Inspired Neon Rainbow Dotticure

- SOME PRODUCTS PROVIDED FOR REVIEW -

Hello guys! I know that summer feels so far away (especially with all this cold dreary weather lately), but I couldn't help doing some bright neon nail art to cheer myself up. I saw this manicure by Ida Nails It and I just had to recreate it with some of my favorite China Glaze neons.

Bold Dotticure with Glam Polish Hairspray Collection

Hi guys! We interrupt this week of Digit-al Dozen nail art for.. well, more nail art! (I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to miss swatching! Don't worry though, I've got a ton of swatches to show you guys soon.) The lovely Cristine of Simply Nailogical and I decided to come up with a "bestie twin" manicure using our gorgeous new Glam Polish Hairspray polishes!

And here is what we came up with! To achieve this look, I started with a base of Cuccio 2am in Hollywood, and once that was dry, I dotted on an X with Glam Polish Ladies Choice, Glam Polish Big Blonde & Beautiful, and Glam Polish Hey Mama, randomly on my nails. Then I outlined those dots with more dots, in varying colors! I topped everything off with matte top coat.

The more I do dotticures, the more I'm finding myself liking them! I guess it's true what they say about practice - because I definitely see improvement, although my dots are still not perfect.

I also really loved the look of this nail art with glossy top coat:

With glossy top coat, you get to see all the fun holo shimmer in these gorgeous polishes! (And of course, you can see full swatches here.) I honestly can't decide which way I prefer it - how about you?

I definitely love the contrast between the black creme and the shimmery Glam Polishes (not unlike my recent mermaid dotticure!). I should start mixing finishes more!

Here are the polishes I used. The Cuccio Colour polish is from HB Beauty Bar - don't forget to use the discount code POLISHCHALLENGE at checkout for 15% off your order - and the Glam Polish shades are available on their online shop.

Make sure you check out Cristine's version of this manicure too!

PRODUCTS USED:
Base: Duri Rejuvacote, purchase here

Polish: 
Cuccio Colour 2am in Hollywood, review here
Glam Polish Hey Mama, Glam Polish Ladies Choic, Glam Polish Big Blonde & Beautiful, review here


Top: Glam Polish Magic Shine Top Coat (reviewed here); OPI Matte Top Coat, purchase here

The Digit-al Dozen Does Fairytales: Mermaid Scales

Day three of The Digit-al Dozen is upon us, and I've decided to tackle something that I'm not totally comfortable with - dotticures. I know I post my fair share of dotted manicures, but the truth is, I find them to be pretty difficult! Getting the dots to be a consistent size can be a pretty tough task. Anyway, I figured I would try out this mermaid scale tutorial for today's fairytale theme!

To achieve this look, I started with a base of Habit Cosmetics Prairie and with my dotting tool, dotted on a ton of colors in a random order. I've listed them all below (with a handy photo guide) so make sure to check that out if you're interested in a particular color. 

I absolutely love the color scheme and I found that using a mix of cremes and shimmers gave this manicure an awesome scaled effect! I am so pleased with how it turned out, even though it was pretty time consuming.

Of course, this is more polishes than I generally use, so I couldn't fit them all into my usual bottle photo. I've reviewed almost all of these polishes, so check out these links for product details:

KBShimmer Stonewashed, review here

Glam Polish Polar Lights, review here

China Glaze Wait N Sea, review here

Glam Polish Don't Rain on My Parade, review here

NCLA Lead Vocals, Me!, review here

Habit Cosmetics Prairie, review here

OPI I Saw... You Saw... We Saw... Warsaw, purchase here

Glam Polish Ladies Choice, review here

Whew, that was a lot! Anyway, I hope you liked today's nail art look - unfortunately, this is the last manicure I did before I had to shorten my nails :( I've been hoping that my nails will grow back in time for me to complete this week's nail art, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen! Ah, well, they'll grow back soon enough.

What do you think of today's manicure? Make sure to check out the other talented ladies and their Digit-al Dozen fairytale looks!

