Swatch Sunday: Hot Topic’s Light Blue

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Happy Sunday, reader! Because I got behind on swatches, I’m posting two Swatch Sunday entries today. This particular installment is a throwback to one of my first-ever jobs; as a young adult I worked at Hot Topic and I bought tons of polish for super cheap. Only two bottles survive from that time, and this is one of them. There’s no shade name, so I call this Light Blue. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Light Blue is a — you guessed it — light blue creme. To call it light might be an understatement, it’s definitely a bright and maybe even a neon blue. The color is very vibrant and the polish is well-pigmented. Application was easy; I had full opacity in two coats. The polish dries very quickly, and to a matte finish. I’m not a fan of the matte finish so I added top coat. After all these years, however, the consistency was uneven and goopy. Despite the age and price point of this polish, I’m impressed with its quality.

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I loved my job at Hot Topic. It was my favorite retail job, and maybe even one of my favorites overall. I had the best time working there. I got to wear whatever I wanted — pink hair, jeans, even flip-flops — and showing up to work every day was like going to a party. You know, a party where I folded shirts for seven or eight hours. Looking at this polish on my hands now reminds me of one of those long folding sessions, when I remember thinking that even though my feet was perpetually sore and I couldn’t remember the last time I had a break, my nails looked pretty good. I’m a little embarrassed telling you this, but I think it’s good to remember where we started; this is how we realize we’ve grown as people.

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Well, this was a fun little trip back through time. In case you’re interested in taking your own stroll back through your cringe-inducing past, it looks like Hot Topic sells a blue polish similar to this one. It doesn’t come in the little tincture bottle anymore, but I’m willing to bet it’s the same stuff. Go on in there, grab yourself a bottle, and try not to be embarrassed for everyone involved.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Purple Phlox

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Happy Saturday! I’m almost finished swatching Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s April Showers collection! This penultimate polish is called Purple Phlox; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Purple Phlox is a lilac creme with fine iridescent glitters. Application is pretty typical for a BEGL creme; the product is thick but manageable. It dries quickly and with a glossy finish. The glitter in this polish is pretty sparse, so the focus is on the color and the thickness of the creme, but there’s still a pop of blink-and-miss-it iridescent twinkle. This polish is a joy to wear.

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As I said before, I absolutely cannot choose a favorite from this collection, because all the polishes are so delicate and beautiful in their own rights. This one is surprisingly unique and refreshing. When this collection came out, I remember being most interested in this polish because it was the only one with glitter, and at the time, I wasn’t interested much in indie polishes that weren’t crazy glitter madness. I bought the collection anyway, because I love the BEGL brand and, from past experience, I always hate myself and regret it terribly when I pass on a BEGL release. Imagine if I’d skipped this collection, I’d have missed out on so much! I digress. Anyway, the glitter in this polish is so barely-there that I forget about it; I occasionally see a blue spark from the corner of my eye and smile because it’s so dainty. This polish is just perfect.

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Purple Phlox has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Other BEGL polishes can be purchased from their shop.

I purchased this polish myself.

Weekday Swatch: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Hydrangea

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Weekday swatch! This was a swatch I intended for Swatch Saturday, but I ended up being out of town all weekend and wasn’t able to post it on time. I hope you’ll love it anyway! This is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Hydrangea, yet another dainty pastel beauty from the April Showers collection. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam.

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Hydrangea is a light blue creme with blue and purple shimmers. Application was easy; the product was thick but still easy to work with. It was still a bit sheer, however; even after three coats, I still have a teeny bit of visible nail line. Dryiing times were good, and the polish dries with a satin finish. I used top coat for a glossy finish and to bring out the shimmers, which give the polish a pearly effect.

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Is Hydrangea lovely or what? I gotta tell you, I had the best ’90s flashbacks while I was wearing this. I still remember the pastel blue polish craze like it was yesterday, and wearing it now still makes me feel like I’m super-trendy and maybe even a little edgy. I mean, it’s been twenty years, and any envelope I’m pushing now is part of a dainty grandma stationery set, but it’s still a fashionable look for me, and one that I could wear over and over again.

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Hydrangea has been discotinued, but other BEGL polishes are available from their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

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Happy Monday night! After a long day and a busy weekend, I’m finally getting around to sharing some new manicures. For this installment of Manicure Monday, I’m wearing Wanna Be Your Boyfriend from Model City Polish. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Wanna Be Your Boyfriend is a black jelly polish with blue metallic dot and fine teal holographic hex glitters. Application was pretty standard for a glitter jelly polish: it was thin on the first coat, but the other two coats evened out the opacity and created a beautiful dimensional layered effect with the glitter. Drying times were good, and the jelly dries with a glossy finish, though also with a texture from all the glitter. I used a top coat to smooth it out as well as make it extra shiny.

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So uh, I love The Ramones. In the summer of 2013, I was first discovering indie polish, and when I saw Model City had a little Ramones collection, I was all over it. At the time, these three polishes were unique little gems in my collection, and the fact that they were named after some of my favorite songs were a total bonus. It’s been almost two years since I bought this polish, and even though it’s simple, it’s still special to me and I still don’t have anything quite like it.

