Poker Nails

**Press sample**

Look at me.... Blogging again!

Charlie's Nail Art sent me a few nail art bits to try and here are some cute little poker cards. These are actually quite thin so I think that you could even press them down to make them flatter.


I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover as a base and then used a nail art pen to draw on the dollar signs (which my bloody China Glaze top coat smudged!)

You can purchase these and like tons of other nail art bits from Charlie's Nail Art HERE 

Where have I been?

Hello everyone!!

You may have noticed I have been missing for a while now. I have actually still been doing nails and taking photos but I abandoned the blog for a bit. I found writing up posts to be such a pain and really time consuming so I switched to just using Instagram.

Here is just some of what you might have missed if you dont follow me on Instagram....

I do hope to be posting here again soon, watch this space! 

Please join me over on instagram to all my latest work just search @lifeinlacquer 

or by following this LINK

see you all soon!

OMG nail strips review

*PRODUCT SAMPLE, PLEASE SEE DISCLOSURE FOR DETAILS*



Howdy!
Can you believe Christmas is over? Its been a whole month since I blogged last but it seems like forever ago.

I was sent these nails strips a while ago from OMG Nail Strips. I do apologise for taking an age to get them up but life sometimes gets in the way, especially over the festive period!

To hear my honest thoughts on these please join me after the JUMP!

Gross Halloween Pustule Nails!

Hahah yes you read that right! Today I saw THESE nails by The Daily Nail and had to give it a go!

I don't know if these are more wart type nails or pustule nails but they reek of Halloween!

For all the details and more gross pictures, join me after the jump! 

Cadillacquer Seek the Fire with Stamping

A quick and simple mani today using one of my favourite brands, Cadillacquer.

Cadillacquer polishes are so unique and I love pretty much all of them. They have colour combinations you wouldn't necessarily put together but always look good. My fave indie polish of all time, Masterpiece, is made by Cadillacquer.

Water Marble Nail Art Decals

I feel so proud of myself right now! After 5 hours of practise I finally got water marbling to work for me!

I sat at my table last night and and just messed around with the polishes I had, I also got some great advice from Tracey from Bite No More. I found that my Essie polishes worked best and that's what I used to create this look.
The main thing that has put me off marbling in the past is the mess. It looked so much hassle and so much clean up. Then I saw @yagala on instagram making a water marble decal and I knew I had to try it! @Yagala also has a YouTube channel which you can see HERE 

For loads more pictures and all the details, join me after the jump!

Fantasy Stamping Nail Art

Yay, nail mail day!
I have finally received some, not all, of my stamping plates. I ordered these about 3 weeks ago from Aliexpress.
I don't mind waiting when they are this cheap mind you and the ones I have tried so far stamp perfectly well.

Today I have a nail art featuring plate KD27. I think this might be a cheaper version of a more expensive plate? This plate picked up perfectly fine, I had no problems at all :)

To see what I created please join me after the jump!

Moyra Beatrice with rose nail art

Meet Beatrice, another gel look polish by Moyra. As you may already know I really like Moyra polishes. They have a wider brush, fantastic formula and they are a bargain!

As I said this is a gel look polish so is supposed to be more shiny. Usually I topcoat all my mani's but today I haven't so you can see that it is in fact a little more shiny. Only a little mind you!

More details and pictures after the page break. Click read more, to well, read more! 

Suzi's Hungary Again with Glitter Zebra Nail Art

Hello my lovelies! Are you all having a great week?
Its nearly time for my son to start school for the very first time so I am feeling a bit stressed here.

Today I have another simple nail art for you! A bit of zebra, an untried OPI and a glitter nail art pen are the focus of today's post.

More after the jump! 

O.P.I Gradient and Stamping Nail Art

I recently bought some new O.P.I and thought I would do a little nail at with them!

I haven't bought any newer O.P.I's in a while but when I saw these lovely shades I just had to! I am in love in corals and pinky shades at the mo, which is strange as I used to hate orange or pink shades with a passion. I think I may have turned into a girl.


For this subtle gradient I used Sorry I am Fizzy Today and Live Love Carnival. Sorry I Am Fizzy Today doesn't have a great formula unfortunately. Its streaky and hard to apply and took three coats and I still wasn't happy, but I am willing to forgive as I LOVE this shade. It is unlike any other pinks I have.

They may look quite similar shades in my photos but as you can see in the bottle shot they really are different.
I then added some stamping using a MoYou stamping plate. Its an abstract design that reminds me of something you would see on an fabric from the 1980/1990's.

What do you think of this nail art? Have you tried any of these O.P.I shades?

