Holographic Stamped Dots

Stamping is always a really fun way to spice up your manicure if you're feeling a lack of nail art inspiration. Today, I went for some fun dots.

To see how I did today's manicure, read more after the jump!

Subtle Saturn Stamping

Last week was Carnegie Mellon's spring break, so sorry for the lack of posts! I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico with six of my friends. It was so much fun! And I got a little tan, too :)

Anyway, today I have a stamping manicure for you. I've gotten so much better at stamping since I've started, so it just goes to show that practice really does make perfect.

I started with a base of Butler Please by Essie. I let that dry, and then I used a Saturn image from the Cheeky Summer Collection stamping plates. I used Comic Fate by Color Club, an orange holo, for that stamping.

I really think the use of a credit card type object as a scraper has been the key to my success. Previously, I used a regular scraper and always had trouble getting it to scrape cleanly.

I really love stamping manicures, so look out for more in the future :)

Color Club Eternal Beauty

Before spending the semester in England, I had heard about how gray and rainy it is there. But having spent many months in Pittsburgh, I thought I'd be fine! I was wrong. Let me tell you, you really gotta go to England to truly appreciate the sun. So when I came home, the first polish I wore was something that celebrated the sunshine.

A holographic polish! This is two easy coats of Color Club Eternal Beauty, a purple holographic. If you don't have any colors from their Halo Hues collection, you need to go out and get some RIGHT NOW.

It's less impressive in the shade, but still pretty. And indoors, you can still kinda see the holo.

I love holographic polishes, don't you?

(Belated) 21st Birthday Nails

Okay, so I know my 21st birthday was over a month ago, but I just got around to posting these now. Oops!

I didn't have that much time to do my nails, so I wanted something quick but also festive. I started with a polish that is gorgeous on its own, Octopus's Garden by Enchanted Polish. I layered one coat of that over a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Nothing says birthday like multicolored glitter, so that was the next step - I added a gradient of Lynnderella's New Year's Eve Eve to the tips of my nails, leaving my index and middle fingers bare. Then I used a striping brush and China Glaze Glistening Snow to add the 2 and 1 to each finger.

Just look at that duochrome!

And Lynnderella's gliterbombs always make me drool. There are just so many different glitters in there. I'm so glad I was able to snag a bottle of this. Definitely my favorite multi glitter.

You can see the duochrome here. It's hard to capture on camera, but it shifts from purple to reddish to copper to blue.

My 21st birthday was pretty crazy, but it was fun!

Mentality Holo Nail Art

This post is pretty old (from like November or something), but for some reason it sat it my drafts for a long while. It was way back when I cut my finger open! Weird. Anyway, it's worth sharing, so on we go.

I was really excited to try Holo by Mentality Polish, which is a holo topcoat. I was a little bit underwhelmed, sadly.

I decided to try layering Holo over some neons. I started with a base of China Glaze White on White so the neons would pop. I layered two coats of China Glaze Sun Worshipper over that, then I used a dotting tool to make the dotted lines with China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. After all that was done, I layered a coat of Holo over it.

Holo mostly wound up dulling the neon colors, which was sad. It looks so nice in the bottle! I couldn't really get the holo effect to show up. It may look better in the sun, but these photos were taken in the ever-cloudy Pittsburgh. I'll have to give Holo another shot and try layering it over a different color.

Oh well; at least the nail art is cool! They can't all be winners.

Throwback Thursday: Explosion Accent Nail

Welcome back to Throwback Thursday! Today I have a really cool accent nail that I really need to try again: the explosion.

I think this manicure is really fun! I always get really frustrated when I used tape though...I'm always messing up the base color because I'm too impatient to let it dry all the way. Oh well. For the accent, I cut out triangles of tape and carefully layered them over the base color. I painted the black and let that dry, and then I inched those same tape triangles up a bit and painted over the black with the silver. Seal with a top coat and voila!

I used China Glaze in Turned Up Turquoise for most of my nails. The accent nail is China Glaze in Purple Panic, black is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out and Milani 3D Holographic in HD for the silver.

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 :)