Man Down Again!

Ok, I know I've been quiet since my last post. I had high hopes of getting Part 3 of my Road to Polish Con posts done, but things got hectic and I didn't get to it quickly. I was able to get a few single color manis done, some with accent colors, some accent colors were just put over a worn polish because school + 3 kids + working kind of got crazy! Ha! Here are some of those manis...

First, London's Fog by Fancy Gloss. I forgot to grab this one a while back, so as soon as I got it, it went on my nails! This is one coat. ONE.

London's Fog by Fancy Gloss

Then, I added Peacock Parade by Tonic Polish because I was itching to use it, but didn't have enough time to sit down and redo my whole mani. Holy shift!

London's Fog by Fancy Gloss
With Peacock Parade by Tonic Polish

A super shifty shot of
Peacock Parade by Tonic Polish

This one I've had for a *long* time, but just decided to play with it for the first time recently. Kinetic Copper by Sally Hansen. 

Kinetic Copper by Sally Hansen

I decided to put on Galaxy Quest by Ever After...stun-ning polish. Just gorgeous!!!

THEN, then...this happened. It was a sad day.

Sad nail.

So, I cut them all down. I can't do that significant of a length difference, and I needed to take some length off anyways... *sigh* Silver lining, right?

Meanwhile, I've done the following!

I managed to snag a new bottle of Cloud Wine from Don Deeva, and MAN am I glad for that! It's everything I wanted the first bottle to be and more!

Cloud Wine by
Don Deeva

Cloud Wine
By Don Deeva again.

This OPI was one of 4 polishes I got from my niece for Christmas. 

I. Love. It. 

OPI Feel the Chemis-Tree. Look at that shimmer!!!

Feel the Chemis-Tree
By OPI

After the OPI mani, my corners started chipping like crazy. Winter officially took hold of my nails and just...well...they wound up rounded off again...lol

Anyways. Stay tuned for my Road To Polish Con: Part 3! Hopefully I'll be able to get it done this weekend!

Kisses,
Stacy

Hello, hello!

Hello again!

It's been pretty busy in the "mami" household lately. Since my last post, seen here, my kid' have gone back to school (and consequently, gotten sick way too often), I continued working, and I got to start going back to school myself! Yay! As you can see by my Instagram feed on the right side, I'm still painting, but they'e all part of the second half of the "year in color" challenge that was featured in my last post.

Except for one thing.

Polish Con.

Oh. Mygoodness. I had a BLAAAAAAASSST!!! I spent WAY too much money, but I canNOT wait to go again! I might even try to go to The Indie Shop...but don't tell my husband! Ha!

Anyways. Polish Con Chicago. Navy Pier!!! This was my first Con, and man did it leave an impression. The venue was huge which is great for those like me that tend to suffer from anxiety...and get claustrophobic. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pics while there because, well... I was too busy buying every bottle of polish that touched my finger tips... Ha! Go check out my friend Cici's blog for an awesome overview of the whole experience!

I do have a haul pic, and a pic of the goodies I won! It was like CHRISTMAS!!!

My haaauuullll... (the smaller grouping is what came in the VIP bag. :-)

And my winnings!!! I was FLOORED when I found out that I won! My friend and I hoofed it 20 minutes from our hotel back to the hall so I could pick it up!

*sigh*

So much fun. I can't wait to go again!

Did you go to Polish Con? What was your favorite part? Don't be shy...I won't steal your Polish!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stacy

Envy Lacquer First Anniversary Trio: Swatch and Review

Hello ladies and gents. Can you believe it's been an entire year since I swatched the very first collection for Envy Lacquer!?! I know I can't. I guess it's true...time flies when you're having fun!

Anyways, on to business! This blog post is dedicated to the Anniversary Trio that Melody is releasing on April 24th. These three gorgeous polishes are glittery, flaky, holo-y yummy goodness! The trio consists of a gold, rose gold and silver polish. See all the deets below. :-)

Up first, Compassion! This is a stunning gold polish. It was the first one that I picked up to swatch, and I didn't know what to do with myself when I put on the first coat and realized it didn't really need a second coat. It went on super easy, and had great coverage. However...in my confounded state, I went ahead and put another coat on. Sooo, here you see two coats with gloss top coat on my index and middle finger, matte top coat on my ring and pinkie. The first photo is under artificial lights in my light box, and the second is a full sun photo.

