Bookworm

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I was away all weekend, and then I had to study for finals. Fortunately, I have an extra special post today! In honor of my last English class and my English final, I decided to paint each nail with a design inspired by each of the books we read this year in English class. I did Lord of the Flies, House on Mango Street, Of Mice and Men, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here are the results: 

From Thumb to Pinky: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Of Mice and Men, House on Mango Street, Lord of The Flies.

A closer look at my favorite design, House on Mango Street:

I couldn't even begin to remember which polishes I used, since I used sooo many! However, I know that I used Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh for the base of the pinky, and I can say firsthand that this is one amazing formula. The brush ensures a perfect application, and the formula is super smooth and dries quite fast. In addition, it is a one-coater! This manicure took about 2 hours to complete.

I hope you liked this, and keep reading for more coach-inspired goodness!

'Til next time,

Caroline S.

<3

Don't Worry, The New Neighbors Are Friendly

Hi everyone!
Today I did My Neighbor Totoro nails! For those of you who don't know, My Neighbor Totoro is a japanese anime movie about a family who moves into a house surrounded by adorable creatures: Chu Totoro, Chibi Totoro, and Totoro. The house is also occupied by soot sprites, which are cute little black dustballs. Here are the nails I did!

From pinky to thumb: Umbrella, Totoro, Cat Bus, Soot Sprites, My Neighbor Totoro

Here are some shots showing the message on the thumb (My Neighbor Totoro, of course!):

So there you have it! I used Essence A Lovely Secret as a base, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Illamasqua Taint, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, Simple Pleasure pink, Love and Beauty Light Yellow, OPI I Vant To Be A Lone Star, and OPI InStyle Red.
I hope you like these! I did another manicure that I will be posting shortly, and then I'm off for a weekend away with friends! Stay tuned for a fun, book-inspired mani!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Flowery Fingertips

Hi everyone!
I just came back from a fun but exhausting day at Six Flags. I had forgotten to post this, so I finally found time to do so today. I painted my nails blue with Essie Turquoise and Caicos, and then I striped and dotted each nail with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Afterwards, I painted roses all over each finger with Simple Pleasure pink, OPI InStyle Red, Deborah Lippmann Sarah Smiles, and Layla Magneffect Mojito Green. This is how they turned out:

I worked really hard to clean this one up, and I think it came out really well. Unfortunately, my cuticles are really dry in this picture. I hope no one minds! Otherwise, I think it looks great. I will be posting again as soon as possible!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Did You Hear? It's The Arts Festival!

Hi everyone!
Sorry I've been so long (or at least it feels that way)... I am really busy as my school finals are in 2 weeks! I have, however, been making an effort to paint my nails whenever I have free time. Expect another mani soon for my my awesome friend's bat mitzvah!
Tonight was my school Arts Festival, so I was busy participating in three things: 7th grade circus, Glee, and Guitar Ensemble. For the circus I had to hula-hoop, so I decided to paint my nails to match the hoop! Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture until after I did all this, so they got totally ruined :( Oh well, they still look better in real life. I just can't believe that I chipped the pinky *that* much. I apologize for the awful picture, hopefully I can get a better picture of my next mani.

Ugh... cameras are so unforgiving :(  I used Wet and Wild's Wild Card as a base (a pretty purple, goes on in 3 coats and dries relatively fast). Then I sponged on some Chanel polish in a red color (I don't know the name, but it's got a nice formula--plus I got it as a gift). Finally, I used my striper brush to make the red lines going across my middle and ring finger with more Chanel polish.
I hope you like it, and sorry for all the chipping and dents!
I may be missing for a bit in about 3 weeks, since my grade is going on a week-long trip all over Alabama, Tennessee, and more. However, a week after that I have no school, and the last week will ensure that I am certainly not busy. Until then, expect slightly less frequent posts!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hi everyone!
I'm very busy now, but I still found time to do my nails. :) I got some loose eyeshadow, so I decided to make my first franken. I used about 1/3 of a container of Jordana eyeshadow in Going Green, and mixed that with about 3/4 of a bottle of Wet and Wild's clear nail protector and a drop of Sinful Colors' Snow Me White. I decided to call it The Very Hungry Caterpillar because it made me think of that children's book with the same name (by Eric Carle). Here is how it turned out:

