4th of July

The One With the Fourth of July Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World!  Happy 4th of July to my American readers!  I have to say, this is one of my favorite holidays.  Warm weather, fireworks.  Can't go wrong, can you?  I could go on forever about my opinions on how this country has changed so much in the past 10 years, but this blog isn't political.  This blog is about the nails and well, today my nails are celebrating my country.

It's been awhile since I've actually done nail art.  Life got crazy, as it did this time last year, and I just have had no time.  Now everything is settling out and I decided it was time to delve back into my creative outlet.  What better way than to start with some red, white, and blue nails?!

Of course, when I sat down to paint today's manicure, a million ideas were coming to my head.  So today's manicure is literally a kitchen sink mani.  Many designs thrown into one.  Something crazy, just like me!

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Tidal Wave
  • ORLY - Stiletto on the Run
  • OPI - Set Apart by Tile Art
  • ILNP - Mega X
Tidal Wave is my go to blue polish for the summer.  It's the first pedicure polish, then I switch it up to different colors for about 3 other pedis, then I'm right back to it.  It's also my go-to color for manicures when I'm just swatching.  Throw a holographic top coat on it, and you have one gorgeous mani or pedi.  It applies perfectly in two coats, and of course works wonderfully for nail art.

I'm not going to lie, I forgot how to do a good old fashioned smoosh manicure like on my ring finger.  I finally remembered how to do it when I painted my right hand, but of course the dots on my right hand are a tad funky, so there's no photos of that.  I'm not angry with how this ring finger turned out though.  It kind of looks like if one of those bomb popsicles melted.


The smoosh manicure blends really well with the Tidal Wave pinkie finger, and the Mega X middle finger, but then you have the index finger.  The red, white, and blue dots that could have been it's own design.  I feel it's disjointed and takes away from the manicure as a whole.  But then part of me thinks it blends well.   Part of me wishes I just painted a regular red nail there, or left it white.  You know me though, can't leave well enough alone.

What do you think?  Like this design?

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July everyone!

Until next time, <3.


4th of July

The One With the Fourth of July Dot Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy Fourth of July!!!!  I'm kind of disappointed in myself, I only had time for one festive manicure this year, and it's one I've already done.  I blame the heat.  We have had higher humidity and temperatures than Miami.  I'm fine when it comes to the heat, but I am not fine when it comes to the humidity.  Nothing is worse than when you walk outside and cannot even breath because the air feels so heavy and wet.  Then add high temperatures....ugh it's unbearable.  It's supposed to be like that again today too.  Although, it does make for some wonderful nights, which means it will be lovely firework weather.

Anyways, as I said before I went on a weather tangent, I'm kind of upset that I'm sharing with you a manicure I've already done for the Fourth.  I believe when I was looking through my Instagram, I did this two years ago, so in the end it's okay to re-create.  Plus, I love the negative space dot manicure, and I haven't done one in awhile.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Having a Big Head Day
  • OPI - My Pal Joey
  • OPI - Alpine Snow
I'm really digging the negative space manicures lately.  I posted one a few weeks ago, and I just need to do more now that my nail grew out.  The dot one is one of my favorites, and so easy to do.  First you start off with a normal base coat.  I use FingerPaints Gel Like Base Coat (seriously this is an amazing base).  When that's dry, I took my white polish and a large dotting tool and started adding dots.  When the white dried, I did the same with red, then the blue.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Do you like the negative space?

I hope that everyone has a Happy and SAFE Fourth of July!!!  Don't go blowing your fingers off with fireworks!!!  More importantly, don't drink and drive.

Until next time, <3.


4th of July

The One With the Patriotic Dry Brush Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this lovely Friday??  Can you believe Friday is already here?  This week went by super fast, the weather is super weird, and I have had a migraine for the last day and a half.  I'm hoping I get some relief today, but with the weather still being funky I doubt it.  I'm hoping that it gets nicer by the Fourth of July so I can go watch some fireworks!

