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

My Big Fan Appreciation Giveaway!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I have had a little something special in the works for you guys for a little while now and it's finally time to reveal it! Since I started this blogging journey back in 2011 you all have shown me nothing but love and it's time for me to show you how appreciative I am of that.

As a thank you, I'd like to #sharethelove (Hi, Facebook luvs!) of nail polish with you wonderful Lacquer Luvers. This prize pack includes a variety of polishes in different finishes. I've included creams, glitters, holos, textures, and shimmer polishes, a glossy and matte topcoat, a luxurious hand scrub and a pair of pedicure socks to pamper yourself with! In no particular order, here's what one lucky winner will receive:

-Pedi-Sox California Weight
-True Blue Spa Shea Cashmere Hand Scrub
-Loaded Lacquer Oxyen Bar & Fluffy Macaroons,
-Liquid Sky Lacquer Hot Cocoa With Whip & Twilight -   Peacock
-Nubar Absolute & Treasure
-Cácee Olivia & Vanna
-Bettina Peppermint & Cerise
-Jordana Texture White Diamonds & Wild Shore
-Nubar Diamont and China Glaze Matte Magic

I would like to thank Liquid Sky Lacquer and Pedi-Sox for sponsoring gifts for this giveaway. The only mandatory entries to qualify you to win this prize pack are that you follow this blog and leave me your email so that I may contact you if you win. This giveaway is open internationally to anyone over the age of 18. Good luck to you all and from the bottom of my lacquer luvin' heart, THANK YOU! ♡

~Jessica


**This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Facebook. Thank you again to Original Pedi-Sox & Liquid Sky Lacquer for partially sponsoring this awesomeness!**




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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

Birds At Sunset (Messy Mansion MM14 Plate Review)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I'm back with another Messy Mansion stamping plate review for you today. This time I'm using MM14, otherwise known as "the bird plate." As you can see in the photo below, this stamping plate is full of bird, cage, and feather images that are all very cool!

I really love the birds on the wire image in the middle of the plate and decided to test it out for this review. I searched Google images and found this picture of birds on a wire at sunset. I was so inspired by it and got excited at the idea of turning my tiny canvases into a replica of this gorgeous photo. 

This manicure began with my base colors, 2 coats of Zoya Pixie Dust Beatrix & 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest. I then got out an army of Zoya colors: Darcy, America, Micky, Yummy, Perrie & Lael. I used the tips of makeup sponges to create the look of the sky. Various colors were layered over one another to create a nice blend.

Once my colorful sunset was dry, I used Konad Special Stamping Polish in black to pick up the image onto my stamper. Working very quickly, I used the end of a toothpick to scrape off some of the image. This left me with two wires instead of seven and I quickly stamped them onto my nails. Part of the wire didn't transfer over (this was user error from me taking longer than I should've to get the image on my nail) so I just used a striper brush to fill that in. This manicure was complete with a coat of HKGirl topcoat.

 

Messy Mansion plate MM14 is spectacular! I'm really happy to have this one in my collection because the images are all great and generously sized to fit anyone's nails. These plates retail at $7 and can be purchased at http://www.messymansion.com.au/. Make sure to check out the other plates on Messy Mansion's site as I'm sure you'll find many that would be great additions to your stamping collections! 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

Totally Tribal (Messy Mansion Plate Review)

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I have another stamping decal manicure to share with you all today. I have gotten so many compliments from you all on the last few that I've done (thank you! ♡) and I'm glad that you like these as much as I do. This method of stamping is one that I wish I would have learned a long time ago. It makes placement near perfect and if you ever tried stamping I'm sure you can agree what a nightmare that is sometimes. 

I was lucky enough to receive a review package from Messy Mansion which included the plate above. Messy Mansion is an indie plate company based in Australia. Their plates are beautifully etched and each have unique designs. The first plate I'm reviewing, MM12, has a variety of chevron and heart designs on it. There's also a tribal-ish print that caught my eye immediately and it's the design I'll share with you all today.

This manicure began with 2 different base colors. I used 1 coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism and 2 coats of Bettina Marshmallow on my accent nails. I applied a coat of Spoiled Ants In My Pants over Black Expressionism then got started on my stamping decals.

 

To start the decals, I applied polish (Black Expressionism) to the image on MM12 and scraped off the excess polish. I picked the image up with my stamper and allowed it to dry. I then used a toothpick and dipped it in polish (Bettina Sunrise, Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, Zoya America) and filled in some of the spaces. I covered the entire image with top coat and waited for it to dry. After it was dry, I applied the decal and completed this manicure with a coat of HKGirl topcoat.

