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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

NOTD: ManGlaze Mayonnaise & Hot Mess

Hello my dears!

Happy Hump Day! It is also a leap year, so today is our extra day! I have taken some extra time today to reflect on the year so far and how I want it to continue as we start a new month. Friday also marks my 25th birthday and with it a hint of sadness. I don't want to get into anything too personal but I am looking forward to what the rest of this year has to bring and making some changes so that I can truly begin to live my dream. :)

Anyways, on to some nail polish! Not many photos today, this one was a pretty simple one. I showed you ManGlaze ILF a few posts ago, today I will be showing you Mayonnaise topped with Hot Mess. Mayo is a white. Pretty obvious. Hot Mess is a silver glitter. All matte. (It's ManGlaze, that's all they do!) I forgot to take a picture of Mayo by itself before I topped it with Hot Mess. . .and also didn't put top coat on at all so no shiny pics, sorry!


 Bottle shots for the lovely artwork


Kind of looks like foil. . .maybe less Hot Mess next time.


In direct light. Really digging the matte!


I resisted the urge to remove this, I honestly wasn't that fond of it at first. I am happy that I let it stay because it grew on me and I really love it now! I wish I had some stamping supplies because this would be a fun base!

Well that is all for today, but now that the month is over you can bet I will have the rest of my February haul posted soon! :)

Hope you all have a great night!

Brittany Raquel


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

NOTD: China Glaze Side Saddle & Pure Ice Busted

Happy Tuesday lovelies! (all 159 of you!!!)

I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me! I have something different on my nails now. . .I will post that either tonight or tomorrow for your viewing pleasure. :) In the meantime I want to share what I had on my nails this weekend!

Much of my stash is untried, instead of looking at my racks and choosing a color that way I have started to use my nail wheels. I have them labeled by number so once I see a swatch I like I can look it up on my notepad and see what color it is. I love this new way of picking colors because I am not focused on the brand but rather the actual color. . .so more of my pretties are getting some love! :)

China Glaze Side Saddle was the swatch that caught my eye. SS is one of those colors that I think is easily overlooked in the bottle. . .I almost didn't buy it! But once it was on my nails I knew it was a keeper!


 Such a beautiful color but. . .


 Look what happens once the sun hits it! So glowy!


Of course it was time to add something else to it the next day! I didn't want to do glitter so I did some swatching of my different special effects top coats and Pure Ice Busted was a perfect match!



 Looks pretty much just purple and pink huh?


 But look at that color shift!


I think I'm in love!


This combination turned out even better than I expected. The color shift was amazing! And both of these are easy to find, inexpensive brands! I also have Pure Ice Heart Breaker and Oh Baby! which are also color shifting top coats. . .I will be giving those a try soon too!

What to you think of this mani? Are they any polishes that you almost wrote off but ended up falling in love with it instead?

I will be back soon, thanks for reading! :)

Brittany Raquel

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Nail Polish Guru 100 Follower Giveaway!

Hello lovelies!

I am so sorry that it took me a few days longer than expected to get my giveaway posted! In my delay I have gotten to 123 followers! What?! That's crazy! I can't even begin to express how much I appreciate you all! I know I am not a regular blogger but you can bet that the more people pay attention, the more it makes me want to be on here every day showing you some color on my nails! Thank you so much for being here! :)

Alright now on to some prizes! Those of you that follow me on Facebook saw my sneak peek earlier this week. . .now to show all of you!

Jordana Glitters and more EOS lip balms!

I am sure you have all seen some swatches of Jordana's new glitters by now. They are pretty awesome, especially for the price! For my giveaway there will be 2 winners, each winner will get 5 of these polishes! And of course an EOS lip balm. My favorites. :) Here are some more pics of the polishes:

(L-R) Celebration, Fairy Dust, Green Glitz, Celestial and Rhinestones

(L-R) Bronze Fest, Sequins, Gemstones, My Superstar and Cosmic


This giveaway will be open until until 3/24/12! You will earn 1 entry for following my blog via GFC and 2 entries each for liking my FB page and sharing this giveaway. I do verify all entries before choosing a winner so please don't submit any false entries, it makes me sad when I have to delete them.

Good luck, ladies! Thanks again for all your support!

Brittany Raquel




Monday, February 20, 2012

Duh, Winning!



