Summer Leopard Nails.

You really can't go wrong with a leopard + gradient combination, and when you throw in a few bright colors it's really the perfect design for summer. 

For this manicure I used  Sephora Formula X Dark Matter, China Glaze Spontaneous, OPI Ogre the Top Blue, and OPI Who The Shrek Are You.

Glitter Polka Dot Nails.

A black and white glitter polish has been on my need-to-buy list for a long time now, and I've finally added one to my collection! 

I decided to use the glitter, Maybelline Polka Dots, for the first time over a gradient with OPI Don't Mess With OPI and Nails Inc. Baker Street. 

I can't wait to try the glitter over a few of my favorite neon polishes next time!

Galaxy Glitter Gradient Nails.

For today's manicure I started out with one of my favorite new colors on, Nails Inc. Baker Street, and then decided to spice it up a little with a glitter gradient. 

The glitter I chose to use is one of the Nails Inc. Galaxy polishes, Knightsbridge Road. I was expecting a glitter sort of reminiscent to Milani Gems. This polish is much more sheer and harder to get even and opaque than Gems though. I don't have any similar glitters though so I will still enjoy the added sparkle.

Winter Stone Nails.

It's finals week (or weeks as it happens to be at my school) and one of my final projects was all about nail art. Part of the project involved a how-to section, and the design I thought would be easy and fun to teach was water spotting. Instead of teaching off a water spotted manicure I've done on the past I decided to do a new one using nice icy winter colors.

The polishes I used were Wet n Wild French White Creme, CND Asphalt, and Color Club Lumin-icecent. The white was my base color and then I water spotted with the CND and Color Club polishes over top.

The project also involved doing nail art on a few other people. Here are the manicures I did for them that I instagrammed earlier in the week. I especially liked the one on top, I'll have to break out my striping tape again soon!

In other news, I can't promise too many more posts during the rest of December because of finals and holiday busyness. However, I've decided that since last year I enjoyed my attempt to post everyday in December, I'll do the same thing for January. So, come January 2014 I'm planning to post nail art everyday. Feel free to let me know if there are any manicures in particular you would like to see during that time! 

Summer Sunrise Nails.

I've had the idea to do a sunrise or sunset design based around a half moon manicure for a while, and after looking at pictures of pink and purple sunrises I had to give it a shot. 

This was a pretty time consuming manicure because there were different elements going on, a few of which required lots of drying time.  The first step of the manicure was painting my nails with Orly Spark, and then I used reinforcements to create the half moons. I created the gradient overtop using China Glaze Shocking Pink, OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, and China Glaze VIII. The last part of the manicure was creating the sunbeams, which I did using striping tape. This was the part that took the longest, which probably is surprising if you've done a striping tape manicure before.

I don't think the design exactly screams sunrise, but that wasn't really the purpose of the inspiration. They're just fun and bright, and something different than what I've done before.

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!

Holiday Glitter Gradient Nails.

The holidays are the perfect time to break out lots of shiny polishes and chunky glitters and combine them into awesome manicures!

At first I was just imagining a manicure with a gradient using a gold and China Glaze Watermelon Rind, but quickly I realized a little glitter was necessary.

For the gradient I used Watermelon Rind, Color Club Antiquated, and Color Club Perfect Mol-ten. The glitter is Milani Gems.

Purple Leopard Gradient Nails.

I always love doing freehand leopard nails, and I realized I had never combined the freehand leopard with a gradient (just stamped leopard prints over gradients.) So of course it had to be done!

The gradient was done with China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle and American Apparel Mount Royal. The leopard spots are done with China Glaze Purple Panic and CND Oil Slick.

These are very fun and I love how they turned out, and it's a nice bonus that my nails are finally getting to a length I like!

Purple Paisley Gradient Nails.

I decided I wanted to stamp something today, but wasn't sure what so I started by just doing a gradient. 

I really love the color combination I ended up choosing, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, Ate Berries in the Canaries, and We'll Always Have Paris. 

Once the gradient was completed I decided to use an image from Konad M60 and stamped with the Konad Special White polish. I finished off the manicure with a coat of CND Violet Shimmer, which adds a nice and very subtle shimmer.

