Monthly Archives: January 2016

Manicure Monday: Prototype BVS 9.2

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Happy Monday, reader! Manicure Monday this week is a simple one, because I just didn’t want to cover this polish up with anything. This is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype BVS 9.2; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Prototype BVS 9.2 is a cool taupe linear holo with green flash. I’ve swatched this polish before, but as that post is two years old, it’s good to revisit it. This was one of my very first holo polishes, and wearing it again gives me a really special feeling. Sometimes I get distracted and daunted by the loads of new polishes I have, and the older ones get left behind and forgotten. It’s a shame, because even though this polish suffers a bit from ugly bottle syndrome, it’s still as pretty as the day I got it.

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This is a really soft look, neutral enough to be professional, but still sparkly enough to satisfy a glitter fiend like myself. I added the studs because I wanted something extra, but nothing that would interfere with the delicateness of the polish. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

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Prototype BVs 9.2 was a one-off prototype; there are no others. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer polishes are available from their online shop, though they are temporarily closed.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Monster Polish’s What’s Wrong With This Jumper?

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Happy Sunday! I’m excited to show you today’s polish, because it’s from a new-to-me brand calledMonster Polish. This is one of the first two polishes I ever got from them, and I’m pretty floored by it. This is What’s Wrong With This Jumper?; I’m wearing three coats with and without top coat.

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What’s Wrong With This Jumper? is a black holo with blue and purple shimmers. Application was very smooth; the product consistency was thin, but not drippy or watery. It was sheer on the first coat, but even out by the second; I had full opacity in two coats. The polish dries with a satin finish reminiscent of leather. When top coat is used, the holo effect and shimmers really come out, making it look like a completely different polish.

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I really struggled on whether to wear this polish with top coat or not. Usually, I put top coat on without question; I’m not a huge fan of satin and matte finishes, so I put on top coat because that’s how I would normally wear it. I’m actually shocked that I like this polish with its original finish. You can see the holo effect and shimmers and the dimension they create quite nicely with the satin finish. I was really impressed with it.

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However that didn’t stop me from putting on the top coat. I had to see what it looked like, and holy cow, I couldn’t believe it. The shimmers and holo effect are so much more brilliant, the dimension even more intense, I couldn’t believe it was the same polish. Honestly, I do prefer it with the top coat, because after I put it on, it was like I breathed life into my manicure. I don’t want to say that the original finish looks dull or lifeless, because that’s absolutely not true. I’m saying that the top coat is like icing on the cake. It makes the polish way more appealing to me.

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What’s Wrong With This Jumper and other pretties are currently in stock in the Monster Polish online store.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Dawn Breaks

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It’s Saturday, and it’s time for swatches! The lovely polish we’re looking at today is the penultimate polish in Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Far From the Sun collection; it’s called Dawn Breaks, and I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. Also, because it’s been cloudy for five days straight, I wasn’t able to use sunlight as my lighting source, and had to rely on indoor lighting to get the holo effect to really show up. I apologize for any color inconsistencies that might have resulted.

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Dawn Breaks is a rose holo with pink and gold shimmers. Application was super smooth; the product consistency was like velvet, and the first coat was nearly opaque, with full opacity in two coats. It was on the thinner side of what BEGL usually produces, but was still very easy to control and apply. The holo effect is most powerful in sunlight, obviously, but still looks pretty good under the LED lights in my kitchen. In other conditions, the polish seems to have a metallic finish, due in part to the Spectraflair as well as the colored shimmers. The product dries quickly. I added top coat for extra shine and to embellish the holo effect.

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This polish is fantastic. The deep rose color is just magnificent, and the way it’s so well-pigmented without being goopy or sticky is just wonderful. The holo effect and shimmers are bonus; I would love this polish even without those things. It’s bright without being garish, so it’s kind of like a grown up hot pink. I love it to bits.

