Wallpaper-Luxe & Distressed

Happy Saturday! I have another wallpaper-inspired, stamped manicure for you today!

Today, my inspiration comes from my imagination-a beautiful mansion, left vacant for years. It was once the social center of the neighborhood at its height. The parlor was always full of ladies and gentlemen, dressed to the nines, drinking, dancing, and laughing.  Alcohol and music flowed freely and the walls were covered with luxurious wallpapers laced with gold threads.

Then, the family money ran out and they couldn't keep the staff to maintain their luxury interior decorations. Things started to fade and unravel. And the wallpaper lost it's luster in spots

To start this faded wallpaper, I started with two easy coats of NYX Moss.

Moss is a dark gray-tinged green filled with gold shimmer that gives it movement. 

This is only the second NYX polish that I've used and I was really impressed with the formula. Two coats covered evenly and smoothly. And application was a breeze!

Then, I stamped with OPI Love Angel Music Baby and Konad plate M79. I love how the stamp didn't fully transfer on all the nails, giving it the distressed look I was going for. I topcoated and that finished off my distressed wallpaper look.

Check out what the other ladies had to offer, below! I love being part of such a creative group!

xo, ali

An InLinkz Link-up

Wallpaper: Quatrefoil

Hey! Happy Thursday night! I have a quick post for y'all tonight. It's another entry for January's theme of the Nail Challenge Collaborative-Wallpaper.
Tonight's manicure is inspired by this:

[source]

Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight

Macro

I started out with two easy coats of OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid and a quick-dry top coat. When I say easy coats, I mean easy. This is awesome to apply. It's a great polish to put on if you have to run out the door and don't have a lot of time. It's almost a OCW (one coat wonder) and if I were more careful with my application, it probably could have been. 

To create the quatrefoil design, I followed a really great youtube tutorial from Christabel Nails that you can find here. This was the first time I watched one of her tutorials and I really liked it! Her voice was so relaxing and she is a true master.

I dotted OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in the quatrefoil pattern and then dotted My Dogsled is a Hybrid within the dots. I let everything dry a little bit before topcoating so I didn't smear. I love the gold peeking out from the aqua and I've been sneaking peeks at my nails, all day.

This whole manicure took under an hour; I was able to do everything while I watched Empire, which I love a little bit more with each episode.  Have you caught an episode yet?

Be sure to check out the decorating that the other girls did for their second manicures, below!

xo, ali

An InLinkz Link-up

Wallpaper: Retro

Hey there! I'm trying to complete all of my January Nail Challenge Collaborative manicures. This month's theme is wallpaper. When the theme was announced, I definitely knew I'd be doing some stamping so I decided to kick off the month with some.

For this manicure, I started with three coats of Revlon Enchanting, which came out last spring as part of the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights collection and has since been made a core shade. It's a lovely, creamy lavender with a hit of pink shimmer that is a little bit more prominent in the bottle than on the nail.

Once that dried, I used BM-404 from the 2013 Create Your Own set and OPI I Carol About you from the Gwen Stefani holiday collection. I Carol About You is a great dark grape shade of purple with red shimmer throughout, which you can see in the macro shot above. The more coats you use in a manicure, the deeper it gets. I love it. It's also great for stamping!

I really loved this manicure and I actually still have it on as I type. I'm taking it off tonight but it has really held up, since Monday night!

Be sure to check out what the other talented ladies are producing, below!

xo, ali

Julep Margit

Hello! I just have a quick post for you tonight and it's a swatch!

 I am a Julep Maven and I probably skip about 90% of boxes because it's just not in my budget and/or the colors don't really catch my eye. Last month, it slipped my mind to skip and I ended up with December's It Girl box. It included three polishes-Janae, a charcoal gray, Shelly, a pale robin's egg blue, and tonight's feature-Margit, greyed out lavender with silvery-red shimmer running through.


Let's take a look.

Fluorescent lighting

Flash

Macro in full sun for all the red and silvery shimmery goodness.

This polish is really unique in my collection (of over 500). It's a great neutral and definitely office appropriate but the shimmer amps it up and makes it special.

Application was great. The Julep brush is really long because of the bottle shape and there is a definite learning curve when applying Julep polishes but Margit went on smooth. This is two coats.

If you're interested in becoming a Julep Maven, you can sign up here!

Talk to you soon!

xo, ali

It's the Holiday Season...?

Good evening and long time, no see! October has been insane!! I'm just now getting a chance to breathe. My sister and I returned from DISNEYWORLD, last week and well, I need a vacation from my vacation! I'm hiding my head in shame that this is only my first manicure for October's Nail Challenge Collaborative theme-Stripes

The manicure I have for you tonight would be a great one to wear to a Christmas party or family gathering.

I started with two coats of Salon Perfect's Ivy League, which is a brand exclusive to Wal-Mart. Ivy League was part of their 2013 back to school collection. It's a blackened forest green with tons of shimmer. Such a gorgeous polish!

I topcoated with Beauty Plus Salon. Once it was dry, I laid down striping tape at the tips and covered the rest of the nail with Scotch tape, before painting on OPI L. A. M. B. from the Gwen Stefani collection. L. A. M. B. is a pale, molten gold, with a satin finish. Flows like butter. I have used it in so many manicures. I love the contrast between the shine of Ivy League and the satin of L. A. M. B. so I left this without top coat.

I wore this on the first leg of our Disney World adventure. My sister and I drove to our mom and dad's apartment in Charlotte to bunk for the night. The next morning, the four of us journeyed onto Orlando and the Happiest Place on Earth. I picked up some polishes from the Beautifully Disney cosmetic line and I'll be sharing those soon!

Be sure to check out what the other talented ladies did for their first manicures of the month, below

xo, ali

Light and Dark

Hey!! Happy Sunday! I'm sharing my last September manicure for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. I can't believe it's the last weekend of September, already! I'll be at Disney World in just about a week and a half!!

Tonight's manicure features a polish picked out by my boyfriend and some nail art inspired by the Nailasaurus. Let's look!

I used three coats of Gridlock Lacquer Delaware Park for my base and China Glaze Make A Spectacle on my ring finger. Once that was dry, I used striping tape to try out this manicure from Sammy and filled in my sections with Butter London Jack the Lad, an evergreen jelly base with green, silver, blue, and purple microglitter. I lifted the tape, topcoated, and voila!

This might be my favorite of all four manicures I did this month, with the very first one coming in at a close second. Got it? Okay, good.

Check out the final manicures for the month from the rest of the fabulous ladies in the Nail Challenge Collaborative, below

xo, ali

Caramel Apples

Don't those sound good?! It's been awhile since I had one but I'm hoping to pick one up soon, with some apple cider! Those are a few things that I enjoy about fall. And the title of this post is exactly what my third NCC manicure reminded me of.

For this quick and easy angular manicure, I started with three coats of Zoya Tosca, red with gold and orange shimmer. Fun fact about Tosca-it's the second polish ever put out by Zoya. It's a classic. Unfortunately, it's not available on the website anymore. I found mine in the huge clearance bins at a local beauty supply store for $2!

Once it was dry, I taped off my triangles and used Gridlock Lacquer Barrel Through Niagara to create the tips. Barrel Through Niagara is such a pretty, sparkly bronze and I really need to get my tail in action, swatching the whole Niagara Falls collection from Gridlock Lacquer.

I will have my final September NCC post for you tomorrow, so get excited!

And be sure to check out what the other ladies did for manicure number 3!

Don't Know Much 'Bout Geometry

Hello! It's a new month and that means a new theme for the Nail Challenge Collaborative! This month's theme is fitting for back to school. It's Geometry! I'm having a lot of fun with lines and shapes, this month. Check out my first manicure!

I started with two easy coats of Formula X for Sephora Infinite. It's such a great fall polish--all sorts of plum and brown with golden shimmer. And it goes on so easy! It's a foolproof polish, great for putting on and running out the door. I topcoated with Pure Ice Girl on the Run quick dry topcoat and reached for the Konad m95 plate. I stamped using Julep Mahima. I topcoated once again and finito!

Gold will be a recurring theme, this month, so keep your eyes peeled for mani number two!

And be sure to check out what the other ladies did to start the month off!

xo, ali

NCC Re-creations #2

Hey! I hope you're all staying cool in your neck of the woods, tonight. I am loving the summer sun and heat we have been having and I hope it continues!

I'm here with my second re-creation for the Nail Challenge Collaborative's July theme. And, I'm featuring two polishes that were recently released by Buffalo indie lacquer creator, Gridlock Lacquer, as part of the Niagara Falls collection (which I'll be reviewing soon).
The mani I'm re-creating is this one:

Let's look!

I used three coats of Gridlock Lacquer Grape Expectations (named for the Niagara Wine Trail) and a quick-dry topcoat. Once that dried, I laid down two pieces of striping tape in an X and used Gridlock Lacquer Lock It Up (named for the locks of the Erie Canal). I did one finger at a time and lifted the tape after painting. One more swipe of topcoat and I was done.

I do have to say, I like this type of manicure with glitter accents better and I might try it with some Deborah Lippmann's I picked up recently.

Be sure to check out what the other ladies re-created!

Gridlock Lacquer Mini-Spam

Happy Wednesday, everyone! We are halfway through the week...and I can't wait for the weekend.
Today, I'd like to share with you a great indie polish line that is mixed and sold right in my home city of Buffalo, NY! Most of the polishes from Gridlock Lacquer take inspiration from many places and things that can only be found in our fair city from The Aud (where my beloved Sabres got their start and I saw many a Disney on Ice performance) to Loganberry and Beef on Weck inspired polishes. As soon as I heard about the brand, I made plans to find Gridlock's booth at the Broadway Market in Buffalo.

Today I'm going to share three lacquers with you-Delaware Park, Loganberry, and Pussy Willow.  And, so you can feel like you're a true Buffalonian, I'll tell you why these places are so truly Buffalo.

First up is Delaware Park.

Delaware Park is basically the city's playground. It's home to an 18-hole golf course, numerous playgrounds, basketball courts, Hoyt Lake, grassy knolls, and the Buffalo Zoo! Plus, Albright-Knox art gallery is right across the street. I attended college just a few minutes, walking distance, from Delaware Park and Hoyt Lake (pictured) was one of my favorite thinking spots.

Delaware Park is a yellow-toned green with a slight duochrome effect and some scattered holo shimmer. For application, I used 3 1/2 coats. I added an extra coat to the ring and pinky fingers to even out some sheer spots. While the formula is great, it is a little sheer and careful application is a necessity. This color is truly unique to my collection. The spring green to gold-green duochrome is gorgeous and I don't have any other greens like this. It reminds me of the way the park looks in late summer when we hit our dry season. Perfect!


Next, I have Loganberry. Loganberry is a locally loved beverage that accompanies our wings, beef on weck, and Mighty Taco.

(source)

Loganberries are actually a thing and they are a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. The drink itself is an uncarbonated soft drink that you can only be found in Buffalo. I grew up drinking Aunt Rosie's Loganberry because my brother loved it. Every now and again, I get a hankering for a glass. Luckily, the pop fountain in the cafeteria at work has it :) The nail polish is just as addicting.

Loganberry went on in two easy coats, with the perfect consistency. It's a gorgeous brick red with eye-catching shimmer. However, those two easy coats need to be applied with a little TLC to avoid brush strokes. This is not your typical red. It's a little brown around the edges that gives it a sophisticated twist.

Finally, I have Pussy Willow. 

(source)

Pussy Willows are a sure sign of spring in Buffalo and they are used in one of our favorite holidays-Dyngus Day. There is a HUGE Polish population Western New York and our fair city is the Dyngus Day Capital of the World, despite what Anderson Cooper might think. As legend goes, pussy willows are brandished by Polish girls and used to spank the boys they like. Polish boys reciprocate by squirting the girls with water. We celebrate hard, here in Buffalo, and it's a blast. 

Pussy Willow is a mix of copper hex and micro glitters, white satin square glitter, iridescent hexes, and small and large white satin hexes. The formula was a little thick so I added a few drops of thinner and that cleared right up. I layered one coat of Pussy Willow over Loganberry. For the most part, the glitter spread easily but I did have to fish a little bit for the large white hexes. And interestingly, the base didn't have the typical nail polish smell. It smelled like bananas! This perfectly captures the essence of the pussy willow. I can't wait to wear this combo for Dyngus Day, next year!

To purchase Gridlock Lacquer, you can visit her website: Gridlock Lacquer.

The polishes retail for $6.00. You can also purchase Buffalo-themed soaps and synchronized swimming themed lacquers.

You can also keep up with all the new happenings, like the soon-to-be released summer collection on social media:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Pinterest

I hope you guys enjoyed these as much as I did! I still have two more Gridlock glitters to swatch for you guys, so watch this space!

xo, ali