I love this tribal print on Messy Mansion's MM12 plate! This plate is beautifully etched and the images are large. Messy Mansion plates measure in at 7cm so if you have longer/wider nails I would say it's safe to assume these would be a pleasure for you! The MM series of stamping plates retail for $7 & can be purchased here. Have you tried the stamping decal method yet? What do you 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

**This product was sent to me for my honest review. **

Aztec Leggings Inspired Mani

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope you all are doing well. I've been keeping busy with the help of my toddler (whew, how do they move so fast?!) but took some time out for myself last night and created a look that I've been wanting to try for some time now. I was inspired by my Aztec print leggings and came up with a trendy look that you'll be able to create as well!

I got these leggings from Ashley Stewart on cyber Monday and just love them! The color palette is so bright and fun and was right up my alley for what I love in nail art. I went through my stash and tried to pair the perfect shades of polish to my leggings and got busy! Here's what I ended up with:

Ok, seriously...this has got to be my favorite mani of all time! The colors and the print came out better than I could have ever expected. But, if you know me, you know that there is no way I freehanded this gorgeously intricate design onto my nails. 

This manicure started off a little backwards for me. I usually paint my nails then do art but this time around I did the opposite. I started by creating the stamping decal that you see in the pictorial above. Here are the steps to creating stamping decals:

1. Allow design to dry on rubber stamper (This image is from Pueen10 & is stamped with Finger Paints Black Expressionism).

2. Using a toothpick and your choice of colored polish, start filling in the empty spaces.

3. Continue filling in the spaces with your choice of colors. 

4. Once you have completely filled in the image, apply your favorite topcoat over it. Make sure you go a little off the edges so that you can pick it up off the stamper. 

5. After the topcoat is completely dry (I waited 20 minutes just to be sure), carefully pick up your image with tweezers and place it over your nail. I had Cult Tempest as my base to make the colors really pop! I used my clean up brush dipped in acetone to get rid of the excess decal on my finger and topped it with HKGirl topcoat to seal it all in.

My manicure began with one coat of Cult Nails Tempest and 3 coats of Essie Tart Deco. Tart Deco is a fabulous coral creme. The formula is nice and creamy which made application easy. After I topped that with HKGirl I used my studs from BornPrettyStore to add more dimension to this look. The other polishes used in this manicure are Bettina Sunrise, Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, & Nina Pro Cobalt.

The stamping decal technique is really the only way I could have ever achieved a look like this. I am so thankful to have found this trick and plan to get better at it this year. What do you all think of this look? Have you tried stamping decals? 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'm Naturel-ly Gilty!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I'm sure most of you have seen the Zoya Naturel Collection and it's beautiful nude and rosy tones in all its glory by now. This collection will easily become your favorite if you are drawn to these colors as they can be worn year round and compliment virtually every skin tone. The Naturel Collection consists of 6 creamy simple shades that are perfect for the girl who thinks less is so much more!

So much for me thinking less is more because I'm definitely the girl that just NEEDS nail art in her life. Although I absolutely adored how Chantal looked on me,  I was itching to oomph her up just a bit. I think what I've created here is a look that might still be very wearable to work. Maybe?

My manicure began with 3 coats of Zoya Chantal. Zoya describes Chantal as a delicious full-coverage, French Vanilla cream. And delicious she is! This polish applied so nicely and the formula was buttery smooth. I then used a makeup sponge along with Chantal, Brigette & Odette to create a gradient. I repeated this process 3 times, making sure each coat was dry before doing the next. I used 2 coats of Zoya Gilty over the gradients and on my accent finger for some glitz. The rose stamping decal on my ring finger was created using Brigette & Odette + RA110 (Red Angel) stamping plate. HKGirl  completed this beautiful look.

The finished look of this manicure has a sort of vintage/antique vibe going on. This is so different than any other look I've ever created, and I must say, it tickles my fancy quite a bit! I love how well these colors play together. Gilty lends this otherwise monotone manicure a bit of glamour and I just love that! The Zoya Naturel Collection is available for purchase on Zoya's website and retails at $9 per bottle or $54 for the entire collection.  However, you can find out how to purchase 3 FREE Zoya nail polishes for $12 (just pay shipping) by reading the details of their current promo! Will you be picking up any of the Naturel Collection or do you have your eyes on a few other colors? I will have a full review and swatches of all 6 of these very soon. 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