The Game of Twister - Halloween Costume and Nails!

Good morning my fellow Lacquered Lovers! Happy Halloween! I hope you are all having a fabulously spooky day! Today you will have TWO posts! The horror! Later this afternoon I will show you my awesome manicure I wore for actual Halloween today, but first, I will show you my manicure and costume from Saturday night!

Even though there was a snow storm on Saturday in New York City, my friends and I were troopers and still went out. I decided to be the game of Twister this year for Halloween! I had a fabulous dress and a hat that was a Twister board! Needless to say, a lot of people were touching my head! So I wanted to have a manicure that looked like a Twister board!





I love how it came out! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of what polishes I used! I know the base was Essie Blanc but other than that, I can't remember! Regardless, a medium sized dotting tool really made this look like a Twister board! Here is a close up shot:



So now for a picture of me in my full costume!



Yep, I was actually the game of Twister! It was such a fun costume and I didn't see any others like it!



here is me with the amazing boyfriend who loves nail polish! He was Green Man from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia! Now just a few more pictures of the nails against the costume!




So there you have it, Twister nails to match my costume! What were you for Halloween? Any fun manicures?

Fun Friday Featuring a Halloween Eyeball Manicure and Tutorial!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers! As Halloween is quickly approaching, I tried my hand at some Halloween nail art after my spider webs didn't quite come out perfect. My lovely friend Sarah over at the amazing blog Chalkboard Nails (which you should all be following if you aren't!) did an incredible eyeball manicure plus tutorial which you can see HERE. I decided to give it a go and see if I could recreate it so without futher ado, on to the manicure!



Yay! So fun! I actually think it came out super cute! So now, here is my sort of step-by-step version of how to do it (for a more in depth tutorial, check out Sarah's site linked above!)




First I started with a dark red cream for the background. Since I was so excited to do this manicure, I forgot to take a picture of it! The background is Nails Inc. St. Pancras. Then I took my Essie Blanc and with the corner of the brush, dotted white circles onto my nails in a polka dot pattern. I purposely did this while the red was still wet so it would bleed a bit and look like veins. Surprisingly easier than I thought it would be! Then I waited a few minutes to dry before adding the irises.



First I did the brown eyes with Essie Very Structured. I didn't want to choose any colors that were too dark so you would be able to see the black pupils eventually. I tried to put the brown in different lines on each nail so that the colors would be different on each finger.



Next came the blue eyes with Orly Frisky. Can you believe I've had this gorgeous bright blue cream sitting in my untrieds? The horror!



Last was the green eyes for which I used Color Club Twiggie. The only way to describe this shade is a neon mint green. I realize that sounds like an oxymoron but it's the only way to describe it! So after all the colored iris' are put into the eyeballs with the dotting tool, let your creation dry for a bit before going on to the pupils with a smaller dotting tool.



I used a smaller dotting tool to make the pupils. I tried to make them in the middle of the eye but that didn't quite work. Oh well, win some use some. For the pupils, I used my favorite black cream, Wet N Wild Black Creme. Lastly, I waited a few minutes before adding one last little touch:



Using a tiny dotting tool, I added a white dot like in Sarah's pictures to make the eye glow a bit. The dots are all off centered on purpose to give it a more spooky look! I love it! Here is a tight shot of what it looks like:



So there you have it! Easy eyeball nails for Halloween! Again, a big thank you to Sarah at Chalkboard Nails for her awesome tutorial on this! I had a ton of fun trying it out!

What do you think of the eyeballs? What are you going as for Halloween?

OPI Muppet Collection Part II

Good afternoon my fellow Lacquered Lovers! I hope wherever you are reading this from that you are having better than I'm having in NYC! Cold and rainy day here, however looking at these swatches instantly put me in a better mood! Today I have the three non-glitters that I bought from the Muppet Collection and I have to say, I think I like these even better than the glitters! So now, without further ado, on to the polish!




