Valentine's Day 2016: Leadlight Roses and Romance + Tutorial

Happy Valentine's Day lacqueristas,

I have no idea what you plans were.  I have homework out the wahzoo plus a date with Starbucks and business as usual.  However if you are scrambling around for some last minute nail art or just want to rock some pretty nails this next and almost last of my V-day series nail art is definitely for you!  Its all pretty and holographic and nude and soft and girly all swirled into one and with or without the love accent I think this look could work well year round!

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

China Glaze Electric Nights Swirls & Tulips B Loves Plates Nail Art & Tutorial

Happy or bitter Sunday everyone!

Lol I say bitter because seriously where did the weekend go? I blinked and it was over - gah! In any case at least i got the chance to play with my nails a little bit :).  If you haven't seen it yet yesterday I posted a review for stamping plates from B. Loves Plates.  You can check it out here.  Today I created some nail art using both the Flower Power and the Mind Blow plate that was super easy and fun.  When I was at the post office yesterday the lady at the desk stopped me to admire so I hope you guys will like it too!

Japanese Dragon Garden

Hey lacquer ladies,

I have another MoYou London nail art mani today!  I know my loyalalist follower has been asking for some (Moore :) so I'm trying to keep pumping them out.  I'm starting out a touch slow and will build up.  I definitely will have full-image plate image nail art coming along with a little trick that I do in my head, but makes more sense in literal translation if you can't picture designs in 3D to help you create them.  Today I'm using my pen-ultimate favorite collection of the bunch.  Yup you guessed it - the Suki Collection!

I still have so many Halloween polish untrieds to go through it's a bit pathetic, but because I do I'm gonna keep using them even if my theme isn't necessarily in the same vein.  Plus how gorgeous is Dollish Polish's Red Rum from her Halloween 2013 Collection?!?  Freaking too gorgeous is the answer! Also this polish was pretty much opaque in one thick coat.  I think you ladies know how I feel about one coaters (lusts fulfilled!).  I also chose to accent this mani with a rare Nubar jem in my collection.  Absolute is a scattered blue holo, also gorgeous, but it took 4 coats to build this puppy up.  I probably should have grabbed another one of my holo's but this one was the perfect contrast for the raspberry yumminess of Red Rum.

 

I chose MoYou London Suki plate 02.  I have been fantasizing about this plate since the day I got it.  It has everything that makes me think of old school Japan - pagodas, tigers, various blossoms, koi fish, samurai and more.  Daisuki! Translation:  I love it!  I could create a million different designs from this one plate.  Lol maybe I'll do a self challenge that way.  One plate 5 designs.  Yup it's on!  In any event I fell hardcore in love with the various dragons on this plate in particular the triple segmented one that allows you to pick up different parts of the sinuous body and stamp them ad lib.  

Up close and blurred a bit so you can really see the holo effect :)  If you look at my index finger you can see I connected two of the parts into one.  This isn't tough but it does require precision.  I also did some mirror stamping because some of the flowers weren't going in the direction I wanted so I had to reverse them.  I wonder if anyone even is interested in my tutorials anymore? Let me know if you are interested.

So thoughts?  I have to say I love this but I redid the accent nail an unseemly amount of times because it kept turning out completely different than what I wanted.  I also need a recommendation on an opaque DARK GREEN stamping polish that is NOT metallic.  I keep running into this issue and it's driving me bananas!  So there we have it.   Do you have any preferences for what you would like to see next?  Embarrassingly I own almost every single plate MoYou London has made though half are on their way to me but if you want to see something in particular do let me know!  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!

Floral Appeal feat Liquid Sky Lacquer Head To The Bahamas and Enchanted Forest

Hey lacquer ladies,

In the interim between my blogging I've discovered so many amazing brands.  One happens to be Liquid Sky Lacquer.  God I love this brand!  As a self admitted holo whore shopping on her site for me isa skin to Alice romping through wonderland.  She makes super holos and some of the most amazing holo transitional polishes I have encountered.  So today I have two of my favorites for you along with some lovely stamping featuring my new Winstonia plates.

Head To The Bahamas is a nude linear holo - be still my heart.  Absolutely flawless and self leveling.  Pictured here opaque in 2 coats.  Yum

Enchanted Forest is a deep evergreen linear holo.  It is rather intense,  but requires a great deal of build up about 3-4 coats since the polish is thin, but it's totally worth it.  I used it here to create a gradient.

The technique I used for the stamping is fairly advanced.  I used one of the newish square shaped plates W-04 to create the art.  Stamping first and then filling in the pattern with acrylic paint.  After that I stamped back over the filled in image and wha-lah!  Instant pretty.

