31DC2O13: Day 2 - Orange Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is Day 2 of the 31 Day Challenge. I had so many ideas for orange nails but one kept speaking to me. I wanted to do orange creamsicle nails. However, my freehand skills are terrible so I had to improvise.

The only way I would be able to pull these off was to water marble my design. I thought about how pretty of a design a  creamsicle could make if it melted. With my idea fresh in my head and my naked nails screaming to come alive with color, I headed to my stash to pick out polishes that would be just right for my manicure. 

I started off with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by 2 coats of Bettina Sherbet. Sherbet is an orange cream from their Candy collection and was applied in two easy coats. I used Sherbet and Essie Marshmallow for the water marble design and topped it all off with a coat of HK Girl topcoat. 

I love how Marshmallow is so sheer the mani stayed mostly orange throughout. I  would love to hear what you think about my water marbled design so please leave a comment below Lacquer Luvers! Don't forget to tag your pics #31DC2013 on instagram so that we can all see. As always, I hope you enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

31 Day Challenge 2013: Day 1 - Red Nails

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is Day 1 of The 31 Day Challenge! For those of you who have never heard of it, this challenge started 3 years ago and takes place every September. A few days ago I saw Cristina of LTHP post the following image and I was so excited to finally have the time and chance to join her, chalkboardnails, thesammersaurus (thenailasaurus), and so many amazing nail bloggers and artists for an entire month of nail art awesomeness. 

So Day 1 of the challenge calls for red nails. I decided to go with a striping tape design inspired by a manicure done by @mcpolish on instagram. She did a simple yet chic striping tape manicure over her nude nails using a black polish. I switched up the pattern of the striping tape and went with a red polish (of course).

For this manicure I didn't apply a basecoat. I cut pieces of striping tape and placed them on my nails, keeping the same patterns on my pinky, index, and thumb & creating another pattern on my ring and middle fingers. I applied one coat of Zoya Livingston over the tape and removed it while the polish was still wet to reveal the pattern. This manicure was complete with a coat of HKGirl topcoat. 

I really love the way this manicure turned out! Next time I will use a nude polish as my base just so that the color change between my nail bed and free edge isn't so apparent. I'd love to hear what you think of this manicure and if you plan to join this challenge please leave a comment below with your blog link so that I can check out your red nails! 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

Zoya Cashmeres For Fall 2013

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I have some swatch photos and a review today of the Zoya Cashmeres Collection. This collection consists of 6 color saturated creams that are sure to be a perfect fit to your fall wardrobe. 

First up is Flynn. Flynn is described as a lush camel brown nude cream. This is indeed a gorgeous nude for my skintone. It would be such a great base for nail art as well. Sadly, the formula was a bit thin and runny which led to cuticle flooding. Here she is in 3 coats to reach complete opacity.

Next is Louise, which is described as rich chocolate brown cream - color you can just dive into. And dive into it you will! This brown is seriously close to looking like melted chocolate on your nails. I'm sure we all agree it gets no better than chocolate and nail polish, right? This is two easy coats. Yum!

Hunter is described best as a dark sea green cream. The formula on this one was fantastic and it only took 2 coats to be completely opaque. Of all the greens in my collection (& you all know I have plenty!) I don't think I have another one that is quite this shade. Such a gorgeous green!

Next in line we have Sailor. Sailor is described as a classic dark navy. If carefully applied you could probably get away with one coat when it comes to Sailor but I used two for photo purposes. I instantly fell in love with this beauty! I normally don't gravitate to dark shades but I love that this navy made my fingers appear a bit longer.

Zoya Pepper is described as a brick red cream and was originally designed for Peter Som's autumn/winter 2013 collection. Pepper is a shade that I would never pick up if I were in a store. After applying two easy coats I was completely head over heels for this color! It is right in between red and brown and is looks absolutely divine on the nail. 

Last but not least, here is Zoya Livingston. If you are a red lover you are in luck because this one is truly haute! She is described as a lush autumn red. Livingston has a great formula and only needed two coats to reach complete opacity. 

