The Lacquer Ring Archives - Of Life and Lacquer

Category: The Lacquer Ring

Of Life and Lacquer > The Lacquer Ring

The Lacquer Ring – Neon Pink

Posted on 10 March, 2016 by Cynthia

Ok guys. I really tried to do a super cute manicure for The Lacquer Ring today, but things just didn’t work out. You know how you get pulled into watching a bunch of nail videos and you think to yourself: “That looks so easy! I could do that!” And then you try it and it ends up looking like your spastic pet chihuahua did your nails? Yeah, that was me last night. Hey, at least I still posted my neon pink base–give me at least some points for that. Let me show you the neon pink that I chose for today’s prompt:

This beauty is Sation Shock Me Twice Pink. This color is so damn neon that it looks radioactive and is truly a bitch to photograph accurately. The actual color is darker in real life but because of the way it glows, it looks lighter in my pictures. This color also has shimmer in it which just makes it look even more awesome. It does dry to a matte finish, so use a shiny top coat if you prefer a glossy finish. By the way, I am still wondering what happened to the Sation brand. They were putting out so many awesome collection and then POOF: radio silence. I wish we had gotten some sort of announcement because I was a super fan. Oh well.

Sorry that’s all you get for my neon pink mani–I swear next time I’ll post my fail no matter how bad it is. Baby watch is still going strong over here so I’ll be sure to let you know when he arrives. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

The Lacquer Ring – Watermarble

Posted on 24 September, 201523 September, 2015 by Cynthia

Today I will start my post with an apology the my fellow bloggettes from The Lacquer Ring: I am sorry I chose watermarble as our prompt this month. I truly am sorry because I also had a hell of a time doing a proper watermarble. I attribute my trouble to the weather because last week it was hotter than Satan’s nutsack in a leotard. I made 4 attempts at doing a presentable watermarble to share with you guys today, but it just did not work out. I basically gave up at my 4th attempt and you will be seeing the results shortly. I don’t think I will be doing another watermarble while the heat is still torturing us. Anyway, let me show you my pitiful watermarble…

The clean up was a bitch because I kept getting air bubbles at the cuticle area so the gap next to the cuticle is larger than I would normally like. I used two KBShimmer cremes for this watermarble because KBShimmer is awesome for watermarbling due to the creaminess and pigmentation. I’m almost embarrassed to post this, but I could not pass on posting today since I tortured everyone else with my prompt.

So what have you been up to? Anything cool? Well, I hope you’re doing well. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to check out the other watermarbles below. Talk to you soon!

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Holographic Blue

Posted on 13 August, 201512 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Sometimes I get nostalgic about brands or polishes that are no longer around, so when I was riffling through my melmers, I started going through my Sephora by OPI Collection. I remember when everyone was going bananas for Metro Chic way back in 2008/2009. At that time, I wasn’t really into nail polish but I remember trying to pick it up at Sephora, but it was constantly out of stock. I became so annoyed with this that I ended up not getting it until a few years later. Once I really got into nail polish around 2010, I started collecting polishes from this line. I always felt that the quality of this line was really good (duh! OPI), so I was sad to see it discontinued. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been that obsessed with the Formula X polishes that Sephora put out. I mean, they are good quality but they haven’t caught my attention much, but I’ll still purchase a bottle here and there. I decided to use one of my favorite shades from the discontinued line for today’s The Lacquer Ring post which centers around holographic blue.

Sephora by OPI Slushied is a gorgeous shade that was part of the Glee Collection. The formula on it is a little thin so I had to appy 3 coats for full opacity. If you want this same color with a more opaque formula, you can try OPI Roadhouse Blues.

For the holographic part of the prompt, I used some large chevron vinyls to outline the design with Layla Ocean Rush. I don’t know about you, but Layla holo polishes don’t last on me at all unless I put them over a base color like this.

So what do you think about this mani? I think it’s pretty simple, but I really like the way it turned out. I hope your week is going well and yay for it almost being the weekend again!! Thanks so much for the visit, and I will catch up with you soon.

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Under The Sea

Posted on 23 July, 201522 July, 2015 by Cynthia

I bet you’re surprised to see that I did NOT flake out on today’s The Lacquer Ring post, right? I feel like I kind of cheated on this post because I didn’t put a lot of thought into it like I wanted to. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in complicated ideas that end up bombing out big time. Today’s prompt is “Under The Sea” and of course all I could think of was…

I’m sure that I’m not the only one that ADORES The Little Mermaid. So for my manicure, I decided to start out with a minty green polish that reminded of me seafoam.

