Blogger Changing Name to "Google Blogs"?

According to this article from CNN.com, Google is planning to retire its Blogger and Picasa brands. Apparently name of the blogging service will change from "Blogger" to "Google Blogs."

I don't anticipate this will cause any big problems for us bloggers, but I now this will affect a lot of the beauty bloggers since many of us are on Blogger.

I just thought this was some interesting news :) What do you think?

Graduation Nails - Funky Fingers "Kenyan Sunrise"

Today was my OFFICIAL high school graduation... I am officially no longer a high school student! I graduated with an "Advanced Studies" diploma as well as an IB diploma (I don't now if that means anything to anyone, but IB is an international program. 47 other students from my class received the diploma).

I have to say I am very proud of myself :) But also very humble because I realize I could not have done any of this without the help of my friends, family, and teachers.

I have been so busy that I couldn't actually take pics of my nails but I wore a nice purple outfit under my gown, so I wore Funky Fingers "Kenyan Sunrise," a dark purple holo that is apparently a dupe of Color Club "Wild at Heart." Here is a pic I found on Flickr.

Anyway I just wanted to give all of my readers an update. This is the reason I haven't really been posting -- I've been really busy with schoolwork and such. After Winter Break I was pretty much slammed with work. I believe it has paid off though :) I hope to get back to posting over the summer. Hopefully in college I will actually be able to set aside some time specifically for blogging.

-Deanna

Favorite Nail Polish Colors

As promised, I wanted to make a post about something using some stock photos from Fotolia (please see my previous post for more info on Fotolia). I decided to share with you some of my favorite polish colors.

 

  My top favorite polish color is BLUE. I especially like blues like the one pictured above: dark, sparkly blues. In particular, the best blue I have ever worn is Zoya Tallulah. When I first put this polish on, I was literally like "OMG THIS POLISH IS AMAZING"

  I also like PINKS. Not as much as other colors -- however, I know a few good pinks. My favorite is Zoya Kiki, mostly because it is a duochrome. Pinks actually don't suit me very well because I am not a girly girl, and pinks just sort of strike me as a girly color.  Perhaps you disagree ;)

This would have to be my second favorite color -- purple. Like blue I like dark shimmery purples. As I write this I am wearing Wet n Wild "Midnight" (a dark purple with glitter). I feel that the color purple really suits my personality (I don't know why). Something worth noting is that I recently officially made purple my favorite color ;)

Last but DEFINITELY not least, we have black nail polish. Black nail polish has always been my go-to polish. I wore black nail polish before anyone else in middle school, and it caused quite a scandal -- people were so shocked my mom would let me wear black nail polish to school! Soon tons of people in my school were wearing black nail polish. I think I started a trend :)

This post features stock photos from fotolia.com. I was provided with a free 4-week subscription to Fotolia. I also have several 2-week free trial codes for my readers -- if you are interested, email me at lorrainenails@gmail.com. The free trial is completely no-strings-attached, no credit card info necessary!! For more info on fotolia.com click here.

What about you? What are your favorite colors of nail polish? Let me know in the comments :)

Fotolia - Stock Photos for Bloggers (& Update)

I usually am hesitant to accept free products to review for my blog, especially from companies I am not familiar with, but this past week I got an offer I couldn't refuse: a rep (Jenna) from Fotolia.com, a stock photo website, contacted me and asked if I would like a free one-month subscription to Fotolia.com, along with some codes for my readers. Since I love stock photos, and would love to use some in future posts, I felt I couldn't refuse this offer.

Fotolia has a nice little site set up where people who are interested can get info. It has info such as "8 Reasons For Fotolia Microstock" and some videos and pictures. The website outlines the "credits system" and the subscription services. For more info, visit: fotolianews.com.

One thing worth mentioning is that using stock photos saves bloggers from accidentally taking copyrighted pictures and using them without permission. For example, if you search Google Images for an image, the majority of the images you see are NOT in the public domain, meaning the owner of the image could take action against you (if they really wanted to). I personally like the idea of being "licensed" to use a photo.

In the next few weeks I will make a few posts showing off the types of stock photos Fotolia offers, particularly in the area of beauty/nails. In the end I am not sure if I myself will be able to purchase a license from Fotolia once my trial has ended, but I hope I can help out some readers who have been looking for a stock photo service.

I also have 5 codes for free two-week subscriptions that I am offering to my readers, thanks to Fotolia. The subscription is for 14 days, with image 3 downloads per day. If you are interested, please email me at lorrainenails@gmail.com, and I can give you a code.

