Quick swatch: Girly Bits Going Bananas

Happy weekend all! Like I mentioned last time, we're in the process of moving to a new apartment. We're in the final phase now, so all my nail polish is at the new place (no broken bottles!). I did my nails one last time to keep my spirits up through this ordeal. This is Girly Bits Going Bananas, which is a really fun shade even though yellow is not my color!

(And yes, I had to pose with a bottle of Nailtek because the polish went off to its new home!)

Girly Bits Going Bananas. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This will be my last post before we get settled into our new place, so I'll see you on the other side!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Stars and stripes

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! I hope you get to relax and enjoy some fireworks, BBQ, or whatever floats your boat! We went into Boston for a few hours to walk around and get some burgers.

I did a quick mani to celebrate the occasion. I started with a base of KBShimmer Pimp My Pride, added stars to my middle finger with China Glaze Hanging in the Balance and a vinyl from the For the Love of Polish Box, and painted some flag stripes on my ring finger with Nailtini Bloody Mary and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Simple!

June's Museum-Worthy Manis!

Hi folks! Yep, I'm a little late with this one, but we're actually in the process of moving! Our new place is only about 30-40 minutes away, so we've been taking a carload of stuff over almost every day. Long story short, I meant to do this post yesterday but ended up taking a nap on the couch. :-P

Anyway, here's my favorite nail art from last month. Please go check out the original posts to give props to the artists!

1. Outlander by Wondrously Polished

Wondrously Polished is one of my favorite freehand artists, and this is a great example of why! This is a very romantic and mysterious scene to me, and also makes me think of stargazing on a summer evening!

2. Erin Condren Quatrefoil by Manicurator

Oof, LOVE this one! I think it's the contrast between the crisp, even print and the soft watercolor-style coloring. The color scheme is terrific too!

3. Geometric Right Angle Fun by Simply Nailogical

"Fun" is right! The patterns are leading my eyes in all sorts of directions until I start to feel a bit dizzy. :-D

4. Juicy by Didoline's Nails

This is a simple mani, but it just epitomizes summer to me. Wanna eat those oranges!

5. Blue Gradient Stamping by The Nailasaurus

Oh lordy...so subtle, yet crisp! It looks to me like the logo for some futuristic airline. Just me??


Honorable mention: Turquoise Floral by Lacquerstyle

June's Gimme That Polish!

Hey gang! It's a new month already (how??) so of course I have my top lemmings from last month to show you! As usual, I've linked to the original reviews so you can read more about them.

1. Dance Legend - Evolution

No, it's not summery, but just look at that blue glow! Dance Legend is pretty much at the top of my "favorite brands I don't own any of" list, know what I mean? (swatch by More Nail Polish | Dance Legend shop)

2. Rescue Beauty Lounge - Refined and Polished

I straight up love the unusual color combo here! Plus, this polish was designed by Lakeisha of Refined and Polished, who is a pretty awesome lady. (swatch by Manicurator | Rescue Beauty Lounge shop)

3. Literary Lacquers - Bottletown

I still love it when people add extra stuff to holos--I mean, yes, holos are amazing, but more stuff = more amazing! In this case you get extra blue and rainbow flashes, alongside that interesting shade of green. (swatch by The Mercurial Magpie | Literary Lacquers shop)

4. Glam Polish - Crystal Couture

I've been seeing this style of polish (silver holo base plus sprinklings of glitter) everywhere lately, and I love the bling factor. No surprise that Glam Polish does it well! (swatch by KellieGonzo | Glam Polish shop)

5. Elevation Polish - When the Cherry Met the Spoon

I don't really go for red polish, but nudge it just a bit towards purple and I must have it! This jelly is so squishy looking, I almost want to eat it (note: do not eat nail polish). (swatch by Manicurator | Elevation Polish shop)


Honorable mention: LynB Designs - Servitude

Today's mani: Anniversary peacock nails

Heya gang! Yesterday was my and Mr. ALIQUID's second anniversary--it definitely doesn't feel like two years already! We celebrated with some big steaks at a nice restaurant (OK, I ate about a third of my steak and took the rest home). And of course I wanted to do a nice mani for the occasion!