Today's manicure is one of two Fourth of July designs that I will be bringing you.  Who knows, if I feel better, maybe I can muster up three designs, you never know.  I'm kind of liking today's though so I don't think I'll be taking it off until I really have to.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Tidal Wave
  • Sally Hansen - Red My Lips
  • Sally Hansen - White
  • INM - Northern Lights
Fun, right?  Kind of like a dry brush kind of turned tie dye looking?  Maybe I'm the only one who see's it that way, but I think it's fun regardless.  Super easy look to re-create also.  I started off with a base coat of a white polish.  You must make sure that your base is completely dried before moving on to the dry brushing.  Otherwise your brush will get caught on the base and then you'll get gouges or drag marks.

When my base was dry, I went through first with my red polish and created the lines.  I let that dry a little and then went through and filled in the gaps with the blue.  Both Red My Lips and Tidal Wave are the perfect patriotic colors.  I think I've used them the past few years now.

Once the dry brush design was completely dried, I went through and added a top coat of INM Northern Lights.  I wanted a little bit of sparkle because in my mind that was the stars on the flag.  Or the glisten of a firework.  Honestly, I just love this top coat and thought it would work super well with this look.

What do you think?  Something you might give a go for the Fourth??

Until next time, <3.

4th of July

The Nail Art Squad Does Fourth of July

9:00:00 AM


Happy 4th of July polished world!!!!  Cannot believe that it's already the 4th.  Where has this year gone!?  I'm planning on laying low, maybe going swimming at the neighbors, followed by some grilling.  I've had a killer headache all weekend so I've really tried to just be calm so I can get right back into the week starting Tuesday.

Today I am posting alongside the Nail Art Squad for a 4th of July collaboration!!


For our collaboration, we are all created red, white, and blue manicures!  I had so many different ideas running through my head but went with something simple and fun.  I actually have had it on my nails for about five days now because I love how it turned out!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Tidal Wave
  • Orly - White Tips
  • OPI - Having a Big Head Day
  • Serendipity Polish - Holo-Day Lights
Isn't it adorable!?  I really love them!  I was going to go over the top and do some stars on the pointer and pinkie but I decided to go simple instead and went with my go-to trusty dots.  For my accent nail, I was going to copy what I did last year which was a red and blue dry brush design.  Nothing thrilling but it got the job done and I did love how it looked.

When I got my red out, I started to do the dry brush horizontally.  I didn't brush take enough off the brush and it started to come out a little heavier than what I normally would do for a dry brush but I was really liking it.  I continued to swipe horizontally and really loved how it looked.  It was almost like wavy stripes which really reminded me of a flag!  Then next to the polka dot nail it was really like a simple abstract flag!



Now, let's take a second to talk about the gorgeous polish that is Sally Hansen Tidal Wave.  This polish is part of the Miracle Gel line which you all know I love. Two coats and I had full coverage of this beautiful cobalt blue.  It really reminds me of the original formula of Pacific Blue from the Xtreme Wear line.  I love this color so much that I ended up putting it on my toes with a holo top coat.  I'll be interested to see if this lasts a long time on my toes.  I'm assuming it will since I went five days with no chips on my fingers!

What do you think?  Fan of this different 4th of July design?  Ever used Tidal Wave?

I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!!

Until next time, <3.

4th of July

The One With the Fourth of July Dotticure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy Friday!  That's right, we made it to the end of another week.  It's also the beginning of a three day weekend for the Fourth of July!  I still cannot believe that it is already July.  It's beyond crazy to me that June is over.

Since the Fourth of July is right around the corner, I decided I should start posting some festive designs.  Now, I paint my nails every three days, and what is on my nails doesn't usually match up with what is live on the blog.  What you see either was created a few days ago or a week or so ago.  For these Fourth of July designs, I started last weekend, and I most likely won't have a festive design on my nails for the actual day.  I said to someone at work "You know you're a nail blogger when your nails are festive way before the holiday so you can bring your viewers relevant content."  Pretty sure they thought I'm crazy but oh well!

Today's design is just a simple dot gradient on my naked nail.  We all know how much I love these designs so when I saw a similar one on Pinterest I jumped at the opportunity to do it myself.

Let's take a look!



