Hi!

Today's prompt for the Californails August nail art challenge is 'gladiolus', the August birth flower. I didn't know what gladiolus looked like at first, and when I looked it up I knew there was no way I'd be able to paint them realistically on my nails. Since their petals kind of fade from color to color, I decided to do flowers using the one-stroke technique.

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believin | Urban Outfitters unnamed grey | Wet n Wild Black Creme | red & yellow acrylic paint

 These don't really call gladiolus to mind, but they are pretty, so I'm happy!

This is a scheduled post -- as you read this, I'm on vacation in Maine! I don't know if I'll have Internet yet, and I'll be pretty busy doing all the stuff one does in Maine so I might not be able to approve and respond to comments until I come back :-) 

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Ikat Nails, Take 2

Hi!

First, it was my first blogiversary on August 1st! The first year was a blast, the nail art community is so friendly and supportive. I never thought I would make it this far! A huge thank you to all of you guys -- I would have quit by now if it weren't for all the sweet comments!

I thought about recreating some old designs I did, but the first few designs I did weren't too inspiring, so I'm letting my blogiversary pass quietly. If you guys want to go laugh at my first post (it was pretty...well, I've improved a lot) you can find it here. 

I do have something a little special though! Since I haven't been posting very regularly lately (the last couple of months I've only posted 4-5 times?!?), this month I decided to try my first nail art challenge to motivate myself to get back on schedule! I chose to do the "Totally Doable I Have a Life! Challenge" run by Californails. It has a couple prompts for every week, which fits my schedule perfectly!

The first prompt is "classy", but as I hadn't posted my gold summer nails on Instagram yet I decided to cheat a little and use those for the classy prompt. Now it's time for ikat!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Walking on Sunshine, She Drives Me Crazy, Video Killed the Radio Star, Whip It | Wet n Wild French White Creme | black acrylic paint

I went a little wild with the colors I chose. I did stick to shades in the same collection, though (Deborah Lippmann's 80's Rewind collection). I feel like you can't go wrong with polishes from the same collection -- they were curated so that they all match each other, right?

This ain't my first time at the rodeo -- I've tried ikat nails one other time, 7 months ago! I really liked the colors I used the first time, but I think the ikat pattern came out better this time. And my photo quality has decidedly improved :-)

Thanks again for an amazing first year of blogging! It isn't always easy to balance school, extracurriculars, and nail art blogging, but it is so worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

JINsoon Obsidian Swatches

Hi!

I haven't done swatches in a really, really long time, but this week ended up being a little crazy. (I've been playing in the pit orchestra for a musical!)

I did have time to get something on my nails though...

Sorry there are so many pictures, but I felt like this polish needed to be admired from all angles! Shown is three coats + top coat.

It's a galaxy in a bottle

So much sparkly wow

This is a black polish with "striking galaxy-like flecks" as JINsoon.com describes it; I agree. In dim lighting, the glittery flecks look like white/silvery specks, but in brighter light or sunlight they seem almost holographic. The flecks seem to be mostly purple-toned, but there's gold, green, and blue in there too (they really pop in the last photo). In the bottle it looks really purply, but on the nails it's far less noticeable.

Application was good. I had to use three coats for full coverage, which is a little uncommon for a black polish, but it didn't flood my cuticles and dried quickly unlike many thinner dark polishes. 

So far I've had it on for 6 days with only a little tip wear. I used the 99 cent NYC top coat, so I think the fact that it's lasted for 6 days with no chipping is pretty remarkable.

While this polish does retail for $18, I haven't found anything like it in the drugstore (and I spend a lot of time in drugstores, haha) so if you're into dark holo-y polishes it's definitely worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Nail Polish Canada's Great Polish Giveaway of 2014

Hi!

I have a quick post just to let you know about this super exciting thing that is happening:

Nail Polish Canada is hosting a huuuuge giveaway and we get to pick the prizes!

I chose to add Zoya Tomoko because it's so shiny and gorgeous!

Photo from Nail Polish Canada -- here

How it works:

If you're a blogger and you want to add a prize to the giveaway & host an entry form on your blog:

 1. Fill out the form here

2. You'll receive an email from Nail Polish Canada in the next few hours giving you the HTML for a Rafflecopter widget and giveaway link button, and telling you what to do in your post about the giveaway

3. Enter in the actual giveaway here
4. Enter below and wherever else you find bloggers hosting entry forms (like Hey, Darling Polish)

If you just want to enter the giveaway:

1. Enter on the Nail Polish Canada site here

2. You can also enter once on each blog that adds a shade to the prize -- the only two I know of so far are Hey, Darling Polish (enter here) and myself

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Many thanks to Marisa of Hey, Darling Polish for sharing this opportunity!

