China Glaze Prismatics Swatches

Hi everyone!  Today I have a few polishes from the new China Glaze Prismatics Chroma Glitters collection to show you.  I just found these at my local Sally's!  I have heard a lot of hype about this collection, as well as a lot of people who are disappointed with it.  Basically, the polishes appear to have duochrome bases and multicolored glitter.  Application wise these were really nice.  The glitter goes on even and easily, and smooths out with normal top coat.  However, out of the two I picked, I am only really impressed with one of them...

First up is China Glaze Full Spectrum.  It appeared to be a pinkish purple in the bottle.  Even in the bottle there isn't much of a duochrome effect.  The following swatches are two coats of Full Spectrum with one coat of NYC for top coat.

Honestly, I was really not that impressed by Full Spectrum by itself.  At this point I was kicking myself for buying it.  I decided to try it over black (one coat, with NYC).

Over black it is pretty cool, but still nothing to go crazy over.  The purple base stands out much more over the black, which I like.  

Next up is China Glaze Optical Illusion.  In the bottle, a teal-purple duochrome flash is visible.  On the nail, the base is mostly teal-ish green.  This is two coats with NYC top coat.

I already liked Optical Illusion much more than Full Spectrum!  It has color and character and is almost mermaid-ish!  You know I'm a sucker for anything mermaid-ish! =)  Then I layered one coat over black (with NYC) and...!!!!

Blurry, but sort of shows the duochrome!

Woohoo!  Now we're talking!  Over black, the purple duochrome flash was very evident, though difficult to photograph.  This was fun and unique and I would definitely recommend trying these polishes over black.  China Glaze polishes are available at Sally's and I've also seen these on some websites (like transdesign and nailsupplies.us).  The Prismatic Chroma Glitters are limited edition, so if you like them, get them while you can!! =)  Thanks for reading today!

April Julep Maven It Girl Box and Add-ons!

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday =)  I just opened my Julep Maven box and wanted to share with you all!  I went with my normal box this month: Julep Maven It Girl.  When I opened the box it looked like a cute little Easter basket =)

The It Girl box came with three polishes: Julep Niecy, Julep Penelope, and Julep Jessica.  My add-on polishes also came, so I'll show you those as well, of course.  I chose Julep Alyson and Julep Parker.  For those of you who aren't Mavens...this month Julep allowed Mavens to add two products to their box for $4.99 each!  A great deal!

Niecy, Penelope, Jessica, Alyson, Parker

 Then I did just a quick skittles swatch so you could see these colors.  I will do full swatches of each of these colors in the coming days, so get excited!  Each was two coats, except Jessica only needed one!  I used Julep Fast Dry Top Coat for this swatch.

thumb: Parker; pointer: Penelope; middle: Jessica; ring: Alyson; pinkie: Niecy

I am pleased with my Julep polishes for the month!  I feel like I will pull out Jessica, Parker, and Niecy quite often...they are saturated and vibrant =) I really do enjoy Julep's polishes...and by being a Maven, it is an affordable way to acquire them!

If you are interested in becoming a Maven, allow me to enlighten you on the process!  For $19.99 a month, you will receive $40-$60 worth of nail and skin care products, including Julep nail polish.  You take a style quiz to find out which box you best match with (but you can switch month to month if you'd like!).  When you first sign up, for $19.99, Julep sends you an intro box, and then you'll start receiving your monthly boxes!  On the 20th of every month, Julep sends out a promo email, and then you just sign on to julep.com and decide what you want to do for the month!  Here are the best parts of the Julep Maven program:

• $40-$60 of nail products delivered to your door each month for only $19.99.
• You can skip the month with no penalty, so there's really no pressure.
• You can switch styles if you'd like each month.
• You can choose to send your box to a girlfriend if you'd like!
• Free shipping from julep.com.
• 20% off your purchases on julep.com.
• You can earn a free month by referring two friends to the program.
• You can cancel at anytime simply by giving Julep a call.

If you'd like to sign up, you can click on my link HERE!  Even better, to purchase your intro box for $0.01, enter code PENNY at checkout! =)  <3

The Stamping Saga Continues...

Hi everyone!  From today's title, you obviously know that I am showing you stamping manis today.  I have been trying to practice my stamping often so I can add it to my arsenal of designs to wear and share!

