Author Archives: Stacie Wacie

Swatch: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype CH 5.2

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Welcome to another swatch post! I’m trying to get one out every day this week. I have so many you haven’t seen yet! This gorgeous beauty is a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer prototype called CH 5.2; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

CH 5.2 is a kelly green jelly with gold-to-green shifting flakies. Application was easy, as it always is with BEGL polishes; the product consistency, despite being totally full of flakies, is buttery smooth and very easy to work with. It dries with a satin/matte finish; I added top coat for shine.

 

This is a fantastic polish, and I’m kind of sad it wasn’t available in a wide release as-is. The gold flash is a lot more intense in person, as is the shift. Also, it’s green, and I feel like BEGL greens are some of their best work. I definitely love this one.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: e.l.f.’s Smokin Hot

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Welcome back! Today’s swatch is a pretty basic one. Everyone knows I love a red creme, and even though this is one you can’t get anymore, it’s a good one to have. This is e.l.f.’s Smokin Hot; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Smokin Hot is, as I mentioned, a red creme. Application was good; the product consistency was on the thicker side, but I believe this is due to the age of the bottle, as well as previous uses. I forget if I thinned it out or not, but it still applied well. I had full opacity by two coats, but I always like to go for three. The polish dried with a glossy finish; I used top coat for protection and shine.

This is a polish I probably didn’t even need to swatch. As with most red cremes, what you see in the bottle is what you get on your nails. I can’t complain about this polish at all.

This polish was released in a Disney Villains themed set, which has since been discontinued.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Tinsel on Pink

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Happy Monday, reader! I have a pretty simple look to show you this week. This is Essie’s Frilling Me Softly over Marc Jacobs Beauty’s Shocking. Let’s get into it!

Frilling Me Softly was the main polish I wanted to try this week. If we’re being honest, I wasn’t huge into this Essie collection, but I still bought them all to keep my LuxEffects collection complete. I have a serious problem when it comes to completing collections. I don’t know how popular these actually were among bloggers because I didn’t really see anyone talking about them; I know bar glitters are a point of contention among us, and I thought maybe that’s the reason. This one’s not too bad since they’re short. At least it gives some sparkle.

I used Shocking as the base as a treat. I like to use nice cremes under glitter toppers; I feel like it improves the manicure. My favorites to use under glitters are thermals and indie cremes, but sometimes you need a little luxury. I’m almost a little sad I covered this up, because even without top coat, Shocking had a gorgeous glossy finish. I’m looking forward to wearing this one on its own.

Frilling Me Softly and other Essie polishes are sold in stores. Shocking and Marc Jacobs Beauty is sold at Sephora.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch: Bluebird Lacquer’s Shine Bright Like a Rhinestone

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Welcome back, reader! My swatch today is yet another Indie Shop Atlanta buy. It’s funny; in case you missed it, Indie Shop 2018 locations were announced today, and they’re returning to Atlanta in March, so I’ll have the chance to go and buy more polish that I won’t even get to swatch until next year. I do hope I’ll see my favorite makers again though! Anyway, this is Bluebird Lacquer‘s Shine Bright Like a Rhinestone, and it’s one of the best polishes I bought last year. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Shine Bright Like a rhinestone is a clear-based microglitter polish with silver flakies, silver glitter, a little bit of holo, and a blue-to-purple shifting shimmer. Application was easy; the product consistency is easy to work with despite everything in it. As with most microglitters, coverage builds up to full opacity; I got full opacity on the second coat. The polish dries to a smooth finish; I used top coat for extra smoothness and shine.

Shift!

I’m afraid I didn’t really do this polish justice. There’s so much going on in it, and it was so much better in person. For example, the blue shimmer, which gives the polish an icy glow, isn’t easily seen in these photos. Aside from that, I love this polish. I love any polish that turns my nails into disco balls, but this one has been a nice change of pace with the extra shifting shimmer. It was a ton of fun to wear.

As of this writing, Bluebird Lacquer is closed for the holidays, but will reopen.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Whenever: Punk Rock on Ice

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Hello again! Today’s post is a quick one. This was a look I did that was supposed to be a Manicure Monday post, but for whatever reason, was never posted; it was definitely from November, which was a hugely busy month for me. In any case, I’m excited to finally show you this look. I used Indigo Bananas‘s Do You Have a Flag? and Model City Polish‘s Punk Rock Princess.

One day a few years ago, I realized I needed a white holo, and Do You Have a Flag? was the first one I stumbled upon. It’s a polish with a lot of dimension; not only is it a bright white holo, but it’s got some frost to it, and some silvery-white flakies to make it interesting. It’s a great polish.

Punk Rock Princess, on the other hand, was not a planned purchase, but it’s not like I wasn’t going to buy a polish called Punk Rock Princess. This is a polish I love, though. It’s got loads of chunky glitter, so even if it had a different name, I’d still love it. The colors are a wee bit edgy, and really pop over the white. The base has a pink tinge to it, and I’m not sure if that’s intentional, but I kind of like how it transformed the white to a light pink. The holo goodness is still visible underneath, but it added a bit of variety to the look.

