ILNP Overnight Bag and Glory

Hi guys! With the weather getting more brisk and the leaves starting to change, I was inspired to play with my fall colors! 

As promised, here are two more colors from ILNP's 2015 Fall Collection, Overnight Bag and Glory.

Overnight Bag, which I used as the base for this mani, is a deep espresso brown holographic polish. Trust me, this polish does not disappoint. If you are lucky enough to catch this polish in the sun (Unfortunately I got stuck with a cloudy day when I did these photos), you'll see tons of sparkle with subtle hues of red. Just a note, it took three coats to achieve the opacity you see here. I found that two coats wasn't completely opaque. However, as is typical with ILNP, formula was smooth and applied easily.

Glory (ring finger topper) is the perfect companion for overnight bag. This fabulous flakie topper contains hues of red, orange, copper, and gold. As the owner of ILNP says, this color is literally fall in a bottle. What I love about this flakie is how dynamic it is. The color's you see are constantly changing depending on your angle. Shown here is one coat over, Overnight Bag.

And since I was upstate this weekend (and the weather was gorgeous) I decided to use the outdoors as my background! My boyfriend insisted I pose with this acorn. You think I'm joking, but it's true.

“But then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”
― Stephen King, Salem's Lot

ILNP - Overnight Bag
ILNP - Glory
Sally Hansen - Gilded Lily
Essie - Summit of Style

A Halloween Debate...Spooky versus Gory!

Hi guys! In the past few weeks, the weather has been getting chillier, department stores have begun to unleash their premature Christmas displays, and I have felt the overwhelming urge to eat copious amounts of candy. Clearly, Halloween is coming!

With the glorious sugar filled day now upon us, I thought I would show off a fun design for the trick or treat fest.

So, no, these are not your typical Halloween nails. Though most people go for gory designs (bloody nails, eyeballs, dripping blood, etc.), I'm just not into it (though I can definitely appreciate the skill that goes into making the gore lol). I am more of a spooky, creepy, thriller, personality type. Essentially, I would prefer to watch Hide and Seek or Secret Window over Thirteen Ghosts or Amityville Horror. So these nails are more creepy Victorian mansion filled with cobwebs than psycho killer ghost running with a bloody knife. What's your favorite Halloween movie? Do you prefer ghosts and hauntings or crazy axe murderer's?

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Halloween!

XOXO
On Wednesdays, We Wear Polish

Milani – White On the Spot
California Velvets – Deep Black
Konad White
Konad Black
Moyou London Fashionista Collection – (XL) 07
BM13 – Spiderweb
Mash 38 – Spider

Zoya Vespa

Hi guys! I was shifting through some computer files the other day and found this mani hiding in the vault! Enjoy :)

Zoya - Vespa
Milani - Black Swift
Konad Black
Moyou London Artist Collection 05 - flower pattern

ILNP Pretty Little Liar + An Update

Hi guys! I know it's been quite a while since there's been any activity on this page and I just wanted to give everyone a quick update. You may have seen this post already if you've been following my Facebook page (I posted this there a few weeks back):

"The other day Facebook informed me that it had been almost 5 months since my last post. Yikes! I have had bloggers I absolutely loved following disappear without a trace and it always left me wondering what had happened. I figured that wasn't fair to you guys, so I wanted to explain why I haven't been around.

Sigh. The truth is, I haven't done my nails in about 4 months. I haven't even wanted to. Yes, I know, this sounds like blasphemy. As much as I loved blogging and interacting with the nail polish community, I think I put too much pressure on myself to keep up with what everyone else was doing. I became very insecure about my designs and felt they didn't compare to what else was out there. Every week, when I sat down to do my nails, it was because I knew I needed to do a blog post, not because I wanted to relax and do something for myself. Doing my nails became something that ended up on my "to do" list, right next to picking up the dry cleaning. It became harder and harder to come up with new designs, and eventually I just stopped all together. I didn't have the energy and though I used to do my nails to help me relax, blogging ended up stressing me out.

