Sunday Sparkler

Hoo boy, another day’s temperatures projected to be above 30 degrees, this time with a pretty great chance of rain – you know, one of those summer storms that seems to heat things up more than it cools them down? And yes, I know it’s still technically spring, but tell that to the weather.

And my nails, which are jumping straight into summer with this very sparkly and simple mani featuring Finger Paints’ Colorful Collage, a name that sucks just tremendously. Clearly this polish should be called Disco Whistle.  Why does no one ever consult me on these things?!

Here I paired…sigh…Colorful Collage with Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri in Show Steel-er, a light grey creme, to brighten up them grey skies.  At least I can do that, even if I have zero control over the temperature… (narrows eyes) yet.

Disco Ball

Oh, hear that, folks? That’s the sound of the disco whistle! Looks like it’s time to strap on your boogie shoes and hit the light-up dance floor for some super awkward dance moves and, somehow, the worst fashion of the last 100 years. But never mind all that, because you’ll be sporting these beautiful disco ball nails that throw more sparkles than the mirrorball twinkling prettily above you.

For these simple disco-on-disco nails, I topped two coats of Orly’s so-appropriately named silver holo, Mirrorball, with two light coats of Finger Paints’ silver holo glitter topper, Colorful Collage. These kind of manicures are the thing we nail bloggers rage about all the time, because they never look 1/100th as beautiful in static photos as they do in real life, and indeed, this silver sparkler is no exception. These nails are just bananas in person, tossing off linear holos and eye-searing rainbows with every little shift of my hand, although I’ll concede they don’t look quite so awesome in photos. Although this manicure DOES look super awesome when magnified 15 times with a macro photo lens, comme ca:

Dripping in Diamonds (31DC2015)

Although I created these gorgeous, shimmery nails for day 17’s theme of glitter in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, I suppose they’d just as easily work for the upcoming theme of inspired by a song – or two songs, specifically Britney Spears’ I’m a Slave 4 U and Toxic. Remember those glittery nude bodysuits she wore? And the insane round of pearl-clutching her videos set off? WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?! Britney wasn’t ever my favourite, but still, to go back to a simpler time when pop stars would just hint at nudity and not, you know, actually get naked (yes, I’m a total fuddy duddy about that kind of stuff – if you have even an ounce of musical talent, you shouldn’t feel the need to get your tits – and other stuff – out at all hours of the day.) Hmm, although now that I think about it, Britney wore both of those diamond-encrusted nude suits in service of two iconic performances (one stage, one video) – neither was tied to the content of those songs (which, if I recall my Britney correctly, is mostly just a lot of panting, moaning and Auto-Tune.) So I guess we’ll stick with the generic glitter day 17 initially contemplated and leave the music for another day.

These nails were super duper easy, although the glitzy, finished product looks like one of those manis that would cause you to rip out all your hair in frustration. I started by laying down two light coats of Picture Polish’s Cherish, a pale nude creme speckled with holographic shimmer. I then dabbed on a couple of coats of Finger Paints’ Colorful Collage, a silver holographic glitter, right at the base of my cuticles, extending it down ever so slightly in a brushed-on gradient. Then, dolloping out a few dabs of Colorful Collage onto a clean paper towel (you need to get rid of the excess clear base), I picked up the slightly tacky bits of glitter, one at a time, with the pointed end of an orangewood stick before depositing them onto my nails in random, trailing lines. Et voila, dripping diamonds – supposedly a girl’s best friend. 😉

Double Rainbow (31DC2015)

I’m skipping over day eight’s theme of metallics in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge and heading straight for day nine’s cheery rainbow money shot. I’ve got a bit of nail mail out for delivery that will help me make the most of my metallics next week, but until then, I’m content dabbling in, under or over the rainbow with these fun, sparkly nails instead.

To create this manicure, I brushed on a rainbow’s worth of sheer polishes, one colour after another, blending the edges as I went. I didn’t use any special brush for this, simply the ones that come with the polish and a bit of even-handed patience. Once dry, I applied a second coat of polishes across the rainbow spectrum. Once that was dry, I brushed on two coats of Finger Paints’ super versatile holographic glitter topper, Colorful Collage, before sandwiching it in with a final layer of rainbow jellies. Rainbow on rainbow (or IN rainbow, to be more accurate!)