2nd Day Nails: Stamping (Snake Skin/Reptile)

Happy Hump Day!  I have some 2nd day nails I wanna share with you :)

Last weekend was my son's 4th birthday.  We took him to the Reptile Zoo, which he LOVED, and decided a mani to match would be fun.  I had done some Googling and saw THIS from Nail Polish Wars.  She does such great stuff.  I had A England Lady of the Lake and Color Club Worth the Risque in my stash, so I gave it a try.  Here are a couple pics in direct sunlight:

What do you think?  Here are a couple pics in the shade:

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  A England Lady of the Lake (2 coats)

Stamping Polish:  Color Club Worth the Risque

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM215

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I have been enjoying this design, I still have it on my nails today, 4 days total :)  No chipping and only minor tip wear.  If you want to see my post on Lady of the Lake, click HERE

Thanks for stopping in to have a look see!

XOXO  Mandy

A England: Lady of the Lake

Quick question......Do you like to hear a little background about the author of a blog or just the nitty gritty details about the post topic?  Sometimes I wanna chat here a little, but I don't know if any one cares.  Let me know what you like :)

Today I am sharing A England Lady of the Lake.  I have had this polish for a while and I don't know why I waited so long to use it!  It's gorgeous and glides on like butter!  It's purple with a light holo effect.  Lady of the Lake covers real well in just one coat, but I did 2, just for good measure.

A England is available depending on where you live.  If you are in the UK, you can order from http://a-england.co.uk/  Recently, Royal Mail has started destroying packages that contain illegal and flammable items, such as nail polish.  Luckily, A England has been working on the problem and if you live some where other than the UK, you can still purchase from http://shop.llarowe.com/

I have a few A Englands and non disappoint.  Keep an eye out on their FB Page or sign up for e mails.  They often have sales and discount codes :)

That's it for now, have any A Englands?  Which is your fav?  Have a great Tuesday!!

XOXO  Mandy

Sassy Lacquer: A Frosty Crocus {Review}

Afternoon ladies!  I have another review for Sassy Lacquer's Spring Line.  Today I am sharing A Frosty Crocus.  It's a lovely light purple with pink shimmer that builds up to the perfect for spring purple.  I chose not to use any undies, but I think you could layer this over blue or black and it would be beautiful.  Since I didn't use an undies, I went with 3 coats to make sure it was opaque all over the nail.  I definitely could have gotten away with 2, but I am glad I did 3, I like the look better :)

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sassy Lacquer A Frosty Crocus (3 coats, no undies)

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

This polish dries semi matte, so I recommend a nice glossy top coat.  Unless you are looking for a matte look ;)

I love the way you get the flashes of pink as you move your hands.  This really is quite pretty.  Head over and visit Sassy Lacquer's Store to pick this one up for yourself.

Happy Friday, Enjoy your weekend!

XOXO  Mandy

BadAss Polish: The Vikes {Review}

Hey everyone, long time no talk!  Hope your Christmas and New Years was great.  My son was off school for 2 weeks and today was his first day back.  He was excited to go back and see his teacher.  I love that he loves school!!  

Before the break I received another polish from BadAss Polish for review.  The Vikes is another from their football line, based on The Vikings.  It's a clear base packed with purple glitter, small white hex glitter and large yellow hex glitter.  It's quit pretty.  Of course I took a few bottle shots:

When I was deciding what I wanted to use as a base, I tried out like 10 different colors, and this one looks good over a variety of colors.  When I reviewed the last 2 polishes from the football line, America's Team and Go Pack Go! I kept with the colors of the team.  This time I just went all girly LOL  

I went with pink and silver using Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Very Cherry and Orly Dazzle.  

I used 2 coats of The Vikes over my base coat.  It was perfect.  Lots of purple, a little bit of white and a touch of the yellow :)  

As always, you can buy BadAss polishes on Etsy and make sure to check out their FB Page where you can check other reviews and swatches.  

Can't wait to see what else they come up with!!