Pastel Lines Nail Art

I haven't had a chance to do any nail art in a little while so here is one I did just after the Life in Lacquer July Challenge.My laptop broke and I have only just got a replacement and now comes the painstaking task of installing all my files again etc....


As you can see my nails are still square shaped in this nail art, what nail shape do you prefer?

This type of lined nail art is very simple to do and all you need is a small brush and some acrylic paint or some nail polish. I chose to do a triangular shape and then I just got a bit carried away!

I used KBShimmer Iris My Case and Moyra Limoncello. I painted the pattern using some Oumaxi acrylic paint. This paint is quite thin but it is easy to use.

I am not totally happy with this, the pattern looks streaky and off centre. But I quite like the colour combination. I love KBShimmer, I have never met a shade that I don't like.

Hopefully I will be back into posting regularly soon and Ill get a hang of this new laptop and sucky Windows 8!

Marcus Manis- Stained Glass

Today we have another mani from Marcus.

For people who are not regular readers of the blog or for Life in Lacquer newbies, Marcus is my father in law and also an artist. He comes around every now and then and paints my nails!!

I will be making a proper page for Marcus soon (which will be found above the main Life in Lacquer logo) so you can see all his nail art in one place. 

Today we wanted to do a mosaic effect nail art. Marcus loves mosaics and often makes mosaics with found items. You can take a look at his web page here 

Marcus used a white base and then various polishes to create this look. He then used black acrylic paint to outline the shapes. 

I am so sorry I didn't make a note of which polishes he used! 

We then matted it with Mentality Matte topcoat. 

What do you think? 

It really reminds me of beautiful stained glass!

Life in Lacquer Challenge:INSPIRED BY ANOTHER NAIL ARTIST OR BLOGGER

Ill start of by apologising. I am really late on this prompt but I do have a good excuse I swear!!

As you can see we have had a big change here at Life in Lacquer.... We are now a dot com! This is a big step for me and its really made me feel quite accomplished!
I also have a fantastic new layout courtesy of Shiny Magic. They are so reasonably priced and was really easy to install.

Okay so back to the last prompt of the Life in Lacquer July Challenge. I chose one of my fave bloggers Let Them Have Polish.
She did a fantastic look called Rainbow Ombre and she also made a tutorial. All of which can be found on her original post.

Here's my take...

I used the exact method she did my following her YouTube tutorial. 

The colours I chose are bright so to me it looks a bit like a galaxy nail art! 

The shades I used were

Moyra Bubblegum Limoncello 622

Moyra 102

China Glaze Electric Beat 

OPI Pink Friday 

Manhattan 67N

Essie Mojito Madness

CND Vinylux Cream Puff (base) 

I used Sick Lacquers Pastel Fusion over the top to give it some glitz. This bottle is not pictured in the bottle shot (I forgot, sorry!)

I then matted it all using Mentality Matte Top Coat. I love this topcoat and the effect it gives. 

The clean up wasn't great as I got it everywhere, but I am still happy with the look. I also found Let Them Have Polishes video really easy to follow. 

So what do you think of this nail art? 

Also what are your thoughts on the new look? There's more to come with the look so its a work in progress.

Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge July: FLORAL

After a little faux pas on monday, some of you may have already seen these! I was sat in my car looking at lions in Longleat when my twitter went a bit mental as I had published the wrong post DUH!

Today's prompt is Floral... I decided to give one stroke another go.I wanted to do something very feminine so decided to use pink and of course some glitter!

A couple days ago I bought the Cupcakes and Champagne collection by Ruby Wing from a nail friend only and I couldn't resist using one!
If you didn't know the collection of polishes are all scented and they change in the sunlight!
The scent is strong even with a topcoat on, its divine!

For this look I used Essie Neo Whimsical and Color Club Strawberry Shortcake. The roses are painted using some acrylic paint.

My one stroke still needs loads of work and my middle finger is the worst but I do still like the look of this nail art and I am pretty proud of the results.

You can see the other challenge entries below and please go and give them a view. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge: BLUE featuring Video Tutorial

Another #lifeinlacquerjuly mani. How are you all liking the challenge so far? I hope your enjoying seeing others work on my Instagram!

Ive been totally overwhelmed by all the people taking part! I thought no one would so I am sooo happy you are all joining me on this!

Today is another very broad prompt...Blue. 

I chose to get my Nail Stickrs out for this one. Maybe it would have been more suited to the Geometric prompt but oh well :)

AND theres a couple videos to accompy this too! Im getting there with the whole video thing. I still find them quite hard and awkward to film but I am getting there. 

