Wacie Wednesday on Friday: Andromeda

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My Wacie Nail Co. swatch this week is late and I apologize. I actually wanted to hold onto the pink and glitter nails I did on Monday for a while longer, but then they chipped Wednesday night. I put this polish on Thursday between World Cup matches, but I couldn’t do any photography until this afternoon. The tips are worn, but this is still a nice-looking polish. This is Andromeda from Wacie Nail Company, shown here at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Andromeda is a black jelly with fine rainbow iridescent glitter. It’s a pretty simple in composition; there’s only one glitter variety in here, but look at what it does. There are so many colors here, so complex and dynamic, and yet it’s all the same glitter. It’s very less-is-more, which as you know, is an ideal I almost, almost want to embrace.

You can see the difference in the colors very well in the sunlight photos below. This is crazy in the sunshine; you can see every speck of glitter on every nail. It’s insane.

Also, it was cloudy as crap when I went outside to take these photos; the sun came out just for me. I love when that happens! Either I am the sun, or the universe just wants my skin to char, I’m not sure.

Manicure Monday: Dark Labyrinth

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For Manicure Monday this week, I’m wearing something new and exciting. This is Dark Labyrinth from Digital Nails, a feast of glitter and science. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite. Dark Labyrinth is a black jelly with teal, neon pink, and lime green hexes, followed up with green stars. If you look closely, you’ll also find black circles, stars, and hexes. There’s a method to this madness, which I’ll quote directly from Digital Nails:

“The concept is that the blackness of the jelly base upon layering, will obscure the shapes of the bright colors underneath, representing all that human kind knows about our universe.”

Maybe I’m still kinda high on the last episode of Cosmos last night, but I think this is an interesting and awesome way to interpret the nature of our universe. This was derived from an even greater quote from Galileo Galilei about the importance of the language of mathematics:

“Philosophy [nature] is written in that great book which ever is before our eyes — I mean the universe — but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. The book is written in mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.”

I love this polish. Even setting its concept aside, there is so much beauty in this polish. The neon colors and shapes jump right out at you, and only in certain lighting conditions can you see the darker ones. I was maybe a bit heavy-handed in my application; I’d hoped to see more of the black shapes through the jelly, but I really did obscure them quite well. I got such a great coverage that I forgot it’s a jelly base. It’s only when I see the few tiny black hexes scattered across the larger, brighter shapes I remember they’re there. This is likely true for many objects in space as well.

Outdoors, cloudy

I know I say this a lot, but polishes like this are the reason I came to indies. Here is a polish that’s not only gorgeous, but has something important and intelligent to say.

Manicure Monday: Red Glitter on Green

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s another crazy Manicure Monday glitter feast! Today I’m wearing Wet ‘n Wild’s Club Cabaret over Essie’s Navigate Her. It looked different in my head for sure, but I’m still into it.

First I put down two coats of Navigate Her. This is a shade I’ve worn a lot lately for various swatches and things; it’s so soft that it looks good as undies for any glitter. I chose it for this mani because I wanted a green to complement the red in Club Cabaret, and this was the only green that didn’t challenge the darker colors for dominance. It also seems to look different at different angles; in the photo where I leaned my nails back, you can see it looks a bit more yellow there than in the others, and I’m not sure why.

Club Cabaret is a lightly tinted base with black, silver, and red hexes of various sizes. I’m not sure if it’s tinted on purpose, or if the red glitters bled a little, but it seems kind of suspicious. I didn’t get much of a payoff; these W&W bottles have these really wide brushes, and while they pick up a lot of glitter, I don’t get much of it on my nails. Instead I just get clear polish flooding my cuticles. To achieve this look, I brushed the glitter onto the end of a makeup wedge and rolled it on, the way one might roll on a stamped design. I could have gotten this look trying to brush or dab it on, but it would have taken a long time to do, and there’s no guarantee it would have been applied this evenly or cleanly. Cleanup was a pain, but it was worth it.

Seeing as I planned this manicure months ago, it’s accidentally festive for Cinco de Mayo. I love it when that happens.

Wacie Wednesday: Virgo Supercluster

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I forget if I wrote about this last week, but I’ve finally swatched all the Wacie Nail Co. polishes I intended for the “spring” launch. Some I really liked, some I’m rethinking, but we’ll see how it turns out when we launch for reals in June. The polish I’m wearing for Wacie Wednesday this week is something I made while I was experimenting and hasn’t made it into a collection yet. It’s called Virgo Supercluster, and I’m wearing three coats of it with two coats of Seche Vite.