Envy Lacquer Compassion

Envy Lacquer Compassion - Full Sun

And now...macro goodness!

Envy Lacquer Compassion - Gloss Macro

Envy Lacquer Compassion - Matte Macro

And, who doesn't love a gorgeous, sparkly, holo-y bottle shot?!

Envy Lacquer Compassion - Bottle shot

Up next, Love. This is an absolutely gorgeous rose gold with lots of holo-y goodness (I made that up, and I really like it. Can you tell?) This is easily applied in one coat, maybe a slightly generous coat, but it has awesome coverage. It is shown here with gloss top coat on my index and middle finger, and matte top coat on my ring and pinkie. Shown under artificial lights in my light box in the first photo, full sun in the second.

Envy Lacquer Love

Envy Lacquer Love - Full Sun

 Some more macro goodness...

Envy Lacquer Love - Gloss Macro

Envy Lacquer Love - Matte Macro

 And of course, another sparkly gorgeous bottle shot!

Envy Lacquer Love - Bottle Shot

Last, but most definitely not least is Strength. This is a silver glittery, holo-y beauty. Shown as two coats (pretty sure this one could pass with a single coat as well!) gloss top coat on index and middle finger, matte on ring and pinkie. First two photos are shown under artificial light in my light box, and in full sun. Check her out!

Envy Lacquer Strength

Envy Lacquer Strength - Full Sun

 And now for some more macro gorgeousness...

Envy Lacquer Strength - Gloss Macro

Envy Lacquer Strength - Matte Macro

And one more sparkly bottle shot for the road!

Envy Lacquer Strength - Bottle Shot

Well, there you have it! Three gorgeous polishes to celebrate one full year of fun! Which is your favorite?

Envy Lacquer can be found at the following links:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

Mommy's Mani Monday - Catch up!

I know, I know. I'm a terrible blogger. I leave y'all hanging all the time. I'm sorry, I'll try to do better!

This post will catch me up on all of the Mommy's Mani Monday prompts that I haven't posted yet. :-)

First up, "revisit". With this one, we revisited a theme that we didn't get to do due to not being in the group, or just not being available. I revisited the 'dotticure' theme, and then transformed it into a swap mani (to see later!).

The next prompt was: inspired by your children's Halloween costume. Well...we had an "army guy" (he wore a Special Ops costume), Yoda, and Belle. THAT was not easy to put into one mani! lol! I kind of like how it turned out, though. The green here represents Yoda. My ring finger is supposed to be camo - to represent the "army guy", and the rose on my index finger is for Belle!

Next was "your favorite technique". I LOVE stamping. I used to think it was cheating, honestly! I would think all these nail ladies had these mad freehand skills, only to find out that *gasp* it's a STAMP?! No way! Never! Not me!!! Now, here I am...over 100 stamping plates and 5 stampers...haha *sigh*

When the 'favorite song' prompt came up, I immediately knew what I wanted to do! I have been LOVING Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli for quite a while now, so I went with it.

Ok, how many people can say they have ONE favorite book? I know I can't! So, when 'favorite book' popped up as a prompt, I did what any bibliophile would do! I crammed 4 books onto 4 fingers! Ha! Index finger - the Divergent series, middle finger - Harry Potter, Ring finger - The Hunger Games series, pinkie - 50 Shades of Gray (yeah, yeah...)

Having 3 very opinionated little ones makes all of these "your kids' favorite..." prompts pretty difficult. For "your kids' favorite movie", the answers went a little something like this: Oldest daughter - CINDERELLA!!! My son - TRANSFORMERS!!! Youngest daughter - Ummm...NEMO!!! To which I responded...'How about Baymax???' Trio of "noooooooooooooooooo", but they adore Big Hero 6 and they ask to watch it every.single.day. so I went with it!