So, there's my confession. I do apologize for leaving you guys hanging for so long and I do hope you understand."

So that's my story. 

After months and months of being polish celibate, I have just started doing my nails again and to be honest, it feels good, although some days I have doubts about whether or not I want to continue. For now, I have decided to keep my blog page and my other social media sites. 

I have decided to change how I use this specific blog page, so in the upcoming months you may see more photo heavy posts, and less writing. I will use this page to announce giveaways, talk about specific polish reviews (in detail), and any other exciting announcements that come up. Generally though, I think I will be posting more using my Facebook page and will end up using this page as a "to see more pictures, check out my blog" type thing. 

Now, onto the fun part! How did I get out of my blogger's slump you ask? Well it all started with an email from one of my favorite brands, ILNP. I received an email about their upcoming preorder for the Fall 2015 collection and literally started to drool. Seconds later, a few ILNP polishes had landed in my shopping cart!

During the preorder (which is over btw), I picked up quite a few polishes (like maybe too many lol). The one I am showing you today is ILNP's Pretty Little Liar, which is described as a rich, dark, holographic plum. ILNP Pretty Little Liar is the PERFECT fall color. Let me tell you, this little polish carries a ton of sparkle and it is absolutely gorgeous. See for yourself:

And as is typical with my experience of ILNP's polish, application was perfect. Formula was great, not too thick and applied and dried smoothly. Shown here is two coats, with Seche Vite Top Coat. Just a side note, two coats gave me an opacity of 90%. Next time I might do a thin 3rd coat or be more generous with the amount of polish I use during the first two coats.

But seriously, look at all that sparkle 0__0

So I hope you enjoyed today's post and thanks for listening! Thanks for stopping by :)

XOXO,
On Wednesdays, We Wear Polish 

“So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” 
― Lee Iacocca

ILNP - Pretty Little Liar

Dandelion Watercolor

Hi everyone! Just a quickie post today to share some fun summery nails I did recently! For this design, I started out with a white base, and using the gradient technique,  lightly sponged on some bright summery colors.

I don't know about you, but normally whenever I plan out a manicure, it never turns out quite how I expect it to. When I originally planned out this dandelion watercolor, I first tried stamping the images in white, as you can see if you look closely at my pointer finger and pinky. I thought the white against the soft colors would give the design a hazy, dreamy, look.

However, the white didn't show up as vibrant as I hoped it would so I tried stamping over the white with black...and to my surprise, I loved it! The white stamping underneath adds a little something extra to this mani. It's almost as if you can see the summer wind blowing through the dandelion. 

Is anyone else as excited about the upcoming summer weather as I am? Ugh, I just want to break out my crop tops! Til next time,

XOXO, On Wednesdays, We Wear Polish

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability" - Sam Keen

KB Shimmer - Let's Not Coral
KB Shimmer - A Touch of Glass
Milani - White on the Spot
China Glaze - Sunshine Pop
Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
Born Pretty Matte Top Coat
Moyou London Pro Collection 06 (XL) - Dandelion
Konad White
Konad Black

Just a Bit of Lace - Featuring the Moyou London Bridal Collection

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Recently, I hung out with fashion blogger Ashlie from Aasshhlliiee.com for our monthly nail meet up. At the time, she was working on a blog post centered around spring fashion and different ways to incorporate lace into your wardrobe. Here’s the look we came up with to compliment some of Ashlie’s lace inspired outfits.

http://aasshhlliiee.com/with-style-and-lace/

Feeling inspired myself, I came up with another lace design, perfect for springtime! Somehow I got it in my head that if I keep doing spring themed manicures, maybe the weather will start to warm up soon. Um, yes, I know that’s wishful thinking. But I would like to point out that this week in NYC, the temperature will hit 60 degrees, not once, but twice.

Coincidence? I think not. Clearly, I have magical nails that influence the weather. But don’t tell anyone or I’ll be forced to curse you with dry cuticles until eternity.

You see? This is what happens when I have too much coffee. Anyway….

