Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Dreaming of Beach Weather with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer and Ellagee!

Happy hump day, dear readers! I'm sure it seems wrong to complain about the cool weather, especially since all things considered, it really isn't that bad in the Bay Area, but I am ready for warmer days. To really get in the mood for sunny days, what could be better than a beach-themed duo! Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer has been collaborating with different indie brands to create the Destination Polish Duo Collection. The very first collaboration in this series was with Ellagee, and it is all about the beach! Laura from Ellagee snapped a photo of a beach in Destin, Florida, and each of these makers created their own polish inspired by the photo. Let's check out the Sand & Surf duo!
Do you feel like you're at the beach yet? Of course this manicure is mostly the sand, but I'm ok with that! I tend to spend more time on the sandy beach than in the water anyway. Haha! My camera isn't a fan of pale shades and either makes me look more tan than I already am or blows out whites so you can't see anything. I figure you'd appreciate the shimmers more, even if I do end up looking like I've spent far too much time in the sun!

Shimmering Sandcastles
Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer
Three coats plus top coat

Ivory/light nude creme with green microflakies and shimmers in aqua, silver, blue, and gold.

I am pretty darn proud of this closeup photo! It took a lot of playing around with camera settings and moving lights around to be able to catch any of the gorgeous shimmers and microflakes, but it was well worth the effort! This polish is exquisite; I can get lost just looking at all those sparkling shimmers! This was a little thinner than the other Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer shades I've used, and it applied quite nicely. The first two coats were the littlest bit patchy, something I expect from this kind of colour, but it leveled out flawlessly with the third coat. I might have even been able to get away with just two coats if I didn't overwork the polish with the second coat a little too much. Shimmering Sandcastles is beautiful, and I'll certainly be grabbing this beauty again soon!

Rhythm of the Surf
Ellagee
Three coats plus top coat

A deep turquoise blue jelly packed with shades of white, blue, turquoise, and shifting iridescent glitters.

Please pardon the bubbles in this photo; my top coat bubbled up on me and the camera made it more obvious than it did to the naked eye. This polish definitely captured the look of the ocean with the white foaming crest of the waves! I love the ocean, so I am quite fond of this shade as well! It applied very easily for me- the glitters spread nicely over my nails and there was no digging needed. This is a jelly polish so you can see my nail line with three coats, although the bright lights I use for taking photos does make it look more obvious than it truly is with normal lighting.

This duo also comes with a 10 piece set of shell water decals- 2 each of 5 different designs. Unfortunately I don't have a photo to share because I did not put the organza bag that contained them up for the night and my hellkitten decided to play with and destroy it along with the decals overnight. Boo hiss! I'm pretty sad about that because they were adorable, and you can check them out on the website here.

It seems wrong to be sporting beachy nails in light of the blizzard that recently hit the east coast and the blizzard that is hitting other parts of the US now. I wanted to do something to show my support for those of you suffering with the cold. I present to you: Snowmen dreaming of the beach!

I love the look of snowmen at night after the snow has stopped falling, and I added Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Believin' Won't Fly to create this look. This dark navy blue polish has a gorgeous icy blue flash, and it was very opaque with just one quick coat. I wish I could say I was talented enough to do my snowmen on my own, but I cheated. Haha! I used the Tribal Curlz vinyls by Lou It Yourself to create my abstract snowmen and swished on China Glaze Liquid Leather for the hats. I promise, there are actually hats on my snowmen!

I had a lot of fun creating this manicure, and I think I'm going to have to recreate it later this year for the holiday season.

The Sand & Surf duo and Believin' Won't Fly are still available for purchase here. I'm loving all of these shades, and they are gorgeous! Now to start planning a trip to the beach....

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!




24 comments

  1. I love how you captured the shimmer! Well worth the work to get that shot.

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    1. Thank you! I was pretty excited when I finally nailed it! LOL

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  2. So gorgeous!! I love the abstract snowmen! <3

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  3. Gorgeous duo, but I'm totally in love with your abstract snowmen!

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  4. Oh my gosh, shimmering sand castles is everything!!

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  5. I love the mani you did with these!

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  6. Again, I absolutely love the shimmer in that nude. I've become obsessed with shimmers lately.

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    1. I love a good shimmer polish, and this one is a beauty!

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  7. Shimmering Sandcastles is super gorgeous. I love the shade of nude and with that extra shimmer <3

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  8. Gorgeous duo! The shimmer in that macro is amazing!

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  9. I'm so ready for warmer weather here in the UK. Gorgeous mani x

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