Category Archives: Manicure Monday

Manicure Monday: Glitter in Backup Camera Hell

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To begin this post, I must first apologize. My regular camera has decided it wants a vacation and has so far refused to turn on. This is the reason my weekend swatches were not posted, and it’s the reason I had to fall back on my — shudder — backup camera. I apologize for the missed posts, and I apologize for the low quality of this one. Until the camera is fixed, my Manicure Monday posts are going to look like this, and I will not do swatches.

Anyway, this mani is gorgeous in real life, and it is an absolute tragedy what this camera did to it. My polishes today are Revlon’s Bare Bones and Digital Nails‘s Timey Wimey, all topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Bare Bones is a pretty run-of-the-mill nude. In person, it’s on the cooler side of nude; some of these photos are color-accurate, some are not. The formula is okay; it was on the sheer side and though I did reach full opacity, it still leaves something to be desired. It’s not as smooth as it could be. It doesn’t quite level itself and some brush-strokes were left behind, though a top coat did help some to resolve that.

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The real star here is Timey Wimey, one of my oldest indie polishes. When I chose a nude as the base, I started combing through the glitter toppers, thinking what this polish needed to carry it through the week was the craziest glitter I had. I found poor Timey Wimey at the bottom of the Helmer and that was that. I used an eyeshadow applicator sponge to apply it to my nail; I brushed the glitter onto the end of the sponge, then dabbed it on. I’m really happy with how it came out. Even when it’s a little dense or clumpy, it’s still gradual. I’m glad some of the nude base can be seen through it.

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Revlon polishes are sold in stores; I got this one from Big Lots. Timey Wimey and other Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Polka.com/thermal

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Happy Monday! It’s late, but here’s this week’s Manicure Monday post. I’m wearing OPI’s Polka.com over Digital Nails‘s Nox with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. I love this mani, let’s get started!

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I love thermals. I have so few and I don’t wear them often, but I adore them. Nox is especially beautiful; it morphs from a pale periwinkle to a deep indigo and dries with a matte finish. Unforunately though, because it’s been so warm here, I’ve rarely seen it in its cold state. It goes right back to the warm state pretty much instantly. I had a glass of ice water in the studio while I was taking these photos for a quick dip, and I got one photo where you can see the transition. One thing that’s constant, though, is the shift in this polish. This delicious shimmer shifts from blue to pink, and it’s amazing. It’s definitely the best part of this manicure.

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Polka.com is a pretty simple topper; while colorful, there aren’t a ton of crazy shapes and the colors are muted. This is pretty typical for an OPI topper; there’s a bit of excess lacquer, so without dabbing or sponging the glitter on, there isn’t much coverage. I usually hate this, but today I’m thankful for it, because I didn’t want to cover up the thermal. I could have done with more, but I didn’t want to risk another coat and then having too much.

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My one photo of Nox doing thermal things.

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I’m really happy with how they look together. I thought the glitter would overpower the shimmer in Nox, but they work together well. The darker glitters blend into the thermal when it’s in its cold state, but that’s forgivable, especially since the cold state is unlikely to happen. I really want to try this look in the winter, when the thermal effect will actually get some play.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Pink Moons and Glitter Crowns

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Welcome back, reader! I hope your Monday treated you well. I had some Monday mishaps with my manicure today, but overall, I really love how it turned out. For this look, I used a deep pink Maybelline polish with Nails Inc.’s Princes Arcade for my glitter accents. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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So this Maybelline polish is one I’ve had for probably a decade and a half. It’s a formula that’s not sold anymore, the color label has long since been peeled off, and the print on the label was wearing away. These aren’t necessarily signs of a bad polish, just an old one. Here’s the kicker, though: the brush was disintegrating. Strands of the brush — sometimes in whole, long fibers, others broken off into centimeter-long pieces — were coming off and getting stuck on the nail as I was applying the polish. At first I thought I could just pick it off, since I’ve had brushes like this before; they lose one or two hairs, I tweeze them off, and no harm done. This was not that. The more I brushed, the more came off. It was shedding like a cat. By the second coat I had to give up. I got a mini bottle from my workshop, poured the polish into it, and started working with the new brush. It was a vast improvement, but unfortunately some of the strands were left floating in the polish and found their way into my manicure anyway. You can see a couple in there. I probably should have thrown it out, but it seemed like such a waste; it’s really a great polish; I got perfect opacity in two coats, and it dried with a really glossy finish, albeit a bit slowly. I had to save what I could.

