Neon Stud Nails.

Of course, I love studded manicures and I'm especially enjoying this neon version for summer.

I used a bunch of different colors of both round and square studs from Born Pretty over a base of Sally Hansen Hard to Get.

I'll have to think of more ways to use these neon studs before summer ends because it's the perfect easy but bright manicure.

Neon Distressed Nails.

For my last manicure of January I decided to re-use a technique that I tried for the first time in my January 1st post. 

This design actually incorporates a bunch of my favorite techniques and decorations; distressed streaks, water color, studs, glitter, etc. 

Here's the manicure before the streaks were added, I liked this tie-dye version too.

The polishes I used were Sally Hansen Hard To Get, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, China Glaze Shocking Pink, American Apparel Neon Yellow, Color Club Starry Temptress, and Sephora Formula X Dark Matter. And the studs are these ones from Born Pretty Store.

Hard to believe my month of nail art is over! But there will be more about that in a wrap-up post tomorrow!

Born Pretty Neon Square Studs Review.

During the time I've been blogging here, I've reviewed a lot of things from Born Pretty Store, many times those things being studs. 

At this point there is only so much to be said, but they keep coming out with new studs that I want to share with you! 

Most recently, I've received a wheel of their fluorescent candy colored square studs. The wheel contains twelve different colors, which basically means endless manicure options! I already have lots of ideas of how to put them to good use, but for today's post I tested out two of the colors.

My first time using the studs I decided to do a kind of creepy, neon drip manicure. I thought it would be fun for Halloween. The polishes I used were China Glaze In The Limelight and Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then I finished off my accent nail with the neon green studs. I stuck them on using my typical method, a little bit of topcoat and a dotting tool.

Since I wanted to give using the studs another shot, the manicure you're actually going to find my sporting for Halloween is the one below.

For this manicure I used the same black polish and just added orange studs to the base of each of my nails. I've really been enjoying the simplicity of this one!

In the future I can't wait to combine lots of different colors and play around with my options. Studs are already so much fun to add to any manicure, and even more so when they're in awesome colors.

If you're interested in getting a wheel of your own they cost $7.59, or you can buy different colors individually for $2.99 a bag. As always you can get 10% off any BPS purchase with my coupon code, BRJ61. 

Watercolor Floral Nails.

For today's manicure I decided to use the acetone watercolor technique for a floral design. I used all neon polishes which balanced nicely with the subtle design.

The polishes I used are Essie Boom Boom Room  (a perfect Barbie pink,) China Glaze Pink Voltage, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, and China Glaze Purple Panic.

I don't think the design ended up being quite my style, but I was happy with the results!

Ombre Leopard Spot Nails.

When I was deciding on a manicure for today all I knew was that I wanted a fun summer design that incorporated my two new neon polishes, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and Turned Up Turquoise.

I ended up deciding to do a design I've had in mind lately, a freehand leopard print where the spots create a gradient.

Flip Flop Fantasy was the base color for the design, and I did the spots using Turned Up Turquoise which I lightened and darkened with white or black polishes to create the gradient. The black polish I used to complete the leopard print was CND Oil Slick.

I love manicures that incorporate ombre or gradients, and I think this is one I'll be trying more!

Born Pretty Neon Studs Review.

When I saw that Born Pretty Store had new neon studs I knew I had to try them. I've had good experiences with all of the studs from BPS that I've tried in the past, but this was my first experience with a colored stud. And they're so much fun! They have 11 different color options, the ones I chose were the bright blue (#7) and light lime green (#9.) I also think the neon yellow (#1) is super cool and could make for some awesome summer manicures. (It was sold out when I chose which colors I wanted, but it's in stock now!) 

The studs come in little bags and there are 200 studs in each, plenty to create lots of different designs.

When it came time to put the studs to use, I chose a bright base color (China Glaze Rich & Famous) and went for a random design. As far as application and wear and everything else, these worked just as nicely as any of the other studs I've reviewed in the past.

The only real difference are the colors, which are of course awesome. On the nail I think they give off a kind of candy-esque vibe. You could get more of the colors and do a candy buttons manicure!

The typical metal finish studs create more of a grunge-y look, whereas these are more youthful and fun.

After testing the studs out for this design, I'm sure I'll continue to use them in the summer and spring.

If you want studs of your own, each color is $4.24. And you can get 10% off using the coupon code BRJ61!

Funky Watercolor Nails.

For today's manicure I decided to try out  the watercolor technique. I could definitely see myself doing it more in the future, it's so easy to do and hard to mess up. I started with two coats of Milani White on the Spot and then used a bunch of my favorite neon polishes for the watercolors.

The watercolor design looks cool on it's own, but I decided to add a fun pattern on top. I used a Sally Hansen black nail art pen to add the same pattern I used on these nails.

Neon Drip Nails.

I've done a few drip manicures in the past, but today's manicure has a few difference.

I decided to combine a few of my favorite neons with a very neutral grey-toned polish. The colors I used are OPI Skull & Glossbones, China Glaze In the Lime Light, China Glaze Purple Panic, and American Apparel Neon Yellow. 

Born Pretty Silver Glitter Review.

