Firecracker Lacquer: Titties & Dragons

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Hi guys! Last Wednesday was my birthday and I decided to take an impromptu break from blogging (but not nails, never nails!). I used to feel bad about doing that, but I need to in order to keep myself from burning out.

Today I have a mani featuring Firecracker Lacquer Titties & Dragons from the collection entitled Everyone I Love Is Dead. If you haven't guessed, it is inspired by Game of Thrones! While I haven't watched the show (too graphic) I am a fan of the books. This collection got me all excited so I'm re-reading the books again. Which is awesome and upsetting. Because I know what happens and I'm dreading it or trying to pretend it will be different when I read it again...

Anyway, here is my manicure inspired by Titties & Dragons. Can we just take a moment to revel in this name alone? I can't even haha! Titties & Dragons is a gray creme with gold, purple, and black glitters. I love how dainty and subtle they are. I got good coverage in two thick-ish coats.

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer: Titties & Dragons

For the stamping accents I used images from Messy Mansion MM21 and stamped them in Rica Blackout. I made a decal by coloring in a few of the scales using OPI Tomorrow Never Dies and Oy, Another Polish Joke! I added some mini black rectangle studs to complete the look.

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer: Titties & Dragons

I think Daenerys would rock this mani. Her character is so badass! Bravo, George RR Martin. Although if you kill her I might have to burn all your books...

Products:
Firecracker Lacquer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Girly Bits Perry-twinkle & Messy Mansion Scales

Ok, I am getting back on track with blogging. Promise. Ha! Everything seems to be going so friggity-friggin' crazy for me right now so hopefully that stops soon. Also, I can't stop saying frggity-friggin'. Try it, I bet you'll like it ;-)
If you haven't already make sure you enter the giveaway I am hosting with six amazing bloggers. Seriously, I love these girls! You can get the rafflecopter link to the Spring Spectacular Giveaway here.

Today I have Girly Bits Perry-twinkle. I fell in love with Girly Bits from the March A Box, Indied and was so excited to see they had another one coming in the April edition. Perry-twinkle is a periwinkle holographic polish with pink shimmer. I can't have my holos without the colored shimmer now. The formula is perfect, I used three thin coats for my swatch.

Girly Bits
Perry-twinkle
A Box, Indied Exclusive

I took the photo of the swatch after I had worn it for a day at work. I've been wearing this since Sunday night and I still have no chips, so decided to refresh Perry-twinkle because it was too beautiful to take off. I used Messy Mansion MM21 and Sally Hansen Insta-dri in Silver Sweep. And, because why only go halfway when you can go all the way, then I added INM Northern Lights.

Girly Bits Perry-twinkle
Stamped with Messy Mansion MM21 & Sally Hansen Silver Sweep
Topcoated with INM Northern Lights

Remember The Rainbow Fish? I feel like I have magical fishy nails!

Girly Bits Perry-twinkle
Stamped with Messy Mansion MM21 & Sally Hansen Silver Sweep
Topcoated with INM Northern Lights

Products:
Girly Bits
Messy Mansion
Llarowe

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Wintry Brocade with Colors By Llarowe & Messy Mansion

I love me some stamping. And now that I have the basics down I feel like I learn exponentially every time I sit down to stamp. I have been dying to try the brocade design on my new-ish Messy Mansion plate MM18, but it seems like every time I just failed miserably and gave up. But not this time! These might be "duh" things to some of you, but I'm serious it was an epiphany to me. 

First lets check out the nails. My base is Colors by Llarowe Coal In My Stocking, a dark gray crelly with silver glitter. I should have took a swatch photo, sorry.... it's amazing though and I got a few compliments at work! For the stamping I used Messy Mansion MM18 and Sally Hansen Ista-Dri in Silver Sweep. 

Wintry Brocade Nails
Colors By Llarowe Coal In My Stocking
Messy Mansion MM18
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep

I used two big squishy stampers for this design, this one from LeaLac and this one from Vivid Lacquer. I used the Vivid Lacquer stamper on all of my nails except my thumb, which is huge so I used the XL LeaLac one for that. After fiddling around for an hour I realized the following:

1. Forget those plastic and metal scrapers, use an old gift card.
2. Pick up the image by pushing the stamp straight down onto the image. Same for when putting the image on your nail.
3. My nails are very curved, so using the big squishy stampers were better for me. My favorite sweater nails I noticed were a little warped and not straight lines because I was previously rolling the image onto my nails with a less squishy stamper.
4. I stamped my right hand first to get into a groove. Move on to stamp my left hand... failed 7 times in a row trying to pick up the stamp. WTF. I took a five minute break and capped my stamping polish. When I tried again I picked it up on the first try. I think my stamping polish was getting a little dry, I will be capping and shaking between hands from now on.
5. Breaks are good. 
6. Practice is a must.
7. Perfection sucks the fun out of nails. My stamping is not perfect, but it is good enough to be enjoyable!

Wintry Brocade Nails
Colors By Llarowe Coal In My Stocking
Messy Mansion MM18
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep

I hope this encourages any of you who have been thinking of stamping, or of quitting haha. It is so rewarding and worth it! What is one of your favorite stamping tips or tricks?

Selected Products:
Messy Mansion
Llarowe... new website in process!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Winter Feathers

Today I have a look I really love--Winter Feathers. I love the look of stamping over a multichrome polish. It's a new look at every glance and angle!

Winter Feathers--I Love Nail Polish My Little Glacier & Messy Mansion MM14

I started with a ridge-filling basecoat, a must for any chrome-type polishes. I then used three thin coats of My Little Glacier and topped it with HK Girl from Glisten & Glow. Not only does this make your base color nice and dry, it gives you one to two chances to swipe off a botched stamp ;-)

For the stamping I used an image from Messy Mansion MM 14--a.k.a. "the bird plate." I was so excited to finally get my hands on this and some other Messy Mansion plates in a group buy! I used Pure Ice Silver Star for the stamping color.

I have ordered way too many ILNPs lately, but her ultra chromes are just so amazing! Check out the color shift caught with my amateur photography.

Products:
I Love Nail Polish
Glisten & Glow
Messy Mansion

Have you loved your cuticles today?