Summer Greenery Nails

One thing I love about late spring and early summer in Georgia is how green everything looks on rainy days. My back yard is a semi-intentional nature preserve, so it's full of lush greens in every shade when the world is wet. I did my nails on such a day, and this is the result. (I took the pictures that day as well, which is why they all turned out blurry.)

For the background color, I used OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. It's very dark, but definitely still looks green, particularly in the light. On top, I stamped a circular leaf pattern from Red Angel plate RA-120 with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint. After the fact, I think this would have looked better if I used two more similar greens. Aragon Tomorrow is a yellow based green, where as Mint Sprint is much bluer, but I was still pretty happy with the result.

You can see the base color better in this one.

How much do the seasons influence what you wear on your nails? What kind of seasonal nails do you like?

Inner Child Nails

I've been feeling a little down this week, so I decided to let my inner ten year old do my nails. Seriously, I had a bedspread very similar to this when I was that age.

The base color for this is Revlon Colorstay Coastal Surf. I've been wanting a bright blue like this for a while, but it chipped on the first day!  Boooooo! On top of that I put a coat of ELF Twinkle, which has tiny, multi-colored glitter in it that you can't really see in this picture.

Right side up

Finally, I stamped the two unicorns from Chez Delaney plate D10 using Konad Pearl White and added an iridescent jewel. In this next picture you can see the sparkles in Twinkle.

Bonus Background Cat!

What polishes does your inner child love?

Pink Ombre Mani

I've seen lots of examples of ombre nails over the last year or so, but it didn't seem like I had enough polishes in similar colors to do it. My best possibilities seemed likely to be blue or purple, since I have the most polishes in those colors, but the shades are all over the place. I was surprised to find, that I had a perfect line up of pinks, even though I don't wear pink nearly as often.

From pinky to thumb (lightest to darkest), these are Revlon Scented Cotton Candy, NYC Wall Street, Color Club Gum Yum, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Presto Pink, and Wet 'n' Wild Lavender Pearlescent.

I think I probably should have reversed the colors on my middle and ring fingers, but Gum Yum is so much brighter that it sort of reads as darker than it is. In fact, it was so much brighter than the others that I put a thin coat of the much sheerer Wall Street over it to tone things down a little.

Have you tried this? What colors do you have enough of to try it?

Across the Galaxy

Today's mani is my attempt to recreate Deborah Lippman Across the Universe using less expensive polishes. I'm not often tempted by higher end polishes, which for me means anything more expensive than OPI at about $8, because I don't feel like there's enough difference to justify the price point. However, when someone else let me use her Across the Universe, I loved it. I've been on the lookout for a way to make it happen that would be a little more accessible for me.

This is one coat of Milani Teal over one coat of Revlon Top Speed Royal. It doesn't show up as well in the photos, but in person it actually looked a lot like Across the Universe. The main difference was that it doesn't have the effect that the glitter is floating in blue that the original polish has.

On the other hand, the glitter is really, really close. I think if I had a nice, dark blue jelly to layer this between, it would be perfect. A little Googling has revealed that Ruby Kisses has a couple of dark blue jellies, so I'm going to try to stop by the local independent beauty store and look for some of those soon.