Tag Archives: blue

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Chlorine Light

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Happy Saturday, reader! I feel like this weekend was a long time coming. My swatch this week is Chlorine Light from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. With this polish, we finish the 2014 Far From the Sun collection! I’m wearing three coats of Chlorine Light with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Chlorine Light is a deep blue linear holo polish with rainbow flakies. Application was smooth: the product consistency is just right, and the pigmentation is extraordinary. My first coat was nearly opaque. As you can see, the holo effect is strong in the sunlight, but this one is actually pretty strong indoors as well. It dried quickly. I used top coat to embellish the holo effect as well as to protect the color.

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I can’t tell you how much I loved wearing this blue. I actually kept it on for a couple of days, even though I had other things I needed to swatch. I just could not bring myself to take it off. It’s such a vibrant and decadent blue, so perfect for this part of the year; it’s like a silent motivator to keep on keepin’ on until the summer, when everything in the world is the same gorgeous color. Until then, I must keep thinking summery thoughts. I also enjoyed this collection as a whole. These are BEGL holos at their finest.

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Chlorine Light has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Other BEGL polishes are available from their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

 

 

Swatch Sunday: Darling Diva Polish’s The Pumpkin Queen

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Happy Sunday, reader! 2016 is off to a great start, isn’t it? I hope you’re all having a fantasic weekend. Yesterday, we looked a summer polish, and today we’re looking at an autumn polish. From a destash mystery bag, the same one that yielded this beauty, this is Darling Diva Polish‘s The Pumpkin Queen. I’m wearing one coat of The Pumpkin Queen over Nails Inc.’s Eaton Terrace and Baker Street and OPI’s I Just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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The Pumpkin Queen is a clear-based glitter topper with a mix of glitter that is predominantly matte and metallic orange hexes and metallic green hexes and squares. Though these colors are the focus of the polish, it’s actually quite colorful; there are glitters in red, yellow, and blue, as well as very large purple hexes. The glitters brushed on easily, though sparsely at first. The base consistency is good; it carries the glitter without goop. It dries quickly and with a smooth finish, though the purple hexes don’t lie flat on the nail.

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Though the glitter mix is inherently autumnal, wearing this polish in January doesn’t feel completely out of place. Because there aren’t any seasonally-shaped glitters, and because the mix is so colorful, it’s not strictly a fall polish, even though it’s intended as one. I like the blue glitters best; they stand out from the rest of the glitters, but they also make the orange bolder. I really love the purple hexes too, but they feel just a tad out of place. Overall though, I like this polish, even though it’s not something I would have bought myself.

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I did a little bit of homework on this polish; it’s a polish from 2012. I don’t even know if I have any others that old, because I didn’t get into indie polish until 2013. How cool, it’s vintage! I also love the printed label, it’s like a bootleg.

The Pumpkin Queen is no longer sold by Darling Diva Polish; other polishes are available from their shop.

I got this polish in a grab bag.

 

 

Manicure Tuesday Morning: Winterland Hottie

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Happy Monday! My post is late tonight because I just got back from a Christmas party, where these wintry nails were a huge hit. I know I said I never do seasonal nails, but I had the opportunity today and I took it. For this look, I’m wearing Indigo Bananas‘s Klein Trink Wasser as my base and Sinful Colors’s Hottie on top. All nails are topped with Seche Vite top coat.

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So last week I talked a bit about drugstore glitters as a gateway drug; back in the ’90s, Sinful Colors was where it was at. I don’t know if you remember, but Walgreens used to sell it, and they came in indie-style bottles, the barrel ones with the black caps. My mother felt uncomfortable buying something “sinful”. I wanted every color. It’s fun how some things never change; I love these glitter polishes as much as I did when I was younger. The polishes haven’t changed much, either; they’re the same iridescent glitter mixes they always have been. There’s something really nice about that. It might be the same glitter, but it’s a ton of fun finding new and grown-up ways to wear it.

