Zigzags

Can I hire someone to come up with titles for me? I seriously think that's the hardest part of blogging. Actually posting regularly being a close second, of course. Anyway this might be my favorite of the summer so far, though it's a bit on the darker side for the summer. What you're looking at today is a blue purple gradient beneath a stamped silver zigzag pattern from my MASH stamping plates.

The left hand! Which one of these is not like the other...?

Okay! For the gradient I used four different colors, two blues and two purples. The darker purple is Essie Sexy Divide, one of my absolute favorite polishes. The lighter shimmery purple is Sinful Colors Purple Diamond. The next is Sinful Colors Love Nails, a translucent turquoise. Finally, we have Sinful Colors Midnight Blue, an equally gorgeous marbled royal blue.

The infamous right hand! Which actually turned out just fine.

I stamped the zigzag pattern using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, and I loved the way it made the manicure brighter. I was originally going to stamp in black, but I'm glad I chose otherwise. Thanks for reading!

Colorful Trees with Birds

This was such a fun manicure and probably my favorite of the summer! I got the idea for this manicure here. Check it out! Lots of pictures here so don't forget to click the read more button!

I made a few changes to the look as compared to the link above. Instead of a gradient across all ten nails, I did the gradient the same across each hand.

The polishes used in this manicure from pinky finger to thumb are: Sinful Colors: Purple Diamond (light purple), Essie: Sexy Divide (dark purple), NYC: Cashmere Creme (light blue), Sinful Colors: Love Nails (medium blue), Zoya: Holly (dark green), Sally Hansen: Ivy League (light green), Sally Hansen: Golden-I, Zoya: Penny (bronze-y orange), NYC: Burgundy Broadway Creme (red), and Sally Hansen: Posh Plum. For the birds and branches, I used Sinful Colors: Rich in Heart (dark brown).

ALL the nail polish!

Here's a conglomeration of the manicures I've done for others this summer! None of these hands are mine, but the nail art is! I'll try to be brief in the descriptions. Lotsa pictures, make sure you click the "read more" button! 

This first mani is made using a base color and adding several different colored dots using a bobby pin. You can also use dotting tools of different sizes, but I'm cheap and make do with bobby pins, haha. The second picture below is the same style with slightly different colors (and a different person's hand). I also added an accent nail of contrasting color on the second manicure. Have you seen my original design?

Seeing Stars

Where I'll be for the next weekish, I'll be able to see the night sky pretty clearly! In the meantime, enjoy this starry manicure.

Tada! Made with my new image plates from Mash! I used plate numbers 29 (yellow stars) and 49 (purple stars). The purple polish is Sexy Divide by Essie and the yellow polish is Darcy by Zoya. Have I mentioned how much I love this purple?

Below is my other hand.

I usually don't show my right hand, because it's usually not as nicely done as my left (solution: become ambidextrous). This time, I think the stamping showed up more opaque on my right hand than my left. I also did a better job with the clear coat, so there's less streaking. 

This last picture is a work in progress shot.

I really like stars! I've been itching to try out a star mani for a long time, and I'm really happy with how this one turned out. Thanks for reading! I'll be without my computer for a while, but you can expect a new post by Sunday. See you next time!

Dots and More Dots!

Back to nail art! (And regularly scheduled posting.) 

Pictured: Essie, Sexy Divide 

Did I mention how much I love this purple polish? I used lots of different polishes in this manicure, but I'll try to name them all. The purple is Sexy Divide by Essie and the light blue is Cashmere Creme by NYC, both used for my base colors. For the dots, I used both of the above polishes as well as those below.

Sinful Colors: Love Nails (marbled turquoise)

                     Purple Diamond (sheer glittery lavender)

                     Frenzy (purple and blue glitter)

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear: Blizzard Blue

Forever 21: Royal Blue

The dots were applied using a bobby pin. Below is my other hand.

Pictured: Sinful Colors, Frenzy

How do you like this manicure? I really liked this look! I've tried it in different colors since, but I think this is my favorite. Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Sparkly Stripes

Because everyone likes sparkly, right?

This manicure was my first time using nail striping tape. Nail striping tape is typically very thin, foil tape that may have a pattern or design on the non-sticky side. My tape is around 2-3 mm wide. I ordered it online from some Chinese wholesaler with free shipping (yay but it took two months to ship...) and I got about thirty rolls of tape in over ten different colors. The tape is wound on a plastic wheel and each wheel of tape came in a protective plastic sleeve. The nail striping tape is so much fun and so easy to use. I only wish that I could somehow reuse/recycle used pieces of tape...

To make this manicure, I started with a base of Essie: Sexy Divide (this gorgeous purple that totally deserves that name). I then placed strips of tape in a ray shaped design over my nails. (Make sure the strips are long enough to cover the nail with a little extra to grab when removing!) Without removing the tape, I painted over with a layer of NYC: Cashmere Creme. Immediately after painting I removed the tape carefully, exposing the purple polish. After that dried, I added Sinful Colors: Frenzy (purple and blue glitter suspended in a clear matrix). I tried to add the glitter in thicker amounts near the starting point of the ray.

I made this especially to go with my Halloween costume (crayola crayon outfit!) and Cashmere Creme happened to be the exact same color as my shirt! I had also just purchased the purple, so I wanted to try it out.

What do you think? Next time, stained glass inspired nails. Thanks for reading!