Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all of my followers from the USA! I had big plans to do nail art for today, but they fell through along with my busy schedule. Last July I wasn't terribly talented when it came to nail art, and I'm confident I could do better than last year given the time! What I did do for today was add some nail foils and striping tape to a red manicure for a patriotic skittlette manicure!

The red is Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels (swatches on that polish coming soon). The blue nail foil also looks much prettier in person, it looks grainy in texture here for some reason, but in person it is very holographic and gorgeous. I'm getting a bit better at the nail foils and there's hardly any wrinkles this time. I also wish it didn't highlight how short my ring finger nail is after an unfortunate break, but that's life. :)

Overall, this is a sad quick manicure for a busy schedule, what do you think?

Post-Election Day Manicure

I've always been a patriotic person. Perhaps it stems from being a fairly young mold-able mind around the time following the 9/11 attacks when our country swelled with patriotism. To my US friends, regardless of who you supported in yesterday's election, or how excited / disappointed you are with today's result, appreciate your right to vote. Although politics get frustrating, we live in a special country my friends.

Yesterday I actually wore two different patriotic manis, mostly because I'm indecisive when it comes to polish. This is mani #2, the blue base is Zoya Song, and the red glitter is the gorgeous Dollish Polish I Wanna Do Bad Things To You.

I love how the blue shows through the glitter, bringing together the red and the blue more than a solid red would.

Election Day Mani!

Hey Y'all,

Just a quick post today. If you're located in the U.S. make sure you get out there and vote, and if you're going to vote make sure you take some time to become informed about everything on your ballot!

This is my patriotic election day manicure featuring a base of Deborah Lippman Run, Run Rudolph and then two coats of Elemental Styles U.S.Americum (there are usually more big white hexes in the polish but I carefully avoided them). Elemental Styles is an indie polish brand that has recently been discontinued. The polishes are still around, and there are a few available in the Etsy shop, but Whitney won't be creating any more. This makes me very sad as Elemental Styles was one of my favorite indie polish brands.

Elemental Styles U.S.Americum over red

Elemental Styles U.S.Americum over red

Do you have a favorite patriotic polish that you save for special occasions? 

Happy Independence Day Mani!

To those of you in the USA, Happy Independence Day! The 4th of July always comes around reminding me of BBQs, watermelon and family. Watching fireworks from a distance while playing cards. This year I'll be away from home celebrating with friends, and we'll watch fireworks over Charleston Harbor.

For today I decided on this easy and fun stamping mani! I used China Glaze Drive In (red), China Glaze Frostbite (blue), and Spoiled Correction Tape (white). I stamped using MASH plate #49.

What's on your fingers for the 4th?

4th of July Mani Ideas!

I've been trying out some nail art designs trying to decide how I want to do my nails on the 4th of July. Here's a couple of the designs that weren't failures. I did have another gorgeous attempt, but I only managed to get it right on one nail. :)

For this mani I started with Barry M Cobalt Blue and Spoiled Correction Tape (the white) and did a great half moon mani. From there I free handed red stripes. In hindsight it would have looked amazing if I'd cut strips of tape for the red stripes, but it looked good like this as well. I used a small dotting tool (also known as a bent hair pin) to place the three dots near the cuticle. I love the way this looks! So patriotic.

If you don't have the patience, time, or skill to try some nail art, there's still some simple ways that you can show off your red, white, and blue for the 4th of July. For this mani I used the same colors as above, Barry M cobalt blue, Zoya Carmen, and Spoiled Correction Tape. This was a very easy and super fast manicure that also looked great and very patriotic. You could also alternate red and blue doing red on your index and ring fingers and blue on your middle and pinky fingers. 

Red, White, and Blue Glitter Art

Here's my first 4th of July Manicure! This one is done using red, white, and blue hex glitter on a white base. I picked up the glitter from a craft store and placed them one at a time onto my nails.

I'm quite happy with the finished product! It takes a lot of patience to place each glitter so I got impatient and wasn't very careful about glitter placement near the end. It really doesn't matter though because it looks great.

The white glitter on white base disappeared in the pictures, but it looked awesome in person.

Do you have any patriotic / red, white, and blue  manis planned?