Manicure Monday: Solitaire

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Hey, guys! I’m super excited about Manicure Monday this week because I get to wear a textured polish. I’ve only featured one other on the blog, so it feels a little like a special occasion. I’m wearing three coats of OPI’s Solitaire without top coat.

Solitaire is a ton of silver glitter in a sheer white base that dries with a matte texture. It goes on pretty frosty at first, but when the lacquer dries away the frost disappears, leaving behind silvery sparkles. I felt like three coats were necessary with this, because the white base is very sheer, and I wanted full opacity and lots of texture. It dries pretty quickly, since there’s so little lacquer. The consistency is thick, naturally, since there’s so much glitter. Application isn’t too bad, but when the brush has polish in it, it fans out and is wider than some of my nails, and makes a little bit of a mess.

It’s so worth it, though! I was a little unsure about this polish at first, because I remember being a teensy bit less-than-impressed with the Bond Girls collection, especially in comparison to Mariah Carey’s collection. It just seemed like the Bond Girls collection focused more on matte texture than glitter, and the glitters were the reason I bought them in the first place. This one is nice, though. There’s a nice balance between texture and glitter. It’s also season-appropriate; my nails look like tiny snow-covered driveways. It’s adorable.

Final word: Solitaire is textured and sparkly, but is still delicate. It’s a perfect match for the cooler temperatures and the upcoming winter season.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Electric Icicle

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s another wintry delight this Swatch Saturday! Today we’re looking at the second half of the winter duo Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer released last year. We saw and loved Untrodden Snow; let’s have a look at Electric Icicle. I’m wearing two coats of Electric Icicle over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Essie’s Marathin, and Julep’s Dianna, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro.

Electric Icicle is a clear glitter topper made with “bright blue holo hexes, rainbow iridecent hexes and squares, silver holo hexes and tiny diamonds, and blue holo stars”. I wore two coats because the all the good shape glitters were hanging around toward the bottom of the bottle, and my first coat was a bit thin on the glitter. Application was pretty easy apart from that; the glitters spread well and didn’t clump. The base dried quickly. I had no problems with it.

I gotta say, this might be the best winter glitter topper I have. I’ve got a few that have icy blue glitters with silver, and even though they’re very pretty and they shine a great deal, they don’t have a whole lot of color. Electric Icicle is the best of both worlds. The metallic and holo textures of the glitters — especially the silvers — give the look some iciness, but the blue and iridescent glitters give it a lot of color as well. This is a mix that is all about winter, but doesn’t let winter bring it down. It’s amazing.

I nearly swatched this on the pink and blue I used on Wednesday, Mint Candy Apple from Essie and Martha from Julep. They’re really soft but bright colors that make the perfect base for any glitter topper. I was afraid that it would look like the same mani two days in a row, so I went with Marathin from Essie and Dianna from Julep. I chose Dianna because I wanted the blues to be kind of homogeneous, and since Dianna is a dusty color, obviously a dusty rose would complement it. I almost feel like I should have chosen gray over white, but the glitter looks so perfect over white that I’m glad I didn’t.

Wacie Wednesday: Wintrella

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The last Wacie Nail Co. (for now) prototype I’ll be showing you is Wintrella, a glitter topper made up of silver and blue holo glitters. I’m wearing one coat of Wintrella over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, and Julep’s Martha. I’m also wearing one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Wintrella has a lot of glitter in it. There’s very fine holo silver dust, tiny hexes, slightly bigger but still somewhat tiny squares, big silver hexes, bigger silver hexes, silver dots, blue dots, and silver hearts, but I couldn’t manage to get those out of the bottle. Again, they just sat in the bottle, mocking me. I couldn’t get too many of the dots, either, but at least I can prove they were in there.

Maybe I’m glad I didn’t get so many. The smaller glitters give a minimal look that’s already quite pretty. The big glitters look out of place. Maybe they’re not right for this mix.

Overall, I think it’s nice. I definitely want to take it back to the drawing board, but I think I’m onto something.

Wacie Nail Company news: I hope to have something in the store before the month ends. I have a couple of limited editions in the works, as well as a New Year’s Eve-themed collection next month. I’m so excited to be working on it, and I hope you’ll like it a lot.

Manicure Monday: Multipass

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s the first Manicure Monday of November! I am so happy to be wearing these polishes today. I have on one coat of Digital Nails‘s Multipass over two coats of Essie’s After School Boy Blazer, topped with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat. Mul-ti-pass.

Sweater.

