Summer of Untrieds Day 17: Elevation Polish

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The Summer of Untrieds Challenge is halfway over! Today’s entry is Elevation Polish, so I’m wearing my first-ever Elevation Polish: Epidote. It’s a gorgeous grassy green holo that everyone should own. Seriously. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

Once upon a time, I saw Epidote featured on Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, and I knew, one day, I had to have it. I have such a thing for these yellow-green polishes. I want them all. I finally got it a few months ago, and I’ve been looking forward to wearing it. I’m so glad I finally had the chance.

Epidote applies evenly and without difficulty. The holographic effect looks fantastic in most lighting conditions, in others it just looks like a silver shimmer. The color varies in the photos; in the studio, it’s very green; outdoors it’s more true to its actual army green. Speaking of outdoors, I’m going to stop writing and just let you look at the pretties.

How beautiful is this? It actually took me a long time to get these outdoors photos. It was sunny the entire time I was polishing my nails, and when I went outside to take photos, it was overcast for about an hour. It was annoying. I almost had to resort to using the flash on my camera.

So I like Epidote. Like really really. I like Elevation Polish, too! I can’t wait to get more from them.

Summer of Untrieds Day 13: China Glaze

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

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.

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.

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.

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.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Neon Green

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Swatch Saturday is a little late today due to World Cup and oversleeping. I’m almost done swatching all of the American Apparel polishes I bought while I was on vacation, and this is my penultimate neon polish. This is Neon Green at three coats; two nails have two coats of white polish under them. All of them are topped with one coat of Seche Vite. Note: I put this on in a hurry, and so it’s not my best work. There are some dings in the polish; those are entirely my fault.

Neon Green is awesome. Seriously. It is crazy bright, probably visible from space. Compared to the other neon polishes, this one was a little thinner than the others, but it’s not too bad at the third coat. It looks really nice at three coats, and the color really pops. Neons are the best!

I put white polish on my ring and pinky nails, as I have with every other neon review so far. I’m not sure how obvious the difference is with this one. The ones with white undies aren’t all that much brighter than the ones without. It’s almost not even worth doing.

I took a couple photos outside, even though it’s gray and stormy outside. The color looks amazing outside, but in the photos it’s not much of a change.

I’ve been looking forward to next week’s swatch for a long time now. I can’t wait to show it to you guys.

Wacie Wednesday: Wintergreen

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This week’s Wacie Wednesday is all about Wintergreen, a sheer white with a strong pearly green flash. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

I kind of really love how this turned out. This is actually its second formulation; the first one was much more opaque, but thicker and more difficult to work with. I poured a lot of it out (like half) and replaced it with clear lacquer base, and now it’s beautiful.

The green flash changes depending on the angle; it’s not very obvious here.

I’m wearing three coats here, just because I always put on three coats for swatches, but I actually really liked this at one coat. I wish I’d taken photos of it then; it was sheer enough to see my nail line beneath, but the green flash was still very prominent. It was a very cool look just on its own. With three coats though, it’s still a little sheer, but the white is more apparent.

It’s also not very apparent in sunshine.

I’m also rethinking the name a little. At the time (about a day ago) it seemed perfect, but wearing a polish called Wintergreen in the middle of July is a little weird.

Wacie Wednesday: Eclectic

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For this Wacie Wednesday, I’m sharing with you my first attempt at a colorful white crelly. This is Eclectic, so named for the variety of glitter, at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Eclectic is a white crelly with pink hexes and bars, lime green hexes and diamonds, black shreds, gray hexes, and iridescent hexes. There’s a ton of glitter in here, and as such, the formula is quite thick, even after adding a fair amount of thinner. I like this combination of glitter; the pink and green give a soft look, the black shreds give it some edge, and the iridescent glitter gives it just a touch of sparkle. Even after all that, though, it feels like it’s missing something. Maybe the colors should be brighter, or maybe I should just leave out the crelly and go for a glitter topper. I’m not sure yet. This one is by no means finished.

Here are some photos taken in the sunlight. It looks a bit more lively here than in the studio.

I also went through many names, too, before settling on Eclectic: Conflict, Quartz, Pastel Badass. I like the look of this one, but I feel like it needs more work, and maybe a better name.

Wacie Wednesday: Deep

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

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.

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.

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.

Outdoors, sunlight

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: Double Reverse Green on Green Gradient

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

So for this Manicure Monday, I did some actual nail art instead of phoning it in with glitter. I always feel a little weird when I do a glitterless mani, like my nails are still naked somehow. This week, I did a double reverse gradient with Julep’s Payton and Color Club’s Twiggie. Payton is shown on the non-accent nails with two coats. All nails have a coat of Seche Vite top coat and Hard Candy’s Matte-ly in Love. Photos were taken indoors and outdoors.

So the colors I chose this week go well together, but were still somewhat incongruous. Payton is a gorgeous kelly green creme that went on sheer with the first coat; the second coat even it out, but it was still deliciously shiny, a finish I’d expect from a jelly. Twiggie was a much more solid creme, and was opaque on its first coat. Together, Twiggie is the foundation of the gradient, and I didn’t get the opacity I expected from Payton, and the resulting gradient left me a little underwhelmed. Payton was so sheer that it didn’t cover over Twiggie as well as I thought it would. I will say this, though: I hated putting the matte coat over Payton. It was so shiny and so beautiful on its own that I felt like I was sucking the life of it by mattifying it. I really felt like I did this polish a disservice.

If you’re wondering how to do the double reverse gradient, it’s way simpler than it looks. Here’s the tutorial:

1. After you lay down your base colors, do a gradient the same way you usually do. For what it’s worth, I like to use eyeshadow sponge applicators instead of makeup wedges; for me, it’s more precise and makes less of a mess.

2. After your first gradient is dry, put down your striping tape as desired.

3. Do your second gradient, reversing the colors from the first gradient.

4. Peel off the tape, apply your top coat, and you’re done!

Outdoors, full sun

This really looked better in my head. I expected a stronger difference between the colors, but the sheerness of Payton didn’t make that possible. I also feel like I’m missing something; maybe I should have done a coat of Fairy Dust or something under Payton, just to add a little extra sparkle. On the plus side, and this was completely unintentional, it reminds me of a soccer field. I have been so caught up in watching the World Cup matches that I’ve been unable to think of much else. Despite the issues I’ve had with the polish compatibility, I love how this turned out.

PS: I have Payton on my toes as well. I love it. It’s like every toe is cosplaying as the toe from The Big Lebowski.

Wacie Wednesday: Slither

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This week’s Wacie Wednesday post is all about Slither, a polish I made many moons ago, but am just getting around to trying out. It’s a slightly black base filled with tons and tons of gold-shifting green flakies. I’m wearing three coats of it here with a coat of Seche Vite top coat. Most photos were taken in my studio, the last two in the set were taken outdoors in full sun.

I’ll get this out of the way first: cleaning up my cuticles sucked. Because this polish is practically all flakies, it’s hard to move out of all the nooks and crannies. I spent the better part of an hour exclusively on my cuticles, and you can still see the tiny flakies all over the place. This is most evident in the outdoor shots. You can see them everywhere.

Now we can get to the good stuff. Look at the color shift! The green here is already gorgeous on its own, and then the light hits it, and everything turns gold and stunning. I love it.

You may see a piece or two of lime green glitter sticking out on a couple of nails. I don’t know where those came from, nor do I know how they got into this bottle. They are not part of this polish. I didn’t even notice them until I was taking the outdoor shots. Those will not be part of the final product when that time comes.

Manicure Monday: Red Glitter on Green

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s another crazy Manicure Monday glitter feast! Today I’m wearing Wet ‘n Wild’s Club Cabaret over Essie’s Navigate Her. It looked different in my head for sure, but I’m still into it.

First I put down two coats of Navigate Her. This is a shade I’ve worn a lot lately for various swatches and things; it’s so soft that it looks good as undies for any glitter. I chose it for this mani because I wanted a green to complement the red in Club Cabaret, and this was the only green that didn’t challenge the darker colors for dominance. It also seems to look different at different angles; in the photo where I leaned my nails back, you can see it looks a bit more yellow there than in the others, and I’m not sure why.

Club Cabaret is a lightly tinted base with black, silver, and red hexes of various sizes. I’m not sure if it’s tinted on purpose, or if the red glitters bled a little, but it seems kind of suspicious. I didn’t get much of a payoff; these W&W bottles have these really wide brushes, and while they pick up a lot of glitter, I don’t get much of it on my nails. Instead I just get clear polish flooding my cuticles. To achieve this look, I brushed the glitter onto the end of a makeup wedge and rolled it on, the way one might roll on a stamped design. I could have gotten this look trying to brush or dab it on, but it would have taken a long time to do, and there’s no guarantee it would have been applied this evenly or cleanly. Cleanup was a pain, but it was worth it.

Seeing as I planned this manicure months ago, it’s accidentally festive for Cinco de Mayo. I love it when that happens.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Watch the Walls

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For Swatch Saturday this week, I’m wearing a neon glitter explosion from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer called Watch the Walls. I’ve got one thick coat of it over Essie’s Fiji, Navigate Her, and Mint Candy Apple. It’s like there’s a party on my nails, we invited the president for funsies, and he actually showed up. I absolutely adore BEGL glitter toppers because they’re so fun. They really are like dance parties.

I think my cuticle oil melted the logo off the bottle. 🙁

The blue-to-pink shift in the shimmer is the most evident here. Look at it!

Watch the Walls is a clear glitter topper with loads of different glitters; there are so many I can’t list them all. There are stars and butterflies, dots and squares, hexes big and small. There’s even a blue-to-pink-shifting shimmer that adds the right amount of sparkle to an already visually stunning polish. While this polish wasn’t made for me, I almost feel like it was, because it has everything I love: bright colors, big shapes, tons of things going on at once. It’s perfect for me. I felt a little weird putting it on over pastels, though, but I think it works. It definitely looks great over Mint Candy Apple.

For once, I’m reviewing a BEGL that, as of my writing this, is still in stock in the BEGL store. Not only is it in stock, but it’s on sale! Grab it before it’s gone.

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