Manicure Monday: Heavenly Jewel Tones

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For Manicure Monday this week, I got to use a glitter topper I absolutely love. Revlon’s Heavenly is a beautiful mix of iridescent glitters. It looks incredible over dark colors; I wore it over black about this time last year. I decided to try it over jewel colors for a fancy, muted look. My under-colors this week are Zoya’s Envy, Revlon’s Persuade, and Ulta’s Moody Blues; I’m wearing two coats of each, two coats of Heavenly, and one coat of Seche Vite.

I don’t know what to say about Heavenly I haven’t already said. It’s nothing short of amazing. It transforms any polish into a shining beautiful mermaid. It’s so cool how so many colors can come from two different glitters. The first coat of it was kind of lacking, so I went for a second, and made a bit of a mess with it. That’s why my cuticles are so rough-looking. I’m a little embarrassed by it.

A quick word to my under-colors: Zoya’s Envy is a dark green creme that is the perfect base for this glitter. I almost used this color only until I started to wonder how it would look over blues and reds. Moody Blues is a dark blue creme that dries with a matte finish. Persuade, the wine creme, flooded my cuticles because it was so thin, but I’ll chalk that up to being a brand-new full bottle. All three cremes look fantastic in two coats, and all three work very well beneath this glitter.

One more thing: I did some shopping this weekend at Ulta, and I grabbed a lot of new hand creams to try. My dishwasher has been broken and washing dishes by hand every night is destroying my hands, making them red, flaky, and itchy. I fully admit to buying this Anatomicals cream because it made me laugh, but I really like the cream so far. I put it on before I go to bed, after I finish my skincare routine, and it makes my hands really soft and smells fantastic.

I almost chose pastels for this instead since it’s still summer, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I love this look.

Wacie Wednesday: Maneater

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

For Wacie Wednesday this week, I’m wearing a little polish called Maneater. I was trying to get a sultry red with a strong gold shimmer; I didn’t quite get there, but I love the result regardless. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite.

Maneater is awesome, if I may say so. It applies super-easily, dries quickly, and achieves a rich opacity in two coats. The only drawback for me is that it dries a bit matte. Top coat is definitely necessary for this one, because the shimmer doesn’t shimmer without it.

It’s no secret that I love red polish. My desert-island polish would probably be a red creme. I made this knowing that my eventual Wacie Nail Company lineup would need a good solid red polish. As I said, it’s not quite what I wanted; the shimmer is much too subtle. However, I’m happy with it. It’s still sexy, bold, and confident, as red polish should be.

Outdoors, direct sun. The shimmer looks great here.

I’ve actually been on a red streak in the workshop, too. I’ve got tons of red prototypes I can’t wait to show you guys.

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.

Summer of Untrieds Day 25: Zoya

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

Zoya is the name of the game for the challenge today, so I’m wearing my first-ever Zoya, Odilia. I got this in a swap from someone who didn’t like it. Here it is at three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Odilia (spelled Odeilia on the Zoya site for some reason) is a reddish-copper shimmer. It’s a soft color reminiscent of autumn leaves, pumpkin spice, etc. It’s a softer red than I like to wear, but it’s quite pretty in its own right. I’m neutral to this polish. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. I can see why my friend wanted to get rid of it.

Application with this polish was smooth and easy; I had no problems whatever with it. It’s a bit on the sheer side, and so my tips didn’t get covered well. I don’t know whether to blame the polish or myself for that. Apart from that, I got really nice coverage with it. It was very nice to work with.

Outdoors, full sun

There are six more days of this challenge. I can’t wait!

Summer of Untrieds Day Four: Red, White, and Blue

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

When I saw the order of the day today, I knew exactly what polish I had to use. 1776 by Different Dimension is a patriotic-as-hell glitter topper with red, white, and blue stars, white bars, red dots, and tiny white glitters throughout. I bought this on sale last year, and it’s my first-ever Different Dimension polish, so I’m excited to be using it today. I feel like I cheated a bit on the challenge today, because I’m seeing a lot of intricate and ornate nail art pieces for this day of the challenge, and I just put glitter over yesterday’s creme polish. This is two coats of 1776 over three coats of Butter London’s Bumster, with one coat of Seche Vite.

