Aly Loves Lacquer

So ... I missed last week :( Oops. I really need to get myself together with the whole blogging thing! Thanks for sticking with me :D

This week I received an amazing packing from Nicole from Nicole Gets Nailed in a St. Patrick's Day nail exchange. And she did a great job picking colors! I was SO excited to see Keep Calm, Paint On in my package. This shade really stood out to me in China Glaze's Avant Garden collection, and I am so grateful for the gift from Nicole! Thanks :)

So, let's take a look. I was pretty impressed with Keep Calm, Paint On. It looks like it would have a difficult formula, being that it's both pastel and shimmery. However, Keep Calm, Paint On by China Glaze was very manageable! This is 2 coats.

Hi, everybody! I've noticed a good amount of new followers lately, so welcome and hello!

Happy Wednesday! Today I am in a bit of a hurry, so I will try to be concise.

Today I have for you ManGlaze Ilf. This polish is awesome, and I love it a lot. ILF is a matte finish, like everything by ManGlaze. The color itself is stunning, somewhere in between turquoise and teal. It is packed with silvery shimmer and dries in a flash.

Here I am wearing 2 easy coats, no topcoat. Also, check out the bottle design -- so cool!

A while ago I bought most of the Ice Baby glitters by Wet N Wild. I had planned to swatch them all sequentially, but I got distracted. Now a few months later, take a look at Cost Is No Issue!

Cost Is No Issue is a very pretty mix of turquoise microglitter and larger blue hex glitter. It is also very, very close to Nails Inc. Fitzroy Square. Now, I am all for saving money on bargain nail polish, so that makes me a happy girl :) The application was AWESOME. Glitter can be finicky, but I was able to reach full opacity with just 2 easy coats.

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!

Here is the second Pure Ice Crackle polish I picked up, a shimmering turquoise called Strike a Pose. I like the Pure Ice chose creative names, as opposed to just "black crackle" or something similar. Strike a Pose is beautiful because it has a lot of shimmer and depth to it. Here I am wearing it over OPI DS Reserve, which I will be showing you tomorrow for Pink Wednesday.

I originally did this springy water marbling mani for Easter, but I neglected to post until now. I used three bright colors, OPI Flit a Bit, OPI Don't Know...Beets Me!, and China Glaze For Audrey. I also used Pure Ice Skinny Dip as a base color, so that the marbling would show up brighter.

This was my most successful attempt yet at a water marbled manicure. I really liked it. Though there are some imperfections up close, it looked great throughout the days I wore it. I got many compliments.




I really like this technique, though I am not exactly an expert with it. It always looks unique and pretty, though it does use up lots of polish. I thought all the nails came out really well, but especially like the pinky nail.

How do you feel about water marbling? Do you know how to make it look cleaner than mine?

- Aly

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

China Glaze For Audrey is a very well known color, and that's for a reason. It's almost the exact color of Tiffany blue, and it's gorgeous. It also applies incredibly well, and was opaque in 2 coats. Though these pictures lean a bit green, the color really is more of a robin's egg blue. Perfect for springtime!



Wow! I love this color. I had been lemming it for awhile and finally got it on ebay for about 3 dollars. It's gorgeous, and doesn't give me lobster hands like some colors in this family do.

I got a little bored after a day, so I decided to add some Tiffany jewelry inspired fauxnad to China Glaze For Audrey. I used Bundle Monster plates for the chain and diamond stamps, and China Glaze Delight to do them. Delight is a really good polish for stamping.


I liked this combo, it really looked like golden bronze jewelry. Swatching blues for Autism Awareness Month is getting tough. I'm really wanting to put some other colors on. I will probably run out soon, because I don't have nearly enough blue polish. Anyway, remember to check out Autism Speaks and maybe paint your nails blue too. :)

- Aly

This is a mystery color that I borrowed from my friend Tiffany. We couldn't find any names on the bottle besides WE253. It's a turquoise-leaning blue metallic polish. The wear wasn't that great; I had tip wear after one day. But, I didn't wear top coat at all. This lacquer was very pretty on the nail.


Please excuse the wear -- this picture was taken after a day of paintballing. Normally I stay away from metallic and frosty polishes because I hate brushstrokes, but this one turned out alright. The main thing about it I didn't like was that it had a lingering bad scent. It definitely did not smell B3F, even after it dried.

- Aly