Category Archives: Manicure Monday

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.

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.

Manicure Monday: Dainty Pink Water-Marble

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Happy Monday! This Manicure Monday’s secret word is dainty. We’re like baby princesses over here. My main polish in this mani is Model City‘s Fairy Godmother; I’m wearing it alone at three coats on my thumb and pinky, as well as in a watermarble with Elevation Polish‘s Hitsujiyama Park and under MAC’s Just Jewels. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Perhaps the most unique thing about this polish, as well as the most obvious, is the strong pink pearl flash. This is what really sets it apart from the other pale pinks in my collection. There’s also a hint of holo; unfortunately it’s nasty cloudy outside, so I can’t demonstrate the pretty holo effect properly.

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I decided on a water-marble pretty last-minute, and it was hard choosing the right color to contrast with the pale pink. I wanted one that was still pale so as to be dainty (ahhhh!) but dark enough to contrast with what I was already using. Hitsujiyama Park is just a shade or two darker, and has about the same amount of holo and lacks the pink flash, so I went with it. In the end, I wish I’d gone with something just a tad darker, but I really like the result I got. I bet there’s a sub-species of unicorn with stripes like these. A Zebracorn, if you will.

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Finally, I used some glitter. MAC’s Just Jewels is a sheer but powerful shimmery topper with some multi-colored metallic glitters mixed in. It’s a little too strong for the watermarble, but I think it pairs really nicely with Fairy Godmother. The heavy pink shimmer is just what Fairy Godmother needs.

Fairy Godmother is discontinued; you can get other Model City polishes from their shop. Hitsujiyama Park and other Elevation Polishes can be purchased from their shop. Just Jewels is discontinued; other MAC polishes can be found wherever MAC products are sold. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought two of these polishes. One polish was sent for review; my opinions are not influenced in any way.

Manicure Monday: Jack the Lad

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Happy Monday, reader! Manicure Monday is easy this week. I’m wearing three coats of Butter London’s Jack the Lad with one coat of Seche Vite and the Kitty Bow from Daily Charme. All photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Jack the Lad is a deep emerald jelly with fine green, gold, and blue flakies. I actually can’t tell if they’re glitters or flakies, but I suspect they’re flakies; there’s no gritty glitter texture, even before the top coat. Also, some of them color-shift; the gold ones turn purple at certain angles and it’s absolutely beautiful. Application was smooth; the first coat was streaky, but the second one evened it all out. It dried quickly and with a semi-gloss finish. Top coat gives it extra shine and protection.

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This is a great seasonal color. I mean, I love jewel tones year-round, but they really are an autumn staple. This would even be a good holiday color. It’s so seasonal that the tree behind me looks like the leaves are changing, but it’s really just an orange tree. It’s like 88 degrees outside. It might be November, but it’s not autumn in Florida, that’s for sure.

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This is a great polish! This was one of my first Butter Londons, acquired from a sale basket at Nordstrom Rack. Wearing it feels mega fancy. I never get the shade names, though; I like to think I’m pretty good at UK words, but some of them really baffle me.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Neon Sunset Gradient

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Happy Monday, reader! I adore today’s manicure because it’s so bright and busy. The gradient you see was done with Color Club’s Wham! Pow! and Sally Hansen’s Magenta Moves; the glitter topper is China Glaze’s Whirled Away. All nails are topped with Seche Vite top coat. I had a ton of fun doing this look today, so I hope you love it!

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Wham! Pow! is one of the best neons I’ve used in recent memory. It was opaque in two coats, dried with a satin finish, and — the best part — did not require a white base for the full effect. It’s almost painful to look at, it’s so bright. This is a seriously fantastic neon and I definitely recommend it to everyone. Magenta Moves, though a bright color, isn’t as neon as Wham! Pow!, so it kind of keeps the gradient from being too loud and creates the smoky-but-still-bright sunset effect.

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I fell in love with Whirled Away the first time I saw it. This was back when those black and white glitter toppers were at the height of their popluarity; this was the first one I got, probably also the first one I ever used. My favorite thing — simultaneously the best and worst thing about this polish — is that it sets itself apart from the others by using much larger glitters. I love big glitters, cannot lie, etc., but I feel like it makes the polish go faster. I’ve only used it twice, but the bottle is already half empty. It’s so sad. It’s also kind of a pain to apply, because the slice/bar glitters are so long they sometimes hang off the nail like eyelashes, and sometimes it was hard to get the glitters to spread evenly over the nail, but it still looks cool even when it’s a little lopsided.

