Manicure Monday: Love in Silver

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Here’s this week’s Manicure Monday, and possibly my last mani before Christmas. I’m accidentally festive, too! For this mani, I’m wearing two coats of Julep’s Zelda, one coat of Model City‘s Love Hurts, and one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Zelda is a cool champagne metallic polish. It is probably the best Julep polish I’ve ever used. I got opaque and even coverage in one coat, and it was dry to the touch in about five minutes. The consistency was perfect, and it dried with a shiny foil finish. I wish every Julep polish was like this. It’s so easy to apply and wear.

Love Hurts is a clear glitter topper with black glitters, some fine silver glitters, and holographic red hearts. The glitter distribution with this one is really nice; I got tons of hearts on the brush when I dip in, way more than I wanted, which rarely happens. I had to dip in a few times, just to get the black and silvers. The consistency is pretty nice; it wasn’t too thin or too thick, and it dried pretty quickly. My one issue here is that the heart glitters seem to be losing their color. It’s not bleeding into the lacquer, but it looks like some came off onto my nail. It’s too bad, but it’s kind of cool, like stylishly distressed jeans.

You can get Zelda from Julep.com, or from anywhere Julep is sold. Unfortunately, Love Hurts has been discontinued by Model City and is no longer available.

Manicure Monday: Peachy Glitter

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Manicure Monday, and this week I have the challenge/responsibility of showing you a mani I don’t really like. It’s like an accidental ode to my grandma. This is three coats of Julep’s Lynn, two brushed coats of LA Colors’s Tinsel, and one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Lynn is a peachy pink with a slight shimmer. Application was okay; normally I’d apply two coats as a base for glitter, but I still had some patchy coverage and streaking by coat two, so I went for the third. Drying time took quite a while, more than fifteen minutes per coat. This might have been due to me adding thicker coats to get more coverage, and then not getting it. The consistency is on the thin side, and is pretty standard Julep quality. The texture after drying was pretty and glossy. There were some brushstrokes left by the shimmer, but they’re not very obvious.

And there’s Tinsel. Tinsel is a peachy pink jelly with iridescent glitters. While there appears to be a lot of glitter in the bottle, most of it doesn’t brush onto the nail so well. See that smattering of glitter? That’s all I got from two coats. It’s pretty and all, but it really looks like it’s missing something. Perhaps that’s why I don’t like either of these polishes, they’re lacking something special, and seem bland and outdated because of it.

Final word: I’m having a really hard time thinking of this as something other than an old lady manicure.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Resolutions

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Swatch Saturday again! Today, I’m bringing you the second part of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s new year’s duo. Released early this year, 2014 and Resolutions were released alongside their winter collection. We saw 2014 last week, so today we’re looking at Resolutions. I’m wearing one light coat of Resolutions over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Julep’s Martha, and China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Resolutions is a glitter topper with primarily black and blue dots and hexes, as well as icy blue shimmer. There are a few colorful surprises: lime green diamonds, white blocks, black stars, purples, yellows, corals. I put on a very light coat, and I didn’t get a lot of the big colorful glitters. They’re kind of hard to fish out, and tend to hang out at the bottom of the bottle. A second coat would definitely have helped me out, and probably would have helped me get those big pink dots and hexes. Those are my favorites.

As always, this is a dream to wear and apply. I could have used a little more glitter on the brush, but that’s not too much of a worry. The base dries fast, and surprisingly, the glitter is flat and smooth on the nail, which rarely happens with polishes like this. Even the big glitters are glassy smooth. It’s nice.

Unfortunately, this is long discontinued, but a few of my favoritest BEGL glitter toppers are actually on sale in the BEGL store. If you liked this one, I think you’ll love those.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Electric Icicle

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s another wintry delight this Swatch Saturday! Today we’re looking at the second half of the winter duo Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer released last year. We saw and loved Untrodden Snow; let’s have a look at Electric Icicle. I’m wearing two coats of Electric Icicle over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get, Essie’s Marathin, and Julep’s Dianna, as well as one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro.