This is one coat of Misa Wink, Blink, Let's Get A Drink, a gorgeous, super saturated deep, yet bright, pink with a super subtle shimmer.  I did the stamping with Red Angel Plate RA-104 and Wet n Wild Wild Shine French White.  I finished it off with a coat of NYC.

I liked how this came out!  It wasn't flawless but it certainly was cute, and most importantly, I felt great wearing it!

And because I've said it 100000 times...PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!  So, I tried again!

This is two coat of Misa Grey Matters (I must have been in a Misa mood!), an awesome shimmery grey with black speckles in it.  If you like grey polishes, you must own Grey Matters.  I did the stamping using plate RA-111 and Wet n Wild Wild Shine Caribbean Frost (see my swatch of this polish here...I'm obsessed!).  I finished off with a top coat of NYC.  This reminds me of mermaid scales...I LOVE IT!  I will definitely be using this stamping design again soon =)

Then, I decided to add an easy accent nail with one coat of China Glaze Optical Illusion (full swatch and review coming soon!).  I love that you can still sort of see the stamp through it but it subtly matches.  One of my favorite accent nails I've ever done, and it's so simple.

I was really happy with this second mani =)  I'm starting to get excited about all the possibilities of stamping, now that I'm getting the technique down!  Which one of these looks do you prefer?!  Do you have any stamping tips and tricks that you find work well? =)

Thanks for reading today!  <3 Have a great weekend everyone!

Girly-Girl Challenge Day 8: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Hello lacquered loves!  And welcome to the last day of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge!  Crazy...I can't believe how quickly four weeks went by!  Today's challenge this is girls just wanna have fun, and we're supposed to come up with a "fun-loving" mani.  I decided to do the sweetest, girliest thing I could come up with!  I got Julep Carrie in my Mystery Box for St. Patrick's and I knew it would be great for this day!  This is two coats of Carrie with white dots in China Glaze White on White and Julep Fast Dry Top Coat.

Super cute, right?  I enjoyed wearing this mani and got lots of complements on it.  I am officially obsessed with any all-over pattern or design on my nails =)

Don't forget to check all these other great blogs and see how the finish out the challenge.  Finish strong ladies!

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll.
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Over Stuffed 

Taylor of REJOICE! 

Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

I just want to say thank you to Neverland Nail Blog for putting this challenge on and introducing me to some great bloggers out there =)  Thanks to everyone for your comments and for reading! <3

My Awesome Beauty Nail Art Contest Entry!

Hi lacquered loves!  Today I wanted to share my My Awesome Beauty Nail Art Contest entry! =)  I used OPI colors for the water marble: OPI No Room For The Blues, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, OPI Strawberry Margarita.  The triangles were done with the same colors, plus Zoya Trixie, the perfect silver.

This was so fun!  I really enjoyed wearing this =)  Go check out My Awesome Beauty!  I love her designs <3

CLOSED: 500 LIKES GIVEAWAY!

NOW CLOSED
500 Facebook Likes Giveaway: 

Lacquistry Undertow

Hello loves!  In order to thank all of you for being such great readers, I am hosting a 500 likes giveaway!  I am giving away a brand new bottle of LACQUISTRY UNDERTOW!  This is a gorgeous aqua/blue glitter polish with holo!  =)  Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter, and again...thanks for being amazing!  I love you all! <3

You must be 18 and a US Resident (sorry ladies!).  Giveaway closes on April 17, 2012 at 12:01am!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Girly-Girl Challenge Day 7: Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice!

Hi everyone!  This is the final week of the Girly-Girl Challenge!  I feel like it went so fast!  Today's theme is Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice!  I had a lot of ideas for this but decided to try out a technique I have been curious about: "spun sugar" nails =)

For this look, I used two coats of Essie Eternal Optimist as my base color.  I love Eternal Optimist...I think it is a must have basic for any nail polish lover's collection!!  Then, for my "spun sugar" I used China Glaze White on White.  My bottle of WoW is getting to be about 2/3 empty and sort of thick, so it worked well for this technique.  I added some Eternal OptimistI originally was inspired to try this by The Nail Buff's post, which linked back to a youtube video by NailsKathy that shows how to do it!  If you have questions about how I specifically did the technique, let me know! =)

So my "sugar" is definitely a little on the thick side...it made for a really awesome looking, textural manicure.  These pictures are all without top coat.  I added some later, but I think it completely altered the look.  So unless you only do really thin stripes, I'd say skip the top coat and embrace the bumpiness of this technique!! =)  Just give it plenty of dry time.  With the new "caviar mani" on the horizon, bumpy is in, right?