Blue Sideways Gradient Nails.

The sideways gradient is one of my favorite designs I've done, so I decided to go for it again with a different color scheme.

The colors I chose this time were LA Colors Static Electricity, China Glaze Spontaneous, and Sinful Colors Hottie. The rhinestones I finished things off with are from Amazon.

Brush Stroke Gradient Nails.

Today's manicure came about as I played around with the combination of a gradient and a little acetone. I went for a more streaky look and this is what I came up with.

The polishes I used are OPI Mermaid Tears, Who the Shrek Are You?, and Ski Teal We Drop. I think it's a great fall color combination!

Rainbow Dotted Nails.

Today's manicure has  a bunch of different elements. I did a different gradient on each of my nails to create a rainbow, and then I added a shimmer polish on top of the gradients, and finished things off with gradating dots. 

The red to pink nail was done with Julep January and CND Raspberry Plunge. The yellow to orange nail is CND Bicycle Yellow and CND Electric Orange. The green to teal nail is OPI Don't Mess with OPI and China Glaze Shower Together. The blue to purple nail is China Glaze Spontaneous and China Glaze First Mate.

On the warm toned gradients I added CND Raspberry Sparkle, and for the cool toned ones I added CND Sapphire Sparkle. Then the dots were done with CND Oilslick and a few different sizes of dotting tools.

Sheep Nails.

I knew I wanted to do a freehand design for today's manicure, but couldn't decide on anything. After a few failed ideas, I found inspiration from this manicure. And I think the results are super cute!

I did a gradient with Revlon Blue Lagoon and China Glaze Tree Hugger for the sky and the grass. For the actual sheep I used acrylic paints.

Gradient Half Moon Nails.

I was cleaning my computer desktop off today and among many inspiration photos was this one, and I knew it had to be my next manicure.

For my take on the design I used OPI Mermaid Tears as the base color, and added the gradient with OPI Who The Shrek Are You?

Fall Aztec Nails.

I decided to do a little stamping today, and of course I had to combine that with a gradient. The stamping isn't my best, but I think the end results are still nice. The colors I chose ended up looking very fall appropriate, maybe I'll use this color combination again in a few months. 

The stamp I used is BM-204, and the polish I stamped with is Sally Hansen Gold Chrome. The colors for the gradient are Zoya Gemma, China Glaze Shower Together, and American Apparel Port.

Shattered Glass Nails.

I'm really happy with how today's manicure turned out! I always like a good gradient and stamping combination. 

I chose three slightly grey-toned colors for the gradient: OPI Steady as she Rose, OPI Mermaid Tears, and American Apparel Factory Grey. The image I stamped with is from BM-208 and the polish I used for stamping is Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. I like how Silver Sweep looks like it has a tiny bit of texture!

Bubble Gradient Nails.

I love manicures with dots and I love gradients, so what is not to like about a manicure that includes both? The design was inspired by this one. 

The base color is a coat of Sally Hansen Silver Sweep with a coat of Wet n Wild Silvivor on top. The three dot colors are American Apparel Office, Factory Grey, and Mount Royal.

I really liked this manicure, maybe I'll try a neon version next!

Silver Glitter Gradient.

My trip to New York was very tiring so today I was looking for a manicure that wouldn't be time consuming. I wanted to use a new polish I hadn't had a chance to use yet, so I decided a glitter gradient would be perfect!

I loaded on lots of glitter and it was very reflective so it wasn't the easiest to photograph, but I certainly think you can get the idea. The base color is China Glaze First Mate and the glitter is Urban Outfitters Dust.

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.

Diagonal Gradient Nails.

I love gradient manicures, and I love finding different ways to use gradients. One of my favorites is this sideways gradient I did. Which is what inspired me to go for a gradient that goes diagonally across the nail. 

What I ended up with is this super glittery fuchsia to orange gradient.  

The colors I used were OPI Hot & Spicy, Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange, and Sally Hansen Wild Life. Then I used CND Raspberry Shimmer, and finished with a coat of Color Club Starry Temptress.