Summer of Untrieds Day 22: Teal

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This is the 22nd day in a row I’ve worn a polish I’ve never tried. I still can’t believe I was crazy enough to do this. I’ve never changed my nail color this often, and I’m not sure yet if I like it. Anyway, this 22nd day has a teal theme, so I’m wearing a teal I’ve had for a long time, Marine Blue from Claire’s. I bought this as a birthday gift for my sister that I ended up keeping for myself because I’m an awful, awful person. I am wearing three coats of Marine Blue with one coat of Seche Vite.

So I’ve been dealing with a lot of chameleon polishes lately, it seems, because I’ve had a recent string of polishes that seem to change color when I take photos of them (alternate theory: I suck at my camera). In reality, Marine Blue is a dark, rich peacock blue-green, but in every photo I took, it’s much lighter, much bluer. I am so frustrated that I can’t capture how beautiful it really is. It’s such a deep, enigmatic, dramatic color, and it totally does not look like it here.

Aside from that problem, I rather like wearing it. Marine Blue was easy to put on; it dries quickly, but with a matte finish. This may not be a problem for you, but I don’t like the matte finish right off; I tend to associate it with cheap or low-quality polish. Thankfully, Seche Vite can make even the cheapest polish look incredible. I have to give the topcoat most of the credit for making this look so fantastic.

Outdoors, full sun

I don’t like to post cell-quality photos here, but I will, because my phone actually took a photo where the color is actually pretty close to what it’s really like. It’s greener here than in the others, though it’s still a bit too light. It’s still a lovely color regardless of how you look at it, I suppose.

Indoors (CFL lighting), cell phone

Manicure Monday: Plum and Glitter Surprise

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It feels like forever since I’ve done a real Manicure Monday post. For this week, I’m wearing The Golden Age from Sephora by OPI over Essie’s Devil’s Advocate, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

I really like Devil’s Advocate. Like really. I adore these dark, dramatic, vampy colors because you can never quite tell what color they really are. You can’t tell this is a deep plum unless you look at the very edges of it. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume it’s black. Devil’s Advocate goes on a little thin on the first coat, but evens out to full opacity on the second, and dries with a beautiful shine. It’s really easy to apply.

Unrelated: I put Devil’s Advocate on my toes when I wore Vesper earlier in the month. They’re very similar in color and I really didn’t want to experience the joys of taking Liquid Sand off my toenails.

The real star of this manicure is The Golden Age. It’s a clear glitter topper with various sizes of metallic gold and silver hex glitters. The distinction between the colors is pretty difficult to see in some lighting conditions; in my office it’s impossible to tell, but in the studio and in the sun, it’s clearly visible. It’s also very easy to apply; the consistency is thick so as to accommodate all that glitter. Also, I think this polish has my perfect glitter-to-lacquer ratio: one brushed coat is all I needed for full, even glitter coverage. It’s so easy to work with. I love it.

Sunlight! The sun came out long enough for me to take these photos. The clouds came back when I went inside.

So, there you have it: a glitter topper with secret differently-colored glitters over a black that’s really purple. I love surprises.

Summer of Untrieds Day 20: Multichrome/Shifter

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 20 of the Summer of Untrieds calls for multichromes and shifters, and I decided to use Yes, Master from Digital Nails. It’s a magical dark teal duochrome that goes all the way from green to pink. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Yes, Master is easy to apply, though the consistency is a little thick, probably due to all the shimmer and fine little sparkles in it. It does dry quickly though, which is definitely a plus. Cleanup is easy, too; usually polishes with teeny little sprinkle glitters are a pain to clean up with a brush. Overall, this is a really well made polish as well as beautiful.

Man, this is gorgeous! That shine, that shimmer, all those colors… It’s magnificent. That’s all I’ve got. Just… man.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Neon Violet

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Swatch Saturday, and I’m wearing the last of my American Apparel Neons. Of course, this one is the weirdest I’ve worn yet. Neon Violet is a gorgeous color, but changes dramatically in every lighting condition. In the studio and outdoors, it’s a cool magenta, but in others it’s a very dark purple. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

Since this is such a dark color, the application was easy with this one. The first coat went on opaque, which didn’t happen with the rest of the neons. It’s so dark and opaque that my white under-coat was completely unnecessary. As with the other neons, Neon Violet dries matte.

