essie

Week O’Nautical: Ocean Blue Mani

Week O’Nautical is ‘licia language for my way to countdown to patriotic holidays with all things red, white and blue with a nautical take. Why nautical? Because its beachy and long summer weekends should be as beachy as possible. Usually its a way to get through the work week when really you’re already checked out for the long weekend. However, 2020 threw us for a loop and instead of my wear to work posts its all about the home life this year. What hasn’t changed… manis! This May I’ve been really into blues.

Oceanic Hues from Essie

Inspired by this Blue Ombre ring from Avon in oceanic blues I couldn’t decided on which blues to do. I ended up going with Essie Lapis of Luxury with an accent nail in Borrowed & Blue. These shades are few of my oldies but goodies!

Avon Blue Ombre Ring

I really love blue mani’s for spring and summer, plus they go really well with patriotic ootd’s. I know I’ll be doing another one by the time actual MDW roles around but I can gurantee it will probably be a shade of blue.

Essie Lapis of Luxury and Borrowed & Blue

What mani is on your hand this week!?

WoN Kickoff with a WFH OOTD – Joggers and Beach Sweaters!

Mani Monday: Essie Fall 2019

It’s officially sweater weather with six limited edition nail polishes from Essie with the fall 2019 collection. “It’s time to get back to your roots and explore the home grown countryside with the essie fall 2019 collection of six autumn nail polish shades. As the leaves begin to fall and the outside air becomes crisp – it’s official, it’s sweater weather. These limited edition nail polish shades are guaranteed to leave you on the bright cider.”

Essie Fall 2019 Collection

Essie is one of my favorite nail brands partly because they do really good seasonal collections. They build a color story that really represents a feeling, trend, season! Because of that I decided to google the fall collection 2019 and I barely found any IRL’s, swatches, etc and I was a little shocked. The ones I did find convinced me to head over to CVS and see what they had. I intended only to pick up one shade but after seeing the colors, the theme, the names I couldn’t leave without at least 3.

My top picks: Hay There, Sweater Weather, On The Bright Cider

The top 3 I picked were 3 colors I definiltey did not already have in my collection. Hay There, a fall yellow, caught my eye first. Its a perfect color to transition with. On The Bright Cider, the color of apple cider, became a must-have for my Apple Hill fall outings. Sweater Weather, a metallic green, which is the most out of my norm. It was also the last bottle in this color at the store and from the reviews I read it was the one that everyone liked best so I grabbed it too.

With those names how can you not pick up one… or three!?

Hay There

Essie Hay There

On The Bright Cider

Essie On The Bright Cider

Sweater Weather

Essie Sweater Weather

These 3 shades were my September mani colors. Usually I stick to my pinks, berries, reds but I’m glad I got something out of my comfort zone. Sweater Weather got the most compliments from strangers haha. Its kinda alien, kinda fall, kinda shimmery. I see Sweater Weather being a really fun color for Halloween too! These 3, well the whole collection really, go so well with the fall trends… menswear, 70’s vibe, plaids, neutrals, marigold, denim… Now the question is do I need the other 3 shades from this collection!? I really like the other three for all my other fall activities, visit to the pumpkin patch, friendsgiving, regular Thanksgiving, etc. I think I just answered my own question 😉

Cheers to 2018!

It’s officially the first mani Monday of 2018! Cheers! My New Years Eve mani was def last minute, but still festive to ring in the new year!

Holo Polish for NYE

I wore two holo polishes this New Years, a silver one from Zoya and a black one from Julep. For a little confetti I added an Essie Luxe Effect topcoat on my middle and added some nail gems on my ring. Quick, easy and festive!

New Year Mani

Here’s to all the mani’s I loved in 2017 and all the ones to come in 2018! Cheers!

Nailed It! Happy Easter With Easter Egg Nails!

Nailed It! Happy Easter with Easter Egg Nails!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny didn’t hide your basket too hard 😉 I’m celebrating today with family, friends and food… and these super cute Easter egg nails!

Nailed It! Happy Easter with Easter Egg Nails!

I paired my favorite peach polish, Essie A Crewed Interest, with these clear Jamberry Paint Me Pastel wraps. I’ve tried this Easter egg look many of years with hand painted nail art and it’s been a fail each time. That’s why I love Jamberry, perfect nail art each time, and quickly!

Jamberry Paint Me Pastel Over Essie A Crewed Interest

You can shop Jamberry here and Essie at your favorite beauty or drug store.

Easter Vibes

Hoppy Easter!

Mani Monday Inspo: Golden Globes Edition

I actually caught the Golden Globes last night and not just the red carpet recap the next day. It was super entertaining with Jimmy Falon hosting and of course even more entertaining with all the fun fashion! Such a glam evening is transferring to my not-so-glam Monday by inspiring my mani. It’s time to take off my NYE jam’s (see here) but what to replace it with?

