February The Lacquer Legion: Adoration Prompt

Good morning, dear readers! I have been insanely busy this past week with finalizing my move, and as of yesterday, I have officially moved to California. It still doesn't feel real, and thankfully I'm no longer feeling as overwhelmed as I did two weeks ago. I must say, moving several bottles of polish has been quite an experience. I have since rediscovered a few things during packing, so I'll probably have a few oldies but goodies appear on my blog over the next few months. As for today's post, I decided to participate in The Lacquer Legion's monthly nail art prompts, and this month's prompt is ADORATION (#LLadoration). Why don't I first show you what I chose to do and then get into how I decided on this particular manicure...

Polishes used:

Essence nail colour: A Walk in the Park

Zoya: Aurora

Nailtini: Champagne

I am really excited about this manicure! I had done a bit of Valentine's Day nail art, so I chose to take a slightly different approach for this theme. My favorite nail art technique is still the fishtail, and I knew I just had to use it for the ADORATION prompt this month. I also chose to use a green and a purple because they are the colours I am currently the most drawn to. I absolutely love how the different finishes of these polishes play together, and I think it makes for a much more interesting fishtail pattern.

If you would like to participate in these monthly nail art challenges, keep on eye on The Lacquer Legion's Facebook page for each month's prompt and hashtag. Anyone is welcome to join, and if you just aren't feeling too inspired one month, you don't have to contribute. It's definitely a fun way to do some nail art you might not otherwise think about trying out!

Until next time, dear readers, have a great day!

Born Pretty Store Sea Turtle Review

Press Sample

Good morning, dear readers! I have another adorable piece from Born Pretty Store to share with you this week, and I hope you like it! It is advertised on their website as being a tortoise, but it is actually a sea turtle. I love sea turtles so much I even have a honu (the Hawaiian petroglyph for a sea turtle) tattoo. I wanted something ocean-inspired to go with the nail art piece, and rather than doing full nail art, I wanted to play around with an ocean-wave inspired french tip.

As you can see, the sea turtle is a pretty decently-sized piece, and it definitely covers a large portion of my nail. I had actually done a bit of painting on my ring finger to make the nail nicely decorated, but I ended up covering a decent portion of the work. C'est la vie, but definitely something to keep in mind if you want to get this super cute piece: check how much space you will have left on your nail! It stuck well with nail glue, and I didn't lose it! :D I really like this piece, and I'll definitely be using it again when I want to do more ocean nail art!

This cute piece (in addition to two other coloured options) is available for purchase link. You can also save 10% on your purchase at Born Pretty Store by using coupon code QWL91. While you are there, be sure to browse the site for all your nail art needs.

Polishes used:
Orly: Lucky Duck
Color Club: New Bohemian
Zoya: Song, Breezi, Jacqueline, Timo, Hazel, Kristen, and Shay

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day! <3 

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.

Born Pretty Store Clover Earrings Review

Press Sample

Good morning, dear readers! I hope you have enjoyed the weekend and you are enjoying the start to a new week. This is my last week of packing and living in my current house, so needless to say, I may be stressing out over here! I do have a few posts planned out so hopefully my blog won't be MIA for too long during this transition.

For today's post, I wanted to share some cute clover earrings from Born Pretty Store. I know, you're probably thinking we *just* celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday, but I'm sharing them now so they should arrive in time for St. Patrick's Day if you want to order them. Technically the shamrock, or three leaf clover, is the "correct" symbol the Irish use to celebrate the holiday, but I won't tell if you opt to use these four-leaf clovers instead. ;)

These clover earrings are cute and sweet if you want to wear something to bring you a little extra luck for your day. Please note that they are not silver or gold, but that should hopefully not be expected when the price is only $1.77. If you have metal sensitivities and can only wear fine metals, these earrings are not for you. I don't have this issue, and I didn't have any problems wearing them. They are very lightweight, and I'm not sure that they can stand up to much abuse, but if you take them out at night before bed and try to not step on them, they are just fine. The only thing I didn't like is that they came with the clear plastic pieces to hold them in place. They didn't feel very secure to me when I used the plastic backs, so I opted to wear mine by using an extra pair of metal push-backs that I had on hand.

