Monthly Archives: February 2017

Manicure Monday: Accidental Mid-Mod

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Hey, reader! Happy Monday! Today’s mani reminds me a lot of an older one, where some glitter on just a couple nails was a fashion statement. Man, accent nails seem so quaint now. For this look, I used Julep’s Dianna and Lynnderella‘s Seven Swans Swimming.

It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a creme unfettered like this, and I have to admit, I really like it. Cremes are so underrated. I used to pass over them so often, but when you really think about it, they’re the perfect finish; they’re color and shine and nothing else. This shade in particular, Dianna, has been a ton of fun to wear so far; it’s that perfect midcentury modern robin egg blue. Like I said, underrated.

I chose Seven Swans Swimming for my accent because the shimmery blue base it’s in was about the same color as Dianna, and some of the glitters are, too. The glitter mix is fantastic in this polish; pink and white are the perfect companions to robin egg blue, and the shapes add a lot of variety. I know the snowflake doesn’t quite belong there — tomorrow’s high temperature is 83 degrees F — but it’s cute. It’s kind of mid-mod, too, now that I look at it. It could be a classic winter in Florida mani as well — winter motifs in summer colors — that’s mid-mod too, isn’t it?

The following photos were taken in direct sunlight. The fine shimmer in Seven Swans Swimming gets washed out, but you can see the glitter in greater detail. You can also see the shine of Dianna in all its glory.

Seven Swans Swimming is available from Lynnderella.com. Julep is sold in stores.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Different Dimension’s Da Ba Dee

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Hello, reader! Welcome back to Swatch Sunday! I love today’s polish. It was one of my first-ever indies, and one of my first Different Dimension polishes (the other was Orion Nebula). Huge round glitters are still cool, right? This is Da Ba Dee; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive.

Da Ba Dee is a blue jelly with a variety of silver and blue holo glitters, the most prominent of which are the big round ones. Application was easy; the product consistency is on the thick side due to the glitter, but it still brushed on well. The larger glitters came out evenly; I didn’t have to fish around for them much. The drying time was a little slow, but I suppose that’s due to the thickness. I used top coat to speed up the drying time, as well as add extra shine and smoothness.

I love this polish. There’s so much in it. There’s not a lot of variety in the glitter, but that means there’s nothing unnecessary in it, too. It’s blue and silver and that’s all it needs to be. The blue jelly is deep, but not so deep it obscures the darker colors. This polish is a winner.

The jelly looks lighter in the sunlight, and you can see every bit of glitter. The following photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors.

Da Ba Dee isn’t in stock on the Different Dimension website, but there you can find other beauties.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype SPD 1.3

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Hello, reader! It’s Swatch Saturday again! I’ve got a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer prototype polish to share, and it’s the first one in a while. This is SPD 1.3; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Prototype SPD 1.3 is a jade green creme with orange and green shimmers. It looks like there are some larger iridescent flakies in the bottle, but those either got covered up or didn’t come out on the brush. Application was good; I had full opacity by the second coat, the product consistency was easy to use, and I had no issues with streaking or tugging. The polish dries quickly and with a glossy finish; I used extra top coat for protection.

I love BEGL greens. They’re always so striking. I’m fairly certain this polish is a prototype for BEGL Go Bragh, a St. Paddy’s-themed limited edition from a few years ago. The jade color, as well as the orange shimmer, are found in both polishes. It’s fun to see how polishes evolve. It’s like I’m part of the process.

The following photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors. The green is especially jadelike out in the sun, but the shimmer is a little harder to see. I’m especially digging the macro this round, just because I didn’t think I’d get a good one. It was cloudy and sad outside the day I did this mani, but the day after was sunny and everything was awesome.

Prototype SPD 1.3 isn’t available, but other BEGL polishes are sold in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Golden Red

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Happy Monday! Reader, you may not be surprised to see I’ve done another red and gold mani. As much as I love that particular combo, it’s starting to feel like a rut. However, since my base polish was both red and gold, I just rolled with it. I started with three coats of Digital Nails‘s Let Zygons Be Zygons, then did a watermarble with a mystery Orly gold and clear.

