Archives

Wednesdays We Wear Pink – Featuring a Fleeting Fancy from NerdLacquer

Nothing to Disclose

Helloooo, Readers!  It’s been so long since I’ve done a Wednesdays We Wear Pink so I think we’re ready for a new one!  Today I’m going to show you one of my NerdLacquer polishes from my collection, Resolutionary!

NerdLacquer – Resolutionary

Resolutionary is a salmon pink crelly filled with all kinds of glittery goodness!  Floating in the crelly base there are tiny metallic gold hexes in a couple of small sizes, a smattering medium-sized metallic magenta hexes, and itsy bitsy teensie metallic magenta dots.

NerdLacquer – Resolutionary

NerdLacquer – Resolutionary

The application on this is lovely.  Pictures show two coats.  No coaxing or fishing for this application.  The larger magenta hexes are sparse this way but I prefer that, I think too many of them would overwhelm everything else.  Honestly, I have gotten really excellent applications from NerdLacquer.  There are just some brands that have nailed the carefully-crafted crelly glitter and NerdLacquer is one of them.

NerdLacquer – Resolutionary

Sadly, I have also included this post in the Fleeting Fancy series since Resolutionary is no longer available.  However, NerdLacquer is still cranking out amazing glitter-bomb polishes.  Make sure to check out the stalker links below:

NerdLacquer

StoreInstagram

ILNP – Magician and Masquerade (H) Swatches and Review

Nothing to Disclose

Good Monday my dear readers.  I hope that the start of this new week is filled with sparkly nails.  Perhaps you also got Magician?  Maybe you’ve been on the fence?  I know that this week I’m meeting Monday head on with some Unicorn Pee sparkle and shift.  It is still available so if you didn’t get it maybe this will help you decide!

I guess we should start with Magician (even though it’s my favorite of the two I bought and I usually leave my favorite to last).  Prepare yourselves, readers, the following post is PIC HEAVY.

ILNP – Magician (over black)

It is literally impossible not to be mesmerized.

ILNP – Magician (over black)

ILNP – Magician (over black)

ILNP – Magician (over black)

Ok, I’m sorry I got distracted by the amazingness for a minute.  Let’s talk about some application stuff etc.  Magician is a topper, it will not build to any kind of opacity on its own (although now I’m thinking of negative space manis and all the possibilities there!).  However, this polish does have the ability to completely change the look of what you’re wearing.  Application was perfection.  All my pics show two coats over a single coat of a base color.

ILNP – Magician (over black, matte)

ILNP – Magician (over black, matte)

As you can see this magical (har) topcoat is constantly changing.  It shifts from emerald green, to bronze, to rust, to red.  It’s just fantastic.  I’m not sure how I never picked up a Unicorn Pee polish before now.  But, boy am I glad I broke down and cheated on my no-buy for this one.  Unf, can we talk about mattifying it?  AH-MAZING.

First, I started with the traditional black base.  Honestly, you will get the most bang with a black base but other combinations are just as lovely and amazing though it’s more subtle.

ILNP – Magician (over colors)

ILNP – Magician (over colors)

ILNP – Magician (over colors)

To be quite honest of the four colors I chose besides black (all cremes – a royal blue, a true red, a turquoise, and a nude) the ones I thought were the best match were the royal blue and the nude.  My least favorite option was the red.  Somehow, some of the Unicorn Pee magic got a bit lost in the red.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I totally stamped it for wearing.  Driving after putting this on was hard because my nails+the sunlight was so distracting:

ILNP – Magician (over black, stamped)

Ok!  Moving on for now.  So, when I cheated on my no-buy for Magician, I thought, “hmm, why should Magician travel alone. Surely, we should get him a buddy.”  Because, you all know, nail polish addict problems.  So, I snagged up Masquerade, the holo version as well.

ILNP – Masquerade (H)

Hmm…weren’t we just talking about shifty polishes?  Because, holy shift, Batman.  Look at the range of colors in that polish.  Masquerade is a multichrome polish that transitions between a gorgeous green, to teal, to bronze, to a beautiful pink.  To be honest, when looking at it in the bottle in some lights and angles it reminds me of a watermelon because the pink and green are so prominent.  I picked up the holo version of the polish and it has a lovely subtle linear holo finish.

ILNP – Masquerade (H)

ILNP – Masquerade (H)

ILNP – Masquerade (H)

While the actual application of the polish was good, I did note it had a tendency to show brushstrokes so you will definitely want to use a patient hand.  I’m not convinced that it has anything to do with the polish itself.  I think that it’s more of an effect of the multichrome pigment.  Pics all show two coats over black except for the ring finger where it’s three coats on its own.  I actually liked it better on its own.  The brush strokes weren’t as noticeable and it seemed to just have a better overall finish that way.

Alright, deep breaths.  You can still get Magician and naturally Masquerade is available as well not to mention a whole HEAP of multichrome shifty polishes.  I will include stalker links below!

ILNP

Store Facebook Instagram

 

 

St. Patrick’s Day Nail Art

Some products received for honest review

Top o’ the afternoon to you, my fantabulous readers!  In the past I was sent some polishes from Alchemy Lacquers to review and I did, here and here.  I always meant to go back later and do some nail art with them but life being what it is I didn’t get around to it.  No time like the present, right?  So this year I used them to create my St. Patrick’s Day themed nail art!

To start I needed to create the artistic part.  I’m not super fantastic with freehand nail art, but I like to try my hand at it now and then.  However, I do not trust myself to freehand directly on my nails.  So what’s a girl to do?  Why make decals of course!