Virgo Supercluster is a black jelly with various sizes of silver holo hex glitters. It dries quickly, probably because there’s more glitter in this bottle than lacquer. Since this is a jelly, you have the choice of layering it over a black polish to get a huge glitter payoff, or foregoing undies for the dimensional layers of glitter. It also dries with texture, so you can wear it like a matte textured polish, or you can wear it with top coat. It’s versatile for a black jelly. The big downside, however, is that cleanup is a nightmare. Even after the most careful of applications, I still spent a half hour trying to clean up my cuticles, and I did a crap job of it because I was trying to hurry so I could play video games. I love the way all this glitter looks, but I’m starting to think, for the first time in my life, I need to cool it on the glitter.

Outdoor, mostly cloudy

I like this look overall, but it could probably benefit from being reformulated. I love the way it evokes space and suspension of galaxies in the universe, but I cannot forget how long it took to clean up.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype PDW1

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I’ve been looking forward to swatching this ever since I got it. This is a prototype from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer called PDW1. I got it cheap because the glitter sinks to the bottom. It was challenging to work with, but I’m very happy with my application. Also, I’m using my DSLR for nail pictures for the first time, so that’s fun, too.

PDW1 is a black jelly with fine silver glitter, silver hearts and stars, big red dots, and purple hearts. I’m wearing three coats of it here. As I mentioned, this one has a sinking glitter problem, so I left the bottle upside down for about an hour, and scraped the bottom with an orange stick to make sure I got it all off. Even then, I really had to dig for the shape glitters. The fine glitter distributes well. The first coat was so sheer that I started to worry; after three coats, the glitter from the first coat is barely visible, especially the purple and red shapes. I wasn’t sure about it until I put the top coat on; the top coat made everything come together.

I nicknamed this prototype COSMOLUST. I’m not sure why. Every black polish I name has something to do with space and/or sex. I think this is the polish that started the trend.

One unrelated thing: I don’t like mini bottles. This bottle is half-full now, and I’ve only used it once. I’m only going to get one more mani out of it. I’m kind of afraid I’ll never use it again because I won’t want to use it up. It’s also challenging to pose with them, but that’s not as important.

Wacie Wednesday: Dang

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Wednesday, and right on schedule, we’re looking at something new from Wacie Nail Company. This is Dang, a blinding glitter topper, named for the first thing I said after I created it. I’m wearing one coat of it over The New Black’s Black, e.l.f.’s Smokin Hot, and Essie’s Aruba Blue.

Dang is another happy accident; it’s the result of mixing glitters together without intention. It’s a clear base with various sizes of holo silver hexes and holo silver hearts. Because there’s so much glitter in it, it’s impossible to not get a good glitter payoff. However, the hearts don’t come out very frequently; as you can see, I didn’t get one on every nail. It doesn’t even matter if the hearts are scarce, though. There’s tons of glitter to make up for it.

Something I like about this mixture is that it’s sparkly (to the point of blindness in the sunlight), but it’s not trying too hard for it. There’s not a ton of different shapes and colors and craziness jumping out at you for attention. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that kind of polish; those kinds of polishes are what drew me to indies in the first place. No, this is a glitter that glitters. It’s like a formal gown for your nails. Like diamond earrings for your nails. They’re your nails, but glitterier. I actually wore this to a red carpet party during awards season. My nails were dressed better than anybody.

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, sunlight

I admit, I thought Wacie Nail Co. would have launched by now. Other projects I’m involved with are taking priority over my nail polish business, and it might be a while before I have a chance to reclaim all the time and money I’m putting into other things. My time is going to schoolwork and other entrepreneurial things; my money is all going to the vacation I’m taking next month. I’d planned eight polishes for the Wacie Nail Co. first-ever spring line, but as of right now, there are only seven; I haven’t had the time or means to save one from prototype limbo. Hopefully, there will be a launch before summer. If not, the spring line will become the summer line, which actually works out since I don’t have plans for a summer line. Either way, it will be soon. Please continue to watch this space for more Wacie Nail Co. news.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s The Scoobies

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Today’s Swatch Saturday is all about The Scoobies, a glitter topper from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. I’m wearing two coats of it over two coats of Essie’s Sand Tropez, I Am Strong, and Navigate Her.