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I love that indie cremes are becoming a thing. That’s not to say Klein Trink Wasser is a new polish; I actually bought it last year, and this is the first time I’m wearing it. I just mean that, even with a seemingly basic color like this one, you’d think that there’d be no more creme colors left without mass market dupes. As surprising as it seems, I don’t have anything like this polish in my collection. All my dark blue cremes are really dark, and all my dark blues are shimmery or glittery. It took me a long time to find a creme in this particular shade. Anyway, I think that the indie creme trend is amazing. Between the Creme a la Mode box and the Pipe Dream neons and brights, there are a ton of exciting cremes without mass market dupes. It’s really cool.

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I’m not sure I’ve ever worn striping tape on its own on the blog; usually I just use it like a vinyl strip. I’ve definitely never worn loose glitter, and that’s fun, too. The snowflakes were bigger than I wanted and they’ve been getting snagged on things. It also feels a little weird wearing snowflakes on my nails when I’m wearing a tube top and shorts. One more thing: I made a scented top coat to wear with this mani. I had a little vial of winter gardenia fragrance oil, so I made a top coat with it because it seemed appropriate. I’ll have these listed in the shop soon, along with a new Wacie Nail Co. collection.

Klein Trink Wasser and other Indigo Bananas polishes are sold on their website. Hottie and Sinful Colors are sold in stores nationwide.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Saturday: A Rhyming Dictionary Polish’s Heathendom

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Hi reader! This is the first new swatch I’ve done since I got the camera back. It feels so good to be doing this again! This Saturday, I’m wearing a new-to-me brand called A Rhyming Dictionary Polish. This is Heathendom; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. All photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Heathendom is a medium blue linear holo with silver flakies. Application was a breeze; my first coat was sheer, the second evened out the color, and the third achieved full opacity. The holo effect is most visible outdoors, though it does appear in any lighting condition. The silver flakes are more easily seen indoors. It also seems to have a purple shift in some lower lighting conditions. Drying times were very fast, and the polish dried with a satin finish. I used top coat for extra shine and smoothness.

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Heathendom was released as an installment of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Destination Duo collaboration series. It and its sister polish, Foss Idols from BEGL, were inspired by the spectacular Goðafoss, or Waterfall of the Gods, in northern Iceland. Both polishes do a very nice job of evoking images of clear, deep, cool water, but I think this is my favorite of the two. The fact that it’s a holo helps a bit. I’m also really impressed with the formula and the presentation, so I’m also pretty likely to check out A Rhyming Dictionary’s other polishes.

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The Goðafoss Destination Duo is available from the Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer shop. Other A Rhyming Dictionary polishes are available from their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Lynnderella’s Chef Kitty

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Did I mention how happy I am to be swatching again? I have missed it so much. I know I’m out of practice, so please bear with me while I get back into the swing of it. This Sunday, I’m wearing my first Lynnderella polish, Chef Kitty; I’m wearing one coat over Mac’s Queen’s Honor (red), Essie’s Roarrrrrange (orange), OPI’s I Just Can’t Cope-acabana (yellow), Revlon’s Posh (green), and Nails Inc.’s Baker Street (blue) with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Chef Kitty is a shimmery glitter topper with mostly white glitters in various shapes and sizes, as well as accent glitters in various colors and finishes. The maker describes it as an “’everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to cuisine”, and I have to agree with that; the variety of glitters in this polish is staggering. Considering the amount of glitter in this bottle, it spread very well over the nail; I had no trouble getting even coverage at all. It dried pretty well, all things considered. I used to top coat to smooth everything down and really bring out the shimmer in the lacquer base.

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I know Lynnderella is old news for most people, but I had to see what the fuss was about and, last March, purchased Chef Kitty. I loved the mental image; I pictured my own fat fluff wearing a chef’s hat and knocking every herb and spice I own into a bowl. I was amazed by this polish and its quality, so impressed that I bought 24 more since then. They’re just so gorgeous! Lynnderella’s been in the indie polish game a long time, but everything they make is still creative and gorgeous.

