Monthly Archives: April 2015

Weekday Swatch: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype HFT 1.1

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I know I don’t usually post in the middle of the week, or this late at night, but I have a couple of swatches I did for last weekend and didn’t have time to post because of work stuff. For what would have been last Swatch Saturday, this is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype HFT 1.1. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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Prototype HFT 1.1 is an orange-red jelly with metallic and holographic gold glitters in various shapes and sizes, as well as some red dot glitters. The formula was good; it was a little on the thick side, but was still easy to work with. The glitters were pretty sparse, I didn’t get a lot on every nail, but the ones I did get are pretty good. The jelly opacity is good, too; it was able to cover my nail lines without obscuring the glitters. It dried quickly to a glossy finish; top coat really brought out the additional effects of the glitters.

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This is the second of three red manicures I did last week, and even though I had a ton of fun wearing all of them, this was my favorite. It has so much pop, so much bold color; my skintone really sets it off. The glitter emphasizes the color without detracting from it. I got tons of compliments for it. It was definitely a blast to wear.

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As HFT 1.1 was a prototype polish, there is only one bottle and I have it. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Cracked Blue Frost

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Hello, readers! It’s Monday again, and I have another mani to show you. I’m wearing China Glaze’s Crackle Glaze in Oxidized Aqua over Julep’s Char, topped with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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For a Julep polish, Char, a deep blue creme, is pretty good. I had almost-opaque coverage in one coat; I guess these darker colors use more pigment, because I never have to struggle with the darker colors, only the light ones. It dries with a beautiful gloss. One thing I do notice, however, is the smell; Julep polishes generally have a mild smell, but this one is way different and much stronger. I suspect the pigment is the culprit; I have a similar shade from OPI that has the same odd scent. I’m looking forward to wearing Char on its own.

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Over Char is Oxidized Aqua, an icy blue crackle polish. This is the part of the mani I don’t like so much. You know how it is with crackle polishes; you sacrifice many tiny cracks for good coverage. I wanted good coverage, and so I have one or two cracks on each nail, which looks pretty silly. Also, I had to redo some nails because the crackening never took place. Overall, I guess it isn’t that bad. I can talk about how lame the polish is, but I only have myself to blame. I didn’t have to use it.

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Let’s talk about the new top coat! I got a bottle of Rica’s Glossy Glam in the March/April Beauty Quartet Box. I’ve heard so many good things about this top coat and I see it everywhere, so I’m excited to have the chance to try it out myself. I’ve used it in two manis now (the first is one you’ll see later this week) and I’m pretty happy with it so far. It doesn’t feel totally dry after five minutes, so I’ll have to remember to give it ten. The shine is beautiful, and my nails are so smooth; I don’t feel any of the cracks or ridges from the crackle polish when I touch my nails. I find that impressive.

Char is available wherever Julep polishes are sold; I got mine from their website. Crackle Glaze appears to be discontinued by China Glaze; I got mine at Big Lots. Glossy Glam is available from their etsy shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Red Static

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Manicure Monday!! I’m posting super-late because real-life not-nails stuff is a little more important right now. Updates this week, unfortunately, will be late if they come at all, and I do apologize. For right now though, let’s look at my new nails! I’m wearing Julep’s Rose and Nails Inc.’s Belgravia Place, each at three coats, topped with one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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Julep’s Rose is a gorgeous creme whose color I can never quite pin down. Is it red? Is it pink? Is it the sweetest, ripest, juiciest raspberry? I have no idea, but I love the polish. It had good coverage at one coat, which I find unusual for a Julep creme. It also had a beautiful glossy shine, which I think the top coat dulled quite a bit.

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Belgravia Place is a clear glitter topper with red and silver holo bar glitters. I decided after my bar glitter swatch on Sunday that I would wear this one as a full coverage glitter. I did get full coverage, but not without a price; I couldn’t get the tips smooth and free of jagged glitter, no matter what I did. I pulled away the offending bits with tweezers, I trimmed them with cuticle scissors, I filed down and wrapped with top coat whatever was left, and I’m still getting things snagged on them. You can see on my ring finger where some fiber of who-knows-what is still stuck to it. So frustrating.

