Tag Archives: indie

Swatch Saturday Doubleheader, Part Two: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Queen Lime Rose Zinnia

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Here comes part two of the Swatch Saturday Doubleheader! It’s another BEGL, of course. This one is Queen Lime Rose Zinnia; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Queen Lime Rose Zinnia is a lime green polish with a strong pink shimmer. Application was good; the consistency was a little thinner than I expect from a BEGL, but I still got good coverage with only two coats. It dries with a satiny finish; I added top coat because the polish improves with shine.

So it was difficult to capture the shimmer in midday sun. It’s definitely a stronger pink than the photos show here, and the green is a darker, more sherbety color. The macro here is probably the most color-accurate of them all. This is probably one of my all-time favorite BEGLs because of the shimmer; it’s complementary without clashing and being over the top. The shimmer is strong but doesn’t take over the polish. It’s beautiful.

Queen Lime Rose Zinnia has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGL polishes can be found in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Saturday Doubleheader, Part One: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Kaffir Lily

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You lucked out this weekend, Reader! Because I was super busy this weekend, I didn’t have time to post my weekend swatches. That means this weekend will have four swatches instead of just two! The first of these swatches is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Kaffir Lily; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Kaffir Lily is a dusty pink holo with pink shimmers. Application was easy; the polish has the typical velvety BEGL consistency while also being pretty well-pigmented. I had nearly opaque coverage on the first coat, which was wonderful. It needed a top coat for shine, but other than that, this polish is pretty much perfect.

I had so much fun wearing this. I kept it on for a day or so, only taking it off to do another swatch. Besides this swatch, I wore it a couple weekends ago with a watermarble, and it just felt so ladylike and so chic. I absolutely love it.

Kaffir Lily is discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Other BEGLs can be purchased from their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Glitter Shapes on Nude

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Welcome back! I had swatches to show you this weekend, and I had this fantasy that I could write and promote two blog posts while also cleaning my house for my birthday party, attending my birthday party, and then cleaning up after my birthday party. I will be getting you the swatches this weekend, at least. If you missed my birthday manicure on Instagram, you should check it out. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, even if it’s a little more Christmas than I wanted it to be. Anyway, Monday’s here again, and here’s a new mani! This is Julep’s Alexandra, mattified, with a shiny dollop of Lynnderella‘s Golden Lining.

I don’t often like the look of matte nails. I like them on other people, of course, but I always feel like I’m sucking the life out of the polish when I mattify it. Alexandra, though, looks amazing mattified. The pale almond is great on its own, but it’s even more stylish with the matte finish.

Trying to capture the matte/shiny here, just got glare

I didn’t like Golden Lining mattified, so I used an extra bit of top coat over the — I don’t know what to call this shape. Ruffles? Dollops? Scoops? — to make the glitter sparkle. It’s still not as shiny as I hoped it would be, like the contrast between the matte creme and the shiny glitter isn’t as dramatic as I imagined it would be, but I still rather like it. Golden Lining is a beautiful polish and it pairs wonderfully with Alexandra. I’m probably going to use it again this weekend.

I can’t find Alexandra on the Julep site, so it might be discontinued. Golden Lining may also be discontinued, I don’t see it on the Lynnderella site. I also used Essie’s mattifying top coat and Seche Vite.

I bought all of these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Purple and Radioactive

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Happy Monday, Reader! I’m so glad to be back, and your reception to the new posts has been absolutely wonderful. It’s almost like I never took a break! For this week’s Manicure Monday, I’m wearing Digital Nails‘s Curie-oser and Curiouser over Sinful Colors’s Verbena.

Curie-oser and Curiouser is, of course, a polish made in honor of Marie Curie, the scientist most known for her pioneering research on radioactivity. The polish name is an Alice in Wonderland reference. This is truly a Digital Nails polish. The white and black glitters are the most obvious and true-to-life in these photos, but the finer glitters, the fuchsia and aqua, definitely look bigger in the photos. It’s not a wild indie glitter mix, but it’s very pretty and has quite a lot of dimension thanks to the finer glitters.

Verbena is the perfect companion to the glitter topper. I really agonized over what purple polish to pair with the glitter, and had my regular reminder that no matter how much polish I have, I’m never going to have every single one I need. Luckily, I found Verbena at the bottom of the stash drawer; my friend had given me a bag of polish she didn’t want, I just tucked it away, and rediscovered it while I was putting this manicure together. These two colors couldn’t go better together, and I’m so happy I found it, and grateful to my friend for giving it to me.

One more word about Curie-oser and Curiouser: it glows in the dark. I mean, if you’re going to make a polish for Marie Curie, you’re basically required to glow in the dark. I’m wearing two coats of it here, so there’s a very strong glow. I can’t wait to go to bed an annoy my boyfriend with my nails!

Verbena looks like it might have been discontinued by Sinful Colors. Digital Nails is currently on a break.