These cute clover earrings can be purchased here. You can save 10% by using coupon code QWL91. While you are on the site, check out Born Pretty Store for all your nail art needs. They have so many things to choose from!

Until next time, dear readers, have a great day! <3

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Good morning, dear readers, and happy Valentine's Day! I've shared a few Valentine's Day-themed manicures over the past few weeks, and I had to share one more look with you. I wanted something cute but simple to wear today, and I really like how this manicure turned out. 

I used Zoya in Purity (white) and Sachi (raspberry pink) for the base of my nail art. I attached these cute little open heart pieces that were part of an assortment I was gifted. Unfortunately I don't know the brand or where exactly they came from, but the design is simple enough I hope you could find something similar easily enough. I then sponged a heart gradient of Zoya Sooki (red) to Cassi (peachy-pink) on top of Purity. I added a coat of Gelous over the metal hearts to help smooth my nails down just a little more. I then topped off this manicure with Glisten & Glow's HK Girl top coat. 

I think this wraps up my Valentine's Day manicures for this year! Did you do something special on your nails for the occasion? I'd love to hear what you did on your nails!

Until next time, dear readers, have a great day and enjoy the weekend! XOXO!

Born Pretty Store brush trio review with Valentine's Day nail art

Press Sample

Good morning, dear readers! I hope you have been enjoying the week thus far. I was given the opportunity to review some nail art brushes from Born Pretty Store, and of course I had to try them out with some Valentine's Day inspired nail art.

These brushes are similar in style, but as you can see, they come in three different sizes.

This is the Valentine's Day nail art I created using these brushes.

These brushes allowed me to have some finer detailing, although a steadier hand on my end probably would have helped. Hehe! If you do have a steady hand, you might be able to do nice stripes with these brushes, but as for me, I think I need to stick with the longer bristles of striping brushes if I want stripes.

Colours used:

Leopard Heart nails- Barielle: Gold Digger, Exotica, Island Breeze, Coral Reef; Zoya: Raven

Striped nails- Barielle: Uninhibited, Seductive, Jillian's Jammin, and Glammed Out Garnet

I had a lot of fun creating this manicure, and I enjoyed using these brushes!

You can purchase these brushes here. You can save 10% off these or any purchase by using discount code QWL91. Be sure to keep Born Pretty Store in mind when you are shopping for your nail art needs. They have an amazingly large selection to choose from!

What do you think of these brushes and this manicure? Would you want to try something like this?

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.

Liquid Sky Lacquer Chocolate Obsession Swatches and Review

Good afternoon, dear readers! My posting is going to be a little touch and go for the next several weeks as I am moving out of Arizona. The hubby was offered a position just north of the Bay Area, so we are California bound the end of this month. I've been so busy packing, and there is still so much to go yet! I wanted to paint my nails since it usually helps to cheer me up, and because I also love chocolate when I'm stressed (and when I'm happy, sad, angry, excited, pretty much all the time, lol), Chocolate Obsession by Liquid Sky Lacquer came to mind. I painted two coats for the photos below.

I really love brown holographic polishes, and Chocolate Obsession is no exception. I just love the warmth of this polish, and the formula was nice as well. The name is cute and quite fitting for how I feel about chocolate, lol!

Polishes by Liquid Sky Lacquer can be purchased at her Bigcartel site located here.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm off to start packing up my polish collection. :D 

I'd love to hear from you! Do you love brown holographic polishes?

Until next time, enjoy your day! <3

China Glaze Sea Goddess Collection Swatches and Review

Good morning, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed the weekend! I was so excited when I had the opportunity to snag the China Glaze Sea Goddess Collection, and I wanted to share my swatches and thoughts with you. I'm not 100% on the textured polish bandwagon, but these colours were just too enticing to pass up. Let's jump into swatch photos and I will go into details as I cover each polish. I have included photos of just the textured polishes by themselves, and an additional photo with Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat.

