Orange Skittle

I have been super into doing skittle nails lately. It comes in handy when you have a lot of untried polishes and just can't decide what to do! Here is what I did:

The awesome glitter is Lush Lacquer/Polish Me Silly- Summer Lovin which is now discontinued. It is a mix of medium white and blue hexagonal glitters, along with some large pink hexagonal glitter, all in a lightly tinted orange base. Since the base is so light, I layered it over two coats of OPI- Where Did Suzi's Mango? (Brazil Collection Spring 2014), which is also one of the colors used in the water marble.

The other two colors used in my water marble are also from the OPI Brazil collection. The yellow is OPI- I Just Can't Cope-Acabana, and the darker orange is OPI- Toucan Do It If You Try.

Lastly, the orange textured polish on my middle finger is Zoya- Beatrix (Pixiedust Collection Summer 2013). I used two coats of that.

4th of July Nails

As promised yesterday, here are my 4th of July nails!

 

Here is what I did last year. This years water marble came out MUCH better.

I used a whole bunch of polishes for this! First, the base I used for every nail is OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls (Spiderman Collection 2012). My go to white, not your traditional stark white, but still white enough, and a very good formula.

The glitters:
My index finger is Sally Hansen- Red White & Hue (Color Frenzy Line). I am not too sure if this is limited edition, I just stumbled upon this at Target and had to get it since I don't have a red white and blue polish in a clear base. I know Hard Candy has one too. The formula wasn't the best. I tended to get a lot of the clear base on my brush rather than glitter, so it got a little thick.

My pinky is Polish Me Silly- Razzmatazz (Formally known as Lush Lacquer). This polish is no longer available unfortunately. It is just red and blue medium hex glitters in a clear base.Very easy to work with.

Red and Blue:
Everyone in the nail polish world knows about Sally Hansen- Pacific Blue being changed to an awful formula along with some other loved Xtreme wear polishes. I have heard these polishes are great for water marbling, so I gave it a whirl. I think it came out pretty good. It didn't spread out as easily as the OPI's I used, but it got the job done. It especially got the job done for the stripes on my middle finger since it is so creamy and opaque. I got the striping tape from Nailvinyls, and used various sizes.

The red is a new one to my collection and the nail polish world, which is OPI- Coca-Cola Red (Coca- Cola Collection 2014). This polish is FLAWLESS! I used it on my other hand for the base before applying the Sally Hansen glitter. Super creamy and opaque, and almost a one coater. I think I may have a new favorite red.

I think that covers everything. If you are in the US, have a safe and fun holiday!

Merry Christmas!

I know I am posting this on Christmas Eve, but I will be rocking these nails for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. With all the stuff I am doing with mine and my boyfriend's family, I will have no time to do my nails! I went pretty festive this year:

Christmas Trees and Candy Canes

I thought I had a pretty good idea with the Christmas Tree on my two middle fingers, but it really didn't turn out the way I wanted :( I started off with two coats of China Glaze- Running In Circles (Cirque Du Soleil Collection Winter 2013). Seriously the most amazing glass fleck green polish ever! Then I topped it off with a coat of Lush Lacquer- Tree-Mendous, now the brand is Polish Me Silly due to legal issues... I will probably always call them Lush Lacquer since they were my first love of an indie brand, and they even featured some of my pictures on their etsy, but they have discontinued A LOT of their polishes since then. Fortunately they have re promoted this one this year, and you can get it on their Etsy. You can see my opinion on this polish on my blog post from last year.

For the string of lights, I first made the black line using my Orly Instant Artist Striper- Jet Black. Then using a variety of colors, I just used a small nail art brush to make weirdly shaped light bulbs. Here is a list of the colors I used:
China Glaze- Adventure Red-Y (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)
OPI- On the Same Paige (Brights Collection 2009)
China Glaze- Flyin' High (Up and Away Collection Spring 2010)
China Glaze- Happy Go Lucky
China Glaze- Man Hunt (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)

The red I used on my index and pinky is Butter London- Chancer. Again, I love this red actually. Luckily I got this for free at ULTA :P. I used two coats. The gold for the gradient on my index is OPI- Golden Eye (James Bond Collection Winter 2012). Another amazing glass fleck polish, it really looks like liquid gold. Lastly, the stripes for the candy cane was accomplished by using my Orly Instant Artist Striper- Crisp White

Here is a picture of all 5 of my fingers:

Hope you have a happy and safe Holiday!

