Technique: Matte + Sparkle Tips

I've been MIA for a while on this blog. I had a rough couple of weeks and then was out of the country so no posts for about a month....
But now I'm back :)
I am just obsessed with greens lately. Chartreuse, avocado, pistachio, and most of all MINT. I found this glitter that I just had to have and when I took it home I realized it would look gorgeous with a mint polish.
I was bored of the plain old sparkle tips so I added some Matte in the mix. Tip: do NOT put the Matte top coat over a glitter polish. It looks icky... trust me. 

So the order goes... 2 coats of color polish (I used Mint Candy Apply by Essie). 1 coat of matte top coat (I used Matte About You by Essie)... This isn't a great pic but you get the idea.

Then sparkle tips. This really only works with highly concentrated glitter polish. This one is Ray-Diant by China Glaze. The key to the sparkle tips is to do very thin strokes of the glitter. then when you have the tip done dab a few straggler glitter pieces more towards the bottom of the nail. 

If your like me and hate the feel of these kinds of glitter polish you can cover the glitter part with a clear top coat. Just be careful not to cover the matte portion!

Viola! a great contrast of Matte and Sparkle :)

Technique: Snowy Sparkle Tips

Snowy Sparkle Tips

In honor of the first snow fall of winter, I am making my first post my snow flake inspired sparkle nails. I used Sally Hansen Gem Crush. This is a new line by Sally Hansen that I absolutely loveeee because it has two different colors and sizes of glitter in it. It's great for pairing with alike colors or mixing with other glitter polishes. The color I used here is 01 Showgirl Chic, on top of a french tip white. 

Technique: I started with two coats of the white polish and made sure to let that dry well, so it doesn't blend with the glitter nail polish. Then I put a good amount of the Gem Crush polish on the tip of the nail. With the tip of the polish brush I dragged some of the Gem Crush down from the tip to make it look like the glitter was fading into the white part of the nail. Lastly I finsihed with a good clear top coat. I noticed that sparkle polish chips a lot easier than regular polish so definitely dont forget the top coat!