Nail mail v.4

I have for you tonight, another new nail mail post... Thankful Thursday will return next week on my personal blog, The Discovery of Desirée Michelle. I have maybe 2 more major packages coming to me, then my nail mail will be over for awhile. I'm wanting to save for a new car, and I know every little bit will help, plus, I would like to focus on getting new polishes for my birthday ladies, and gentleman, rather than myself. I have one package coming from Dollish Polish.. and my first ever order from Harlow & Co containing my very first Model's Own polishes! So excited to get both.. PS. the lens on my iphone is driving me nuts. I think I may be able to get it fixed @the apple store.

The first set of nail mail I actually received last week... But I had forgotten to put it on my last post. I've been waiting for these preciouses since the 27th of January. Nicole was gracious enough to find them for me and send them all the way from Singapore! My very first international polish nail mail! As you can see, these are just some of the Disney Villains polishes. GAH the haze is driving me CRAZY! I'm sorry ya'll :( Some of these are jelly polishes -- which I'm excited to try, because I did my first jelly sandwich not too long ago, and I want to try again!

My second piece of nail mail was my replacement bottle of Hip Hop Hippity Hop from Dollish Polish! I like this version much better, and can't wait to try it! Besides, I love how she packaged it.. :)

I loooveee the blue organza bag! It does NOT take much to please me, lol.

My last bit of nail mail is from Pretty&Polished and her ETSY shop! Can you tell i'm REALLY into indie polishes lately? I dont even really look at mainstream brands anymore! 

I got a mini of Jawbreaker (which, I really wanted a full size one, but it got stolen outta my cart, lol) and a full size of Valentino.. I am IN LOVE with how Valentino looks in the bottle... can't wait to try it on my nails! 

Last but not least, I have a mini haul for you... I went to pickup a polish for one of my birthday buddies, and Walgreens had the new sinful colors display.. omg. I died. I had to get them. (notice the pretty picture of my sissy in the background!? :]) The one that I didn't pick up was Cinderella, only because I already have it! So excited to try these soon... a long with my other 100+ untried polishes, lol.

The polishes are: Flutter, Firefly, Sweet Dreams, Luminary, Glass Pink, Morning Star

Do you have any of these? Iris, I know you do!! :)

God.

Something amazing happened to me today. I need to share it. I feel at peace. A different kind of peace than I've ever felt in my life. I've never really had a relationship with God. I've never sat down and talked to Him about myself, my life, or my troubles. Sure, I pray when OTHER people need Him. But never when *I* need him. Since 2007, my life has definitely been a tumultuous roller coaster ride. I was with a guy for 4 years that destroyed every piece of me he possibly could. He destroyed my self-esteem. My relationships. Everything. The past 2 years, I've been in a really emotionally charged, complicated, relationship. And you can't even really call it that. I've made mistakes. I'm not proud of them. My mind has been swimming recently with all that I've experienced. All the failed relationships. The failed friendships. The tears. The heartache. The need and want just to be loved. 100%. No strings attached.

So today, more-so than any other day, I turned it all over to God. And the peace.. that sweet peace, that washed over me once I'd given it all over to Him, is something that I'll never forget. My mind is no longer swimming with how to make people love me. My mind is no longer swimming with how to fix things that are wrong with my life. My mind is no longer swimming with the concern that I'll never be good enough to find my prince charming. I've given it all to Him. He will lead me now. And, I think that is the one piece of my life that I have always been missing.

I find myself in friendships or relationships that do nothing but tear me down. I find myself struggling with so much depression on how to fix the friendships that have gone so terribly wrong. Or how to fix a relationship that is at this point, absolutely lost and not what I need in my life. He has been pulling me to Him more so than I could've ever imagined. I can't help but find myself thankful for the situations and hardships that have lead me to begin this new journey of discovery.

The majority of my life, my friends shoved religion down my throat. Getting mad at me for not following their rules. For not going to bible study or church with them... essentially shunning me. They failed to realize that each person finds God in their own ways. I am not someone that gives into things just because others want me to, ESPECIALLY such a close, personal relationship with God. I am not a perfect woman. I will never be a perfect woman, nor will I ever live a perfect, sin-free life. But finally, at the age of 25, I have realized that the only way to continue to live my life, is to have a relationship with the one who ultimately created me.