Happy Monday, hope it's not too terrible to get back into your weekly routine after all the Christmas and New Years fun.

XOXO  Mandy

BadAss Polish: Dusk {Review}

I have another review for you today :)  This is another polish from the core line of BadAss Polish.  Dusk is a beautiful glitter polish.  It's a clear base packed with mostly blue glitters and tiny gold glitters mixed in there for some some added dimension.  This polish is gorgeous in the bottle!

When choosing what color to layer over, I knew blue was a must.  But I wanted to add another as an accent.  Purple won that battle after a few swatches on a piece of paper.

I went with Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and Let's Talk as my underwear, a nice deep blue and dark purple.  I wish I could capture the purple's true color on camera.  The blue is spot on.  Looks great, right?  The accent is actually about twice as dark as in the photo.  So the contrast in real life is much more than you see here in the photo.  But you can still get a good idea how how cool Dusk looks over purple.

I used just one coat of Dusk for this mani.  That was all I needed.  This one is a little on the thicker side, so I would recommend you either add a bit of thinner or do as I did and just do one thick coat on each nail.  If you go too thin, you are gonna get some dragging as the polish dries and you are still trying to spread on more glitter.  Ask me how I know that LOL.  So get it on there, spread fast and move on to the next.

Just looking at my nails I am reminded of OPI Absolutely Alice.  I cannot for sure say that this Midnight Blue/Dusk combo is a dupe, but it sure looks like it from the bottle.  I will have to do a comparison post.  Wouldn't it be cool if this combo made the dupe list?  We shall see!

As always, check out BadAss Polish on Facebook and check out the SHOP to make your purchases.  Amy is really great and I enjoy working with her and her husband.

Amy is kind enough to send me the next polish in their football line, The Vikes, so stay tuned for that one!

Pretty & Polished: Tart

Getting ready for Thanksgiving?  We have been trying to get ready to go camping all weekend.  Didn't get as much done as we had hoped, but things are moving along ok.  My boys are so excited to go out to the desert.  They can't wait to get on their quads and go!  I on the other hand, am excited about deep fried turkey, that's how we do it in the desert :)  DELICIOUS!

Prob should get on the topic of polish, huh?  I was on FB the other day when a girl asked if any one liked the milky based polishes full of glitter.  I couldn't give her an honest answer cause I haven't tried one.  I know I am not a fan of the white bases stuffed with glitter, but I had a purple base on my rack I hadn't tried.  Enter P&P Tart!  This is one of those polishes I took a chance on when I ordered it.  I am glad I did.  I love this polish!!  

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Polish:  Pretty & Polished Tart (3 coats)

Top Coat Seche Vite

This covered pretty well in 2 coats, I added a third coat to get some more glitter, you know I love glitter!  I topped with Seche Vite and loved how smooth my nails were.  The wear on this polish is great too.  I have had this on for almost 3 days and no sign of chipping.  No tip wear either.  Which is weird, cause usually after I take a shower, my tips are bare.  But not with this polish.  

This particular color reminds me of Easter, and so I will be bringing this baby back out in Spring :)

Hope you are enjoying your Monday, I know I am!

Pretty & Polshed: Hello Dolly and Easy Glitter Removal

Yesterday was my 6th wedding anniversary and I wanted something pretty and sparkly on my nails.  I chose P&P Hello Dolly.  It's a mix of purple, pink and white glitters in a clear base.  I chose not to use any underwear, I wanted to see how this one did on it's own.  I also wanted to try out a new technique for removing glitter polish.  I ended up doing 4 thin layers of Hello Dolly.  I prob could have done a couple more, but honestly, I had to make sure my nails were dry so I could get in the shower and get dressed for dinner :)

Here are my pretty purple sparkly nails

Base:  Elmer's Glue (more info below)

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Glitter:  Pretty & Polished Hello Dolly (4 thin layers)

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Now, onto the new removal technique.  If you follow lots of nail blogs, you have prob heard about using glue as a base so you can just peel off your polish.  I thought it was a great idea and this was a perfect opportunity to test it out.

