Black and Silver Extravaganza!

My fellow Lacquered Lovers! I finally got my old camera working (although it's still not great I am getting a new one in a few weeks) so my pictures should be a bit better now! And have I got a bunch for you today! After having my lavander on my nails for a few days, I needed something more fun! So I decided to do an experiment in crackle/shatter involving two of my favorite colors, black and silver!



I began with Essie Ridge Filler base coat, my favorite black, CND Blackjack and a silver I've never tried before, China Glaze The Ten Man. CND Blackjack is such an amazing, opaque black that covers so well in just two coats, which I did on my pinky, middle and pointer fingers. China Glaze The Ten Man was a lot more sheer and I did 4 thin coats on my ring finger and thumb.




Here is a picture so you can see the contrast with my bottle of The Ten Man.



A picture with my bottle of CND Blackjack



One more with The Ten Man!

So after I put on my OPI Quick Dry Top Coat and waited for it to dry (while watching Mob Wives on VH1, my new obsession) I decided to crackle with contrasting colors. So OPI Silver Shatter went over the nails with CND Blackjack and China Glaze Black Mesh went over the nails with The Ten Man. Here are the results:



Holding Silver Shatter



Holding Black Mesh



One more holding Silver Shatter.

I have to say, I was really disappointed with Silver Shatter. I've tried it a few times now and it just won't shatter! I even tried adding some Seche Vite Restore polish thinner to it and almost no cracks! Unlike Black Mesh which cracked beautifully. I'm going to have to keep experienting to see if I'm doing something wrong or if I have a dud bottle.

What do you think of this manicure? Any tips on how to make the Silver Shatter work better? What are your favorite crackle/shatter combinations?

ABC's of Lacquered Lover

I've seen this on a few blogs now so I figured I should join in and let all you lovely fellow lacquerheads know more about me! I hope you will all fill it out and send me the link so I can know more about you!

A. Age: Almost 26! (3 more weeks)
B. Bed Size: Full but hoping to upgrade to a Queen now that the boyfriend is moving in!
C. Chore You Hate: Folding laundry. I'd rather scrub a bathtub.
D. Day: I'm a fan of Fridays because you are so happy your work week is almost done and have 2 days off to look forward to!
E. Essential Start To Your Day: Lots of coffee
F. Favourite Colour: Blue in general but for nail polishes, I couldn't pick just one!
G. Gold or Silver: Silver for jewelry
H. Height: 5 feet 5 inches
I. Instruments: Do Rockband Guitar and Drums ount?
J. Job Title: Marketing Assistant and Nail Polish Blogger in my free time!
K. Kids: Hate screaming ones in public but will probably have a few some day
L. Live: New York, NY!
M. Mom's Name: I just call her "mom" haha
N. Nicknames: Car, Carls, Snugs
O. Overnight Hospital Stays: Got hit by a car when I was 15 and had to stay overnight
P. Pet Peeves: Far too many to list here but my biggest one in public is people who whistle.
Q. Quote from a movie: "Rule #76, no excuses, play like a champion!"
R. Right or Left Handed: Left handed but I write with my right hand
S. Siblings: One older brother and a new sister in law!
T. Time You Wake Up: 7:10 on weekdays, about 8:30-9 on the weekends
U. Underwear: I own a lot
V. Vegetables You Dislike: Beets. Gross
W. What Makes You Run Late: Almost nothing, I'm one of those annoying people who is perpetually 10 minutes early.
X. X-Rays You've Had: Most of my body, I tend to be fairly accident prone
Y. Yummy Food You Make: Omelettes and cupcakes!
Z. Zoo: Love them. Had my first date with the boyfriend at one!

Stash Is Up!

Hello Fellow Lacquered Lovers! I figure since I'll be away for a few days, the least I could do is post up a list of EVERY full sized nail polish I own! I haven't put my minis in a spreadsheet yet, but head over to the page at the top labeled "Carly's Stash" and check out what I own! If there are any colors or combinations you'd like to see, leave a comment here and let me know! I'll leave you with a few pictures of my stash in their nail polish racks:








At the moment I have the collection starting with pink, going through the rainbow, then white, grey, brown, black, silver, golds and then color effects, top coats, crackles and sparkles! Whew!

How do you organize your stash?

Rumple's Wiggin!

Tonight I am off to Ohio with the boyfriend to go visit his family for his younger brother's graduation from high school! So I won't be around for a few days, but never fear, Sunday I plan on swatching a ton of polishes to blog about next week! So since we are having family time, I wanted something a little more tame for my manicure. I let the boyfriend pick a color and here's what he came up with!



Rumple's Wiggin, a great lavender shade from the Shrek Collection by OPI. By coincidence, I have it's bright purple counterpart Funky Donkey on my toes! Rumple's Wiggin is a great color for spring, perfectly opaque in two coats (with OPI Quick Dry Top Coat and Sally Hansen Strengthener underneath), and it's even light enough to make my hands look a bit tan! Here are some more pictures:



The above picture is in the shade. The below picture is in the sunlight.



Just a great shade that's a little more tame but certainly not boring! Hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend for everyone who lives in the US!

