Simple Asymmetrical Stripes

Hello Lovelies! I have been drooling over Anchor & Heart Lacquer since they first started out and I finally order a few of Taryn's gorgeous polishes. I order these three beauties: "The Free Spirit," "The Selfless," and "Sweet Love."

I couldn't figure out which one I wanted to wear first so I decided to use all 3 and came up with this simple asymmetrical striped design…

Materials I used (in addition to the polishes named above):

Dream Polish "Smooth Gem" Basecoat

Striping tape

HK Girl topcoat

Small rhinestones

I started with "The Selfless" on my thumb, pointer, and pinkie. I applied "Sweet Love" on my mid and ring finger. Both of these polishes applied beautifully, I ended up applying 3 coats only because I was having problems with my nail ridges. I think if I had applied 2 coats of my basecoat I would have only needed 2 coats of color. So these polishes are easily a 2-3 coater. 

On my 2 mid fingers, the ones with "Sweet Love," I created the asymmetrical stripe design. I painted the tip of the nail with "The Free Spirit." I then applied a layer of quick drying topcoat and allowed it to dry. I then applied striping tape horizontally across the nail, making one side narrower than the other. I filled in the middle section with "The Selfless" and immediately removed the tapes. 

I repeated the process on the adjacent finger but reversed the side where the stripe was narrowed. 

I then performed a little cleanup, applied a layer of topcoat as well as 3 rhinestones at the narrowest side of the stripes. 

I can't tell you how much I love these polishes. My photos don't do them true justice. "The Free Spirit" is a beautiful yellow with a gold irridescent shimmer. "The Selfless" is a lovely soft blue with a pink irridescent shimmer (that my camera just wouldn't photograph). "Sweet Love" is a wonderful nude polish with bits of bronzy golds. 

I like to think of this design as a symbolic representation of an ocean view. "Sweet Love" represents the sandy beach, "The Selfless" is the tranquil waters of the ocean, and "The Free Spirit" is the warm summer sun. 

I am so smitten with these polishes, I am more than certain I'll be purchasing more Anchor & Heart Lacquer in the future. Taryn's polishes are so much more beautiful than my pictures show, you really should see them in person. 

I hope you enjoyed this nail art design and found my mini review of these polishes useful. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time. 

You Fellow Plebe,



Stamping Plate JQ-L17 - Ladyqueen.com Product Review

Hello Lovelies!  Over the weekend I got to play around with stamping plate JQ-L17 sent to me for review from Ladyqueen.com.  I decided to combine this with my #smooshynailsunday manicure that I was also fortunate enough to have time to create.

This plate, Item #NA0869, has many geometric patterns and a couple more whimsical designs too.  There are fourteen full size images and 7 french tip or smaller images.

The images are very crisp and clean.  I tested them using Mundo de Unas 'Silver,' and my Fab Ur Nails stamper and stamped all the images onto black construction paper.  I was pleasantly surprised at how cleanly the images picked up.

For this nail art design I started with a white base coat and protected my cuticles with liquid latex for quicker clean up.  I used a white base coat because I smooshed with neon colors, and neons are always brighter over a white base.

I then used my stamper to smoosh this week's Neon Galactic #smooshynailsunday color combo.  I used Chaotic Glitz 'Little Black Book,' Salon Perfect 'Wrapped Around My Pink-y,' & 'Honeydew, Honey Don't.'

There are a few ways you can smoosh, I typically dot the polishes on a stamper and then smoosh the polishes onto my nails.  Check out my Instagram account @polish_plebe for a quick smoosh video, if you'd like to see more of this process (if the video is not up yet, it will be soon).

I then removed the latex, performed a bit of clean up with gentle acetone and a brush, and then finished the smoosh off with a glossy topcoat.  I prefer to stamp over a topcoat when I am using a smoosh or gradient for my background, however this isn't absolutely necessary for transferring a crisp image.

After my base polish was dry I stamped the star image, in Mundo de Unas 'Silver' on all my nails with my Fab Ur Nails stamper.  I felt the star image was most appropriate since this week's smoosh combo was Neon Galactic.

Remember to remove the protective film from any new stamping plate, otherwise it just doesn't work.

As you can see the image transferred quite nicely with minimal voided spaces, leaving a crisp clean pattern.

I really like all the geometric images on this plate.  This plate has many classic prints such as the hounds tooth and the stars, but also has some very unique images as well.  Many of these images would be great for some reverse stamping too.  I have many design ideas for this plate, now I just have to find the time to create them.

Ladyqueen.com offers a large variety of stamping plates all at very reasonable prices.  This plate, JQ-L17, is currently listed for $5.32, which is a very good price for all the images it has.  While you are checking out there stamping plates be sure to check out their Hot Sales, Special Prices, New Arrivals, and Top Trends for the latest and greatest in nail art supplies and accessories.

In addition to their already great prices, they offer free shipping worldwide, and you can use my code: QJXS15 for 15% off of your purchase.

I hope you enjoyed this design as much as I have, and found the review useful.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Nail Art Nation Mani Swap - Team Cryza

Hello Lovelies! Today, I have a mani swap for you, but its not just any ol' mani swap. As many of you know I am a member of a wonderful Google+ Community, Nail Art Nation. This is a great community that allows like minded nail fanatics to get together and share their creations, hauls, questions, concerns, and various other nail related topics. Recently, our wonderful NAN moderators came up with the idea to have a random group mani swap. The rules were very simple, volunteer to participate, then you'd be assigned a partner.  Once we were assigned a partner we had two weeks to recreate one of their nail art designs. I almost didn't participate because my schedule has been a bit crazy lately, but they needed one more participant to make an even team, so I made time. I was paired with the amazingly talented Eliza and thus we were named team Cryza!

The hardest part of this mani swap was picking which mani of Eliza's to recreate.  Eliza's artwork is beautiful, and I wanted to recreate a design that I could do justice.  I was also having a hard time picking just one, because they are all so pretty.  After selecting a few that I really liked and I thought I could recreate without creating shame, I randomly selected a design.  I ended up choosing her "Sand on the Asphalt" mani and she recreated my "Dotted Stripe" nail art design.

In Eliza's original nail art design she used textured polishes to create her interesting geometrical design.  Sadly, I do not own any textured polishes (I don't care for textures on my fingers), so to create a similar affect I used holos over a crème base.

For my version of this nail art design, I used Color Club "Tall, Dark, & Handsome" for my base, which is a cologne scented crème polish from The Love Tahiry collection.  For my two accent holo colors I used Gothic Gala Lacquers "Dash My Wig" from the Victorian Era collection, and "Make it So" from the limited edition Star Trek collection (no longer available).

Eliza has a wonderful tutorial/pictorial on her blog, "Me, Myself and My Nails", I recommend you go check it out.  While you are there, please follow her blog and check out all of her other fantastic designs, trust me you won't be disappointed.  You can also find her on Instagram @okeliza. 

I hope you enjoyed the nail art in this very fun mani swap.  I can't wait for NAN to hold another swap, I'll be sure to sign up for it.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,