Galaxies On Broadway With Daily Charme

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have an out of this world post to share with you guys. I was generously sent a review package from the lovely ladies of Daily Charme. Each component of the package deserved it's own post so you can expect to see two more posts featuring this Californian indie brand in the very near future!

 

The first polish I get to show off from this brand is called Broadway. Broadway is an electric blurple jelly base that is full of holo glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes that range from hex to squares. There are tiny iridescent glitters in there as well. This polish is from Daily Charme's New York Collection and is by far one of the prettiest polishes in my entire collection!!

My manicure began with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by 4 coats of Daily Charme Broadway. Application was pretty smooth however the formula of this polish dries matte so a nice shiny topcoat is needed to appreciate that jelly squishiness. The topcoat also helps the glitters pop. Again, I used 4 thin coats to achieve complete opacity.

 

The tiny iridescent glitter twinkled like little stars so without thinking twice about it I decided to do some galaxy nail art. I used a makeup sponge and Essie Marshmallow as the base for my galaxies then used the sponge and Zoya Wednesday, Sinful Colors Sugar N Spice, & Essie Bouncer It's Me. Once that dried I stamped on some stars from Cheeky stamping plate CH26. I added some additional sparkle with the help of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver and topped my mani off with a coat of HK Girl topcoat.

This polish is just so pretty! The blurple jelly base is beautiful and the glitters give it that extra wow factor. I wore this manicure for 4 days with minimal tipwear and no chips. You can purchase Broadway by heading over to Daily Charme's etsy shop when you click here. Trust me when I tell you that you will love the unique creations in their shop. As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

**THIS POLISH WAS SENT TO ME FOR MY HONEST REVIEW**

Laquerlicious Caramelized Apples & Glamorously Sassy

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend so far. Today we transition into a new season and with that comes new polishes! I'm really excited to share one of those with you today as well as another very fun polish that I'm sure you guys are going to fall in love with. I have had the honor to review 4 beautiful artisan polishes created by the lovely Michelle of Laquerlicious and believe me when I tell you, all the great things you have ever heard about this line are indeed true! 

The first manicure I would like to share with you guys features one of the best glitter bombs ever created (in my humble opinion, of course)! I wanted to use a base color that would not only make every single glitter found in this baby pop, but also had the ability to bring this mani full circle with its name. I needed something glamorously sassy and Bettina Fruit Punch was just screaming at me. Fruit Punch is a stunning fuchsia cream with the most beautiful pink shimmer throughout. It's girly, flashy and every bit of sassy! I applied 2 coats of it over Essie Feed Me.

Once Fruit Punch dried I proceeded to apply one coat of Laquerlicious Glamorously Sassy. As you can see, this clear base polish is jam packed with an amazing variety of glitter. There is everything from grey, yellow, green, orange and white matte glitter in hex, square and circle shapes. There are also pink and light pink stars, metallic purple micro glitter and XL silver and pink hologram glitter. Glamorously Sassy is part of the All Things Diva Collection.

 

Glamorously Sassy has a great formula. The clear base is not at all thick or goopy and the brush was all I used to get perfect placement of all the glitters. I didn't manage to pick up any of the larger circles, however. Next time I wear this beauty I'll probably use a toothpick to fish for those. As you can see in the pictures above, this polish is equally as stunning with a glossy (Glisten & Glow HK Girl) or matte (Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love) topcoat (I personally LOVE how much the glitters pop with the matte).

 

Next up is one of Laquerlicious' Fall Is In The Air polishes. Caramelized Apples is probably the most unique glitter polish I've ever seen for fall. This is a beautiful reddish brown base that has tiny multicilored glitter and multi sized circle glitter that are gold, green and red.

I applied a base of Essie Feed Me to begin this manicure followed by 2 coats of Laquerlicious Caramelized Apples. Application was smooth and the formula was great! Again, no glitter placement with this polish but the larger glitters didn't come out with the brush. I applied 1 coat of HK Girl topcoat to smooth out the glitter and give it a glossy shine. 

