Spring Sprung Chevrons feat L'Oreal The Palace Life & Powder Puff

Hey polished ladies!

Hope everyone had a good week.  Mine was laced with frustration of one kind or another ah but I survived so there's that!  I decided to try out the monthly nail art Instagram challenge again.  Lol February was an an unsuccessful venture as I did about 3 of the 15-20 challenges.  I still need to share them here too.  I'll post the challenges below so you can see what's coming up.  This one for the 1st is already late but who cares when it's so pretty!  Anyhoo I'm using some polish selections from L'Oreal's Limited Edition Versailles Romance Spring 2013 Collection.  I chose The Palace Life, a soft pink girly shade and Powder Puffs a very creamy yellow with a bit of pearl sheen in the base which is very difficult to discern.  I have to say this collection is quite pretty.  The colors are all very girly, light, and fluffy.  In short perfect for spring!

Mani-louge

Base/Topcoat: CND Stickey and Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Base colors: L'Oreal The Palace Life & Powder Puffs

Chevron Colors:  Orly Luxe and Kiss Nail Art Striper in Dark Purple

So thoughts?  It's pretty straightforward and simple, but I think a good way to start off the challenge.  I freehanded this creation since I want to start doing more freehand for sure.  I love my stamping and will never give it up but sometimes its nice to get a feel for my ability to draw outside the lines as well if you know what I mean ;) and I think you do! Anyhoo this is my 100th post! Woot somehow I've been steadily plodding along in my own pace but I'd like to thank all my readers for coming along!  I'll see you next post and toodles...

LDTTWC Day 5: We Can Do It!

Hey polished prisoners,

Happy Monday and October!  I'm hoping this post comes out well as I'm trying it from my new blogger app as my electricity is off in my apartment! These days it really feels as if I'm living under a dark cloud of apartment disasters.

Ok so today's art is all about a woman in history that inspires me. Well there are a lot but one lady always puts me in a great mood - Ms. Nina Simone. She was a classical pianist, an Aftican American activist, and one of the best damn jazz singers I've ever heard! I admire her a great deal and I was devastated by her passing in 2003. So this mani is most assuredly dedicated to her honor.

Mani-louge

Base color: L'Oreal Notting Hill Nlues and OPI Alpine Snow

Gradient: Orly Stone Cold

Stamping Polishes: Konad Special Polish in Light Blue, China Glaze Millennium and Passion

Script: Kiss Nail Art in Silver Glitter

Stamping plates: MJ Medium Plate and Dashica SdP

Can you see Nina's name? Honestly I need to update this because I realized I can't put the HTML code in with this app. Sheez! Well I hope you like what you've seen thus far. Stay tuned for my next post and thanks for reading! Toodles...

50:50 Color Club Age of Aquarius & Orly Glitz & Glamour

Hello dollies!

I hope your weekend went well.  It feels like the summer is winding down really quickly. I'm one part ready for the transition and another part nervous about it.  It's just as well as I've learned whether you are prepared or not life changes and you just have to go with it.  As one of my favorite teachers would put it - "Don't fight it!"  I also missed my AIS posting since I've been feeling a bit run down and haggard lately :(  Oh well there's only so much I can do at any one time given my health limitations.  Okay so I know you're like enough rambles what about the nails girl? It's super simple today.  I did this one quickly this morning to keep my right hand from being naked.

Age of Aquarius by Color Club is seriously one of my favorite turquoise polishes!  The formula is smooth and effortless and the color is dead on to the bottle.  What's not to love? Because I'm still falling all over myself in lust with the color gold I've got another Orly gold colored polish today.  This one is called Glitz and Glamour.  It has an almost texturized effect that gives this polish such a rich feel.  Whenever I wear this one I always keep looking down at the gold shimmer.

