Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Electric Icicle

It’s another wintry delight this Swatch Saturday! Today we’re looking at the second half of the winter duo Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer released last year. We saw and loved Untrodden Snow; let’s have a look at Electric Icicle. I’m wearing two coats of Electric Icicle over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Essie’s Marathin, and Julep’s Dianna, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro.

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Electric Icicle is a clear glitter topper made with “bright blue holo hexes, rainbow iridecent hexes and squares, silver holo hexes and tiny diamonds, and blue holo stars”. I wore two coats because the all the good shape glitters were hanging around toward the bottom of the bottle, and my first coat was a bit thin on the glitter. Application was pretty easy apart from that; the glitters spread well and didn’t clump. The base dried quickly. I had no problems with it.

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I gotta say, this might be the best winter glitter topper I have. I’ve got a few that have icy blue glitters with silver, and even though they’re very pretty and they shine a great deal, they don’t have a whole lot of color. Electric Icicle is the best of both worlds. The metallic and holo textures of the glitters — especially the silvers — give the look some iciness, but the blue and iridescent glitters give it a lot of color as well. This is a mix that is all about winter, but doesn’t let winter bring it down. It’s amazing.

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I nearly swatched this on the pink and blue I used on Wednesday, Mint Candy Apple from Essie and Martha from Julep. They’re really soft but bright colors that make the perfect base for any glitter topper. I was afraid that it would look like the same mani two days in a row, so I went with Marathin from Essie and Dianna from Julep. I chose Dianna because I wanted the blues to be kind of homogeneous, and since Dianna is a dusty color, obviously a dusty rose would complement it. I almost feel like I should have chosen gray over white, but the glitter looks so perfect over white that I’m glad I didn’t.

Wacie Wednesday: Wintrella

The last Wacie Nail Co. (for now) prototype I’ll be showing you is Wintrella, a glitter topper made up of silver and blue holo glitters. I’m wearing one coat of Wintrella over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, and Julep’s Martha. I’m also wearing one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

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Wintrella has a lot of glitter in it. There’s very fine holo silver dust, tiny hexes, slightly bigger but still somewhat tiny squares, big silver hexes, bigger silver hexes, silver dots, blue dots, and silver hearts, but I couldn’t manage to get those out of the bottle. Again, they just sat in the bottle, mocking me. I couldn’t get too many of the dots, either, but at least I can prove they were in there.

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Maybe I’m glad I didn’t get so many. The smaller glitters give a minimal look that’s already quite pretty. The big glitters look out of place. Maybe they’re not right for this mix.

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Overall, I think it’s nice. I definitely want to take it back to the drawing board, but I think I’m onto something.

Wacie Nail Company news: I hope to have something in the store before the month ends. I have a couple of limited editions in the works, as well as a New Year’s Eve-themed collection next month. I’m so excited to be working on it, and I hope you’ll like it a lot.

Wacie Wednesday: Millefleur

Today’s Wacie Wednesday post is super exciting, because my brand new Wacie Nail Co. labels are making their debut on the blog! I am really excited about these, because labels were the last big hurdle to get over before I could finally open my shop. Now that I have them, Wacie Nail Company is super close to opening. We’re only five months behind schedule! To celebrate, we’re going to look at a new Wacie Nail Co. polish called Millefleur. I’m wearing one coat over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get and Essie’s Mint Candy Apple and Navigate Her.

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This bottle of Millefleur was kind of a dud. The name suggests it’s only flower glitter in this bottle, and the swatch suggests that as well. It’s not true, though. Besides the holo red hexes, there are holo red hearts. There are pink glass dots in addition to the pink slices, hexes, and dots; those are also nowhere to be seen on my nail. I don’t know what the deal is with that. The flowers came out easily, but everything else was at the bottom, I guess.

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There’s a lot I could have done to improve this polish. Thinning it would be the best for it, I think; the consistency was too thick and dry time was rather long. It would probably help the elusive glitters distribute a bit more evenly. I’ll definitely keep these things in mind when I’m reformulating it. Maybe some color variety would help too; I do admit that I just dumped every pink and red glitter I had into one bottle. It could definitely do with some iridescent glitters, or maybe some Spectraflair. As it is, it’s rather one-dimensional, but that’s an easy fix.

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I’m really excited about where Wacie Nail Co. is and where it’s going. Big things are coming up, so watch this space for the big news. For real this time!

Wacie Wednesday: Snowcrush

Snowcrush is the newest Wacie Nail Company polish! It is a clear glitter topper with white shreds and iridescent hex glitters. I’m wearing one coat over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Ciate’s Candy Floss, and Sally Hansen’s Limestone. All nails are topped with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

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I love the look of all-white glitter toppers. They’re so effortlessly elegant. The white shreds you see happen to be the only white glitter I have, so I dumped a ton of it in a bottle, and used some fine iridescent shreds to fill it out. This is definitely a pretty simple polish, but it’s really pretty. For as little thought as I put into it, it has no business being this pretty right out.

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White toppers also have the benefit of looking amazing over any color. As you can see, I wore it with some very bright polishes. Over black, the iridescent glitters would really shine. Over white, it would look like freshly-fallen snow (or at least what I imagine freshly-fallen snow looks like. I live in Florida. I wouldn’t know).