Outdoors, it’s even brighter than in the studio. It’s weird, isn’t it? The photos after the outdoor shots were taken in my kitchen, and the color shown here is much more representative of what it really looks like. This color is the one I’m more likely to see, because I’m rarely in harsh light like in the studio. This color change is odd, and while I usually notice a change, it’s never this drastic.

Outdoors, overcast

Indoors, incandescent light

Next week is the last of my American Apparel haul, so stay tuned if you feel like it.

Summer of Untrieds Day 18: Green

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 18 of the Summer of Untrieds Challenge is green. I chose to wear Butter London’s Swinger, a full coverage green glitter polish. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

It was really hard to focus on all those tiny glitters.

Swinger is loaded down with fine metallic green glitters. From what I can tell, there’s a fine olive green and larger kelly green hexes, as well as maybe some others. I really love polishes like this because there’s always so much dimension in the glitter. This was easy to put on; the glitter spreads evenly across the nail in one go, but there’s so much of it that it’s not suitable to use as a glitter topper. You’re free to try it, but you’ll have a very dense coat of glitter, which is why I think it works best as a full-coverage polish.

This looks incredible in sunlight, too. You can see the diversity of the glitters here, and how the look changes from a kelly green to an olive. This is just an amazing polish. I absolutely love it.

I love that I’m accidentally on a green polish kick, too. Greens are some of my favorites. They never fail to be beautiful.

Summer of Untrieds Day 17: Elevation Polish

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The Summer of Untrieds Challenge is halfway over! Today’s entry is Elevation Polish, so I’m wearing my first-ever Elevation Polish: Epidote. It’s a gorgeous grassy green holo that everyone should own. Seriously. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

Once upon a time, I saw Epidote featured on Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, and I knew, one day, I had to have it. I have such a thing for these yellow-green polishes. I want them all. I finally got it a few months ago, and I’ve been looking forward to wearing it. I’m so glad I finally had the chance.

Epidote applies evenly and without difficulty. The holographic effect looks fantastic in most lighting conditions, in others it just looks like a silver shimmer. The color varies in the photos; in the studio, it’s very green; outdoors it’s more true to its actual army green. Speaking of outdoors, I’m going to stop writing and just let you look at the pretties.

How beautiful is this? It actually took me a long time to get these outdoors photos. It was sunny the entire time I was polishing my nails, and when I went outside to take photos, it was overcast for about an hour. It was annoying. I almost had to resort to using the flash on my camera.

So I like Epidote. Like really really. I like Elevation Polish, too! I can’t wait to get more from them.

Wacie Wednesday: Slop Bucket

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My post today requires a bit of a backstory. When I first started experimenting with making my own polish, I ran out of bottles pretty quickly, and in an effort to save money, I decided to try to reuse some; I took my failed prototypes, poured them into an empty lacquer base bottle, and cleaned the polish bottles out with acetone. Unfortunately, the amount of work and acetone this required did not make it worth the time, and so I just ordered new bottles. Today, as I was walking into my workshop, I saw the bottle I’d poured all the polish into. I shook it up and watched it settle. There were so many kinds of glitter in it, so many pigments and dyes. I poured some of it into a polish bottle and put it on, and I got something weirdly wearable. I submit to you Slop Bucket, shown here at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

I don’t even know how to describe this polish. What do you even call this color? Shimmery brownish mauve? There are shimmers with hints of green, blue, gold, silver. I can’t even name all of the glitters, but I’m willing to bet every color, shape, and size of glitter I’ve ever used is in here. The lime green glitters outnumber the rest, I’d say, because I used those a lot in my first prototypes. There are flowers and hearts, but I didn’t get a lot of those; you can see the only heart I got on my pinky nail. I got a flower on my thumb, but it got buried under the additional coats.

Is it weird that I like this? All things considered, I think this is really pretty. None of the glitters match, and they weren’t intended to go together. The base turned creamy and brown. Theoretically, this should be the ugliest nail polish in the world, and somehow, it isn’t.