I finished this off with a simple lines using a Kiss Nail Art Striper.  This is so easy I feel like a cheated, but I love the overall feel of the manicure when it came together.  I mean I'm all for elaborate nail art but sometimes it really is clean execution and simple tricks that win me over.  So I hope you liked this one! Anyone have any exciting plans for the week? I'm going to try and get a new tutorial up on my Youtube which has been a bit neglected of late (hangs head in shame).  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Blowing In The Wind: Dandelions feat Dandy Nails Eager Eyes

Hey polished prisoners,

I've got something a little magical for you today.  If you follow my instagram you know I recently picked up the four blue polishes Sandy of Dandy Nails recently released for the summer.  One of them called Eager Eyes is a beautiful medium blue scattered holo.  It's nail polish crack in a bottle! Yeah - that good, but then if you saw my Look Around post you'd know already I love Dandy Nails polishes.   I knew this polish would be the perfect base for a very simple but very pretty nail art idea that recently inspired me.  I saw this dandelion post on BeePolished and I knew I had to try my hand at it.  Here's the result...

The signature Lockdown greenery shot ;)

Mani-louge

Base color: Dandy Nails Eager Eyes

Flowers: Kiss Nail Art Striper in Black and White & No Name in Silver

I'm particularly pleased with this because I feel like the nail art is actually in motion i.e. I can sort of see the little seedlings blowing.  Here's a look at Eager Eyes, 2-3 coats, before I arted it up outdoors and indoors respectively.

The formula on this one was smooth and effortless.  Damn I love an effortless polish kwim? In terms of formula Dandy Nails has one of the best out there!

Look at all that yummy holographic.  Ugh love love love....

So thoughts - simple, but pretty right?  You guys know I'm always pulling out new polishes but you would be so proud of me.  I haven't done any buying at all in the last three weeks and trust me that is no mean feat darlings.  I'm trying to get through some of my well over 100 untrieds and conserve funds for upcoming collections.  Although as always it's very difficult for me to hold back with so many amazing things i.e. plates, polishes, etc coming out every day.  Let me tell you September and October are gonna be a hot mess! I love Halloween and fall so I'm fully prepared to get busy! Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

A Windestine Glittering Gorgeous Gradient

Hello lil' lacquer lovers,

 I am so souped not to be doing a mani in red white blue or any iteration therein.  I OD'ed on 4th of July themed manis.  I am therefore very happy to present something bright cheerful and utterly utterly me - a yellow and purple glittering gradient manicure.  Yay!

Loving this gradient!

I started with Color Club's Almost Famous - a bright yellow creme.  Let me say I'm seeking the holy grail yellow nail polish i.e. opaque in 2 coats with minimal streaking etc,  If you know of such a polish for the love of God leave me a comment below because Almost Famous wasn't even almost close.  It took four merciless coats before I reached appropriate coverage! Color me...annoyed.  I also used Color Club's Puccilicious, a creme based purple which I love, to create a beautiful purplely blended gradient.  I did hesitate a bit color choice wise as I didn't want to reach a gross weird gray brownish color in between the transition, but it came out beautifully.

I loved this but I kept feeling like something was missing when I decided to add the Kiss Nail Art Stickers.

I also gently sponged on Windestine's Pansies.  This is a sort of dark purple and gold microglitter mixed in a clear base that's adding the sparkling magic to this gradient.

I still got a bit of gray coming through the gradient in the middle, but I was able to keep it subtle.

The last step was adding some Kiss Nail Art Stickers that came in a little pack I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  I am so happy with the final look here!

Lovin' the bling per usual!

 If you are interested in Pansies unfortunately no longer being made by Windestine due to some issues with her supplies, but you can still check out some of her other beautiful glitters on Etsy.  This seller is just so wonderful and a pleasure to work with and her formulations are amazing! Personally, I love the final effect here - simple but pretty.  What do you think?  Thanks for reading and please comment below!

