Matte Black and Gold Stripes

I'm a big fan of matte nails, but I am also wildly impatient. This is not a good combination. But sometimes, I actually have the patience to let my nails dry without the help of my trusty Seche Vite, and that's when I break out the matte topcoat.

Read more after the jump!

Coral and Gold Glitter Gradient

Sometimes, a little glitter is just the thing.

I love glitter, and I especially love glitter when it's miserable and snowy out (like it's been for the past month and a half in Pittsburgh). Gradients are a quick and easy way to wear glitter polish.

I started with a base of Essie Sunday Funday, which is a great polish name. However, the polish was a bit thin and runny, so that was sad.

I used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of Milani One Coat Glitter in Gold Glitz. I added some Seche Vite, and we're done! Super simple, but pretty.

I really love the coral and gold color combo :)

Daring Digits: Robin

My favorite superheroes have always been Batman and the Teen Titans. So when I saw that Daring Digits had Batman and Robin themed polishes, I jumped on them! Today, I have Robin to show you.

The polish is made up of red, green, and yellow-gold glitter in a clear base. The colors are based on Robin's costume, of course. It's very glitter-dense and went on easily. This is one coat over China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Next time I wear this, I'll have to do an accent nail with Robin's logo!

I love fun, themed nail polishes. If someone comes out with Teen Titans themed nail polishes, I would be all over that :)

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!

Nautical Skittles + Anchor Tutorial

I've been such a bad blogger lately! Sorry about that - I've been really busy with friends and my internship. I have a tutorial to make up for it :)

Nautical skittles! I really wanted to try out vertical lines, and it made me think of a nautical theme so I did an anchor accent as well. Here's the tutorial for how to freehand an anchor:

It's pretty straightforward, really.

For my thumb and middle finger, I used a base of China Glaze Sea Spray then topped it with two coats of Candeo Colors Divebomb. For my index finger and pink, I started with a base of OPI Goldeneye. I let that dry completely, then I used striping tape and China Glaze First Mate to create the vertical stripes.

For the anchor nail, I started with a base of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of Goldeneye. I freehanded the anchor using First Mate and a striping brush. All of my nails are sealed with Seche Vite for smoothness and shininess :)

I really love how these turned out! Vertical stripes really appeal to me, and I think my accent nail is especially cute.

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!

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!

Gold Glitter on Navy Gradient

I'm currently on spring break until April 7th! I'll be travelling around Europe, so until then I have a bunch of stuff schedule for you. It'll be like I was never gone ;)

If you ask me, you can never go wrong with a simple glitter gradient. Which is good because I was in a bit of a nail art rut - I attribute it to my relatively small collection of nail polish that I have with me in England. Sigh, study abroad problems. Oh well! I like what I came up with.

I started with a base of China Glaze First Mate, a navy creme and a one-coater. Then I used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of China Glaze Champagne Kisses, a fine antique gold glitter.

I don't know why the glitter on my middle finger looks so sparse in these photographs. It didn't look like that in person!

Studying abroad is a lot of fun, but part of me can't wait to be reunited with my polish :)

Black and Gold Ruffles and Dots

Today's nail art is actually the first manicure I did while in England! I obviously couldn't bring my light box here, but I did the best I can with photos.

It's so sad not having my full polish collection with me! I had a really tough time choosing what polishes to bring with me, as well. Anyway, I started with three coats of Goldeneye by OPI. Then I painted half of my nails (diagonally) with Liquid Leather by China Glaze. I used a big dotting tool and Goldeneye to go over some of the black, then I used a smaller dotting tool and Liquid Leather to make the black dots. It sounds more complicated than it is, I think!

I wore these nails for orientation :)

My nails look so sad and small :( I always wind up breaking a bunch of nails when I travel! Sigh. Oh well, stay tuned to see how I'll make do with only a fraction of my polish ;)

HARE Golden Years + Scale Nails

I have another HARE polish for you today! This one is called Golden Years.

I layered two coats of Golden Years over one coat of Yoga-ta Get This Blue by OPI. I didn't want a single colored mani, so I decided to add some accent nails on my index and middle fingers. I again started with a base of Yoga-ta Get This Blue, but I forwent Golden Years in favor of a scale pattern.

But first, let's talk about Golden Years. It's a mix of blue, turquoise, gold, and greenish glitters suspended in a dark blue base. The glitter was a bit less dense than I usually expect for HARE, but it was still quite dense. Application was effortless.

For the accent nails, I used a dotting tool to create the scaly look. I also used the following polishes:
China Glaze Glittering Garland
China Glaze Exotic Encounters
OPI Curry Up Don't Be Late
Sinful Colors Innocent

As usual, I love this HARE polish. And I think the accent nails are cool too :) HARE Polish can be purchased from her Etsy store or from Llarowe.

New Year's Glitter Gradient

Happy New Year! I hope you all had fun on New Year's Eve :)

2012 was a pretty good year for me, but here's hoping that 2013 will be even better. I'll be going abroad next semester, so I think 2013 will be filled with awesome new experiences.

For my New Year's Eve nails, I wanted something sparkly.

I started with two coats of Sephora by OPI in Hell To The No, a purple with golden shimmer. It's such a lovely color; it's a shame it was limited edition. I thought gold glitter would complement the gold shimmer, so I reached for China Glaze Champagne Kisses, a find gold glitter with holo particles. I painted that on with a nail art brush and used the brush to drag the glitter down my nail. After that, I added Milani Jewel FX in Gold in the center of my nails for some added glitter. I used two coats of Seche Vite to make it all smooth.

I really love all of Milani's glitters. They're so lovely, especially for their price point.

You can really see the shimmer in Hell To The No in that close up!

I love how sparkly these are; they're just what I wanted for New Year's Eve.

I hope 2013 treats you all well!