Manicure Monday: Undersea Epic Glitter Gradient

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

The first day of fall is this week, and so the viciously bright neons and the whimsical glitter mixes are being put into storage for next year, and the dark muted colors are coming back. Well, for some people that’s happening. It’s not happening here. I’ll wear my neon orange whenever I want. I am, though, going to be using a lot of blue colors throughout the season. A lot of my recently acquired colors are blues, and I’ll be trying lots of colors I’ve never used before, ones I’ve had for a few days and ones I’ve had for a few years. I have some great things planned for this season.

I did a similar manicure in July, and decided to try it again with different colors. I like it much better this time. The dark blue side of the Moon Candy is almost black, but over the white, it’s very blue. After putting the shredded glitter over the blue tips, I got this wonderful oceanic effect. It really makes me want to book it to the beach. I know this was meant to be a fall manicure, but as it invokes thoughts of swimming, of sunshine and water, it’s anything but appropriate for fall.

This was intentionally blurred to show the colors. Maybe.

Of course, I encountered a few problems with this week. Something I’ve consistently had trouble with is Revlon’s double-ended polishes. I’ve had the brushes start losing bristles, I’ve had the cap break completely off, and I’ve had the polishes completely dry out. The Moon Dust I used this week was one of those. I had to thin out the glitter side once before, when I noticed the agitator ball was suspended in the middle of the polish. When I opened it to use it this week, I had the same issue. The blue was thick, stringy, goopy. The glitter was impossible to remove from the bottle. I put some thinner in it and let it sit overnight, but maybe I used too much, because it was kind of watery. I also had a hard time getting the colors to blend, and once the watery glitter was added, it kind of smeared the gradient around. I’d be mad if I didn’t like it so much.

Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Revlon’s Moon Candy in Moon Dust.

I went back to Seche Vite this week because my Digital Nails topcoat is now this strange reddish orange color, and I was afraid it would affect the white polish. I was also afraid it wouldn’t smooth out the coarse glitter as well. Hard to Get is back, too. This bottle is like a workhorse. I use it for everything, and as a result, it’s almost time for a new bottle.

So yeah, fall manicures. Bring it on.

Manicure Monday: Orange and Nude Sparkly Starburst

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

I feel like orange is a color that doesn’t get enough play. I only have a few orange pieces of clothing, and I only have a few bottles of orange polish, even though I have hundreds of bottles of polish. I guess it’s unpopular because it’s so bright and attracts a lot of attention, but that’s exactly why I like it.

This week, I made a starburst thing with orange polish over striping tape, nude, and holographic glitter. It was inspired by a stamp plate I have, with stripes fanning out over the nail. However, in all my test runs, I absolutely could not get the stamped design to cover my nail the way I wanted, so I tried it with the striping tape. I like this look, but I wish I’d used more pieces to make more lines, to make the color and glitter beneath slightly more noticeable.

Intentionally blurred to show off the glitter.

I worked with some great colors with week. The nude is Naked, from Urban Decay’s (now very rare) Naked nail set. I hated neutral nail colors before I got this set. Naked is such a subtle but gorgeous shade that I felt a little bad that I was going to cover up most of it. I added the Fairy Dust glitter on impulse; I thought a soft sparkle would make the nude lines stand out more. The orange is an Insta-Dri color called Heat Flash, and it’s fantastic. I got great coverage in one quick drying coat.

Urban Decay’s Naked, China Glaze’s Fairy Dust, Sally Hansen’s Heat Flash

I love this mani, but there are a few things I’ll do differently next time. First, I want to strike a higher contrast between the colors. I really want the starburst pattern to stand out, so I’ll use black over white or light blue over dark blue. Next, I’ll use more tape and add more lines. Maybe I’ll add rhinestones to the vertices to give it something extra. For now though, I’m pleased.

Manicure Monday: Blue Marbling Over Gold

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

Today I have two colors: one I absolutely love, one that’s kind of meh. I also have a new technique that gave me a result completely unlike what I expected, and not in a good way.

Quite some time ago, cutepolish posted a tutorial for water spotting. It’s done much the same way water marbling is; you drop polish onto water, but this time, you spray it with alcohol, which makes holes in the color. You dip your nail in, and like magic, you have this cool effect. Well, I got something completely different. It’s not bad, but it’s not what I was going for. I think the alcohol product I used may have been the culprit; I used a body spray that had been in the fridge for a while, so it’s probably my fault.

