Snowy Nail Article and More.

It's time for another update on my recent Beauty Blitz nail tutorials. Here in New York we have been suffering through an especially snow-filled winter, so of course I couldn't resist a weather-inspired manicure. You can find out how I created this slightly romanticized version of snow, here. 

If you would prefer to read a how-to for a more summery manicure, I also wrote my instructions for sugar spun nails, which you can read here.

2014 Favorites.

Each year since starting this blog I've selected my favorites of the year and shared them at the year's end (I'm slightly behind schedule this time.) I've enjoyed this little tradition in the past so of course I wanted to keep it alive.

Without further ado, here are my favorites of 2014 in no particular order...

Patriotic Skittle Nails

Ikat Heart Nails

Mean Candy Heart Nails 

Dusty Negative Space Nails

Smoke Nails

Spiral Tie-Dye Nails

Veronica Mars Nails

Watercolor Triangle Nails

Reviewing my work from the year it was obvious most of these designs were from the beginning of 2014. As the year went on Holy Manicures became less of a priority for me. I've found that the pace that feels the most right for me are my twice monthly Beauty Blitz posts. While I still enjoy nail art I can't dedicate myself to posting every day or every week anymore. I'm getting ready to begin an exciting internship and start my final semester of college, so I expect to be very busy during 2015. I'll be sure to continue my sporadic updates and hopefully the occasional nail art post, but I can't say with any certainty that there will be a 2015 Favorites post in my future. 

Fall Floral Article and More.

I realized today that I am horribly behind on updating my blog readers on my work over at Beauty Blitz. My favorite article over the last few months was probably the one detailing how to recreate this rose design.

I also shared tutorials for a favorite gory manicure, a tweed technique, watercolor fingertips, and leopard nails.

I think that covers all of my updates for now, however you can expect my annual favorite manicures post in the next few days!

Accent Nail Article and More.

My most recent article on Beauty Blitz tells you what your choice of accent nail says about you. It's an amusing read if I do say so myself. Check it out, here. 

While you're over there, you may enjoy my water marbling tutorial, my review of vegan nail polishes, or my confessions about lip balm addiction.

My internship with Beauty Blitz has ended now that school is back in session, but I'll continue to write for the site and be sure to share all of my latest articles with you.

Teardrop Stud Nails.

I tend to think the best way to take a mani from bland to cool is by adding a few studs. It's fast, easy, and eye-catching. I recently got a wheel of different shaped studs and was excited to try out something new.

I chose the teardrop studs to play with first and I wasn't disappointed. I used them over Morgan Taylor Going Native and was happy with the combination!

Office Dotticure Article.

This week on Beauty Blitz I talked about sneaking a little nail art into your work day! Check it out, here.

Nail Foil Article.

I've written my second nail article for Beauty Blitz, and am once again excited to share it with all of you! This time you can get my take and tips on nail foils. Read the article, here. 

               

Now that I've introduced the Beauty Blitz readers to foils and glitter sandwiches, what do you think should be next? 

Mexican Fiesta Nails.

I recently held a fiesta themed housewarming party in my first New York apartment, and I thought the occasion warranted a manicure. I didn't get a good shot of the nails due to party preparations, but after I deemed them Instagram-worthy I thought I'd share them here too.

I was short on time when working on this design so I decided to stamp something, and luckily found a few images that were perfect for the theme. I used the pepper image from BM-06 and the citrus images from BM-04 to create limes.

The polishes I used were Orly Spark, Sally Hansen Lickety Split Lime, and a red stamping polish from Born Pretty.

Dusty Negative Space Nails.

The negative space trend in nail art is one it took me a little while to warm up to. As someone who has nails that haven't been without nail polish for more than a few hours in years , I can't say they're perfectly white. 

But after seeing so many cute negative space designs, I realized there were plenty of options for me even if the tips of my nails are a little stained. 

For my first attempt I decided to do a negative space version of this manicure, I used OPI Steady as She Rose to create a half moon and french tip on each of my nails and left the center unpolished.

I ended up being very happy to have tried out this trend and definitely think you'll be seeing more negative space designs from me in the future!

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.

Subtle Circle Nails.

I realized it's been a while since I've done any subtle stamping, and thought I'd give it a shot. I broke out a stamp I don't think I've used before, the target-like circles from BM-19. 

I used a coat of Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy over CND Asphalt as my base color and stamped in Color Club Foil Me Once.

The effect is a little more subtle in person, which I really like and I was happy to get to break out Gray's Anatomy which was a favorite 4-ish years ago.

