Oxygen Bar Just Blue Me Away!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! As promised, I have my first Valentine's Day mani to share with you guys today. Before I get into it, I just want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you! LuvMyLacquer hit 1,000 followers this weekend and I am still over-the-moon with excitement about that! You all have been so supportive since day one and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you for joining me on my blogging journey and having me as part of this amazing community. 

Today's manicure is a little unconventional when it comes to the Valentine's Day theme. It's not your typical pink, red and white manicure but it sure is cutesy and would be great to wear on the day for lovers, don't you think? Let me share with you how I achieved this look. 

This manicure began with two coats each of Essie Play Date and Bettina 190. The formula for both of these polishes is really nice. They went on smoothly and had a high gloss finish without a topcoat. I chose these colors to play up the fabulous glitter I used, Loaded Lacquer Oxygen Bar. Oxygen Bar is described as matte neon pink, matte neon blue, metallic purple, holographic lavender and periwinkle hex and squares in multiple sizes. I love everything about this polish. The neon glitters are incredibly eye catching while the periwinkle glitter lends a softer feel and the tiny holographic glitter keeps it playful.

These stamping decals were created with Pueen43, Cult Nails Tempest, Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!, & China Glaze Gothic Lolita. I applied a coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver because..well, one could never have too much holo sparkliness, right? I sealed all of cuteness in with a coat of my favorite glossy topcoat, HKGirl, and voilà!

Do you all love this mani as much as I do? I just love the glitter in Oxygen Bar and it was a great inspiration for this look. Did you know that you have a chance of winning this polish and lots more goodies by entering my Fan Appreciation Giveaway? Are there any looks you'd like to see from me for Valentine's Day? 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

Look At This Stuff! Isn't It Neat? (Sea Lore Ariel)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! A few months ago I hosted a nail meet-up here in Miami and got to meet a group of women who shared the same passion for nail polish as we all do. We all got together and met up at a local beauty supply shop and had a fun sushi lunch. It was so nice to hang out with people who loved something so seemingly "small" to others but plays a huge role in our lives.

We held a swap at the meet and exchanged polish gifts amongst each other. There was a raffled prize as well. Jamie, the lovely maker behind Sea Lore, generously sponsored a prize for the raffle. I ended up winning it (yay!) & was so excited to unwrap this beauty. Sea Lore Ariel can be described as bright turquoise jelly with red squares, purple hexes, green glitter and green shimmer.

This manicure began with two coats of Bettina Sand Blast (light grey cream). I applied two coats of Ariel over Sand Blast on my ring and middle fingers and my thumb. This polish is so jam packed with glitter and shimmer that you barely see any of the grey underneathe, which I love! The green shimmer in this is spectacular, it really does give this polish the feel of a mermaids' scales. I then used Bettina polishes in Purple, Flame & Mojito to create a water marble that compliments the colors of Ariel. My manicure was complete with one coat of HKGirl topcoat.

I really like Sea Lore Ariel. This polish was beautifully crafted in honor of one of my absolute favorite movies from my childhood. It is whimsical, playful, and pretty... just like Ariel! Sea Lore polishes retail for $10 for full size bottles (15ml) and $5.50 for minis (7.5ml). If you could have a polish inspired by any movie what movie would you pick? What do you all think of this 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

Stamping With 3 Purples (AIS Challenge)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have yet another stamping decal manicure to share with you all, surprise surprise! I'm telling you, this method of stamping is so addicting. It has made me think of my plates in ways I would've never imagined. It's so much fun experimenting with limitless colors rather than my normal black/white stamping. 

So, some of you might have read the title of this post and are wondering what AIS is. AIS, otherwise known as Adventures in Stamping, is a nail stamping group on Facebook. Every week we vote on a theme and everyone posts their mani's on Sunday's. If you have questions about stamping or just want a place to admire everyone else's work, AIS is perfect for you! This week the challenge was to stamp using three purples. Ok, so I used more than 3 for this manicure but that's okay, right? I mean, there isn't a such thing as too much purple is there?

My mani began with 2 coats each of Zoya Heather & Monica. While that dried, I began to make my stamping decal. I used Zoya Monica along with Winstonia plate W111. The colors I used to fill in the decal are Zoya Heather & Essie's Play Date and DJ Play That Song. Once I placed the decals on my accent fingers, I applied one coat of Lacquerhead Polish Space Cadet 2.0 to the rest of my nails. Space Cadet 2.0 can be described as a deep Purple jelly full of various sizes and shapes of purple and holographic glitter. Although this polish is no longer in Lacquerhead's shop, I would recommend that you visit her site because there are plenty of other pretties to purchase or add to your wishlists. My manicure was topped with the best topcoat ever, HKGirl.

