Valentine's Day 2016: Nails Nude Lace Nail Art + Tutorial

Hey lacquer ladies,

So apparently its something called Super Bowl Sunday today, but since neither team is a team I give a cent about I'm off to other adventures. Namely trying to get over my nail fail slump.  I have tried so many mani's lately in pursuit of my Valentine's Day spirit and a lot of them have gone belly up.  The most I've gotten out of it were some beautiful swatches.  I'll take that, but seriously I'm so dissapointed that my last 3 mani's have been absolute fails.  So today I decided let's stick to simple and simple in this case means nude and lace.

We love the things that we love for what they are. ~ Robert Frost 

Smokey Lace & Floral Nail Art feat Marianne Nails Nail Art Stamping Plates

Hola lacqueristas,

I have a subtle and quiet look for you today.  I had actually been dying to try layering stamping in jelly finish polishes since I did that "Shadows" themed manicure for the MoYou London 31 day nail art challenge (here).  In particular I was eager to use the effect with lace images, and so today that's exactly what I did!  I also tested out some new polishes I got from Jolie Polish and more of my Marianne Nails plates.  So let's take a look at how this experiment turned out.

2014 Nail Art Trend Alert: Lace

Hey lacquer ladies,

I wanted to fire off this post about lace as it seems everyone these days is losing their minds over these delicate bits of cloth transposed onto their nails as art.  I myself am a huge fan of lace nail art and I've often admired my fellow freehand nail art blogging friends who have been able to recreate favorite patterns of lace on their nails as well.  One of the reasons I'm so excited for all the lace plates that have been making their way around is that now I can create the same looks but best of all with precision and reproducibility.  I also wanted to make everyone aware that if you are looking for lace patterned plates there are a host of options out there.  I tried to list everything out in order of when they hit the market so let's get started...

Pueen Cosmetics

 Photo credit: Colores de Carol

It turns out Pueen in all their Love Elements glory got the jump on this whole lace thing doing a few sweet versions for those who love lace and apparently love.  These represent a great value for anyone looking to pick up a good set and also get some lace along the way!  This set generally retails for $18.99 and can be found at a variety of stores thus shipping depends on where you order.

Bunny Nails

This plate represents one of the first full size nail lace designs, and launched in Nov/Dec of 2013.  This plate was part of the Bunny Nails Everyday nail art series, and as usual with everything she does these plates are quietly and beautifully making a statement about her creativity and attention to detail.  This plate retails for 17.99 with free worldwide shipping.

Emily de Molly

I honestly forgot about this plate amongst all of the lace which is a shame because these patterns are exquisite.  These EdM plates launched in Dec/January just a little after the Bunny Nails plates.  I also think EDM02 has a lace-quese pattern but because it wasn't as fine and detailed as these I didn't include it.  EdM plates are available at Messy Mansion and retail for $7 USD + $2.50 shipping worldwide. 

Loja BBF

The initial release of 20 plates featured this stunning plate followed by the one below which I announced yesterday.  When they first hit the scene the surge of interested customers was insane! A lot of ladies were queuing up to get their hands on these patterns.



With the second release little has changed, and ladies are still clamoring for the goods.  These plates retail for $7 USD and $10 shipping to US from Brazil.

Messy Mansion

This plate was announced several weeks ago and has been causing a tremendous uproar on many of the stamping groups I'm in.  My thought is it was around this time and the release of the Loja BBF plates several months prior that the true buildup and demand for lace nail art started taking off.  This plate retails for $7 USD + 2.50 worldwide shipping.

Vivid Lacquer

It's been around 2 months since these plates were announced and the pre-sale went live.  This plate was also announced around the same time as the Messy Mansion plate.  Definitely a mark of the demand for lace in the nail art community.  I can't wait for mine to arrive in a few more weeks!

Daschica Beauty

I am not entirely sure when this plate released.  There are a ton of abstract type plates that are borderline IMO for what we would call lace however I know that this plate was released prior to the last set of 25 plates I announced roughly 3 weeks ago.  So I placed it in the timeline around the same as Messy Mansion and Vivid Lacquer.  Infinity plates retail for 4.99 Euro and shipping is based on amount and destination address.

MoYou London

As you recall I announced these plates on Wednesday as part of the Bridal Collection which released today for sale.  As you can see these two plates feature a host of lace for the most eager lace loving enthusiast.  In standard MoYou style they are available in both the XL and standard sized variety.  These plates retail for 4.99 Euro plus shipping.



