Tag Archives: nail charms

Manicure Monday: Beyond

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It’s Monday, and it’s time for manicures! This week, I’m using the one Color Club Halo Hues polish I own. I gotta say, for a mass-market holo, it’s pretty good! This is Beyond; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken in direct sunlight. Also, full disclosure: it’s been raining most of the day, so when it stopped and the sun was actually shining, I ran outside before everything was totally dry and smudged my ring finger. I decided to just photograph it as-is instead of redoing it and risk losing the sunlight.

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I remember the Color Club holos being a huge deal a couple years ago. They were easily the most accessible linear holo on the market at the time. I saw more of these in nail polish communities than actual indie holos. Beyond isn’t the most unique polish; it’s a warm gray holo, but still pretty comparable to early indie holos — Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Don’t Worry, I Don’t Bite is one that comes to mind. Of course, that can work to its advantage, too; if you love those basic early holos but they’ve all been discontinued or reworked, these are certainly for you.

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I think I actually bought this one on accident. I actually wanted Kismet, that dreamy silver holo from the same collection, and I goofed and got Beyond instead. Not that I’m complaining. I love wearing this, and I don’t feel so guilty about using it so much as I do with the indie holos. I know I’d have a much easier time replacing this one than, say, a sought-after Enchanted.

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Smudge :(

Smudge 🙁

I’m still so sad about that smudge. It looks worse in real life than it does in photos; I ended up bumping it again on the way in and I’m probably going to redo it anyway just because it bugs me. I feel like a bad blogger for posting these — especially the macro — but as I write this, another bout of storminess is rolling through, and I know I did the right thing.

Beyond, Halo Hues, and other Color Club shades and products are available on ColorClub.com. The infinity loop bow is from Daily Charme.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES!

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Welcome back to Manicure Monday! Today, I’m wearing a favorite from my collection, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES! I’m wearing three coats with Seche Vite top coat and Essie’s Matte About You matte top coat.

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I love this polish so much; it’s so whimiscal and cute I could die. It’s one of my favorite indies, and it’s one of the cutest polishes I own. I like to think it might also be pretty hard-to-find, and that kind of excites me. It was the gift with purchase the first time BEGL’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer-inspired collection came out, and when it was re-released a couple years ago, it was replaced with a holo that was actually pretty stunning. It’s kind of sad to think it might never come back; as much as I love having HTF polishes, I feel bad that so many people missed out.

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I needed a new matte top coat, so I finally decided to try Essie’s. The last time I looked for this, I was buying my first matte top coat ever, and they were just becoming popular. I ended up with the Revlon one because it was the only one my Walgreen’s had. I’m still struggling to embrace the matte finish, but I really like how it looks with this polish. The glitters still shine despite not being glossy, and the milky blue crelly looks like porcelain. I actually do have a few matte looks planned in the coming weeks, and I feel weird that I’m looking forward to them.

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Sunlight photos! The pale blue got washed out in direct sunlight, looking more like a cool white in some photos. The glitters stand out very well though!

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Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES! has been discontinued by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer; other BEGL polishes are available from their online shop. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

This is also one of my most frequently used polishes, as you can see.

This is also one of my most frequently used polishes, as you can see.

This polish was a gift, but was not sent for review.

Manicure Monday: Toggle to the Top

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Happy Monday! This week’s look is just one polish, Essie’s Toggle to the Top! I’m wearing three coats of Toggle to the Top with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Toggle to the Top is a fairly unique polish in the Essie lineup. I can’t think of too many others in their core line that have glitter in them. It’s a rich and deep red, gorgeous on its own, but the glitter adds edge and dimension. It makes me feel super sexy.

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I kind of messed this mani up with my new brush. The old brush I used to clean my cuticles with eventually became so ragged I had to toss it, and I’m still learning how to work with my replacement. As sexy as I feel in this polish, I can’t stop looking at the mile between my cuticle and the polish.

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But yeah, I love this polish, and I wish Essie did more like it. I know they (re)released Starry Starry Night, and I failed to get in on that because I couldn’t find it anywhere. I don’t buy too much polish anymore, but that’s definitely one I’d snatch up if I had the chance. I’ve never understood why they shy away from glitter. The LuxEffects collection, while they still have a place in my heart, and kind of old and boring now. Toggle to the Top is a perfect example of an elegant glitter polish that isn’t overdone or tacky.

Toggle to the Top and other Essie polishes are sold nationwide. My bow charm is from Daily Charme.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Whack With Poo Brain

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Happy Monday! I did a simple look with a fun polish this week. This is Whack With Poo Brain from Digital Nails; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite and the Infinity Loop Bow from Daily Charme.

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When Whack With Poo Brain was released, it was one of a special edition polish duo. Poo Brain and its sister polish, Ellagee’s Chronic Badass. The duo was created to raise awareness for fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses. May 12 is actually Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, and I’ve been planning to wear this polish for like a year, so that’s kind of lucky.

