Author Archives: Stacie Wacie

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Fare the Wind

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Happy Saturday! We’re deep into the Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Far From the Sun summer collection. I like to think it’s why it’s still so warm in December. This is runaway hit from the collection, Fare the Wind. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. All but one photo were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Fare the Wind is a purple holo with blue-to-purple shifting shimmers. Application was smooth; the consistency was just right to work with and achieved opacity in two coats. The holo effect is most powerful outdoors; indoors, the color shift is more easily seen, and the tone changes from cool to warm depending on lighting conditions. It dried with a smooth finish; I used top coat to bring out the holo effect.

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It’s easy to see why this was such a big seller; in fact, BEGL released it again in their Fan Favorites collection this year, and it was the first to sell out. This polish does everything: not only is the holo effect stunning, but the color shift and shimmers just send it over the top. It’s gorgeous. It just couldn’t get any better.

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Fare the Wind is sold out (again). Other BEGL polishes are available in the Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Sweetie

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Happy Monday, reader! Here’s my mani this week. I used a textured polish alone, so it’s simple. It’s Sweetie from Sally Hansen; I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

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Sweetie is a flat yellow textured polish. There’s no glitter or shimmer; it’s just a yellow creme with bumps. I really like the color; I like these cool light yellows a lot. I’m having a hard time getting into the texture, though, like is it truck bed liner, or is it polish? Don’t get me wrong, I like the way the texture feels, but the look is just lacking. The absence of glitter just makes it look like thick nasty polish.

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I’m trying to make the best of it. Honestly, I don’t hate it or anything. I just had really high hopes for this polish. I wanted more. I at least wanted sparkles.

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Sally Hansen polishes are sold nationwide. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Model City Polish’s Sheena is a Punk Rocker

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Happy Sunday, reader! This week I’m wearing an oldie-but-goodie, a first polish from a beloved indie. This was even one of my first-ever indie polishes. All the way from 2013, here’s Sheena is a Punk Rocker from Model City Polish; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Sheena is a Punk Rocker is a black jelly polish with magenta dots and silver holographic hex glitters. Application was easy; the jelly base was thin at first, but built up to deep black in three coats. The glitters spread evenly and lay flat on the nail. The polish dries quickly with a glossy finish, though with a little bit of texture from the glitters. I used top coat for extra smoothness and shine.

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The shine is probably the first thing you noticed about this polish. It is shiny. The shine from both the glitter and the jelly gloss overwhelmed my camera, so the focus is off in a few of these photos. The shine is probably my favorite thing about the glitter jelly polish, especially in black. It’s the icing on top of a very glittery cake.

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I totally bought this polish because it was named after a Ramones song. Believe it or not, this is actually my second bottle of it. I bought a mini in my very first Model City order, and I loved it so much that I went back for the full size when it was restocked, as well as the other two polishes in the collection. These are very special polishes to me and I’m so sad MCP doesn’t make it anymore.

Sheena is a Punk Rocker has been discontinued; other Model City polishes are available from their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself. The Ramones are awesome.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Sail Her Don’t Sink Her

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Happy weekend, reader! I trust you’re all having a fantastic Saturday. This Saturday’s swatch is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Sail Her Don’t Sink Her, which is from last year’s Far From The Sun summer collection. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Sail Her Don’t Sink Her is a clear-based microglitter polish with pink, purple, red, gold, and orange holographic and metallic glitters. Application was easy; because it is a clear base, it took me all three coats to achieve this level of opacity. The polish dries with a textured finish; it’s not too rough or bumpy, but it is a fine grit. I used top coat for extra shine and smoothness.

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This polish looks so simple in the bottle; it just looks like a lot of glitter swimming around together. On the nail, the complexities really stand out. The colors just come together so well, so organically, that it’s hard to believe someone actually created it. This polish is full of sparkle and it’s hard to stop looking at it. It’s gorgeous and I love it.

