BEGL - One Gray-t Year and Fare the Wind Matted

Hello again my polished readers! Today I have a fun mani for you featuring more of one of my favorite indie brands: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers. This is the beautiful One Gray-t Year, an LE polish created to celebrate the 1st anniversary of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers, with an accent of Fare the Wind.

One Gray-t Year is a gray matte polish with rainbow micro-flakies. I love the matte look on this one! I wish I could have captured the flakies better though! I also topped Fare the Wind with NYC Matte topcoat and I really loved the look this gave me. I have never mattified a holo before, but I think this will be something I continue to experiment with. I also like the way they feel, if that makes sense?

My hydrangeas are just starting to bloom again so I needed a flower pic with it too!

A bit closer, you can sort-of see a few flakes on my pointer from the sun reflection.

The poor cleanup around my pinky is kind of a funny story. As some of you might guess, I try and polish my nails when my little one is napping and usually I'm also doing something else since I love to multitask my "free time". So I was chatting on Facebook, looking at Instagram and also trying to create this manicure at the same time. FAIL. I was balancing my polish on my phone, it vibrated, scared me and I grabbed the cap of One Gray-t Year and it was loose! I flung polish all over my phone and the arm of my couch. After that I was a bit shaky, so when I went to polish my pinky's second coat, I squished polish into my cuticles. This is the best I could do. I hope it doesn't scare any of you away knowing I am human and I make mistakes. If nothing else, I hope you got a little laugh from that story!

What do you think of the matte look? Love it or leave it?

The Purple Summer

I have decided that this summer my very favorite shade has been purple. I find myself going back to the various shades I own over and over again. This polish is no exception. Shown in these photos is Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers "Fare the Wind" - a gorgeous linear holographic purple with a blue shift. I decided to be a little different and use my middle finger as the accent on this mani. For the accent I used Lynnderella's Blue Rouge - it matched so perfectly! This mani reminds me a bit of the book "The Rainbow Fish" maybe because I've been reading it to my son at bedtime this past week. Or maybe becasue those glitters from Blue Rouge remind me of Rainbow Fish's glittering scales that he gives to each of the other fish in the sea. Time to let the pictures do the talking.

 Used here is 2 coats of FTW, accent of Blue Rouge on middle, and topped with ATC topcoat.

Obligatory Flower Shot

Let's get a little closer, shall we?

I think the draw to holos for me is that sparkle I catch in the sun - the purple is lovely on its own but then POW! the sun shines and rainbows appear. If you don't own any holos, I highly recommend adding at least one to your collection. Unless you hate rainbows, then never mind. Fare the Wind is currently sold out, but if you stalk follow BEGL on facebook, you just never know what she might decide to bring back. As for Blue Rouge, it has been discontinued (so sorry!).

And as always here are a few places where you can find these lovelies:

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer on Facebook

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer's Store

Lynnderella on Facebook

Lynnderella's store on ebay

Butter London Two Fingered Salute

This polish has been around for a couple of years now, but I consider it a definite "must have" in every collection.  Two Fingered Salute by Butter London is a lovely patina seafoam green with a pinkish copper shimmer that has an eggshell finish on the nail.  A quick swipe of top coat really brought this polish to a different level, so I suggest trying it both ways!

The formula is fantastic and this was two easy coats and a topcoat of Out The Door.  If you don't use top coat it won't be nearly as shiny, but still really pretty in a different way!  I love this for fall because the seafoam has enough of a greyed quality to it that it's not bright. The coppery shimmer screams fall to me, but really this is a year-round color.

Shimmer!

Two Fingered Salute

Outside - natural light

Two Fingered Salute was exclusive to Nordstorm but now can still be purchased on Butter London's website...which I've linked in case I caught you during a moment of weakness. :) I hope you like this one as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by!

~Hayley

*All polishes in this post were purchased by me. There are no affiliate links in this post. Links are provided for your convenience.

A Beautiful Glitter Bomb

Today I want to share a beautiful glitter topper with you that was graciously offered as a prize in a small polish group I belong to. It is made by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer and it is called Heart of Texas. This polish was specially made and therefore only a few bottle exist, but I just had to share it.

 

All photos are taken in direct sunlight.

 

 For undies I used 2 coats of Above the Curve's Ultra Holo Pink (pointer, middle and pinky) and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer's Untrodden Snow (thumb and ring finger). 

This is also 2 coats of Heart of Texas with a bit of dabbing. I topped everything with my latest go-to fast dry top cot from Above the Curve.

*DISCLAIMER: All polishes in this post were purchased by me with the exception of Heart of Texas as mentioned above which was I won. There are no affiliate links in this post. Links are provided for your convenience.

Taupe Skittle: China Glaze Release and Essie Chinchilly

I was looking through my collection to come up with some inspiration.  I lined up my taupe polishes and couldn't decide on one to use, so why not try them all?!  This was the result:

This skittle was such a chameleon (and that's putting it lightly!) These pictures are the most color accurate of the individual shades but in most lighting situations they were very close...only a shade or two off and fluctuated between looking grey or purplish.  I'm sure I don't have to explain the personality of taupe polishes for that to make sense!  But I will tell you the polishes I used (from thumb to pinky):  L'Oreal Liya's Nude, Essie Chinchilly, China Glaze Release, L'Oreal Sparklicious, and L'Oreal Eiffel For You. 

