Orange and Turquoise Neon Leopard Print

Neons in summer is certainly nothing groundbreaking, but that doesn't stop them from being really fun. I absolutely love neon nail polish, and today's mani is a really fun color combo and print!

Read more after the jump :)

Contrast Multi Dots

My friends always make fun of me when I say "dotting tool," but let me tell you -- those things are the best. Today's manicure features some polka dots.

I've decided I'm going to try doing "read more" posts to reduce loading time for the home page. So read more and see more pictures after the jump!

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!

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.

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!

Gray and Purple Marble

I'm a pretty big fan of the plastic wrap marble. It's quick and easy nail art for when you don't have time for something more complex.

For this manicure, I started with a base of China Glaze Recycle, a light gray cream. I let that dry completely, then I added a thick coat of China Glaze Purple Panic. I used a piece of crumpled plastic wrap and pressed it against the wet polish to remove some, leaving a marble pattern. Make sure to do this one nail at a time since you don't want the top polish to dry!

I like the contrast of the gray against the neon, don't you?

Saran Wrap Contrast

I've only tried the saran wrap (or plastic wrap, whatever you call it) technique once before, but I remember thinking it was really cool! So I decided to give it another go.

I wanted to use two colors that would really pop against each other, so I chose a bright neon and a dark creme. I started with a base of China Glaze White on White then layered two coats of ORLY Melt Your Popsicle over that. I let that dry completely.

When that was dry, I layered a coat of Barry M Indigo over one nail at a time, pressing a piece of crumpled plastic wrap against the coat of Indigo to remove some of the polish. And voila! Instant nail art.

I added some rhinestones from the Born Pretty store for extra detail.

I'm surprised at how dark Indigo wound up looking - it looks purpler in the bottle. But oh well, the effect is still cool.

It looks like fire! Thanks for reading :)

Neon Glitter Stripes

Are you ever just really pleased with the way a nail design comes out? That's how I felt about today's manicure.

I started with a base of China Glaze Purple Panic, a purple-pink neon. I let that dry completely. I wanted to have really crisp lines, so I used tape to cover the top third of my nail and painted the bottom two thirds with China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, a dark gray creme. I let that dry completely, then I used tape to block off the top and bottom thirds of my nail, leaving only the middle strip exposed. I painted that over with Barry M Silver Multi Glitter, a fine silver glitter with hints of pink.

I think this design came out so well! The colors play really well together. I love the contrast of the gray and neon as well as the way the pink glitters compliment the purple.

I didn't want to take this design off! Tape really can do wonders for clean lines if you have the patience for it.

Throwback Thursday: Neon Tape Decals

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today I have a really cool mani I did a looong time ago. It took a lot of time and patience, but I really like how it came out. It involves tape decals.

Tape decals are created by painting nail polish onto a piece of clear tape, letting it dry, and then cutting the tape into shapes or stripes. Then you just stick them on your nail! You have to add topcoat to seal them on, but honestly it's really pretty easy, just a little time consuming.

For a base color I used my favorite silver, Sephora by OPI in Queen of Everything. I can't remember what colors I used for the decals - a bunch of China Glaze and Sinful Color neons, I believe.

I should try another tape decal mani sometime soon!

Black, White, and Neon Stripes

Do you ever just love your manicure so much that you can't stop staring at it? (No? Just me? Okay...) Well this was one of those manicures.

I got the idea from a post from Kayla Shevonne. I loved it so much I decided to recreate it. I used similar colors, except instead of neon coral, I went for something even more obnoxious.

I started these nails with a base of China Glaze White on White. Then I painted half of each nail with ORLY Melt Your Popsicle, freehand. I used a medium striper nail art brush to freehand the black stripes, using the same brush to touch up mistakes where needed. And it's all sealed up with a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm pretty much in love with these nails, and I got a surprising 4 days' wear out of them before they chipped. I got a lot of compliments on them too! I really like the whole black-and-white-and-neon combo, so I'll have to do that again.

Throwback Thursday: Neon and Glitter Polka Dots

Throwback Thursday strikes again! Today, I combine two of my favorite things: neon and glitter.

I love neon and glitter, so what better way to show the love than combining them? Polka dots are a fun way to spice up an ordinary manicure, so I added some glittery ones over this great neon. I used Flip Flop Fantasy by China Glaze over a white base coat (those neons can be finicky without a white base coat) and used Milani One Coat Glitter in Silver Dazzle with a dotting tool for the polka dots.

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.

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 :)