Summer of Untrieds Day 27: Matte

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

We’re nearing the end of the Summer of Untrieds! Today’s theme is matte, so I went with Ciate’s Chalkboard Paint from the Chalkboard Manicure set. I’m wearing three coats of it with no top coat.

Chalkboard Paint is a matte black creme. I had some issues applying it; in some places, it cracked, showing my bare nail underneath, like a crackle polish. Check out my thumb nail, that’s where it’s the most apparent. It’s also unforgiving; I tried to cover the cracks, but they just show through the second coat. However, it does dry very matte. It has no shine whatsoever, so it has that going for it, which is nice.

The Chalkboard Manicure set also come with four chalk pens for nail art, so I got them out and doodled out a rough vintage roses design. Really rough.

Summer of Untrieds Day 25: Zoya

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Zoya is the name of the game for the challenge today, so I’m wearing my first-ever Zoya, Odilia. I got this in a swap from someone who didn’t like it. Here it is at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Odilia (spelled Odeilia on the Zoya site for some reason) is a reddish-copper shimmer. It’s a soft color reminiscent of autumn leaves, pumpkin spice, etc. It’s a softer red than I like to wear, but it’s quite pretty in its own right. I’m neutral to this polish. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. I can see why my friend wanted to get rid of it.

Application with this polish was smooth and easy; I had no problems whatever with it. It’s a bit on the sheer side, and so my tips didn’t get covered well. I don’t know whether to blame the polish or myself for that. Apart from that, I got really nice coverage with it. It was very nice to work with.

Outdoors, full sun

There are six more days of this challenge. I can’t wait!

Summer of Untrieds Day 24: Holographic

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Holographic polish is today’s Summer of Untrieds theme, and I’m visiting one of my first holo polishes, China Glaze’s Cosmic Dust. This might even be my first-ever, I’m not sure. After putting it on, though, I regret not buying more than this one. I’m wearing three coats of Cosmic Dust with one coat of Seche Vite.

Cosmic Dust is an intriguing color. The holo rainbow effect is pretty strong, even indoors. In the studio it’s a bit faint, but in my office and other parts of the house, it’s quite obvious. When it’s not, Cosmic Dust is a futuristic steel gray. It’s always sleek and smooth.

In the sunshine, though, oh mama. This is blinding! I just stood outside and admired my nails for a good five minutes before I took any pictures. I kept hearing how disappointing these China Glaze holos were, so I wasn’t expecting much from this. I am completely blown away. This could be the best holo I’ve ever worn yet.

I have to take this off tomorrow. I don’t want to.

Summer of Untrieds Day 22: Teal

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This is the 22nd day in a row I’ve worn a polish I’ve never tried. I still can’t believe I was crazy enough to do this. I’ve never changed my nail color this often, and I’m not sure yet if I like it. Anyway, this 22nd day has a teal theme, so I’m wearing a teal I’ve had for a long time, Marine Blue from Claire’s. I bought this as a birthday gift for my sister that I ended up keeping for myself because I’m an awful, awful person. I am wearing three coats of Marine Blue with one coat of Seche Vite.

So I’ve been dealing with a lot of chameleon polishes lately, it seems, because I’ve had a recent string of polishes that seem to change color when I take photos of them (alternate theory: I suck at my camera). In reality, Marine Blue is a dark, rich peacock blue-green, but in every photo I took, it’s much lighter, much bluer. I am so frustrated that I can’t capture how beautiful it really is. It’s such a deep, enigmatic, dramatic color, and it totally does not look like it here.

Aside from that problem, I rather like wearing it. Marine Blue was easy to put on; it dries quickly, but with a matte finish. This may not be a problem for you, but I don’t like the matte finish right off; I tend to associate it with cheap or low-quality polish. Thankfully, Seche Vite can make even the cheapest polish look incredible. I have to give the topcoat most of the credit for making this look so fantastic.

Outdoors, full sun

I don’t like to post cell-quality photos here, but I will, because my phone actually took a photo where the color is actually pretty close to what it’s really like. It’s greener here than in the others, though it’s still a bit too light. It’s still a lovely color regardless of how you look at it, I suppose.

Indoors (CFL lighting), cell phone

Summer of Untrieds Day 20: Multichrome/Shifter

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 20 of the Summer of Untrieds calls for multichromes and shifters, and I decided to use Yes, Master from Digital Nails. It’s a magical dark teal duochrome that goes all the way from green to pink. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Yes, Master is easy to apply, though the consistency is a little thick, probably due to all the shimmer and fine little sparkles in it. It does dry quickly though, which is definitely a plus. Cleanup is easy, too; usually polishes with teeny little sprinkle glitters are a pain to clean up with a brush. Overall, this is a really well made polish as well as beautiful.

Man, this is gorgeous! That shine, that shimmer, all those colors… It’s magnificent. That’s all I’ve got. Just… man.

Summer of Untrieds Day 18: Green

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 18 of the Summer of Untrieds Challenge is green. I chose to wear Butter London’s Swinger, a full coverage green glitter polish. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

It was really hard to focus on all those tiny glitters.

Swinger is loaded down with fine metallic green glitters. From what I can tell, there’s a fine olive green and larger kelly green hexes, as well as maybe some others. I really love polishes like this because there’s always so much dimension in the glitter. This was easy to put on; the glitter spreads evenly across the nail in one go, but there’s so much of it that it’s not suitable to use as a glitter topper. You’re free to try it, but you’ll have a very dense coat of glitter, which is why I think it works best as a full-coverage polish.

