New 31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Days 4 & 5!

Hey there!

 Today I have another day of the challenge, and I've decided to combine days 4 and 5, which are pink and purple! Details on the polishes I used at the end of the post!

Base color: OPI You're Such a Budapest

Stamp color: China Glaze Designer Satin

Stamp: Cheeky CH26

Dots: China Glaze Dance Baby and Zoya Aurora

Top coats: Seche Vite & INM Northern Lights 

I'm a little bit behind from where I was expecting to be with the challenge right now, so you may get a few extra posts this weekend! Stay tuned!

XOX

Jess

OMG, We're Back Again!

Hello my lovelies!

First and foremost I want to apologize for being absent from the blog for so long. There were a lot of things going on that prevented me from updating regularly, but now everything has settled, and I am back on the blogging grind! And don't worry, because even though I wasn't updating, I did NOT stop collecting polish, and have some awesome new beauties to feature!

Secondly, you've probably noticed the new blog name! After a whole lot of thought, and many conversations with friends and family, I decided to change it to the new and improved "Lacquer Love by soRomantical". I've also been working on making it easier for you awesome readers to find me on other social media networks as well. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter @soRomantical, and 'Like' me on Facebook! I've also set up an email account for this blog, so any questions you have for me can be sent to lacquerlovebysoromantical@gmail.com. 

Whew! Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move on to what you came here for: nail polish!! Today I have a random swatch, and a silly picture :)

Zoya Shelby

 Shelby is a beautiful bubblegum pink creme from the summer 2012 Beach Collection. I would definitely call this a "Barbie pink!" I used three thin coats for these photos (no top coat). This is one of the polishes I got during their promo sale in January.

I've really fallen in love with Zoya recently, everything they do is just flawless! I am really looking forward to seeing what they come out with this year. I am currently working on getting some of the Pixie Dust collection!

Not that I don't care about politics, but discussions inevitably lead 

to unnecessary disagreements. So instead, I show off my nails :)

That is all for today, check back tomorrow for my picks from Zoya's Spring 2013 Lovely Collection!

XOX,
Jess

Comparison Post!

Hello there, today I have two comparisons for you guys. Before I get into those, just wanted to say a few things!

I noticed a LOT of people have been looking for the Color Club Halo Hues collection and can't find it in stores. In my area I have noticed them in two stores: XSRE and Harmon Face Values. Prices were $9.95 and $7.99, respectively. Check out both their websites for locations near you! They're also on transdesign.com for $6.95, but are unfortunately sold out at the moment. You can always get them directly from Color Club for $10 each.

And a cool story, bro: At the end of September I ordered 400 "swatchsicles" on ebay. Of course the store was located overseas, and the shipping estimate was about 4 weeks. Well, the day came and went, and I never got my swatchsicles. So I opened a case with ebay, and they ended up ruling in my favor and I was given a refund to my PayPal account. I was okay with that, and figured I'd just order them at another time from someone else, and I forgot about them. Lo and behold.... they were delivered to me yesterday! I was way beyond excited, and all I've been doing all weekend is swatching my collection! Of course, at the time I ordered I only needed about 325 sticks... and now that I have them in my hands 2 months later, I don't have enough! I just wanted to share my joy with you all. :)
On to polish!

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie 

vs. 

Wet N Wild Spoiled Use Protection

These two glitters are VERY similar, but not exact dupes. When I layered one coat each over Sinful Colors Savage (index and pinkie, that's the bottle I'm holding), you couldn't even tell the difference. However, on their own you can see that Nail Junkie (ring) is much more opaque than Use Protection (middle). I used three coats of each on my ring and middle fingers. 

China Glaze 108 Degrees

vs.

Sinful Colors Forget Now

vs.

OPI I'm All Ears

vs.

Color Club Wing Fling

When I was going thru my stash a few weekends ago, I noticed I had a few different colors that were this really vibrant, fuschia pink. So of course I had to compare them. 108 Degrees, Forget Now, and I'm All Ears are the SAME COLOR!! If I had to be very nitpicky, I'd say 108 Degrees does not dry as shiny as the others. Forget Now is very very sheer, and has an extremely watery formula. Wing Fling, while still the same shade of fuschia, has a foil finish, in contrast with the other three. I used three coats of each polish. If I had to choose, I'd pick I'm All Ears, because I like the consistency of the formula the best, but really, you're pretty much getting the same thing color wise! 

Grandma Colors!

Some polishes just remind you of grandma!

I will say I really liked this manicure. And then at work, one of our female patients, who is about 90 years old, comments that my polish is so similar to hers.... and it was!!!!

The comfort came when a co-worker pointed out my color was much more frosty/metallic than grandma's, and my accent nail definitely made a difference. You can decide!

My base is Sinful Colors Dancing Nails. I used two coats here. It went on super easy and smooth. For my accent nail, I layered Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Light. Yes, another holographic glitter! This one has a clear base with sparse light pink microglitter, and it is absolutely fabulous. I'm betting it would look great over almost any pink or red.

