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

Starbucks Fall Limited Edition Paper Cup Inspired Nail Art + Tutorial

Happy Friday stamperistas,

Fall never tasted so good right? Lolol!  Every fall I look forward to a few things religiously - pumpkin beer particularly the Blue Moon variety, PSL and SCM drinks from Starbucks, sweet potato cupcakes, and the wearing of hoodies with shorts.  Oh yes I am a lover of fall.  In fact I'd wager fall is my favorite season.  So when I saw the new cups that released this Fall from Starbucks I felt like I had to make an attempt to recreate this look with stamping.  I scrambled through my collection until my UberChic Beauty plates came calling.  After that the art just came straight together!

Elevation Polish Street Graffiti Collection Swatches and Nail Art (June 2015)

Happy Monday,

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Oh my it's been way too long since I posted some nail art.  I've missed it terribly.  I love talking about stamping plates and products and reviewing them, but nothing revs my engine quite better than actually getting down to the deed of stamping.  I'm behind.  I've realized I'm just going to be behind for a while, though I'm going to make every effort to catch up quickly, however I really can't over do things.  I'm going to have to ask your forgiveness for that and extend my gratitude to my partners who have been so amazing to me! I'm blessed truly and I know it and don't take it for granted.  Now today I have a collection I have been sitting on for far far too long - Elevation Polish Street Graffiti Collection.  Yup - I'm still loving and living for my EPs and I still have 2 more collections to show you, but for today let's take a look at the mean streets of the world ;)

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!

Springtime Sunflower Nail Art Tutorial feat 10.1 Perfect Polish and UberChic Beauty Nail Art Stamping Plates!

Hey stamp champs,

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Top of the Monday to you!  Just a quicky post to remind you spring is right around the corner even if your city feels like a chill chamber of death.  Lol sorry DC has been a wee bit nippy lately and its killing me.  In any case yesterday I did a massive swatch a thon of the 10.1 Perfect Polish Sunshine and Rainbows Collection.  If you didn't see it you can check out all the cool nail art and swatches here.  I also happened to create a tutorial using Sweet Sherbet and Uberchic Beauty plates that I thought I would share today.

10.1 Perfect Polish Sunshine & Rainbows Collection Swatches & Nail Art

Hey lacqueristas,

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I'm back with another collection of swatches and nail art!  I apologize for the lack of art these last few days.  My computer had a small freakout and I haven't been able to get my photo editing software to work properly :/  Gah!  In any case I have been very busy this month despite having the month off from my regular swatching gig ;)   I'm always so excited to when a company approaches me and asks if I would mind swatching and created nail art for their products whether its plates or polishes alike. It makes me nervous and happy at the same time so its a conflicted feeling lol.  Today I'm going to be showing you another new collection from 10.1 Perfect Polish.  If you don't remember I created swatches and nail art for this Colorado based indie for the St. Patricks Day Collection.  Today I'm going to be showing you their Sunshine & Rainbows and Collection which is chocked full of metallic easter inspired pastels!

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.

Glazed Spring Flowers and Swirls UberChic Beauty Nail Art

Ready for the spring lacqueritas?

Lol yeah not quite, but I'm looking forward to the warm up!  In that spirit I got this little mani going today.  The truth is I wish I could say - "Oh I wanted to create some spring seasonal nail art" when in fact I just really love the combination of nude and lavender.  Plus I really wanted to take my new UberChic Beauty plates out for a test drive since I just reviewed them yesterday.  You can take a look at that review here if you haven't seen it already. Now let's take a look at this nail art ;)

Glitter Leadlight Rainbow Abstract feat Pet'la Nail Art Stamping Plates

Hey lacquer ladies,

Happy Thanksgiving! It's been waaaaayyyy too long since I actually posted any nail art.  Crazily because my computer went down it took several of my folders of nail art, reviews, etc down with it. Sigh I am slowly getting things going again and today's post is half testing the waters with my borrowed back up computer and half me going crazy from not posting nail art.  So today's post was actually in response to a question I saw posed on one of my nail art groups asking if you could stamp over glitter leadlight based nails which in themselves are are form of nail art. It happens the original poster was a good friend Lizzy K Thank you for the inspiration darling!  Of course I thought absolutely yes! Simply put if there is a base down regardless of what it is you can stamp over it.  So here's what I came up with.

Leadlight Floral Nail Art feat Rica Blackout and Whiteout

Hey lacqueristas,

After reviewing the new stamping polishes released by Rica, which you can read about here, I decided to also create some nail art as well.  At first I planned on putting the nail art together into one post with the review, but that ended up a little cluttered so instead I separated the two looks I created using these polishes. I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out, and in fact this was my first time using the leadlight technique to create nail art.  So let's take a look...

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: Duri Rejuvacote / Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Base color: Rica Blackout

Stamping polish: Rica Whiteout

Leadlight Polishes: OPI Sheertints (entire collection)

Stamping plates: Pueen  51 and 72

One thing that was nice about these polishes is that I had my base color applied and ready to stamp on in less than 10 minutes.  Having a superfast drying one coater definitely has it's perks.  As far as the leadlighting goes I'm hooked.  It was so easy to create this nail art that I should have tried this a lot sooner.

So what do you think?  Anyone else have the Rica polishes yet? I really am happy with this mani. Everything about this came out nice and easy.  I'm loving these new Rica polishes polishes as base colors.  You can purchase Blackout and White out here.  Thanks for reading and see you next post...