Designers [Re]designed: Chloé Inspired

Hello ladies (and gents)!

Today's the last day of Designers [Re]designed week! It's not really a week since it's only been four days but it's close enough.

For today's design I chose my inspiration from Chloé. This dress is so pretty, I love everything about it! The print didn't translate as well as I thought it would. If I could draw pleats on my nails I'd be a happy girl but it's definitely not an easy task!

And...did you guys notice that Haute Lacquer is now hautelacquer.com instead of ".blogspot.com"?! I did it literally as I was writing this post and I can't believe how easy it was! I love it, such a small change but it makes a big difference. (:

For this manicure I used Zoya Avery as the nude base. Then I took my nail art brush and drew the horizontal stripes first. Following the print of the dress I drew each line using the colors white, Essence What Do U Think? (orange) and Wet N Wild Private Viewing (cocoa brown). After the stripes were drawn on I created the vertical ones using those three same colors. The nude vertical stripe, however, was created with a mix of white and Zoya Avery. To finish off I added a couple coats of Seche.

Even if the print didn't translate the way I wanted it to, I still love the end result! Nude and color work really well together, it's one of my favorite combinations.

Designers [Re]designed: Prabal Gurung Inspired

Good morning! Well, it's morning as I write this its probably the afternoon or even night in some parts of the world/country.

Today's design was actually meant to be posted for day one of Designers [Re]designed week but the first attempt was a complete failure! Instead of using the obvious splatter technique for the base I tried using a dotting tool and it just didn't look good at all. I'm not lying, it was unrecognizable!

But this time I went for the splatter technique and I think it works! Now, the color blocking aspect was randomly placed since it looks like the designer wasn't too concerned about symmetry for this dress (which I love by the way). 

For this manicure I started with a white cream base. Then using the splatter technique I created the abstract-splatter print Prabal Gurung has on the background of the dress.  For the splatter I used Zoya Lara, white, black, and Wet N Wild Disturbia. To match the purple and black panels on the dress I took my nail art brush and this random Sally's Girl medium purple and drew the panels. I went back in with black for the random black panels. I finished off with thick coats of topcoat. 

This is my first time doing splatter nail art and I have fallen in love with it! I know it's been done in every possible way and in every possible color combination but it may pop up on this blog again in the future. I kind of love it!

Designers [Re]designed: House of Holland Inspired

Day 2 of Designers [Re]designed week!

I went for something more simple today since yesterday's design was freakishly hard and took a lot of time to do.

I always surprise myself with the things I haven't done yet. Like this gradient leopard design. I feel like everyone has already done this type of design and I'm just now getting on board!

This design came from this House of Holland Spring/Summer 2012 dress below which was a very pretty, subtle gradient with large spaced out leopard spots. Of course nails are a much smaller canvas than the dress so it was a lot more difficult to give it that same effect but I tried.

For this manicure I used Essence No More Drama as the base. Then I took a sponge and sponged on Barielle Do Unto Others. I focused more on the center of the nail and then faded out the edges. Taking my nail art brush, I used black polish to create the leopard spots. These I created randomly using the dress as inspiration for placing and size. I finished off with a topcoat.

I didn't notice until I took these pictures but it looks like my black polish got a little too tacky and created those weird string things all over my index and middle. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Designers [Re]designed: Proenza Schouler Inspired

Hello loves!

I am finally back after an almost two month long hiatus. I hate to give excuses and I know you hate hearing them but I have been busy with personal life so nail polish life had to take a backseat. I promise I will make it up to you guys, especially since I never got to my one year blogiversary giveaway! Now that school is out and I have all summer to focus on blogging, I promise I have much more to come.

I really love when bloggers have a "theme week" so I decided to have another one of my own. "Designers [Re]designed." So what if it's cheesy? I thought it was a cute name...

I had so much fun with my Vera Bradley nails that I'm going all out and having a designer week! All week long I'll be posting designs inspired by some of my favorite designers and designers I've never even heard of. 

For this manicure I started off with a base of Diamond Cosmetics Decadence. Then, using a nail art brush I created the stripes, creating a T with the yellow (Barielle Soul-er Powered), black, and white. Then I started creating the other components of this mani, such as the colorblock squares on the sides and the angle on the top half. I finished off with a topcoat.

This was a very hard design to achieve. Actually, it's not that it was hard but getting the symmetry right was difficult. I'm still not 100% happy with it but I think it turned out great for the most part!

Zoya Beach & Surf Collections Swatches and Review!

As you can see by the title, today I'm showing you the Beach and Surf Summer Collections from Zoya! I'm usually never excited about Summer collections but these two collections really got me excited. I honestly couldn't wait to swatch them!

These pictures were all taken in natural lighting with two coats of each polish unless stated otherwise.

First up, the Beach Collection:

Reagan. This is a deep pink cream with strong purple undertones. Great formula, I had no issues with application. I know it looks very purple here, but trust me, it is pink. This is not a unique color by any means but it's great for pink lovers.

Lara. This one is unique in the way that it looks hot pink in some lighting, but more of a medium pink in others. Here it's leaning more towards medium pink. It does have a slight berry undertone.

