malt lacquer.

I am a 24-year-old nail art enthusiast based in southern Ontario. I'm never not worried about the state of my cuticles.

[malt-lacquer]

Happy nearly-Valentine’s Day! I broke a nail for the first time in more than a year yesterday (it got caught on the door in the lobby of my apartment building) so this year’s nails are stubby and kind of unimpressive, especially in a retrospective post beside the much-cuter nails I did for the holiday last year and the year before.

Fun fact: for Valentine’s 2013 I’d only had my nail art brushes and dotting tools for a few days, so that mani was the first one I’d ever done that I was REALLY proud of and it’s still kind of got a special place in my heart even though I’ve improved by leaps and bounds since then. Valentine’s leopard print is a style I don’t break out nearly often enough... or literally ever since 2013. But it’s a possibility for 2016.

[malt-lacquer]

I’m not gonna bother rescuing this but since I haven’t posted anything significant in weeks here’s my attempt at a spooky gothic castle

[malt-lacquer]

I’m not 100% on what’s going on with the camera on my new phone so this looks a little weird? We’ll see if I get it figured out tomorrow after I’ve put some art over this. Sorry about the cat hair, by the way.

Polishes used:

A England Fotheringhay Castle

Essence A Piece of Forever

[malt-lacquer]

It was only after I was completely finished these and was putting on a second layer of top coat to even everything out that it occurred to me that I have a job interview this week and it might have been a good idea not to purposely make my nails look dirty until after that, but here we are.

This is all acrylic paint on a base of Sally Hansen White Out (white) and Revlon Dominate (brown). I’m not sure how clear it is but the pinky is meant to be Rey’s calendar wall from her little fort on Jakku. It didn’t come out as striking as I imagined it but again, here we are.

[malt-lacquer]

It’s still sunny so here’s another glowy shot of an A England holo: their website describes Princess Sabra as an “alluringly feline golden olive bronzite”. Apparently, bronzite has protective and grounding qualities, plus the back of the bottle has a little note over the name that says “Tristam eyes”–Tristam being the company founder’s cat. Most adorable polish I own? Maybe. This looks more olive-green in some lights and more yellowy-gold in others, which I love.

[malt-lacquer]

Taking full advantage of the single beam of sunlight falling directly over my workspace right now. The bottom photo if you’re having trouble reading it is ILNP Home Sweet Home (the sparkliest thing I got for xmas this year).

[malt-lacquer]

My first project for the year is to build a light box so I don’t have to worry about catching decent natural light in the future, but today is the first day I’ve seen the sun in weeks so CHECK OUT A England Fotheringhay Castle in sunlight. The sparkle is a bit flashier in person, but this is such a good mossy earthy green even in low light. I feel like a forest fairy wearing it. I want dresses in this colour, and like a matching hat-and-gloves-and-scarf set, and maybe curtains for my apartment or something. Just deck me out in this shade of green tbh

[malt-lacquer]

Happy new year! Fittingly, because I have not made any time management-related resolutions this year due to my being perfectly comfortable with my inability to do anything on time unless it’s mandatory, my first post of the year is actually the mani I wore over Christmas. This was taken under the overhead light at a gas station at night because I liked how it played with the glitter.

Polishes used:

A England Her Rose Adagio

Hard Candy Bridal Party

[malt-lacquer]

I live in Canada and I still haven’t had to wear a winter coat but here’s a Christmas mani anyway because I’m going up north this afternoon to spend the holiday with my family

[malt-lacquer]

Pro tip: using dark blue polish in the part of the gradient that touches your cuticles is kind of a bad idea

[malt-lacquer]

Essie Stroke of Brilliance and Coat Couture were made for each other, honestly.

[malt-lacquer]

I haven’t been doing anything interesting with my nails lately (seriously, I squared them off a while ago and since then I’ve just been applying A England Her Rose Adagio and then taking it off and reapplying it when it chips) so here’s an older mani for no reason other than to make me feel productive

[malt-lacquer]

Fall Mix

I think this is the first straight-up “fall themed” mani I’ve ever done. And I actually used polish instead of acrylic paint in it (mostly… I’m out of white polish). I had some issues with the top coat on the middle finger so it’s a bit jacked up but otherwise I’m very happy with these.

The patterns were inspired by these three patterns on Spoonflower which, by the way, is a godsend in terms of design inspiration.

Polishes used:

L’Oreal Mauvelous

L’Oreal Safari Chic

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Haute Chocolate

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Greige Gardens

black and white acrylic paint

[malt-lacquer]

Angel Wings

These were fun to do! Pretty over-the-top compared to what I usually wear I guess. First photo in shade/second photo in sun.

Polishes used:

A England Her Rose Adagio (pink holo base)

Essie Hors D'oeuvres (silver and gold glitter)

OPI Muppets World Tour (silver/white/pink glitter)

acrylic paint

[malt-lacquer]

Kitty Moons

I think this might be the first mani I’ve done that left my nail tips visible since about 2012, and you can sort of see why--I’m a little self-conscious about how yellow and dull they are. But I’m actually really into negative space nail art that leaves the free edge bare. These kitties (styled, as always when I do cat-themed nails, after my cat and my roommate’s) are from a tutorial by @uneedamanicure--her use of bold patterns and negative space are both totally outside my wheelhouse and super inspiring.

Polishes used:

OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu (sheer white, 1 coat on kitty nails)

Nicole by OPI My Cherry Amour (pink textured glitter)

Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun (rainbow glitter)

Sally Hansen Tickled Pink (baby pink)

acrylic paint

[malt-lacquer]

Happy Halloween!

I had completely checked out of my whole “spooky nails October” thing when I suddenly realized what I wanted to wear for Halloween weekend, so here we are. Left photo is in sun, right photo is in shade.

The base is a gradient of A England Crown of Thistles to A England Her Rose Adagio a.k.a. my two fav polishes in my collection. Click the first picture and get a look at the gorgeous holo flash. It’s even glowier in person. I’m obsessed.

[malt-lacquer]

Autumn Fog

I started looking around for references for this because I was watching Skyfall with my roommate and really wanted something that would capture how gorgeous the scenes in the Scottish highlands were, but I ended up going with a reference photo taken in Alaska instead, which is....sort of the same? Not really the same at all.

This was all done with acrylic paint on a base of Sally Hansen Eel Skin, but I think the acrylic completely covered the base. I might do a tutorial for this in a week or two! Here’s a spoiler: this involved a lot of dunking a flat brush into a bunch of different colours and then sorta squashing ‘em all across the nail at once. Like the one-stroke method but real messy.