Friday, January 27, 2017

Floral Nail Art with Born Pretty Store and Literary Lacquers


Happy Friday, dear readers! I am so glad that the weekend is almost here- I'll be heading down to Long Beach tomorrow to cover the International Salon and Spa Expo! It's going to be fun so be sure to be following me on social media, linked at the end of this post. Now on to today's post!


My love for water decals has recently flourished, and I really like the pattern of these black and clear decals from Born Pretty Store. I love that there is so many ways to add colour (or not!) to them. I enjoyed creating this look, and I hope you do as well! Check it out!

To create this look, I started by randomly dabbing on Literary Lacquers polishes in Cyantifically Proven, If Thou Hast Eyes To See, and Salmon Chanted Evening, three of the creme shades that will be available at the Literary Lacquers Pop Up the first weekend of February. I then added the water decals, linked here, before sealing everything in with top coat.

These water decals floated off the backing quickly and placed easily on my nails. After blotting up the excess water and giving the decals about 10 minutes to set and dry completely, I had no issues with the top coat smearing the pattern over the colour. This look was so easy to create, and I appreciated how quickly I could get this design on my nails. The only thing better than awesome nail art is nail art that can be accomplished quickly!

These decals are available for purchase from the Born Pretty Site here. While you are visiting the site, be sure to check out what else Born Pretty Store has to offer for your nail art needs! You can save 10% off full priced items with discount code QWL91.

If you are interested in picking up some fabulous creme polishes, you'll want to put the Literary Lacquers Pop Up on your calender. The details are on my previous post here.


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

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

The Jedi Wife Celebrates Five Years with Literary Lacquers!


Greetings, dear readers, and happy hump day! I hope you are having a wonderful week! I am awestruck as I write this post and am feeling a little incredulous that I have been here writing for the blog for five years now. What has started out as a simple hobby has taken a life of its own, and I am just as passionate about my blog now as I was when I first started, if not more so. Five years is considered to be a "milestone" anniversary, and to celebrate my blog's birthday, I set out to work with a few different indie nail lacquers brands to create polishes inspired by the gifts associated with five years. The modern (jewelry) gift is the sapphire, and I couldn't think of a better brand to work with than Literary Lacquers. Amy, the creative genius behind the brand, has become a dear friend of mine over the years, and we share a love a gemstones. Presenting my sapphire-inspired polish: The Happy Prince!


Because of working with the Literary Lacquers brand to create my sapphire-inspired polish, I also needed to pull the sapphire inspiration from literature. In searching for a piece of literature that spoke to me that also referenced a sapphire, I recalled the short story of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. While it was originally written for children, it is a story of riches and poverty, exploitation and sacrifice, and love and compassion. Without giving away too many of the details of the story, the happy prince is a statue with two rare blue sapphire eyes from India that were given to those in need, leaving him blind. While the sapphires are only a part of this short story, they do play an important role and became the inspiration for my blogiversary polish. Due to the origin and suggested rarity in the story, I opted to use the Kashmir sapphire as further inspiration for the polish design. Kashmir sapphires are well known and highly valued for their rich velvety blue attributes, due to the nature of the stone's inclusions. The Happy Prince was designed to emulate these characteristics.

I love seeing the design brought to life, and Amy captured my idea so perfectly! Described as a sparkling sapphire blue crelly with a subtle pink shimmer, this polish is so much more! It also contains pink glass flecks, pink flakies, silver microflakies and silver, clear and black holo microglitter. It is definitely a complex beauty! Even with all the elements added, the formula is sublime with smooth and even application from the first coat. I have it shown here with three coats plus top coat, but you may find you only need two coats if you tend to paint in slightly thicker coats. Two coats was actually enough for me until I had my nails under my bright light set-up where I then detected a little visible nail line on one of my nails.

The sun decided to pop out from the clouds very briefly, and I was able to snap a quick photo in the sunlight.

