Tag Archives: pink

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s She’s Electricity

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Welcome back to Swatch Saturday! Yep, it’s another BEGL polish! I’m getting into a new collection with this week’s polish, the Spark in the Dark collection from winter 2015. I’m really excited to be getting into some newer BEGLs. And by newer, I mean it’s only a year old. This is She’s Electricity; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite. All photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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She’s Electricity is a bright pink holo with pink shimmers. The maker’s description lists aqua shimmers and iridescent microglitters as well, but I didn’t pick up on those. Application was good; the product consistency is pretty great with this polish. It’s easy to work with but there’s a lot of pigment to get full coverage right away. Get this — one coat gave me all the coverage I needed. I didn’t stop there, of course, but I definitely could have gotten away with one if I wanted. Because it’s so pigmented, it dries with a matte finish. Top coat was definitely necessary for the shine and holo effect.

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This pink holo is so much fun to wear. I didn’t really do it justice in these photos. The holo effect is pretty subtle here, but it was a lot more vivid in person, though still subdued. I don’t know if using fewer coats would have meant a bigger rainbow or not. Fewer coats might have helped me find those iridescent glitters. In any case, I love this polish. It’s so pink and I love it.

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She’s Electricity has been re-released as part of the Fan Favorites 2016 collection, however, as of this writing, the BEGL shop is closed and will reopen later this month.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Smitten Polish’s One Heart

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Hello, reader! I’m excited to bring you this week’s Swatch Sunday. I’m wearing a new-to-me brand called Smitten Polish! I’m also wearing my one and only Hella Holo Customs polish. It’s so pink and perfect I could die. This is One Heart; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken in direct sunlight.

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One Heart is a pink holo with some extra silver glitters. Application was good; the product consistency is very smooth, and the coverage is fantastic, giving me a nearly-opaque first coat. I had no issues with it! It dries with a smooth and glossy finish; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

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So color me impressed with this polish. It’s the best of both worlds; the holo is pretty intense without diluting the bright color. It’s really tough to strike that balance sometimes, and Smitten has done it wonderfully with One Heart. Let me just tell you how sad I am to be taking this off right away. So sad.

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If you’re not in the Hella Holo Customs group on Facebook, you should be! Beautiful group exclusives like this one are released every month by amazing indie makers. I know, you probably don’t need another excuse to buy polish, but if you’re like me and you need every single polish your favorite makers put out, you need to be there, just in case. It also helps you discover some new favorites. I’d heard of Smitten before, but never tried anything from them until HHC, and I’m super-glad I did.

Smitten Polish is now Dreamland Lacquer; One Heart is no longer available, but other Dreamland Lacquers are available in their online shop. Check out Hella Holo Customs on Facebook for info on how to join the group and how to buy group custom polishes.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Sinful Color’s Timbleberry

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Welcome back to Swatch Sunday! Even though I’ve worn a lot of Sinful Colors polishes over the years, I’ve never had the chance to dedicate a whole post to one. My Sinfuls are my workhorses; they’re always there for me when I need a basic creme or a dainty iridescent glitter. Timbleberry is the perfect example of a Sinful creme; it has great coverage, it watermarbles, and it’s up to whatever task you have. For these photos, I’m wearing three coats of Timbleberry with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Timbleberry is a bright pink creme polish. Application was good; the first coat was nearly opaque, and the second brought it up to full opacity. The product consistency was still smooth and workable, despite the polish’s age. It dries quickly and with a glossy finish; I used top coat for extra shine and protection.

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Timbleberry is one of the oldest polishes in my collection, and it’s been a part of a lot of different nail looks, though only a couple have been on the blog so far. It’s a pretty unique shade for being a creme; it’s a bright pink, but it’s juicy, warm, and in some lighting conditions, it’s almost red. It’s a great color.

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Unfortunately, Timbleberry has been discontinued by Sinful Colors. Other Sinfuls are available nationwide.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Shleee Polish’s Beautiful Dreams

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Welcome back, reader! I’m excited about today’s swatch; it’s from a brand I’ve been dying to try forever! This is Beautiful Dreams from Shleee Polish; I’m wearing one coat over LA Girl’s Black, China Glaze’s White on White, P2’s French Kiss (pink), and Nails Inc.’s Baker Street (blue).

