Manicure Monday: Monochrome Duochome

Happy Monday, reader! My first proper manicure of the year was done with Ciaté’s Starlet and Hard Candy’s Black Tie Optional. Opposites attract, right?

Starlet is a beautiful sheer black duochrome that shifts from purple to green. The shift is pretty intense, which I love. It is a little on the thin side, and it took three coats to achieve any kind of opacity. Next time I’ll layer it over a black creme base. I almost felt a little bad about covering up the shift, but it’s strong enough that the glitter doesn’t completely obscure it. I wasn’t sure about this combo at first, but the more I look at it, the more I like it.

I know that the black and white glitter toppers are out now, but I never really spent any time with them when they were popular, so I’m still a fan of the look. I think I’ve only ever used two before this, actually. I chose Black Tie Optional for this look because these toppers look good over everything, including, apparently, duochromes. The glitter adds texture and variety to each nail while the base adds fun shifting color. I can’t believe this combo actually worked.

In the sunlight, you can see how thin Starlet is on my tips. That’s frustrating to see, I thought I’d covered all the streaks! The shift is very strong out here, look how bright the green is! I am having so much fun wearing this look.

Starlet may be discontinued by Ciaté; other Ciaté polishes are available at Sephora. Hard Candy polishes are sold at Walmart.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Zoya’s Envy

Welcome to Swatch Sunday! I’m excited about today’s post. I don’t know if you know this, but I list all the polishes I own in my polish list, and this is what helps me decide what I’m going to swatch. Swatch Saturday goes down the list from the top, which it’s always a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer polish. Swatch Sunday is the first polish from each brand, and the brands are in alphabetical order. So, since today’s swatch is a Zoya polish, next week we’ll loop back around to Butter London, and I’m excited about that. So, to celebrate one go-around of the Swatch Sunday polish list, here’s Zoya’s Envy. I’m wearing three coats of Envy with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Not sure why the tips look worn.

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Envy is a blackened green creme. Application is good; the product consistency is on the thin side but is still easy to use. The polish dries with a glossy finish before top coat.

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So I’m just going to say this. This stains. It stains bad. This polish has given me the worst yellow nails I’ve ever had. In fact, I used two coats of Seche Base for this swatch in order to avoid — I hope — the staining. It’s a shame, too, because I really love this shade. It’s not as harsh as black, and it’s an unexpected alternative to blackened burgundies and browns. A similar polish might be Essie’s Stylenomics; it looks similar, but I can’t vouch whether or not it stains the same way. I almost went for another Zoya instead, but I’m a blogger, and it’s kind of my job to wreck my nails so you don’t have to.

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Envy and other Zoya polishes are sold at Ulta, though I don’t recommend you buy it. It’s funny, after all these years, I don’t think I’ve ever discouraged anyone from buying anything until now.

I got Envy in a friend’s grab bag, likely because it stained her nails.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Never Look Back

Welcome back to Swatch Saturday! Today’s swatch is all about a polish made to spread awareness about depression and raise money for charity. I’ve mentioned the Lighthouse of Hope box previously on the blog; it was a box curated by Julie of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer for her annual depression awareness fundraiser, and contained eight polishes, all from different makers. $60 of the $80 box went to the charity I Need a Lighthouse. You’ll notice I’m using the past tense; the boxes have all finally sold out! I guess it’s bad news if you wanted one, but the good news is that $1,200 has made its way to a fantastic charity. This polish is Julie’s own contribution to the box, Never Look Back. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Special Lighthouse label, too!

Special Lighthouse label, too!

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Never Look Back is a clear-based emerald green microglitter polish. While the emerald green is the main element, there are also pops of blue and purple. Application is easy; the glitters go on easily and build to opacity around two coats. The product consistency is thick but still nice to work with. It does dry with a slight bit of texture, so top coat is necessary for a smooth finish.

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Here’s a note from Julie about the polish:

“I’m constantly reminding myself to look to the future and not dwell on the past. It can be immensely difficult to do so, but it is completely necessary for my recovery. Remember that the future holds amazing things, so don’t dwell on the bad from the past!”

I admire Julie for being so open about her depression and for working so hard to break down the stigmas of mental illness. Even in today’s world, where being open and honest and forthcoming is encouraged, mental illness is still something people have a hard time opening up about, and it shouldn’t be that way. The more we talk about mental illnesses, the less power they have over us, and that’s definitely a good thing.