Can I just say for the record, I really really like Sinful Colors polishes. For the most part they have great formulas and the colors are pretty. And they are cheap as dirt!! Most of mine were bought during 99 cents sales at Walgreens. If you're looking for some standard, basic colors to build up your stash, try Sinful Colors! Regular price is $1.99, and they can be found at Walgreens and Rite Aid. 

Happy October!

My favorite month is here! Not only is October my birthday month, but it is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month - which means everything is PINK! So you can justify buying all the special pink products, because it's for a good cause!

I'm going to give you guys a quick look at today's mani, and then tonight I'll be back with my sales post. Usually I'll post those on Sunday, but I was waiting for Sally's October ad to be released today. Let me tell you how glad I am that I waited, there are some great deals in their ad this month! So you can check back later tonight for the sales. 

To show my support for breast cancer awareness, I'll be doing a full week of pink nails! 

First up this week is my awareness ribbon mani. Secretly, I think I bought the 2012 Bundle Monster stamping plates just to get this one stamp! I used two coats of China Glaze Dance Baby as my base (probably the most perfect pink ever). For the stamp, I used Essie Tour de Finance and the BM 321 plate. 

Hope you like! And don't forget to come back later to check out the awesome sales!

What Is It?!

Hello!!! I was so excited to do today's manicure! It's very simple, but means a lot! One of my favorite co-workers is pregnant, and today she went to the doctor to find out... is it a BOY or a GIRL?

I'm very annoyed I can't get this picture to flip!

For my pink polish I used Essie Pink-A-Boo (4 coats, it is VERY sheer), and the blue is Essie Bikini So Teeny (2 coats). Then I got playful and added little question marks on my blue nails!

Let me just say I love Pink-A-Boo, despite it being so sheer. I definitely recommend layering this over a white or light pink, so you don't have to use as many coats. This pink has a great shimmer that flashes pink and blue. Bikini So Teeny is great, two coats to perfection, and I got compliments on the color all day long.

That's all for today... and oh yeah, she is having a GIRL!!! 

On Wednesday, We Wear PINK!

Happy Hump Day! As per Mean Girls rules, on Wednesday, we wear pink!

First of all I have to say I am so in love with my base color! I should've just worn it on it's own, but of course I always put a little something extra. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of it before layering. The base is China Glaze Pink Plumeria from the Summer Neons 2012 collection. When I first opened the bottle to swatch on my nail wheels, I actually squealed at the first brushstroke and said "it's so beautiful!" It is an absolutely gorgeous lighter pink, with a shimmer to die for! I used two thin coats for today, topped off with a Seche Vite topcoat. And because I am crazy, I decided to layer over it Zoya Chloe. The official Zoya description of Chloe is: Zoya Nail Polish in Chloe is a sheer coral pink base with two types of duochrome Mylar flakes: red-orange to gold and gold-green to blue. A fun flake glitter topcoat that can be layered over any shade to create a fascinating 3D effect.

I tried really hard to capture the awesomeness that is Chloe, but ended up with a big fail. Next time I'm going to try layering it over something darker to see if it brings the flakes to life a bit more. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's mani, which I am super excited about! :) :)

Orly Miss Conduct & Be Brave

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts this Labor Day weekend, I hope you've all been enjoying your days off as much as I have!

Today I have for you a pink Orly combo. Funny little side story to start with... I was talking to my 19 year old cousin about the different brands of polish, which are thicker, require less coats, etc, etc. I told her Orly was one of my favorite brands at the moment, but I pronounced it "o really?"... she looked at me weird and said she's never heard of that brand! So I spelled it out for her and she said in a very gentle tone... "Jess, you know that's not how you say it, right? It's OR-ly?" I laughed so hard, because I know exactly how its pronounced, but to in my head I always think 'o really?' ... maybe this is because I text too much!? Anyway, we had a good laugh about it. Onto polish!!!

My base is Orly Miss Conduct, which is my favorite from the new Naughty or Nice 2012 collection. Its a beautiful magenta-ish with very very fine glitter, and the more I stare at it, the more I want to say its holo glitter. The bar glitter goodness is Orly Be Brave, which is a Flash Glam FX polish, and also part of this year's Breast Cancer Awareness package. I am falling in love with bar glitter!! This is definitely holo, I find myself blurring my eyes and just staring at my nails! :) Two coats of each, and I am loving the results!!! Both pictures were taken outside, I can't really say the first one was in "sunlight" because it is awfully cloudy here today! But for the sake of differentiating.... first pic in the sun, second in the shade!

I purchased Miss Conduct along with the entire Naughty or Nice collection from transdesign.com, I've only ordered from there a few times but they're really great! They seem to have new stuff before stores do (I don't even see this collection on orlybeauty.com yet), and shipping is pretty quick too! As soon as I saw the new Orly I just had to have them, plus it was only $25.50 for the set of 6 bottles! That is what I call a great bargain, especially considering the retail prices (the Flash Glam FX collection retails $10 a bottle, regular Orly polishes around $7.50/$8). 

Hope you enjoy! And always remember, share your great money saving tips in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!!!