My two colors this week are Teal the Cows Come Home by OPI, and Amelia by Julep. Amelia looks beautiful in the bottle, but is rather sheer; I have on two coats, and you can still see my nail line. Teal the Cows Come Home is gorgeous after two coats, but after the marbling technique, the light color beneath, and whatever effect the alcohol may have had on the polish, the color is thin, barely visible in some places.

Julep’s Amelia, OPI’s Teal the Cows Come Home

Having said all that, I like these colors together. The summer is ending, the last days are fleeting, and I feel that urge to preserve it, to capture it in any way possible. I dislike autumn; I dislike the cooling temperatures, the leaves, having to wear a jacket, the muted colors, all of that. Well, autumn itself isn’t so bad, but it’s really just a stepping stone to winter, and winter and I aren’t friends.

Manicure Monday: Red Jelly Sandwich

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

Did I ever tell you guys about how much I love red nails? I love red nails. I love glitter. I love the way this turned out.

My last attempt at a glitter sandwich was in March, and if you’re longtime reader, you’ll remember this nail fail that resembles Italian food. When I did that manicure, this was the one I wanted. Pretty much as soon as I discovered Wet ‘n Wild’s Everybody Loves Redmond was slightly translucent on the first coat, I knew I was going to have to do this. Of course, the coverage seems to build, so had I used a bit more, the glitter would have been totally covered. You can see this on the middle finger, somewhat; I’d uncovered some of the glitter during cleanup, and did a second coat on just that nail. As a result, the glitter is harder to see.

In direct sunlight, but still indoors.

Unfortunately, these labels don’t stand up to my haphazard storage method of having everything sitting around in a box. I have a couple bottles of these Wet ‘n Wild Fast Dry polishes, and all of the labels are completely rubbed off. Anyway, I like this color a lot. Indoors, it’s an orangey red, but outside in the sunlight, it’s very red, very bright. I’ll go ahead and admit I had pretty low expectations for this color, but I’m very impressed.

The glitter is Julep’s Paris. I got it in a mystery box sometime over the summer, but it’s exactly the kind of thing I would have chosen and purchased on my own. Even though there’s a ton of glitter in the bottle, it’s meant to be used as a top coat, to give a manicure the right amount of sparkle without being over the top. Of course, I don’t like things that aren’t over the top, so I went crazy with this glitter, adding three thick coats before putting down the last layer of red. As a result, the bottle is two-thirds empty now.

Wet ‘n Wild’s Everybody Loves Redmond, Julep’s Paris

Also, let me tell you some about the topcoat I used this week. I’ve been buying a lot of indie products lately. Indie polish is the latest scourge on my wallet. It’s so gloriously inventive and completely unlike anything I could ever find in a store that the extra money and shipping fees are totally worth it. After the topcoat issues I had the past couple weeks, I decided to try Digital Nails’ topcoat, since I was buying their awesome new color-changing polish anyway. I’m pleased to report that it’s awesome. It dries in about the same time as Seche Vite. I’m really impressed with it. Not that Digital Nails makes bad stuff, but I didn’t expect it to work so well. I’m wearing three coats here, and it gives me great shine and makes my nails rigid, which is something I look for in a topcoat. My nails are extremely soft and thin, and I rely on a hard topcoat to not only protect my color, but my whole nail. I would totally recommend it.

Oh Lord Jesus it’s a fire.

The only problem is, it was clear when I started. I don’t know if this is an issue with the topcoat itself or the fact that I used it on cheap red nail polish, but now it’s an odd pink. It doesn’t look like the tint affects it in any way, which is good, but I don’t want this to happen every time I use it and having some weird brown topcoat after a few weeks. I guess we’ll see.

Manicure Monday: Matte Gold Sparkles

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

Here is another great manicure ruined by cheap top coat.

