Wacie Wednesday: Snowcrush

Snowcrush is the newest Wacie Nail Company polish! It is a clear glitter topper with white shreds and iridescent hex glitters. I’m wearing one coat over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Ciate’s Candy Floss, and Sally Hansen’s Limestone. All nails are topped with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

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I love the look of all-white glitter toppers. They’re so effortlessly elegant. The white shreds you see happen to be the only white glitter I have, so I dumped a ton of it in a bottle, and used some fine iridescent shreds to fill it out. This is definitely a pretty simple polish, but it’s really pretty. For as little thought as I put into it, it has no business being this pretty right out.

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White toppers also have the benefit of looking amazing over any color. As you can see, I wore it with some very bright polishes. Over black, the iridescent glitters would really shine. Over white, it would look like freshly-fallen snow (or at least what I imagine freshly-fallen snow looks like. I live in Florida. I wouldn’t know).

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In the sunshine, this is crazy. You can’t see how much sparkle is coming from the iridescent glitters, but trust me, it’s blinding. I love iridescent glitters because they sparkle in any lighting condition.

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Final word: this polish is a win. I love white glitters (they’re pretty over everything), shred glitters (they create the illusion of variety, even though it all came from the same bag), and iridescent glitters (shiny!). I’m really looking forward to making a batch of it this share with everyone.

Wacie Wednesday: Son of Slop Bucket

A few months ago, I had a polish on the blog called Slop Bucket. It was the weirdly-wearable result of mixing several failed Wacie Nail Co. prototypes into one bottle. Shortly after I did that manicure, I took another batch of old prototypes and mixed them up to create Son of Slop Bucket. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

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Son of Slop Bucket is a frosty mossy green with a hodgepodge of glitter. It would be difficult to list every glitter in here, because it’s basically every glitter I’ve ever used, along with every pigment, shimmer, dye, etc. I’ve ever used. Because there’s so much stuff in it, it was nearly opaque in one coat. Because it’s so opaque, the glitters just get buried under the next coat of polish. This is especially obvious with the larger glitters; check the index finger. There’s a large dot that got covered and just looks like a sheet pulled over a dinner plate.

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I didn’t expect this one to turn green. I was hoping for black, since a lot of black prototype polishes got mixed in. I’m really pleased with the color; it’s muted, but still quite noticeable. Same with the glitters; they don’t stand out a whole lot, but just enough. There’s a ton of shimmer in it, and it’s the most prominent component. It really pulls everything together.

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I’m not sure I’ll even bother to keep this. It was a fun experiment, but I can’t really see myself wearing this — or the original Slop Bucket — ever again. I do want to mix them both together and see what happens, though. It can’t get much worse.

Wacie Wednesday: Stoica

This week’s Wacie Wednesday is a shimmery silver scattered holo called Stoica. Unfortunately, because it’s overcast outside (thanks, October), we won’t get to see just how holo it is. I kind of think that’s okay, because it’s nice anyway. This is three coats of Stoica with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

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I made Stoica when I was bored in the glitter workshop. I wanted a silvery holo, but I had very little holo material left. Seriously, it was like the dredgs of the bottle, and I had a hard time getting it all out. I put mixing balls and some lacquer base in there, hoping it would mix in and pour out. It was actually crazy enough to work. I poured that into a bottle, mixed in some silvery-white pigment, and then I was done. It wasn’t what I wanted exactly, but I’m pleased with it.

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Naturally, even though I managed to get it out, there’s not a lot of holo in this polish. There’s enough to see an effect, and it’s very faint. The color here is coming entirely from pigment. It’s a pretty tame polish, actually; save the little bit of holo, it would just be a silver polish. It’s one of those polishes that comes off as classic, but a bit dull, then the holo pops out and it’s something special.

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I just have to prove that there is, in fact, holo stuffs in this polish. One photo was taken in the studio with the built-in camera flash, and the other was taken in my office with my cell phone. I promise it’s there.

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I have four more Wacie Nail Co. one-offs I’m going to show on the blog. Then maybe something exciting will happen. Maybe.

Wacie Wednesday: Frostberry

I’ve only got a few more Wacie Nail Company prototypes left! I’ve decided also that, after I swatch these, I’m going to hold off on showing any more WNC polishes on the blog for a while, at least until I have a shop open and a collection out and something to show for it. Also, there are other polishes I want to swatch; I’ll be swatching BEGLs every Saturday until I die at this rate, so I think a midweek swatch would be better than swatching a bunch of one-offs I made for myself, at least until they grow out of the one-off stage and become full-fledged polishes.

My fifth-to-last Wacie Nail Co. polish is called Frostberry, a shimmery rose jelly. It’s shown here at three coats with one coat of Color Club’s clear coat.

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Frostberry was a bit of a happy accident. I wanted a shimmery red jelly, but the mica I used was too white and it turned the polish pink. It’s still translucent; at three coats, there’s good color and coverage, but the nail line is still visible. I thought about adding some glitter to a couple nails like I did last week, just to show the jelly effect, but I thought the shimmer would overpower it. I’m kinda cool with it being translucent. The look is sheer, shimmery, and glassy. It’s unlike anything else in my collection.

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Unfortunately, because it’s cold and overcast outside, I won’t get to see what this looks like outdoors. I bet it’s beautiful, though. Jellies outdoors are always crazy pretty.

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Yeah, I like this a lot. This is the coolest thing I’ve made in a while.

Wacie Wednesday: Pinprick

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Not looking forward to taking it off, though.

Wacie Wednesday: Sweetleaf

Sweetleaf is the Wacie Nail Company polish of the week. This shimmery green polish contains superfine gold holo glitter, giving a bold color a subtle sparkle. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Color Club clear. All photos were taken indoors.

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Sweetleaf, most of the other polishes I’ve made and worn on the blog, were experiments in polish making. In this case, I wanted to see how well the glitter and pigments would blend together. Next time, I’ll thin it out a little; I could still work with it, but it’s much too thick. Also, brush strokes show up on some nails, and that annoys me. It dried matte and with very little texture.

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The glitter doesn’t shine as much in the studio, but it looks amazing in the sunlight. Unfortunately, while I was waiting for my camera battery to charge, the sun went down and I totally missed out on outdoor photos. I don’t like how early it’s getting dark now. I tried a photo with flash; the glitters are somewhat shinier, but the flash mostly obscures any details on the nail. It’s a terrible photo, but I love how the color looks. I’m pretty sure it’s just the pinkness in my skin complementing it.

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Final word: This is a gorgeous color to end the summer with. I know it’s still technically summer for a couple more weeks, but I miss it already.

Wacie Wednesday: Opulence

The Wacie Nail Company polish I’m using this week was a fun experiment. I’d gotten some very fine glitter, practically dust, that I wanted to play with. I got two colors, holo gold and holo silver, and mixed them together, just to see how it would come out. The final product is a full-coverage glitter that is insanely, gloriously sparkly. This is Opulence, and I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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I actually took photos of the polish with and without top coat, just to see how they photographed differently. The left photo is with Seche Vite, the right photo is bare. They look pretty similar, and there’s a ton of sparkle either way, but I feel like the top coat really brings out the beauty of the holo glitter. It becomes so much brighter and sensitive to light. I definitely prefer it that way.

Left: Finished with Seche Vite. Right: Polish only

Left: Finished with Seche Vite. Right: Polish only

Opulence is an absolute joy to wear. It was very easy to apply; due to the density of the glitter, the polish was very thick; very little mistakes were made in application, so in that regard, it was a bit like applying a textured polish that’s heavy on the glitter. For as thick as it is, though, it dried very quickly. It did dry with a bit of texture, but it gradually got smoother with each coat; the first coat was the grittiest. It still wasn’t glassy smooth by the third coat, but it wasn’t grainy, either.

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Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget there are two different colored glitters in there. The gold is definitely more visible, and you can see the silvers if you really try, but only in certain lighting conditions and viewing angles.

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In the sun, this is incredible. In the studio, I couldn’t get my camera to focus on the glitters well, so all you see is sparkle and not much individuality among glitter particles. You can see them in the sun. It looks fantastic out there! All that shine, all those little rainbows… It’s just beautiful. I love it.

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I do apologize for the lateness of this post. I spent all day playing video games.

Wacie Wednesday: Dynamica

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Wacie Wednesday: Esoterica

For this week’s Wacie Wednesday, I’m wearing Esoterica, a jet black scattered holo. I have on three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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I made Esoterica when I was feeling particularly creative but had few supplies. Like many of my prototype polishes, I made it with what I had on hand, which was basically white and black polish. That explains the deep color. I set it aside, and when I got some holo products to experiment with, I got it back out. I was actually able to make three bottles of this polish from what I’d made before. Even after mixing it down, it’s still quite pigmented; one coat was all I needed to achieve the perfect opacity.

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Unfortunately, it is not a sunny day. It’s been raining since I woke up this morning, and I don’t see the sun coming out at all, so I resorted to using the flash on my camera to get the good holo pics. I’m actually surprised with how well they turned out, even though the results aren’t optimal. Scroll through and enjoy the holo goodness.

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The flash isn’t too bad. I’ve definitely done worse. The holo looks more linear here than in the photos without it.

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I still want to experiment with other holo products, so this will probably not be the final version of Esoterica. However, this probably will make it into a collection sooner rather than later. You know, when I finally launch my company.