Nail Art

   Today's post features an ancient relic!  Okay, not really.  But Lush Lacquer recently changed their name to Polish Me Silly, and either way I think Mr. Bubble might be a discontinued color?  I bought it last year.  Mr. Bubble is a mix of matte glitter in a clear base, and I used it to make a really cute glitter gradient sandwiched between layers of L'oréal Bubble Trouble!

Nail Art / Swatch & Review

   Working through more of my untried indie glitters, I created this cute manicure to wear to the baby shower that my best friend held yesterday!  It was such a nice party.  These might not look like very baby-themed nails, but I'm not one for baby motifs.  So I went with nice bright colors, instead.  Also, Lush Lacquer is created by a mother-daughter team, so it totally fits!

   All my nails started out with a base coat of white, which was Zoya Purity.  For my glitter gradient nails I used Lush Lacquer Pebbles.  This is an awesome, colorful matte glitter in a clear base.  It looks way better on the nail than in the bottle, where the colors appear muddled because of the tiny glitter size.  On the nail the yellow, pink, purple and blue really pop!

   The glitter coverage was good, too.  My nails are showing 1 coat at the cuticle/top, 2 coats from the middle down, and 3 at the very tip.  Roughly.  I just dabbed the glitter on carefully to make the gradient effect.  My verdict is that this polish is great!

   For accent nails I tried doing fishtail style chevrons for the first time.  They didn't come out too badly, but 4 colors was way too many for a beginner's attempt!  Definitely going to stick with 2 the next time I practice.  I did a pretty good job matching up the polish colors to the glitter in Pebbles, though.  Here is what I used:

Lush Lacquer Pebbles, China Glaze Happy-Go-Lucky, Zoya Sweet, Pure Ice Fairy Godmother and Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

   What do you think of these nails?  Do you have any Lush Lacquer colors to recommend?  They can be found in the Lush Lacquer etsy shop!  Thanks for looking.  =)

Special Announcement / Nail Art

   That's right, I'm pregnant!  And what better way to announce it on my blog than with a special manicure?  Polish details first for those who came for the swatches, pregnancy details after for those who care.

   I love-love-love this manicure!  I wanted something that was a combination of girly, classy, feminine and fresh, and that is exactly what I got!  I started out with 1 coat of Zoya Scarlet, a sheer color that matches my nailbeds.  Then I carefully dabbed Lush Lacquer Glitter Girl on so that the free edge of my nail was left bare.  The lace design came from a sheet of nail stickers that I cut to size.

   The nail stickers are not quite as wide as my nails, and the reason for this is that if the stickers go right to the edge they won't be properly sealed in by top coat!  The shortage on my thumb was a bit too noticeable so I layered on a butterfly nail sticker for an accent.  In order to seal everything smoothly I used 2 coats of my Poshe fast-drying top coat.

   Glitter Girl is a really great polish and worked perfectly in this style.  I only used one coat, and I didn't get every type of glitter that I saw in the bottle (no purple squares), but that is okay with me.  I really like the mix of matte black, white, and pink hexes and tiny sparkling purples and pink.  The free edges of my nails get to peek out in their natural state, so tip wear on this manicure should be super easy to hide...

   Back to my special announcement:  I'm pregnant!  I've been holding out on posting anything Online even though my husband and I knew right away.  Fuzzy ultrasound evidence reveals that we are having one little girl.  (Did you already guess that from the Glitter Girl polish used in my manicure?)  My due date is Sept 21st, so we'll be having a very-end-of-summer baby or, if she stays in for a little extra cooking time, an early autumn baby.

   So far the pregnancy has been going really well and my biggest complaint is fatigue and general achiness.  In fact, that is the reason for my blog going unattended early this year.  The first trimester hit me like a ton of bricks and all I did was work, sleep, eat, sleep and sleep.  That is no exaggeration - just ask my husband!  I probably wouldn't have made it through if he hadn't been there to take such good care of me.