Again these are fast so I can put them on Instagram. Do you think I should make longer versions for Youtube? 

Here is how I did the gradient.....

 

And here is how I used the Nail Stickrs to create a sponge chevron.


I hope the videos go a little way in showing you how I did this look.
I am really interested to know what you think about them so please do let me know.

For this look I used Essie Butler Please, Avenue Maintain and Sweet Talker. I also used Moyra 304 on the chevron nail. 

All of this was one ontop of a white base

And then of course it needed some bling! These beautiful metal star charms are from Effect Beauty. I love them! They are slightly curved so fit to the nail really well unlike other flat charms, plus you get a decent amount for your money.

Soooo what do you think? Please check out the other blog entries from Life in Lacquer July below!

An InLinkz Link-up

**some of the products featured were sent to me as press samples. All opinions are my own**

Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge:INSPIRED BY TV OR FILM

Today's prompt is Inspired by TV or Film

This one took a lot of thinking!
I had so many ideas but I thought I would go with a TV program I have watched for years and years...

Eastenders, if you aren't aware, is a British soap that runs four days a week on the BBC. I chose to try and recreate the title image.....

Taken from Wikipedia. 

I obviously simplified it down alot. 

I used a base of Manhattan 106K and OPI Nein Nein Nein Okay Fine. I used my usual sponge splodging. I then added Dont Mess With OPI by OPI for bits of greenery.
I used acrylic paint to paint and highlight the Thames and create London Dome. Yes that white circle is supposed to be The Dome.... I told you I simplified it LOL


What do you think? Do you watch Eastenders? You can find out more about Eastenders HERE

An InLinkz Link-up

Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge:FOOD

Its here! The first day of my nail art challenge! Ive never done one before so excited to see everyones work :)

The first prompt is food. I was going to do some stamping but thought I would do hand painting insted!

These are my first ever strawberry nails and I am pretty happy at how they turned out :)

For the main body of the strawberry I actualy used two reds. I used 04M and 06M both by Manhattan. You cant really see the two tones. 

I then handpainted the leaves and seeds using acrylic paint and a very thin brush by Moyra.

Topped it all off with one coat of topcoat. 

My clean up looks a bit rubbish but the red was a nightmare! Sorry!

What do you think? To see more please search for the #lifeinlacquerjuly and remember to upload your pics to our FACEBOOK

An InLinkz Link-up

Lightening Nail Art using Nail Stickrs

A quick, simple and easy nail art today!

This look is so easy to do all you need is two polishes and some nail vinyl stencils. These ones are from Nail Stickrs.
Nail Stickrs are an American based brand but they ship to the UK for about £1.50 ish so very reasonable! I also happen to know that they have some very exciting new styles coming soon!



I used Moyra 602 and Jasmines Wish (853). Jasmines Wish is a stunning textured polish. A teal with a golden glitter effect.

I have really tried to get this colour as accurate as possible, it was a pain to photograph! 

Doesn't it look like a Drusy?!

Its formula is great. Cover fantastically in 2 coats and of course you don't need top coat! 

I love pairing textured polishes with ordinary ones!

What do you think of this? 

Nail Stickrs are available from Here. Moyra has a brand new website Yay!! You can find it Here.

Press sample. Some of these products were sent for my honest review. 

Guest Post on Nail Parade.

Today I am over on the Nail Parade with a guest blog post.

The post features my first ever pictorial. Yay!

What do you think?

You can see the post and check out Rach's other art using THIS link! 

Tropical Flower Nail Art

Can I just say a massive thanks to all the lovely comments (espically on Facebook and IG) in regards to my recent one stroke nail art! I didn't think it was that good actually but its my most liked picture on Instagram! YAY! 

Inspired by that I tried one stroke again... and kind of failed.

This nail art was inspired by the lovely Gemma Lambert. She does a flower similar (but better) to the one on my middle finger in a youtube video for Naio Nails. You can see the video HERE

The middle finger isn't sooo bad but the ring finger isn't that good. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere!
I wanted to do Hibiscus flowers as this China Glaze shade is such a summer colour! Its Aztec Orange and is an orange leaning red, pretty much identical to Red Light Ahead, Where? by OPI. 
I love coral shades right now but this is pretty much red. The coverage isn't great and the picture shows 3 coats and topcoat. Its more of a jelly so even with three coats you can still see my nail line. BUT I love this shade, bring on the summer I say!
I again used the Moyra (vamp) one stroke brush and cheap acrylic paints from The Works.

What do you think of this attempt?