I bought these polishes myself. One with money, and one with friendship.

Swatch Sunday: Bliss Polish’s VIP in Atlanta

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Swatch Sunday!! This is a polish I’m very excited about. It’s my first-ever Bliss Polish, and it’s the first of the VIP exclusive polishes I got when I attended The Indie Shop Atlanta in March. TIS was so long ago; it was shortly after that when my lens died, and I only got to review one of my scores before going on hiatus. I had this fantasy that I was going to swatch everything I bought and get a lot of hits for VIP swatches, but alas. This is VIP in Atlanta; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Full disclosure: I thought this polish was called Up in Atlanta for months. I mean, Atlanta is up from Florida, after all.

VIP in Atlanta is a cool pinkish-taupe holo. Application was good; the consistency is silky and easy to work with, but I think I’d like it if it was just a tad thicker. I had no problems with it at all. Coverage builds very gently with complete opacity in two coats. The polish dries to a glossy holo finish.

I am so excited about this polish and I feel so guilty writing about it today because I wish it wasn’t an LE so everyone could have it. I love nude polishes when my nails are this length, because it makes them look even longer and more elegant. The holo is bonus.

VIP in Atlanta was a VIP-exclusive shade for The Indie Shop Atlanta. Other Bliss Polishes can be found on their website.

I bought the VIP ticket that netted me this polish.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype W14 7.0

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Welcome back to Swatch Saturday! Man, I’m excited to say that again. Swatching is what I missed the most during my hiatus. I’ve missed the excuse to go through my stash and try on polishes. I’d originally planned to bring you this swatch in March, but as you know, things happen. Anyway, this is a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer prototype called W14 7.0; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

There’s just a little bit of ugly bottle syndrome, it’s still good

Protoype W14 7.0 is a gray creme with a faint smattering of blue-to-purple shifting shimmer. Application was very nice; the polish has a smooth consistency and was lovely to work with. Coverage was also good, with only two coats necessary for complete opacity, or even just one if you like to apply thicker coats. The downside to the polish, and likely the reason this isn’t the final formula, is that the creme is too opaque for the shimmer and hides it. You can just barely see it in these photos. The polish dries to a smooth, shiny finish.

I’ve got to say, gray has been one of the most fashionable colors for polish, and I’m so grateful. I’ve been into gray as a go-to for a while now; black goes with everything but is often too severe, and whites and nudes get dirty and sometimes don’t have enough impact. Gray falls perfectly in the middle, goes with everything, and is very stylish. I love it.

W14 7.0 is a one-off and I have the only bottle. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available in their BigCartel shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Pink Dreams and Real Talk

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Hello there. After six months without new content, wacie.com has returned! I have to admit, it’s a little strange to go through this process again. I don’t quite remember how WordPress works. I don’t quite remember how I used to go about taking the photographs. I got a little less meticulous with nail care since I stopped blogging and I don’t quite remember how to avoid ugly cuticles. I hope you’ll bear with me while I readjust to all this.

I burned my finger making crepes. It’s healing up!

Look how empty this bottle is. I’ve only used this polish like twice.

So, for the first time in six months, here’s Manicure Monday. I’m wearing Lynnderella‘s A Whiter Shade of Maybe over Julep’s Audrey with two coats of Seche Vite. Photos were taken indoors and in direct natural sunlight.

I have missed sharing my nails with you, reader. I still painted my nails a few times a week while I was on my break, but I stuck to some pretty basic looks like this one: one shade, one glitter, very little nail art. I didn’t do a whole lot of nail art to begin with, but I’ve missed it and can’t wait to delve back into it.

I know this combination is a little weird. I wanted dainty, and I got it, but the glitter is sort of invisible here. There are faint pink glitters that blend right into the base color, but the shimmers stand out where they normally might not have. I’m pleased with it. After wearing dark colors for a few weeks straight, it’s a great palate cleanser, too.

So I want to talk a little about the blog and where it might be headed. Before my lens failed in March, I was putting a lot of time into the blog, posting three or four times a week. I was working so hard because I wanted to compete. I wanted to see if I could make it as a full-time blogger. This break gave me a long time to think about why I was blogging, who I was doing it for, did I still find it fulfilling or not. I still plan to blog, but on a much more casual level. I want to try just exploring my nail polish stash and maybe try a personal blog concept again instead. I’ve also had time to reevaluate other parts of my life, and I suppose we’ll just see where blogging falls in with my new goals.

Audrey is out of stock on Julep’s website. A Whiter Shade of Maybe is for sale on Lynnderella.com.

I bought these polishes myself. Real talk is totally real.

Guest Post: Boom Shaka Lacquer

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Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Karel and Boom Shaka Lacquer for writing this post! Please do stop by Boom Shaka Lacquer and show some love.

