The Lacquer Ring: Spooky Nails

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Last time I posted I was talking about getting started with the KonMari Method. While I haven't done it all completely properly, I have managed to rid my house of tons of clutter. I still have a lot to do but I am enjoying my home more and more. I have also done some massive nail polish purging, check out my Blog Sale if you're interested in acquiring some new pretties yourself!

Today's mani is "Spooky" and will also be my Halloween mani this week. I have been wanting to try the smokey nail technique and went for some spooky fog, or perhaps supernatural mist if you will. I used Chalkboard Nails' Midnight Smoke Nail Art Tutorial. It was the first search result and ended up being all the instruction needed!

As I tend to do, I wore my black base of Cult Nails Fetish (topcoated) for a day before doing my art. Chalkboard Nails used a pale green polish for her smoke, so I used Polish My Life Green Bikini for my fog. Then I lightly sponged on the smallest amount of CND Jade Sparkle for a little more dimension. I can't help it, I love gloss and sparkle on my nails.

Shelby Lou Nails & The Lacquer Ring
"Spooky" Smoke Nail Art

The brush I used for the acetone step was very square and not very flexible so I didn't end up with the swirls I really wanted. I'm still diggin' it though. So much easier than I thought! I'd love to try some turquoise nails with this technique. I also have to make a shout-out to Baroness X Swatcher's Balm for moisturizing my nails perfectly without making them greasy for my pictures!

Shelby Lou Nails & The Lacquer Ring
"Spooky" Smoke Nail Art

What do you think, spooky enough? It's reaching, but I'm not really into the spooky part of Halloween--I'm a scaredy cat. Anyway, I love now The Lacquer Ring makes me try out all the nail art I have been admiring. Check out the other spooky manis today. Happy Halloween!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

The Lacquer Ring: White

Purchased By Shelby Lou

You may have noticed I am posting less and less on the blog proper. I have been taking some much needed time to get my house in order using the KonMari Method. If you don't know what this is, I highly recommend checking it out. I'm not even halfway finished and I am loving it! I wanted to adopt a family this year for the holiday season, but hubby has taken a new job and an initial pay cut. I was instead able to convince him to really purge our home of all the things we no longer need and donate to our Salvation Army home store. KonMari has helped us reframe letting go of stuff (even when I got a good deal or my mom gave it to me... sorry, Mom) as passing it along to be needed by another who can appreciate it. And to consider if an item "sparks joy" instead of keeping things for silly reasons. Life. Changing. And yes, nail polish is included in this purge, but luckily KonMari tells me I can save the hardest things to go through last.

Anyway, I have been so consumed with KonMari that I passed right by my second blogiversary without even noticing. Sorry, Blog! But I am two, and even if I have diverged to less frequent and microblogging I am proud of my nails.

This week I'm posting with The Lacquer Ring and the theme is White. I decided to showcase one of my favorite whites: Rica Whiteout. Whiteout is my holy grail white stamper. It is literally the most perfect white that ever white-ed. For this mani I started with a base of Cirque Coven. Then I used an image from UberChic 1-03 stamped with Whiteout. I finished off the mani with some textured gold studs from Daily Charme.

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
Cirque Coven
Rica Whiteout & Uberchic Plate 1-03
Studs from Daily Charme

I love all the pattern and texture happening in this look. I had been having some problems using my UberChic plates, but I finally got the hang of it with my trusty Whiteout. I decided to stamp it on an angle because I didn't want to fiddle with getting the image perfectly straight.

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
Cirque Coven
Rica Whiteout & Uberchic Plate 1-03
Studs from Daily Charme

Bottom Line: Purchase Rica Whiteout immediately if you don't have it. Perfect stamper and makes an excellent white base polish to boot! Make sure you check out what the other ladies in The Lacquer Ring did for White below.

Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

The Lacquer Ring: Pipe Dream Polish Neon Watermarble

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I am back with The Lacquer Ring today for one of the most dreaded challenges in nail art: The Watermarble. I admit I was thinking about just doing an accent nail. Possibly decals. Or maybe even just stamping the damn thing. But what am I doing this whole blogging and linking up thing for anyway? The challenge. So I finally decided to bust out my Pipe Dream Polish neons and properly watermarble.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. This was completely the wrong color to start with, but it's the polish I had already so I went with it. I used room temperature spring water and a glass with a one and half inch mouth. I liquid-latexed the hell out of my fingers and nails, I just use stuff I bought off amazon and decanted into bottles. I loosened the caps on three of the Pipe Dream Polish neons I chose: VIP Pass, All In, and Happy Hour. These polishes completely live up to their hype, by the way, and I'd love to see her do more cremes just for marbling!

I used the pointiest end of a dotting tool I had and made my flower design. Then I dunked my nails! I practiced on my right hand first and did two at a time. It looked like crap, but it did mostly look like a watermarble. I decided to leave it and start on my left hand. I did two nails at a time on my right hand as well and my thumb alone. Ready?

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
Pipe Dream Polish Neon Watermarble
VIP Pass, All In, & Happy Hour

This is with no re-do, folks. Ain't nobody got time for that. My skin looks crazy while trying to get the colors more accurate, but it's a watermarble! I am so tickled and proud of myself. I never ever EVER thought I could take on this challenge, but I did, and I did good.

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
Pipe Dream Polish Neon Watermarble
VIP Pass, All In, & Happy Hour

Here are some things I plan on doing differently next time:
1. Use a better base--I need to pick the lightest tone in the watermarble and make sure my base is nice and smooth. Mine was too light and had shrinkage from a fast paint job and quick-dry topcoat added too soon.
2. Dunk fingers individually--Doing two at a time saved time, but I think I can only get away with that on my index and middle. My ring and pinky being such different lengths made it tough to dip where I wanted at the same time. I might try doing my thumb and ring at the same time though.
3. Be more careful when applying and removing my latex barrier--I ended up eating into too much of my mani on some of the nails during clean-up.

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
Pipe Dream Polish Neon Watermarble
VIP Pass, All In, & Happy Hour

Make sure you check out the other ladies in The Lacquer Ring today for their watermarble adventures! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

HPBloggers Presents: Fugly Fall Sweater Nails

Purchased By Shelby Lou
Press Sample--Zoya only

Agh, has it really been that long since my last blog post? I have been so busy the last few weeks. I am back because I really wanted to participate in this month's Hobby Polish Bloggers' link-up since it is all about one of my favorite things: Autumn. I am also so #basic it's tragic, but I cannot deny my love of all things pumpkin and fall. I give you: fugly fall sweaters.

I started with a base of Pretty & Polished In The Buff, one of the new Dusty Cremes that I had to get on my nails ASAP and the inspiration behind this whole mani. But anyway. In The Buff is a perfectly dusty butterscotch yellow. I was expecting this to make my skintone look totally distinguiting but look! It's not bad and I actually got compliments. I must also add that it has a fantastic creme formula.

S

Shelby Lou Nails
Fugly Fall Sweaters
Pretty & Polished In The Buff
MoYou London Fashionista 14 & Zoya Geneviev

To make my sweaters I chose an image from MoYou Fashionista 14 and stamped it with Zoya Geneviev. I have used Geneviev so many times for a perfect gray stamper and I recommend picking it up at their next sale if you don't already have it. I finally used a teeny tiny dotting tool and a black creme to add dots to the floral-type elements of the stamp. Check out the dustiness of In The Buff close-up below, it is mind-blowing.

Shelby Lou Nails
Fugly Fall Sweaters (Macro)
Pretty & Polished In The Buff
MoYou London Fashionista 14 & Zoya Geneviev

Can someone make me a sweater dress in this color and pattern, please? I love my inspiration polish. Pretty & Polished's Dusty Cremes are amazing and easily one of my most favorite collections ever! I hope you check out everyone else's Autumn nails today in the link-up! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

July-August Mani Round-Up

Purchased By Shelby Lou 
Press Samples

I have come to the harsh realization I just don't have the time to really blog about nails and stay sane. Some of my supportive bloggy friends suggested I try still sharing manis (because I love sharing manis!) on instagram though and rounding them up in a monthly blog post. So here are my instagram manis from the end of July and August!