The changes going on inside of me are humbling. I feel like I'm rediscovering, or newly discovering, parts of me that have been long gone, or that I never knew existed. I've spent many, many years fighting with myself. Picking apart the pieces of me that I felt were wrong, or ugly. I've spent many many years carrying baggage and heartaches... wondering why I've never been good enough, strong enough, pretty enough. But here, now, in this moment.. I realize that I've ALWAYS been good enough, strong enough, pretty enough... in His eyes. I will never be a perfect woman and I certainly haven't lead a perfect life, nor will I.. But in His eyes, I will always be perfect. And amazing. And I need to grow in my relationship with Him, before I can grow in my personal relationships. He has been hitting me with hurricane force lately, with the situations I've found myself in. He has been talking to me... even when I wasn't listening.

I am humble on my knees tonight.
I have found the piece of me that was missing. Not a man. Or a best friend. Or food. Or a car.
God. and only Him.
It only took 25 years.

I have decided to branch off to a personal blog as well... Please join me on my journey of discovery/rediscovery of myself. My other blog will be located at... http://discoveryfodesiree.blogspot.com.

Dollish Polish v.1

"In a box full of Cheerios -- be a fruit loop."

Happy Sunday everybody! A couple quick housekeeping things... the winner for the Mermaids Dream giveaway was chosen by rafflecopter and it was KB! Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who entered and offered their feedback. I'm working on addressing everyone's feedback as it was all definitely positive. The first is that I created a FB page... not sure how well this will work for me, but you can find it here. Second, I'm working on the lighting for my pics thanks to the advice from Iris, who is quickly becoming one of my blogger besties. The only source of picture taking I have at the moment is my lovely iPhone, who's lens I just found out is scratched. My pics have had a foggy haze for the last couple of weeks, and well, that's the reason. I have a digital camera, but I left the battery charger on a cruise ship (oops!) so I'm in the process of seeing how to order a new one.

For today's post.. I have the most amazing polish for you. I've recently gotten into indie polish. I'd rather pay someone who works hard to hand make a beautiful polish than big polish brands.. I know. I'm a weirdo. My first ever indie polish buy was a huge order from Dollish Polish. Ever since I saw swatches of some of Dolly's polishes I knew I had to have some. Her stuff is simply amazing. So I will have a series focusing on each one of the polishes I've ordered from her, and I recently ordered more when her shop opened back up briefly. I tell ya, you gotta be with a quickness to order anything there! LOL.

First up in the Dollish Polish series is none other than Expecto Patronum. (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). This is an absolutely GORGEOUS polish. Its got a jelly/cremeish white base with blue glitter in it. It is absolutely stunning. It was perfect in 2 coats, but I'm notorious for 3. Pardon the lack of cleanup on this.. I didn't do my nails until late the night before, lol.

Natural light.

Indoor light.

Indoor light, again.

Sunlight.

Natural light.

What do you think of this polish? Do you love it? Hate it? Are you lemming it?

nail mail v.3

Holy epic nail mail ya'll. I have received so much nail mail in the last couple of days. It really puts my hoarding in perspective, lol. Take a gander. PS... I know you guys have been noticing a haze on the left side of my pics... apparently I've scratched up my iPhone lens somehow... >.< working on trying to get a digital camera... for now, please bare with me!

The first package was from Dollish Polish. Her stuff is absolutely amazing. 

After unpacking. 

Valley of the Kings set - Travelin' the Nile; Walk Like an Egyptian; A Day in Cairo; Scarab; Palm Fronds; Bow to the Pharoh.   I may have Walk like an Egyptian and A Day in Cairo backwards... I dont have them in front of me right now. 

Mythical Creatures set. Dragons Breath; Mermaid Scales; Pixie Dust; Pegaus Wings.

Expecto Patronum, I'm a Material Girl.