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So this polish is perfect for the upcoming holidays! I will probably end up breaking it out again for that. There’s so much shine and sparkle to it. I kinda failed to do it justice; I have a hard time focusing on all those tiny magical glitters.

As I mentioned, this box has sold out. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their online shop, including this year’s fundraiser polish, My Head’s Above the Rain, of which all $15 of the purchase price goes to the I Need a Lighthouse organization.

I bought this polish myself.

HPB Presents: Silly Halloween Cats

It’s that time again: It’s the Hobby Polish Bloggers linkup for the month of October! Every month, the HPB Facebook group gets together to do a themed mani. Of course, October’s theme is Halloween! I’d been seeing the cat tips around, so I decided to try it out myself. I used Zoya’s Chantal, the no-name glow in the dark polish from Rite-Aid, Sally Hansen’s Black Out, and Enchanted Polish‘s Ectoplasm.

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I don’t really like doing holiday nails, so I wasn’t that excited about the theme. I went with the black cat tips because it’s more cutesy than Halloweeny, and also resembles one of my own cats. It fits the theme while also dodging it, and I’m happy about that.

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I started with three coats of Chantal; of course, I wanted fewer but could never get it even until the third. I also used two of the glow in the dark, since the glitter is so sparse. I’m pretty happy with the art job I did with the cats; I did the head shape with the polish brush itself, did the ears and pupils with a thin art brush, and used the dotting tool to apply the iris. That part is a little wonky, but I’m happy everything else looks the way it should.

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Remember I said I used glow in the dark polish? This part didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted, though it looks really cool in the photo. In real life it just looked weird. This photo was taken in complete darkness.

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I got some sun shots, too! There’s not much to see here but the glitter. There’s not much, but this is a gentle reminder that it’s there. These photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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And there you have it! I mentioned earlier that this mani looks like one of my cats, so I’ll leave you with a photo of that dear kitty. This is Quaker. She actually crossed the rainbow bridge last August at the ripe old age of 20. Sorry to bring this post down with a sad pet story, but this mani made me miss her.

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Chantal and other Zoya polishes are sold at Ulta. Check Rite-Aids and other drugstores for the fun pumpkin GITD polish. Enchanted Polishes are sold in their online shop. Sally Hansen is sold in stores nationwide.

I bought these polishes myself.
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Swatch Sunday: Tenoverten’s Rivington

Swatch Sunday!! I’m still excited to be swatching again. Today’s polish is one I’ve had unused in my collection. It was a souvenir from the flagship Sephora store in Times Square. This is Tenoverten’s Rivington; I’m wearing three coats of Rivington with one coat of Seche Vite.

Before I go any further with this post, I want to talk about some concerns I have with this polish and potential color fading. When I bought this polish, it was a deep turquoise, and as you can see here, it’s now a lighter jade. Comparing my own photos to swatches of Rivington online show a big difference. With this in mind, I’ll be reviewing the polish as I see it. If you own a bottle of Rivington, or any Tenoverten polishes, please let me know if you’ve encountered any fading or changes in color with your own bottle.

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Rivington is described by the brand as a bright turquoise creme. Application was very nice; the product consistency is just right for a creme; it’s easy to work with and isn’t too thin or thick. The first coat was a little streaky, but the second evened it out pretty well. The polish dries quickly and with a very glossy finish.

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I’d not heard of Tenoverten until the day I found this one. I’m sure I’ve told you all the story of how I was in NYC, lost my mind in Sephora, and had to be dragged out by my travelling companions. I picked up this polish because it was new to me. It’s a cool polish, and a cool brand; Tenoverten claims an 8-free formula, which I didn’t know was a thing, and the bottle presentation is really sleek and modern. The bottle cap itself is metal or something, because it makes an unusual but satisfying tinkling against the neck of the bottle. The only real downside is the price; $18 for a creme is a little expensive.

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I’m a little bummed that the color doesn’t look the way I remember it, but I have to admit this is a pretty neat color. I love greens, and I love cremes. I’ll definitely try to work this into manis in the future.

Rivington and other Tenoverten polishes are sold online and in stores; see their website for the complete list of stockists.

I bought this polish myself.

Birthday Mani Digest 2016

Welcome back, reader! As you know, I took a bit of time off these past couple weeks to celebrate my birthday. It was only supposed to be one, but the arrival of Hurricane Matthew led to everything being postponed. That madness is now over, and now I’d like to show you what my nails were up to during the downtime. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen most of these lovelies already. I promise I will not be mentioning my birthday again until next October.