 

The caramel apple on my accent nail was created with the stamping decal method. First I applied 3 coats of Essie Topless & Barefoot and stamped the squiggly image from Konad M70 using Zoya Louise. Next I put a tiny bit of HK Girl on a sandwich baggy. Once that dried, I stamped the apple from BornPrettyStore's M66 image plate and used Zoya's Elisa, Louise and Hunter.

Laquerlicious polishes are available for purchase in her shop on Etsy and retail for $9.50 on average. Michelle also has a collection of polishes whose proceeds benefit the Fresno Bully Rescue in Fresno, California. FBR is a nonprofit organization that rescues pitbull and pitbull like breeds. I admire her so much for giving to these animals in a selfless and creative way. You can purchase Laquerlicious nail polish by clicking on this link. Make sure you guys give her a follow on instagram as well @creativenailchick. As always I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

**These polishes were sent to me for my honest review. **

U-Spicy UV Lamp Review

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I am really excited for today's post as it is a little different than the usual LuvMyLacquer nail posts. Today I had the opportunity to put my gel manicure skills to the test and I'm super happy with the results. If you are seeking advice and recommendations on how to get that perfect salon gel manicure at home, you're in luck today!

We all know that the main difference between a polish and gel manicure is the use of an ultraviolet lamp. These lamps help to cure the gel and bond it to your natural nail, allowing your manicure to last up to 14 days on average. Here are some features of the USpicy® ÉCLAIR USND-0901 Professional UV Nail Dryer(White, 9W) that was sent to me for review:

- This lamp can be used with various kinds of nail beauty products, such as UV Top Coat, UV Builder Gel, etc. Work without brand requirements on nail polish

- The wavelength is visible and harmless to eyes. But we do not recommend you stare at the bulb for a long time

- Over voltage & current surge protection- 

Heat-exhausted chip to increase reliability and life span of the nail dryer

- All in one - disinfection & drying.

- Suitable for both professional and personal finger nail care uses

- Small and cool design, compact & easy to operate

Before I could test out this lamp I had to purchase some gel polish. I searched high and low in my area for some but to no avail. I ended up purchasing my gel polish online and went with the brand Gelish as it is one I've heard nothing but great things about. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the glitter color I purchased wasn't as dense as I expected so I did end up layering it. 

I prepped me nails according to the directions on the Sally's Beauty website for Gelish. Prepping of the nail bed is extremely important when it comes to gel manicures as it is the first step to ensure that the gel properly adheres to your nails. Here are the steps on how to prep:

1. Apply Gelish Cleanser to lint-free wipe (I used Zoya Remove + for this instead).

2. Push back cuticle and clean the surrounding nail. 

3. Shape natural nail. 

4. Gently remove the shine on the natural nail with a cushion file. 

5. Use the Gelish Cleanser on the lint free wipe to clean the nail and remove excess debris.

Now here's the fun part! I applied one thin layer of the Gelish Foundation Gel and cured it under the light for 2 minutes. I used the timer on my phone to make sure I didn't "over or undercook" my nails. When you cure gel nails you are left with a tacky residue. This is called the inhibitive layer and is easily removed with alcohol and a lint-free wipe. This step is usually done at the very end of the gel manicure but since I was using regular polish as well, I didn't want the tackiness to contaminate my Zoya polish and gave my nails a swipe with alcohol.

After removing the tacky layer, I applied two coats of Zoya Noot. Once that dried, I applied my Gelish color which is called Emerald Sparkle. It is a scattered holo glitter that is mostly emerald, very pretty! I cured Emerald Sparkle for 2 minutes then applied Gelish Top It Off and cured that for 2 minutes. I swiped my nails with alcohol and was done with my manicure. 