The Scoobies contains a ton of glitter: various sizes and shapes of red, copper, silver, and black hexes, red squares, holographic silver moons, red hearts, black stars, and shiny, tiny pink/purple sparkles. There’s a lot of fun in this bottle. As you can see, it’s only about half full. I’ve enjoyed this one many times since I bought it. I love the eclectic mix of glitter, the texture created by the fine sparkles, and the edgy color combination. I’m sad that I’m already running so low on it; I knew I should have bought a backup bottle when it was on sale.

The Scoobies was part of BEGL’s Once More With Feeling collection, a set of polishes inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As the collection was mostly holos, I admit I didn’t grab too many of those colors. I kinda regret it now. As you might guess, this collection has been discontinued, and the last bottle of The Scoobies sold a month or so ago. Check the BEGL store anyway, you might see something you’ll like.

Manicure Monday: Get Carried Away

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For Manicure Monday this week, I’m wearing China Glaze’s Get Carried Away, a black jelly with silver and copper hexes, black bar glitter, and very fine black hexes. I’m wearing three coats of it here, no undies, under two coats of Seche Vite.

I had high hopes for this polish in the beginning. When I first saw it, I’d likened it to a goth older sister of It’s a Trap-eze!, and I had to have it. After three coats, it looks exactly like it does in the bottle; I got a full, even coverage with good glitter distribution. However, cuticle cleanup was awful. You can see I have a lot of jagged lines and pointy bits. I went over my cuticle with the brush and just got the fine black glitter all over me. The bar glitter didn’t play nice; it extended over the tips of my nails like eyelashes and I couldn’t get them off, so I ended up trimming them with my cuticle nippers. Same with the large hexes; when I couldn’t get them off, I cut them down. They’re not as smooth as they could be, but I did well enough.

Protip: Don’t do three coats of this. You’ll hate yourself. You’ll get the same effect by using black undies and one coat of Get Carried Away. It’s not worth it.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Custom Gin and Tonic

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I’m sharing with you today one of the most unique polishes in my collection. At some point, perhaps intoxicated, I thought that a nail polish mimicking the crisp, bubbly appearance of gin and tonic would be a really cool thing to have. I thought about making it myself, but it would be many months before I started blending my own polishes, so I commissioned a custom polish from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. I don’t think it could have come out any better. I’m wearing two coats of Gin and Tonic over L’oreal’s Broadway Boogie and The New Black’s Black, as well as two coats of Seche Vite.

Gin and Tonic is a glitter topper with loads of iridescent glitter, white dots in large and small sizes, and green crescent moons. The combination really does evoke the effervesence of the cocktail. I forget whose idea the moons as limes was, but it was totally genius.

I’ve worn this before over nudes, but I wanted to try over black this time, just to see what it looked like. I’m not liking it as much. The iridescent glitters look awesome on the black, but the moon limes get lost. Besides, the iridescents aren’t really the point anyway. They’re meant to add a little something extra to the nail without totally taking it over. I guess this means it’s not as versatile as it could be, but it suits my purpose and my tastes well enough. The only problem with it is that it makes me wish I was drinking a gin and tonic.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Weary Traveler

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For the real Swatch Saturday, I’m wearing Weary Traveler, the last stop on the round-bottle discontinued BEGL trolley. Either this one or Eleanor were the first BEGLs I ever wore, so those are my favorites from this batch. I’m wearing three coats of it with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Weary Traveler is a black jelly with pink shimmer, teal holo hexes, and crescent moons in green and holographic silver. Like I said before, this was one of my first experiences with the BEGL brand, and with indie polishes in general. It’s definitely my first polish with moon-shaped glitter, which was probably the reason I bought it to start with. This is a winning combination for me: deep colors, tons of glitter, tons of shine. It can’t be beat.

It’s been fun going through all these old polishes. I have so many now that I wonder if I’ll ever get to revisit them. I guess this is the downside to having so many untrieds; I’ll try them, put them away, and then what? I may never use them again. I’ve been seeing a lot of blog sales and destashes lately, and I always think “Who the crap would want to sell off their pretties?” I’m starting to understand.

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