Red, White, and Blue

Fourth of July manis are flying around the internet right now and I love it! Red, white, and blue is definitely not a combination I go for usually so I always take advantage of the opportunity, trying to get in at least 2 patriotic manis in the week around the holiday. This is the one I am rocking right now. The amount that these polishes sparkle make this mani even more festive and appropriate for a sunshiny 4th. You can recreate this look with China Glaze - Ruby Pumps, an AMAZING, glowing red glitter with tons of depth, and China Glaze - Blue Iguana. I just used a Wet 'N Wild white for the dots and the white Stripe Rite polish for the stripe. It is so difficult to capture the beautiful glittering of these polishes so I tried to take pics in a few different lighting conditions and even out of focus to show some of the depth of the glitter.... alas, these are way more beautiful in person. You'll just have to try it yourself!!

Glittering Stripes

Today we have more glitter...you know how much I love glitter! Not only, do we have a glitter manicure for today - we have a Stripey glitter manicure. This is my first attempt at using nail tape to create a look and I think it turned out pretty well. However, I will definitely have to do more practicing with it before I am ready to use solid colors in my stripes. The glitter was definitely more forgiving than solids would be.

This mani was created with OPI's Sparrow Me The Drama, a dusty rose pink, layered with Wet N' Wild Hallucinate, an iridescent glitter that sparkles in a rainbow of colors. Using striping tape is definitely a bit more time-consuming and difficult than I anticipated, but I think that with practice it will get easier. The trick that took me a few go-rounds to figure out...it is REALLY important to pull off the tape before the polish dries. If you wait too long some of the polish that you want to leave behind will pull up with the tape. This was really fun to sport around town so I challenge you to give stripes a try!