The gold is so shiny that the watermarble is pretty difficult to see. You can see the marbled lines if you look closely, but from far away, it’s a mess. I suppose the solution is just don’t choose such a blingy polish, because this totally looked better in my head. I thought about mattifying it, but I didn’t think it would help, because it’s just that shiny. I wish I could tell you what the name of it is, because you kind of need it.

Let Zygons Be Zygons is such an awesome polish. I loved the idea of a red jelly with golden flakies, but what I didn’t know until today is that there’s just a hint of Spectraflair in it. It’s gorgeous! It looks kind of basic, but I really love it on my nails. There’s a lot going on in it. I just hope I don’t regret putting it on my toes also.

I took this one facing one of the lights directly. You can see the marble a little better here.

The next set of photos was taken in direct sunlight. Out here, you can see the tiny holo very well. In the macros, you can see that the Orly gold is made pretty much exclusively of gold flecks. This mani didn’t turn out the way I imagined it, but I’m glad I went for it.

This one’s in the shade.

Let Zygons Be Zygons isn’t in stock, but other Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop. You probably know where to find Orly.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Del Sol’s Spike

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Hello, reader! Do you guys like solar polishes? I’m a ’90s kid, and I’m an easy sell for anything that changes color. I bought a few Del Sol polishes when I was on vacation a few years ago because I could not resist. I blame mood rings. This is Spike; I’m wearing three coats of Spike with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Spike is a frosty mint green polish that turns a cool mauve when exposed to direct sunlight. Application was good; the product consistency was on the thin side, but was still easy to apply. The first coat was sheer and I needed all three to achieve full opacity. Because it’s so frosty, brush-strokes are pretty apparent. It takes a while to effect the color change, probably a good five minutes or so. The polish dries with a glossy finish; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

How fun is this polish! Honestly, I’d hoped the purple it changed to in the sun would have been a bit brighter; it’s a little too on the SFW side for me. The green it starts out as is very pretty; sometimes it seems more silver than green, but it’s always icy and shimmery and cool (pun?) to look at.

One thing you’ll notice is that this post has a ton of photos, and I apologize. I wanted to show the polish in both states, and to treat both states as two different polishes. They really could be; if I didn’t know it was a solar polish, I’d assume they were. The following set of photos were taken in direct sunlight.

Like I said, I wish the purple was brighter and/or darker. It’s a pretty unique shade as-is, but I just wanted more from it, especially when you see its actual color compared to the label.

One thing I wish I’d been able to capture was the polish in transition. As I mentioned, the change took some time to occur, and my camera takes such high-quality video that my computer can’t handle editing it. Also my phone camera doesn’t work. I think I got a decent shot of the bottle hovering between colors.

I don’t see Spike listed on Del Sol’s site, but other polishes are available there as well as in their stores.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Siren’s Lucky Shamrock

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Happy Saturday, reader! Remember last week‘s Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer swatch, and how I said it was part of a duo? This is its other half, Siren’s Lucky Shamrock. It is the St. Paddy’s Day-themed glitter topper you need. I’m wearing one brushed coat of Siren’s Lucky Shamrock over Zoya’s Chantal (nude) and Neely (green) and LA Colors’s Hottie (coral) with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Siren’s Lucky Shamrock is a clear-based glitter topper featuring a mix of green, orange, gold, and black glitters, iridescent glitters, and orange flakies. The official description also lists shamrock glitters, but I didn’t get any, and I don’t see them in the bottle, either. Application was good; the glitters brushed on easily and the product consistency performed well. The polish dries quickly and with some glitter texture, so top coat is necessary for smoothness.

Of the two polishes, this one is the obvious holiday polish. Personally, I don’t care much for polishes that are only useful one day a year, but if you’re big into holiday looks, this is one you want. It’s basically Ireland in a bottle. It makes for a very easy St. Paddy’s manicure.

