Manicure Monday: Sparkle and Caviar

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My Manicure Monday today is kind of an experiment. The polish I have on is one I love, Revlon’s Sparkle Aplenty. I needed an accent piece, so I tried caviar nails for the first time. I’m wearing three coats of Sparkle Aplenty with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro, and my caviar mix is Ciate’s Midnight in Manhattan.

Sparkle Aplenty is a black crelly with lots of metallic silver glitters in various sizes. It went on pretty easily; the first coat was thin and streaky, but the second one evened it out nicely. Full opacity was reached at two coats. The glitters spread well and evenly. This polish dries quickly and with a satin/semi-glossy finish. Because glitter is the bulk of the polish, there’s lots of glitter texture after drying; a top coat would definitely be necessary with this.

I thought the Midnight in Manhattan would be the perfect caviar mix, because they contain the same colors. The caviar beads are actually a bit more colorful; in my office, it just looks like silver and black beads. In the studio, I find out that they’re gold, as well as some greens, blues, and purples that I failed to notice before. Also, for some strange reason, the corners of my caviar nail appear to flare out instead of curling under, like the rest of my nails do. It looks weird when all my nails appear slender and tapered, and then one looks like a duck foot. It bothers me. It’s wrong.

I do admit I liked this mani a lot better before I added the caviar. I should have just used studs again. I don’t hate caviar nails (yet), but I have a ton of bead jars (thanks, Ciate advent calendars), and I wanted to use one, just to see what the two-year-old fuss was about. Perhaps I’ll like them more in the future. Today, I don’t. Today, I just see fail.

Manicure Monday: What Wizardry is This?

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

What’s this? A textured polish two weeks in a row? Yes! It’s crazy. This is What Wizardry is This? from OPI; I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

What Wizardry is This? is a warm brown textured polish with gold glitters. I found this application much easier than Solitaire‘s; Solitaire’s brush was spread wide with glitter, and even though this polish also contains a ton of glitter, the brush was not as wide, and I had a much cleaner application. Drying time was very fast, and full coverage was gained in two coats. The glitters are very potent, which is why it looks more brown in some photos and more gold in others. It’s a very pretty and interesting look.

I like when I end up wearing something seasonally relevant. Solitaire was wintry and peaceful, but What Wizardry is This? is very warm and autumnal. It’s the color of hot cocoa and firewood. This is absolutely perfect for fall.

I don’t have any brown nail charms, so I used a stud. Earlier in the year, I got a huge pack of nail accoutrements at an outlet store for super cheap, and this is the first time I’ve used any of it. Originally, I’d chosen a heart-shaped one, but it wouldn’t sit flat on my nail, so I went with this diamond/Sims plumbob shape instead. I like it. It takes up more of the nail than I wanted, but it’s a fun accent.

I wasn’t sure about this at first. When I got it, the Liquid Sand bandwagon was at full speed, and I just wanted all of them. I don’t own very many brown polishes, just because it’s not a very popular color. It’s also not very daring. This is more than just brown, though. It’s gorgeous.

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.

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.

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.

Manicure Monday: On the 101

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Sorry for two late posts in a row; today relatives were in town. I didn’t finish this manicure until like seven o’clock today, and I just now have a chance to actually write about it. Today’s polish is one I love a lot, On the 101 from Wet ‘n Wild. I have on three coats with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro.

On the 101 is a black jelly with various sizes of metallic red glitter. Application wasn’t too bad; Wet ‘n Wild have their really wide brush, and I usually have huge problems with it; I get a ton of polish in the cuticle, where I need it the least. I didn’t really have that problem today, though. This went on pretty cleanly. The glitters are a little hard to get, so if you want to wear this alone as a glitter jelly, three coats is definitely necessary. Even with black undies, you still may want two coats just to ensure maximum glitter pretty. It also dries somewhat matte, so if you want high shine, you’ll need a top coat.

So this is one of my favorites. I can’t remember if it was late 2012 or early 2013, but I was living alone, and I was kind of using nail polish as a bribe to get myself to walk the half-mile to Dollar General to get cat food, ramen, cheap wine, and other broke girl necessities. Previously, the only nail polishes they had were many varieties of LA Colors. I’d already bought a ton of those, and wasn’t interested. In fact, on the day I found this, it seems like I wasn’t even interested in buying polish, I was just passing through the aisle and noticed the new Wet ‘n Wild display. This particular bottle was unlike anything I had at the time, and even though I’d seen indies like this, I’d never seen anything like it in a store. I had to have it. I don’t think I could have even spared the two dollars it cost me, but I had to have it. I bought it so long ago, but today’s the first time I ever used it.

It was late when I took these, so I wasn’t able to get sunlight shots of it. I bet this is huge in the sunshine though. It shines really nicely indoors.

Finally, let me apologize about the charm. Since I was using only one polish, I wanted to add something extra, but I don’t have any red acrylic bows, like I’d usually use. I had this cute silver bow, so I put it on with a tiny dab of super glue. I don’t know if I used too much, or if it’s a remnant from the last time I wore it, but there’s this dried white unsightly mess all around it. It definitely looks worse in the photos than it does in real life, I really had no idea it was there until I saw the photos. I’m really embarrassed.

Manicure Monday: Pale Gold and Glitter

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

As much as I hated to take off my cupcake nails, it’s Manicure Monday again. I’m moving on from my birthday mani to wear this sparkly gold one. This is Julep’s Amelia at three coats. The glitter is Essie’s On a Silver Platter, worn here at one coat. All nails are topped with Color Club’s clear coat.

