Aly Loves Lacquer

Hi!

After wearing OPI Isn't That Precious?, a classic sheer pink, I wanted to spice up my mani with some glitter. Enter Pahlish Glittoris, a gorgeous clear-based glitter with pink and red glitter in all shapes and sizes. Glittoris is one of my favorite indie polishes to date. I love the scattered disco glitter and the beautiful girly look it creates. To make the gradient smoother, I dabbed a bit of Essie Splash of Grenadine under Pahlish Glittoris.

As you can see, OPI Isn't That Precious? pulls very neutral on me. I still think it is a beautiful classic polish though. The jelly finish and the light pink look very professional. But of course, I am not one to wear "classic" shades for very long! I really love the finished look of Isn't That Precious? and Pahlish Glittoris combined. Plus, I am a sucker for the name; it's just so ridiculous.

How do you like to spruce up a days-old mani?

- Aly

Hello there!

Hi, guys!

Today I have a really cool review for you of some gorgeous glitter sequins from Born Pretty. This type of sequin was brought to my attention by Sammy at The Nailasaurus. She has many gorgeous manicures using these glitter sequins, which she calls glequins. According to Born Pretty, these are Item 3103 12 Colors Nail Art Shiny Glitter Powder Sheets Tips Tool. What a name!

For this look, I used Illamasqua Lament as a base and did an accent nail using the glequins from Born Pretty. I picked a lime green color because it really pops with the pinky coral base. I hand applied each sequin using a dotting tool. In order to get the glequins to stick to the dotting tool, I put a tiny bit of top coat on it to make it tacky. This technique takes practice but it looks so cute!

Hi, there! Here I am, once again almost a full week late on the ABC Challenge. Boooo, Aly! Good thing I have tomorrow free because of Spring Break -- I'll definitely be posting my "J" manicure then.

For "I", I went with one of the coolest (in my opinion, of course) brands of nail polish: Illamasqua. Sadly, I only own 3 Illmasquas, but I love all of them. Plus, I purchased them at the Sephora in Times Square with my dad, which adds a little sentimental value.

The color I chose is called Lament, and it is a bold pink that definitely leans towards coral. I like the formula on Illamasqua Lament -- it's thin, but in a workable way. I used 3 thin, easy coats and this polish was super shiny!


So creamy and pretty! I like Lament because it manages to be somewhat "appropriate" while still being a bit bold. It stands out without veering into "Oh god, what is she wearing?!" territory. I find this shade to be very chic!

Do you have a favorite Illamasqua polish?

- Aly

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other ABC Challenge bloggers' posts!

Hi, all! I hope you're having a great start to the weekend.

Happy Sunday! I am doing work tonight and gearing up for the new week.

Zoya Lola has long been one of my favorite pinks. It is so bright and makes my hands look tan, plus the shimmer is to die for. The formula is smooth, but it does take 3 coats for opacity. I know that is a turn off for lots of you, so I wanted to let you know. Personally, I do not mind at all though!

I was in a girly mood, so I decided to add some extra glitter. I think pink and silver look great together, so I picked up one of my indie polishes, Diamant. It is a glitter polish with tons of different silver glitters in a clear base. I dabbed 1 coat of Couronne d'Or Vernis Diamant on top of 3 coats of Zoya Lola.

A couple months ago, butter LONDON announced the launch of some lovely lip glosses called Lippy. Each shade of Lippy matches one of butter LONDON's nail lacquers. I have never even thought of matching my lips to my nails, but I think it is a really cute idea. It would definitely make you look very put together!

First up is Teddy Girl, the polish version. Teddy Girl is a very light, delicate pink crème that takes 3 coats to be opaque. To be honest, it looked very pigmented so I thought that 2 coats would be enough. But, 3 coats is not bad and I think the outcome is very classy.

Hey guys and gals! Today I have 3 beautiful summer shades by China Glaze for you. These were released as part of the Summer Neons collection, which you should still be able to find in beauty stores and online.

First, we have a lovely neon with shimmer called Hang-Ten Toes. Now, we have all seen hot pink neons done over and over again, but the strong shimmer in Hang-Ten Toes really makes it special. In fact, it kind of reminds of the shimmer that I love in China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. Application on this was fine, but it did take 3 coats. Also, since it is a neon, it dries to a satiny matte finish. This swatch shows it with top coat, because that really brings out the gorgeous shimmah!

So, this monster of a post has taken me quite awhile. There are 14 colors in the Salon Perfect line. Since it is a new line, I wanted to be sure to wear each one so I could report back on wear time. With apologies for the delay, please enjoy all the pictures of these lovely new polishes! Pictures first, and reviews at the end!

Hi there! Sorry for the slow posts on my end. I have been busy! However, I have lots of blues planned for April, as it is Autism Awareness Month. Before that though, I am going to post some of the manicures I have in my nail folder.

This is 2 coats of OPI Don't Know...Beets Me! and 1 coat of Finger Paints Twisted. I mattefied the whole look with Orly Matte Top, but I had some serious drying problems and it dented like 3 hours later :(

Today's look is a super bright, in-your-face, blingy manicure. I did this a couple days ago for a sorority event, because I wanted something fun on my nails to brighten up my black dress. This is definitely the kind of manicure that commands attention!

I am wearing 2 coats of Mattése Elite Rei Momo, which I recently reviewed. After that was dry, I put a line of Seche Vite down the center of my nails, one at a time. Then I placed clear rhinestones from Born Pretty in a straight line. Of course, I topped it all off with a nice even coat of Seche Vite.

Mattése Elite Rei Momo is actually blindingly bright in real life! I think my camera had trouble capturing it, so it pulls a bit red in these shots. Imagine it closer to bottle color and searing your eyeballs! 



This look is pretty loud and crazy, but I think the rhinestones are so gorgeous. As far as gaudy nails go, these are pretty classy IMO. I really enjoyed wearing rhinestones like this! I used a lot of rhinestones for this mani, but luckily they are very cheap! I think I paid about $3.50 for a whole wheel full of them.

What do you think of this look?

- Aly