Sephora Formula X Fall 2014 Nail Polish Preview!

Good morning my fellow Lacquered Lovers!  Happy Friday!  I hope you're all having a lovely week so far!  Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of Sephora's Formula X Fall 2014 nail polish line!  There are some great goodies below so now, without further ado, onto the polish!

Above:  Brushed Metallics

Above:  Motivated (orange with gold shimmer)  and Ambitious (bright yellow gold with gold shimmer)

Above:  Mind Games (Green with Gold shimmer) and Discovery (teal with blue shimmer)

Above:  Destiny (light blue with pink shimmer)  and Prophecy (dark blue with purple and pink shimmer)

Above:  Valor (purple with pink shimmer)  and Spectacle (Magenta with pink and blue shimmer)

Above:  Wonderment (beige with pink shimmer), Singularity (greige with blue shimmer) and Determined (brown with blue shimmer)

Above:  Synapse (taupe with pink shimmer) and Fate (beige with blue shimmer)

The Brushed Metallic Collection consists of 8 jewel tones and 6 neutral nail polishes that are all full of mica and dry to a mostly matte finish.  All of the shimmer is either pink or blue, some of them shifting between the two for a duochrome effect, however this is mostly only clear in the bottle or if you put a clear top coat on the polish.  I love how rich the jewel tone shades are and how much the colored shimmer pops against the nudes!

Above:  Press Pods for Fall 2014

Above:  Impeccable, Atomic, Orbit, Pyrotechnic, Ignite,  Dark Matter,Thrilling

Press Pods are a one use manicure capsule that Formula X has previously released that hold enough polish for one full manicure and comes with a brush attached for easy use.  For Fall, they are releasing this kit with 7 colors (all existing) that are perfect for traveling!  This kit will retail for $15, which is a huge value when most Formula X cremes retail for $10.50.

Above:  The Cut - Enticing, Memorable, Grand

The Cut are 3 new cremes for Fall that reflect the urban landscape.  They consist of a mustard yellow, a slate blue and a greige, all fairly neutral without being boring.  I'm really digging that slate for Fall!  That's my version of a palette cleanser polish.

Above:  The cool X installation at the event

All in all, I think Formula X is coming out with some cool things!  I love the idea of the brushed metallics, and while I wish the shimmer showed more on the nail without a top coat, I think they are gorgeous jewel tones and neutrals for Fall.  The Cut collection is a great mini Fall showing for those who like some out of the box colors like mustard and don't want to just do darks.  The press pods would be great for travel and I'm actually looking forward to trying them!  All of these polishes will be released August 1, 2014 at Sephora!

What did you think of these polishes?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

RickyColor The Pastel Opal Collection Skittles Manicure!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Monday to you all!  I hope you're all having a lovely week so far!  The sun is shining, it's finally feeling like Spring, and that means bright nail polish is on the horizon!  The lovely people over at one of my favorite NYC stores, Ricky's, sent me over their newest collection of RickyColor nail polishes and they are FABULOUS!  Now, without further ado, onto the polish!

These shades are BRIGHT!  RickyColor calls them pastel but I think they are more of a pastel neon.  This collection consists of three cremes and an iridescent glitter topper which I will test out soon for you all.  The blue is called BBCS at Cyrils and is the most muted of the bunch.  It's an almost dusty blue that had a great formula and was opaque in 2 coats.  The green is called Hudson Valley Getaway and is an almost neon mint green.  I'm kind of obsessed with it and had a great formula of being opaque in 2 coats.  Last but most certainly not least is the the pink Night at the Stalkhouse which is an almost neon salmon shade.  The formula on this was also opaque in 2 coats.

All in all, I was really impressed by this collection!  Usually pastels can be streaky or hard to apply but I had no issues with any of these.  The color payoff was so bright, the formulas easy to use, and they even made my super pale hands look tan!  Just for fun, I added Butter London Anorak on top:

All of these shades are now available at Ricky's stores and online for $6.50 each!

What did you think of these colors?  Would you try it?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

OPI Sheer Tints Nail Art!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Wednesday to you all!  I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far.  Today, I want to share with you a super fun manicure I did last week!  When I received the OPI Sheer Tints to review, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with them.  They aren't jellies, they are just a super sheer top coat!  So when I saw an adorable layered rainbow tutorial from Adventures in Acetone, I knew I had to test it out with my own little spin.  Now, without further ado, onto the polish!

To begin with, I used two coats of OPI Solitaire from the James Bond Liquid Sand collection because I wanted a glittery base as well as being too lazy to wait for any other streaky white polish to dry.  This turned out to be an excellent choice because I LOVE how it looks!  I then began to layer them to make a rainbow by painting half of my nail one color and then painting another over the other half, so the middle third was a combination color.  

For the pointer, I used Be Magentale with Me layered with I'm Never Amberassed to make pink, orange and yellow.  For the middle finger, I started with I'm Never Amberassed and then added I Can Teal You Like Me to make yellow, green and blue.  The ring finger is I Can Teal You Like Me with Don't Violet Me Down to create blue, indigo and violet.  Lastly the pinky finger was Don't Violet Me Down and Be Magentale With Me for purple to pink, although this one had the least amount of color showing with the overlap.  I did two coats of each because I wanted the colors to be bright and not just a sheer wash.

Here are some closer up looks.  I also tried for a water color effect on my thumb by simply using the brushes in the bottles to dab the colors in different spots.

All in all, I think this is an interesting collection.  Will I use it super often?  Probably not but it's fun once in awhile to spruce up a color or change the tone.  I'm going to experiment a bit with layering over different colors to see how it changes them.  The OPI Sheer Tints collection retails for $9.00 per bottle wherever OPI is sold.

