Where Has January Gone?!?!

Sorry to have been MIA, but over the holidays we moved, got the kids settled in a new school, and did I mention we moved?  I hate moving!!  

Anyway, I've not had very much time to play with polish lately, but here are the mani's I managed to eek out.  Please don't mind that these are all cell phone pics...I seem to have mis-placed my camera's charger among the dozen or so boxes that still need to be unpacked.

Chirality's holo skittles for the New Year! 

Zoya Feifei & Lael 

This is my current mani!  KB Shimmer "Toucan Touch This" with Zoya for flower accents.  This gorgeously bright polish has been calling to me for a couple of weeks now...probably because of all the grey skies and rain we've been having here lately...this Cali girl needs her sun!! 

We're more settled in, and my awesome hubby made me a little polishing nook area in our huge master bedroom, so I'm planning on getting my polish on a lot more often!  Thanks for sticking around!

Lacquistry's "Wonderland of Sand"

I've had this mani on the entire work week since December 17, but just realized I haven't posted about it.  Anyway, I got an awesome bunch of Lacquistry polishes from her Winter/Holiday collection, and "Wonderland of Sand" seems to the the perfectly quintessential Christmas-y glitter polish.

I also used Zoya's "Sarah" (red) and "Ivanka" (green).  It was super-pretty all week at work, and it wore like iron!  It's much more sparkly in real life.  I used 2 coats of WLOS, topped with a coat of Gelous, and finished with Seche Vite.  BTW, I do have a layer of glue under that accent nail, so removal should be a breeze!  Christmas perfection!

If you've never tried a Lacquistry, GO NOW!!  At the time of this posting, she still has polishes stocked in her Etsy shop HERE.  Check out swatches on her FB Page, too.  Jenna's the BEST when it comes to gorgeous glitter bombs!  

Day 2: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Green

Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge is "Green".  I wanted to do a glitter, so I looked through my Indie stash, and found one by my absolute FAVORITE Indie Lacquistry with green glitter in it.  I really wanted to use red nails as the undies, but Day 1 was red, so I figured I could use silver as a base color again.

I LOVE the red nail!!  The glitter makes it look super Christmas-y, and now I regret not doing the undies red, or at least green!   And just what is this mystery Lacquistry polish?

It's one of her Halloween polishes "Witches Warts"!  I think it's got the potential for a very festive life after Halloween, don't you?

Check out the other cool peeps doing the challenge with me, and be sure to visit our hostess with the mostest, Iced Lacquer!

XOXO Alexis Leigh
Purple Castle
It's All About the Polish
A Ginger's Nail
The Polished Mommy
Robyn Loves Nails
Teen Polish Junkie
Mari522 (on Instagram)

Dolli-Pop Color-Changing Polish

I've been really tired after work lately, so I'm not changing my polish as often...maybe I'm still getting used to the time change :-/

So it's Saturday, and I finally got to do my nails, so I wanted something really unique.  I'm a sucker for any "magic" type special effect polishes...glow in the dark, color-changing, crackle, magnetic, etc.  So I got this small polish from Pretty & Polished called "Dolli-Pop" which changes color based on your body temperature.  It's dark purple when cold, and a medium-ish blue when warm.  Because my nails are fairly long right now, I figured it would be the perfect time to try it out:

Room temp (what it pretty much looks like all the time):

Right out of cold water:

Right after holding above a skillet of sizzling bacon:

Another room temp shot (my hands were a little warm in this one):

Verdict:  Super-fun!  Built-in gradient effect = SCORE!  And it has little aqua glitter in it too, which goes with both the purple and blue shades!  This is 3 coats of "Dolli-Pop" topped with Seche Vite.  Because I'm generally a colder person, the color seems to stay light purple on me, with dark purple at the very tips.  

You can check out Pretty and Polished's Etsy shop HERE, and although it doesn't look like she has this one in stock right now, she does have other Color-Changing Polishes, including an orange & yellow one I'm really eye-balling.  She's also got plenty of other awesome stuff, and I have quite a few of her lovely creations, so check her out!

"Go Pink Wednesday" #3 - Lacquistry "Prom Dress"

It's time for a glitter bomb.  And when I think glitter bomb, I think "Lacquistry". So I pulled out my gorgeous "Prom Dress" and put it on for my "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure!  

With flash:

No flash:

Gorgeous!!  I used Savvy "In the Mauve" for undies.  The checkerboard pattern is based on THIS You Tube tutorial by Mo Diddie.  

Check out the other great peeps participating in "Go Pink Wednesday":

A Teacher's Secret Nail Blog

At Your Finger Tips
Beauty Is Merciless
Beauty Ninja

Beauty Scraps
Beauty-Shoes-Nails-Fun

ChameleonStampede

Cosmetic Sanctuary
Criminal Nails

Dliteful Trends
dreamy MM Nails & Make UP

Glazed Talons

I Heart Pretty Polish

Just Another Polish Addiction

Lace & Lacquers

Lacky Corner

Liesl Loves Pretty Things

Life in Color! 

