A Variety From Lucky 13 Lacquers

As I mentioned earlier, I recently got my haul from Lucky 13 Lacquers so I present some of the manicures that I've had over the last few weeks. Due to my violin lessons, I can't really grow my nails out anymore which makes me a bit sad since there isn't a lot of surface area to work with. However, violin lessons are going well and nail polishes are fun to work with. With that being said, here are some of the manicures!

All Lucky 13 Lacquer manicure: Two coats of  "Wibbly
Wobbly Timey Wimey", one coat of "Faerie Wings," and
two coats of "Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?."

"Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey" is one of my favourites (even though I couldn't quite get a shot of the moons and stars in this lacquer). I love the deep blue hues and it works great on it's own. To temper down the shine I decided to toss on a coat of "Faerie Wings" which is a flakie nail polish (you can't really see it as it was hard to capture but it is gorgeous and happens to be the bottle I am holding in the picture above). I decided to throw on two coats of "Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?" but was sadly unable to get a picture of it glowing. It was awesome.

Two coats of Sinful Colors "Let Me Go" and one coat of
Lucky 13 Lacquers "Ragdoll."

I decided to go with a very light gray base for this manicure as it was a homage to Sally. Truth be told I should have gone with a slightly darker gray but lesson learned. Overall, I think it is a great representation of Sally since it executes her dress well.

Two coats of Sinful Colors "Let's Talk" and  two coats of
Lucky 13 Lacquers "Zelda."

This is one of my favourites because every time I looked at it, I feel like I found new colours in Zelda. The purple square glitter matched the Sinful Colors perfectly so it kind of faded away except for moments in the sun where I'd get this bright purple. The gold glitter was predominant but I had completely forgotten about the rainbow flecks which meant that when I was in the sun I could see so many different hints (red, especially) which made it so much fun.

Two coats of Zoya "Ibiza" and two coats of Lucky 13
Lacquers "Oh Yes!" 

Oh Yes! is inspired by the Tenth Doctor's pinstripe suit; it's a brown jelly base with blue glitters (bars and squares). Zoya's Ibiza is a bit on the darker side so it was harder to capture the awesomeness that is this nail polish especially since the layering made it come off as dark brown. I tried to take two shots of it so there's a slight close up below.

Closeup of "Ibiza" and "Oh Yes!" 

Two coats of Urban Outfitters "Mystic" and
one coat of Lucky 13 Lacquers "Link."

I recently got the UO Mystic in a swap so pardon the thinness of it. It was a bit hard to work with -- while the flakies are great, they sometimes hinder this jelly. I do wish I threw on a third layer of it but I had a headache. Link looks fantastic pairs with this one; it's a clear base with emerald green, brown, gold, and blue glitters. Together they are great, even if the picture is not flattering (again, I blame the headache). 

Hues of Aquaria

I figured that while I was waiting on my "Last of the Time Lords" order from Lucky 13 Lacquer that I'd give the blend Aquaria a shot. Of the Humble Indie Bundle, there's just a few I haven't tried and Aquaria was one of them (the others being Cosmos and Machinarium. Aquaria is described by Lucky 13 Lacquers as "a light blue jelly base, fine copper square, and medium teal square glitters."

While Lucky 13 Lacquers has a lot of lovely nail polishes up, the Humble Indie Bundle nail polishes only seems to be available when the actual Humble Indie Bundle (for charity) goes up since a portion of the proceeds goes to the charity.

Two coats of Aquaria over two coats of
Sinful Colours "Let Me Go."

Sinful Colors "Let Me Go" (322) is a silvery colour that morphs between metallic green and lavender. The hue of blue in Aquaria accentuates those hints of purple and really makes a strong light blue.

Jelly Sandwich: Two coats of Zoya Frida, two coats
of Aquaria, and one final coat of the Zoya Frida.

 Zoya Frida (ZP640)  combined with Aquaria is a gorgeous "jelly sandwich" blend which kind of reminds me of being near the water. I think it would make a great Bioshock background for nails.

Two coats of e.l.f. Royal Purple and two coats of Aquaria.

I love the colour purple and for this blend, I like how that very light hints of blue in Aquaria accentuate the purple.

Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Going Green
and one coat of Aquaria.

In this "mix" the hint of blue jelly and teal squares somewhat disappears into the green -- which isn't too bad but you will have to depend on the copper squares to come through a lot more.

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Lucky 13 Lacquers are $8 a bottle however for this particular bottle, it is only sold in the HIB set. Both Sinful Colors and e.l.f. nail polishes costs ~$2. Zoya bottles costs $8.

More Halloween Manicures

Halloween is my favourite time of the year so I've been all about the simple manicures for this month (it is timed well with my latest nail polish haul). This week I did two and my boyfriend named the first one the "8-bit Lava" and the second is something I call "Halloween Night."