The other day I watched this tutorial about how to make stamping "decals" without actually having to let them dry and peel them up. This kind of blew my mind (I'm probably the last person to discover this technique, right?). So I decided to try it out, and it actually works! Stamping decals without bubbles and wrinkles, hooray!!

I started with a base of Zoya Song and added a coat of Out the Door. While that was drying, I used the peacock feather stamp from MoYou Pro 03 with Julep Harley and colored in the spots with Zoya Ziv and Ivanka. I let the stamp dry on the stamper for a minute or so, then stamped it directly onto the nail. I guess the topcoat grabs the stamp even after it's mostly dry!

Swatch: Three new Femme Fatales

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Monday everyone!

So after being in the nail polish game for a while now, it takes a lot for a new polish to really wow me, much less an entire collection. But lately I've been absolutely drooling over everything Femme Fatale has released! That's why I had to break my no-buy for Color4Nails' latest restock and grab some of Femme Fatale's newest polishes. I've managed to get three swatched for you, go me!

All of these had a great formula and stayed exactly where you put them. The only negative was that, since they have sheer bases, I got some bald spots on my tips. But honestly I didn't care!

First up is Lantern Waste. This has a dark slate grey base with orange-to-green flakies and red-to-gold shifting shimmer!

Femme Fatale Lantern Waste. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This has such a creepy vibe! Despite the strong shimmer, it wasn't brush-strokey at all.


Next is Heart's Desires. It has a dusty rose base with green-to-blue flakies and lots of copper holo microglitter.

Femme Fatale Heart's Desires. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I love the way this polish takes a "grandma" color and makes it exciting again!


Last but not least, I have Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... I was so happy to get this one because I missed the first two restocks and was terrified that I'd missed it forever. When I first saw the swatches, I wrote that it looked like a polish a unicorn would wear, and I still think that's true! It has a very pale turquoise base with pink-to-gold shifting shimmer and lots of silver holo glitter.

The shimmer was so strong in my normal lighting that it freaked out my camera, so I got some natural light shots. I love how different it looks at various angles!

Femme Fatale Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

There's definitely a touch of magic in that bottle, don't you think? The polish was pretty smooth after one coat of topcoat.


Well, are you as in love with these Femme Fatales as I am? If you want to grab one, keep a close eye on the Femme Fatale shop and/or their stockists, because I'm sure they've been selling out really quickly!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Bridesmaid's nails!

Happy Monday everyone! We had a great time this weekend celebrating my sister-in-law's wedding. She and her new husband are both amazing people, and Mr. ALIQUID and I were honored to be part of the wedding party. This was the first wedding we've been to since our own wedding two years ago, so it was nice to let someone else get all the attention while we got to enjoy the food!

Of course I did a mani for the occasion, and I made sure to grab a few pics for you! The wedding colors were navy blue and coral, and my bridesmaid's dress was navy, so I went with coral and silver for the mani.

I decided to do stamping decals over nude nails for a delicate look. I used an image from MoYou Pro 09 and stamped it with Julep Harley (the silver) onto a plastic bag. I colored in the flowers with OPI Sorry I'm Fizzy Today, and also removed parts of the image with acetone (the solid color flowers looked like fuzzy blobs, so I didn't want to keep them). Once the decals were on my nails, I added some silver dots to fill in some of the empty space.

This was one of those manis where you could see all the little bubbles and wrinkles up close, but it looked great from a normal viewing distance, so I was happy with it!

Here's a rare glimpse of Mr. ALIQUID with me--aren't the flowers beautiful?!

I was totally blown away by the job the hairstylist did on me, especially since I didn't give her much direction! I just told her "I want an updo, but not too high up," and she did the rest!

Last but not least, here's Trudy after we picked her up from the boarder's yesterday. She was pretty wiped out after the experience and has spent the entire day so far sleeping it off.