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 :)

Autumn Trees

Summer's just about to be in full swing, but I'm always ready for the fall! I'm not a fan of hot weather (unless I'm on the beach, that is) so I have some autumnal nails to distract from the heat.

See what colors I used 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!

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.

Bronze and Blue Arrow

I'm a big fan of the clean lines of tape manicures, but usually I'm too impatient to wait for things to dry. But I had a lot of time on my hands when I decided to do this one.

I started with a base of the lightest color, the bronze-y orange gold NARS Kismet. I let that dry, then used two pieces of tape to make a downward arrow shape. The next layer was Milani One Coat Glitter in Blue Flash. I let that dry and used two more pieces of tape to layer on a coat of China Glaze Harvest Moon.

Top coat is key for a manicure like this -- it smooths everything out really well.

I really wish I had the patience to do these more often. They always come out so pretty!

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!

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.

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.

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 :)

Feathers and Skittles

Nails Inc. recently came out with some new, limited edition Feather Effects polishes. The polishes are filled with teeny tiny bar glitters suspended in a clear base that mimic the appearance of feathers. I saw the polishes on display recently, but since they're kinda expensive, I decided to just buy my favorite one: Chester.

Like I said, Chester is a bunch of tiny bar glitters in a clear base. It has turquoise, orange, and yellow glitters, so I decided to use Chester for accent nails and add some nail art to my other nails using those same colors. Chester was easy to apply, but I wish it was a little bit more glitter dense.

I never did any proper Easter nails since I was travelling over the holidays, so I did something a little Easter-y! I used Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Greenberry and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed and Mellow Yellow to do the nail art. I used a dotting tool for the dots, and I freehanded the rest with a medium length striping nail art brush.

I believe I used 3 coats of Chester over one coat of Greenberry, and as you can see, it's still just shy of being entirely full coverage.

I think they came out super cute and appropriate for spring!

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.

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.

Glitter Accent Fishtails

I tried a new (for me) type of manicure today: the fishtail. Also known as a braided mani. Either way, it's simple to do and looks awesome. (Side note: these are the last of the iPhone photos! I got another new camera - same model as last time. But this time it's red!)

I followed a tutorial from Lucy's Stash, which you can find here, because explaining this in words will be difficult. But basically, you paint your nails a base color, and then you paint overlapping diagonal stripes. You use 3 colors total. It's really easy, it just takes a bit of patience! It's also best to use colors that are pretty opaque so you don't have to go over each stripe a million times.

The colors I used are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow and Sun Kissed, and Milani One Coat Glitter in Purple Gleam. It's all sealed with a coat of Seche Vite, as usual.

I really like the fishtail technique! I'll definitely be doing it again. It's an easy way to incorporate several colors into your mani which is always a plus. It also makes a great accent nail if you don't have the time or patience to do a full mani.