Lacquer by Lissa - Evergreen Tree Vinyl Nail Decals

Press Sample

     Hey, babes! I'm just popping in today to let you know I'm still alive and well. December has been jam packed with personal issues for me. I'm so, so sorry for the lack of posts. January will be better. I promise! 

     Today's post is a simple look that I wore for a holiday sale I had at work. Everyone loved it! I haven't had much time for my nails, so this easy look was perfect. 

Lynnderella - Connect the Dots

     Hey, babes! I spent some time shortening my nails last night after looking back at my Lumina Lacquer Mucking Rainbows look I posted yesterday. While I was at it, I decided to revisit two of my most used polishes. It's been quite a while since I've used these. I actually think this was the last time.  They're perfect for once another. Don't miss out on all the details! 

Chaos & Crocodiles - Pi R Squared

     Chaos & Crocodiles is a new to me indie. I've seen others post about the brand, but I never really cared for them. I definitely judge a book by its cover; I didn't like the old bottles. C&C recently changed over to a square bottle with a sleeker and cuter label. I'M IN LOVE WITH THIS LOOK. I was lucky enough to score two polishes during the last restock. I'm usually terrible with them. 

     If you want to see more of this perfect circle glitter topper, stay tuned! It's a stunner.

Essie Naughty Nautical Summer 2013 Collection

            Just a disclaimer about today's post: I'm sick. I have a summer cold and haven't left the couch today. If I make some grammatical errors or something doesn't make sense, it's not my fault. Blame it on this stupid cold. Writing this post will be the most productive thing I've done all day. Well, besides watching Disney's Hercules and ordering a new checks. (I picked a Monster, Inc theme this time.) I may or may not have done some online shopping, too. 

            I swatched this collection a few days ago, and fell in love with these polishes. I have five of the six colors available. I passed on the light blue; I'm just not much of a light blue fan. I couldn't see myself reaching for it and decided to leave it behind. 

Swatches and review are after the jump...

Simple Chevron Nail Art

          Last night, I needed a palate cleanser. While going through my polish, I decided on OPI My Vampire Is Buff. You can see my review of the polish here. I was so tired after working 37 hours in three days that I nearly fell asleep while waiting for it to dry. I don't know why I even attempted to change my polish. Fast forward 11 hours. (Yes, I slept for 11 hours.) I woke up to a hot mess. It wasn't a pretty site. I decided to clean it up and add something to it.

Check out all the details  under the cut...

Lynnderella: Angel Food

          Pink shimmery glittery goodness. Lynnderella Angel Food is just that. After all the swatching I've done in the last few days, I needed a palette cleanser. Here's the result.

 Two Coats Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy

Two Coats Lynnderella Angel Food

Two Coats Seche Vite

Check out all the details under the cut...

Teal Jelly Sandwich

          Last night on the Plump and Polished Facebook Fan Page, I asked what my next manicure should be. I only received a few answers, but it was worth a shot. Jelly Sandwich was the winner. I haven't done one of these in months. In the polish world, a jelly sandwich is a manicure with a sheer jelly polish layered over a glitter. When layering the two, the glitter looks like it's floating in a squishy sea of goodness. 

One Coat Essie Go Overboard

Two Coats Lynnderella Connect the Dots

One Coat Zoya Frida 

One Coat Seche Vite

Be sure to check out the details and other pictures under the cut.

Liquid Lacquer - Find Your Own Merman

     Today's post is brought to you by a lovely indie polish from Liquid Lacquer. Melissa, the genius behind this indie, is great! All of her polishes are well thought out and limited edition. She does everything in small, custom blended batches. This creation is called Find Your Own Merman and she only made 6 bottles. I was lucky enough to snag one. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of rearranging my polish room and my light box isn't set up right now. Hopefully, these pictures will suffice.

Find Your Own Merman: Two-ish coats over two coats of Essie Mojito Madness.

One coat of Seche Vite.

     Find Your Own Merman is a great mix of medium, small, and tiny hexes in light, medium, and dark blue, green, and pale gold. The base is clear with a faint blue shimmer. Oh, and the big green circle glitters! BIG. GREEN. CIRCLES. How awesome are they? 

     The application was great. I said this was two-ish coats because the big circles were a bit hard to get out of the bottle. I think it could be from the weight of them. They were worth looking for! I was surprised by how flat they were on the nail. One coat of Seche Vite did the trick to give this a glossy and super smooth finish. 

     Liquid Lacquer is currently setting up a Big Cartel shop. It'll be open on February 1st with some great new polishes! Be sure to check it out.

Essie Butler Please and Glitzology Crunch Berries

     When I was headed out the door for work this morning, I saw a package sitting near my front door. (My mailman stops by super early. I know you're all jealous!) I received an awesome RAOK aka a random act of kindness from a lovely lady I met in a nail polish group. Courtney sent me Essie's Butler Please and Tart Deco along with a ton of great goodies. I couldn't wait to get home tonight to give Butler Please a try.

