Darling Diva Polish Red After the Wolf....And My Heart

Hey lacquer ladies,

I sat down with every intention of doing some bad-ass stamping today and in preparation painted my nails and then promptly fell in love.  I fell so hard I'm still knocking twigs and rocks out of my clothes lol.  It started innocently with Spoiled Breakfast in Red and Pumping Gas.  I bought these polishes with the intention of stamping on them for QCing my plates, but didn't expect much in terms of formula etc. However the formula was flawless and smooth as butter.  I almost stopped after seeing how insanely pretty this combo was together, but I knew this would make perfect undies for Darling Diva Polish's Red After the Wolf.

Isn't this gorgeous? Despite the curling seen here the application of this glitter was like butter and it went on very smooth. 

These are the Spoiled undies that almost seduced me away from applying RATW.  The formula on these was flawless. This is three coats pictured below.

My nails practically glowed from Breakfast in Red.  It is truly a beautiful color, but I love Pumping Gas just as much as I do have a weakness for brown polishes.

DDP's RATW is a glitterbomb packed full of red large and small hexagons and crystal glitter in a clear base.  It reminded me of looking into fire!  These pictures were all taken without topcoat so you can see the finish on this glitter is quite smooth. 

Even in the shade you can still see all the depth of RATW.

When I did finally apply topcoat all the hexes laid completely flat and uncurled which made me happy because tacoing is the devil.

I'm still very much in love with the slogan for DDP's bottles :)

What do you think of the final product? As you can see no nail art made it onto my nails, but I couldn't be happier! If you are interested in Red After the Wolf you'll have to contact Darling Diva Polish via her etsy since I haven't seen it listed there for quite a while.  You can also check out some of her other amazing polishes as well.  Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next post! Toodles!

Down The Dotty Trail

Hey polished prisoners, 

It's easy and breezy in today's post.  I don't know if I ever said it on my blog before, but my hands never match.  It's a game I've been playing for the last 3 or 4 years.  Sometimes the girls coordinate, but they don't call each other up to dish on which polishes they're taking out for the day.  When they do coordinate or dare to wear the same undies it's a minor miracle.  While I was doing my monarch mani the other day I inadvertently I painted both hands with China Glaze Custom Kicks.  I blame the color because I looked down and bam! Matching claws.  What's a girl to do?  I didn't want to waste it so I decided to add some cute details to spice things up a bit.

I like the effect of the matte glitter underneath the dots. Featured drink was a Passionfruit iced tea, yum!

I used Pixels by Nail Potions/Kunimitsu to sponge on a glitter gradient.  Pixels is a polish composed of small yellow, white, and light green matte glitter that applies like a dream.

You can see all the soft little matte glitters floating around inside Pixels. This is a really beautiful polish!

It took about two passes of the sponge to cover my tips entirely along with a thick coat of Poshe to smooth it out.  Then I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen's Pat On Black to create a series of dots creeping up the nail.

Heaven preserve me from photographing my dominant hand.  It is SO much harder than I would have thought! The gradient you see is the same one I did in the monarch look using Custom Kicks, Grape Going, and Number One Nemesis.

Pixels is popping here!

What do you think? I have to say I'm really liking matte glitters more and more these days.  Do you ladies have any favorites to recommend?  I don't have any of the highly coveted Nailadventurous ones, but I'd surely love too! If your interested in Pixels or any other pretties by Nail Potions check out her store on Etsy.  Jessica is a doll face and has amazing polishes so you won't be disappointed.

Song Stuck In My Head: Is It The Way You Love Me by Jill Scott.  This song is my jam! First of all Jill Scott is my homegirl - I love her voice and her smokey jazzy style.  You can't NOT groove to anything she sings qnd this one is just so funky.  Every time I hear it I want to dance and sing. It's an instant mood lift.  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!

Amazon Strikes Again: Good Customer Service

 Hey polished prisoners,

I wanted to give a quick little shout-out to the customer service peeps over at Amazon.com particularly Zander.  I was sitting down this afternoon flipping through my Shany 2012 plates when I realized one of my plates was missing. 

My missing plate!

Image Source: The Stamping Plate Project

Cue tragic music... I was totally bummed since I placed that order at the end of May and the return date just passed on the 6th of this month.  Why was I contemplating returns you ask? I wasn't but Amazon can be persnickety about windows of contact when the returns policy is closed. I just wanted to get the 25th plate and get the heck out of dodge.  

I will admit going through my old orders and not being able to get a contact link was horrible.  I searched the Shany website that had a number listed that was no longer in service (nice), but was eventually able to backtrack in some insane way to live chat via amazon to address the missing part of my order.  Enter Zander.  I'm embarrassed to say I had to explain to him in detail what nail stamping plates are via live chat.  AWKWARD.  Lol - I can picture this man's face just being like women and shaking his head.  Nevertheless after a bit of finagling the replacement plate is on it's way to me with no need to return a darn thing.  Get down!

