Polish that changes in the sun?

I decided to try out the Del Sol nail polish I purchased a while back. (I got this one at the Del Sol store in Virginia Beach.) I'm not new to Del Sol's nail polishes, a few years ago my mom brought some back for me from San Diego. The one I purchased is a warm hot pink with a bit of gold shimmer in it. In the sun, it turns to a warm purple with gold shimmer. The name of this particular one is Girl's Night Out. I have been thinking of various layering combinations lately and I decided I wanted to try OPI Stars in My Eyes over this one. I didn't even think about if it would change the way the colour looked in the sun, but for the most part it didn't. Here is what the polish looks like indoors: (Excuse the bad indoor picture, I'm not so good at taking pictures indoors..)

And outdoors, it looks like this:

You can get Del Sol nail polishes on there website here: http://www.delsol.com/store/Accessories___Nail_Polish?Args=&page_number=1  If you live close to a Del Sol store I recommend buying it there so you can see the colours in person. (And its cheaper to buy them in store.) They are 8 dollars in store and 10 dollars plus shipping online. These polishes are really fun but the formula is thick and they take longer to dry than most polishes. I have two more of these so if you're interested in seeing more let me know.
Layering the OPI over the konad was probably a bad idea because it smeared the design, but I still like it. I really want to do more layering so I will have another layering experiment up soon.

Peace and Love,
Serena

Awesome European Giveaway!

Hello everyone! I don't have nails to show you today but I do have an awesome giveaway to tell you about. (I will have something nail related to show you either tomorrow or the day after.) Anyways, Mon coin a moua is having a giveaway featuring European beauty products! Here is a look at some of the things you could win:

This giveaway is open to everyone, all you have to do is become a follower and post a comment with your name and email address. More info here: http://moncoinamoua.blogspot.com/2010/07/euro-mazing-giveaway.html

Peace and Love,
Serena

Polka Dot Nail Art using Nubar Nail Art Pen

Hello! I meant to post this Saturday but I actually had a somewhat busy weekend. I wanted to do something simple so I used the Nubar Nail Art pen to do a polka dot manicure. I really like these nail art pens, they have a pen tip for dotting and fine details, and a thin brush for lines. I have two of these nail art pens, one is navy blue and the other is blue-green. Here are pictures of one of my nail art pens: (I took a picture of the blue green one because it's easier to see the label on it.)

 You can get these on Nubar's website here: http://www.bynubar.com/store/index.php?p=home . They are $7 each. On the bottom under the label there is a small needle you can use if your pen tip gets clogged up. I have seen similar nail art pens at Claire's for five dollars but I don't have any to compare.

Anyway, now onto the manicure! The base colour I used is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. It was very opaque and almost perfect in one coat, I did two. Then I used my Nubar Nail Art pen to paint the dots. The pen tip is perfect for dotting but make sure your base colour is completely dry. Also, wait a good 20 or so minutes before putting on topcoat because you could smear your design.

I have been wearing this for 3 days when I took this so excuse the bit of wear. Have you tried Nubar's Nail Art Pens, or Claire's?
Peace and Love,
Serena

Konad with China Glaze Millenium

The concept was cute, but the execution needs work.

That's how I feel about the Konad design I did today. I still have on the Claire's mood nail polish, even though I don't really care for it all that much. Today I got a good idea for a Konad design. Since I already had the base colour on it took less than ten minutes to stamp all my nails. I stamped my nails with China Glaze Millenium using plate m60. The design looks smeared on my nails even though I still haven't applied any topcoat. The design also didn't stick as well as normal.

I really like the idea of the design and the colours I used. I've heard that these mood polishes chip easily but I've kept my left hand without topcoat and I've only experienced minimal tip wear. I'll probably be removing this design tomorrow so have something new soon!

Peace and Love,
Serena

Claire's Mood Nail Polish: Peaceful/Confident

Yesterday I went to the mall with my sister and I decided to check out Claire's to see if I could find their mood polishes. They were 5 dollars each but they were having a buy one get on half off deal. The two I got both dry matte. I don't know about the other one I got but this one applied horribly. It was really thick and streaky. If you went over the same spot twice it would remove all the polish on that side. In the end it all dried smoothly but due to the uneven application I needed 3 coats. I wasn't sure if top coat would interfere with the colour changing so I didn't apply topcoat to my left hand, only my right. The topcoat didn't effect it at all so if you're not a fan of neon mattes it will still change with top coat. The weather here is so hot I ended up having to take a cup full of ice water outside with me to get pictures of the colour change. I tried taking pictures indoors but they all turned out bad and didn't show much colour change. I took these pictures with Orly Ridgefiller because I found the Claires bottle awkward to hold and get good pictures. The first picture is what it looks like hot (confident), the second is with cold tips and the third is what it looks like cold (peaceful).