Pahlish Duo for June 2015: Through Tugley Wood

Very Good Advice topped with Mome Raths

Hare Polish - Dreams Under A Microscope 

 Baroness X - Maracaibo

"Girly Stuff"

Zoya Genesis, Nana, & Serenity

MoYou London Tropical 05

KBShimmer Dust In The Bottle

Darling Diva Polish Choking On Swan Gas

Daily Charme Bow Charm

Pahlish Duo for July 2015: Mirror Images

Such Great Heights topped with Freckles In Our Eyes

Check out a macro here!

Pahlish Quite Ribbiting

Check out a macro here!

Quite Ribbing topped with I Love Nail Polish Neon Rosebud

Check out a macro here!

Hare Polish Sea Bunny

Check out a macro here!

I hope you enjoyed this round-up! I have more fun with my polish when I actually get to wear it and don't have to be brilliant with words, too. This will be a monthly feature for a little while. I started blogging almost two years ago and I've had to rethink it a little, but I like the idea of having a permanent place to have my manis. I  Have you loved your cuticles today?

HPB Presents: Neon Illusion

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Hey guys, I have been having a rough month. Last week I almost ended up in the ER with the worst back pain and muscle spasm of my life. Then Sunday I left work (at a hospital) only to rush to another hospital where my husband was in the ER. We are both fine, just need some appropriate follow-up, but still. Ugh. Anyway, at least these nails make me happy! This month's prompt with the Hobby Polish Bloggers is "neon." I saw a similar look to this one from The Internet and had to do it. Of course now I can't find the original inspiration, d'oh! If you have an idea of who it might have been, leave me a comment.

I started with a base of OPI Angel With A Lead Foot and stamped an image from MoYou London Illusion 09 with Rica Blackout. My stamping isn't perfect (that dreaded word!) but I really like how it worked out.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hobby Polish Bloggers: Neon
Neon Illusion

After safely topcoating everything, I added a layer of Lush Lacquer (now Polish Me Silly) Clowning Around. This polish is such a classic translucent neon glitter; yum. This bottle is a couple (maybe even three?!) years old and I've got no bleeding, fading, or curling issues. Now that is a quality glitter, my friends.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hobby Polish Bloggers: Neon
Neon Illusion

I hope you check out some of the other amazing neon looks from HPB this month! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Rainbow Fish Scale Gradient with Zoya Island Fun

Purchased by Shelby Lou
Press Sample 

Fall polishes are already starting to pop up everywhere, including Zoya's! I love fall, really, but summer barely got started here in Buffalo. So I decided to buck the system and do a completely summery mani with my summer Zoyas.

Shelby Lou Nails
Rainbow Fish Scale Gradient
Zoya Chantal, Demetria, Jace, Cecilia, & Talia
Love, Angeline Stuck On Love Nail Vinyls
(lightbox)

I started with a base of Zoya Chantal, one of my favorite nude polishes for my skintone. It's nice and bright without being too yellow on me. I wore this as a base for a few days and got great wear from it.

Shelby Lou Nails
Rainbow Fish Scale Gradient
Zoya Chantal, Demetria, Jace, Cecilia, & Talia
Love, Angeline Stuck On Love Nail Vinyls
(with flash)

I used Love, Angeline Stuck On Love Nail Vinyls for my fishy scales. I snipped the sides in a couple places and used a liquid latex barrier to protect my cuticles. I sponged a gradient of Zoya cremes from the Island Fun collection in Demetria (a red-orange creme), Jace (green), Cecilia (Teal), and Talia (blue). I only had to do three passes with my make-up sponge for this super-saturated coverage. I know I received these cremes as samples, but seriously, the more I use Zoya for nail art the more I love Zoya's formulas.

Products:
Zoya Summer 2015
Love, Angeline Stuck On Love Nail Vinyls

Are you ready for fall polish or still clinging to summer like me? I might still rock some summer colors into September, but can still legally start eating pumpkin-everything and watching Hocus Pocus. Have you loved your cuticles today?

The Lacquer Ring: Holographic Blue

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I'm back on the blog, go me! I have been moving towards more microblogging lately and have been more active my my instagram, facebook, and twitter. Mostly instagram, although I noticed a ton more ads than I would like today in particular. Anyone else aside from me? Today's prompt for The Lacquer Ring is Holographic Blue. I decided to use a fantastical polish which I am ashamed to say was still an untried: Picture Polish Freya's Cats. Freya's Cats is a deep blue jelly with that magical holographic shimmer known only to Picture Polish.

