Polish Review: One Idea, Two Awesome Customs

A month or so ago I got the wild idea for a polish. While I used to dabble in polish making myself, I have long since put away the bottles and glitters and given up. Too much work, not enough patience. But this idea was just sitting there knocking against my brain. I had to have this polish.

I contacted two different polish makers- Leigh Anne of Polish Yer Hooves and Rachel of Limitless Lacquer. Both of these girls make some PHENOMENAL polishes and have what seems like unlimited creativity when it comes to the polish world and how it runs.

I told them both that I wanted a tealy-blue jelly polish with white and red matte dots. I gave them this picture as a reference for color:

Don’t laugh LOL. These are the exact colors I was looking for. The tealy-blue and the orangey-red. I love these colors as they are vindictive of a vintage, retro Christmas to me and I am all about anything vintage or retro.

And they did not fail to surprise and delight me. Each polish is different in it’s own special way. They’re both gorgeous and I have already got a slew of compliments on both of them!

Without further adieu, I show you now… Retro Christmas from Limitless Lacquer!

This gorgeous tealy-jadey-blueish base has tons of white and red matte circle glitters floating inside. Rachel was concerned that the glitter would be hard to remove from the bottle so she gave me extras, which I have not needed as the glitter is very easy to remove from the bottle and place onto the nail.

Beautiful, huh?

This is Retro Christmas with the flash on. I love how transparent and yet pigmented it is. This is three coats.

And this is Retro Christmas without flash. Super shiny and oh so yummy looking.

Onto Vintage Christmas by Polish Yer Hooves!

This little gem is a tealy-blue shimmer jelly base with red and white matte glitters floating about. I didn’t want a ton of glitter, just a bit. Kinda sparse. And she delivered!

I love how gorgeously shimmery this polish is. It goes on like a dream and is relatively opaque in three coats.

This is a gorgeous look and I could just imagine it over either white undies or for an even bigger kick under black. I may have to try those!

SOOOOO freaky beautiful!

If you ever have an idea for a polish, please make sure to look to your favorite Indie designers. Most of them have custom listings on their Etsy pages or they can come up with one. Pretty much every one of them are more than gracious enough to hear your ideas and turn them into beautiful polish creations if they have time.

I am so glad I asked Leigh Anne and Rachel both to create this polish for me. Both Retro and Vintage Christmas are fabulous and I love the fact that while it was the same idea I got two completely different polishes from two awesome Indie designers!

Polish Review: Kawaii Lacquer Joy to the World

I have yet another gorgeous polish from Jamie at Kawaii Lacquer to share with you. During her Black Friday sale, all of her polishes including the LE’s were only $5.00 each! I had to partake in this gorgeous creamy white Christmas Crelly.

Filled with red and green glitters of different shapes and sizes in a creamy white base, Joy to the World is a quenticental Christmas polish, and fortunately, the only one I have bought this Christmas.

Look at that!!! And it goes on like a dream.

This is three coats of Joy to the World with a topper of Hong Kong Girl.

So pretty and cheerful!

This is also the polish I used in my Candy Cane Nail Art Tutorial last week!

You can find this and other AWESOME polishes including Frosty’s Remix, Jolly Holly and Oh Christmas Tree for $8.50 at Kawaii Nail Lacquer’s Etsy shop! And don’t forget to stop by her Facebook page and show her some love!

Tutorial Thursday: Silver and Gold Ugly Christmas Sweater Nails

So… I invisioned these nails to be streamlined and elegant; beautiful and classically gorgeous. They turned out to be just a little bit gaudy and obnoxious. So if you’re looking for nails to go with your Ugly Christmas Sweater, look no further… Some sweater ideas to get you in the spirit:

OK! Now that you have a little inspiration, lets get started!

Supplies you’ll need: White (Sinful Colors Snow Me White), Gold (West End Wonderland), Silver chunky glitter (OPI Pirouette My Whistle), two cheap clear coats (LA Color). You’ll also need some eyeshadows in silver and gold. I used Loreal HIP Metallic Shadow Duos in Platinum and I had started out using the fall ombre stack that I got from Fancy Dawn but found that the one I had chose was more copper than gold so I had to switch to an old Victoria Secret eye shadow I’ve had around for awhile. You’ll also need some silver and gold nail art accents, an exacto knife, painters tape and a pallet.

