Tag Archives: blue

Manicure Monday: Glitter Crack

Posted on by

Happy Monday, reader! Remember crackle polishes? Today I dug out an old polish, one of my first-ever China Glazes and one that crackles, no less. Sometimes I forget how long I’ve been doing this nail polish thing, and this polish comes as a stark reminder. This is China Glaze’s Gleam Me Up with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Lighthouse on the Lake.

Lighthouse on the Lake, this beautiful deep blue creme, has been a big player in my collection recently. I’ve used it as undies for glitter swatches and nail art, and it always looks great with whatever I pair it with. That’s really true for every BEGL creme, but this is the one I’ve used most often.

I can never get good macros on cloudy days.

Gleam Me Up is blue glitter crackle madness. I don’t even hate this polish. The glitter is dense enough that the crackle effect is crisp, but lets enough of the base color through so that everything is uniform. Honestly, it’s a fun combo. I kind of want to get some other crackles out to see what I’ve been missing.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their online shop; BEGL is currently on hiatus while the maker is on maternity leave (!!!). China Glaze polishes are sold in stores.

I bought these polishes myself.

Throwback Swatch: Bluebird Lacquer’s Looking Spritely

Posted on by

Hello hello! It’s another swatch! Today’s polish is Bluebird Lacquer‘s Looking Spritely; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Looking Spritely is a cobalt blue polish with some iridescent and shifting flakes and holo accents. Unfortunately, because it was cloudy and gross on the day I took these photos, the holo is hidden. The polish was really easy to apply and work with; the product consistency was just right, and I had full opacity in two coats. It dries to a smooth finish; I used top coat for extra protection and shine.

Because of the lack of sunshine, I was not able to do this polish justice. The holo is the crown of this polish. I mean, it looks great here; in blistering Florida sunshine, we’d probably be seeing all the holo and none of the flakies, so I guess that works out. My point is that there’s a ton happening in this polish in person, and there’s way more sparkle.

Looking Spritely was, I think, an Indie Shop Atlanta exclusive, but I’m not sure. For the moment, Bluebird Lacquer is on a break while they process holiday orders.

I bought this polish myself.

Throwback Swatch: Dainty Digits Polish’s Stream of Enchantment

Posted on by

Welcome back, reader! I still have swatch posts to catch up on, so I’m getting through them. This is Dainty Digits’s Stream of Enchantment; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

I love handwritten labels.

Stream of Enchantment is a sky blue polish with shifting flake glitters. Application was easy; the product consistency was just right. As you can see, it’s on the sheer side, so there’s a lot of visible nail lines (when my nails are this long, I don’t mind it), but it works well with layering the glitters. The polish dries to a smooth finish; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

This is my first Dainty Digits Polish! I got to meet maker NeNe at The Indie Shop Atlanta and bought her event exclusives. I love them! She did two different takes on the same polish, a day version and a night version, just changing the base color. This is the daytime version, and it’s so cheerful. I love it. I was hoping the glitters would be bigger, but there’s a lot of them, and the sheerness of the polish helps you see every single scrap of it. This would definitely be a great base for nail art.

Stream of Enchantment was an event exclusive. Dainty Digits is now Baby Girl Lacquer; other polishes can be purchased from their online store.

I bought this polish myself.
I have an extra bottle I’m saving for a giveaway!

Throwback Swatch: Bluebird Lacquer’s It’s Fall Over Me

Posted on by

Right, so during the month of November, I was insanely busy with starting a new job, starting a volunteer job leading writing groups for National Novel Writing Month, actually writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month, and cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for nine people. Now that novels are finished and Thanksgiving is over, I’ve finally got the time to share the swatches I’ve been collecting.

This first one is It’s Fall Over Me from Bluebird Lacquer; I’m wearing two coats over e.l.f.’s Smoking Hot (red), Butter London’s Tea and Toast (tan), Sally Hansen’s Black Out (black), China Glaze’s White on White (white), and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Lighthouse on the Lake (blue), topped with Seche Vite and Essie’s Matte About You matte top coat.

It’s Fall Over Me is a clear-based glitter topper with iridescent shifting glitters of various sizes. The shift is definitely reminiscent of the flakies in Essie’s famous Shine of the Times. Application was easy; the product consistency is wonderful in that it’s not thick enough to be goopy and difficult to use, but it’s not thin enough that it drips off the brush. The glitter delivers very easily, but I definitely wanted more than I got on my first coat, so I used two. In the future, I might try sponging it on to get that heavy glitter coverage without the thickness of multiple coats of lacquer. I used two coats of top coat as well, just to smooth down any glitter texture that was left.

I bought this at the Indie Shop Atlanta, and it had my heart as soon as I saw the bottle. I am such a sucker for these opalescent kinds of glitters, because there’s always something going on with it; it’s the easiest way to give a look dimension and style without getting knee-deep in nail art. It also looks interesting over any color, even white, which is obviously not the ideal undies for this polish, has a unique effect on it.