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I love this polish because it’s just quirky enough. The milky purple crelly is a beautiful color, and the glitter just adds personality. Of course, in true Digital Nails fasion, this polish was inspired in part by Adventure Time and its whimsical silliness, and I feel like that really comes through in the glitter. It’s not an ostentatious mix; the colors are basic, the iridescence gives it a little sparkle, and the circle and square shapes make it fun. It’s cute. That’s really the best word. Cute.

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Outdoor photo time! You can see the dimension in the crelly pretty well out here, as well as some of the iridescent glitters.

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Whack With Poo Brain was a limited edition and is no longer for sale. Other Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop. The infinity loop bow and other charms are sold at Daily Charme.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Cool Raspberry Swirl With Sprinkles

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Happy Monday, reader! Today’s look was done because I realized I don’t do watermarbles as often as I should. I used Sinful Colors’s Timbleberry (pink) as the base, Essie’s I’m Addicted (darker blue) and Mint Candy Apple (lighter blue) in the marble, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype PCFS 1.0 as the glitter accent.

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In a future post, you’ll read about the lack of watermarbling on the blog; basically, when I plan a mani, I’m thinking about what glitters will pair best with cremes, and other cremes are rarely considered. The fact is, I love watermarbling, and sometimes it’s just so hard to find a cool color combination, and also formulas that lend themselves to the process; nothing’s worse than discovering a polish doesn’t spread over the water and knowing I’ve wasted polish. I’d been planning to use Timbleberry for a while, and I had a Lynnderella topper set aside for it. At the last minute, I decided that I was going to watermarble instead.

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Mint Candy Apple and I’m Addicted were chosen because they just happened to be on my desk. I have them set aside for swatching some glitter toppers in the future. I saw them alongside Timbleberry and thought “Why not?”. The final outcome looks a little like a rocket pop, and more than a little like toothpaste, but I’m really happy with how it came out. My top coat smudged it a bit, but this is barely visible in real life.

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The glitter was the very last piece the look needed, and to me, it brings the whole thing together. I couldn’t stand the thought of not using any glitter, so I picked this one. The colors aren’t a spot-on match, but it’s pretty close. Overall, I think this ended up being a pretty cool look; you’ve got the bright-but-not-totally-neon bright pink, the cool blues, and a tiny bit of sparkle. I also lucked out having the bow be the exact same color as the blue in the mani.

Outdoor photo time! There’s no large difference among the colors here, but I got some okay macros. Try to see past the smudges. I also got a photo of a nail on my right hand; I always get the best swirls on the nails on the other side of the camera.

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Timbleberry might be discontinued by Sinful Colors. I’m Addicted also may have been discontinued by Essie. Both brands are sold in stores nationwide. Prototype PCFS 1.0 is a Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer one-off; other BEGL polishes are sold in their online shop. My bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: California Pearl

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Happy Monday, reader! Today’s mani was done with Sinful Colors’s San Francisco and Lynnderella‘s Chef Kitty. I was a little disappointed with how sheer San Francisco went on, but I still I got a pretty cool look. More photos below!

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San Francisco is a polish I’ve had a long time; you can tell in the photos that the bottle is only about half full. I’ve had it for many years, and it was one of the first few I bought when I was just starting my collection. That said, I knew to expect sheer coverage from this polish, but I forgot just how sheer it gets. The color is a deep and rich shimmering emerald, but the nail line is still very visible, even after three coats. This is especially true in bright lighting conditions; see the outdoor photos.

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Chef Kitty is such a fun polish. It was my introduction to Lynnderella, and set me off on an exciting and financially draining journey. I think it’s a great addition to San Francisco; the green glitters are a little invisible over the green base, but the whites and the other colors stand out very well. It’s a great polish for adding a little extra color and sparkle without having it take over the whole manicure.

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Here are some outdoor photos. You can see how sheer San Francisco is, but you can also see how lovely its shimmer is. The glitter in Chef Kitty is a lot more defined. The pearls I stuck on to finish the look are much smaller than they appear in these photos.

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San Francisco and other Sinful Colors polishes are sold in stores; I got mine from Walgreens. Chef Kitty and other Lynnderella polishes are available on eBay and in their Storenvy shop. My pearls were purchased on Amazon, and my bow charm is from Claire’s.

I bought these products myself.

Manicure Monday: Orion Nebula

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Welcome back, reader, and happy Monday! I only used one polish for today’s look, Orion Nebula from Different Dimension. I only own a few DD polishes, but this is my favorite of all of them, hands down. I’m wearing two coats of Orion Nebula with one coat each of Seche Vite top coat and Ulta’s matte top coat.

Let me get something off my chest first, though. I mentioned using a matte top coat, but my nails are satin, at best. The Ulta top coat came from a top coat set that I bought a few years ago, and all the top coats were crap. The holo top coat was basically a silver holo polish, the smoked top coat was streaky and sad, and I don’t even know about the UV top coat. The matte top coat has a lot of room for improvement, and it takes a century to dry. I smudged my index nail pretty bad like half an hour after I applied it. I’m kind of pissed. Thankfully, I don’t think it’s available anymore. You’ll also notice I’ve cut my nails, I had a break washing dishes. I was really looking forward to how this polish would look on long nails.