Note: It's not nearly this fluorescent green in real life, but it's really dark in here and I couldn't even get a decent picture. Sorry! It's actually a very pale, shimmery green. However, the green appears to have slightly red-orange shimmer, if you look really closely into the bottle!
I swatched the polish, but I decided it would look better with some very hungry caterpillar-inspired nail art! Here it is:

This photo shows the color more correctly. I used tvhc as a base, then drew on some dots with Layla Magneffect in Mojito Green. I painted the head with an unnamed Chanel le Vernis red. I drew the legs and antennae with Illamasqua's Taint, and then I drew the eyes with Love and Beauty's light yellow and more Mojito Green. Finally, I added a black mouth dot with Wet and Wild's Ebony Hates Chris (of course).
I hope you like this!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Flamin' NOT

Hi everyone!
Today I decided to do flame nails (all my friends wanted me to!). I used a makeup sponge  to do a flame-like gradient. For the gradient, I used Love and Beauty's Light Yellow, Avon's Orange Creamsicle, Essie's Orange--It's Obvious! and red creme from Claire's. Here are the supplies I used!

Left to right: testing paper, Essie's Orange--It's Obvious!, Avon's Orange Creamsicle, Love and Beauty's light yellow, Claire's red creme, makeup sponge for gradient

Here are some progress pics (excuse the mess around the cuticles, I didn't tape them so the sponge got polish all over my fingers):

Finally, here's a picture of the finished gradient:

Again, excuse the cuticles--I could not get the glitter from the yellow polish off, no matter how hard I tried!

After that, I traced a flame design onto my nails and filled it in.

Most of the nails came out awfully! This was a nail fail. :p
On a happier note, I found a bunch of new polishes! They are Wet and Wild's Wild Card and Night Prowl, plus NYC's French White Cream. I really needed more white, and these were all on sale for 49 cents each... so why not? I do not have pictures of Wild Card yet, but it is a beautiful, shimmery grayish-purple. I tried it on my toes, and it goes on beautifully in three coats, though it is slightly sheer. However, it was opaque in three or four! It also dried relatively fast.
I swatches Night Prowl on my right hand:

This color was a beautiful, black jelly with fine purple glitter in it (yay jelly and glitter, it's like a pre-made glitter sandwich! I also love the colors!). It went on so easily in two coats. The first coat is sheer and jelly-like, but the second coat is completely opaque without letting go of the jelly-ness. Yay! I hate seeing vnl with jelly polishes. This polish also dried super-fast! Look out for it if you like vampy polishes :)

Anyway, happy Mother's Day! Be nice to your mum. Soon I'll be doing more nail art!

'Til next time,

Caroline S.

<3

There Are Shoes on My Fingers!

Hi everyone!
Though this mani came out slightly messy, I think it's pretty cute. At school, my friends and I made my fingers walk around and moonwalk! We're very silly :)
I was deciding between flames, daisies/sunflowers, and converse, and as you can see converse won (however, the other two will be coming up as soon as possible, along with some pastel vintage roses).
Here is the finished product:

I decided to make use out of some of my new OPI colors, so I chose OPI's I Vant To Be a Lone Star (grey) and InStyle Red (red, obviously) as the two base colors. Both of these colors have black labels, so I'm guessing they were made before OPI started making their polishes 3-free... oh well! Unfortunately, the picture did not really capture the true color of the polishes, so I'll say that the grey polish has a blue hint to it that is much more apparent in real life, and the red polish is not nearly as orange-looking as it is in this picture. It is more of a deep cherry red. The red formula was not so great, though what was bad about it is hard to explain. It went on in two coats. However, the grey polish had an excellent formula, was easy to apply, and went on in three coats. For the accents, I used Sinful Colors' Snow Me White and Wet and Wild's Ebony Hates Chris.
I also picked up a new polish today: Wet and Wild's Wild Card! I will probably be testing this out on my toes, more pictures to come later. They're having a clearance sale on makeup and polish at the Duane Reade near my house, so I got this for only 49 cents! I might be going back tomorrow and getting some lipgloss (this was the only nice polish color that I wanted--they only had two others, and they were both pink). For now, enjoy this! More manis (and possibly pedis) coming soon!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Queen of the Butterflies

Hi everyone!
Today I decided to try out my Avon nail polish in Orange Creamsicle. I used it as a base for a monarch butterfly design, since I keep seeing butterflies flying around when I'm outside. I also got inspiration from other bloggers' monarch butterfly manicures. To all of you who have done this, thanks for the inspiration! All of the designs I have seen are beautiful.
The Avon polish was a pain to apply, since it was a three-coater. This is actually the first three coat polish that I own, so maybe I'm just not used to it. It also took forever to dry, and it looked awful with my skin tone. So overall, I'm not a fan of this polish. However, I am a fan of this design!

