Xhilarated Nails

I haven't mentioned this yet, but this weekend, I'm going to Vegas with some friends and Andy. We'll only be there for two days, but I'm sure we all expect to pack as many adventures into those days as we possibly can.

Ramping up for Vegas required some serious accessorizing, from sunglasses to bathing suits to outfits. One of the dresses I bought was actually designed as a coverup for a bathing suit, but the way it fits on me makes it a sexy dress.

Awesome striped zig-zag patterns totally inspired be when I walked by my closet today, so with White On (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear) and Four Leaf Clover (China Glaze), I created this manicure.

I'll keep working on my free handing abilities, if you keep promising to be so kind! Seriously, I had a less than glamorous day yesterday but reading the kind comments for the past couple of posts, seeing the amount of reposts and Likes, really brightened up a dreary day. I know I hardly ever respond to comments, but it doesn't mean I don't love them. I'd like you all to know that I read each and every one of them. So thanks guys!

Doodly Phone

I love doodling, and I love bright colors. I've also recently adopted an affinity for my iPhone, and its beautiful casing from Skinit. It's one of those designs that looks hand drawn and easy enough to do, so when inspiration struck, I decided to try my hand, or nail, at it. Two colors and a Sharpie later, I nailed it.

 Electric Pineapple from China Glaze is one of my favorite polish colors, so I was excited it pretty closely matched the case's color. The white blob was just done using Bad Chick from Sinful Colors and dotted using French White Creme from Wet n' Wild. Then, I just sort of freehand traced the outlines of the white with a Sharpie. It's not as thin and precise as I would've hoped, but I don't know if Sharpie makes anything finer than Ultra Fine Point. Is there an Uber Fine Point or Ultra Extreme Fine Point out there?

Colors in the Face of Cancer

Jackie Clark, a writer and outreach contact for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance reached out to me several weeks ago, extending an invitation to partner and present a touching and inspirational story to the readers of my blog.

Please enjoy her insightful words below, detailing just one of the tough issues women face when diagnosed with a tragic and sometimes fatal prognosis.

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Colors in the Face of Cancer
By: Jackie Clark

Are you a woman struggling with a cancer diagnosis who feels like she can use a new paint of coat on life? Or are you a daughter whose mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer? Why not try nail polish and enjoy having some cute cuticles, despite the circumstances you may be under.

As inconsequential as it may seem, a manicure can really brighten up your perspective. Let’s face it there is nothing fun about cancer. Yet, in the midst of your darkest emotions, brightness can be found in the form of gorgeous, silky nails. A simple act like painting her nails can refocus a woman on her femininity and innate beauty.

When facing a daunting diagnosis and the subsequent treatment options, it is easy for a woman to feel overwhelmed. One of the first things a woman allows to fall to the wayside is her personal upkeep and beauty. Yet maintaining ties with current trends in fashion and beauty can serve as a wonderful way for a woman not to lose herself as she faces the biggest battle of her life.

If the idea of a full makeover is overwhelming, there are small and simple ways for a woman to maintain a sense of style. The reason why a manicure is such a wonderful idea is because it an easy and time efficient way to pay a little attention to your own needs. A manicure may be the absolute last thing a woman has on her mind while battling cancer, yet it may be just the thing she needs to renew her sense.

Being pampered is a great way for a woman to ease back and allow herself to be treated as a princess, even as she struggles with one of the many cancers woman are faced with including mesothelioma from asbestos exposure.

If a trip to the salon for a manicure simply isn’t in the budget, then a woman can still enjoy the same blissful pampering at home. All it takes is a simple drug store bottle of nail polish and her husband, friend, or children to elegantly apply the nail polish as she sits back relaxes. The soothing human touch paired with adding bright, beautiful colors can be a truly transforming and healing experience. After endless appointments with doctors and treatments following the cancer prognosis, hands that provide a beautiful touch can be a refreshing change.

Painted nails are a sign to the world that a woman no matter how many struggles she may have faced, has not given up on herself or her fight against cancer. Remembering the importance of beauty no matter how small an act proves that she has not lost count of her value as a woman.

