World Cup USA Nails

When the Fifa World Cup only rolls around once every 4 years it is completely necessary to celebrate by giving a World Cup manicure to support whichever team you are rooting for. Obviously, I am rooting for the good ol' USA (especially Beckerman #15) An even better reason to sport these nails now is that the fourth of July is quickly approaching and these can double as festive holiday nails as well! Talk about a two-fer am I right? 

Although this manicure looks super difficult, it really is super simple and took me only 20 minutes to accomplish. Thanks in advance for giving this a try (hint hint). You totally won't regret sporting these beauts. 

Ring Finger: Soccer Ball

 Apply a white base

 Create a black pentagon in the center of the nail

 Fill it in and repeat on each upper corner of the nail

Connect the corners with eachother

Middle Finger: USA Jersey Logo

 Start with a base coat and place a piece of tape so that it covers only 1/3 of the nail

 Coat the rest of the nail in white polish

 Remove the tape immediately

 Paint stripes in the blue section of the nail

 In the lower portion of the white section apply three star glitters (you can paint them or just use regular gliter if you don't have stars)

 With a striper and red polish, paint the tip of your nail

Thumb: Red Stripes

 Start with a white base

 Paint two big stripes with red polish and between the big stripes paint skinny ones









Pinky Finger:  Red Glitter 

 Start with a red base

 Apply red chunky glitter pieces

 Any other blue, red, white, silver, & gold glitter you want
(Try to use assorted sizes)

 Add Star glitter if you own some

Pointer Finger: White Glitter

 Start with a white base and add any silver chunky glitter you love

 Add blue, red, silver, and gold star glitter... or just paint stars

Apply a fast drying topcoat to all nails

 

Thanks for taking the time to read all the way through!
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Harli

Put Old Gunky Polish to Use!

I don't know about anybody else, but I have a bin full of almost-gone nail polish that is tacky, sticky, and too thick to use. It really pains me to throw the nail polish away no matter how bad it gets because it's just so darn expensive... so I brainstormed a way to use up all of my ol' nail polish babies. Guess what! I came up with this super cute and ultra simple manicure to put all of that gunky polish to use! Oh and did I mention you don't need any nail art tools? No? Well it's true! Old nail polish is all that you will need. 

I honestly just walked out to the backyard on a hunt for some manicure inspiration and immediately after I looked at the marble-looking pavement in my parent's patio, I knew what to do with all of my old polish. So quick S/O to Mom for painting the patio floor brilliantly and inspiring this mani. 

Okay. The most time consuming step in creating this manicure is finding all of the nail polish that will be used. This step took me a good 15 because I have a lot of colors to sort through. I decided to go with neutral tones with some hinted pops of color.

I used a total of 12 colors to accomplish this look, but you can use anywhere from 3-15. Anymore than 15 and some colors won't show through. If you use any number on the lower end, then you will have to do a lot of layering to get the perfect marble look. 

Now into the actual manicure... 

THERE AREN'T REALLY ANY STEPS

Once you have the colors chosen that you will be using, open up the first color you wish to apply and wipe all excess polish off of the brush on the neck of the bottle. Once most of the nail polish has been removed from the brush, stroke it onto your nail. Very little color should be left behind on the nail. 

*Wiping excess polish off is the MOST IMPORTANT part of the entire manicure.

This is what the first coat should look similar to. If your polish leaves behind a little less it's okay I promise!

Now seriously, all you do the rest of the manicure is layer your colors on top of each other. With some colors apply only a stroke or two and with others layer entire sections of your nail.

Here's what it should look similar to after adding a second color.

And after about half of the colors are added.

Continue adding colors until you achieve your desired result! 

Here's what mine looked like when I finished before I added a topcoat. 

And after applying a top coat

I opted to paint my middle and ring fingers with glitter polish. 

     

 

    

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog! 

Harli 

#ManicureMonday

I did my own nails for the first in like... months! I usually can't do super cute things to my own nails because they end up getting ruined when I give other people manis. I am totally obsessed with the design I created. It was inspired by some nautical nails I found on pinterest, but I just made them my own and changed them up drastically!

I completely love these. They are trendy for right now because of the double accent nails, glitter polish, and negative space. I also used my favorite polish of the moment! 

Hope you love them as much as I do! 

Have a wonderful week!

Harli

Perfectly Polka Dotted

I'm not naming names or anything because she'll know who she is, but let's just say that one of my dorm roomies *Cough Cough ... Alex* made a really nice attempt at painting a friends nails polka dotted once... unfortunately they weren't excellent, but there was a lot of love that went into them... which has to count for something right? So, since I no longer live with her... maybe this will help! So, this one is for you, aw_nels!

Do not ask me why, but of all the intricate and detailed designs I do people are most impressed with the "perfect" polka dots I am able to paint. I have not a clue why people are so impressed by them because, honestly, they are super simple to accomplish! Every time I paint polka dots onto someones nails they always ask how I do it and then are super let down when I tell them how easy it really is. So... I decided to let more people in on my tips and tricks to get the perfect spotted manicure!

