4th of July Manicure

This is the manicure I did for the 4th of July.  Meh.  I'll do something different for my next patriotic manicure.  Wet n Wild Megalast Break the Ice is the base.  Then I used the Salon Express stamping kit (as seen on TV) for the stars and stripes.  I used OPI Big Apple Red and Wet n Wild Denim Chrome.  The size of the stamps are way too small for my nails.  The stamp on the pinky fit, but it is way too small for the rest of the nails.  As you can see, the ring finger stamp doesn't reach the cuticle and it isn't wide enough for the nail.  The stars were stamped horizontally with two stamps.  If you are interested in full nail stamps, skip the Salon Express kit.  I think the stamps would be too small for all but children's nails.

Blue Ombre Nails

This is a blue ombre manicure.  From light to dark:  Wet n Wild Megalast Bird Bath, L'Oreal Now You Sea Me, Sinful Colors Aquamarine, Revlon Colorstay Midnight, and Orly Star of Bombay.  I really liked this manicure.

Gray Dot Manicure

The base for this manicure is Revlon Colorstay Stormy Night.  Then I used a dotting tool to add dots.  The dots are Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy, Zoya Laney, Zoya Harley, Milani Mrs. Milani, and a random black polish.  When I do this again, I won't use Gray's Anatomy.  I didn't like the way  the purple cast it gives mixes with the other gray polishes.  I liked this manicure and this pattern.  I'll definitely do this again. 

Poppies

Happy Memorial Day.  (Maybe you aren't supposed to wish people a happy Memorial Day?)  I decided to do a poppy manicure for Memorial day.  The base color is Sinful Colors Aquamarine.  The poppies are Wet 'n Wild Megalast Heatwave and Wet 'n Wild Black Cream.  I wanted to use Zoya Poppy for the poppies, but the color wasn't red enough.  I followed the tutorial posted below. Cutepolish on Youtube has great nail art tutorials that beginners can do.  If you want to play with nail art, check out her channel.  I only did two things differently then the video.  I used a different base color and instead of using a large dotting tool, I used a small dotting tool and made a series of small dots for the poppy centers.

Whenever I think of poppies, I always think of this scene from the Wizard of Oz.  Poppies...poppies...poppies.

Wet 'n Wild Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie

This is Wet 'n Wild Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie.  Spoiled polishes are a CVS exclusive and 2$ each.  They do go on sale pretty often.  I have some other spoiled polishes.  With two of my other spoiled polishes, the brush was wide, but nice.  With this bottle, the brush is just a mop.  This brush is not tapered properly at the end.  I like the color.  It changes depending on the light.  It is decidedly more orange in indoor light.  Unfortunately for me, this goes on more orange then the bottle.  I was looking for something that was a pink version of Zoya Rica, which I love.  As it turns out, these polishes are pretty similar in indoor light and shade. In the pictures below Zoya Rica is on the ring and index finger and Shrimp on the Barbie is on the pinkie and middle finger.  Rica is oranger and has more gold sparkle.  Rica looks much better on my skin tone. 

Indoor Light

Outdoor Shade

Outdoor Sunlight

Daisies Manicure

The base polish for this manicure is Wet 'n Wild Megalast Garden hose, from their 2011 spring collection.  I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White and a Sally Girl polish in light yellow for the daisies.  I used a dotting tool to make the daisies.  I wish I had done the pointer and middle fingers at different angles.  They are meant to look different, but they look pretty similar.  I think it is pretty cool. I was inspired by this manicure on The Nail Newbie.

Newspaper Bar Code Manicure

The base of this manicure is three coats of Essie Nice is Nice.  Over the top of that I did a newspaper manicure with the bar codes from the newspaper.  You can find a bar code on the front page of the newspaper.  Unfortunately, this manicure chipped before I had a chance to go to a store and try to scan my nails.  This link has a video that shows how to do a newspaper manicure.