Nothing to Disclose

Hello there!  I’m popping by today with a guest post since Stacie is currently facing the “Great Camera Lens Disaster of 2017.”  I’m Karel and I am the head writer and nail polish addict at Boom Shaka Lacquer.  I’m so happy to be here today and I’m going to share with you one of my favorite brands of all time!

Today I’m going to review a polish from Digital Nails!  Now, Digital Nails was actually my first Indie Polish brand that I ever bought.  Five years later and I’m still a loyal customer.  Today we’re going to look at Ultimate Ginger:

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Firstly, let me say, this was an original version of this polish.  One glitter in this polish became unavailable so Raph of Digital Nails substituted another glitter and renamed the polish so while this particular version is not available a newer version called Penultimate Ginger (which to my eye is virtually indistinguishable between it and the original) is still available.

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Ultimate (and Penultimate) Ginger is a crelly-based glitter polish.  It is almost a jelly but it has a very slight bit of creme in the base so I would call it a crelly.  The crelly base is a sheer but buildable turquoise and it is jam-packed with glittery goodness.  There are white and yellow satin glitters, orange and emerald green metallic glitter, and itsy bitsy teensie aqua holographic glitters.  It is a veritable cornucopia of glitter.

Plus, this polish is based on one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes of all time, Vincent and the Doctor.  So this polish gets me right in the feels every time I see it.  I love when two of my passions come together, in this case Doctor Who and Nail Polish!

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger

Application on this is lovely.  It is a sheer polish so it does take three coats but they were easy peasy coats.  I did not need to fish for glitter or worry that I wasn’t going to get a nice combination on the nail.  It was not topcoat hungry so I was able to achieve a nice smooth finish with just a layer of my normal quick-dry topcoat.

Digital Nails – Ultimate Ginger (macro)

I hope that you enjoyed this post and I sincerely hope that Stacie will be back with you soon!  If you’d like to check out more of my posts you’re more than welcome to visit me at my blog and social media.  You can also get Penultimate Ginger and other polishes from Digital Nails’ shop!  I’ll include all the stalker links you could ever want below!

Boom Shaka Lacquer:

Website – Facebook – Instagram

Digital Nails:

Store – Facebook – Instagram

Manicure Monday: Feather Weather

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Happy Monday, reader! It’s the official first day of spring, and it’s time for spring manicures. Probably nobody was thinking brown for spring, but it’s what I’m rocking. For a change of pace, I got some feathers out, and there’s something about birds and spring, right? For this look, I used Model City Polish‘s Dark Roast, feathers from a Ciaté nail art kit, and Digital Nails‘s Spectraflair holo top coat for an extra holo finish. All photos were taken in direct sunlight outdoors.

Dark Roast is a great holo. It’s a rich brown, but the holo is pretty strong, and there are these tiny gold shimmers in it. It dries shiny. I felt kinda bad putting the feathers over it, like it was too pretty to cover up. The feathers were kind of a pain, and as you can see, it looks a little messy, but I’m rolling with it. I used the holo top coat over the feathers just to pull it all together, and I think it came out all right.

I heard a sad rumor that Model City Polish closed down, and though I haven’t seen anything official, I do see that their etsy shop is on hiatus. That really bums me out. Model City was one of the first-ever indies I bought from, they gave me my first press samples, and everything they made was quality. It’s sad to see them go. I feel like a bad fan because I’ve just heard about it.

I don’t know where to get Ciaté’s nail art kits anymore. Digital Nails’s Spectraflair top coat is sold in their etsy shop.

I bought these products myself.

Swatch Sunday: Baroness X’s Sakura Skies

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Hey reader! I’m so excited about today’s swatch. This is the first of my Indie Shop Atlanta purchases to make it to the blog, and it’s from a new-to-me brand. It also just came out and I don’t usually wear things so soon after release. This is Sakura Skies from Baroness X, one of the collaboration polishes in the most recent installment of The Color Box. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vive top coat.

Sakura Skies is a cornflower blue polish with flakies that shift from bright pink to gold. Application was easy; product consistency is a little thick due to all the flakies in the polish, but it wasn’t an issue. The flakies’ default setting is pink, and that’s the color I see on the nail most often; the gold pops up when directly facing the light source. The polish dries with a matte finish; I used top coat for shine.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Color Box, the box comes with five polishes that are all the same color family, which in this case is blue. Each polish is a collaboration between the polish maker and a blogger. The Sakura Skies concept came from xoxo, Jen. Jen and Baroness X made a great team, this is definitely my favorite polish in the box.

Outdoors, this polish is something else. The following photos were taken outside in direct sunlight. The shift is a little harder to get — it totally depends on the time of day — but it looks fantastic regardless.

Unfortunately, I just missed the pre-order cutoff for this box. The Color Box is a quarterly event; join the Facebook group to learn more about the box and to be able to vote on the color of future boxes. Watch the Baroness X website for overpour bottles of Sakura Skies and other products.

I bought this polish myself.