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Painting your nails, getting homegrown manicures, and creating details on your nails truly is effortless with today's tools. As all of you know, I'm a huge fan of dotting tools, but an even more effortless tool available at low prices to almost every country are stamping plates. From Konad to Red Angel to Bundle Monster, these patterns take about two tries to master, and then you too could be creating beautiful designs such as this.

Confidence is key, and a beautiful manicure can empower anyone.

Jackie, thank you for your insightful, inspiring and beautifully written post!

Outlined Flowers

I was originally inspired for today's manicure by Gully Nails's post, Polka Dot Flowers. After looking at her design again, I know I kind of missed the mark, but I'm still sort of giddy about my own design. Sort of seems kind of Spongebob-esque.

The base color here is Secret Peri-Wink-Le (China Glaze), overlaid with Whimsical (Revlon).  The petals are a combination of Feeling Great (Sinful Colors) and Lightening (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri). Finally, I drew the inner pollen spots with Time Off (Sinful Colors).

I will try this again to get it closer to Becky's design, because I absolutely love it.

Brown and Pink with Flowers

Good Morning,

I almost forgot to show you this stamping nailart design right after I swatched China Glaze Foie Gras. (If you missed it look here) It's nothing to brag about and it has lots of flaws but everything can't be perfect... right?  Hope you like it *-*

Used Cheeky XL plate K,  pink dots are Revlon Bubble.  I added the extra dots above the flowers and on the sides of the flowers using my dotting tools.

I love brown and pink as a combo, I think they go well together.

 

Pin It

Until next time please have a great nail polish day. (✿◠‿◠)

China Glaze Magnetix versus Flormar Magnetic Twist

Hello again! This is my second post for the day. Since it's Saturday and I have a lot more time than during the week, I thought I should do a little comparison for you. I'm comparing the widely known China Glaze magnetics to the new and less famous Flormar magnetics. Let's see what we're talking about. 

left: China Glaze Pull Me Close and China Glaze magnet; right: Flormar MG06 and Flormar magnet

The polish

The China Glaze Magnetix collection has 6 shades. Pull Me Close is a charcoal-blue with shimmer. The consistency of the polish is a little thick. It does cover pretty well with one coat but I wouldn't say that it's enough. After using the magnet, you can see the nail trough the lighter lines. My swatches are all with one coat. Application is ok despite the thick formula. It dries to a shiny finish (swatches are without top coat). 

The Flormar Magnetic Twist collection has 8 shades. MG06 is the blue one, also with a lot of shimmer. It's a lot more blue than the China Glaze. I would say that this is slightly more pigmented than the China Glaze one. It's also less thick and dries just as fast. The design showed up better on the Flormar nails, probably because I applied a thinner coat. With magnetics it is better to apply medium coats rather than thick ones because it will magnetize better.

I've done some skittles showing the two polishes and testing the different magnets on each. They are all 1 coat and no top coat. While they are both shiny, I think these both need top coat if you want to use them as a full mani.

The magnets

The China Glaze magnet is sold separately and has 3 designs (diagonal, chevron and star). The three magnets are placed on the U-shaped holder. They are flat and stiff. Each magnet has a little plastic ledge next to it which rests on the cuticle and helps you keep the magnet steady and not bump it on the nail. Because of its flatness I cannot get the design to show up on the sides of my curved nails. 

The Flormar magnet is sold together with the polish in a little box. There's only one design available (the diagonal lines). The magnet is made out of a bendable material and it's already curved. It is housed by a little plastic holder with a very unusual shape. I have no idea how this is supposed to be held because there is no ledge to rest on the cuticles. The picture in the instructions isn't very clear. I tried to hold it like in the picture (literally in the air) and I either bumped it on the nail or didn't get the design to show up at all. 

you can see it has polish from when I bumped it on the nail

So my first attempt with this magnet was a total failure. I even took a picture of the nails. I had to wipe those nails and start again. 

the index and ring finger are the fingers where I used the Flormar magnet

I then remember that I saw on a blog that somebody removed the little magnet from the plastic holder. It was very easy to slide out. Here's how it looks.