Simple Swatch: Lush Lacquer

I am going to keep this short and sweet:

Sunlight

Shade

This beauty is Lush Lacquer- Dream On.

I was looking at my stash for a really long time and couldn't come up with a fun nail art design! So i was like screw it, lets wear an awesome indie glitter!

This was two easy coats. You didn't have to manipulate the glitter or anything, both coats went on like butter! It is a creme base with blue, purple, and green glitters of every shape and size- including squares, my favorite! I have said it once, and I will say it again, Lush Lacquer polishes are seriously amazing, and by far my favorite indie brand! They have the perfect balance of glitters. Just enough glitter so it is eye catching, but doesn't look like a unicorn took a poop on you hands! You really have to give them a try. Their shipping does take at least 2 weeks, but it is sooooo worth the wait. You know you should be wearing some other unworn polishes anyways :P

You can buy from their Etsy, full sizes are $9.00. Or you can skip the long shipping and pay $11.00 at Llarowe

Subtle Jelly Sandwich

I am finally using my second jelly I got recently from the OPI New York Ballet Collection. HERE is the first one I did.

I will start off with pictures of the base colors I used:

I am lovin these super girly nails. The pinkish purple base is Nubar- Isis Purple (Cleopatra 2009). I used two coats. Then I topped it off with one coat of Lush Lacquer- Mr. Bubble. Probably one of my favorites from Lush Lacquer.

And here it is with the jelly on top:

 

  Sunlight

 It looks super shiny in the shade!!

As you can see, it is very subtle.

I used one fairly thick coat of OPI- Care to Danse? (New York Ballet Collection 2012). It gives it just a little more oomph I suppose,, I love it. Go get it at your local ULTA! It is permanent.

Tri Polish Challenge: Day 3

I am going to keep this short and sweet:

 

!!!

I am going to try to use all three colors (even though you don't have to) for each day. I think it keeps it more interesting.

Here is a shot with all five phalanges!

You can see the three colors I chose for this month HERE.

I forgot to say in my first post that we are allowed to use black and white, and also glitter toppers. So, I took advantage of that rule for today's nails.

The black used on the leopard print is Orly- Liquid Vinyl.

The amazing black and white glitter is Lush Lacquer- Salt n' Peppa. This is the only black and white glitter I own. There are some many out there, and this seems to be the only one that has tiny micro holographic glitters in it! It pretty much has every shape and size of black and white matter glitters in it, too.

Hope you enjoyed :), and be sure to check out everyone else'!

Simple Swatch + Review: Lush Lacquer

I have mentioned before back in December that Lush Lacquer is hands down my favorite Indie Polish brand. They never fail to impress me, and they really outdid themselves this time! I swatched and reviewed my two picks from their Christmas collection HERE and HERE. I reached a milestone in my blogging career and the ladies behind the brand used my photos on their etsy page :) They are discontinued now though, oh well! On to the swatch:

 

 Sunlight

Shade

Lush Lacquer- Clowning Around layered on top of Illimasqua- Nomad

Lush Lacquer is sticking with the nail polish trends in the indie world, and made some neon polishes! They released these shortly after their Valentines and Spring Collection (which I plan on doing swatches of). They made 4 standard creme/jelly polishes with neon glitter mixed together, and this beauty, which I don't think I have seen before. It is JUST the neon glitter in a semi clear base, I feel like it is tinted slightly pink. I don't feel like I need to stalk down all the restocks of Jindie and Wicked Polish because with this polish in my stash, I can make never ending combos! My wallet is happy.

Not only are they releasing more amazing polishes, but they got a new bottle, and brush:

Like my ghetto rigged light box? It is simply printer paper against the window! But I really wanted to do a full review and compare the bottles. I really liked the old bottle. I love their logo and the stickers, it makes it feel hand made. But I am not complaining about their new bottles! I really like the new longer, textured bottle cap. It makes it much easier to grab and open. And their logo is still adorable. 