Essie's Action: Summer Skittles Makes Lacquerista's Happy

Hey lacquer lovers,

Friday was quite the productive shopping spree for me.  All drama aside, I got my virtual hands on some lovely HARE polish pre-orders! I'd been lemming these polishes for so long I was so happy to see the shop open again and can't wait to receive my polishes! So now I'm in the mood to celebrate with a fun and funky mani  Recently The Nailsaurus posted a look that has been plaguing me since I saw it - the Sandy Skittle.  To say it was exquisite would be an understatement.  She took one color and put her spin on it in 5 different ways.  I wanted to do the same but not necessarily in the same way so here's my translation using Essie's Action, a bright orange jelly polish released for their Poppy Razzi Neon Collection.

Nail Art Key
Thumb - Tiger print freehanded with Kiss Nail Art Striper in Black.
Index - Microbeads of multicolors.
Middle - Jelly sandwich comprised of two alternating layers of each polish using Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite and topped with Essie's Matte About You.
Ring - Leopard print french tip freehanded with Orly Liquid Vinyl and Kiss Nail Art Gold Glitter. CND Effects Gold Shimmer is also over the base coat.
Pinkie - Gradient using China Glaze Harvest Moon stamped with cG passion using  BM20 (Series 1)

Can you say jelly? Lol! I haven't been this impressed with a neon orange polish since Color Club's Wham Pow!

Isn't the mattified sandwich here so juicy looking? The more I look at Action the more I realize I need absolutely every color from the Poppy Razz Collection. I'm only missing Bazooka so game on!

Close-up's of Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite

The microbeading on this gave me so much trouble. It's my first time using them in this manner but jeez it was quite a bit of work to get them placed properly.

Ultimately, I'm happy with how things turned out.  It's like a small jungle in here :)

This is definitely funky and not for the faint of heart!  My favorite nail is the matte jelly sandwich closely followed by the glitter leopard.  This was fun albeit time consuming. The final result is so upbeat this would be perfect for a night out. What do you ladies think? If you are interested in Lite Brite and other amazing glitterbombs find you can find Lush Lacquer on Etsy.

Song stuck in my head today: Nighttiming by Coconut Records. All about cheating hearts minus the angst - lol.

Anyhoo, thanks for reading and toodles!

I'm back and here to stay + Fairy Manicure!

Hey all my lacquer lovers!

Let me apologize in advance for my long absence. Unfortunately things have been pretty tough on my end lately between school and my plummeting health.  I just haven't had the time or energy to devote to my blog or Youtube channel which I'm pretty sad about.  Maybe it hasn't come across after all I don't have a ton of posts on here, but nail art and makeup are my passions and becoming more important to me every day so of course I want to spend time raving about it's awesomeness and sharing my joy of new discoveries with everyone.  And so I'm back I've decided this time to be very disciplined about my approach to my blog in the hopes of creating something wonderful fun and inspiring.  It's my hope that  you'll forgive me and welcome me back into the nail loving fold.  So let's talk about some of this love I've been gushing about...

 As soon as I was released from the hospital I felt I must absolutely do my nails.  I'd been forced to do some abhorent things in the name of medical health such as painting only 4 of 5 fingers so that the 02 monitor declare to all that I was you know breathing.  And so to hold onto my sanity upon discharge I had to absolutely get into my polish ASAP!  I wanted to do something ethereal, springy, and fairy like.   In no small part influenced by my love for a Prada collection that debuted some years ago to a wild success.  I used Essies's Navigate Her - a creme minty green and Essie's Bangle Jangle - a creme lavender with hints of a blue undertone to the base.  Nubar 2010 was added for a touch of fire and mystical quality I think fairies represent.  I also added Kiss nail art butterfly and floral stickers along with fimo, 2mm rhinestones and pearls for a final touch. 

My nails felt alive!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to quite capture the fire of the Nubar 2010 here.

This is just so yummy!  Flowers, butterflies and pearls oh my!

I love how this turned out although I was able to get any outdoor pics.   It's like  small garden landed on each fingernail :) I hope you like this design as well and please feel free to let me know what you think and thanks for reading!