Lucky 13 Lacquer review

*Polishes reviewed were purchased by me.*
*Prize*

Good morning! I have some beautiful Lucky 13 Lacquer polishes for you today! 🙂 When Lucky 13 Lacquer was nearing her 666th sale, she gave away a full size Flame of Udun. Well, I didn’t win that, but I was 665, so I won a shortie size of Flame of Udun!

Let’s start with that. I tried using FoU by itself, but it is fairly sheer, so I started over. For undies, I used 2 coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black on my ring and index finger, and 2 coats of Sinful Colors Coffee on my pinky and middle finger. Then on my pinky and ring fingers, I used one coat of FoU, and two coats on my middle and index fingers.

It’s hard to tell (mainly because my pictures suck today), but I do prefer FoU over black, with 2 coats. Otherwise, this applies nicely with no dragging problems.

I also bought “Fool of a Took” and “But I Want To Fight” – Lucky 13 Lacquer’s polishes for Merry & Pippin from the Lord of the Rings. I just re-watched The Fellowship of the Ring last night, and I was reminded how light-hearted and free Merry & Pippin were in the beginning, and how so much changed by the end of the movies. I think Pippin’s journey is the one that always makes me want to cry the most, out of the hobbits.

So, next up is Fool of a Took:

This is 2 normal coats, application was a breeze. This is topped by Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, and HK Girl Topcoat. You’ll see this one again in a couple of days for one of my Halloween manicures!

Lastly is But I Want To Fight, Merry’s polish.

I’ve used 3 thin coats here, with a coat of Glitter Food and then HK Girl. Application was a bit trickier here but the end result is so lovely!

What do you think of these three? You can find Lucky 13 Lacquer on facebook or at her shop (though she’s on vacation right now).

Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the first of some Halloween manicures that I can’t wait to show you! Until then,

The Devil Wears Polish, part one

*Polishes reviewed were self-purchased.*

Good morning all! I hope you are well-rested and ready for your day. Today I have the first part of a two-part review of The Devil Wears Polish.  I love the names that Tami gives some of her polishes – they are very tongue in cheek without going too overboard.

First up is Girls Love to Blow…Bubbles. I’ve used 3 thin coats here, and filled in any patchiness. This polish takes a bit of work to get just right, but then it looks so good, so in my opinion it is worth the work!

This is with a coat of Nail Pattern Boldness’ Glitter Food on top:

With HK Girl topcoat:

Close-up:

Next up is Rum Raisin Sponge Cake. This is 3 thin coats as well, but I didn’t have to go over any patchiness.

Once again, with NPB Glitter Food:

With topcoat:

Close-up:

Already, I’m so happy with The Devil Wears Polish. Have you had a chance to try out her polishes yet? Which one from above is your favorite? You can find The Devil Wears Polish on facebook, and at her shop.  On Saturday, I’ll have part two with some holos 😀 which are incredibly amaze-balls! Until tomorrow,

A Girl Obsessed: Berries & Cream

*Polish reviewed was self-purchased.

Good morning! 😀 I am having a not great start to my morning – woke up to find that my daughter had gotten into her stash of nail polish and created quite the mess in the bathroom. A smelly, sticky mess. Of course this is before even my first cup of coffee, and after a restless night of not sleeping. I might have been slightly cranky. 😉

Anyway, onto a polish that isn’t a hot mess – A Girl Obsessed Berries & Cream. I freakin’ love A Girl Obsessed polishes, and even though her shop is on hiatus right now, she stated on her facebook page that she will be back in September. I am so looking forward to having her back!

I bought this polish awhile back, and haven’t had a chance to use it yet (yay for untrieds!). It is a creamy white/purple-ish base, with all sorts of glittery goodness in it: purple circles (big & small), blue circles (big & small), blue iridescent hexes, clear iridescent hexes and circles (big & small), teeny purple circles, and I think some black diamonds. It’s packed, basically. 😛 I used 3 thin coats, making sure to have enough dry time between coats before applying the next. I also used Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel as a base.

In this first picture, I used Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food to smooth out the bumpiness:

I love the mattified look!

Then I applied HK Girl Fast Dry Top Coat. Inside, flash:

Outside, no flash:

What do you think? I had this on both hands for a few days before taking it off (a few days is my limit now before I feel the need to change my manicures). It was a bit hard to get some of the bigger glitters/circles out, but it wasn’t the worst by any means! 🙂

I can’t wait for A Girl Obsessed to open her shop back up. When it does open, be sure to look for an announcement here or on my facebook page. Oh, go tell AGO congratulations – after today she is a certified nail tech!

Tomorrow I’ll have the second Tri-Polish Challenge manicure for August. Until then,

Jindie Nails Sour Skittle Pedicure

Aaahhhh, it’s Sunday again. I love Sundays. So calm, so relaxing. I hate having to do anything of importance on Sundays. LOL 😛 Anyone else relate?