Although I love the way this manicure looks in pictures, I'm not as fond of it in real life. Everything is great except that the larger circle glitter doesn't lay as flat as I would like it to. It's a bummer but not enough for me to call this a fail. What do you all think of this manicure? Have you tried stamping decals yet? 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

Happy 50th Birthday Bettina!!!!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is a very special day, it's Bettina's 50th Birthday!!! I know that to some of us Bettina is a very new company but contrary to popular belief they have been around quite some time now. Bettina started off as M&J INC and eventually evolved into the company we have all grown to love, better known as Bettina. Today I wanted to honor and celebrate one of my all-time favorite cosmetic brands and I hope you all like the festive manicure that I came up with!

As most of you who have been with me on this blogging journey from the beginning know, I absolutely love the formula of Bettina's nail polishes. They are my go-to for water marbling. I have had nothing but amazing outcomes when using their polishes with techniques so it's no surprise I chose to slow off their fabulousness today. 

My manicure began with 2 coats of Bettina Sand Blast. Sand Blast is a gorgeous grey creme, one of my favorites in my entire collection. I then used Sand Blast, 190 (pink) & Ocean (turquoise-ish) for my water marbled design and topped it off with Orion. Bettina Orion is a sheer pink, aqua, & silver shimmer polish that can be used in 3 coats on its own or used as a shimmer topper. I created a gradient on my accent finger using Sand Blast, 190, & Ocean then applied one coat of Laquerlicious Glamorously Sassy. One that dried, I used Cult Nails Tempest and BM307 to add the cupcake and dipped the end of a toothpick into 190 & Ocean for sprinkles. My mani was complete with a coat of the best topcoat ever,  HK Girl!

I am so happy with how this festive manicure turned out! It made me realize just how much I adore this company. Their colors are all gorgeous and the formula is by far one of the best there is out there. I'm lucky enough to live in Miami where I can easily find this brand in stores but for those of you who are not here or Puerto Rico you can easily obtain Bettina nail polish and other cosmetic goodies by emailing them at rosamadistributors@gmail.com. HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY BETTINA!!! 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

I Got The Eye Of A Tiger

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope you all are doing well. I know I've been slacking here lately and I do apologize. I just have some other things consuming my time now and am trying my best to find a balance between everything going on. I do hope you guys understand and stick with me as I'm really trying my hardest to keep up with my beloved baby (I mean the blog in this case). Today I have my second Breast Cancer Awareness manicure to share with you all. I hope you like it!

My manicure is  dedicated to the ladies (and gents) who are currently fighting to overcome Breast Cancer. I was inspired by the lyrics of Katy Perry's "Roar" as they are so inspirational and words I can hear anybody who has come face to face with any challenging circumstance saying.  

I've been wanting to use my MoYou Suki Collection 1 plate since I received it in the mail and finally got to! This plate is freaking gorgeous (seriously, click on the link. It's a work of art!) and had the perfect image to go with those lyrics. For this manicure I applied 2 coats of Zoya Purity followed by 1 coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver. Once that dried I used Zoya Lana to stamp on my pink tiger. I then used Bettina 187 & Bundle Monster's BM321 image plate to add the pink ribbon hanging by the teeth of my ferocious feline. My manicure was complete with 1 coat of HK Girl topcoat for a nice glossy finish!

I am so happy that I was able to execute an idea that's been in my head since the first time I heard that song. The tiger on the MoYou Suki plate is so awesome and I'm glad I figured out how I would get the entire image onto my nails! What do you think of my nontraditional pink tiger mani? 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

My Fang-tastic Skittlette

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope you guys are all doing well and are getting ready to have a great weekend! Today I have a fun post that happens to be my first Halloween manicure of 2013 I share with you all. I hope it'll get your ideas going if you haven't thought of your Halloween mani yet.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not at all one of those girls that is into vampire movies or TV shows but when it comes to Halloween one of the first things I think of (besides the obvious pumpkins, witches, & candy corn) is Dracula and his fangs. For whatever reason, fangs have always intrigued me. I'm not sure whether it's because they're kinda scary looking or just different. In any case, I knew this year I wanted to try to replicate a fang mani that I've seen done a few times in other blogs and floating around instagram.

 

My fang-tastic skittlette began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by two coats each of the following: Zoya Chyna, Raven & Purity. I used Zoya Livingston to create the blood splatter on my middle finger. The splatter was done by dipping one end of a drinking straw into Livingston and blowing short quick puffs of air through the opposite end to blow the polish onto my nail. There's one coat of SHXW Rosey Shooter on my index finger over Raven. Rosey Shooter is a red and white glitter topper with various sizes of hex and bar glitter. 

