Lacquered Lover's Divine Caroline Neon Leopard Print Tutorial!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Friday all!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead!  Today, I have something really fun in store for Fun Friday!  As many of you know, every week I write a freelance nail art tutorial for the awesome website Divine Caroline.  I decided to challenge myself last week with something I have never done which was freehand animal print!  I loved it so much I kept it on for several days!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

I loved it so much I kept it on for several days!  If you want to see the step by step guide on how to do this, check out my tutorial HERE.  Honestly if I can do it, anyone can!  Just takes a bit of patience!

What did you think of this manicure?  Have you tried out leopard print nails before?

Animal Print Konad Stamping Featuring ManGlaze, Nfu-Oh and Sally Hansen!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers! I hope you are all enjoying my new blog layout! I think it's pretty fun! So, to go with the fun theme, here are some pictures of my latest attemps at Konad stamping!

To start with, let me show you a swatch I did a few weeks ago (before my nail broke and my left hand was still swatchable) of ManGlaze Royal Matterimoaning.





I adore this color as I adore every ManGlaze I have ever tried! It's a rich, deep navy blue (virtually opaque in one coat but I had some cuticle drag and did two) with a shimmer to it. I did try it with a top coat and wow, the shimmer is amazing! It's much more subtle in the matte form but that's part of what I love about it!

Last night I wanted to see how my Nfu-Oh holos would stamp over it, so I tried Nfu-Oh 63 on the zebra stamp over Royal Matterimoaning.




So I liked it, but here was my issue - the pink started flaking off! I'm assuming this is due to the fact that I didn't use a top coat since I used a matte polish and a holo stamp, but it was slightly disappointing. Fun while it lasted, but I definitely need to redo my nails tonight!

Now just a quick picture of the cheetah print stamp I tried last week!




This is 2 coats of OPI Flower to Flower with one coat of Sally Hansen LCD (which I will review next week for you all in depth!) and the cheetah stamp with Kleancolor Black Chrome. I thought it was pretty fun!

What are your favorite polishes to stamp with? Are you a fan of the Konad or do you prefer nails with no design?

My First Konad! Holographic and Leopard!

A few weeks ago I became very curious about Konad stamping. A lot of the lovely ladies over at Polish-Aholics Anonymous, a facebook group where we can all indulge our nail polish obsession, do some amazing nail art and I wanted to get in on it! I don't have the steadiest hand to free hand designs, so I went on Amazon and bought a Konad stamped and a few plates that all came in a pack with 3 bottles of their special stamping nail polish. I love everything leopard, so I decided my first try would be the leopard stamp! None of the black polishes I had were opaque enough, so I had to use their blue, and of course I completely forgot to take a picture of my gorgeous holo manicure before, but here was the end result:




I promise to take more pictures of the process next time! I have a base of Nfu-Oh 62which is a beige holo on all nails (3 coats over CND Stickey) except for the ring finger, which was Nfu-Oh 66, a really pretty green holo. After practicing my konad application on the boyfriend a few times, I finally felt comfortable enough to try it! It was VERY messy at first and required a lot of clean up (and still wasn't perfect) and I was a bit disappointed that the design didn't cover my whole thumb, but all in all, I think it looked pretty fun!

Do you ladies Konad? What are your favorite polished to use with it? Any tips or tricks?

Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Kitty Kitty

Hello my lacquered lovers! So sorry I was radio silent this weekend but seeing as today is my birthday, I was out celebrating! Broken foot and all, I had a blast with my friends and seeing a concert and just having some general "last few days of being 25" awesomeness. So, since today is my actual 26th birthday, I wanted something pretty awesome on my nails. Luckily my amazing friend Bari got me SIX mini Color Club polishes for my birthday AND the Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Kitty Kitty. I hadn't tried any of the effects yet, and I figure that leopard nails is a great way to ring in this year!





Until I got the hang of it, these were a bit tricky for me, but basically it is a strip of nail polish that you pick the right size (they have 16 sizes to choose from in a pack so you can make it work for any nail size)and smooth it over a completely clean nail and then cut off/file the excess! On a few of the bigger nails like the middle finger and the thumb it was hard to make the stickers lay completely flat, but since it is a pattern I'm pretty sure the little mistakes are only noticeable to me.



They were a bit frustrating to get the hang of and I found I was googling tips on how to make it easier. The best one was to warm the strip in your hand before trying to use it because it makes it more pliable, and to cut the excess off before folding it over the nail and filing it down.



All in all, I love these! Now that I know how to do them, the application process will be MUCH easier. I just know my NADD (Nail Attention Deficit Disorder)will prevent me from wearing these for 10 days (as they claim to last for) and spending 10 bucks for a day or two seems like a lot, however for a special event I think these are super cute! Or if you are capable of keeping polish on for more than 36 hours I'm sure these would be great! I also have the fishnet design at home and am looking to find the zebra! Sally Hansen Salon Effects generally run for $9.99 in most drugstores.

What do you guys think of Salon Effects? Any tips or tricks for using them? What is your favorite design?