That's right, because there are 2 winners from my 50 follower giveaway! :)

Saturday, February 18, 2012

NOTD Part 2: ManGlaze ILF w/ Butter London Knackered

Hi again!

I already posted about the wonderful ManGlaze ILF. . .but as wonderful as it was I can only leave my nails alone for so long before I am ready for something different. I have a ridiculous amount of untrieds due to my collection growing faster than I can keep up with. . .but I knew that I just wanted to add to my existing mani. Enter Butter London Knackered. Here is the description: A sheer, twinkling oyster shade flecked with micro glitter particles. This is from BL's Spring collection. Based on other reviews I knew that Knackered is fairly sheer and is best for layering. The blue flash in the bottle looked very similar to the blue in ILF so I figured they would be a great match. Definitely not disappointed! Check it out!

 Love this combo!

Check out that holo glitter!

For the life of me I could not capture the purple/green flash. But while I was laying in bed the following morning I managed to take a few pictures that really show the flash, just not the best quality photos, sorry!

 Mostly green flash, you can see the purple/blue at the tips

 Mostly purple flash with green/blue on the sides

Loving duochromes more and more!

I could not stop looking at my nails with all the duochrome-y, holo goodness!


Do you have any colors from Butter London's Spring collection? I also purchased Disco Biscuit but didn't like it on me. I prefer warm toned pinks. I really want to pick up Slapper too, I am a sucker for teals!

 
I am lucky enough not to have to return to work until Wednesday so expect to see more from me over the next couple of days!

 
Hope you all enjoy your Saturday night!

 
Brittany Raquel

NOTD: ManGlaze ILF

Hello loves!

Hope you all are having a great weekend so far! An extra long weekend for some of you! :) I have had quite an interesting week, happy to be able to relax today and get caught up on some blogging. I posted my blog sale earlier this week and so far it has been a success! There are still many items left so be sure to check it out. I also hit another follower milestone! I passed 100 and am at 111 as I type this! Still so shocked at how fast my readership is growing. Thank you all and welcome to my new followers! On that note, look forward to a new giveaway to be posted within the next couple of days, and if you haven't already be sure to enter my 50 follower giveaway that will be ending tomorrow night! (9PM PST or 12AM EST)

Now for some nail photos! I had to cut my nails down to nubs after a tragic break. . .but that's okay. I actually like the look of short nails better with most nail polishes. And my nails grow fast so it will only be a matter of time before they are long again. Today I have ManGlaze ILF for your viewing pleasure! ILF is a sea foamy green, check out the description in the Facebook shop. I could write paragraphs of how much I love this company and how awesome this polish is. . .but I would rather just show you some pictures. :)

 ILF in all it's matte goodness

 Showing off in the flash

 BAM! Look at what happens when you add a top coat!

 So shimmery! Like super fine holo glitter!

LOVE

If you have yet to try ManGlaze, fix that quick! Now I understand that the names and artwork might be offensive to some. . .but this is seriously the best matte polish I have used! Application is wonderful and I love how they look with a top coat. ILF is a great shade for spring, so happy that I bought it! I will have a follow-up post using this as a base for some layering! :)

What do you have on your nails this weekend? Do you own or will you be buying any ManGlaze polishes? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Brittany Raquel



Monday, February 13, 2012

February Haul, Part Uno

Back again! Told you I had some catching up to do! First and foremost I want to apologize that these are not the best pictures. I have been fighting with my digital camera, so my photos recently have been taken using my cell phone. (Samsung Galaxy S II, not too shabby honestly. . .right now it is taking better photos than my $400 camera!) I am thinking it is time to invest into a new camera, let me know if you have any suggestions! :)

Today I have another haul post for you. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of it all together! But it doesn't seem like I bought as much if I keep it separate instead of all together. ;) But I have over 100 polishes that I will be adding to my blog sale, so I don't feel so bad purchasing more! 


I have had my eyes on the HITS No Olimpo holo line and they were finally available on llarowe! There were also 3 HITS flakies I had been waiting to come back in stock and another a-england holo to complete my collection.