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Sail Her Don’t Sink Her, unfortunately, has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Other BEGL polishes are available from their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Freehand Grey

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Welcome back to Manicure Monday! As you noticed, I took the holiday weekend off from swatching, so we have some nail art to check out this week. My base color is Wet ‘n Wild’s Gray’s Anatomy, and my freehand painting was done with a striping brush and OPI’s We’ll Always Have Paris. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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I’ll just get this out of the way: I don’t know how I feel about the freehand. I’m a little embarrassed that I still suck at hand-painting, but in a way, it’s sort of charming. I wanted something simple but uniform, but it’s a bit irregular. It doesn’t look as irregular in real life as it does in photos, so I feel a little weird about that. I never do this stuff, so it’s really no wonder it’s not perfect. Maybe it’s okay that it’s not perfect. It looks arty-crafty and like it was done by a real person.

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We’ll Always Have Paris lends a lot to the DIY mani look. These burgundy/wine polishes are always a little translucent, and I guess that’s why there’s a lot of unevenness. I just wanted a dark color, something that was as severe as black, that would complement the color shift in the base polish. I think this one worked pretty well.

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The shift in Gray’s Anatomy is the focus of this polish, as it should be. You can totally see past the wonky freehand painting and really enjoy the colors. The writing on the label wore off a long time ago, but I almost forgot this is a Wet ‘n Wild Polish. I paid two dollars for it at the most. Not bad for two dollars!

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday Night: Plain White Tips

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Happy Monday (or Tuesday, east coast)! This week, I found myself doing something basic and absolutely shocked myself. The polish I wanted to use, Revlon’s Nude Nightie, is something that’s just so pretty and dimensional on its own that I didn’t want to cover it up with anything else. I just painted my tips and wore the polish alone. I’m wearing three coats of Nude Nightie, and I used China Glaze’s White on White for my tips. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

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As you can see, Nude Nightie is a well-loved polish. Of all the bottles I have, very few are only half-full. Today, though, I’m seeing it in a new way. As I was editing these photos, I never realized just how bigthe shimmers are. They’re practically flakies! I’ve had this polish for the better part of a decade, and I’ve just noticed what makes this polish beautiful. Macro magic!

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So my tips are kind of ugly. About half of them were done freehand, and that’s because those are the ones I messed up using the guide stickers. I’d just been seeing so many French acrylic sets on Instagram lately, and I’d kinda missed when I wore them, too. I can’t remember the last time I wore just a plain white tip with a natural color. This is seriously some 2006 throwbacks for me, in both the polish choice and the execution. I feel stylish, but also really basic. I don’t have much else to say about it, just hoping I get my mojo back for next week.

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Nude Nightie is discontinued; Revlon is stored in stores nationwide. My White on White is from Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Maybelline Mystery Red

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Hello, reader! For today’s Swatch Sunday, we’re looking at a very old polish from Maybelline. Its name has since been lost, but today, we’re immortalizing it in blog form. It’s also one of the polishes I used in my first-ever wacie.com post, so there’s that. I’m wearing three coats of this mystery polish with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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This mystery polish is a red jelly with fine red and silver glitters. Application was easy, and pretty typical of a polish like this; the first coat was streaky, but additional coats deepened the color and built opacity. And, for a polish its age — it’s been about ten years since I got this bottle — it applied pretty well. I thinned it myself a few months ago, but there were still some issues with inconsistent thickness, which I believe is a sign of its age, not its formula. The glitters distributed easily. It dried quickly and with a glossy finish. I added top coat for extra shine and protection.

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I have a real soft spot for this polish. I’ve written time and again about how much I love red polishes, and this is a really special one. I’ve had it a long time, and though nothing beats a red creme for me, this may be an exception; it’s like a red creme but with more. It complements my skin tone so well, and it just makes me feel glamorous and sexy. I will truly be sad when it runs out.