Kristen Bell Inspo: Black Holo with Julep Ebony (last seen here)

Julep Ebony

Priyanka Chopra Inspo: Gold with mark. Nailed It Gift Set (gold shade – last seen here)

mark. Nailed It Gift Set

Emma Stone Inspo: Light Pink with Stars with Essie Fiji and stamping with mark. Nailed It Gift Set (silver shade) (last seen here)

Essie Fiji

All The Sequins and Metallics Inspo: with Essie Penny Talk (last seen here)

Essie Penny Talk

Janelle Monae Inspo: Pearly white with Avon Creme Brûlée (last seen here)

Avon Gel Finish in Creme Brûlée

What’s your vote!? What mani should I do next? What topped your favorites list from last night’s Golden Globes?

(pics via pinterest)

Mani Monday: Nude Blue and Leopard Top Pinned Recreate

So lately this pin has been receiving so many re-pinnes. Before that it was this cheesecake recipe I’ve yet to make it, but looks easy and delicious… I digress, back to the mani. Because it was getting so much pinterest love I decided to recreate it.

Recreating Most PInned Mani

For my recreate I did it a little differently but kept the nude, blue and spot design. I recently got this Avon Gel Finish Polish in Barely There, a darker nude shade and been wanting to use it so figured this was the time! I applied 2 coats over the Avon Ridge Filling Basecoat on every finger except my ring where I used Essie Borrowed and Blue (last seen here). I then used a gold glitter on my middle and a leopard jamberry wrap on my pointer. The wrap is called Spot On, which is just a leopard print on a clear base.

In Full Sun: Nude, Blue and Leopard Mani

Jamberry Wrap Spot On on Pointer

All together my recreation has the same color scheme and overall design as the pin but with a little different twist with the glitter and clear based Jamberry wrap. I love the whole look and feel for spring and I can see thing working really well in the fall too coming off of summer brights.

Featuring Essie Borrowed and Blue and Julep Tazeen (glitter)

Can I comment on how awesome the Avon Gel Finish polishes are! They are so perfectly self leveling, shine and wear great without a top coat and last! Right now these polishes are any 2 for $8.99. You can shop the gel finish polishes and the ridge filling base coat at my eBoutique. You can shop Jamberry here.

Avon Gel Finish in Barely There

Mani Monday: Shall We Chalet and Golden Globes Faves

Mani Monday: Essie Shall We Chalet

My first mani of 2016… fully 2016 since this guy I technically did 12/31/2015. Because I’m not good at moving on from Christmas I was still feeling red but I wanted something simple and shiny and clean for the new year. Enter in Essie Shall We Chalet. The prettiest slightly deep red, with a perfect creme finish with shine. Shall We Chalet is from the Essie Winter Collection Apres Chic and because I’m on this Apres Ski trend (see here) I think it fits perfectly for my mood lately and my favorite outfit on heavy rotation as of late (see here).

From Essie Apres Chic Collection: Shall We Chalet

After last night’s glam at the Golden Globes and my glam red nails I decided I needed to glam it up today for a regular girl Monday with a red lip and sparkle! (mark. Lip Click in Siren and old mark. necklace). In addition here are my fav glam moments from the Golden Globes:

Monday Glam With mark. LipClick in Siren

Juliane Moore (blue + sequins+ long sleeves + cutouts!)

Katy Perry’s 60’s Vibe (eh on the color of the dress but the look as a whole)

J.Lo (all of IT! the dress, the shoes the NAILS!)

Amy Adams (makes me dream of summer and that fit is spot on)

Olivia Wilde (a monochromatic wonder in my fav winter shade)

Taraji P. Henson (white + those earrings + that bag)

Emmy Rossum’s Necklace

What were your favorite moments from the Golden Globes fashion or non fashion!?!

Mani Monday: Essie Virgin Snow Winter Collection 2015

Essie Virgin Snow Winter 2015 Mini Set

November is always a switch here in Nor Cal. Come November 1st it finally feels like fall, the leaves start to change and sweater weather creeps in. With the new month, new season it’s time to countdown to the holidays! It’s time to switch out my mani and I couldn’t be more excited to do so with Essie. For winter Essie released their Virgin Snow collection, 6 shades that capture winter perfectly in my opinion. 2 reds, a pale pink, pale purple, a shimmering silver and a dark lit within purple shimmer. I personally love picking up the mini collection which this year included Haute Tub, Apres-Chic, Virgin Snow (the namesake) and Shall We Chalet leaving out Altitude Attitude (bright pink red) and Peak Snow (pale pink).