(L-R) Princess Sabra (Tristam's Eye's), Lambada, Can Can, Twist, Dionisio, Hera, Zeus and Apolo

You saw my NOTD post already, here is the whole Cult Nails Let's Get Nekkid Collection! :)

(L-R) Toxic Seaweed, Mazo, Baker, Tulum and Swanbourne

Julep offered $20 mystery boxes as a Valentine's Day promo. I was hanging on to a a voucher that I purchased for $20 to get $40 worth of Julep product and I was able to use that towards the box! What a steal! I love the mystery boxes and am super lucky to have gotten one of the higher end ones! Included was lip gloss, nail growth revitalizing serum, nail appliques (not photographed), age defying hand brightener, top coat for hair (not photographed), cuticle oil, fast dry top coat, glitter pot and 7 nail colors!

 (Polishes only, top to bottom) Shania, Stella, Anne, Helena, January, Demi and Gwyneth.

Butter London had a 30% off sale that I had to take advantage of! Perfect opportunity to add to my small BL collection!

 (L-R) Wallis, Dosh, Disco Biscuit, Victoriana, Henley Regatta and Knackered.

I finally recieved my first order from Nerd Lacquer! Amanda had promised a special color to be included if the order was processed after her normal time frames so I was actually happy that it took longer than expected! Largo was the special color (get it?) and ended up being my favorite! Square glitter!! Not that all of her polishes aren't just as amazing! Her Etsy shop was recently restocked and I have more on the way that I will share with you next time! Amanda has temporarily closed the shop to get caught up on orders but she will be back soon!

 (L-R) I Aim To Misbehave, Nebula, Quasar, Crunchy Frog, Purely Logical, All of Time & Space and Largo

Another Etsy purchase, this time from the seller PamsAndKin. I love the colors she has to offer and that they are all 3 free!

(L-R) Toy Soldier, Electric Dream, THIS Year, Enchanted, Left Coast Envy and Lady Luck

Etsy has several sellers to choose from to buy custom nail polish! Windestine caught my eye with the beautiful, glittery Rainforest! Green holo glitter. . .enough said! The seller was also sweet to include a small bottle of her color Endangered "Blue" Loons. :)

 (L-R) Rainforest and Endangered "Blue" Loon

I also came across the seller atrophie on Etsy. Her selection is limited but once again, I can't say no to green and glitter! :)

(L-R) New Math and Ectoplasm

The final order I placed on Etsy was from Pretty & Polished. Keep checking her shop as she is in the process of restocking! :) These all have a beautiful holo sparkle!

(L-R) Sphere, Martian Salad and Cryptid

Okay, it's official. . .I am obsessed with ManGlaze! I just can't get over the names, artwork and the matte-ness that turns to glittery, shimmery goodness with a top coat! LOVE.

(L-R) Butt Taco, ILF, Fuck Off And Dye, Matte is Murder and Mayonnaise

There has been a lot of talk about Jordana Glitters, so I stopped by my local KMart and picked some up! At $1.99 each I didn't feel bad buying them all. Especially since they are $2.99 on Jordana's site and on cherryculture! 

(L-R) Gemstones, Rhinestones, Funky Gold Town, Copper Blaze, Sequins, Pixie Pink, Celebration, Magenta Magic, LA City Nights, Cosmic, Blue Bash and Celestial

Several weeks ago Good Morning America offered a special for 50% off these 3 Deborah Lippmann colors! The best part was that you got free shipping if you bought all 3!

(L-R) Happy Birthday, Across The Universe and Today Was A Fairytale

I placed another order from Sephora so I could get my hands on the new Spring colors. The Illamasqua made sure I got free shipping. :)

(L-R) Scarab, I Only Shop Vintage, Paisley Attention To Me, What Aura Gonna Wear? and It's Totally Karma

And finally more nail mail from my friend Savannah! OPI's Pirates collection had several colors that I loved but wasn't able to get my hands on. Savannah was able to find these for me on clearance at Ulta! Yay! She also sent me another beautiful Orly to add to my collection! 

(L-R) Rock The World, Skull & Glossbones, Stranger Tides and Mermaid's Tears


What do you think of my haul? What have you hauled recently? Have you been able to cross any lemmings off your list?

Look for my blog sale to be posted by tomorrow!

Brittany Raquel

NOTD: Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed & a-england Dragon

Happy Monday! I hope you don't mind a couple posts today, I have some catching up to do! 

