Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Lara + Sticks N Stones (Guest Post by Lizzy of TheDIYLady)

Hey darlings, or should I say " Hello Lacquer Luvers" as Jess says? Lol...

It's my joy, pleasure and honor to be here today sharing this mani with you all. As you all know, Jess is away bringing to the world the most precious baby girl - Gabby! I haven't seen this bundle of joy yet, but you all must know, I already love her!

For my guest post today, I planned to do a water marble like the ones Jess is famous for, but my attempts proved futile! :-( The polishes made a mess in water, and yeah, that plan didn't work. 
I guess we all can't be like the queen of marbling a.k.a Jess. Lol...

Anyhoo, I chose to settle for a girly mani in honor of little miss Gabby. 
I used two coats of Zoya - Lara as my base color, and then applied 1-2 coats of Sticks n Stones over it. 



SnS is a dupe of a famous polish by the lady who shall remain nameless. I must say, I have that other polish by her, and I love SnS more than it. I Love that there's no shimmer in this one.



 When I got done with this mani, I was seriously impressed because the glitter splatter almost looks like nail art. The pink base is exactly what I wanted, girly and fun! I can wait till Gabby's old enough to start wearing cute girly polishes that she won't need to buy because her mama has enough for two. :-D

Well, That's it for now my dearies....

Oh wait, wait, wait, I'm not on my blog... I meant to say: I Hope you all liked this post dear Lacquer Luvers... I'm glad to be here with you all today, and I look forward to the return of Jess, so she can keep sharing her awesome talent with us.

In the true form of TheDIYLady, I must now say, 
Till Later, God Bless. :-)


Lizzy, you are so sweet! I'm sorry that the water marble didn't work for you. Just keep on trying hun, you'll get it! I'm sure lots of people think that I got it done my first try. Let me be the one to tell you all that that is FAR from true! Water marbling was one of the hardest techniques I've tried to master and it took me quite some time to get it right. Being the persistent person I am (well, that and the fact that I loved it soooo much and HAD to have it on my nails, lol) I didn't give up. I finally found polishes that worked for me (Bettina) & watched hours of youtube videos (mainly by Colette of My Simple Little Pleasures) until I finally got it right. So don't give up, hun! As for this manicure, I'm sure you know that I love it already. Pink, black and white is one of my all-time favorite color combinations and I absolutely love the polishes you chose. Lara is in my collection and I have a black and white glitter polish so maybe I'll copy cat this mani one day. Thank you so much Lizzy, for writing up this fabulous post! Lacquer Luvers, if you aren't already, please head on over to The Do It Yourself Lady and check out all the great posts Lizzy has shared with us!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Baby Butterflies (Guest Post by Yamii of YamiiDoesNails)

Hey there, polish lovers! I'm Yamii from Yamiidoesnails!

When Jessica asked me if I could do a guest post for her while she takes care of her new born baby girl & adjusting to a whole new life of joy, I said, "sure anything for you hun," because I've been a fan of Jessica's since before I stared my own blog. To me, this is a privilege.


I started off with a base coat of Essie Grow Stronger then painted my nails with China Glaze Dance Baby. I let it dry completely. Now, using pieces of makeup sponge on a tweezer, I dipped the sponge into CG Dance Baby & China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic. Lightly press the sponge on your nails as many times necessary until you get the gradient color that you want. For the design, I stamped using Bundle Monster 307 with Konad special polish in white. To finish off, I applied my favorite top coat, Seche Vite.





Jessica, I wish you and your new family member the very best. May this exciting time be filled with lots of joy and loving memories & I hope you like this manicure as much as I do. I had a great time creating it & it was a pleasure doing this post for you & your lovely followers. Take care.

Love,
Yamii
 
 
Yamii, everything about this manicure is perfect! I adore the colors you chose for the gradient. The butterfly stamping is magnificent! This super girly mani is something I can't wait to put on Gabrielle when she's old enough to have polished nails =) Thank you so much for taking the time to create this guest post for me! Lacquer Luvers, if you aren't already, head on over to YamiiDoesNails and give her a follow!

Friday, September 7, 2012

20% Cooler (Guest post by Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog)

Hello there!

My name is Lindsey and I'm visiting from Neverland Nail Blog. The lovely and talented Jessica graciously asked me to prepare a guest post for her since she is busy welcoming baby Gabrielle to the world, and I was more than happy to help! Since many of you are meeting me for the first time, I felt it would be most appropriate if I "introduce" myself with a mani that represents my style and love for color. Well, what better way to do that than with a glittery version of my favorite technique?! I used a base of SinfulColors Cinderella (3 coats) topped with a reverse gradient of Rainbow Honey 20% Cooler. Check out these cute nails =]!




What do you guys think? I'm a huge fan of this look! Then again, it's rare that I'm not a fan of glitter...or a gradient.

