Snow Globe Skittles

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday! These nails are a little messy, but that just shows how far I've come since then. But I love how the glitter looks here anyway.

Starting with my thumb, the green is OPI in Gargantuan Green Grape, glue is Essie is Coat Azure, Purple is ORLY in Frolic, yellow is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, and lilac is Essie in Lapiz of Luxury. They're all topped with a coat of China Glaze Snow Globe.

Thanks for reading :)

Neon Glitter Stripes

Are you ever just really pleased with the way a nail design comes out? That's how I felt about today's manicure.

I started with a base of China Glaze Purple Panic, a purple-pink neon. I let that dry completely. I wanted to have really crisp lines, so I used tape to cover the top third of my nail and painted the bottom two thirds with China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, a dark gray creme. I let that dry completely, then I used tape to block off the top and bottom thirds of my nail, leaving only the middle strip exposed. I painted that over with Barry M Silver Multi Glitter, a fine silver glitter with hints of pink.

I think this design came out so well! The colors play really well together. I love the contrast of the gray and neon as well as the way the pink glitters compliment the purple.

I didn't want to take this design off! Tape really can do wonders for clean lines if you have the patience for it.

Red, Black, and Gold Skittles

Sometimes I just don't know what I want to do with my nails, so I do something different on each one. I think it's a pretty good compromise :)

I was really feeling the combination of red, black, and gold, so I picked a bunch of polishes that fit the color scheme.

On my thumb, I started with a base of Deborah Milano 103, a pretty red with gold shimmer that I picked up in Italy. Then I sponged on a gradient of OPI Goldeneye, a polish I've been reaching for a lot lately. On my index finger, I used two coats of Barry M Gold Mine Glitter. On my middle finger, I started with a base of China Glaze Hey Sailor, then freehand a triangle of Goldeneye, then another of China Glaze Liquid Leather. On my ring finger, I layered HARE Polish Holiday Hoopla over Liquid Leather. Finally, I used three coats of Goldeneye on my pinky. Phew!

I really like how the colors work together.

Skittles are a really fun way to do your nails when you can't decide on one design. And they look so unique, too :)

Gold Glitter and Hell to the No

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday! Today I have one of my favorite color combos: purple and gold.

I went for something simple with this manicure. I just added a glitter accent nail to keep it from being too boring. The purple is Sephora by OPI's Hell to the No from their Glee collection. I'm not a big fan of Glee, but when I saw swatches of this polish, I had to have it. It's a purple with a beautiful gold shimmer. I added the accent nail, which is Milani One Coat Glitter in Gold Glitz. One Coat Glitters actually cover very well in one coat, but I used two anyway. Overall, I like the end result!

Half and Half: Dots and Glitter

Sorry I've been so sporadic with posting! My semester ended recently and then we took a trip to Dublin, so it's been pretty hectic around here. I'm off to Berlin and Amsterdam for the week too, but I have posts scheduled for that time :)

Anyway, today I have another nail art rut design. I couldn't decide what to do, so I dug around my basket of polish until something jumped out at me.

I started with a base of Sephora by OPI Queen of Everything. Then I freehand painted half of my nails with Deborah Milano 99. I used a dotting tool and 99 to add dots to the silver half of my nails. It still didn't feel complete, so I added a layer of Models Own Freak Out to the blue half of my nails.

I don't usually like shard glitter that much, but Freak Out is such a fun polish.

I got out of this nail art rut pretty quickly, thank goodness :) Check back soon for another Throwback Thursday!

Throwback Thursday: Yellow Polka Dots

Here's another Throwback Thursday post for you!

I have to say, I love polka dots. They're such a fun and easy way to spice up a plain manicure! For this one, I used a base of Caribbean Coral by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear and used a dotting tool to add dots in Mellow Yellow, also by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

Thanks for reading :)

HARE Holiday Hoopla + Gold Accent

As you all know, I love HARE Polish. Since I'm in England, I decided to only bring versatile colors with me, and thus only one HARE Polish came across the pond with me. Holiday Hoopla is the only glitter topper from HARE that I had at the time, so I had to bring it with me! And I keep reaching for it.

I've been wearing a lot of red and gold on my nails lately. I thought Holiday Hoopla would look good over an off white, so that's what I decided to do. I used 3 coats of Illamasqua Load then topped it with just one coat of Holiday Hoopla.

Yum, glitter.

I also added an accent nail of OPI Goldeneye. I've been reaching for that a lot, too! It's such a lovely gold.

This manicure was simple, but I like it. HARE never disappoints!

Harry Potter Nail Art: Revisited (Plus Hogwarts Crest Tutorial)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've had a really busy week. On Monday and Tuesday I was in London, then Wednesday was my 21st birthday! Thursday was a bit of a recovery day, haha. But anyway, I'm really excited about the nail art I have to show you today.

On Tuesday, my friends and I went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour! I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so I knew I had to do some nail art for the occasion.

This post is pretty picture heavy, so you can see the rest (and the tutorial) after the jump!

Navy and Copper Split

Ugh, sorry for the late post again. I've just been so caught up with my schoolwork lately. But on the bright side, I'm almost done with this essay!

Ever just feel like you're in a nail art rut? I was feeling like that for a while; no fancy ideas were appealing to me, so I decided to just do something simple.

A tried-and-true split manicure seemed like a good way to go. So I picked out two colors that I thought went well together. I started with a base of China Glaze First Mate, a one-coater navy blue. Then I painted half of each nail with Barry M Copper. I decided to just freehand it since I'm lazy.

Copper is such a pretty color; it even has a sort of maroon duochrome going on. I just wish Barry M polishes had more creative names!

Nothing too fancy, but hopefully I'll see some nail art and get inspired again.

Throwback Thursday: Nude Glitter Gradient

Sorry for the late post today! I was in the library for most of the day working on an essay. Ugh, finals crunch time is not fun. But anyway, I have another Throwback Thursday for you! It features one of my favorite quick nail art techniques - glitter gradient.

I used a base of Nite Owl by ORLY, which is a really lovely nude with silver shimmer, and used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of Silver Dazzle by Milani One Coat Glitter.

I think black and nude is always a great combo, don't you?