SUNDAY SPAM

Sally Hansen - Antique Gold (over Wet n Wild - Nocturnal)

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Bangin'

Sally Hansen - Chartreuse Chase

Borghese - Almondine

Essie - Smooth Sailing

Color Club - High Society

China Glaze - Let's Do It In 3D

Zoya - Gaia (over white)

Sunday SPAM

Sunday SPAM is going to be a new featured article on my blog. Like many bloggers and nail junkies, I have a lot of polish. I have a lot of polish that I haven't worn. I have more polishes that I have not worn than that I have worn. I actually have enough untried shades to wear one a day for a whole year and beyond. I realize the chances I will succeed at doing a 365 untried challenge is very slim, but what I am going to do is at least attempt to do my nails everyday and then post all my manicures through the week on Sunday in an edition I am calling "Sunday SPAM".

Nina Ultra Pro - Blu Blaze -Oh blazes. This is hypnotic. This is a hot blue. It's not necessarily neon, but definitely has neon pigment because it dries matte (the look of which I enjoyed as well). This was my first experience with Nina Ultra and I am pleased. The only thing that sucked about it is the brush. Not a fan. It's very small making application a bit tricky but painting very carefully I got the job done.

e.l.f. - Coral - This was my first experience with e.l.f. This is a very inexpensive brand (the polishes retail for $1!) but I was never blown away by any of the shades. (I must note that I haven't checked out their color range in quite some time but it looks like there are some interesting shades now). I received this as an extra in a swap and so I thought I would take a chance. I was impressed. The brush is fantastic, the shade is much more interesting than I expected, and most importantly, and most shockingly, the formula is amazing. The swatch you are seeing is ONE COAT.

Color Club - Charity Ball - This is a very odd color. But it is so weird that I like it! I don't even know what to call this. It's like a really red brown. Like a brick color? Maybe it's burnt sienna? Or rust? I don't know but it's fun.

Mood Struck (hot/cold/in-between) - This I just found the other day. It was a pleasant surprise. I found a display at Rite Aid of mood polishes I had never seen before. This was the only one that I grabbed because a lot of them looked a lot like Claire's shades I already had but this one looked really nice. Cold it's a purple with blue shimmer and hot it's a bright blue with blue shimmer. This is awesome. The only problem I have with this is that it doesn't have a name!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate that. This is the display if you want to keep an eye out>>>


Zoya - Dove - I went ahead and got myself the entire Intimate collection and have used three of them so far and I am very pleased. This is a pretty, soft gray creme. Not too dark, too light, to warm, too cool...it's just right.

Misa - Touch The Rainbow - Oooooh! This is so pretty. I got comments on this baby. This is from the new Misa - Wishes collection. I have also worn a couple of the other shades in this collection and I am enamored with them all! They are so pretty. The soft shades are interesting colors and they are packed with a pretty shimmer that makes the whole look delicate, but beautiful.

Easter Mani - So I didn't exactly redo my mani, but I made it better! I dotted my Misa - Touch The Rainbow with Orly - Snowcone, Orly - Cashmere Cardigan and Nicole by OPI - My Lifesaver.

Hope you enjoyed my first installment of Sunday SPAM and I am super excited to bring you more! Happy Easter!

:c)
-Elaine

Happy V-Day

I put together something really flashy and reminiscent of Valentines' Day for you today!

I started with a hot pink foil, then did a glitter gradient using a combination of different red and pink glitters. I think it came out fantastic if I do say so myself! It looks sooo much hotter and sparklier in real life. Glitter manis don't photograph too well in artificial light. You need sunlight to really show the sparkle but that wasn't available.

Here's what made it possible: Nicole by OPI - Mis-Magenta Me?, Revlon - Slipper, Color Club - Art of Seduction, Jade - Asteroid Caress, Nicole by OPI - Spark My Mistletoe.

What do you think?
Have any Valentine's Day mani plans?!
:c)

Jungle Boogie Recipe and Challange

Close-up of Jungle Boogie

I got the goods. I asked the lovely lady who created Jungle Boogie how she did it. I do have to apologize for not giving her credit to begin with, but it was just soooo amazing I guess I couldn't guess that it was a franken. It is just so well blended, and such a good mix of colors it was unbelievable to me I guess.

Bottle of Jungle Boogie

Here is at least some of what is in Jungle Boogie:

• nail art stripers in various glitters: blue, green and fuchsia
• Variety of Nubar glitters: Especially Grass Green glitter and also Lime glitter art stripers and some Disco Blue. The whole Nubar-Sparkles collection would work for this, or Color Club-Glitter Vixen, especially Object of Envy, since Jungle Boogie looks mostly green, and OOE costs much less than Nubars.
• And the icing on the cake: The bar glitter is Wet n Wild-Black Magic. It's a Halloween color, but it comes out every Halloween and lucky for us it's right around the corner!
  

Wet n Wild - Black Magic

Close-up of the bottle of Black Magic... for fun :c)

What I was thinking, because the recipe for Jungle Boogie could vary so much from person to person, I was thinking it would be awesome if you guys want to try and make it, if you show me your "Jungle Boogie"!

