Signet Nails - "The Stars, Like Dust" Collection (swatches and review)

Hi everyone! Today I have swatches and my review of Signet Nails 'The Stars, Like Dust" collection. For those of you that don't know, Signet Nails was created by the lovely Lauren of @lalanail. She happens to be one of the very first nail girls I ever followed, even before she was @signetnails.

About Signet Nails (as listed on their website)

All Signet Nail polishes are '5 free' and vegan!

Signet Nails is a one-woman project by Lauren Nail Swindol. Inspired by signet rings used in days past and present, Signet hopes you will find a hand mixed shade that really represents YOU. All polishes are made in my Mississippi home with love, inspiration, and the buyer in mind. Make your impression with Signet Nails.

Weekly Manis

Hi everyone! Today I just wanted to share some of the manis I did over the past two weeks. This will be post 1 of 2.  I've been really practicing hard to up my nailart game and I think I'm finally getting there! I'm definitely proud of how far I've come in just under 4 months. If you're a new follower, you can check out my very first "nailart" attempt here and my first "swatch" here. At the time, I was super duper proud of them...lmao! Now all I can do is laugh and hope that no one scrolls down too far on my account..haha!

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First up is my Neon Cheetah mani! I really love the way the me on colors pop out on the white base. this was my first time trying to print and I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out! I'm not sure why I was so scared to try before.

I used OPI Alpine Snow as the base and acrylic paint for the cheetah print.

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This second mani was done using all 

of the colors from @whimsicalcolor's ( Liquid Sky Lacquer) Jordan Almond collection. 

This was my first purchase from Liquluid Sky Lacquer and I have to say that Carol makes amazing cream polishes. I added a small design using acrylic paint just a shade darker than each polish.

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This mani was created using OPI Alpine Snow as the base and black acrylic paint.  Not really sure what I was going for but this is what came out. One of the girls on Facebook mentioned that it 

reminded her of the storm troopers from Star Wars. hahaha. I totally agree!

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A lot of times when I'm having trouble coming what up with an idea, I just do a google image search for something random. For this one I searched swirls and grass and the picture on the left came up. My recreation of this is on the right. I really really like the way this one came out, very abstract!

              

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This final mani was the product of my very first pupurchase from @winstonia_store (Winstonia). I had never used nail studs and was pretty excited when they finall arrived!

I used a base of Essie Sand Tropez and...you guessed it, acrylic paint!

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I have been chosen to swatch for a couple new indie brands, so expect to see those post in the coming months!

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Weekly Manis

Hi Everyone! Whew! I've been so busy this past week or so. I've been working really hard on swatches and reviews for some wonderful indie brands, as well as some personal things going on in my life. But I'm here and back with more weekly manis!

First up, I did my first attempt at the "dry brush" technique. Basically I put on a coat of Sally Hansen Espresso and let it dry completely, or almost completely. I'm a little impatient..haha. Then I dry bushed Elf Cosmetics Mint Cream, Wet n Wilds Black creme and OPI's Alpine Snow. Dry brushing is so simple, I don't know why I hadn't tried it before. You basically just wipe off as much excess polish on the polish bottle top and brush it onto your nail. (hope that makes sense, I'm horrible at giving instructions). You don't have to give any dry time in between colors, as the amount of polish you brush on is so minimal. Once I got them how I wanted them I just topped them off with Glisten and Glow's HK Girl topcoat. Wallah! Easy Peasy!

Vapid Lacquer - Swatches and Review

Today I have some amazing polishes from Vapid Lacquer to share with you! The owner Krys, is one of the nicest women you'll ever meet! She was kind enough to entrust some of her lovelies for me to show off!

Big Spoon Lacquers - Swatches and Review

Today I have 4 beautiful polishes for you to drool over.

These were sent to me by Pauline of Big Spoon Lacquers. Big Spoon Lacquers is an indie polish brand, featuring small hand mixed batches of 3-free polish goodness and is located in the USA.

