The Fancy Side

I'm so stoked that Amy asked me to Guest Post for her and that The Lacquer Ring decided it be cool if we did wedding theme manis, so I stuck to that idea.
I've never done wedding nails but I wanted to do something different and cute.

I was inspired by the wedding manicures that Stylish Eve on Facebook posted a while ago and that's how this mani was born.


What I used:
Base and Top Coat (obviously),
A creamy, opalescent white. I don't know the name as it's a navy and white duowand Painted Fingertips got me,
I also used Tip Top - A touch of Lilac,
Lily Angel Black polish,
Essence - Be my Lucky Star.

What I did:
Painted all my nails except my ring finger with my white. It was a tiny bit brush strokey but you couldn't really see it.
Then I did a VERY soft saran wrap look using Tip Top - A brush of Lilac. I wanted to go for the look on the invites but it came out lighter than I expected. When that was dry, I topped it with Essence - Be my Lucky Star.
For the Groom/Middle Finger, I took two pieces of tape and made a triangle shape and then painted black below it for the tux. Using my dotting tool, I made the buttons and bow tie.
For the Bride/Ring Finger, I made the V shape freehand and then filled it in with the white. For her necklace, I dotted on the pearls and used a blue diamond rhinestone that I got from Lesley.
I topped my Bride and Groom with top coat and was done.

I would definitely wear this to your wedding Amy and I wish that I could make it because who doesn't need some South African flavour at their wedding ;) hehe.
I love you lots.

V xx

Hi there everyone, my name is Katie and I run the blog Lustrous Lacquer. Amy has so graciously allowed me to guest post for her today while she's away on her Honeymoon. Congratulations Amy, hope you're having a fantastic time!

For my manicure I we decided to go with a bridal shower theme. Well what's the common factor in every bridal shower? The Bride of course! I decided to go with a more elegant feel to represent the Bride, this isn't based off the bachelorette party after all.


I started off with 1 coat of China Glaze heaven. This gave my nails an even look to them without looking like there was polish on them. Doing only 1 coat allowed me to still be able to see my nail line, which helped me free hand the French tips. Yes you read that right, I free handed the tips!

Using Sinful Colors Snow Me White I carefully went in and added 2 coats. I didn't worry about being perfect since I knew I would be covering the edge up. I did go in with my white striper to make the edges of the wedding dress crisp and clean.

*I have a whole slew of guest posts and scheduled posts setup for you while I'm getting married/honeymooning. Enjoy the beautiful ladies and all the looks that will be up for the next two weeks. I'll be back before you know it!*

While Amy is away, off getting married!! and then on her honeymoon, she has asked some special gals to keep you busy while she's gone. :) I thought it only right to do wedding themed nails for the occasion. My husband and I are married 10 years now this year, I can't even believe it. We got married 10 years ago at the Justice of Peace in Texas. He was in the Army and that's where we were stationed at the time. 5 years later to the day we had a vow renewal with all of our families so they could be a part of the special day. My dress had a red accent on the front and then the back had a corset tie and that was also accented with red along with the flowers as you can see here. My nails for my special day were just straight red, so I figured I'd do a little twist but still keep true to my wedding nails. ;)



I started out with two coats of Nubar's Spirit Walker, which to me is the perfect nude. I absolutely love how creamy this color is. If you look closely (more in person than in these pics) it's got a subtle almost light pink shimmer to it.




I just got a bunch more MoYou plates (like I needed them LOL) and one of them is from the Bridal Collection, it's Bridal Collection Plate 07. I used this beautiful half lace design with a flower and tried to place it just so that part of the nude was peeking out. I used China Glaze's Adventure Red-y, this red is gorgeous and I love how it stamped and looked alongside the nude. See for yourself ;)

Yes, you are on the correct blog. Today I am taking over Amy’s blog and making The Fancy Side a lot less fancy with my inappropriateness. Ok, I’m not really going to be inappropriate because contrary to popular belief, I can be a lady. Kind of. I didn't quite know what to do for this post so I decided to keep it simple because any time I try to do anything fancy, it blows up in my face. I’ve been playing with neons and glitters for the past few weeks so I felt that I needed a nail palette cleanser of sorts. I’ve always loved white nails so today I decided to show you one of my favorite off white polishes EVER: Sation Strumming My Nails. In fact, I think it is my favorite. Strumming My Nails was in a close battle to the death with OPI’s My Boyfriend Scales Walls and it has come out victorious. Let’s take a look at the vanquisher!