Onto the brush comparison:

 

As you can see, it is much wider! Words from Lush Lacquer themselves on these brushes, "These brushes are the same size but they are flat instead of round and they grab the glitter VERY well." They pretty much nailed that description. When I swatched all the new ones I got on my nail wheels, I already saw a huge difference. I never really had a problem grabbing glitter with the old brushes, but this new brush makes it 1000 times easier to actually apply it since it is so wide. What will these ladies do next?!

 

Yummy macro shot. Here you can see that the base isn't totally clear, but it isn't really an issue!

On to the application of this particular shade. I started off with two coats of Nomad, which is probably my favorite turquoise polish. The formula is amazing, and almost a one coater, but there were some bald spots. My boyfriend even recognized that I have worn it a lot! After those dried, I applied the first coat of Clowning Around. I grabbed a lot of glitter for all nails, but I didn't like how I couldn't get the same colors. Like my index finger, it has no big purple glitters! I ended up applying two coats just because it looked way more awesome! I am going to get a lot of wear out of this polish, I can already tell.

You can purchase Lush Lacquer on Etsy for $9 USD. And for my international friends, you can find them on Llarowe, but the neons aren't on there yet. I thought they were on Harlow & Co, but it looks like they aren't anymore? You can also find them on Mei Mei's Signatures HERE, but they don't have the neons yet, either.

What do you think? I plan on swatching and reviewing all my 20+ Lush Lacquer babies soon, but still haven't committed to that yet. I plan on doing it in different categories, like Halloween, Mattes, Valentines, etc. Hope you enjoyed this!

2nd Lush Lacquer Holiday Polish

Today I successfully swatched my other Lush Lacquer holiday polish! Here it is:

Sunlight

Lush Lacquer- Ho Ho Holiday shown on top of China Glaze- Cheers to You. Ho Ho Holidays is pretty much christmas in a bottle. It reminds me a lot of China Glaze- Party Hearty. The main difference is that there is white, and these glitters are primarily matte, which is another reason I love Lush Lacquer's glitters so much! It consists of super tiny white hexagonal glitters, medium size red and green hexagonal and square glitters, large red green and white hexagonals, and lastly, super large red and white hexagonal glitters! I kind of had to work a little to get the right amount of glitter I wanted onto the brush.

Shade

Cheers to You is from China Glaze's Tis the Season winter collection from 2010. It is just your standard silver foil, but it is unique to my collection. I just picked this one up on Friday after I was on a foil kick when I wore Designer de Better. The application was pretty good. Pretty much opaque in one coat, but it was a little streaky, so a second coat made it perfect. 

So, what do you think? Have you tried any of Lush Lacquers polishes?

Lush Lacquer + China Glaze

Today I have the first of the two Lush Lacquer holiday polishes that I have. I must say, I am in love! Here it is:

 

Crappy indoor lighting

This is Lush Lacquer- Tree-mendous on top of China Glaze- Running in Circles. 

These polishes were pretty much made for each other. Running in circles is almost a glitter polish, just really fine glitter. I didn't originally pick this one up when I got my first picks from the Cirque De Soleil collection, but then I totally regretted it. I am a sucker for green polishes. I used two coats here.

Then sticking with the Christmas/holiday theme this month, I decided to use some Lush Lacquer. As I mentioned before, they are hands down my favorite independent nail polish brand. They have the perfect balance of glitters in each polish that isn't total glitter vomit, and they are so affordable. Tree-mendous is mainly a finely milled green glitter base which is pretty much the same green as Running in Circles, which represents the christmas tree. Then it has medium sized hexagonal glitters in pretty much every color of the rainbow, representing the lights on the tree. And to top it all off there are yellow stars! You kind of have to work a little to get the stars on your brush which I had a feeling was going to happen, but oh well! I love this look and can't wait to wear my other Lush Lacquer holiday polish. I will try to wear that one next.

Lush Lacquer can be found on Etsy. Their polishes are only $8.75 and always in stock! Definitely check them out.