Winning Makes Everything Better

Good morning, Kitschies!!

I took too many of these last night...

source

So I'm moving a little slow this morning.  To make myself happier and forget about the hurt for a bit, I want to announce a *winner*!

The winner of the Zoya polishes provided by Verve 360 salon has been chosen!!  Out of 108 valid entries, who has already responded to her congrats email and chosen by random.org (which picked #35) was...

Thank you to everybody who entered!!  Keep an eye out for another giveaway coming up soon. :)

It's Giveaway Time!!

Hey, Kitschies!!!  I think it's about time to give back to my lovely readers, don't you?

I have been contacted by Verve 360 to host a giveaway!  Wanna know what you can win?  ONE lucky winner will get two new Zoya polishes: Anja and Jem.  These two colors are great for all skin tones and are prefect for the Winter season.

Anja

Jem via The Polish-Aholic

These are both super gorgeous colors (I have them both)!  So, what do you have to do to win these two beauties?  Fill out the following form then sit back and relax!  

And now for the fine print...

*Open to US residents only.

*Entries will be taken from NOW until 12:01AM EST on 1/30/12 (that's one week).

*I will verify all entries and will announce the winner by 1/31/12.  The winner will have 24 hours to respond.  If I do not hear from them, another winner will be chosen and announced.  The same rules apply to them.

Good luck!!

A BIG thank you to Verve 360 hair salon in Pittsburgh for letting me give back to my readers and for providing the pretties for this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer Giveaway!!!

Good morning, Kitschies!!  It's been quite a while since the last time I did something like this, so I've gathered some stuff together for not one, but two giveaways!  All pics are biggable so you can better check out the goods.

Let's see what's up for grabs, shall we...

This is for my lacquer heads

Top (left to right):

Naughty Nails: Secret Carpet Burn

Essence Coulour & Go: What Do U Think?

Revlon Top Speed: Electric

Sinful Colors: Show Me the Way

Sinful Colors: Ciao Bella!

ELF Nail Polish: Plum

Bottom (left to right):

Orly: Fifty-Four

Orly: Bon Bon

ELF: Punk Purple

ELF: White

Essie: Luscious Lips

Creative Nail Design: Rich in Sin

Right:

Cult Nails: Living Water

And the non-lacquerheads

Top:

2 sets of super cute, *kitschy* recipe cards

Bottom:

Pink dangle silver earrings

Right:

Magnetic shopping list/memo pad

I'm sure there will be more added to both of these before they are sent out, but this is what I have so far.  I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who takes the time to visit (and comment) at my blog.  I really, really appreciate you and without all your support, I wouldn't have made it this far!!

Now for the rules...

*Leave your name and email for contact purposes (1 entry).  I will contact the winner by email; they will have 24 hours to respond.  If they do not respond, a new winner will be chosen and contacted.

*Regulars to my blog will get an extra entry - I know who you are (1 entry)

*You do *not* have to be a follower to enter, nor do you have to have a blog

*This is open internationally, however, if an international person wins, be warned I will send the package the cheapest (read: slowest) way possible.

*You can add this giveaway to your blog in a post or in your sidebar or however you do those sorts of things (1 entry)

*Bonus entry: Tell me your favorite part of Summer (1 entry)

*Be sure to tell me which of the prizes you'd like: lacquerhead or non-lacquerhead

*Duplicate entries will not be allowed.  I will be verifying all entries.  There are a total of 4 possible entries per person.

*Entries will be accepted until 12 midnight (CMT) on Wednesday, July 20, 2011.  The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced shortly after the close of the giveaway.

Good luck!!

All items in these giveaways were either given to me or bought with my own money.

Just Because I Can **CLOSED**

Good day dear readers!  I have something to share with you that I think you'll like.  I don't have a catchy name for this or any specific reason to do this other than *just because I can*.  No more delay...on to the details!

Because I appreciate each and every one of you who follow my blog and because I love the feedback, I've decided to do a giveaway to say thank you!  Wanna know what you can win?  Let's take a look, shall we?

Zoya polish in Lexi, Tallulah and Aria.  Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Purple Pizzazz.  OPI Will You Mari-achi Me?. Jade Nail Lacquer in Stand By Me.  Love & Beauty mini (pink pearl).  Bon Bons mini (irridescent lime green).  Ulta hand lotion in Va Va Vanilla and eyeshadow in Standstone. Ulta Professional lip brush.  Qtica Smart Spa sugar scrub in Lemon Dream.  ELF super glossy lip sine in Honey Do and Angel.  And whatever else I decide to throw in there between now and when it's shipped.

