Star Light On My Mind

If you have read my blog for any length of time you know I love collections and polishes with a sense of humor. Needless to say, the Foux Du Fafa collection by Blue Eyed Girl lacquer was right up my alley. This collection is inspired by Flight of the Conchords so I will start out this review with the catchy tune this collection is named after. Feel free to jam out while you read this post.

I have to give full disclosure that I am still a beginner at stamping and various other nail art techniques so you will have to forgive my lack of intricate designs. I will say that this collection works really well for beginner and expert nail artists alike. This is why I was so excited for the challenge of doing this review and why I jumped for joy when Julie offered me the chance to review this collection for her. There are so many super talented nail artists out there and I love looking at their gorgeous work. However, I know I, personally, can get really discouraged at the lack of ideas for those of us who are still learning the basics.

The Foux Du Fafa collection consists of five crème polishes that are designed to stamp as well as water marble. The polishes also work really well with vinyls because they are opaque in 1-2 coats. First off I will show you a swatch of each polish with any pertinent details and show you a nail art look to help get you inspired to give these a try, or give you inspiration on how you can use these if you already own the Foux Du Fafa collection.

One thing I want to note right off the bat is these crèmes look much darker on the nail when you use them as a regular crème polish for a full manicure. A few of the colors will look almost black on the nail when worn this way. However, when you use them for stamping those colors look much brighter. I will point out which colors this occurs with in the individual polish’s details.

We’re Vincible

Hopefully rappers won’t have hurt feelings over this gorgeous mustard yellow crème. We’re Vincible is inspired by the song “Hurt Feelings” and is a true mustard color.

I found this color a bit harder to stamp with than some of the darker ones but it still definitely stamps. I found the design transferred better when I used my squishy sticky stamper versus my firmer one. I ended up doing a nail art design with vinyls to show how great this polish worked with vinyls. I used Zoya’s Fei Fei because the gold glitter in it matched We’re Vincible perfectly. For my accent nail I used Zoya’s Ciara underneath We’re Vincible for a little punch of color.

Robo Aggression

All the humans are dead! Not really, but I’m sure the robots would love this pretty mid toned gray crème if robots had nails. Robo Aggression had one of the thicker formulas of the five polishes and I was able to get it fully opaque in one coat but used two for the photo. Because of the thicker formula Robo Aggression is one of the easiest polishes in the collection to stamp with. I was able to lift the design from the stamping plate on the first try with this one. I, personally, prefer Robo Aggression as a stamping and nail art polish than one I would wear on its own as a full manicure because the formula leans a bit thick for my tastes to be used as a regular nail polish. But if you’re looking for a medium gray that will cover quickly then Robo Aggression will get the job done.

Grays like this really look fantastic with the neon and bright colors that are so popular during the summer season. For this reason I chose to use Robo Aggression to show how it looks with neon polish. I think this gray would also look really nice with the bleached neons that are so popular this summer.

Too Many Misters

This sexy deep green is inspired by “Too Many Dicks (On The Dance Floor)” Too Many Misters had a formula consistency very similar to We’re Vincible. This one defiantly needed two coats to be fully opaque. I was able to stamp with Too many Misters but it took a few extra tries for me to figure out that sweet spot because I’m still learning. A more experienced stamper won’t have that issue though. I really dig how the color underneath impacts how dark the green looks on top. Granted, that could also be due to my amateur stamping skills. It’s a really nice green to have for nail art. And if you like wearing really dark greens this may be up your alley.

I took me awhile to decide what polishes to pair with Too Many Misters because I had a bunch that it would look really nice with. I ended up going for a few of the bleached neons from the Baroness X Southland Sunsets collection.

Freaky Dream

Inspired by “I Told You I was Freaky.” This deep blackened purple crème reminds me a lot of a crème version of OPI’s Lincoln Park after Dark as a full manicure. However, this is one of the polishes that looks much lighter and vibrant when you use it for stamping. Freaky Dream stamps incredibly well and I was able to get a good design transfer with it on the first try.

I stamped Freaky Dream over a gradient of a few more shades from the Baroness X Southland Sunsets collection  just to show again how cool these look over shades that are on trend for the summer. Yeah, I am a bit obsessed with bleached neons this year. You really don’t have to wait for the fall to break out the Foux Du Fafa collection.

Rent Boy

It would have been totally wrong if the polish inspired by “You Don’t Have To Be a Prostitute” was any other color but red. Rent Boy is extremely versatile because it works well as both a regular nail polish and as a stamping and water marbling polish. This was another polish I was able to get a successful design transfer from my stamping plate on the first try. But just like Freaky Dream and Too Many Misters Rent Boy looks much more saturated and vibrant when used with stamping and water marbling. On the nail as a regular polish Rent Boy looks like a blackened burgundy but when used for stamping and water marbling it looks much more like a vibrant berry color.

I was dying to try Rent Boy over Oh My Majesty from OPI’s Alice through the Looking Glass collection. I really like stamping over shimmer polishes and Rent boy both complimented the shimmer in Oh My Majesty but also stood out really well against it.

