Manicure Monday: Pottery-Inspired Gradient

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Stacie Wacie

For today’s Manicure Monday, I got my sponges out and did a gradient for the first time in months! This particular mani was inspired by a piece of pottery I saw in a museum. This is Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get with Disney’s Villain Varnish in Cruella de Vil, topped with one coat each of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat and Hard Candy’s Mattely in Love matte coat.

Hard to Get is a white creme. It’s my favorite of the white cremes I’ve tried so far, and I use it so often I’m on like my fourth bottle. I actually emptied my current bottle on this manicure, so maybe I’ll pour a little of something out for it. Or maybe I’ll just another bottle. My feelings on Cruella de Vil aren’t so firm. I love the way this polish looks, but I don’t like the formula. It smears when top coat touches it (exhibit A: the thumb smudge), and it stains cuticles (exhibit B: pinky). It is an absolutely gorgeous polish, but sometimes I hate using it.

As I mentioned, the gradient was inspired by a piece of pottery. I was in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia on my birthday a couple of years ago, and I saw this lovely vase that was a deep red at its curved bottom, then faded to white at its fluted tip. I immediately “I am going to do this on my nails” and took a surreptitious photo with my phone for reference. I’d planned to keep it around and show it on the blog once I finally did the mani, but then I lost my phone in Philadelphia (long story) and the photo is gone. I guess that means I have to go back and take another photo.

This is not my best gradient, not by a long shot. It’s pretty tough doing a gradient with a bright color and white, and when you use a smudgy red like this one, it’s even tougher. I was really looking forward to this mani, and I’m disappointed it didn’t turn out so well. I will definitely try this again.

Swatch Sunday: Deborah Lippmann’s Happy Birthday

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Stacie Wacie

It’s time for another Swatch Saturday. For this edition, I’m wearing one dabbed coat of Deborah Lippmann’s Happy Birthday over two coats each of Disney Villains Cruella de Vil, Color Club’s Almost Famous, and Ciate’s Offshore, along with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Happy Birthday is a clear-based glitter topper with a rainbow mix of metallic glitters. The glitters didn’t spread well just brushing them on, but dabbing gave me much more coverage. There’s a ton of glitter on each nail, but you can still see the undies. The glitters are very shiny, and very much so with top coat. Drying times were very fast. I’m pretty happy with it.

I am still a huge fan of these rainbow glitter polishes. Remember when OPI had that Muppets collection with Rainbow Connection? Would you believe I don’t have it? Would you believe that I had gone to Ulta, picked it up, held it in my hands, and then PUT IT BACK because I “didn’t need it”? That was the biggest mistake of my life. Somewhat luckily, the rainbow glitter fad caught on, and every brand had their own version of it. Deborah Lippmann’s take on it is pretty nice. It’s a good consolation prize.

I got my mini bottle of Happy Birthday in a set with She-Bop. I don’t think this set is around anymore, but you can buy full sized bottles at Sephora, Ulta, and (I think) Nordstrom. The good news is, as I mentioned, every brand has their version of this polish now, so you don’t have to drop twenty dollars on this particular one.

Also, quick apology for my cuticles. Every undies polish I used for this mani stained the crap out of my cuticles, and I didn’t notice just how bad it was until I was processing photos. I do apologize. I’m quite embarrassed by them.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Newborn Solstice Sun

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

First Swatch Saturday with nubs! For this Saturday, I’m wearing another Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer holiday limited edition called Newborn Solstice Sun, made to celebrate Yule. I’m wearing three coats of Newborn Solstice Sun with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

Newborn Solstice Sun is a garnet jelly polish with silver and red holographic microglitters. The jelly is quite dark, but the glitters shine through easily. In very bright light, you can see all the way through the jelly and see the bottom layer of glitter; in lower light, it’s murky, and though the glitter isn’t as defined, the shine is still there. Application was smooth and easy; the polish dried very quickly, in about five minutes, and with a matte textured finish. As you can see, it’s still bumpy, even with a layer of top coat. I thought about adding another, but didn’t want to risk shrinking or pulling. It could definitely use another.

While Yule has many traditions rooted in early Germanic paganism, this polish takes its name from Wicca tradition. Yule celebrates the Horned God, who is reborn as the new Sun God on the winter solstice.

This is the last of the BEGL holiday limited editions. There’s actually a Hanukkah-themed polish that is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s the only one of them I don’t have. Like the others, it’s been discontinued and is no longer available in the BEGL shop. A shame, really.

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.

