Pastel Stripes and Flowers

Guys, guess what: My senior thesis is finished! Now I have more time for everything (including finding a job and blogging).

Despite that weird snowstorm on Tuesday (thanks, Pittsburgh), it's spring! To celebrate, here are some pretty springtime nails. Read more after the jump!

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 :)

Lime Crime Splits and Studs

So sorry I haven't posted in so long! Finals came along and I got really busy, but I'm back :) I'll try to stick to more regular posting again.

Today I have some fun nail art featuring the Lime Crime polishes again.

To do this mani, I started by painting all of my nails in the lighter of the two colors I would use. So for my thumb, I painted it entirely yellow, my pointer blue, etc. I let all of that dry.

I was lazy (oops) so I didn't use tape for this mani. I painted another Lime Crime color over half of each nail. Then I used some silver square studs from the Born Pretty store and put them in the center of each nail. Added some top coat, then we're done!

The colors I used were all Lime Crime:

Orange: Peaches <3 Cream

Yellow: Crema de Limon

Green: Pastelchio

Blue: Once in a Blue Mousse

Purple: Lavendairy

I really, really love the Lime Crime polishes!

Minty Stripes and Dots

Sorry it's been a while! I've been so busy with school and the holidays I forgot to post. I can't believe it's December already -- where does the time go?

Anyway, today I have some cute nail art for you. I don't really know what to call it though. Stripes and dots?

I started with a base of China Glaze Highlight of My Summer, a bright mint green. I used a striper brush and OPI Alpine Snow to freehand the crisscrossing stripes. Then I used a dotting tool to add pink dots with Essie The Girls Are Out. Pretty simple!

I think it's really cute! I like the color contrast.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Matte/Glossy Skittles

I've been wanting to try a matte/glossy look for a while, but I never seem to have the patience. Since I usually use a fast-drying top coat, waiting for my polish to dry on its own just seems so long! But I finally decided to give it a go.

I started with a base of Essie Stylenomics, which is a dark, almost black green. It looks especially black when mattified, but I swear it's green! It's a great polish and covered in one coat.

I then mattified all of my nails using Essie's Matte About You. I used a nail art brush and Seche Vite to add the glossy details.

Matte/glossy nail art is super easy and looks super cool! I'll definitely by trying this again.

Halloween 2013: Starfire Nail Art

Happy Halloween! I was going to post a Halloween-themed manicure today, but my Macbook's SD card drive has decided not to work and thus the pictures are now trapped in a weird limbo. I'll show that to you as soon as I solve that problem, but in the meantime, I have the nail art I'm wearing to go with my costume for this year! So it's still Halloween themed. Sorta.

Anyway, this year, I'm being Starfire! She's an alien princess superhero from the DC universe. She appears in the comics, but my costume is based on the popular cartoon, Teen Titans (not her comic book counterparts - those costumes show WAY too much skin for me!). I was/am obsessed with that show, and this year, my friend and I decided to dress up as characters from the cartoon. She's being Raven. We made our costumes by hand, which in retrospect was an insane idea. I can hardly sew, but I managed to create Starfire's entire outfit by hand! I haven't had a chance to take a lot of pictures yet (which is why I wanted to post this manicure later), but you can get the gist of the costume from the picture I've included at the end of the post.

Okay, so after that long introduction, here's the nail art! Starfire's powers include shooting bright green starbolts from her hands, so I did a manicure that was mostly a bright green. I also wanted to give a nod to her alien heritage by adding some futuristic detailing.

I started with a base of China Glaze in White on White so the neon would really pop. I layered China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard over that, which is a great, shimmery neon green. Then I added a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust for some tiny holographic sparkles. I let all of that dry, and then used a striper brush and Sephora by OPI Queen of Everything to freehand the striped pattern. I added purple rhinestones for a pop of contrast (and to match the purple of her outfit).

I'm pretty pleased with how these came out. They're super bright, and my freehanding skills are definitely improving. Even my right hand doesn't look bad!

Here's my costume! Starfire has really bright green eyes, so I used makeup to show that. I really wanted to use colored contacts, but sadly, my eyesight is absolutely awful so buying a pair of green contacts in my prescription would have been too expensive to justify. But I'm really proud of myself! I think the costume came out really well (especially since this is the first time I've attempted to make any sort of clothing). I also have really long boot covers on my legs, but you can't see those here. But trust me, the whole effect is really great.

I hope you all have a really awesome Halloween!

