Renaissance Cosmetics: Prototype 19 Glitter Gradient

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I had a rare day off mid-week yesterday with the hubbs and it was also gorgeous out! Obviously, blogging was put dead last on the priority list. We really value our good weather in Buffalo because we get so little of it. We went up the "The River" and sat in the sun on the rocks. The water was cold af I didn't care! It was 80 and sunny. I even got a slight tan, woo! I'm still more reflective than not though. Anyway.

Here is a lovely little mani I wore some time last week. I used a Prototype, Prototype 19 to be exact, from Renaissance Cosmetics. I started with three coats of OPI You're So Vain-illa (a yellow-toned nude that I find surprisingly flattering!). Then I just used the bottle brush to layer on some shimmery goodness.

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics Prototype 19
over OPI You're So Vain-illa
without flash

Prototype 19 is an aqua, turquoise, caramel, gold, and brown topper in all sizes and finishes. And so much shimmah! Perfect formula which makes gradient-ing nice and easy. I absolutely love this color--why you no make, Meghan?! I remember a Nicole by OPI from a couple years ago that came out in a similar color palette, and I really liked the colors but there was nothing really special about the polish. This, my friends, is proof to me that indies will always do it better. I can't remember the last time I bought mainstream.

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics Prototype 19
over OPI You're So Vain-illa
with flash

RenCos has really well-planned restocks and gorgeous collections full of delicate shimmers in glorious colors. Check them out, maybe you can pick up a prototype or two at the next restock!

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics Prototype 19
over OPI You're So Vain-illa
with flash

Products:
Renaissance Cosmetics

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Happy Memorial Day

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I hope everyone is enjoying a day off and some time with loved ones today! Somehow I have a day off and my husband doesn't haha.  Memorial Day is a day to honor those who died while serving in the US military. There are several veterans and current service members in my family, including my brother, and I take their sacrifice very seriously. While thankfully no one has died in service close to me, I honor those who have and whose names I will never know. Thank you to all the service men and women out there!

I haven't done some "real" nail art in awhile and really wanted to try some horizontal gradient-ing in patriotic colors. My base colors are OPI Angel With A Leadfoot (white), China Glaze Man Hunt (blue), and OPI What's Your Point-settia? (red). Man Hunt is apparently one of my favorite blues since it's 1/3 gone. And I'm also happy I broke down and bought the Gwen Holiday Collection (because: Gwen Stefani) so I had plenty of reds to choose just the right shade.

Shelby Lou Nails

Memorial Day

Featuring Gridlock Lacquer The Rockpile

I got a bit of a false start on my gradient since I originally thought I wouldn't need a colored base--hey it's been awhile. After a couple passes I decided to do a couple strokes on either side of my nail with the brush, then did my sponging over the top of that when it was dry for more vibrant color. I was dreading cleaning up the red and blue but it wasn't too bad with my handy liquid latex as a barrier!

Shelby Lou Nails

Memorial Day

Featuring Gridlock Lacquer The Rockpile

Over the top of my gradient I did a coat of Gridlock Lacquer The Rockpile. I bought this one at the recent Mix Your Own event I went to with Gridlock Lacquer. I love patriotic polishes so of course I needed this one. The formula was great! Really nice spread and literally like 3 dabs randomly across my nails. My only complaint is I didn't get any of the medium satin white glitters on my nails. However, not a deal breaker and I still am happy with this purchase. There are iridescent microglitters within the red white and blue mix which I love. I am really pleased with how this turned out!

Products:
Gridlock Lacquer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Stamping Saturday: Soft Swirls

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I survived this last week of work being two people--go me! I only worked like 3 hours overtime and my husband said I wasn't a psycho when I got home and everything. Plus this will be my third post this week. I feel like such a winner. Except that I slept in way too late today. Anyway, it's been awhile since I did a Stamping Saturday. For today's edition I have a lovely soft look using mostly KBShimmer polishes. KBShimmer just released a ginormous summer collection that I have been drooling over. I'm actually so overwhelmed with trying to pick what I really want and need that I haven't ordered yet. But I do know I need some of their new mani bombs!