Inspiration Recreation

This week, I have some manis that I'm really proud of. I did a few entries for contests where you recreate a mani you are inspired by. I generally get a lot of my inspiration from other nail lovers already, but this was fun to try to recreate them exactly! Hope you love them!

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This first mani was a recreation of one done by @nailartbysig a long time ago. I loved it! I started with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, then free handed the blue, green and purple stripes with acrylic paint. I used a dotting tool and black acrylic paint for the polka dots.

Sweet Heart Polish - Swatches and Review

Today I have a couple polishes that were sent to me by Cassandra of Sweet Heart Polish!
Sweet Heart Polish is custom handmade, 5-Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free Nail Polish

Weekly Manis

So I've decided to start sharing more of my manis on a weekly basis. Every weekend I plan to share all of the manis I did that week! In order to catch up, I'm going to share my favorites from last month and this month so far!

First up is my very first attempt at roses! I used Maybelline ColorShow in Bare Escape as my base and acrylic paint for the art. I was really proud of these and think they came out great!

                   

Missing in Action

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive! Sorry I've been MIA this past month. We've had a lot going on. My son started some new therapy classes and we are finally in a smooth groove..haha!

I've recently been given the opportunity to swatch and blog for a new collection made by a wonderful Indie brand! Not saying who just yet, it'll be a surprise!

Anyway, now that things are calming down, you can expect a lot more posts from me!

Thanks for sticking around. Remember, you can always check me out on Instagram and Facebook. Just search for LacqueredMama!

♡♡♡♡♡

Valentine's Day Nails

Today I'm just going to share a few Valentine's Day nails I've done this past week. Im not generally a pink lover but I like how these all turned out.


First up is my Vampy Valentine nails. For these I used a basic black base from Wet n Wild. Each color is from Elf Cosmetics. This was my first time color blocking! I need some practice but I think it came out great for my first time! What do you all think?

Next up is a another little skittlete of randomness...haha!  Stripes? Check! Polkadots? Check! Hearts? Check! On these I used Elf Cosmetics' Flirty Fuchsia, Nude and Smokin Hot. I love them!

On the next ones, I used Sinful Colors' Gold Medal and Sally Hansen's Red Carpet. This one is my favorite so far. More classy and not so "bubblegummy". Haha.

Well that does it as far as Valentine's Day nails. I'll post more as I do them!

Thanks for reading!

Elf Cosmetics Nail Polish

So I had never owned an ELF Cosmetics polish before, but when I saw a special they were having for 2 different mini sets for only $5-$6 per set, I jumped on it. Being new to nailart, I was in desperate need of some new colors. Finally..after about 2 weeks they arrived on my doorstep.

And there they are...in all their gloriousness!  I really love them all. There was such a wide variety of colors included. There are a few that are duplicates, but luckily they are the really pretty ones..haha! Overall I can't complain.

I started swatching a few, so here's what I've gotten done so far.

This is Rasberry Sorbet. In the bottle it appeared more on the purpley/fuscia side, but once on, it is definitely raspberry. It went on smooth and took 2 coats for complete coverage.

This one is called Purple Dream. Beautiful color, but this one was a tad thick. This is 2 coats plus a topcoat.

These two are Mango Madness amd High Tide. Love this color combo. These were my "Denver Broncos" inspired nails. Both went on great. 2 coats plus topcoat.

These are the neautrals. From left to right is Nude, Prissy Crissy, Desert Haze and Wedding Bells. All beautiful. These were odd to me. Thick, but didnt completely cover with 2 coats and topcoat. My fav was Wedding Bells.

There are obviously a lot more, but I'll add those later.

Thanks for reading!

Mix 'n Match

For these nails I mixed a few different polishes. I really like the look of not only accent nails, but wearing different colors on each nail. These colors went together very well.