After this it all went on very smooth. It's easier to hold this over the nail because it's smaller and you can hold it by the edges. It's still not perfect but the design shows up pretty well. 

Because the magnet is curved, I was able to get the design to show up on the sides of my nail. This is the only reason why I like this magnet. Other than that, it's a pain in the behind to use. I also don't like the fact that it only has one design available. 

you can see here the lines go all the way to the cuticles on the nails where I used the Flormar magnet

As a conclusion I would say that these are both a great buy. The China Glaze Magnetix have great colors and the magnet is easy to use, the only disdvantage being its flatness. The Flormar Magnetic Twist also have a great formula, wide color range and the magnet works well in the end, although it's not easy to use at all. Of course the price of Flormar is cheaper (3.5$ for 11 ml of polish and the magnet), while China Glaze is pricier (from 5 to 10$ for 15 ml of polish and about the same price for the magnet).

China Glaze Magnetix Drawn To You

Hello dears! Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. My throat is a little sore and my nose is starting to misbehave so it's not such a fun day for me. On the plus side it's sunny (after a rainy day yesterday) and the snow leftovers are melting! I want to show you one of the China Glaze Magnetix in detail today, but I'll keep it pretty short. I have another post coming with a comparison between the China Glaze and the Flormar magnetics. Hopefully I'll have time to write it and get it up by the end of today. 

China Glaze Drawn To You indoors, artificial light

Drawn To You is the light purple polish from the Magnetix collection (you can see skittles of the ones I have in this post). It's the only one I wore so far as a full mani. I chose this because unexpectedly it was my favorite when I first swatched them. I was expecting for the blue-charcoal one to be my favorite but instead it was this. I used the diagonal lines magnet as you can see. The first photo is in my light box and the next ones are in the sun. Although the color varies a lot in these pictures I have to say they are all somewhat accurate. This polish looks different depending on the light. 

China Glaze Drawn To You in the sun

What made me love this a lot was the tiny pink-ish shimmer it has. This can be visible in the sun or in bright light. I've tried to capture it in the next photo. 

You are welcome to click it and make it bigger! I also like this a lot because the contrast between the lines is very evident and gives a nice effect to the nails when you look at them from a distance. Being a magnetic the polish is very pigmented and pretty thick but easy to apply. I'm pretty sure I've used 2 coats for this mani, just because I'm not able to apply the first coat nicely. It dries fast and to a shine.  I still added top coat to give it a glass-like finish. 

I think the pink shimmer is pretty evident in this macro shot. As stated previously, my only complain with these is the flat magnet, which makes it impossible for me to get the design to show up on the sides of my fingers. I tried moving the magnet around but besides bumping the polish on the magnet occasionally, that didn't work because the polish dries too fast. I will show you the curved Flormar magnet in my next post. Stay tuned! 

Silky Stamp

This pattern and color combination reminds me of a tapestry I hung on my dorm room ceiling sophomore year in college. It was a bedspread I got from Urban Outfitters, and it's truly stunning. The damask pattern is silver, and the material is a sheer white. I hung it right below a light, so the light dimmed down and spread out throughout my entire room. Man that was a good room.

For the base of this, I used French White Creme (Wet n' Wild) and stamped with Passion (China Glaze). I realize I used that color last night, but the color was so striking I wanted to use it again. (I have a feeling it'll be one of those bottles I'll need 2 of.) The plate is RA-109, from the increasingly popular Red Angel line. I remember when I first bought the set in November, there was one or two reviews. Now there are 109 reviews, and I'd like to think I'm a part of that. I hadn't seen the set used on any of the blogs I followed, so I took a risk at $12.99 and wound up with one of the best sets out there. Have you bought your set yet?