The change isn't as drastic as I thought it would be, but its still noticeable. For some reason the change shows up more on my right hand, the one I don't take a picture of! I think I might do some Konad/Nail Art to this one tomorrow....

Have you tried any of these Claire's Mood Polishes?
Peace and Love,
Serena

OPI What's With The Cattitude? + Konad M73

Konad take two! This is my second attempt at doing some Konad designs on my nails and I am really pleased with how I did. This is only my second attempt at Konad and I decided to try a full nail design. First I painted my nails with OPI What's With The Cattitude?, a pastel-ish sky blue. In my photos it appears much brighter for some reason. I find that odd because these pictures were taken outdoors in stormy weather. The indoor picture is more colour accurate but still slightly off. Anyway, then I used Konad White Special nail polish and stamped a flowery design with plate M73.

Like I said earlier I am really happy with how this turned out. I didn't expect my second attempt to turn out this well. Its not perfect by any means but I still like it! The Konad design effectively masked the horrible application of this polish. I don't think its OPI's formula that is at fault, I think it is the brushes on the OPI minis. I've never had good luck applying with them. When my nails dry they do look slightly better though.

 Do any of you have any nail polish storage tips? I have about 70 or so nail polishes and my current storage is not working. A few bottles of nail polish are just lying around because I don't have a place for them. Right now the majority of my polishes are in an old Sephora box that was lying around the house. Back when I had about 20 or so polishes I thought it would work great. Currently I think it is holding 65 nail polishes, which is way more than I thought I could squeeze in there! If you have any storage suggestions I would really appreciate them.

Peace and Love,
Serena

Konad Stamping Nail Art: First Use

Hello! Today I received my Konad order in the mail. Here is what I purchased:

1 Double Sided Stamper and Scraper
2 Konad Special nail polishes (black and white)
3 Image plates (m60, m73 and s6)

M60 has four full nail designs (dots, argyle, plaid, and paisley) and one flower design.
M73 has four full nail designs (flowers with vines, wavy lines, music notes and squares) and a heart french tip design.
S06 has 7 asian style designs. 2 of them are full nail designs.

When I first opened the package I started testing it out a little bit on my bare nails. I had trouble with the full nail designs more than the small ones. After I had done a few practice stamps I painted my nails with Sinful Colors Courtney Orange. Courtney Orange is the only Sinful polish I own and it takes 3 coats for opacity. Next, I used S06 and stamped a circular asian design on my nails. Here is how I did:

 
I think I did alright with this one. The only problem I have is centering the design. Also, when I was practicing I had a lot of trouble getting the full nail designs all over my nails. Before I bought Konad I did quite a bit of research on it and the big debate is this: Do you really need the Konad special nail polishes? My answer to that is yes if you want a decent, hassle free, vibrant design.  While I was messing around I found it much easier to use the special nail polish. China Glaze Millennium and China Glaze Thunderbird were two out of the four I tried that worked. (I also tried Misa Shop til U Drop and Finger Paints Sketch n Etch) It makes sense those two would work because I have heard metallic/chrome colours work best.

If you have any Konad tips for me please share them!

Peace and Love,
Serena

Quick Giveaway Post: Susie's KISS giveaway!

  Hello everybody! I will have an actual post up probably sometime this weekend but I wanted to mention a giveaway that is going on. Susie's Home and Hobbies is having a giveaway! Her son's band Tyrade has the chance to open for KISS. He needs to be in fifth place to get an interview from KISS. After the interview, KISS will choose a band to open for them. All you need to do to be entered is vote for her son's band and post about this giveaway on your blog. She is giving away some great prizes so I encourage you to check it out!

Here is the link to check it out: http://susies1955.blogspot.com/2010/06/enter-my-kiss-giveaway.html
I will have a new manicure to show sometime this weekend and I am expecting an exciting package in the mail hopefully Monday or Tuesday! :)

Peace and Love,

Serena

Petites Color Fever Black Diamond

Hello everyone! I'm excited to finally be writing my first official blog post. Unfortunately the weather somewhat ruined my plan. I just got back from Yorktown, Virginia a few days ago and while I was there I got Petites Color Fever Black Diamond at Rite Aid. It is my first holographic nail polish. I painted my nails with it 2 nights ago and then the heavy rain started. I thought I wasn't going to get a good sunlight picture of it so I tried my best to get good indoor shots. As I started writing this post the sun came out for a few minutes so I took that opportunity to take some pictures. The pictures I got outside still aren't amazing though..the sun wasn't shining too brightly. Anyway, on to the pictures!! The first one is indoors, the second one is outdoors and the bottle pictures are outdoors. Click the pictures to make them bigger...the holo is easier to see. (It is pretty faint though.)