     Essie Butler Please is a stunning bright primary blue. This is part of the 2012 winter collection. I usually don't care for blue polish, but that's changing. I've been looking for a polish like this, and it's the perfect addition to my collection. 

     The formula was great! This is two easy coats with top coat. Dry time was quick, but it did dry a bit one the dull size. I honestly can't believe I've fallen in love with a blue polish. 

     Because we all know I can't leave well enough alone...

     I had to try out Glitzology Crunch Berries over this! As you can tell, I'm really into Glitzology polish right now. Crunch Berries is a mix of yellow, red, and blue matte and satin glitter hexes and squares. I originally ordered this for the name alone; Crunch Berries happen to be Mr. P&P's favorite cereal.

     The formula for this glitter was on point. I used two thin coats and two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out. I'm a bit heavy handed on top coat. I really like the glassy look of floating glitters. 

      What's your favorite blue? I think might be at the top of my list right now.

12 Days of Christmas: Day Two Penguin

     This month is flying by already! For any of you who work in retail, I'm sure you can relate. It's just going to get worse the closer we get to Christmas.

     Today's nail art challenge is penguins! Who doesn't love penguins? If you don't, I don't want to know you. Penguins are one of my favorite animals to see at the zoo. They're such funny little birds.

     For this look, I started with a base of Essie Leading Lady, a dark red jelly filled with red glitter. By itself, it's gorgeous. Two coats delivered full coverage. Clean up was easy and the red didn't stain me as so many do. 

     These cute little guys were easy to make. I started by making the body with a simple brush stroke using Cult Nails Nevermore. After that, I used a large dotting tool to make the face and belly with Wet N Wild White Creme. The eyes, beak, and feet were also made with dotting tools. For the yellow, I used Cult Nails Feel Me Up. For the orange, I used Essie Fear or Desire. I finished it up with a coat of Seche Vite.

     After I had already removed this, I thought about adding a scarf or hat. I'm pretty upset that I didn't think of it beforehand! If I replicate this later on, I'll definitely dress them up. 

Lynnderella Ghost of a Chance

     I wanted to title this "On Wednesdays We Wear Pink," but I'm a few days late for that. I actually wore this earlier this week and received many compliments on it. I don't typically wear pink. 

     Essie Off The Shoulder is my go to bubble gum pink. It's a bright, hot pink with cool undertones. It doesn't give me lobster hands, and I think it works well for all seasons. Bubble gum pink is timeless, right? The formula on this is perfect. I love Essie cremes. This one went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats. 

      As an accent, I added Lynnderella Ghost of a Chance to my thumb and ring finger. Ghost of a Chance is filled with translucent white and pastel glitters in a sheer and shimmery base with a sprinkling of rainbow glitter.

      Ghost of a Chance was a little thick for my liking. I only used one coat for this look. It required a bit of dabbing to spread out the glitter. When I first applied the polish, the white squares were all on top of one another. 

Essie Where's My Chauffeur

     A few of you have asked for some clean up tips and tricks. Today, I have a little step by step for MY routine. By no means am I saying this is the end all and be all of polish application. This is how I do my own nails. Other techniques might work better for you.

     I used cuticle remover and an orange stick not too long, so I skipped that part today. I typically use it every week or so. I keep my nippers around to snag any stray skin. Do NOT remove your entire cuticle with nippers. It's far too easy to trim them too short and cause damage. Plus, who likes the feeling of acetone on an open wound? Not me. 

     I've been using Nailtiques Formula 2 for about a month. It's not too bad, but I prefer Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator. My nail beds are quite small and I have a lot of free edge. I think this could be the result of biting my nails as a child, and then having acrylics for nearly 5 years. It wasn't until a year ago that I started caring about my natural nails. The pictures below are one coat of Nailtiques as a base after using Zoya Remove+ to clean the nail plate.

     After allowing the base to dry, I applied my first coat of Essie Where's My Chauffeur. The first coat wasn't too bad. I was expecting a streaky mess. (Don't mind the scratch in the bottom left corner of the full hand picture. My dear cat, Ralphie, doesn't know how to retract his claws, and he got me last night.)

There's plenty more under the cut...

Cult Nails Charming

     Today's polish is Charming from Cult Nails. I've had this on my wishlist since the Fairy Tale Collection first popped up. I'm a sucker for purple polish! My wonderful secret swap partner gifted this beauty to me.

     On the Cult Nails Blog, Charming is described as  "a sheer purple creme with a purple metallic shimmer that can be used for layering or you can use multiple coats for an opaque look."  I'm  not sure I would consider this a creme. It's more of a sheer jelly polish with a purple/blue/pink shimmer. It has such a glowing and squishy feel to it.

     When I first went to apply this polish, I noticed it was much more sheer than expected. Before I made the dreaded mistake of VNL (visible nail line), I opted to back up and add some underwear. The swatches below are two coats over one thin coat of Essie Play Date. I added a coat of Seche Vite to top it off.