I also picked up two new shades: Forever 21's Love and Beauty in Light Yellow and Gold. I am really excited to swatch them, and I used the yellow to highlight the wings on this design! For the black I used Wet and Wild's Ebony Hates Chris and for the white dots I used Sinful Colors' Snow Me White.
Does everyone like this design? I'm not sure about it, but I do think it looks pretty cool.
I've got to go, but I'll post another mani soon!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

My New Organization System!

Hi everyone!
Sorry for posting so late, but I just got back from a very long day of bar/bat mitzvahs. Fortunately, I remembered to post this new system I am using to keep track of all my shades. I have made test sheets, on which I paint a coat of polish and write the name of the color next to it. I have organized the creams by color and grouped the glitters and effect polishes together. This also helped me to get rid of all the polishes that have dried or clumped together. Fortunately, I only found two, one of which I have two bottles of. It also appears that my crackle is not working as well as it used to, but I'll have to test that again later.
Here are some pictures of the test sheets:

So, as you can see, these make finding shades much easier. For now I am still storing my polishes in a shoebox (my room is too tiny to fit them anywhere else), but I may be transferring them to a drawer soon. Otherwise, this system is very helpful! Also, I can eventually add more as I buy more shades. 

I hope this is helpful, and keep reading for more posts very soon!

'Til next time,

Caroline S. 

<3

Happy Lacquer Girl Has A New Look!

Hi everyone!
In case you haven't noticed, happy lacquer girl has gotten a new look. I hope you like it!
I'll be posting again shortly.
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Loud Leopard!

Hi everyone!
I decided to attempt leopard print nails yesterday. I wanted to see how my new shade, China Glaze's I'm With The Lifeguard, would turn out as a base. It's my first China Glaze shade, so I didn't know what to expect! It actually turned out okay, but I had to redo my right hand since it was too gloppy. On the plus side, it only took two coats to get a nice, almost-completely-but-not-quite-opaque color that makes a perfect base for nailUnfortunately, the polish took a very long time to dry and chipped the next day. However, I think the color makes up for that! It's a beautiful, shimmery, neon green. People, I can assure you that this is by far the brightest green I have ever owned.
Here is a picture of the mani:

For the spots I used Sinful Colors in Snow Me White and Wet and Wild's Ebony Hates Chris.
The next day, I decided to slap on a matte topcoat from NYC, since mattified glitter and shimmer is very yummy! Unfortunately, the topcoat doesn't look great, and it probably won't show up in a photo, so I won't post it. However, I still like it a lot!
I hope everyone likes this, and I will post again soon!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

UPDATE 5/5/12:
I just came back from a bar mitzvah. There were some black lights flashing a bit, and the green polish glowed in the dark! It's technically not a glow-in-the-dark polish, but I just thought I'd share it...

I Heart You, Cupcake!

Hi everyone!
Yesterday I was very excited to do a cupcake nail design! I used my loveliest lilac color from Essence, appropriately named "a lovely secret", as a base. This beauty dried almost immediately and took only two coats. In fact, I finished most of the design within just half an hour.
I originally wanted to do just a cupcake on the index finger, but once I finished I realized how boring this looked. I decided to write a message: "I <3 you, cupcake!" I wrote "I" on the thumb, "<3" on the index finger, "u" on the middle finger, the cupcake on the ring finger, and the exclamation point on the pinky!
This is how it turned out:

It's a bit hard to see the thumb, but you get the idea...
I didn't put a top coat on this, since it tends to smudge nail art designs a bit. The pink polish I used was Simple Pleasures' pink polish. China Glaze's I'm with the lifeguard is the green color, Sinful Colors' Snow Me White is the white frosting, Essie's Turquoise and Caicos is the color used for the sprinkles, and Claire's red polish is the cherry!
I hope you like this design, and a new one will be coming soon (either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday)! Also, I will soon be unveiling my brand-new organization system for my polishes. Keep reading for more info!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3