HPB Presents Autumn Dry Brush Manicure!

Yesterday was actually my wedding anniversary so this was the manicure I was sporting (probably should have posted this yesterday instead of my downer post). But it is the first day of fall today, so that's appropriate, right? I had stumbled across a whole mess of untouched polishes that looked to be a perfect fit for a fall themed manicure. Initially I thought I would use the saran wrap technique to dry and create a manicure with layered fall colors-- similar to a pile of leaves-- but then I decided I wanted to branch out and do something new! So I decided to use a similar but new-to-me technique, the dry brush technique! Thankfully, it's pretty simple-- you wipe most of the polish off the brush and then lightly swipe across your nails, leaving little slashes of color. Sounded good to me!

I started with two coats of Julep Marsala, a rich red brown creme. Then I swiped on Lyn B Designs Whirled Peas, a yellow gold/orange duochrome holographic. Then I took Julep Ryan, a deep teal satin. This was probably a bit of mistake, because the teal is darker color than the gold, but it ended up being a sheer so luckily it worked out in my favor! Then I tried to use Loaded Lacquer Booze & BBQ, a shimmery orange on top, but it ended up being too sheer in just one coat, so it left sparkle behind, but no orange color. I didn't want to try and add another color at that point because I felt it would be overkill and make the finished product too messy.

Artificial light (flash):

There are things I like and don't like about this manicure. Even though the colors looked really beautiful spread out on my table, they turned out a little muted on my nails. I wish they had been just a bit brighter. I was also annoyed that the orange I used turned out to be more sheer than I anticipated-- it added sparkle, but not the color I wanted. Oh well! I do think the dry brush is a really fun technique and I love the rich, brocade look this manicure ended up having even if it wasn't what I envisioned initially! 

Hope you enjoyed my fall themed manicure! I'm really enjoying these monthly manicures as a way to explore my nail art skills and doing something different aside from just swatching! 

An InLinkz Link-up

HBP Presents Neon Stripes!

Hey all! Something new and different with this post! One of the nail polish related Facebook groups I'm a part of, Hobby Polish Bloggers, has a monthly themed link-up and August's theme is neon! As I was pondering my next manicure during the work day (yeah, it was so, and I think about what I'm going to paint my nails) I decided I wanted to try and participate this go 'round!

I decided to go for something simple and decided to use my two Savina neon polishes, Sunset  and Beach Ball. I had picked up some striping tape awhile ago and thought "hey, why not use that?". I was already wearing Beach Ball as a base, so I put down three pieces of striping tape on each nail and then layered Sunset on top of it. The idea was to kind of create a beach towel look. The only teeny tiny problem is that these colors are pretty similar to each other and are so bright that the stripes are a little difficult to distinguish. 

Artificial light (flash):

Hope you enjoyed this manicure and that your retinas aren't too scorched from all the neon! This was my first time using actual striping tape for a mani. It was definitely a little more intense than I expected, but soooooo much easier than trying to free hand or use scotch/painter's tape. This isn't perfect but it's a start!

An InLinkz Link-up