The Lacquer Legion May Challenge: Garden

Hello readers,
Another month has flown by which means it's time for another Lacquer Legion nail art challenge.  This month's theme was garden and I will admit I completely forgot about this whole thing until today a.k.a. the day to post this month's mani.  I whipped out some polishes from the stash, a nail art brush and a dotting tool to create this floral mani. I love it!!! Even my non dominant hand looks good!  Don't you love how unplanned manis can turn into your favorite ones?

Polishes used: China Glaze Sea Spray, China Glaze Refresh Mint, OPI Road House Blues, China Glaze First Mate, China Glaze Shower Together, OPI Fresh Frog Of Bel-Air, Nubar Meadow Sparkle and Julep Charlie.

Happy polishing,

Michelle

The Lacquer Legion February Challenge: Adoration

Hello readers,
It's that time of the month again... that is, it's time for another Lacquer Legion inspired mani! This month's theme was 'adoration'. To me, this meant something that you just can't take your eyes off of. Something that fills you with happy feelings and gives you a sense of awe. The thing that fit this idea perfectly for me was fireworks. I love these displays of glitter in the sky.

For my mani I used Morgan Taylor Under the stars as the background. Then I used my Nubar silver striper to make the whisps of the fireworks. I dotted A-England Encore Margot and Nubar Treasure to add more 'arms' to the fireworks. Finally I layered some Emerald & Ash Moonlit Snow and China Glaze Glistening snow in the center of firework to add some extra shimmer and sparkle. This was the final result.

If you want to join in the fun follow The Lacquer Legion on facebook to find out what next month's theme will be.

Happy polishing!

- Michelle

Peacock Feather Nail Art Tutorial

I love peacock feathers.  They are just so eye catching.  I challenged myself to come up with peacock feather nail art that I could do fairly quickly.  This was the result.

There are lots of polishes involved but I can do a whole hand in about 20 minutes.  The key to doing this quickly is to do each step on the entire hand and then move on rather than completing each nail individually. 

 What you will need:

A long skinny brush

A dark green polish (Zoya Cynthia), a light gold metallic polish (SH Sequin Frost), a dark teal metallic polish (Nubar Earth), a dense gold glitter polish (CG Angel Wings), a bright blue cream polish (CG Shower Together), a shimmery blue (OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise),

A navy blue (Finger Paints Art of Theft), a shimmery light green (Orly Limelite), a dense dark green glitter (CG Winter Holly) and a medium green glitter (Nubar Meadow Sparkle).

What to do:

Step 1: Paint your whole nail with the dark green polish.  Use however many coats it takes to get opaque.

Step 2: Use the metallic gold polish to outline where the feather 'eyes' will go.

Step 3: Add thin stripes around these eyes using the metallic gold.

Step 4:  Colour in the top half of the eyes with the metallic gold.  Then, use the dark metallic teal to add more stripes around the eyes.  Try to offset these a bit from the gold stripes.

Step 5: Add the dense gold glitter around the edges an top half of the eyes.

Step 6: Add circles of bright blue cream on the bottom half of the eyes.  Add some of the shimmery blue on top of them.

Step 7: Add smaller circles of navy blue polish at the bottom center of the bright blue circles.

Step 8: Add a line of light green shimmery polish around the left edge of the eyes.

Step 9: Ad a line of dark green glitter around the right side of the eyes.

Step 10: Add a line of medium green glitter around the two stripes you just made.  It's subtle in the picture but it catches the light nicely.

Step 11: Wait a couple minutes for your polish to set then clean up your cuticles and add a coat of your favorite top coat.  You're done!