Valentines Day Nail Art #1: Cici & Sisi Fading Hearts

"The heart has reasons for which reason knows nothing." ~ Pascal

Lacqueristas,

It's the season of love!  Lol not really but it's the season of love related manicures at a minimum.  Can I tell you I went to Target around the 3rd of January and they already had all the Valentines day paraphernalia out.  It was deeply disturbing to me who in general only has awareness of holidays as they relate to nail art and vacation time ;)  In any event I'm showing you my first romantic mani of the season.  Gradient hearts and chevrons using my new Cici & Sisi Jumbo plates and once again Nail Vinyls.  You can check out my review on Cici & Sisi plates here and the Nail Vinyls here.

My goal was to create a very "clean" manicure with a gradient that stood out.  When I flipped through my Cici & Sisi plates I realized there are a lot of heart/romantic motifs in both sets.  Ultimately I chose the hearts because I wanted to emphasize the bright red to light pink fading of the gradient.  I reversed the color fade for the chevrons which the NVs made beyond easy to achieve.

Base:  Wet N Wild Blank Canvas

Stamping Polishes: Konad Special Polish in Red, MyOnline Shop Pink, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Fast Fuschia

Stamping Plate: Cici & Sisi 01

So what do you think? This is unquestionably girly and sweet which I think suits the sentiment of the quote above.  I have plans to create a few more manis that are a bit more sophisticated and less sweet and of course I have to create something for the broken-hearted lol! I mean really not everyone loves Valentines day.  I do but only because I don't have to conceal my lust for all things dark chocolate and wine related.  Lol plus lots of great cosmetic items pop up around this time!  Is it wrong that I keep having a fantasy regarding dark covered chocolate strawberries and crisp citrusy champagne oh and a steaming bubble bath? Ugh the luxury!  I think my reasons might be a little sketchy but hey to each their own.  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post! 

Essie Mesmerize and Bikini So Teeny Chevron Nail Art + Nail Vinyls Review

Hello lacquer ladies,

I know I have been inundating you with new stamping plates and reviews, but today is all about getting back to basics.  You know nothing makes me happier than flawlessly executed nail art!  I  wanted to create a blue mani that was matte with lots of pop and it came out exactly like I envisioned.  I enlisted the help of Nail Vinyls to create the yummy chevrons of my dreams and used Essie Bikini So Teeny and Mesmerize because I wanted something blue clean and refreshing.  I also used Essie's Matte About You which to this day is still my favorite matte topcoat of all time! Check out the results below.

So I discovered Nail Vinyls (hereforeto referred to as NVs) by @teismom on Instagram while stalking some of my favorite nail art bloggers.  NVs are essentially the little sticker like things you use for french tip manis or if you take ring holders and cut them in half you can use to make half moon manis only 10,000 times better! When I first saw a IGer using them I was like I can just do the same thing with scotch tape or stamping.  This is both wrong and right.  You can create cool chevrons with scotch tape but, unless you use craft scissorsn and even then, it is extremely difficult to create the exact same size of the chevron from nail to nail.  This is also because you really only get one shot with tape as with the Nail Vinyls because afterwards they are covered in polish.  With stamping you get the precision and consistency from nail to nail, but you have no ability to adjust the spacing of the design because the image is already etched into the plate so you get what you get.



The NVs actually allow you to play with the spacing and gives you the reliability of creating consistently sized lines from nail to nail, clean up is easy, and you don't waste time cutting out pieces of oh so carefully measured tape so what's not to love?  These little stickers come in a variety of shapes - lightening bolts, half moons, straight lines (my favorite), chevrons of varying sizes (also a favorite), french tip, and apparently there are more shapes in the works.  I honestly felt skeptical about spending my money on these but after using them a few times I am so sold so I thought I'd share.

Nail Vinyls are available on Big Cartel and run between $5-12 USD depending on the number of NVs you order.  I hope you liked the mani and thanks so much for reading!  See you next post...

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!

Halloween 2013: Spiderwebs and Cherons feat Vivid Lacquer Image Plates

Happy Friday fellow lacqueristas,

Today I've got some uber cute nails to show you!  I decided to try out a few of my newer Vivid Lacquer stamping plates, and let me say I'm loving everything about them!  I wanted to try and create some fun nail art that was pretty and Halloween themed without heading down the pathway of gore.  Lol that's not to say I won't be heading down that pathway ever but I am more of a glamourous and pretty type. That had me reaching for my Vivid Lacquer plates which feature just enough fiendishness combined with pretty to satisfy my tastes.

I'm not sure if you knew but Anni recently created a Autumn/Halloween themed plate.  What I love the most about it are two images in particular!  One is a huge spiderweb.  It could easily stretch across all 4 of my digits if I stamped it serially.  The other is a graveyard image that has yet to be used but it will be shortly.   This is a cute and versatile plate that has the potential to create about 5-10 or more Halloween mani's if you got creative.   I'm not sure if it's currently available, but you can get it here.

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: CND Stickey/Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Base Colors: Essie Fear or Desire and Orly Goth

Stamping Polishes:  Essie No Place Like Chrome, China Glaze Passion, Konad Special Polish in Black Gold

Stamping Plates:  Vivid Lacquer VL010 & VL013

So what do you think? I haven't done a trigger finger mani in a long time so it's funny that when I once again pick it up it's with Essie yet again.  Lol what can I say I am a die-hard Essie girl!  In any case I am so in love with how this turned out.  As you can see I mutated the chevrons a touch to make them more interesting then I connected the gap with a black striper brush.  I hope you like it and stay tuned for more awesome Halloween nail art as the month progresses! Thanks for reading and see you next post...