Colors Used:
  • OPI - My Pal Joey
  • OPI - Having a Big Head Day
  • OPI - Alpine Snow
Good old red, white, and blue manicure thanks to the lovely OPI.  And in part by FingerPaints.  So, a few weeks ago I repurchased a bottle of my favorite base coat.  They must have changed the formula because I kid you not after a day my nails would just peel off in one big sheet.  It literally looked like I was putting stickers on my nails and they were just falling off.  This caused me to have to go on the hunt for a perfect new base coat.  Enter in FingerPaints.  I loved their Grip It base coat, but it had a green tint and stained my fingers green, so that was a no go.  Then I found their white base coat which kind of looks like glue.  When you apply it, it kind of leaves a cloudy white appearance on your nails, and my goodness it works great.  I love it, especially for this type of manicure because it takes some of the natural nail look away.



Having a Big Head Day is from the Alice Through the Looking Glass collection.  I never buy red polishes because they aren't my thing.  This one ended up in my collection because I bought it for my mom who loves to have a red pedicure all summer long.  This is one of her favorite shades of red so when OPI was on sale a few weeks ago I grabbed it for her.  I thought it looked like the perfect red for an America mani and I was right.  Really loving this shade for art, don't know how I'd like it on myself for a full mani.


Having a Big Head Day goes perfectly with My Pal Joey from the Hello Kitty Collection.  This is one of my favorite blue polishes so I snagged myself a back up a few weeks ago during a clearance sale.  Now I will be using this beauty more often with no regrets that I'm using too much of it and running out.

What do you think?  Fan of this festive look?  Something you think you will try?  Do you love these OPIs together??

Well this post turned out to be a lot longer than I expected!  Oh well!!!

Until next time, <3.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!!!  I am excited because I am going to the parade today!  Hopefully it doesn't rain.

Of course, you know that my nails are red white and blue!  Actually, they match some of my resident's nails at the senior home I work at.  Every other week, the facility has a polish spa for the women and everyone who wants gets their nails painted.  A few of the ladies really wanted to have festive Fourth of July nails.  Since they know my love for nails and nail art, they came to me asking for suggestions on what they should do.  The night before the activity, I sat at home thinking of what simple designs I could do that would be quick and simple.  I don't blame them for not wanting to sit like I do for an hour to do one design.

The first thing that came to mind was a dry brush manicure, where I would paint a white base then do red and blue swipes over the top of it.  I showed the ladies what a dry brush manicure looked like and the agreed to try it.  The end result, something the both loved and still cannot stop talking about.

So I decided to match my nails to theirs.  Instead of doing all my nails with the dry brush design, I decided to accent it.  Let's take a look.





Colors Used:

  • Look Nail Color - Oh Say Can You See, Rocket's Red Glare, and Broad Stripes Bright Stars
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown
  • FingerPaints - Red White and Hue
Cute right?  I'm in love with these Look polishes.  The blue (Oh Say Can You See) was almost like a crelly.  It applied in three coats.  It really did need this because of the consistency of the polish.  The red was quite nice for a red polish.  If you know me, I am not a fan of reds, but this one was an exception.  It applied evenly in two coats.


Last year I purchased  FingerPaints Red White And Hue at Sally Beauty.  I honestly forgot it existed until now, and I really wish I remembered it for Memorial Day.  Unfortunately, in a years time, the red kind of bled into the clear base making it a light pink.  I was happy to see that it didn't effect the white glitters.


Here's a photo of the nails I did on one of the ladies!  Two weeks and she only has one chip (this photo was taken right after I finished).  Not the best photo, but still you can see the dry brush!

What do you think?  Fan of the look??  Something you think you would do for the fourth next year?

I'm off to enjoy the parade, some grilling, and hopefully fireworks!!!   I hope everyone has a safe and happy fourth! :)

4th of July

Twinsie Tuesday: Splatter

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  Can you believe that tomorrow it is going to be July 1st?  Where has the time gone??  I feel like summer really hasn't started because it's been so cool and rainy.  I think our Spring and Summer seasons reversed or something.

Today is Tuesday which means it is time for Twinsie Tuesday.  Our theme this week is splatter!  I have never done a splatter manicure before so I was rather excited to attempt it.  I've done a hand splatter design where I draw out the splats using a dotting tool, but it was no where near as cool as the real thing!

Since the 4th of July is right around the corner, I decided to use the Look Nail Color 4th of July collection!  Let's see what I came up with!