Overall Impression

I really enjoyed this collection and I’m pretty sure I will be using the polishes quite a bit. What I really liked about this collection besides the fun inspiration is how versatile it is. Robo Aggression, Freaky Dream, and Rent Boy are standard colors anyone should have in a stamping polish. But then we also have some more unique colors like We’re Vincible and Too Many Misters.

As I said in the beginning of this post I’m, by no means, super experienced with stamping. I’m still very much a beginner so the fact that I was able to stamp successfully with the polishes from this collection speaks highly of their quality. I’m even less experienced with water marbling. So if I can get some designs going on the first try with these polishes you can as well. Someone who is more experienced with water marbling will have a great deal of success with these and find them easy to work with. All five of the colors spread out nicely.

The Foux Du Fafa collection is not a new collection from Blue Eyed Girl lacquer but it is still available for purchase. We are getting a lot of neon and bright colors right now since it’s the summer season and as I showed in this post you can easily mix and match some of those brighter colors with those from this collection to achieve some interesting nail art looks.

If you are new to stamping I really recommend you purchase Robo Aggression, Rent Boy, and Freaky Dream. Those stamp every bit as well as the Sally Hansen Insta Dri polishes but you won’t have to work lightning fast with these polishes so it gives you a little bit of extra time to line up your design on your nail or on a decaling surface. You will want to be sure to allow these to dry completely before applying topcoat because I noticed a bit of pigment transfer if I wasn’t patient enough.

I really liked We’re Vincible as a regular polish in addition to using it for nail art. I enjoy these funky mustard yellow colors, especially in a crème form. If you’re not so interested in nail art I highly recommend you get We’re Vincible because we don’t see colors like this very often and the formula is excellent. Yellow polishes don’t always have such nice, opaque, formulas so it’s nice to have one that is so easy to use. If you plan to wear any of these as regular polish you should be fine in regards to staining. I didn’t notice any issues with staining but you’ll want to wear a basecoat under these for sure.

If water marbling is your thing you should really get all five polishes because they are great colors to mix in with a wide variety of shades and seasonal colors. You’ll get a lot of mileage out of these and they will work consistently well for you.

The Foux Du Fafa polishes retail for $8.50 individually or $42.50 for the entire set. You can purchase them on the Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer website. Which ones are you favorite? What kind of nail art would you like to use these for?

I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week and have not had a chance to do any nail blogging so I decided to switch gears a little bit and show off some more of my photography.

Since it was the Fourth of July recently I used the holiday as an opportunity to practice a type of photography I have the least amount of experience with which is photos taken in very low lighting of fast moving objects. I think fireworks are some of the hardest objects to photograph but I like how even failed attempts end up with some cool, unintended, effects.

I took these photos with an f/1.8 50mm prime lens. my theory was I would be able to pop the aperture wide open in order to allow as much light in as possible and get a bokeh effect with the light. I had to take the photos at a very fast shutter speed with continuous burst. But even so I needed a faster shutter speed. I ended up with some interesting long exposure effects. I will certainly need to continue to practice and research how to make these kind of images more successfully.

I really like the golden sparks and the red smoke in this photo. The red “bokeh” globes look kind of like stars.

More red globes and smoke. It’s like a red nebula.

This photo reminded me of a purple flower.

The colors came out amazing in his one.

Another shot I especially liked. It really does look like that concept art NASA releases.

Of course, I am by no means an expert and this was just a fun experiment. I look forward to continuing to practice and research different types of photography and expanding in that hobby. In he meantime I hope to have another nail related post here very soon once I am feeling a bit better.

After all the planning and waiting it’s finally time for me to reveal my polish collaboration with Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer for the “Teal All the Things” edition of The Color Box. The Color Box is the brain child of Manna of Manna’s Manis and blossomed into a quarterly collaboration between five indie polish makers who are teamed up with five bloggers to create five nail polishes that fit into a color theme. Last quarter we had the inaugural edition of The Color Box that released five gorgeous purple polishes. I have to say, you are in for a treat with the teal edition as well.

If you aren’t familiar with Blue Eyed Girl lacquer I did an interview with Julie, the maker and owner. You can check out that interview here.

The inspiration behind our polish was Derek Zoolander’s merman commercial from the first film. There’s been a bunch of mermaid polishes in various teal shades but we wanted to do something different and that had a sense of humor to it. After all, polish is supposed to be fun. Because if it’s not fun then why bother, right? Anyways, if you’re not familiar wih the scene I am referencing from Zoolander you can view it below.

The name of our polish is “Merman, Pops, MerMAN” Even though Zoolander actually coughs in that quote we decided to alter the quote a bit in homage to the scene.

