Tag Archives: gray

Manicure Monday: Freehand Grey

Posted on by

Welcome back to Manicure Monday! As you noticed, I took the holiday weekend off from swatching, so we have some nail art to check out this week. My base color is Wet ‘n Wild’s Gray’s Anatomy, and my freehand painting was done with a striping brush and OPI’s We’ll Always Have Paris. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

mmfg

mmfg2

I’ll just get this out of the way: I don’t know how I feel about the freehand. I’m a little embarrassed that I still suck at hand-painting, but in a way, it’s sort of charming. I wanted something simple but uniform, but it’s a bit irregular. It doesn’t look as irregular in real life as it does in photos, so I feel a little weird about that. I never do this stuff, so it’s really no wonder it’s not perfect. Maybe it’s okay that it’s not perfect. It looks arty-crafty and like it was done by a real person.

mmfg3

mmfg4

mmfg5

We’ll Always Have Paris lends a lot to the DIY mani look. These burgundy/wine polishes are always a little translucent, and I guess that’s why there’s a lot of unevenness. I just wanted a dark color, something that was as severe as black, that would complement the color shift in the base polish. I think this one worked pretty well.

mmfg6

mmfg7

mmfg8

The shift in Gray’s Anatomy is the focus of this polish, as it should be. You can totally see past the wonky freehand painting and really enjoy the colors. The writing on the label wore off a long time ago, but I almost forgot this is a Wet ‘n Wild Polish. I paid two dollars for it at the most. Not bad for two dollars!

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Literary Lacquers’s Grey Cat/Grey Fence

Posted on by

Swatch Sunday is here again! Today I’m wearing one of the first indie polishes I ever bought, as well as one of my first Literary Lacquers. This is Grey Cat/Grey Fence; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

ssllgcgf

ssllgcgf2

ssllgcfgf3

Grey Cat/Grey Fence is a gray crelly with black, white, and iridescent glitters in squares and hexes. Application was easy; though sheer, the crelly goes on evenly and without streaks or patches. The glitters also spread evenly and show nicely through many layers of polish. I had no issues at all with it. The product consistency was perfect; it supports the glitters without being thick or blobby. It dries quickly and to a glossy, somewhat smooth finish. I added top coat for extra shine and smoothness.

ssllgcgf3

ssllgcgf4

Grey Cat/Grey Fence is inspired by a passage from O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi. As quoted by the maker:

“Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him.”

ssllgcgf5

ssllgcgf6

I’ve had this polish for two years now, and I’ve only worn it once before. Even though Literary Lacquers makes some breathtaking holo polishes, there’s a special place in my heart for this polish, and it might be my favorite LitLacq to date. It’s simple by today’s indie polish standards, but two years ago, when I was new to indie polish, this was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and the fact that someone was making polish inspired by books was pretty much the greatest thing I’d ever heard.

Grey Cat/Grey Fence has been discontinued, but other Literary Lacquers are available from their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s One Gray-t Year

Posted on by

Hello, reader! I’ve just gotten back from the spontaneous trip my boyfriend and I took this weekend to celebrate the holiday. If you’re American, I hope you had a fantastic July 4th, and if you’re not, I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. Because I was out of town, I only have one weekend swatch for you. This is One Gray-t Year from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

ssbeglogy

ssbeglogy2

ssbeglogy3

ssbeglogy4

One Gray-t Year is a deep gray creme with an assortment of rainbow flakies. The formula consistency is just right and was super-smooth to apply. The flakies are easily distributed as well. I had full opacity in two coats. My bottle did suffer some settling, but the color isn’t affected at all. Drying times were fast, and this polish dries with a matte finish. I used top coat to bring out the color in the flakies and add shine and protection.

ssbeglogy5

ssbeglogy6

One Gray-t Year was made to commemorate the first anniversary of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer in 2014. It was a limited edition polish released with the first Fan Favorites collection. I’ve been a BEGL fan for a long time, even before the maker started selling polish to the public, so to be able to celebrate this milestone with her, albeit more than a year late, is really exciting. I love this polish; the contrast between the striking base color and the soft pastel flakies is gorgeous. It also wears like iron. I usually do my Swatch Saturday manicure on Wednesday; it’s now Sunday, I still have this polish on, and it’s barely showing any signs of wear. The tips are a little worn, but the color and shine are still going strong. It’s rare that I get this much mileage out of any one manicure. I’m really impressed.

