Matte Black and Gold Stripes

I'm a big fan of matte nails, but I am also wildly impatient. This is not a good combination. But sometimes, I actually have the patience to let my nails dry without the help of my trusty Seche Vite, and that's when I break out the matte topcoat.

Read more after the jump!

Pastel Skittle Stripes

If you don't have the Lime Crime Les Desserts d'Antoinette collection, you're missing out. They're just perfect bright pastels, and they go together so well for nail art!

See more after the jump!

Pastel Stripes and Flowers

Guys, guess what: My senior thesis is finished! Now I have more time for everything (including finding a job and blogging).

Despite that weird snowstorm on Tuesday (thanks, Pittsburgh), it's spring! To celebrate, here are some pretty springtime nails. Read more after the jump!

Minty Stripes and Dots

Sorry it's been a while! I've been so busy with school and the holidays I forgot to post. I can't believe it's December already -- where does the time go?

Anyway, today I have some cute nail art for you. I don't really know what to call it though. Stripes and dots?

I started with a base of China Glaze Highlight of My Summer, a bright mint green. I used a striper brush and OPI Alpine Snow to freehand the crisscrossing stripes. Then I used a dotting tool to add pink dots with Essie The Girls Are Out. Pretty simple!

I think it's really cute! I like the color contrast.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Matte/Glossy Skittles

I've been wanting to try a matte/glossy look for a while, but I never seem to have the patience. Since I usually use a fast-drying top coat, waiting for my polish to dry on its own just seems so long! But I finally decided to give it a go.

I started with a base of Essie Stylenomics, which is a dark, almost black green. It looks especially black when mattified, but I swear it's green! It's a great polish and covered in one coat.

I then mattified all of my nails using Essie's Matte About You. I used a nail art brush and Seche Vite to add the glossy details.

Matte/glossy nail art is super easy and looks super cool! I'll definitely by trying this again.

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.

Purple Waterfall Stripes

The Nailasaurus has been doing some super cool things with what she calls waterfall stripes - and I decided to imitate her fabulous idea! Surprisingly, this mani is super easy to do.

I started by painting my nails with a base of Essie Bond With Whomever, a lavender creme. The formula was actually a bit runny for my taste.

After that, I took a striper brush and painted on some random, messy stripes of Essie Sexy Divide, a deep purple shimmer. I let that dry, then I added some stripes of Sephora by OPI in Queen of Everything.

Speaking of Sephora by OPI, I got really sad when I found out that Sephora was discontinuing that whole line in favor of something new, so I bought two back ups of Queen of Everything! It's literally the perfect silver; I am totally not being crazy. It's one of the first polishes I bought, actually - I got it to go with my junior prom dress, haha! Seems like so long ago.

But anyway, that's all it takes to make this gorgeous mani! Just some freehanded, messy stripes :) I'll definitely be doing this design again.

American Flag Nails

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the USA! In honor of this most patriotic holiday, I have some appropriately festive nail art.

My inspiration for today's nail was the American flag! To break it down, I'll start with my red-and-white striped nails. I started with a base of ORLY Au Champagne, a shimmery white. I used three coats to even everything out. I let that dry completely, then I used some striping tape and a thick coat of Milani One Coat Glitter in Red Sparkle. One thing I have to note is that I have two versions of Red Sparkle - one with gold glitter and one without. The latter is older than the gold glitter version, and it's the version I used here. I added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth things out.

Now for the star nails, I started with a base of ORLY Stone Cold, a beautiful shimmery blue. I let that dry, then I used Konad Special Polish in White and a Bundle Monster plate to stamp the star designs onto my nails. My stamping skills (while improving) are not the best, so I fixed any mistakes using White and a nail art brush. I let that dry, then I added a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm really excited that these came out so well! The stamping isn't 100% perfect, but you can only see the imperfections from close up.

Everyone at my internship loved my nails. Now we're having a good ol' American barbecue to celebrate Independence Day! Hopefully swimming doesn't ruin my nail art.

I hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Nautical Skittles + Anchor Tutorial

I've been such a bad blogger lately! Sorry about that - I've been really busy with friends and my internship. I have a tutorial to make up for it :)

Nautical skittles! I really wanted to try out vertical lines, and it made me think of a nautical theme so I did an anchor accent as well. Here's the tutorial for how to freehand an anchor:

It's pretty straightforward, really.

For my thumb and middle finger, I used a base of China Glaze Sea Spray then topped it with two coats of Candeo Colors Divebomb. For my index finger and pink, I started with a base of OPI Goldeneye. I let that dry completely, then I used striping tape and China Glaze First Mate to create the vertical stripes.

For the anchor nail, I started with a base of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and used a makeup sponge to add a gradient of Goldeneye. I freehanded the anchor using First Mate and a striping brush. All of my nails are sealed with Seche Vite for smoothness and shininess :)

I really love how these turned out! Vertical stripes really appeal to me, and I think my accent nail is especially cute.

Nautical/Patriotic Floral Print

Today, I have some accidentally patriotic nails for you. But they're extra appropriate because:

I'M HOME!

I returned from my semester abroad today, and I'm officially back in the good ol' USA. It's really been such a crazy, wonderful, eye-opening, unforgettable semester. The past four months have really flew by, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to study in England and travel throughout Europe. I've grown so much as a person, and I've made so many memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. I'm really, really going to miss it, but I'm also so happy to be home. So many emotions!

But anyway, nails:

I've seen a few combinations of stripes and floral that inspired me to do my own. I reached for some colors that I thought would work well together, and they just happened to be red, white, and blue! Nautical or patriotic; either way, it's a good color combo.

For the striped nails, I started with a base of China Glaze White on White. Then I used striper brushes to freehand stripes of First Mate, Hey Sailor, and Sea Spray, all by China Glaze. The lines aren't perfect, but I think they came out pretty well! The topcoat smudged my ring finger a bit, but oh well.

For the floral print nails, I started with a base of First Mate. Then I used a dotting tool to make the flowers using White on White, Sea Spray, and Hey Sailor. I used a smaller dotting tool to make the dots inside the flowers. For the leaves, I used a nail art brush to freehand them using Sea Spray.

I really like how these came out, imperfections and all. And it feels so good to be back in my home country :)

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.

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.

Eclectic

Today, I present to you a manicure that I did a few months ago. I actually haven't been able to do my nails for the past few days since I'm recovering from foot surgery and need to stay off my feet. I already feel bad that my parents have to wait on me, so I'm not going to have them hunting around my room for nail polish too! In the meantime, I bring you this colorful mani:

I think I was just too indecisive about what to put on my nails, so I went for a mix of things. I used a striping brush on my pointer finger and dotting tools for my middle finger and pinky. The purple is Milani One Coat Glitter in Purple Gleam (I always find that these "one coaters" really need two coats), the yellow is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, and the turquoise is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in The Real Teal. I was really happy with how this came out! The colors worked nicely together.