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I wanted a little extra punk, so I got the studs out. I actually ordered some real metal spike charms to put on; they were set to arrive today but didn’t. I had to get the lame-o Claire’s studs out instead. They’re plastic with silver paint, and you can see that the paint is coming off the points. One of the studs on my right hand is entirely black by now. Oh well, I still think it’s cool.

Wanna Be Your Boyfriend has been discontinued by Model City, but you can find their other polishes in their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Brown and Color

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Another week, another Manicure Monday! Today’s mani is interesting — to me — because both of the polishes I used are ones I’ve used before. Since I have well over 1,100 bottles of nail polish, it’s rare for me to go a Monday without using something new. LA Colors’s Twisted Affair and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Prototype PFCS 1.0 have been featured on the blog, but not together. I love how well they pair! I’m wearing two coats of Twisted Affair and one generous coat of PCFS 1.0 on my accent nails, all with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat. Also, to explain the exposed tip on my middle nail, an emergency occurred that required me to don a pair of gloves right after finishing the manicure. Thankfully all the other nails escaped unscathed.

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So yes, the manicure. Twisted Affair is a color I like a lot, even though it’s a bit odd. In the bottle it looks like a cool milk chocolate, but in certain lighting conditions t looks bruised and sickly. I don’t mind that it’s occasionally ugly, but when it does, it needs a little help. This is why I chose PCFS 1.0 as the accent; it’s just so complex and colorful. I love looks that are colorful and neutral simultaneously.

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Twisted Affair applies easily and with good color: I expected it to be streaky and thin until the third coat, but I got full opacity in just two. The drying times were nice as well; I definitely bumped a nail on my desk a couple of minutes after I finished painting it and it didn’t dent or smudge. PFCS 1.0 took a little more work; I had to let the bottle sit upside-down for a while to get all the sunken glitters out, and really went at it to get good coverage. This manicure looks exactly as I imagined it would, but I am a little upset by the one that got messed up.

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Twisted Affair and other LA Colors polishes are available all over the place; I got mine from Dollar General. Prototype PCFS 1.0 was a one-off and is not available, but other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers can be purchased from their shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Hard Candy’s So-So Sequin

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Here comes Swatch Sunday! I’m wearing another polish I bought while I was on vacation last year. This is Hard Candy’s So-So Sequin; I’m wearing three coats with two coats of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat. All photos are taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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So-So Sequin is a full-coverage glitter polish with fine lilac holographic hex and larger metallic teal hex glitters. The glitter is pretty dense, so I don’t recommend it as a topper. Because it’s so dense, the consistency of the lacquer is thick and was difficult to apply to my smaller nails. The coverage is pretty even, as is the glitter distribution; both glitters brush on easily with no fuss. The drying times were fantastic, and it did dry with a gritty texture, which is why I used two coats of top coat. Even then, it wasn’t entirely smooth, but it did help quite a lot.

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Story time: Like with last week’s story about Greed, I forgot a lot of stuff when I went on vacation last year, and while I was buying the essentials, I was also buying nail polish. This purchase happened on the second day of the trip; we were driving through some forgettable small town in North Carolina, and we passed by a Wal-Mart. I never go to Wal-Mart, but I needed a toothbrush and deodorant, so we stopped. I also took this opportunity to grab a few Hard Candy polishes. Black Tie Optional and its cohorts have been all over the nail polish internet for years, but since I don’t really shop at Wal-Mart, I hadn’t had the chance to try any of them out. I bought this one and three others. I also left my phone in the bathroom and had to go back inside to grab it.

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Now that it’s consistently sunny here, I knew I had to take these photos outside. This polish is definitely shiny, and the photos don’t really convey that. Maybe the glitters throw too much light, but there’s a very strong holographic effect from the glitter; it even makes a linear effect like Spectraflair does. It’s amazing. And blinding. I love it.

So-So Sequin and other Hard Candy polishes are available from Wal-Mart stores and walmart.com.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Lady Slipper

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Swatch Saturday is going strong! With this swatch, we’re halfway through Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s April Showers collection. I love this collection; I love each polish more than the last. My latest favorite is Lady Slipper; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Lady Slipper is a mint green creme with blue-to-purple shifting shimmer. Application was very nice; the consistency was on the thicker side, as BEGLs tend to be, but it was still quite easy to work with. It took all three coats to get even, streak-free color. However, since the creme opacity is quite full, the shimmers aren’t as potent as they appear to be in the bottle. Drying times were good, and the polish dries to a semi-glossy satiny finish.

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I’m really impressed by this polish. As with Peruvian Lily, I don’t even mind that the shimmers aren’t very strong, because the base color is just so beautiful. I’ve worn a lot of nail colors over the years, and whenever I find one I haven’t tried yet, I’m really in awe. Also, pastels tend of be outside my comfort zone, as odd as that sounds. They’re so soft and ladylike, completely not my style. Whenever I wear them, I always wonder if I’m doing them justice. I hope I’m doing Lady Slipper justice. I think she might be too good for me.