I made my bottle of "glue base" a few days ago.  It's super simple, just clean out a polish bottle by swirling some acetone in the bottle and dumping out.  Repeat as needed to remove all the polish.  If your bottle has polish in it, dump the polish out before adding the acetone to clean.  Then you need to clean the brush.  Just pour some acetone in the cap, dip the brush and wipe with a paper towel.  Simple!  Once your bottle is clean and dry, add some glue.  I used regular school Elmer's glue.  Make sure to fill the bottle so that the brush is always completely submerged so it doesn't get dried out.  Here is mine.

All you have to do now is paint a thin coat of glue onto your nails.  Do not paint polish until the glue has completely dried.  You will know it's dry when you can no longer see the glue on your nails.  It dries clear :)  Make sure not to get any on your skin.  This may cause your polish to peel sooner than you'd like.  Once the glue lifts a little, it just peels right off the nail.  Quick note, if you are like me and like to apply a cuticle cream or oil before painting your nails, don't do it right after the glue.  It will come off.  Ask me how I know LOL

I decided to go ahead and use my base coat.  I figured if you are supposed to apply it every day, over polish, then surely a thin layer of glue wasn't going to prevent it from getting to my nails.

Next, paint your awesome glitter mani.  I recommend wrapping the tips of your nails.  This way you seal in the polish around the glue and you don't have to worry about bumping your nails and possibly having your glue release when you are not ready.

I only left my mani on for about 24 hours.  I showered, did my hair, got dressed, went to dinner, the mall and then to the movies.  No wear and tear where as before I may have bumped a nail and lost a small chunk of polish.

Taking this polish off was so stinking simple I can't even believe it!  I used a cuticle pusher that I got in a mani/pedi kit.  I love it because it's plastic, washable and safe for my nails,  not like the metal ones.  I will never use one of those again!  Here is mine, just in case you wanted to see :)

Using the angled end, I just pushed it under the polish and it came off in sheets!  It was so easy!!

Now, your nails aren't going to look all perfect and pristine when you take the glitter polish off.  At least mine didn't.  I had a little bit of glue left on a couple spots.  But all in all, pretty damn good for not having used a drop of polish remover.  My nails looked like this:

I washed my hands and applied a little cuticle cream and then they were like this:

( I have a couple repairs :(  please don't mind them)

I will never wear a glitter polish with out using my glue as a base first.  There is another bonus.  If you have any repairs on your nails, you no longer have to fear the glitter polish.  Since you won't have to soak your nails in acetone to remove the polish, your repairs are safe and intact when you use the glue method.  I don't know who came up with this, but I am so glad they did.  

Will you be trying out this technique?

Guest Blogger Friday: Lacquered Libra

Good Morning and welcome to the first Friday Guest Post of September.  When I put out word that I wanted to start this series, I was excited that Kia offered to help.  She has some great mani's, this one is no exception!  She is AWESOME!

*********************************************************************************


Hi Lacquer Lovers!  My name is Kia from the Lacquered Libra and I'm here to do a guest post for Mandy.

Today I have a water marble to share with you.  I have just started having success with doing water marbles after trying for months.  So If you are having trouble, I say keep at it and it will happen for you.

The colors that I used are I Need A Refresh Mint and On A Trip, both Wet N Wild Megalast. The marble was done over a white base.

Special thanks to Mandy and her wonderful readers.

Feel free to check out my blog http://lacqueredlibra.blogspot.com/ and FB page http://www.facebook.com/LacqueredLibra.

Happy Polishing!!

Deborah Lippmann: Bad Romance

Today I am just going to show you the new pretty I got this week.  I was able to snag this from a gal in my Polish Group.  She didn't care for it.  But I knew I would!!  I immediately did a quick swatch when I opened my package.  Instant love.  I did a full mani the next day.  She was opaque in 2 coats with no underwear.  As soon as I put on my SV, I couldn't wait to go outside and get some pics.  This one harder to photograph than I thought.  The sun was not cooperating.  When I was all done, I came in to watch a little tv and noticed that my polish wasn't as smooth.  A little dimply.  Not to the touch, just looking at it.  I think next time I will do 2 coats of SV and see what happens.  Here she is in all her glory.

