Aly Loves Lacquer

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 :(

I know everyone and their mother has a St. Patrick's Day manicure to show today, but here's mine!

I'm wearing 2 coats of China Glaze Starboard, followed by 1 coat of Sinful Colors Green Ocean. The Sinful Colors is a mix of blue-green glitters and flakies, all in a pretty green tinted base. Lovely! On my ring finger, I freehanded a four leaf clover with Finger Paints Black Expressionism. Nothing too fancy, but I still really like the outcome :)

Today I have a really pretty polish to start off the week. As you probably know, Finger Paints released a much-coveted flakie line called Special Effects recently. I rushed to the store the day they came out, and bought a set for myself and a set for my current giveaway.

This is Motley, a gorgeous flakie top coat made of of lots of blue and green particles. Sound familiar?  Flecked, which I wore the other day, is also green and blue. However, Flecked is much greener and Motley is bluer. Here I am wearing 2 coats of Finger Paints Motley over Essie Power Clutch.

First off, I want to say hi to the new followers I have gained this week! I finally passed 500 followers! That is absolutely amazing -- you guys are the best!

Happy Monday! It's another new week :) This is my first full week of class, so I have been very busy lately. Luckily I found this beautiful manicure in my photo vault. This week I will also be showing you a new Nicki Minaj polish and butter LONDON Slapper.

For now, take a look at the beautiful Finger Paints Flecked. This is one of the polishes I am giving away, and it is just lovely. It's a bright green flakie with a slight blue duochrome. Here, I've layered it over an unnamed Love & Beauty polish. The base polish is a very pretty dark blue polish with a good amount of shimmer to it. On top, I have 2 coats of Finger Paints Flecked.

I couldn't pick just one picture of this gorgeous manicure, so you get to see extra pictures! Yay for flakie spam! Click the pictures for a closer look :D

Today the Green Bay Packers are gearing up to play the Giants. Hopefully we will come out on top and continue on in the playoffs. I want a repeat of last year's Superbowl!

For this mani, I used Essie Going Incognito as the base. It applied easily in 2 coats. Then I added 1 coat of Essie As Gold as It Gets, a gold flakie that came out with the Essie Luxeffects Collection. Finally, I used Born Pretty plate m64 for the white stamping. My stamping polish was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White.

Hey, all! I am having a giveaway to celebrate passing the 400 Follower mark! Thanks so much to each and every one of you. I love you guys :)

Hey, everyone! Today I have a polish I am really excited about. I bought it from Dollish Polish on Etsy. She makes all sorts of beautiful movie and book inspired franken polishes. I purchased a couple from her, and today I wanted to show you the first.

This is called Expecto Patronum, and it's named after the Patronus spell in Harry Potter. I think she did a great job of capturing the colors of a Patronus. Expecto Patronum is a milky white with lots of turquoise shimmer and glitters. It also has some sparse flakies that add to the magical look. It was easy to apply in 2 thin coats, though I do recommend giving it a good shake before applying. Click these pictures for an even closer look at its beauty :)


For reference, in case you haven't seen Harry Potter (in which case, go watch it!), here is a gif of Hermione and her patronus.


I think the Expecto Patronum polish really captured the beauty and magic quite well! I purchased it in a mini bottle from Dollish Polish's Etsy shop for only $4.00. I am very impressed with it. What do you think?

- Aly


P.S. Today is the last day before the start of final exams here at SLU. I am not happy about that AT ALL, and I might be slow to post during the exam time. Lots of studying is going on in my dorm room, and not much nail painting. Wish me lots of luck!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle of Cult Nails Unicorn Puke! This was sold as a very limited edition release of only 275 bottles. I woke up early and headed to the website to order right away, and ended up with bottle number 202. Unicorn Puke is a purple tinted base filled with lots of beautiful flakies. Given that purple is my favorite color and I love flakies, Unicorn Puke was basically destined to make its way into my top 20 polishes.

I wanted to try Unicorn Puke on its own instead of layering it, and it took 3 coats to be opaque enough. True to Cult Nails formula, Unicorn Puke went on easily and didn't get clumpy or anything with 3 coats. I was also amazed that all the flakies were completely flat on the nails. The purple base ended up having a nice jelly finish which adds lots of depth to this lacquer. On top I added Seche Vite to dry it quickly.