What do you think of this shade? Do you have any favorites from the Shrek Collection? What are some of your "go to" shades when you need a more tame nail polish? Doing anything fun for the long weekend?

A Little Something Extra

So yesterday I had my first On Wednesday's We Wear Pink blog post. I'm not one for pink nail polish but surprisingly have a lot in my collection. However I needed to spice it up a bit so I added Zoya Trixie to one nail on each hand with the other 8 fingers having OPI's Wing It! Then, last night, before I changed my nail polish (going to visit the boyfriends family in Ohio tonight so wanted my nails to be a bit more "normal) I decided to try something new!



I've never tried a french manicure before and decided to give it a go just on one finger since I was pressed for time. I took scotch tape and covered most of the nail and then did two coats of Zoya Trixie on top of Wing It! I love it! The next time I have time for a full manicure of super fun awesomeness, I'm going to try again! Here's another picture:



I love the silver in contrast to the pink! Plus, the french tip helped cover up the visible nail line which was driving me crazy all day yesterday!

What do you think? Do you like a contrasting french tip? How do you feel about french manicures that use color instead of the typical white? What's your favorite combination for a french?

Liebster Blog Award!!!

I want to thank the lovely Nicole at Nightly Nails for the Liebster Blog Award!



The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring well deserved additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 300 followers. If you receive the award, link back to the blogger that nominated you, and nominate three more blogs. So I'd like to share the wealth with the following three blogs that I'm loving and think you should check out!

1 Thumbnail another polish girl
Lacquer Addict another awesome polish girl
This is Not a Joke Its My Life a hilarious new blog by a hilarious girl you should check out!

Thanks again Nicole for the award and remember, follow the smaller blogs, we all have a lot of heart!

On Wednesday's We Wear Pink!

Ah my first On Wednesday's We Wear Pink post! Now, pink is not a color I normally wear, however I do have a few in my stash (mostly ones that came as part of a collection or if I needed some "normal" nail polish for a fancy event) so here is my first try at a Wednesday Pink manicure featuring OPI Wing It!



Ok, I know what you're saying,... why one silver nail? I say, why not? I needed to jazz it up a bit, and after doing laundry last night I didn't have time to try out a design or a french tip or anything crazy like that (I was tired!) so I decided to to a blingy silver ring finger. Here is a better look holding the bottle of Zoya Trixie I used for the ring finger:




In these pictures that were taken last night, Wing it! looks almost reddish with pink hints. In person, the color is much more pink and a lot more sheer than I would like. I did about 4 coats of Wing It! although I will say that it would have been 3 coats with a full sized bottle (I got this color in the mini Flutter Summer collection in the summer of 2010.) The little brush is a bit hard to use even on my tiny fingernails, however even after 4 coats I definitely have a visible nail line. Zoya Trixie however is only 2 coats and has full coverage.



Here is a picture taken this morning where Wing It! looks much more pink.



And one last picture to show off the silver bling nail amongst the sea of pink sparkles. All in all while I think Wing It! is a fun color, it generally won't be one of my "go to" colors, even on the rare occassion I want a pink, because it's just too sheer. Zoya Trixie on the other hand might be my favorite silver because I love the foil finish and it covers so well in just 2 coats! All of my nails had a base coat of Sally Hansen Strengthener and a top coat of OPI Quick Dry top coat.

What are your thoughts on doing one nail a different color than the rest? Are you a pink polish fan? What's your favorite pink?

My First Time (With Matte's!)

Happy Tuesday Blogosphere! I was attempting to swatch a bunch of lovely Nfu-Oh polishes last night, however the sun was on it's way down as I was starting and my pictures were not working out very well! So I decided to try out a color I got a few weeks ago that is a matte, a finish I have never tried.

I bought Zoya Phoebe and Mitzi during their last buy one get one sale and have yet to try it! So, I give you Zoya Phoebe:



This picture was taken at night so forgive the poor lighting but it still really pops!



I used Nailtiques Protein Level II for a base coat since my nails are a bit weak at the moment and then three coats of Zoya Phoebe. I wasn't sure how the Matte polish would go on, and it was really streaky at first (probably because I was using the wrong amounts since it was my first time) however in three coats I had full coverage and almost no visible nail line. Here is one more picture in the day time so you can see how bright this color is!



All in all, I love this color. It actually reminds me a lot of a matte version of Zoya Robyn and I'm tempted to find a matte top coat and compare the two! I do like that Phoebe has the slightest bit of shimmer to it. The great thing about the matte is how fast it dried! In just a few minutes, I was using my hands again and not one chip! Mattes will definitely be my new go-to polishes when I need to paint my nails and leave in a hurry! Plus Phoebe is such a great bright blue for spring and summer, I can't help but smile when I look at my nails!

What do you guys think of matte polishes? Do you like the finish? What's your favorite matte? Do you find them as streaky as I did at first?

Holo With Glitter and Crackle, Oh My!

