Blue and Olive Dotted French

French manicures were really popular in my area when I was growing up. I always thought they were a little boring, but I can definitely get behind more interesting variations on a plain French manicure. This one uses dots instead of the usual straight line.

Read more after the jump!

Blue Gold Gradient

Gradients are my go-to nail art when I feel like I'm in a rut. This time, I went for the classic color combo of blue and gold.

I started with a base of Bluey by Butter London, a shimmering deep blue. I let that dry, then used a makeup sponge and Goldeneye by OPI to create the gold gradient.

I can't say enough good things about Goldeneye - it's definitely becoming one of my favorite polishes!

Black Knight Stripes

Over Christmas Break, I purchased a polish that had been a lemming of mine for a while: Black Knight by Butter London. Their polishes are a bit expensive for my tastes, but I had a discount coupon at Sephora and went for it. And I'm glad I did!

Black Knight is a rainbow of glitters in a black base, with the dominant colors being pink and blue. I decided to do some nail art with it.

For the glitter nails, I used one coat of Black Knight over a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Black Knight can definitely reach full opacity on its own, but I like conserving polish. For the striped nails, I started with China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, then I freehanded stripes of Black Knight. I sealed it all with some Seche Vite, and that's it!

I'm glad I decided to splurge on this polish :) I just can't get enough glitter.

Day 5: Blue

Day 5's theme is blue. I had actually just received my very first Butter London polishes in the mail when I decided to do this prompt, and among them was a blue! So I decided that would be the base color. I ordered them from Coterie - I got three polishes and a matte topcoat for $10! You can't beat that.

Anyway, I've been meaning to try out that Saran wrap technique, so that's what I decided to do.

I started with two coats of Bluey by Butter London. I let that dry, and then I painted on a coat of Wallis, another Butter London polish. Then I quickly dabbed off the wet polish with some crumpled plastic wrap and voila! Nail art.

I'm definitely a fan of this technique. It's quick and simple, but it produces interesting results! I think next time, I'll pick colors with more contrast.

I'm a fan of these colors, too. They have a lot of depth. I don't think I have anything in my collection that looks like either one of these, so I'm happy with them.

Butter London bottles are hard to hold!

The next day's theme is violet. Stay tuned for that!