**Added to the mix: Revlon Perplex and Cover Girl Antifreeze.**

THE RULES

*Leave me a comment with your name and your email. (1 entry)

*Tell me your favorite band/group/singer and one of your favorite songs by them. (1 entry)

*Blog about this giveaway, linking back to this post.  This includes putting this in your sidebar, linking up on FB, etc. Be sure to leave me a link for whatever you do.  (2 entries)

*You do NOT need to be a follower of my blog.  However, if you are a follower and regular commenter, you get an extra entry right away.  

*Open to US and International readers.  If you're an international reader and you win, be aware that I will send the package to you the cheapest way possible, so it'll probably take a while to get to you.

*Giveaway open from now until Wednesday, February 16, 2011, at midnight MST.

Who is it? Who is it?!

The holiday weekend is almost over.  It feels like it's lasted forever for some reason, and not necessarily in a bad way.  And after all the prep work, Thanksgiving was here and gone in a blink of an eye.  Why does it always work like that?

The hubs had to work Friday, but I was home with the boys.  I managed to capture this cute picture of Mason (almost 18 months) and Nate (4+ years) playing...together.  It's so sweet to see them playing together.  And then Mason usually knocks over Nate's tower and it's over as fast as it began.  LOL

Anyway...my Thank You For Being My Friend giveaway closed last night!  You know what that means?  That means we have a WINNER!!!  Bet you wanna know who it is, don't ya?  Well...after going through 115 comments that produced 192 entries, I went to random.org and plugged in the numbers.  The winner of the giveaway is...wait for it...wait...for...it...

Congrats to Kris!!  If you haven't seen her site Lacquer Wear for Tips and Toes, you should definitely check it out.  Kris does some wicked frankens (some of which she's giving away!).  Dood!  I just realized I spelled Lacquer wrong in the pic.  *sigh*  That's what happens when you put something like that together after midnight.  AND...she has a great food blog, too. 

Thank you to everyone who entered.  I'm sorry I'm not able to do giveaways more frequently, but I try to make them that much more special when I do host one.  I really do appreciate all of my followers and if you're new, I hope you've liked what you've seen and decided to stick around. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.  I have quite a few recipes and a couple manis on deck.  Now I just have to prep all the pics.  Good times.

Thank you for being my friend - *CLOSED**

I started this little blog in April and I never thought I'd ever get 50 followers - and now I have 150+.  I have rediscovered an addiction affinity for nail polish and in the meantime, realized that I really like putting thoughts to "paper".   I have made quite a few bloggy "friends" and found a way to keep in contact, through pictures and stories, with family and friends.  It's been an action-packed seven months. 

Yep!  You read that right!  It's about time, right?  In commemoration of my 150th blog post and reaching 150 followers, I am hosting a giveaway.  It's nothing major, just a small collection of things I've been gathering over the last few months.  You're probably wondering what's up for grabs.  Well, let's see, shall we?

The Color Club Glitter Vixen collection.  From L to R: Sex Symbol (silver), Magic Attraction (holo), Sultry Diva (gold), Art of Seduction (red), Sexy Siren (blue), Object of Envy (green) and Tru Passion (purple).

This is the obligatory blurry pic to show off the gorgeousness of the holo glitter that is Magic Attraction.

Also included is NYC Love Letters, LA Colors Color Craze Wired and a nail art kit with gemstones, orange stick and top coat (no promises on the TC quality).

There's more included in this giveaway, but the impatience of my son, Nate, doesn't let me take as many pics as I'd like.  Now for the rules...

1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. Include your name and email address (you can make it bot-proof if you want). 1 entry
3. Blog about this giveaway, include at least 1 pic from the pics above and link back to this giveaway.  Please provide a link in your comment. 1 entry.
4. Tell me what you'd like to see more of on my blog. 1 entry
5. This is open to everybody (USA and beyond).  However, if you live out of the US, please know that I will chose the least expensive shipping, so it might take a while to get to you.
6. This contest is open through Saturday, November 27, 2010.  The winner (there will be only 1 winner) will be announced shortly thereafter on my blog.

There ya go!!  Good luck to everybody!  Let the entries begin.

Giveaway time! **NOW CLOSED**

Saturday!!  What a wonderful day.  You're separated from the work week and you have one more day of the weekend left.  It's been pretty warm here today, so we haven't done much outside other than to sit in the shade while the boys are in the kiddie pool.  I hope we get some thunderstorms tonight, but it doesn't look very promising.

As the post title mentions, it's GIVEAWAY TIME!!!  What am I giving away?  Well, my dear, dear, Kitschies...the good folks over at CSN Stores have been awesome enough to let me offer to you a $40 gift card to use at any of their 200+ online stores.  What can you get?

How 'bout a table lamp?  

Or maybe a little something to make your weekend mornings a little sweeter?

Or something for your little ones?

I've got it!  Get something just for YOU!