I was pleasantly surprised how well this lamp worked because Gelish usually calls for a 36 watt lamp. 9 watts meant I had to keep my hand in there a bit longer but not long enough to complain about. My full manicure was completed and 100% dry in 10 minutes. The U-Spicy 9 watt lamp is not only portable and effective, it is an absolute steal at $17.95! I have experience with three other UV lamps and I would definitely pick this one over the others because of how effective it is. If you are interested in purchasing the USpicy® ÉCLAIR USND-0901 Professional UV Nail Dryer(White, 9W) you can find it by clicking this link. As always, I hope you enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo! 

~Jessica

**This UV lamp was sent to me for my honest review. **

Zoya Zenith Winter/Holiday Press Release

ZENITH
Harmonious Cosmic Color for Winter/Holiday 2013
Enter the color cosmos with this new collection of six perfectly harmonious nail polish beauties by Zoya.

ZOYA ZENITH WINTER/HOLIDAY 2013
ZP689 - Seraphina: Polaris Silver Metallic. Full Coverage Formula (bottle shown above).
ZP687 - Cassedy: Celestial Pewter Metallic. Full Coverage F Formula (shown above).
ZP678 - Belinda: Cosmic Purple Metallic. Full Coverage Formula (bottle shown above).
ZP688 - Payton: Galactic Cranberry Halo. Full Coverage Formula (shown above).
ZP686 - Dream: Deep Space Blue Halo. Full Coverage Formula (shown below)
ZP643 - Mosheen: Astro Ice Blue Topper - great for layering over other hues (bottle shown above).

Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find over 300 stunning Zoya colors on www.zoya.com. Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION! 
Zoya Zenith Collection
$8.00 ea. (US)
Available on Zoya.com

FALL COLOR – AVAILABLE OCTOBER 01, 2013

31DC2013 Day 11 - Polka Dots

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is Day 11 of The 31 Day Challenge. One of my favorite patterns is Polka dots, I never get tired of them. Today is also the 12 year anniversary of the tragic events that changed America as we knew it. I wanted to pay my respects and honor those who were lost, those brave firemen and police officers who fought so hard to save many lives, and those who still (& forever will) hurt due to their loss of a family member or friend. 

My red, white, and blue polka dotted manicure began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 2 coats of Zoya America (fitting name, huh?). I use this polish for our patriotic holidays for the name alone but the formula is honestly what keeps me coming back to it. America is so creamy and doesn't flood my cuticles like other red polishes. 

Next I applied one coat of Cult Nails Tempest on my accent nail and applied one coat of HKGIRL topcoat. While the topcoat was still wet, I placed a blue 3D polka dot bow from BornPrettyStore on my accent nail. I then used my Konad Special Stamping Polish in White and the polka dot image on RuiZ03 stamping plate (also from BornPrettyStore) for the dots. My manicure was complete with a coat of HKGIRL topcoat. 

As I was doing this manicure, I thought of where I was when I first heard the news of this tragedy. I remembered my exact thoughts at the time, I was so scared that all I could think of was getting out of my schools library and finding comfort in my home. I remembered how proud I was of everybody coming together the days after this happened. And today I wish that sense of unity still existed. Don't get me wrong, in a sense, we have come a long way but we still have a ways to go. I hope I see the day when we get there. As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo! 

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 10 - Gradient Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Day 10 of The 31 Day Challenge calls for gradient nails. If you've been following me here for a while I'm sure you've seen me say how much I've been practicing on these. For whatever reason, gradients ate really hard for me to get. I'm getting better, though, I think!

I began with no base coat and 2 coats of Zoya Godiva. Godiva is from the Spring collection of PixieDust polishes and she is a gorgeous sparkling textured nude. Application and formula was so flawless I had no clean up with Godiva.

Next I got my stamping plates, looked through them all then finally settled on an image. No surprise, I went for my go-to leopard print design. I chose the one on Bundle Monster BM221 instead of my usual Konad M57, just to switch it up a little and stamped with Zoya Louise (the gorgeous chocolate brown from Zoya's Cashmeres Collection for Fall).  

