Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Blue Moon Over Georgia

It’s Swatch Saturday! I am super excited to try the polish I have on this week. Blue Moon Over Georgia is a special Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer given to me by Julie, the creator herself. When I visited my boyfriend in Atlanta last year, I got to meet up with her and have a couple drinks at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur. She gave me this amazing polish, and I’m finally trying it out. I’m wearing three coats of Blue Moon Over Georgia with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Blue Moon Over Georgia is a deep blue jelly with sky blue dots, squares, and crescent moons, as well as a fine blue shimmer. Application was okay; the consistency was a little thinner than I expect from BEGL, and the first coat flooded my cuticles. I also had to fish around for the moon glitters, but that’s to be expected. It dries quickly though, and leaves a nice matte finish. The issues are pretty inconsequential. Coats two and three went on beautifully.

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It has been a really lousy week for weather here; it’s been rainy and gray all week long. This means I don’t get to share any photos of this polish in the sunlight. I love looking at jellies in the sun, because you can see all the way down through the many coats and see all that glitter shining back at me. It looks like that’s going to have to wait for another day.

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Final word: This polish is gorgeous, and I was so fortunate to get it.

Manicure Monday: Blue Nubs With Glitter Accents

This Manicure Monday has me trying to dress up my nubs a little. Actually, I paired these polishes months ago, and expected to see it on nails a little longer than this. Ah, well. On this lovely Blue Monday, I’m wearing three coats of Sinful Colors’s All Mighty, and my accent nails are three coats of Different Dimension‘s (blue) Da Ba Dee. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

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All Mighty is a deep turquoise polish with blue shimmer. It’s fairly typical of a Sinful Colors polish; I mean that in the best way possible. It’s opaque and dark from the first coat, the consistency is just right, and it dries quickly. I’m always surprised with Sinful Colors’s quality. Two-dollar polish should not be this nice.

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(blue) Da Ba Dee is a blue jelly with different shapes and sizes of silver and blue holo glitters. Naturally, it steals the show in this mani. The larger glitters do sink, but they’re easy to grab when the bottle sits upside-down for a few minutes. It’s not too much of a problem. It’s also a teensy bit difficult to apply to these little nails; some of the large dot glitters are almost the size of my whole nail. I’m exaggerating, but you know what I mean. The jelly base is thin, so layering is very easy with it. It’s a very nice polish.

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Not bad, nubs. Not bad at all.

Swatch Sunday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Is That a Technical Term, Jiggery Pokery?

So my swatch this week is something I’ve been dying to wear since I got it. It goes by the name Is that a Technical Term, Jiggery Pokery? (and will henceforth be referred to Pokery); it’s described by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers as “hot pink jelly base with silver, pink, and hot pink holo glitters”. What’s not to love? Then this happened:

Nail vs. Dryer door handle.

Nail vs. Dryer door handle.

So, on my freshly-clipped nubbins, I give you Pokery in what’s left of its hot pink majesty. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Pokery is probably my favorite BEGL offering thus far. Look at the plethora of glitters in here; there are so many I can’t really even identify them all. I just know there are tons of butterflies, tons of stars, tons of shining silver hexes. It’s magical. Even though the colors don’t vary much, there’s still a lot of glitter diversity with all the different finishes. No nail looks exactly the same, because no two nails have the same glitters on them. I love that.

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In the sun, you can see the glitter variety better. The pink jelly stands out less, and the glitter shapes more.

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For now, Pokery isn’t available from the BEGL store, but I heard a rumor it’s coming back with a new Doctor Who collection in September. Definitely stay on the lookout for it, you need this.

I hate how short my nails are now. I still can’t believe it just ripped off at the base like that. This is what my nails looked like when I was a biter, and it’s not a look I care much for. They were the perfect length a day ago, and now they’re this. Regardless of my nail length, I’m super excited to be wearing this polish. Nails will grow back, after all.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Andromeda

It’s Swatch Saturday, and I’m wearing the last American Apparel polish I bought on vacation. It’s the only one of them that isn’t a neon. This is Andromeda, and I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Andromeda is a pretty unique polish; it’s a thin lavender jelly laden with metallic turquoise and iridescent purple glitter shreds. It’s like a purple counterpart to Sinful Colors’s Green Ocean. I decided to wear this polish alone because I wanted to see how opaque the jelly base would get. It’s still quite sheer, and my nail line is still visible, but the glitter covers the nail well.