Makeup Mom 123
Mandy's Polish

Mani-Curiously

Maria’s Nail Art
Model City Nails
 Art-LiciousNail

Nail Call

Nails and Paint
Once Bitten Nails
Ooh La La Polish!
Pinked Polish

Set in Lacquer

Shelly’s Sassy Nails 

Superficially Colorful

Susy's Nails

The Crumpet

The Fox Claws

The Obsessed

The Polished Mommy

The Polished Pixie 

Things I love at the Moment 
Tomboy Nails

Too Cute-icle

White Jasmine Nail Art

"Go Pink Wednesday" #2 - "Hanami"

For my 2nd "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure, I used NYC's quick-dry "Downtown" and topped it with Rainbow Honey's "Hanami".  Finally, I stamped it with Pure Ice "Love":

  

Pretty!  I still need some stamping practice, but I still love this ribbon stamp from Bundle Monster plate #321.  

"Hanami" is beautiful, which is no surprise for a Rainbow Honey polish, and this is only one coat.  Get yours at their shop HERE during the month of October, and they will donate $1 to Breast Cancer Research, and you'll get a BCA wristband!  They have other pink polishes with the same deal, so now's the time to grab them!

Here are the other participants in "Go Pink Wednesday", so check out their manicures too!

A Teacher's Secret Nail Blog

At Your Finger Tips
Beauty Is Merciless
Beauty Ninja

Beauty Scraps
Beauty-Shoes-Nails-Fun

ChameleonStampede

Cosmetic Sanctuary
Criminal Nails

Dliteful Trends
dreamy MM Nails & Make UP

Glazed Talons

I Heart Pretty Polish

Just Another Polish Addiction

Lace & Lacquers

Lacky Corner

Liesl Loves Pretty Things

Life in Color! 

Makeup Mom 123
Mandy's Polish

Mani-Curiously

Maria’s Nail Art
Model City Nails
 Art-LiciousNail

Nail Call

Nails and Paint
Once Bitten Nails
Ooh La La Polish!
Pinked Polish

Set in Lacquer

Shelly’s Sassy Nails 

Superficially Colorful

Susy's Nails

The Crumpet

The Fox Claws

The Obsessed

The Polished Mommy

The Polished Pixie 

Things I love at the Moment 
Tomboy Nails

Too Cute-icle

White Jasmine Nail Art

Lacquistry's "24k Shredded" & Orly "Buried Alive"

I had to attend a pretty important/formal meeting at work, so I needed some plain nails.  I thought a dark brown-ish Autumn mani might be appropriate, and I found my untried Orly "Buried Alive" in my stash.  Look at the beautiful golden shimmer in this!  

This is 2 easy coats and they went on super-smoothly!  <3

As soon as I got home on Friday, I had to spice it up.  I used a Bundle Monster plate and stamped it with gold Pure Ice "Jaguar", and really blinged it out with another untried in my stash, Lacquistry's "24k Shredded":

 

BLING!!

Lacquistry Giveaway for My U.S. Facebook Fans!

I recently noticed that I have over 350 fans on Facebook, and as of this post I have 361!  It's overwhelming to me that 361 people care about what I have to say about my nail art, and I'm flattered and honored and am very thankful.

As a way to thank my loyal fans, I am giving away a brand new, never-used bottle of Lacquistry's "I Make It Rain (Leaves)" from her "Sweater Weather" Fall Trio collection.  I was lucky enough to snag both of her Fall Trio collections, but I have seen lots of comments from people who were disappointed they couldn't get Lacquistry's polish for one reason or another.  So, I'd like to offer a chance to you!

Since you're a fan of mine, you already know how much I love Jenna @ Lacquistry not only for her genius polishes, but because she is truly an awesome person.  I've had the privilege of working with her on some custom orders, and with every convo back and forth, I am made more certain that she is genuinely selfless and caring, and the world desperately needs more peeps like her.

Why am I going on and on about Jenna again?  Because I would like the winner of this polish to know a little bit about the person who created it, and because it is her giving spirit that inspired me to offer this polish to you!

OK, on to the giveaway:

The giveaway starts NOW and ends on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 12:01 a.m. EST.
  This giveaway for "I Make It Rain (Leaves)" is open for U.S. residents ONLY!  Click HERE to enter my International fans giveaway!

I will announce the winner on my Face Book page (of course) and here on my blog.  If the winner does not contact me within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

To enter via the Rafflecopter thingie below, you must be a U.S. fan of my Face Book page, and a fan of Lacquistry Nail Polish's page...that's it!!  Because this giveaway is a "thank you" to my U.S. FB fans, I am not requiring you to follow my blog, but if you'd like to, please do! ;-)

GOOD LUCK, AND THANKS AGAIN!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Serum No 5 "Day Glow"

I saw THIS POST on Nailblog.net, and I absolutely knew I HAD to have "Day Glow" by Serum No. 5!  It was like, the BEST glow-in-the-dark polish I had ever seen!  So I trotted on over to the Serum No. 5 ETSY SHOP , and was in luck because "Day Glow" was in stock at the time.  I debated the high (for me) price for just a minute before pressing the "purchase now" button, and I'm soooo glad I did.  I understand this polish is selling out almost instantly once it's stocked.  So, here's what I got for my troubles:

Pretty, right?  This is 3 thin coats with top coat.  Each coat dried pretty quickly, and although it's still a little streaky, it's not too bad.  It's a nice bright frozen-lemonade yellow which I liked wearing alone.  But it was just a little too plain for me.

