Lacquerstyle.com features unique hand painted nail art (and tutorials on how to achieve them), as well as reviews of the latest nail polish and beauty products. Written by a Certified Nail Artist / Manicurist & Blogger from Toronto, Canada.
I have the first Fall collection to share with you all today! It's the new Leggy Legend Fall 2015 Collection by Essie.
I randomly saw this collection pop up online the other day, so I ordered them immediately as I haven't seen them anywhere else yet. I'm a huge fan of Essie, but even more so a fan of the Fall / Winter collections, which are always pretty exciting, I think! I can't wait to share these with you, and I hope you all enjoy the swatches!
This is a quick roundup post for my November / Metallic #WNAC2014 (Weekly Nail Art Challenge). The theme for the month was metallic, which was the perfect theme for leading into the holidays, I would say!
I hope you all had a great Halloween, if you celebrated it!
I thought I would do a quick roundup post for my first Weekly Nail Art Challenge. I know I have yet to post the last few here, so I figured I would just group them into one and share my Halloween nails from yesterday.
For floral week, I created a pretty simple berry and orange floral, inspired by a photo I found on Google (I believe it was). I really loved the hints of black which made it more fall appropriate, as well as the artistic sort of watercolor quality that I like. I mixed up my own black jelly using an old top coat, some thinner, and black polish for the look, as well as the gorgeous shade Deeply In Love from The Body Shop. You also have a little peek at my Bastille inspired skull nail (thumb).
Pattern week, I went for something a bit different, but also inspired by a pattern I found on Pinterest. I created this really cool base by sandwiching a bunch of sparkly fall colors (and holo shimmer) in between the same black jelly (which has become so handy!), and then hand painted the pattern using Essie Good As Gold and my favorite 18/0 Round brush from Michael's.
For Halloween, I created a really pretty orange gradient, using Essie Fear or Desire over a white base. Then, I sponged on some white as clouds, and painted a few little black bats, trees, and some funny pumpkin silhouettes with a-England Camelot. They are very typical Halloween, but I love how simple they are at the same time.
You can check out my previous #WNAC2014 posts here, if you'd like! There's a tutorial for the gradient flower petals as well, or you can watch over on YouTube.
We will be continuing the weekly challenge into November with a new theme: Metallic, so feel free to join in and post with us, too!
I hope you all enjoyed the designs, and thank you for reading! :)
I've got swatches of eight of the new Colors by Llarowe Fall 2014 Collection to share with you today. The restocks are today, at 12:00pm MDT and again at 7:00pm, so make sure you are ready if you want any of these gorgeous polishes!
Seasons of Change is a beautiful dusty teal holo with a bunch of pink flake shimmer and a golden flash. This is one of my favorites, for sure! The formula was so smooth, opaque in two coats, and photographed without top coat.
Sandy We Ain't In Kansas Anymore is a vivid blue holo with a turquoise duochrome and purple shimmer (which sadly, you can't see in my photo). I love, love this one as well. It's got more of a metallic finish to it than the others, and is one of those glowy polishes that appear slightly darkened at the edges. The holographic effect is more subtle than the rest, and it's opaque in two coats. This was photographed without top coat.
My Broken Down Crop Duster is a deep, muted purple (slightly charcoal) holo with a flash of golden shimmer. Such a gorgeous fall color, and the holographic effect is extremely strong in this one, so it's amazing in the sun! This one was also nearly opaque in one coat.
Mercy is a burgundy holo, which leans slightly more purple than red. It's another beautiful color, perfect for fall. It was also nearly opaque in one coat with a perfect formula, and the holographic effect is pretty strong.
Obsessed With Marilyn is a cranberry red holo. This one is more of a jelly than the other holos, and the holo is less dense, more scattered, but it really glows from within. So pretty! It was opaque in two coats, and I photographed it without top coat as it dried quite shiny.
Penny For Your Thoughts is a burnt orange holo. Like Obsessed With Marilyn, this one is more jelly than the other holos, with a less dense holo effect, but really glows. It's such a lovely fall color and opaque in two coats.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, this one stains pretty badly (bright yellowish stains), however, I scrubbed my nails with a toothbrush and my Arm & Hammer toothpaste, and about 90% of the stains came off. I then lightly buffed after and they were gone. You could also do a soak of lemon and baking soda. You may want to avoid this one if that sounds like too much to handle though!
Burning Embers is a gorgeous, deep bronze with a stunning burgundy duochrome shimmer. It shifts red, gold, and green and is packed with flakes and multicolored shimmer, so it's super sparkly! Totally Fall appropriate, and has a perfect formula; opaque in two coats. I'm not wearing top coat in the photos.
Sherwood Forest is a deep teal green jelly base, with red, orange, gold, blue, and green duochrome shimmer, as well as some multicolored shimmer that really shines in direct lighting. This is another one of my favorites, and so Fall appropriate. It was slightly sheer, so I used three thin coats for the photos, without top coat.
I hope you all enjoyed the swatches! My picks are Sandy We Ain't In Kansas Anymore, Seasons of Change, and My Broken Down Crop Duster. Make sure you head over to Llarowe if you've got your eye on any of these. The first restock has now passed, but the second is at 7:00pm MDT!