I used my silicone mat to create two decals.  To make a decal you start with a layer of clear polish that you allow to dry completely.  Then you can stamp or paint your design onto that polish.  Allow the art to dry then paint it over with another layer of clear polish or topcoat and allow to dry completely.  Once it’s dry it should lift away easily.  I then trimmed out my design with scissors.

The nail art I chose to do was a little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  I used the Infinity Collection from Alchemy Lacquers to create the rainbow.  I thought it turned out super cute and I 100% admit to being delightedly tickled with how well it came out.

Then I used last year’s St. Patrick’s Day limited edition (sorry it’s not available now, but, at least if you love it you can start searching for it on the secondary market!) from Alchemy Nails – Liquid Luck as my base.

St. Patrick’s Day Nail Art

First I used Vynails Celtic Knot vinyl decals on all but my ring fingers.  Then I applied the painted decals I made to the ring fingers of each hand to finish the look.

I’m pretty pleased with the result.  Let me know what you think down below.  Oh and because I can never resist the flakies:

Bonus Macro Shot

Now, you can still get Vynails nail vinyl decals and stencils and you can still get the Alchemy Lacquers Infinity collection.  So, I will include stalker links below!  As always, you can find me on Social Media and Bloglovin’ (so you don’t miss any of my ramblings!) by pushing the giant pink buttons to the right!  Until next time my dearest readers may your days be filled with Glitter and Flakies!

Alchemy Lacquers

FacebookInstagramShopFacebook Fan Group

Vynails

Etsy store – Facebook – Instagram

Water Marbled Butterfly Wings

Nothing to Disclose

Hello all my gorgeous readers!  I did some nail art over the weekend and I have been just so mesmerized by the result that I haven’t even been able to bring myself to write it up for you.  That’s because I kept stopping to stare at my nails.  This mani probably ranks up there in one of my favorite that I’ve -ever- done.  I hope that you will enjoy it!  To be fair, while it’s not an impossible bit of nail art people who are new to nail art may find it a bit more challenging because today (or this past weekend, whatever…) we water marble!  In true Relly fashion though, at every step I thought, “oh I love this…but what if I added this?!”  Then, I did it.  The result was much better than I anticipated.

Let’s start off with what you need for water marbling.  You’ll need 2 or more polishes (creme polishes work best, but, some jellies and holographic polishes will also work well but you’ll want to avoid polishes with glitter or flakies), white nail polish, a small cup with filtered room-temperature water, an orange stick or water marbling tool, q-tips, cuticle barrier of your choice (tape, liquid latex, vinyl cuticle shields, etc.), and base and topcoats.

I started with five polishes from the Bohemian Polish Washed Out 2.0 collection.  When I want something Springy, bright, cheerful, and great for nail art I usually reach for these:

Bohemian Polish – Washed out 2.0

First you will prep your nails.  Apply basecoat and then a layer of white polish.  I only did one coat and I didn’t worry about it being a perfect finish, it’s going to be covered up after all:

Step 1

Next, apply your cuticle barrier.  I used Digital Nails – Questionable Browser History which is a liquid latex product, but you can easily use tape or those handy vinyl cuticle barriers (that are latex-free!) that I’ve seen around.  If you’re using liquid latex you’ll definitely want to go a ways up your finger, you’ll see later I didn’t go quite high enough!

Step 2

Then, you’re going to create a bullseye in your cup of water by dripping one drop of nail polish color into the water alternating with each color until it forms a bullseye.  It should look something like this:

Step 3

Using an orange stick, tooth pick, water marble tool, or other pointy thin tool carefully drag it through the colors until you create a pattern that pleases you.  I kept this one pretty simple:

Step 4

Next aim your fingernail at a slight angle toward the part of the pattern you would like to be on your nail then dunk your nail gently into the nail polish pattern.  Using a cotton swab gently collect the excess polish from around your finger so that it doesn’t get transferred to your nail.  Gently remove your finger from the water.  Take care not to move too quickly and work at a bit of an angle to avoid bubbles as much as possible.

Step 5

Now, you can totally see why you need that cuticle barrier!  Cleaning that up would be a right mess! Gently remove your cuticle barrier and clean up any stray areas with acetone and a clean up brush that you couldn’t protect with the barrier and apply topcoat.  Floating the topcoat will help avoid smears.

Step 6

Now…this is where most people would be like, “YAY, a successful water marble!  Let’s stop here.”  I am clearly not most people because what I said is, “Oh, let’s add flakies!”  So I did.  I added a generous layer of Digital Nails – Hyperbole which gave the whole look a shifty iridescent quality.  It’s subtle but when it catches the light it’s lovely!

Water Marble Design topped with Digital Nails – Hyperbole

Again, I said to myself, “what else can I do?!” so I stamped butterfly wings using Vivid Lacquer – VL002 over top:

Final Look

Final Look

Final Look

Ahhh, and then I was finally satisfied.  This turned out so cheerful, happy, and pretty that I could have been more pleased.  This is probably the most successful water marble I’ve done.  They take practice and patience but the result is so great that it’s worth it!

You can find Bohemian Polish, Vivid Lacquer, and Digital Nails at the stalker links below.  As usual, I’d love to hear from you!  This is definitely a win in my book.  I hope you really like it as well!  Don’t forget you can find me on social media by using the big pink buttons to the right!  Until next time I hope your days are filled with glitter and flakies!

Bohemian Polish

Shop Facebook Instagram

Digital Nails:

Shop Facebook Instagram

Vivid Lacquer:

Shop Facebook Instagram