It started so well. I used two coats of this very dark, very opaque OPI shade called We’ll Always Have Paris. It looked purplish in the fluorescent supermarket lights, and when I got home with it, it was like a deep brown. It still looks purple in direct sunlight, but it’s brown enough that it worked for my purpose this week. I’m still not entirely sure what color it even is, and I’ll admit it I just bought it for it’s name, because I’m kind of obsessed with France. I love these dark, vampy colors, though. They remind me of middle school, when I wasn’t allowed to wear black nail polish (or black lipstick, or dye my hair black), but I could get away with just about any other dark color. As a result, I wore lots of of dark purples and silvers and browns to get the same effect. I still love how it makes my nails look.

The notch on the ring finger is from picking at dried polish around the cuticle. Entirely my fault.

The gold sparkles are As Gold as It Gets by Essie. This is one of the first Essies I ever bought myself, way back around Christmas when I’d gotten some money, and I had to walk the whole mile to Walgreens to get a bottle of acetone because the nearer store was out. While I was there, I checked out the nail polish. I’d come all that way, right? I didn’t yet own any Essie polishes, I had money rolling around in my pocket, I splurged and bought as many as I could carry. I spent literally every cent I had on Essie polishes and acetone. Anyway, I love the Essie LuxEffects line, and I like this one in particular. It gives any color an iridescent warmth and a unique finish, one that’s different from gold leaf or glitter. Adding the matte top coat to it guarantees you can see every piece of gold.

OPI’s We’ll Always Have Paris, Essie’s As Gold as It Gets, Revlon’s matte top coat

Somehow, I don’t know how this happened, the top coat completely smudged my tips. Somehow, it ate through three layers of polish, even though I’d given it ample time to dry so as to avoid this. I am so mad at myself for using up all my Seche Vite. I think I’m going to just buy one of those mega large bottles and be done with it.

Manicure Monday: Yellow Lattice on Grey

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

I ran out of Seche Vite this weekend trying to smooth down a heavy glitter manicure, and didn’t have enough of to finish this week’s mani. I had to resort to my backup, the el cheapo LA Colors top coat that takes ages to dry and can’t be applied until the lacquer itself is dry. When I woke up this morning, a couple of the nails on my right hand were dimpled and rough from being pressed into teddy bear fur, and I’d done them hours before I’d gone to bed. This stuff seriously takes until 2014 to dry.

This was my first time using striping tape to make thin, clean lines. Some of the nails came out really well. On some of them, I forgot the order in which I put down the tape pieces and smudged a few of the lines. The dots, thankfully, cover most of those. On the whole, it’s kind of a mess: there are more stripes on some nails than on others; none of them are consistent. That, and with the top coat problem, I’m kind of just counting the days until I take them off.

Julep’s Lexie, Orly’s Decoded, Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get (again)

Here are the colors I used this week. Lexie was a little hard to work with; even after two coats, I still had steaks and bald spots in places. Decoded is one of my favorites, though. It’s pretty much opaque in one coat, dark and mysterious. I’ll be sad when this one is empty.

Manicure Monday: Red and White Stamps

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

I bought a stamping kit on my latest excursion to Sally; that was like a month ago, and I’ve just gotten around to trying it out.

The neutral base color is a color called Cashmere Crème. I got it in a thrift store probably a year ago. When I got it, the printing on the bottle was mostly intact; I have no idea what happened to it since then. I’m also not entirely sure what color this even is. It looks like a tan shimmer in the bottle, but on my nails, it looks more metallic, more silver. It’s confusing. It’s a good base color for this manicure, though.

It was kind of tough finding the right colors for the stamped designs. I’d set aside the dark red Mercury Rising to go with the Cashmere Crème before I even knew I was going to be doing this stamping design, and at first, I didn’t think it would be opaque enough to stamp with. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. The white is Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, my workhorse white color.

China Glaze Cashmere Creme, Sinful Colors Mercury Rising, Sally Hansen Hard to Get

Then I got the rhinestones out. I tried doing them just on my thumb and ring finger as accents, but then the rest of the nails looked plain, so I added a few here and there, alternating the colors on each finger. Then I got tired of seeing ones that didn’t have a rhinestone and I ended up with more than I planned, and some in odd places, like on the sides or at the very tips.

For a first try at stamping, I’m happy with it.