The following photos were taken in direct sunlight. The flakies get a little washed out out here, but the glitters come alive.

As of this writing, Siren’s Lucky Shamrock is still available, and even better, on sale in the BEGL shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Guest Post for Secretary’s Nail Art

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Hello reader! I hope you like guest posts, because I’ve got another one to share. Dina from Secretary’s Nail Art recently had a baby, and I got to step in and help her out. It’s look that’s a little of everything, but mostly it’s pink.

Follow the link to see more!

Manicure Monday: All Heart

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Happy Monday! Today’s post is actually early because, as you’re reading this, I’m on a work trip and it would be a very late post if I didn’t get it done ahead of time. I’m not a blogger who has a ton of mani posts backlogged because I like to write about things as I wear them. This post is all about Literary Lacquers‘s Jack Rose, some striping tape, and a lot of heart glitter. All photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

Do you ever notice that every indie maker has their own kind of holo polish? That’s something I enjoy about indie polish; holos are a staple, but each brand has their own blend of Spectraflair sizes and strengths and makes the linear holo their own. Literary Lacquers’s holos are done in such a way that the holo is strong but fine at the same time, and I think that’s really cool. Jack Rose in particular is a polish that starts off sheer and builds up to full strength before you notice it, and the bronze shimmers in it make it metallic and sparkly. I love it.

Obligatory shade photo

I didn’t want to do another look with hand-placed glitter so long after my last one, but this was quick and easy. I’ve mentioned before that I never do holiday manis unless they’re convenient; I don’t like Valentine’s Day, but I like heart glitter, so I got it out. When I did my first hand-placed glitter look, I got so many reader comments about how long it must have taken. In all seriousness, it took longer to get my striping tape straight. I used a smaller size glitter this time, but the application time was about the same. It helps when you’re only doing a couple of nails, probably; if I’d done them all, I’d still be working.

Literary Lacquers can be found in their etsy shop. I got the striping tape on Amazon, and the heart glitters are from Glitter Unique.

I bought these products myself.

Swatch Sunday: Deborah Lippmann’s She Bop

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It’s Swatch Sunday! My polish today is a sweet candy pink creme, She Bop from Deborah Lippmann. It’s adorable! I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

She Bop is, like I mentioned eariler, a pink creme polish. Application was good; the product consistency was easy to work with, and though the first couple coats seemed a bit thin, the third evened it out. The polish dries very glossy; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

I have to say, this is the cutest pink polish I’ve worn in a while. I’ve had it on for a couple days now, and I keep looking at it and being pleased with it. It’s a very ladylike shade, very classic. It’s also one hundred percent appropriate for Valentine’s Day, if you’re into that. I’m a little sad about taking it off.

She Bop and other Deborah Lippmann polishes are sold in high-end stores; this one is from Sephora.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Luck o’ the Siren

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Happy Saturday, reader! I have a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Siren to show you today! This was a special holiday Siren made for St. Patrick’s Day 2015. This polish actually came in a duo; we’ll be seeing the companion polish to this one next week. This is Luck o’ the Siren; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Luck o’ the Siren is a frosty emerald green polish with a blue shift. Application is good; since the polish is so shimmery, I got some brush-strokes in the final look, but I don’t consider that a huge issue. The product consistency was easy to work with; I had full coverage in two coats. The shift in this polish is easy to see but difficult to photograph; it turns a very bright and icy turquoise when facing the light. The product dried quickly and with a glossy finish.

I didn’t think much of this polish when I first got it. It looks like a standard mainstream green polish in the bottle. Once I had it on my nails, though, it stopped being boring. The shift in this polish is unexpected and unadulterated; there’s no holo or glitter to get in its way. It’s gorgeous.

It looks great in the sunlight, too! The emerald is warmer and richer out here than in the studio, and the blue shift is pretty vivid. I love this polish.

Luck o’ the Siren was a limited edition that has since sold out; her duo counterpart, Siren’s Lucky Shamrock, is still available in the BEGL shop.

I bought this polish myself.