This is two coats of KBShimmer Mint-al Vacation (press sample) which is a gorgeous minty shade with some holographic particles. This is a more faint linear holo, but you really won’t be able to see it except under certain lighting. Still, it’s gorgeous.

And here is the lazy part: I used MoYou London Sailor Collection Plate 07 (press sample) and my Konad White polish to stamp these sea-inspired images. Even though I kind of took the lazy way out, I think these turned out super cute.

So what do you think about this mani? Don’t forget to check out the other manis from my girls below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Metals

Posted on 9 July, 2015 by Cynthia

If you know me, you know that I groaned when I saw that the prompt for today’s The Lacquer Ring post is Metals. UGH! I hate metallic polishes 99% of the time (with very few but very notable exceptions), but I realized I had the perfect polish to try out today since it is fairly new and was sitting unswatched in my polish pile of shame. Let me show you what I came up with.

This OPI Centennial Celebration which is part of a new duo that was added to the OPI Coca Cola Collection from last year. One more silver, OPI? Is silver becoming the new red at OPI? I guess I wouldn’t mind it so much if I liked silver but I really don’t son blaaarrghhh. The formula on this is rather thin but it builds up really well, and it’s not the most brush-strokey thing out there. Please excuse my bad pictures. I had so much drama with my freaking camera and my skin looks kind of odd. I am having a lot of gastro-intestinal problems so I’m beyond dehydrated. I know, TMI.

And then I decided to add metal…on metal? I rarely use studs like this but I figured this would be the perfect time. I feel like I did such a lazy manicure but I think it actually looks kinda neat. I was going to do some chevron stuff, but I literally could not spend another second on my nails tonight. I am resolving to clear out and post all of my drafts so wish me luck with that one!

So what have you been up to lately? I’m just off in lala land it seems. I need to get on my nail game, but it’s been frustrating lately so I’m just kinda taking a step back–or so I have been saying for the last few months. ha! Regardless, I am glad I have my girls to keep me updated on what’s going on in the nail blogosphere. Don’t forget to check out the other metals inspired manis below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Baby Blue

Posted on 14 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Oh boy…how do I explain a month-long absence? Well, I am not going to try to–at least not in this post. I can tell you that I have tons of swatches that I will be getting up in the next couple of weeks. I know that I still haven’t picked a winner for my last giveaway so thank you all for your patience–I will pick one this weekend, I promise! Anyway, I am posting today with my gals from The Lacquer Ring and today is Lesley’s choice: Baby Blue. I really wasn’t expecting Lesley to choose such a delicate color but I’m glad that she did because it gave me a chance to pull out one of my favorite light blues in the whole wide world.

This is Jessica Barely Blueberry from the amazing Gelato Mio! Collection. I applied 3 thin coats for full opacity–isn’t it pretty?!

I didn’t want to just show you a blue swatch so I added a thick coat of OPI Muppets World Tour (press sample) and ended up matttifying it all with a coat of OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample). It kind of looks icy…it reminds me of a snow cone for some reason. Is that weird?

It feels good to be posting today. I would have gotten my post up sooner but I had no electricity for over a day. Some asshole who was high on something crashed his car into a utility pole. It took SoCal Edison forever to fix it and they shut down my whole street. Fun times. It was weird not having any power but I ended up not caring THAT much and just read with my flashlight until I fell asleep. I’m really looking forward to my weekend so I’m happy it’s almost Friday!!! Yay! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend? Anyway, thanks so much for the visit, and I will talk to you soon.

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – ILNP Bikini Bottoms

Posted on 9 April, 20158 April, 2015 by Cynthia

Today The Lacquer Ring has a very special post for you and we have a very special polish that we are using. A while back, Jess went through a health scare and when she was given a clean bill of health, Amy bought us all this gorgeous polish to celebrate together. We had been waiting to use it all together.so I’m glad that we finally found an opportunity to do so. I didn’t look to do anything to this beautiful polish besides just wearing the life out of it since it’s so pretty. Additionally, it is my first experience with ILNP and I can tell you that I am very happy.