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In the sunshine, this is crazy. You can’t see how much sparkle is coming from the iridescent glitters, but trust me, it’s blinding. I love iridescent glitters because they sparkle in any lighting condition.

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Final word: this polish is a win. I love white glitters (they’re pretty over everything), shred glitters (they create the illusion of variety, even though it all came from the same bag), and iridescent glitters (shiny!). I’m really looking forward to making a batch of it this share with everyone.

Manicure Monday: Pale Gold and Glitter

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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: Lilac and Bold Glitter

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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

Manicure Monday: Summer Bronze and Gold

For Manicure Monday this week, I’m wearing one of the super-gorgeous Naked polishes! Every time I get one of these out, I think about how foolish I was to buy this Urban Decay set, and how glad I am that I did, because it’s nowhere to be found now. This is Smog, and I’m wearing two coats topped by one coat of Seche Vite. My glitter accents are Orly’s Too Fab.

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Smog is a bronze polish with a rich golden shimmer. It’s wonderfully opaque in two coats, dries quickly enough, and delivers even color. It reminds me of chocolate ganache, just rich and sweet and shiny. Delicious. I want to wear this so much more often, but the bottle is so small and scarce that I never want to run out.

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Too Fab is the opposite. Orly bottles are enormous, and I’ve had this one for a pretty long time. This is like the metallic gold glitter topper that never stops giving. My bottle is a hair more than halfway full, but I will be using it until the end of time, probably. I didn’t expect to get so much glitter on my accents; this is one coat, after all. I wanted to be able to see the Smog through the glitter. It’s still pretty, though. I think the gold and the bronze complement each other very well.

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Outside, this is just blinding. The gold shimmer in Smog is really visible here, and the glitter throws so much light it’s insane. You can see the light flaring off of it. It’s crazy.

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Handcare rave: I got this cream the other weekend from Ulta. Le Couvent des Minimes Soothing Night Hand Creme has the most delicious lavender scent, and it makes my hands pretty soft. I use it right after I wash dishes in the evening, when my hands are the most dry. It absorbs well, smells incredible, and feels very light after application. The price is a little steep; it was something like $8 for a .8oz tube, but oh my gosh, it was so worth it to me.

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Final word: these are the perfect polishes for the end of summer and the beginning of the school season. I could not have chosen better.

Manicure Monday: Heavenly Jewel Tones

For Manicure Monday this week, I got to use a glitter topper I absolutely love. Revlon’s Heavenly is a beautiful mix of iridescent glitters. It looks incredible over dark colors; I wore it over black about this time last year. I decided to try it over jewel colors for a fancy, muted look. My under-colors this week are Zoya’s Envy, Revlon’s Persuade, and Ulta’s Moody Blues; I’m wearing two coats of each, two coats of Heavenly, and one coat of Seche Vite.

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I don’t know what to say about Heavenly I haven’t already said. It’s nothing short of amazing. It transforms any polish into a shining beautiful mermaid. It’s so cool how so many colors can come from two different glitters. The first coat of it was kind of lacking, so I went for a second, and made a bit of a mess with it. That’s why my cuticles are so rough-looking. I’m a little embarrassed by it.

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A quick word to my under-colors: Zoya’s Envy is a dark green creme that is the perfect base for this glitter. I almost used this color only until I started to wonder how it would look over blues and reds. Moody Blues is a dark blue creme that dries with a matte finish. Persuade, the wine creme, flooded my cuticles because it was so thin, but I’ll chalk that up to being a brand-new full bottle. All three cremes look fantastic in two coats, and all three work very well beneath this glitter.

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One more thing: I did some shopping this weekend at Ulta, and I grabbed a lot of new hand creams to try. My dishwasher has been broken and washing dishes by hand every night is destroying my hands, making them red, flaky, and itchy. I fully admit to buying this Anatomicals cream because it made me laugh, but I really like the cream so far. I put it on before I go to bed, after I finish my skincare routine, and it makes my hands really soft and smells fantastic.

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I almost chose pastels for this instead since it’s still summer, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I love this look.

Manicure Monday: Glitter Explosion over Orange

Manicure Monday is so fun this week! I’ve got two fun polishes, Wet ‘n Wild’s Orange Smoothie and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s St. Nick’s Sweet Treats. I love these together so much. I have on three coats of Orange Smoothie, one brushed coat of Sweet Treats on my accent nails, and one coat of Seche Vite.

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Orange Smoothie is a sheer orange with golden shimmer. I like it, for the most part: the consistency was about average, and it dried pretty quickly with a nice shine. The brush was stupidly wide and made a mess, so application wasn’t terribly easy. It is still pretty sheer; I can see my very thin nail line through three coats of it. However, it looks so nice when the light hits it that I don’t even care.

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St. Nick’s Sweet Treats is a veritable glitter explosion. It completely makes this manicure. This is the glitter topper to end all glitter toppers. The glitters are mostly white, red, and gold, with smaller glitters in different colors and silver micro-flakies. I am not exaggerating when I say there is a little of everything in this bottle. It applies beautifully; what you see here is one brushed coat. There was no dabbing here, no blobbing, no sponging, no nonsense. The lacquer-to-glitter ratio is perfect. I had no trouble with this at all.

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Unfortunately, it stormed all day, and so I don’t have any gorgeous sunlight photos to post. I know this would be a stunner outside for sure.