Shelby is the perfect bubblegum pink. This polish is so Nicki Minaj to me; she's always rocking bubblegum lips. And look how shiny! I had some trouble with application, as this took 3 coats. With two coats it left it looking "patchy."

Arizona is a light tangerine orange with yellow undertones. This color is so yummy I could eat it! It's already on my toes. I don't have anything like it in my collection. It's not a regular orange (like the fruit), it's more towards the color of orange juice. And y'all can't tell me you don't love the name of this beauty.

Zoya Tracie is a light mossy green with a silver frost finish. The frost is pretty subtle in real life so if you don't like frosty finishes, but you like this color, it's still worth buying. It's definitely the best formula I've ever had with a frost.

Wednesday. A muted turquoise blue. This one is gorgeous! Wednesday, to me, could also be a spring color. It's not a pastel but could certainly be worn as a spring or summer color. Two in one, oh yeah.

Next we have the Surf Collection:

Rory. This is a light pink metallic packed with silver, shimmer particles. At some angles, I even see a little bit of copper shimmer. This dries semi-matte so I recommend a topcoat. Not my favorite color of the collection but it is pretty unique.

Carly is a beautiful, deep purple with a fuchsia flash and packed with silver shimmer. For some reason, the silver is not visible in this picture but you can see it in the bottle. Carly seems really out of place in this collection, reminds me a lot of a winter or fall polish.

Kimber. This looks super red but it's more of a bright raspberry pink with copper and silver shimmer particles. Kimber is another name I adore. This had flawless application, just like the majority of the two collections.

Myrta is a bright coral, orange metallic foil. This is so citrus-y. This type of color works really well for dark skin tones. But of course, anyone can pull it off. I used three thin coats here.

Meg. This is a stunning apple green metallic. Green is my favorite color so naturally, I like this polish. I smiled when I saw this was named Meg. I automatically thought of Family Guy.

Lastly, we have Zuza. This is a light aqua blue packed with silver shimmer and hints of green shimmer though out. Oh mama! This is so, so pretty. Anyone else feel like they're really at the beach? I'd recommend a topcoat with Zuza though since it dries a bit matte. This is so amazing in person, its currently on my fingers!


These summer collections have a little something for everyone. I much prefer Beach to the Surf Collection though. All polishes, with the exception of Shelby, had easy application. The majority of polishes are quite unique, to the point that you have to wonder where Zoya comes up with their shade ideas. But Carly feels really misplaced in the mix. My favorites were Shelby, Arizona, Wednesday from the Beach Collection and Myrta, Meg, Zuza from the Surf Collection. I love that Zoya picks unique names for a lot of their polishes. Lord knows there are enough things labeled with more popular names like Hannah or Emily, glad Zoya made room for a Kimber and Arizona.

The Zoya Beach and Surf Collections are now available on zoya.com and retails at $8.00 each per bottle.

Vera Bradley Inspired

I am so insanely excited about this manicure words cannot even express!

Oh Lord, where do I even start?

As usual, I look for most of my inspiration online when I want to try a new design. This was no exception. I opened up Mozilla Firefox, stared at my Google home page for a while and then searched Vera Bradley's website. I clicked the word "collection" and that word eventually led me to this beauty.

The inspiration for this design came directly from Vera Bradley's cosmetic bag from her Resort Collection. 

For this manicure I used Barielle Do Unto Others as the turquoise base. Then I took my nail art brush and started working on the details like the leaves and flowers. I created each flower (white cream)/leaf (Sally Hansen Green with Envy) and then outlined with black. To create the stripes, I used white, SH Green with Envy and Barielle Do Unto Others. I tried to outline the stripes on a couple fingers for more of a contrast but it looks better without the stripes, so I started over.

Here's a picture of the bag. The front of it is actually clear with stripes and then the inside and back have the pattern. I just chose to go with the illusion of the stripes being on top of the floral.

I might just have to buy the bag, that's how in love I am with the pattern! Where VBrad comes up with these genius patterns? Only the Lord knows.

Invisible Girl Palette

Hello loves!

About two weeks ago I started reading the book Invisible Girl by Mary Hanlon Stone and ever since I got it I have been in love with the cover.

I really love the colors orange and blue together.

I know they say "don't judge a book by it's cover" but...the cover is so pretty.

Is it wrong that the cover is one of the main reasons why I got the book?

Since I'm pretty much obsessed with the book,  I finally decided that I'll use the colors as inspiration for my next design.

For this manicure I used a white cream polish as a base. Then I took my nail art brush and Essence What Do U Think? to create the orange slanted French tip. Again, taking my nail art brush, I used Zoya Kristen to create the angled blue stripe that goes across the entire nail and meets up with the orange tip. The last step is optional. I added a beige stripe (Zoya Kennedy) within the white area of my nail to represent the shorts the girl is wearing on the cover.

I did all this without tape but you could obviously use tape for sharper, cleaner lines. I personally prefer to freehand since it's quicker and more convenient for me. 

I'll be back later this week for a very exciting (at least for me) design! I spent almost three hours perfecting it, so I can't wait to share it with you guys!