I started with KBShimmer Meow Or Never on my thumb, index, and middle fingers. Meow Or Never has all soft shades of grays, blues, purples, and white glitters. Fabulous formula as always, I did just three thin coats and no placement of glitter. On my ring and pinky I did KBShimmer Hugs And Wishes, the most perfect Lavender creme ever and just three thin coats.

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Soft Swirls
KBShimmer Meow Or Never, Hugs And Wishes, Eyes White Open
Vivid Lacquer VL 022, INM Northern Lights
Without Flash

For my stamping I used an image from Vivid Lacquer VL022 with KBShimmer Eyes White Open. Eyes White Open is a really nice soft white, not too bright or blue and not too gray. I must use it more for stamping, it was good!

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Soft Swirls
KBShimmer Meow Or Never, Hugs And Wishes, Eyes White Open
Vivid Lacquer VL 022, INM Northern Lights
Without Flash

Meow Or Never has a lovely dusting a holo so I used some INM Northern Lights over my stamping. I feel like it overpowered that in Meow Or Never, but ah well, there it is.

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Soft Swirls
KBShimmer Meow Or Never, Hugs And Wishes, Eyes White Open
Vivid Lacquer VL 022, INM Northern Lights
With Flash

Products:
KBShimmer

Have you loved your cuticles today?


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Hump Day HARE: Mermaid Sighting in the GBR

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I have such an awesome #HumpDayHARE to share today! This is Mermaid Sighting in the GBR. It's a mermaid jelly full of win! I'm short on time. Just drool at the pictures. I also have a macro of this polish on my instagram, if you are so inclined!

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day HARE
Hare Polish
Mermaid Sighting in the GBR
Without Flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day HARE
Hare Polish
Mermaid Sighting in the GBR
With Flash

Of course I had to add a few embellishments! Mermaid is from Daily Charme, I have no idea where all the other studs are from at this point. Probably Born Pretty Store. I think I should have studded half of my index and pinky--next time!

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day HARE
Hare Polish
Mermaid Sighting in the GBR
With Flash

I have legit been getting so many compliments at work on this polish this week. When muggles comment on your polish, you know it's awesome! Mermaid Sighting in the GBR is an exclusive to Femme Fatale. It cost me just under $38 (US) for the two Hare exclusives. I was also limited to only one each per customer (boo, I was going to mule some to friends!). I don't pretend that this is rational in any way. It was a total splurge for a brand I love to death. And also: exclusive. Haha!

Tell me your deepest, darkest splurge secrets! We all know you got 'em.

Products:
Hare Polish at Femme Fatale Cosmetics 

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya Delight for Spring 2015

Press Sample 

This past weekend was gorgeous in Buffalo! This is rare for my city and it must be utilized to its fullest. I spent most of the weekend outside, but I did manage to swatch a few Zoyas that I, ahem, have not gotten to yet. Since I have been such a slacker with these Zoya swatches (I already have the Summer collections in hand, eeep!), I assume everyone has seen them. So, I thought I would do a few simple, wedding-appropriate manis with the cremes for today. Since I like my swatches to "match" I decided to play with my pearls! Photos show without flash and then with flash.

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Tiana
"Pistachio gelato green" creme
Without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Tiana
"Pistachio gelato green" creme
With flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Lillian
"Faded aquamarine"creme
Without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Lillian
"Faded aquamarine"creme
With flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Eden
"Classic spring flower pink" creme
Without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Eden
"Classic spring flower pink" creme
With flash

I did three coats of each polish. I initially started swatching when I did not have the air conditioning on so it was 76 in the house. I was having some leveling issues which I was not pleased about, but a nice thick coat of topcoat took care of that. I turned on the air conditioning and by the time I got to the last one the issue was much better but I did need a light touch and thicker coats than I usually do. These colors are all soft but bright, do that make sense? I love Lillian and Tiana the most, those colors are my jam! I like the placement of the pearls especially on Lillian, I will be playing with that again for sure.

