Up Your Nail and Holo Nail Art

Happy Saturday! Today is my first new post since I've gotten home from the hospital and I'm really glad to say that I'm starting to feel leaps and bounds better than my first day after surgery. My pain is minimal and I'm sleeping through the night, plus most of my nausea is completely gone! Woo hoo!

This post features two of my favorite things: holographic polishes and nail vinyls.

The nail vinyls used to make this manicure were fancy chevrons from Up Your Nail. Up Your Nail is pretty much my go-to store for the vinyls because their prices are ridiculously awesome. These chevrons came in my mystery bag but are 100 vinyls for $2.50. I haven't seen anyone else's prices come remotely close to that!

To achieve this look, I used three coats of Layla Ocean Rush as my base with one coat of a-England Tristam on top. I like the look of the scattered holo on top of the linear holo, though I'm interested to see how this would have turned out with two linears.

What's your verdict on this color combo and pattern? Have you tried Up Your Nail?

Hump Day Holo: a-England Holo Stripes

Happy Hump Day!

I decided I wanted to be a little creative with my striping tape for Hump Day and turned to my favorite go-to holo polishes: a-England!

Eventually, I decided on my all-time favorite, St. George, and thought the purple of Lady of the Lake was a great compliment.

I placed two pieces of striping tape down and painted with Lady of the Lake first. That way, I could paint over any of the spillover with St. George.

Look at that sparkle!

What do you think of my Hump Day Holo look?

Swatch & Review: a-England Elaine

Hello, lovelies! I'm still recovering from coming home at 1:30am from the Maroon 5 concert last night. I hope everyone enjoyed my Instagram feed. I was, at many points, only a foot away from Adam, so you can imagine the level of recovery I require today!

Well, that and the fact the speakers were right under his feet/the stage, so I think I had some major temporary hearing loss. But it has come back!

Truthfully, now that the sequin nail art from yesterday is off of my nails and has stopped snagging on EVERYTHING, I'm also rather happy! Hehe.

Today, I'm bringing you a much simpler manicure: a-England Elaine! I purchased this as part of the a-England deals last month, also picking up Dragon, Ophelia, and Princess Tears.

 a-England Elaine is a gorgeous smoky violet creme. It went on like a dream, smooth and even as butter in just two coats. I LOVE how it looks against my skin tone.

Just... to die for!

I own a ton of the holo shades from the lovely Adina over at a-England, but I'm so glad I came over to the creme side of things. Not disappointed in the slightest!

Are you on board with a-England? What's your fave?

Swatch and Review: a-England St. George

Happy Hump Day!

Today I have a major lemming of mine that I was able to snag in a swap. I think it is one of the most gorgeous holo polishes out there... a-England St. George!

Look at this stunner in the sun! A-England St. George is a beautiful teal scattered holo polish. It applied like a dream and was not all that difficult to remove. It didn't stain my cuticles or anything, which is common of darker blues and greens.

I was so excited to finally be able to rock St. George!

Right now, over at a-England's website, you can snag any of the Mythical collection for $7.82 and free shipping! While that doesn't include St. George, it includes awesome holos like Tristam and Lady of the Lake! EXCITING!

Until Thursday!
Princess Polish

Hump Day Holo: Independence Day Manicure

Happy Independence Day! I hope no one has singed themselves with fireworks! I got stung by a bee (a yellow jacket) today for the first time in my life, which was pretty interesting.

It was the first time I had ever gotten stung (side of my bicep, near my elbow) and while I was allergic, I didn't go into shock or anything. I just broke out in a rash from elbow to wrist. And while a little Benedryl cleared that up, I did require a bag of frozen blueberries to ice my arm! It also afforded me a nice little nap on a lounge chair by the pool, which was nice.

Anyhoo... I wanted to do something fun for Hump Day Holo that was July 4th themed, but didn't want to repeat my Memorial Day Manicure or go cliche with the flag.

So I grabbed a-England Tristam, OPI DS Ruby, and my white Stripe Rite bottle... and went to work.

The tips are Tristam with the swipes of Ruby and white. I wanted something that had some pop (you can see the sparkle of Tristam's holo glitter), but that I could get away with wearing for a few days. The hardest part was the white swipe with my It's So Easy striping brush, which thins out towards the left side of the nail. The Ruby stripe was not only pretty, but helpful, as it helped even out any errors I made with Tristam. My base, for the record, was my go-to nude: Zoya Audrey.

I think that if this wasn't a holiday, it would have a very nautical feel to it!

I would definitely like to do this manicure again with some different colors. Have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!

Princess Polish

Hump Day Holo: a-England Lady of the Lake and Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst

Good morning, everyone! I'm bringing back Hump Day Holo with a special combination that I have come to adore!

I combined a-England Lady of the Lake with Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst to create a stunning, funky purple French manicure that I'm in love with.

Check it out:

 

I LOVED this combination of the pearl duochrome that is SH Lapis Amethyst and the bright holo pop of a-England Lady of the Lake. This was actually pretty easy to accomplish too! 

I apologize for the bubbles on my index finger... didn't realize my top coat had gotten to that point until it was too late!

Blurred sparkle shot!

So what do you think about this combo? Do you adore it as much as I do?

Princess Polish

Hump Day Holo: a-England Ascalon

Thanks to a swap with a lovely fellow blogger of mine, The Nail Files, I snagged this lemming and nearly cried tears of joy when I opened the box!

I mean, how could you not LOVE this color? I loved it so much, I had to take a picture of it immediately. That's the shipping box it arrived in behind the bottle.

Dear GOD, look at that holo!

On the nails, it's just gorgeous. Seriously, a-England Ascalon has a nice linear aspect about it, as well as scattered quality, depending on the light. The base of the actual nail polish is pretty similar to Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game/OPI Not Like the Movies/Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy in that it's a gray-lavender duochrome. But the holographic quality cranks it up to 11.

Polishes by a-England are 13ml bottles and available from their official website and through Llarowe. They retail for $12.50 each.

March Madness Top 32: South Division

 

And as the Final Four kicks off, we're finally through with our first round of eliminations and onto the Top 32! Today through the 7th, we're going to move through the 32 and then each day following will be all of the Sweet 16, Excellent 8, Final Four, and then the finals!

If you're new to March Madness, click here to see how it works. The winning polish will be featured in our next giveaway!

Are you ready? Get to voting!

Game 1:

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Image Credit: Temptalia.com and AllLacqueredUp.com