When I took my studio photos, it was storming, so I didn’t think I’d get to see what this looks like in the sunshine, but now the sun is out and the sun is shining like the storm never happened. Thanks, fickle Florida weather! This is crazy shimmery in the sunlight. There’s so much shimmer it’s hard to see what’s going on on the rest of the nail. It’s still weirdly, strangely pretty to me.

Well, that was fun. I’m definitely going to keep this bottle around. I’m also inspired to dump out the rest of my fail bottles and make a sequel.

Summer of Untrieds Day 15: Pink

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 15 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge calls for pink, so I went with something I’ve had for ages and have never tried: My first-ever China Glaze! I grabbed a bunch of these vibrant glitter crackle polishes during a huge Sally Beauty sale last summer (or maybe the summer before?), and I’ve only used one of them until today. This is one coat of Glam-More over two coats of Ciaté’s Amazing Gracie, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

As you can see, Glam-More is a glitter crackle. It’s pink, pretty, and totally passé. I just can’t say no to glitter, though, in any of its forms. This was actually quite thick when I opened it, but I took care of that with some thinner. It went on easily after thinning and the crackle effect occurred almost immediately. I think it’s a bit pinker in person; it looks purplish in the studio. That’s a bit misleading.

I’ve never used Amazing Gracie before today, so I’ll say something about it, too. It’s a soft, sheer nude that’s perfect for a French mani. It dries quickly and with a nice shine. I fear these polishes a little, because they always come out streaky, and since they’re so translucent, you can never correct it with another coat. That happened to me a little, but isn’t noticeable under the crackle.

I really love how dense the glitter is in Glam-More. It’s basically a clear crackle with glitter; there’s no pigment at all, that’s all glitter! This is especially obvious in the sunlight/outdoor photos. I regret using such a delicate base color, though; I feel like a darker color would have done more for it. Actually, looking back, I made that mistake the last time I used one of these crackle polishes. Why didn’t I learn?

I feel a little weird wearing this. I know I’m late to like every nail trend ever, but this is crazy. It’s like a nail polish time capsule.

Manicure Monday: Monochrome with Accents

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Manicure Monday! Today I’m wearing Lost Soul from LA Colors, and my accent polish is L’Oreal’s The Sparklicious. I have on three coats of Lost Soul, one sponged coat of The Sparklicious on my accent nails, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Lost Soul is a cool gray polish with a faint silver shimmer. I’m always a little afraid of these LA Colors polishes; the quality is hit or miss. I’m happy to say this one is pretty good. The consistency is thin, but even; this actually looked pretty nice at one coat. That said, I still went for three coats, because I wanted it to be very opaque to support the glitter.

The Sparklicious is a clear glitter topper with holo silver bars with black and holo silver hexes. The glitter didn’t brush on well, and left behind a lot of clear lacquer. I don’t like to dab glitter on with a brush, so I brushed it onto a sponge and applied it that way. It’s not very even, but that’s not noticeable at first. The black and silver glitters complement the gray polish well.

I was hoping the baby shimmer in Lost Soul would be more apparent in the sunshine; it is just barely visible, but still more visible in the sun than in the studio. Those holo glitters just blow up, though.

The one thing I don’t like: when I apply the glitter this way, no amount of top coat can ever smooth it down. There’s still a lot of texture there. I’m okay with some texture, but having it on only a couple nails is kind of annoying.

Summer of Untrieds Day 13: China Glaze

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 13 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge calls for China Glaze, so here I am trying the first China Glaze on my list: Running in Circles. Running in Circles is an awesome shamrock green jelly with fine metallic glitters. I’m wearing three coats of it here with one coat of top coat. Note: this post is late because of World Cup finals and excessive drinking.

So I didn’t expect Running in Circles to be such a thin jelly, but it is; my nail line is just barely visible, even after three coats. The tips were the hardest part to cover; I thought they looked great until I took photos and they looked a little bald. Despite that, each coat went on easily and evenly. The glitter spreads really well. I like this polish a lot, but it’s a little too Christmassy for July.

So I took these pictures when it was dark outside, so there weren’t any great sunlight photos of them. You’ll have to take my word on how awesome this looks outdoors. It’s so full of glitter and sparkle, it’s amazing.

Running in Circles was part of China Glaze’s Cirque du Soleil collection from last year, and has a blue counterpart called Water You Waiting For, which I also have. I cannot wait to do a gradient with those.

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