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

Phone Case Inspired Manicure

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope you all are having a fantastic week thus far. Today I have a pretty cool mani to share with you all. Last week I received a new phone in the mail after having to replace my old one. We got a new puppy a few months ago and let's just say she thought that my phone was her chew toy. Bad Cookie (our puppy's name)! So I got to upgrade my Samsung Dart to a Samsung Galaxy S Blaze. I love my new phone! We took a trip to the mall and I picked up a pretty case for it and it is the inspiration for my manicure today.

Isn't that cute?! I love the colors and the design of my new case. I have caught myself staring at it a couple times this week and thought that it would be a really awesome design to have on my nails. I got around to trying it today, so let's get to the mani, shall we?

For this manicure, I began with a base of Essie Grow Faster. I used 2 coats of Bettina Secret Garden as the base color for this manicure. Secret Garden is a gorgeous berry toned purple that looks amazing on warm skin tones. The application and formula for this creme is flawless.

I then got out all of my stamping plates and narrowed down three images that would help me translate the case to my nails. First I used Red Angel image plate RA-116 and Bettina Giacinto to stamp on the leaves. Giacinto is a gorgeous pink creme with purple undertones and is part of Bettina's new Flori Collection. Next I stamped on a couple of the same leaf images from RA-116 using Konad Special Stamping Polish in white on my nails. I then used the white special polish and RA-115 to stamp on a few scroll-looking images and my BM06 plate by Bundle Monster was used for the flowers. I completed this mani with a coat of Good To Go topcoat by Essie.

I am seriously loving this manicure! I think it goes really well with my phone case and the colors are all gorgeous. Sometimes I look at my stash of plates and wonder why I have so many. When you can mix and match them and be able to come up with something like this it all makes sense to have such a great variety. Have you ever tried to replicate your phone case on your nails? I would love to know what you think of this manicure so please leave a comment 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

Birthday Cake Inspired Mani

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I would love to send out a huge hug to you all for your sweet birthday wishes yesterday. It made me smile to read all of your lovely comments and I love that I got to share something special from my day with you. I am still so shocked and amazed at the Bettina Birthday Cake my husband got me for my birthday yesterday. So much so that I wanted to translate the custom color, which he created and appropriately named Birthday Girl, to my nails (well try to, at least).

Above is a piece of fondant from the cake (which cracked as I lifted it, oops!). It is a bit more purple than what my camera shows. I love that he gave the color some flair by adding iridescent glitter/sparkles to it. I took the picture half in the sun, half in the shade in an attempt to show you guys how it glistens. Isn't it pretty?! He told me that he took my bottle of Bettina Grape when he met with the designer. When she asked if that was the color he wanted the cake to be he said he wanted it to be a little more purple since Grape is a blue based and he wanted it to be more of my favorite color.

I began my manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by two coats of Bettina Grape. I layered a coat of an unnamed color by L.A. Colors. It is a clear base full of iridescent glitter. Once that dried, I stamped on the large heart design using Konad Special Stamping Polish in white and Red Angel image plate RA-110. Next I used plate M66 from BornPrettyStore to stamp on the word "love" and the random hearts. I decided on this design for the accent finger to symbolize how much I loved the cake! This manicure was topped off with a coat of Good To Go by Essie.

I seriously love this mani! Although my base color isn't the same as the custom color he created, it's pretty close. What do you all think of this manicure? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments 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

Zoya Areej & Lael Floral Mani

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a floral mani to share with you all featuring two gorgeous shades from Zoya. I also get to show you guys my first mani done with Red Angel stamping plates. Yes, I know, I used a RA plate in my Easter mani but I did this one before I got sick and am just getting around to posting it. So let's get to it!

I began this manicure with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by two coats of Zoya Areej. Areej can be best described as: "Soft, muted cool fuchsia pink with an opaque cream finish. A pink for when you want a bold pop of color but not something neon-bright." Although this color is more suited for cool skintones, I love the way it looks on me! This lovely comes from Zoya's Summertime Collection and the formula and application is superb. Not surprising, though, right? Zoya's formula for their polishes are always perfection!

For nail art, I stamped on a floral design from Red Angel image plate RA-119 using Zoya Lael. Lael can best be described as: "A deep, saturated red-toned plum purple with a shiny creme finish. A rich grape shade for fall glamour." I really liked how this color stamped, although it didn't come out perfect. The two shades went nicely together. I added a funky french tip using Lael & Scotch tape and finished this manicure with a coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat.

So what do you think of this manicure my dear lacquer luvers? How do you like these two shades together? I'm very excited to get to try out the rest of the images from the RA plates. There are alot of gorgeous designs that I am dying to use throughout the rest of the year. 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 Easter!

Hello Lacquer Luvers & Happy Easter! I have not been feeling well at all the past week. I caught a cold from my son and have had the sniffles and a very sore throat accompanied with sinus headaches. It's hard enough having to cope with a sick child in the house but when I'm sick, too, things get really rough. We are both feeling a little better today, however, and I've decided to go ahead and create an Easter mani for my lovely readers.

I began my manicure today with a base of Essie Grow Faster. I painted my accent nail two coats of Bettina Yellow. I used Scotch tape (and scissors) and Bettina Matte to make an eggshell on my accent finger. The face for my hatching chick was done with Konad Special Stamping Polish in black and Red Angel image plate RA-117. This plate has a bunch of funny faces. I just used a toothpick to erase everything but the eyes and stamped it on my nails. I took the end of a toothpick and dipped it in Bettina Sherbet for the beak of my chick.

My water marbled nails began with one coat of my base color, Bettina Matte. I then used Bettina Sherbet, Yellow, & Grape to create the design in the water. This manicure was topped off with a coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat.

L-R: Matte, Yellow, Sherbet, Grape

I really enjoyed creating this manicure today. It was really nice to get back into the swing of things. I love how all the colors pop in my marble & the hatching chick is so adorable to me. By the way, I got the idea of the hatching chick after doing a search for Easter nail ideas and came across this blog, The Little Canvas. I would love to know what you all think of my mani so please leave a comment 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