The

fangs were created using the stamping decal method. I put some clear polish on a sandwich baggy and once it dried I stamped on the lips from Bundle Monster's BM303 stamping plate in white. I used the end of a toothpick dipped in Livingston to fill in red and used Purity to draw my fangs. Not too shabby but my hands were obviously very shakey which is why I don't freehand much. Overall, I am really happy with how this manicure turned out. What do you think? Have you thought about what will be on your tips for Halloween? 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

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. **

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

Manis For MJ

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is the King of Pop's 55th birthday and I'm joining in on a fabulous idea that my friend Tiffany came up with. Not only is Tiffany great at painting her nails, she's an amazing dancer and dance teacher and it's no wonder that she would inspire us all to do manicures inspired by one of her favorite artists. Tiff came up with the idea to do silver glitter bomb accent manicures today to represent Michael's infamous glove. How could I turn down the opportunity to 

celebrate one of music's most iconic figures with glitter?!

I threw around so many ideas until it clicked while watching "Beat It" on YouTube. I finally knew exactly what I was going to do! I just HAD to replicate that fabulous red leather jacket on my nails! I mean, besides the glove isn't that what we all think of in terms of fashion and MJ?

My manicure began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 3 coats of Bettina Flame. Of all the reds in my collection I chose Flame because it is a crelly and that tiny bit of squishy factor went so well with the patent shine on his jacket. I also really love the formula of this polish. It isn't too runny like most reds I've tried.

I imitated the zippers on Michael's jacket by using Essie No Place Like Chrome and a zipper image on Bundle Monster's BM202 stamping plate. China Glaze Glistening Snow was perfect for my silver glitter bomb accent! I used 3 coats to achieve complete oppacity and used my ultra glossy HKGirl top coat to complete my manicure.

With all the controversy surrounding Michael Jackson and his family these days, I'm so glad Tiffany made a way for us to have fun and celebrate the icon that he truly was. I hope you all are joining us and can't wait to see your silver glitter bomb accent manis! Don't forget to tag your pics #manisformj on instagram so that we can see them & follow Tiffany's blog, Tiffany's Tasteful Talons. Happy Birthday Michael Jackson!! As always, I hope you enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I like forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

The Polish Bar - Daydream

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a swatch post to share with you. I was fortunate enough to win a flash giveaway on Instagram hosted by Marisa of Polish Obsession and finally got around to swatching the beautiful prize she sent my way. I've never heard of The Polish Bar before seeing this giveaway and was really excited to try a new (to me) indie!

My manicure began with a base coat of Essie Feed Me. I applied three thin coats of Daydream. Daydream is a light pink crelly (creme/jelly) full of medium and large fuchsia, purple and blue glitter along with fine gold glitter. This polish was easy to apply and I didn't have to play with glitter placement which was nice. I do wish that it was just a tad bit more jelly than creme. Overall, I thought this was so much fun to look at! 

Daydream can be purchased on Etsy at The Polish Bar's shop (click to be directed there) & retail at $8.50 for a full size bottle. Janice offers a variety of polishes that will fulfill your wildest glitter dreams! I am really loving all that indie polish shops have to offer as of lately and cannot wait to share more with you in the upcoming weeks. 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    

I Love Dots N' Stripes!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I am so excited to share this post with you all today. I have been wanting a black and white glitter polish foreverrr and my very good friend, Sahyly of LyLy Nails, was kind enough to gift me one that I absolutely adore! I intended to layer this beauty over a neon yellow, orange, and pink gradient. However, I could not for the life of me get this gradient combination to work for me. I haven't given up on it, I WILL conquer the neon gradient some day. But for now, I decided to go with a lovely neon base color that I think works very well with my black and white glitter.

I began my manicure with a base of Milani Smoothe Base Coat. For those of you that read my blog often, this might come as a surprise since I always use Essie Grow Faster as a base. I somehow lost my beloved Essie in the midst of organizing my space and getting ready for the arrival of our daughter. I must say, though, Milani's base coat is pretty amazing and really does smooth out any imperfections or ridges in your nails.

Next I applied 2 coats of Color Club's Age of Aquarius. Age of Aquarius is a beautiful neon turquoise polish. As with all neons, this one was very hard to photograph to show it's true color. It leans more green in person. Application and formula for this polish was nice and easy. It went on very smooth. This polish doesn't dry completely matte like most other neons. It's more of a satin finish. By that I mean it's not entirely matte nor is it glossy. It's right in the middle of those two.

