Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s First Frost

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Today’s swatch is yet another Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer, but it’s one I love a lot. First Frost is a white jelly/crelly with tons of blue, silver, and gunmetal gray glitters. I’m wearing three coats of it with three coats of top coat.

I really do adore this polish. There are so many beautiful glitters, but it’s such a soft look. Given the translucence of the jelly, this almost looks kind of pink on me (it’s more evident in person, I think), but it’s totally not. It’s my nail. While I work from home and have a skewed idea of what’s work-appropriate, I’d say this one is. It’s pretty and glittery, but it can’t be seen from the other side of the room. The name is also evocative of gray skies and light, fluffy snowfalls, the wintry smell of the air and the crush of frozen ground underneath one’s boots; these are things that, as a Floridian, I know absolutely nothing about.

These were really hard to clean up, and as you can see, I did a horrible job. I tried getting the fine glitters away from my cuticle, but I ended up just making my cuticles dry and sad. I’m kind of embarrassed to post them like this, but the polish looks so awesome I almost don’t even care.

Sadly, First Frost has been discontinued, but there are some similar white crellies in the BEGL store. One of them is a discontinued limited edition that’s on sale, you may want to get on that before it’s gone.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Team Zissou

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My swatch this weekend is one of my favorite Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers, the limited edition Team Zissou! I’ve been really excited about this one since I bought it half a year ago. I’m wearing three coats (no undies) of it here with three coats of Seche Vite.

Team Zissou, inspired by Wes Anderson’s film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (incidentally, this is one of my favorite movies), is a milky sheer white base with a faint shimmer, red, white and blue hexes and squares, and blue hearts. When I discovered BEGL, I think I’d seen the movie like a week before, and I was still kind of high on it. I don’t think I even saw a swatch of it; I saw the name and “blue hearts” and I was sold.

I usually like polishes with a bit more glitter, and over the top looks in general, but I think there’s something to be said for this polish’s simplicity. With the absence of a boatload of glitter, the few that are there stand out. The hearts are the star of the show, and the small hexes and squares complement them. It’s a really nice look.

I’m so glad I finally got the chance to wear this. I hate myself for not putting it on sooner.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype PSB1

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My swatch this week is a Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer prototype. They turn up in the BEGL store occasionally; they’re early versions of polishes or rejected customs. Most of the time there’s only one, so it’s cool having a one-of-a-kind polish. Keep an eye out so you can snag your own.

I am super sorry about those edges. Breaks suck.

The label is smudged from the last time I used it.

Note the handwritten label.

PSB1 is a creamy aqua crelly with a fine pink shimmer, red stars and various glitters in pink and blue. It was a little thick; and the first time I applied it, it was gummy and never fully dried, even after allowing 30 minutes between each coat. I put some thinner in it and that fixed it. It was much easier to apply after that. The end result is a bit sheer, which I like. I like being able to see the glitters on the first coat through the last coat. I like the dimensional glitter. This is most evident on the middle nail.

I don’t know what was meant by the cryptic name, so because PSB1 doesn’t really roll off the tongue, I’ve been calling it PROTOFABULOUS. I like the idea that just because it’s not finished, that doesn’t mean it can’t be awesome.

I’m sure I had more to say about this, but I’m hungover and my brain is still hazy from tequila.

Swatch Sunday?: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Operation Hennesy

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Yeah, I have two swatches this weekend, completely by accident; let me begin with a PSA: Protect your floors when you work with nail lacquer and lacquer accessories. Otherwise you might knock an open bottle of blue dye on your floor and spend the hour before your party starts on your hands and knees scrubbing the floor and crying, ruining your floor and your mani in the process. Put something on your floor so it doesn’t end up like this.

As my last swatch mani was marred by tragedy, I took it off and put on Operation Hennesy, yet another Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer I’ve had for quite a while that’s just been sitting around. Since the weather is dreadful today, I’m using my boyfriend’s new photography lights for my nail shots today. I like how these came out, so I might do this from now on. Now you won’t have to look at my vintage Radio Shack hi-fi anymore. As usual, I’m wearing three coats of Operation Hennesy with three coats of Seche Vite. I purchased this polish myself. These opinions are my own.

Operation Hennesy is a navy blue jelly with green, blue, gold, and purple glitters. You know what working with jellies is like; that first coat is kind of scary because it doesn’t cover much, but then the color builds and it looks fantastic. This is just like that. On its own, it’s quite shiny; with the dark jewel blue and the many glitters, it has a lot going for it. When I applied the top coat, I just said “Wow”. There was so much shine, so much sparkle. Just “Wow”.