Whoa, look at me, I’m on The Fancy Side! That’s just fine because I think I’ll fit into this glittery corner of the Internet quite well. ;)

My name is Lesley and I met Amy through mutual inappropriateness on Twitter. She invited me, along with some other special, crazy, gals, to guest post during her trip to China. I am happy, and slightly intimidated, as this is actually my first blog post! I’ll try to do right by her. ;)

So the theme for the guest posts was “travel.” I immediately had the idea to use this blue (Illamasqua Noble) with clouds and an airplane. My idea stalled at the airplane because I didn’t want to freehand one and didn’t have any decals, etc. Well, I happened to go on an insane polish shopping spree in Southern California for my birthday with Cynthia from Of Life and Lacquer (who I’m assuming has already guest posted or will be guest posting shortly), and realized that I had found my solution while buying out a store of all of their Hello Kitty decals (yes, I am one of those girls…no shame in my Hello Kitty-loving game).

First, let me just tell you about Illamasqua Noble. I sat down to do this thing and did not want to cover it up. It’s a vibrant, robin’s egg/sky blue, and it applies in two perfect coats. It was also probably the shiniest polish I’ve ever seen without topcoat.

After convincing myself to go through with this theme, I also scrapped trying to do clouds because it was really late (as in early in the morning late) and I didn’t want to risk a disasticure, so I reverted to tried and true dots in China Glaze White Out. They sort of represent clouds, right? Right.


Nonetheless, I am still pretty happy with how this turned out, even if it’s a deviation from my original idea. I think it came out cute. I’ve also got a little coordinating Hello Kitty bow on my thumb.
Of course, I only realized after-the-fact that Hello Kitty is upside-down in a photo and it’s hard to get the bow to show with the rest of it. I also generally have a tough time getting colors to look quite like they do in real life. Rookie mistakes, here, but, I tried. ;)


If anyone’s interested in seeing more of my non-professional nail photos, you can check out misfitlesley on Twitter and Instagram.

I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Amy for having me here on her blog! I’m excited and happy for her new adventures in life to begin and can’t wait to see all of the things that are coming up for her.

Lesley is to cute! Go follow her on Twitter now!! She always makes me laugh and I love our inappropriate convos!! I kinda hate her and Cynthia a smidge for their polish spree though. These decals are the cutest ever and I'm super jealous of that Illamasqua polish!  Also, please join me and all the others in trying to convince her to start a blog! It would be filled with fun manis and gorgeous bracelets. Thanks again Les!

Hey guys, Amanda here while Amy is traveling all over the US moving and then on her big two-week trip away from us! I am so happy to be here with you guys and honored to be on this amazeballs blog of hers :)

The theme she asked me to do was travel nails. I have some unique well hopefully you think they are too.. nails for you today.

I went for a Pirate theme, hey thats travel too right, I got this new amazing Hello Kitty stamping plate that has over about 20 different Hello Kitty's and one of them she is a pirate! That's right! So these are my Hello Kitty traveling via Pirate ship nails


For this look I used two coats of 'Ulta-Snow White' on my pinky and my stamping plate 'Cheeky CH49' to stamp the wheels using 'Nubar - Lustful red'. My Hello Kitty pirate was plate 'MJ - Hello Kitty' and I stamped her using 'Zoya -Suri' overtop two coats of 'Zoya Barbie'. My pirate ship nail, I started with two coats of 'Contrary polish - Aruba' and topped it with my pirate ship stamp 'Cheeky CH49' and 'Essie - No place like chrome'. Lastly my skull and crossbones nail I used 'China Glaze - Liquid leather for the stamp using same Cheeky stamp 'CH49' overtop two coats of 'China Glaze - Sea Spray'





Alright guys, well that is all I have for you today, I hope that you enjoyed this mani. I hope I did Amy proud and she has me back again some time! :)


I love these nautical themed nails! Amanda doesn't even know this, but they fit me perfectly! I grew up traveling the USA with my Dad while he competed in Sailing Regattas. He was even the alternate for the '92 Olympics, not bad for being from KS huh? A good portion of my childhood was pretending to be pirates on the boats! This stamping job is super adorable and I love the different color schemes. Be sure to pop by Mae's Beauty and say Hi! 