Ah holographic nail polish. How did I live the first 25 years of my life not knowing you existed? The sparkles, the rainbows, the prisms, it's glorious! The first holographic I really tried was a few weeks ago and I have some pictures from the manicure I did. It started off with Color Club Worth The Risque with a bit of China Glaze Techno as an accent on the ring fingers to really make it pop!



Gorgeous how the light reflects off of it! It's even more intense in person! I did three coats of Worth the Risque on each nail to really make sure it was opaque and there was no visible nail line. However, after a day, my nail polish ADD kicked in and I needed to add more to it. So, China Glaze Black Mesh went on top of it:


This picture was taken indoors right after I did the manicure. Love the sparkles under the crackle, really gives it some depth.



This picture was taken outside the next day so you can see more of the rainbow in the holographic polish peeking out under the black crackle.

I just love the crackle shades (although don't forget to use a nail polish thinner on them if they start to thicken up because otherwise it won't crack as well) and I really love them over something that sparkles or glitters. It gives it so much more dimension and is really a unique look. I also think that Color Club Worth The Risque is a great silver holo. I have Nfu-oh 61 to try in my nail polish arsenal which I'm told is the be all and end all of holographic silvers, but I was really surprised with how prismatic Worth The Risque was.

What's your favorite holo? What are your thoughts on the black crackle over the holo?

(Almost) Mirror Nails

Ever since my love of nail polish really took hold (Summer of 2007, I decided to stop biting my nails and had gels which I would do in crazy colors until I kicked the habit and started wanting to change the color more often so went back to natural) I have been searching for the most fun and unique polishes. Sure, I have my reds and a few pinks, but the crazy blues, purples, greens, metallics, sparkles, that's where my true passion lies.

However when I first got into nail polish, my local beauty salon only carried OPI and Essie, so almost all of my first 50 bottles of polish were those brands. In the past year I started reading the blogs and fell in love with Zoya, China Glaze, CND, Lippmann Collection, you name it, I started buying it. Then I decided I wanted to find a polish that would make my nails as mirrored as possible. Not just a metallic or foil, but a full on mirror finish. Now I understand that it's impossible to do with nail polish due to brush strokes, but I finally found one that is pretty close!



China Glaze Millennium. Came out as part of the Khrome Collection in the fall of 2009, this is as close to a mirror finish as I have ever seen. Pure silver, in the bottle it looks like any silver, but as it dries it becomes more and more mirrored. Pictured above is two coats on each finger with OPI Quick Dry topcoat on top. Unlike a lot of metallics, this does not really show brush strokes which is great and the light reflects off of the nails beautifully. Here is another shot:



However there are a few down sides. For starters, this polish shows every single flaw in my nails. Any ridge, rough area, it's out there on display. Definitely use a thicker base coat like a ridge filler to smooth out the nail first. Secondly, it dries super fast which is great, however I am finding that it's chipping very fast as well. I'm only on day 2 of the manicure now, and my right hand has a few chips and a bunch of the edges are peeling.

If you are looking to add a silver collection, or are on the hunt for a mirror finish and don't want to spend a ton of money on a nail sticker like Minx to get it, China Glaze Millennium is the polish for you. However I'd save it for a special night where you can just put it on, let it dry, wear it, and change it in the next day or two due to the chipping.

Let me know what you think! Do you have Millennium? Thoughts?

Blue Ombre Manicure

Unfortunately, I messed up a bit with this manicure, as the colors on my pointer and middle fingers were too similar! I tried to change it up a bit with some glitter, but it wasn't quite the perfect blue cream ombre manicure I had hoped for. Here are the colors I used:




Here is how the manicure turned out in the end:




From Thumb to pinkie: Zoya Breezi, China Glaze Towel Boy Toy, Zoya Robyn with one coat of Katy Perry OPI Last Friday Night over it, China Glaze Bahamian Blues and Essie Borrowed and Blue. Unfortunately I didn't realize how close in color China Glaze Towel Boy Toy and Zoya Robyn are, the only real difference is that Towel Boy Toy is slightly more neon and has a bit of shimmer where Robyn is a true cream. The addition of Last Friday Night did add a bit of blue and silver sparkle to Zoya Robyn in a somewhat failed attempt to lighten it up, but luckily I change my polish often enough that it was only there for a day! I will say that this was my first time using Essie Borrowed and Blue and I absolutely adored the formula, it was opaque in two coats, and was a gorgeous light blue without being chalky like many light colors can come off.

Feel free to post comments!

First Post! Rainbow Nails

For my first post fellow Lacquerheads, I thought I'd start with something fun and exciting I did last night. Tonight is the Glamour Ball in NYC, a Drag Queen Bonanza, so I wanted to do something fun and sparkly! I decided to go with an assortment of colors to get a rainbow effect with China Glaze Techno over it for some holographic sparkle fun.


First I did the rainbow, from left to right (thumb to pinky): Essie First Dance, China Glaze White Out with China Glaze Celtic Sun over it (two coats of each), China Glaze Starboard, Zoya Robyn and OPI Funky Donkey.

After I applied OPI Quick Dry top coat, I let it dry for a few minutes before applying China Glaze Techno which is a great holographic glitter in different sizes that really puts some bling into any polish!






Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!