Shelby Lou Nails
Picture Polish Freya's Cats
Feather water decals
(lightbox)

I decided to bust out some water decals I must have bought from Born Pretty Store approximately a million years ago. I actually had quite a good experience for my first time with water decals! I got a small wrinkle and some odd bubbles? holes? in my one decal that I have no explanation for.

Shelby Lou Nails
Picture Polish Freya's Cats
Feather water decals
(with flash)

I got many compliments on this polish from muggles which I consider proof of how lovely it is. What is your favorite holographic blue polish?  Have you loved your cuticles today? Make sure you check out the other holographic blue looks from the other ladies of The Lacquer Ring!

An InLinkz Link-up

Twinsie with The Fancy Side feat. Son of a Beachin' Unicorn

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I have not been feeling blogging lately. I went away for a long weekend last weekend and had an emotionally exhausting week at work. If it wasn't for this mani I had coming up I probably wouldn't have done anything else this week either. I have been excited for this mani though and completing it has gotten me excited to dive back into polish again. Today I have a twinsie with Amy from The Fancy Side! I have recently starting collecting the Unicorn series from Lacquer Lust and discovered Amy is also a fan. Naturally we needed to bond over this mutual love. We decided to use this summer's release called Son of a Beachin' Unicorn; a holo base with neon pink, yellow (or yellow-green?), and blue matte glitters. We agreed to do some graphic black details with this polish and you know I love a good visual contrast.

Shelby Lou Nails
Twinsie with The Fancy Side
featuring Lacquer Lust Son of a Beachin' Unicorn

For my mani I started with only two coats of Beachin', I was expecting to need a lot more but two was perfect. I decided to randomly place an image from MoYou London Pro XL 02 stamped with Rica Blackout. I went a little 80's but that never hurt anyone!

Shelby Lou Nails
Twinsie with The Fancy Side
featuring Lacquer Lust Son of a Beachin' Unicorn

Make sure you check out Amy's mani over at today. She went a little tribal and I am in love with the details and her placement! Check her out on your favorite social media platform while you are there. Have you loved your cuticles today?

The Lacquer Ring: Under The Sea

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Today is another fun and exciting prompt for The Lacquer Ring which is "Under The Sea." I had some ideas planned out..... but then I came home on Wednesday (why yes, I do like to wait until the last minute\) and my OPI Color Paints had arrived! Of course I needed to play with them immediately. I went with the blue and greens and decided to sandwich some stamping for the ultimate deep-sea look. So here is my first go nail arting with these fantastical jelly nail paints!

Shelby Lou Nails
The Lacquer Ring: Under The Sea
OPI Color Paints: Indigo Motif, Turquoise Aesthetic, & Landscape Artist
MoYou London Sailor 05 & Rica Whiteout
INM Northern Lights
(lightbox)

For this mani I started with a base of OPI This Gown Needs A Crown. Using little 1/4 chunks of torn make-up sponge held with tweezers, I dabbled on two layers of OPI Indigo Motif, OPI Turquoise Asthetic, and OPI Lanscape Artist. Over that layer I stamped an image from MoYou London Sailor 05 (I love this plate!) with Rica Whiteout and my Creative Shop Stamper. I dabbled on a third and fourth layer of the same OPI colors. And then I may or may not have topped everything off with INM Northern Lights.

Shelby Lou Nails
The Lacquer Ring: Under The Sea
OPI Color Paints: Indigo Motif, Turquoise Aesthetic, & Landscape Artist
MoYou London Sailor 05 & Rica Whiteout
INM Northern Lights
(with flash)

I love this look so hard. It's got this motion to it like currents in the sea and it's all chaotic and murky but bright--just how I imagine being under the sea would be. I can't even get over how amazing the OPI Color Paints are. I just whipped this up having never used them before. I can see a lot of people at all stages of nail art abilities having fun and being successful with them. So if you have been on the fence (like I was) just give in. I can't wait to play some more with them!

You can check out a macro of this mani on my instagram here!

