Day 2: Snow!

Here's Day 2 of the Christmas Mani Challenge.  The theme of day 2 is snow.  Since I'm posting mine later, I had a chance to see what other girls on IG did for the snow theme.  I saw several beautiful manis and got lots of inspiration!  But, I wanted to make mine a little different from everyone else's.  I went with an all white mani with just a hint of nail art.  I'm not entirely pleased with how the snowflake came out, but I didn't feel like redoing it.  I really like the dots on my thumb, and I kinda wish I had just done dots on all the nails.  Maybe I'll go back and add dots.


Wow.  I just said dots. A LOT. dots dots dots dots.


If you're curious as to what the schedule is for this challenge, refer back to my Day 1 post.  I have all the themes/dates listed!


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Polishes Used: Essie Marshmallow, Essence Prism@tic White, Essie Blanc, and Essie Beyond Cozy. 


I love how delicate it looks.  Sometimes all white manis can look very stark.  But using Essie Marshmallow helped keep it soft and delicate.  Thanks for stopping by!


xoxo, Lowcountry Lacquer



December Mani Challenge: Day 1 Red & Green

The instagram nail community is so amazing.  Every time I check IG, I find 10 more people who are so amazing at nail art.  Last night as I was browsing through pictures, I came across a group of girls on IG who created a December Mani Challenge for anyone interested in participating.  I was apprehensive at first because I like to polish my nails when I feel like doing it, not according to someone else's schedule.  The nice thing about this challenge schedule is that it gives you a few days to complete each challenge (instead of a new challenge every day.)  So I said, what the hell. Let's give it a try.

I am a few days behind, so I have some catching up to do.  Day 1 was on November 26 and the theme was red and green.  I chose to do a skittles of different red and green patterns.  

For anyone interested, the challenge goes as such:

Nov 26: red & green
Nov 29: snow
Dec 2: Christmas Lights
Dec 5: Gingerbread men
Dec 8: Christmas Tree
Dec 11: Holiday Movie
Dec 14: Elves
Dec 17: Candy Cane
Dec 20: Gift
Dec 24: Santa Claus



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Polishes Used: Essie Marshmallow, Essie Snap Happy, Essie Mojito Madness, Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel



I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanks for stopping by :)


xoxo, Lowcountry Lacquer

Galaxy Nails

For the longest time, I have wanted to try out galaxy nail art.  I don't know what took me so long to try, because it is SO easy.  Even a beginner could do this, which I pretty much am.  My inspiration to finally try these came from Emma over at Manicurity. (By the way, if you don't already follow her blog or her IG account, you totally should! She is super talented and has gorgeous nails.  Go check her out!) She posted a macro shot of her accent galaxy nail on Instagram that finally pushed me to attempt these.  I'm really pleased with how they came out.  They're very subtle but have a cool dimension to them that you don't get with one color.

Polishes used: N.Y.C. Skin Tight Denim, Essie Where's My Chauffeur?, Essie Cute as a Button, Essie Blanc, Wet N' Wild Teal of Fortune, Sally Hansen Wavy Blue, and China Glaze Fairy Dust.



*Please excuse the tipwear in the natural light photos below.  I took those pictures after wearing the nails for a day!  I guess I need to wrap my nails better :)


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Blurry so you can enjoy the holo-y sparkly goodness :) 



Have you ever done Galaxy Nails before?  If not, do you think you will try them soon?  They're gorgeous and definitely worth trying!


Thanks for stopping by!

Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Polish Collection



When I first heard about these, I was SO excited.  Mainly because of Autumn Spice.  I love all things related to autumn: pumpkin spice, the changing weather, the color of the leaves as they change.  I knew I had to have Autumn Spice.  Once I found these at CVS and I saw the rest of the collection in person, I ended up picking up 4 all together: Autumn Spice, Bordeaux, China Flower, and Italian Leather.  I haven't bought any other scented nail polishes before but I'm really in love with these.

First of all, the bottles are just adorable.  I love the round handle on the brush, and the shape of the bottle is so chic.   I had read prior to purchasing these that the scent doesn't show up until the polish is dry on the nail.  So please don't try to open these at the store to get a whiff.  All you will smell is nail polish.

All swatches have 2 coats + top coat.


Revlon Parfumerie Bordeaux


I saw a few swatches online before I decided on Bordeaux.  When I found out it smelled like wine, I knew it had to be mine.  I love red wine and to have a nail polish that smells like wine - heck yeah!  The color is a gorgeous creamy red that was easy to apply.  Once the polish dried, I started to notice the scent.  I don't think it smells exactly like red wine.  Its a very very sweet, fruity scent.  I even compared the smell to actual red wine.  They do have similar notes, but Bordeaux is much sweeter smelling than the Merlot.  