ssbeglogy8

ssbeglogy7

Here are some vacation photos! We spent Friday and Saturday in the Titusville, FL/Cape Canaveral area. I’m very interested in space travel and exploration, and Kennedy Space Center is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. It was the greatest! I got to drink a beer in the Rocket Garden.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this photo already. On the way home, we stopped a kitschy little wildlife park in Christmas, FL called Jungle Adventures. I never get tired of seeing alligators.

ssbeglogy9

One Gray-t Year was a limited edition and is no longer for sale, but other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Bedspiration

Posted on by

It’s Monday again, and you know what that means! My nails this Manicure Monday were inspired by the bedding set in one of my guest rooms. I’m wearing Julep’s Korin and China Glaze’s Recycle with OPI’s White Shatter, all with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

IMG_83972

IMG_84062

I know lots of you look at something and can automatically translate it to nail art. It’s impressive and I’m totally envious. I’m not as big into intricate nail art as I used to be (even when I was, I was awful at it), so it’s rare that I look at something and think “Yes, I want my nails to look like this”. It’s even rarer that I act on it. When I saw this comforter, even before I realized it, I knew I could do a quick-and-dirty nail art version. Green polish, gray polish, and white crackle. It could be done. When I grabbed Korin out of the storage container, I knew I had to try it out.

IMG_84102

IMG_84122

Unfortunately, I think it looked better in my head. Crackle polish is unpredictable sometimes, and though that’s the one thing I love about crackle polish, I really didn’t think it would cover up most of my nail. It defeats the purpose of the whole thing. I was hoping for a jagged but even grid of crackle, leaving the colors beneath somewhat visible. Oh, well. I still like it, even if it’s not what I was going for at all.

IMG_84202

IMG_84262

IMG_84362

I got Korin from julep.com, Recycle from Sally Beauty Supply, and White Shatter from Publix. If you’re curious, the bedding is from Target.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for Two

Posted on by

Swatch Sunday is fun today, because I’m using a brand I’ve never worn before. I’ve gotten a few Finger Paints polishes here and there at Sally Beauty sales, but this is my first time working with one. I’m wearing one coat of Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for two over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray and OPI’s I just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

IMG_71552

IMG_71592

IMG_71652

 

IMG_71732

Sugar Cookie for Two is a clear glitter topper with metallic bar glitters in gold, silver, and black. Application wasn’t as easy as I’d have liked it to be. I don’t know if the brush was just thin or the glitters just slip off the brush back into the bottle, but I had a hard time getting the glitter onto my nail. It didn’t spread well at all. I had to dip back into the bottle two or three times just to cover one nail. As a result, the glitter is really sparse in some places and clumpy in others. Overall, I got pretty good coverage with it, but I would have liked it to be more even. On the plus side, drying times were good, and the glitters feel smooth to the touch when dry. Also, the glitters are short bars, so they’re easy to work with. The longer ones want to hang off my nail like eyelashes, and I didn’t have that problem with these.

IMG_71762

IMG_71822

I really like this look, all complaints aside. The glitters are super shiny and reflect tons of light and color. The combo is a little jarring, maybe, but I think it makes my nails look like luxurious little cupcakes. I’m a little curious to know what it would look like as a full-coverage glitter; I’ve worked with all-bar glitter polishes before, like the Nails Inc. Feather ones, and three coats covers up pretty much everything. This might look really nice at three full coats, though I do wonder with how this one applies whether it could achieve full coverage at all.

IMG_71882

IMG_71922

Since I found Sugar Cookie for Two in a sale bin, it’s possible that it has been discontinued. Other Finger Paints polishes are sold at Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Serenity Gray

Posted on by

Manicure Monday today is awesome! I got to pair a favorite creme with an insane glitter shifter. I’m wearing two coats of Sally Hansen’s Grey Area with two coats of Digital Nails‘s Serenity on my accent nails. All nails are topped with one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

IMG_61782

IMG_61842

I almost don’t even want to bore you with the details of my gray polish. I know you’re not looking at it. You’re probably not even looking at these words, and I don’t blame you. Grey Area is a warm charcoal creme that’s pretty versatile. It’s one of the first polishes I bought to use for nail art, and it does everything well, even water marbles. It goes on opaque and smooth and glossy in one coat. It’s the best. I love it.

