Nail Art! And they both involve glitter!

I am just all too excited about all the fun nail art that's been happening these days. I've always been a nail devotee - when I was young, adorable and Tommy Hilfiger obsessed clad, I would paint tiny TH flags on my nails. Or, back when I was a bull pup at North Bend Junior High, I painted my nails gold with blue paws on them! Sounds cute, right?

Sigh. No amount of conservative legal education and surroundings could beat that obsession out of me. As you likely know from my last post, I'm always looking for new ways to infuse a little fun, color, and general girliness into my life. The two-tone trend was easy to do and copy (I hope!). These are just *slightly* more difficult, but the effect is awesome! 

Look 1: Sparkly Ombre Nails 

I love my ombre hair. I can scarcely imagine having hair that is the same color from roots to tip! With that in mind, I created these ombre nails.

It's fun without being too crazy (the nails, not me)

You like? If so, here's how! (sorry I didn't take a picture of what I used, but the colors are very basic). I covered the whole nail in a super pale, glossy pink. Then, I painted a darker pink stripe horizontally in the middle of the nail, like so.

It's very easy to do

After both layers are mostly dry, I painted the top half of the stripe and the uncovered top of my nail (sort of like a French manicure, but with a lot less precision) with pink glitter, like so:

See how it seems to fade from pale pink to darker sparkly pink?

Pretty cute, huh? 

Look 2: The Blackberry Manicure

Have you guys heard of this? It's where you paint your thumbs a different color or give them a little extra pizzazz. It's called "The Blackberry Manicure" because people who have blackberries are constantly using their thumbs to text! And if you're going to spend all that time staring down at the shortest, fattest finger, doesn't common sense just demand that they deserve a little extra special attention and bling? Of course! So, check it out!

Sparkles Galore! Please don't examine my cuticles!!

What I used, from left to right:
OPI Austin-Tatious Turquoise
OPI Shimmer & Simmer
LA Colors Art Deco Black
LA Colors Art Deco Silver Glitter
Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat

Apparently these nails make me feel fierce and dorkylicious.

The How-To: Obviously fingers 2-5 are quite easy. I painted them with one thin coat of Austin-Tatious Turquoise and then two layers (for extra sparkles!) of Shimmer & Simmer. For the thumb, I painted two layers of Austin-Tatious. After it dries, I used the LA Colors (with the super skinny brush - makes it much, much easier) and painted two diagonal black lines. I carefully filled in the space with the LA Colors Glitter. Bam! If you don't like the blue/stripes/glitter combo, you can easily have a "Blackberry Manicure" by (1) painting your thumbs a different color (2) painting your thumbs with glitter and leaving the rest "normal" (3) drawing a design (4) putting a little jewel on your thumb nail. 

Readers: What do you think? Do you like either of these looks? Too silly/juvenile for you? Or just really fun?!