Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 7

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I surely did! We were lucky enough to be kid free this weekend and enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner on Saturday & on Sunday we had a great picnic lunch at the beach. It was very much needed and we really had a lovely time. Yesterday I had an appointment at the OB to check-up on Gabby & everything went really well. I'm excited to get back to blogging, though, especially with today's theme of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge which is: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice - That's what little girl's are made of! Show us your sweet (or spicy) inspired nails.

I decided to do a sweeeeeet manicure inspired by those HUGE rainbow swirl lollipops that you can find at State Fairs & specialty candy shops. To my surprise, I was able to find one of these right up the street at Family Dollar! Originally, I was going to stamp on this swirly lollipop image using a plate that has this image, BM02. However, I decided to try to water marble this pattern & am really happy with the results.

I began my manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster. I then began to create my bullseye in the water using the following colors by Bettina: Matte, Yellow, Sherbet, Pink Bikini, Mojito, & Over Dyed. I took my toothpick and swirled a pattern into these colors and voila! I topped this manicure off with a  coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat. Here's a link to the video where the lovely Colette of My Simple Little Pleasures shows you how to create this pattern.

L-R Matte, Yellow, Sherbet, Pink Bikini, Mojito, Over Dyed

I realllllllly LOVE this mani! It looks amazing with the huge swirl lollipop & is so much fun to look at. I want to try this swirly pattern again soon with colors that are a bit softer, like pastels. What do you think loves? Does this manicure remind you of any childhood memories and all things sweet? It surely did for me! To see more sweet or spicy inspired manicures, check out these blog posts of the other girls participating in this challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Rock N Polish

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

I would love to hear what you think of my manicure so please let me know in the comments below luvs. 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

Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 6

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Welcome to Day 6 of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge. This challenge was created by Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog & has been so much fun! I can't believe next week it will be over but it really has been great getting to come up with these manicures for you all and seeing the awesome creations of the other ladies taking part in this challenge.

The theme for Day 6 of the challenge is - "Who Inspires you? Show some love to your favorite female role model by creating gorgeous nails in their honor." Honestly, I thought of famous role models like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Maria Shriver to name a few who I could honor with a manicure. I thought and thought and felt that there was someone who influenced me personally so much more than any other person, famous or not. That person is my son's teacher, Mrs. Fils-Aime.

For those of you who don't know, my son Tyus, has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and we have been so fortunate to be able to get aid through the city and put him in schools that have helped him overcome so many obstacles. My family is ever-so-grateful that there are teachers like Ms. Fils-Aime who are so dedicated to helping children with special needs. It takes someone with a big heart and tons of patience to do what she does and we are sincerely appreciative of her daily efforts to improve the lives of the children in her classroom.

I began my manicure today with a base of Essie Grow Faster. Next I applied two coats of Bettina Matte on my pinky, one coat of OPI Samoan Sand on my ring finger, two coats of Bettina Peppermint on my ring finger, and two coats of ORLY Lucky Duck on my index finger.

Then I took my Kiss Nail Art stripers in blue and  red to create the look of notebook paper on my pinky finger. I used Scotch tape and E.L.F. Chocolate to create a desk and my red nail art striper and plate M66 from BornPrettyStore to put a apple on the desk for my ring finger. I used Scotch tape and Sally Hansen Blue It for the Autism puzzle pieces, which represent the ambiguity and mystery around the causes and understanding of Autism. I used my Kiss Nail Art striper in yellow to create a math problem on a chalkboard, something that Tyus is currently learning at school. My manicure was topped off with a coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat.

L-R Kiss Nail Art Stripers in blue, yellow, red, SHXW Blue It, Bettina Peppermint, OPI Samoan Sand, Bettina Matte, ORLY Lucky Duck, E.L.F. Chocolate

I feel that even though this may not be my "prettiest" manicure, it is most certainly the most meaningful one I have ever created. I would like to say that this manicure is not only a dedication to Ms. Fils-Aime, but it's also in honor of the many teachers who work with special needs children daily. You are so very special and influential to the lives of our children. Thank you for helping them to improve academically and nurturing our children with love. You are our hero's and I hope that this manicure shows how much of a role model and influence you are on us. To see more role model inspired manicures, check out these blog posts of the other girls participating in this challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Rock N Polish

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

I would love to hear who inspires you all so please let me know in the comments below luvs. 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

Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 4

Hello Lacquer Luvers and welcome to my Day 4 post of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge. I am super excited about this post. Day 4's challenge is - "Inspired by the Runway: What is your favorite trend this season? Show us your stylish mani!" I've never been much of a "fashionista" but I had so much fun  searching for different trends & coming up with a manicure for this challenge.

One of the hottest trends this Spring is color-blocking & pastels. I've personally seen color-blocking everywhere from clothes to shoes and pastels seem to be a must-have in our closets this season. Upon searching for inspiration, I came across this website with a photo from Prada's Spring/Summer 2012 collection that was shown in Milan:

Photo credit: http://myp3r.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/loving-pradas-springsummer-2012-pastels-and-pleating/

I fell in love with the dress farthest on the right. It's so chic & stylish and I could definitely see someone wearing this walking around South Beach or for lunch and shopping on Ft. Lauderdale's Las Olas Boulevard. Now, on to my right-off-the-runway inspired manicure.

