Aly Loves Lacquer

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! For me, Christmas is all about family and loved ones, gifting and receiving, and relaxing. Of course, my version of relaxing includes painting my nails, so I put this mani together to get myself in the Christmas mood!

This mani is entirely SinfulColors. I rummaged through my collection and picked SinfulColors Sugar Sugar as my base. It was in my untrieds, but it won't go unworn anymore. It is a vibrant red with gold shimmer and teeny tiny flakes of gold. SinfulColors Sugar Sugar is also a one-coater on me! On top of Sugar Sugar are two coats of SinfulColors Holiday Rebel, which just recently came out. Holiday Rebel is made up of green micro glitter, red hexes, and silver holo hexes. Oh, and it is beautiful. Take a look!

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

Hi, guys!

I was approached by a lovely rep for Mani Diaries, a new iPhone app that lets users share their manis and nail art. I love the idea of the app -- it's smart and seems like it'd be a great distraction from my homework ;) Here's a screencap of how the app looks! It's very clean and has tons of beautiful manis!



If you're interested, you can download it now from the Apple App store HERE.

Mani Diaries is also sponsoring a great giveaway that I thought you'd like to see! They are giving away an LVX Holiday Trio seen below!

Here's another post for the Mish Mash Nail Challenge. The last one I did was quite a while ago, but I am back in the saddle.

This week's theme is nail stamping. Stamping is actually one of the first nail art techniques I learned. It's simple and can create some stunning results. Sadly, the evil nail monster seems to have stolen my nail polish remover. I couldn't find it anywhere last night, making it impossible to clean the plate between stamps. Because of this, my stamps aren't as clear as I'd like. Despite that, I love the look!

My base color is Revlon Fashionista. (If you're a teal fan like me, take a look at my comparison with Essie Go Overboard HERE.) Fashionista has an easy formula and great coverage in two thin coats.
Then I applied a coat of NYX Girls 161. I'm not sure why, but my bottle has no other name. (EDIT: It's called Maven! Thanks, Simona!) It's a slightly tinted blue base with pretty blue green glitters. I stamped with Bundle Monster 79 and Finger Paints Black Expressionism.




There you have it! This manicure is very mermaid-esque in my eyes. I like that, though! It makes the cold weather a bit more fun!

Make sure to check out all the other great Mish Mash Challenge manis below.

- Aly

Hello! I have a simple swatch from Essie Resort 2013 for you all today.

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!

And the blogger rises from the dead!

Hello, everybody! Ready for a gorgeous holographic polish? As you know, I love a good holographic lacquer, and this is no exception. Avon set out to make a full holo collection, and they did it in style. All of the Avon Cosmic Collection polishes feature a lovely scattered holographic effect.

Because purple is my favorite color, I had to try out Aurora first. Avon Aurora is a medium red-leaning purple with a scattered holographic effect. It applied pretty easily, but I did experience slight dragging on the second coat. I recommend being patient between coats. Otherwise, Aurora is just perfect. I think this is a super flattering shade of purple, too!




Hope you like my "comeback" post! Expect another beautiful Avon holo very soon :) And I am still planning to show off my European haul in just a few days.

Thanks for sticking around,

Aly

Hello!

I am back from France and starting up on the Mish Mash Challenge! Prepare for an upcoming post of my haul from all around Europe: France, Italy, Latvia... I went a little polish crazy.

For this week's metallic challenge, I was inspired by one of my favorite current trends: chevron. I've been seeing those preppy zigzags all over the place, and I love the look! To put a special spin on it, I hand-painted the chevron strips in little lines. Believe it or not, all it took was a toothpick and about 15 minutes. Easy peasy and so cute!

The base color is SinfulShine Picante, a really pretty coral-orange with subtle shimmer. It took 2 coats to reach proper opacity. Then I striped with a toothpick and Layla Mirror Metallic Metal Chrome. I love Layla Metal Chrome because it truly is mirror-like! It's so shiny and silvery and just fits the very definition of "metallic."

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 again!

Here I am with another Layla post. I am just as excited about this one as the last one. Layla Ceramic Effect polishes are supposed to have a very smooth finish, and I found that to be the case with 54 Green Galaxy. Of course, I did top coat it for longevity's sake. Green Galaxy has a deep green jelly base and several sizes of bright emerald glitters. Here I am wearing two coats, and you can see it looks a bit uneven up close in the sun. I didn't notice it in person, though!

So, guess what! I AM IN FRANCE :) I am here until the end of July. Besides all the awesome cultural experiences and language immersion, I am also having a great time checking out the foreign polish brands here.

Last weekend, I ventured over to the Italian Riviera for a day and happened upon a huge Layla display!  I couldn't believe how big it was. It was so so exciting! They had all the Hologram and Mirror Effect polishes, as well as the Ceramic Effects. I picked up 3 polishes: Jade Groove, Metal Chrome, and CE 54 Green Galaxy.

Today I have Layla Hologram Effect Jade Groove. This polish is drop dead gorgeous. Absolutely incredible. I can't describe it with words, and frankly my pictures don't do Jade Groove justice either. It's impossible to capture how stunning the holographic effect is paired with a slight seafoam base color... I just love it; what more can I say?

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!

Hello there!

Hi there!

I have some exciting news! The Brazilian brand Impala has launched here in the United States! I, for one, am very happy to hear this news. The brand has some gorgeous shades that were previously only available to Americans through a select few stockists, but now we can all try them out! :)

The lovely people at Impala contacted me and sent me a few colors to review. My base is called Biquini Vermelho, Portuguese for "red bikini." I love this color! It's a beautiful red jelly that goes on very evenly. Biquini Vermelho definitely looks a lot more jelly-like in person. I then topped it with a dabbed-on coat of Impala Disco Ball, a clear base with holographic silver glitters.

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! 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.