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So I do the half-moon thing pretty often, but usually with two polishes, a base coat and then a second color brushed over. I’ve never done it with the natural nail exposed, so I decided to give it a shot. Really, I just wanted to do something other than the usual creme-and-glitter-accents I usually do. I really love this glitter — Princes Arcade from Nails Inc. — because it and the mystery color kind of complete each other. I’m not sure that Princes Arcade is dense enough to be worn on its own, but it looks full and lush over the base color. I also tried it as a gradient along the half-moon — a crown, if you will — just as a glitter accent but also trying something different. I like the look, but I think I got a bit too much on the index finger. The middle finger’s got the right idea though. They just work together so beautifully.

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I got my bottle of Princes Arcade from Sephora. I don’t even know how to tell you to find this Maybelline polish, even if you wanted it. The bow is from Daily Charme.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Jazzy Mint Glitter Gradient

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Happy Monday, reader! Hope you had a good one. I present to you this weekend’s edition of Manicure Monday; I tried my hand at a glitter gradient for the first time in ages, and I’m pretty happy with the result. My base color is Sinful Colors’s Mint Apple, and my glitter is Essie’s Jazzy Jubilant. I also used one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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A quick few words about the polishes I used: Mint Apple is a minty green with some silvery shimmer. It’s a very nice polish; I like the color and shimmer together, and I feel like it’s a unique piece in my collection, despite being so simple. Jazzy Jubilant is like the grown-up version of the classic rainbow glitter; the colors are muted and deeper, but each color is respresented well. I actually didn’t like it much when I first got it, but wearing it has totally changed my mind. It looks way better on the nail than in the bottle, especially over a base color like this one.

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I tried the gradient from the cuticle for the first time, and I like it. I just wish I had more nail real estate. I only wanted a smattering of glitter instead of the dense coverage I got. I applied the glitter with an eyeshadow applicator sponge, and while the sponge absorbed the excess lacquer, the dryness meant I couldn’t push the glitter around like I wanted to, and of course once there’s too much, I can’t take it off, so I got stuck with it. It’s not bad, and if my nails were longer, there would have been more room to fade out the gradient, so to speak, but I’m pretty happy with it as is.

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Mint Apple and other Sinful Colors products are sold in stores nationwide, as are Jazzy Jubilant and other Essie shades. I got mine from Walgreens.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Black Holo Marble

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Hello, reader! This week’s Manicure Monday is a doozy, if I may say so myself. Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Discontinued Limited Edition makes a beautiful watermarble and I can’t stop staring at it. The watermarble was done with Sally Hansen’s Black Out. Other nails show Discontinued Limited Edition alone at two coats. All nails are topped with Seche Vite top coat.

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I’ve swatched Discontinued Limited Edition in the past, so be sure to check out that post if you want to know the details. What I didn’t expect then was that it would work so well for watermarbling. It spreads easily and quickly, even better than the black creme polish. The Spectraflair and orange shimmers mingle with the creme, which gives an all-over holo effect. I planned to use a Spectraflair top coat and ended up not needing it. This, with Black Out’s perfect opacity and consistency, made for a painless and gorgeous watermarble.

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I hadn’t even planned the watermarble today. I was going to try my hand at galaxy nails for the first time, and I couldn’t get it right. It was terrible! I either got too much polish or not enough, got too much coverage or not enough, and just made a big mess. After three misfires, I give up and did a watermarble because it was easier. Easier! What universe is this?

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And of course it’s pouring down rain today, because why wouldn’t it be? The holo effect is a little dull in these first few photos. I used the flash in the next few, because I really needed to show you the full holo effect. It shines right through the black marbling and I cant. stop. staring.