Wacie Wednesday: Millefleur

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Today’s Wacie Wednesday post is super exciting, because my brand new Wacie Nail Co. labels are making their debut on the blog! I am really excited about these, because labels were the last big hurdle to get over before I could finally open my shop. Now that I have them, Wacie Nail Company is super close to opening. We’re only five months behind schedule! To celebrate, we’re going to look at a new Wacie Nail Co. polish called Millefleur. I’m wearing one coat over Sally Hansen’s Hard to Get and Essie’s Mint Candy Apple and Navigate Her.

This bottle of Millefleur was kind of a dud. The name suggests it’s only flower glitter in this bottle, and the swatch suggests that as well. It’s not true, though. Besides the holo red hexes, there are holo red hearts. There are pink glass dots in addition to the pink slices, hexes, and dots; those are also nowhere to be seen on my nail. I don’t know what the deal is with that. The flowers came out easily, but everything else was at the bottom, I guess.

There’s a lot I could have done to improve this polish. Thinning it would be the best for it, I think; the consistency was too thick and dry time was rather long. It would probably help the elusive glitters distribute a bit more evenly. I’ll definitely keep these things in mind when I’m reformulating it. Maybe some color variety would help too; I do admit that I just dumped every pink and red glitter I had into one bottle. It could definitely do with some iridescent glitters, or maybe some Spectraflair. As it is, it’s rather one-dimensional, but that’s an easy fix.

I’m really excited about where Wacie Nail Co. is and where it’s going. Big things are coming up, so watch this space for the big news. For real this time!

Manicure Monday: On the 101

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Sorry for two late posts in a row; today relatives were in town. I didn’t finish this manicure until like seven o’clock today, and I just now have a chance to actually write about it. Today’s polish is one I love a lot, On the 101 from Wet ‘n Wild. I have on three coats with one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro.

On the 101 is a black jelly with various sizes of metallic red glitter. Application wasn’t too bad; Wet ‘n Wild have their really wide brush, and I usually have huge problems with it; I get a ton of polish in the cuticle, where I need it the least. I didn’t really have that problem today, though. This went on pretty cleanly. The glitters are a little hard to get, so if you want to wear this alone as a glitter jelly, three coats is definitely necessary. Even with black undies, you still may want two coats just to ensure maximum glitter pretty. It also dries somewhat matte, so if you want high shine, you’ll need a top coat.

So this is one of my favorites. I can’t remember if it was late 2012 or early 2013, but I was living alone, and I was kind of using nail polish as a bribe to get myself to walk the half-mile to Dollar General to get cat food, ramen, cheap wine, and other broke girl necessities. Previously, the only nail polishes they had were many varieties of LA Colors. I’d already bought a ton of those, and wasn’t interested. In fact, on the day I found this, it seems like I wasn’t even interested in buying polish, I was just passing through the aisle and noticed the new Wet ‘n Wild display. This particular bottle was unlike anything I had at the time, and even though I’d seen indies like this, I’d never seen anything like it in a store. I had to have it. I don’t think I could have even spared the two dollars it cost me, but I had to have it. I bought it so long ago, but today’s the first time I ever used it.

It was late when I took these, so I wasn’t able to get sunlight shots of it. I bet this is huge in the sunshine though. It shines really nicely indoors.

Finally, let me apologize about the charm. Since I was using only one polish, I wanted to add something extra, but I don’t have any red acrylic bows, like I’d usually use. I had this cute silver bow, so I put it on with a tiny dab of super glue. I don’t know if I used too much, or if it’s a remnant from the last time I wore it, but there’s this dried white unsightly mess all around it. It definitely looks worse in the photos than it does in real life, I really had no idea it was there until I saw the photos. I’m really embarrassed.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Death by Restock

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s the last of the 2013 Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Halloween polishes! I always feel a little inadequate when I’m reviewing BEGLs, because I am literally a year too late on these; the 2014 collection is being reviewed by real nail bloggers and the polishes are absolutely gorgeous. This one is too, though! Death by Restock is the final polish from the Nail Polish Frights collection. I’m wearing three coats alone with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

BEGL describes Death by Restock as a “red jelly base with red, burgundy, and black glitters and black and candy red holo skulls”. The skull glitters are rare, as I only got one and it’s on my right hand. The other glitters are plentiful, though, and spread evenly across the nail. The first coat was very sheer, and looked like watermelon, thanks to the black glitters. The next coats build up to a deep bloody red, and the black glitters look much less obvious and harsh. It’s a look that takes a classic color and adds even more drama and depth.

I don’t think I even need to comment on the consistency and application, because it’s always perfect with BEGL: the consistency is just right, it dries quickly, the glitter applies well, and it’s easy to clean up and wear. It dries a little on the satin side, so top coat is necessary to get that sexy jelly shine. It doesn’t get much better than this.

I think this could be my favorite from the whole four-piece collection. I mean, they are all super-gorgeous in their own way, but I think this one appeals to me the most. I love red polish, jellies, and glitter, so this is basically the wacie.com dream polish.

Let’s take a minute to talk about the idea of death by restock: BEGL has released two major collections back-to-back: Far From the Sun came out this summer, and the Ladies of Doctor Who came out this past weekend. Also, a special polish is out to commemorate the second birthday of Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl. On Tuesday, I ordered everything, which set me back more than I care to admit. My boyfriend is probably going to break up with me when he finds out. It’s worth it.

Wacie Wednesday: Pinprick

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I’ve been looking forward to swatching this for a while. I got creative some night in the Wacie Nail Co. lab, and by creative, I mean I wanted to make a ton of new polishes, but had very few materials to work with. This is one of the beauties that came from that session. Pinprick, as I’ve come to call it, is a blood red jelly. I’m wearing three coats of it alone on my thumb, index, and pinky fingers; on my middle and ring fingers, I have a glitter sandwich with Pinprick and OPI’s In True Stefani Fashion. All nails are topped with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

Pinprick is a jelly, but it’s nearly opaque in three coats. I’m really surprised by the coverage I got, I expected a more visible nail line, and I didn’t expect it to come out so dark. It’s practically black in the bottle, but is very bright over the glitter. If I hadn’t done the jelly sandwich nails, you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s a jelly at all. Pinprick does dry with a matte finish, so top coat is definitely necessary to get this gorgeous shine.

Let’s talk about the glitter sandwich nails for a minute. This is the real reason I made this polish. I always say there’s nothing like a red nail to feel glamorous and sexy, but the glitter here makes it even better. The glitters in In True Stefani Fashion are pretty fine, and took a lot of effort cleaning up. I think I spent my whole day trying to get it all off. It was so worth it. I feel like a million sexy bucks right now. Glitter sandwiches are the best.

In the sunshine? Oh man. You can really see the jellyness in direct sunlight, and it looks awesome. There’s still no visible nail line, but the color is still really squishy.

I’ve got a few more reds in the pipeline like this. They’ve got a lot to live up to, though. I don’t think it can get any better than this.

Wacie Wednesday: Decadence

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Wacie Wednesday, and this week I’m wearing a sister polish to Opulence, the gold and silver glitterbomb I wore a week or two ago. This is Decadence, a full coverage glitter with fine red, silver, and turquoise holo glitters. I’m wearing three coats of Decadence with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

I call this a sister polish to Opulence because it was made with the same intent, to learn how different glitters work and compliment each other. I also love the trend of full coverage microglitter polishes among indie makers, and I wanted to try to replicate that look in my own way. I also have some pretty limited glitter selections, and that’s why I’ve used such an odd color combination. I basically mixed every glitter of this size and shape into a bottle. I’d do it again.

Decadence goes on a bit thick, naturally, because there’s so much glitter in it. It does dry quickly, though, and with a fine gritty texture. It’s still textured with one coat of top coat, but it’s a bit smoother than without it. I also probably could have gotten away with two coats, because these glitters cover pretty well.

Outdoors, this is stunning. Sunlight is, for a lot of manicures, the ultimate complement to this polish. Everything is so glittery and shiny and blinding. It’s gorgeous.

Not looking forward to taking it off, though.

Wacie Wednesday: Dynamica

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s always a great day to wear red! The Wacie Nail Company prototype I’m wearing today is called Dynamica; it’s a strawberry red jelly with a smatter of holo pigment. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

This polish is everything I love. It’s red, it’s holo, it’s versatile. Because I’m wearing three coats, it’s visibly opaque. The first coat is quite thin, however, and can be used for jelly sandwiches or similar looks. It didn’t occur to me until just now to demonstrate it with a layer of glitter beneath, but I may do that in the future. I want to wear this again soon.

Dynamica is yet another holo experiment. I was trying to see just how little holo pigment I could get away with using. As you can see, this is rather delicate for a holo; there are no intense punch-you-in-the-stomach rainbows here, and I wonder if it can even be called a holo. Because the polish is translucent, the holo particles from the previous coats shine through, but they are now red, not rainbowy. It doesn’t serve that purpose, it’s merely a little extra sparkle to complete the look. Even in the sun, it’s still very subtle.

It didn’t occur to me until just now that this is a very similar color to Maneater, a Wacie Nail Co. polish I swatched last month. I wish I’d thought of it in time to do a side-by-side comparison. I did use the same red pigment for both, but Maneater is more opaque and warmer than Dynamica. They look like dupes, but they’re totally not.

Finally, a day where the sun is actually shining! This is the first manicure in over a week it wasn’t storming while I was taking photos. I got super lucky this week.

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