8-Bit Lava: Two coats of Sinful Colors Courtney Orange (30), two coats of Lucky 13 Lacquer Super Meat Boy, and one coat of Sinful Colors Black Crackle (1019). The Super Meat Boy nail polish has a red jelly base with small white square, and medium black hex glitter. The way the crackle dried exposes the white squares perfectly. At first I thought it looked like wood on a fire, but my boyfriend insists it has more of an 8-Bit Lava look -- hence the name.

This is the beginning of the Halloween Night manicure -- I wanted to test out sponging first. The base is two coats of China Glaze Bizarre Blurple (1137). I sponged on some of the Sinful Colors Courtney Orange (30) which didn't really show up so I decided to sponge on a bit of Milani Good Morning Sunshine (29). Overall, I loved the look of it and considered adding in stars but opted for another coat of nail polish instead.

I couldn't get a good shot of the end but I love the look of this one. The final coat is Lucky 13 Lacquer Cogs which is a light brown jelly with small copper square, medium gold, and large silver hex glitters. The copper squares look a bit orange in this manicure so it gives an interesting allusion to a night sky. (As I mentioned, the picture doesn't do it justice).

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You can get Sinful Colors at Target or Walgreens and the normal bottles costs ~$2. The Sinful Colors crackle costs ~$4. The China Glaze usually retails for about ~$5 but this particular bottle was part of a set (and I got this bottle as part of a makeup swap). Lucky 13 Lacquers are available online for $10 for a bottle. (but this particular bottle was part of a limited edition set).

A Glittery Take of Trine

Normally I try my best to refrain from the manicure posts but every once in a while I get really excited about some colour combination and I can't help myself. Usually I try to say something about the nail polish but then I start rambling and... well, if you're a subscriber to this blog, then you know.

Anyhow, you might have noticed in the Cinderella posts that I had a new manicure so I wanted to highlight a bit about the nail polish I was wearing. I'm a sucker for nail polish and one of the things I have a weakness for is filling my collection with cheap nail polish. After finding out that Lucky 13 lacquer had created a Humble Indie Bundle (the namesake) set and planned to donate 15% of the proceeds, I had to give in. 

For those unfamiliar with the concepts at play, there are two. One is the  actual Humble Indie Bundle, which is where a bunch of indie games are bundled and sold for whatever price you want to pay and you decide how you want the money split up. Now about the nail polish, it's by Kyoti who runs a nail polish blog and has her own lineup of polishes which are named Lucky 13 Lacquer. Basically, it's nerd nail polish which is awesome.

The picture above was a few hours after I completed the manicure and my feeble attempts to try to capture all the magnificent glitter in it. It's two coats of Lucky 13 Lacquer Trine over Sinful Colours Savage (950) and e.l.f. Royal Purple (no top coat). The pictures of my holding the Saint Valentine's Cream (which is hella old school) is 3 days after the intial manicure (which is amazing for me since manicures don't last more than 2 days tops for me).

Anyhow, I hope you take a look at the Trine colour or rather all of Lucky 13 Lacquer if you get the chance. The Trine is a "medium dark purple jelly base, small sky blue, and medium gold hex glitters" -- which basically means that it complements the blues and purples wonderfully.

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You can order e.l.f. nail polishes online for $2 each and you can find Sinful Colors at Walgreens for $1.99. Lucky 13 Lacquers are available online for $10 for a bottle.

Halloween Manicure

All Sinful Colors this time round: Courtney Orange (30) with every other nail painted with Pumpkin Spice (glitter, 1135), and all of them covered with Black Crackle (1019). Notice how the crackle dried in a odd format over the glitter nails (index finger and ring finger). It gives it an interesting look to see the glitter peek out from beneath the crackle.

Kara's Way: May Box (Continued)

The last two products in the May Box is the Native Touch products and the sunscreen from Beyond Coastal. The reasons why I didn't get to them as quickly as I normally would was because the Native Touch set is for a full pedicure and as for the sunscreen... well, I don't get much sun. For the other products that were in this box, you can check out my original post.

Native Touch Medicine Man Soap

Product Pricing: Regular size is $7.

Thoughts: As part of the pedicure, I think it's great -- it has a strong sage and cedar wood scent and overall feels great on the skin. I don't do pedicures that often anymore so let's switch gears. I'm a soap fanatic so I would never turn away a sample of soap. It is a little bit on the drying side so I do recommend having a nice moisturizer to go with it. 

Native Touch  Blue Corn Scrub

Product Pricing: Regular size is $20.

Thoughts: If you're doing the pedicure (or even a manicure) then this is the next step in the process and it is amazing. So the soap can be a little bit drying but the oils in this scrub add them all back in and make your skin feel amazing. I kind of didn't even want to move on to the third step (using the moisturizer) because it was so fantastic. 