Usually in the blog-a-sphere we write reviews about customer service gone wrong.  Wrong orders, long waits, bad attitudes, etc, but this was by far one of the best experiences I had so I had to give Amazon their due.  Something similar happened to me last year as well with my old Bundle Monster plates.  That time it was Bundle Monster that stepped up 2 years out from an order and replaced my defective plate no questions asked.  With service like this I can't help but thinking that we lacqueristas have been very blessed!  Anyone else have any experiences like this?

UPDATE: Amazon went ahead and sent me the entire set again via 2 day mail! I already have my replacements!  See what I mean - flawless customer service.  Thanks so much Zander :)

Butterflies, Bling, & Duochromes Oh My!

Hey polished prisoners,

This one is definitely all about me! Hahaha - wait I know isn't this my blog anyway and thus by definition all about me? Well lately, not really.  I don't know why but I've felt weird pressure in my head to "create" & had a spew of fails.  It's bad to get yourself into loops like that where your forcing something or not quite loving it but you just can't stop.  Well not today ladies.  I just wanted to sit down and do something that was all about satisfying my desire for pretty, pretty, pretty.  No flashy techniques (at least not to me) and what I love - bling!  You might be thinking what am I talking about there's been plenty of bling on here but not like this.  I satisfied all of my lusts again at once - butterflies, bling, and duochromes.  If I smoked I'd be enjoying a long drag in satisfaction because I'm all smiles.  Now onto the art....

It's a jungle in here! Watch out for moving insect life! Also ignore the eyelash that somehow snuck it's way into so many of my pics - grrr!

Blinging baby!

I used China Glaze Custom Kicks for the base.  I love this color - turquoise with gold microshimmer and opaque in one coat.  It's been a favorite of mine for years, but it does stain the hell of our your nails so a peroxide soak is necessary after use even with two layers of base coat.  One careful coat pictured here.

You can see the tiny particles of gold shimmer even with my indoors lighting. Don't ask me why I'm holding an Ozotic bottle I must have grabbed whatever snapping a quick pic.

I used the "wet sponge" technique to create a gradient that is to all intents and purposes a non-rigid colorblock using Custom Kicks, Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Grape Going, and OPI's Number One Nemesis.

All this shimmer from those duochromes.  I am so so impressed with OPI's Number One Nemesis in particular.  I had this but hadn't even used it yet until this manicure.

I love that the stamp allows for gaps to let the shimmer of the polishes underneath peak through.

I stamped using my new Vivid Lacquer Plate #002's monarch pattern and Konad's Special Polish in Black Pearl.  One thing I forgot to note about the VL plates is that the larger images such as the butterfly will not fit fully on the "traditional konad stamper" and you will need to use and XL stamper if you have longer nails.  Not too much of an issue but worth noting since the XL stampers always require a bit more finessing to work with than the Konad ones. 

It would have been a lot to stamp every nail but then I am a big believer in non-symmetry in my nail art.  I like seeing the "base" which is as pretty as the stamping as well.

Finally, I added gold microbeads and 2mm clear rhinestones.  Talk about instant pretty! This was one of those ideas where everything just came together perfectly.  I want to be this happy every time I sit down to paint my nails though I know that's not gonna happen but for now I'll just sit back and enjoy.

Lol had to throw in the little VL black kitty.  She's just so darn cute! This shot is dripping bling too :)

What do you ladies think? I put up a tutorial for this one too that you can check out below, but it's as straightforward as they come.

 Thanks for reading and toodles!

Review: Vivid Lacquer Stamping Plates Have Arrived!

Hello polished prisoners,

I'm so happy to be discussing this newest find today!  I discovered Vivid Lacquers on one of my many stalking voyages on Etsy.  I think even with the amount of posts I have up so far you can tell I am a patron of the indie arts (ohohoho <- old lady laugh). So of course when I saw a new indie with stamping plates over a month ago I had my pre-order submitted faster than you can say go, and they finally arrived today.  Squee!

Here's some shots of the plates up close in black and white so you could see each image clearly. 




The plates images are quite large.  I did a comparison and they are as large as the images on my Dashica plates if not larger and certainly larger than my BM or Konad images.  I'm pretty pleased by that especially since my nails are quite long these days and having a big image to play with makes my life easier stamping wise.   I did a quick stamping QC check that I uploaded to Youtube that you can check out below.  I chose to test them using both Konad Special polishes as well as another of my most reliable non-Konad stamping polishes.  I was happy with the results though clumsy in my execution (hangs head in shame).