Gilded Leaves

Recently, I won my first giveaway by luck of the draw over at grape fizz nails. The prize was the coveted Whimsical (Revlon) and another beauty, Violetta Sparkle (Avon). That package arrived today from Canada, so I decided to use my prize for tonight's manicure.

I had an impossible time trying to get a good picture of the combination I came up with, so these pictures aren't the best. You get the general idea though.

The plate used is BM-11, which is quickly becoming my favorite plate to stamp with. (I used it a while back during my mini self-challenge and again for Secret Agent Lila.) The polish to stamp with is Passion (China Glaze). They're more fun in person. I couldn't quite get the shine from Seche Vite to show up properly.

Thank you again Anne for the lovely giveaway, and the great prizes!

A fresh start

Hello loves! It's a new week and I hope you're not too upset that it's Monday. Today I started a new rotation at school and hopefully a better period in my life. The last semester really sucked. I'm very glad it's over now and looking forward to this one because I have high hopes for it. I can't wait to do something I like and remember why I chose medicine in the first place. Today's manicure is one that I did this weekend, inspired by spring and my new blog theme. I was thinking to post this on the first of March, as a welcome to spring, but I couldn't wait to show you. I really like this one a lot! 

This week's Adventures In Stamping challenge was "using 3 colors". So I got inspired by spring to do this. It also coincides with the theme of the Nail Art Stamping Contest Spring 2012 on Enamel Girl's blog so it will be my entry there also. I'm not skilled enough to win this by judging, but I sure wanna be entered in the awesome draw. You should check this contest out and enter! 

To create this I've used Essie Navigate Her from the spring collection (individual swatches and review coming soon). I then sponged a bit of China Glaze Lemon Fizz on some areas of the nail. Finally I stamped with OPI Don't Mess with OPI and plate m61 from Born Pretty. 

I took some shots of my left (dominant) hand too. I usually don't do that but this time it came out pretty good. Unfortunately I'm not very used to posing with this hand so it feels pretty unnatural holding the bottle. I did my best. 

I also want to welcome my new followers! I'm past the 100 mark now and I have to thank all of you for supporting me and looking at my posts. I really appreciate each and every one of you! Thank you so much! 

Windmillion Glitter Sandwich

Today I'm showing you glitter sandwich nails (polish-glitter-polish). I started with applying two coats of Thanks a Windmillion from OPI and one coat of Essence - Blair. Blair needs some thinner, all the glitter was clumping together, argh! But still, an awesome glitter polish.. I think I need a backup bottle. ♥ To complete the sandwich I added one coat of China Glaze - Innocence. The result was a bit lumpy after that, so I decided to use a layer of matte top coat. I kinda like how this looks, but I don't think I'll keep it on my nails for more than a day. Let's say it was a nice experiment. ^_^

Thanks for watching!

Pastelized Housewife

Don't these colors remind you of a kitchen in the 50s? The pastel greens and blues that colored the walls, the peach color for the toaster and rotary phone. The gold represents the ever-beautiful housewife, cleaning and cooking in heels and crinoline.

It also reminded me of a bracelet I hardly ever wear.

Both time consuming and difficult, my patience was wearing thin by the end of this manicure. The cleanup was dreadful, as it required more than a few coats to reach opacity, which means goopy taping messes. Honestly, when I started this, the lines were going to be covered by a stamp, but with the goop, I opted for a more complete coverage using Gold Digger (Color Madric). The two China Glazes, Re-Fresh Mint and Peachy Keen do pair well together though.

Another adventure in stamping

Hello my dears! It's Friday again. My week was off so I'm kinda sad that it's Friday because that means my week of vacation is over. But I still have a great weekend ahead so it's not that bad. As you have seen, I've changed the look of the blog and made it a little more springy. I'm in desperate need for spring to come soon because this was a very long and hard winter. With the help of my sister (who I thank), I also have a matching header. What do you think?

Today's manicure is a stamping I did for last week's challenge on the Facebook group Adventures In Stamping. The challenge was "plate ending in 3". Here's what I came up with.