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I do not know the name of this polish, nor do I know whether it’s still being made by Maybelline. Other Maybelline polishes are sold nationwide.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Intersecting Lines in the Sand

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Swatch Saturday, woo! This Saturday, I’m wearing Intersecting Lines in the Sand from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. This first set of photos were taken outdoors in partly cloudy lighting.

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This poor label. It looks like it’s been through hell.

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Intersecting Lines in the Sand is cool yellow linear holo polish with icy blue shimmers. Application was smooth; it began sheer but built coverage with additional coats. The holo effect, as always, is most beautiful outdoors in direct full sun, but is still pretty in lower lighting. Indoors, the polish is more metallic and the blue shimmers are most visible. It dried somewhat matte; I added top coat for shine and protection.

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I really love this polish. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite from the Far From the Sun collection. I love the golden-ness of it; it’s like the beach and the sun and pineapples cooked down into polish. It’s summery, warm and cool simultaneously, depending on whether you’re inside or outside. It’s perfect. The following photos were taken indoors in the studio; you can see how the color changes and the shimmers become the focus.

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Intersecting Lines in the Sand has been discontinued, but other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Violet Gradient with Violet Glitter

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Happy Manicure Monday! I don’t feel like this mani is my best work, but I still rather like it. For this look, I used Essie’s She’s Picture Perfect, Revlon’s Amethyst, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Might Not Recover, all with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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I put She’s Picture Perfect and Amethyst together for their similarities: they’re both shades of purple and they both have a strong pink/purple flash. I thought it would be great to see that pink/purple flash show up in both colors of the gradient, like this unifying shimmer that really pulls everything together. Unfortunately, it’s not easily seen in the gradient, either in photos or in real life. Also, the colors didn’t blend as easily as I expected them to; the deep purple just looks so sponged-on, even after three rounds with the sponge. It’s still pretty, but it’s really not my best work.

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I added Might Not Recover as an accent nail at the last minute, and I gotta tell you, I’m stunned. I just can’t believe how much it sparkles. Like it was sparkly in the bottle, but damn. I also chose this polish for its similarities in color, but I like that it stands apart from the rest of the mani while complimenting it. The bling is just a tad bit overwhelming, which means it’s just the right amount (like there’s a such thing as too much). I always have an issue with microglitters still having some texture after I put down top coat, but this one has stayed nice and smooth, and I love it.

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In the end, everthing goes together really well, yeah?

I got She’s Picture Perfect from Walgreens and Amethyst from Big Lots, though both brands are sold nationwide. Might Not Recover and other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their shop (which is temporarily closed). The Fimo bow is from Claire’s.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Marc Jacobs Enamored in Lux

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Hey reader! Welcome to Swatch Sunday! I might have been looking forward to this swatch since I bought this polish, but it’s been a long time coming; I’ve had this polish sitting on my desk since before my camera broke, and for months I was looking at it and dying to wear it. This is Marc Jacobs’s Enamored in Lux; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Lux is a yellow chartreuse creme polish. In some lighting conditions it looks more green than yellow. Application was okay; the polish went on thinly; there was barely any color on the first, okay coverage but some streaky spots left on the second, but by the third, everything had come together for full opacity. I’m actually unsure whether I should be blaming the formula or the brush, because I wasn’t completely fond of the brush, either. It felt short, like there wasn’t enough brush to carry the lacquer. It did, however, dry quickly and with a very glossy finish. Top coat wasn’t necessary at all for shine, but I still used it for extra protection.

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Despite the application woes, I really like the polish. It seems like I should have a hundred dupes for it already, but I don’t think I do. It’s not the run-of-the-mill yellowish-green we all have in our stash; it’s too yellow to be a true green and too green to be a true yellow. It’s a perfect blend of both colors. That said, there probably is a cheaper alternative if paying $18 for a bottle of polish isn’t your thing. For this polish, I don’t feel like the quality is completely worth the $18, but I still feel like a Fancy Nancy with it on.

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Lux and other Marc Jacobs Enamored polishes are sold at Sephora.

I bought this polish myself.