Tail Me Something - A shimmery purple texture, Tail Me Something was one of my favorite polishes from this collection. The formula was a touch thick, but I had no application issues with it. I used two coats for these photos.

Tail Me Something with two coats HK Girl top coat

Teal the Tide Turns - A mint-leaning teal, Teal the Tide Turns is more milky and less sparkly, but this colour is still quite pretty. If I had my way, I would have put more glitter in it to make it sparkle, but it is a nice colour. This one was also a little thicker than I would have liked, but it still applied pretty easily for me. I used two coat for the following photos.

Teal the Tide Turns with two coats HK Girl top coat

Wish On a Starfish - a stunning light pink polish packed with gold shimmer, Wish On a Starfish is one of my favorite shades in this collection. The formula was as not thick as some of the other colours, and it took three coats for opacity. The gold shimmer was not the easiest to capture in photographs, and this polish is one I think you just have to see in person.

Wish On a Starfish with two coats HK Girl topcoat

Shell We Dance? - A shimmery light raspberry-pink shade, Shell We Dance? had a wonderful formula and was another favorite for me. I used two coats for the following photos.

Shell We Dance? with two coats HK Girl top coat

Seahorsin' Around - a shimmery aqua blue texture polish, Seahorsin' Around was one I expected to love the most, and it did not disappoint! This colour is just gorgeous and definitely reminds me of the ocean. The formula was nice, and I used two coats for the following photos. 

Seahorsin' Around with two coats HK Girl top coat

Sand Dolla Make You Holla - an ever-so-slightly leaning pink (but looks white to the hubby) texture with small multi-coloured glitter, Sand Dolla Make You Holla was one I was reasonably sure I wasn't going to like. I'm just not a fan of white polishes, although I was hopeful that the extra bit of colour would make me like it. I was not prepared for the disgusting formula, and Sand Dolla Make You Holla is the black sheep of the collection. The colour was sheer, and there were large nasty chunks of *something* in my bottle. I ended up with one of them on my pinky, and while I contemplated redoing that particular nail, I felt it wasn't fair to you if I hid the truth. I've seen other reviews and have not read anything about this problem, so I might have just had a bad bottle. I'm not really sure what happened, but all I can do is review based on what I have. I used three coats for the following photos.

Sand Dolla Make You Holla with two coats HK Girl top coat

Overall, I was quite pleased with the China Glaze Sea Goddess collection. Even though a few of the polishes were a little thicker than I would have liked, they still applied well and look beautiful on the nails. Even if you aren't too sure about using them as a texture as they are designed, they look gorgeous smoothed down with top coat. Sand Dolla Make You Holla is the one major exception to the collection - my bottle will be going in the garbage after this post - but the rest are definitely worth having!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this collection! Are you loving textured polishes? What colours do you like the most from this collection?

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

<3 

Colors by Llarowe Broncos vs Seahawks Superbowl XLVIII Collection

Good morning, dear readers, and happy Saturday! I have the beautiful Colors by Llarowe polishes to share with you this morning. Instead of just doing swatches, I wanted to play around a little with these and do something creative. Rather than picking one technique, I've incorporated a few different ideas into each of my manicures. Hopefully they will give you some inspiration if you are still deciding on how to paint your nails for the Superbowl, if you are planning to of course. Let's get to it!

Legion of Boom and Seahawks Lime Set

Both these polishes applied easily, and I added a couple lime green stones and microbeads to make it a little more interesting. I then topped everything off with a coat of Glisten & Glow's HK Girl top coat. 

Orange Crush and Bronco Blue Set

Both polishes in the Bronco set applied easily as well! I used a sponge to dab the blue over the orange already on my ring finger, and I used striping tape to get the orange stripes on my middle finger. I then sealed everything in with HK Girl here as well.

If you missed out on purchasing these sets during the initial stocks, you will have the opportunity to purchase them next week. Keep an eye on the Llarowe Facebook page for the specific day and times these will be released on the brand-spankin-new Llarowe website. These specific polishes were made in one extra large batch, so if you want a set (or both!), you'll have to snag them then.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful weekend, and let's go Broncos!