I wanted to give some sparkle/shimmer to my base color. I chose Oh Baby! by Pure Ice for this. Oh Baby! is really a stunner. This beauty of a polish is a cream/clear base full of duochrome shimmer that fades from blue to green then pink to purple depending on the angle. I could not get it to flash the other colors as the sun was already going down when I took these photos but, trust me, this is one polish you should not pass up if you see it in stores!

Next I applied one coat of Dots N' Stripes. Dots N' Stripes was created by SparklesbyJulie and can be found in her shop on Etsy. Dots N' Stripes contains varying sizes of hexagonal and bar glitter that are black and white and are suspended in a clear base. This polish goes on really smooth, none of the bar glitter gave me any trouble and I didn't have to dab it on like I thought I would have. This baby is also three-free!

I love this manicure so much! It is simple but has so much dimension with the shimmer topcoat and the fun glitter! I cannot wait to try Dots N' Stripes over other polishes in my collection as I'm sure she will definitely be making a reappearance on my blog soon. What is your favorite black and white glitter out right now? Is this something you would try? What colors do you think this would look best layered over? I can't wait to read your suggestions! 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

On trend with Zoya neons and animal print!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Before I even begin, I just wanna say I LOOOVE my nails today! The pictures really do speak for themselves but of course I will share with you all how this look was achieved.

My manicure began with a base of Essie Grow Faster. I alternated two polish colors on all of my nails. I used two coats for each of these colors. Zoya Lolly is part of their 2011 Mod Matte Nail Polish Collection and can be described as: Bold, saturated medium magenta pink cream with a velvety matte finish.  A very colorful new matte style for perfect stand-out Barbie pink nails. Zoya Jancyn is part of their 2010 Flash collection and can be described as: Not neon but bold, not pastel but soft - this is the perfect tangerine shade. Okay, okay..so Zoya says that Jancyn isn't neon but it's still bright and in your face enough that I can put her in that category, right? =)

Once my polish dried, I applied matching color glitter to my nails. I did this one nail at a time and used FantaSea Cosmetics Nail Glitter in orange and pink (the sticker on the bottom of my pink jar fell off). A coat of Color Club top coat was applied first, then I used a false nail tip as a scoop for the glitter. I sprinkled it onto the wet clear polish and tapped off the excess.

After that set, it was time for me to get funky! But first I had to add 3 coats (I know, I know - sooo time consuming but totally worth it) of the Color Club top coat to smooth out my surface because stamping won't work on loose glitter. So, once my 3 coats dried, I got out my Konad M78 image plate and Special Stamping Polish in black and put this awesome zebra/leopard design on my nails. This manicure was topped off with a coat of Color Club's top coat.

As I've already said, I LOOOVE this mani! It is so summery and fun and was perfect for today since it was 88 degrees here and I had a blast at the park with my son. The only thing I didn't like about this was how time consuming it was with trying to get a smooth surface before stamping. I definitely need to get to Sally's and pick up a bottle of Gelous which I'm sure will cut down the time. Please, let me know what you think of this mani 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

Palette Cleanser

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I've missed you guys so much! This past week has been rough for me. I've been dealing with extremely swollen gums and have not been able to function. I handle pain really well but when it comes to my mouth I just can't bare with it. Anyway, today is a post of a manicure that I created a few days ago but haven't gotten around to posting it. After all of the blue manicures I did last month for Autism Awareness, I wanted to do something neutral to cleanse my palette. Of course it had to be jazzed up a bit, too. Let's get on to the mani, shall we?

My manicure began with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by 3 coats of China Glaze II. This is the polish I would call my "gateway drug." It's the one that got me hooked into this beautiful world known as the nail community. From China Glaze's 2007 X Collection, this lovely is a neutral/nude that has peach and gold shimmer throughout it which compliments warm and dark skin tones very nicely. The sun wasn't out to play when I took these pics so you can't really see the shimmer, but believe me, it's there and it's gorgeous!

Next I applied one coat of Jewelry Heist by Spoiled. The Spoiled polishes can be found at CVS and are a line by WetNWild. These lovelies retail for $1.99 and have a variety of colors that range from neons, to shimmers, to beautiful glitters. Jewelry Heist is a glitter polish with large gold & rose gold hex glitter, medium silver hex glitter, and small square iridescent flakes that flash blue, pink, yellow, and green suspended in a clear base. It is most definitely a unique combo of glitters and one that I adore!

please ignore the tip of my middle finger, I bumped it grabbing my camera..

To make this mani even more interesting, I went and gave it a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love. This topcoat mattifies any polish and gives your nails a completely different look. Ah, after all of those blue mani's this one was definitely a nice change for me. I really love the base color, glitter, and matte top coat. What do you all think of this manicure? Do you like Jewelry Heist or any of the Spoiled polishes? How do you feel about matte top coats? 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