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I’ve got to do this more often. I try not to use the polishes I love, especially when they’re as aptly-named as this one. I thought I was going to use a lot more polish, but because I only marbled two nails on each hand, I lost way less than I expected. I can’t get over how well it spread in the water, also. I want to see how other indie holos, BEGLs in particular, marble with cremes. Have I been bitten by the watermarbling bug again? Perhaps!

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Cinna-man of My Dreams

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Welcome back! We’ve got another simple manicure done with a textured polish for this week’s Manicure Monday. This is Cinna-man of My Dreams from Nicole by OPI. I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

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Cinna-man of My Dreams is a cool rosy bronze textured polish. Application went well; the glitter was dense and evenly-distributed. I reached full opacity in two coats. The texture isn’t as coarse as some texture polishes are; as this is part of the Gumdrops collection, I suspect they were going for a fine sugar texture rather than the chunky glitter one the Liquid Sands have. The drying times were good; my nails were dry to the touch in about five minutes.

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A surprise in this polish in the shifting shimmer. I’m not sure what color it is in its natural state, probably bronze or rose, but when it’s front-lit, it turns a rich gold. It’s evident both on the nail and in the bottle. It’s my favorite part of this polish, just because it was so unexpected. It makes me wonder if I’ve just overlooked it in all my other textured polishes. I love it.

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The Gumdrops collection may be discontinued. Nicole by OPI is sold in stores nationwide; I got mine from Target. My bow charm is from Daily Charme.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Opal Sandwich

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Happy Monday! I’m excited and nervous to show you today’s manicure. It didn’t turn out quite the way I envisioned, mainly because I expected to have longer nails when it was time for it. However, I get to tell you about a brand new Wacie Nail Co. polish, and that’s cool! For this manicure, I’m wearing Revlon’s Heavenly between layers of Wacie Nail Company‘s Whitewash, topped with Seche Vite top coat and Hard Candy’s Matte-ly in Love matte coat.

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Heavenly is one of my favorite glitters, and if you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve seen it on the blog like five times. It’s just the right topper for when you want a little iridescent sparkle. It looks great all over or as a gradient, and its appearance changes over different colored polishes. It’s truly a versatile and beautiful polish.

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I made Whitewash because I wanted a white jelly polish. I actually made this quite some time ago as a franken, long before I’d even really started Wacie Nail Company. I checked a lot of etsy stores and didn’t see any, so I just made one for myself. Today is the first time I’ve used it. It’s still on the creamy side, and maybe it’s just not possible to have a true white jelly, but I quite like the way it layers over glitter. I hope to have proper swatches of it alone soon.

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Heavenly and Whitewash, along with the matte top coat, create a look that’s soft and opalescent. I really love the look, but I wish some things were different. Maybe I should have used an opaque white base. I used three coats of Heavenly to ensure I had a good glitter cover, but it’s still very translucent; I can see where my nails are still stained from a lime green polish I wore a few weeks ago. I wish my nails weren’t so short, because the whiteness and the shortness make my hands look grubby. It’s still a cool look, but today I don’t feel like it suits me.

Revlon is sold in stores nationwide. Whitewash will be available soon from the Wacie Nail Company etsy shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Jinx

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Welcome back, reader! It’s been a long time since I got to wear a Liquid Sand polish; I’d forgotten how fun and pretty they are! This is Jinx; I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

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Jinx is an orange-coral polish with tons of gold shimmer, and of course, a textured finish. The application with these is always tricky for me; The first coat goes on cleanly, and then with continued use, the brush that’s full of glitter and polish fans out wider than my nail and it makes a mess. At least the glitter is fine and cleanup is easy.

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As you may remember, Jinx was part of the Bond Girls collection from 2013. I remember I really struggled with this collection; I’m not a fan of the 007 films — I’ve never actually seen one, in fact — so I felt a little weird about buying them. Eventually, I justified by telling myself it’s not the inspiration that matters, but the polishes themselves. This led to the dilemma of which one I was going to get, and whether I could justify spending my grocery money on the whole collection. I ended up finding an Amazon seller selling the whole collection for about $35.