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Dawn Breaks is discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGL polishes can be found in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Walk Through the Tulips

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It’s the first Manicure Monday of the year! We’re doing it up right today by wearing a very special polish, a custom polish made for me by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. This isn’t the first time it’s been on the blog, but I’m always excited to wear it. This is Walk Through the Tulips; I’m wearing two coats with one coat of Seche Vite and one coat of Ciate’s Mattenificent matte top coat.

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I did a proper swatch of Walk Through the Tulips way back in 2014, so if you want to know some of the particulars about the polish, take a look at that post. Not much has changed since then; I still cherish this polish because it reminds me of why I love indie polish and how much fun it can be to work with the person making my polish to ensure I get exactly what I want. That, and it’s still freaking pretty.

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This time around, I used only two coats instead of three, and I used a matte top coat to make it a little different from the swatch. I like it at two coats; it’s just shy of opaque. I can still see nail lines, but just barely. The glitter isn’t as dense as I would have liked, but it gives a cool speckled effect. The matte coat gives it a unique finish. I am having a ton of fun wearing this, and I’m not looking forward to taking it off.

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Walk Through the Tulips was custom-made for me by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; BEGL does not currently accept commissions for customs, but their full line of polishes is available from their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Darling Diva Polish’s The Pumpkin Queen

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Happy Sunday, reader! 2016 is off to a great start, isn’t it? I hope you’re all having a fantasic weekend. Yesterday, we looked a summer polish, and today we’re looking at an autumn polish. From a destash mystery bag, the same one that yielded this beauty, this is Darling Diva Polish‘s The Pumpkin Queen. I’m wearing one coat of The Pumpkin Queen over Nails Inc.’s Eaton Terrace and Baker Street and OPI’s I Just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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The Pumpkin Queen is a clear-based glitter topper with a mix of glitter that is predominantly matte and metallic orange hexes and metallic green hexes and squares. Though these colors are the focus of the polish, it’s actually quite colorful; there are glitters in red, yellow, and blue, as well as very large purple hexes. The glitters brushed on easily, though sparsely at first. The base consistency is good; it carries the glitter without goop. It dries quickly and with a smooth finish, though the purple hexes don’t lie flat on the nail.

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Though the glitter mix is inherently autumnal, wearing this polish in January doesn’t feel completely out of place. Because there aren’t any seasonally-shaped glitters, and because the mix is so colorful, it’s not strictly a fall polish, even though it’s intended as one. I like the blue glitters best; they stand out from the rest of the glitters, but they also make the orange bolder. I really love the purple hexes too, but they feel just a tad out of place. Overall though, I like this polish, even though it’s not something I would have bought myself.

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I did a little bit of homework on this polish; it’s a polish from 2012. I don’t even know if I have any others that old, because I didn’t get into indie polish until 2013. How cool, it’s vintage! I also love the printed label, it’s like a bootleg.

The Pumpkin Queen is no longer sold by Darling Diva Polish; other polishes are available from their shop.

I got this polish in a grab bag.

 

 

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Born of the Sea

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Happy new year, reader! We’re ringing in 2016 the same way we did 2015 — with a swatch from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer! I’m looking forward to a new year full of beautiful polishes to try. From the Far From the Sun collection, this is Born of the Sea; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken outdoors in partly cloudy conditions.

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Born of the Sea is a grassy green linear holo. Application was smooth; the product consistency was thick but workable. Coverage was good; I had full opacity in two coats. The linear holo effect was more subtle than some of the other polishes in the collection; of course, it’s most powerful in the sunlight. The polish dried with a matte finish. I added top coat for shine and protection.

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Of all the BEGLs I own, which is a lot, the greens are consistently some of my favorites. I originally overlooked this one in favor of some other polishes in this collection, but I really love the way this one looks on me. I usually don’t equate greens with summer, but there is something really tropical about this green; it reminds me of the bountiful foliage of summer, of long grass, fresh limes, full trees, the Florida backyard in general.

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Born of the Sea has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other polishes are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.