Hey all! Thank you for the support in the past year! I can’t believe I’m still around blogging and doing nail art! Even more, I can’t believe a year has gone by! This is a tad long post but stick to it, it’s worth it! Thank you thank you thank you for everything!

I wanted to come up with a revolutionary technique today for my blogiversary for nail art… but I failed. I found LOTS of info about creating a permanent oil slick on construction or photo paper with… you’ll never guess…. clear nail polish! I hoped against all hope that I could get it to work on my nails. Well, I did, but by the time that the clear actually dries, the oil slick effect completely disappears. It’s such a shame because it’s so pronounced on the paper. So, I decided to take the colors on the paper and just do a sponge design. (for those who want to recreate the look on paper, just water marble with a drop of clear and paper instead of your hand. let it dry, and voila!)

I assure you, one day, I WILL create a look that is easy to recreate that perfectly replicates an oil slick. For this I started with OPI Nail Envy, two coats of Black Onyx, the failed Sally Hansen Clear, then I sponged on loads of colors: Russian Navy, Unripened, I Only Drink Champagne, Golden Rules, Call My Cell-ery, INK, Yodel Me On My Cell, Midnight In Moscow, and a top coat of Seche Vite.

Some of the products in this post were sent to me for consideration and review by the manufacturer. For further information, please see my disclosure statement. 

Now here’s the fun part, sweetheart. (Twister movie reference, I couldn’t resist!) We’re going to do something called the Paper Palette Awards!

You may have heard of Paper Plate awards, and if not I’ll tell you about them. Essentially, after a group/acting troupe/sports team etc has worked together for a while and at the end of a season, each person is awarded with something called a paper plate award, which has a nice quirky thing about them on it…. sort of like a yearbook… “most likely to be famous”, “most innovative” etc. Well, we deal with painting with polish so they’re the Palette Awards instead and they’ll be about his/her blog! Here’s what you need to do:

Nominate as many blogs as you like, including your own if you choose. I’ll be taking nominations until September 1st, 2011. Then, I’ll go through all of them and give them a Palette Award. The point here is to find something that each blog is good at! Here’s the twist, I might not know all of the blogs so if you have something to say to help me, leave it in the comment box too! :)

This is a great way for me  to learn about new blogs, find established blogs and meet new friends and share them with all of you! Here’s the nice part, since it’s not a prize that is restricted to the US, EVERYONE can participate! You don’t have to have a blog to nominate and you don’t have to nominate yourself to get an award because I might just nominate you anyway! So get started!!! :D