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Revlon Parfumerie Italian Leather


Italian leather is a greenish grey base with a subtle bronze shimmer.  It was super easy to apply.  The scent is hard to describe.  Once it dried, I noticed the sweetness right away.  The sweetness was similar to that of Bordeaux but with different notes.  It did have a subtle leather smell to it.  Maybe after the scent wears off from wear, the sweetness wears away and the leather smell becomes more prominent.  I'll have to test that out!   I did notice while swatching Italian Leather that it looked very familiar.  I'm pretty sure its a dupe of Essie Armed & Ready.  See my bottle comparison below.  I'm planning a side by side nail comparison here soon!


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Dupes?



Revlon Parfumerie China Flower


This color was nearly impossible to capture with my Nikon Cool Pix Camera.  I would post pictures, but they were so completely OFF that I don't want to confuse anyone!  That camera wasn't picking up the brightness of China Flower.  The color is a coral or orangey pink leaning a little more red. Its seriously gorgeous.  It might not be super unique but I don't have anything like it in my stash so I snatched it up.  I'm not a huge fan of floral scents, so I didn't care much whether it smelled like flowers. To me, the scent was again very sweet but had a floral scent to it once it was fully dry.  I need to give it more time on my nails to get a good sense of the real smell.  

These pictures were taken with an iPhone 5.  They still aren't 100% color accurate but as close as I could manage with my lighting situation.  It looks like red here, but in real life it has more orange to it.  


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Revlon Parfumerie Autumn Spice

This is my absolute favorite out of the collection!  Like I said above, I'm a huge fan of autumn scents and colors.  I knew I was going to love this one, a lot.  The formula was great and went on with ease.  The base is dark brown with a copper shimmer.  Once the scent was completely dry, it was sweet just like the other 3.  But after wearing it for 24 hours, I really started to smell the cinnamon and nutmeg come through much better.  I'm in LOVE with this polish.  I may need to put it back on for my Thanksgiving Day mani!


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Overall, I'm really pleased with the four polishes I got from this collection.  The colors are fantastic, the scents are sophisticated and fun, and the bottles and brushes are simple and chic.  If you haven't picked up any from this collection yet, I suggest you hunt them down!  


Thanks for stopping by!



Nude, Glitter, & Polka Dots

I've been getting a lot of inspiration from Instagram lately.  There are so many amazing people on IG that post their awesome nail art.  I don't usually do skittles type manis, but I was inspired to try something different, and this is what I came up with!

Polishes used: Essie Sand Tropez, Color Club Gingerbread, Wet n Wild Black, Pa nail stickers

Holding CC Gingerbread


Holding my new favorite hand cream


I wish the camera picked up the holo-y goodness of Gingerbread. I also wish I had better lighting.  I'm putting a light box on my wish list :)


Thanks for stopping by!

Mattified Flakies

Here are a few photos of my changing leaves manicure from a few days ago.  I added one coat of mattifying top coat.  I love the way flakies look after being mattified.  What types of manis do you love mattified?

Polishes used: OPI Changing of the Garnet, Essie Shine of the Times, and Hard Candy Matte Top Coat













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Essie Winter 2013 Collection Swatches

I was finally able to find the Essie Winter 2013 Collection at a local CVS.  I had been hunting for it for a week with no avail.  I may or may not have squealed when I saw it.  And it wasn't located with the Essie Display, nor was it located with the seasonal displays.  It was ON TOP of the shelves where they keep the skincare.  I ended up getting two polishes from the collection: Shearling Darling and Toggle to the Top.  I have some swatches for you today!

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Essie Shearling Darling

Shearling Darling is a dark red creme.  The first coat was pretty streaky and the second coat did start to drag a little bit, but overall it was fairly easy to apply.  I don't own many reds so I'm happy to add this to my stash.  Swatches have 2 coats with top coat. 


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Essie Toggle to the Top


Toggle to the top is a pretty pinky-red with glitter.  I wasn't expecting the shimmer that's in it as well!  Its a very pretty color that will be perfect for the holidays.  Swatches have 2 coats with top coat. 

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I'm glad I could finally get a few from this collection.  Which colors are you picking up from this collection? 


Thanks for stopping by!

Changing Leaves: A Fall Inspired Manicure



It's finally starting to cool off where I am, and the leaves are FINALLY starting to change colors.  Fall is my favorite season for those two reasons.  I wanted to do a mani that was inspired by the changing colors of leaves in the fall.

For this mani I used OPI Changing of the Garnet and Essie Shine of the Times.  Changing of the Garnet is special because 1. Garnet is my birthstone and 2. This is a black label OPI which is pretty cool to me.

OPI Changing of the Garnet, 2 coats, no top coat




After 2 coats of Changing of the Garnet, I topped it with 1 coat of Essie Shine of the Times.  Before Essie released SotT, I was lusting after Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.  I could have purchased it via blog sales (for an exorbitant price.)  I'm glad I didn't because SotT is just as gorgeous.  I definitely couldn't take enough photos of this one.  It's hard to capture the color shift!

























Thanks for stopping by!