When I was talking to maker Lou at her booth, she told me I had to try it with a matte finish, so I did, and here are the photos of that. I definitely prefer the glossy finish, but I have to admit that the glitter looks pretty cool mattefied. I feel like the matte finish makes the shift a little less dramatic, but it still does happen, and still looks pretty cool.

Unlike everything else I’ve shown you from my Indie Shop Atlanta haul, this is a polish you can actually still buy! As of this writing, It’s Fall Over Me is for sale on the Bluebird Lacquer website.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Cold Blue Hearts

Posted on by

Happy Monday, reader! Today’s mani was my first successful-ish look with vinyls. I had a sheet of tiny heart vinyls, and it’s been so long since I got them that the company who made them has since closed up. The first time I tried to use them, I messed up and just did not get a good look. I messed up this time, too, but not as badly. For this look, I used Ellagee‘s Cyrena and Sweet Heart Polish‘s Summer Breeze.

Cyrena is a sister polish to Liliana, which I wore recently and loved. This is a cooler icy blue version, complete with the same iridescent flakies, strong holo, and jelly-like opacity. Summer Breeze is about the same color, but with more pigmentation and less holo. I wanted a look that was more or less light blue monochrome. I think I got it pretty close.

So, about the vinyls. I don’t know if it’s because the cutouts were so small, or because my nails are small, but I had a really hard time getting good crisp lines, especially at the tips of the nails where they narrow and curl up on themselves. For the most part, you can tell the hearts are hearts, and only a few look blobby. This is because I added the tips to cover all the ones at the tips that were less defined. I freehanded the tips, and they’re a little sloppy, especially on the right hand, but I can deal with it.

Cyrena has been discontinued by Ellagee; other Ellagee polishes are available on their website. Summer Breeze was a box exclusive and is no longer for sale; other Sweet Heart Polishes are sold on etsy.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Holo Dots

Posted on by

Happy Monday! This week’s look is pretty simple. After being at a loss over what to put on my nails, I finally settled on a dotticure after realizing I’ve never really done one. This is Ellagee‘s Liliana and A Rhyming Dictionary Polish‘s Heathendom.

Liliana is from a 2015 Ellagee collection. Yeah, I had to scroll way back through my Instagram photos to determine how old it is. Before this (and now, too, I suppose), I had a pretty limited experience with Ellagee, only having polishes from collaborations with other indies. This is the first one I’ve ever used that was independent of any other maker. In a word, wow. Seeing Liliana on my nails reminds me why I bought the whole collection. The holo is so strong, and the iridescent flakies floating in the polish are so super pretty. I wish this one was a little more opaque, but it’s gorgeous regardless. I’ve got some others from this collection I’ll be using pretty soon!

The flakies show up beautifully in the shade.

I used Heathendom as my accent here because it’s also a holo, but you can’t see the holo effect in the dots. I wanted an all-over holo effect, but now that I’ve done it, I should have used a blue creme, something that with more contrast. The dots are a bit more visible in the shade than in the sun. It’s a cute look either way.

Liliana was discontinued by Ellagee; other polishes are for sale at ellagee.com. Heathendom was a limited polish made for a collaboration with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other Rhyming Dictionary Polishes are for sale in their etsy shop (though it appears they’re on a break).

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday Doubleheader, Part Two: Blush Lacquers’s Blue a Fuse

Posted on by

Welcome back to Swatch Sunday! I have one more swatch for you this weekend. Remember earlier in the year, when The Color Box went blue? I got to buy one at the Indie Shop in Atlanta, and I’m so sad I can’t buy this box on the regular; every polish in the blue box was a masterpiece and I got to try a few new brands. Blush Lacquers is one of those brands. This is Blue a Fuse; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Blue a Fuse is a royal blue jelly with fine silver holo and matte black shard glitters. Actually, I’m unsure if this is technically a jelly; it gets really good coverage, I’m not seeing any visible nail lines or anything, but the glitters show through like it’s a jelly. Application was good; the consistency is on the thicker side, but is still smooth and easy to work with. It’s got that extra funk that some deep blue polishes tend to have. Probably the only downside is the shard glitters; this isn’t a problem a lot of the time, but if you’re not careful, you can get some that will stick up on the nail and are impossible to smooth out with top coat. The polish dries to a satin finish.

So, I like this. This is a pretty unique polish in my collection. The glitter mix is easy but exciting, and the color is a bold but popular choice. I am definitely looking into more Blush Lacquers, because this one is awesome.