Check out the sweet and spicy manicures these other bloggers came up with!


Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll.
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Over Stuffed 

Taylor of REJOICE! 

Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

I hope you guys like these nails.  I want to try it again with just a few lines across the nail, so it's a bit less bumpy.  But I love how these turned out still!  Thursday is Day 8!  Thanks for reading!! =) <3

Beauty on a Budget...

Hi everyone! =)  Today I wanted to show you some swatches of some great drugstore polishes that I recently picked up.  I'll admit it, when I first started really getting into polish, I was a total OPI-snob, and then I slowly worked my way into Essie and Zoya.  I've explored many brands.  While I still enjoy $8-$10 bottles of polish most often, I am learning to embrace more affordable brands!  I'm a girl on a budget (more about what I'm saving for in future posts =) ...)

Today I have a few wetnwild polishes to show you!  And with RiteAid's wetnwild sale this week, it's definitely a brand to check out.  Visit Nouveau Cheap for more info on the sale (and the rundown on buying affordable cosmetics...it's an amazing site!!).

First up is wetnwild Wild Shine Blazed (437F).  Blazed is a pretty creamy orange coral shade.  It applied well, especially for a $0.99 polish!  I like the simple thin brush on the Wild Shine bottles.  I used three coats here, just to eliminate visible nail line (VNL) and a top coat of NYC.

Since wetnwild has several nail polish lines in different bottles, I'm including the bottle so you know which one
to look for in the store if you like it! =)

Next we have wetnwild Wild Shine Caribbean Frost (446C).  This is a gorgeous polish!  It's a blue-green shimmer polish with a super shiny finish!  It almost have a blue-green duochrome look to it!  These photos are two coats with no top coat, because I wanted you to see how shiny it is on its own!  I love this polish!

The only polish in my collection that I can think of that is close to Caribbean Frost is Julep Megan, but Caribbean Frost has more green in it.  Personally, I am glad I have both.  Caribbean Frost is gorgeous!

Wetnwild Wild Shine polishes retail for $0.99 but can be found on sale!  Personally, I think both of these shades are worth having, and with the price, it makes them wonderful!  I will not be afraid to try more Wild Shine polishes in the future!  What are your favorite wetnwild Wild Shine colors? =)

Thanks for reading today! Have a great Monday! <3

All-over Essie Dots!

Hi everyone!  Today I have a nice simple dots combo for you.  My base color is two coats of Essie Go Overboard and my dots are Essie Navigate Her.  I love this color combination!  And I love my dotting tools =)

Dotty nails always draw a lot of compliments!  The all over pattern is striking! =)

Also, don't forget to check out the First Weekend of Spring Giveaway for a bottle of Julep Sofia!! <3

Revlon Runway Pearl

Hi everyone!  Happy weekend!  Today I have a new Revlon polish for you: Revlon Runway Pearl.  I hear this is a Chanel dupe, but I do not have that polish, so I will not speak to that.  We'll start with a bottle shot and then jump into swatches.

First up, let's look at Runway Pearl on its own.  This is three coats with Julep Fast Dry Top Coat.  You can see that Runway Pearl is a milky white-ish pearly base with a pink flash that is quite evident in real life!  I felt the polish was a bit thick, but if I waited for each coat to dry it went on alright.  I would say that this polish takes a careful hand to apply though.

Next, let's look at some layering options.  This is one coat of Runway Pearl over Essie A Crewed Interest (pinky), Essie Watermellon (ring), Essie Marshmallow (middle), and China Glaze Liquid Leather (pointer; actually two coats of Runway Pearl on this finger).

I decided that I liked it best over black because you can really see the pink flash best that way, so I did a quick swatch over two coats of Liquid Leather.  This is one thin coat of Runway Pearl.

Look at that pink flash!  It's vibrant over black.  I purchased Runway Pearl at my local Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $3.79.  It was in a display filled only with Runway Pearl, but I hear that it will also be a part of a new Spring/Summer Limited Edition Revlon display.  If you like pearly finishes or fun white polishes, keep a look out!  However.....