Merman, Pops, MerMAN is a bright, almost neon, teal polish packed with all sorts of color shifting goodness. There is a strong copper to gold shifting shimmer as well as color shifting metallic flakies to pay tribute to all of Derek Zoolander’s “looks.” Yes, we could not have a Zoolander inspired polish without a nod to Blue Steel. The flakies shift from blue, violet purple, to aqua. I really love the speckled look of the polish. We had originally planned to add some holographic pigment but decided against it to allow the base color to be as bright as possible and to allow the shimmer and flakies to stand out.

Despite being so packed with shimmer and flakies Merman, Pops, MerMAN applies smoothly to the nail. The only application note I want to give is to be careful not to overwork the polish because it will pull up the flakies, especially after you apply the first coat. The flakies spread out evenly on the nail without much manipulation and you get a lot of flakies on the brush to provide a nice amount of that color shifting effect. I found the color shift of the shimmer and flakies to be most visible in bright light or sunlight but I also noticed it at various points through the time I wore it. Because the polish contains flakies instead of glitter it remove easily but you will want to be careful of transfer of the flakies onto the skin around your nails.

I truly love this polish and I think Julie did a fantastic job that was both representative of our theme but also was accurate to a teal polish that represented me as well. I’m a big fan of bright colors, shimmer, and color shifting elements whether its thermals, solars, or multichromes. I could not be more thrilled with the final result and I hope everyone will enjoy it as much as I have.

Once the other bloggers have had a chance to reveal their polishes I will be sharing the rest of them with you in a full review of all the polishes that will be in the teal edition of The Color Box. Spoiler alert, all of them did a fantastic job.

The teal edition of The Color Box will be available for preorder starting June 27. If you are eager to learn more you can join The Color Box’s Facebook group.  I will have more details in my full review of the all the teal polishes once the other bloggers have unveiled their polishes.

Here are the June 2016 releases from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Julie, the maker of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer had to push the release of these polishes back to July. However, I doubt any of us mind because these polishes are well worth the wait.

This release will consist of a mix of preorder and “first come, first serve” polishes. Today I have the new Siren and the BEGL in the Destination Duo with 6Harts. These will release on Thursday, July 7^th at 3:30pm EDT. Excited to see them? Here we go!

 

Siren’s Poolside Daiquiri

This lovely addition to the BEGL’s Sirens is a bright strawberry pink with rose gold flakies, neon pink to blue shifting flakies, and silver ultra holographic glitters. This polish was opaque for me in two coats and application was a breeze despite how much stuff is in the polish. The polish does dry a bit textured so you will want to topcoat it. I didn’t notice any bumpiness or anything out of the ordinary, just typical micro glitter texture. Topcoat will also help the glitters and flakies stand out better and really sparkle. This is a warmer pink with just a drop of coral to it. I really love the name because the polish reminds me of drinking fruity frozen adult beverages in the shade.

This polish will be available on the BEGL website for preorder on Thursday, July 7^th at 3:30pm EDT and will sell for $12.00 USD. If there any overpours they will be available for sale at the end of the month.

 

Pining for the Pass

This polish is part of this month’s Destination Duo with 6Harts. I really love these Destination polishes because they are inspired by a photo and place. For this month’s the inspiration photo for the duo was taken by Courtney at Lolo Pass in Montana I really dig it. It’s not a picture you would typically pick for a polish inspiration and I really love how creatively it was interpreted.

I received the BEGL in my press release package. For those of you who love those olive type greens this will absolutely be up your alley. Pining for the Pass is a pine green polish with red to gold shifting flakies, bright gold flakies, and clear ultra holographic flakies. I really liked this one and it’s a color combination we don’t always see. It makes me think of sunlight sparkling through the spaces in between leaves on a tree. The red to gold shifting flakies create a strong shimmer effect in the polish with flecks of gold and holographic. It’s nice to have something different and this really does make me think of a hike through the woods.

The formula on this was a bit sheerer and like a true jelly. This will be a 2-3 coat polish depending on application. Honestly, even if you have a slight bit of visible nail line you will really have to strain to see it because there’s so many flakies in this polish. Like the Siren, this dried slightly textured and needed a topcoat.

Pining for the Pass will release with a polish from 6Harts called Rock of Ages. I didn’t receive that polish but Rock of Ages is described as a medium gray polish with green, color shifting, and dark gray micro flakies along with a small amount of micro glitter. You’ll want to check out the BEGL Website as well as the 6Harts website for photos. The duo will also come with bonus glitter packet full of coordinating glitters in various colors and shapes. They are meant to be worn with the polish for nail art purposes but not meant to be mixed in with them.

You will be able to purchase this month’s destination duo from both BEGL and 6Harts websites. However, be aware that 6Harts does not ship internationally. The duo will cost $20 shipped domestically and $20 shipped with a prorated fee for international customers.

 

Overall Impression

Both of these polishes are really lovely and have excellent formulas. It’s important to note that bEGL’s polishes do run a bit on the thicker side and you may need to add a couple drops of thinner if you prefer your polishes to be thinner. I have never had a bad polish from BEGL and they are well worth having. Which of the two polishes draw your eye the most?