glitter - Lucy's Stash

Hello lovelies,

I have partnered with lovely Jenny Crompton and we are bringing you some dress and manicure inspiration!

When it comes to glamorous evening events, one of the highlights is picking out that perfect outfit. Whether it’s a prom, a wedding, or a special romantic date, once you've chosen your dress it's time to make some decisions about your hair, your make up, and of course... your manicure.

Here are just a few scenarios for evening dresses and tips on how they can influence your choice of manicure.

Quaint country wedding

If you turn up to a classy family wedding in a revealing bodycon dress, you might find yourself outlawed, so stick to floaty florals and pretty pastels.

With its chic rose detail and perfect peach tones, the Rare Rose Bodice Skater Dress is the ideal accompaniment to a romantic summer wedding. In terms of manicure you might choose a classic French style, with nude, understated tones or very subtle gradient. Needless to say, this is not an outfit to combine with bright, gregarious colours – think bare naturals and mother of pearl.

Lucy would pair this dress with a simple gradient or just painted nails without nail art with peach shades like China Glaze Peachy Keen.

There is always the opportunity to go a little more glam with touches of diamanté, with this Floral Bandeau Prom dress. You could even go glittery with a textured polish and pick out some of the fabric's darker tones to make an impact.

Lucy has created bespoke manicure inspired by this dress using watercolours and OPI Alpine Snow as a base. She has opted for a bit more colourful version.

Lucy's Stash: Watercolour/aquarelle nail art

And this is how it's done:

Lucy's Stash: Watercolour/aquarelle nail art tutorial

Out on the town

If you're hell bent on making a statement with a bright block-coloured dress such as the Renee Katie Criss Cross Roll Neck Dress, think contrast. More lime green would be extremely overpowering, so instead you might consider a black polish. If nail art is your thing, delicate green lines would be enough to tie in with the dress.

The OPI Don’t Talk Bach To Me matches this dress great but it might be too much so you can wear more subtle version with glitter gradient to give it more bling…

The Quontum Strappy Bodycon is a dress which screams nail art. On the front, this appears to be nothing more than an LBD, but turn around and it's much more than that. Vibrant pink and contrasting black nail designs would carry on the theme of the dress perfectly.

What you do with your nails largely depends upon the type of event you're attending, as well as the dress you've chosen. You might be surprised at how disastrous a poor nail/dress combination can be. But finger nails are extremely visible when it comes to eating, drinking and communicating – after all, you do have ten of them!

Lucy has done another bespoke manicure inspired by this dress using OPI You Callin’ Me A Lyre?, A England Camelot and OPI If You Moust You Moust.

Lucy's Stash: Dress inspired nail art design

Inspired? I hope so ;)

Thanks to Jenny for this lovely collaboration and inspiring me to do these nail art designs!

*This is a collaboration post and I have been somewhat compensated

*PR sample

Hello lovelies,

the texture polish trend is not dying out, on the contrary. Right now I have here another texture polish collection, this time from Nicole by OPI called Gumdrops.

From the Press release: “These shades are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth,” explains Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Nicole by OPI Co-Founder & Artistic Director. “By combining groundbreaking texture technology with some of the hottest trends including matte and shimmer finishes, Nicole by OPI has created a new line of lacquers for cutting-edge manicures. Worn without top coat, Gumdrops lacquers dry to a textured matte finish to give nails a “sugar” coated appearance.

My Cherry Amour - dark cherry textured base with multi-coloured glitter. The polish is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle and while it's glossy but once it dries into a matte texture it is not so much. Don't get me wrong I still like it but the glossy version is just amazing. Two coats were fully opaque.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI My Cherry Amour

And here is a version with topcoat. It beautifully sparkles with rainbow coloured glitter in the sun and the colour looks much richer.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI My Cherry Amour with topcoat

A-Nise Treat - charcoal black textured base with silver glitter. It's chic rock chick look and I like it! It applied easily and two coats were fully opaque.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI A-Nise Treat

Blue-Berry Sweet On You - lavender blue textured base with silver glitter. This polish has a slight foil-like shine to it and it doesn't feel as gritty as the other ones. The formula was slightly thicker but manageable and two coats were fully opaque.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI Blue-Berry Sweet On You

Candy Is Dandy - medium pink textured base with holographic glitter and silver particles. It's a pretty pink and I like the bigger holo glitters, they stand out nicely and shine in the sun. It is a bit sheerer so I've had to apply two thick coats.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI Candy Is Dandy

Cinna-Man Of My Dreams - bronze brown base with silver, blue and bronze particles. It's an interesting colour combination. It is not completely brown, it is leaning towards red plus the blue particles thrown into mix make it really unusual. I'm wearing two coats.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI Cinna-Man Of My Dreams

I Lilac Gumdrops - lilac base with big silver flecks. The formula of this polish was slightly thicker yet manageable. I needed two coats for full coverage.

Lucy's Stash - Nicole by OPI I Lilac Gumdrops

Overall, this collection offers some nice textured polishes with extra sparkle. They all applied easily and were opaque in two (sometimes thicker) coats. The drying time is longer than with normal nail polishes, the texture needs to dry and harden properly otherwise it can be ruined easily. But once it's completely dry it can last without chipping quite long. The removal is somewhat difficult as with glitter nail polishes.

My absolute favourite is My Cherry Amour, especially the topcoated version!

This limited edition collection will be available beginning May 2013 for $7.99 each at retailers including select Walmart (May 2013), CVS (June 2013), Rite Aid, Kmart, Kroger, Ulta, H-E-B, and Duane Reade locations (August 2013), In Canada, these shades will be available for $10.99 each at Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart Canada (July 2013), Jean Coutu, Loblaw, and London Drug (August 2013).

*PR sample