Tag Archives: Essie

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Get Too Close to the Flame

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Happy Saturday! We’re finally caught up on swatches from last week, so let’s look at some new ones! Today’s swatch is a special-edition glitter topper from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer called Get Too Close to the Flame. I’m wearing one coat over Revlon’s Bare Bones, Essie’s Good Morning Hope, and Sally Hansen’s Kelp Yourself, as well as one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Get Too Close to the Flame is a clear-based topper with glitters in shades of pink and orange and various sizes (including stars), as well as a fine pink shimmer throughout. Application went well; the glitters spread evenly, though I did employ a bit of dabbing/placing to cover bare spots and spread out the glitters that clumped together. There was no extra cuticle-flooding lacquer, and the base was the right consistency to support the glitter without being too thick or goopy. Drying times were quick, and it dried with a smooth texture and glossy finish. I added top coat for extra smoothness and shine.

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This is a summer polish for sure. The color is bright and bold, even if it’s not that colorful, and the variety of shapes and sizes make it interesting to look at. I love the big dots and tiny stars, the hexes large and small. I love the pink shimmer and its perfect amount of sparkle. I love that it looks fantastic over any polish, soft or bright. This is the first BEGL topper I’ve worn in months, and I forgot how nice they are.

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Get Too Close to the Flame was a limited edition and is no longer for sale. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer polishes are for sale in the BEGL shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Nail Art Ripper-Offer

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For today’s Manicure Monday, I attempted some actual nail art! A couple of weeks ago, Reddit user chill_out_dont_pout did an adorable mani with geometric shapes and negative space, and I’m totally biting her style. For my copycat mani, I used OPI’s Metallic 4 Life and Essie’s Toggle to the Top for the stripes, Fantasy Makers’s Night Glow as the base, and Seche Vite as my top coat.

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It’s been a really long time since I’ve done anything this intricate and time-consuming. For the past several Manicure Mondays, I’ve just been laying glitter down on accent nails and calling it a day. Inspired by that Reddit post, I decided I would buckle down and do some real nail art. I had the time, and I wanted to use this glow-in-the-dark polish but had no ideas for it, so it was a perfect coincidence. It was so easy to make this pattern my own; I used two glitter jelly polishes I really loved, made one edge longer than the other (by accident) and added rhinestones to the vertices. In all, I probably spent three hours or more on this look.

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Of course, I could have done a better job. My lines aren’t clean or even, and Night Glow was actually a big mess to work with; it was goopy and kind of dried out, so I put some thinner in. It wasn’t enough. I put in more. Even though it felt dry to the touch, I guess the under-layers never fully dried, because even though I waited an hour before I started taping, I still pulled up polish. Thankfully, thanks to a stealthy fourth coat of Night Glow and the power of Seche Vite, you can barely tell!

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Night Glow, as you might have guessed, glows in the dark. However, I am terrible at glow-in-the-dark nail photography, so here are some glow fails.

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Thanks again to /u/chill_out_dont_pout for the nail inspiration!

Manicure Monday: Clambake Sandwich

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For Manicure Monday, I’ve done another jelly sandwich! I love this style; my nails always look so shiny and luxe, like special little jewels. This sandwich is made with three coats of OPI’s In True Stefani Fashion between Essie’s Clambake, topped with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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I have to tell you: I really love Clambake. It’s not one of the more popular Essie shades, and I guess I can understand why; I know people expect a more pigmented, fuller coverage polish, and jellies are duds. I think I also remember it being towards the bottom of the Walgreens Essie display and that’s probably a factor as well. I just think that, if you like jellies, perhaps this is one you should consider. It’s so squishy that you can see the squish from outside the bottle, and the color is really potent, despite the sheer coverage. It’s definitely unique to the Essie lineup, and pretty unique in my collection, too.

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However, In True Stefani Fashion was a bit of a letdown. I mean, it’s a fantastic polish; it dried well, I got pretty good (but not complete) coverage in three coats, and it dried very quickly. In the bottle, it looks like there are more holographic silver glitters than there are. I thought it was all holographic glitter, which is why I picked it to go in this sandwich. Instead, I think it’s just the bigger square glitters that are holo, and the rest are just metallic silver. I mean, it ended up looking pretty good, but there’s just nothing like a jelly sandwich full of twinkling holographic glitters.