Native Touch Rooting Bear Rub

Product Pricing: Regular size is $14.

Thoughts: Awesome... a fantastic salve or moisturizer. Whatever it is, it smells great and works extremely well. If you use it as the final step of a pedicure, then I highly recommend putting on socks to keep all that moisture in -- if you're doing a manicure, then grab some gloves. Given the shea butter, you can use this on your cuticles or even in your hair. This is a great multi-purpose three step system and I'm very happy that I got to try them out.

If you're feeling brave, the soap works really well on the face. The scrub on the other hand, which is great on the hands and feet is really not good on the face. I totally tried it and the sugar hurts -- so learn from my experiment (I knew it was going to hurt but I figured that I might as well try it). Remember to use the Thayers toner (or any other toner) as a follow-up and moisturize!

Beyond Coastal Daily Active Sunscreen
Product Pricing: 1 Oz (which is what you receive) is $6.
Thoughts: Let's be realistic, if you were looking up reviews for this sunscreen then you know that is SPF 15 and this is a huge criticism because most people will only put on higher SPF's because they expect to be in the sun and want something higher. So to be honest, I wasn't sure how or when I'd use this because if I were going to the beach of camping -- if I knew I was going to be in the sun then I'd grab my bottle of Ocean Potion SPF 50. A result of this meant that I needed to try something else -- I needed to try it for everyday use because that's basically what it's best for. The problem is that I live in San Francisco and the sun... well, the sun is mischievous. We did get a few days of sun so where I'd normally NOT wear SPF, I slathered this on. Overall, I think it's a good product for everyday use -- it is very moisturizing and feels good. Mine didn't have much of a scent so I can't comment on that. I will mention that Beyond Costal does have an Active Sunscreen SPF 30+. So if you liked the feel but wanted something higher, you have a choice.

Kiss Nail Dress

I saved this one for last especially since I was trying to give my nails a short break. One of the things that I like about these is that they are in essence stickers so you'd have to peel them off. Sure the nail might not like it much, but at least it's not as abrasive.

The one I received is called "Bodysuit" and it's basically a blend of pink, white, and purple with cheetah prints. Not quite in line with my taste but hey, I'd try it anyway. There are definitely a few others that I'd consider using depending on how these last throughout the week.

My nails were already cleaned off from before so I didn't need to prep them beforehand (preparation is basically cleaning your nails with alcohol or nail polish remover). This time round I didn't need to push back any cuticles or anything so I was all set to go.

The box comes with 28 strips that are contained in three sheets (and are plastic wrapped to assure they won't dry out before you can get to them). Originally when I went through them I was going to go for a pedicure, but felt that there would be too much shaping needed from me so since I was lazy (actually I was doing laundry so I didn't have the time to shape them properly) I just did a manicure. Overall, the selection at first, seemed quite slim as though there weren't exact matches to my nails. Turns out I was wrong, I was able to get through matching quickly and got the nail stickers on in 30 minutes.

But to me, that seemed kind of long. Let me explain that -- I tend to grab stickers or nail polish strips when I'm in a rush and I've come to know that I won't find exact matches of a nail and that the speed with which one can work depends on the tools that comes in the kit. This time, I had perfect matches (well, almost perfect) but the nail file took forever. It took a few swipes in order to get the excess off so what should have taken 10-15 minutes took a bit longer and required the use of a cuticle trimmer to get it done faster.

By the time I had to go switch my laundry from the washer to the dryer, my manicure was complete. But now since I needed to wait longer, I figured that since I had 17 stickers left (I played with one to see what it's stickiness level was) and that I now had the time to do a pedicure, why not? Shaping them took much longer because all the perfect fits probably went on my hand. As a result it took me about 45 minutes (hey, remember that I'm still doing laundry so it requires me to stop midway and run around my apartment and then the laundry room). 

Anyhow, long story short, the application process isn't so bad. It may require a bit of shaping in order to get both a manicure and a pedicure out of it, but not too bad. We'll see how they last throughout the week (or in my case, the next 2-3 days) but so far, I'm pretty happy with them. I do wish a better file was given in the pack, seriously that thing is weaksauce.

I wonder what I'm going to wear to match with these nails now...

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Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary through the VoxBox product testing program.

In Celebration of the Green

I've got no shamrocks to adorn my nails but when I was perusing the nail polishes, I just couldn't help but notice the small display from Sinful Colors that was dedicated to St. Patrick's Day. I just had to get the glitter one that was a mix of green and blue -- luckily I knew exactly what to pair it with back at home.

It's not a full manicure as I was in such a rush to share this. I'll clean it up a bit later on. Just for reference, the Going Green took two coats to achieve that colour and I only put one coat of the glitter. There you have it! I'll probably be experimenting with other base colours (I'm sure the glitter would look fantastic over black). The nail polishes used were Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Going Green (430) and Sinful Colors in Nail Junkie (927).