What did you think of this manicure?  Would you try it?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

OPI Brazil Flower Nail Art!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Monday to you all!  Spring is FINALLY almost here and I for one have had enough of this crazy winter!  So, just a quick post today of some nail art to celebrate the imminent arrival of Spring!  Now, without further ado, onto the polish!

I used the new OPI Brazil nail polishes for this flower dotticure!  The base is AmazON,...AmazOFF.  The yellow center to the flowers is Just Can't Cope-acabana.  The flowers are Live.Love.Carnaval , Where Did Suzi's Man-Go? and Kiss Me I'm Brazilian!  I just love how easy making dot flowers is and they look so festive and fun!

I really loved these polishes!  Such fun cremes for Spring time and super vibrant shades.  Each color was opaque enough to just do one dot for full opacity and showed up really well on the darker background.  The OPI Brazil Collection is on sale now for $8.00 a bottle wherever OPI is sold.

What did you think of this manicure?  Would you try it?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Purple Manicures and Makeup for World Cancer Day 2014!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Tuesday to you all!  I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far.  Looks like it will be a snowy one here in NYC!  With NYFW fast approaching (2 days!) let's hope it clears up soon!  

But first, today I have a purple post for you all in honor of World Cancer Day.

World Cancer Day helps to raise awareness and money for the fight against cancer.  Most of us probably know people who have battled the disease and I've lost family members and had survivors surround me. According to their website:

"World Cancer Day takes place every year on 4 February and is the single initiative under which UICC, its members, partners and the entire world can unite together in the fight against the global cancer epidemic. World Cancer Day is an initiative of UICC, through which we aim to help save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about cancer, and pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action against the disease. "

Since Purple is the color of cancer awareness, I'm sharing some of my favorite makeup and nail looks that feature purple!  Now, without further ado, onto the polish (and makeup!)

 Above:  Dance Legend Cosmic Rainbow

 Above: Deborah Lippmann Harlem Silks From Bombay 

 Above:  Deborah Lippmann Stronger 

 Above:  Dior Poison and Perle

 Above:  Enchanted Polish Magical Mystery Tour

 Above:  Enchanted Polish Octopus's Garden

 Above:  Illamasqua Dotticure

 Above:  Jordana purple Eyemakeup

 Above: Lime Crime Lipstick in Poisonberry

 Above:  Milani Vivid Violet and Sugar Crush

 Above:  Nars TrainBlue Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

 Above: Nfu-Oh 51

 Above:  OPI I Vant To Bite Your Neck topped with 18k Gold Top Coat

 Above:  Polished by KPT Ophelia's Love and Nostalgia

 Above:  Pretty and Polisehd Anamagi

 Above:  Multiple Glitter Manicure

 Above:  Revlon Matte Lip Stain Balm in Shameless

 Above:  Stila Pigment Eyeshadow in Tie Dye

 Above:  Urban Decay Vice Palette Looks

 Above:  Zoya Savita

Above:  Urban Decay Glinda Palette

So there you have it!  Purple eyeshadow, nail polish and lipstick galore!  Be sure to check out the World Cancer Day Website to see what you can do to make a difference and proudly wear your purple today!

What did you think of these looks?  Would you try any?

Lacquered Lover Nail Art Extravaganza!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Wednesday to you all!  I'm in a fantastic mood today because thanks to all of you, my Lacquered Lover Facebook page his over 5,000 likes yesterday!  Thank you to everyone for all of your continued support!  So, to celebrate, I thought it would be fun to go back and post up some of my nail art over the last few months while I was on hiatus from the blog but still posting on social media in case you missed it!  

There are dotticures, penguins, gold leaf, gradients, and more! Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

 Above - American Apparel Neon Gradient

 Above:  China Glaze Neon Rainbow Gradient

I did this manicure twice, in two different ways, over the course of 2 weeks last summer!  The first one I did for Pride in NYC and did it as I usually do a gradient.  Then for the Color Run, I decided to try a sideways gradient and absolutely fell in love with it!  Just adore these bright shades!

 Above:  Ciate Feather Manicure Kit

Yes, I put actual feathers on my nails.  I actually loved this manicure, it was a lot easier than I expected!  You paint your nails, put on a clear coat, gently place the feather on the nail, top coat again, and then just file off the excess!  Pretty neat idea!

Above:  CND Nail Art

I was lucky enough during NYFW last September to be invited up to the CND Design Lab to have one of their master manicurists do a nail art look on me!  On my thumbs, she used shellac to recreate the Red Rum look from the Blondes AW2013 show and the rest was the silver foil manicure from the Michael Van Der Ham London shows!  Such a fun look!

 Above:  Deborah Lippmann Mermaid Gradient

 Above:  Illamasqua Textured Dotticure

 Above:  Jesse's  Girl Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Gradient

 Above:  Jin Soon Epidote and Gold Flake Nail Art

Above:  Nails Inc. Leather and Denim

 Above:  Nails Inc Nail Wraps in Fowl Play and Emerald Bay nail polish

 Above:  Nails Inc. My Dad Invented That and Clueless Nail Wrap

 Above:  OPI James Bond Gradiant

 Above:  OPI Alcatraz Rocks and Solitaire Gradiant

 Above:  Penguin Nail Art

 Above:  Zoya Casey and Gilty

 Above:  Zoya Hunter and Gilty

 Above:  Zoya Fall Gradiant

Above:  Zoya Texture Dotticure

So there you have it!  A LOT of nail art!  This is making me want to do an epic manicure coming up this weekend!


What did you think of these manicures?  Which is your favorite?

Some of the products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.