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I added a bow. When I did that purple jelly sandwich a few weeks, I thought that, even with all that glitter, it still looked a little bare, so this time around I added a bow, just for a little something extra. It’s not the same orange as the polish, but I still like it.

Clambake is available wherever Essie polishes are sold; I got mine from Walgreens. I think In True Stefani Fashion was a limited release as part of the first Gwen Stefani collection, but it can still be found around online. My bow charms are from Claire’s.

Swatch Sunday: Essie’s Marathin

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Swatch Sunday’s polish this week is Essie’s Marathin. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Alter Ego’s She Shines top coat.

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Marathin is a dusty mauve creme polish. Applying it was easy; the formula is pretty even, so the first coat was almost opaque; a little streaky, but filled out with another coat. I had full opacity in two coats. It dried well; I didn’t notice any long drying times, and it was still pretty glossy and smooth before top coat. It’s a good quality polish.

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Marathin was my first Essie polish that wasn’t from the LuxEffects line. You can be sure I bought all of those first. I just happened to spot Marathin in a sale in at Walgreens, and even though it’s not my style, I bought it anyway. I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm for this one, you can probably tell. This color just reminds me of that dreadful time when the only nail polish colors I had access to were my mother’s, and the only colors she had were variants of dusty mauve. It’s not a bad color, I’m just still burnt out on it after all these years.

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I don’t see Marathin on the Essie website, so it might be discontinued. I get my Essie polishes from Walgreens.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Teal Glitter Gradient

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I started this Manicure Monday with no real plan. I had a glitter and a bright base color, but I didn’t really know what to do. I thought at first I would use some nail vinyls to create a pattern, but I screwed it up. I tried stamping and blew that, too. I didn’t want to do a gradient because I always do those, but here we are. I used Sinful Colors’s Nail Junkie (how appropriate) and Essie’s Naughty Nautical, as well as two coats of Digital Nails‘s Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That top coat.

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Naughty Nautical is a teal polish with fine rainbow shimmer. Nail Junkie is a thin teal jelly with many colors of fine iridescent glitters. I paired them together thinking I would just wear Naughty Nautical as a base for Nail Junkie, but I thought that was boring and forced myself to do some nail art. It’s not as intricate and ambitious as I wanted it to be, but I like the look I got. I acheived it by putting down two coats of Nail Junkie, then doing the gradient. It looks like the glitter is sponged over the teal polish, but that’s not the case. I also considered painting another coat of glitter over the gradient, but I decided that what I had was enough. You can also see the nail with the stud has no gradient; it’s only the base color and glitter.

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I’m pretty happy with it. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything nail-arty and fun. I really want to do more of that instead of just painting glitter over a base. Also, I’m really embarrassed by how dry my hands look in these photos. I put lotion on before I took them, I swear.

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You can get these polishes wherever Essie and Sinful Colors are sold. Mine are from Walgreens.

I bought this polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Ellagee’s Chronic Badass

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For this Swatch Sunday, I’m wearing my first-ever polish from Ellagee! This is Chronic Badass; I have on one brushed coat over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Pilates Hottie, and LA Colors’s Daisy, topped with Digital Nails‘s Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That top coat.

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Chronic Badass is a clear glitter topper with black matte and holo glitters, metallic pink dots, black holo stars, and purple and holo silver butterflies. It was really easy to put on; the glitters brushed right on, and I didn’t have to fish for the stars or butterflies. All the glitters lay flat on the nail — even the butterflies — and are perfectly smooth with one coat of top coat. Drying times were good; I had no issues with prolonged tackiness. It has a really great formula.

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Chronic Badass was part of a fibromyalgia-themed duo collaboration with Digital Nails. Both polishes were made with purple, the color for fibromyalgia awareness. Chronic Badass also makes use of the butterfly, a symbol embraced by fibro patients. Both polish makers have fibromyalgia and made this cool little polish box to raise awareness of this and other invisible illnesses. I admit I didn’t know a whole lot about it until this box went for sale last spring. It was an awesome thing for them to do; it makes me so happy to see polish makers use their time and materials (and glitter) to educate people and make the world just a little better.

