July 4th Spam

Woo hoo Saturday Spam on Thursday! Here are a few different red, white, and blue designs that are great for 4th of July.

Polka Dots

 Base- OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Red- OPI Vodka and Caviar. Blue- Sally Hansen- Pacific Blue

Stars and Stripes    

Pointer, Ring and Pinky- base China Glaze White on White, stripes are OPI Vodka and Caviar. Middle finger- base Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, glitter- Icing Blue Ice. I used a new top coat and it smeared the shit out of my stripe nails... learned that lesson, gotta stick to me Seche Vite. 

Blue Glitter Gradient

 

 

Base- Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Gradient- China Glaze Fairy Dust and Icing Blue Ice

last picture is blurred to show the holo bits :)

Stay Sparkly And Safe This Holiday,

A

Maybelline Clearly Spotted

Finally this is mine!!! I went to literally 13 stores before I finally found this beauty! I have been lusting after black and white glitter for a while, but I absolutely hate bar glitter, so that eliminated majority of the mainstream brands. I actually debated picking up Hard Candy Black Tie Optional and removing as much bar glitter as I could by hand... but that seemed a little ridiculous haha.
Clearly Spotter is everything I have been hoping for, bold yet delicate. I can't wait to layer this over everything.
I layered this as a gradient over yesterdays holo glitter gradient tips. I love how the bits of holo glitter pop out from under the black and white.

Once again, this is going to be a little pic heavy. Obsessed with this mani!!

Hope you liked this as much as I do! Do you have a favorite black and white glitter? Any suggestions about what I should layer it over next?  Leave your suggestions in the comments :)

Stay Sparkly,

A

Saturday Spam- June 29

Welcome to Saturday Swatches, or Saturday Spam, as I'm calling it this week.  Well it's week 2 and I'm already kind of changing it up... I have been participating in two nail art challenges for the month of June, I have already featured these mani's on my Instagram, @sparkleandpolish, you should follow me if you haven't already :)
Instead of writing up a whole post for each one, since I have shared them already, I have compiled my favorite challenge entries to share with you here.  For the July challenges, I will try and be a better blogger and keep up with Instagramming my mani's and blogging about them here.

Nail Art June Challenge (nailartjune)

Sparkle Nails

Polishes used: Sinful Colors Sunburnt, China Glaze Angel Wings, Julie G Cleopatra's Cobra

Sea Critter Nails

Polishes used: OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Gargantuan Green Grape. China Glaze Flirty Tankini

Ocean Nails

Polishes used: Pointer and Pinky- Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe. Ring and Middle- Sinful Colors Ciao Bella, Hex Glitter from Milani Teal, fish are Sinful Colors Jolt and China Glaze Highlight Of My Summer, octopus is China Glaze Sweet Hook

The Nail Art Story June Challenge (#tnasjunechallenge)

Kawaii Nail

Colors used: OPI Mod About You, China Glaze Sweet Hook and Sinful Colors Tidal Wave gradient topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Ring finger looks bad, rhinestones from Michaels.. In retrospect I should have done a base color, like China Glaze Glistening Snow.

Neon All The Way

Polishes used- base color is China Glaze White on White. Pinky and Pointer finger- gradient with China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and Highlight of my Summer, same colors used for leopard on ring finger. Middle finger is Salon Perfect Kaboom!

Vintage Floral

Polishes Used: OPI My Vampire Is Buff and Mod About You, China Glaze Pink Plumeria and Zoya Wednesday. 

Birthday Nails

Polishes Used: OPI Mod About You, My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Don't Be Such a Budapest. China Glaze Electric Beat.

Stay Sparkly,

A

Glitter Gradient Tips

This is a base of OPI So Many Clowns So Little Time, with a gradient of China Glaze Glistening Snow and China Glaze Fairy Dust. This post is picture heavy, my apologies, but I just loved the look of this mani, so I took a lot of different pictures. It is so light and feminine, a great palate cleanser after all the crazy looks I've been doing for my June challenges.
Starting off with the shade pictures.
In the shade it is a lovely, soft silver gradient. Very subtle.

Indoor, up close to a light, not color accurate, but I loved the shot.

Outside in natural sunlight. Showing the lovely holo sparkles.

Blurred to show the holo. 

Hope you enjoyed the holo picture spam. This mani is so gorgeous, it is still on my nails as I type this. 

Stay Sparkly,

A

Lush Lacquer Chicks Rule

This polish is amazing!! The colors are so bold and bright, but they work very well together.  This is a clear, or maybe slightly pink toned base with raspberry, orange and coral matte glitters.  The glitters are very thin and sheer, creating other colors when they layer over each other.

First Look:

This is a skittles mani, starting with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on all nails. Pointer and pinky are a gradient with Essie Sunday Funday and Essie The Girls Are Out. Middle Finger has 2 coats of Chicks Rule. Ring finger has dotted flowers in Sunday Funday and The Girls Are Out

Second Look:

This mani features a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on the pointer, middle and pinky fingers. Essie The Girls Are Out on the ring finger. Two coats of Chicks Rule on all white parts, including my wonky freehanded heart on the ring finger

In terms of formula, this was flawless. Flowed smoothly on to the nail, glitter came out easily, no fishing required.  The glitter is a little sparse even at 2 coats, but that is the look I prefer.  I like that the base polish clearly shows through.

I have been bitten hard by the indie bug, any brands/polishes you think I should look into?

Stay Sparkly,

A

Bubble Nail Art

This is done using acrylic paint to make water spot bubbles on top of polish. I loved this look, changed up the accompanying nails to extend this mani.  To do this, you water down acrylic paint, apply small dots on your nail, allow a minute or so to set on your nail, and then absorb the excess water.  I followed a tutorial from @tabitha_nicole on Instagram to do this, and it was surprisingly easy to do.

First Look:

 base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on all nails

Pinky and pointer I did a jelly sandwich with OPI Polka.com and OPI Don't Touch My Tutu.

Ring and middle water spot bubbles using acrylic paint.

Second Look:

Ring and Middle- same as before

Pinky and Pointer- Essie Naughty Nautical, with a dot of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic

Here are a few more looks at the water spot nails. 

Too fun. Definitely going to try these again. Full swatches of Essie Naughty Nautical will be coming up soon, I'm still tracking down a few more colors from the collection, then I will post them all for you.

Stay Sparkly,

A

Disney Nail Art Challenge: Jasmine

Princess Jasmine nails!! I love Princess Jasmine, these nails weren't even intentionally planned to be for her, but when I was finished they just screamed Jasmine to me. Teal chevrons with subtle gold glitter on the accent nail and a sheer teal-green glitter on all nails. 

Base Color- OPI So Many Clowns So Little Time

Tips- China Glaze For Audrey

Glitter Overlay- Cult Nails Hypnotize Me

And Gold Hex Glitter 

Here is a picture without the added bling, I wore it like this for a few days and absolutely loved it! If only taping off the chevrons didn't take so freaking long. I would totally do this more often. 

Also, if you aren't already doing so, you should follow me on Instagram @sparkleandpolish because I post sneak peaks and extra manis that don't show up on the blog :)

Stay Sparkly,

A