Will anyone be rocking some Zoya to a wedding this summer? Or maybe at your own?

Products:
Zoya Delight

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Pahlish: The Good Dalek

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Another post this week, I win! Not as chatty as the last one. I fell asleep on the couch today after work and it cut into my blogging time haha. Plus I've just been working and sleeping. I got to cover all the ICUs at the hospital I work at on Monday and Tuesday, which actually turned out alright. I prefer to be steadily busy at work than rushed or bored. I was bored today so I am expecting to be crazy for Thursday and Friday.

I have a mind-blowing polish to share today--Pahlish The Good Dalek. This is a fantastical rose gold holo with pink, gold, and bronze flakes, and probably other indescribable amazingness. I've been posting pictures of it on instagram all week including a macro, sun shot, and #mynailsandmydrink. I definitely kept staring at it and breathing heavily the entire time it was on my hands, and I challenge anyone to not do same. Oh, and studs! Of course.

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish
The Good Dalek
-without flash-

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish
The Good Dalek
-without flash-

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish
The Good Dalek
-with flash-

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish
The Good Dalek
-with flash-

So I am really mean, because you can't get this one anymore since it was a Bespoke Batch. If you ever see it on a blog sale though I highly recommend snagging it! I have never seen a polish like this and I have nothing even close. I own a few of Pahlish's flakie-shimmer-holos (fla-shimm-ohs? Sounds like a breakfast cereal) and they are among the most beloved in my collection. Pahlish has a new collection based on Alice In Wonderland coming out soon, make sure you follow them on your favorite social media platform for updates!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Mix Your Own Nail Polish with Gridlock Lacquer!

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Hey guys! May is always a bit hectic for me so I'm not surprised that I haven't been getting any blogging done. Let me summarize just this past week of events.

The weather is just getting nice so I've been revamping our outdoor spaces and garden. It's been a lot of work and expensive, but my front porch and garden are looking lovely. I even splurged on a decent outdoor dining set at Big Lots. I sure get in trouble at that store haha! Of course my nails are a wreck right now. I broke to corners off on the same nail so experimented with rounder nails... I love round nails on other people but I just hate them on me. Every. Single. Time. AGH.

May 6th was my husband's birthday. For his day he requested dinner out with his parents at a new restaurant we love, Mezza. It's a new-ish Lebanese restaurant in Buffalo and it is delish. His dad is from Lebanon and even he agreed it was tasty and authentic. I think that's about the best endorsement you can get!

On May 7th I went with my cousin (another nail polish obsessed gal) to a Mix Your Own Nail Polish class with Gridlock Lacquer. Gridlock Lacquer is a local indie nail polish company that creates polish based on the awesomeness of Buffalo, and now other underrated "rustbelt" cities. I took a few cell phone pictures of the event, but mostly I got lost in the mixing fun!

Look at all the glitter & pigments we got to play with!

Tools to start mixing. And look! Spectraflair!

Nails polishes mixed by my cousin and I. I want to borrow her red jelly glitter bomb!

The polishes I mixed and a couple I picked up from Gridlock Lacquer

From Left to Right:
Shelby Lou's Lacquer (mixed by me!)
All The Cool Glitters (mixed by me!)
Gridlock Lacquer Pierogi, Kielbasa, Kraul
Gridlock Lacquer The Rockpile

I have a whole new appreciation for indies after this little class. It was hard! I didn't fully realize my visions, but I am pleased with my colors. I made the minty one first and added way too many flakies haha. For my second glitter bomb I just started adding one scoop of every pretty blue and fuchsia glitter I liked. And Spectraflair in everything! My cousin and I went all grabby hands for the Spectraflair as soon as she told the class what it was. My polishes are so amateur, but I love them. We are definitely going to go back again! If you live in the Buffalo area I would highly recommend going to the Mix Your Own Event. The maker was really nice even though I was clearly being anal about trying to get the right shade of minty--she recommended small amounts of neon green and regular green in white and it worked!

