Messy Mansion Neon Coral Jelly Sandwich Ocean Nail Art

Hey stamperistas,

Welcome to my version of the sea ;)  The coral is neon and the sea life blooms in shades of pastel.  Its pretty and whimsical and just really damn fun!  I can't even tell you where I got the idea for this mani because it all started with the basecoat.  I just wanted to create a jelly sandwich.  Initially I had been thinking of doing something sheer and dramatic then I decided to take my Leadlight Lacquer plates for a cruise again (you can read the review here) and the rest as they say is history.  For those that are like, "What happened to your lovely square shaped nails?" and don't follow me on Instagram - the short version is I had two devastating breaks in as many days and decided to try out some tips and a different shape.

Born Pretty Store Floral Water Decal Nail Art & Review

Hey stamp champs,

I have some cute nail art for you today!  When Born Pretty Store approached me about reviewing a few of their products I was so flattered.  You all know I'm a huge fan of their recently released stamping plates as well.  And so I wanted to create something appealing and also do their products justice.  I picked out items that I felt were in sync with my own personal style without narrowing the scope too much.  Today I'm going to show you some decals I chose and how I used them to create a look that was still very much in my venue of art.

New Years Nail Art Messy Mansion Style

Hiya lacquer ladies,

Yup I told yah more New Years nail art.  I just couldn't help myself and had so much fun creating these various looks to ring in the new year.  In all honesty this one and the next one I'll post were my two favorites!  This one I created using my new Messy Mansion plates is not your typical new years nail art.  There will be no counting down clocks or fireworks though I do own a plate like that from Julia instead I'm giving you my old school trademark glamour darlings.  I mean there's something to be said for the cutesy nails, but really we all know a little sparkle and shimmer are necessary to ring in the new year.  I also took this opportunity to take my new matte topcoat by NYC out for a spin but more on that later.

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: TBA Basecoat / NYC Matte Me Crazy

Base color: Orly Liquid Vinyl and Dazzle

Stamping polish: Konad Special Polish in Black and Orly Dazzle

Stamping plate: Messy Mansion MM12

Accent: 2mm clear rhinestones

About NYC Matte Me Crazy, this is the first time I've every used a matte topcoat other than Essie.  I have to say I'm not horribly impressed with the mattifying ability of this topcoat.  It dries to a waxy finish (see above) and takes about 2-3 times longer to dry than Essie's Matte About You.  The plus is this topcoat is a bargain at $2 a pop if you desire a waxier finish and a time on your hands. 

So thoughts?  I actually very happy with the way this little mani turned out.  dripping chevrons on this plate make me so happy.  In fact everything about this plate makes me happy!  I have several more ideas in mind using the images on this plate.  Great job once again Julia.  So one last mani left in the New Years nail art cache.  Thanks for reading and see you next post!

Cupcake Manicure and Red Carpet Lacquer's Mrs White

Hiya fellow polish fiends,

I'm dedicating today's post to something so yummy and delicious that it needs no introduction - cupcakes!  I'm actually quite a cupcake connoisseur IRL if I do say so myself, and Washington DC has no shortage of such shops if you want to indulge including the oh-so-famous but IMO overhyped Georgetown Cupcake.  I have my favs - namely Baked and Wired, Hello Cupcake, and Crumbs so when I sat down to do a sweet manicure the first thing that popped into my head was cupcakes.  Lots of other ladies have done them, but for some reason I hadn't until now.  I started with Essie's French Affair and then added a layer of Essie's Peek A Boo.  PAB is a very sheer pink polish that really functions more like a super sheer low volume blue shimmer sparkle polish than a stand alone but I love the effect here.  I also accented one nail NYC Cashmere Creme - a pale metallic baby blue that is opaque in 2-3 coats.  The cupcakes were made from various polishes which I listed below the photos.  I wanted to keep the other nails crisp and simple but cute so I added RCL's Mrs. White as a final touch.   I ended up loving the way the PAB peeks out from under the chunky white circles of glitter.

In the words of one of my favorite drag queens sickening no? (Indoor lighting). Can you see the PAB glittering gently on the pink of French Affair?

Sprinkles are Color Club Blue Ming and Chelsea Girl, China Glaze Purple Panic & Lemon Fizz and Essies Bangle Jangle.  Cupcake base is OPI Chocolate Moose accent by Essie's Buy Me A Cameo.

Still trying to figure out how to make my cuticles look perfect post-clean up :(

  I really love how Mrs. White is it's own sort of sprinkles here as well.

My friend L said this mani was like the perfect birthday treat - cute right!

I gotta say this is another indie polish winner for me, and maybe it's just me but I think cupcakes got a whole like yummier.  Thanks for reading and please let me know what you thought below.