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Chef Kitty is available from Lynnderella’s Storenvy; other Lynns can be purchased via eBay auction.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Ocean Warmed by the Sun

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Guess what, reader! My camera is fixed, and Weekend Swatches are back in action! You may notice that this is actually my second post today; that post is important, so make sure you check it out! These photos were actually taken a couple months ago; it was the last Swatch Saturday post planned before the camera broke. The polish is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Ocean Warmed by the Sun; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. All photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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Ocean Warmed by the Sun is a turquoise linear holo with hot pink shimmers. It went on pretty well; it was almost opaque in one coat, and two sealed it up. The color is bright, and the holo effect is pretty strong. it even kind of upstages the pink shimmers, because they’re a bit hard to see. It dried quickly and with a glossy finish; I used top coat to really bring out the holo effect and shimmers.

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This is a super-summery polish. It’s the color of the sky when I’m near the ocean; it’s bright and cheerful and flawless. I want to live in a universe where the sky is this blue a hundred percent of the time.

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If you follow me on Instagram, you know I used Ocean Warmed by the Sun in my birthday mani. It was just the right blue to match the Nails Inc. glitter I used. I know holos have been around a while, but I still get excited when I use one. It must be how a dog feels every time it gets a treat.

Ocean Warmed By the Sun has been discontinued by BEGL, but other polishes are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

 

Manicure Monday: Nighttime Blizzard

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Happy Monday, reader! Welcome to this week’s manicure. My look this week is simple but striking. I used Sally Hansen’s Blazing Blue as the base, Digital Nails‘s Winter is Coming for the glitter accents, and one coat of Seche Vite to finish it off.

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Blazing Blue is a polish I’ve had a long time. You can’t tell from the photos, but this bottle is about half-full. Of course, this was a well-loved polish back when I only had 20 bottles or so; this is one of the stalwart veterans from when I first started my collection. This is actually the first time I’ve used it in a couple of years. I must admit, however, I hated using it today. First, I had to thin it, because it was a goopy mess when I first opened it. I also hate the Insta-Dry brush; it’s too wide for my small nails, and so I didn’t get a good application. Even worse, the formula is really smudgy; when I applied the glitter, some blue came off on the brush and left some holes in the color. Some smudged on the glitter, too. When I cleaned up my cuticles, I had so much smeared blue on my hands it looked like a pen exploded. I still couldn’t get some of it off, and my cuticles are still a mess. Cleanup took ages. I love this color, but it was such a hassle to use today.

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Winter is Coming is amazing. It is packed with white and various colors of blue glitters in a myriad of shapes. There are also some rose-gold glitters in there that I didn’t notice until today. It all comes together in a light blue jelly base. Some of the glitters are the same color as the base, but that’s kinda cool; you see the glint without being able to see where it comes from. The lighter ones stand out very well. It’s a great glitter topper and I suspect it would look fantastic over anything.

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You guessed it — my DSLR is still out for repairs. I took it to a local repair shop, and they ended up having to send it to Canon. So yeah. I do apologize; I had no idea it would be gone this long, and I’m dying to start swatching again. I’ve got so many polishes I want to use, and so many I thought I would have gotten to by now that are just sitting on my desk. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.

I bought all these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Arctic Circle Marble

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Hey guys! I’ve got a few minutes to post my Labor Dabor post before it turns Tuesday. I actually had a post typed up and then my new keyboard, whose CTRL button only works if you mash it so hard your finger turns white, did not work and ate my post. We’re also stuck looking at pictures from the backup camera this week, so these photos are not up to my usual standards. For this look, I used OPI’s I Vant to Be a Lone Star, Elevation Polish‘s Pitaraq, Essie’s Blue Rhapsody, and Lynderella‘s Something Blue, all topped with one to two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

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For my watermarble, I used clear polish between drops of Blue Rhapsody and I Vant to Be a Lone Star. My base was two coat of Pitaraq. This was my first time doing a negative space watermarble, and I envisioned frosty silver and blue rings over the icy metallic shimmer. The marbling process, however, wasn’t as painless as it could have been. It dried on the water before I could swirl it and tore my design a little. The rings are also so wide it hides the base glitter. I still like it, but it was better in my head.