First off, use strips of the painters tape to create your French tip grids. If you’re like me, and you have a couple nails broke down, don’t despair. That’s where West End Wonderland comes into play. Add that to your nubby nails while you’re at it.

Add the white to your tips and while they’re still wet, carefully remove the tape and you’re left with somewhat perfect french tips!

Using a mechanical pencil or a toothpick, crush up some of the silver eye shadow and sprinkle it onto your pallet. Using one of the inexpensive topcoats, drop a few drops into the mess and mix it up.

Add a streak of silver to the edge of the nail.

Using your finger pat it down and spread it out. Repeat the same steps with the gold shadow.

You could leave it at that…. But nooo. We’re going to add the maximum amount of gaudiness to the situation.

Using some clear topcoat pooled on your pallet, and spread on your nail; using an orange stick, place some silver shards on your nail wherever you think necessary. Repeat with the gold.

Add some other little doodads and what nots. You’ll need a good, thick topcoat like Gelous to smooth things out or you’ll snag your nails on your awesome sweater!

Tutorial Thursday: Santa Hat French Tips

In the spirit of Christmas, I bring you awesomely festive and SUPER EASY Santa Hat French Tips!

Supplies You’ll Need: A good red polish, I used butterLONDON’s Knees Up; a white polish, I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White and a great fast drying topcoat. I’m using my heavily guarded and rationed Hong Kong Girl from Glisten & Glow. I was going to put a belt buckle on one of my nails, but when I got into it I completely forgot to do it, so the West End Wonderland and Raven are optional lol. You’ll also need a pallet and your trusty mechanical pencil!

Step One: Using your mechanical pencil, dip it in the red and create a faux french tip with a little tornado like appendage hanging down. That gives me an idea for spring nails……. Hmmm….. Repeat this process on each nail, and switch up the direction that the hat hangs down if you’d like.

This is what it’ll look like when you’re all done. I’ve switched directions and gave them gaunty angles and what not.

Step Two: Take your mechanical pencil and dip into the white and then lightly press onto the nail creating the fuzz around the brim of the hat and the end of the hat.

Step Three: Give yourself a good layer of topcoat and voila! You’re done! How easy is that?!

Tutorial Tuesday: Ornament Nails

Supplies you’ll need: Black acrylic paint, a white polish, five different polishes of your choice and a basecoat of your choice. You’ll also need an old mechanical pencil with lead (you’ll see why soon!) and a pallet to put your paint on.

Step One: Prep your nails and let them dry with your basecoat.

Step Two: Using the mechanical pencil with the led not poking out, make half circles in different positions on each nail. If you wanted to, you could always put more than one circle per nail.

Step Three: Using the pencil again, begin to apply your ornament colors. Some colors, like this one, will take more than one coat.

This is what you’ll have when you’re done.

Step Four: When you’re done and your polish has dried a bit, click your mechanical pencil a few times until there’s a good piece of lead pointing out.

Dip it in your black acrylic paint and carefully draw an outline around your ornaments.

Make a little “head” for your ornament.

Then make the little ornament hanger.

This is what you’ll have when you’re done.

Step Five: Once you’re done doing all the nails, apply your topcoat and you’re done!

Tutorial Tuesday: Candy Cane Nails

Here we have a really quick and simple tutorial. It can be used on short or long nails, with any combination of colors you can think of. It’s quick, versatile and super freaking cute.

Supplies: All you’ll need is a roll of blue painters tape, or masking tape or I guess scotch tape would work as well though I’ve never used it. You’ll need an Xacto knife and a red of your choice. You’ll also need your nails painted with a base color of your choice. I used Kawaii Nail Lacquer’s Joy to the World for a little added “punch” of Christmassy color!

Step One: Take your roll of painters tape and CAREFULLY and I can’t stress carefully enough!! Cut strips long enough to cover your nail and leave a little excess. You’ll need a lot of these strips cut, so when you’re done cutting one part, peel them off and stick them to the edge of your desk or surface you’re working on.

Step Two: Lay the strips down on a slant, making sure that the spaces between the tape vary a bit.

Step Three: Apply two coats of your red polish and then, while the polish is still wet, carefully peel all your little tails off leaving the design in it’s place.

Step Four: Using your cleanup brush and acetone, clean up any messes. When the red polish is completely dry, or close to it, cover with your favorite high speed topcoat.

Every one will be different, and some will look better than others. But that’s the point of candy canes, right?