Water Decal Mani

Hello again (and sorry for the delay - I had a few technical hitches last night!)

This week I wanted to see if I could manage a full water decal mani so I chose some "Chinese painting" style water decals I bought from the Born Pretty Store a few weeks / months ago. There are quite a lot of designs to choose from - I chose ones listed as: Nail Water Decals Sticker Traditional Chinese Painting Beauty Aspara Flat Peach Pattern #6076 and decided they'd look better as a couple of feature nails.

So I looked through my stash for something that would give the impression of a light, almost translucent fabric as a base and rediscovered Bated Breath by Arcane Lacquer.  Such a soft, delicately shimmering pale green with subtle glitters - just perfect. I chose to do 2 coats. 

I selected decal designs that would fit on my nails and followed the instructions on the pack - take off the clear film, cut them out close to the design and hold them (one at a time) in some room temperature water for about 10 seconds. I use tweezers.

After you've accidentally dropped the decal into the bowl, spend another 40 seconds fishing around to grab it again (not on the pack instructions - more my own 'special' technique), dampen the nail you want to apply it to, slide the decal onto the nail and position it. 

Sponge excess water off (I use the edge of my shirt - but paper towel works too). This helps flatten any creases out and sort of glues the decal down better.

The image on the top left shows the water and some bubbling before sponging. The bottom left shoes how smoothly the decal sits after sponging. On the right - with the top coat (so pretty!) 

And it's done! I think it looks like a painted translucent bowl with Bated Breath as a base!

Born Pretty Store has a large range of nail art supplies including nail art brushes, dotting tools, stickers, water decals, rhinestones, stamping plates & polishes ... so many different products. All pretty reasonably priced - and with free shipping.

I've bought a few things (especially decals) and have been very happy so far. Postage to Australia can be slow, so be prepare for a wait. I think you can pay a small fee for shipping with a tracking number - I haven't tried it yet.... I like free shipping ;-)

Feel free to use my BPS code FBX31 on checkout for a further 10% discount on any orders.

Thanks for visiting Lily Loves Lacquer :-)

Love & Light

K

Ulta3 Neon Gradient & Leopard Print

Hello again!  For those who celebrated the long weekend, I hope you enjoyed the time off and did something fun!

I love gradients - both doing (ie trying to do) them and the finished look - and the idea that even a failed gradient can be resurrected with a stamp or glitter or both!

Not long ago there was a spate of neon gradients on IG and I've been wanting to give it a go and started hunting down some Ulta3 neons (BabsNails I blame you for this!). I also wanted to try a different sponge.  BTW - my go to spot for checking out swatches of Ulta3s listed by colour and finish is More Nail Polish's blog - another Canberran!

So here's what I gathered up -

* Ulta3 - Lily White for the base, Fruit Tingle, Atomic OJ & Frangipani for the gradient & spots, Black Satin for the leopard print accents, and a base coat & top coat

* a $6 box of sponges from Coles

* my dotting tools from Born Pretty Store (one small, one large)

* some tape for masking (or a peel off / wash off glue)

* clean up brush & Ulta3 polish remover.

This design was inspired by @babsnails Fruit Tingle & Atomic OJ gradient & Funky Colour Leopard Print manis on IG.

1. Paint the base colour - white makes neons pop, or use the lightest of your chosen gradient colours.

2. Tape or mask the fingers

3. Gradient - I paint the colours on a plastic baggie and use a damp sponge to 'roll' the colours onto each nail. But you can paint the strips of colour diectly on the sponge. Keep layering until you get the look you want.

4 Remove the tape and clean up.
5. Apply top coat while the gradient is still slightly damp. This will even out any texture from the sponging and give a better finish. Bottom Left shows the texture before clean up & top coat.  Right shows the smoother finish.


You could stop here - or use it as a base for ... more nail art!

I decided to use the Fruit Tingle and Frangipani dotted over the gradient in reverse for the leopard print, and (using a smaller dotting tool) added some C & V shapes around the dots. 

When dry, add a final top coat and ....
voila!

I hope you enjoyed my first pictorial.  There's nothing like jumping into the deep-end!!!!

Love & Light

K

True Blood - May What's In-die Box

Hello on this blustery Winter day!  I'm beginning to think this might work - I even managed to upload some pics!  So maybe I'm not such a techno-noob as I thought.

Aah well - here goes my first real blog post!

I jumped in and ordered the May What's In-die Box at the last moment ... Even on a no buy I had to have the True Blood themed box.  May's box did not disappoint! 5 beauties from Peita's Polish, Deadset Babes, Lilypad Lacquer, Glam Polish and Femme Fatale Cosmetics.

First up, All Flavour No Bite! by Peita's Polish. A gorgeous red with depth and a superb shine. Just perfect, and my favourite from the collection. Shown here with 2 very easy coats (3 strokes per nail!) and Peita Polish Quick Gloss Me Up top coat.  No words can describe, and no pic do this sparkly red gem justice! <3

Next up, Eric In Chains by Deadset Babes (mmmm - Eric <3) 

This one's a gorgeous silver holo. I couldn't take All Flavour No Bite! off - even after 3 days, so I chose to add an Eric in Chains feature nail with stylised chains using Nail Vinyls' chevrons. Luckily there was a bit of sun the day I took these pics to show off both beauties.

Aah - I Love The Smell Of Nail Polish In The Morning by Lilypad Lacquer. I'm going to have to watch True Blood again - I must have missed that scene! Maybe it was before my nail polish fetish kicked in, so I didn't notice.  This one is almost a metallic blue, loaded with microglitter (some of which look holo) and flakies.  There's so much going on in this bottle and on my nails! But it all seems to work together.  These pics are 3 coats with top coat.

Next up, Ciao Bi$%#es by Glam Polish - inspired by the flamboyant Lafayette. An almost charcoal/purple blackened jelly absolutely stacked with a rainbow of glitter! (which you can see in the bottle shot top right). These pics are 3 coats topped with Peita Polish Glitter Glaze top coat. And, with all that glitter goodness, I could probably have done a second top coat because this one is a bit thirsty.

Finally, Sookie by Femme Fatale Cosmetics.  I was a bit nervous about how Sookie would go with my skin tone so just tried a single feature nail with Ciao Bi$%@es! Sookie is gorgeous - fairy-wing translucent with a delicate pink and gold shimmer and gold flakies. Shown here 3 coats with Peita Polish Glitter Glaze top coat.

And here they all are together!

All of these are fabulous - great application, dry time and finish. I really like all of them, but All Flavour No Bite is my pick of the bunch! Just stunning <3

What's In-die Box is an Aussie Indie collaboration that is released monthly and hosted on and sold through Peita's Polish shop. All polishes are limited to the box so you never have to worry about doubling up with anything in your stash when you buy a collection.

Pre-orders for the June What's In-die Box have closed and the lucky buyers will probably start getting them during the next week.  June is the first anniversary box and the theme is holo!

@whatsindiebox on IG will start posting hints for the July box soon, so keep an eye out.  At AUD$50 it's a fun way to get your hands on 5 limited polishes by 5 fabulous Aussie Indies!

I hope you enjoyed my very first blog post x