My manicure began with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by 2 coats each of new color from WetNWild. These colors, from the Megalast line, are Club Havana (an orange/coral creme) & I Need a Refresh-Mint (turquoise-y seafoam green creme). Both application and formula were very nice with these. The new Megalast line has revamped their bottles and brushes. The bottles went from short and round to a longer square shape which are much prettier, to me. The brushes are now tapered and wide which is great and makes for easy application.

Once the base colors dried, I took Scotch tape and placed it on my nails diagonally. Next I went with the opposite shade of the base colors and painted over it to create a two-toned look.

After that dried, I took another piece of Scotch tape and put it on my nails diagonally. I used WetNWild Fastdry in Ebony Hates Chris. This created a triangle effect. I topped this manicure off with a coat of Essie Good To Go.

Excuse the boo-boo on my ring finger. I was in a rush to get this done and the black polish wasn't completely dried and dragged a bit. Other than that tiny mistake I absolutely looove this look!! I really like these colors together and the color-blocking style that the tape helped me to create. What's even more awesome about this manicure is that all of the polishes I used are $1.99 and can be found in drugstores! So for $5.97 (plus tax) you can create a chic and stylish manicure inspired by your favorite high-end designer. What do you think of this mani luvs? To see some more manicures inspired by the runway, check out these blog posts of the other girls participating in this challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Rock N Polish

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post (which will be today!) with you, xo!

~Jessica

Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 3

Hello Lacquer Luvers & welcome to my Day 3 post for the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge. I realize that I promised to have this post up yesterday but I spent the day with my mother-in-law doing some shopping for Baby Gabby & making dinner. I had a really good time and it was nice to get out of the house all day. Day 3 of the challenge calls for "Delicate and Elegant: Adorn yourself with a lovely pattern, color, or technique."

For my mani today, I thought that nothing is more delicate than lace and nothing is more elegant that gold. I began this manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by one coat of ORLY Luxe. This is my go-to gold polish since it's a beautiful foil and completely opaque in one coat (also works great for stamping). Next I used my Konad Special Stamping Polish in black and BM21 to stamp on a lace-like image. I finished this manicure with a coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat.

Pretty, right?

I love this mani! It kind of reminds me of wallpaper but it's lacey, right? What do you think of this mani luvs? To see some more delicate and elegant nails, check out these blog posts of the other girls partaking in this challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Rock N Polish

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

Again, I would like to thank Lindsey for coming up with this challenge, it is really a lot of fun =) As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post (which will be today!) with you, xo!

~Jessica

Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 2

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today's post is part of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge. I have fallen a bit behind in the past week but will be catching up this week. Today I have last Thursday's post, tomorrow I will have Day's 3 & 4 for you all. So, last Thursday's challenge was Gimme That Bling: Diamonds are a girl's best friend, so put some sparkle on those nails!

I immediately began singing Rihanna's song, We Found Love, upon reading the word diamonds. You know, "yellow diamonds in the night..". That was the inspiration for my blingy mani today. (Yes, I am aware that the yellow diamonds in this song are a reference to an illegal substance but I could not help myself and still thought of a sweet mani for this theme based off of that.)

I began my manicure today with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by one coat of WetNWild's Ebony Hates Chris & an accent nail using two coats of Bettina Yellow on my ring finger.

Next I applied Color Club top coat to use as an adhesive for my "yellow diamonds." I applied them using a toothpick dipped in a tiny bit of clear polish.

I then used Scotch tape & Ebony Hates Chris to create a black funky french on my accent nail. Next I stamped on a black diamond using my Konad Special Stamping Polish in black and the diamond image from Bundle Monster's BM09 plate. I didn't put topcoat on the nails with the rhinestones but I did use Essie Good To Go on my accent finger to finish off this mani.

How's that for a sparkling manicure? I am really happy with the way this turned out. I have this song stuck in my head again as I type this and I'm sure some of you will, too! What do you think of this mani luvs? To see some more blinged out nails, check out these blog posts of the other girls partaking in this challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Lacquer Lover

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post (which will be today!) with you, xo!

~Jessica

Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 1

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is the first day of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge! This challenge was created by Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog and was designed to last a month (4 weeks) with 2 challenges per week (Tues & Thurs). I am so excited to do this challenge and join the other bloggers who are participating. Let's get on to my Day 1 nails, shall we?

Today's challenge is Think Pink: wear your favorite pink polish and nail art. For my favorite pink, I chose Zoya Barbie. Barbie can best be described as: "Soft, warm medium baby pink with very subtle hot pink shimmer. An adorable girly shade to accent any outfit."

I began my manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster. Next I applied 3 coats of Zoya Barbie. The formula and application for Barbie was, as with all Zoya polishes, amazing! Though it was a little sheer, I didn't mind applying the 3 coats that were needed to reach full opacity.

It is no secret that my one of favorite types of nail art is stamping. I chose to use my absolute favorite designs which comes from BornPrettyStore's M72 image plate. I stamped on the design using Konad Special Stamping Polish in black then topped this manicure with Essie's Good To Go top coat.

I really like how this manicure turned out. I love this pink and I love these flowers! I would like to thank Lindsey for the open invitation to join her and the other ladies doing this challenge over the next month. Please go and take a look at what they have in store for today's challenge:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of Polish Enthusiast

Jodi of Captivating Claws

Danielle of Lacquer Lover

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora Of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Tressa of O' Natur Nail

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