Above: 2 coats of Meep-Meep-Meep

Above: Macro shot of Meep-Meep-Meep

Ah, Meep-Meep-Meep. I wasn't planning on liking this color until I saw swatches and found out it was a glass fleck! I love glass flecks! Even pink glass flecks! The base is kind of like a more opaque jelly if that makes sense, I say that because after two coats there is almost no visible nail line! The glass flecks are gold and some have a slightly lighter pink tint that gives this polish incredible depth. This is definitely a polish I bought for the name but ended up really loving it! It's very pigmented and perfect for any pink lover!




Above: 3 coats of Warm and Fozzie

Above: Macro shot of Warm and Fozzie

I've never been one to love bronze or brown shades, but I find myself really drawn to them this year! So much so that Warm and Fozzie is my second favorite from this collection and not just for the name (which I love!) Warm and Fozzie is a stunning bronze foil with gold, copper and pinkish flecks in it. This color is just insane complex. This polish was very sheer so it took three coats to build up to full opacity, but who cares for this gorgeous shade? It almost has a duochrome quality to it but it's absolutely stunning. This polish is definitely unique in my collection!






Above: 2 coats of Designer,... De Better!

Above: Macro shot of Designer,...De Better

Last and certainly not least (so certainly that I think this is my favorite shade of this collection) is Designer,... De Better. I quickly showed you guys this shade last week as part of my anniversary manicure, but I really didn't do it justice. Designer,... De Better is a silvery foil packed with copper and pinkish particles. It is stunning! It almost looks like a light gold or champagne to the naked eye, but you can really see the particles in the macro shot above. I just love how unique this color is and how it just reminds me of a winter fairy land for some reason! I highly recommend you get this color!

As for the other three colors in this collection, I didn't feel the need to get them because they are all pinks and purples that look familiar. The OPI Muppet Collection is out in stores now and generally retails for $8.00 per bottle. I really enjoyed this collection and look forward to wearing them this winter!

What did you all think of these Muppet Collections polishes? Do you prefer the glitters or the non-glitters? Any dupes?

700 Follower Giveaway winners!

Good morning fellow Lacquered Lovers! Just a quick post to announce the winners of me 700 follower giveaway!

Congrats to GothamPolish on winning Butter London Wallis and Jacki on winning misbehaved! As promised, both will receive a surprise polish as well! They have both been emailed and have 48 hours to respond!

Thanks everyone for participating and stay tuned for an awesome giveaway at 900 followers!

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Halloween Spiderweb Nail Art Tutorial

Good afternoon my fellow Lacquered Lovers! Today, I have a little Halloween treat for you! My fabulous friend Jacki of Adventures in Acetone (isn't that just the cutest name?) did THIS amazing sparkly spiderweb nail art last weekend and I thought I wanted to try it (minus the sparkles!) So, thanks to Jacki's guiding hand, here is my Halloween spider web tutorial!



Well first, since this was a Halloween design, I decided to use my OPI Spookettes mini pack for one of the colors!



I went with "He's My Boo" as my base color because it's the perfect pumpkin orange! This is two coats and it's completely opaque. As far as I know, this color is only available in the mini spookettes set.



Next I took my Milani Nail Art bottle and brush in black to make lines. It was much easier to do part of a web so I started at the corners and made 3-4 lines (depending on how many could fit on my tiny fingernails) that all went at an angle from the same corner.



Next I connected the lines a bit apart so it gives the partial spiderweb effect. At first I thought it was done but something didn't feel exactly right to me so luckily Jacki told me to extend the lines to the edges of my fingers so it looked like the web kept going! So glad she told me that!



And here is my finished product! Not nearly as cute or as awesome looking as the picture I was going off of but for my second time ever using a nail art brush, not bad! It's definitely a cute look for Halloween!

Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial! Now go check out Jacki's post!

What did you all think of the tutorial? Have you done any Halloween Nail Art?

OPI Muppet Collection Glitters Swatches and Review

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers! Get excited because I have something fun for you today! In honor of the Muppet Movie coming out around Thanksgiving, OPI released a 12 color Muppet Collection for this winter! So fun! I always loved the Muppets as a kid and can't wait to see this movie! Since these colors are so complex and there are so many of them, I'm breaking it down into two posts. First up, you guys get to see all the glitters!