Electric Icicle is a clear glitter topper made with “bright blue holo hexes, rainbow iridecent hexes and squares, silver holo hexes and tiny diamonds, and blue holo stars”. I wore two coats because the all the good shape glitters were hanging around toward the bottom of the bottle, and my first coat was a bit thin on the glitter. Application was pretty easy apart from that; the glitters spread well and didn’t clump. The base dried quickly. I had no problems with it.

I gotta say, this might be the best winter glitter topper I have. I’ve got a few that have icy blue glitters with silver, and even though they’re very pretty and they shine a great deal, they don’t have a whole lot of color. Electric Icicle is the best of both worlds. The metallic and holo textures of the glitters — especially the silvers — give the look some iciness, but the blue and iridescent glitters give it a lot of color as well. This is a mix that is all about winter, but doesn’t let winter bring it down. It’s amazing.

I nearly swatched this on the pink and blue I used on Wednesday, Mint Candy Apple from Essie and Martha from Julep. They’re really soft but bright colors that make the perfect base for any glitter topper. I was afraid that it would look like the same mani two days in a row, so I went with Marathin from Essie and Dianna from Julep. I chose Dianna because I wanted the blues to be kind of homogeneous, and since Dianna is a dusty color, obviously a dusty rose would complement it. I almost feel like I should have chosen gray over white, but the glitter looks so perfect over white that I’m glad I didn’t.

Wacie Wednesday: Wintrella

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

The last Wacie Nail Co. (for now) prototype I’ll be showing you is Wintrella, a glitter topper made up of silver and blue holo glitters. I’m wearing one coat of Wintrella over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, and Julep’s Martha. I’m also wearing one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Wintrella has a lot of glitter in it. There’s very fine holo silver dust, tiny hexes, slightly bigger but still somewhat tiny squares, big silver hexes, bigger silver hexes, silver dots, blue dots, and silver hearts, but I couldn’t manage to get those out of the bottle. Again, they just sat in the bottle, mocking me. I couldn’t get too many of the dots, either, but at least I can prove they were in there.

Maybe I’m glad I didn’t get so many. The smaller glitters give a minimal look that’s already quite pretty. The big glitters look out of place. Maybe they’re not right for this mix.

Overall, I think it’s nice. I definitely want to take it back to the drawing board, but I think I’m onto something.

Wacie Nail Company news: I hope to have something in the store before the month ends. I have a couple of limited editions in the works, as well as a New Year’s Eve-themed collection next month. I’m so excited to be working on it, and I hope you’ll like it a lot.

Manicure Monday: Pale Gold and Glitter

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

As much as I hated to take off my cupcake nails, it’s Manicure Monday again. I’m moving on from my birthday mani to wear this sparkly gold one. This is Julep’s Amelia at three coats. The glitter is Essie’s On a Silver Platter, worn here at one coat. All nails are topped with Color Club’s clear coat.

Amelia is a sheer, frosty, pale gold polish. Three coats was definitely necessary for this one, because my nail line was still visible after two. In some lighting conditions, it’s still visible after three. As you can see, this one has a lot of frost, and as a result, a lot of visible brush strokes. Also, some weird bubbling occurred, but I’m not sure that’s a problem with the polish itself. Despite the formula, application was pretty easy. Julep polishes always tend to be a little thinner than I like them, and I end up with flooded cuticles and patchy coverage. This one is nice in that regard, I had no flooding and no issues with getting even coverage. If only the same were true with the brush strokes.

On a Silver Platter stole the show here, didn’t it? My gosh, this glitter is fantastic. The Essie website describes it as a “pearlescent gold with holographic violet glitter”. It’s just striking. I don’t usually like dark glitters in light bases, but I love this one a lot. Both the golden shine and the rainbow add something unique to the look. Application was easy; the glitters came out easily and spread well. And look at it in the sun! Gorgeous.

I can give or take Amelia, it’s not really anything special to me. This glitter, though, is something I need in my life forever.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Self-Satisfied

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Swatch Saturday this week is glitter chaos! I’m wearing Self-Satisfied from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, a smorgasbord of neon glitters. I’m wearing one dabbed coat over Eaton Terrace from Nails Inc., and Saltwater Taffy and Skylight from Cover Girl, topped with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

BEGL describes Self-Satisfied as a glitter topper “predominantly yellow and green neon glitters with pink, blue, orange, and purple neon glitters, baby blue holo moons, fuchsia dots, and silver holo butterflies”. I’m not sure it’s possible to count every size, color, and type of glitter in this bottle. Attempting to do so would probably result in some kind of head-clutching space madness.

Since I dabbed this polish on, I’m not sure how long it took to dry, but it seemed dry enough after a 15 minute drying period. The glitters spread evenly enough, but I will admit that I placed a few here and there, just to cover some bare spots. Application is pretty typical for a glitter topper like this, but the look you get is so unique and so worth it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve worn Self-Satisfied; I brought it on vacation with me a couple months ago. I took a picture of my nails with the Washington Monument. I’m wearing it over Julep’s Cody.

Self-Satisfied, and well as its insane pink counterpart, Watch the Walls, are on sale at the BEGL store for $6 each. I adore both of these polishes, and I definitely say they are worth grabbing.

I’m going to hijack the end of this post to say goodbye to an old friend. Last August, I bought a four ounce bottle of Seche Vite. Everyone thought I was crazy to buy so much at once, but I was living alone at the time, I couldn’t get to Sally Beauty whenever I wanted, and I got tired of having to buy a new bottle every few weeks. It was so worth the $15 I paid for it. Last Wednesday, I used the very last of that giant bottle. That giant bottle of Seche Vite has gotten me through nearly every manicure in the past year. Good night, sweet prince.

This is the day I got it. My polish is OPI’s Get Your Number.

My interim top coat is Color Club’s clear coat. I’m not sure if this is a full-fledged top coat, but it dries quickly and leaves a nice shine, and that’s enough for me. This is my first time using it, so I don’t know how well it’s going to wear, but we’ll find out. Either way, it’s fun using something new.

Manicure Monday: Opulent Gold and Crimson

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Manicure Monday is awesome this week! I have on two great polishes, a unique red and a real gold flake top coat. It’s bold, warm, and opulent. For this look, I used three coats of Julep’s Nan, two coats of Zoya’s Gilty 18k top coat, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Nan is an interesting color for sure. It’s a soft, faded crimson creme that reminds me of old fire hydrants and flaky paint. Application was pretty nice for a Julep polish; I usually have coverage issues on the first couple of coats, but this one covered pretty well on the first go. It dries with a smooth, shiny finish. This is a softer color than I like to wear, but I don’t think I have another color quite like this one, and I like that.

I love gold top coats. Gilty gives any polish luxury and shine. I wish there was just a little more gold floating in my bottle, because I got fewer flakes than I wanted, which is why I used two coats. In any case, it makes for a fantastic look, and is amazing over a warm red like this one. And what’s better than looking at these gold flakes shimmer in the sun? Nothing. Maybe pizza.

I have to take this off tomorrow. I’m totally going to do this manicure again when July is over.

Manicure Monday: Sweet Pink and Bold Glitter

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Manicure Monday is good this week. Everything I love is here: pink, glitter, shine; I couldn’t hate this if I wanted to. For this manicure, I’m wearing two coats of Julep’s Carrie with two coats of China Glaze’s Razzle Me Dazzle Me on my accent nails. All nails are topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

Carrie is a sweet candy pink creme. It’sa really nice polish, though I wish I’d gone with three coats instead of two. Consistent with my Julep experience, the first coat was streaky and thin, and while the second coat did a lot to even out the color, there are still some bald spots. Other than that, I like it a lot. I have no other complaints than the coverage.

Razzle Me Dazzle Me is a graffiti-style glitter from China Glaze, filled with various shapes and sizes of black and pink glitters. At first, I didn’t notice the pink glitters were pink; they appear silver at first look, but are much rosier and smokier than silver. In any case, they give off a ton of shine. The black glitters are much more prominent, obviously, so much so that it overpowers the base color. I didn’t plan to use two coats of glitter, but the first coat was kind of lopsided, and I wanted to even it out. Mission accomplished, I guess.

This is an outdoor shot. It was cloudy out there, so I didn’t get many good shots, but I wanted to show you this one because of how shiny the glitter is. See how it looks green? I was standing in front of a tree. And in the other photos where it looks gold? That’s my yellow shirt.

I love this manicure. I don’t wear pink polish often enough.

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.

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