Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Siren Noir

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Welcome back to Swatch Saturday! The polish I’m showing you today is absolutely stunning. This is Siren Noir from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

ssbeglsnbcc

Siren Noir is a black polish packed with multicolored shimmers. Application was easy; while BEGL polishes are meant to be somewhat thick, I feel like this one could have used thinning, though I will say the thickness may be due to age, as this polish is already a few years old. In any case, it wasn’t thick enough to impede application, but it did feel a little off. The shimmers are suspended well in the polish, ensuring you get a ton of them when you apply. The polish dries quickly with a slightly grainy finish and a satin finish. I used top coat for extra shine and to help establish the shimmers.

So this is probably the most shimmery BEGL I’ve used yet. There are so many colors; an iridescent blue seems to dominate, but as you can see, there are reds, greens, pinks, and purples as well. Some of the particles are very fine while others are coarse, which gives it a cool look as well. The amount of dimension and color in this polish — while being a black polish, no less — is just astounding. I never cease to be amazed by what BEGL continue to do with their shimmer polishes.

The following photos show Siren Noir in direct sunlight. The black base is a little overwhelmed by the sun’s effect on the shimmers. In person, this was absolutely glorious.

Siren Noir was a limited edition polish from 2013 and is no longer for sale in the BEGL shop. See the BEGL shop for other polishes.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Peita’s Polish’s Serenity

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Welcome back, reader! I meant to have this post up hours ago, but due to some unforseen events regarding my web host, it’s going up now. The polish I have for this Sunday’s swatch is a fun one: it’s from a new-to-me brand, it’s from Australia, and it’s a charity polish! Serenity from Peita’s Polish is a polish exclusive to the Lighthouse of Hope box that benefits I Need a Lighthouse, a depression and suicide prevention awareness network. I’m wearing three coats of Serenity with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Serenity is a sky blue crelly with turquoise holographic glitters in various sizes and a slight green shimmer. Application was very easy; the product consistency is very smooth, even with all the glitter in it. The glitter and polish spread evenly over the nail, leaving no streaks, spots, or excess polish in the cuticle. It dries quickly and with a semi-glossy finish. It also dries with a smooth texture, which surprised me a bit, since there’s a bit of glitter in it. I added top coat anyway for extra shine and smoothness.

The Lighthouse of Hope product listing states Serenity was based on the cool sparkling waters of Australian beaches, as the ocean can be a relaxing, serene place for people. I think they did pretty well with that imagery. The crelly here is the polish, and not merely the vehicle for the glitter; it’s very sheer, and subdues the glitter from previous coats without completely covering it. The glitter twinkles in the same way the sun glints off the water. It’s very pretty.

The following photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors. The blue crelly seems cooler, and you can see the under-glitters better.

So let’s talk about the Lighthouse of Hope box. Available from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, this box contains eight exclusive polishes from eight different indie makers. I’ve already swatched another polish from this collection, Grows Hope from Alter Ego. The box costs $80, but $60 of that goes to I Need a Lighthouse, a favorite charity of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. It’s easy to balk at the cost, but in this case, it’s actually a very worthy splurge. See the BEGL store listing for box details, the I Need a Lighthouse website for information about the organization, and the BEGL maker’s blog to learn why the box exists in the first place. The box is still available in limited quantities.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype BBD1.0

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Happy Saturday! It feels so good to be past our third anniversary. I still can’t believe we’ve passed such an important milestone, it’s crazy! For this week’s Saturday swatch, I’m wearing Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype BBD1.0 over Nails Inc.’s Eaton Terrace, China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, and LA Girl’s Black, as well as Seche Vite top coat.

Prototype BBD1.0 is a clear-based fine glitter topper; the glitter mix is predominantly purple holo glitters, but also contains holo reds and blues and matte lime green glitters. Application was easy; the glitter brushed on without any problems, and the product consistency was very workable. It dried quickly and with a smooth finish. I added top coat for extra shine and protection.

This a really fun polish to wear. I used neutrals for this look because I wasn’t sure how the glitter would look over other colors, but the glitter is so fine and so varied in color that it would probably look good over anything. I’m actually impressed by how it looks over black; you get the flashes of color without the speckled effect the lighter colors get. I thought it would be boring over black, but I think it’s my favorite of all of them. The lime green satin glitters feel a bit out of place, but I don’t dislike them; I think it breaks up an otherwise monotonous (but still quite pretty) glitter mix.

