Lacquer Lust: Fashionably Late, Amor, & Double Shot

Good morning! Today I've got three awesome new Lacquer Lust polishes to show you, and I'll have three more later this week!  

Lots more photos and a full review after the jump!  

Negative Stripes

Although they aren't nearly as festive as my skittlette mani a few days ago, this is what I actually had on my nails on Valentine's Day! 

This was my first time trying negative space nail art, and I was really happy with how it came out!  After painting my base coat (LaCC 2012) I laid down two pieces of striping tape and quickly painted two thin coats of LaCC 1941, and removed the striping tape while the polish was still wet.  I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.  

I was initially hesitant about trying this technique because I was worried that the whole naked-nail-showing thing would just look weird, but it actually looked very modern and sophisticated!  I much preferred this to my over-the-top Valentine's Day skittlette, haha!  Which do you prefer? :)

Valentine's Day Skittlette

Today's post is part part of Brilliant Earth's Create a Little Love Campaign.  Bloggers from all different niches are posting photos that creatively spell out "love," so of course I did some nail art! 

The houndstooth nails are two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, with stamping decals using BM-322 and black Konad polish.  The filled in parts are piCture pOlish Fairy Floss and LaCC 1950.  

This was my first time ever making my own stamping decals; I'm happy with how easy they were to make, but definitely think I could have done better in applying them to the nail.  Nevertheless, they look awesome from arm's length!  

My ring finger is OPI My Vampire Is Buff, with two black studs from Born Pretty Store.  My thumb (which I forgot to photograph) is the same look with studs, only the base is the bright pink LaCC 1950.  My middle finger is piCture pOlish Fairy Floss, and I freehanded the lettering with acrylic paint.  

Although I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, I did feel obliged to do some nails for the occasion, haha.  This look is definitely cute, though not my style at all... But I got a ton of compliments on it yesterday!  Seems like all the girls at the ballet school and company love the girly manis much more than my vampy polishes that are the usual fare for February! 

Anywho, the boy and I both think that Valentine's Day is rather frivolous, and he's got to work that night anways... I'm planning on using the day as an excuse to eat an entire tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream all by myself!!  Who's with me? :P

Casino Royale Framed 1972

I'd been wanting to try the framed nail look for quite a while now, and I finally got around to doing it last week! 

The colour scheme was inspired by a few of the ballet company dancers' Yumiko leotards; two of them have leotards in this dark berry colour with faded lilac trim, and I love those shades together! 

I started with two coats of LaCC 1972, and freehanded the frames with OPI Casino Royale.  I decided to add the line down the middle when I was really not liking how the frame looked, and it did make it a bit better. Unfortunately I just wasn't a fan of this look, personally.  I've loved photos of it on other's nails, but it just didn't look great on mine.

Have you ever tried a technique that you loved on someone else's nails, only to have it fall flat on your own?  Let me know in the comments! 

China Glaze: Sea Goddess Collection (3 of 6 polishes)

Good morning!  I'm so ready for the weekend, but I've got an audition today to get through first before I can relax!  This morning I've got my three picks from the six-piece China Glaze Sea Goddess collection to show you; take a look!  

The Lacquer Legion: Reinvention

Today's post is my contribution to the very first posting of The Lacquer Legion!  The Lacquer Legion is a new monthly nail art challenge group hosted by Sarah, Rebecca, Leslie, and Sammy, and everyone can participate!  You can read more into detail in Sarah's post here. 

This month's theme is reinvention - to be interpreted in any way.  I was a little pressed for time and ideas but still wanted to participate, so I reinvented my second most popular nail art ever (but probably my favourite,) the half-moon gradient.  You can see my original post here. 

For those of you who are curious, my most popular post ever is my reciprocal gradient nail art, which has since spread across the internet and been re-created so many times!  

I chose to reinvent this look simply by changing up the colours to a combination I wish I'd tried ages ago, because I love it!  I started with two perfect coats of LaCC 1966, and a coat of LaCC 2013 top coat to speed things up.  Once that was all dry, I used hole reinforcers to mark off my half-moons, then sponged a gradient with 1966 and piCture pOlish Honey Dew.  It's all topped off with two coats of Seche Vite to smooth everything out.  

I'm so in love with how this turned out; I can't believe I waited over a year to re-create this look!!  I honestly can't decide if I like this or the original colour palette better... What do you think?  :)  

If you take part in this month's The Lacquer Legion challenge, remember to post to social media with the hashtag #LLreinvention  :)  I'll be sure to check out everyone's manis!

Lacquer Lust: Holy Grail, Lemming, & Lusty Loon

I've got three stunning polishes from Lacquer Lust to show you today! If those names in the title don't make you want them, wait until you see the swatches!!