Birthday Mani #1: Pink Frosting With Sprinkles
Essie’s Good Morning Hope with Lynnderella‘s Icing Glass Garland

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The first birthday mani was a fun warm-up with an untried Lynnderella topper. I had a lot of fun wearing this; Icing Glass Garland was a lot more interesting in real life, however. There is a lot of iridescence and color-changiness. It doesn’t look like much over Good Morning Hope, but it still made for a fun and dainty look.

Birthday Mani #2: Cupcakes
Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Eleanor, China Glaze’s White on White, LA Girl’s Black, Orly’s Water Lily, P2’s French Kiss, Ciate’s Pillow Fight

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I always do cupcakes to celebrate my birthday, and this year’s mani was actually done in the middle of the hurricane. Even though the hurricane was an unwelcome birthday event (thanks, universe), we still had a good time. A lot of our friends live in evacuation zones and came to stay with us when the call came to evacuate, so we still had a party and ate food and played board games. It was not the worst experience.

Birthday Mani #3: Hello Dalek
Digital Nails‘s Hello Dalek

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This was last week’s Manicure Monday post, but I’m including it for continuity. Monday was my actual birthday, and it was a ton of fun to wear a party on my nails as well. When your birthday is on the worst day of the week, you have to party any way you can.

Birthday Mani #4: Glitter Frosting
Digital Nails’s Pandorica, Model City Polish‘s Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Wacie Nail Company’s Your Daring Escape, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Walk Through the Tulips
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This look includes the polish I made myself for my birthday! Your Daring Escape is a silvery-white holo with holographic glitter and pearl pink and metallic silver flakies. I wanted a holo-meets-glitter-gradient look, but as the sun never came out that day, a lot of the beauty got lost.

Birthday Mani #5: Stripey Blue Frosting
Literary Lacquers‘s Bluestocking Romance, Hard Candy’s Sky, China Glaze’s Mosaic Madness

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This was the mani I got the most compliments on for sure. I’d always wanted to do this moving stripes design, and this was the day I felt like dealing with the striping tape. It came out so much better than I expected it would, though I’m a little disappointed it smeared a little with the top coat. I’d totally do it again.

I also want to take this time to share some birthday manis of years past. I realized at some point that I’ve been doing the annual cupcake mani for five years now; the annual cupcake mani predates wacie.com, even. I love doing little retrospectives like this; if I’ve learned anything from this, it’s that my cupcake painting skills have gotten only marginally better.

2012
Colors Unknown, but probably all Sinful Colors

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Look at this. I almost don’t even want to share this, but we all have to start somewhere, right? I do remember waiting practically all day for the dots to dry, and they still smudged when I put the top down. Not only was this before wacie.com came to be, but I think it was also before the days of quick-dry top coat. Those dark, dark days.

2013
Sally Hansen’s Mint Sprint, OPI’s Eurso Euro, P2’s French Kiss, Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES!

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These look more like mashed potatoes than cupcakes. This was my first birthday post on the blog. Going back and reading the post, about it, I completely forgot all that stuff happened! I do remember doing this mani in Boyfriend’s tiny Atlanta living space, trying not to bother him and his roommate with nail polish smell. I got acetone on his desk and ruined the varnish. I still feel bad about that.

2014
Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Dawn Breaks and If You’re a Seascape, Indigo Bananas‘s Moonlight (Clair de Lune), P2’s French Kiss, American Apparel’s Neon Pink, Essie’s Fiji, Ciate’s Candy Floss

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That P2 polish finds its way into every birthday mani, doesn’t it? I loved this look a lot. I totally wore it to a fancy restaurant. Here’s the post!

2015
Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Ocean Warmed by the Sun, Digital Nails’s Purple Reign, Nails Inc.’s Pudding Lane, Hot Topic’s Light Blue, Estee Lauder’s Black Plum

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This is last year’s mani, and the mani that celebrates the big 3-0. This was also one of the last photos I took on my phone before Drunk Me left it on top of the car and broke the camera forever. Good times!

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday; I cherish all of you! Thank you so much for tolerating all of the birthday posts.

Pretty sure I bought all these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Green Glitter Machine

Welcome back to Manicure Monday! It feels so strange not having posted for so long. Now that my birthday shenanigans are over, all the regular content, plus some special stuff, is back! I’m so excited. Thank you to everyone who left birthday wishes, you’re the best! For this post-birthday mani, I’m wearing Revlon’s Tantalize with Elevation Polish‘s Camels in the Snow.