Amelia is a sheer, frosty, pale gold polish. Three coats was definitely necessary for this one, because my nail line was still visible after two. In some lighting conditions, it’s still visible after three. As you can see, this one has a lot of frost, and as a result, a lot of visible brush strokes. Also, some weird bubbling occurred, but I’m not sure that’s a problem with the polish itself. Despite the formula, application was pretty easy. Julep polishes always tend to be a little thinner than I like them, and I end up with flooded cuticles and patchy coverage. This one is nice in that regard, I had no flooding and no issues with getting even coverage. If only the same were true with the brush strokes.

On a Silver Platter stole the show here, didn’t it? My gosh, this glitter is fantastic. The Essie website describes it as a “pearlescent gold with holographic violet glitter”. It’s just striking. I don’t usually like dark glitters in light bases, but I love this one a lot. Both the golden shine and the rainbow add something unique to the look. Application was easy; the glitters came out easily and spread well. And look at it in the sun! Gorgeous.

I can give or take Amelia, it’s not really anything special to me. This glitter, though, is something I need in my life forever.

Manicure Monday: Repurposed Top Coat with Resolute Glitter

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Manicure Monday! I had some fun with this week’s manicure. The holo polish I used this week wasn’t intended to be used as one, and I put a discontinued glitter topper over it. Here is Ulta’s Holographic “top coat” at three coats with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Resolutions and Color Club’s clear coat.

This holographic top coat from Ulta originally came in a Nail FX set with three other top coats: there was a matte top coat, a UV-sensitive, a smoky top coat (which is a thin black jelly topper) and this holographic top coat. I bought this kit specifically for this holographic top coat, and I expected it would be something like a Spectraflair top coat. It’s definitely not suited to be a top coat. It is impossible to apply a thin and even coat over any polish. Thin coats are streaky and draggy, and even coverage requires at least two coats, and by then you’ve covered up whatever polish you were trying to improve. I gave up and decided to use three coats for full coverage. It looks pretty great this way. You’d never know it was meant to be a topper unless you specifically bought it for that purpose.

On the plus side, Holographic Top Coat does dry quickly. Application really took three coats, though. I was aiming for two, but even after two coats, I still had streaks and bald spots. Luckily, the third coat evened everything out. It would be a shame if it was still patchy, then it would be useless as both a top coat and a polish.

Resolutions is a glitter topper with mainly black hex and star glitters, but also contains blue shimmer and varieties of blue, pink, green and yellow glitter shapes. It’s a really fun look, especially with the silver polish; the look is cool, steely, and a little chaotic. Unfortunately, this guy is discontinued.

Final word: I’m surprised at how well I was able to take a crappy top coat and make a gorgeous manicure with it.

Manicure Monday: Oh, Fionna

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The polish I have on this Monday is so much fun! Say hello to Oh, Fionna from Digital Nails. I’ve been looking forward to wearing this forever! I’ve got on three coats with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat. The bow charms are from Claire’s. Sounds like it’s gonna be large.

Oh, Fionna is a nude crelly with gold shimmer, yellow and white hexes, and blue dots. The consistency was a bit thin for me; cuticles were flooded pretty easily. The glitters in this bottle tended to settle and cling to the walls of the bottle, and as such, were a littled difficult to get out without inverting the bottle and shaking vigorously. Those are my only complaints. Both of them are easily remedied. The polish does dry quickly, and takes on a nearly-matte finish. Application is not as terrible as I make it sound, I promise.

I really love this look. I tend to think neutrals are boring, but this one really puts a spin on the color. The glitters aren’t big, but they stand out from the base, even with multiple coats. It’s subtle, but it’s sparkly and shimmery.

It had been a while since I got the charms and rhinestones out, so I decided to use a couple of bows in matching colors. I’ve already broken one of them off. They’re so much fun to wear, though. They make me feel super dainty. Since the polish is borderline dainty, it makes sense.

I think Oh, Fionna is discontinued, which is super-sad. I’m already sad I have to take this off.

Manicure Monday: Lilac and Bold Glitter

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This week’s edition of Manicure Monday is a little boring, I’m afraid. The glitter accent nails are a bit overdone, but they’re an easy look for when I ignored homework all last week so I could watch The Roosevelts on PBS. The polishes I’m wearing this week are Sinful Colors’s Purple Diamond and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Matunda ya Kwanzaa. I have on three coats of Purple Diamond and two coats of Matunda ya Kwanzaa with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

Purple Diamond is a lilac with lots of shimmer. The first coat is very sheer, but builds to semi-opacity in one to two coats. It dries pretty quickly and with a really nice shine. With as sheer as this one is, it would work well as a shimmery topper over a darker polish. I’ll totally try that next time. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: two dollar polish has no business being this pretty or high quality. One thing with it, though, is that it reminds me of a blend I made myself called Dusk. It’s the same color and the same shimmer. I’m a little weirded out by how similar they are.

Matunda ya Kwanzaa is described by BEGL as “lightly purple tinted polish with a bright rainbow of glitters in all sorts of shapes and sizes”. That’s as accurate as one can get while being concise. There’s so much glitter in here; every color of the rainbow is represented, as well as some fun shapes; small hexes, dots, and dots are the most prevalent, but I know there are some stars and things as well. The glitter spread evenly, but I didn’t get as much as I wanted in one coat, which is why I used two.

Outdoors, this is pretty bright. The shimmer is much more intense than it appears, and the iridescent glitters pop. It’s gorgeous.

I chose this glitter to go with this polish because I wanted one to balance out the other. Purple Diamond is a bit on the dainty side, and Matunda ya Kwanzaa is bold and colorful. I think the glitter overpowers the rest of the manicure, but that’s okay. Better luck next time.

Wacie.com

Home of Wacie Nail Company

Category Archives: Manicure Monday