Happy Hands: Reptar's Revenge

I've gotta say, we had some really awesome cartoons in the '90s. I'm especially partial to Rugrats, so I was pretty excited when I saw this limited edition polish by Happy Hands. It's called Reptar's Revenge, named for the green dinosaur that the babies in Rugrats were so fond of.

I like my polishes to be opaque, so I layered this glitter jelly over Mojito Madness by Essie.

Reptar's Revenge is a murky green jelly base filled with purple, yellow, and turquoise glitter in circles and hexes. I used two coats and had no problems getting the larger glitters to come out.

I love this polish on its own, but the name really makes it for me! You can purchase Happy Hands nail polish from their store, where they currently have some other collections inspired by great stuff, like Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Throwback Thursday: Duochrome Gradient

Today's Throwback Thursday features one of my favorite nail art techniques: a gradient!

Space Cadet by ORLY is just a great color. Its weird purple-y green duochrome is so interesting! I noticed that Gleek Out by Sephora by OPI is a similar green to the green flash of Space Cadet, so I decided to do a gradient. I used Gleek Out for the base color and sponged Space Cadet on the tips with a makeup sponge. Simple, but pretty.

That's all for today!

Throwback Thursday: Strawberry Fields Forever

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday! Sorry this is so late - I've been very busy lately with my summer internship at Good Housekeeping. But anyway, here's the manicure:

I was inspired by the name of this polish for this manicure. The pink I used is Strawberry Fields by China Glaze, so I decided strawberry accent nails would be appropriate! The accent is Tree Hugger by China Glaze, and I used Therese is Red Hot by Brucci for the stamping with my Konad stamper. I topped the accent nails with a coat of High Fashion by Milani to complement the gold flecks in the pink of my other nails. I think it's pretty cute, and I'm a big fan of the Beatles so I'm happy.

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 :)

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!

Lynnderella: One Nutty Fruitcake

Hey everyone! I'm back from spring break :) I had such an unforgettable time - I went to France (Nice, Marseille, Paris, and Annecy), Italy (Rome and Florence), and Switzerland (Geneva). It was really awesome but also really exhausting. I wasn't able to paint my nails the entire time which drove me crazy, haha! But now I'm back in England, and back to my polish :)

I really cannot resist Lynnderella's rainbow glitters. It's bad for my wallet, but they're so pretty and versatile! Today I have one called One Nutty Fruitcake, and it's the revamped version.

One Nutty Fruitcake is a mix of all sizes and colors of square glitter with some tiny shimmery and black glitter thrown in for effect.

I layered Fruitcake over China Glaze Running In Circles, a gorgeous green glass fleck polish that I only just tried. Fruitcake went on as expected: completely glitter dense and with just a bit of dabbing. This is just one coat of Fruitcake.

As usual, I'm in love with this glitter. I just wish they weren't so darn expensive!

Enchanted Polish: Hey Jude

Let me preface this post by saying that I am a huge Beatles fan. My dad passed his love for the Beatles onto me, and I've been pretty obsessed ever since. When I decided to study abroad in England, I knew I had to take a trip to Liverpool, the birthplace of the Beatles. Luckily, Liverpool isn't too far from Sheffield! We took a two day trip. Since I knew I was going to the home of the Beatles, I chose a polish appropriate for the occasion: Hey Jude by Enchanted Polish.

Hey Jude, named for the very famous Beatles song, is a beautiful duochrome with scattered holo. Most of the time, the polish appears green, but it shifts to pink, purple, and gold.

I miss my light box! These photos don't do it justice.

To conserve this beautiful polish, I layered one coat of it over China Glaze Liquid Leather. Then I added purple rhinestones from the Born Pretty store for a pop of contrast.

Trying to capture the holo!

I love all of the Beatles polishes by Enchanted Polish :) Hey Jude is no exception.

Here are two bonus pictures from our trip to Liverpool! If you're ever in Liverpool, I totally recommend going on the Fab Four Taxi Tour. We got to see so many cool Beatles sights, and our tour guide was absolutely fabulous. It was one of the best parts of my whole England trip so far.

The Penny Lane Barbershop!

The grave of Eleanor Rigby

The plaque on the church where Paul and John first met. 

Okay, hope you enjoyed the polish and the pictures! And remember, all you need is love :)

Neon Puzzle Pieces

I have some really fun nail art for you today - neon puzzle pieces! I'm quite proud of how these came out. And as an added bonus, they're really bright, which is just how I like my nail polish.

There are more pictures than usual, so you can see the rest after the jump :)

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.