IMG_61872

IMG_61922

IMG_62092

IMG_62142

 

IMG_62172

Serenity, the show-stopping glitter you see here, is one of the most exciting polishes I have in my collection. The shift is so strong and so dramatic, and occurs in any lighting condition. I cannot stop waving my hands around in front of my computer monitors, just to see it happen. It’s green-to-purple at most angles, and when a light source is directly in front of it, the purple-to-pink-to-gold happens. It’s incredible. I’m just going to stop writing now and let you drool over this glitter.

IMG_61972

IMG_62042

IMG_62442

IMG_62462

I really love this combo. The gray is dark and interesting, and the glitter just makes my eyes fall out of my head. It’s truly stunning. I’m also a little upset I waited this long to try it. Also, I’m trying the accent nails in a different place today because I saw other people do it and it’s cute.

Grey Area is available wherever Sally Hansen is sold; I think I got this bottle from Target. Serenity can be found in the Digital Nails shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Ellagee’s Chronic Badass

Posted on by

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.

IMG_42462

IMG_42512

IMG_42572

IMG_42612

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.

IMG_42692

IMG_42762

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.

IMG_42812

IMG_42912

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.

IMG_42972

IMG_43002

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.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype PCFS 1.0

Posted on by

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.

IMG_25322

IMG_25372

IMG_25462

IMG_25502

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.

IMG_25542

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.

IMG_25702

IMG_25762

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 Resolutions

Posted on by

It’s Swatch Saturday again! Today, I’m bringing you the second part of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s new year’s duo. Released early this year, 2014 and Resolutions were released alongside their winter collection. We saw 2014 last week, so today we’re looking at Resolutions. I’m wearing one light coat of Resolutions over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Julep’s Martha, and China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

IMG_16552

IMG_16562

IMG_16632

 

IMG_16782

Resolutions is a glitter topper with primarily black and blue dots and hexes, as well as icy blue shimmer. There are a few colorful surprises: lime green diamonds, white blocks, black stars, purples, yellows, corals. I put on a very light coat, and I didn’t get a lot of the big colorful glitters. They’re kind of hard to fish out, and tend to hang out at the bottom of the bottle. A second coat would definitely have helped me out, and probably would have helped me get those big pink dots and hexes. Those are my favorites.

IMG_16872

IMG_16982

As always, this is a dream to wear and apply. I could have used a little more glitter on the brush, but that’s not too much of a worry. The base dries fast, and surprisingly, the glitter is flat and smooth on the nail, which rarely happens with polishes like this. Even the big glitters are glassy smooth. It’s nice.

IMG_17052

Unfortunately, this is long discontinued, but a few of my favoritest BEGL glitter toppers are actually on sale in the BEGL store. If you liked this one, I think you’ll love those.

Wacie Wednesday: Wintrella

Posted on by

The last Wacie Nail Co. (for now) prototype I’ll be showing you is Wintrella, a glitter topper made up of silver and blue holo glitters. I’m wearing one coat of Wintrella over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, and Julep’s Martha. I’m also wearing one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

IMG_11002

IMG_11082

IMG_11192

IMG_11272

Wintrella has a lot of glitter in it. There’s very fine holo silver dust, tiny hexes, slightly bigger but still somewhat tiny squares, big silver hexes, bigger silver hexes, silver dots, blue dots, and silver hearts, but I couldn’t manage to get those out of the bottle. Again, they just sat in the bottle, mocking me. I couldn’t get too many of the dots, either, but at least I can prove they were in there.

IMG_11372

IMG_11482

Maybe I’m glad I didn’t get so many. The smaller glitters give a minimal look that’s already quite pretty. The big glitters look out of place. Maybe they’re not right for this mix.

IMG_11522

IMG_11582

Overall, I think it’s nice. I definitely want to take it back to the drawing board, but I think I’m onto something.

Wacie Nail Company news: I hope to have something in the store before the month ends. I have a couple of limited editions in the works, as well as a New Year’s Eve-themed collection next month. I’m so excited to be working on it, and I hope you’ll like it a lot.