Check out the other deep-sea inspired manis from the other ladies in The Lacquer Ring! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

HPB Presents: Twin Galaxy Nails With Polished Lifting

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Today's post is pulling double-duty as my Hobby Polish Bloggers mani and a twinsies mani with one of my friends, Courtney from Polished Lifting! Courtney and I had talked about doing a twin galaxy mani since we have never done one before. It was a serendipitous bonus that this month's HPB theme is Starry Night Sky. I love multitasking and that extends to my nail polish arts-ing.

I have seen probably thousands of galaxy manis and hundreds of ways to do them, so I didn't follow any one person's tutorial in particular. I just ripped little 1/4 inch chunks off of a make-up sponge, dabbed some polish on it, dabbed the sponge a few times on paper, then dabbed the polish on nail. That is literally it. Why have I never done this before?!

Shelby Lou Nails
The Milky Way

Courtney finished her mani first and I loved it so much that I tried to make mine like hers (and ended up with something really different, but anyway...). She started with a black creme then dabbled a bright blue and red-pink shimmer. I never would have thought of this combination without her experiment first! So, I started with a base of KBShimmer Eclipse, which went on in two luscious coats by the way. I dabbled on KBShimmer Sky Jinks followed by Emily de Molly Lace Man. Lastly I dry-brushed on a smattering of Darling Diva Hank! because I needed some bling in my world.

Shelby Lou Nails
The Milky Way

My galaxy became quite linear rather than nebulous as I had envisioned. Once I saw proper photos I totally saw the Milky Way on my nails! I grew up in "the country" and I always loved looking at the stars. I could easily see the shimmery band of the Milky Way all the way across the sky, especially on a cold, clear night. Being in the middle of a city or a stadium full of people doesn't even give me that feeling of vastness that seeing the stars does.

Check out Courtney's galaxy mani on Polished Lifting here! I just love her art and her long nails, more to love. On Courtney's blog you will find swatches, indies, and nail art to die for. I hope you give her a follow! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping Saturday: Tiffany Art Deco

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Two posts this week, yay! I have low standards for myself haha. Today is a quick little Stamping Saturday mani. I just received Enchanted Polish Daydream and had that on for a couple days by itself. It's pretty and all, but I don't know that it was worth the $16.50 I paid. It is a lovely blue-green holo with blue shimmer, I think I see a hint of purple at some angles.

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Enchanted Polish Daydream
MoYou London Time Traveler 05 & Rica Whiteout
(lightbox)

This color feels very Breakfast at Tiffany's to me so I decided to stamp an art deco image over it. I used MoYou London Time Traveler 05 and Rica Whiteout. I used my Creative Shop stamper and everything but I just had a tough time stamping today. I smooshed my pinky a little and all my lines are different on each finger. It looks good from normal viewing distance though, that's what counts, right!

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Enchanted Polish Daydream
MoYou London Time Traveler 05 & Rica Whiteout
(with flash)

Check out the other amazing stamping manis everyone is sharing this Saturday! Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Hump Day HARE: Escape to Palm Springs

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Super-fast post today--because I am tired and want to go to bed! Today's Hare Polish was an exclusive offered last summer. Escape to Palm Springs is a bright "periwinkle/cornflower" crelly with hot pink and orange glitters along with pale gold flakes and shimmer. I did three coats with no glitter issues and added some neon pink studs for good measure. I think it looks more indigo or blurple in real life. I tried color-correcting a couple photos so ignore my strangely-hued skintone!

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day HARE
Escape to Palm Springs
(lightbox)

Shelby Lou Nails 
Hump Day HARE
Escape to Palm Springs
(with flash)

Shelby Lou Nails 
Hump Day HARE
Escape to Palm Springs
(with flash)

EtPS is just an absolutely stunning color! On my computer screen the last picture looks the most color-accurate to me. Anyone need to put out an ISo now?

Have you loved your cuticles today?

The Lacquer Ring: Metals

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I don't know what in the world is going on lately, but work has been crazy for me all week. I haven't had time for lunch in three days. I've done a lot of good work and it's been very rewarding... it's just SO much. You feel me? I love my job and feel very lucky to be doing something I love, I just want to distribute the volume haha.

