Subdued Spring Nail Art (I'm back!)

Wow, somebody should have warned me that the end of my senior year would be so busy. I really can't wait until this year is over! In addition to school stuff I have been working hard learning Japanese. =D  Hopefully I can get back to a regular schedule of blogging....I really miss it and I feel bad when I can't post. I also miss reading and commenting on other blogs.

Anyway, enough excuses...on the the real post.

I wanted to wear Zoya Kelly on it own this time since last time I wore it the colour was completely changed by China Glaze Lighthouse. When I first got it I thought about doing white Konad on it. This time I did. I used a flower patter on the tips of my nails. I tried to get it to stamp diagonally but I stamped it straight for the most part.

Zoya Kelly is one of my favourite nail polishes. It goes on smooth and its almost opaque in one coat. Zoya's brushes are also easy to use. I have heard that some people have problems with Zoya with quick dry topcoats but I have never had a problem with that. Wear time isn't any better or worse than most other polishes. I use Orly Ridgefiller base coat and China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat.

Its been awhile since I blogged so how is everyone? Are you as busy as I am this time of year? Any interesting new collections being released soon? Fill me in!

Peace and Love,
Serena

紫 & 銀色 - Essie Sexy Divide Konad

The Japanese in the title means "Purple and Silver". I was going to post this yesterday but I got sick. I'm still not feeling 100% better but I wanted to get this posted before it chipped. I'm surprised at how well I did the Konad considering I feel terrible. My right hand is a disaster though!

Sexy Divide is much prettier when there is actually some sunlight. My Walmart's Essie display was finally put up so I picked out three colours. (Sexy Divide, Beach Bum Blu, and Sew Pysched.) Chase, my boyfriend, bought these for me. =) I had never seen Beach Bum Blu before, it turns out its a Wal Mart exclusive shade. I know some people don't like the fact that Essie is now in Wal Mart but to me its a good thing. The only other Essie I have is Matte About You. The nearest place for me to purchase Essie is Ulta, which is about an hour away from me. The bottle is a little different so you can tell which ones are from Wal Mart. At my Wal Mart these were $7.25 each. I also heard somewhere that they changed some of the names, which I think is kind of silly. (Velvet Vouyeur, Velvet Voyage)

Have you seen Essie at your Wal Mart yet?
Peace and Love,
Serena

Joe Fresh Cherry Konad

No matter what shade of red I wear I always think it looks odd on me. I used to hate red nail polish and I would refuse to wear it. Now, I don't mind it so much. I didn't like it so much on its own so I stamped a circular patten to the tips of my nails using plate S06. The design even matches the polish bottle.

This is the first Joe Fresh polish I have used, and I had no problems with it. Its a jelly so it took 3 coats to cover. The brush is wide and flat so application is easy. I can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be here soon, which also means the school semester will be over soon. I have a feeling my senior year will go by really quickly once the new year starts. I'm already seeing Christmas displays out! Personally, I think Christmas displays should wait until after Thanksgiving.

I appreciate all the interesting feedback regarding the Rush topcoat review. It just goes to show that not all products work for everybody. Speaking of feedback, does anyone have any nail art ideas? Unfortunately I've been lacking inspiration lately. I've also been busy with school stuff too. Let me know in the comments if you do!

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

E.l.f. Metallic Orange Konad + FB page!

Out of all the Elf polishes I got from my aunt awhile back, this one was the one I wasn't quite sure about. I prefer to wear cool toned polishes over warm ones and in my experience orange doesn't look very good on me. This one really impressed me though. It's a metallic pumpkin orange with a pink glow to it. It's really hard to describe and unfortunately my pictures failed to capture it. You can kind of see it in a few of the pictures. I wanted to do some Konad so I used plate S06 and stamped a diagonal line pattern on my nails.

Despite how much I love this colour, it was somewhat streaky and sheer. Three coats evened it out nicely though. I wanted to take a picture of this without Konad but by the time I remembered I had already stamped my left hand! So here is a somewhat awkward picture of my right hand. I'm pretty sure I'll never be photographing my right hand again.. I didn't even notice the bad chip on the middle finger so excuse that.

Pink flash still didn't show up but atleast you can see the pretty pumpkin orange colour! I'm holding my teal-ish pants in that picture, I thought it complemented the orange nicely.