Manicure Monday: Purple and Neutral Curves with Rhinestones

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

I went a little overboard last week. I finally got the nail art accessories I bought on Amazon; they shipped from China and took ages to get here. I’m thinking about buying more, though. I got like ten rolls of striping tape, tons of rhinestones and pearls, and fimo sticks for about seven dollars, including shipping. This could be either the best thing or the worst thing to happen to my weekly manicure.

The middle finger’s stone is supposed to be a bow, but whenever I see it, I think about mitosis. I might spend too much time doing science.

When I started with this one, I’d tested it on my white mannequin hand. The white base color had given me a greater contrast between the light colors. It looks fine when light is directly on it, but in a room that’s not so well lit, it’s hard to tell them apart. That’s where the rhinestones came in. That, and I couldn’t not use them.

Urban Decay’s Sidecar and Smog, Sinful Colors’ Bali Mist

I used Urban Decay’s Naked lacquer set a few months ago, and I still feel a little guilty about having bought it. I’m a huge fan of Urban Decay and their Naked palettes, so adding the lacquer set to my collection was a no-brainer. Of course, when I got it, I was disappointed to find that they were all mini bottles, and that I’d spent almost thirty dollars on mini bottles. I mean, I’m glad I have them, I love all the colors, and a quick search on Sephora.com reveals they’re out of stock, but I’m still a little mad at myself for spending that much. That said, Sidecar is my new favorite neutral. I started with two coats of it before I added all the other nonsense, and part of me wishes I’d just left it on. It’s so understated, but still so shimmery and soft.

Also, that quick search on Sephora.com revealed that Urban Decay has a couple of nail colors that aren’t part of the Naked brand. I think I need them.

Manicure Monday: Pink and Brown Flakie Gradient Thing

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

This wasn’t the manicure I had planned when I started. I wanted a water marble with this pink and a pastel yellow, Julep’s Blake. I used two coats of it, and got one hand marbled, and then completely ran out of the yellow. It was about half full from the last water marble I did, and the Julep bottles are so small that I’ll go through half a bottle without realizing it. I’m a little miffed I only got two manicures from that one bottle. So there I was, one hand finished, one not, no other pastel yellow polish to use instead. I tried a neon yellow, and it just turned everything orange. I gave up and started over. I dug around in my bag for hours, looking for something I hadn’t used yet. I saw the Moon Candy in there and said “Hey, why not?”.

I liked the brown and pink gradient on its own, and at first, I was hesitant to add the flakie glitter. It reminded me of this ridiculous ice cream my boyfriend ate when he lived here that was chocolate and cherry and even had these heart-shaped chocolates with cherry filling. It’s excellent break-up ice cream. Anyway, so I was thinking about that, and I almost used heart glitter instead of the flakies, but I’m glad I didn’t. I like the way it came out. Also, something completely new to me is using both kinds of gradients together. I’d either do a color gradient or a glitter gradient, but never both at the same time. I like the dimension I get from doing both.

Sinful Colors’ Soul Mate, Revlon Moon Candy in Universe

On an unrelated note, this manicure survived mowing the lawn right after being finished. I thought I’d chip at least one, for sure, but nothing happened. I have failed twice at mowing my own lawn, first because the mower ran out of gas and I didn’t realize it, and the second time because it started breathing smoke. At least my manicure is intact.

Even nice nails make dirty hands look good.

Manicure Monday: Gold Leaf Over Green

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Stacie Wacie

So here’s another bandwagon I missed by a year or so: the gold leaf top coat. Yes, that’s real 18k gold on my nails. It was part of my splurge binge the other month, when I scooped up all the polish and things I’d wanted for months but was too broke to buy. I was so happy to finally use it this week! The green color I used this week is actually from Germany. I got it in a Reddit makeup and nail polish gift swap last summer. She sent me a bunch of eyeshadow and a four bottles of German nail polish. I’ve had this stuff for a year, and I’ve just gotten around to using it.

Overall, I like this look. I feel kind of bad; this is one of the most expensive nail products I own, and even though P2 is impossible to find in the US, it probably costs like €2 in Germany. I love it though. I love all kinds of products from around the world, and this is no exception. It’s worth it to me to pair it with the gold leaf.

P2’s Artful, Zoya’s Gilty 18k real gold top coat

The best comment I’ve gotten on these so far? “I see a retarded brachiosaurus on your middle finger.”

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