  So I did a water marble.  I used Sinful Colors "Black on Black" and a Sally Hansen top coat I had...apparently it's the only one I own which is not "Fast Dry".  Still, it was kind of sketchy, and I'm going to have to find a nice clear polish for water marbling (I'm open to suggestions!).  And yes, I am purposefully stringing you along before I bust out the awesome glowing pics ;-)

Like I said, kind of sketchy.  But I think it looks a little spooky, which is pretty cool!

OK, OK, I put my hand in the sun for about 5 minutes, locked myself in the bathroom, and this is what I saw:

These are UNEDITED pictures!  This stuff is AMAZINGLY bright.  Cool, right?

"Day Glow" is currently sold out, but according to the Etsy Shop announcement, it will be re-stocked on October 1.  I got mine for $12 + $3 shipping at the beginning of August.  I suggest shop-stalking to get your hands on some! :-)

"Dragon" & Lacquistry Fall Polishes (lotsa pics)!!!

So last night I finally tried out my dusty A England "Dragon".  It's sooo beautiful IRL, these pics don't do it justice:

Super-smooth, this is 2 coats of holo gorgeousness!  Totally reminds me of dragon scales, which is cool because I'm on Book 3 of the Game of Thrones series "Song of Fire & Ice", in which dragons have returned! :-).  My nails remind me of Daenerys's dragons, and I love them!!!

When I got home after work tonight, I discovered my Lacquistry Fall Collection polishes in the mail!!! YAY!!  I was lucky enough to snag all 6 polishes when Jenna re-stocked her shop, so I am a super, super happy girl!  I immediately picked out 2 of my faves and I smothered the "Dragon" in spectacular autumn-ness:

 Goes great w/Pumpkin Ale!

 Playing in the leaves Jenna included in the envelope!

These are "Pickin Punkins in the Patch" and "Corn Maize" <---clever name!!  2 coats of each totally coated each nail in glittery goodness!  I topped 'em with Gelous and then Seche Vite to make 'em smooth & shiny!  You have eyes, so there's really not much more to say about these fantastical autumn glitter bombs!  I'm soooo excited to get these Lacquistry polishes inspired by my favorite season!    

I know I sound like a total broken record, but Jenna is a polish genius!  She's an amazing person full of integrity and chock-full of talent, and she truly cares about her art and her customers.  I'll gush all day long about her & her polish...just try to stop me! ;-)  Unfortunately, her Fall Collection has sold out, but keep an eye on her FB Page for an announcement on when her Halloween Collection will be released.  I. MUST. HAVE. THOSE!

KB Shimmer "Elle"

I have neglected my polish-posting this week, so I am ALMOST behind on my Alphabet Challenge with Lustrous Lacquer.  We're on the letter "E" this week, and today is the last day of the week, so I'm barely making it!

I looked through my "untrieds" and actually saw a few "E" polishes.  But "Elle" from KB Shimmer has been languishing long enough, and today is her day:

 With flash:

Very pretty and subtle...well, as subtle as a glitter bomb can be!  This is 3 coats topped with Seche Vite.  Each coat applied smoothly and was super-packed with glitter, as per usual KB Shimmer perfection.

Elle is part of the "Circus Collection" and is inspired by performing elephants.  You can order it HERE.  I think it's very elephant-y!

Sakura Matsuri

I don't know why it is so hard for me to remember "Sakura Matsuri".  As in the gorgeous polish collection recently re-released by the awesome Rainbow Honey.  I have recently bought a bunch of Rainbow Honeys, and you should too!

So one of my recent acquisitions is the "Sakura Matsuri" namesake.  It's so super-cute and full of girly sparkles and flowers!!  

First, I polished on my untried Zoya "Skylar", and used Zoya "Lotus" for an accent.

Sooo gorgeous!!  This is 2 smooth coats of each.  The shimmer in these is amazing in real life!  Zoya is my fave polish ever!!

Then I smothered it in 1 1/2 coats of "Sakura Matsuri".  1/2 just because I wanted 2 flowers on each nail, and 3 on the thumbs.  The flowers came out very easily, though, so minimal fishing was required:

You don't need me to tell you how beauteous this is!  I mean, you DO have eyeballs! ;-)

Rainbow Honey sells their fantastical polishes for $10 full size and $5 minis.  They are absolutely worth every single penny!!  They arrive in professional super-cute packaging, and the 2 I've used so far have literally been 1-coaters (click HERE for Koi Pond).  Visit the SHOP now!!! 

BTW, I used the Elmer's glue basecoat for this.  2 days later, I popped the nail polish right off with no damage to my nail.  I'm ecstatic with this painless glitter removal technique!! :-)