 Now my glory!

Base Coat:  Seche Retain

Base Color:  DL Bad Romance

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Teal Tuesday: Accent Nail

Happy Teal Tuesday!  This week's challenge is Accent Nail.  What does that mean?  It means we can do what ever we want as along as there is teal involved, on our accent nail.  I don't think every one uses the same nail as their accent nail.  I have seen all types of mani's.  I prefer to use my ring finger.  Here is what I have for you today, super simple :)

Base Coat:  unknown, had my nails done at the salon

Base Color:  OPI INK

Glitter:  Finger Paints Art You Wondering?

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

P.S. This glitter is awesome, I am betting it's a one coater, I only had to use the sponge once and it was so opaque at the tip.  Can't wait to use it again.  I got it in Red and Blue :)

Say Hello to the other Ladies in the group:

Nails Beautiqued

Geeky Owl

Fancy Phalanges

Color Splash Nails

Gnarly Gnails

Simple-and-Beautiful

Persistent Glitter

No Holos

Max Factor: Fantasy Fire (3 ways)

I participated in my first swap this last week, SQUEAL!! It's really cool. I received Max Factor Fantasy Fire from a gal over in the UK and I sent her a Sinful Colors Neptune. There has been a lot of hype over the Fantasy Fire, so I just had to see it for myself. It comes in a very small bottle. I was warned it was small, but I didn't think it was this small judging by the other pics online. Needless to say, It's a cute polish in a cute little bottle :) I decided that I would layer this over black because it's pretty sheer. Black is my go to layering color. After putting FF over the black I quickly realized it looks nothing like the swatches I had seen on other blogs. But I still loved it. Seems the black brings out the reds in the FF.

Taken outside in Direct Sunlight

After looking online again to see how others applied it, I decided to try it over Purple and Blue. 

This pic is FF over Sally Hansen Insta Dri Pronto Purple.  Which basically just makes a nice sparkly 

purple LOL

Taken Outside in Direct Sunlight

Now for the Blue, this is FF layered over Sinful Colors Midnight Blue.  Now this pic is not true

to color :(  It looks really blue, I could not get my camera to pick up the purple undertones. 

I was so frustrated that I gave up taking pics outside.  I tried indoors and still no luck.

This is the best I could do.  Imagine this as a blue and purple duochrome.  It's very pretty and my husband

like this one the best

Taken Indoors

After trying this over 3 different bases, I have to admit that I like it the best over the black.  I do gravitate

towards the darker colors anyway.  My 2nd choice is layered over blue and then the purple is in last 

place.  

Do you have this pretty polish?  Plan on getting it?  Any suggestions?

Comments are appreciated

Happy Thursday!!

Milani 3D Holographic: Hi-Res

Spring has sprung!  I don't normally do light flowery nails,  but I thought spring was a good cause.  Plus, I just got a new polish I wanted to try out.  I have heard of the Milani 3D Holographic polishes and have been wanting to try them out.  I didn't own any Holo polishes and this is a good place to start, at least I think so.
In the store I was a bit worried about the lack of holo effect so I picked up 2 to try out.  Last night was testing night.  I layered Hi-Res over black polish to get a nice opaque color.  The coverage was pretty good :)  Then this morning I couldn't decide on what kind of stamping I wanted to do, flowers or butterflies?  So I decided to do both!

I was pleasantly surprised when I went outside to take pics.  Nice sparkly holo nails, YAY!!  Not as holo as a lot of other polishes, but this is quit pretty out in the sun.

Base Coat:  Seche Rebuild

Base Colors: L.A. Colors in Black and Milani Hi-Res

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Stamping Plate (Flowers): Bundle Monster BM 221

Stamping Plate (Butterflies) Bundle Monster BM 205

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White