Alright, so after the fun of polish-making I ended up with last-minute tickets to a fancy work party/fundraiser from a doctor I work with. Friday night I ran out and found a black cocktail dress on consignment ($18, sscore!) and I got to get all dressed up for Saturday night. I went with my cousin (clearly we are besties, and my husband hates huge parties with strangers). There were two live bands and a DJ, photo booth, dancing, and *ahem* an open bar. Much fun was had by all.

This brings me to Mother's Day on Sunday. I got to see my mom and dad and grandparents to celebrate both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday which was May 4th. I hope all the moms out there, traditional and non-traditional, had a lovely Mother's Day!

Wow, so that's been my week. I love blogging, but sometimes it gets shoved down on the priority list. What is everyone else up to? What do you think of my first indie polishes? I have a lot to learn!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Renaissance Cosmetics: Tiny Petals Everywhere

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I am super-busy this week so I'm just throwing this recent NOTD out there.

Renaissance Cosmetics Tiny Petals Everywhere is one of Meghan's most recent releases and gorgeous! Teeny glitters and shimmer in the perfect color palette for Spring--pink, purple, and turquoise--all wrapped up in a white crelly. Yum. I think I did three thin coats here for perfect coverage.

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics
Tiny Petals Everywhere

I can hardly leave a mani "plain" now so I just added some purple polka dot accents with KBShimmer Pansy-monium and a dotting tool.

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics
Tiny Petals Everywhere

I hope you like this quick NOTD! Renaissance Cosmetics just kills it for me with her teeny glittered crellies. I want literally every combination possible ever from her. Full disclosure: I am such a big fan I started the fan group on facebook: Renaissance Cosmetics Devotees--feel free to look us up! Anyone else tried RenCos yet?

Products:
Renaissance Cosmetics

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Saturday Stamping: Hidden City Lagoon

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Oh Em Gee what a week at work. I ended up doing five hours of "unplanned overtime." I'm always torn about overtime. Like, yay OT pay! But also, boo.... more work. It has just been a rough couple of weeks that have left me emotionally exhausted, which also physically exhausts me. I've been painting nails but have had no energy to photograph and share them. Ah well. Here is a mani I did earlier in the week which I saved for today!

I am calling this look Hidden City Lagoon. I started this mani with a base of Aliquid Lacquer Hidden City--I shared a macro on instagram which you totally need to check out because it is amazeballs. This was my first experience with Aliquid Lacquer. This treasure was sent to me by my buddy Gio from @injeebwetrust. She knows me well! Besides being an amazing deep teal linear holo, it also has copper and gold shimmer. Holoshimms all the way! I apologize for the major lobster hands in my photos, you know I don't do much color editing though. The polish is true!

Shelby Lou Nails
Saturday Stamping
Hidden City Lagoon

After a couple days I decided to stamp it with a new plate I just purchased from MoYou London, Doodles 07. Such an adorable plate! I slapped on some images I liked but took care with my lil turtle, how cute is he?! I used Essie Good As Gold, a fantastic gold metallic stamper.

Shelby Lou Nails
Saturday Stamping
Hidden City Lagoon

I thought I could still further improve this mani and busted out my new Zoya Frida. I purchased the jelly trio from the Zoya Earth Day sale and I am so pleased I did. Just one coat of Frida and I had a lovely little Lagoon.

Shelby Lou Nails
Saturday Stamping
Hidden City Lagoon

I love the process of nail art. What do you think of this week's stamping? Make sure you check out what the other ladies did this week!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

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