 The formula on this one was slightly thick and seemed to get thicker the longer I worked with it. Despite its thickness it still required 3 coats to completely even out. This polish is obviously not a bright, in your face holo. I haven't got to see it in really good sunlight except in the bottle as I was leaving the store with it. Indoors the holo is barely noticeable unless you are in a brightly lit room or you look up close. For the most part indoors it is a charcoal colour with fine silver particles. Outdoors in 'partly cloudy' weather it had a slight holo shine and the silver particles turned rainbow. I'm a little disappointed at how subdued this is..but at the same time I haven't really seen it in the bright sunlight on my nails so I can't be sure yet. If the rain stops and I still have my nails painted with this colour I will update this post with more pictures. You can find this one and other Petites Color Fever polishes at Rite Aid for $2. I don't have a Rite Aid anywhere close to me and I haven't seen these Petites Color Fever polishes anywhere else. If you know of any other place to buy these please let me know in the comments.

Peace and Love,

Serena

My Nail Polish Collection

Hello!

I thought the perfect way to start this blog off was to list my entire nail polish collection. These aren't in any specific order. If you have any questions about a particular colour post a comment here, on a recent post, or email me (lacquerlove@gmail.com) If the colour has been used in a post, I link to that post here.

Last updated: September 30th, 2010. 


China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise
China Glaze Sexy in the City
Del Sol Electrick
OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui
China Glaze Frostbite
China Glaze Up All Night
Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost
Wet n Wild Blue Moon
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue
Misa Cherry Topping
Sally Hansen Honeymoon Red
China Glaze Ruby Pumps
OPI You Rock-apulco Red!
Sephora by OPI And a Cherry On Top
China Glaze Thunderbird
China Glaze Strawberry Fields
Del Sol Calypso
China Glaze Limbo Bimbo
Misa That's My Little Secret
China Glaze Grape Pop
Misa Shop Til U Drop
China Glaze Coconut Kiss
Wet n Wild Wild Card
China Glaze Tempest
OPI Jade is the New Black
Misa Toxic Seduction
China Glaze In the Limelight
China Glaze Fortune Teller
China Glaze Millenium
Misa Dying Love
Sally Hansen Gunmetal
Pure Ice Spitfire
Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
Pure Ice No Means No
Pure Ice Calypso
Sparitual Flight of Fancy
OPI Stars in my Eyes
CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle
OPI Rosy Future (mini)
OPI Ink (mini)
OPI What's With the Cattitude? (mini)
OPI Fiercely Fiona (mini)
OPI Rumples Wiggin' (mini)
OPI Who the Shrek Are You? (mini)
Nubar Nail Art Pen Navy Blue
Nubar Nail Art Pen Blue Frost
LA Colors Art Deco Black
LA Colors Art Deco White
LA Colors Art Deco Magenta
LA Colors Art Deco Baby Pink
LA Colors Art Deco Silver Glitter
LA Colors Art Deco Bright Orange
LA Colors Art Deco Yellow
LA Colors Art Deco Red Glitter
LA Colors Art Deco Blue Glitter
LA Colors Art Deco Bright Green
M.A.C. $$$$$ Yes
Petites Color Fever Black Diamond
Petites Color Fever Peach Blush
Scherer Chameleon Blue Sky
Del Sol Girls Night Out
Scherer Chameleon Ballerina
Scherer Chameleon "No Name"
Scherer Chameleon Blue Frost
Wet n Wild Craze Jade
China Glaze Four Leaf Clover
Sinful Colors Courtney Orange
Fingerpaints Sketch n Etch
Pure Ice Superstar
Claires Mood Polish Peaceful/Confident
Claires Mood Polish Flirty/Shy
OPI Catch Me In Your Net
Sinful Colors Nail Junkie
Sally Hansen InstaDri Lightening
E.l.f. Metallic Blue
E.l.f. Metallic  Magenta
E.l.f. Metallic Orange
Wet n Wild Shine Sunny Side Up
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cosmic Blue
Wet n Wild Tickled Pink
Wet n Wild Shine Eggplant Frost
Essence Colour and Go No More Drama
Essenese Colour and Go Check Me Out
Essense Colour and Go Plum Perfect

Lacquer Love

Hello, my name is Serena and welcome to my blog! I started this blog so I could have a place to share my love of nail polish and nail art. I first got into nail polish a year or so ago when I got the polish called China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. Before, I only occasionally painted my nails and usually it was with a neutral colour like black, white or a sheer. That summer I also discovered nail polish blogs and my interest grew. (As well as my collection!) In just the last few months I started to try some nail art. That is when I first considered starting my own blog.  The main focus of this blog will be mostly nail polish, though occasionally I may post photography or other off topic things. (Possibly even other beauty related things.)

I'm a soon to be senior in high school and a student at a technical school. (Taking Graphic Arts) I have 2 cats, Misty and Tikal (Tie-cal) and a poodle/chihuahua mix named Gizmo. My other interests include vintage clothing, music, violin, photography, drawing, writing, reading, video games and Pokemon. (I am a nerd and proud, lol.)

I hope you enjoy my blog, comments are always appreciated! =)