Now for some great news: even though this was created for my blogiversary, you can purchase this spectacular blue polish at the upcoming Literary Lacquers Pop Up event the first weekend in February! The Literary Lacquers Etsy shop will open in its new format Friday, February 3rd at 8pm MST through Sunday, February 5th at midnight MST. While The Happy Prince is not being considered a limited edition polish, Amy does not have plans to stock it again after the pop up event. I know I'm biased, but I'm convinced everyone needs this magnificent blue polish on their fingertips!


To all my readers, from those that have been with me from the beginning to those that have found me recently, thank you so much for your support. My blog has seen me through three moves, two babies, and numerous adventures of Cosmoprof North America, the Indie Shops, and Polish Con to name a few. I look forward to seeing what this next year brings my blog, and I hope you stick around with me! I also have other polishes coming up soon inspired by other gifting ideas based on the five year anniversary, and I hope you love those too!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful night!
XO!

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Ellagee Polish: Bad Romance and Ring Palette

Good morning, dear readers! I hope your week has been off to a fabulous start. I have a stunning red holographic polish and nail art tool I'm eager to share with you. As a result, I'm going to limit the chit chat and jump right on in!

With January quickly coming to a close, I've had nail polishes for Valentine's Day on my mind. One of my favorite shades is the magnificent Bad Romance by Ellagee Polish. A ruby red shade with strong linear holographic shimmer, it's easy to fall in love with this beauty!
The formula is absolutely divine as it nearly applies itself. Not too thick or thin, it is my ideal consistency when it comes to polish, and I am all too happy to recommend this beauty if you are on the hunt for the perfect red holo. I have it worn here with two coats plus top coat. I've been doing a lot of my painting in the evenings, but I actually did this during the day and the sun came out for a brief period so I could get some photos in the sunshine. While I'm not as fond of sunlight for colour accuracy, I do love the holographic flash on my fingertips! Check it out below!

Ring Palette for Nail Art
Ellagee Polish also has other fun finds in addition to polish. One such item is the cute ring palette for nail art.
This ring palette contains five areas for you to put your paint plus the tiniest, most adorable container for water for brush cleanup. It slides easily onto your fingers and keeps your paints close at hand for convenience.
The palette itself is raised off the band with the little cup resting comfortably on your finger.  The whole piece itself is comfortable with no sharp edges or pinching. This is the perfect tool to have on hand whenever you need a few drops of paint- either for freehand nail art or just to collect dollops onto a dotting tool. Cleanup is fast and easy, and the finish stays intact with constant exposure to nail polish and acetone.I wholeheartedly recommend this handy little ring for anyone that is interested in doing their own nail art designs! 

The ring palette and Bad Romance can be picked up at the Ellagee Polish website located here. They are must-have items if you like red nails or if you do any nail art.

Have you used this ring palette for nail art? What is your favorite Ellagee Polish shade? I'd love to hear from you!

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



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Monday, January 23, 2017

Lyn B Designs: Be Your Own Princess Collection

Press Sample


Happy Monday, dear readers! I hope this post finds you well! I had originally planned to take this week off from the blog, but after coming down with one of my kids' sickness, I opted to take off a week earlier than planned. I'm happy to be back and eager to jump in with postings! I wanted to start the week off with the fabulous Be Your Own Princess Collection designed by LynB Designs and inspired by Sailor Moon. The collection consists of nine glorious shades; let's check them out!

Sailor Moon-Usagi
Three coats plus top coat

Bright pinky red with blue shimmer, holo micro flake and golden sparks

I figured the best place to start with a Sailor Moon inspired collection would be with the Sailor Moon polish itself, and what a beauty is this! This is a stunning bright shade already, but it's the flashes of blue as you shift your fingers that make it truly remarkable. With an easy to apply formula, it's sure to be a winner for any pink lover!


Sailor Mercury-Ami
Three coats plus top coat

True blue base with intense linear holo and blue galaxy holo

While I fully expected the orange shade in this collection to be my favorite, it was Sailor Mercury-Ami that ended up winning the coveted position. This vibrant polish applies effortlessly, and if you tend to paint with a slightly heavy hand, you may find you only need two coats for opacity.


