Metallic Stone Nails.

For today's manicure I played around with the water spotting technique and hoped for the best because I wasn't sure if it would turn out!

Before I explain what I did differently, here is a video on how you would typically do water spotting. This is still pretty accurate to what I did (although I started with a solid base color and used a body spray not hand sanitizer,) the only difference was I repeated the process multiple time. I did the technique with white polish first, and then again with a metallic color, and then again with black. 

Something else I did differently as opposed to the last time I tried this technique, was to create a thin veining look instead of more circurlar-ish shapes. I just sprayed a bit more body spray this time and was able to get the look I wanted.

The main polishes I used for this design were CND Oilslick and Color Club Lumin-Icent.

I ended up being super happy with these nails and kept them on a few days longer than I typically would have!

School Chalkboard Nails.

Ciaté always seems to be coming out with kits that help create the latest trendy manicures. But usually there is a cheaper way to get the look. And their Chalkboard kit is no exception! All you need for a similar design is a good matte topcoat.

For my version I painted my nails with CND Oilslick and then added my school inspired designs using acrylic paint, and then finished things off with Claire's Matte Topcoat. (I'd recommend a different topcoat like Essie Matte About You because I'm not a big fan of this one.) It's a great design for back to school!

Black Swan Nails.

There are a handful of manicures I did before I started this blog that I really liked the concept for and have wanted to share with my blog readers. One of those was a design I did inspired by the movie Black Swan, and even though it isn't the most summer-y design, I decided to recreate my old manicure today.

Black and white, feathers, and blood pretty much sum up the film, so I think these nails do a good job of capturing the movie. 

For this design I painted my nails black (CND Oilslick) and stamped white feathers on all of my nails using Bundle Monster BM15 and Konad Special White polish. Then I splattered a mixture of Mary Kay Radiant Red and an unnamed red shimmer polish (which I'm holding in the photos) to look like blood.

I've really enjoyed doing manicures inspired by books and movies, and I think this is another fun one. It would be great for Halloween.

Summer Splatter Nails.

I originally planned for this manicure to be a bit more complicated, but then I ended up liking the color combination so much that I left it alone when I finished doing the splatter (with a straw.)

The polishes I used were American Apparel Office, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, CG Secret Peri-winkle, Essie First Timer, and Essie Boom Boom Room.

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!

Green Saran Wrap Nails.

I first saw the saran wrap technique months ago and I wasn't sure that I wanted to bother giving it a shot. But eventually it grew on me, and worked its way up on my list of manicures to do. 

I decided to try it out for the first time and do a tone on tone green design. The colors I used are American Apparel Office and Essie First Timer.

I certainly appreciated the simplicity of the technique. Do your base color, let it dry, paint a coat of your second color on top and immediately mess it up with some saran wrap. As for how it turned out, I think I like it. It reminds me of a bit of a cross between this tie-dye technique and the watercolor nails. I'd have to say I prefer both of those techniques though, I don't think I'll break this one out much in the future unless I'm very pressed for 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.