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Unfortunately, application with Andromeda is not easy. The lacquer consistency is very thick and takes quite a while to dry, even with quick-dry top coat. The glitters tend to stick together and clump on the nail, leaving thick bulges in the polish. Also, it doesn’t always sit flat on the nail, so even with top coat, there’s still glitter that sticks up and keeps the polish from being smooth to the touch. It’s beautiful, so I think it’s worth putting up with.

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Outdoors, sunset

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There you have it: I’m done with American Apparel polishes for a while, and I’m going to start up my weekly Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer swatches. I’ve missed them.

Summer of Untrieds Day 13: China Glaze

Day 13 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge calls for China Glaze, so here I am trying the first China Glaze on my list: Running in Circles. Running in Circles is an awesome shamrock green jelly with fine metallic glitters. I’m wearing three coats of it here with one coat of top coat. Note: this post is late because of World Cup finals and excessive drinking.

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So I didn’t expect Running in Circles to be such a thin jelly, but it is; my nail line is just barely visible, even after three coats. The tips were the hardest part to cover; I thought they looked great until I took photos and they looked a little bald. Despite that, each coat went on easily and evenly. The glitter spreads really well. I like this polish a lot, but it’s a little too Christmassy for July.

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So I took these pictures when it was dark outside, so there weren’t any great sunlight photos of them. You’ll have to take my word on how awesome this looks outdoors. It’s so full of glitter and sparkle, it’s amazing.

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Running in Circles was part of China Glaze’s Cirque du Soleil collection from last year, and has a blue counterpart called Water You Waiting For, which I also have. I cannot wait to do a gradient with those.

Wacie Wednesday on Friday: Andromeda

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

Wacie Wednesday: Deep

For this Wacie Wednesday, I submit to you Deep, an emerald green jelly with gold dots and tiny iridescent glitters. I am wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. As usual, photos were taken in an indoor studio and outside in sunlight.

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When I made this polish, I just felt like making something, and I was limited on supplies. I was between shipments, I was totally out of lacquer base and most glitters. All I had on hand was a small bottle of blue base, a bottle of yellow, and these two glitters. I thought “Why not?” and dumped a little of everything into a bottle. It was way too thick, but I liked how it looked, so when I got my next shipment of clear lacquer base, I diluted it until the formula was right (and made about five bottles in the process). In fact, because this color is so dark, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get until I put it on today. I even added a little more clear base just to ensure that it would be a jelly. I’d like for it to be a little squishier, but I’m pretty happy with it.

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Because the color is so dark, I’m not sure how well it layers. I’m not sure if I’m seeing three coats’ worth of glitter or just one. Also, the dot glitters are actually gold, and the color gets totally lost in the green base, even in the most recent coat. However, in the sun, you can see every speck of glitter the way it was meant to be seen. I freaking love this in the sun. It’s shiny as all get out.

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Outdoors, sunlight

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I haven’t mentioned the Wacie Nail Company launch in a while, I know. So far, everything is on track for a summer launch. I know I said spring, I know I said a lot of things. For real this time though: Wacie Nail Company is happening soon. Watch this space for updates.

Manicure Monday: Dark Labyrinth

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.”

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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.”

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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

Outdoors, cloudy

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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.

Wacie Wednesday: Psychovamp

I hate to admit it, but my Wacie Nail Co. experiment this week is another case of too much glitter. I just hate the sound of those words together. This is Psychovamp, a purple jelly with various sizes of red holo glitters. I’m wearing three coats (no undies) and two coats of Seche Vite.

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To start with, I love the look I got. It’s a bit like the jelly sandwich I did a couple weeks ago; the deep jelly and holo glitters make it look very similar. What I don’t like, though, is that it looks completely unlike my intention. The red glitters kind of take over the purple polish, so much so that you can barely tell it’s purple. This could probably be remedied with adding less glitter; regardless of how the glitter affects the color, it needs to go anyway. You can see the stray bits of fine glitter I just couldn’t get out of my cuticle. I hate that.

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The photos in the sun are a little more true to what the polish looks like away from the studio. The purple is a little more visible in the studio than anywhere else. In the sunlight, though, you can really see all the glitter and the depth from the jelly, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.

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Also: no offense intended for psychos and vampires. Just saying.

Wacie Wednesday: Virgo Supercluster

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.

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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.

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Outdoor, mostly cloudy

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.