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

Rainbow Brite Inspired Mani (80s Baby Week)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Welcome to Day 2 of 80s Baby Mani Week on LuvMyLacquer. I hope you guys enjoyed yesterday's post and are looking forward to bringing back some great memories this week. Okay, so, how many of you remember the awesomeness that is Rainbow Brite? If you recall in yesterday's post, I mentioned that one of my Instagram followers noted a few cartoons from the 80s and this was one of them. So, ravensolovely, this one's for you!

For this mani, I created a rainbow colored franken which I appropriately named Rainbow Briiite (yes, 3 "i's" lol). I added some rainbow matte glitter and tiny holographic glitter into my base and voila!

I began my mani with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by two coats of Bettina Marshmallow. Marshmallow is an off-white or cream colored white. It's not stark white and it's not yellowish, it's perfect and I loved the way it looked on my skintone.

On every nail but my accent finger, I layered on a coat of Rainbow Briiite. I then took the brush and dabbed a few spots that seemed to be missing a litter rainbow glitter lovin'. I was surprised at how smooth this polish went on. For my accent nail, I used the stars on Cheeky image plate CH4 and a variety of polishes: Bettina Mojito (green), Bettina Secret Garden (purple), Bettina Sunrise (yellow), Bettina Vintage (blue) & WetNWild Red Red (red, obviously). I topped this manicure with a coat of Color Club's top coat.

Ooooh, you can see the tiny holographic glitters really good here!

This is such a fun mani & I already know I am going to hate taking it off! I love the colors so much and the stars are perfect. Ravensolovely, I hope I did you proud with this mani! Did you guys notice anything different about these pics? They were taken in a lightbox that I made. I usually take my pics outside in the sun but it was late at night when I did this mani and the sun was long gone. What do you think of the pictures? As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope everyone had a fantastically fun and SAFE holiday yesterday! I created an awesome patriotic mani to share with you but did not have time to edit pictures and get a post up because yesterday was spent cooking a few dishes and getting my troop ready to celebrate at my mother-in-law's bbq. So I'm sorry for the late post but I love my mani so much I wanted to share with you guys regardless of it being late.

My manicure began with a base of Milani Smoothe Base Coat. I applied two coats of Zoya Snow White to all of my nails except my ring finger. Snow White can best be described as "A pure white creme that's as clean and bright as freshly-fallen snow. The perfect French manicure shade." Next I applied one coat of Zoya Snowsicle. Snowsicle can best be described as "A sheer veil of sparkling, snowy white with iridescent glitter. Adds a glistening icy look to any color or French manicure."

Next I used Zoya polishes in Yummy & America along with Konad plate M70 for the squiggly design. I first stamped it on using America, which can best be described as "Bright, bold, medium retro tomato-red creme. This unique red screams retro pin-up girl glamour." I rotated the stamp so that the image wouldn't overlap then repeated it with Yummy, which can best be described as "Bright, cheerful light robin's egg blue in a milky creme finish. A sweet sky-blue that pops on both deep and pale skin tones. "

For my accent nail, I used Scotch tape and applied one coat of Yummy. I then put the tape over Yummy once it was dry and painted the rest of the nail in America. I used Cheeky image plates CH6 for the stripes and CH26 for the stars along with Konad Special Stamping Polish in white. I topped this manicure with one coat of Color Club's top coat.

Macro shot so that you can see the sparklies from Snowsicle =)

L-R: Snow White, Snowsicle, America, Yummy

I got lots of compliments on my mani yesterday and was even able to get the word out on the awesomeness that is Zoya Nail Polish. Speaking of, did you guys know that Zoya is now running a promo where you can get America for FREE with a $10 purchase on their website along with FREE shipping! For more info on this promo, click here. Because I already have America I'm skipping on this one but for those of you that don't have her and love reds I would definitely say get her while you can! As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

Goth Mani (Stamping Sunday Challenge Theme)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I will be sharing a mani with you that I never would have thought of doing. Today's theme for the Adventures In Stamping group on Facebook is Goth. I would normally never gravitate to a theme like this just because it isn't a genre I know much about. This is one of the reasons joining a group like this is great. It allows you to push your creative boundaries and come up with ideas you normally wouldn't think of.

Photo credit: http://www.vampirerave.com/profiles/profiles2.php?profile=bbbchick

Like I mentioned above, I know nothing about Goth so I decided to ask my good ol' friend Google! As I was searching images of what Goth looks like I noticed there were a bunch with fairies in them. I decided that the photo above would be my inspiration image for the day.