Amy asked me to do a guest post for her and I wanted to do an SA mani because this is my home and I've never been to any of my favourite places (India or Egypt).



South Africa is such a sunny, warm place so that's why on my index and pinky you see lil suns.
On my ring and middle finger, I freehanded the South African flag and I'm including a small tutorial collage.
1. Start by drawing a triangle in black, then filling the area.
2. Outline your triangle with yellow.
3. Make a thickish, green Y shape and then fill that in.
4. Outline each side with white.
5. Fill the top with red and the bottom with blue
6. Top coat that baby!



So welcome to South Africa, even if it's only a virtual visit to my blog :D

Thanx Amy for letting your readers travel to me and letting me spam your blog a bit :D

V is my furthest away polish friend and you'd better believe that I want to adventure my way to SA and see her. We'll go on Safari together with perfectly manicured nails. :-) I love that she taught us all how to create her countries flag via nails! They are so beautiful! Be sure to visit SA through her blog!

Hey There Polished People!

It's me, Nicole, from Polish Me, Please! Amy was so sweet to give me the opportunity to write a guest post for her while she's on her awesome vacation, and the theme was- TRAVEL NAILS!! Well, while she was packing up all her goodies including but not limited to wrapping each of her nail polishes extra-carefully for her move to NYC, I just totally had NYC on the mind, so my nails are really kind of a hybrid moving/travel nails. When I told Amy, she was like, "Oh it's ok, lots of people like to travel to New York!" So... let's go with that! Ready to see my NYC nails?

Here we go-

Hello Everybody! I am here from Nail Lacquer Blog to fill in for Amy while she is busy moving and traveling the world! I am super excited for her as she is moving to New York! I have been lucky enough to visit New York few times in the past and I am sure she will have a blast there, it is an amazing city! In addition to the move she is also visiting China and to celebrate her travels I decided to do some cute Kawaii nail art for you ladies.



I started off using my own handmade franken polishes as a base for this manicure. The polishes are called Eat My Cake (yellow), Younger Again! (mint), Don't Stay Too Late (baby blue) and Bring Me Love (pink). These polishes are from my Happy Birthday collection and they are available in my Etsy shop (sorry UK shipping only :(




For the tiny faces I used a small brush/dotting tools and L.A. Colors Black Velvet and Sinful Colors Snow Me White, it's officially the BEST cheap polish for nail art ;) I also added Rimmel Pro Matte Finish for a soft final look.



Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed my Kawaii nail art, I also hope that Amy is having fun and staying safe in China :) xoxo

My gawd people! Aren't Megan's polishes beautiful? I wish the UK didn't have such strict shipping policies or I would totally buy some from her. I love this little faces, especially since it is my first intro to Kawaii. So adorable!! Thanks for popping by my corner of the internet. Be sure to go visit Nail Lacquer and say HI!

Hello The Fancy Side readers! I'm Sam from Polished Art. I'm very excited to be doing a guest post for the lovely Amy today! I 'met' Amy whilst doing the Untried Polish Challenge (which I never completed due to my laptop deciding to die on me...so my untried stash is still huge!) and jumped at the chance to do a guest post for her when she asked if any of us could.

Amy suggested a theme of 'travel' for the guest posts, since the reason she asked for them is because she's off exploring!  When she first asked, I'd not long gotten back from Paris, so I'd decided to do a Paris inspired manicures. I played around with a few different ideas in my head: A Paris skyline? Pastel coloured nails with Eiffel Tower accent nails? In the end, I came t0 the conclusion that of course I can't freehand an Eiffel Tower, so...er...I ended up with something rather more unusual instead...