The next one that came up was a mani that represents your state/country. I had so many ideas for this (Detroit sports, U of M, MSU, robins, lots of things), but I decided to go with my country...the land I love, the good old U.S.A.! This is SUPER simple, but I do like how it came out.

Most recently, we revisited the mani orders prompt. I was instructed to recreate one of my earliest manis (which I LOVE, and I've wanted to recreate it, so this was perfect!). However, since it was a few days before Valentine's day, I recreated it using all things pink and red!

 Here's the original version of this mani, which was done almost 2 years ago!

If you would like additional information on any of these manis, please just leave me a comment below, and I'll do my best to let you know what I used! Some of these are kind of (embarrassingly) old, so please forgive me if I don't remember!

What's your favorite theme to create from? Do you have a favorite painting, song, book, movie, technique? Let me know below! Thanks for stopping by :-)

~Stacy

Galaxy Nails: Envy Lacquer, M Polish

Hello again lovelies! So...let's talk Galaxy nails! Have you done them yet? Are you afraid to try them like I was? Well...let me tell you something! They are so fun and so easy!!! This was my very first attempt at galaxy nails, and I can definitely see myself doing them a lot more often, especially if I keep using Licorice Whip!

For this mani, I used a base of Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip. I sponged on M Polish Apple Blossom, Bells of Ireland, Snowberry and Star Flower. So. Easy. So easy!

Galaxy mani featuring Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip

Galaxy mani featuring Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip and M Polish Starflower

You can find the products I used here:
Envy Lacquer: Website; Facebook; Instagram
M  Polish: Website; Facebook; Instagram

Do you like to do galaxy manis? How often do you do them?
Polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani September: Doodle

Hello again, lovelies!

The first Push Your Mani prompt for September was "Doodle". I had a couple of polishes that I hadn't had a chance to play with very much yet, and I thought they would look great together, so I went for it! For my base, I used Daily Hues Nail Lacquer "Julie". It's a creamy white crelly with aqua glitters in it. So pretty! I freehanded the "doodles" using Envy Lacquer "Pisces At Heart" because, well...I'm a Pisces! :-)

Push Your Mani September: Doodle

Daily Hues: Facebook; Instagram; Website
Envy Lacquer: Facebook; Instagram; Website

Do you enjoy freehand work? I need a lot more practice with it, but it's been fun learning!

Polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Nautical

Hey everyone! The fourth prompt for Push Your Mani this month was "Nautical". I was totally excited about this one because I had this great idea in my head. It turned out pretty close to what I had imagined, I'm calling it a win!

So, without further adieu....here are my Nautical Nails!

For this mani, I used Laquerlicious (now Polish'M) Distant Shores for the base, and I stamped waves using  M Polish Starflower and Snowberry. The anchors and stars are stamped with M Polish Copper. Love, love, love!

PYM August: Nautical

Have you done a nautical themed mani? What did you use?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Butterflies

Hello again! I opted for a quick and easy mani the other day because I was short on time getting out of the house. I used Envy Lacquer "Pride" topped with a single coat of "Sinful Summer, both from the Seven Sins of Summer collection. I love how fun this glitter is! It's quickly becoming one of my faves!

Envy Lacquer Pride and Sinful Summer

The third challenge for Push Your Mani for the month of august was butterflies. I opted for a more subtle, abstract take. Since I loved this base color combo so much, I decided to keep it and just add the butterfly stamps to it later on!

As previously mentioned, this is a base of Envy Lacquer "Pride" topped with "Sinful Summer", stamped with M Polish Berry Best Friend using Cici&Sisi 07. I'm soooooo excited that I got my grubby little paws on this LE polish!

Envy Lacquer Pride and Sinful Summer
Stamped with M Polish Berry Best Friends

What are your favorite stamping images? Do you like floral? Abstract? Geometric?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Envy Lacquer Seven Sins of Summer - Swatch and Review

***I was not compensated for this review. 

I purchased these polishes at a discount in exchange
for swatching and review.

This is my review, all opinions are my own.***

Envy Lacquer will be releasing a summer collection tomorrow, June 26, 2015 called Seven Sins of Summer, and it comes with a gorgeous glitter topper! Below you will see swatches of each color, as well as my feelings on each Enjoy!

