Aly Loves Lacquer

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. 

So, I moved into my first apartment ever two days ago! It has been a busy few days, and I am so excited to be here in Saint Louis again. My friend Sarah and I are living together with a kitty, too :) Now that I am moved in here, I can get back to posting more regularly!

As you may know, Ozotic Pro makes some beautiful glitters in their Elytra line. I have long dreamed of having one of those glitters, but frankly it just is not in the college girl's budget. Luckily, I found a 99¢ Sally Girl glitter that reminds me a lot of the Elytra line!

This glitter polish is called Way 2 Disco, and it has beautiful duochrome glitters that shift from green to blueish purple. Here I am wearing 1 coats of Sally Girl Way 2 Disco over 2 coats of China Glaze Urban-Night.

I am also super happy with the application of Urban-Night.  It was so easy to apply, and I did not even need to do any clean-up. That makes me a happy camper!



I am very happy with this look. The glitter was gorgeous, and I totally failed at capturing it's true beauty. It's amazing the lovely polishes you can find, even for only 99¢!

- Aly

Today's challenge is Half Moons. I've always thought this was an elegant look, but I hadn't tried it out for myself until today. To be completely honest, this was harder than I expected! I tried using paper reinforcement stickers as little guides, but it just wasn't working. Since I am right-handed, I always do my left hand first as practice. Trust me, you do NOT even want to know how ugly my left hand turned out. :P Luckily for you, I always photograph my right hand. I guess that is a little backwards, since that means I am always showing you the painting and freehand skills of my non-dominant hand... Oh, well. I'm in the habit now and it seems silly to switch. By the time I got to my right hand, I decided to just freehand the half moons. They could be better, but I still like the look just how it turned out.

Anyway! I was really in a purple mood when I did this mani, so I chose OPI Pamplona Purple as the base. Pamplona Purple is a very red purple crème released in the Spain Collection, and it is one of my favorite go-to colors. For the second color, I chose Orly Rococo A-Go-Go, which was just released in the Mineral FX Collection.

This fall I caved in and purchased my first ever Chanel; it's called Péridot and I am sure you have heard of it already because it's been making a huge impact lately. Péridot was released limited edition along with Graphite and Quartz. While the other two are pretty, Péridot is the one that captured my desire. It was a challenge to find this one. I stopped at my local Chanel counter and they said they were completely out of Péridot. Luckily, I spotted what looked to be an unused tester in the display case and the specialist was willing to sell it to me. My bottle even has "Tester only" printed on the back of the bottle. I feel so lucky to have snatched up my first Chanel in such a manner!


Look at this amazing polish, and remember all pictures are clickable for a better look. These pictures show 2 thin coats of Péridot and one of Seche Vite.

As Autism Awareness Month continues, I'm swatching all of my blue polishes. This is Nubar Indigo Illusion, a really strong duochrome lacquer. It covered incredibly well, with two thin coats for maximum opacity. It also dried very quickly, something that seems to be typical among Nubar polishes. The duochrome shines blue, green, gold, and mauve. I tried to capture some different angles, so you can see the different colors within Nubar Indigo Illusion. Trust me, a picture can't do this polish justice -- it's very beautiful and complex in real life.

Here's another polish I picked up at the school salon. OPI Go On Green! has a finish very similar to that of OPI Significant Other Color. Both are semi-sheer duochromes with greenish finishes. I'd consider them nail polish cousins. They apply very similarly as well. Go On Green! started out incredibly sheer, and took 4 coats to build up. I actually enjoy the process of painting my nails, so it wasn't a problem for me, but I know this drives some girls crazy. One bad thing I noticed was a small amount of bubbling. You can see I have one annoying little bubble on my pinky fingernail.

The pictures are color accurate. OPI Go On Green! is a hazy blue polish with a green shimmer flash. I enjoyed wearing this polish and seeing the colors change as I moved my hands. The pictures are 4 coats OPI Go On Green! and 1 coat Seche Vite.






I tried to include some different angles to show off the green flash, but it didn't translate to the pictures as well as I had hoped. In real life, the green is more prominent. This polish glows on the nail. Very pretty!

- Aly

I picked up OPI Significant Other Color the other day on sale at the school salon. It's a light pink with a very prominent greenish gold duochrome finish. Duochromes are always fun to look at, and Significant Other Color is no different. It started out very sheer, and took 3 coats to build up to opacity. I topped it off with 1 coat of Seche Vite.

I tried to capture the duochrome effect as best I could. You can see that it sometimes shines gold and sometimes shines greener. Also, I should note that I had no VNL, which was a nice surprise. I thought it might be a sheer polish, but it did build up well.





A few hours later, I decided to add some OPI Black Shatter to Significant Other Color. The effect was great! I love it. Significant Other Color really shines through the shatter well. It's a very nice pairing.



See how the duochrome really shines through? I just love that effect. I think I'll try this look with OPI Go On Green soon, too. That polish is like the blue cousin to Significant Other Color. Altogether, I really enjoyed this mani and it was fun to look at all day.

- Aly