Tag Archives: green

Swatch Sunday: P2’s Artful

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Happy Sunday! I’m happy to bring you today’s post, because I get to show you polish from Europe! I’ve worn P2’s Artful on the blog before, but that was ages ago, and you never got to see the polish on its own. Here’s Artful at three coats with one coat of Gelous gel coat.

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Artful is a teal creme polish. Application was easy; the polish is rich and very pigmented, giving me an almost-opaque first coat, and complete opacity in two. I remember this polish staining me the last time, so I made sure to use two coats of base coat (I use Orly Bonder) this time around. The product consistency is very good; it’s very easy to control the polish with the brush. It dries quickly and with a glossy finish; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

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Apart from details about the polish itself, I can’t tell you much else about it. The polish was sent to me by someone in Germany, so I don’t know where to tell you to look for it — other than Germany, obviously — but I recommend it. I don’t know if it’s a 3-free formula, or if the EU even has such a thing, but that doesn’t bother me much. Both the color and the formula are so rich and vibrant that I really wish I could get them more easily. The shade itself isn’t hugely special, but I love using polish from another country, and maybe it’s a good thing it’s not so widely found in the US; I probably wouldn’t like it so much.

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Both indoors in the studio and outside in cloudy lighting, this polish looks a lot more turquoise than it does in real life. In real life, it’s darker and greener. Also, my cuticles got a bit stained anyway, despite my best efforts, but that tends to happen with blues and greens in general. Also, and this is likely why, I got stuck trying to clean my cuticles up with non-acetone polish remover, because it was the only thing I had in the house. It didn’t work well at all; the polish didn’t come off, it made my brush feel dry and brittle, and it has this weird cherry cough drop smell. If you see any spots that look bubbly or bumpy around the edges, that’s totally not the polish’s fault.

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Artful and other P2 polishes have to be available somewhere. If I knew, I’d tell you.

This polish was a gift. It was not sent for review or consideration.

HPB Presents First-Ever Indie Brand!

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Hello reader! Today’s post is a special post. This is the Hobby Polish Bloggers link-up for the month of February! Every month this Facebook group does a themed mani, and February’s theme is all about our first indie brands. The first indie brand I ever bought from, as well as my first-ever etsy order, was from Pretty & Polished, so I decided to try some products from them I hadn’t used yet. This is Me, Myself, and Cacti at three coats, with one coat each of Seche Vite top coat and the Pretty & Polished Wax on Wax effect top coat.

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Way back in June 2013, after reading about indie polishes on Reddit and talking to other nail enthusiasts about them, I took the plunge and ordered some of my own. I was drawn to Pretty & Polished for their thermals, but I loved their chunky glitters and crellies. I bought two polishes that day, one of which was a thermal, and it kind of changed my life. It took my nail polish addiction to an incredible high. I placed orders with three other makers that same day.

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I had other P&Ps I’d bought first and hadn’t tried, but I really just wanted to use this one. I have always loved the look of this polish, because it’s not like anything else I own: the green jelly is rich but still transparent, and the glitters add just enough to break it up and make it interesting. Unfortunately, the glitter was a bit hard to get out; I only got one or two pieces on some nails, but I’m still happy with the look.

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In the sunlight, it looks about the same. The nail line is a bit more visible, but that’s about it. These photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors.

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I also decided that this would be the day I tried out the Wax on Wax effect top coat. I bought these two products together and have never used them until today. I like the way it looks over the jelly; there’s still some shine, but it’s subdued. It’s like a satin finish, but more to the glossy side than the matte side. It really does look like I dipped them in molten candle wax. I don’t actually know how often I’ll use this in the future, since I really loved the jelly shine, but it’ll be fun to try out again.