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I’m happy to be wearing this polish, though. It’s such a cool look. The black jelly is a bit thin, but the glitters are suspended beautifully. It takes a little while to get the first large dot glitter, but when I finally got it, the others came out easily.

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This was probably the polish that brought me to Different Dimension. I have no idea how I came across it or what led me to it, but I knew I needed it as soon as I saw it. In general, I love all these DD glitters with the big fat circles; they catch so much light and give the polish a lot of character. This one is my favorite because it’s so many of my favorite things in one bottle: black polish, pink glitter, huge shapes.

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In direct sunlight, you can really see the jelly effect. It looks a lot darker and more opaque in the studio. The glitters shine better outside as well.

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Orion Nebula and other Different Dimension polishes are available on their website. My bow is from Daily Charme.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Shine Overload

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Happy Monday! I got crazy with the shiny nails today, just because I could! For this look, I used Ciaté’s Monte Carlo over Orly’s Shine with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. Also there’s a huge rhinestone bow.

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When I started this mani, I knew it wouldn’t photograph well at all. I’m okay with it, really. It’s so shiny in real life. Shine is this great shimmery metallic silver that reflects a lot of light, and Monte Carlo is filled with metallic and holographic glitters that makes it worse. It’s not really that over-the-top, I guess, it’s a pretty basic polish with glitter, but photography really was a challenge.

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Monte Carlo is actually a pretty cool mix of glitter. It’s kind of a mess; the glitters — blue, pink, and holographic silver bars — don’t really go together, but the overall look is chaotic and fun. It’s neither fine nor chunky, but adds a pop of color and the shine of glitter to any under-color.

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I feel like Shine maybe detracts from it a bit. I thought it would be a good under-color for Monte Carlo; since Monte Carlo already had a lot going on, I thought it needed a strong color under it, something that could hold the figurative weight of the glitter. In general, I do like the way it looks, but I think the silver shine, when the light hits it, overwhelms the subtleties of the glitter. Shine is one of the most aptly-named polishes ever. The following set of photos were taken outdoors in direct sunlight. I think the sunlight photos came out better because the light is better diffused, but I still had a little bit of a problem with the glare. The silver holo bars show up best here.

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So let’s talk about the bow charm. It’s awesome, right? It’s ridiculous. They’re wider than my whole finger and it’s only a matter of time before they pop off somewhere and get lost forever. I couldn’t resist it, though. I really wanted to make this look even more obnoxious than it already was.

*bling*

*bling*

Shine is available wherever Orly is sold; mine is from Sally Beauty Supply. Ciaté is sold at Sephora. The gigantic bow is from Born Pretty Store.

I bought these items myself.

Manicure Monday: Strawberry Banana Swirl With Sprinkles

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Manicure Monday: Neon Satisfaction

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Manicure Monday is here again! I kind of can’t believe how fun my manicure is today. It’s adorable and obnoxious, but I think it’s a great combo, if I may say so. For this look, I used American Apparel’s Neon Violet with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Self-Satisfied, along with Seche Vite top coat and Ciaté’s Mattenificent matte top coat.

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So I’ve swatched a bunch of American Apparel neon polishes, and I have to say, they’re some of the best I’ve ever used. They have great coverage and they don’t require a white base for their neon-ness. The only downside is that they’re not always 3-free; this one contains formaldehyde. It’s a great polish, though. I love the color, brightness, and product formula. When I picked this for Manicure Monday, I knew I needed something equally as fun and bright to balance it out.

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Self-Satisfied is one of my most-used glitter toppers. I’ve used it in three different manicures now and it’s about half-empty. It looks fantastic over everything, though I love it best over bright colors, especially orange. I love to pair complementary colors, so I knew this would be best for the Neon Violet. Not all of the colors in the glitter work well over the base; it’s hard to see the red hearts and dark pink hexes, but I still like the match. I really love the way this turned out.

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The only real downer to this manicure is the matte top coat. I’ve used Ciaté’s Mattenificent matte coat a couple times now, and I don’t know if it’s user error or not, but it kind of sucks. I mean, it does a great job being matte; look at how velvety the color is. What’s not cool, though, is how it splits. It makes these lines like crackle polish. Also, for some unknown reason, it created these white marks on my nails. Look at my pinky nail. Where did those come from? There was no white polish used in this manicure, so why there are there white spots? I actually had white brush strokes on my thumb. Here’s the kicker: the super glue I used to secure the studs left a bit of shine, so I put down another coat of Mattenificent; the white spots and lines went away. Seriously? They didn’t all go away, obviously, but the unsightly white brush strokes on my thumb are gone, as well as some other marks on other fingers. I am just so confused. At least the mani looks fine, that’s what counts! Here are some outdoor photos, taken in direct sunlight:

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American Apparel doesn’t seem to sell nail polish anymore, at least not on their website, because I couldn’t find it there. Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer has discontinued Self-Satisfied; other BEGL polishes are available in their shop. Ciaté is available at Sephora. My bow charm is from Claire’s, and I forget where my studs are from. Sorry.

I bought these polishes myself.