A special thanks to Miss Jessica for allowing me to do this guest post for her =]! Wishing you, your family, and baby Gabrielle the absolute best! I expect some uber cute pictures of mommy and baby ASAP ;D

Have a fabulous day, everyone!

<3
Lindsey


Lindsey, I love this manicure so much! Cinderella is one of my favorite colors even though it's so hard to capture the awesome pink shimmer/flecks throughout it on camera. The various colors in 20% cooler are amazing! It looks like a rainbow exploded on your nails =) Thank you so much for taking the time to write up this guest post for me as I take the time to care for Gabrielle! Lacquer Luvers, please head on over to Neverland Nail Blog to check out more of Lindsey's work. She has a really unique style and is always coming up with new techniques that are fab!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A Special Mani/Pedi (Guest Post by Holly of Madness and Polish Collide)

Today I went for my for my first mani/pedi with my future mother-in-law. I had a blast. I haven't had one in years, so this was a real treat. The chairs were amazing and comfortable. The two women worked on my hands and feet at the same time which was amazing. I especially loved the massage. On my toes I picked out come to Poppy from the Nice Stems Collection. On my nails, I picked out some purple glitter which the lady had some problem with and proceeded to pick out a different color, and started doing my nails. The color was I Mainely Eat Lobster. It was pretty but not exactly what I wanted. Oh well. Anywho, I had a lot of fun with my MIL.

As Always Much Love,
<3 Holly



Holly, I think these colors both look great on you! Too bad that the purple glitter wasn't working well for the tech. I think it's really sweet that you are spending quality time with your future in-laws and getting pampered at the same time =) Thank you so much for sharing this post with my readers! Lacquer Luvers, head on over to Holly's blog, Madness and Polish Collide to see more of her work and give her a follow.
xo,
Jessica

Monday, September 3, 2012

Girly-Girl Mani for Gabrielle (Guest post by Jin of Superficially Colorful)

Hi Jessica's readers :-D I'm Jin, and while Jessica is oh-so-busy with her new little baby girl Gabrielle, I prepared for you a special mani. When Jessica asked me if I could do a guest post for her amazing blog, I knew I had to do something sweet and girly, in honor of little Gabrielle. But I am not too girly-girl, and I am not as talented as Jess in nail art. That actually was a big challenge for me, and I really hope you will like the result.
Taken in direct sun.
I started with Zoya - Sweet. Zoya describes this polish as A super-sweet, pale shade of bubblegum pink creme. What can be more girly then that? This polish has a lovely formula and is opaque in two easy coats. 
Zoya - Sweet. Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
Then I did some sponging. I don't use the common technique by the Nailasaurus. I don't know why but it never really works for me as easy as it looks. I prefer this way by The Beauty Department to do a gradient, and this works perfect for me. I used the same pink - Sweet by Zoya, combined with White on the spot by Milani and I applied to my sponge a line of Sweet, then a line of White on the Spot and then another line of Sweet. Then I needed something fun for the accent nail. I am not as good with stamping as Jess, but I do try. I covered my stamping pattern (DRK_A plate from Ninja Polish) with drops from a handful of colors. I have there Color Club - Pucci-Licious, Sally Hansen Xtreme wear - Blue me away, Sun Kissed and Mello Yellow, Sally's Complete Salon Manicure in Thinking of Blue, Zoya Holly and the special red polish by Konad. This is how much plate looked like: 
And this is what I ended up with:
Zoya - Sweet. Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
Zoya - Sweet. Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
While I liked it, I didn't feel like it was a finished manicure, so I used the same flowers again, but this time I only used the white and pink that are already on my nails. Just this time I reversed the order of them. I used a line of white then a line of pink and then another line of white all on my stamping pattern.
Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
Taken indoors under artificial lighting.
Well, I may not be the best when it comes to either stamping or cleaning, but I do like the final result. Here's a close up on both the colorful stamp and the pink and white stamp:
So this is my girly-girl mani, in honor of sweet Gabrielle. I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to peep into my blog and see how I try to improve in nail art.

 Yours,  Jin




Jin, I absolutely adore this manicure! I love everything from the rainbow flowers accent nail to the base color. This manicure made me think about a few things. Some of you may know that we unfortunately miscarried back in October. We were so excited when we got pregnant again and my friend, Liz, let me know that Gabby is our rainbow baby. She said that after every storm (miscarriage) comes a rainbow (Gabrielle) & it was the sweetest and most comforting thing to hear at the time =) Also, I thought about my Zoya Valentine's Day giveaway where Sweet was one of the colors that I gifted to the winner. It's such a beautiful pink and a perfect color for girly-girls. Ladies and gents, please make sure you head on over to Jin's blog, Superficially Colorful, to check out more of her work and give her a follow! Jin, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to create this beautiful post for me so that I can spend more time with my little lady. It means alot to me <3