If you have any questions let me know! And tell me if you add a prize and host an entry form on your blog so I can submit more entries :)))

Lucy xx

Tropical Nails

Hi!

Like my last post, today's nail art is also summery -- this time with a tropical feel!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Tip Toe Through the Tulips | Deborah Lippmann Laughin' to the Bank | Deborah Lippmann Spring Buds | Wet n Wild French White Creme | red acrylic paint

A few weeks ago, I visited the Barnes Foundation art collection in Philadelphia. They had a couple of Rousseau's famous jungle paintings, and when I saw them I knew I wanted to translate the feel onto my nails.

I couldn't figure out how to translate them in a way that would also be beautiful until I saw a design Pshiiit Polish did awhile ago (her photography and nails are amazing, by the way -- if you haven't already, check out her blog or Instagram). 

I simplified her original design to make it more Rousseau-like, and also because I'm not as skilled with a nail art brush as she is :")

Weird crop oops

If you say Deborah Lippmann Laughin' to the Bank is not gorgeous, I don't know who you are

Who are the nail artists/artists you look to for inspiration?

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Gold Summer Nails

Hi!

It's been in the mid-90s all week where I live! I thought that called for some summer nail art...

Polishes Used:
JINsoon Coral Peony | Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy | Wet n Wild French White Creme | NYC Hamptons Peach | Wet n Wild On a Road Trip | Deborah Lippmann Blue Orchid | Deborah Lippmann Spring Buds | Nails Inc Queen Victoria Street

I've been seeing the tape cross pattern on my middle finger everywhere on Instagram in the last couple of months, and I finally got around to recreating it! 

The tape placement was trickier than I expected. Also, by the time I had filled in the non-taped spaces with polish, other parts of the polish had dried and so the tape made the polish all wonky when I pulled it up. It gives it a kind of distressed, old-gold sort of look -- I can live with it, I guess.

That's Deborah Lippmann She Drives Me Crazy. It's gorgeoussss

For some reason this reminds me of something by Lilly Pulitzer. It's not floral and pastel like their signature pieces, but it just kind of feels Lilly-ish. Hmm.

Coral Peony is gorgeous too :O

In other news, I redesigned the blog for like the 500th time! I added fancy drop down menus and sticky navigation and a new related posts widget and some other not-as-fun stuff, I hope you guys like it!!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Urban Outfitters Daisies & Half Moons

Hi!

Once again, I've taken an accidental hiatus from the blog, oops! But I'm back now and that's all that *really* matters, right?

Whenever I go shopping, I can't resist picking up some new polish. I was recently at Urban Outfitters and they were having a sale -- 2 polishes for $8! Considering their polishes are usually $5 apiece, I decided that it was totally worth it. I chose a nice pinkish nude (which I'll show you soon cause it's gorgeous) and a clean pale gray shade.

The pale gray shade has a name that starts with "LAR" and ends with "R" but the label peeled off so I'm not exactly sure what it's called. For some reason they don't put the polish names on their website, and I can't find any swatches of it! :(

I wanted to do something really elegant and modern-feeling because this shade just seems so clean and modern.

Polishes Used:
Urban Outfitters pale gray?? | Nails Inc Queen Victoria Street | white acrylic paint | Claire's black beads

I didn't have any hole reinforcements so I just freehanded the half moons. They came out okay, I guess!

 The Nails Inc. foil polish got kind of crinkled cause I didn't wait long enough for it to dry before top coat, but I kind of like the crinkled effect.

:O It's my thumb?!?!

The white daisies didn't show up too well in the photos :\

Now for two items of business:

First, I think I mentioned this a few posts ago but Franziska of Frankie Hunters Nails and I are organizing some sort of blogger collaboration group! We were thinking a couple of manicure prompts a month, nothing too demanding :) Let me know if you're interested!

And second, my blogiversary is coming up! I published my first post on August 1, 2013. What do you guys think I should do for my blogiversary? (I don't think a giveaway would be possible D:)

Thanks for reading, and I hope your summers are going great!

Lucy xx