An InLinkz Link-up

PRODUCTS USED:

Base: Duri Rejuvacote,  purchase here

Polishes: 

KBShimmer Stonewashed, review here

Glam Polish Polar Lights, review here

China Glaze Wait N Sea, review here

Glam Polish Don't Rain on My Parade, review here

NCLA Lead Vocals, Me!, review here

Habit Cosmetics Prairie, review here

OPI I Saw... You Saw... We Saw... Warsaw, purchase here

Glam Polish Ladies Choice, review here

Top: KBShimmer Clearly on Top, $5.50 USD here

Valentine's Day Polka Dot Gradient With Essie Winter 2014

It's never too early for a Valentine's Day manicure, right?! Well, today's nail art look isn't just for all you gushy romantics - but the color scheme does fit, so I figured I'd call it that ;) I just loved seeing the Essie Winter 2014 shades together in my swatch post, so I decided to make a quick polka dot gradient with them! This is a look I've done a couple of times before (like on my birthday!) but I wanted to try it with a more elegant color scheme.

I just love how the dots look like confetti! I started with a base of Cirque Carpe Diem (I know, I know, I'm obsessed with it) and then with my double sided dotting tool, I dotted on Essie Bump Up the Pumps, Essie Jump in My Jumpsuit, Cirque Memento Mori, and Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low - in that order! One of my biggest problems in the past was that I tried layering colors that weren't fully opaque, so this time I chose polishes that were practically one coaters, which I think helped with the ease of dotting. I topped everything off with top coat!

I actually feel like this manicure is perfect for winter - probably because of the cool metallic champagne shade! I think having a different finish in there makes the manicure pretty unique from what I have created before - plus, I think this looks so elegant!

Here are the polishes I used. The Essies are from HB Beauty Bar - you can read my full review and get a 15% discount code here - and you can check out my review of the Cirque shades here.

What do you think of this nail art look? Do you own any of the Essie winter shades?

*Some products provided for my honest review.

PRODUCTS USED:
Base: Duri Rejuvacote, purchase here
Polishes: Cirque Memento Mori & Cirque Carpe Diem, review here; Essie Jiggle Hi Jiggle Low, Essie Bump Up the Pumps, & Essie Jump in My Jumpsuit, review here
Top: KBShimmer Clearly on Top

31 Day Nail Art Challenge, Day 8: Polka Dot Nail Art

Hello guys! Today I have potentially one of my favorite manicures that I have ever done! The prompt for Day 8 of the challenge is "polka dots", and I decided to keep it simple by just doing plain ol' polka dots. (But I picked some pretty cute colors!)

I started with a base of Essie Take it Outside (which I just recently reviewed), and with my large dotting tool, I dotted on Essie Urban Jungle, China Glaze At Vase Value, and China Glaze Feel the Breeze. I topped it all off with matte top coat, which made the overall manicure look super soft and pastel-y.

How is this potentially one of my favorite manicures of all time, you ask? Well, besides totally loving this color scheme (definitely reminds me of ice cream!), I'm really pleased that the polka dots are pretty well lined up. It's surprisingly difficult to make even polka dots!

It actually took me a long time to figure out the right color scheme for this manicure. Usually I try to pick colors of the same brand, or at least from the same season, but these colors are all over the place! (a spring polish, two summer polishes, and a fall polish!) And yet, I think they go together really nicely.

This manicure has definitely inspired me to practice more dotticures. I really love the simplicity of dotted manicures!

Here are the colors I used. They are all from HB Beauty Bar, and you can get them (and anything else you order there!) for 15% off with the code POLISHCHALLENGE at checkout.

Don't forget to check out what Meghan and Lindsey have created for Day 8 of the challenge!

An InLinkz Link-up

Confetti Dotticure Nail Art (and Tutorial!) with Essie

Hiya guys! I've got another tutorial for you today, this time for my confetti-like dotticure nail art that I did for my birthday a couple of weeks ago!

This time I decided to go with a rather funky color scheme using all Essie polishes, but the design is still using the same technique :)

Check out the video here! (or, watch it on YouTube):

What tutorial would you like to see next?!