I did a pretty poor job applying this. I put it on in a hurry and didn’t expect the star glitters to be so tough to get out. I managed to get one star on my left hand, but it looks great there, so it’s got that going for it. Next time, I will definitely turn this bottle over and let the glitters redistribute themselves a bit better.

It looks crazy awesome over Bumster, too. I loved Bumster on its own, and I felt a little bad painting over it, but I think these polishes compliment each other well. I love glitter over nudes, it’s such a simple look.

I thought I did a pretty good job cleaning up my cuticles, and then I went into the sun and took some photos. Nope!

Now that I’ve done this, it’s time to dive into July 4th festivities.

Swatch Saturday: American Apparel’s Neon Red

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

This week, I’m taking a break from swatching my Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer collection to try a few I bought while I was on vacation. I had a habit of shopping at places just because I could; my city doesn’t have American Apparel stores, so when I saw one in Philadelphia, I had to stop in. The first time I’d ever been to one was on my birthday trip to Atlanta last year, and I bought six polishes, one of which was a gorgeous neon pink. I was so impressed with it that I swore to myself, if I ever see another American Apparel store, I’m going to grab all the rest of their neon polishes. Well, here we are. Today I’m trying Neon Red. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Neon Red isn’t really that red; it’s more of a bold coral. It’s a beautiful color, certainly. As I did when I reviewed Neon Pink, I put down a coat of white polish, to see how much of a difference it makes. If you look closely at the middle and ring finger nails, you’ll see there’s a very slight difference in color. On my ring and pinky finger nails, I’ve got the undies coat. On the first coat, there was quite a visible difference, but as I added the next coats, the coverage built up and narrowed the gap. I wouldn’t say the white foundation wasn’t a total waste; in some lighting conditions, I can still my nail line on the no-undies nails. The white gives it a little more solidity, even if the polish doesn’t really need the pop.

I’m so happy I grabbed these. For neons, they’re pretty high-quality; you get great coverage and huge color payoff without a lot of white polish. I can’t wait to show you the rest!

Swatch Saturday: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Out. For. A. Walk… BITCH.

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I’m really excited about this week’s Swatch Saturday. It’s red, it’s holo, and it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Out. For. A. Walk… BITCH. I’m wearing three coats of it under two coats of Seche Vite.

BEGL described this as a blood red linear holo, but I don’t think it looks very red on me. It’s more like a raspberry, or a burgundy. In any case, I have nothing to say about this polish but gushing and incoherent mumbling. Just look at the pictures and mumble with me.

In the studio, the holo rainbow is quite strong compared to some other holos I’ve reviewed recently. Usually I don’t get a visible spectrum in the studio like I do here. Even indoors, the holo effect is stunning. I can’t believe there was ever a time I didn’t like holos. I was so wrong. I am so sorry. This next set of photos was taken outdoors in sunshine. This is the good stuff. Look at all this holo goodness! Also, the redness is much more apparent in the outdoor photos. It looks less like a berry or burgundy out here.

I have nothing else to say about this polish, other than I am dead. Also, unfortunately, it’s been discontinued. Hopefully you’ll get lucky and find it somewhere. If not, BEGL is restocking a lot of the gorgeous holos from the Once More With Feeling collection, the Buffy-inspired collection this one is from, on May 17. Get on that.

One more thing: this is the last Swatch Saturday for a couple of weeks; I’m taking somewhat of a hiatus while I go on vacation. I’ll try to keep up with Manicure Monday while I’m travelling, but apart from that, I won’t be doing any more swatches until June. See you then!

Wacie Wednesday: Psychovamp

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

I hate to admit it, but my Wacie Nail Co. experiment this week is another case of too much glitter. I just hate the sound of those words together. This is Psychovamp, a purple jelly with various sizes of red holo glitters. I’m wearing three coats (no undies) and two coats of Seche Vite.

To start with, I love the look I got. It’s a bit like the jelly sandwich I did a couple weeks ago; the deep jelly and holo glitters make it look very similar. What I don’t like, though, is that it looks completely unlike my intention. The red glitters kind of take over the purple polish, so much so that you can barely tell it’s purple. This could probably be remedied with adding less glitter; regardless of how the glitter affects the color, it needs to go anyway. You can see the stray bits of fine glitter I just couldn’t get out of my cuticle. I hate that.

The photos in the sun are a little more true to what the polish looks like away from the studio. The purple is a little more visible in the studio than anywhere else. In the sunlight, though, you can really see all the glitter and the depth from the jelly, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.

Also: no offense intended for psychos and vampires. Just saying.

Manicure Monday: Red Glitter on Green

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s another crazy Manicure Monday glitter feast! Today I’m wearing Wet ‘n Wild’s Club Cabaret over Essie’s Navigate Her. It looked different in my head for sure, but I’m still into it.

First I put down two coats of Navigate Her. This is a shade I’ve worn a lot lately for various swatches and things; it’s so soft that it looks good as undies for any glitter. I chose it for this mani because I wanted a green to complement the red in Club Cabaret, and this was the only green that didn’t challenge the darker colors for dominance. It also seems to look different at different angles; in the photo where I leaned my nails back, you can see it looks a bit more yellow there than in the others, and I’m not sure why.

Club Cabaret is a lightly tinted base with black, silver, and red hexes of various sizes. I’m not sure if it’s tinted on purpose, or if the red glitters bled a little, but it seems kind of suspicious. I didn’t get much of a payoff; these W&W bottles have these really wide brushes, and while they pick up a lot of glitter, I don’t get much of it on my nails. Instead I just get clear polish flooding my cuticles. To achieve this look, I brushed the glitter onto the end of a makeup wedge and rolled it on, the way one might roll on a stamped design. I could have gotten this look trying to brush or dab it on, but it would have taken a long time to do, and there’s no guarantee it would have been applied this evenly or cleanly. Cleanup was a pain, but it was worth it.

Seeing as I planned this manicure months ago, it’s accidentally festive for Cinco de Mayo. I love it when that happens.

Wacie Wednesday: Dang

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Stacie Wacie

It’s Wednesday, and right on schedule, we’re looking at something new from Wacie Nail Company. This is Dang, a blinding glitter topper, named for the first thing I said after I created it. I’m wearing one coat of it over The New Black’s Black, e.l.f.’s Smokin Hot, and Essie’s Aruba Blue.

Dang is another happy accident; it’s the result of mixing glitters together without intention. It’s a clear base with various sizes of holo silver hexes and holo silver hearts. Because there’s so much glitter in it, it’s impossible to not get a good glitter payoff. However, the hearts don’t come out very frequently; as you can see, I didn’t get one on every nail. It doesn’t even matter if the hearts are scarce, though. There’s tons of glitter to make up for it.

Something I like about this mixture is that it’s sparkly (to the point of blindness in the sunlight), but it’s not trying too hard for it. There’s not a ton of different shapes and colors and craziness jumping out at you for attention. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that kind of polish; those kinds of polishes are what drew me to indies in the first place. No, this is a glitter that glitters. It’s like a formal gown for your nails. Like diamond earrings for your nails. They’re your nails, but glitterier. I actually wore this to a red carpet party during awards season. My nails were dressed better than anybody.

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, sunlight

I admit, I thought Wacie Nail Co. would have launched by now. Other projects I’m involved with are taking priority over my nail polish business, and it might be a while before I have a chance to reclaim all the time and money I’m putting into other things. My time is going to schoolwork and other entrepreneurial things; my money is all going to the vacation I’m taking next month. I’d planned eight polishes for the Wacie Nail Co. first-ever spring line, but as of right now, there are only seven; I haven’t had the time or means to save one from prototype limbo. Hopefully, there will be a launch before summer. If not, the spring line will become the summer line, which actually works out since I don’t have plans for a summer line. Either way, it will be soon. Please continue to watch this space for more Wacie Nail Co. news.

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