Colors Used:
  • Look Nail Color - Oh Say Can You See, Rocket's Red Glare, and Broad Stripes Bright Stars
I started off with a base coat of Broad Stripes Bright Stars.  I'm always in the market for a new white polish since I go through so much of it.  This one is rather nice.  Applied perfectly in two coats.  I hate hate HATE when white polish takes three coats.  I feel it gets thick and goopy looking, so when I find a two coater such as this one, it is automatically a keeper.

When the base was dry, I took a coffee stirrer and dipped it into Rocket's Red Glare.  I then blew the red polish onto my nail creating the splatter look.  I did the same thing with Oh Say Can You See until I was happy with how they looked.


Since this is my first splatter manicure, I can't really tell you if these polishes worked better than another brand for the technique.  I think they worked perfectly.  Trust me, if they didn't this post would have been all about how much I hate splatter and how I will never do it again.  I'm actually excited to try it again in the near future!

I'm also excited to do another 4th of July manicure with these polishes!

What do you think?  Fan of the splatter manicure?  Something you've done before?

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsies posts!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.

4th of July

The Beauty Buffs: Polka Dots

8:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?!  I'm doing swell!  If you read yesterdays post, you know that today's post was supposed to be a continuation of it.  Of course though, I destroyed that base with a lovely disasticure.  After another disasticure, I finally was able to come up with today's manicure for The Beauty Buffs.

Our theme today is polka dots!  Something which I love!  I can't tell you how much I love any form of dot manicures.  They're so versatile and can always create a statement, especially when part of a manicure.  I always think that they're a perfect accent to a kitchen sink manicure.

For today's design, I decided to do a festive Fourth of July kitchen sink manicure with a polka dot accent!  My polka dot's aren't your traditional dot design, but instead a zillion little dots mixed together on the nail.  It's still considered polka dots, right?

Let's take a look! 




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Livingston
  • Zoya - Ling
  • FingerPaints - Paper Mache
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown
  • FingerPaints - Red, White, and Hue
Only difference base wise between yesterday's manicure and today's is the middle finger!  Instead of using Zoya Ling on that finger, I went with OPI This Crown Needs a Gown with a top coat of the FingerPaints patriotic matte glitter Red, White, and Hue.  All kitchen sink manicures need a glitter accent of some sort, am I right?  I purchased Red, White, and Hue a few weeks ago at Sally Beauty during a BOGO along with Paper Mache.  I am so happy my neighbor noticed the display tucked away because I never would have seen it and would have missed out on such a great patriotic glitter.  It's a perfect polish also, not too much base, and not too much glitter.  It was just right and applied so evenly in one coat.  There was no need for manual placement of glitters, it all just fell perfectly!

Zoya Livingston and Ling are the perfect America Red and Blue shades.  Livingston is from the Cashmere collection last fall, and Ling is from the new Tickled Collection for the Summer.  Livingston is a close dupe of the Red My Lips by Sally Hansen I featured yesterday.  Both are crelly like and apply evenly in two coats.  If anything, the Sally is a microshade darker, but it's barely noticeable.  Regardless, I love how both shades match the matte glitter.



For the most important nail, the polka dotted one, I did a quick base coat of my new favorite white, Paper Mache.  When the base was dried, I used different sized dotting tools and applied red and blue dots all over the nails.  I create this look by starting off with the largest dots first, then going through and add the little dots after filling in any open areas.  I tend to get a little crazy filling in, but it's okay because it all ends up looking amazing.

What do you think?  Liking the patriotic kitchen sink manicure?  Are you a fan of polka dot accent nails sch as this one??

 Don't forget to check out the other lovely Beauty Buffs posts!  Can't wait to see what everyone did!





This is going to be my last post before the Fourth of July, so to all my American followers, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday!  Please no drinking and driving or injuring your pretty polished hands in a fireworks accident.  Leave the fireworks to the professionals, please.

Until next time, <3.

**Some polishes in this post were provided for review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!!!

9:00:00 AM

Happy Fourth of July to my American followers!!!!  How will you all be spending your holiday?  For me, I'm still not quite sure.  I'm guessing we will end up grilling some food and then possibly going to see fireworks later on in the night.  That is, depending on how exhausted I am.  I'm working more house than I typically do, and I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to paint, photograph, edit, and create a special Fourth of July post.  Lucky, I found the time two nights ago to paint this manicure, photograph it after work and before going to a movie, then come home and edit and write all in time for it to post on the Fourth.  Go me!