Multipass is a glitter topper based on Leeloo from The Fifth Element. It is described by Digital Nails as “a crazy clown car of color”, and was an attempt to “capture Leeloo’s essence in polish form”. The colors and shapes are evocative of her; blue glitters match her eyes, orange match her hair, white slices to match that weird flimsy bandage outfit she wears in that one scene. There are also some dark holo glitters and baby shimmers for added sparkle. If you ask me, this is spot-on. Digital Nails really nailed (intended) this one for sure. It couldn’t be closer to perfect.

Multipass was very easy to apply and dried quickly. I had no problems at all with glitters refusing to spread or thick, goopy base. It did eat up my top coat; I’ll definitely use something a bit thicker and glitter-friendly next time.

A quick word about my base polish: After School Boy Blazer is a deep blue-black creme. Application was easy, the polish dried quickly and with a high gloss. It’s very nice, but it was hard to clean off my cuticles. Maybe I deserve it for not being very careful with it. I chose this as the base because it’s the blue that interfered the least with the colorful glitters.

Direct sunlight.

Final word: I love this look. I am a huge, huge fan of Digital Nails’s glitter toppers, and I really think they hit this one out of the park.

Swatch Sunday: China Glaze’s Rare and Radiant

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

China Glaze’s Rare and Radiant is our Swatch Sunday polish. Great way to start the week, right? I’m wearing three coats of Rare and Radiant with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Rare and Radiant is a duochrome that shifts from gold to emerald green. It’s very shimmery and almost somewhat metallic. The shift occurs very easily and in just about all lighting conditions. Application was pretty nice, but the consistency is on the thinner side, so three coats was necessary to achieve full opacity. Visible brush strokes do occur in fewer coats. Drying time was pretty quick. The dried finish was semi-glossy. It’s very nice to apply and wear.

I love wearing shifters and multichromes even more now that I know how to actually capture the effect. It used to be like “Oh, there’s a shift, you can’t see it, but it’s there, I wouldn’t lie to you”. I am so glad to be past that bit of amateur nail photography. The shift in Rare and Radiant is so beautiful. They never quite look the same any time I look at them. They go from bronze to green patina anywhere you are. It is magnificent.

I know there’s a series of these duochromes from China Glaze, and I’m sorry to say I don’t have any of the others. I really want the rest, and I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled for them.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Untrodden Snow

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s the first Swatch Saturday in November! I’m wearing a wintry white from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer called Untrodden Snow. This is three coats with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Untrodden Snow is a white polish with icy blue shimmer. I achieved a good opacity with it at three coats; I still don’t feel like it’s fully opaque, but I still got really good coverage. The first coat was really soft and sheer, thinly but evenly. The shimmer didn’t capture so well in the studio, but it’s actually very potent. Drying time was quick and cleanup was easy. Polish dried semi-glossy. It was very easy to work with.

This is a really dainty white. Lots of whites look like wall paint or Wite-Out on the nail, and thankfully this is not one of them. I almost wanted just to leave the first coat by itself, because it was so sheer and delicate. I’d recommend two coats with this, I think, so as to maintain the softness but still have lots of coverage. The blue shimmer adds even more softness and gives it just the right amount of sparkle to make this polish sparkly and unique.

It almost feels weird even wearing this polish in the sunshine. I almost expected it to melt! It looks great in direct sunlight. For some reason, though, it looks like it’s leaning more toward cream than white.

When this polish was available, it was only sold as part of a duo. The other polish, Electric Icicle, is my swatch for next week.

News: Wacie Nail Co. for Depression Awareness

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This is so exciting, guys! There is now a Wacie Nail Company polish you can actually buy. Yes! Julie, the owner of Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, is holding a huge charity auction, with dozens of rare, hard to find, and one of a kind polishes up for grabs. One of these is the first-ever Wacie Nail Company polish to actually leave my house. Blue Skies Ahead is a silver linear holo with rainbow flakies that turns blue in sunlight and glows in the dark. Yeah, it does all that! I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Indoors, this polish is already really pretty. In the studio, the holo effect isn’t too obvious, but the rainbow flakies shine nicely. Then, when you go outside, this happens:

Did you see that? I had to make a gif, just to prove that it actually happens. It’s a subtle change, but it does change. Then, when you’re in the dark, this happens:

Crazy, right? It’s amazing! This polish glows really brightly in the dark, and glows blue rather than yellow or green. It only takes a few seconds to charge it up, and it glows for a very long time.

There is only one bottle of Blue Skies Ahead available, at it’s up for auction. All of the proceeds of this auction benefit I Need A LightHouse, an organization that raises awareness of depression and suicide prevention education. This is a cause that means a great deal to me, and I really hope you’ll help Julie and me raise lots of money for it. You can find Blue Skies Ahead and the rest of the auction here. Thank you so much.