I used Sinful Colors GoGo Girl, Mint Apple and Pride.  On my pinky I used Sally Hansen Blue It.  ♡

Sinful Colors GoGo Girl is 2 coats with topcoat, Mint Apple is a pretty shear, so it took  3 coats plus topcoat and the Sally Hansen Blue It was amazing with just 1 coat with topcoat. Sinful Colors Pride is a beautiful glitter bomb with flecks and glitter from every corner of the rainbow. My only gripe with this one is that it was very thick. I had to use a toothpick to spread it out evenly. Using the brush seemed to remove glitter. 

Overall I love this combo!

Thanks for reading! ☆

Nails of the Day #notd

I decided that when I dont have any new polish to discuss, I would just start sharing my "nails of the day".

These are actually yesterday's nails. I used Wet 'n Wild black and white crèmes, Sinful Colors GoGo Girl and OPI Grand Canyon Sunset. (I did the dots with the end of a paintbrush and a toothpick) :)

Thanks for checking them out! ♡

GoGo Medal

 I have found that for the most part, Sinful Colors polishes have a great formula. They go on smooth and generally only require two coats for full coverage.

For todays mani, I used Sinful Colors 'GoGo Girl' and 'Gold Medal'. These colors are beautiful on their own, but look great together!

First up, I used GoGo Girl as a base on all of my nails. I did two regular coats with a top coat. This polish definitely has a great formula! It went on extremely smooth. The first coat dried in just a few minutes. The second coat took about 5 minutes. Then I added the top coat. Without the top coat it dried in a satin-like finish. The top coat then made it very glossy. This will likely be my "go to" red for awhile!

                          

Next, I did some simple nail art using Gold Medal. I am really in love with this color. It really does mimic the finish and color of a gold medal. As much as I adore this color though, I have to say that it is a tad thick. I felt like I had to be careful not to have too much polish on my brush or it starts to feel globby.



The finished manicure! To create this I did not use any special nail tools. I used items around the house that almost everyone has. For the polka dots I used the tip of a large paperclip. You have to be very steady otherwise your dots may come out a little messy. (Mine are still far from perfect, but with practice, they are getting better)

For the stripes I actually cut scotch tape...lol. It is definitely a lot easier to use nail art tape, but I made due with what I had. After you have your tape in the pattern you want, just paint on the accent color. Be sure to immediately remove the tape. Do not let the polish dry. If you do the polish will likely pull off with the tape.

Give your accent nails a few minutes to dry before applying your topcoat. Otherwise you run the risk of smearing it. So far I really like this Sally Hansen "Dries Instantly". There are quite a few indie brands I have heard wonderful things about, so I will be trying those out in the future.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

Polkadots!!

I have recently had an extreme love for polkadots!  I'd have to say it all started when I began following @youngwildandpolished on Instagram. She is amazing! 

For this mani I used GoGo Girl and Taupe it Off by Sinful Colors, as well as Black and French White Créme by Wet n' Wild. All topped of with Sally Hansen's Dries Instantly topcoat.

I am by no means a professional when it comes to nails and manicures,  I just have a deep love for them. ♡

As far as the polka dots are concerned, I have yet to purchase a dotting tool (though I really want one!). I made due with things I found around the house. For the largest dots I used the end of a paintbrush, for the medium size I used the tip of a large paperclip and for the smallest dots I used a toothpick. (I know, I know...but hey, you gotta use what you have).

The Sinful Colors Taupe it Off is from their "leather" textured line. It actually dries into a leather like matte polish. I personally didn't care for it, as it looked very dull. After I topped it with the topcoat though, I LOVED it! It has a very subdued holoed glittery appearance and sparkles in the light. So pretty! I did 3 coats of the polish with 2 topcoats.

The Sinful colors GoGo Girl is beautiful. It went on very smooth and only took 2 coats with 1 topcoat.  This will likely be my new go to as far as red are concerned.

As for the Wet n' Wild polishes, they are better than I expected for being so cheap. The black is almost opaque with only 1 coat, though the white takes at least 3.

I hope you all enjoyed my first actual nail blog! I am excited to do more reviews in the future. My goal is to find a polish that hasn't already been blogged about 100 times.

Much love!