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I have some sunlight photos! The holo glitters love the sunshine, and shine a lot brighter than they do indoors. I really love this look; it’s so colorful and cheerful.

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Originally, both polish makers had this duo box in their shops; Digital Nails no longer carries it, but it looks like Ellagee still has it in stock.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Blue Bomb

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For Manicure Monday this week, I pulled out a crackle polish that had been languishing in the collection. For this look, I’m wearing P2’s Blue Bomb over Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, a dusting of China Glaze’s Fairy Dust, and Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

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I know we’ve seen crackle polishes on the blog before, and each time I’m always conflicted about wearing one; it’s something between “Man, this is super cool” and “Dude, what was I thinking?” I mean, I like the look in general; I always get compliments on crackle polish whenever I wear one out, and I like how unpredictable it is and how two nails never look exactly the same. I feel pretty meh about this look, though. I even tried to dress it up with Fairy Dust, which was a last-minute impulse, and even then it’s like 2010 called and asked for its manicure back.

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Individually, I love these polishes. Mint Candy Apple is a nice baby blue creme that was opaque in two coats. Fairy Dust is the most beautiful kind of subtle. Blue Bomb is special to me because it’s from Germany and I got it in an awesome Reddit swap. I normally like it, but today I’m not feeling it so much. I guess that’s a really rude-as-crap thing to say about a gift. Sorry.

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Final word: It looked better in my head. It also looks nicer in person, because the glitter is more glittery.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Idealistic Future

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My swatch this Swatch Saturday features the gorgeous glitter topper from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s 2014 Valentine’s Day collection. I’m wearing one coat of Idealistic Future over L’Oreal’s Broadway Boogie, Julep’s Martha, and Essie’s Navigate Her, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

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BEGL describes Idealistic Future as a clear glitter topper “packed with gold, pink, purple, and red glitters in hexes, squares, glass dots, diamonds, and hearts.” These glitters, even the big shapes, were easy to get out of the bottle and spread well over the nail. Drying time was about what I expect now from a BEGL, about five minutes, even where it’s applied thickly. It was really easy to put on and wear.

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I love BEGL glitter toppers, and I really love this one. I love the colors in it: romantic pink, soft lilac, rich gold, fiery red. I especially love the glass dot glitters. This was the first time I’d ever seen them in a polish, and though they’re elusive, it’s so much fun to see one on the nail when you finally discover it. Can you see the one I got on my middle finger? I didn’t notice it myself until I was looking at the photos. It just looks like a round clear circle in the photo, but in real life it’s about the same color as my undies polish. Fun, right? I think it’s fun.

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The very last bottle of Idealistic Future sold out a couple days ago, so unfortunately, this one is no longer for sale. As of this publication, one of the My Indecisive Valentine polishes is still available, and supplies are limited. That polish is Newly Impassioned Soul; we’ll see it next week on Swatch Saturday.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype PCFS 1.0

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Happy new year, readers! My first mani of the year is a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer prototype. I’m wearing one coat of PCFS 1.0 over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Julep’s Martha, and Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, as well as a coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

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PCFS 1.0 is a clear glitter topper with glitters in matte white, royal blue, pink, and holographic turquoise. Shapes include pink hearts, holographic turquoise stars and shreds, white rectangles and dots. There are also some iridescent glitters. Most of the glitters spread out evenly; rectangles and shreds came out easily, but the hearts and stars eluded me. Regardless, I still got a fun look and good glitter coverage. Drying times were fast. Application was easy. This was a pretty nice polish to use and wear.

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Because this is a prototype with a prototypey name, I gave it a nickname: RETROLOVE. I don’t know why it’s all caps, but it is. These colors together just scream Miami Vice to me.

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As this is a prototype, it’s a one-of-a-kind polish and there aren’t anymore in existence. Sorry! The BEGL shop will reopen on the ninth of January, with a new winter collection launching on the 12th.

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

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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.