After wearing three coats with the Julep fast dry top coat for a few hours, my nails got really bubbly and weird. Not normal bubbles that you may get with a bad top coat, but weird bubbles under the polish. It looked like my polish was boiling!  Basically, I applied it in early afternoon and by early evening I wanted it off my nails ASAP.  This could be due to the polish, or perhaps the weather...it was in the 80s the day that I wore this polish.  I certainly hope my polishes don't behave like that all summer =/  Overall, Runway Pearl is pretty and has potential, but I had a lot of trouble with the formula.  Would you take a chance on Runway Pearl?  Thanks for reading today loves! <3

CLICK to go to the Giveaway!!

Julep Emilie...

...is the perfect Starbucks green.

And you caught me in my favorite pink striped shirt again!  I swear I don't wear this shirt all the time! =)

Also, click the button below to go to the Julep Sofia giveaway!!! Closes Sunday night/Monday morning!!

Zoya Sunshine Polishes!

Hello everyone!  With all of the excitement around the new Zoya Beach and Surf Collections coming out soon, I thought I'd pull out a few of my favorite Zoya polishes to swatch for you!  The three polishes I'm showing you today are from Zoya's Summer 2011 Sunshine Collection!  I bought these this past winter when Zoya ran all of those amazing Facebook promos, and I'm happy the sun is finally shining in Ohio so I can show them off properly!

First up is Zoya Rica, an orange metallic foil with a bright red flash in the sun!  This lady really changes based on the lighting...I was mesmerized looking at my nails and did not want to take it off.  These pictures are three easy coats with a top coat of NYC In A New York Minute.

Indoors, natural light.

Outdoors, sunlight.

Next up we have Zoya Apple, a bright green metallic foil polish!  This is three coats with NYC.  This is definitely a bright green!  I love green polish, so I enjoy wearing it, but if you're not into bright colors, you may not love it.

Indoors, natural light.

Outdoors, sunlight.

Finally, here is Zoya Faye.  This is a metallic foil with a rosy purple base packed with gold shimmer!  This is three coats with NYC as the top coat.

Indoors, natural light.  It literally glows!

Outdoors, sunlight.

These three Zoyas did not disappoint.  They were all easy too apply, and even though I used three coats each, the dry time was still great.  You can buy these polishes, as well as the other Sunshine Collection shades for $8 each at zoya.com.  Zoya polishes are free of formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, and camphor and are also vegan friendly! =)  Thanks for reading today! <3

CLOSED: First Weekend of Spring Giveaway!

CLOSED: FIRST WEEKEND OF SPRING GIVEAWAY:

JULEP SOFIA

Happy beginning of SPRING!  To celebrate, I am having a quick weekend giveaway for a brand new bottle of Julep Sofia!  I love this polish!  To see some layering options, check out my Julep Sofia Layering Experiments post!  Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!  

You must be 18 years or older.  You must be a US resident (sorry international ladies!  Hopefully I can do an international giveaway soon!).  You must like The Lacquerologist on Facebook to enter, and there are several other options to earn some extra entries!!  Thanks for being such great readers everyone!

The giveaway starts at 12:01AM on Friday, March 23, 2012 and ends at 12:01am on Monday, March 26, 2012 as the weekend draws to an end!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Girly-Girl Challenge Day 6: Who Inspires You?

Hi everyone and welcome to Day 6 of the Girly-Girl Nail Art Challenge.  Today's theme is who inspires you?  For me, this was an easy decision: MY MOM!  I will keep it short and sweet without getting touchy feely and personal: my mom is awesome.

I set out to make "Nancy Nails"...I wanted to pull from my mom's style, both in her wardrobe and decorating.  She loves neutrals and earth tones.  Her house is very soothing to be in because the colors are so calming!  So I set out to do some basic skittles inspired by her favorite colors and design.  I used the following polishes for my skittle nails (skittles are nails that don't all match exactly):  Essie Body Language, Essie Case Study, China Glaze Electric Pineapple, and OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window.  For my top coat I used OPI RapidDry.  I employed striping tape and my dotting tool.

Just to give you a hint of my mom's tastes...

I love how these nails really reflected my mom! =)  This was a fun challenge for me to complete!  Make sure to check out who inspires the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge!


Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll.
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Over Stuffed 

Taylor of REJOICE! 

Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

The Challenge will conclude next week with day seven and eight!  I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with!  Thanks for reading today loves! <3