Here are some sun shots. The glitter looks amazing outside; you can really see the variety of colors in the glitters here. The following photos were taken in direct sunlight.

ssbeglpbbdmc

Prototype BBD1.0 is a one-off prototype, and I have the only bottle. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer polishes can be purchased from their online shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Fun With Microglitter

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Happy Tuesday, reader! It’s still Monday somewhere, so let’s have a look at this week’s mani. For this mani, I used Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype Summer 1.1, Wacie Nail Company‘s Opulence, and Digital Nails‘s Tauping Mechanism. All nails are topped with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

I ended up pairing red and gold again. I can’t help it, they just go so well together! At first I wasn’t going to pair Summer 1.1 with anything, just because it already has so much going on. The colors are so vibrant and varied that it looks excellent on its own. When I started thinking about what nail art I would do, if any, I started looking at other options. I found Opulence in the polish box and went for it.

The dotting was something I explored later on. I was pleased to discover microglitters actually do dot. In these photos, because of the macro, it looks weird because you can see the individual pieces of glitter and it makes it look less like a dot. My dots didn’t really line up the way I wanted them; they’re more linear than scattered on one nail, and that kind of bugs me. Overall, though, I’m happy with how uniform and neat they are. I try to avoid dotting because I can never keep my hands steady enough, but this came out really well, all things considered.

Here are some sunlight photos! You’ll see how the glitter is brighter and shines better than in the studio. Opulence looks best here, too; you can see that’s actually a gold and silver mix and not just gold alone. The glitter really comes to life in this set.

Tauping Mechanism was the last selection I made for this look. When I decided to do the dots, I knew I needed a nude as the base, something that would fade gently into the background and not detract from the dotting, and Tauping Mechanism does exactly that. It’s amazing for undies! It’s opaque in one coat and levels itself nicely. It’s also the only polish in this mani I hadn’t used before.

Macrooo

BEGL Prototype Summer 1.1 was a one-off and no others were for sale; other BEGLs are for sale in their shop. Opulence will be available in the Wacie Nail Company shop shortly. Tauping Mechanism is for sale in the Digital Nails shop.

I bought these polishes myself, except for the one I made.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s A Snogging Booth?!

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Happy Saturday, reader! This is the final polish in the first phase of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s masive Doctor Who collection. After this one, I’ve got a couple prototypes, a couple of special editions, and a Halloween collection that’s weirdly appropriate for spring. This final(ish) polish is called A Snogging Booth?; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Gelous gel coat.

A Snogging Booth? is a clear-based microglitter polish containing shades of red and black. Application was easy, and a bit similar to the previous BEGL microglitters I’ve worn on the blog recently; the first coat didn’t cover well, but coverage builds with additional coats. It took me all three coats to achieve this level of opacity. The product consistency was thick as well, which is to be expected with the large amount of glitter in it. The polish dries quickly and with a textured glitter finish. I added top coat for smoothness; you can see where it sank in, there’s still a lot of texture left.

My favorite thing about this polish is the black glitter. The word that comes to mind, for me, is pepper; it adds a dark, cool, vampy element to the polish. I don’t like black glitter in everything, I think it looks weird in light jellies, but I really love it in this. The red is already gorgeous on its own, but the black makes it sultry while also grounding it. It’s a really nice combination.

In the sun, it warms up quite a lot, and I think that’s just because things tend to look cooler and darker in the studio. The holo effect from the red glitter shows up well here, and that helps it look a bit warmer as well.

A Snogging Booth? has been discontinued by BEGL, and sadly, the last bottle sold out only recently. Other BEGL polishes are available in their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Strawberry Banana Swirl With Sprinkles

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Happy Monday, reader! I did a great time doing today’s manicure, and I hope it shows! For this look, I used OPI’s I Just Can’t Cope-acabana and Live, Love, Carnaval with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Get Too Close to the Flame. All nails are topped with one coat of Gelous. Because of a chip that occurred in the polish between photography sets, I’ll be showing you the daylight photos first. These were taken in direct sunlight outdoors.

I Just Can’t Cope-acabana has been on this blog a lot lately; I’ve used it as the undies for glitters on at least three different swatches, and I’ve used it so much that it’s starting to show the fill line. Yellow can be hard to work with sometimes, what with the streaking and failure to level itself, and this is no exception, but it’s a really nice color. It’s a pretty neutral yellow and works with just about everything. I love the way it looks here with Live, Love, Carnaval; I didn’t think to pair these two until the last minute, and I like the way they look together. I mean, they should, they came from the same Brazil collection. They set each other off in just the right way, and they both marbled like a dream.

So let’s talk about the chip on my index finger. I have no idea what caused it, only that it appeared sometime taking the daylight photos and taking the indoor photos. I’m pretty sure it’s a problem caused by Gelous. I know it’s not really meant to be used as one, but I ran out of Seche Vite and I don’t know when I’ll be able to get another bottle. It’s incredibly frustrating, because it takes a century to dry on its own and I keep smudging it hours after I thought it was dry. I miss Seche Vite so much.

I’ve watermarbled before, but this is the first time I’ve tried the horizontal swirl; usually I stick to the flower or the pinwheel. I don’t think it looks too bad. I think I used too many rings, or maybe I made too many strokes in the polish, but it can be pretty tough to tell the colors in the marble apart; from far away, it just looks orange. I still like it, though.

Get Too Close to the Flame works so well with I Just Can’t Cope-acabana that I couldn’t not use it. It was actually the first polish I picked out for this mani, and the ideas about the pink and the watermarble came later. I kind of struggled with how to use the glitter, since I still really wanted to, and I ended up just doing one allover coat with it, even over Live, Love, Carnaval, where there isn’t much constrast and all you see is some shimmer and faint glitter shapes. It’s a fun look, I think. Over the yellow, it’s bright and cheerful, over the pink it’s mysterious, and over the marbling, the word that comes to mind for me is planetary. It reminds me of the swirls around the red spot of Jupiter. It pleases me.

I got I Just Can’t Cope-acabana and Live, Love, Carnaval from Sally Beauty Supply. I got Get Too Close to the Flame from the Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer online shop; it’s been discontinued.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Welcome back to Swatch Saturday! We’re breezing through the first part of the Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s huge Doctor Who collection! After this, there’s only one more polish before we move on to the next phase. I can’t believe it! This penultimate purple polish is called Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Gelous as a top coat.

ssbegljayssbsc

Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie is a dusky lilac polish with blue-to-purple shifting shimmers. Application was good; the product consistency was on the thicker side, but was easy to work with. This is more of a creme-style polish than the usual BEGL shimmers, so though it was thick, it was intended to be. This was nearly opaque on the first coat, and I could have stopped at two coats. The shimmer shift occurs in any lighting condition. The polish dries with a satiny finish; it’s not fully glossy, but not very matte. I used top coat for shine and protection.

There are a lot of shifters in this part of the collection, and what sets this one apart from them is the creme base. The creamy purple base shade is a unique one on its own, and though the shift isn’t as strong as the others in this collection, it’s enough to set this one off. The jellier polishes like A Long Time Ago Tomorrow and Doctor Martha Jones have the benefit of being sheer and having the shimmers and/or flakies from previous coats come and overwhelm the look, but Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie is creamy color first and shimmer second. I think it’s pretty awesome.

I did my best to capture the shift in the studio. Even though the shimmer isn’t all that strong, the shift really transforms the look. It’s a much cooler purple when the blue is active, and the purple shift makes it warm and exciting.

These photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors. Natural light didn’t bring a big change, but the purple looks a bit lighter and creamier.

Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGL polishes are available in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Confetti Disco

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

Welcome back to Manicure Monday! Today’s mani is made up entirely of glitter, it’s kind of insane. Also, there’s some Wacie Nail Company restock info coming, so keep reading! For this look, I used Sinful Colors’s Queen of Beauty as the base, Digital Nails‘s Spectraflair top coat over that, and Wacie Nail Company’s Handful of Confetti for the glitter accents. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. Also, these photos are taken outdoors in partly cloudy conditions.

Queen of Beauty is a veteran in my collection; it must have been around 2008 when I bought it. When I started this manicure, I seriously doubted whether I’d have enough to get me through the whole mani. This polish is great because it’s so versatile; I don’t think it was intended to be worn as a full-coverage microglitter polish, because you can see some teeny-tiny gaps in coverage, but it works pretty well as one. It also looks great as a topper, which is how I’ve worn it in the past. Also, it’s shiny. It’s wicked shiny. Light bounces off this like you wouldn’t believe. You can see the glare in some of these photos. It’s the reason a lot of these photos are washed out and blurry. I love it.

I got the Spectraflair top coat out because I wanted to take it just a step further. The chunky rainbow glitter has a slightly holo base, and I thought it would look weird with some of the nail being holographic and some not, so I thought the holo top coat would even it out. As it turned out, it was cloudy and you can barely see the holo effect in either polish. It’s pretty visible in the accent nails, but I think that’s because the accent glitter has Spectraflair in it as well. On the nails without it, you can barely tell. At least I know it’s there. It’s kind of a fun little secret.

mmcdmc

This set of photos were taken indoors in the studio; some with flash, and some without. This mani definitely looked better in the sun, but they always do.

Handful of Confetti is making its debut today, and I’m really excited! I don’t want to say too much about it, because I have an entire post dedicated to it I’ll be posting on Wednesday. I love ridiculous glitter toppers, and I know they’re becoming passé in indie polish these days, but I still love them and I want to cling to them forever. I chose it as the accent for this mani because it couldn’t be more different from the base polish; every bit of glitter stands out from it, it adds tons of color, and it’s interesting to look at. I think it’s a pretty fun look.

One more photo: here’s a shot of the bottle, just so you can see how empty it is. I haven’t come this close to finishing a bottle (of polish) in years.

Queen of Beauty and other Sinful Colors are sold nationwide; mine is from Walgreens. Digital Nails polishes, as well as their Spectraflair top coat, are available from their etsy shop. Handful of Confetti will release Wednesday, February 24, at 2 PM EST; watch this space for more information.

I bought two of these polishes myself; I made one.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s A Long Time Ago Tomorrow

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Saturday once again, and I have a new swatch for you! This polish is a fun new twist on the classic deep blue. This is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s A Long Time Ago Tomorrow; I’m wearing it at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

ssbeglaltat

ssbeglaltat2

ssbeglaltat3

ssbeglaltat4

A Long Time Ago Tomorrow is a sheer cobalt blue — TARDIS blue, as described by the maker — with flakies that shift from blue to purple to pink. Application was easy; the first coat was thin, but built coverage with additional coats; it took me all three coats to achieve a perfect and even opacity. The product consistency was ideal; it was just the right thickness, and the flakies distributed evenly over the nail. The shift occurs in any lighting condition. It dried quickly and with a matte finish, reminiscent of denim. I added top coat for shine and protection.

ssbeglaltat5

ssbeglaltat6

ssbeglaltat7

A Long Time Ago Tomorrow is the blue sister of I’m Doctor Martha Jones, Who the Hell Are You?; they both have the translucent colored base, the shifting flakies, and the matte finish. Basically everything I said about that polish is true about this one; it’s easy to apply and wear, it’s wicked beautiful, and flakies are just so much fun to look at and play with the light so wonderfully. This polish is packed full of these flakies, and it gives the polish a really cool look. I love it when I can see the definition of all those tiny particles.

I got some sunlight photos! Just like the studio photos, the flakies stand out really well, and the shift occurs when my nails are facing the sun directly.

ssbeglaltat8

ssbeglaltat9

A Long Time Ago Tomorrow has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGL polishes are available from their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

HPB Presents First-Ever Indie Brand!

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Stacie Wacie

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.

hpbfib

hpbfib2

hpbfib3

hpbfib4

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.

hpbfib5

hpbfib6

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.

hpbfib7

hpbfib8

hpbfib11

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.

hpbfib12

hpbfib13

hpbfib14

hpbfib15

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.

hpbfib9

hpbfib10

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.

Wacie.com

Home of Wacie Nail Company

Tag Archives: indie

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Siren Noir

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Peita’s Polish’s Serenity

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype BBD1.0

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Fun With Microglitter

I bought these polishes myself, except for the one I made.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s A Snogging Booth?!

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Strawberry Banana Swirl With Sprinkles

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie!

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Confetti Disco

I bought two of these polishes myself; I made one.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s A Long Time Ago Tomorrow

I bought this polish myself.

HPB Presents First-Ever Indie Brand!

I bought this polish myself.