My First Guest Post!

Hey Lacqueristas!

Today my first guest post is up over at Mandy's Polish.  I am so excited to be featured on her blog.  She does some great mani's. So if you haven't already head on over and check out my guest post and shoe her blog some love.

http://mandyspolish.blogspot.com/2012/09/guest-blogger-friday-lacquered-libra.html

China Glaze Bohemian Collection Water Marble

Hey Ladies!

Lately, I had been trying to think of a way that I could use all of the China Glaze Bohemian colors in one mani.  So water marble it is. You can see swatches of all the colors here .  I'm somewhat pleased with how this turned out.  Not because of the polishes, but because of my technique.  I was rushing because I was sleepy, but I know if I had taken my time, the design would have been better.

I used Kleancolor Black as the base for the water marble.  Each of the Bohemian colors was used (dropped in the water) once.  I think these may be the easiest colors I have water marbled with so far.  I had no problems with the colors spreading, although you have to work quickly, because they dry fast.  The end result reminds me of an oil slick.



Left hand with China Glaze Unpredictable



Right hand with China Glaze Swanky Silk



 

For some reason, my thumbs always seem to have the best designs when I do a watermarble.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Polishing!

 



Layered Stamping: BM 208 + BM 312

Hey Lacqueristas!

The mani that I have for you today was done for Adventures in Stamping.  This Sunday's theme was something that you have learned from the group.  I have seen some of the ladies layer full nail images over one another and I loved the effect, so that's what I'm gonna show you today.  I have done layering before, usually with a full nail image for the base with one or two of the smaller images on top, but never two full nail images together.

So for this mani, I started with Kleancolor Pearl Jungle over basecoat.  Pearl Jungle is a gorgeous seafoam green with a glass fleck finish. Then I stamped the first image, BM 312, with Zoya Tracie.

 

I really like the effect of this image.  I kinda looks like brushstrokes.  Next, I stamped BM 208 with Kleancolor Black. 

 

 

 

All together I think I looks like shattered sea glass.  What do you think? 

 

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

Classic French + One Stroke Flower

Hey Lacquerheads!

Today, I could not decide what I wanted to do with my nails, so I decided to keep it simple and do a classic french manicure.  This is the first time that I did a pink and white french without the tip guides and I think that this was much easier.  I never cared for the way the my french mani's turned out using the tip guides, because there was always some polish that managed to seep under the guide even though I would press it on the nail as thoroughly as I could.  Then when I took the guide off, the base polish would come off with it.  I guess that could be due to rushing, and of course this was before I discovered the one and only Seche Vite.

So let me get on with it and show you how I did it. 

First, I painted my nails with basecoat.  Lately, I have been using Sally Hansen Triple Strong Nail Fortifier. I used it before many years ago,  but let me tell you, I'm loving this stuff right now. I haven't had any breaks since I started using it (and I did yardwork today, so that's saying alot!).

Next, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Whirlwind White to pain the tips.  I wasn't being all careful like and trying to pain perfect smile lines. I simply painted the tips the same way that I would paint the rest of my nails. 

 

I know it looks messy, but here's where the acetone comes in. I used the same brush that I use for cleanup, dipped in acetone to "erase" the polish and make the smile line.  Then I used Orly Beverly Hills Manicure in Beverly Hills Plum from the cuticle up to the smile line.  Topped it all off with Seche Vite.

 

 

 

And you know me...Gotta add something extra. This was too "Plane Jane" for my taste. So I tried my hand at a one stroke flower.  I'm happy with how the flower came out for my first time, but the squigglies left a lil something to be desired.

 



 

I used acrylic paints by Americana, Lavender and Snow White for the flower, and Lamp Black and Snow White for the squigglies. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, glad to have ya!  Happy Polishing!



Finger Paints Iconic Orange

Hey Ladies!

Today I have a superbright mani for you. If you have been keeping up with my posts, you know that I am LOVIN' the bright colors. Orange is a color that is close to my heart, but hasn't been getting much love on my blog. But, I'm trying to change that...So here we go.

 

This mani features 3 coats of Finger Paints Iconic Orange with topcoat. It has your typical neon matte finish. Even though I used 3 coats there is still a bit of VNL. This polish is so bright that my camera could not capture all of it's neon loveliness. This color is more red toned IRL than the picture shows.

For the accent nail, I did a dot gradient, with the dots getting smaller from the tip to the cuticle.  I didn't quite accomplish what I was going for, as you can see with the middle stripe.  But this is a learning process, right?  And please forgive the smudge on the index finger,  I had to potty before it was "polish safe".

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

 

Dotticure: A Monkey See Monkey Do Mani

Hey Lacqueristas!

I know I haven't been posting regularly lately.  I've been feeling kinda uninspired lately, and what better to get the creative juices flowing than Monkey See Monkey Do Monday?

So my nailspiration for todays mani comes from Lucy's Stash.

I switched it up just a bit and used a slightly different color.  Actually this polish is the same color as my scrubs, so my nails will match my outfit (uniform) at work tonight.  And it reflects the weather here today.  It's overcast and rainy out today, perfect sleeping weather (which is what I plan to do when I finish this post).

Now on to the nails...

 

For this mani I used Color Club Hydrangea, which is a dusty periwinkle blue shade.  The dots were made with Sinful Colors Black on Black and various sized dotting tools from MASH.

 

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

 

China Glaze Rare & Radiant + RA-112

Hey Lacquer Lovers.  Today I have my first mani from China Glaze's Bohemian Luster Chrome Collection.  I used Rare & Radiant, which is one of my favorites because it has the most multichromatic finish.  This is really a beautiful color on it's own (you can see the swatch here) but of course I've gotta add a lil sumthin extra.





For the stamping I used Red Angel image plate RA-112 with Kleancolor Black.  Everytime I looked at this image, I thought that it was kinda odd, but now that it's on my nails I'm kinda diggin it.  It reminds me of the jungle.


So thanks for stoppping by.  Happy Polishing!