Gal-entine's Ombre

Today's mani is really just a re-creation of a mani I did two years ago for Valentine's.  I would link you back to it but unfortunately there are no photos anymore.  Somehow when that whole "link to Google+" stuff happened, almost all of my old blog photos were deleted.  Fortunately they can still be seen on my Facebook albums but it's just not the same.  Anyway, today is February 13, which means it's GALENTINE'S DAY!

If you are unfamiliar with this amazing holiday, you should really watch Parks and Rec.  It's basically just a day to show the love, not for the man in your life, but the women in your life.  Whether it's your mom or sisters or best friend, just give a little love today.

Just like with the original mani, I used most of the same colors.  These are all Jessie's Girl Julie G polishes.  On my pinky is All Things Girly.  My ring finger is Party Dress.  The middle is Frosted Cupcake and my pointer finger is Fashion Friday.  I almost left this as is but then it wouldn't be a re-creation.  If would just be unfinished.

After everything dried, I used striping tape to create v-shapes on all my fingers.  Then using Ulta High Roller, my favorite gold for nail art, I applied one generous coat inside the v and then removed the tape.

This is a super fun and easy mani to recreate and I love that the colors make is really girly.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.  Happy Galentine's Day!!

Paramore Still Into You Mani

I am so happy with how this mani came out.  I have been obsessed with this song from Paramore for the past two weeks (at least) so what better way to show it than to create a mani?  My inspiration is Hayley Williams outfit (and hair) in the video which you can see below.

And now the mani...

So what do you think?  I freaking love it.  My pinky and ring fingers are inspired by Hayley's hair which I love and wish I could do.  I used Jesse's Girl Julie G Party Dress for the red and Zoya Micky for the pink. My middle finger is copied from her yellow latex drip tights.  I used Zoya Avery for the nude and Zoya Pippa for the yellow.  My pointer finger is her DWEEB shirt and I used Zoya Purity for the white.  I know the letters look a little funky but I used a Kiss nail art marker and it wouldn't write smoothly over the top coat.  Whatevs.

This is probably one of my favorite manis, like, ever.  lol I'm a huge Paramore fan so this was super fun to come up with.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.  Are you a Paramore fan too?

Water Marble Wednesday

And I'm back with another Water Marble Wednesday.  I think people are starting to catch on...right?  lol  For some reason this one was a super duper tough.  The colors didn't want to work together and then I was fumbling with everything.  I think I got more polish on my left hand than the actual nails.  It was just a disaster getting it done but it came out pretty good.

I used the starburst design and for most of my nails it worked out.  Yeah I'm look at your middle finger!  The colors I chose were Jesse's Girl Julie G Party Dress which is an orange-y red color.  I used Ulta Blue Streak for the blue (duh), OPI Big Apple Red for the red (duh again) and Color Club Blue-ming for the mint color.  

Just a heads up, I'm most likely going to do this same design next week with different polishes of course because I don't feel like I perfected it.  I like it, but it's not amazing IMO.  I also don't know why I chose a color combo that I absolutely hate.  lol It's just not my day for water marbling.

Have a great Hump Day!

Water Marble Wednesday

Afternoon!  Welcome back to another Water Marble Wednesday.  Today was probably one of the most successful marbling days I've had in awhile.  Let's take a look.  (:

I love the idea of doing different types of nail art over gradients, especially water marbles.  It can be a bit difficult though to find a clear polish that wants to cooperate with the colored polish.  Today I decided to make it a bit easier on myself and use a sheer glass-flecked top coat instead of just plain clear polish and it worked!

First I did my gradient using China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy - coral, Jesse's Girl JulieG Fashion Friday - purple, and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover - teal.  On a side note, I just noticed that I used all polish names that begin with the letter "F".  That was not intentional.

Anyway, back to the mani.  After my gradient dried, I taped off my nails and started my bulls-eye in the water using a plain white creme polish from NYC and Zoya LA Pop, the sheer glass-flecked top coat.  I made a chevron kinda design in the water and tried to dip my nail to where the "points" were completely vertical.  I think I pulled it off though.  The design is still not as perfect as I would like, but it's just nail art for fun anyway.  (:

Now I have to get ready for work so I won't get to talk to you all for a whole 8 hours.  With that being said, please let me know what you think of this amazing water marble.  You can leave all your comments below and/or comment on my Facebook page.  Have a great day!  (:

Water Marble Wednesday

Hey Ladies!