As you can see, CSN Stores has a bunch of different things to chose from.  I had a hard enough time trying to chose just a few items to show you.  Now I know you're wanting to know how you can get your hot little hands on this $40 gift card.  Here's the rules:

1.  You must be a follower of Kitschy Suburbia through GFC.

2.  Leave me a comment in this post with your GCF name, email addy and tell me something you'd like to get from the CSN Stores.  To be fair (and to make it easier on me), only one entry per person.

3.  Entries must be received by Saturday, August 21, 2010, at midnight CST.

4.  The only catch: Open only to US and Canadian residents only.

The winner will be chosen by random.com and will be announced on my blog either on Sunday, August 22nd or Monday, August 23rd (my b-day).

Good luck my dear Kitschies!!  

Listening to: Yeah, Whatever by Splender

Mood: kitschy

Ki is Kool

Failure is not an option. *sigh* Yeah, tell that to my camera. No matter what I did, I could not get a good pic of Ki. According to the Zoya website, Ki is described as a complex multichromatic shade combining silver, purple, blue and green in a shimmery metallic finish. A unique shade for a truly fascinating nail look. They're right - it's unique and it's gorgeous! This was my first pick from my exchange package.

This is the best picture I could get of the multichrome effect - and of course it was in the bottle.

This is the only color I could get to show up with flash. I probably could've gotten some better ones outside without flash, but I wasn't patient enough for that.

This really is a beautiful color. Purple, blue, green, silver - this one has it all!! I am very happy with this purchase.

And while we're on the subject of polish...

A couple weeks ago, the BFF and I took a girl's afternoon and went to the mall. Where else would we go? LOL We stopped by Hot Topic to see what they had to offer. Of course I made a bee-line to the polish and look what I found!! I hate when companies don't name their polish. So, I'm gonna do it for them.

Poison Plum

This is *super* dark purple - the BFF didn't share my confidence that this was, in fact, dark, dark purple. In the pic you can see that the body of the polish does look black, but up around the rim of the bottle you can tell it's purple. I can not wait to use this one! Especially with accents using the next polish.

Super Bad

I love stars. And I love holo. As soon as I saw this I said OMGLookatthis and never put it down. LOL The little stars are SO holographic! It's a clear base with little tiny holo glitter particles. This has been pushed down to the bottom of my "un-tried" container because of my Zoya purchases, but I might just break it up a bit and do a little Poison Plum and Super Bad. But then again...4th of July is just around the corner and I might use Super Bad in a patriotic mani instead! Stay tuned. :D

OH!! My sister, Kristen, is the queen of deal finding. She can go anywhere, find something she likes and when she takes it to the register, it'll be on some sort of hidden super sale. She's good like that. She must've been with us on this shopping trip because I also found this:


It's GIR!!! My sis also loves Invader Zim, so it was rather fitting that I found this. The packaging is so cute, but that wasn't even the best part! Originally $5, this was in the clearance section for $1.98. But, wait! There's more! It was on Kristen hidden super sale for $0.98!! It's bright pink with a very slight shimmer. It says neon, but I don't know that I'd call it quite neon. Anyway...it could've been puke green and I would've gotten it because it's GIR! Apparently there is a Fluorescent green that goes with this same promotion, but all Hot Topic had was the pink. But, like I said, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. LOL

And speaking of the BFF...she happens to be the one and only Wendi from Makeup Zombie! She is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers!! Take a look at what she's giving away.


Head on over to Makeup Zombie, join in the fun and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you!!

Have a most awesome day, my dear Kitschies!! Thanks for stopping by.

Listening to: Questions 67 and 68 by Chicago Transit Authority (later just Chicago)

Babbling Brooke Blogaversary!

Wow! Say that three times fast!!

Babbling Brooke is celebrating her upcoming 2nd blogaversary in July and is holding a HUGE giveaway!! There will be a total of 10 (yes, 10!) winners. She has been teasing us with pictures of all the goodies, but now is the time to start the real fun. Brooke's blog is about the pretty, pretty world of polish - all the good stuff!

You're probably asking yourself: Self? What do I have to do to sign up? Well...all you have to do to is go visit her blog, check out her GIGANTIC giveaway and become a follower of Babbling Brooke. How easy is that? Of course there are other ways to gain extra entries.

Just look at all that great stuff!! Seriously!!!

And this is what the GRAND PRIZE WINNER will receive...

So, what are you waiting for?! Go! Run. Don't walk!! You won't be sorry. Check in with her, say hi and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you. :D

Challenge accepted!

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Chinese proverb

Good evening, Kitschies! Only 1 more day stands between us and the weekend. What are your plans for the weekend?