Share a pic of your creation along with the recipe you use! Perhaps someone will like your blend enough to try! Submit it by September 16th to Lacquer Laine's email address with a picture, recipe, your name, location and what you have named your blend if you want to give it one. There are so many possibilities to mixing "Jungle Boogie", I cant wait for you to try! and I can't wait to see them!

Elaine
:c)

USA! USA! USA!

USA is going on to the Top 16!!! I am of course talking about World Cup! I had a friend over to watch the game yesterday and we were screaming and flipping out and rolling around on the ground in fits of joy when Landon Donovan scored the winning goal in the 91st minute of the final game in group play for the U.S. which was the deciding factor of whether or not US would be moving on. If they didn't score to win they would have been eliminated, but they did, advancing them to the next stage of play and it made them winners of their group no less!! Amazing. So in the spirit of this extrodinary game, I am posting a U.S. inspired mani I did >>>


(Shade/Sun)

For this mani I used three of the glitter colors from Color Club's Glitter Vixen Collection: Art of Seduction, Sex Symbol and Sexy Siren.

1) I cut small pieces of painter's tape and covered about 2/3 of my nail at an angle and painted on Sexy Siren on the lower portion of the nail. I removed the tape while still wet to prevent any nicks.

2) On the remaining, unpainted portion of the nail I taped on a new piece of tape and carefully painted with Sex Symbol avoiding the blue I already did. I removed the tape.

3) I painted the remaining portion with Art of Seduction freehand.

The strategically placed star is there because I of course broke my nail before I got to take pictures of this mani soooo, that is the reason for that.

You can't see the break if I turn 'em though!

For the right hand I did the same method, I just switched around the colors.

USA!!
:cD

Don't Like Your Mani? You Can Fix It

I was high on life the other day. I had a nice meeting, I went on a shopping spree, and it was a gorgeous day so I layed out (in the new blurple bikini I got on the shopping spree!) and I thought some neon nails were in order. I decided to go with Color Club - Ultra Violet, a neon purple. I thought it would be amazing but it just didn't wow me. I think that it just wasn't working with my red skin. I didn't want to change it. I wanted to like it. I wanted to give it a chance. So I decided to start digging through my stash to find a way to spruce it up. This is what I came up with.

I added some flowers with white NP and Konad plate M65. Then I took it up yet another notch with a coat of Cover Girl - City Lights, a holographic glitter top coat. I really like that! I actually have had it on for 4 days and still plan on wearing it for at least another.

I appreciate the shade more like this. I love the delicate, full coverage flower pattern and the glints of rainbows from the sparkles. Plus when the blue shimmer in Ultra Violet flashes at me I get completely entranced .

So if you have a nail polish you want to love but it just isn't working for you, there may be a way to help it be more desirable!

-Elaine
:c)

New House Key

This is a cute mani I did the other day. I started with what may be my favorite white: Color Club - Oooooo La La. It is a clean white, but has a pearl finish making it far more wearable than a white out white. Next I added a coat of LA Colors - Silver Glitter. That looked rather awesome but then I added one more touch: a gradient of rhinestones to my ring finger in pinks, blues and green.

And where did I pull the inspiration for this mani from? That is where the goofy name of this post comes in. It seriously was inspired by a new key I got cut. It is white with silver glitter and rhinestones! >>>

Isn't that adorable? It is much easier to figure out what key you need when you're fumbling in the dark after a few cocktails...

What do you think?
-Elaine
:c)

Rebel Debutante Swatches - Spring 2010

Hello all! I went ahead and got myself the 7-piece set of one of Color Club's newest releases: The Rebel Debutante Collection. I didn't get the blue and neon green though. It's so weird they released a collection of 7 + 2. I know it's been done, but I couldn't resist swatching all of these for you. I can't let a whole collection (sort of) keep from being swatched and posted.

Who Are You Wearing? - I love shades like this! It's a soft, slightly gray, white creme. The only drawback was that I had to do 4 coats of it and it still looks a bit streaky.

High Society - This is a "greige" creme. I like the look of it a lot and it's a great alternative to Deborah Lippmann's Waking Up In Vegas which I compared here. It's on the thin side though and needed three coats.

Best Dressed List - I really liked the look of this tan in the bottle but I don't find it flattering on my nails. :c( Too bad. It reminds me of a baby deer. This is two coats.

Charity Ball - I was so excited to get this shade. I love an odd polish color and this one definitely is. Question was, though, is it going to be ugly-pretty or just plain ugly once I got it on? Well I can say that I love it on me! It's so odd but works. This is three coats.

Uptown Girl - Dusty, grayed purple. Always chic. This is two coats.

She's So Glam - I don't normally go for pinks and definitely not Barbie, bubblegum pinks like this, but I have to admit the truth: I really like my nails in this. This is three coats.

Ms. Socialite - And my favorite! This is a very rich, red sided purple creme and I love it! This swatch is two coats. It has the best application of all these shades too. Very smooth, pigmented and easy to apply.

So overall I can say that this isn't the most exciting collection ever. I wasn't jumping up and down over it's release like some collections, especially Color Club collections, but I do like almost all the shades. I think they make a nice addition to my collection and they are all pretty chic and work safe at the same time. The formula is on the thin side, but manageable.

What do you think?