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Beautiful Dreams is a clear-based glitter topper with a primarily white glitter mix — shapes include stars, moons, hearts, dots, and clouds — with silver moons and stars, iridescent hexes, and a strong blue-to-purple shift. Application was good; I didn’t have to fish for the shape glitters, and the glitters brushed on evenly. Product consistency was also good; it wasn’t too thick or thin. It dried quickly and with a glossy finish; I used top coat for extra smoothness and shine.

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When this polish came out early this year, I jumped on it. This was the first time I’d ever seen the cloud glitters, and I still get so excited about new glitter shapes, I have to buy the polish I see them in first. Beautiful Dreams is a great use for them, too; the overall look is ethereal and celestial, and the clouds just belong. It’s a perfect mix of glitter and shimmer. I am crazy impressed with it, as well as with Shleee in general.

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The following photos were taken in direct sunlight. The shift gets a little washed out — especially in midday — but still looks gorgeous. You may also be wondering why I used a white polish as a base for white glitter. I think there’s something charming about white over white; it’s giving the shift and the silver glitters a chance to stand out.

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Beautiful Dreams is currently not in stock; other Shleee Polishes are available in their etsy shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Bridal Gradient

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Welcome back to Manicure Monday! I’m excited about today’s look, because the first-ever Wacie Nail Company polish is part of it. I feel like I made this polish a lifetime ago! This is Bridal Bouquet over a gradient of China Glaze’s For Audrey and Orly’s Water Lily.

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Bridal Bouquet was the reason I started making polish. I’d had ideas for polishes and ordered customs from other indie makers, but this was an idea I wanted to do just for myself. I still remember how exciting it was to receive all the glitters and bottles and lacquer supplies in the mail; I still remember the satisfaction of shaking it together, brushing it onto a swatch wheel, and knowing I’d gotten it right. That was two years ago. It feels so good to come full circle.

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To keep the marriage motif, I went for a Tiffany-inspired gradient. For Audrey, everyone’s favorite Tiffany blue, had to be used. In testing, I tried Bridal Bouquet over many blues, but For Audrey was my favorite base for it. As an afterthought, I added Water Lily to create a little bit of dimension beneath the glitter. Though Water Lily is a deeper, brighter turquoise, the gradient is very subtle, barely even there. The glitter is such that the gradient is covered up and on display at the same time.

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The following photos were taken in direct sunlight. When the sunlight is harsh like this, the iridescent glitters get washed out. The gradient looks fantastic, though, and there is a bit of sparkle yet. I’m pretty happy with this look, overall. How long has it been since I last did a gradient? Much too long.

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Follow wacie.com for Bridal Bouquet release info, as well as other Wacie Nail Company polishes. China Glaze and Orly are available in stores nationwide.

I made this polish. Other polishes were purchased myself.

HPB Presents: Project Orion

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Welcome to the Hobby Polish Bloggers link-up for the month of July! Each month, this Facebook group chooses a mani theme; it’s up to the participant to decide how simple or elaborate their mani will be. Anything goes as long as it adheres to the theme! July’s theme is space, and I decided to take my mani in a different direction; I attempted to recreate NASA’s Project Orion insignia in mani form. For this look, I used Monster Polish‘s I was Hoping for Minimalism, but I Think I Came Out With Magician as the base, and the logo was done with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Terrific Twos (the planet), Sally Hansen’s Magenta Moves (the whoosh), and China Glaze’s White on White (the stars). All nails were finished with Seche Vite top coat and Essie’s Matte About You matte coat.

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It’s probably no secret that I’m a big spaceflight nerd. I follow rocket launches, planetary science updates, and ISS experiments almost as closely as I follow indie polish releases. When Orion was launched for its first experimental flight test in December 2014, you better believe I was watching it online. It was delayed a few times due to weather violations, and once because there was a boat in the launch zone. I didn’t trust myself to not sleep through it, so I just stayed up for three days. It was really the most exciting thing I’d been since Curiosity landed on Mars.

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My interpretation of the logo is a little sloppy, but I think it’s recognizable at the very least. I think the logo is actually pretty clever; the Orion constellation is hidden inside it. My nail wasn’t quite big enough for the whole design, so it’s a little cramped. The Monster Polish I used as the base is the perfect spaceflight blue. I love that the planet depicted is now a mound of glitter. I’m happy, overall, with how it turned out.

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Part of the reason I did this mani was to raise awareness of what’s going in modern spaceflight. It’s disappointing to me that more people either don’t know about or aren’t interested in the gains we’ve made in the past few years. There’s so much happening now: science is done on the ISS every day, SpaceX is continually innovating, and missions to Mars — likely on the Orion spacecraft — will be inevitable. This is like near-Disneyland levels of excitement to me.

This is an Orion model at Kennedy Space Center. It was a little more convincing in person.

This is an Orion model at Kennedy Space Center. It was a little more convincing in person.

I was Hoping for Minimalism, but I Think I Came Out With Magician and other Monster Polishes are available in their online shop. Terrific Twos was a BEGL limited edition and has since sold out; other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are for sale in their online shop. Sally Hansen and China Glaze are available in stores nationwide.

I bought these polishes myself.
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Swatch Sunday: Seche’s Collage Overlay

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It’s Swatch Sunday again! Today’s swatch is Seche’s Collage Overlay! This is a serious glitter topper. I’m wearing one brushed coat over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Fiji, and Ciaté’s Sugar Plum, as well as one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Collage Overlay is a clear-based glitter topper with holographic pink bar and hex glitters in various sizes, as well as large white hexes. Application was tricky with this; there’s so much glitter and it tends to clump together, making it a challenge to get even coverage. The bar glitters are pretty long in this polish and can be difficult to work with as well. You can see them sticking off the edges of the nail and into the cuticle. On the plus side, it does dry quickly with some chunky glitter texture. I used top coat for shine and smoothness.

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So I really wanted to love this look. I really loved it the first time I used it; I paired it with a hot pink jelly for a sandwich, and it made a really great look. I love the glitters in this mix; I love how it’s holo glitter, but it’s not much like any holo glitter I’ve ever seen. The color is unique. I love the white hexes as a monotony breaker. I just wished it brushed on a bit better. It’s a mess.

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I took some photos outside, and let me tell you, this is blinding in direct sunlight. Look how washed out these sunlight photos are. This will give you some indication of how shiny it is. It was kind of painful to look at.

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Collage Overlay might have been discontinued by Seche. Other Seche products are available in stores nationwide; I got mine from Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Sally Hansen’s Magenta Moves

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Welcome back, reader! It’s Sunday, so it’s time for swatches! Today’s swatch is an oldie but a goodie, Sally Hansen’s Magenta Moves! I still remember the day I plucked this polish out of a Target sale bin. For this swatch, I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Magenta Moves is a bright pink creme polish. Application was a challenge due to the wide Insta-Dri brush. I love the product formula; the pigmentation is excellent, delivering an opaque first coat, but the brush was about as wide as my whole nail and made application somewhat of a mess. The polish itself, though, is very nice. It’s well-pigmented and opaque, and dries evenly and smoothly with a glossy finish. I used top coat for even more shine.

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Let’s talk about the stained cuticle. I know you’re looking at it, I can’t stop looking at it, I’m kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. This is the unfortunate downside to the Insta-Dri formula. Because you get such fantastic one-coat coverage and strong color, you’ll also get some staining if you’re not careful. I figured this would happen, so I took all the precautions I could — I slathered my cuticules in oil before I started, and I tried my damnedest to keep the color off my skin to begin with, but because the brush was so wide and my nails are so little that it just happened anyway. And let me tell you, that pink stain was not easy to remove. I used a boatload of acetone and washed dishes, and the only thing that took it off was cuticle remover. It’s really my own fault for having neglected cuticles, but even so, let this be a warning.

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Magenta Moves has been discontinued by Sally Hansen; other Insta-Dri polishes and Sally Hansen products are available in stores nationwide.

I bought this polish myself.

HPB Presents: Dragonfruit

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Hello, reader! It’s time for June’s installment of the Hobby Polish Bloggers Link-up! Every month, this Facebook group chooses a theme, and the theme for June is fruit! When the theme was announced, dragonfruit was the first thing I thought of, so here are dragonfruit nails! For this look, I used L’Oreal’s Satin Starlet, Digital Nails‘s Valar Morghulis, and P2’s French Kiss, as well as Seche Vite and Essie’s Matte About You top coats.

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I love the flavor of dragonfruit, and vagely knew what it looked like until I was at a luau in Hawaii and found it on the buffet. It was the first time I’d ever eaten actual dragonfruit, and it was amazing. I knew it would be an easy thing to recreate in a manicure, so I went for it.

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I started with two coats of Satin Starlet, then added a brushed coat of Valar Morghulis, another coat of Satin Starlet, another coat of Valar Morghulis, and then added the French Kiss tip. French Kiss was more translucent than I thought it would be and you can see some of the black glitter through the tip, but it’s not the worst thing that happened to this mani. With all the coats, it took ages for the polish to be dry enough for the French tip vinyls. I actually did it once, waited an hour, and had the vinyls pull up the polish on every single nail. I got a beer and started over, waiting four hours this time. The pinky peeled off. This time I just peeled the polish off the vinyl and stuck it back on because I was not doing it a third time.

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My favorite thing about this look is that, even though it’s clearly inspired by dragonfruit, it’s not immediately obvious if you’re not thinking about it. Without the French tip, it’s just a really creamy monochromatic look; I almost didn’t want to add the tip because I liked it the way it was. Adding the tip is adding a great pop of color. White, black, and pink is probably my favoritest color pairing ever.

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Satin Starlet may be discontinued; other L’Oreal polishes are sold nationwide. Valar Morghulis and other Digital Nails polishes are available in their etsy shop (they are currently on hiatus). P2 polishes are sold in Europe.

I bought two of these polishes myself, the other was a gift.
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Swatch Sunday: Revlon’s Sweet Revenge

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Happy Sunday! Today’s post is a little different from the usual Swatch Sunday business, because we’ve got a twofer as the polish this week. Revlon’s French Mix set comes with two colors and encourages you to do some nail art with them. This set is called Sweet Revenge. In the photos below, I’m wearing three coats of each polish with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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Before I talk about the polishes, I want to talk about the packaging, because it directly affects the quality of the polish. While this double-ended polish brush seems really stylish and convenient, I’ve had nothing but problems with them. The brush caps break and stops fitting inside the brush cap, or the polish itself dries out. Either way, the polishes end up becoming unusable. When I took this one out to use it, the brush to the purple polish was broken, and the pink polish was totally dried out. If you have any of these polishes and you hate the packaging as much as I do, you may be pleased to know that the brushes and caps from mini polish bottles from TKB Trading are the same size and will fit very well. This is how I was able to separate mine and save the polish inside.

The pink in this set, as I mentioned, was totally dried out, but I saved it with polish thinner. Because of this, and because I had to use so much, I can’t speak for the consistency of this polish, or what it was like before I had to thin it out. When I applied it, it was on the thinner side, and required all three coats for full opacity.

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The purple polish is very opaque, and achieved full opacity by the second coat. The pink shimmer, though fine, appears best in lower light; the studio lights washed it out a bit. The purple polish was the best suited for nail art because of its opacity. Both polishes dried quickly with glossy finishes.

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I did a quick skittle mani just to see how well each one works for actual nail art. The pink, though it does work for some things, isn’t thick enough to fully cover the purple, which is opaque enough to cover anything. I’ll definitely be using the pink as the base color from now on. Photos were taken in both the studio and outdoors in direct sunlight.

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Sweet Revenge, the French Mix series, and the double-ended brushes in general seem to be discontinued by Revlon, because I don’t see them on their website (good). Other Revlon products are available nationwide.

I bought this product myself.