Indoors shot.  True to color but less fabulously holo.

 So what do you think? I've advanced quite a bit with my stamping skills though I still feel I've got lots more to learn.  If you are interested in purchasing either of the LSL polishes click the link above.  Carolyn is restocking on October 8th.  For the plates you can check out either the link above or my page for stamping supplies.  Thanks so much for reading and I hope you liked it!  I'll see you next post! 

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...

BM323: Barbed Wire & Roses + Tutorial

Hey lacquer ladies,

It's another scorcher here in the district and that means another hot summertime mani! Now that I've got my Bundle Monster 2012 plates QC'ed I'm ready to take them out for a spin.  For today's mani I decided to go for a lot of brights on a clean background and ended up with something fun and sorta tropical. You'll notice my nails are long again that's because I did this a while ago and it's been sitting in my drafts ;)

Mani-logue

Base color: OPI Alpine Snow and Essie Action

Stamping polishes: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue, Fast Fuchsia, & Snappy Sorbet + Konad Special Polish in Yellow (roses); Wet N' Wild Black Creme (barbed wire)

Glitter accent: Confetti Ice Ice Baby

Plate: BM 323 (roses and barbed wire)

I ended up needing 3 coats to get Alpine Snow opaque and about 2 coats of Essie's Action layered over AS.  I also did need to stamp the barbed wire pattern across my nails several times to get the entire length covered, but I'm still really pleased with the clarity of the pattern on the plates themselves as well the novelty of the images. The barbed wire itself is just so fun!

 

So what do you ladies think? While I was out and about with this look I got approached a lot which is a nice compliment.  I thought my Youtube followers might actually really like this mani too so I went ahead put together a tutorial.  If you are interested you can check it out below.

Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...

Lavender and Gold Floral Konadicure

Hey stamp scamps,

What happens when you have an unending lust for stamping mixed with a desire to layer stamps to maximum effect? Only pretty things darlings!  As I mentioned before I just got in my order of the Shany 2012 stamping plates and boy was I ready to play.  I was going for light fluffy and pretty with a hint of shimmer yumminess.  I used Funky Fingers Sugar Plum Fairy as the base.  This polish is a pale lavendar color with light blue undertones and a golden shimmer.  It's beautiful but like the FF polish before required thinning and two coats to reach opacity.  I stamped first with China Glaze TTYL using SH20 floral pattern.  I then stamped over that with CG Passion using plate SH13.  Finally I added butterflies using Dashica's Shimmer Purple stamping polish using plate CH3.  For the accent nail I did a simple gradient using Sugar Plum Fairy as the base and Orly's Close Your Eyes.  CYE's is a gorgeous deep plum colored polish with paler purple and gold shimmer throughout.  I finally put a simple coat of CND Gold Sparkle over it and abracadabra I had my pretty layered mani!

I used a new method for my gradient nail this time which made the transition between colors look a lot smoother.

I love the contrast of fresh green with lavender sort of like flowers peeking out of greenery

.

Love the flashes of gold from cG Passion!

You can really see the holo jump out on this one.

What do you ladies think - very feminine right?  What I like the most is that the Shany plates have so many freaking cute designs! These plates, like the Bundle Monster one's, really give you a big bang for your buck for about $12 you get well over 100 images.  Honestly, I love stamping enough to find this quite a good deal.  If you're interested in the plates check you can find them here on Amazon.com.  They are also eligible for super saver shipping, yay, so you can grab a couple things and get it shipped on the cheap!  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for a massive indie polish haul.  My clicking finger got trigger happy in a major way when I spotted some of these little babies!  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!

3D Garden Flower/Homecoming Nails

Ugh I know I'm not good at naming these things, but I love creating them!  Recently, I've felt a burning in my soul a lust if you will..for fimo.  Yup those little darling pieces of polymer clay have been keeping me up at night hovering around my nail art cubby in desperation.  What should I do what should I do?  I want to use fimo!  I want to!  I want to!  Um so I did...here are the results below. Talk about age-inappropriate regression (hangs head in shame).

Orly's Love Each Other (perfect iridescent shimmer)

There has been no sun only overcast grey sky's.

But I gamely braved the rain to snag these shots!

Fimo...diasuki!

Well even though I regressed in order to create this look I loved the results so much that I feel that it's worth it.  If you want to get this look check out my tutorial below.  All the products I used are listed in the video as well as the info box.

Ah now I want to start doing some Halloween stuff!  What do you guys think - too early?

Note to self:  Who am I talking to here? I have no subbies and no comments - lol.  Well whatever I'm speaking to my guests :)