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.

Patriotic Skittle Nails.

I've tried a bunch of different designs for the 4th of July in the past, so deciding on something different to do this year took a little extra time. I ended up choosing a red, white, blue and silver holographic theme. Any excuse for a glitter and holographic-ness. 

The polishes I used were China Glaze First Mate, Mary Kay Radiant Red, Sally Hansen Hard to Get, and LA Colors Star Light.

The holographic flakes on the red nail were done with nail foils from Born Pretty and the hexagon glitter on my blue nail is my favorite Born Pretty glitter.

If you still need more ideas for your 4th of July mani, here are all my patriotic designs of the past! And hopefully I can manage to share another new red, white, and blue design before the week is over. 

Born Pretty Plate W-02 Review.

Today I have a review of another Born Pretty Store product, one of their plates. This one is basically the ultimate girly stamping plate. 

The W-02 plate has lots of bows, hearts, and even a moon. You can find this plate for $1.54 from BPS.

W-02 happens to have a lot of the same/similar images to another plate from Born Pretty that I own, m59. I didn't want to use an image I've done before, so for today's manicure I chose to use the image in the center of the plate. 

Since the image was very girly I decided I wanted to pair it with a girly glitter I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use, Nails Inc. Fulham Palace Gardens. 

The blue polish I used for this manicure is Wet n Wild Saved By The Blue, and I stamped with the Konad Special White polish.

I added some of the glitter to the nails with the stamped design to tie everything together, which I think worked out nicely. This feels like a perfect, feminine manicure for summer.

As always, if you're interested in getting this plate or anything else from Born Pretty, you can enjoy 10% off with the coupon code BRJ61.

Tiny Pineapple Nails.

It's been a while since my last post, but now that I have survived finals and moving into my first apartment, I want to get back to blogging regularly. 

My nails have certainly suffered during the rigors of moving and building Ikea furniture, but my cuticles are starting to recover, and hopefully my nails will only be painfully short for a little while longer. 

For today's manicure I decided to do something in accordance with one of this summer's biggest fashion trends, pineapples. 

The base color for the design is Wet n Wild French White Creme, and the pineapples were done with acrylic paints.

I think these are perfect for summer, and it's one design that I think looks just as good on short or long nails!

Easter Puppy Nails.

I've been wanting to use the puppy water decals that were part of the set I reviewed here for a while now and when I noticed there was an easter puppy decal I knew it was the perfect time!

The polish I used for this manicure was American Apparel Office.

Black French Tip Rose Nails.

I usually do a lot of colorful manicures, which I think are fun with my mostly black wardrobe, but sometimes a darker design is fun too. For today's manicure I chose to do black roses with a dark grey base. 

The base color is CND Asphalt and I added CND Gold Shimmer for a little sparkle after doing the roses with acrylic paints.

Veronica Mars Nails.

After seven years of waiting, the Veronica Mars movie is coming out this week! Veronica Mars is one of my favorite shows ever, and I couldn't be more excited to see the movie. And all that excitement translates to needing matching nail art, I couldn't let the opportunity for a VM manicure pass me by.

I decided to do a design based on the logo for a business within the show, Mars Investigations. The logo was just screaming "turn me into nail art." I used OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Formula X Dark Matter, and white acrylic paint to create this design.

And here's the logo so you can compare!

Born Pretty Cat Water Decals Review.

This past October I shared my experience with using water decals for the first time. And I ended up loving the manicure I came up with so much that it was one of my favorites of 2013 and I knew I wanted to try more water decals in the future.

And that future is today! This time I went for something that was totally different from what I would normally freehand (as opposed to roses which I did last time), cats.

This is the manicure I came up with. I put the flower and cat decals over a base of OPI Sparrow Me The Drama.

I'll definitely be doing more manicures with these decals in the future, the sheet they came on also had lots of puppies and ducks, and I know I want a dog manicure soon. 

The sheet with all of the decals, which has enough for at least four manicures is $3.99 from Born Pretty Store. And as always, you can use the coupon code BRJ61 to receive 10% off any BPS order!

Mean Candy Heart Nails.

I've been enjoying my break from nail art lately but I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without doing this manicure! It's a design I've been wanting to do since last year after being inspired by mean spirited candy hears on tumblr.

The polishes I used for this design are Essie First Timer, Orly Pixy Stix, Orly Spark, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, OPI You're Such A Budapest, and Sephora Formula X Dark Matter.

I thought these turned out very cute and were something a little different from my other Valentine's Day designs!