Seven Sins of Summer collection by Envy Lacquer

Ok, up first, Wrath! This is a gorgeous red! It's almost like a neon coral red with gold shimmer in it. It really is pretty. In the swatch, it's shown with 2 coats on my index and middle finger, and just one thick coat over white on my ring and pinkie. I've alternated OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, as well as Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle finger and pinkie. The formula was good, and with the slightly thicker application of the ring and pinkie, it had good coverage and was pretty easy to work with.

Wrath by Envy Lacquer

Next, I have Glutton. This one is a super pretty creamy neon orange color with a nice gold shimmer again. In the swatch, I've shown it with two coats on bare index and middle nails, as well as over white on my ring and pinkie finger. Again, I alternated OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, and Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle and pinkie finger. The formula on this one was a little thick, went on kind of streaky, and it was kind of hard to work with.

Glutton by Envy Lacquer

Third, I have Greed! Here we have a darn near dead ringer for highlighter yellow! Just LOOK at that color pop! In this swatch, I have it shown with three coats on bare index and middle finger, and two coats over white on my ring and pinkie. Alternating OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, as well as Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle finger and pinkie. The coverage with this one was a little streaky, and that made for a somewhat difficult application. However, if you use thicker coats, it does work a bit nicer.

Greed by Envy Lacquer

Next up is Envy. This is a bright neon green shimmer, which I've lovingly dubbed Envy (2) because I own another polish by Envy Lacquer with the same name. ;-) Anyways, in the swatch, it is shown with three coats over bare index and middle nail, and two coats over white on my ring and pinkie. As with all the other swatches, OPI top coat on index and middle, Wet & Wild matte top coat on middle and pinkie. Coverage again was a little streaky which made the application a little tricky.

Envy (2) by Envy Lacquer

The next swatch I have, is of Sloth. This is a super pretty pale blue with pink and purple shimmer. I adore this color!!! In this swatch, I did use the white undie again on my ring and pinkie simply for consistency with the whole collection. As you can see, it doesn't *really* need the white undie. This is three coats on my ring and middle finger, two coats over white on my ring and pinkie. Again, OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle finger and pinkie. The coverage was ok, slightly thick and a bit streaky. The application was a little tricky for me, just don't overwork it and you should be ok!

Sloth by Envy Lacquer

Lust...oh Lust, how I enjoy you! This gorgeous royal blue with a pale blue shimmer is just gorgeous. I liken it to Pacific Blue, only better, because shimmer! Again, for consistency, I used a white undie on my ring and pinkie nail. This is shown with two coats on my bare index and middle nails, two coats over white on my ring and pinkie nail. As you can see, this one also doesn't really need the white undie. Alternated OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle and pinkie finger. The applications was ok with thicker coats, and coverage was pretty good! The formula was a little thicker than I'm used to, but not too bad.

Lust by Envy Lacquer

Next, Pride! This is a really pretty warm neon purple with blue, pink and purple shimmer in it. In the swatch it is shown as one thin, one thick coat over all of my nails, white undie on my ring and pinkie again. OPI top coat on my index and ring finger, Wet & Wild matte top coat on my middle and pinkie finger. It's a bit tricky, so don't overwork it! The coverage and application are ok with slightly thicker coats.

Pride by Envy Lacquer

Last but definitely not least, Sinful Summer! How FUN is this glitter?!? It's holo! It's glitter! It's neon! There are so many different kinds of glitter in this I don't even know where to start! There are hex, square and micro holo glitters, as well as little neon glitters! In the swatch, I'm showing one coat (perfect topper!) on my index finger, two coats on my middle finger, three on my ring, and four on my pinkie! It can totally be worn as a topper and/or a full coverage super fun glitter! Only OPI top coat on this one, and no undie. The application was easy, formula good, and coverage...totally buildable!

Sinful Summer by Envy Lacquer

Overall, I do enjoy this collection. There are some tricky ones in there, but I really love the colors, and I can see myself reaching for a few of these over and over again!

I hope you've enjoyed my review! Please go check out Envy Lacquer on:

Facebook

Instagram

Website

Thanks for stopping by!

~Stacy