Shelby Lou Nails
The Lacquer Ring: Metals
OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid & KBShimmer Pansy-Monium
Ruffian Nail Lacquer Rosary & MoYou London Fashionista 07
(with flash)

Today's mani inspiration for The Lacquer Ring is metals. I have had this cute little bottle of Ruffian Nail Lacquer in Rosary, a lovely rose gold metallic which was gifted to me by one of my BFFs, which has been begging to be stamped. My friend is a nail muggle or I think she would have kept this little gem! Make sure you check out the bottles, perfectly mid-sized and adorable. I want about 10 bottles of this so I never run out.

Shelby Lou Nails 
The Lacquer Ring: Metals
OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid & KBShimmer Pansy-Monium
Ruffian Nail Lacquer Rosary & MoYou London Fashionista 07
(without flash)

I chose an image from one of my favorite stamping plates, MoYou London Fashionista 07, and stamped Rosary over a gradient of OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid and KBShimmer Pansy-Monium. I started with a base of the MDIAH and Pansy on top, which covered really well in a few layers.

Shelby Lou Nails 
The Lacquer Ring: Metals
OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid & KBShimmer Pansy-Monium
Ruffian Nail Lacquer Rosary & MoYou London Fashionista 07
(with flash)

I am so happy to have joined The Lacquer Ring. I feel those creative juices flowing with the prompts! I am so in love with this color combination and I got so many compliments at work--The nurses all know to check out my nails hehe. A few who are getting married this year want me to do their nails, I don't know if I could handle the pressure though! And I've only ever done someone else's nails like twice. Anyone else feel like they can't do someone else's nails?

Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping Saturday: Independence Day Nails

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow US readers out there! I absolutely love patriotic manis and nail polishes, so for today I knew I just needed to go over the top and do a skittle mani.

Index (and thumb, not shown): Pretty & Polished Wham Bam Thank Ya Sam
Middle: SquareHue Times Square with Painted Polish Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Holo
Ring: Essie Butler Please stamped with Vivid Lacquer 002 and Pure Ice Silver Star
Pinky: What's Your Point-settia? stamped with MoYou London Pro XL 01 and Rica Whiteout, along with silver stud accents

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Independence Day Mani

Shelby Lou Nails
Stamping Saturday
Independence Day Mani

Tonight my husband and I are going to try and check out some local fireworks! We both have to work Sunday so I hope the ones we plan on going to don't go too late. What are your fun plans for the Fourth of July this year?

***Bonus Stamping Saturday Mani*** 

Earlier this week I shared Hare Polish I'm Your National Anthem. I popped off the studs and stamped it with Vivid Lacquer 015 and a Sinful Colors gold metallic polish. I wish I had done that in the first place, I love how the firework stamp looks over the flakes so much! Check out my Hump Day HARE post from earlier this week to see more of this gorgeous Hare Polish, too.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish I'm Your National Anthem
Vivid Lacquer 015 & Sinful Colors Gold Medal

Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Guest Post at Polish Those Nails

I have a special guest post over at Polish Those Nails for today! I shared a macro preview on my instagram last night. Click here to check out my post in the Blogger Takeover series! While you are there you might as well check out some of Marisa's amazing freehand nail art.

I'll be back with some stamping for tomorrow!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Hump Day HARE: I'm Your National Anthem

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Since Independence Day is fast approaching--it always seems to sneak up on me!--today's Hump Day Hare Polish is I'm Your National Anthem. IYNA is one of the LE Lana Del Ray polishes (see Pretty When I Cry here) and most recent release from my beloved indie.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day Hare
Hare Polish - I'm Your National Anthem
(No flash)

IYNA is a red jelly with gold and blue flakes in metallic and satin finishes. There is a soft holographic shimmer, but I couldn't really see the holo aspect of it most of the time. I used three coats of this jelly, I was debating on a fourth but I didn't really have any VNL so I left it. I added some blue accent studs to bring out the blue flakes since they started to feel look purple to me.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day Hare
Hare Polish - I'm Your National Anthem
(With flash)

I don't wear much red and I feel like I have a tough time photographing red polish. I wouldn't say this is a patriotic polish or even my favorite Hare, but it is a lovely red flakie jelly! Any Lana Del Ray fans have this on their lemming list?

Have you loved your cuticles today?