I hope you all are having a better week than I am.  It's been terrible, and I just hate my job more and more everyday.  I really want it to work out, but I'm just not sure this is the job for me.  IDK but anyway, I won't burden you all with all that shit.  (:

Today, Ashley and I are using water as our theme for the water marble.  Clever, huh?  Chock that up to Ashley. (:  I can't believe I never thought of it sooner.  So obviously I chose blue, but I added some teal in there  to make it look a little tropical and summery.  It didn't work (lol) but it still looks like water to me.

I used a half swirl pattern to create the effect of waves and I marbled over white.  Ya know when the waves crash and the water gets that white foam of bubbles?  That's why I used white.  I think my pointer finger came out the best.

WHAT I USED:
white base coat
Orly Snowcone - baby blue
Jesse's Girl Julie G Mermaid's Lagoon - turquoise w/ gold shimmer
See Sarah Swatch Franken Angel's Stream - teal  w/ flakies and glitter

I hope you all enjoy this and that it makes you want to go to the beach.  I know I do, but the beach here is nasty.  At least I didn't do one inspired by Galveston water...ew. :\  This many would be shit brown.  lol.
D

Sponge Gradient Mani

Hey Guys!
I really love doing gradient manis but I usually don't do them completely with a sponge.  I always paint on a coat of polish, let it dry, then use the sponge to dab another color to the tip.  This time I painted a gradient ON the sponge and laid it directly on my nail.  I'm not sure which version I like better, but this was super easy and it came out okay.  I just did two accent nails on each hand in two different colors.

So this was my first attempt and my lightest pink was too light to blend properly.  I do like that I accidentally got a half moon mani out of it.
WHAT I USED:
Sinful Colors Flutter - lightest pink
Jesse's Girl Cupcake Frosting - pink
Jesse's Girl Fashion Friday - purple tip and other nails

This is my second attempt and it didn't blend quite as well, but I like this one better.  I had to go back and do the gradient with the polish brush.  I also got a stupid nick on my pointer finger because I refused to wait until it was dry.
WHAT I USED:
Sinful Colors Love Nails - lightest blue
Jesse's Girl Girl's Night Out - blue
OPI Dating a Royal - darker blue and other nails


Overall I'm not sure I like this method.  Maybe it's a practice-makes-perfect type of thing.  I will for sure try it again so I can get it right.


Have a great Tuesday!
D

Water Marble Wednesday - Spring Colors

YEAH!!  I'm so happy Water Marble Wednesday is back.  I loved doing the Girly Girl Challenge, but I was jonesin' to get back to water marbling.  Also, I wanted to welcome Ashley from Smashley Sparkles.  She will be joining me on Wednesdays and she came up with today's theme...Spring Colors!

I definitely wanted to use shimmers, pastel colors, and glitter...oh glitter.  Bad idea.

There it is!  After I added the glitter, I immediately wanted to take it off.  I think it really takes away from the water marble which is such a shame, because it's so pretty.  Anyway, I used a spiral design in the water because I have never successfully done it before, but it worked out perfectly on my first try.  I tried to get a different part of the spiral on each of my fingers so if you enlarge the photos, you'll see what I'm talking about.

WHAT I USED:
Sinful Colors Firefly - base coat
Sinful Colors Firefly
Sinful Colors Cinderella
Jesse's Girl JulieG Cupcake Frosting
Ulta Starstruck - glitter top coat

Let me know what you think?  If you want to join us next Wednesday, go right ahead.  I love seeing everyone's marbling.  Mainly because I'm jealous of how they turn out.  lol.
D

V is for Valentine's Mani

This is my first successful tape mani and I love it.

First, I did two coats of each base color.  Then I just made a V shape with the tape and placed it on each nail in a different direction.  Then I applied the tip color and V is for Voila!


I think these are so cool.  They look so retro.


WHAT I USED:
No Name Franken - thumb
Love&Beauty Lavender - pointer
Jesse's Girl Fashion Friday - middle
Jesse's Girl Cupcake Frosting - ring
L.A. Girl Flare Hyper - pinky
Ulta High Roller - gold V
Jesse's Girl Party Dress - red V


D

Romantic Valentine's Mani

Good Day Friends!


I really love this mani.  It's romantic and girly and super easy.

WHAT I USED:
Zoya Minka - 1 coat for base color
Ulta High Roller - sponged from cuticle to tip
Milani Jewel FX Gold - layered over High Roller
BM plate 09 w/ 
Jesse's Girl Cupcake Frosting - pinky
Love&Beauty Lavender - ring
Sinful Colors Soul Mate - middle
Jesse's Girl Fashion Friday - pointer


Without the stamps, it reminds me of champagne.  Maybe next time I can do a strawberry instead.
D

Deborah Lippmann Whatever Lola Wants and Polka Dots

Evening Bloggers!