These polishes are all available currently, with the exception of Sparklicious (which is amazing...think Beyond Cozy but with different size glitters).
- All polishes were 2 coats and a topcoat and the formula was fantastic on every one! These are pretty much the only Loreals I own and the first time I used any of their creams. I was totally impressed!  Release (the most purple of the bunch) is from the new China Glaze limited edition collection, The Giver. After I purchased Release, I suspected it would be a dupe for something in my collection but I haven't found that to be the case by bottle comparison.

Outdoors - shade

Indoors

Natural light - shade

I'm going to have a really tough time picking just one of these to wear...but Eiffel For You (on my pinky) is one of my favorites.  I am in love with these neutrals and the promise that fall might show up in Arizona!  If you have a taupe or fall color that you can't live without...please let me know in the comments!:)

~ Hayley

*These pretty polishes were purchased by me 

China Glaze Choo-Choo-Choose You

We have seen so many swatches of Fall colors and collections coming out and we both ran out to snatch up some of these beauties. One of them that Hayley and I both chose was from Chine Glaze's All Aboard collection and is called Choo-Choo-Choose You. It is clear from looking at the bottle that this polish is different.

 

To me it looks like a dusty purple leaning gray polish with a greenish shimmer to it, but on my nails I felt like the shimmer was more coppery or rose gold than green. It is one of those shades that changes depending on the light source and angle from which you are looking.

 When I stepped outside, I knew that this color was reminding me of! We have a Japanese maple tree that changes from green to a dark burgundy in the fall. What better prop for a fall shade that is also sort of a chameleon, right? Above photo was in the shade of the tree.

 

In direct sun, the shimmer is very apparent.

Another one in the shade, a bit closer. You can see the deep purple here as well as the coppery shimmer on my ring finger. 

Application for this polish was good. I didn't have any issues with it being too think of thin to manage. I used 3 thinner coats in these pictures plus I used Above the Curve's 5-Free top coat. 

Side note: I apologize for my cleanup being a little less than clean. This was my second mani attempt and the polish I used before this really ticked me off and thus I lost my patience! I'm going to do a post on that polish as well, but I'd like to give it a second chance.

I'm love seeing all these fall shades come out, but that won't stop me from posting a few more bright holos this summer. And fall. And winter too. Who am I kidding!?

Do you have "seasonal colors" in your polish collection? Or do you wear what you feel like? Leave a comment below and tell us! 

Above the Curve UH Purple

Today I have a beauty from Above the Curve Nail Lacquer called Ultra Holo Purple. I snatched up three of their ultra holos as soon as they came out and I was not disappointed. U.H. Purple is my favorite (so far).


As some may know, I've really been in to the holographic polishes lately, but I feel like it actually dates back to college when I fell head-over-heels in love with Sally Hansen's Fairy Dust Pink. I can't tell you how many comments I got while wearing that color. I still have it too - anyone want to see it? Leave a comment below if you do! Now on to the pictures!

I'll take any opportunity to pose with my posies when they are in full bloom! Shown here is 2 coats of UH Purple with no topcoat and in full sun. I tired to get a few angles to show off those stunning rainbows. Seriously, who can resist a polish that sparkles with rainbows? Not I!

 

I love holographic polishes in the sun!

So let me talk just a little bit about why I love Above the Curve (ATC) so much and what I think is so special about them. Polish Monster introduced me to this company and I am so very glad she did! ATC is a husband and wife duo which is pretty awesome in itself, but what is even more awesome is that $1 from EVERY bottle of polish sold is donated to Shriner's Hospitals for Children and also used help raise awareness for Scoliosis! Polish for a cause? Yep, I'm on board with that!

I hope you will check out ATC's etsy shop and give them a follow on their facebook page too!

And I was serious, if anyone wants to see swatches of my first holo love, SH Fairy Dust Pink, let me know. I'm happy to take requests.

Sweet Simplicity: Ciate Angel Wings

Like this polish, I'm going to keep this post simple.  I love how clean a pearl white polish looks, whether alone or as a base for something more special.  The problem is finding one that is flattering and doesn't leave a ton of brush strokes.

Luckily, Jackie gifted me a mini Ciate she had, and it fits those criteria well!  Ciate Angel Wings is  a pearl white polish, that slightly leans to the lightest possible hint of pink imaginable at certain angles (it may be the natural nail underneath doing that).

I think this is a great palette cleanser before the onset of all the gorgeous fall colors and collections that are coming out. What do you think?

I used 3 coats and no topcoat.  After I was done, I remembered I should have used a matte top coat underneath coats to further minimize any brushstrokes.  I decided to leave well enough alone, since I might do a skittlette later and it wasn't too bad.  It's also worth noting that this polish has a great formula...extremely easy to work with. 

Outside on a rainy desert day :)

Indoors

Outdoors

If you want Angel Wings for yourself, it's available online at Nordstrom and Sephora.  

Let me know your polish picks for August and keep me in your thoughts for more rainy days in Arizona...they're wonderful!