Unfortunately for you, Operation Hennesy is yet another discontinued Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer that’s no longer carried in their store. However, if you haven’t gotten in on the Valentine’s Day collection, I highly recommend you do, or you might miss out forever.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s It’s Smaller on the Outside

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My swatch this week is of It’s Smaller on the Outside, and it’s one of the first Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers I ever bought. I’ve had it for a really long time, and this is the first time I’ve ever worn it. You may notice a trend here. It’s Smaller on the Outside is shown here at three coats, topped with three coats of Seche Vite.

It’s Smaller on the Outside is a shimmery cornflower blue loaded with various blue glitters, including blue hearts. The formula is a bit thick, almost creamy, which I’m going to attribute to all the shimmer. It’s really sparkly. It’s opaque in two coats, though I added a third for personal tastes. The glitter spreads easily, and it doesn’t take too much effort to get the hearts out. One thing, though: the polish is so thick and opaque is covers any hearts on the middle coats. I had one or two on each nail per coat, and they just got covered up. Whatever. It’s still cute.

For funsies, I put a matte coat over it, just because it’s so shiny you can’t really see the glitter and creamy texture in the photos. The matte coat killed it. It looks like a chambray shirt. It totally worked though, you can see all the glitters. There are so many!

One last note: I know this is a Doctor Who-inspired polish. Doctor Who is a thing that’s completely beyond my area of expertise. I know lots of indie-scene polishes are inspired by something, and because Doctor Who has such a wide fanbase, it’s inevitable that the two blend together. This isn’t the only DW-inspired polish I have, and they’re all gorgeous. I don’t care about the inspiration as much as I do about the polish, but I do admit it’s a little weird having so many and not really knowing where it came from.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Elusive Unicorn

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This weekend, we’re looking at a long-discontinued limited edition polish from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer called Elusive Unicorn. It really is elusive now, since only a few bottles were ever made, and that was way back in June or July. I’m wearing four coats of it here with three coats of top coat. All photos were taken indoors with natural light and camera flash. I bought this polish myself, but even if I hadn’t, my opinions would be the same. Let’s get started.

Elusive Unicorn is a sheer pink holo. It’s also the first holo I’ve reviewed on the site. I don’t really know what to say about holos; you have to see them to know what they’re about. Unforunately, I don’t feel like I’ve done this one justice. It’s sad and rainy outside, so I didn’t get any great photos of it in the sunshine, where they look best. Elusive Unicorn isn’t a very strong holo; it’s just holo enough. I like that, though. Sometimes I don’t want a super-strong punch-in-the-stomach-by-a-rainbow holo.

Flash!

For a while, I didn’t really go for holos. I usually skip anything with a solid color, because I feel like I have them all already. Glitter is the best way to sell me on anything. Holos don’t fit neatly into either category. Then I bought this one. I didn’t even want it at first, then caved to peer pressure. Then I put it on and I kind of changed my mind about holos.

As I was writing this, the sun came out and I was able to get a good holo shot after all. I’m probably going to walk into traffic or something staring at it.

There you go. That’s Elusive Unicorn. Like I said earlier, this was only made once and probably won’t come back. However, if you are a big fan of holos, please check out the BEGL store. There’s a Valentine’s Day collection launching tomorrow that has a really nice holo, and you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Morning Light

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Okay, I’ve been really excited about this for a while now. I’m going to start swatching all my Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers! I should probably just rename Swatch Saturday to BEGL Saturday because I’m probably going to spend the rest of this year’s Saturdays on them. My first BEGL swatch, one of the first ones I ever bought, is a shade called Morning Light. I’m wearing three coats of it here with three coats of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken indoors with natural outdoor light. Also, given the relationship between bloggers and indie polish brands, I should note that I was not compensated for this post. I purchased this polish myself, and even if I hadn’t, that would not affect my opinions in any way. That said, let’s go!

As you can see, Morning Light is a very sheer pink with a red to green shifting shimmer. There’s a big variety of glitter in here: red stars, aqua butterflies, red squares, purple, gold, and holo hexes, and more. Worn on its own, Morning Light is soft and natural. When layered, you only see the shimmer and glitter. While I haven’t experimented much with layering, I expect it would look good over anything.