I've seen hexagon shaped glitter used in a lot of great manicures (particularly a bunch from The Nailasaurus) and knew I had to try it out for myself! 

Born Pretty sent me their loose hexagon shaped glitter in the silver color to test and review, and it may just be my favorite item I've received from BPS so far! Looking at the glitter from this angle in the container you can't tell just how pretty it is, but as soon as a little light hits it...

 ...it becomes gorgeous!

And here is the glitter in action. One of my favorite ways I've seen this type of glitter used is to create a border around the nails, so that is what I decided to try. The base color I used is China Glaze In the Limelight.

I was a little worried the glitter might be tricky to work with since loose glitters can be such a mess, but it was surprisingly easy. 

I used an orange stick to pick up one piece of glitter at a time, I found it was easiest to pick up the pieces of glitter that were stuck to the lid or stuck on the edges of the container. That way you aren't accidentally picking up a bunch of pieces at once. 

Then I just put a tiny bit of clear polish where I wanted the glitter to be and gently put each piece in place with the orange stick. 

I can't wait to try and use this glitter in different manicures, I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it! If you want to try the glitter for yourself, it costs $2.38 (and you get a lot of product in the jar) and it can be purchased here. And once again here is a 10% off coupon code you can use on any Born Pretty purchases!

Lastly, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. I'll be choosing the winner tomorrow!

Neon and Nude Nails.

I bought a few new China Glaze polishes recently, and wanted to incorporate them into a manicure! I started out by painting my nails with China Glaze Purple Panic. It's a great neon, and as soon as it was on my nails I fell in love with it. It will probably be my go-to color for my toes for the rest of summer. 

Once I decided I liked the base color so much I didn't want it to be too concealed by a design, so I thought a simple accent nail was the best choice. I painted my accent nail with China Glaze Sunset Sail, and added a row of rhinestones that happened to be a great match! 

I wish I had gotten to wear this for longer, but I'll definitely be using the purple more.

Sideways Gradient Tutorial.

I've been wanting to do another youtube tutorial for a while now, and I've finally gotten around to it! One of my posts that a lot of people expressed interest in was the lime sideways gradient I posted around a month ago. I've gotten a lot of questions about gradients in general, as well as that specific manicure, so it seemed like a good choice for a tutorial. Here is the video...

And here is a better look at the finished design...

 I used the same glitter from my last sideways gradient (Color Club Starry Temptress,) but chose different neons for the gradients. The ones I used this time were China Glaze Shocking Pink and Color Club Wink Wink Twinkle. The finishing touch was a magenta rhinestone!

I'm still working on the filming set-up and finding out how to make better videos, but hopefully this was helpful! I had a lot of suggestions for other tutorials people would like to see, so I'll be working on those soon.

Taupe and Neon Nails.

I really liked the idea of a neutral manicure with a pop of neon, which is how I decided on todays design. For my neutral I chose OPI You Don't Know Jacques and for the neon I went with China Glaze Shocking Pink. I created the perfect lines with striping tape!

French and Half Moon Nails.

I really like this combination of both a half moon and a french manicure. Especially in these bright colors, I used American Apparel Neon Yellow and Sally Hansen Brisk Blue. At first I was thinking I'd but a design on the center part of the nail, but after looking at things midway through, I realized I liked the simplicity too much to mess with things.

Guest Post on Nailed It.

I did my first guest post for another blog! I did a neon paint splatter manicure for a post on Nailed It. I won't say more about it here, but you can read all about the manicure and see more photos here.

Neon Zig Zag Nails.

I'm really happy with how this manicure turned out, and if you have striping tape it's very simple to do! 

I painted all my nails white and then added small dots of different neon colors randomly all over my nails until I couldn't see any of the white. Then I added a coat of glitter and let me nails dry completely. 

Once my nails were dry completely I used striping tape to create a zig zag pattern, and then painted over the tape with black. I pulled the tape off, and that was it!

I used a bunch of neon polishes for this design: China Glaze Pink Voltage, China Glaze In The Lime Light, American Apparel Neon Yellow, Claire's Marine Blue, Color Club You've Got Soul-ar, and Color Club Wink, Wink Twinkle. The glitter polish is Color Club Starry Temptress and the black polish is Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Funky Eighties Nails.

Today's nails were really fun and bright, I was very happy with how they turned out. And they were pretty easy and not too time consuming since I didn't have to tape anything to make my lines.

The colors I used were China Glaze In The Lime Light and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I also used a Sally Hansen black nail art pen. For the pink lines I used neon pink acrylic paint and then added two neon polishes on top (CG Shocking Pink and CG Pink Voltage.)

And now for more pictures...

Neon Dot Nails.

Some of my most well received manicures have been all dots (like these or these) so I thought I'd break out my dotting tools again. This time I decided to use all neon polishes, perfect for the very summer-like weather we have been getting.

The dots were done with China Glaze Shocking Pink, China Glaze In the Lime Light, American Apparel Neon Yellow, and Claire's Orange Neon. The base color is Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.

On an unrelated note, someone asked me how the Orly Nail Rescue I mentioned purchasing worked out for me. I haven't had a reason to use it yet, but I will update when I do!