This looks incredible in sunlight, too. You can see the diversity of the glitters here, and how the look changes from a kelly green to an olive. This is just an amazing polish. I absolutely love it.

I love that I’m accidentally on a green polish kick, too. Greens are some of my favorites. They never fail to be beautiful.

Summer of Untrieds Day 17: Elevation Polish

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The Summer of Untrieds Challenge is halfway over! Today’s entry is Elevation Polish, so I’m wearing my first-ever Elevation Polish: Epidote. It’s a gorgeous grassy green holo that everyone should own. Seriously. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

Once upon a time, I saw Epidote featured on Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, and I knew, one day, I had to have it. I have such a thing for these yellow-green polishes. I want them all. I finally got it a few months ago, and I’ve been looking forward to wearing it. I’m so glad I finally had the chance.

Epidote applies evenly and without difficulty. The holographic effect looks fantastic in most lighting conditions, in others it just looks like a silver shimmer. The color varies in the photos; in the studio, it’s very green; outdoors it’s more true to its actual army green. Speaking of outdoors, I’m going to stop writing and just let you look at the pretties.

How beautiful is this? It actually took me a long time to get these outdoors photos. It was sunny the entire time I was polishing my nails, and when I went outside to take photos, it was overcast for about an hour. It was annoying. I almost had to resort to using the flash on my camera.

So I like Epidote. Like really really. I like Elevation Polish, too! I can’t wait to get more from them.

Summer of Untrieds Day 15: Pink

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 15 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge calls for pink, so I went with something I’ve had for ages and have never tried: My first-ever China Glaze! I grabbed a bunch of these vibrant glitter crackle polishes during a huge Sally Beauty sale last summer (or maybe the summer before?), and I’ve only used one of them until today. This is one coat of Glam-More over two coats of Ciaté’s Amazing Gracie, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

As you can see, Glam-More is a glitter crackle. It’s pink, pretty, and totally passé. I just can’t say no to glitter, though, in any of its forms. This was actually quite thick when I opened it, but I took care of that with some thinner. It went on easily after thinning and the crackle effect occurred almost immediately. I think it’s a bit pinker in person; it looks purplish in the studio. That’s a bit misleading.

I’ve never used Amazing Gracie before today, so I’ll say something about it, too. It’s a soft, sheer nude that’s perfect for a French mani. It dries quickly and with a nice shine. I fear these polishes a little, because they always come out streaky, and since they’re so translucent, you can never correct it with another coat. That happened to me a little, but isn’t noticeable under the crackle.

I really love how dense the glitter is in Glam-More. It’s basically a clear crackle with glitter; there’s no pigment at all, that’s all glitter! This is especially obvious in the sunlight/outdoor photos. I regret using such a delicate base color, though; I feel like a darker color would have done more for it. Actually, looking back, I made that mistake the last time I used one of these crackle polishes. Why didn’t I learn?

I feel a little weird wearing this. I know I’m late to like every nail trend ever, but this is crazy. It’s like a nail polish time capsule.

Summer of Untrieds Day 13: China Glaze

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 13 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge calls for China Glaze, so here I am trying the first China Glaze on my list: Running in Circles. Running in Circles is an awesome shamrock green jelly with fine metallic glitters. I’m wearing three coats of it here with one coat of top coat. Note: this post is late because of World Cup finals and excessive drinking.

So I didn’t expect Running in Circles to be such a thin jelly, but it is; my nail line is just barely visible, even after three coats. The tips were the hardest part to cover; I thought they looked great until I took photos and they looked a little bald. Despite that, each coat went on easily and evenly. The glitter spreads really well. I like this polish a lot, but it’s a little too Christmassy for July.

So I took these pictures when it was dark outside, so there weren’t any great sunlight photos of them. You’ll have to take my word on how awesome this looks outdoors. It’s so full of glitter and sparkle, it’s amazing.

Running in Circles was part of China Glaze’s Cirque du Soleil collection from last year, and has a blue counterpart called Water You Waiting For, which I also have. I cannot wait to do a gradient with those.

Summer of Untrieds Day 11: Summer

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 11 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge is simply titled “Summer”, so I scanned through the Polish List, looking for something that spoke to me. After a couple of rounds, I found Super Temp and thought it was perfect. After all, what says summer like the temperatures in Florida in July? I’m pretty sure Super Temp is actually a Doctor Who reference, but I’m going to overlook that for now. Anyway, here is Super Temp from Digital Nails at three coats and one coat of top coat.

Super Temp is described by Digital Nails as “a brighter-than-most-can-handle orange coral jelly-crelly, with loads and loads of golden microflakes”. The consistency was a little thick but still easy to work with; I’m going to chalk that up to all the gold flakies in here. There’s a ton of them, and they shine beautifully in the light. The opacity is just right, too; even though it’s meant to be a thick jelly, my first coat was nearly opaque. This is seriously really fun to wear.

I knew I needed this when I first saw it. I don’t own a ton of orange polishes, and I’m always on the lookout for more, especially when they’re as bright and insane as this one. It makes my fingers look tanner, too. It’s a summery color for sure! I’m just sorry I couldn’t get an outdoor sunshine photo of this, it would have been crazy. Actually, if I’d wanted to be accurate about Florida’s summer, I would have used something gray and blah, because it has rained every day this week.

One more thing: you’ll notice the bottom of my bottle is faded white. I actually have a few bottles doing this, and I don’t know what causes it. The polish in the bottle is fine, but the stuff on the bottom is a completely different color. What gives?

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