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I did get a good glimpse of the shimmers, oddly, when I was swimming. Under the water in direct sunlight, they jump right out.

Lady Slipper is unfortunately discontinued, but other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their shop.

Wacie Wednesday: Dang! (Again)

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Get ready! I’m showing you the last Wacie Nail Company polish that’s part of the official launch. Even better, you can buy it today! We’ve seen Dang! as a glitter topper and as an ingredient in a jelly sandwich, but never on its own. In this post, I’m wearing three coats of Dang!, with and without top coat, in party cloudy outdoor lighting.

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Dang!, as you remember, was a glorious accident brought on by boredom and a spark of creativity. Maybe it was just the desire to make something with what I had. Anyway, I was bored in a room full of glitter, so I threw all the holographic glitters I had into a bottle, shook it up, brushed it out, and said the word — “Dang!”This is actually how it happened. This is the story of one of my favorite Wacie Nail Co. polishes, and one of the only ones so far to make it out of prototype limbo.

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Dang! dries with a matte glitter finish and a somewhat coarse texture that can be smoothed down by top coat. The following two photos do show Dang! with top coat.

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Dang! and other Wacie Nail Co. polishes can be purchased from the Wacie Nail Company etsy shop.

Manicure Monday: Island Diamond Sunset

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Who likes glitter and thermals? I do! For this Manicure Monday, I’m wearing a fun double-thermal and an opal glitter. This is three coats of Digital Nails‘s Island Sunset with one brushed coat of China Glaze’s Luxe and Lush, as well as one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Island Sunset is such a fun thermal polish. Thermals are always fun when they change colors with heat, but this one is double the fun because it changes at cool temperatures as well. It goes both ways! At its most neutral state, Island Sunset is a cool peach. Dipped in ice water, it turns a deep pink. Dipped in tea, it turns a warm yellow. I’ve been playing with my nails all day, submerging them into whatever liquids are near to see what color they turn. I have quite a few thermals in my collection, but this is the only three-way thermal. I love it.

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Luxe and Lush is the perfect glitter for this polish. It’s made up entirely of iridescent shredded glitters. Depending on the light, the glitter reflects the warm peach and cool rose tones in the polish itself, which I think is really cool. In other lighting conditions, the glitter turns greenish-blue. It has every color I could want, but it doesn’t interefere in any way with the thermal polish; as the color changes in the thermal, the glitter and its many colors offers just enough glint and sparkle.

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Seriously, how great is this look? I’m so excited about both of these polishes and I want to wear this combination forever. Also, I just got my pool cleaned and I can’t wait to see what it looks like underwater. It’s sparkly, summery, and just a ton of fun.

Island Sunset isn’t currently in stock, but you can buy other Digital Nails polishes in their etsy shop. I got my bottle of Luxe and Lush from Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Gosh’s Greed

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This installment of Swatch Sunday is a fun one for me, because I finally have a chance to wear a polish I bought on vacation last year. Surely this is what it means to be a hoarder. I’m wearing one coat of Gosh’s Greed over Sally Hansen’s Black Out and OPI’s I just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat. Please note: I took these photos about a day after I did this manicure, so there is some tip wear. Sorry about that.

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Greed is a glitter polish with metallic gold hexes in various sizes, holographic gold glitters, and tons of cloudy gold shimmer. I used it here as a glitter topper, but I think that with multiple coats, one could achieve medium to full coverage. The polish applies very easily; the glitter is always even and well-distributed. The gold shimmer stands out very nicely on darker polishes; you can see how it warms up my black polish. It dries quickly; about five to eight minutes to be dry to the touch. It also dries with a smooth texture; with one coat of Glossy Glam, I feel no glitter ridges or bumps.

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While I was on vacation last May, I had to duck into drugstores every other day or so. I’d forgotten to pack a lot of things like deodorant and dental floss, so lots of emergency drugstore runs occurred early in the trip. As I got further from Florida, however, the stops were more out of curiosity; Florida doesn’t have Rite-Aid stores, and I’ve only been in two my entire life. Same for when I got to New York and I saw Duane Reade stores. I had  heard of Duane Reade, but only because the logo is printed on the back of my Walgreens card. I never thought I’d see one in real life, so when I did see one going through Penn Station, I knew I had to go inside. My powder compact was running low, so I went in to grab another one, but on my way in, I saw the Gosh polish display. I’d seen Gosh polishes on the internet, but again, it was something I never expected to see in person, so I grabbed a couple. I didn’t really get to look at it, since I had to be in and out in like five minutes, but I probably would have bought them all if I’d had the time to really check them out. An unrelated note: I don’t know how I can remember when and where I bought a nail polish one year ago, but I can’t remember where I put my keys.

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I like Greed. It makes me feel fancy and rich, and not just because I went to New York to track it down. All the gold glitters are so luxe and shiny. It’s like my nails are wearing a haute couture gown. Perhaps there’s some truth in the polish’s name.

If you’re in the US, I have no idea where to tell you to get Gosh products, except for the Duane Reade in Penn Station. Sorry.

I bought this polish myself.