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I love both of these polishes, but I don’t feel good about this combo. In my office, Rose looks like a very red creme, but in other lighting conditions, it looks more pink, and the combo isn’t as cohesive as I’d have liked. I also expected something else from the glitter, like more red. I definitely thought I would have two very red shades here, and neither of them really lived up to my expectations. I don’t blame the polishes here, but I am a little disappointed, especially with all the work I spent trying to get this glitter to not cut me every time I scratch myself.

You can find Julep’s Rose and Nail Inc.’s Belgravia Place wherever these brands are sold. I happened to get mine from the Julep website and Sephora, respectively.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for Two

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Swatch Sunday is fun today, because I’m using a brand I’ve never worn before. I’ve gotten a few Finger Paints polishes here and there at Sally Beauty sales, but this is my first time working with one. I’m wearing one coat of Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for two over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray and OPI’s I just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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Sugar Cookie for Two is a clear glitter topper with metallic bar glitters in gold, silver, and black. Application wasn’t as easy as I’d have liked it to be. I don’t know if the brush was just thin or the glitters just slip off the brush back into the bottle, but I had a hard time getting the glitter onto my nail. It didn’t spread well at all. I had to dip back into the bottle two or three times just to cover one nail. As a result, the glitter is really sparse in some places and clumpy in others. Overall, I got pretty good coverage with it, but I would have liked it to be more even. On the plus side, drying times were good, and the glitters feel smooth to the touch when dry. Also, the glitters are short bars, so they’re easy to work with. The longer ones want to hang off my nail like eyelashes, and I didn’t have that problem with these.

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I really like this look, all complaints aside. The glitters are super shiny and reflect tons of light and color. The combo is a little jarring, maybe, but I think it makes my nails look like luxurious little cupcakes. I’m a little curious to know what it would look like as a full-coverage glitter; I’ve worked with all-bar glitter polishes before, like the Nails Inc. Feather ones, and three coats covers up pretty much everything. This might look really nice at three full coats, though I do wonder with how this one applies whether it could achieve full coverage at all.

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Since I found Sugar Cookie for Two in a sale bin, it’s possible that it has been discontinued. Other Finger Paints polishes are sold at Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype JJ 1.1

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Swatch Saturday is here again! It’s been a busy week for me; in addition to my usual weekly features, I’ve been working on the Wacie Nail Company launch all week, so I’ve done a mani every day since Monday. Crazy. Today’s swatch is of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype JJ 1.1. You’ll remember I wore this on Monday as part of my Manicure Monday post, and I liked it so much I wore it a second time. Also because it was next in the queue. I’m wearing one brushed coat of JJ 1.1 over Revlon’s Bare Bones, Deborah Lippmann’s Shape of My Heart, and Ciaté’s Sugar Plum, as well as one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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JJ 1.1 is a clear glitter topper with glitters that are primarily purple, bright pink, and deep blue. There are a few other multicolored surprise glitters in red, green, yellow, and aqua. The glitter applies very evenly, leaving a good variety of different glitters on the nail. I did have a little trouble with the glitter sliding into my cuticle, but I’ll say that’s a user error. Drying times were good; the lacquer was not gooey or tacky for very long. It’s very easy to use.

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In the days since I wore this polish the first time, I found out this is a prototype of a custom commissioned by Jackie, who is also in the BEGLove Facebook group. It was made to represent the beauty of Texas wildflowers like bluebonnets and paintbrushes. It’s a really nice image, actually. I haven’t been to Texas yet, but I can’t wait to see the spring flowers there. I can only imagine how gorgeous they are. The flower concept kind of makes my cityscape image seems lame.

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I guess less is more with this polish. Last time I put on two coats because I really wanted a truckload of glitter, but I lost a lot of the finer details. The smaller rainbow glitters are completely invisible. I can’t tell if I got any stars or any other fun shapes. I definitely prefer this look.

As JJ 1.1 is a prototype, I have the only bottle. Other BEGL polishes are available from their shop.