In addition to the plates, I also ordered the Cookies and Cream polish from Vivid Lacquers and Anni, sweetheart that she, is threw in a Theoretical Rocker polish as a gift! I haven't had a chance to play with either yet but I can't wait.

Ugh look at the cute little backing on these!

You can buy the Vivid Lacquer stamping plates and polishes here on Etsy.  The plates are $8 each + shipping and she also has other polishes available that you can check out as well.  Anni's a doll and really has fast response time to any inquires or issues you might have.  Plus a little birdy told me that more image plates are on the way and I may have seen an awesome preview that has me salivating for more! Thanks for reading and here's to happy stamping!

CrowsToes, Fanservice Nails, Lights & A Gun - What?!?

Happy Saturday lacquer ladies,

I hope you aren't sizzling like sausages on this 105 weather day like I am today, but at least it's a good day for multi-tasking in the AC with of course you guessed it - polish!  I recently discovered the delectable phenomenon of trigger finger mani's on Nailed IT's blog and knew that I had to recreate a similar look.  Of course I wanted to do leopard, but I've had a lot of feline inspired nail art up lately. But what could be as delicious as a spotted compatriot of the night? Perhaps a finely feathered friend smothered in a decadent jelly sandwich?  I also wanted something that was dark versus bright which led me to one Ianto Jones of Fanservice Nails and the following result.

One hot pistol?

I want to say a few things quickly because there's a lot going on here.  First, I've already raved about Essie's Poppy Razzi collection.  It's sickening - nuff said.

The polishes were calling (left to right): Fanservice Nails Ianto Jones, Essie's Lights, CrowsToes Thing.

Second, Fan Service Nails.  Holy crap ladies - I have struck indie paydirt on this company!  When I first ordered one my polishes arrived damaged in transit - boo :(  I sent along an email and the situation was rectified at lightening speed.  This is my first time taking one of my FSN polishes for a cruise and I am so impressed! Ianto Jones is a glossy finish ONE COATER deep grey polish loaded with holographic microglitter.  I just don't have words ladies - this polish is just so good I am in awe!

Look at the holographic yumminess in Ianto Jones.  This polish is a rockstar especially when seen in direct sunlight!

Third, CrowsToes.  Please y'all know this biatch is fierce!  I don't even have to say a word.  Lauri is so talented every polish I have by her is gold and I have a lot (missing three to complete the collection).  She is being stocked by both Kim at Overall Beauty and Leah Ann at Llarowe but she also has her own store over on BigCartel.  Thing, is without a trace of irony, one of the prettiest things I've ever seen and a gorgeous glistening glitterbomb to boot.

This is indirect sunlight.  You can still see all of the holographic shimmer in Ianto but Thing also really pops into play even in the shade.

Have you recovered from my polish gush yet? I have no self control, but in summation - yay for trigger accent mani's, jelly neons, and indie wonders! There are a lot of indie companies rocking my socks off right now, and I'm pretty pleased these days to have picked up some fine gems. And finally, I'm happy I get to share all my polish passion with you without feeling like a freak.  Albeit, I readily admit my flag is always raised lol! Thanks for reading and see you next post!

A Windestine Glittering Gorgeous Gradient

Hello lil' lacquer lovers,

 I am so souped not to be doing a mani in red white blue or any iteration therein.  I OD'ed on 4th of July themed manis.  I am therefore very happy to present something bright cheerful and utterly utterly me - a yellow and purple glittering gradient manicure.  Yay!

Loving this gradient!

I started with Color Club's Almost Famous - a bright yellow creme.  Let me say I'm seeking the holy grail yellow nail polish i.e. opaque in 2 coats with minimal streaking etc,  If you know of such a polish for the love of God leave me a comment below because Almost Famous wasn't even almost close.  It took four merciless coats before I reached appropriate coverage! Color me...annoyed.  I also used Color Club's Puccilicious, a creme based purple which I love, to create a beautiful purplely blended gradient.  I did hesitate a bit color choice wise as I didn't want to reach a gross weird gray brownish color in between the transition, but it came out beautifully.

I loved this but I kept feeling like something was missing when I decided to add the Kiss Nail Art Stickers.

I also gently sponged on Windestine's Pansies.  This is a sort of dark purple and gold microglitter mixed in a clear base that's adding the sparkling magic to this gradient.

I still got a bit of gray coming through the gradient in the middle, but I was able to keep it subtle.

The last step was adding some Kiss Nail Art Stickers that came in a little pack I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  I am so happy with the final look here!

Lovin' the bling per usual!

 If you are interested in Pansies unfortunately no longer being made by Windestine due to some issues with her supplies, but you can still check out some of her other beautiful glitters on Etsy.  This seller is just so wonderful and a pleasure to work with and her formulations are amazing! Personally, I love the final effect here - simple but pretty.  What do you think?  Thanks for reading and please comment below!