In this blog post I have given two ways that you can get spot on... pun intended... polka dotted nails. Whichever way you choose is up to you and your own personal preference!

YOU WILL NEED: 
A dotting tool one size smaller than you want your spots
A base color polish
A color for the polka dots
A clear coat

Just remember when choosing your dotting tool, that the polka dots will be a little larger than the size of the dotter on the tool.

I chose my smallest dotting tool because I want the smallest possible dots.




FYI
Before following these steps make sure you have applied two coats of your base color (I chose white) and let them dry completely. 

Step 1:
Begin by applying one dot to the center bottom of each nail.

*when applying the dot you must press down firmly to ensure equal sized dots each time.

Step 2:

Eyeball the next few dots and guess how much space you must give in order for the dots to be equally spread. I usually end up applying 3 or 4 dots depending on the length of nail. 

*If you struggle with this step, try applying a dot at the bottom and top center of each nail and work your way toward the center

Step 3:

On the rows surrounding the center guideline you just created, apply a dot next to each of the spaces between the dots from row 1. 

*Notice that each dot in the row 2 is equally spaced from the center of the gaps as the dots do from one another from row 1

Step 4:

Keep filling in dots parallel to gaps in the previous row to finish. 

Finish with a top coat to complete the pedi/mani. 

TRY ME... if you aren't comfortable eyeballing the spaces

 measure finger against CM side of ruler

 apply piece of tape so one edge covers the marks on ruler

 make marks with a sharpie where top and bottom of fingernail hit

 make a mark in the center of the top and bottom marks

 make marks in between center mark as well 

 peel tape off ruler and apply to center of nail 

 with dotting tool make dots next to each marking on the tape

 peel off tape 

Finish by creating dots between each of the original dots

Then seal in with a top coat

I really hope one of these ways to perfect polka dots work for you! 

Harli 

Summer Favs Serenade

Of all of the seasons summer is by far my favorite. Everything about summer becomes brighter, which is also true for summer nail polish trends. Neon shades are definitely the most popular this summer and for good reason! Neons are fun, eye catching, and the designs that can be created with them are totally cute. The problem, however, is that if you are not perfectly bronzed it can be difficult to find a neon shade to compliment your skin tone. Neon nail polishes have always been a struggle of mine for this very reason. The other reason neons are a struggle is because sometimes they are too overbearing for certain occasions.

So guess what! I have scavenged stores and my own personal polish collection for some summer shades that will work on most skin tones! I have also included some tones that I feel are close enough to the neon trend without overdoing it. Enjoy!

Brand: Bissu

Shade: N/A

 (unfortunately Bissu does not name their polishes or give them numbers)

Okay, now I don't know about all of you, but I have the hardest time finding a bubble gum pink polish that doesn't look absolutely absurd with my skin tone. For some reason, I have found it extremely difficult to find that perfect pink summer shade... until now! This is seriously the best pink polish out there. It is not too warm or cool toned so it will work on the tanned goddesses,  pale princesses, and everyone else between! It is also a muted neon so it's excellent for summer. 

Brand: Sally Hansen X-treme Wear

Shade: Mellow Yellow

With yellows I suffer the same problems as the bubble gum pink... usually yellow makes my nails look diseased. It's not often that a plain yellow looks great on nails, but this Sally Hansen yellow is the perfect summer yellow shade! I can wear it plain on my nails and it doesn't look like I have a nail condition... which a lot of yellows do. This yellow makes me feel so summery because it's bright and fun! Just like summer should be. 

Brand: Covergirl

Shade: #300

This blueish purplish polish is excellent for summer. It is not too out there and it will look excellent with many different outfits! It's definitely a universal summer shade. This color looks great on many different manicure types... short nails, long nails, almond nails... really whatever! It also lasts a long time without chipping or peeling off which is a must for summer polishes!

Brand: Orly

Shade: Passion Fruit

(Quick S/O to Lori for donating this polish to my collection... I absolutely love it!)

Although this polish appears to be a hot pink it applies almost orange looking! For this reason, it is a great summer neon shade because it is not overly pink. It's difficult to do, but there IS such a thing as too much pink guys. This polish is more muted, but is definitely still classifies as a neon! This makes me look super tan (which is totally a plus) and lasts almost forever without flaking in any way! It also looks like gel polish... super fancy!

Brand: OPI

Shade: Fly

This is actually an older polish from an OPI collection a few seasons back, but I am still obsessed with it! When it dries it becomes the perfect greenish blue shade and is flattering against tan or even pale skin. It stands out, but not too much and it would look good with either silver or gold rings! (Not many polishes can do that) This polish is definitely not muted, but it is also not a neon. This looks great in contrast to or to go with other polish colors. 

Brand: Covergirl

Shade: #240

This peachy tone looks great against tan skin. It is the perfect summer orange tone because it is not too... BAM. I love this brand of polish because it dries quickly so that last minute manicure before doing fun summer stuff is totally an option. It doesn't really need a top coat even because the formula dries very shiny. 

And there ya have it! My favorite polishes for summer. If I am ever in a hurry one of these 6 are what I will grab without even hesitating. 

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Harli