Sailor Venus-Minako
Two coats plus top coat

Orange crelly base with holo micro flakes, silver and gold holo glitters, and a smattering of navy holo glitters

I really love the combination of orange with a hint of navy glitters in Sailor Venus-Minako! I may have a slight bias since orange is my favorite polish color in general, but this shade just makes me happy and forgetful of the grey overcast days we've been having around here. The formula was really nice as well with no special glitter extraction techniques needed, nor did I have trouble with glitter dispersal over my nails.


Sailor Mars-Rei
Two coat plus top coat

True red base loaded with shift from indigo to purple to red to orange, and hints of purple glitter

I've really been feeling red polishes lately, and this one does not disappoint! While not a dominant trait, Sailor Mars-Rei has a little bit of squishiness that is so fabulous in red shades. While I used two easy coats here, the bright lights in my setup is showing a hint of visible nail line; some readers may find a third coat is necessary for full opacity.


Sailor Jupiter-Makoto
Three coats plus top coat

Emerald green jelly base with purple shimmer and iridescent chameleon glitters

LynB Designs has a knack for putting out some slightly unusual combinations, and Sailor Jupiter-Makoto is a bit of an outlier from the rest of the collection. In spite of its differences, I am in love with the addition of the iridescent chameleon glitters, especially when it flashes orange against the green base! It applies flawlessly, even with all the glitters, but it does dry to a textured finish. I used a single coat of top coat for these photos, and I probably could have used a second for fully smoothed out nails.


Sailor Saturn-Hotaru
Two coats plus top coat

Deep purple crelly base with holo micro flakes and red orange shimmer

These photos just do not do Sailor Saturn-Hotaru justice. While purples are generally not one of my go-to shades, I was swooning over this beauty, especially with the addition of the red orange shimmer. This polish is certainly something special, and with an impeccable formula, what more could you possibly want? This is definitely one of my top picks from the collection!


Sailor Uranus-Haruka
Two coats plus top coat

Darkened blue jelly base with golden micro shimmer and red to gold shifting shimmer

Another magnificent shade filled with glorious colour shifting shimmers! I love that is collection is has several, and Sailor Uranus-Haruka is another winner from the collection. The colour shift is more obvious on the nails than in these photos, especially since My normal nail angles aren't the most accommodating at showing off the shift. This applied nicely as well without any issues.


Sailor Neptune-Michiru
Two coats plus top coat

Black base with intense linear holo and shimmer that shifts from green to blue to gold

I might have died a little (in a good way, that is) when I first put Sailor-Neptune Michiru on my nails. Dark polishes have captured my attention, and the flashes of green in this beauty is truly remarkable. With an easy application and no issues to report, it's the perfect polish for those that want their nails on the darker side.


Sailor Pluto-Setsuna
Two coats plus top coat

Darkened green crelly base with red shimmer and holo micro flakes

Sailor Pluto-Setsuna is another one of my top picks from this collection. I am fond of this shade of green and the red shimmer adds an unexpected but still fantastic twist. Like the rest of the collection, I had no issues with application as it practically applied itself. Two coats was enough for opacity until I hit the bright lights for photos. If you tend to paint your nails with very thin coats, you may find you need a third coat for opacity.



The Be Your Own Princess Collection is scheduled to launched February 3rd at 7pm EST on the LynB Designs storefront located here. Each polish in the collection will retail for $10. The first week of the release, polishes will be on special for 50% off with discount code SAILOR through February 10th. You can also use the code to purchase the entire 9-piece collection for only $40 and have free shipping within the US.

This is such a beautiful collection, and it's so difficult for me to choose just one single favorite. Each polish offers something a little different, and you really can't go wrong with any of them! This is definitely one of LynB Designs best collections, and I hope you're just as excited about these shades as I am!

Are you a Sailor Moon fan? Do you think these polishes represent their respective characters well?What is your favorite polish from this collection? I'd love to hear from you!

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

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