Wacie Wednesday: Millefleur

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Today’s Wacie Wednesday post is super exciting, because my brand new Wacie Nail Co. labels are making their debut on the blog! I am really excited about these, because labels were the last big hurdle to get over before I could finally open my shop. Now that I have them, Wacie Nail Company is super close to opening. We’re only five months behind schedule! To celebrate, we’re going to look at a new Wacie Nail Co. polish called Millefleur. I’m wearing one coat over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get and Essie’s Mint Candy Apple and Navigate Her.

This bottle of Millefleur was kind of a dud. The name suggests it’s only flower glitter in this bottle, and the swatch suggests that as well. It’s not true, though. Besides the holo red hexes, there are holo red hearts. There are pink glass dots in addition to the pink slices, hexes, and dots; those are also nowhere to be seen on my nail. I don’t know what the deal is with that. The flowers came out easily, but everything else was at the bottom, I guess.

There’s a lot I could have done to improve this polish. Thinning it would be the best for it, I think; the consistency was too thick and dry time was rather long. It would probably help the elusive glitters distribute a bit more evenly. I’ll definitely keep these things in mind when I’m reformulating it. Maybe some color variety would help too; I do admit that I just dumped every pink and red glitter I had into one bottle. It could definitely do with some iridescent glitters, or maybe some Spectraflair. As it is, it’s rather one-dimensional, but that’s an easy fix.

I’m really excited about where Wacie Nail Co. is and where it’s going. Big things are coming up, so watch this space for the big news. For real this time!

Manicure Monday: My Other Car is a TARDIS

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Manicure Monday is really fun today! I’m wearing one of my first-ever indies, My Other Car is a TARDIS from Digital Nails. On some nails, I sandwiched some TARDIS-blue dried flowers between coats. I’m wearing three coats alone with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

My Other Car is a TARDIS is described by Digital Nails as a “rich blue jelly base with royal blue hex glitter, deep ocean blue micro glitter, and holographic deep and oceanic blue small hex glitters.” The consistency is a bit on the thin side, and it could flood your cuticles if you’re not careful. I flooded one of mine, but it cleaned up easily. Other than that, application was easy. There’s not a lot of glitter in this one, but I think that’s intentional; I think this polish is more about the jelly anyway. I’m totally fine with that.

The flowers were a last minute addition. Usually I like to add a nail charm to polishes that already have a lot going on, but I didn’t have any acrylic ones that were the right color, and I’d used my only silver ones last week. I looked through my rhinestones and fimo slices, and none of them were right. I had one of Ciate’s flower mani kits, and I forget what color it initially came with, but I knew the blue flowers were just right. I cut them in half and put them at the edges, but I wish I’d put on some whole ones. I was really afraid I’d run out if I used too many, but I had a bunch left over anyway.

The jelly is perfect. It’s translucent, but the color isn’t watered down at all. You can see all the way through it. Even after three coats, you can see all the way through them. You can see the glitter, the flowers, the visible nail line. And since the glitters are the same color as the base, you don’t see much of them, only the shine they produce. It’s especially obvious in the sunlight. It’s beautiful. I haven’t yet tried it with a dark base, but I bet it would be awesome over the dark blue I swatched last night. I almost left it on to paint over it.

My friend says my nails look like frozen raindrops. That’s cool too, I guess.

Swatch Sunday: Chanel’s Blue Satin

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I’m realizing a dream today: I’m wearing a Chanel nail polish. Nordstrom opened a store in my city and I got several nail polishes and skincare products that are worth more than my life. I actually bought these a couple weeks ago as a hugely indulgent birthday gift, but I’ve finally found time to put one on. This is Blue Satin. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Blue Satin is a very dark navy polish with sapphire shimmer. This is actually a one coat wonder; I typically wear three coats for a swatch, but I could have gotten away with one, maybe two just to be safe. Three was definitely overkill. Drying time was pretty moderate; it wasn’t especially fast, but didn’t take a very long time either. The finish was pretty glossy, but I really wanted a high-shine with this polish, so I used a top coat. The shimmer only comes out in certain lighting conditions. It looks fine in the office, but is quite flat in my office.

I don’t know why I wanted a Chanel polish so badly. I think I saw one in a magazine once, either as a teen or during my Harper’s Bazaar obsession in my early twenties, and thinking “Man, I’ll never have a nail polish like that.” 27 dollars for a nail polish was so, so far out of my reach then. I mean, it still is. I’ll probably never own more than these two, but that’s fine. This is enough. I hope.

I can’t believe I just typed the phrase “in my early twenties”. I am old.

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