I only have one plate ending in 3, namely the m73 from Born Pretty. Since I've used my favorite design on that plate for the blue challenge (showed here), I wanted to use a different image. The other ones don't work that well though and I really had a hard time doing a decent manicure. I had a great image in my mind with a multicolored manicure using one of the designs, but it didn't come out great at all. Then I went and bought a Konad stamper and scraper and things started working better. 

The base color is Essie Cocktail Bling and the stamping color is China Glaze Awaken, a dark silver/charcoal from the Romantique collection. This collection is made entirely out of foils and they all stamp very well. The image I chose, from m73 of course, is a french tip made out of hearts. I had to stamp about 3 times on every nail to get the full nail design. I don't care much for stamping that doesn't cover the whole nail. 

I think, in the end, this came out pretty well. I made some mistakes while stamping, but did my best to correct them. The Konad stamper and scraper are definitely better than the Born Pretty ones. So if you have trouble with your stamping, consider upgrading your tools! 

P.S. I now have a tumblr too. If you wanna follow me the link is: lacquerbuzz.tumblr.com. If you are on tumblr leave me a link so I can follow. I also have all the links to the places where you can find me (facebook, twitter, google+ etc) in the left sidebar of the blog, so definitely check them out!

Guest Post: Embellished Nails

So today was supposed to be my guest post over at Embellished Nails. She went on a cruise for a while, and asked for some guest posters. So ahead of time, we all sent in our posts for her to set up. Mine went through...mostly. Unfortunately, I don't see the images, which, let's face it, is the best part of nail blogs!

So, if you care about the story behind these nails, head over to Emily's blog for my guest post.

Since the images aren't working over there, I'll put them here. In honor of Emily's cruise, these are my sailor nails!

China Glaze Magnetix - first look

Hello my lovelies! Today I want to talk to you about magnetic nail polish. I'm sure most of you have heard of it already and seen a lot of swatches. Some of you have also tried it. But for those that don't know about it, it's a type of nail polish with magnetic particles in it. By placing a magnet with a certain pattern over your nail, the particles gather to form a beautiful, effortless design. It's the most accessible form of nail art in my opinion, because it doesn't require any special skills. It also looks great and the metallic finish of these polishes is really edgy. I'm really glad that this trend is getting popular because famous brands are jumping on the magnetic bandwagon more and more. This means it becomes accessible to a lot of people. The China Glaze Magnetix collection is the first collection I had access to in terms of magnetic polish. I was so excited to finally be able to order these! 

L-R: China Glaze Magnetix Instant Chemistry, Drawn To You, Pull Me Close, Cling On

The collection has 6 shades but I only got the 4 above. The other ones Attraction (silver) and You Move Me (brown) didn't seem that unusual to me. I almost didn't get the purple one either, but I'm glad I did now because it ended up being one of my favorites. 

Unlike other brands, China Glaze has only one magnet that has to be purchased separately. If you have magnets from other brands you can use those and not purchase this one at all. What I do love about it is that it has 3 designs: diagonal lines, chevron and star. This way you only need to purchase the magnet once and get 3 designs that can be used with all the magnetic polishes you have. 

Here are the 3 magnets with the different designs on the U-shaped holder. Each magnet has a little plastic ledge that rests on your cuticle, making it easier to hold the magnet over the nail without touching it. What I don't like about these magnets is the fact that they are flat. My nails are very curved and the sides are not close enough to the magnet, so the design only shows up on the middle part of the nail. I have not found a solution for this problem yet, but I'm still practicing. 

