Tag Archives: glitter

Manicure Whenever: Punk Rock on Ice

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Hello again! Today’s post is a quick one. This was a look I did that was supposed to be a Manicure Monday post, but for whatever reason, was never posted; it was definitely from November, which was a hugely busy month for me. In any case, I’m excited to finally show you this look. I used Indigo Bananas‘s Do You Have a Flag? and Model City Polish‘s Punk Rock Princess.

One day a few years ago, I realized I needed a white holo, and Do You Have a Flag? was the first one I stumbled upon. It’s a polish with a lot of dimension; not only is it a bright white holo, but it’s got some frost to it, and some silvery-white flakies to make it interesting. It’s a great polish.

Punk Rock Princess, on the other hand, was not a planned purchase, but it’s not like I wasn’t going to buy a polish called Punk Rock Princess. This is a polish I love, though. It’s got loads of chunky glitter, so even if it had a different name, I’d still love it. The colors are a wee bit edgy, and really pop over the white. The base has a pink tinge to it, and I’m not sure if that’s intentional, but I kind of like how it transformed the white to a light pink. The holo goodness is still visible underneath, but it added a bit of variety to the look.

Do You Have a Flag? looks like it might have been discontinued, but other Indigo Bananas polishes are available on their website. Model City Polish isn’t making polish anymore (sad).

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Low-Key Celebration

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Happy new year, reader! I’ve got my first manicure of the year, and my hands are so cold I barely got it done. Seriously, I’m so cold, my hands are wrinkly. For this look, I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Flash Forward Fantasy with Nails Inc.’s Princes Gardens.

This is a pretty basic look, and I think my nail game is off to a good start this year. Of course, it’s cold and dark outside, which means I couldn’t show you the gorgeous shift in the base polish, but I love that it’s almost a mannequin polish on me. I like that the glitter went on without overpowering the base shade, which is definitely a plus on short nails like these. I don’t have a lot to say about this look. I’m so cold.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their online shop. Nails Inc. is sold in stores.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Pink Wonder

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Happy Monday, reader! Today is the first day I’ve had off since Thursday. My retail job is getting busy since there’s only a week left to shop for Christmas gifts — and I’ve barely done any shopping. Today, though, is for ignoring my responsibilities and doing my nails and maybe having a bubble bath later. For today’s relaxing look, I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Watch the Walls over Lynnderella‘s Baby Pink Pink.

It’s 80 degrees out in December. It feels like summer, so it’s summer on my nails.

I’ve been kind of self-conscious about my shorties lately. I even bit one down because it was jagged, and I was really disappointed with myself after that. As a recovering nail biter, it is always so hard to grow them out past this stage, because it’s really easy to slip into biting again. One day at a time, I guess.

I bit this one so far down it hurt. 🙁

Glitter will help me get there. Watch the Walls is still one of my favorite BEGLs, and likely even my most used; the bottle is about two-thirds full at this point. I like seeing the empty out, because the polish is getting the love it deserves, but it’s sad to see it go. Once these polishes are gone, they’re gone. In this instance, I paired it with Baby Pink Pink because they both have an icy blue shimmer that stacks nicely.

Watch the Walls was discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGLs are available from their online shop. Baby Pink Pink was a limited edition; other Lynnderellas are available from eBay, Amazon, and Lynnderella.com.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Olive the Glitter

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Welcome back! I’ve got another super-shifty microglitter to show you today. This is Digital Nails‘s Galactica over Essie’s Sew Psyched.

Last week, I showed you Leviathan, that crazy shifty glitter that went from purple to blue to orange. Galactica is a sister polish to Leviathan; they are both named after fictional spaceships and feature wildly shifting glitter. These polishes are both so much fun to wear because they look so different in every lighting situation.

Sew Psyched is a great base for this glitter because it just blends into it most of the time. Of course, there are instances where it looks kind of odd, like when the light is shining right on the glitter and it’s super gold and the base is just kind of there. For the most part, though, the glitters and the base are the same, and all you see is the shine from the glitter.

Sew Psyched and Essie are sold in stores. Galactica and other Digital Nails polishes are sold in their etsy shop, which is currently closed.

I bought these polishes myself.

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

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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: Dark Water

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Welcome back to Manicure Monday! You find me today with the shortest nails I’ve had all year. My last break was already devastating (curse you, fitted sheets), and now something else has happened to completely finish them off. This is China Glaze’s Black Diamond and Digital Nails‘s Leviathan.

I’ve had these Digital Nails starship glitters forever, and I’m just getting around to being able to appreciate them. They’re beautiful! The shift is just too impressive not to rave about. I realize I am so late to this party, but shifters, man, they’re amazing.

I feel a little bad for Black Diamond, because it’s a lovely polish on its own. It’s got this subtle gunmetal shimmer to it that the glitter completely obscured. I did plan a glitter gradient to get the best of both words, but there just wasn’t room for it on these tiny nails. Glitter wins every time.

