Fourth of July Mani

I know this is a few days early, but I will be busy all weekend so you guys get it NOW!!

This mani was the result of one of those frustrating nail sessions where NOTHING is working. I tried to do TWO Fourth of July manis last night, and hated them both. So I took both of them off and waited until this morning to try again, which was a lot more successful. This took a LONG time for me to do -- I can usually get a mani done in about 30 minutes (base color and some sort of art) but this took me FOREVER. But it's worth it :)

And so begins the process...

The endless supply of supplies... le sigh

I started with a base coat of Nail Envy. Then I alternated painting my nails navy blue and red using China Glaze First Mate and Zoya Sooki (aka THE MOST PERFECT 4TH OF JULY POLISHES EVER!). I applied a coat of Seche Vite over the bases. I then used a white striper to make the lines on the thumbs and pinkies. The stars on my pointer and ring fingers were made using a tiny brush and white acrylic paint. They were hard to do. Especially on my right hand...which is why you don't get to see it :) For the fireworks (that's what's on my middle finger if you couldn't tell), I used blue and white acrylic paints to make the sparks. I used silver and gold stripers in the fireworks too, and finished it up with a blue gemstone in the middle. End with another coat of Seche Vite. PHEW! That was a lot of work. Hope you like!

That's totally my graduation "medal" or whatever you call it from high school :)

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL and safe holiday (for those of you in the states..). The rest of you can have a good weekend too ;)

-Amanda

Ghetto Gothic Fab Nails (Lady Gaga nails?)

Helloooo!

This is an awfully dark mani for summer....but oh, wait! I don't care :) I wanted to do a design based off a shirt I was wearing yesterday, even though it's pretty dark and ... ominous looking. Which is why I'm calling these my GOTHIC fabulous nails! Gothic because they're black, and fabulous because they have rhinestones on them! Oooh, shiny. I guess they could also be Lady Gaga nails :)

I started off with two coats of Ulta Little Black Dress, which is AWESOME! It has a little bit of a shimmer to it so it doesn't look so intimidating. I only had to do two coats of this, and I could've gotten away with one if I'd applied a thick coat. I highly recommend this one... it's like a girly black polish if that makes sense.

Then I stamped over it with Sally Hansen Black Pearl Chroma and plate m63. If you're lucky enough to have any of the Chrome polishes, they're excellent to stamp with. I used round, silver rhinestones on the ring fingers to make the crosses. I generally don't like rhinestones because they get stuck in my hair and I usually think it's hard to make them look good.

What do you all think? :)

Have a wonderful day,
-Amanda