PLEASE NOTE: In order to really show you how these colors build up, the pictures go as follows: pinkie finger has 1 coat, ring finger has 2 coats, middle finger has 3 coats and pointer finger has 4 coats for each polish!!!

Now, with that being said, without further ado, on to the glitter polish!





Above: Gone Gonzo!

Above: macro shot of Gone Gonzo!

Gone Gonzo! I'm not entirely clear on why a nail polish name needs a punctuation but I kind of like it! Gone Gonzo! is a right medium blue glitter! Now, this polish, like many others in the collection, is a thin clear base that is packed with medium blue micro glitter and then has large pieces of silver hexagonal glitter! The silver really makes the blue pop! As you can see, in about 4 coats it's almost opaque (the top nail has 4 coats) but these polishes would be great for layering as well over a color to give it some sparkle!





Above: Divine Swine

Above: macro shot of Divine Swine

Divine Swine is the same idea as Gone Gonzo! just in purple! It's a really pretty medium purple micro glitter packed into a clear base with larger silver hexagonal glitter mixed in. It builds up really nicely by the third coat (see the middle finger) and by the fourth coat it's pretty much opaque. I think this shade would look really cool over silver so I'm going to try that for you soon!




Above: Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Above: macro shot of Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Ok seriously, how do I get a job naming nail polishes? I love these! Fresh Frog of Bel Air is clearly green for Kermit. I love this shade of green, it reminds me of Spring time for some reason! Like the previous two, this is a clear base that is packed with green micro glitter with some large silver hexagonal glitter mixed in. I actually love this one a lot! I love how rich it looks when it's full coverage! I'm thinking that layering this over Zoya Ivanka will be stunning!




Above: Gettin' Miss Piggy With It!

Above: Macro shot of Gettin' Miss Piggy With It!

First of all, let this be a lesson to you all. I tried to swatch this color too quickly and didn't give it ample time to dry, and once I moved my hand to take the pictures, you can see how gloopy it got! It's practically falling off my middle finger! The horror! So, I'm sorry for that, but let this show you that if you are going to wear these colors as full coverage, you MUST let it dry between coats! Now, that all being said, Gettin' Miss Piggy With It! is a true red micro glitter packed into the clear base with large silver hexagonal glitter. But wait! This one also has large red glitter, making is slightly different from the previous three. I love this color for the upcoming holiday season!




Above: Rainbow Connection

Above: macro shot of Rainbow Connection

Ah Rainbow Connection. I remember singing the song in 6th grade Chorus. Well, I more mouthed the words because I'm fairly tone deaf. ANYWAY, I actually think this color is the LEAST unique in this collection! Many other brands have done similar colors (Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters, Milani Gems) and this just seems like more of the same. It's cute, but if you have the others I wouldn't say you "need" this one. Since the glitter is larger in this than the other glitters, it's not nearly as opaque and would definitely do better as a layering polish than being opaque on its own!




Above: Excuse Moi!

Above: Macro Shot of Excuse Moi!

Last but certainly not least, Excuse Moi! is really the most different of all the glitters in this collection. For starters, the base is a jelly red with a hint of pink rather than clear. Secondly, there is no large silver hex glitter! Instead, there is microglitter the same shade as the base as well as multi colored glitter mixed in. Originally I thought it was just silver mixed in until I saw the macro shot and the rainbow that came through! This polish is definitely unique, I can't think of anything like it, and even though I'm not a pink girl I think it's pretty cool!

Whew, that was a LOT of polish and a LOT of swatching! I hope you enjoyed it! The Muppet Collection is starting to pop up at beauty supply stores and online, so if you want it, grab it while you can before this turns into another Alice in Wonderland Collection selling for ridiculous amounts of money online! Also be sure to check out my awesome friend Rebecca's blog HERE for what these glitters look like fully opaque as a full manicure!

What did you all think of this collection? Any must haves? Any dupes you can think of? What colors would you like to see any of these swatched over?