Also just to note, these nail polishes are from brands that I use every week so no review here necessary. I adore them and they've never failed me.

Update: Impress Manicure

On Thursday night of last week I decided to try out the Impress Manicure and sadly by Sunday night, I was annoyed with them (I'll explain) and took them off. I didn't think I could last a week, even though the packaging advertises that they can. Am I skeptical that they can last that long? Not really, I just didn't like how they fit.

Let me explain. After I made the original post, the next night the index finger on my right hand popped off. I didn't really make a big deal of it; they give you plenty of extras so I just put on a new one. The next day, the index finger on my left hand popped off and again I replaced it. But thinking about it, if I was dishes everyday where I'm exposed to hot water, then sure we could see a problem. But there was more. If I kept up like this, then I'd run out of extras especially if I need to replace a nail a day. I kept them on anyway but that created a dent in my experience with them and it only got a bit more negative from there.

By day two the edges were worn down and the paint was receding. The gap between the nail and my cuticle seemed to widen (though it probably wasn't) however it was only noticeable by me because after trying to wash my hair, it just kept getting caught under the nail with the glue. Plus having to replace two nails meant that I couldn't quite get the same size so they weren't covering my nail properly. Add to that they just felt really obvious.

Now I've worn fake nails before and while I know it's been a while, although I was impressed by them for a short period of time, for the long haul I didn't think they'd be that good. I think they are great if you need to get your nails done quickly (or on the go) but on a day-to-day basis I don't know if they could hold up well.

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Product: Impress Manicure by Broadway in Holla!
Price: $7.99
Would Recommend? With caution.
Takeaway: Easy to apply and great if you're on the go; the only catch I can see to this is that you should have short nails as they are pretty short themselves. They do not seem as though they can last throughout a week, especially if you do household cleaning.

Review: Impress Manicure

Last week in midst of a cleaning frenzy, I broke out the bleach but forgot to do two key things. One was that I neglected to use my rubber gloves and second was that I didn't dilute the bleach. Now if you've ever worked with bleach, generally speaking you work as quickly as possible. Which I did, but my nails suffered for it. Generally I grow out my nails but thanks to my error, I set them back by a week or two. Basically I weakened my nails and figured that since they were short, it's about time I tried press on nails. Especially since I assume they wouldn't be as damaging as standard manicures.

Anyhow, I tried out the Impress Manicure by Broadway because I've heard great things. Plus, they have really cute designs. When I ran over to my local drugstore knowing that I was going to pick up a pack of them, I also sprang for a cuticle pusher since I didn't have one in my collection (and I also knew that the package probably wouldn't have one). I bought a simple plastic one (pictured on the left above) for 99¢ rather than the pack of bamboo cuticle pusher or one made of metal.

As for the Impress Manicure, I bought myself the (D030) Holla! which is a glittery peach (though a demure peach) with black lace. Upon closer inspection, one can make out flowers and butterflies in the lace pattern. I'm a sucker for lace (as evidenced by when I got the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Laced Up [but that is for another time]) but what I love about this one is that you can actually make out the lace and still see the underlying colours. It's a gorgeous take on the lace look -- even my boyfriend remarked that it had a steampunk look because it looked so defined.

My general feel about the nails? Well, I've been wearing them for a day so I haven't had the full experience just yet (the packaging boasts that it can last up to a week) but here's some preliminary observations.

This is best on short nails as they are pretty short themselves. Application is incredibly easy: clean your nails (no nail polish), then use the prep pad to clean off your nails, and then apply the nails.

Yep, that simple. Just peel off the backing and apply. Hold them down for a few seconds and that's it. No hassle. They were on and good to go within 15 minutes. They aren't cumbersome and for the most part the cover the nails well. On my left hand there's only one nail that wasn't fully covered (but it's not very noticeable) and on my right hand there's about four nails that don't quite fit (but also not noticeable).

The thing that does strike me as odd is that they are a bit raised so even though on my ring finger it fits perfectly it does look a bit off since it's raised. In a way, it kind of reminds me of a gel manicure and the need to get them filled in where they meet the cuticle.

Given the nature of the sticky glue, I don't imagine it being as strong as normal nail glue. And of course, I was right; when I press on something with the nail, I can feel it pushing back toward my cuticle. So I do have a sneaky suspicion that they might snap off, I still do have a few remainders so I can easily replacement. It hasn't gotten to that, but I am prepared just in case.

I should have an update about them and how long they last in about a week!
UPDATE POST: Impress Manicure

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Product: Impress Manicure by Broadway in Holla!
Price: $7.99
Would Recommend? With caution.
Takeaway: Easy to apply and great if you're on the go; the only catch I can see to this is that you should have short nails as they are pretty short themselves. They do not seem as though they can last throughout a week, especially if you do household cleaning.