These are my first attempts using the Magnetix. It's the first time I use magnetic polishes in my life, so the results are less than perfect. I do think they turned out pretty well though. The polishes are: 

• index - Cling On with chevron pattern - a green that needs at least two coats to be opaque
• middle finger - Drawn To You with diagonal lines - a gorgeous purple that could be opaque in one coat
• ring finger - Instant Chemistry with star - maroon/dark purple, the most opaque of the bunch (one coat) 
• pinkie - Pull Me Close with chevron pattern- silver/blue that could be opaque in one coat

China Glaze claims that these require only one coat, but you have seen above that it can vary a lot. Instant Chemistry is the only one opaque enough to be a one-coater. With the others it depends on the thickness of your coats (except for Cling On that needs at least two coats). I held the magnet for about 15 seconds over each nail. I don't have other magnets, but I've read on other blogs that these magnets are not as strong as others. I'm waiting for magnetic polishes to show up on the local market and then I'm gonna do a comparison. I'm also going to swatch these separately and do a different post on each. What's your take on magnetics? Have you tried them and if so, is it love or hate?

You Dotty Girl!

Another lovers' affair, broadcast for my viewers to see. This is truly getting out of hand.

This time, I have a reason though. I'm going to enter one of my nail designs in Sarah's (Chalkboard Nails) nail art contest. She's encouraging her readers to participate in an all-dotting tool themed contest. The winners are chosen by Sarah and her panel of judges, so this isn't a plug for your votes. In fact, I think you all should enter! Entering your designs will inspire other designs for everyone to try out, so in a way, everyone wins a little. Plus, everyone knows how to use a dotting tool, homemade or store-bought. It's a great, fair way to allow nailers of all skill levels to enter and possibly win a $20 gift card to Llarowe.

Llarowe sells some of the coveted international polish lines like Glitter Gal and HITS to United States customers who can't get these polishes elsewhere. Good news...Llarowe ships just about everywhere else as well!

With that awesome prize and an additional two mystery prizes valued at $10 up for grabs, I had to enter.

I've done lots of dotting designs, so I had several to go on, but I wanted to enter something new. Hopefully I made the right choice with this design.

The base for this design is Skull and Glossbones (OPI). The various dots were done using my reliable dotting tools and Grape Pop (China Glaze), Planks A Lot (OPI), and White On (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear) (in order of darkest to lightest). I chose to go with a purple theme to match the dotting tools themselves. Dang those little guys are inspiring!

Take On Dots

The love affair I'm having with dotting tools is hot and heavy, but they've got some fierce competition now.

Color Club polishes are scooting their way into my easy heart. I used one tonight as the base of my manicure, Rebel Spirit. This deeply dark brown is super pigmented and only takes two coats to reach its pure magic. I was sort of shocked to be honest since most of my Color Clubs came from Ross for a whopping $7.99.

I was truly tickled when it came time to clean up my clumsy right hand. Dark colors are absolutely dreadful to clean up, and usually require a few coats of cleanup before your skin looks clean. This dark brown, stuck on my cuticle area, came right off once I started cleaning up. So if you haven't already picked up some of the darker colors from Color Club, give them a shot.

Like I said already though, I have a serious love affair going with dotting tools, as expressed here.

In addition to Rebel Spirit, I used Unicorn (Sinful Colors), Sugar High (China Glaze), and Pelican Gray (China Glaze).

UPDATE 2/26/12

This manicure got great praise from you guys! I made a tutorial so you can recreate it yourself. The color combinations are endless! 

Valentine's Day Manicure: Day 3

Yesterday was awesome. The mountains we ski at got a few inches (5 the night before we came) of snow, so we went up to Breck to get some runs in. It was a great day, and powder is so much better than slippery, icy slopes. I even hit some jumps.

Then we went out to Denver for the bars.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted today. After thinking about what I wanted to do for my nails literally all day, I finally mustered up the energy to create my third Valentine's Day manicure.

I used the awesome franken polish Leslie gave me here over Something Sweet (China Glaze). I really love the way the glitter is sandwiched between the two colors, making it feel more smooth. It was really stunning on its own, but I couldn't help myself. I added black pinstripes to half of my nail using Time Off (Sinful Colors) and still wasn't totally happy, so I striped in the pink lines using Am-Ore (Color Madric). I added a heart on my index finger as well using the same colors, and finally tipped each nail with a very thin black french manicure. I think it all came together quite nicely.

Now if you'll excuse me I've got a date with the couch and a fluffy pillow.