Do You Have a Flag? looks like it might have been discontinued, but other Indigo Bananas polishes are available on their website. Model City Polish isn’t making polish anymore (sad).

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch: Disney’s Villain Varnish in Queen of Hearts

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Welcome back! This year I want to get back to posting on a schedule like I used to, but before I can do that, I have so many unposted swatches I have to get up first. Today’s post is about a polish I love and received as a Christmas gift several years ago. This is Disney’s Villain Varnish in Queen of Hearts; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Queen of Hearts is a burnished shimmery gold polish with some holo flakies. Application was good; the polish has a smooth and workable consistency, and dries with a glossy finish. Because of the frosty shimmer, it leaves some brush-strokes if one doesn’t apply carefully; they aren’t too bad, but they do happen. The polish dries quickly to a smooth finish.

As large as my polish collection is, I don’t have a polish like this one. I love how it reminds me of something in a thrift store, something tarnished but has endured. I’m a little disappointed that the one they called Queen of Hearts wasn’t red — that one’s Cruella de Vil — but I like it very much.

Disney no longer sells this set, but they do have nail wraps and other beauty items in stores and online.

This polish was a Christmas gift.

Manicure Monday: Low-Key Celebration

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Happy new year, reader! I’ve got my first manicure of the year, and my hands are so cold I barely got it done. Seriously, I’m so cold, my hands are wrinkly. For this look, I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Flash Forward Fantasy with Nails Inc.’s Princes Gardens.

This is a pretty basic look, and I think my nail game is off to a good start this year. Of course, it’s cold and dark outside, which means I couldn’t show you the gorgeous shift in the base polish, but I love that it’s almost a mannequin polish on me. I like that the glitter went on without overpowering the base shade, which is definitely a plus on short nails like these. I don’t have a lot to say about this look. I’m so cold.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their online shop. Nails Inc. is sold in stores.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Pink Wonder

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Happy Monday, reader! Today is the first day I’ve had off since Thursday. My retail job is getting busy since there’s only a week left to shop for Christmas gifts — and I’ve barely done any shopping. Today, though, is for ignoring my responsibilities and doing my nails and maybe having a bubble bath later. For today’s relaxing look, I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Watch the Walls over Lynnderella‘s Baby Pink Pink.

It’s 80 degrees out in December. It feels like summer, so it’s summer on my nails.

I’ve been kind of self-conscious about my shorties lately. I even bit one down because it was jagged, and I was really disappointed with myself after that. As a recovering nail biter, it is always so hard to grow them out past this stage, because it’s really easy to slip into biting again. One day at a time, I guess.

I bit this one so far down it hurt. 🙁

Glitter will help me get there. Watch the Walls is still one of my favorite BEGLs, and likely even my most used; the bottle is about two-thirds full at this point. I like seeing the empty out, because the polish is getting the love it deserves, but it’s sad to see it go. Once these polishes are gone, they’re gone. In this instance, I paired it with Baby Pink Pink because they both have an icy blue shimmer that stacks nicely.

Watch the Walls was discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGLs are available from their online shop. Baby Pink Pink was a limited edition; other Lynnderellas are available from eBay, Amazon, and Lynnderella.com.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Olive the Glitter

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Welcome back! I’ve got another super-shifty microglitter to show you today. This is Digital Nails‘s Galactica over Essie’s Sew Psyched.

Last week, I showed you Leviathan, that crazy shifty glitter that went from purple to blue to orange. Galactica is a sister polish to Leviathan; they are both named after fictional spaceships and feature wildly shifting glitter. These polishes are both so much fun to wear because they look so different in every lighting situation.

Sew Psyched is a great base for this glitter because it just blends into it most of the time. Of course, there are instances where it looks kind of odd, like when the light is shining right on the glitter and it’s super gold and the base is just kind of there. For the most part, though, the glitters and the base are the same, and all you see is the shine from the glitter.

Sew Psyched and Essie are sold in stores. Galactica and other Digital Nails polishes are sold in their etsy shop, which is currently closed.

I bought these polishes myself.

Throwback Swatch: Bluebird Lacquer’s Looking Spritely

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Hello hello! It’s another swatch! Today’s polish is Bluebird Lacquer‘s Looking Spritely; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Looking Spritely is a cobalt blue polish with some iridescent and shifting flakes and holo accents. Unfortunately, because it was cloudy and gross on the day I took these photos, the holo is hidden. The polish was really easy to apply and work with; the product consistency was just right, and I had full opacity in two coats. It dries to a smooth finish; I used top coat for extra protection and shine.

Because of the lack of sunshine, I was not able to do this polish justice. The holo is the crown of this polish. I mean, it looks great here; in blistering Florida sunshine, we’d probably be seeing all the holo and none of the flakies, so I guess that works out. My point is that there’s a ton happening in this polish in person, and there’s way more sparkle.

Looking Spritely was, I think, an Indie Shop Atlanta exclusive, but I’m not sure. For the moment, Bluebird Lacquer is on a break while they process holiday orders.

I bought this polish myself.