Aly Loves Lacquer

Hello, everyone! I hope the holidays were good to you and I wish everyone a very happy 2014.

Today, I have two beautiful glitter topcoats from SinfulColors. One of their holiday offerings, the Holiday Tinsel Collection, is made up of many different bar glitter topcoats. Bar glitter seems to be a polarizing type of polish, but I personally love the effect it gives.

The first one I have to show you guys is called Cold As Ice. SinfulColors Cold As Ice is a clear base with stark white bar glitters. To me, it really looks snowy! I can see Cold As Ice looking great in winter nail art. Here I am wearing 1 coat of Cold As Ice over SinfulColors Rain Storm, a dusty blue creme with a beautiful application.

Hello, again!

As promised, here is another beauty from Avon's Cosmic collection. Avon Galaxy is a gorgeous rich medium blue scattered holographic polish. What really makes this shade stand out is the brightness. This is a very pigmented blue, not the same baby blue holographic shade we've all seen again and again. Avon Galaxy is unique and really commands attention!

Here I am wearing 2 coats of Avon Galaxy. As with Avon Aurora, you have to be patient between coats. If you aren't, you'll definitely encounter some dragging. But, it's pretty easy to be patient when the outcome is such a gorgeous look!

Hello!

Today I have a really pretty blue manicure for you. While shopping here in France, I found a Marionnaud cosmetics store. I felt like I was in foreign polish heaven. I picked up two GOSH polishes from the sale section: Gasoline and Blue Monday.

I decided to layer GOSH Blue Monday over SinfulShine Most Sinful. I used one coat of both polishes. GOSH Blue Monday has tons of pretty glass flecks, plus its base cooled down Most Sinful a little bit. I think this combination is very lovely and so so blue.

Hi, there!

I finally bought myself a DSLR, both for personal use and to take better pictures for this blog that I love so much. I purchased a Canon Rebel T3i, and I adore it so far! I'm hoping to bring you better quality pictures from now on :)

Take a look a this quick swatch of Sinful Colors Most Sinful, from their Sinful Shine line. Most Sinful is a color I'll never get enough of - vibrant cobalt blue. This is only one coat and no topcoat! It really is shiny! I am very impressed by the pigmentation as well. Love it!

Hi! I am alive! I don't think I have ever gone this long between posts, and I so apologize! It has been almost a month, and I have no good excuse besides that I am busy with school. But so are tons of other bloggers, so that isn't much of a reason. I am so sorry! But I am excited to finally be posting again! :)

Today I want to show you something seriously awesome. I am a big fan of these jelly-sandwich-style polishes. A lot of indies were producing these, and now some major companies have caught on to the trend. Recently, Hard Candy contacted me regarding the awesome new polishes they have at Walmart and I jumped at the chance to review Sweet Tooth.

Hard Candy Sweet Tooth is a light blue crelly base filled with smallish blue, pink, and white hex glitters. The application was a little tough due to the thickness caused by so much glitter. However, the final look is well worth a careful application process. You could also add some thinner to make it easier to apply! This is 3 careful coats with top coat.

Hi again!

This summer, I spent the last week dusty hunting. I drove from salon to salon, checking out the polishes and hoping I'd come across something I wanted. Well, I got lucky! I found some gorgeous shades, and this is one of them. OPI DS Magic is a stunner.

OPI DS Magic is a blue glass fleck polish. But it's so much more than that! It is a saturated, bright shade of blue. And the flecks add so much dimension. And it is so shiny. And I am so in love.

Take a look at 2 coats, and try not to drool.


PERFECTION. There is nothing else to say about it.

- Aly

P.S. I tried using bigger pictures for this post. Are they too large? Do you prefer smaller ones? Let me know!

Tomorrow (well, technically today) I don't have any class! We have a bit of a break for a special mass of some sort, but I am using my break to shop and sleep in! I figured tonight would be perfect for a late-night blog session. 

Today I have a new-to-me brand, Barielle Shades. I have only tried one before, and wanted to try out some more! They were generous enough to let me pick a few polishes to try, and I am excited to show you my first choice.

Last Tuesday, I celebrated my 20th birthday! Of course, I had to do a special birthday manicure :) Last year, I did freehand ice cream cones. This year, I decided to go with birthday cupcakes!

Here's a huge picture of them!

I worked hard on these and used lots and lots of different polishes. To see exactly what I used, keep reading!

Today I have a new brand for you! One of the things I love about being a blogger is learning about all the new brands and polishes coming out. This polish is by a new line called Pomegranate Nail Lacquer. All the polishes are 4 Free and they do not do any animal testing, which is always a plus. Plus the colors are very pretty and varied!

The polish I am wearing today is called I Tap on Apps. Isn't that just the cutest name? This shade is a light blue with really pretty silver shimmer. I love the way the shimmer looks in the sun -- it is just really gorgeous. Here I am wearing 2 easy coats.

A few months ago, BB Couture for Men generously sent me the full Sinfully Polished collection. And with class, exams, and moving back home for the summer, I managed to take forever in swatching these polishes. For that, I apologize -- because these colors are gorgeous!

BB Couture always releases a men's and women's version of their collection. I received the men's half, and it is beautiful. I mean seriously... beautiful. It consists of 7 colors, each named after one of the 7 deadly sins. I have 6 of them for you today: Desire, Selfish, Egotistical, Lazy Bum, Enraged, and Jealously. The best part of these is that they are very unique colors, and the formula is like butter.

Hey, lovely followers!

The other day, I was looking through all the sale items on Sephora. As usual. But usually, I exercise restraint and don't buy anything at all. However, when I saw this really interesting Tokidoki glitter on sale, I jumped at the chance to try a new brand. (I also snatched up Nails Inc Baker Street, but that I don't have an excuse for!)

Everything Tokidoki makes seems to be adorable. They always have the cutest little characters and drawings all over their packaging. Until I tried Latte, though, I knew nothing about the quality itself. Latte is really complex for a big brand glitter. It has lots of tiny blue microglitter, as well as magenta bars and gold holographic ones too. I am happy to report that Latte was awesome! It had great glitter payoff and I had perfect opacity after 3 thin coats. It wasn't too hungry either -- just 1 coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go!