2 more from Elixir Lacquers and NinjaPolish. 

Orange You Unique; Floam; Sticks n Stones all ordered from NinjaPolish.

I love how Elixir Lacquers wraps up their glitter polishes! Thats some supppper soft yarn and felt. :) 

Bad Kitty, With a K.

And last but not least, I got my St. Paddy's Mystery box from Julep... I was rather disappointed. 

I dont have the box in front of me right now to name off everything, but this is what I got.. Sofia (the green one) seems to be the one that appeals to me most. 

I love nail mail. lol.

Thankful Thursday.

This week I am especially thankful for:

1. Finally realizing I need to put myself before anyone else in my life. I've spent so many of my years living for other people... Its time to start focusing on me and what I need. 

2. Prayers and words of wisdom from someone who is slowly becoming a new friend. Please go check her out... Mrs. Robinson @My New Wife Life. 

3. Having tickets waiting in a Fandango Kiosk for me at the movie theatre to see 'The Hunger Games' with my bestie on Saturday!

4. My niece Laila and nephew Wyatt. Sister and best friend. Always thankful for them.

5. My loyal followers and commenters... you all brighten by day just by being here! 

6. Rediscovering 80's music.. Naked Eyes 'always something there to remind me', I have such eclectic tastes, lol. 

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday.

This week I am especially thankful for:

1. Getting to go to the Women's Today expo on Saturday with my sissy and best friend.

2. The power to choose a fruit bowl for breakfast over a fattening meal. Such a huge, huge step for me.. I'm used to eating whatever I want.. whenever I want. Attempting to make a lifestyle change.

3. My nail polish birthday club -- We all mesh so well. I seriously feel like I found a new family.

4. The 'Hunger Games' premier in about a week... the 23rd!

5. Thankful for sunshine; even though it sometimes makes my head hurt. 

6. My mom checking on me when I was holed up in bed with a migraine on Wednesday... I don't care how old I get.. that will ALWAYS make me feel better.

What are you thankful for this week?

nail mail v.2

I have more nail mail. lol. This is one of my last big hauls before I try to slow down. I recently joined a Birthday Club through PaA, and the ladies (and gentleman) are amazing, so I'm going to focus more on getting them their presents.. Hopefully it will help me with a no-buy for myself unless I ABSOLUTELY have to have it. I'm going to focus on working through my un-trieds (I have about 100 I'd say).. I have some more nail mail heading my way, but after I receive all that, I'm definitely going to try to slow down my polish hoarding. This time my nail mail is from NinjaPolish! Pretty amazing site... they're mostly sold out of stuff right now.. But for an order of $35 bucks you get free shipping.. and the shipping was super fast. I think I ordered in the middle of the week, and I had in my hands by Saturday! There was also a mis-label issue with one of the light bulb polishes, and they're sending me the replacement for free, and I get to keep the mis-labeled one! I haven't done research yet to see which it is.. maybe you guys can tell me!?

The packaging.. just a regular flat rate envelope.. :)

It was all bubble wrapped snuggly tight! 

A lovely clear holder thingie.. from Jessica Cosmetics.

All the polishes that I got were Jessica Cosmetic polishes... I LOVED the bottles on these. 

Just an extra pic of my sweet pup making an appearance! 

Funky town & Shake your Booty

Scene Stealer & Girls night Out.

Shopping Spree.

Lucky Star and Starry Night... She sent me an email saying one of these is labeled wrong, but from research, it looks like they are labeled right!

PS... Please help welcome my sissy Spen'sar into the blogging world.. she began her first blog today, and she will be using it to document things for her little precious baby, Laila. Her link is http://spensar-thehappyhippie.blogspot.com/

Giveaway -- Mermaid's Dream!

