Tag Archives: studs

Manicure Monday: What Wizardry is This?

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What’s this? A textured polish two weeks in a row? Yes! It’s crazy. This is What Wizardry is This? from OPI; I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

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What Wizardry is This? is a warm brown textured polish with gold glitters. I found this application much easier than Solitaire‘s; Solitaire’s brush was spread wide with glitter, and even though this polish also contains a ton of glitter, the brush was not as wide, and I had a much cleaner application. Drying time was very fast, and full coverage was gained in two coats. The glitters are very potent, which is why it looks more brown in some photos and more gold in others. It’s a very pretty and interesting look.

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I like when I end up wearing something seasonally relevant. Solitaire was wintry and peaceful, but What Wizardry is This? is very warm and autumnal. It’s the color of hot cocoa and firewood. This is absolutely perfect for fall.

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I don’t have any brown nail charms, so I used a stud. Earlier in the year, I got a huge pack of nail accoutrements at an outlet store for super cheap, and this is the first time I’ve used any of it. Originally, I’d chosen a heart-shaped one, but it wouldn’t sit flat on my nail, so I went with this diamond/Sims plumbob shape instead. I like it. It takes up more of the nail than I wanted, but it’s a fun accent.

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I wasn’t sure about this at first. When I got it, the Liquid Sand bandwagon was at full speed, and I just wanted all of them. I don’t own very many brown polishes, just because it’s not a very popular color. It’s also not very daring. This is more than just brown, though. It’s gorgeous.

Manicure Monday: Trash Nails and Magnetic Silver

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This week on Manicure Monday, we play with magnets, tweezers, and super glue. No, we’re not building a robot, we’re doing our nails! I wish we were building a robot, that would be cool.

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I only used one polish this week: Sinful Colors’ Polar Opposites. I know magnetic polishes are passé and uninteresting now, but I still like the look, even if I couldn’t get mine to come out very well. As was the case with my last magnetic polish, the magnetic design looked fantastic when I pulled the magnet away, but began to fade and distort as it dried. On some nails, the design is completely invisible, whereas some others barely are. It’s too bad; the magnetic effect really brings out the fine blue-to-purple shifting glitter. It’s a shame it’s not more pronounced, it’s really pretty.

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You’re probably wondering what all that crap is doing stuck to my nail. I got this nail art wheel from Claire’s with a bunch of round pyramid studs in it, and I thought that since I was only using one color, I could use a few of these studs. I thought they’d look best paired with a gray or silver polish, and since I was using one, I tried it. These are some of the tackiest, trashiest, most clothes-snagginest nails I’ve ever done. I can’t wait to see what it’s like washing my hair in the morning with these bad guys. There are pyramid studs of various sizes and colors, a teardrop rhinestone, and metal chain segments in a variety of finishes. I know they look like over-the-top hooker nails, but they make me feel kind of badass, like I could cut somebody with them. I might accidentally cut myself.

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I don't always post my right hand, but when I do, it's tacky as hell.

I don’t always post my right hand, but when I do, it’s tacky as hell.

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I tried something new this week: the DIY gel manicure. I originally saw a post on Reddit (that I can’t find now, so here’s the tutorial I used), where someone applied layers of Gelous between their color coats to get a durability comparable to a gel manicure. I was in Sally this weekend, I saw the Gelous, and I decided to try it for myself. Application was easy, but took some time; you’re using a few different products in a short amount of time. I didn’t really like this part; I like to let my polish dry for a really long time (like an hour) before I put another down. As a result, when I went to clean up my cuticles, I got some pulling and tugging from where the polish was kind of dry, but not dry enough. I have some weird edges from that. Also, the tutorial skipped base coat altogether and jumped right into the Gelous. I wasn’t okay with that. Having bought my first bottle of Nail Envy this weekend, I started with a base coat of that, then went for my usual OPI base coat (which was probably overkill), and then went into the Gelous tutorial. We’ll see if it holds up. I really hope it does, because now that my boyfriend lives here, I have to wash dishes twice as often, and my manicures don’t hold up the way they used to when I only had to do dishes once a week.

One of these things is not like the others. It's Sinful Colors' Polar Opposites!

One of these things is not like the others. It’s Sinful Colors’ Polar Opposites!

In unrelated news: Wacie Nail Company is a thing that’s really going to happen, and soon. Last week I ordered some supplies for a R&D run, and the last of it will arrive tomorrow. I will probably spend all my free time this week huffing lacquer fumes and inhaling glitter, and hopefully, I’ll have working prototypes by Friday. I’m really excited about making polish, sharing it with everyone, and doing something more constructive with my time than refreshing Reddit. I hope you’re looking forward to it!