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Tantalize — or any frosty green polish with gold flecks — is a polish every woman needs. I feel like it’s one of those new classics, like the shimmery silver or sky blue creme, that completes any polish collection. Sure, it’s green, but it’s elegant. It’s adult. And it’s got so much dimension and sparkle, how could you say no? I definitely want everyone to have a polish like this.

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Of course, Tantalize is a lot less adult-looking after adding glitter with stars in it. Camels in the Snow makes the look a bit more playful. To tell the truth, I had no idea what to pair with Tantalize, and since white glitter goes with everything, here we are. The iridescent glitters in Camels in the Snow adds a subtle hint of color that would otherwise not be there, and the chunky glitters add cute fun. I’m enjoying it!

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The red mark on my pinky is a burn! I totally touched it on the oven rack while I was cooking.

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In the sun, the gold flecks just go crazy, so much so I failed to capture just how bright and reflective and sparkly it is. It’s gorgeous! These photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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Revlon’s Brilliant Strength line has been discontinued, though it still can be found for sale with online retailers. Camels in the Snow has been discontinued but is still in stock in Elevation Polish‘s Last Call section.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Popples

Happy Monday, reader! Today’s polish is so bright and happy that I’m cool with it being Monday. This is Pretty & Polished‘s Popples; I’m wearing three coats of Popples with one coat of Seche Vite and a bow charm from Claire’s.

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So this is super cute, right? This is actually one of the first indie polishes I ever bought. It wasn’t one of the very first, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty early etsy purchase. It doesn’t seem like it, but 2013 was a long time ago! I can’t believe I’m just getting around to trying this polish. I love the neon glitters popping out from the white crelly. It’s one of the cutest things I’ve worn in a while.

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White crellies are my favorite polishes to buy (and make, sometimes) because the possibilities are really endless. There’s very little that doesn’t work with the crelly + glitter formula. I’ve always loved neons and white together, so this is really up my street.

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I took some photos in the sun, which were not really necessary. The colors pop just as much outdoors as indoors. Still cute though!

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Popples and other Pretty & Polished products are available in their etsy shop. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought these products myself.

Swatch Sunday: Sweet Heart Polish’s Oh Look, A Firefly

It’s Sunday!! For today’s swatch I’m excited to be wearing a new-to-me brand called Sweet Heart Polish. Based on Tinkerbell, this green jelly is packed with fairy dust. Let’s get started! I’m wearing three coats of Oh Look, A Firefly with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Oh Look, A Firefly is a lime green jelly filled with iridescent glitters and gold flakies. Application was good; the product consistency is perfect, being thick enough to suspend and distribute glitter without being goopy or sad. The green base is a very sheer jelly; nail lines are still visible even after three coats. The glitters are pretty fine and don’t leave a texture when dry, though it does dry with a satiny finish. I used top coat for shine and extra protection.

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This polish really is Tinkerbell in a bottle. It’s green, golden, and completely magical. I’m wearing it alone here, but it could be used as a topper over another green polish, maybe even a black one, and looks excellent with its original satin finish. It sounds like a really simple polish — it’s made with some pretty basic ingredients — but it’s a beautiful look and is a ton of fun to wear. Personally, I wanted more coverage, but that’s not a huge gripe at all, I can deal with the sheer.

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In the sunlight, the green looks a little washed out compared to the studio photos, but the glitter and sparkle is all there. These photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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Oh Look, A Firefly is the second half of a sold-out Peter Pan collaboration with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. This duo is sold out in both stores. Other Sweet Heart Polishes are available in their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Mickey Smith, Defending the Earth

Happy Saturday! Though we got into Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Spark in the Dark collection last week, there is still one more Doctor Who polish to share with you! This lovely is Mickey Smith, Defending the Earth; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. All photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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Mickey Smith, Defending the Earth is an emerald green holo with gunmetal flakies. Application was easy; the product is well-pigmented and smooth, meaning you could get away with one good coat if you really wanted to. However, the consistency is a bit on the runny side. The green color is very strong, and washes out the flakies; the only photo where I can see them is the macro. The holo effect is pretty strong despite the deep color. The polish dries with a satin finish; I used top coat for extra shine.

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Mickey Smith was my favorite polish in this collection; before this, I didn’t own a deep green holo like this one. I love green polish and I love jewel tones, so naturally this was going to be my favorite. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most popular. It’s a deep, lovely shade that has a very nice holo. It’s a shame it was kind of unloved.

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Mickey Smith, Defending the Earth and other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their online shop, which is currently on a break.

I bought this polish myself.