Here you’ll see it worn over Essie’s Fiji and The New Black’s Black. This is one quick coat of Morning Light over two coats of color. Note the green shimmer; it’s much more pronounced over the black than over the pink. However, over the pink, the glitters are more visible and more prominent.

This polish came to me at a time when I was new to indies and everything was exciting. I bought this for one reason: butterfly glitter. How awesome is that? I know butterfly glitter is everywhere now, but for me, this was big. It completely changed the way I thought about nail polish, and what nail polish could be. Unfortunately, Morning Light is discontinued. Sorry! If you liked this, you should check out the Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer store and grab the BEGL Winter Collection before it’s gone. Also, let me leave you with one last photo of my BEGL collection. Yeah, when I said it might take me all year, I wasn’t exaggerating.

Plus like five more.

Swatch Saturday: Black Bird’s Only You

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Here’s a polish I’ve wanted to review for a long time. This is a polish I got in a Reddit gift exchange exclusively for makeup and nail polish. My gifter was in Germany, and she sent me a a lot of good German cosmetics. Now I’ve developed a taste for it and I can’t get it in America. Surely this is what hell is like. It’s probably no surprise that I’ve wanted to review this one for a long time. Here it is, finally, in three coats, topped with three coats of Seche Vite.

Black Bird’s Only You is a cool blue creme. I think it’s what Neptune would have looked like if it had just a bit more pigment. The formula is a little on the thin side, but still easy to use and apply. The color goes on evenly and covers well; I used three coats, but I could have gotten away with two. It has a shiny finish when dry, but I’m worried about the wear. This may just have to do with my nails not being long enough to wrap the tips, but I didn’t expect to see worn-down tips this soon after putting it on. Maybe it’s top coat shrinkage. I don’t know. I’m kind of embarrassed to post them like this, but not embarrassed enough to redo them.

Verdict: If you can get your hands on it, I suggest you try it out. I really want more from this brand. The formula is lovely, the coverage is nice, and I adore this bottle design. If you’re German and you like me, please help me get a few more bottles.

Also, for funsies, here it is with accent nails. The glitter is a Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer one-off prototype with white shapes and blue to purple shift. Oh mama.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Light Year

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Glitter! My final American Apparel polish is a great one. Light Year is just loads and loads of holo hex glitter. It’s worn here sponged over black with three coats of Seche Vite topcoat. Look at it shine; this is what glitter is supposed to look like.

The bottle shot there is not really representative of the typical result. The glitter itself is very silver; I think it picked up some red color from either the curtains behind it, or from my red t-shirt.

I didn’t get a very good glitter payout with this one. I could get like five pieces of glitter on the brush at most, so I gave up and used a sponge to dab on the rest. Like with the Galaxy swatch I did a couple weeks ago, I got overzealous and put on too much. Sometimes I don’t know when to quit.

I like this one. I like how it looks over black, and I like staring at the glitter when it changes colors. I just wish it was easier to apply.

And there we go: we’re done swatching my American Apparel nail polishes. Next up: a bottle from Germany, and a plethora of indie polishes from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer. This is starting to get good.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Neon Pink

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I love neons! I’m almost through the American Apparel haul from October; I have one left and a couple others until get into my extensive Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer stash. I think I’m reaching a point where I’m more excited about swatching my unused polishes than doing any kind of nail art.

My first swatch of the year is American Apparel’s Neon Pink. I don’t have anything to add to that. It’s neon, it’s pink, it’s bold and obvious. It’s definitely my kind of polish. You’re seeing it here with three coats and three coats of Seche Vite top coat. All the photos were taken indoors with natural outdoor light.

Before I started, I couldn’t decide whether to use a white foundation coat, or to use it on its own to demonstrate the true color and consistency of the polish. I did both. Can you tell which is which? You probably can, because I suck at cleaning up my cuticles, and you can see the white edge peeking out on my index and ring fingers. I’m surprised to see there’s not much of a difference between the two. The first two coats without the white freaked me out a little, because they were so different. Without the white, I was afraid of having two vastly different colors on my hands, and one with a visible nail line. When I put on the third coat, it was opaque and neon and perfect. Only in some lighting conditions I can see the difference, and even then, it’s very subtle. Without the white, the pink is sweeter and juicier; with it, it has just a teensy bit more pop.

I’m impressed with the quality of this polish. I got great coverage and great color payoff. I’m starting to regret not buying the other neon shades they had.

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