   I don't plan to turn Princessly Polished into a "mommy blog".  I guess I technically am a mommy blogger no matter what I write about now, but the main focus here will continue to be nails, beauty and personal style.  Expect a few maternity-themed posts in the future, but someone please slap me if I start posting about dream nursery setups, okay?  ;)  As always thanks for reading, enjoy your day!

Swatch & Review

   Hello, princesses!  Last week I had very little energy and motivation for painting my nails.  Fortunately there was a side benefit to that; I picked a manicure that I could wear all weekend.  I think this resulted in an awesome combination!  This is one coat of Lush Lacquer Pink Panther over Zoya Wednesday.  Both were sitting in my untrieds - don't they look great together?

   Zoya Wednesday is my kind of green, so I love this creme polish, which does dry a little darker than it looks in the bottle.  It dries shiny without a topcoat but it had a few bubbles in it - odd!  It seemed a wee bit thick so maybe some thinner is all it needs.  It's super opaque at two coats and wears like iron.  The only downside is during removal my skin was stained green, and the "green thumb!" I ended up with wasn't nearly as beneficial as you'd think.

   Pink Panther is a really nice glitter polish for layering.  I was feeling a bit glittered-out, but the combination of matte hexes ended up being a good palette refresher.  It is a fairly simple polish but the mixture and colors are just right.  Coverage was very good at one coat, it was completely smooth under regular topcoat and removal was easy.  I'm really glad that I bought it!

   Or, why it's going to be easy not to buy any polish during February.  (So long as China Glaze doesn't release their new holographic polishes in the US.)

   I ended up with over 35 new (or new-to-me) polishes this month, the above photo is missing a few because they are either on loan or scattered through my house.  January was a good month for polish because all my end-of-the-year sale purchases arrived along with a few sakes that took place right at the beginning of January.

   I snagged some Black Cat Lacquer polishes from my wishlist, they are: I Want Candy, Let Them Eat Cake, Put a Bird On It, and Women & Women First.  These came from etsy.  These are all so, so pretty!

   I had a most wonderful package of Different Dimension nail polish arrive.  Mostly colors that I've helped name, but a few other pretties to swatch and review, too!  I've gotten to try most of these already, and their posts are up on the blog.  The polishes shown above are: Honesty Feels A Lot Like Mean, Orbital, Vervain, Aorta Miss You But I Don't, All Red-y In Love, A Love Hue, and Love Her? I Don't Even Lacquer!  Not pictured because it is on loan to my Mom: Yours, Mine, and Flowers.  You can find these polishes on etsy.

      I picked up a couple discontinued polishes from Laquerlicious, Invitation Only and Mint N Chip Frappe.  Along with those I was sent three minis to review, Melted Ice Cream, Rainbow Sugar, and Tart Taffy.  Go check out those swatches!  These also came from etsy!

   Lush Lacquer had a sale, so I picked up my first polishes from them.  The colors I picked are Glitter Girls, Mr. Bubble, Oopsie Daisy, Pebbles, Pink Panther and Slumber Party.  These are all so cute!  Visit the Lush Lacquer shop on etsy.

   I snagged a couple OPI polishes from my wishlist, My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Don't Touch My Tutu!

   When Zoya had their promo for three polishes my husband got me a few cremes from my wishlist: Breezi, Jolene and Wednesday.

   These polishes were partly from a trade and given to me.  Pure Ice Material Girl, Milani Hot Pink, China Glaze Peachy Keen and Luna, KBShimmer Oh Splat!

   And nail polish in another form - jewelry!  Sweet Tips Nails had an amazing sale, so I picked up some necklaces and other accessories.  These are really cute!  The shipping prices are really good, too.  And yes, these came from etsy, too!

   So, a pretty good haul, I'd say!  A lot of polish to keep me busy this month and a lot of it from indie sellers.  The plan this month is to be good and not buy much.  ;P