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Unrelated: I miss swatching! I noticed today that it’s been two months since my Canon broke; I thought it would only be in the shop a few days and now I have no idea when I’m getting it back. I’m so sad, I really miss wearing all those new polishes! I’m kind of afraid to use things now because I can’t document it as easily. Here’s hoping it’ll come back someday soon.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday Night/Tuesday Morning: Orange Sherbet Birthday Warm-Up

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Happy Monday, reader! Happy Tuesday as well, if applicable. My look today is one I’ve been looking to try for a while: matte glitter sandwich with glow in the dark polish! It doesn’t translate well to photos, and looks a bit weird. I really regret that, but it looks cool in person, so I’ll need you to trust me on that. Also, this is probably the last manicure of my twenties. Yeah. I turn 30 on Saturday, and I’ll do a birthday mani then. Until then, this will carry me through the rest of the week. The last week of my twenties. I already feel as though the sun is setting.

Anyway, the sandwich I have here is made with Formula X for Sephora’s Firecracker and American Apparel’s Jupiter, topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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The first thing you’ll notice about this manicure is that’s really orange. The color comes mostly from the glitter. Jupiter has some color of its own, but it’s sheer and not immediately visible. What Jupiter does here, though, is assimilate each individual speck of glitter into one orange entity. Only the large glitters still have definition; the finer glitters look like grit or bubbles in the color, at least in photos. It’s not that bad without the bright studio lights bearing down on it.

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You may also notice the polish looks quite thick. That’s very accurate. In all, I have seven coats of stuff on my nails. Apart from base coat and top coat, I have two layers of Jupiter, the glitter, which is about as thick as two coats, and two more coats of Jupiter. Firecracker is a pretty chunky glitter, so Jupiter acts as a smoother here as well as a color; my nails are totally smooth to the touch. They are, however, one step away from being gumballs, and I acknowledge that.

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One last thing: I tried a real macro shot! I got a new phone with a pretty nice camera, and thought it was worth a shot. If you’re reading this, you’ve scrolled past it, but there it is. You can really see what I mean about the glitter losing its definition. It looks like it’s out of focus because the lines of the glitters are blurry, but it’s really just the sandwich blending it in.

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Firecracker is from Sephora. Jupiter is from American Apparel.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Nighttime Blizzard

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Happy Monday, reader! Welcome to this week’s manicure. My look this week is simple but striking. I used Sally Hansen’s Blazing Blue as the base, Digital Nails‘s Winter is Coming for the glitter accents, and one coat of Seche Vite to finish it off.

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Blazing Blue is a polish I’ve had a long time. You can’t tell from the photos, but this bottle is about half-full. Of course, this was a well-loved polish back when I only had 20 bottles or so; this is one of the stalwart veterans from when I first started my collection. This is actually the first time I’ve used it in a couple of years. I must admit, however, I hated using it today. First, I had to thin it, because it was a goopy mess when I first opened it. I also hate the Insta-Dry brush; it’s too wide for my small nails, and so I didn’t get a good application. Even worse, the formula is really smudgy; when I applied the glitter, some blue came off on the brush and left some holes in the color. Some smudged on the glitter, too. When I cleaned up my cuticles, I had so much smeared blue on my hands it looked like a pen exploded. I still couldn’t get some of it off, and my cuticles are still a mess. Cleanup took ages. I love this color, but it was such a hassle to use today.

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Winter is Coming is amazing. It is packed with white and various colors of blue glitters in a myriad of shapes. There are also some rose-gold glitters in there that I didn’t notice until today. It all comes together in a light blue jelly base. Some of the glitters are the same color as the base, but that’s kinda cool; you see the glint without being able to see where it comes from. The lighter ones stand out very well. It’s a great glitter topper and I suspect it would look fantastic over anything.

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You guessed it — my DSLR is still out for repairs. I took it to a local repair shop, and they ended up having to send it to Canon. So yeah. I do apologize; I had no idea it would be gone this long, and I’m dying to start swatching again. I’ve got so many polishes I want to use, and so many I thought I would have gotten to by now that are just sitting on my desk. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.

I bought all these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Autumn Moons

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Happy Monday, reader! Today’s Manicure Monday finds me with very short nails; I went bowling on Saturday night and kind of trashed them. At least they grow back. I went for a mature yet cute look today to remind myself that these are, in fact, not a child’s hands. I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Newborn Solstice Sun, Essie’s As Gold As It Gets, and China Glaze’s Angel Wings. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

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I wore Newborn Solstice Sun on its own quite some time ago when I swatched it. Even though it’s gorgeous on its own, I wanted to try something new with it. I went through the bag of tricks: rhinestones and loose glitters, vinyls and striping tapes. I wanted to get really crazy with it. Once my nails were unexpectedly cut down, though, I decided to keep it simple. I’m wearing Newborn Solstice Sun alone on two nails, as well as the darker shade in the half-moon. It’s a beautiful polish; the color is so deep, and the glitters add depth and sparkle. This is a huge BEGL favorite for sure.