Unfortunately, Blue a Fuse is no longer in stock, but other Blush Lacquers are available in their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday Doubleheader, Part One: Bluebird Lacquer’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Posted on by

It’s Swatch Sunday! Same rules as last time, we get two today because we had none last week. Lucky for you, they’re two of my acquisitions from The Indie Shop Atlanta! This first swatch is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil from Bluebird Lacquer. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a dark polish — I can’t tell if it’s a black or a navy — with blue-to-purple shifting shimmer, holo, and flakies. This polish has everything. Application was good; as you might expect, it was a little thin and streaky on the first coat, but everything evened out nicely. It dries with a somewhat glossy finish; I added top coat for shine and protection.

This is a polish I cannot help but love because there’s so much going on in it. Dark and moody? Check. Icy blue shimmer? Check? Holo? Yes! Flakies? Okay sure! It’s like a buffet of everything that makes nail polish amazing. I loved wearing this and cannot wait to put it on again.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was an Indie Shop Atlanta exclusive and may not be for sale. Lucky for you, though, I happen to have an extra bottle! There was a mini in my VIP bag but I knew I wanted a full-size when I saw it, so I’ve got one of both. I’m thinking of doing a giveaway with it and some of the other dupes I got; should I give them away one bottle at a time, or do the whole lot?

Other Bluebird Lacquers are sold on their website, though as of this writing, their shop is temporarily closed.

I bought this polish myself.

Guest Post: Boom Shaka Lacquer

Posted on by

Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Karel and Boom Shaka Lacquer for writing this post! Please do stop by Boom Shaka Lacquer and show some love.

Nothing to Disclose

Hello there!  I’m popping by today with a guest post since Stacie is currently facing the “Great Camera Lens Disaster of 2017.”  I’m Karel and I am the head writer and nail polish addict at Boom Shaka Lacquer.  I’m so happy to be here today and I’m going to share with you one of my favorite brands of all time!

Today I’m going to review a polish from Digital Nails!  Now, Digital Nails was actually my first Indie Polish brand that I ever bought.  Five years later and I’m still a loyal customer.  Today we’re going to look at Ultimate Ginger:

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Firstly, let me say, this was an original version of this polish.  One glitter in this polish became unavailable so Raph of Digital Nails substituted another glitter and renamed the polish so while this particular version is not available a newer version called Penultimate Ginger (which to my eye is virtually indistinguishable between it and the original) is still available.

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Ultimate (and Penultimate) Ginger is a crelly-based glitter polish.  It is almost a jelly but it has a very slight bit of creme in the base so I would call it a crelly.  The crelly base is a sheer but buildable turquoise and it is jam-packed with glittery goodness.  There are white and yellow satin glitters, orange and emerald green metallic glitter, and itsy bitsy teensie aqua holographic glitters.  It is a veritable cornucopia of glitter.

Plus, this polish is based on one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes of all time, Vincent and the Doctor.  So this polish gets me right in the feels every time I see it.  I love when two of my passions come together, in this case Doctor Who and Nail Polish!

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Application on this is lovely.  It is a sheer polish so it does take three coats but they were easy peasy coats.  I did not need to fish for glitter or worry that I wasn’t going to get a nice combination on the nail.  It was not topcoat hungry so I was able to achieve a nice smooth finish with just a layer of my normal quick-dry topcoat.

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger (macro)

I hope that you enjoyed this post and I sincerely hope that Stacie will be back with you soon!  If you’d like to check out more of my posts you’re more than welcome to visit me at my blog and social media.  You can also get Penultimate Ginger and other polishes from Digital Nails’ shop!  I’ll include all the stalker links you could ever want below!

Boom Shaka Lacquer:

Website – Facebook – Instagram

Digital Nails:

Store – Facebook – Instagram

Swatch Sunday: Baroness X’s Sakura Skies

Posted on by

Hey reader! I’m so excited about today’s swatch. This is the first of my Indie Shop Atlanta purchases to make it to the blog, and it’s from a new-to-me brand. It also just came out and I don’t usually wear things so soon after release. This is Sakura Skies from Baroness X, one of the collaboration polishes in the most recent installment of The Color Box. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Sakura Skies is a cornflower blue polish with flakies that shift from bright pink to gold. Application was easy; product consistency is a little thick due to all the flakies in the polish, but it wasn’t an issue. The flakies’ default setting is pink, and that’s the color I see on the nail most often; the gold pops up when directly facing the light source. The polish dries with a matte finish; I used top coat for shine.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Color Box, the box comes with five polishes that are all the same color family, which in this case is blue. Each polish is a collaboration between the polish maker and a blogger. The Sakura Skies concept came from xoxo, Jen. Jen and Baroness X made a great team, this is definitely my favorite polish in the box.

Outdoors, this polish is something else. The following photos were taken outside in direct sunlight. The shift is a little harder to get — it totally depends on the time of day — but it looks fantastic regardless.

Unfortunately, I just missed the pre-order cutoff for this box. The Color Box is a quarterly event; join the Facebook group to learn more about the box and to be able to vote on the color of future boxes. Watch the Baroness X website for overpour bottles of Sakura Skies and other products.

I bought this polish myself.