Today I have some awesomeness for you. I am sure by now you are all familiar with Cult Nails' "Let's Get Nekkid Collection." Maria created a beautiful collection based on skin tones, with Toxic Seaweed being the "ET skin color" since it was obviously out of place. :) You can read more about her inspiration here. Even though the other colors didn't appeal to me as much I pre-ordered the entire collection to make sure I would not miss my chance to own this color! (You can purchase colors individually now here, as I write this TS is still available!)

When my order arrived I was already wearing a-england's Dragon. (TS is more of a sheer turquoise on it's own) Sorry I forgot to grab pics of that before I layered over it! I couldn't wait to get Toxic Seaweed on my nails! But enough with the chit chat, on to the pictures! 


 I will never get tired of flakies!

 Look! I managed to leave space between the polish and my cuticle! ;)

 *Drool*

 Bottle shot of all the glittery, flaky goodness!

 Seen enough pictures yet?

Blurred for glitter emphasis!


I am so happy that I bought this polish! Get your hands on it while you can, this is a limited edition! 

I am working on another haul post which should be up today, also will be posting my first blog sale! Oh and a reminder to enter my 50 follower giveway if you haven't already! Less than a week left! :)

Thanks for stopping by, I will be back soon!

Brittany Raquel

Nail Polish Tag

I was tagged by Melissa from Passion For Polish. for The Nail Polish Tag. Melissa is a new blogger as well, be sure to follow her page!



Rules:

Answer the questions

Tag 5 other bloggers

Let the bloggers know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their page

Questions:


1. How many nail polishes do you have?

Around 500 give or take 50 depending on the day. I am constantly going through my stash to make room for new colors


2. What is your favourite brand of nail polish?

I like too many to have a favorite! I am currently obsessed with Nerd Lacquer and A-England. (That could change in a matter of days though!)



3. Do you like crackle polish or do you hate it?

I love crackle polish! I have a nice collection of colors and think it is a great way to spice up an existing mani.


4. What was your first nail polish brand?

The first brand that got me really collecting nail polish was Sephora by OPI. I seriously ordered almost every color from their website before I expanded to other brands. When I was younger my first polishes were Hard Candy and Wet n' Wild.


5. If you are going to have a nail polish line, what are you going to name it?

 Something super clever, but I wouldn't want to give it away! ;)



6. What nail polish colours do not compliment you?

I am not a huge fan of nudes but other than that I will wear almost any color. I have noticed that warm tones definitely compliment my skin tone better but that doesn't really matter to me as long as I like the color


7.What nail polish colours do compliment you?

See above ;)


8. Name two of your best nail art friends?

She doesn't do nail art but I owe my love of nail polish to my friend Laura! Check out her blog here:
The Nail Polish Nerd

9. What was the best nail polish gift you ever received?

My nail polish buddy in Texas, Savannah surprised me with China Glaze Ultamate Holiday and Fireside Glow! They were huge lemmings of mine!


10. Make a speech thanking the blogger who gave you this tag

Melissa has a lovely nail polish blog and I am super jealous of some of the polish brands she has access to living in Australia! No, really I am just jealous that she lives in Australia! Definitely one of my favorite places I have travelled to! :)



11.What is your second favourite nail polish company?

See answer to question #2


12. Glitter or no glitter?

Do you really need to ask? GLITTER ALL THE WAY! (Kept Melissa's answer!)


13. OPI, China Glaze or Essie?

Up until very recently I only had 1 OPI in my huge stash. I have a large selection of China Glaze, I love the quality for the price. I only have a handful of Essie's, I am not super impressed with their selection of colors since I am not big on neutrals and they are lacking in the glitter department.


14. When do you change your nail polish?

A couple of times a week. Sometimes I will just add something to a previous mani to spice it up.


15. What's your favourite colour on your nails?

I love corals. So flattering and makes me look tan even in the winter!


16. Darks or brights?

I own a lot of both, I really like bright colors but I also really like dark colors! Just depends on my mood and or outfit.


17. What are you wearing on your nails right this moment?

I have been in the middle of swatching my collection. . .at the moment they are bare except for 2 nails on my left hand! ManGlaze Lesbihonest on my middle finger and ManGlaze Nawsome Sauce on my ring finger.


