The Fancy Side

Winter Time Icicles

Monday, January 12, 2015 1/12/2015 08:14:00 PM

Happy Monday everyone! How is everyone doing? I hope you all had wonderful weekends. Mine was really good. I had dinner with friends, saw a Broadway show, and went to a blogger meet up. It was a super fun weekend!!

The blogger meetup had a mani theme of snow & ice. If you follow me on Instagram you saw a sneak peek of these in the group shot. It took me way too long to do these stupid nails and after I was done it occurred to me that there was an easier way to get the base, but whats done was done.

I started off with a base of Color Club In De-Nile. This was a gift from the lovely Frosso. It's the perfect pale baby blue creme. I'm wearing two easy coats for full coverage.

I then went in with Charme Whitehall for a snowy effect. (It occurred to me later that I could have used KBShimmer Snow Way for a similar look minus a step.) Ah well. One coat of Whitehall with some minor placing gave me this look!

I then used acrylic paints and a cut down striping brush to paint on some icicles following this tutorial. The girls at the meetup told me depending on how you view them they could be icicles or snowy pine trees. Either works for me. :-)

I feel like I'm getting better at free handing designs, but I really need to keep practicing. It's hard to paint things that little. :-/

What do you think...icicles or snowy pine trees?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all products were either a gift or self purchased

#StampingSaturday: Irresistible Gold

Saturday, January 10, 2015 1/10/2015 04:08:00 PM

For #StampingSaturday this week I decided to add to a mani I had already done. I took Seche Irresistible* and embellished it.

I took off my ring finger polish and replaced it with Kays Masquerade. I got Masquerade in my Ninja Polish Grab bag, which I'm so happy I purchased! Masquerade is a gold and pink glitter bomb that is super pretty and covers completely in just two coats. I then used Orly Luxe and MoYou Explorer Plate 03 to add some henna type looks.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend! We're going to a Broadway Show tonight as part of my Christmas gift and I'm so excited! Can't wait! Be sure to check out the other stamping ladies below and join in your self!!

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*denotes press sample

**all else self purchased

An InLinkz Link-up

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#TheLacquerRing: Cobalt

Friday, January 9, 2015 1/09/2015 10:00:00 AM

Once again #TheLacquerRing is back. We're a day late and its totally my fault. The internet was down at my apartment and I couldn't post or send out the code. Thankfully the girls are sweet and understanding. Good thing they are awesome and willing to wait on me.

I was inspired by (ok copied really closely) a look that Cirque put up for their #manimonday look a few weeks ago. I know I own like almost every Cirque made, but strangely I do not own these two colors...but I have similar ones!!!

I'll show you the look first and then my base on its own. The color choice for this week picked by Amanda of Mae's Beauty is Cobalt Blue. It just so happens that Fross of Lacquer Me Silly gifted me a beautiful cobalt blue Kiko #265 so I'm debuting it here today.

My base is KBShimmer In Bare Form. This is the perfect nude holo. It's scary close to my skin tone but has beautiful linear rainbows! This is 3 thin coats which was necessary because the polish is a little sheer.

And there you have it. My cobalt manicure. Be sure to check out the other cobalt mani's below!! I always love seeing the different things we all do!

An InLinkz Link-up

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*gift/self purchased

Serum No5 Luxe So Good

Thursday, January 8, 2015 1/08/2015 04:16:00 PM

There is something about a silver holographic polish that is just so gorgeous. Luxe So Good from Serum No5 allows me to wear a fun polish but also take a break from polish craziness. Sometimes a palette cleanser is needed.

Luxe So Good is not as in your face "HOLO" as some others that I have. It has the rainbows they just aren't as strong. This swatch is 3 thin coats. I did have some issues with dragging so make sure to let each layer dry for a bit before moving on.

So story time...I told you all about my blog New Years resolution, but my personal one is to run a 1/2 Marathon. I got talked into it by a friend, I have a date and a training program. But the thing is...I hate running. Its the worst. But I'm a sucker and agreed to do this so I'll be regaling you with all my aches and pains up until that date. Then we'll all go out for drinks after and I'll vow never to do something so stupid again.

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*self purchased

Seche Irresistible & Live.Love.Polish

Wednesday, January 7, 2015 1/07/2015 12:09:00 AM

*press sample

Live.Love.Polish an online retailer of polish recently asked me if I wanted to try out a Seche polish and the ever famous Seche Vite topcoat. I think you all know my answer was ~~"Hells yeah"~~ "I'd love to work with you and try it out." Lucky for me they are based out of NYC and I had the polish within 2 days. Talk about service y'all!

I chose to try out Seche Irresistible. It's a deep dark purple leaning red creme polish, almost a maroon but not quite. This is 2 thin coats, but if you do thicker ones you could get away with one. Irresistible dries quickly and super shiny!

They also sent me a bottle of Seche Vite. Its no secret that I love Seche Vite and its my go to topcoat. I've strayed. I've tried other quick dry top coats. I always come back. There is nothing like the super shiny, glossy smooth, dry to the touch finish you get with this topcoat. Some people do experience shrinkage with this top coat, but if you wrap your tips and use a generous amount it eliminates that problem.

What do you think? I'm in love. I fully believe you can't go wrong with the Seche brand. They make the best topcoat out there and they always produce gorgeous creme polishes.

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*polishes used in this review were provided for my honest opinion

Smitten Polish Figgy Pudding

Monday, January 5, 2015 1/05/2015 10:46:00 PM

A crazy amount of Christmas Collections came out this year. I'm guilty of getting a lot of them. However, there were very few that aren't versatile. I feel like so many of them could be worn year round and that makes them awesome in my book. Smitten Polish Figgy Pudding is one of those.

Figgy Pudding is a bright purple base filled with bronze flakies that give it a lot of depth. Its a stunning combo. My swatch is 2 easy coats. I didn't experience any bulkiness from the flakes or bald spots. I love the shift you get from the flakies, so pretty.

See...I told you it was pretty! For those of you in the NYC area there is a blogger meetup happening this weekend on the 10th. If you want the info, pop over to my IG feed for the picture that has all the details! Hope to see you there!

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*self purchased

Zoya Storm

Monday, January 5, 2015 1/05/2015 12:05:00 PM

Sometimes I could just kick myself for being a big dummy. I've had Zoya Storm in my collection forever, but haven't used it until now. That was a bad choice based on how gorgeous it is. Storm is a black jelly base filled with silver holographic sparkles. How can you not love it?