My manicure began with a base of Milani's Smoothe Base Coat followed by two coats of OPI My Private Jet. This is the not-so-awesomely-holo version of this polish. I still like it very much, though. My Private Jet is a dark brown base with scattered holographic glitter throughout it. Application and formula was very nice and so was the dry time.

Next I used my Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Purple Chrome along with Red Angel image plate RA-116 on my thumb, index, middle, and pinky fingers to stamp on a large rose image. I chose to only use about half of the rose and stamped it on the right edge of my nails.

Next I stamped on the skull which comes from MASH image plate MASH-29. I used Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Gold Chrome for the skull. Then I stamped on the fairy which was from RA-113 and I used the SHCQ pen in Pink Chrome. I gave the fairy wings which came from RA-115. The small roses under the skull come from CH14 which is a Cheeky image plate. I used the Purple Chrome for those.

I am very much pleased with how this manicure came out. I think it's Goth with a bit of a girly touch. What do you think, did I nail this one? What kind of manicure would you do for a Goth theme? As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

Autism and Love?

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a thought provoking post for you all. I had posted my contest in a nail group on facebook recently and it started a controversial issue. One of the ladies in the group mentioned that her son has Autism, too, and that she was happy I was raising awareness so that our kids' kids could have the possibility of not inheriting Autism. Another girl made a comment basically saying that an Autistic person should not reproduce because the unfortunate "truth" is that it can be genetically passed on to the child. Hmmmm.....

I thought about this without making a comment because, well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, I will voice how I feel about this subject here. Is Autism inherited genetically? Well, scientists aren't really sure and this is the reason I am bringing awareness to this disorder that has such a broad spectrum. As of right now, scientific research points to two possible factors that lead to Autism: genetics and environment. The probability of a sibling developing Autism is around 4%. Brothers of an Autistic child have an increased rate at 7%.

Having said that, I'm still left with the question: should Autistic people reproduce? Because the spectrum is so broad I think it requires alot of thought to answer this question. My son's disability is developmental and verbal. However, I DO see him being a productive member of society in his future. The statement that was made was very discriminatory to me. It was like saying blind or deaf people shouldn't reproduce because of their disabilities. Is that fair? I think not.

I began my manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster. I used two coats of Jordana White for my accent finger. The rest of my nails were water marbled with Bettina Vintage, Peppermint, & Over Dyed. I used a sponge and Vintage at the tip of my ring finger & used Over Dyed to stamp on the images of the boy and girl, which was on Cheeky plate CH29, & the hearts which were on Cheeky plate CH15.

The images I chose to use on my accent finger were meant to symbolize that everybody deserves to be loved & find love no matter what their disability is. And should they decide to reproduce and have children that should be a decision made by them, not society.

L-R Peppermint, Vintage, & Over Dyed

I really would love to hear what you all think of this subject. I am sure some of you may not share my opinion on it. I do ask that you remain respectful in your comments, however. I created this to spark some thought into my readers and to get some feedback from you. Let me know what you think below. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

Showing Love for Autism Awareness

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have an Autism Awareness post to share with you along with two new products to show you all. I was talking to a friend of mine who told me that a local store here called Valsan had nail polish called Princessa and that they were really nice colors and formulas for polishes that were 2 for $0.99. Ummm, what?! Polishes that were 2x$0.99? Surely I couldn't pass those up so I headed to the store. Sadly, my Valsan only had 4 shades of polish from this brand; sky blue, neon yellow, gunmetal grey & black. I picked up the sky blue and neon yellow polishes since I had dupes of the grey and black already in my stash.

I began my manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster. Next I applied two coats of Sky Blue. I must say, this polish is fantastic! Two coats gave me full opacity and the formula was just as good as those from my favorite well-known brands. It went on like butter. I cannot wait for my store to restock these. There were a few colors my friend showed me that I am dying to get my hands on.

As I mentioned above, I had two new products to share. The second is the new set of Cheeky stamping plates that arrived in my mailbox yesterday! I chose a design from plate CH15 which has a bunch of different hearts on it. I used my Konad Special Stamping Polish in white for my nail art today.

I really like this manicure. I wasn't at all a fan of blue but this month has made me grow really fond of them. I am really excited to try out more images from this set of Cheeky plates. My manicure shows love to those who have Autism and their families and friends. It also is my way of showing all of the ladies who have participated in my Autism Awareness Contest some love for spreading awareness through their gorgeous blue manicures. The last day to submit an entry is tomorrow, 04/27/12, so if you haven't already please try to get your entry in. Let me know what you think of this manicure Lacquer Luvers! I love hearing from you all =) As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica