Summer of Untrieds Day 20: Multichrome/Shifter

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 20 of the Summer of Untrieds calls for multichromes and shifters, and I decided to use Yes, Master from Digital Nails. It’s a magical dark teal duochrome that goes all the way from green to pink. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Yes, Master is easy to apply, though the consistency is a little thick, probably due to all the shimmer and fine little sparkles in it. It does dry quickly though, which is definitely a plus. Cleanup is easy, too; usually polishes with teeny little sprinkle glitters are a pain to clean up with a brush. Overall, this is a really well made polish as well as beautiful.

Man, this is gorgeous! That shine, that shimmer, all those colors… It’s magnificent. That’s all I’ve got. Just… man.

Wacie Wednesday: Slop Bucket

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My post today requires a bit of a backstory. When I first started experimenting with making my own polish, I ran out of bottles pretty quickly, and in an effort to save money, I decided to try to reuse some; I took my failed prototypes, poured them into an empty lacquer base bottle, and cleaned the polish bottles out with acetone. Unfortunately, the amount of work and acetone this required did not make it worth the time, and so I just ordered new bottles. Today, as I was walking into my workshop, I saw the bottle I’d poured all the polish into. I shook it up and watched it settle. There were so many kinds of glitter in it, so many pigments and dyes. I poured some of it into a polish bottle and put it on, and I got something weirdly wearable. I submit to you Slop Bucket, shown here at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

I don’t even know how to describe this polish. What do you even call this color? Shimmery brownish mauve? There are shimmers with hints of green, blue, gold, silver. I can’t even name all of the glitters, but I’m willing to bet every color, shape, and size of glitter I’ve ever used is in here. The lime green glitters outnumber the rest, I’d say, because I used those a lot in my first prototypes. There are flowers and hearts, but I didn’t get a lot of those; you can see the only heart I got on my pinky nail. I got a flower on my thumb, but it got buried under the additional coats.

Is it weird that I like this? All things considered, I think this is really pretty. None of the glitters match, and they weren’t intended to go together. The base turned creamy and brown. Theoretically, this should be the ugliest nail polish in the world, and somehow, it isn’t.

When I took my studio photos, it was storming, so I didn’t think I’d get to see what this looks like in the sunshine, but now the sun is out and the sun is shining like the storm never happened. Thanks, fickle Florida weather! This is crazy shimmery in the sunlight. There’s so much shimmer it’s hard to see what’s going on on the rest of the nail. It’s still weirdly, strangely pretty to me.

Well, that was fun. I’m definitely going to keep this bottle around. I’m also inspired to dump out the rest of my fail bottles and make a sequel.

Summer of Untrieds Day 11: Summer

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Day 11 of the Summer Untrieds Challenge is simply titled “Summer”, so I scanned through the Polish List, looking for something that spoke to me. After a couple of rounds, I found Super Temp and thought it was perfect. After all, what says summer like the temperatures in Florida in July? I’m pretty sure Super Temp is actually a Doctor Who reference, but I’m going to overlook that for now. Anyway, here is Super Temp from Digital Nails at three coats and one coat of top coat.

Super Temp is described by Digital Nails as “a brighter-than-most-can-handle orange coral jelly-crelly, with loads and loads of golden microflakes”. The consistency was a little thick but still easy to work with; I’m going to chalk that up to all the gold flakies in here. There’s a ton of them, and they shine beautifully in the light. The opacity is just right, too; even though it’s meant to be a thick jelly, my first coat was nearly opaque. This is seriously really fun to wear.

I knew I needed this when I first saw it. I don’t own a ton of orange polishes, and I’m always on the lookout for more, especially when they’re as bright and insane as this one. It makes my fingers look tanner, too. It’s a summery color for sure! I’m just sorry I couldn’t get an outdoor sunshine photo of this, it would have been crazy. Actually, if I’d wanted to be accurate about Florida’s summer, I would have used something gray and blah, because it has rained every day this week.

One more thing: you’ll notice the bottom of my bottle is faded white. I actually have a few bottles doing this, and I don’t know what causes it. The polish in the bottle is fine, but the stuff on the bottom is a completely different color. What gives?

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.

Manicure Monday: Minimalism with Color

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I really love this week’s Manicure Monday. I paired these two together on a whim, not really knowing if they went together or not. This is one dabbed coat of Literary Lacquers‘s My Secret Garden over three coats of Revlon’s Barely Blush, topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

As you can see, Barely Blush is a polish I’ve had for a long, long time. I’ve raved about Revlon’s Sweet Nothings collection before, and how easy they are to wear; even though they can be layered over anything and still look amazing, I’ve only ever worn them alone. I love the pearly, subtle shimmer over bare nails so much. Barely Blush is a sheer nude with a pink-to-purple shift and tiny iridescent glitters. I love it. I can’t get over it.

My Secret Garden from Literary Lacquers is a clear glitter topper with pink, lavender, blue, yellow and green matte hexes with iridescent sparkles. I was afraid the glitter would overpower the softness of the base color, and that the base color wouldn’t be a strong enough foundation for it. I’m so glad I was wrong. The bright glitters definitely stand out, but I don’t think it takes too much away from the rest of the manicure. It also looks very nice over Barely Blush: the twinkly glitters in My Secret Garden and the pink pearl shimmer in Barely Blush lift each other up quite well. It’s like a marriage made in polish heaven.

Outdoors, sunlight

I’m also going to say this counts for the Summer of Untrieds Challenge, since this is the first time I’ve used My Secret Garden, and it’s the first time I’ve featured Literary Lacquers on the blog. Everybody wins.

Summer of Untrieds Day Four: Red, White, and Blue

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

When I saw the order of the day today, I knew exactly what polish I had to use. 1776 by Different Dimension is a patriotic-as-hell glitter topper with red, white, and blue stars, white bars, red dots, and tiny white glitters throughout. I bought this on sale last year, and it’s my first-ever Different Dimension polish, so I’m excited to be using it today. I feel like I cheated a bit on the challenge today, because I’m seeing a lot of intricate and ornate nail art pieces for this day of the challenge, and I just put glitter over yesterday’s creme polish. This is two coats of 1776 over three coats of Butter London’s Bumster, with one coat of Seche Vite.

I did a pretty poor job applying this. I put it on in a hurry and didn’t expect the star glitters to be so tough to get out. I managed to get one star on my left hand, but it looks great there, so it’s got that going for it. Next time, I will definitely turn this bottle over and let the glitters redistribute themselves a bit better.

It looks crazy awesome over Bumster, too. I loved Bumster on its own, and I felt a little bad painting over it, but I think these polishes compliment each other well. I love glitter over nudes, it’s such a simple look.

I thought I did a pretty good job cleaning up my cuticles, and then I went into the sun and took some photos. Nope!

Now that I’ve done this, it’s time to dive into July 4th festivities.

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 on Friday: Andromeda

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

My Wacie Nail Co. swatch this week is late and I apologize. I actually wanted to hold onto the pink and glitter nails I did on Monday for a while longer, but then they chipped Wednesday night. I put this polish on Thursday between World Cup matches, but I couldn’t do any photography until this afternoon. The tips are worn, but this is still a nice-looking polish. This is Andromeda from Wacie Nail Company, shown here at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Andromeda is a black jelly with fine rainbow iridescent glitter. It’s a pretty simple in composition; there’s only one glitter variety in here, but look at what it does. There are so many colors here, so complex and dynamic, and yet it’s all the same glitter. It’s very less-is-more, which as you know, is an ideal I almost, almost want to embrace.

You can see the difference in the colors very well in the sunlight photos below. This is crazy in the sunshine; you can see every speck of glitter on every nail. It’s insane.

Also, it was cloudy as crap when I went outside to take these photos; the sun came out just for me. I love when that happens! Either I am the sun, or the universe just wants my skin to char, I’m not sure.

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.

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Don’t Worry, I Don’t Bite

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This Saturday, I’m wearing Don’t Worry, I Don’t Bite from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. This is another beauty from the Once More With Feeling collection that was released last August. It’s a gray linear holo, shown here at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. Photos were taken indoors and outdoors.

Don’t Worry, I Don’t Bite is a gorgeous polish. It applies very easily, dries quickly, and the holo effect is vibrant and powerful, even in indoor lighting. The only thing I regret is that it’s mostly cloudy outside and my outdoor shots are not fantastic. I assure you, this is absolutely stunning in the sunlight, but right now it’s not very sunny at all. It’s disappointing.