Club 2013 Holographic Halo Hues collection all bets were off. I needed them and I needed them A.S.A.P. Since I can’t seem to find the brand locally I turned to Amazon.com where I found this collection (http://www.amazon.com/Color-Club-Holographic-Lacquer-Collection/dp/B00B0ZQWH4) for $40. On the Color Club website each polish is $10 so it was worth getting all 6.



The 6 polishes in the collection are Miss Bliss which is reviewed here, Eternal Beauty (violet), Kismet (green with gold tones), Cosmic Fate (light copper), Over the Moon (turquoise/sky blue) and the fabulous Beyond (charcoal grey). After staring at them for hours I chose Miss Bliss and its beautiful bright pink color to be my first manicure.


These are linear holos. The hologram effect is so strong that you can see it from the first brush stroke. Not only is the color beautiful instantly but it applies like a dream. With just one coat you see the full holo effect and are swooning. With two coats my nails were perfect. As I’m writing this review I’ve had my polish on for 7 days and it looks as perfect as day one. Color Club Halo Hues in Miss Bliss is as close to holographic perfection as it can be.


While I described the color as a bright pink, it’s so much more than that. The polish doesn’t depend on the sun like so many other holographic polishes do; it looks beautiful in all lights. I see a lot of purple, pink, rose and silver in it. If you are a nail polish lover then Miss Bliss and its relatives in the Halo Hues Hologram collection for 2013 are polishes you need to seek out. Quality + gorgeous colors + long lasting shine = Bliss!



I'd like to thank Marcia for lending this amazing nail polish for Polarbelle readers to enjoy.  If you don't follow Beauty Info Zone already, what are you waiting for?  Head on over there to check out their many wonderful and extensive beauty reviews.  Thanks for filling in for me, Marcia, while I was away!

Wherefore Art Thou, Polarbelle?

The last two months have been really unusual for me, blog-wise. I haven't gotten nearly enough done online but I've accomplished a lot physically. And then it came to that part of the year in Alaska that we call "break-up". Other places have spring with gorgeous flowers and activity. We have an abundance of potholes and a lot of dirt in the air that they throw on the roads after snowfalls.

My asthma doesn't like this dirt. No, not at all. I've been fighting the allergy abuse in my system and it got particularly bad this week, with many hours in bed hacking my head off. Now the reason this is noteworthy is that after tests, exams, and yadda, yadda, yadda, I'm going to have my neck fused tomorrow. So while my posts may indicate we were on a break, I believed that my blog and I were not on a break. However, unlike Ross on Friends, I didn't cheat during this break/non-break. My doctors instructed me to get in the best physical shape I could before the surgery which, while I've accomplished a lot there, I was worn out physically. I didn't mean to blog so little, but that's how it worked out.

And there's still a chance that the surgery might not go tomorrow, depending on if I'm coughing or whatever, I guess, but I think I've gotten a lot better today and will have the surgery tomorrow. I imagine it will be about two weeks before I can blog. I have some great friends who have offered me some guest posts and you'll be seeing some of those while I'm doped up healing from the surgery.

In the meantime, I imagine I'll still be Instagramming silly things and you can follow my pictures on Instagram here.  I have them autoload to my Facebook page as well as on Twitter.  Check out those places and you can get a good idea of how bad my hair will look after surgery.
And in the meantime, I'll check in when I can over the next couple weeks until I'm back full time.  :)

Sation Nail Polish Partners With Ipsy Glam Bag

Lo and behold, I found a few things in my email that I had somehow missed. One is the exciting partnership this month of Sation Nail Polish from Miss Professional Nail and Ipsy, formerly known as Glam Bag. If you are a subscriber, perhaps you've already received your April offering which will include either of Sation's colors “Love At First Byte” and “Of Corset I’ll Call You,” from Sation’s Miss Antoinette Spring 2013 nail lacquer collection. I haven't received my bag yet...seems like it takes FOREVER to get to me, but I'll wait. This month you are guaranteed something awesome!!



In addition, and this is really important, Sation is offering a promotion on their website, Miss Pro Nail, with the code IPSY30.  The code is case sensitive and with it, you will receive 20% off your Sation nail polish purchases!!!  That's awesome!
If you're not a subscriber to Ipsy yet, you can sign up to subscribe to the Glam Bags for $10 a month for a variety of cosmetic samples.  This month's Glam bag with be specially picked by an Ipsy cosmetic specialist to coincide with the Sation nail polish offerings.  This is the biggest undertaking Sation has done to the public to this point.  Be sure to look on the Ipsy website for more videos and instruction with the Sation polishes.
And don't forget to follow on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, too!!