So what do you think ladies - lace in or out or just a pass? As you can see there is a lot more out there than what one may have initially thought.   Lol in all honesty until I sat down to write this post I'd forgotten how many options I had myself, and who knows how many more options we will have in the future as this trend continues to take off.  In fact given how many brands of plates out there I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some. There are 3 more plates releasing from the MoYou Bridal Collection in 1 week, and may get some more lace then as well! I really hope this post was helpful for those looking around for lace stamping plates and wondering what your options were.  Thanks for reading and see you next post...

Iron Lady - The Polish Well Fashion Contest Entry

Hey polished prisoners,

I think this goes without saying given the title and all but this is my entry for The Polish Well's Celebrating the Thousands Giveaway and Fashion Nail Art Contest.  My entry is based around one of the big trends for Fall 2012 that was everywhere during NY Fashion Week.   Retro granny if you will lol!  I know that sounds totally hideous, but if you've ever seen Oscar de la Renta do retro you know it's awe-inspiring! Think lace meets tweed with bold accessories. It's easy to fall in love with that kind of loveliness, not that I can afford such a frock, but recreating a mani around his design isn't entirely out of the equation.  So here's what I came up with...

I'm really pleased with how this came out. 

Mani-louge

Base color: Essie's Blanc

Watercolor: Essie Blanc + Power Clutch 

Holo topcoat: INM Northern Lights in Gold

Stamping plate: Dashica Big SdP I

Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl

This picture is not color accurate which makes me a bit annoyed as the white here comes off looking a dirty brown when it's not IRL.

 Here's the inspiration I used to create this look - Oscar de la Renta's Iron Lady. Isn't this gorgeous?  I feel like I need this jacket in my life as I will admit I am also a coat whore ;) Wait who am I kidding? I need the whole outfit hahaha! (Note: This will never happen but I can dream right?)

Photo credit: Imaxtree

The watercolor was done using the plastic bag method which to be honest I prefer about a million times over the acetone + polish method.  It's messier but I think it creates a more realistic looking watercolor effect without the little "dots" that I always see left behind when using the acetone method.  I tape of my nails just like with watermarbling to minimize the clean up.

This was my first attempt at watercoloring and though this one is simple I love it!  I will be trying this again soon with more colors.  

The palette created by OdlR is just gorgeous!  I can imagine doing this in a different way as well using this palette and a yummy accent.  Hmm maybe I will ;)

The giveaway ends at midnight tonight so you can still enter to win polishes from the China Glaze Bohemian and On Safari Collection, the Orly Flash Glam Collection, and the upcoming OPI Germany Collection.   The top ten contest entries will be posted on Facebook and then voting will proceed.  Wish me luck and thanks for reading!  Toodles...

What's a Jewel To Do? On Sundays I Stamp!

Hiya lacquer ladies,

I hope your weekends are going well!  I've got a bit of news on my end as I've recently joined a nail art interest group called Adventures in Stamping - yay! I'm sure several of you have heard of it or are participants yourself.  We take a theme every week and then create nail art around it using stamping of one kind or another.  I love this concept so much and it's a great way to expand out on ideas, meet other lacquer ladies, and share helpful tips and cool techniques.  This means every Sunday I'll become a tramp, a stamp tramp that is (wink wink).  Lord save us from the Jezebels hahaha! Now onto the art...

The theme for this week is Precious Stones, i.e. designing around the concept of precious stones or using jewel tones.  This concept for me was oddly easy.  My birthday is right around the corner (August 1) and my birthstone, peridot, has been on my mind quite a bit lately as I've been thinking of buying a pair of solitaire earrings in the stone.  I will admit peridot is a tough color to pull off.  It just doesn't have that "classic" appeal I that I so love in stones such as pearls or sapphires (at least not IMO).  Nevertheless, I have endeavored to embrace myself and in so doing the stone of my birth lol.

Look at all this bling! Well it's my birthday stone so I'll bling as I want to...

I started by taping off my nails at a diagonal and painting with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Ivy League for the majority of my nails.  The accents are painted with Zoya's Jules and Butter London's Tart With A Heart.  What I love about TWAH is that it has so many small flecks of iridescent glitter including those that throw back a peridot colored green which made it perfect for the theme.

I love the effect of TWAH layered under Ivy League! Green and gold is one of my favorite combinations.

Next I stamped on lace, leopard, zebra, and grid accents using Konad Special Polish in black from plates SH21, M57, CH11 respectively.

CH11, SH21, and M57 plates

 I added several pearls, microbeads, and yellow, clear, and green colored rhinestones to each stamping, and I also used my LA Colors nail art stripper in gold glitter to add little accents throughout each nail.

Lol I promise not all of my mani's are blinging, but I mean come on Shelly it's precious stones themed.  How could I NOT bling it up?!?

So what do you think? I wonder if I hadn't said that my stone was peridot you would have known anyway? Do tell because I really would like to know.  In any event this was so fun I can't wait to see what next week's theme is!  Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles!