Product Review - Mod Lacquer

First things first, I made it back from New York City on my business trip yesterday to a load of nail mail. It was like Christmas! I am returning to New York for another 3 weeks leaving the 2nd of December. I wanted to get this review done before I left again, because I love this line, and the polish! 

I had the opportunity to do a swatch review for Mod Lacquer and I was so excited! I had just ordered my first color about a week earlier when I went on my Indie Polish buying spree when Mod did a call out on Instagram for Bloggers. I was all in! 

One of my packages when I returned was from Mod with 4 awesome minis to try. I was so excited! 

I took some macro shots of each color for you to get a closer look at:

This is Cherry Fizz, a great red with some really wonderful holographic properties to it

This is Sasquatch, a wonderful and feminine brown with awesome gold glitter flakes

This is Thunderbird, a tempting black with holographic glitters just loaded throughout

This is Revenant, a sweet blue with super fine silver glitter, and almost a purple hue to it in certain light

My first mani I did was for Thanksgiving and I used Cherry Fizz and Sasquatch. I think these two colors together just worked perfectly for today, and they make an awesome combination. I went over the ombre two times to get the desired color. I used an ombre effect and then drew a turkey for an accent nail. 

My second mani I used Thunderbird and Revenant. Thunderbird is 2 generous coats on the accent and Revenant is 2 coats. The blue and fine silver glitters in Revenant paired next to the holo glitter goodness in Thunderbird also made a great duo. 

Mod Lacquer is an amazing line with tons of creative combinations, glitters, duochromes, mini sets, full sets and anything else you could ever want. Please go check Mod Lacquer out now here on Etsy and on Instagram @ModLacquer

You will not be disappointed I promise! 

Out on Business Travel - New York City Here I COME!

Hey Ladies! In case you didn't know I actually have a "regular" job besides making polish, doing my nails, reviews etc.

I am being shipped off to New York City starting tomorrow and will not be returning until November 27. Not a bad place to be doing some work for a couple weeks, and I get to go Christmas shopping in New York! I am pretty excited about that. Where should I go to buy Nail Polish? I need to find the nail polish meccas in NYC! Any of you familiar with some places I should go?

You won't see much from me though, which makes me sad.

My Etsy shop will be open, but orders will not be processed until I return during Thanksgiving Weekend. Still plenty of time though to get it to you before Christmas!

Please KIK me if you are in NYC and would like to meet up or tell me where to go to get some sweet polishes!! @nailartjenn

XOXO,

Jenn~

Feature Friday - Nail Artist Taylor Deveaux

It is that time again nail friends! I get to share with you today a gal that I think is pretty dope! She is super talented, in nail tech school right now. Kicking ass and taking names if I do say so myself! I am proud of her, I am happy that I have gotten to know her over the last few months. She SPOILS me to death when it comes to nail mail and I love her sweet and sassy personality!

Taylor Deveaux - @nailsby_Maj
Age: 24
From: Born in the Bahamas (OMG JEALOUS!) but now lives in Los Angeles, CA

Hobbies Besides Nail Polish - I love this girl, her first response was "Being a mom" Me too! We both have little girls and we are always talking about them! She also said "...student, singing with my jazz band, singing karaoke, cooking , church" I had no idea about the singing with your jazz band! I love that. I was in a jazz band as well!

What Got You Into Nail Art - Seriously, have I said how much I love this girl? She is a straight shooter, and I dig that! "If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself . Got tired of asking for something the salon could not do." Boom!

Favorite Mainstream Polish Brand - OPI and China Glaze

 

Favorite Indie Brand - "Besides mine of course, Free Edge, Painted Polish, and Bells Kandi" She is just starting her own line as well! Congrats, make sure to follow her on Instagram for updates. I am loving her glitter bombs! Her brand is called Goombay Gal!

One Nail Related Item You Can't Live Without? "I can't live without my cut up kitchen sponge I use for Ombre" Ha! I love doing ombre so much, I agree!

What Nail Related Item Do You Lust After? "The OPI with the 18k gold flakes in it" I think it is called "The Man With The Golden Gun" I have the Zoya one, and I love it. I will keep an eye out for you!

Favorite Design You Have Ever Done? "It would have to be a neon polka dot with a drip over it"

 

My Etsy Shop for Daily Hues Nail Lacquer is now OPEN!

Greetings my nail friends!! I have finally opened my Etsy shop with my initial launch holiday collection! It features some great colors and some out of the box holiday color ideas!

Direct access to my shop is accessible here

If you have not seen my holiday line here it is!

From left to right: Grinch, Cindy Lou Hue, Baby It's Cold Outside, Mrs. Clause, and Mistletoe

 

 

Grinch is a great green glitter topper

Cindy Lou Hue is a pale pink with yellow round glitters

Baby It's Cold Outside is a pale blue, gold hue, silver glitter topper

Mrs. Clause is a fire red with red glitter

Mistletoe is a shimmer white, red square glitter, green fiber glitter topper

I have swatches of each color on my shop and if you have any questions please let me know. I am very excited to open my shop to you! 

Review - Flower Beauty Nail Polish

I remember watching Oprahs Next Chapter one Sunday night when she was interviewing Drew Barrymore. Drew finally got to talking about her new makeup line only available at Walmart that she was 100% involved in, and created. I finally remembered yesterday to stop by the cosmetics department and take a look at the nail polishes. I just picked up one, "Go with the flow-er". It is a very nice neutral, nude, grey / tan color. It caught my eye, as I have never seen a nude quite like this shade. 

At $4.98 a bottle you really can't go wrong. I did my normal manicure routine and applied Flower. It went on great, good formula, and nice color. Here is the finished mani:

As you can see, I had no coverage issues, the color comes out the bottle and onto your fingers with very little color variation and it is a great color for any manicure as a base for design or alone! My only real issue with this product isn't the actual lacquer, it is the packaging. That big cube cap isn't the easiest thing to hold onto and get a good grip for even application. It took me a few fingers before I had a good, albeit odd hold of the cap. 

As a side note, I picked up a new Hard Candy glitter topper in Sweet Tart and sponges it on the tips and straight applied to my ring finger. Fun and super easy!! 

Review: Winstonia Store - Metallic Studs

I was awarded the opportunity to blog about and review for Winstobia Store and their metallic studs. There is also a 10% Off Coupon through December 31st for these studs, use NAILARTJENN as the coupon code. Thank you Winstonia Store!

 

I went on their store and was able to choose the size and style that I wanted to work with. 

I chose the 4mm rectangle and 3mm squares. I also got the squares in gold and silver and the rectangles in black and gold. So much fun! They came nicely packaged, in a perfect sized shipping envelope. Some places go a little overboard. 

My first manicure I did I wanted to show texture and have a ton of fun with the rectangular studs in gold. I used Sinful Colors new Crystal Crush colors in Purple Gleam and Treasure Chest. I wanted to create a fun pattern with these so on the purple nails I did a stair pattern, placing the studs vertically. On the teal nails I did a vertical and horizontal design to switch it up. 

Isn't this just so much fun!? The colors in the polish against the gold of the studs just makes it blend so well. 

My second manicure I did was for my NFL Gameday manicure for my Seahawks! I used the silver squares to show toughness, and strength. 

This worked perfectly for the look I wanted to attain. 

Most of you by looking at my Instagram will see I don't use a lot of "attachments" in my nail art and manicures. I never found a good glue, or a good stud that would stay on my finger, or one that didn't feel too heavy on my finger when trying to place it. These are a good width, and don't feel like my fingers are being weighed down. I did find 3 of the studs that were damaged out of the bags. 2 squares were warped on the corner and a rectangle was scraped. Out of the whole bag of studs I dismissed that. I can only imagine the number of studs they handle daily and how hard it would be to keep it all in check. I don't like putting them away and trying to pick them all up haha, you never know how many you may use. 

I have really enjoyed using these studs, and want the other shapes and sizes they have too!! 

Please go visit them online 

Here is the direct link to the studs: 

http://winstoniastore.com/nail-art/3d-decorations/3d-nail-art-metallic-stud-bundle.html

Remember to use NAILARTJENN for a 10% coupon code! Good through Dec. 31st.

 

I really do like these studs and will use them more!! 

Review: Revlon Parfumerie - Scented Nail Polish

Yesterday I decided to hit up my local Rite Aid for a drugstore nail polish haul. I saw an Instagram buddy review the scented Revlon polishes and was interested. I have never bought Revlon before and let's just say I may have fallen for the marketing ploy. Cute little perfume looking bottles and it smells good. Ok. I caved. I only bought 4 though, not the whole collection! Yay me, it is the small victories people. 

First I tried Bordeaux (one of my favorite types of red wines) this was a given. Wine is another huge passion of mine. I think that is why I lean towards reds and deep purples so much. I didn't know what to expect at first. I applied this pretty deep red wine color. I smelled my finger (kind of cracking up right now - imagining you all with a mental picture of me smelling my finger!) it smelled like nail polish still. I was like "WTF? I got bamboozled here!" Then I turn the bottle over a and in teeny tiny writing it says "fragranced when dry" ok got it. Haha! 

So this is two coats of Bordeaux. 

The scent is interesting. It is somewhat sweet. Not really overpowering. 

Next up is "Moonlit Woods"

This is three coats. This scent is so faint. It isn't sweet and isn't like you're smelling a tree either. But has a calm quality to it. 

Next is "Spun Sugar" 

This is 2 coats. I was really wanting this one to blow me away in the scent department. It didn't. This still had the most nail polish smell to me. Boo. 

Lastly, "Wintermint" 

This is 2 coats. Holy goodness in a bottle batman! This is like sweet, minty gum in a bottle! In love. I enjoy the awesome color, and the glitter, and almost textured look to it. 

All in all, for $5.99 a piece it was a good buy. Yes it's gimmicky, but that's why it's called marketing! I fell for it, haha. I enjoy the colors and I am glad I tried it. I may go back and get a few other colors. With or without the smells they are still good colors for a good price. 

Chevron Nail Art Tutorial

So I have been house / doggy sitting for my boss since Friday last week and haven't had a lot of nail time. My situation - A 6 month old chihuahua / terrier mix, a 5 year old terrier mix, and a 16 year old deaf shi tzu mix. Oh, and plus my 5 year old daughter!
I only brought maybe 20-30 polishes with me out of my 250 some at home. It was hard and I did it so randomly I didn't know what to grab!

Last night I threw on a lovely Orly color called "Luxe". A beautiful solid gold color that is just to die for. I seriously love this color. This is 2 coats although I could have gotten away with just one for my chevron design.

 

I know there are several ways to do chevron nails. I haven't tried in a while so I wanted to put together a color combo that I thought would really look great against this gold color. I used Essie "No More Film" and Color Club from the Poptastic Collection; it was the purple hued one. It has no name on it.

I first took some pinking shears to cut my strips. This is what I find the easiest way to do chevron, instead of drawing the pattern on or using crafting scissors that are sometimes not sharp enough. I

also used instead of tape, my acrylic nail form stickers.

 

I applied the strips to the center of my nails and painted away. I flip flopped the colors on top and bottom. I kept them the same on my middle and ring, then swapped the top and bottom colors on my pinky, index, and thumb. I enjoyed to out come very much!

 

 



 

Feature Friday - Nail Artist Ali Zuro

Is is that time of the week already? Time for another Feature Friday!

Today I get to feature someone who I have just recently talked to, she won a flash giveaway I did about a month ago. She is so sweet, and I can tell just really has a heart of gold! Her designs are crazy good, and she has a huge following on Instagram, which is well deserved!

Ali you are pretty darn awesome!! I look forward to getting to know you better and seeing your awesome designs.

Ali Zuro - @pleasedtopleaseyou
Age: 20
From: Oregon - Yay for Pacific Northwest Chicks!

Hobbies besides nail polish - Ali is so talented and her creative juices are always flowing! She says, "I enjoy anything artistic, including painting, drawing, calligraphy, jewelry making, playing piano, etc, as well as reading, baking, and dancing!"

What got you into nail art? "I've always enjoyed taking care of and painting my nails, and when I first discovered YouTube I found amazing tutorials by Love4Nails that totally inspired me and started me on my nail art journey." Thank goodness for YouTube! That is definitely a common theme for my Feature Friday ladies!

 

Favorite mainstream polish brand: "Sinful Colors- inexpensive and great quality!" I agree! You have got to love a bargain and good quality at the same time. Too hard not to pass up!

Favorite indie brand: If you don't know by looking at her Instagram page, Ali is a true supporter Indie brands! I love all of her swatches. I knew she would have trouble answering this one but she tried!  "This is hard to choose, but I'm going to say Black Cat Lacquer"

One nail related item you can't live without: "Equate Non-Acetone remover! It's my favorite " I will have to try this one! I love a bargain and if she likes it, it has to be good!
 

What nail related item do you lust after? This is probably my favorite question to ask. I think it gets you ladies thinking about all those must haves. Ali states "...probably a UV gel/shellac system!" That is on my list too!

 

Favorite design you have ever done: "I think my Dino mani, because it was a design that was completely original to me, and I was really proud of them." Take a close look friends, this is so dang adorable! I love these colors and it is really a one of a kind! RAWR!