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Friday, July 1, 2016

#THELACQUERRING: BEACH / TROPICAL

Hello and welcome to another blog post! The Lacquer Ring's second prompt for June is tropical/ocean and I finally got nail charms and put together this beach design.
*some items were provided for review*affiliate links*
There are so many recreations of this design now, and I remember seeing the tutorial for the very first time that elleandish did back in 2014 (see here) , how simple and beautiful it looked. I've tried this design last year but didn't have the charms, and I have to say, I like it more this time around! 
I used different colors this time, and did the actual water spotting (drops of polish into water and break them up with an alcohol based spray), so I'd like to think of it as an improvement. 
My base color is Anchor & Heart Lacquer (Etsy store) Cold Water & Sunshine. I came across this brand right before it launched, and this was the color I desperately wanted. It's a lovely aqua crelly with silver flakes and green-blue shimmer.

This color is right up my alley, so this is actually the third time I'm using it, but only the first time that it made its way onto the blog. I would say 3 coats is needed for complete opacity on longer nails, and that's what I've worn before. This time around, I knew I was adding art so I only applied 2 coats, which is still fine for normal wear.



I really like the macro of the bottle as it shows that there is a lot going on in this polish!

Starfish and seashell charms were provided by Lady Queen for review. The charms really completed this look for me,  and I didn't even lose any! I secured them with nail glue. This was my second time wearing any sort of  extra bling on my nails, and while it was fine, I won't start adding that on the regular. I was too afraid that I'll snag my nail on something and break it, and that's not a safe feeling. But for special designs once in a while, these are great!

Seashells item #NA0603 are available in gold and silver, in 3mm and 5mm. The ones I used are silver 5mm. Starfish are item #NA0602 and are also available in gold and silver and in several different sizes. The pearls were something I already had bought earlier, in anticipation of this mani, but Lady Queen does sell them as well - item #NA0328
My sand is pretty textured - it's because I used one of Zoya's pixie dust polishes, Godiva, and did not use topcoat on it to smooth it out. It's very realistic feeling! I also dabbed on some flakies to add more sparkle to the water and sand - I used Opal from Nvr Enuff Polish. I ended up double dipping some nails if I didn't feel like they got enough "waves" (white polish is Sinful Colors Snow White) so that made for an interesting layered look.

Overall, I am happy to finally see this design materialize on my nails, as I've been wanting to do it for a long time!

Lady Queen provided me with a 15% off code that works on non-sale items, so if you make a purchase and your order qualifies - I would appreciate if you used my code KCC15!
Also, don't forget to take a look at the other designs that are part of The Lacquer Ring's tropical/beach link up!


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