Overall, I would have to say the Zoya Cashmeres Collections is a well put together group of colors. Although none of them are overly unique, they are indeed perfect for fall and will be nice accompanied by your favorite comfy sweater. With the exception of Flynn, the formulas were all nice and really color saturated. My favorites are Louise, Sailor & Pepper. The Cashmeres Collection can be purchased at Zoya.com and retail for $8 each or $48 for the set. Which of these will you be picking up? 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 COLLECTION WAS SENT TO ME FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. ***

Nailing The Look With Zoya PixieDusts!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today's post features some nail art looks using the Zoya PixieDust Collection for Fall 2013. I have two manicures to share with you guys that show off the gorgeous colors that make up this stunning collection. 

The first manicure I have for you was created using striping tape. I used 2 coats of Tomoko for my base color and put a piece of striping tape on it diagonally once it was completely dry. One coat of Arabella went on then another piece of striping tape and a coat of Carter.

As you can imagine, the striping tape was a little tricky to get down on top of the textured polish. Some parts of it lifted a tiny bit which left my lines not as clean as I would like. I didn't mind that at all because this manicure was just so sparkly it was hard to keep my eyes off it! The drying time of this formula is a huge plus as well. The wait time to apply the striping tape was about 12 minutes between coats.

My next PixieDust nail art manicure features the gorgeous Dhara as my base color. I adore this orange polish so much! The golden sparkles in it are stunning and this shade of orange is very fall, it reminds me of pumpkins. 

I went with a "classic" stamping image over Dhara. The zebra/tiger design on Konad's M57 plate will never get old to me. This look was achieved using M57 & Konad Special Stamping polish in black. 

I hope you guys can see how versatile these textured polishes are. I would've never thought that you could stamp over them since they don't have a smooth surface. Pretty neat, huh? Zoya PixieDust polishes retail at $9 per bottle and are available at zoya.com. As always, I hope you 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

Name That Franken!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! In my last post I asked you guys to guess the three colors I used for my franken polish. You all came sooo close to getting the three colors I used right, most of you were just one polish off! The polishes I used were Lush Lacquer Clowning Around, Maybelline Clearly Spotted & Orly Prisma Gloss Silver. I still want to giveaway my prize so let's play a game, Name That Franken! Leave a comment below with your name suggestion and I'll pick my favorite and send you a prize!  Don't forget to include your email address and that you have to be a follower via GFC for your entry to be valid. Good luck! 

 

I Freakin' Frankened!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Last night I saw a post on Instagram by GlamorousLacquer. She posted her Walgreens haul and I spotted a black and white glitter by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I was talking to friends and we were saying that it was pretty cool that mainstream brands are coming out with polishes that have an indie vibe. I noted that this was the third black and white glitter I recall seeing (Hard Candy & Maybelline have one, too). So I got to thinking...I wish they threw some variety in there so that there wouldn't be so many dupes. That set off a lightbulb and I immediately decanted a mini bottle and started to franken!

So I don't know about you guys but I've seen sooo many gorgeous neon glitters on the indie scene lately. I thought to myself, "self, wouldn't black, white, and neon be a stunning combo?" As I'm mixing and shaking I thought that some tiny holo sparkles would really complete my vision so I threw some of that in the mix.

Completely in awe of my franken in the bottle, I didn't hesitate to see what it looked like on my nails! I tried it over a nude base first. Above you'll see two coats of my franken over OPI Samoan Sand and topped with a coat of HKGirl topcoat.

I knew last night that I wanted to try this baby over purple. My friend, Tam, mentioned that grey is a great base for so many glitter toppers so I wanted to try that as well. Oh my, my, my! I can't stop staring at how beautiful this topper is over Zoya's Perrie & Harley!

You might have noticed that I didn't mention what polishes I used for this franken. If you can name the three polishes I used I will send you a secret prize! If more than one person correctly guesses the polishes I will use a random generator to pick the winner. To enter, simply leave a comment below with your guess along with your email address so that I can contact you if you win. You must be a following me via GFC for your entry to be valid. This mini contest will end Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at midnight EST. 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