Sadly though, it's not the manicure I had in mind.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I purchased a Star and Heart Hand punch to create easy nail art designs.  I've attempted freehand stars in the past, and well it's failed miserably, so when I saw on Chalkboard Nails that you can use a hand punch, I ran to Michael's and purchased one as soon as possible.  It wasn't that the hand punch didn't work, it worked great, but I globbered on polish onto my other nails which would have never dried and I was getting really sleepy and needed to head to bed.

So, after two disasticures, I went simple and copied a manicure I did a while back.  I'm happy with it, but not super ecstatic since it wasn't want I wanted.  And of course, now looking at the photo, I see one spot which could have used an extra red dot and it's driving me insane that I didn't see this last night when doing the manicure.  Oh well, let's take a look....




Colors Used:

  • Ulta - Snow White
  • Sally Hansen - Red Carpet
  • Zoya - Liberty
Look at that glittery Zoya Pixie Dust in Liberty.  Stevie is my favorite Zoya Pixie, but Liberty is a close second.  Just look at that blue and all the glitter!  Now, okay, for this photo I top coated it, I really wanted the glitter to sparkle extra since it is a Fourth of July manicure.  It sparkled just fine as a matte textured, but crazy Alaina wanted that little extra umph.

I originally had on a cream red of Ulta Let the Flames Begin, but I wanted my red to sparkle also.  So, on top of a base of Let the Flames Begin, I put on one coat of Red Carpet which gave the nails a subtle sparkle.  You can see it more in person than in the photos.  If we weren't getting the storm from hell, then I could have taken outdoor photos, but no, everything had to flood and be scary so I was stuck with the light box.

With the two polishes, on the white nail I just did some diagonal dots.  This tied the manicure all in. 

I would talk about what I wanted to do, but it will just depress me, so I'm going to stop this post here....lol

What do you think?  Liking this simple fourth of July manicure?

Well, until next time, <3

**Zoya Liberty was provide by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  All other polishes in this post were purchased by myself.  Please see my disclosure policy**

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!!!

2:20:00 PM

Happy 4th of July to all my American followers!!!  I'm loving all the patriotic manicures that have been appearing on my reading page for the past few days!!!! The 4th is one of my favorite holidays, mainly because of the food!  Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon...yuummm.  It's so delicious.  Then on top of it all, we end the night with carnivals and fireworks.  Can't get much better.

After I did a simple flag manicure for Memorial Day inspired by @Arlyn531, I needed to come up with something different for the 4th.  I couldn't do the same thing, but I figured if the idea became a disasticure, I would just go back and copy the Memorial Day nails and never post them or just post them as a comparison.

This thought came into my head shortly after Memorial Day.  I didn't want simple flags, or just plain red, white, and blue nails, I wanted something else.  Something festive, and something which reminded me of the 4th itself.  What better than fireworks?!

Luckily though, I do not believe that my nails turned into a disasticure....let's take a look.







Colors Used:

  • Base
    • Sinful Colors - Midnight Blue
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Fireworks 
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
    • Sinful Colors - Sugar, Sugar
    • Sally Hansen - Celeb City
  • Flag
    • Sinful Colors - Sugar, Sugar
    • Sinful Colors - Midnight Blue
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Top Coat
    • Out the Door

This was actually a simple manicure, which pleasantly surprised me. For the flag, I stripped on the red lines, then with a tooth pick outlined a blue area and filled it in. With my dotting tool, I dotted on some white dots to represent the stars.

The fireworks were completely done with a striper brush which I dipped in each individual polish. I first swiped some white polish in a waterfall looking way as an outline. Once that was dried, I striped on some red polish in the same way. To make them shimmery like a firework, I added some Celeb City - my go to silver polish. I have a lil complaint about the fireworks. I believe I dragged the striper too far down, making the lines too thick. I wanted them to be more pointed at the ends, which I was able to accomplish with the red, and definitely the silver. The white lines I think are what bugged me the most. If the silver wasn't on there, I would not have been happy with them at all!

I'm going to try fireworks again, most likely for New Years, so stay tuned for that. I'll probably practice them a lot beforehand as well. They're kinda fun! Maybe a blac....no I'm not going to spill my idea now....you will all just have to wait...

I hope you all have a blessed, safe, and Happy 4th of July!!!!