Earlier this week, I was trolling the blogs and I came across Polish Hoarder Disorder (PHD) blog. Not only does she do awesome nails herself, she challenges her fellow followers to flex their creative muscle. I took a look at the challenge galleries and thought: "I wanna do that!" And, as luck would have it, the current challenge is patriotic themed (read: right up my alley). If you hurry, you can enter your submission, too - but you've gotta do it fast because entries close tomorrow (6/11) at midnight CST! You know you want to do it!! Anyway..I went home that night, took stock of the polish I had and proceeded to create my submission. I did the left hand with no problem, but ran in to a brain block with what to do with the right hand. That's where the hubs stepped in an made a suggestion to mix it up a bit. I haven't done a whole lot of nail art before, so it's a little rough, but I like how it turned out. Here's my patriotic submission to PHD's patriotic challenge.

Left hand - freehand stars

Right hand - freehand stripes

See the nubbins on the right hand :*(

What I used

What I used (L-R): Sinful Colors in Midnight Blue (at least 5 years old - see the old style bottle?), Art Deco nail art in silver and ChG in Vertical Rush. All the colors are shimmer - I love Vertical Rush; it's such a deep (but bright) red and the blue was a great compliment to the red, just the right shade and shimmer.

I got a few comments/compliments on this mani. People mostly said it was too late for Memorial Day and too early for 4th of July. So what? Can't a girl practice? LOL I'm really looking forward to seeing the other submissions because the other challenges have produced some really cool results.

While I was on vacation, my BFF texted me early one morning to tell me that I'd won a giveaway. What?! I don't win those things!! I logged on and saw that I had won Libby's Pink Vanity's 50 Follower Giveaway. I was pretty excited because there were quite a few things in there that I had my eye on. I got the package of goodies yesterday at work, but I waited to open it until I got home. And look what I found...

The theme was pink!

But she threw in a bunch of other goodies, too!

The whole haul

I now have my first Color Club polish (and what a great color, too)!! And now I have another holo (woot!), a bottle of SH Hidden Treasure, a handful of new polishes (some colors I would've never gotten myself), new mascara, lipstick, blush, foundation, lip balm, lip liner, makeup case, body wash and lotion (smells yum) and an Adidas t-shirt (I love red and black together). I was so excited about the Color Club polish (She's So Glam) that I took off my patriotic challenge mani and did a new one! I'll blog about that one in a couple days. If you haven't checked out Libby's Pink Vanity, you definitely should - she does some cute nail art she's got the DL on a lot of giveaways. Stop by and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you!

I think that's about it for this evening, my lovely readers. If there's anything you'd like me to talk about (a recipe with a certain ingredient, a specific color of polish, family life), lemme know and I'll do my best to answer your request. Have a great evening and enjoy your FRIDAY!!

Listening to: Come As You Are (live) by Nirvana
Mood: BUGGED

Drumroll please!

Happy Friday, Kitschies!!

We're heading in to a long Memorial Day weekend. WOO HOO!! I hope all of you have a great weekend - be safe!! And if you see a man or woman in uniform, be sure to thank them for keeping us safe in this great country of ours.

Thank you to every one of you who follow my blog. And an especially big thank you to those of you who comment - I love reading what you have to say! So, without further adieu...

I went to random.org and used their random number generator and the number it presented was 3. That means the winner of my first giveaway is...drumroll please...


Congrats, Ms Jen!! I will be sending you an email this morning - be sure to respond so I can get your goodies out to you ASAP. I will be hosting another giveaway in the near future...check back often!! I don't know how much I'll be posting in the coming week. I am on VACATION!! My parents and sister are coming to visit; my baby turns 1; DH and I get to escape sans kids for 2 whole nights (the first since before the kids were born)!! But don't fret my dear Kitschies. There will be plenty to post about once I'm back to the grind.

It's giveaway time!!

I logged in to blogger this morning and found that I gained 4 followers overnight! SWEET!! You know what that means, right?! It's giveaway time!!!

First, before I get too far, let me thank you all for joining me on this new journey of mine (you have Ms Makeup Zombie to thank for that). I have really enjoyed putting my blog together and LOVE the blogging community and the blogs I follow. You girls give me inspiration daily!

Second, a big hug to my hubby - he's been patient enough to let me spend some "together" time in the evenings and weekends to do this. AND he doesn't give me a hard time about taking picture after picture of...well...everything. Oh, and by the way, he's got a little project of his own on the horizon. Check it out: Ego Comics. I'm inspired by his imagination, determination and abilities.

Now on to the good stuffs. One lucky follower will receive 6 recipes from my personal collection, handwritten on cute 4x6 recipe cards from Katie Kouture, 6 additional blank recipe cards to help organize your collection (because if you're like me, you need all the help you can get in that department), a bottle of nail polish and a little something else. Just a little thank you for helping me get my blog off the ground.




And now for the rules.
1. You must be a follower of this blog (duh!).
2. Comment on this post with the name you follow with.
3. In that comment, please let me know how you heard of me so I can thank them.
4. That's it - nothing complicated for this giveaway. :)

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, May 27th.

First photo property of www.katiekouture.etsy.com

Listening to: Don't Turn Around by Ace of Base
Mood: Meh - it's Monday