Its giveaway time again here at The Princess & the Polish! I have been staring at this giveaway prize for weeks waiting to give it away, and I just can't do it anymore. I purchased this myself when I ordered mine from HSN... Its such a beautiful polish & I am so happy to be giving it away! I have decided to use Rafflecopter for this one, as I'm trying to see how it works out. So all entries will be done through the wiget below! The giveaway is open to US followers only.. apologies, yet again, to my international followers... I'm still not up to speed on international shipping. My last giveaway did NOT require you to be a follower; however, this one will. It just seems more fair to those who have been following me from the beginning. The polish is brand new, still in the box, and never opened! The open bottle shot is from MY personal bottle of Mermaids Dream.

You can see swatches here.

thank you!

Just a wee bit of an update... thank you to everyone who remained patient with me as I worked through the mess I created, LOL... I have added a new followers function. I signed up at HelloCotton! If you haven't seen it, please check it out! Its a great platform for new followers. Its a really pretty awesome website. If you sign up for HelloCotton and would like to follow me, just use the little button thingie over there ---->.

We'll be back to regularly scheduled blog posts, soon. I swearrrr! :)

Thankful Thursday.

This week, I am especially thankful for:

1. Hot baths --- there doesn't seem to be anything as soothing to me.

2. My niece Laila turning 2 months old on March 4th. She's been such a blessing to all that are in her life. 

3. Best friends that allow me to use their house as a temporary stop on my journey home in tornadic  thunderstorms...

4. Getting to see my nephew Wyatt during that temporary stop.

5. Documenting everything I eat.. Its giving me a better understanding of what I put into my body... and how to work out meal plans that leave me with enough calories to make it through the day.

6. Photoshop!

7. Getting my Capital Colours collection in the mail!

8. My amazing followers who have taken this mess of a name change in stride, though its been rather embarrassing for me. 

9. Another day off on Friday. It will allow me to catch up on things. For those who don't know.. I work 10 hr shifts in a call center... I'm a team lead so I balance a lot of different things... it gets exhausting, but I love my job. I'm off Wednesdays and weekends... but there doesn't ever seem to be enough time to do everything I need to do.

What are you thankful for this week?

nail mail v.1

Ya'll... I am sosososo excited to share with you today the nail mail that I got... First, a little background. I absolutely LOVE 'The Hunger Games' trilogy. So, when I found out that China Glaze was coming out with the 'Capital Colours' collection, I knew I HAD to have it. So, what did Desiree do? I pre-ordered in February off of Amazing Beauty Supply... because I live in Tennessee... and our Sally's stores are always really slow on getting new collections... So I wanted to be guaranteed that I'd have them... They were due to be released on March 1st. Apparently Sally's locations were putting them out early, because several people had them a couple of weeks in advance... Anyway, March 1st rolls around, I still have no shipping notice. A couple more days go by, no shipping notice and my order still reads 'awaiting fulfillment.' I messaged them. No response. Long story short, I wound up cancelling through paypal, and I ordered off of Ebay. I've never ever had a bad experience with Ebay... I ordered them Sunday, they got to me today! I was super surprised at the fast shipping of the seller. I realize now that I was probably super impatient with Amazing Beauty, but they failed to communicate anything to any of their customers about the hold up with the shipping of the polish. People that had pre-ordered in January were just getting their polishes this week... so I knew it would've been a much longer time for me to get mine, so I just decided to cancel. 

I apologize early on for the flash in all of these pictures.. I didn't check my mail until tonight, so there was no natural light.

After opening the top of the box... she actually packed these REALLY well.. the box fit around the polishes perfectly so there was no chance for them to move... I was really impressed with the packing!

The first time I've ever received any polishes in the original China Glaze boxes! I was super stoked, lol.

Each rectangular box held 3 polishes and were surrounded by packing peanuts.

L to R: Mahogany Magic, Harvest Moon, Agro

L to R: Hook and Line, Smoke and Ashes, Stone Cold

L to R: Dress me Up, Foie Gras, Fast Track

L to R: Riveting, Electrify, Luxe and Lush

So there you have it! My amazing nail mail (amazing to me!) that made me smile today. Have you read The Hunger Games Trilogy? Will you be seeing the movie when it comes out? Or will you purchase some of these lovelies? I will DEFINITELY be posting about these lovelies as I wear them... :)

Who can guess what my favorites are out of the 12?