I hope you all had a fantastic weekend like I did.  I didn't do anything special; just hung out with my honey and did some swatching.  Ya know, fun!  I tried to think of some Valentine's inspired manis and this is what I came up with.

This is Whatever Lola Wants over Sinful Colors Soul Mate.  WLW is just too sheer to wear alone.  You would need, like, 10 coats.

 Then I used my dotting tool and created some overlapped polka dots in respective Valentine's colors.


WHAT I USED: (for polka dots)
Essie Forever Yummy
CG White on White
Jesse's Girl Cupcake Frosting
Sinful Colors Soul Mate


I just did a couple dots of each and Voila!


This should be the first of many Valentine's inspired manis if I can keep up.


D

Zoya Minka with Konad Stamp

Hey Guys!


So today is just a quick post.  I told you yesterday that I had an idea for a really cute mani with Zoya Minka, and it came out way better than I expected.  I stamped Minka with Konad plate m13 using Zoya Lolly for the pink rose and Jesse's Girl All Things Girly from the Julie G collection for the peach rose.  Then I just added a few random clear rhinestones.  Check it out!

Woo!  I love it.  I got the idea Rebecca Likes Nails (HERE) so I really hope it compares.

Jesse's Girl All Things Girly and Stiletto

Sorry I have been gone for awhile.  Work has been really crazy getting ready for my new store opening on November 5.  However I did have time to swatch the last two polishes from the Jesse's Girl Julie G collection.

The first is Stiletto.  It is a taupe shimmer creme with an excellent formula.  I almost didn't need the second coat.

The last one is called All Things Girly.  It's a peachy salmon creme color.  I had a lot of compliments on it, but I'm not sure if I really liked it on myself.  The color is beautiful, but maybe not for me.

Sorry for the chips on my nails.  Like I said work has been crazy and I didn't anticipate them getting so torn up.

Enjoy your night bloggers!

If you liked this post, please leave your questions and comments below or email me at lacquerlover@hotmail.com

Jesse's Girl Mermaid's Lagoon

Today I have Mermaid's Lagoon from the Julie G collection for Jesse's Girl.  This color is a teal creme with gold shimmer.

This is one of my faves from the entire collection mainly because I love the color but also that the gold doesn't take over the spotlight.  I would hate to have to black list a polish.

Jesse's Girl Fashion Friday and Party Dress

Just a quick post tonight ladies.  I've been running around a lot the past few days for work and am DEAD tired.  Fortunately I made enough time to change my polish and snap some photos of these gems from the Jesse's Girl Julie G collection.  I promise I'll get through them eventually.


The first is Fashion Friday.  I was really surprised that I was able to capture the true color with the first pic.  Usually with my patio lighting, my blues and purples don't come out well.

The next is Party Dress and I was only able to get one good shot of it.

Leave all questions and comments below or email me at lacquerlover@gmail.com

Jesse's Girl Girl's Night Out

So here I am again with another beauty from the Jesse's Girl Julie G collection called Girl's Night Out.

This one is a gorgeous true blue creme that dries glossy just like Cupcake Frosting.  I'm not really a fan of blue, but I am really drawn to this color.  I can definitely appreciate it's beauty even if I don't wear it all the time.


Tell me what you think of Girl's Night Out.  Leave all your questions and comments below or email me at lacquerlover@hotmail.com.

Jesse's Girl Cupcake Frosting

Hello All!


Sorry I've been gone awhile, but I had a family reunion this past weekend.  I had a great time, and I received a huge surprise when I got there.


The second day we were there in Louisiana, we decided it would be fun to go to Natchitoches and take a walk on the river.  Before we even made it to the river, we happened to pass a Rite Aid.  We don't have Rite Aid in Houston so I was super excited to take a look inside.


As soon as I walked in the door, there it was.  The Jesse's Girl Julie G polish collection.  I was like a kid in a candy store and the colors certainly do look like candy.  I was able to purchase the entire collection with the exception of Beauty Guru.  They were out.  WAH!  So the first one I have to show you is Cupcake Frosting.

Cupcake Frosting is a gorgeous creme pink.  It dries very quickly and a little glossy, but I did add a Seche Vite top coat anyway.  Oh and sorry there is no sun photo.  There wasn't much for me to work with considering it stormed yesterday and was overcast today.  Maybe I can get one tomorrow before I take it off and it will be a little bonus.  We'll see.


Tomorrow I will show you another great color from the Julie G collection...Girl's Night Out.


So do you own any of the Jesse's Girl Julie G collection?  Do you watch Julie G on her YouTube channel?  What is your favorite color in the collection?  Leave your comments and questions below or feel free to email me at lacquerlover[at]hotmail[dot]com.