The polish in question is ILNP Bikini Bottoms. It’s such a gorgeous magenta holographic polish and the formula is to die for. It applies smoothly and is incredibly easy to control. In indoor light you get some faint holo, but in the sunlight this polish comes alive.

While the lighting I used here washes me out, it gives you an idea of what this polish will look like out in direct sunlight. Isn’t it gorgeous? I thought of doing a design or even stamping over it, but I just let it be. It’s gorgeous enough to be the main focus.

I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else does with this polish since I kept it super simple. I know some people think polish is just another cosmetic that women obsess over, but it’s so much more to me because it was the thing that brought our special little spastic group together. Now it’s your turn to tell me what you think of this gorgeous polish. Do you have any other ILNP recommendations? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Negative Space

Posted on 26 March, 201525 March, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey! I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaack! I’m trying really hard to get into blogging again because I am not going to start April with this slump so I decided to participate in today’s prompt for The Lacquer Ring. Nicole chose negative as her design prompt and you know I was moaning and groaning because negative space is totally not something I normally like. I guess one of the awesome things about doing these prompts is that we try new things or things we don’t usually want to try. Let me show you what I decided to do:

This beautiful polish is Illamasqua Dedicate. Have I told you how much I love Illamasqua? I used stripping tape and nail vinyls to create the negative space designs. It’s a very basic mani–almost too basic, but I wasn’t really feeling the inspiration to do anything too complicated.

Anywho, I’m keeping this post short but have tons of things in the works. I’m really pushing myself to get worked up of April so wish me luck. How do you feel about negative space manis? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Green

Posted on 12 March, 201511 March, 2015 by Cynthia

I am super lucky that I’ve had this post in my drafts for a few weeks because I might have crapped out otherwise. I’ve been sucking big time at blogging lately because I’ve just had so many things going on that blogging/doing my nails was just not that important to me. I’ve just felt out of it, but slowly I am getting back on my feet and hope to get back on a more regular schedule. I really do miss posting, but you can’t force yourself when you’re not feeling up to it. So today I am back with another edition of The Lacquer Ring and today Nicole has chosen the color green. How appropriate with Saint Patrick’s Day and all! You know what I’ll be doing this weekend? Have 5 million Guinness Milkshakes. Yep. Anyway, let me show you the green I decided to use. Dermelect Renegade 1 This is Dermelect Renegade which I also picked up at Ulta a while back for like $0.40…haha! I know, right? It’s a really pretty jade green which a pretty nice formula. It’s easily opaque at two coats and it is sooooo shiny! Dermelect Renegade 3 I then used Illamasqua Scorch to add some blobs all over my nails. This ended up looking very prehistoric egg-like to me and then Amy said they looked like Yoshi nails so there you go…Yoshi nails!

Anyway, I hope your doing well and that you excuse my random posting. I really hope I can get back in the swing of things soon. I’ve just been feeling way too dumpy, sensitive and just tired. I’m sure I’ll get through this slump soon so thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon.

Loading InLinkz ...

The Lacquer Ring – Gradient

Posted on 26 February, 201525 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m starting to think that my fellow Lacquer Ring-ettes hate me. A few of them were bemoaning the gradient prompt but whatever…it was my turn to pick! How spoiled and self-involved did that sound? I am actually super happy with my selection because my gradient turned out really great–in my opinion anyway. I’ve always had issues with doing a good gradient so I’m happy that wetting the sponge made a huge difference for me. Are you ready to see what The Lacquer Ring has in store for you today?

This is my amazeballs gradient. Isn’t it pretty? I used two of my favorite Illamasquas: Nomad and Noble for the gradient. In fact, I have used these same polishes before in a gradient but this time I did a vertical gradient just because I felt like it. I 100% believe that this gradient looks great because the polishes are just perfection. I am still not over the fact that Illamasqua is no longer sold at Sephora, but I am happy that I could buy a bunch on Hautelook for a deep discount.

To finish off my mani, I used Mentality Black Opaque and a chain-link design from MoYou London Pro Collection Plate 02 (press sample). Don’t you think the stamping just brought it all together in an awesome way?

After all my talk of how awesome this mani is, watch everyone hate it. Sometimes when I think I do a spectacular mani, no one cares but when I do a dumpy one it gets tons of attention and likes…what’s up with that? Anyway, I hope that you like my gradient mani today and don’t forget to check out the other manis below from my gals.Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Loading InLinkz ...