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.

Black and Yellow Skittles

As you may or may not know, I go to college in the great steel town of Pittsburgh, PA. It's definitely an interesting place to live, and I have to say, I did miss it while I was abroad. And today's nails are unintentionally Pittsburgh colored skittles!

I started by painting all of my nails (except my ring fingers) with a base of Sun Kissed by China Glaze, a neon yellow. I used Liquid Leather by China Glaze for my ring fingers, then topped that with two coats of Humblebee by Ninja Polish. 

I used a makeup sponge for the gradient, a dotting tool on my pinky, and freehanded the stripes and flower.

Pittsburgh's sports culture is borderline obsessive - everyone here really loves their Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates (I personally am not a fan of their teams, but I digress). All of the teams share the same color scheme of black and yellow. Although I originally based my color scheme on the colors in Humblebee, my friends all commented about the Pittsburgh colors!

I have to say, I'm gonna miss this city when I graduate. And I do love the contrast of black and yellow.

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?

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.

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!

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.

Pirate Polish: Companion Polish

Today I have a very unique polish to show you! It's called Companion Polish by Pirate Polish, based on the Companion Cube from the game Portal. I've never played the game, but I hear it's pretty good. Anyway, the polish:

Companion Polish is a glitter topcoat: tiny white squares, big white squares, white hexes, silver hexes, and translucent pink hearts. The square glitter and the addition of the really metallic silver glitter really set it apart from my other heart glitter polishes.

I used just one coat of Companion Polish over China Glaze Liquid Leather. As you can see, it's really glitter dense! I had to do some dabbing to get everything to disperse evenly, but it wasn't particularly difficult to work with.

I also wanted to do an accent nail, so I added some round silver studs in a heart shape to my ring finger.

I'm really pleased with this polish, I just have to figure out what else to layer it over! You can purchase Pirate Polish from their Etsy store, and you can purchase the studs from the Born Pretty Store.

Candeo Colors: Jellybean

You know what I love? Jellybeans (specifically Jellie Bellies, but I digress). Today's polish is inspired by those fruity candies. It's called, you guessed it, Jellybean by Candeo Colors.

Jellybean is a pastel yellow creme loaded with satin hex glitters in blue, peach, and lavender. There are some tinier square glitters in there as well.

I used two coats of Jellybean on its own to achieve full opacity. It went on well, and I had no problems with the glitters. They distributed evenly and without any fuss. The base is sheer enough that the first layer of glitter still shows through, which I like!

This polish reminds me of Easter! I think it's really lovely. Candeo Colors is available on their own website or from Llarowe.

Whimsical Ideas by Pam: I Heart NY

Hello readers! I've really been enjoying my time so far in Sheffield, England. I've already visited three really great cities - Liverpool, York, and Manchester. They were all lovely in their own way. I have a soft spot for our Liverpool trip though: We saw so many Beatles sights! I'll have a post about the mani I wore in Liverpool eventually (with a Beatles themed polish), so perhaps I'll post a few pictures with that :)

Anyway, onto the polish. Today's polish is based on one of my favorite places in the world: New York City, which is conveniently located just across the river from my hometown. It's called I Heart NY from Whimsical Ideas by Pam.

I Heart NY is a collection of black and white hex glitters and red hearts suspended in a clear base. There are also some tiny black hexes in there too.

This polish is PACKED with glitter. I used just one coat of I Heart NY over a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pink Satin, a pink chrome. The glitters distributed pretty well, though I did have to finagle some of the hearts to get them where I wanted. But the hearts came out of the bottle quite readily, which was nice.

Next time, I'll use a different base. Pink Satin turned all strange and streaky, and I don't like how it looked very much. But I Heart NY was lovely. But it makes me feel the tiniest bit homesick since I'm so far from my beloved New York!

This polish is really awesome, and it's a great tribute to one of the the greatest cities in the world ;) Whimsical Ideas by Pam can be purchased via email; see her Facebook page for more information.

Zombies and Elvis' Pink Cadillac

Sometimes one color just isn't enough. Today I went for two - Zombies! by Pirate Polish and Elvis' Pink Cadillac by Pretty & Polished.

I layered them to conserve polish. I started with bases of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet and Bubblegum Pink.

Elvis' Pink Cadillic is a pale pink creme/jelly with matte black hexes in various sizes. The glitter was denser in this than in Zombies. I used two coats, and the formula was easy to work with.

Zombies is basically a mint version of Elvis' Pink Cadillac, which is why I chose to pair them. It did have less tiny hexes. I used two-three coats, depending on how much glitter came out on each finger.

Pirate Polish is available on their Etsy store, and Pretty & Polished (formerly on Etsy) can now be found in their own website.

Ninja Polish/Nail-Venturous: Floam (Bonus Accent Nail Art!)

TGIF! I've had a particularly long week, so here's to a great weekend :)

Today, I have Floam by Ninja Polish (formerly by Nail-venturous).

Floam is a mix of tiny, matte lime green and turquoise glitters suspended in a clear base. Which makes it pretty much perfect in my eyes - two of my favorite colors!

I started with a base of Turned Up Turquoise by China Glaze (I've actually put quite a dent in this polish). Then I layered on two coats of Floam. I decided I wanted to do a little bit of nail art as well, so I skipped the Floam on my ring finger. When applying a thick polish like Floam, give it some time to dry between coats so you don't wind up messing up the previous layers. I didn't have any problems with application; I think the formula was pretty good!

As for the accent nail, I let Turned Up Turquoise dry, then used triangles of tape to block off the top. I added a layer of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out and let that dry. Then I took more tape triangles and blocked off the turquoise and most of the black, and used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Green With Envy for the last layer. I used some Seche Vite to smooth everything out!

I'm really happy with this polish - it's so fun!

You can buy Floam directly from Ninja Polish. They have other colors of Floam; collect them all :)