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Me, Myself, and Cacti has been discontinued, but the Wax on Wax effect top coat and other Pretty & Polished polishes are available at their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

 

Swatch Sunday: Nicole by OPI’s Love Your Life

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Happy Sunday, reader! My swatch today is of a polish I’ve had for a long time. This was 2009 or so, long before indie polish came into my life. I had ten dollars to burn and I was at Ulta. I found a polish with heart glitter in it and the rest is history. This is Love Your Life from Nicole by OPI; I’m wearing one brushed coat over OPI’s Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around (taupe), Ciaté’s Sugar Plum (lavender), and Sally Hansen’s Kelp Yourself (green), as well as one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Love Your Life is a clear-based glitter topper with matte pastel pink heart glitters and a mix of fine iridescent hex glitters. Application was okay; the base is thick — unsure of whether this is due to formula or to age — and the bigger glitters tended to sink and had to be fished after. The iridescent glitters distribute well, at least. The hearts are a bit difficult to control with the brush; I kind of just brushed them on and left them where they landed. Though the product consistency was thick, it dried quickly, and with a glossy finish. I added top coat for protection and shine.

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You probably already have some fun dainty pink heart glitter polishes already from an indie, and if you do, you don’t need this polish. If you don’t, though, I do recommend it. It’s pretty simple, it’s just hearts and iridescent glitter, but I think it works. It’s annoying that the hearts are a little hard to get out, but it’s actually a good thing because you can control how many you want. You can make a mani as wild or as demure as you like. It also goes well over most colors, because it’s so light and pink. I actually really like it over these pastel cremes; when I swatch, I like to use some constrasting colors to make the swatch visually appealing, as well as show it some colors it might not normally be used over. I had to go for pastels this time, though, because it’s got that perfect Valentine’s candy vibe.

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Love Your Life and other Nicole by OPI polishes are available at Ulta and other stores nationwide.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Green Glass Gold

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Happy Monday, reader! I have to admit, I’m not all that pleased with the way my mani turned out today. Have you ever paired two polishes together thinking they’ll look great together, but then they don’t? That’s exactly what happened today. For this Manicure Monday, I’m wearing Color Club’s Fly With Me with The New Black’s Textured Gold Leaf Foil. All nails are topped with Seche Vite top coat.

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Fly With Me is gorgeous, right? It’s a translucent green with green-to-gold shifting flecks. I really loved this collection because the shifty flecks give these polishes a finish all their own. I don’t have anything else like them. The end result is part metallic, part shift, all shine and glamour. I love it.

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You can see the green shift best here.

You can see the green shift best here.

It’s the Textured Gold Leaf Foil that I don’t love. I mean, there are things about it I love: I really love that the glitter pieces are inconsistent; some are really chunky, some are fine. I love how reflective it is; I can see myself in that really huge piece on my middle nail. However, when it says it’s textured, it means the chunky pieces, either due to the pieces piling up on themselves or to just plain being chunky, tend to stick up in places, leaving bumps on the surface of the mostly-smooth nail. Even two coats of Seche Vite wasn’t enough to smooth it down. It also doesn’t stand out enough from the gold flecks in Fly With Me, that’s really the problem I have with it here. It blends in too well and just looks odd. I shouldn’t blame the polish for my mistake, I suppose. Not every combination can be a hit, and sometimes we don’t learn that until it’s too late.

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Sunlight photos! You can really see the translucence of Fly With Me here; note the visible nail line on the index finger. Also, the Gold Foil is really shiny here. You can see my striped sweatshirt.

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Fly With Me is discontinued by Color Club; other Color Club polishes are sold on colorclub.com. The Textured Gold Leaf Foil is sold as part of the Shattered Demi Lovato set; that’s available at the-new-black.com.

I bought these polishes myself.

Brag Post: Lynnderella’s Make a Mint in 2016

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Welcome to a special wacie.com post! As you may know, I don’t usually wear polishes as soon as I get them; I like to try older ones before I get to the new ones. However, sometimes I just get so excited about a polish that I have to try it out right away. Today, that polish is Make a Mint in 2016 from Lynnderella. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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My cuticles look dreadful! I swear they’re not dry, my hands are just really really cold.

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Make a Mint in 2016 is a translucent mint green with shimmers in various colors. Application was easy; the product consistency was neither thick nor thin, and was easy to work with. The first coat is sheer and coverage builds with additional coats. The shimmers are very visible in every lightning condition. The polishes dries with a glossy finish; I used top coat for extra shine.

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Make a Mint in 2016 is a Lynnderella small-batch polish; only six bottles were made. After watching bottles of another small-batch polish, Bridal Beach Party, sell for hundreds of dollars per bottle, I was intimidated. I mean, I’ve spent some ridiculous money on polish, but I couldn’t justify getting my own bottle of that gorgeousness. I thought the same thing would happen with Make a Mint; the first bottle did sell for about a hundred dollars. When this one was still low and had a few minutes left, I decided I’d go for it. In the end, I paid 53 dollars for this polish. I can’t decide if I got it for a good price, or if I’m just really foolish.

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As of the date this post was published, there are two bottles left of Make a Mint in 2016. If you’ve already got one, congrats! If you’re still watching auctions, good luck! Other Lynnderella polishes are available via their eBay store and their Storenvy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Born of the Sea

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Happy new year, reader! We’re ringing in 2016 the same way we did 2015 — with a swatch from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer! I’m looking forward to a new year full of beautiful polishes to try. From the Far From the Sun collection, this is Born of the Sea; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken outdoors in partly cloudy conditions.

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Born of the Sea is a grassy green linear holo. Application was smooth; the product consistency was thick but workable. Coverage was good; I had full opacity in two coats. The linear holo effect was more subtle than some of the other polishes in the collection; of course, it’s most powerful in the sunlight. The polish dried with a matte finish. I added top coat for shine and protection.

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Of all the BEGLs I own, which is a lot, the greens are consistently some of my favorites. I originally overlooked this one in favor of some other polishes in this collection, but I really love the way this one looks on me. I usually don’t equate greens with summer, but there is something really tropical about this green; it reminds me of the bountiful foliage of summer, of long grass, fresh limes, full trees, the Florida backyard in general.

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Born of the Sea has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other polishes are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Marc Jacobs Enamored in Lux

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Hey reader! Welcome to Swatch Sunday! I might have been looking forward to this swatch since I bought this polish, but it’s been a long time coming; I’ve had this polish sitting on my desk since before my camera broke, and for months I was looking at it and dying to wear it. This is Marc Jacobs’s Enamored in Lux; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Lux is a yellow chartreuse creme polish. In some lighting conditions it looks more green than yellow. Application was okay; the polish went on thinly; there was barely any color on the first, okay coverage but some streaky spots left on the second, but by the third, everything had come together for full opacity. I’m actually unsure whether I should be blaming the formula or the brush, because I wasn’t completely fond of the brush, either. It felt short, like there wasn’t enough brush to carry the lacquer. It did, however, dry quickly and with a very glossy finish. Top coat wasn’t necessary at all for shine, but I still used it for extra protection.

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Despite the application woes, I really like the polish. It seems like I should have a hundred dupes for it already, but I don’t think I do. It’s not the run-of-the-mill yellowish-green we all have in our stash; it’s too yellow to be a true green and too green to be a true yellow. It’s a perfect blend of both colors. That said, there probably is a cheaper alternative if paying $18 for a bottle of polish isn’t your thing. For this polish, I don’t feel like the quality is completely worth the $18, but I still feel like a Fancy Nancy with it on.

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Lux and other Marc Jacobs Enamored polishes are sold at Sephora.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Jack the Lad

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Happy Monday, reader! Manicure Monday is easy this week. I’m wearing three coats of Butter London’s Jack the Lad with one coat of Seche Vite and the Kitty Bow from Daily Charme. All photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Jack the Lad is a deep emerald jelly with fine green, gold, and blue flakies. I actually can’t tell if they’re glitters or flakies, but I suspect they’re flakies; there’s no gritty glitter texture, even before the top coat. Also, some of them color-shift; the gold ones turn purple at certain angles and it’s absolutely beautiful. Application was smooth; the first coat was streaky, but the second one evened it all out. It dried quickly and with a semi-gloss finish. Top coat gives it extra shine and protection.

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This is a great seasonal color. I mean, I love jewel tones year-round, but they really are an autumn staple. This would even be a good holiday color. It’s so seasonal that the tree behind me looks like the leaves are changing, but it’s really just an orange tree. It’s like 88 degrees outside. It might be November, but it’s not autumn in Florida, that’s for sure.

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This is a great polish! This was one of my first Butter Londons, acquired from a sale basket at Nordstrom Rack. Wearing it feels mega fancy. I never get the shade names, though; I like to think I’m pretty good at UK words, but some of them really baffle me.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Lynnderella’s Chef Kitty

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Did I mention how happy I am to be swatching again? I have missed it so much. I know I’m out of practice, so please bear with me while I get back into the swing of it. This Sunday, I’m wearing my first Lynnderella polish, Chef Kitty; I’m wearing one coat over Mac’s Queen’s Honor (red), Essie’s Roarrrrrange (orange), OPI’s I Just Can’t Cope-acabana (yellow), Revlon’s Posh (green), and Nails Inc.’s Baker Street (blue) with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Chef Kitty is a shimmery glitter topper with mostly white glitters in various shapes and sizes, as well as accent glitters in various colors and finishes. The maker describes it as an “’everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to cuisine”, and I have to agree with that; the variety of glitters in this polish is staggering. Considering the amount of glitter in this bottle, it spread very well over the nail; I had no trouble getting even coverage at all. It dried pretty well, all things considered. I used to top coat to smooth everything down and really bring out the shimmer in the lacquer base.

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I know Lynnderella is old news for most people, but I had to see what the fuss was about and, last March, purchased Chef Kitty. I loved the mental image; I pictured my own fat fluff wearing a chef’s hat and knocking every herb and spice I own into a bowl. I was amazed by this polish and its quality, so impressed that I bought 24 more since then. They’re just so gorgeous! Lynnderella’s been in the indie polish game a long time, but everything they make is still creative and gorgeous.

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Chef Kitty is available from Lynnderella’s Storenvy; other Lynns can be purchased via eBay auction.

I bought this polish myself.

News: Wacie Nail Co. for Depression Awareness 2015

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Hey reader! For once, I have something really exciting to share with you. Julie, the owner of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer and Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, is getting ready to start her annual depression awareness fundraiser, and for the second time, Wacie Nail Company has made a special edition one-of-a-kind polish for the cause. This year’s offering is called Glow-Mo; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Glow-Mo is a pastel green polish with a green pearl flash, rose pearl flakies, and a slight holo effect. It also glows green in the dark. It’s on the sheer side; it took me all three coats to get to this opacity, and it dries with matte finish.

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These photos were taken in direct sunlight. This is where the holo effect is most visible.

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These photos were taken in complete darkness to demonstrate the glow-in-the-dark effect. If I may say so myself, the glow is really bright. I wore this to bed last night and I kept waking myself up with my nails. And, for funsies, I included a photo that’s not in complete darkness; it’s really just my hallway with the lights turned off. It glows even there. I feel I should mention that that photo is not altered in any way.

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Looks like an ’80s music video!

There is only one bottle of Glow-Mo (other than the one I used for swatching, of course), and it is being auctioned on eBay with tons of other special polishes from other makers. 100% of the proceeds goes to benefit the depression awareness and suicide prevention network I Need A Lighthouse. This is a cause that means a lot to me, so please check out the auction. Last year’s auction raised over 700 dollars, so let’s try to beat that number! The auction begins today, 10/31, at noon EDT; you can find the entire auction here.