I made a page on facebook! Feel free to "like" the page if you have a facebook. I thought it would be cool to get to talk to you without writing a blog post. I'm in the process of uploading all my current pictures on there and feel free to share your own manicures as well. =)

Peace and Love,
Serena

Lavender Paisley with Essence Colour and Go

Last weekend my mom went to Ulta and while she was there she picked up 3 Essence Colour and Go polishes. They're mini bottles and contain 5 mL of lacquer. I believe they were .99 cents. The one I decided to wear this week is called No More Drama. Its a pale lavender creme and dried to a very shiny finish. It looked like I already had topcoat on. I was really impressed with the application of this, it went on really smooth and was almost opaque in one coat. The brush is also easy to use. Mini bottles are usually frustrating for me because most of them have thin, small brushes.  At first it reminded me of the OPI Pro Wide brush but this one is not quite so wide and its more flat. The back of the bottle said, "Nail Polish with flat brush for a smooth and easy application, quick dry." I'm happy to say that this lived up to that claim. I really hope the rest of these Essence colours are as good!

Its been awhile since I did a Konad manicure so I did one last night. I love paisley prints so I chose plate m60. Then I used China Glaze Grape Pop to stamp the design. I love the way it turned out but stamping with non Konad polishes is a little bit tougher than if you do use their polish. I only have black and white Konad polish though, and I get bored of only using those. This one worked pretty well though. The design is clear, it didn't smear and the design picked up on the stamp. (Some polishes I've tested with Konad won't pick up on the stamp. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Gunmetal had this problem.) 

Yesterday I reorganized my nail polish and updated my nail polish 'catalogue'. (Yep, when it comes to my nail stuff I try to be as organized as possible!) I have a sketch book where I paint a swatch of the colour on a page of the sketch book and put a number next to it. On another page I have a numbered list of polish names. I got the idea to update my original polish collection post and link to the polishes I have featured on this blog from that post. So if you go to that post, and see a polish name that you would like to see a picture of, click on the link. If its not linked, then I haven't used it since I started this blog. (edit: finished the links!) If you have any requests or questions, comment on this post, my collection post, or email me. (lacquerlove@gmail.com) What colour(s) would you like to see me use next? 

Thanks for reading! =)

Peace and Love,

Serena

Hypnotize- Purple and Lime Green Konad

Hello! I don't know about you, but I'm happy its a three day weekend this week. =) Today I have a konad manicure using China Glaze Grape Pop, China Glaze Limelight, and Konad Special Polish Black. I wasn't sure what colours I wanted to paint my nails so I posted on facebook asking for recommendations. The first response I got was purple and lime green. I've seen people do one nail a different colour than the rest so I decided to try that. I chose Limelight as the accent colour and Grape Pop for the rest of my nails. Then I did a Konad design using plate S06. This design looks really funky and hypnotizing.

I've had a lot of people start noticing my nails lately. Just yesterday when I was picking up Chinese food for dinner the girl at the register asked me about them, and before long the whole wait staff wanted to see them. I have a hard time explaining Konad, or any other type of nail art stuff. Most people don't get the terms "image plate", "striper brush", "dotting tool", or "konad". I try my hardest to explain it but sometimes I feel ridiculous. Does anyone else run in to that problem? When I had my Pikachu manicure on the cash register at Hot Topic asked if I did the lines on my nails using a toothpick. (I'm terrible at using a toothpick..even when it comes to dotting!) I've been thinking about doing a post sharing my nail art/konad tips and what tools I use.. Would that be interesting to you? Let me know! =)

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Argyle Konad

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! This week has been a long one for me so I'm really glad for the weekend. My boyfriend got a new apartment this week so I'll be busy this weekend helping him move. A few days ago I removed my Pikachu manicure and was unsure of what to do with my nails. Unfortunately I've been lacking inspiration lately.. Anyway, the day I wanted to redo my nails also happened to be the day of an Orchestra concert. So I grabbed a colour that I knew wouldn't be tough to apply: Misa Dying Love. (Shimmery charcoal black) I didn't have time to do much else but I did experiment layering CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle over my thumb and I liked the way it looked. When I got back I layered the CND over it and did a quick Konad design. I'm not sure about this design, it definitely isn't my best, though it is really noticeable. The design overshadows the gorgeous colour underneath, which I don't love. Not only that, I was having terrible Konad luck that night.  These pictures don't even show the gorgeous purple sparkle.. You couldn't even tell I was originally wearing a black polish after I layered the CND over it.