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Something Blue as a glitter accent was a bit of an afterthought. I was shopping my stash, found Something Blue, and tried it over I Vant to Be a Lone Star. It was a perfect match; the silvery blues blend in beautifully. Of course, since this camera sucks, you can’t see the fine details, but the blue glitters are nearly but not quite the same color, and adds a bit of shimmer as well. I love Lynnderella polishes, even though they’re quite new to me, and it’s especially satisfying to use one I had to fight on eBay for. It was the last bottle! Shop victoriously, indeed.

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I’ve really missed doing my weekly swatches. I bought a new battery for my main camera and I hope that fixes it. If not, I’ll have it serviced soon so I can get back to them. I have enjoyed my time, though. I’ve been wear-testing a few new Wacie Nail Company polishes, including the one I hope to release for my birthday. I’ve also been playing Dragon Age: Inquisition and I’m so absorbed in it I can barely pull myself out. Hope to see you this weekend with new swatches, and if not, see you Monday!

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Glitter in Backup Camera Hell

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To begin this post, I must first apologize. My regular camera has decided it wants a vacation and has so far refused to turn on. This is the reason my weekend swatches were not posted, and it’s the reason I had to fall back on my — shudder — backup camera. I apologize for the missed posts, and I apologize for the low quality of this one. Until the camera is fixed, my Manicure Monday posts are going to look like this, and I will not do swatches.

Anyway, this mani is gorgeous in real life, and it is an absolute tragedy what this camera did to it. My polishes today are Revlon’s Bare Bones and Digital Nails‘s Timey Wimey, all topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Bare Bones is a pretty run-of-the-mill nude. In person, it’s on the cooler side of nude; some of these photos are color-accurate, some are not. The formula is okay; it was on the sheer side and though I did reach full opacity, it still leaves something to be desired. It’s not as smooth as it could be. It doesn’t quite level itself and some brush-strokes were left behind, though a top coat did help some to resolve that.

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The real star here is Timey Wimey, one of my oldest indie polishes. When I chose a nude as the base, I started combing through the glitter toppers, thinking what this polish needed to carry it through the week was the craziest glitter I had. I found poor Timey Wimey at the bottom of the Helmer and that was that. I used an eyeshadow applicator sponge to apply it to my nail; I brushed the glitter onto the end of the sponge, then dabbed it on. I’m really happy with how it came out. Even when it’s a little dense or clumpy, it’s still gradual. I’m glad some of the nude base can be seen through it.

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Revlon polishes are sold in stores; I got this one from Big Lots. Timey Wimey and other Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Polka.com/thermal

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Happy Monday! It’s late, but here’s this week’s Manicure Monday post. I’m wearing OPI’s Polka.com over Digital Nails‘s Nox with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. I love this mani, let’s get started!

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I love thermals. I have so few and I don’t wear them often, but I adore them. Nox is especially beautiful; it morphs from a pale periwinkle to a deep indigo and dries with a matte finish. Unforunately though, because it’s been so warm here, I’ve rarely seen it in its cold state. It goes right back to the warm state pretty much instantly. I had a glass of ice water in the studio while I was taking these photos for a quick dip, and I got one photo where you can see the transition. One thing that’s constant, though, is the shift in this polish. This delicious shimmer shifts from blue to pink, and it’s amazing. It’s definitely the best part of this manicure.

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Polka.com is a pretty simple topper; while colorful, there aren’t a ton of crazy shapes and the colors are muted. This is pretty typical for an OPI topper; there’s a bit of excess lacquer, so without dabbing or sponging the glitter on, there isn’t much coverage. I usually hate this, but today I’m thankful for it, because I didn’t want to cover up the thermal. I could have done with more, but I didn’t want to risk another coat and then having too much.

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My one photo of Nox doing thermal things.

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I’m really happy with how they look together. I thought the glitter would overpower the shimmer in Nox, but they work together well. The darker glitters blend into the thermal when it’s in its cold state, but that’s forgivable, especially since the cold state is unlikely to happen. I really want to try this look in the winter, when the thermal effect will actually get some play.

I bought these polishes myself.