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I used Essie’s As Gold As It Gets as the undies for my half-moon. It’s so soft, you can barely tell I used anything there. I wanted just a hint of sparkle, and that’s exactly what I got. I used China Glaze’s Angel Wings as an afterthought; I actually had an accent ring finger nail that was just covered with red and gold rhinestones, but it looked too Gryffindor, so I took it off and just used the gold glitter instead. It still looks out of place to me, but at least it’s not as ridiculous as the rhinestones were.

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Newborn Solstice Sun was a limited edition polish; other BEGLs can be purchased from the BEGL shop. As Gold As It Gets and Angel Wings are available wherever Essie and China Glaze are sold. I got my rhinestones from Amazon. The red bow vinyl is from Monster Polish as part of their Doctor Who collaboration with BEGL. I always associate the red bowtie with Pee-Wee Herman, though.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Lemon Butterfly Fizz

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Happy Monday! It’s still Monday somewhere, so let’s take a look at my mani this week. For this look, I used Color Club’s Daisy Does It and Ellagee‘s Chronic Badass. I’m pretty chuffed with it. I’m also thrilled with the photos, since I’m still on my backup camera; I can’t believe this is the same camera that took last week’s sad photos.

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Daisy Does It is gorgeous, and I was afraid I — or the backup camera — would fail to do it justice. It’s a sheer yellow with yellow-to-gold shifting flecks, but I couldn’t get the shift to show up in the studio. Everything else is accurate, though: the lemon yellow, the barely-there nail line, the tons of shimmer that make it almost metallic. I love this polish and the rest of the collection; the shades are pretty simple but have tons of dimension and personality.

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I’ve loved Chronic Badass ever since I swatched it earlier this year. I picked it to go with Daisy Does It because I just love purple and yellow together. Before I put it on, though, I had my doubts. I didn’t want the pink and purple glitters to interfere colorwise with the green shift, but it actually looks pretty cool. The shift only shows up in certain lighting conditions anyway, so I worried over nothing. The shimmer itself is really powerful and seems especially so on the accent nails. The topper makes it seem much glassier than the nails without it. It’s gorgeous.

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I hope to have the camera fixed in time to start weekend swatches again; the camera place nearest me is only open 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, so finding the time to get there will be a challenge. I’ve missed my blog, though. I miss my camera.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Arctic Circle Marble

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Hey guys! I’ve got a few minutes to post my Labor Dabor post before it turns Tuesday. I actually had a post typed up and then my new keyboard, whose CTRL button only works if you mash it so hard your finger turns white, did not work and ate my post. We’re also stuck looking at pictures from the backup camera this week, so these photos are not up to my usual standards. For this look, I used OPI’s I Vant to Be a Lone Star, Elevation Polish‘s Pitaraq, Essie’s Blue Rhapsody, and Lynderella‘s Something Blue, all topped with one to two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

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For my watermarble, I used clear polish between drops of Blue Rhapsody and I Vant to Be a Lone Star. My base was two coat of Pitaraq. This was my first time doing a negative space watermarble, and I envisioned frosty silver and blue rings over the icy metallic shimmer. The marbling process, however, wasn’t as painless as it could have been. It dried on the water before I could swirl it and tore my design a little. The rings are also so wide it hides the base glitter. I still like it, but it was better in my head.

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Something Blue as a glitter accent was a bit of an afterthought. I was shopping my stash, found Something Blue, and tried it over I Vant to Be a Lone Star. It was a perfect match; the silvery blues blend in beautifully. Of course, since this camera sucks, you can’t see the fine details, but the blue glitters are nearly but not quite the same color, and adds a bit of shimmer as well. I love Lynnderella polishes, even though they’re quite new to me, and it’s especially satisfying to use one I had to fight on eBay for. It was the last bottle! Shop victoriously, indeed.

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I’ve really missed doing my weekly swatches. I bought a new battery for my main camera and I hope that fixes it. If not, I’ll have it serviced soon so I can get back to them. I have enjoyed my time, though. I’ve been wear-testing a few new Wacie Nail Company polishes, including the one I hope to release for my birthday. I’ve also been playing Dragon Age: Inquisition and I’m so absorbed in it I can barely pull myself out. Hope to see you this weekend with new swatches, and if not, see you Monday!

I bought these polishes myself.