Essie Virgin Snow Winter Collection 2015

Apres Chic

Haute Tub

Shall We Chalet

Virgin Snow (the namesake)

I think this collection as a whole could not only be worn year round but all the shades you really need to get you through the fun holiday season. Lately I’ve been inspired by fresh shades you’d see on the first day of snow and the feelings of apres-ski so this collection really had me smitten. There is nothing outrageously unique about these colors but as a whole they play so well together and will compliment all the fall and winter fashion I’ll be wearing the rest of 2015.

Mixed Mani With Essie Virgin Snow Collection and mark. Shine Of The Times Ring

New Mani Monday FAVES!

Mani Monday: Jamberry Sweet Nothing

mark. Let Your Finger Do The Talking With Jamberry Sweet Nothing Nail Wrap Mixed Mani

Happy Columbus Day! Need something to do on your random day off? Do your nails! I love random Monday’s off for a little self improvement, preferably while watching daytime TV! Even if you don’t have today off (like me :/) then just chalk it up to being a typical mani Monday and DVR Kelly and Michael and The Price Is Right to watch while doing your nails.

Mani Monday With Jamberry Sweet Nothing

Today’s mani Monday is a new one for me… Jamberry. As popular as these nail wraps have been and as much of a nail girl as I am, I have yet to try Jamberry. My bestie Krista is hosting a party so her killer Jamberry Rep Jen sent a sample to us interested ladies for a 7 day challenge to see how Jamberry wraps hold up. I have to say, I’m impressed.

Jamberry Sweet Nothing, OPI Mourning Glory and Essie A Cut Above

I selected Jamberry Sweet Nothing as my design. Because the sample was a little big for my nail size I put them on the best fitting option my pointer. The floral design with a black background is a great fall floral design. I had a fun weekend planned so I wanted a fun mani to go with it, so I decided to accompany the floral design with just a basic shiny black polish (OPI Mourning Glory) and some mauve pink glitter on my middle (Essie A Cut Above). I loved the look with just the basic black but the glitter stepped it up and made this a fall mani I’m loving!

Dark Floral Mani For Fall

Word Of Alicia Review: Immediately I could tell that these were higher quality than nail wraps I’ve used in the past. I thought they were easy to apply but the key is heating them up first. I watched the tutorial on how to apply them and used my little desk side heater as my heat source. Besides some edge peeling and some mega filing (and more filing throughout the week) these puppies stayed put way better than any I’ve tried. I would definitely get them again… in fact I’m definitely getting these foxes for Thanksgiving!

mark. Let Your Finger Do The Talking Ring

I also am digging all the unique designs and how each design has it’s own hashtag so you can search how it looks in real life (IRL). That makes an online shopper super happy! You

see here that the design I used looks just as great on everyone else too, I LOVE it paired with stripes!

Avon Above The Fringe Necklace Set (earrings not shown but super cute!)

If you’re interested in trying out some Jamberry shop Krista’s Creative Jamberry Party here! Be sure to select Krista’s party and take advantage of the buy 3 get one free promotion going on now! You can shop my ring and necklace set at http://www.youravon.com/aliciahessinger

Pretty Little Things For Fall

Editors Note: for whatever reason this post didn’t post on Monday so day late and a dollar short… deal with it.

Summer Camp Nails

July has been a busy month for me between warm summer nights and weekend getaways, summer and summer vacation mindset have been in full swing! Busy month also means neglected nails. Sorry digits. I went camping the other weekend and I knew I was gong to feel super dirty and super un-polished so I knew I needed to polish those nails with a good mani to have at least that.

Essie’s A Crewed Interest and Julep Chevron Decals

We went camping up at Bullards Bar in Dobbins, CA. Which you might remember from this post when we spent our summer vacation there on a house boat. During that trip I wore this mani/pedi combo so I thought let’s wear that same peach! Only this time with aqua chevron decals from my last Julep maven box!

Peach & Aqua Chevron Nails and Camping Uggs

Obviously my nails got dirty after a weekend in the dirt and now showers… did I mention how much I HATE not showering. A lighter shade (Essie’s A Crewed Interest) helped mask the dirt, however the chevron decals not so much. Overall I LOVED this look for summer and even more for summer camping! Next time I wouldn’t try to apply the decals while being sleep deprived, things end up a little wonky haha. If you’re going camping or to a summer camp recreate this mani and have a great time! Use code SUMMER here for a FREE Julep maven box!

Essie’s A Crewed Interest and Julep Chevron Decals

The California drought definitely gave us a completely different experience this time visiting Bullards Bar but as always those waters were stunning! Overall Bullards Bar is a much better lake for boating and jet ski’s. If you have that, GO, but just for regular camping there are so many other great options in Nor Cal.

Bullards Bar Dobbins, CA

The Perfect Summer Camp Mani

word of alicia

word yo.