China Glaze is sold in stores; I got this particular bottle at Sally Beauty Supply. Leviathan and other Digital Nails polishes are available on etsy, though they’re currently closed.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Cognac Sparkle

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Happy Monday, reader! It’s been too long since my last post. I knew November would be a busy month for me; all in this month, I’ve gotten a job, written a novel (almost done!) and cooked a huge Thanksgiving dinner. I knew something was going to have to give to get everything done, and unfortunately, it ended up being the blog. I’ve got lots of swatches to catch up on — I’ve been painting, just not posting — so I’ll have lots of content coming up. Some of it’s from when my nails were still long and pretty (rip).

Today’s look was done with Butter London’s Tea and Toast, OPI’s Muppets World Tour, and Orly’s French Tip Guides.

I have this thing about Tea and Toast, like it’s the ugliest color in the bottle, but I absolutely love it on my nails. It’s really stylish, but I always have this apprehension before I put it on, like I’m about to do something terrible, but it always comes out lovely.

I picked Muppets World Tour for this look because I wanted something that would still have a lot of shine without covering the base too much. As it turns out, this polish had more glitter in it than I expected, and it’s hard to see the half-moon and naked nail underneath. On the whole, though, I like the look. It sort of looks like a gradient instead of a half-moon, and glitter is the best. No arguments here.

Unfortunately, I think both these shades are discontinued. Butter London and OPI are both easy to find in stores.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Glitter on Clementines

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Hello, reader! Bad news, I broke a nail, and I had to cut them down short. It’s the first major break I’ve had so far this year — the last time I had them this short, it was February — and I’m pretty bummed. Luckily, the two polishes I used today look great on tiny baby nails. For this look, I used Digital Nails‘s Faraday-Glo and Kunimitsu‘s Beautiful Theory.

I can’t say no to neon orange. This is a great shade. It’s super bright even without undies, so much so that my camera struggled with the color quite a lot. Classic neons. There’s a fine blue shimmer in here, too, which was a bit hard to see. I covered it up with glitter.

Beautiful Theory is a fantastic topper. I had a hard time getting the shapes out, but on nails for ants, it’s not a bad problem to have. The iridescent glitters make the polish, though, and especially makes it pair well with bright orange. Depending on the angle, they look purple or pink. It’s really cool.

So tiny!

Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop (though as of this writing they are taking a break). Beautiful Theory isn’t currently stocked, but Kunimitsu polishes are also for sale in their etsy shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Crystal Knockout’s Pegasus Landing

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Welcome back to Swatch Sunday! Today’s polish is a new-to-me brand called Crystal Knockout (formerly DazzleGlaze). I loved meeting them at The Indie Shop in Atlanta; they’re from Florida, and I always like meeting the neighbors. They were selling a big range of products, even making their own jewelry. I regret that I didn’t buy any of the jewelry. Anyway, so here’s their VIP bag contribution. This is Pegasus Landing on its own (three coats) and over both China Glaze’s White on White and Sally Hansen’s Black Out (two coats) with one coat of Seche Vite.

Pegasus Landing is a shimmery white gold with gold glitters and rose gold flakies. This was very easy to apply; the product consistency good, even with all of the glitter in it. The bigger glitters was a little shy, but with repeated coats, I still got a good amount on my nail. I did a terrible job at showing the rose gold aspect of the polish; it was probably my favorite thing about it. The polish dried well but I did wish I’d used a second layer of top coat.

I didn’t expect this polish to work so well on its own, but I definitely prefer it alone than over white or black. I love how well the gold stands out over the black, but it’s definitely best without undies. I don’t really have any other polishes like this one, so it’s got a cool uniqueness factor. Lots of polishes like this with really creamy shimmery bases and chunky glitters don’t work, but this one does.

Pegasus Landing was an event exclusive. Other Crystal Knockout products are sold on their online shop.

This polish came in an event VIP bag.

Swatch Sunday: Colors by Llarowe’s Genofeva of Brabant

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I’m excited about today’s Swatch Sunday. It’s another VIP polish from The Indie Shop Atlanta! Genofeva of Brabant is Colors by Llarowe‘s contribution to the VIP bag. It’s my first CbL, and I’m not sure I’ve ever worn a polish quite like this. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Genofeva of Brabant is a cool-toned rose polish with a strong rosy glow and holo glitter. Actually, this polish has a holo finish that I can’t quite describe. It clearly has glitter in it, but there’s a slight allover holo in it too, like a scattered holo. I’m not sure, but I love it. Application was great; even though there’s a lot happening in this polish, the product consistency is velvety smooth. I had a great first coat, and full opacity at the second. It dries to smooth satin finish. I don’t usually talk about how easy it is to remove a polish, but I was surprised at how easily this one came off. I expected to struggle with the glitter, but it just comes right off.

I failed to capture the holo effect in this polish. It just looks like silver.

This is one of my top five polishes from Indie Shop Atlanta. I was so excited to swatch this because it was probably the first polish that caught my eye, even before the event, and I don’t really have anything like it in my collection. I’m also excited to finally be trying Colors by Llarowe! I got a few others from the event but this is the best one.

Genofeva of Brabant was a VIP exclusive. Other Colors by Llarowe are available on their website.

I got this polish in a VIP bag at an event.