On a personal note I also want to get back to posting nail pics, but my cuticles are a mess right now and I'm sure my readers don't want to see that. Also ever since my last post in February I've been very busy... I am graduating on June 20 so there have been many things I have had to deal with. I'm sorry I've been absent -- I have been reading the blogs I follow, though, so I haven't been totally gone.

I hope this summer, once everything is a little bit less crazy I'll be able to start posting again.

The one-month subscription to Fotolia was provided to me for free by a rep from Fotolia.


PS: I just turned 18 on Thursday!

Upcoming Releases from Bath & Body Works - Highlights from Live Chat

Camille McDonald of Bath & Body Works (she is a fragrance creator, I believe) recently hosted a live chat with Facebook users last week. She shared some information about upcoming releases. I have condensed this info to show you only the info about the upcoming releases.

Please note this is not a press release in any way. This information was gathered by me from going to the live chat. If something here is wrong, LET ME KNOW!!

FEBRUARY RELEASES

• For Valentine's Day, shimmer lotions will be available in Carried Away, Cherry Blossom, Japanese Cherry Blossom, and Sweet Pea.
• Spring Break to be released February 28.

MARCH RELEASES

• In late March, B&BW will release a collection of fruit-scented soaps that includes watermelon, strawberry, blueberry, cherry, and apple.
• Easter collection to be released March 21.

APRIL RELEASES

• New to the vanilla blends is Cherry Vanilla. (Available in April)
  
• Upcoming scent: "Country Chic." (April 15th) McDonald says it is inspired by "what Twilight Woods would smell like if it was created in the Spring. It starts with citrus, goes to berries, and ends on woods, vanilla, and praline"

SUMMER/FALL RELEASES

• Summer releases: "Into the Woods," a "fabulous fruity wood," and a collection of coconut blends.
• In July, there will be a new collection of scrubs.
• They are working on a new men's scent for Fall.

AROMATHERAPY/TRUE BLUE SPA

• Coming soon are new designs for True Blue Spa (late February) and Aromatherapy (July) collections.
• Face masks/face scrubs coming out in July (True Blue and Signature Collection).
• New fragrance for Aromatherapy: Lemon Zest. 

MISC (no date):

• Coming soon: Springtime Woods fragrance, "a fantastic safari type fragrance" and an "irresistible collection of coconut blend fragrances."
•  Also coming soon, some new Pocketbacs that "tie into the signature collection."

As you can see there are some great things lined up for Bath & Body Works!

Some Blog Matters :)

Okay I have a lot of announcements to make -- 4 of them. So here they are, for those who would like to read them:

1. Giveaway page - I just updated the Giveaway page with some new giveaways! If you would like to discover some new blogs and giveaways, check out that page by pressing "Current Giveaways" on the navigation bar across the top of this page.

2. I am in the planning stages of my own giveaway right now... I'm thinking a mega-giveaway with multiple winners (2 to 3 winners). Either that, or just one big prize package for one winner. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!!

3. My blog sale is still going on. I'm contemplating adding some polishes soon. Click here to go to my blog sale.

4. And finally, I painted my nails for the first time in a LONG time today! It's been a while, probably almost 2 or 3 months. I haven't been myself lately and I just kind of lost interest in polish for a while, but today I looked outside and saw how sunny it was and had this urge to paint my nails :) I'll post pics soon.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone! :) and I hope you've been enjoying the guest posts by my sister!
- Deanna

C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve Review

Image Source: Total Beauty Blog

Application: Rose Salve is very smooth and applies easily to my skin, lips, and cuticles. When I use it on my lips it's thick, but at the same time it's not too greasy. I used to use Vaseline on my lips but I have pretty much switched over to this. The skin above my lips used to get really chapped, red, and itchy, but after I started using this instead of Vaseline, it stopped happening. It may be a coincidence, though. I also put this on my cuticles before going to bed sometimes, and when I wake up they are soft.    Still miss my Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter though :'( But this is a cheap alternative.

Scent: My favorite part of the Rose Salve has to be the scent! It smells very faintly of roses. It has almost no taste on the lips, though, which I am fine with.

Uses: The best thing about this salve is that it is multi-purpose. I can use it on my lips, cuticles, and, if I wanted to, places like my elbows and feet.

Ingredients: Petrolatum, Lanolin Oil, Squalene, Flavor (Aroma), Octyldodecanol, Gossypium Herbaceum (Cotton) Seed Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Bisabolol, Jojoba Esters, Red 30 Lake (CI73360). 
 Pretty good stuff.

Price: Regular price is about $5.50 at Bath & Body Works, although I got this for free because I had a coupon.

Rating: I give this a 5 out 5! I haven't had any problems with this so far. In fact, I plan to buy another one this weekend so that when this one runs out I'll already have a new one on hand.