I used Louise and a makeup sponge for the gradient part of this manicure. I think the way the leopard spots fade into the brown is so cool looking! Do you have any tips/tricks on gradients? What do you think of my manicure today? Add always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo! 

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I know, I know, I'm 3 days behind on the challenge but today I'm playing catch up. My baby is cutting her 9th tooth and things have been really hectic and days/nights have been looooong while she goes through her growing pains. Before I get into my manicure, I just wanted to thank you all for sticking with me and know that even though I haven't responded to all of your comments, I do read them everyday and sincerely appreciate how kind you all are to me ♥.

I decided to go with a dotticure for my Rainbow Nails today. I really love this look on everybody else I've seen it on and don't use my dotting tools enough so this was the perfect chance to bring them out again. 

The above picture should be rotated once to the left, not sure why it uploaded sideways. Anywho, my mani began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest. Next I applied 1 coat of a scattered holographic glitter polish by Orly called Prisma Gloss Silver.

The colors I used for the dots are as follows:

Index: Bettina Flame & Sherbet 

Middle: Zoya Pippa & Essie Shake Your $$ Maker

Ring: Bettina Vintage & Essie Bouncer It's Me

Pinky: Bettina Haze & Purple

Thumb: all of the polishes mentioned above

This manicure was complete with a coat of HKGirl topcoat. I wish my camera would've picked up the holo gorgeousness because it really added so much to my nails. What do you guys think of this one? As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 8 - Metallic Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I'm a few minutes short of my Day 8 nails. Today was a very long day so this will probably be the shortest post ever.

My manicure began with no base coat and 2 coats of Zoya Tomoko. Tomoko is one of the fall PixieDust polishes as is described as a romantic champagne silver. This was one of my favorite pixies for Fall and I'm so glad I had the chance to wear her again so soon. I love this polish, she's just so beautiful!

I kept my nail art simple and just stamped my accent nail with one of my favorite images from the first generation of Bundle Monster stamping plates. This was achieved with Konad Special Stamping Polish in Black and BM04. I didn't use a topcoat for this manicure as I love the sparkling matte texture of the PixieDust formula. 

Sometimes simplicity is best, especially when you're in a crunch for time. As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 7 - B&W Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is Day 7 of the 31 Day Challenge and I have some awesome black & white nails to share with you all. Black and white has been really big in fashion this year so it's no wonder it made it on the list fir the challenge. Afterall, nails are very much a part of fashion, right?

My black and white manicure began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest on my pinky & index fingers and 3 coats of China Glaze Recycle on the rest of my nails. I then used a makeup sponge to create gradients using Tempest and Recycle on my pinky and index and Recycle and Finger Paints Black Expressionism on the other nails. 

I used my PUEEN16 image plate and my Konad Special Stamping Polish in White & Black to stamp on this really cool asymmetrical design. I also alternated the stamp upside down on a few nails to make it even more random. This mani was complete with a coat of HKGIRL topcoat. (The smudge on my index finger was a result of my brush slipping during clean up, not the topcoat.)

I'm really enjoying this challenge and hope that you all like what I've been coming up with the past week. Here's a collage of Week 1's manicures, which is your favorite? As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 6 - Violet Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I'll be catching up on my Day 6 & 7 nails today. I really love the way my Violet Nails turned out so let's just get to it!

Reaching for my untrieds again, I grabbed Illamasqua Jo'Mina. Jo'Mina is described as an electric lilac. She is bright, creamy, and absolutely glorious. Application was dreamy..seriously. I had no clean up to do when applying this beauty and she was completely opaque in two easy coats. Love!

I applied Cult Nails Tempest to my index, pinky, and thumb. Tempest is my most favorite white. It's a true one coater and if you do your nails often you know how hard that is to come across with white! Now that my base colors were down, it was time for nail art. 