18. Matte nails -in or out?

So in! I love mixing matte and shiny in the same mani.


19. French manicure?

My go to use to be black tips with silver glitter separating the tip from the rest of the nail. Now I like to do the whole matte/shiny for a french or glitter on my tips or something else fun!


20. Favourite winter colour?

Seasons don't determine the color I wear except during December I tend to stick with Christmas colors like red, green, silver, etc.


Saturday, February 4, 2012

NOTD: Lacquistry Tepes

Hello again lovelies! Can you believe I am back already? 2 posts in less than 2 days, I am good! In all seriousness I would love to be able to post everyday, but life gets in the way. I promise I am trying to get better at it though! :)

I am so excited to share this mani with you! As you saw in my last haul post I placed an order from Jenna at Lacquistry. There were so many amazing glitters to choose from but Tepes stood out to me the most. Jenna's Etsy shop has just been restocked but act fast because her polishes will fly off the shelves! She has become well known in the polish world for a good reason!

Read about her inspiration for this Tepes:
"I am reading The Historian right now which incorporates much of the true history of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler. Bram Stoker loosely based his novel Dracula off of Vlad Tepes who ruled the Romanian city of Wallachia in the 1400's. His preferred method of punishment was impaling his victims so that they died a slow, agonizing death- many times from exposure to the elements rather than bleeding to death. A rather morbid subject matter for a pretty nail polish!"

The description:
Tepes starts with a blackened berry base which is swirled with iridescent mica giving a slight color shift, topped with amber sparks grounded by a berry shimmer
This is vamp with depth and an inner spark.

Tepes is definitely one of a kind in my collection! So much beauty and depth! I had a super hard time trying to narrow down pictures, so you get to see several!


This is before cleanup, I am getting better at staying in the lines! ;)

 

So freaking gorgeous!



Jenna, you are a genious!


Look at all the glittery goodness in the bottle!

 

Slightly blurred so you can see the different glitters.


This stayed on my nails for almost an entire week. I used Cult Nails' Get It On base coat, 2 coats of Tepes and Cult Nails' Wicked Fast top coat. I was very impressed how easy removal was considering all the glitter goodness!


Have you tried any of Jenna's creations? What indie brands do you love? What ones do you want to try?

Hope you all have a great weekend! 


Brittany Raquel

Friday, February 3, 2012

January Haul, Part II

Hello all my lovely followers!
I have a rather long haul post for you tonight! (or this morning, rather) I added quite a few new polishes to my collection in January. You already saw what I got the first half of the month, now here is the rest of it! :)

  
I got ALOT of nail mail this month. So many promos in January! And once again a few new brands for me too, yay! :)

All the pretties!


Cherry Culture haul. Mostly LA Girl, at $2.50 each I couldn't pass them up! I got a few from the Metal, Rock Star and Disco Brites collections but mostly from the Color Addict collection. I love the gold shimmer that runs through that entire collection! So flattering for my skin! Also a couple more Milani 3D holos and a LA Splash glitter.

L-R (LA Girls first*) Copper Alloy, Antique Gold, Brass, Disorder, Escape, Intoxicate, Urge, Idol, Obsess, Delirious, Punk, Addict, Rockstar, Hi-Res, HD, Jade and Can You Dig It? *This is the Disco Brites in front


This is a combined photo of a few orders from Lean Ann at llarowe. More flakies from HITS and Ludurana! And lots of holo goodness!! I got some of the colors from a-englands The Legends collection and my first Glitter Gal!!

L-R (back row first) Sol, Vento, Flash, Cha Cha Cha, Jazz, Cool, Dreamer, Trendy, Artsy, Chameleon, Ascalon, Dragon, St. George and Lizard Belly


Royal Mail! I ordered these babies directly from a-england in London during their 30% off promo! More holos! And look at that purple! Love!

L-R Tristram, Lady of The Lake and Avalon


I used the rest of my Sephora gift card from my sister to purchase some more SOPIs. I was able to snag a couple of these at only $5 a piece!

L-R Stop Stocking Me, New Year's Redsolution, Don't Be Eggnog-ious, I Found A Pot of Gold and Sugar Plum Fairies Gone Wild


I also picked up a couple more Illamasqua polishes. I am so in love with this brand! The colors are so rich and beautiful!