I'll be redoing my nails tonight, hopefully I will have better luck this time. Sorry this post sounds depressing...I really didn't intend it too! Saturday will be very busy for me so expect a new post Sunday or Monday. Do any of you have any nail art ideas? Colour combos? Inspire me! =)

Here is something completely off topic, but I thought I would share it anyway.. My kitty Misty! I always get the urge to take picture of her but as soon as I get out the camera she won't stay still. I've had her for almost 3 years now, she was a Christmas present to me from my boyfriend Chase.

I guess she's camera shy...

Thanks for reading!

Peace and Love,
Serena

Dragon Scales

School starting has been so busy..I hope to post 2-3 times a week soon though. I did a pretty interesting konad manicure a few days ago but I waited until yesterday evening to take pictures so there is some wear showing in the pictures. I have no idea how I came up with this idea but I knew what colours I wanted to use so I went for it. Looking at it today I thought it looked like dragon scales so that's where the title comes from. The base colour I used is Misa Toxic Seduction, a gorgeous dark emerald green that doesn't look black in dim lighting or indoors. It looks pretty indoors but amazing in sunlight. I used an odd scale-y geometric pattern on the tips only using China Glaze Millennium. I can't remember what plate this is but when I get home I'll update this post.

The picture with the Misa bottle is a bit washed out, it was taken in direct sunlight. I absolutely love this colour, it's one of my favourite green polishes. (and I own lots of green polish!) It applies perfectly, just like all the others Misa's I own. It took two coats to become opaque.

Months ago I ordered from Fyrinnae and as soon as I tried the products I thought I should post a review and swatches of what I got. Well, its been almost a month and I still haven't done that. So sometime within the next week expect to see that. It will be kind of weird for me to write something non nail related but I felt these products were worth talking about. Here is a teaser:

Isn't it gorgeous? I love blue green colours! =) This colour looks much better in real life, I hope I am able to capture them well in my review.

One last thing: I need recommendations for a good yellow polish. One that applies well and goes on opaque. I would prefer it to be a mostly creme finish, but its okay if it has some very subtle shimmer. Here is a link to the colour I'm looking for: http://www.kijo.no/wp-content/uploads/pikachu-1zcp1gl.jpg
(Yes I know it's Pikachu, but that was the only thing I could think of that matches what kind yellow I want.)
One catch though, it must be able to be found at Sally's, Walgreens, Wal Mart, or Claires. Those are the only places around where I live that I can get polish. I have a nail art design I want to do and I need a yellow polish for it. (I do not have a yellow nail polish, warm colours are sparse in my collection..) This design in particular has been in my head since before I even started this blog so I am anxious to get it done. It was one of my first ideas and it doesn't involve the use of Konad. =)

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

It's a Mermaid? It's a Butterfly?? It's a Comet???

Hello! The base colour for today's manicure is OPI Catch Me In Your Net. As most of you probably know there are two known dupes for this colour: Zoya Charla and Orly Halley's Comet. When I first saw Zoya Charla I thought it was a really beautiful, unique polish so it surprises me that two dupes have shown up for it. All You Desire has a great comparison of all three of these polishes so check that out  here. Before I show the manicure I want to explain the title. Zoya Charla instantly reminded me of a mermaid when I first saw swatches of it. Then when the OPI Summer Flutter collection came out, OPI compared it to a butterfly. Now with the Orly Comic FX Collection it's a comet! Since these colours are really close dupes the Orly seems to be the cheapest option if you purchase it on Transdesign. Catch Me In Your Net took 3 coats to become opaque and it is really beautiful, in shade and in sunlight. Of course I can't leave any polish untouched, so I applied a konad design to it. I was afraid the konad might overshadow the pretty base but I really like this design.

I used Konad plate S06 and Konad White Special Polish. I'm getting better at centering the designs but I need to get better at stamping my pinkie nail. I'm going to Kansas City this weekend so I won't be back until Monday. Also, school is starting for me soon (I'll be a senior in high school) so bare with me because for the next week or so I will be busier than usual. Soon I will get adjusted in to my school schedule and I hope to start posting more often. I really enjoy blogging and hearing all of your comments. Thanks to all of you who are following me, I appreciate it!

What do you all think of all the Zoya Charla dupes out there? Which one do you have/want?
Peace and Love,
Serena

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

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

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