**Edited to Add on 7/4/15**

I decided to pop the studs off and stamp this mani with Vivid Lacquer 015 and Sinful Colors Gold Medal. I love this look more! I also shared this in my July 4th Stamping Saturday post.

Shelby Lou Nails

Hump Day Hare & Stamping Saturday

Hare Polish - I'm Your National Anthem
Vivid Lacquer 015 & Sinful Colors Gold Medal

(No flash)

Shelby Lou Nails

Hump Day Hare & Stamping Saturday

Hare Polish - I'm Your National Anthem
Vivid Lacquer 015 & Sinful Colors Gold Medal

(with flash)

The Lacquer Ring Presents: One Stroke Flowers

Purchased By Shelby Lou

I'm a late sharing this post for The Lacquer Ring today. I've been super-sick with the flu all week. This is the second time this year, stupid germy hospital. When I went back to work I wore a mask whenever I talked to patient's and families to keep the germs to myself, which is hot and annoying haha. Hubby is sick now though, he went to the doctor yesterday and had a fever of 102 along with bronchitis. Sorry!

This week's prompt for The Lacquer Ring is One Stroke Flowers. Not gonna lie, I've been dreading the prompt and planned on having at least a few days to practice and try out this new-to-me technique. Without time on my side though, I spent one evening messing around and just went for it. My base polish is Pahlish Imprinted Upon Your Stars, a group custom for Pahlish Lovers. I wore this for a few days by itself and I'm in love. It is such a gorgeous shade of periwinkle with holo and other shimmahs!

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
One-Stroke Flowers
Pahlish Imprinted Upon Your Stars
Acrylic Paint, Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen in Black
without flash

For my flowers I started by watching some tutorials online. The ones I found the most helpful were from Lucy's Stash--her artwork is gorgeous! I used acrylic paint in pink and off-white for my flowers. I didn't have any of the correct kinds of brushes around unfortunately, so I ended up using a clean-up brush one that was too skinny to really give this a proper go. So I did my flowers (please don't try to image that process, ugh). I used the end of the brush to dot the centers of the flowers in pink and topcoated. Then I used a Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art pen in black to outline everything and add a few more dots, then did one final coat of topcoat.

Shelby Lou Nails with The Lacquer Ring
One-Stroke Flowers
Pahlish Imprinted Upon Your Stars
Acrylic Paint, Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen in Black
with flash

So, not the best, but not too bad for a first attempt! I'm glad I still made myself do this even though it's late. It's important to keep challenging myself at this nail art thing. Anyone else tried these flowers? Not sure I'm going to do these again. They do make me want to try The Lacquerologist's color splash floral nails though! I'm much better at bold, graphic designs.

Have you loved your cuticles today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Zoya Delight for Spring 2015: The Metallics

Press Sample 

Finally! Today I have the rest of this year's Zoya collection for Spring: Delight. You can see the other three cremes in this collection from a previous blog post by clicking here. All of these metallics had a similar formula. I did three coats for all of my swatches, a teeny bit thicker than I tend to or I probably would have done four thin coats. They have a tendency to steak, make sure you leave plenty of time between coats and paint evenly.

First I have Daisy, described by Zoya as a "refreshing lemon meringue yellow metallic with an energizing turquoise metallic flash." This color is... yellow. Even the adorable teeny blue rhinestone bows cannot make this color look good on me (to see it on someone I think it does look good on, click here). The turquoise flash got lost for me unless I caught my nails at the right angle. It does look really shimmery but almost in a frosty way.

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Daisy
without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Daisy
with flash

Rayne is described as a "spring blue metallic with an energizing turquoise metallic flash." Of course this blue is my favorite of the bunch! It really is metallic and the shimmer looks amazing. Look at that shine in the picture with flash!

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Rayne
without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Rayne
with flash

Lastly is Leslie (hehe, I like how that rhymes), described as a "soft spring lavender metallic with an energizing turquoise metallic flash." The shimmer is more noticeable in Leslie but I think it does just look like a shimmer rather than a metallic polish. Still pretty!

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Leslie
without flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Zoya Leslie
with flash

You can purchase these through Zoya's website linked below! Perhaps someone would like these for a wedding or shower they have to attend this summer? If you don't want to be too flashy but have something fun on.

Featured Products:
Zoya Nail Polish

Have you loved your cuticles today?