My favorite part of this design is how simple it is. I think sometimes I try too hard to keep up with other bloggers (I get a little insecure about my designs which is why I don’t post very often) and always try to do these crazy, intricate designs. And yes, while complex, intricate designs are always fun to look at, I think I need to remember that sometimes, simplicity can be beautiful too. And I need to stop comparing myself to other people. Ugh, I’m working on it.

Buy anyway, today’s life lesson? Sometimes less is more.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
― Leonardo Davinci

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
― Hal Borland

Gosh - Silk (one coat)
Konad White
Crystals - Born Pretty Store
Moyou London Bridal Collection 07 (XL) - Butterfly Lace Pattern

A Black and Gold Affair

Hi everyone! Whew, after a crazy few weeks I have finally found some time to myself and you know what that means...blogging and nail art! Yayyyy!

Ok, so the color gold and I have a complicated relationship. Every time I see someone sporting a gold colored manicure, I jump on the band wagon, run to the nearest drug store I can find, and buy a few gold polishes. But, the second I come home and try out the polishes, I think "Um...no." I'm not sure what it is, but as much as I love how gold polish looks on others, I just don't think the color compliments my skin tone. That being said, whenever I feel like wearing gold, I try to mix it in with another color. Here is a perfect example!

If you ask me, I think you honestly can't go wrong with black and gold. Something about this color combo always look classy. For this design, I used Maybelline Color Show Twilight Rays, a heavily pigmented black jelly polish (opague in two coats) filled with little gold flakies. I paired Twilight Rays with Sinful Color's Paris, which is your typical gold glitter topper. I needed 3 coats of Paris to achieve the opacity you see on my middle finger. And finally, I added a plethora of gold toned studs because if you can't tell from some of my other designs (see here and here) I tend to like my nail art over the top lol.

In my search for the perfect gold glitter (and trust me I've gone through quite a few brands/bottles lol) I have learned that the tone of the gold is what really sways me toward a particular polish. Although I used Paris for this mani, I tend to be attracted to gold polishes that are closer to bronze than yellow.

These are some of my favorite gold polishes:

Starrily - King Midas
Photo From http://starrily.com/collections/all/products/midas

Maybelline Color Show - Bold Gold
Photo From http://www.maybelline.com/Products/Nail-Makeup/nail-color/Color-Show-Nail-Lacquer-The-Holographics-Collection.aspx

Wet and Wild - The Gold and the Beautiful
Photo From http://www.drugstore.com/wet-n-wild-fast-dry-nail-color-the-gold-and-the-beautiful-223c/qxp406117

I am always looking for new polishes to try out. Do you have a go-to gold polish? Leave me a suggestion in the comments! Thanks for stopping by :)

Maybeliline Color Show - Twilight Rays
Sinful Colors - Paris
Konad Black
Moyou London Fashionista Collection 07 (XL) - Lace Pattern

Glitter Bomb Mani

Hey everyone! I’ve been sick in bed the past few days so my nails haven’t been seeing that much action lately. It’s just been a whole mess of sneezing, tissues, and constant napping.

Anyway, today I have a look I wore quite a few weeks ago.

I call this, “The Glitter Bomb”.  And no, this has nothing to do with the glitter bombs you can send to your enemies lol. Although this mani did teach me that cleaning up glitter is a bi^*%.

So, how did I come up with this? Indecision, actually. Although I must have 300 polishes sitting in my stash, on one day in particular, I decided that I didn’t feel like wearing any of the polishes in my collection. Then a random idea sparked into my head. Why not just use glitter?

For this mani, I first started with a black base coat. As soon as the base coat was painted (very wet) I poured loose glitter (from the Born Pretty Store) onto my nails, using three different colored glitters. In sections where the glitter did not stick as well, I simple added a drop of clear topcoat and added more glitter as necessary. When the entire nail was dry, I added 2 coats of top coat (or the finish would have been more grainy then you see here) And Voila! A mani Ke$ha would be proud of!

Looking to create this mani for yourself? Pick up some glitter at the Born Pretty Store and use my coupon code CJCX31 for 10% off your order!