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This is one of the best Liquid Sand polishes I’ve used yet. A lot of them seem to lean hard to either visible texture or tons of glitter, and this one lands right in the middle. It’s obviously textured, but it’s not the main focus of the polish. The glitter and shimmers are there, but they don’t take over the look, either. It’s perfectly, beautifully balanced.

Jinx and the other Bond Girl polishes seem to be discontinued by OPI, but are probably still available in shops and online. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Blue Opal

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Welcome to this week’s Manicure Monday! The weekend is over, and we’re back to work! My look is week is something simple and fun; I’m wearing Julep’s Claire with Finger Paints’s Psychedelic Hue, topped with Seche Vite and Hard Candy’s Just Matte top coats.

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Claire is my first Julep polish, acquired even before the blog started. It may also be the Julep I’ve used the most, because it’s now about three-quarters empty. A couple years ago, when I discovered watermarbling, Claire was one of the few polishes I had that really spread out in the water, so most of it got used for that. I loved the watermarbling process and I would sometimes get out the cup and toothpicks out just to make designs. I’d dip in anything handy — lighters, lip gloss tubes, compacts — just to entertain myself. I quit when I saw how much polish I was wasting. I love Claire a lot; I got away with two coats today instead of the usual Julep three.

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Psychedelic Hue, like the rest of the Finger Paints Kaleidoscope flakie topper collection, is just amazing. The flakies contained are primarily in blues and greens, but I do see some pink and purple at some angles. This topper makes my nails look like priceless blue opals. The flakies were very easily applied; I didn’t get too much excess lacquer, and pretty good coverage on one coat. I still used two, just for over-the-top flakie goodness.

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I used the matte coat here — for the second week in a row, how unusual! — for maximum flakies visibility. With just the Seche Vite, the colors from the flakies were pretty obvious, but the definition of the individual flakes were mostly lost. I wanted to see the colors and the detail at the same time.

Overall, I think this is a fun look. It’s simple and not very flashy, but it’s a ton of fun to look at.

Julep is sold at julep.com, though Claire is out of stock. Finger Paints is sold at Sally Beauty Supply, though Psychedelic Hue has been discontinued.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Red Luxe

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Welcome to Manicure Monday! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that I got off my duff, got the dotting tool out, and did some real nail art. I still kind of suck with the dotting tool, but I’m really pleased with my results. For this look, I used Maybelline’s Red Relic as my primary color, Ciaté’s Gold Digga as the secondary color, and caviar beads in Gleam, also from Ciaté. I also used Seche Vite and Hard Candy’s Just Matte top coat.

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Red Relic is a fun little polish. It’s a red jelly with iridescent pink flakies that dries matte. I was a little disappointed when I first tried it out, because I’m not a huge fan of the matte finish. I supposed then that it wasn’t anything top coat couldn’t fix, so I kept it. The finish has grown on me, though. It’s actually the reason I made the whole manicure matte. Gold Digga has a metallic shine, and I needed to even it out with a matte top coat, so the finish you’re seeing is actually the matte coat, not the original Red Relic finish.

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Gold Digga and the Gleam beads came together in a caviar nails set that was in the sale bin at Sephora. Gold Digga is a pretty nice polish; it’s a burnished gold with a rich metallic finish. It also looks fantastic mattified. The matte coat hides the brush strokes and evens out the color. It’s rare that I think a polish looks better without a glossy finish, but this one definitely does. I feel like it helps emphasize the luxe feel Ciaté was going for.

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The two colors together are gorgeous. I got the elegant and opulent look I wanted. I’m just a bit unhappy with all the nail art horrors my camera captured. In the photos you can see just how uneven the crosses are, you can see all the gaps in the caviar, you can see the glue spots where I put the studs down. I know nobody probably noticed them until I mentioned them, but when I look at these photos, they’re all I see. In person, though, this mani is perfect.

Red Relic was a limited edition and has been discontinued by Maybelline, though you can find it if you look around the internet. Gold Digga and the caviar nail kit are available from Ciaté’s website. Hard Candy’s matte coat is from Walmart. My studs are from an outlet store.

I bought all of these products myself.