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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!

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Stamping Saturdays #14

Posted on 12 April, 201413 April, 2014 by Cynthia

You know that I’m always excited when Saturday rolls around and not just because I don’t have to work…it’s STAMPING SATURDAYS, of course! I woke up a couple of hours ago and now I’m just lounging around being a total bum. Later today we’re taking my mom out to dinner since tomorrow is her birthday so I’m anticipating something yummy. For today’s Stamping Saturdays I tried another gradient. I don’t want to be a one trick pony here, but I’m so excited about being able to do decent gradients now that I want to do them ALL THE TIME. For my design today, I started out with 2 creamy coats of Illamasqua Nomad.

If you don’t have Illamasqua Nomad, you cannot imagine what a creamy minty masterpiece this is. I am generally a lover of anything Illamasqua and this is no exception.

I then used Illamasqua Noble and sponged it on top of Nomad for this gradient. Gradients can get really messy as you can see above. I normally find that taping up the skin around my fingers is more annoying to me than actually cleaning the mess up so I never do that. When I posted this picture on Facebook, a lot of people suggested that I use Elmer’s glue on my skin. WHY HADN’T I THOUGHT OF THAT???? That’s genius! I am going to give that a try next time I do a gradient and I’ll let you know how I liked it.

I don’t know about you, but I think the mess is totally worth it. Look at that gradient! It could be a little smoother, but I’m not going to be too picky about it.

Lastly, I used this design from plate MASH-48. I have no idea what this design is…at first I thought it looked like flames. I think it goes well with this gradient because it lets plenty of the base colors show through.

So what do you think of today’s design? I’m really happy with it and still mourn the fact that I had to take it off. I’m doing a bunch of swatching this weekend so I couldn’t keep it on. Sadness! Well, I hope that you’re having a nice weekend so far. Thanks so much for the visit, and I’ll talk to you soon.

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Illamasqua Noble & Cameo

Posted on 9 December, 201210 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I think that I start out every single post that I do on Illamasqua saying how much I love their line of nail polishes, so why break a habit, right? I’ve had these two polishes ever since they first came out at Sephora and have no idea why I hadn’t tried them yet. I guess I can plead insanity because these two colors are perfection in a bottle. I mean, they are seriously bright and outrageously pigmented–what more could I ask for? When these two colors came out, they were Sephora exclusives but apparently Illamasqua is now offering them through their website as well so jump to it my friends. If you couldn’t get your hands on these before, now is the time!

Illamasqua Noble is AH-MAZING. Look at how beautiful and bright this robin’s egg blue polish is. I may have some similar polishes, but not 100% dupes as far as I can tell. This is the type of color that I would wear all Spring long and would find a million different things to do to it. However, the more I look at it the more I see it would be a travesty to do anything but leave it as a clean mani with zero embellishments because it doesn’t need anything. Not a thing. This polish required two smooth coats for complete opacity and it dries shiny and gorgeous.

Illamasqua Cameo is a beautiful periwinkle blue that dries super glossy and smooth. When I wore this I immediately thought of China Glaze Secret Periwinkle but I think this is much brighter. I am going to have to do a side-by-side comparison to double check, though. I don’t know if I was just being hasty, but I noticed that the polish dragged a bit on my pointer finger and made created some slight balding. I think I just didn’t wait enough time to apply the second coat on that finger. Other than that, this polish did not disappoint in color or formula.

So what do you think of these two beauties? Are these colors that you would normally wear?

Hopefully you are still reading because I have something to ask of all of you. I have never been one to do the guest post thing because I never understood the point of it…probably because I’m a turd. I think I am going to be pretty busy in the next couple of weeks and don’t know how much I will be able to post so I wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in doing a guest post for my blog? If this is something that you would be interested in, please send me an email at oflifeandlacquer (at) att (dot) net and we can set something up. I think it would be really great to see some fresh faces–er–nails on my blog! Besides being busy, I also feel like I need a little break so this would be perfect for me right now. Don’t fret if you don’t have a blog: non-bloggers are welcome too, especially if you have been thinking about starting a blog (ahem, Lesley!) Ok, so this might turn off a few people but please don’t send me pictures of bloody cuticles. I won’t survive that. And don’t call me a cuticle bully, ok? 😉

So there you have it. I hope you have had a nice weekend and that your week starts out on the right foot. As always, thank you for stopping by and catching up with me.

P.S. Did you enter my giveaway? It’s pretty freaking awesome, according to me, so go check it out if you haven’t done so already.