I love a good gradient base; it always makes my nail art that much more special, I think. I was already wearing a really pretty magenta plum shade (CND Plumville), so I decided to just add a dark gradient on top to make it a bit more "Fall", using Julep Jodi and A England Lancelot.
I was really happy with the gradient, but of course I couldn't leave it alone, so I created a flower petal pattern using Love & Beauty (Forever 21) Ivory and my 18/0 Round brush from Michael’s.
The design was sort of inspired by a leaf print I found last week on Pinterest, so that's where the idea came from, although I figured flower petals would be prettier with the base colors.
I’m posting this a few days late (surprise, surprise), because I decided to film a tutorial for the design, so I hope you all enjoy it!
And here's a reminder of the challenge for the month, if you missed last weeks post:
I hope you all enjoyed this post, and thank you for reading! :)
Today is the start of a new nail art challenge, that two fellow artists (@missbellatracey & Simply Nailogical) and I have come up with. It is a weekly nail art challenge, which is much more manageable for me than the daily ones. For October, the theme is of course Fall, and you're all welcome to join us in the challenge if you'd like. You can check out the schedule down below, if you're interested!
The first day is leaves, so I've created some artsy color changing leaves for today's nail art.
I started with a subtle diagonal gradient using ivory and nude polish (Love & Beauty Ivory and Julep Pippa). Then, with a "watercolor" technique similar to my video here, I created the base of the leaves in several different Fall colors (Square Hue Scorched Summer & Swahili Charm, China Glaze Westside Warrior, Julep Parker and Finger Paints Bauhaus Burgundy), and finally added the leaf details using a England Lancelot and my 18/0 Round brush from Michael's.
The gradient sadly got kind of washed out in the photos, but it was very noticeable in person. I finished the design with JINsoon Matte Maker top coat, which created a really nice effect to the leafy details.
Here's the October schedule for the Weekly Nail Art Challenge:
I hope you all will join in with us in the challenge, and if you do, then I can't wait to see what you come up with! I think it's going to be a great month for nail art; there will be new posts for each one (I promise this time!) and you might even get several new videos from me as well, so I'm excited!
Hello everyone! Today, I have swatches of the new ILNP (I Love Nail Polish) Fall 2014 Collection to show you all. The Fall Collection consists of 11 polishes; seven holographic polishes, and four multichromes. They are available for preorder starting today at www.ilnp.com.
Iconic, is a gold holographic polish, packed with gold flake shimmer. I feel like it's quite hard to find the perfect gold holo; some tend to look too yellow or orange, and others just fall flat. Iconic however, is a stunning, soft gold with a strong holographic effect, and the addition of gold flakes makes it super sparkly and beautiful in all lighting situations. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Champagne Blush, is described as a rose gold holo, but it's not a typical rose gold. I would actually say this is more of a rose colored holo, packed with gold flakes. It's such a lovely, neutral, flattering shade, and the gold flakes really stand out from the pink base in natural lighting. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Atomic Sherbet, is a peachy orange holo, packed with gold flakes. I really love this one, and it's so unique in my collection. It's not really a typical Fall color, but it's muted enough that it really works (it does look slightly more muted in person). I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Fall Semester, is a deep teal holo with subtle blue flakes. The color is so perfect, not too green or blue, and who doesn't love an amazing teal all year long? The holographic effect is strong, much stronger than I was able to capture. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Homecoming, is a deep eggplant purple holo, packed with gold flakes. One of my favourites from the collection. It is so luxurious, and perfect for Fall. The holographic effect is strong, and the gold flakes really shine through. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Black Orchid, is a deep burgundy holo, which leans more purple (love!). Perfect for fall. It has so much depth, and has a strong holographic effect. Nothing more to say, but perfect. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Mega (L), is an insanely holographic silver polish. This is the linear version of the original Mega, which has slightly larger holographic particles than this version. I don't have the original to compare, but I can tell that this one appears smoother and finer. I am still wearing this one as I type this, and I can't keep my eyes off of my nails. I used two coats for the photos, but it may require a third (thin) if you have longer nails. The first photo was taken with flash, the other two were taken without flash.
Abundance, is a multichrome that is seriously fall in a bottle. It shifts from a bronze / red, to a golden yellow, and green. Exactly the colors that I would imagine, just from hearing the word Fall. It is so flattering and luxurious, and has an amazing reflective finish. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Bishop (H), is a gold to green multichrome with a holographic effect. At extreme angles it may appear blue as well. It has a shiny, reflective finish, and I'm a huge fan of olive green and gold, so I love this. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Natural lighting
Peace (H), is a multichrome, shifting blue, purple, pink, and copper, with a holographic effect. This one is super bright and beautiful, and has a shiny reflective finish. I used two coats for the photos, without top coat.
Taken with flash
Masquerade (H), is another holographic multichrome, and the shift in this one blows my mind. It's crazy, shifting bright pink, violet, red, copper, and green, and it's definitely my favorite of the collection. It has a reflective finish like the others, and I'm wearing two coats without top coat in the photos.
Taken with flash
Natural lighting
The ILNP Fall 2014 Collection is available for preorder now at www.ilnp.com. They have special prices for the duration of preorder, so take advantage of it if you love any of these as much as I do! I was extremely impressed by all of them, and you'll most likely see a few in some nail art soon.