I'm originally from Swansea, where the bus provider is First Cymru. For some reason, after decided against a Paris manicure, the First buses popped into my head, and I decided it might make a good manicure.




Here's the manicure I ended up with!


I used Barry M Matt White, Max Factor Disco Pink, and Jessica Ruffled Bottoms. I did start off using tape for the lines, but i made such a mess that in the end I decided it'd be neater to just freehand the lines. One day I shall conquer tape... I did however use a bit of tape for the wavy thing on my ring finger (I never have been quite sure what that's supposed to be...), before adding the purple edge with a teeny dotting tool. I actually quite like the finished look! Perhaps I should look to public transport for inspiration more often!

Thank you again to Amy for letting me loose on her blog, and to all you lovely readers! I hope you enjoyed my post :)


Isn't Sam adorable!! I had no idea that she was originally from Swansea until she sent this post over. I love the nails and the inspiration they came from. Be sure to visit Sam's blog and say HI!! Thanks again love for all your help!

Hi there, Fancy Side readers! I'm Nichole from Pretty Girl Science, and I have hijacked the blog today while Amy explores the universe...or whatever it is she's doing. I decided to vary from the norm a little bit and decided not to do nail art. Instead, I put together a very basic travel nail kit. It's got everything you absolutely need to have your nails looking fabulous while you are lounging on the beach or strolling down a boardwalk.

Before you go, make sure you give youself a good manicure. Take your time and let each layer cure fully, use quality polish, and use your favorite long-wearing topcoat. You might be able to get a week out of your original manicure this way. It's a lot easier to do your nails in the comfort of your own home with your full kit and collection at the ready. But once the first signs of chipping (or maybe you get bored. Seven days is a long time.) it'll be time to break out the supplies.

No one wants to bring their whole bag of tricks on vacation with them. My basic supply kit alone takes up a huge plastic bin. Besides the awkward size, I really dont think any of it would clear security these days. Instead, I have a very streamlined kit that will fit into a pocket or purse easily. Bonus: I *think* it should all be TSA friendly too! (dont quote me on that though. Be sure to check their website before you travel...just in case.)





This is the bare necessities, I think. The individual wipes claim to be enough for 20 nails each. I wouldn't count on them to remove glitter or red polish, but they should do the job well enough without having to worry about a leaky bottle in your luggage. As for the actual polish: there are a thousand different ways you can go here. Sally Hansen makes tons of different patterns in the strips, and they are the easiest I've tried. Plus, the kit comes with a decent mini nail file and orange stick. You can also try polish pens or mini sized bottles of polish, but I can't recommend those. The pens I've tried either leak like crazy or dry out faster than you can even begin to get use out of them. And minis...well, there are quite a few hazards involved with bringing tiny glass bottles full of smelly/messy liquids along on a trip. Strips are by far the tidiest and least hassle.  Lastly, the Rosebud Salve is the best stuff ever. You can use it for minor burns and scrapes, diaper rash, lip balm, and cuticle balm. It's pretty affordable too at just $6.00. (FYI, if you do take this in your purse: bag it! In hot weather it will melt!)




Once you have everything assembled, just toss it into whatever little bag you have lying around. I like plastic sandwich bags, because then you have something that doubles as a trash bag...you know, just in case you're changing up your manicure far from civilization.



And there ya have it. Everything you'd need to have great nails while away from home and still travel light and comfortable! There are few things sadder than being 3,000 miles from your kit and having jagged free edge or a chippy manicure...except having to live with it for weeks.

Thanks for reading along, and I hope Amy is having a good time whereever she may be. (And has a killer manicure!)

-Nichole

Isn't Nichole fantastic? What a great take on the idea of travel themed nails. She went in a great direction and you'd better believe that I took her advice and packed a little travel kit just this for China. It's the perfect solution, and I don't have to worry about bottles breaking on my flight. LOVE IT!

Thanks again for stopping by Nichole!