My violet skittlette is a mix of stamping and striping tape nail art. I used striping tape and Jo'Mina to create the diagonal lunes on my pinky and stamped the rest of my nails as follows: ring finger - Pueen27, middle finger - Konad M79, index finger - Konad M78, thumb - Konad M79 (not pictured but it's the polka dot image on that plate). For the stamping I used Konad Special Stamping Polish in White & Illamasqua Jo'Mina mixed with KleanColor True Purple. I used a very old pink shimmery sheer polish by Jordana called Girls Night Out over all of my nails. My manicure was complete with a coat of HKGIRL topcoat.

I purchased a few Illamasqua polishes a few months ago and cannot wait to try the rest now that I've tried Jo'Mina and fell in love with her. I wish I could find more bottles of Girls Night Out or something similar. If you know of a dupe please please please let me know in the comments below. As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 5 - Blue Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I had some Internet issues that prevented me from posting yesterday's manicure for the challenge. Today I'm catching up on my posts and I really hope you guys enjoy the manicures I created for days 5 & 6.

The lovely people at Bettina were kind enough to send me a few polishes from this summers' Picnic Collection and I'm happy to share one of them with you today. My manicure began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 2 coats of Bettina Pond. Pond is a gorgeous shade of blue that also contains the most stunning iridescent blue shimmer. Application and formula were perfection and I   reached complete opacity in just 2 coats. 

I'm sure you've all seen the waterfall manicures The Nailasaurus has been posting lately. Giving my freehand skills another try, I decided to attempt to recreate her style of nail art. It seemed simple enough; base color, nail art striper, few other colors of polish and topcoat. 

For my tapered stripes I used Kiss Nail Art polishes in White & Soft Blue. I saved the striping brush from a broken nail art bottle and dipped it in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City for the silver stripes. My manicure was complete with 1 coat of HKGIRL topcoat. 

I feel like I should've applied a few more stripes to each of my nails but overall I really enjoyed recreating this look. It was very easy to do and is a lot of fun to look at. What do you guys think of Pond? Would you try the waterfall manicure? As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 4 - Green Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! It's Day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge and today I get to share my green manicure with you guys. If you've been following me for a while you know that green is one of my favorite colors so I was really excited for day 4. I also was excited to knock out some of my untrieds with this one. 

My mani began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 3 coats of Sally Hansen Ivy League. I've had this polish in my stash for about two years now *hangs head in shame* and have never used it. I didn't have any application issues with this polish but it was a bit on the thin side which is why I used 3 coats. It also had a few brushstrokes but that just made it perfect for nail art.

Picking up another untried, I used Sinful Colors Call You Later to create a glitter gradient. I stamped Cheeky CH7 on my accent nail and used a dotting tool with Call You Later to fill in the dots. I then went over those dots with Sinful Colors Flower Girl and topped my manicure with a coat of HKGIRL topcoat.

I'm honestly not too fond of this shade of green on me but I had a lot of fun trying new things with this manicure! This challenge is pushing me to try techniques and use colors that I haven't tried or used before and I'm really having a great time testing out my skills. As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31DC2013 Day 3 - Yellow Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today's post will be as short and sweet as possible as it's a late one. I've had some Internet issues today and finally got my pics to load as I'm getting ready to end the day. Day 3 of 31DC2013 calls for yellow nails. If you recall a few weeks ago, I was on a yellow kick so I'm happy this made it into the challenge!

My manicure began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 2 coats of Essie Marshmallow. Next I began to create a gradient using Marshmallow, Sally Hansen Buttercup & Zoya Darcy with the help of a makeup sponge. I repeated this process 3 times. 

Next I applied one coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver over my accent nail. I used Konad Special Stamping Polish in white & RuiZ03 from BornPrettyStore for the polka dots and Mash46 for the flower design on my accent nail. My manicure was topped with 1 coat of HK Girl topcoat.

I seriously am deeply in love with this manicure! I'm really happy with how my gradients have been coming out lately. I've been working so hard on those! I'd love to know what you all think of my yellow nails! Would you wear this? As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica