Tag Archives: yellow

Manicure Monday: Lemon Butterfly Fizz

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Happy Monday! It’s still Monday somewhere, so let’s take a look at my mani this week. For this look, I used Color Club’s Daisy Does It and Ellagee‘s Chronic Badass. I’m pretty chuffed with it. I’m also thrilled with the photos, since I’m still on my backup camera; I can’t believe this is the same camera that took last week’s sad photos.

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Daisy Does It is gorgeous, and I was afraid I — or the backup camera — would fail to do it justice. It’s a sheer yellow with yellow-to-gold shifting flecks, but I couldn’t get the shift to show up in the studio. Everything else is accurate, though: the lemon yellow, the barely-there nail line, the tons of shimmer that make it almost metallic. I love this polish and the rest of the collection; the shades are pretty simple but have tons of dimension and personality.

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I’ve loved Chronic Badass ever since I swatched it earlier this year. I picked it to go with Daisy Does It because I just love purple and yellow together. Before I put it on, though, I had my doubts. I didn’t want the pink and purple glitters to interfere colorwise with the green shift, but it actually looks pretty cool. The shift only shows up in certain lighting conditions anyway, so I worried over nothing. The shimmer itself is really powerful and seems especially so on the accent nails. The topper makes it seem much glassier than the nails without it. It’s gorgeous.

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I hope to have the camera fixed in time to start weekend swatches again; the camera place nearest me is only open 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, so finding the time to get there will be a challenge. I’ve missed my blog, though. I miss my camera.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Saturday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype SLE 1.1

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Happy weekend, reader! I’m excited to show today’s polish, a golden holo prototype from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. It’s the most summery polish I’ve worn this summer so far! This is Prototype SLE 1.1, and I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos are taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

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SLE 1.1 is a yellow linear holo with a golden flash and blue shimmer. Application was easy; though the product consistency was on the thinner side, it still went on smoothly. It did leave some brush-strokes, which are most apparent in the shimmer. The holo effect is subtle, and I can’t tell if it’s being overpowered by the gold or if there just isn’t much to begin with. Because of this, the polish really comes to life outdoors; indoors, the holo effect doesn’t really happen at all, it’s just the golden shimmer, which gives it a metallic look and is actually pretty cool. The polish dries quickly; I used top coat for shine.

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So yeah. I like this a lot, and I’m kind of mad I didn’t wear it sooner. It’s like sunshine in a bottle. Summer is nearly over — though in Florida it’s unofficially summer pretty much all the time — and I’m just discovering another perfect summer polish. Of course.

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This polish is a prototype and there are no other bottles. Other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers are available from their shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Fun With Neons

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Welcome to another Manicure Monday! Today’s manicure accurately sums up my weekend; it was full of bright colors and summer fun! To celebrate the first day of summer, or the fact that a mani I planned ages ago is actually relevant, I’m wearing Julep’s Abbie over white polish with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Watch the Walls, as well as Seche Vite top coat.

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Abbie is the perfect summer yellow; it’s bright and gorgeous. It’s so bright my hands got a bit of a tan. It’s a chameleon, though; in some lighting it’s flourescent highlighter yellow, but in others it’s closer to lemon. Either way, it’s cheerful and a ton of fun to wear. My only complaint is that it never seemed to reach full opacity, even at three coats, so I put on one coat over two coats of white polish. This way, I got boost in opacity and in color.

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When I picked Abbie out of the Helmer, I knew Watch the Walls would compliment her perfectly. Watch the Walls is the perfect mix of neon pink glitters, along with some other fun colors and shapes and the perfect amount of blue-to-purple shifting shimmers. It’s a glitter topper with color, depth, and fun. It absolutely breaks my heart that it’s been discontinued and is now out of stock.

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I don’t know if I’ve told you guys, but I probably have, because I’ve only been writing on this blog for two years, but summer is my favorite part of the year. I seem to handle it better than most people, too; I love to sit out on the porch — better yet, the pool — with a drink and a book and just spend the entire day out there. I’ll take sweat and sunburn over shivering and itchy sweaters any day.

Neither Abbie nor watch the Walls are currently in stock on their makers’ websites. Julep is available from Sephora and julep.com; Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer is sold from their BigCartel shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Summer in Springtime

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Good evening, reader! After all the festivities of the day, I’m just getting around to posting today’s Manicure Monday offering. I’m wearing three coats of Color Club’s Warhol and one coat of Nails Inc.’s Chelsea Embankment Gardens with one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a good neon. Warhol is an incredible polish. I’m a little weirded out by how different it looks in the bottle and on my nail; it’s a little more reddish after putting it on. I mean, not that I care, I think it’s gorgeous. It’s just not what I expected. I can’t stop looking at it, though. It’s so bright and big. I think I want to be this polish.

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Chelsea Embankment Gardens is a mouthful. It’s also a unique little polish. Part of Nails Inc.’s Floral glitter topper collection, it pairs pretty pastels with large and dense glitter. This particular shade — sadly, the only one from the collection I own — is packed with fine baby pink hexes and mini bar glitters, as well as the five-petal daisies in pink, blue, and yellow. The collection was the first time I’d ever seen this glitter shape, so I bought one just to try them out. I really wish I’d bought more. My favorite Nails Inc. polishes are the glitter toppers, because they make the best color combos.

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It was maybe a little unorthodox to mix neon and pastel, but I like the way it turned out. They both stand out away from the other. Each polish gets its due attention. It’s also seasonally appropriate; the flowers say springtime, but the neon says unofficial first day of summer. It’s two extremes put together. It’s also the best of both worlds.

Color Club is sold at colorclub.com; I got mine at an outlet store. Nails Inc. is sold at Sephora and Ulta.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: Island Diamond Sunset

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Who likes glitter and thermals? I do! For this Manicure Monday, I’m wearing a fun double-thermal and an opal glitter. This is three coats of Digital Nails‘s Island Sunset with one brushed coat of China Glaze’s Luxe and Lush, as well as one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat.

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Island Sunset is such a fun thermal polish. Thermals are always fun when they change colors with heat, but this one is double the fun because it changes at cool temperatures as well. It goes both ways! At its most neutral state, Island Sunset is a cool peach. Dipped in ice water, it turns a deep pink. Dipped in tea, it turns a warm yellow. I’ve been playing with my nails all day, submerging them into whatever liquids are near to see what color they turn. I have quite a few thermals in my collection, but this is the only three-way thermal. I love it.

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Luxe and Lush is the perfect glitter for this polish. It’s made up entirely of iridescent shredded glitters. Depending on the light, the glitter reflects the warm peach and cool rose tones in the polish itself, which I think is really cool. In other lighting conditions, the glitter turns greenish-blue. It has every color I could want, but it doesn’t interefere in any way with the thermal polish; as the color changes in the thermal, the glitter and its many colors offers just enough glint and sparkle.

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Seriously, how great is this look? I’m so excited about both of these polishes and I want to wear this combination forever. Also, I just got my pool cleaned and I can’t wait to see what it looks like underwater. It’s sparkly, summery, and just a ton of fun.

Island Sunset isn’t currently in stock, but you can buy other Digital Nails polishes in their etsy shop. I got my bottle of Luxe and Lush from Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Gosh’s Greed

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This installment of Swatch Sunday is a fun one for me, because I finally have a chance to wear a polish I bought on vacation last year. Surely this is what it means to be a hoarder. I’m wearing one coat of Gosh’s Greed over Sally Hansen’s Black Out and OPI’s I just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Rica‘s Glossy Glam top coat. Please note: I took these photos about a day after I did this manicure, so there is some tip wear. Sorry about that.

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Greed is a glitter polish with metallic gold hexes in various sizes, holographic gold glitters, and tons of cloudy gold shimmer. I used it here as a glitter topper, but I think that with multiple coats, one could achieve medium to full coverage. The polish applies very easily; the glitter is always even and well-distributed. The gold shimmer stands out very nicely on darker polishes; you can see how it warms up my black polish. It dries quickly; about five to eight minutes to be dry to the touch. It also dries with a smooth texture; with one coat of Glossy Glam, I feel no glitter ridges or bumps.

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While I was on vacation last May, I had to duck into drugstores every other day or so. I’d forgotten to pack a lot of things like deodorant and dental floss, so lots of emergency drugstore runs occurred early in the trip. As I got further from Florida, however, the stops were more out of curiosity; Florida doesn’t have Rite-Aid stores, and I’ve only been in two my entire life. Same for when I got to New York and I saw Duane Reade stores. I had  heard of Duane Reade, but only because the logo is printed on the back of my Walgreens card. I never thought I’d see one in real life, so when I did see one going through Penn Station, I knew I had to go inside. My powder compact was running low, so I went in to grab another one, but on my way in, I saw the Gosh polish display. I’d seen Gosh polishes on the internet, but again, it was something I never expected to see in person, so I grabbed a couple. I didn’t really get to look at it, since I had to be in and out in like five minutes, but I probably would have bought them all if I’d had the time to really check them out. An unrelated note: I don’t know how I can remember when and where I bought a nail polish one year ago, but I can’t remember where I put my keys.

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I like Greed. It makes me feel fancy and rich, and not just because I went to New York to track it down. All the gold glitters are so luxe and shiny. It’s like my nails are wearing a haute couture gown. Perhaps there’s some truth in the polish’s name.

If you’re in the US, I have no idea where to tell you to get Gosh products, except for the Duane Reade in Penn Station. Sorry.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch Sunday: Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for Two

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Swatch Sunday is fun today, because I’m using a brand I’ve never worn before. I’ve gotten a few Finger Paints polishes here and there at Sally Beauty sales, but this is my first time working with one. I’m wearing one coat of Finger Paints’s Sugar Cookie for two over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray and OPI’s I just Can’t Cope-acabana, as well as one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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Sugar Cookie for Two is a clear glitter topper with metallic bar glitters in gold, silver, and black. Application wasn’t as easy as I’d have liked it to be. I don’t know if the brush was just thin or the glitters just slip off the brush back into the bottle, but I had a hard time getting the glitter onto my nail. It didn’t spread well at all. I had to dip back into the bottle two or three times just to cover one nail. As a result, the glitter is really sparse in some places and clumpy in others. Overall, I got pretty good coverage with it, but I would have liked it to be more even. On the plus side, drying times were good, and the glitters feel smooth to the touch when dry. Also, the glitters are short bars, so they’re easy to work with. The longer ones want to hang off my nail like eyelashes, and I didn’t have that problem with these.

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I really like this look, all complaints aside. The glitters are super shiny and reflect tons of light and color. The combo is a little jarring, maybe, but I think it makes my nails look like luxurious little cupcakes. I’m a little curious to know what it would look like as a full-coverage glitter; I’ve worked with all-bar glitter polishes before, like the Nails Inc. Feather ones, and three coats covers up pretty much everything. This might look really nice at three full coats, though I do wonder with how this one applies whether it could achieve full coverage at all.

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Since I found Sugar Cookie for Two in a sale bin, it’s possible that it has been discontinued. Other Finger Paints polishes are sold at Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought this polish myself.

Manicure Monday: Skyglow and Yellow

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Manicure Monday is here! I think this week was kind of a dud. My base polish was pretty hard to work with and the mani quality suffers because of it. I’m wearing three coats of Sally Hansen’s Quick Canary with two coats of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Prototype JJ 1.1 on my accent nails. All nails are topped with one coat of Alter Ego‘s She Shines top coat.

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I want to love this mani. I love the big clashing colors, and I love the glitter and how it overwhelms everything else, but I had so much trouble with Quick Canary that I’m put off the whole thing. I just could not get it to dry. I guess it needed to be thinned; the consistency was thick, but was still easy to apply, so I kept going and put down two more coats. Then I put on the glitter and top coat. Those dried, but Quick Canary was still wet, and so while I’m trying to clean up my cuticles, my top layers are sliding around on top of wet, gooey polish. Not cool, Sally. I did the best I could, but my cuticles are still a raging mess.

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I’m glad the other polish behaved. Prototype JJ 1.1 is a fun glitter topper; I’ve nicknamed it Skyline because it reminds me of a night out in the city; the bright lights of buildings, the glowing sky, the feeling of being swallowed up by the tall buildings and swathes of people. I love the frenetic pace of huge and complicated cities, and wearing this polish is wearing that energy on my nails. It’s the one redeeming thing about this manicure.

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Quick Canary is available wherever Sally Hansen polishes are sold; I got mine at Target. Prototype JJ 1.1 is a one-off bottle and is not available anywhere else. Other BEGL polishes are for sale in their shop.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch Sunday: Ellagee’s Chronic Badass

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For this Swatch Sunday, I’m wearing my first-ever polish from Ellagee! This is Chronic Badass; I have on one brushed coat over China Glaze’s Pelican Gray, Essie’s Pilates Hottie, and LA Colors’s Daisy, topped with Digital Nails‘s Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That top coat.

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Chronic Badass is a clear glitter topper with black matte and holo glitters, metallic pink dots, black holo stars, and purple and holo silver butterflies. It was really easy to put on; the glitters brushed right on, and I didn’t have to fish for the stars or butterflies. All the glitters lay flat on the nail — even the butterflies — and are perfectly smooth with one coat of top coat. Drying times were good; I had no issues with prolonged tackiness. It has a really great formula.

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Chronic Badass was part of a fibromyalgia-themed duo collaboration with Digital Nails. Both polishes were made with purple, the color for fibromyalgia awareness. Chronic Badass also makes use of the butterfly, a symbol embraced by fibro patients. Both polish makers have fibromyalgia and made this cool little polish box to raise awareness of this and other invisible illnesses. I admit I didn’t know a whole lot about it until this box went for sale last spring. It was an awesome thing for them to do; it makes me so happy to see polish makers use their time and materials (and glitter) to educate people and make the world just a little better.

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I have some sunlight photos! The holo glitters love the sunshine, and shine a lot brighter than they do indoors. I really love this look; it’s so colorful and cheerful.

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Originally, both polish makers had this duo box in their shops; Digital Nails no longer carries it, but it looks like Ellagee still has it in stock.

I bought these polishes myself.

Manicure Monday: January Flowers

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It’s the first Manicure Monday of 2015! However, I don’t think I’m totally pleased with this mani. It was cuter in my head. I’m wearing three coats of LA Colors’s Daisy, two dabbed coats of Claire’s Hippie Chick on my accent nails, and one coat of Ciate’s Speed Coat Pro top coat.

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Daisy is a cheerful yellow creme polish. The first coat was streaky and worrisome, but the color evened out after three coats. The consistency was a bit thick, because apparently my bottle doesn’t close tightly; it just spins around and opens again if you turn it too far. I had to thin it out to make it usable. It dries quickly, I’ll give it that, and takes on a nice satin finish. It’s not bad to use, but it’s not great.

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The same is true for Hippie Chick. Hippie Chick is a clear-based glitter topper with lavender and purple flowers and fine iridescent glitters. It looks way cute in the bottle, but there are very few large glitters in it. I spent most of my manicure time fishing them out of the bottle without getting tons of lacquer on the brush. I think it dried pretty quickly, so there’s that.

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Forgive my gross dry hands. Winter SUCKS.

 

I put these two together because I love complementary colors; I thought the purple and yellow would make a much bolder statement than they do. It didn’t occur to me until just now that the polish names work together. That’s fun.

As I said, I don’t feel too jazzed about this manicure. I definitely should have gone with another glitter. It just needs more.