Monday Nail Art for Nubs - The Vivid Lacquer Love Continues

This weekend I just could help myself and did a whole other manicure using the amazing Vivid Lacquer plate VL023 that one of my best friends Linda got me for Christmas. It's so odd that it's Christmas and all I want are mermaid and pirate nails. But...I'm sorry that I'm just not sorry. I do think I will have to switch off and do some obligatory Christmas nails but this mani might just be going right back on after Christmas.

As soon as I saw this plate in the vivid lacquer store the idea popped into my head of exactly what I wanted to do. Somehow I actually was able to get it out on the nail exactly how I envisioned it in my head and that just never happens. Pre-Christmas miracle I guess!!

For this mani I started off with two coats of Zoya Farah on each of my nails. P.S Farah is amazing and quickly becoming one of my favorite Zoyas! I wanted to create the look of an old distressed map so I used Pueen 45 and Zoya Flynn to stamp on a almost splatter type design. Everything else was done using Vivid Lacquer plate VL023. Next on each of the nails except the ring finger I used Sinful Colors Coffee and stamped the map design with script. Using Cult Nails Fetish I added a different design to each of the nails with the plate.

There were just so many great images to choose from but I went with the large ship on my thumb, the small pirate flag on my index (yes, there is a much larger pirate flag on the plate too!), for my middle finger the small ship and a mermaid, and on the pinky a small skull and cross bones. For my accent nail I used Sinful Colors Coffee to stamp the image of the compass. I tried to stamp it at an angle and to the side to leave room for a pirate that I stamped using Fetish. The pirate totally looks like the Captain Morgan pirate...love it!!  The plate is just perfect. Everything stamped great on the first try and just so many great images to choose from on one plate with lots of variations and sizes it's just so versatile for all nail types. I seriously can't show enough love for this plate.

To finish everything off I used one coat of Seche Vite. I think this may actually be my favorite design I have every done! Of course though I had to end up adding matte top coat to it but it just added to the effect!! If you haven't definitely check out the Vivid Lacquer store! Also, make sure to check out the other manis that are part of the Nail Art for Nubs linkup below!

Vivid Lacquer Plate VL023

This weekend I got an early Christmas present from one of my best friends and just had to use it immediately. She got me two of the new Vivid Lacquer plates that I had really wanted which was so freaking sweet of her. So this post will be a small review of one of those plates and I will also have more from this plate tomorrow.

Vivid Lacquer plate VL023 is a pirate and mermaid themed plate with images of pirate ships, waves, a compass, pirate flags, and of course several different pirates and mermaids. As soon as I saw this plate released I was in love and fell even more in love with it in person. I think lately I have had a little bit of a pirate obsession. This may be because I have a slight crush on Captain Hook. No, not the cartoon or creepy version from Hook, but the hottie from Once Upon a Time. Tomorrow will be pirate nails but today I have Mermaids!

Let me just say first that the quality of these plates are amazing! These aren't my first Vivid Lacquer plates and are just as amazing and perfect as the other ones I have. The etching is perfect on these images and I didn't find any to be too deep or shallow. I was able to get a perfect stamp the first time on all of the images I tested.

I started off with a base of Milani White On The Spot on all the nails and then let that dry. Next I did a gradient starting at the tips and went about halfway up the nails using Essie In The Cab-ana. Then using VL023 I stamped on the wave pattern also using In The Cab-ana. I decided I wanted a little bit more contrast so I decided to use the double stamping technique and stamped with the waves again on each nail this time using Zoya Cynthia. I loved the contrast so much and almost left it at that but I had set out with intent to use mermaids and couldn't just leave it. There are four different mermaids on VL023 and I used one of each on my nails. I finished it all of with a coat of Seche Vite and then one coat of Butter London Matte topcoat.

 

Vivid Lacquer plates can be purchased for $8 a plate from their Etsy store here: Vivid Lacquer.