 L-R Baptiste, Phallic and Viridian


Maria at Cult Nails is AMAZING! I placed my second order and love the colors even more than I thought I would! (These pictures do no justice!)

 L-R Iconic, In A Trance, Let Me Fly and Mind Control


More Zoya! I got a couple of these from the 2 free just pay shipping promo that Zoya was so kind to offer. I had some spoon credit that I used towards the others. My camera refused to capture the true color of Lo, sorry! I can't believe I put off the other 3 for so long! These are going to be amazing for layering!

 L-R LA Pop, Manhattan Mixer, OC Cooler and Lo


Barielle had a Chinese New Year promo for half off all of their nail polishes! On top of a BOGO half off promo! So instead of paying $8 each it was $4 for the first color and $2 for the second! What a steal! This was a great opportunity for me to try this brand!

 L-R Elated, Elle's Spell, Jess' Champagne Toast and Green Opal


Nail mail from my friend Savannah! This was actually the original package she sent me, but it got stuck in the mail and ended up coming weeks later! What a nice surprise though as we both assumed it was lost in the mail for good! Love that she chose some colors from OPI's Texas collection since she lives in Texas!

 L-R Austin-Tatious Turquoise, Stella, Diana and Don't Mess With OPI


I got a voucher for bloom.com for $40 worth of product for only $20!! Woo, half off! These are all new brands for me other than the OPI shatter from the Nicki Minaj collection. Love the POP bottles and I almost died when I saw the Megan Miller! How cute is that?! I love how the CND Effects instantly transforms black into something beautiful!

 L-R Aquatic Glitz, Denim Metal, Emerald Shimmer, Caribbean and Super Bass


I picked these up when I was buying some polishes for a swap from Wal-Mart. My camera didn't pick up the duochrome shimmer in Oh Baby but it's there! The Hard Candys have no name, I believe these were released for the holidays. Cute and glittery and only a $1! (Gotta love my reflection in the rings!)

 Oh Baby and Hard Candy minis


SUPER STOKED about these ones! I had heard about ManGlaze before but didn't realize their awesomeness until I saw some posts from Traci at the Trace Face Philes. These go on matte but become a different animal with a top coat! They have this super fine shimmer, almost like tiny holo particles! I love the fun names too!

 L-R Nawsome Sauce and Lesbihonest


I saw this set on a blog during the holidays and it became an instant lemming. But I wasn't about to pay full price for it, let alone the $50+ it was going for on Ebay! So imagine my excitement when it went on sale at Barneys! These are my first Deborah Lippmann polishes. EPIC! I plan on doing a side by side comparison of this and Finger Paints Asylum as they are rumored to be dupes. The only difference I can tell based on the bottle is Asylum has more of a milky vs clear base.

Yes, I am a sucker for packaging! 


Thanks to Ebay for helping me cross a couple more lemmings off my list!

 L-R Indigo Illusion and Zombie Zest


Frankens have been the thing lately and I couldn't help but get sucked in myself! I don't plan on making my own but I am all about supporting those that do! There are some talented ladies selling their goods on Etsy! I placed my first order with Jenna from Lacquistry! I can't believe how awesome this color is! I couldn't wait to get this on my nails!

 <3


Just when I thought I was done for January, I hit up a few local drug stores on the last day of the month! I also got my February Julep Maven boxes! (Yes that was plural, I pay for 2) I picked up some of the Jordana glitters at K-Mart; nail wheels, a couple CG and Finger Paints from Sallys; Essie Navigate Her and Precision Q-Tips from Walgreens then I hit the jackpot at Rite Aid. . .they had a bunch of Sally Hansen and Borghese polishes at 75% off! I picked up a couple for myself but also got a bunch for swaps/giveaways. (Sorry I didn't take separate pics of it all, this final haul was unexpected!)

 Bonus haul!

Whew! I am in the process of reorganizing my stash, including weeding out colors to add to my blog sale or to use in swaps! The nail wheels are definitely making it easier with the added benefit of saving my cuticles! :) I have already recieved some AWESOME nail mail for February, I can't wait to share it with you! In the meantime I have a NOTD post coming up and am continuing to work on my blog pages and design! I am open to any and all feedback/suggestions, please feel free to comment!


Happy Friday to you all!


Brittany Raquel