Today I have for you the eye-searing awesomeness of Jindie Nails Sour Skittle. This pedicure actually took me forever, because I really wanted it to be bright. I started off with 2 coats of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel, then one good coat of Wet N Wild’s A Blank Canvas, followed up by 2 coats of Wet N Wild’s Stand the Test of Lime. Then, I did 2 coats of Sour Skittle, followed by a coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food; lastly a coat of HK Girl Fast-Dry Top Coat.

Inside:

Outside:

What do you think? I’ve been staring at my toenails all week, to be honest; especially when I go outside! 🙂 Application on Sour Skittle was good, it might be a little thick for some people, but I prefer it that way because getting hexes and glitters out was no problem!

Don’t forget to let me know what nail polishes you’d like to see for You Pick Tuesday – either here in the comments or over on my facebook wall. Until tomorrow,

Marimekko Inspired Manicure

Today I have a manicure inspired by The Polish Playground, who was in turn inspired by elleandish. I absolutely loved what Lisa did, and I hope my manicure is a worthy copycat! Let’s see what polishes I’ve used:

From left to right: Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sinful Colors Black on Black, All About You, You Polish I’m Worth It, Sinful Colors Unicorn, Sagitta, Snow Me White, Eva So Bright

I used two coats of Snow Me White on my thumb and middle finger; two coats of Sagitta on my index and pinky finger; three coats of All About You and 2 coats I’m Worth It on my ring finger. I used Black on Black, Eva So Bright, Sagitta, and Unicorn for dots.

Inside, flash:

Inside, sunlight, no flash:

Close-up, deliberately blurry:

So what do you think? I absolutely love this manicure, and I don’t want to take it off! Sagitta has this gorgeous pinkish shimmer to it, and it totally takes the polish color to another level. Plus my ring finger is so sparkly, I can’t stop staring. LOL!

I did use Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel as undies on my ring finger, and I haven’t had any peeling at all; I also used NPB Glitter Food before I topcoated the glitter finger, and that really helped smooth the glitter out. If you don’t yet have either Glitter-A-Peel or Glitter Food, you need to buy it now!

I don’t really want to take this manicure off, but I do need to do some swatching and other manicures. 😦 Oh well – #nailpolishbloggerproblems 😛 Until tomorrow,

OMD Rather Awesome Challenge: Day 26 Vacation

Good morning! I woke up to no cereal or milk in the house 😦 So it was hot cereal for me this morning – and that’s not something I usually enjoy in the summertime. Oh well, it was better than having to go to the store right out of bed!

Today’s nails were to be inspired by a holiday or a vacation. I decided to do a fairly simple manicure based on a vacation I took 5 years ago. For my 30th birthday, my husband, our almost-2 year old (at the time), and I decided to go to Glacier National Park. (All following photos of GNP are my own and not stolen from the internet!)

We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous bed & breakfast just outside the city of Kalispell, Montana called Emerald Sunrise B&B. It was in the middle of a forest, right on the edge of a dark green lake (Ashley Lake). I remember so many beautiful things about that trip, but the beauty of the forest and the lake was one of them.

My manicure today is based on the lake and the forest. (Perhaps another time I will attempt to capture the beauty of Glacier National Park!) I’ve used Sinful Colors Calypso and Nail Junkie. I started off with 2 coats of Calypso:

I then followed up with Nail Junkie in a gradient (sort of). Then I topped with Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, and since I liked it so much like that, I left it.

What do you think? Be sure to check out the rest of the manicures by clicking here. I’ll have a review of 4 of Mentality polishes up later today, until then,

Bonus shot of Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald:

OMD Rather Awesome Challenge: Day 20 3D Nails

Good morning all! I have a very special manicure for you today. Remember yesterday, I said that I had family obligations that prevented me from getting my manicure uploaded in a timely manner? Well, yesterday would have been my mom’s 75th birthday. My dad had decided to reinter (re-bury) my brother beside her. He died when he was just 3, before I was born. He has been in the children’s section of a different cemetery, and since my mom died, we, as a family wanted to have him beside mom. So that’s where I was yesterday morning, and in honor of my mom’s birthday and the re-internment, I used the special polish that You Polish had created for me.

Warning: lots of pretty pictures ahead. 😉

I started off with 2 thin coats of Man in White from “new-to-me” polish maker, Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. (Note: Man in White is no longer available, but Emily from CNC has said that Pro-Amico is the dupe she created.) Man in White is simply stunning!

Inside, natural light, no flash:

Inside, flash:

Close-up:

Outside, sunlight, no flash:

Blurry:

Isn’t that simply stunning?! I’m so stoked I was able to score a bottle of this polish before it sold out. I then used 2 thin coats of Lucy’s Sparkle over the top, then used Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food on top of that:

I then used HK Girl Fast Dry Top Coat to shine it up:

Finally, to give it a 3D look, I used 3 studs from my Winstonia July grab bag on my middle nail:

So, what do you think? I love every step of this manicure, and I cannot wait to use Man in White again! Be sure to check out the other manicures for today by clicking here. Just an aside, I will not be doing the challenge tomorrow – tomorrow is “stamping” and I simply don’t do stamping, as I don’t have any supplies for it. 🙂 But please stop by, I’ll have a cute pedicure for you tomorrow instead! 🙂