Elevation Polish Nararsuk + Contrast Gradient

I love color. I love making colors pop by layering them over contrasting colors, too! So that's what today's nail art is all about.

Look at that contrast. Black and white and orange and blue. I love it.

I started by making the gradient first. I used Au Champagne by ORLY, a shimmery white. Then I used a makeup sponge to dab on a gradient of Orange You Hot? by China Glaze, a neon orange.

I let the gradient dry, and then I added a coat of Nararsuk by Elevation Polish on top. Nararsuk is a really stunning glitter topper. It has black, turquoise, and blue glitters in a clear base. The glitters are matte and satin. There are hexes and squares in various sizes. It goes on so easily and is very glitter dense.

Elevation Polish can be purchased here; they restock on the 7th and 22nd of each month.

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?

Glitter Daze: Rainbow Bridge

Sometimes, you see a swatch of a polish and you just have to have it. That's how I felt when I saw a swatch of Rainbow Bridge by Glitter Daze.

Rainbow Bridge is a gorgeous, dense multi colored glitter in a clear base. There are all kinds of shapes - hexes, circles, even stars. But not only is this polish fabulous, it's for a very good cause. This polish (and another called Browny Bear) were made in memory of the creator's dog, Browny, who passed away unexpectedly from cancer. All proceeds from those two polishes go to the National Canine Cancer Foundation. As a staunch animal lover (and a dog owner myself), I can definitely get behind that cause.

I layered just one gloriously dense coat over China Glaze Midtown Magic, a shimmering deep brown.

I am literally in love with this polish. Funny story actually - I really wanted to buy both this and Browny Bear, but I was pretty broke so I just bought one. When my polish came in the mail, there were two polishes - Rainbow Bridge and Browny Bear! There was a mix up with the packaging, and when I emailed the owner about it, she was kind enough to let me keep the second polish free of charge :) So gorgeous polishes and great customer service!

You can purchase Glitter Daze polishes from their website.

Hare Polish: Own Your Opulence

My undying love for HARE Polish continues: Today I have a polish from The Last Queen of France Collection. It's called Own Your Opulence.

Own Your Opulence is a gorgeous glitter topper. It's a combination of black, gold, gray, and nude glitters with golden shimmer.

I layered just one coat over Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day to Me, a deep olive green shimmer. As usual, the HARE Polish was loaded with glitter.

HARE Polish is definitely my favorite indie polish brand. I just love everything Nikole creates!

You can purchase HARE from their Etsy shop.

Elevation Polish: Haba Xueshan

I've seen so many cool Elevation Polishes around on different blogs, but I never had the chance to get any myself. They only restock on certain days, and I just kept forgetting! But finally, I forced myself to remember when their restock was, and I snagged a few of these beauties. Today, I have my favorite of the bunch - Haba Xueshan.

Haba Xueshan is a mix of all kind of black and white glitter, accented by the addition of mint green circle glitter. The combination is just stunning.

I decided to layer it over something that would be a good contrast to the mint, so I went with China Glaze Son of a Peach.

Haba Xueshan is extremely dense - this is just one coat!

I'm pretty much in love with this polish, and I can't wait to get my hands on more Elevation Polishes.

Elevation Polish can be purchased here, and they restock on the 7th and 22nd of every month.

Pink Lemonade Lightning

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! I recently moved back to Pittsburgh for the semester, and I guess I just let time get away from me.

Anyway, today's manicure features some lightning.

I started with a white base so the neon would really pop. I've been on the hunt for a new white polish, and I tried Essie Blanc. I did not like it. It was too thin and runny! But it did the job after three careful coats. Then I used China Glaze Hang-Ten Toes for all of my fingers except the ring finger. On that one, I used China Glaze Sun-Kissed.

For the accent nail, I let the yellow dry, then I used tape and Hang-Ten Toes to make the lightning bolt. On the rest of my fingers, I used Elevation Polish in Huangshan which is a very unique yellow glitter.

It's filled with iridescent hexes and matte neon yellow hexes and circles.

The mix of colors reminds me of pink lemonade. I think this mani came out pretty cute!

Electric Flame + Stamping Swirls

This manicure was a result of indecisiveness - I couldn't decide whether to do a stamping mani or to wear a HARE polish. So I did both.

My thumb, ring, and pinky fingers are sporting a coat of HARE Polish in Electric Flame over a base of Sally Hanses Insta Dri in Snappy Sorbet.

For the accent nails, I started with a base of Sephora by OPI in Here's Lilac-in at You, Kid. Then I used a Bundle Monster Plate and Snappy Sorbet to stamp on the swirly circle design you see here.

 I like the purple and orange color combo! It really pops.

Negative Space Featuring Windestine

Contrast is cool - I was really drawn to this manicure when I saw it done on Chalkboard Nails. I finally decided to recreate it!

I started by painting my nails alternating with white and black. I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and White on White.

Then I used the tiny micro matte glitter polishes from Windestine. Carbon Copy is tiny black matte glitters, and Asbestos is its white counterpart. I used the black glitter on my white nails and the white glitter on my black nails. Just one coat of each polish was enough!

I'm a big fan of these nails - they make me want to own micro matte glitters in every color!

Serum No. 5: Day Glow

As you may or may not know, I am a complete child on the inside. So obviously the whimsy of anything glow-in-the-dark greatly appeals to me, especially when it's in nail polish form. I owned a few glow polishes already, but I heard that Serum No. 5's Day Glow was the glow-in-the-dark polish. Naturally, I had to have it.

Day Glow is that pale yellow color that I associate with glow-in-the-dark stuff. I layered three coats of it over white to make it even.

The formula was okay; a little difficult but nothing too bad. And it's totally worth it for the glow on this polish. I "charged" it under a light for like fifteen seconds, then took the following picture:

It glows spectacularly! I couldn't stop staring at my nails when I was trying to sleep, ha! And the glow lasted quite a while too.

Overall I'm very pleased with this polish, and I definitely want to buy the rest of Serum No. 5's glow polishes!

You can purchase Serum No. 5 on their website or their Etsy shop.

(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!

Sticks 'n' Stones and Cotton Candy

Happy Sunday everyone! Sorry for the late post today; I may have gotten caught up in playing the new Animal Crossing game that came out today. (I'm an adult, I swear!) But anyway, I have some super awesome nail art for you today.

I had seen black and white glitter layered over a gradient before, and I absolutely loved how it looked. So that was my inspiration.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Bubblegum Pink. I let that dry, then I used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of Barry M Blueberry. Then I layered one coat of Ninja Polish Sticks 'n' Stones.

I really love how the black and white glitter looks with the pastel gradient. I'm totally in love with this manicure. The gradient reminds me of cotton candy colors, too. I used to love getting cotton candy when I went to hockey games as a kid.

Black and white glitter looks good over pretty much anything! I'll have to try it over more gradients.