Polish Cutout Decal Mani, Version 2

Today, I have another polish cutout decal mani using the leftover materials from my last post. This time I used 'Green Apple' as my base polish and added cutouts I made with pinking shears, and a hole punch from dried sheets of 'Inchworm' and 'Berry Blue'. I really like how this mani came out. I love the geometric shapes, and the fun colours.

Polish Cutout Decal Mani

Today I have a quick nail art manicure to share. Recently when organizing my stationery, I found a bunch of materials I bought to make nail polish decals: decorative shears (pinking, scalloping, etc) and novelty shaped hole punches (stars, hearts, butterflies, dragonflies etc...). I decided to do a quick manicure to play with all of the materials!

For this manicure, I used the scalloping shears to make the layered waves on my middle finger, and I used the star shaped hole punch to make the star decals on my ring finger. Below, I've included a picture of the materials that I used.

For the decals, I decided to go with some quick drying, opaque and super-pigmented polishes, so my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes fit the bill for the job. I spread out a layer of each of the 3 polishes I chose on my born pretty nail art mat, and added a second coat after those had dried. Then I went to work creating some fun shapes to add to my nails. I always over-estimate how much polish I will need for the decals, so I had a bunch of polish sheets left over. I plan to do another decal mani or two to use up a bit more of the sheets. Stay tuned for more decal fun!

Swatch: KB Shimmer 'Laugh Myself Lily'

Today I have a swatch of KB Shimmer 'Laugh Myself Lily'. I believe that this polish was originally released as part of their Spring 2014 collection. It is a light blue crelly glitter polish with pink, blue, white, and holographic circle and hexagonal glitters of various sizes, as well as a fine holographic dust.

This summer I have been wearing mostly bright, warm colours, so it was a nice change for me to have a predominantly cool-toned manicure. This polish makes me think of water lilies floating on the surface of a reflective pond... It truly is quite beautiful! 

Swatch: KB Shimmer 'Precious Petals'

Today I have a swatch of KB Shimmer 'Precious Petals', over the polish featured in my last post, L'Oréal Paris Le Vernis à l'huile, colour number 663, 'Sable Tuileries'. You can link to that last post right here. 

'Precious Petals' was originally released as part of KB Shimmer's Summer 2015 collection. It is a glitter topper with matte hexagonal glitters of various sizes in lilac, pastel aqua, white, and hot pink, as well as a very fine holographic glitter.

I like how when paired with a neutral base, the glitter really stands out. I think this would also look nice topped over various shades of pink, purple, and blue/aqua.

L'Oréal Paris - Le Vernis à l'huile, 663 Sable Tuileries

Today I have a quick swatch to share of a gorgeous neutral polish by L'Oréal Paris, from their line of polishes entitled 'Le Vernis à l'huile'. The swatch is of colour number 663, 'Sable Tuileries'. After doing a bunch of skittles manicures, and a multi-coloured crelly glitter polish in my last few posts, my eyes were drawn to this toned-down neutral shade when I was looking through my collection. 

I actually had a few other fun mani ideas lined up to do, but I guess I needed a bit of a palate cleanser of some elegant, understated nails... This classic creamy taupe shade really hit the spot!

Swatch: KB Shimmer 'Full Bloom Ahead'

For today's post, I'm sharing a gorgeous glitter crelly polish from KB Shimmer, 'Full Bloom Ahead'. I believe it may have been originally released as part of their 2014 Spring collection. The polish has fuschia, navy, gold, teal, and orange hexagonal glitters in various sizes suspended in a white semi-translucent base. It is so fun, and playful - it reminds me of a jawbreaker!

China Glaze 'Cackle if you Want to'

'Cackle if You Want to' was released as part of China Glaze's Halloween 2015 'Ghoul's Night Out' collection. It is a glitter topper with matte purple and black glitters in a variety of sizes. The purple glitter particles are quite unique, in that they have a light purple and dark purple alternating 'pinstripe'. 

Even though this was part of a Halloween collection, it can work with a variety of nail looks, any time of year. For this manicure, I used 'Cackle...' over China Glaze's 'Ahoy', the polish that I wrote about in my last post, which you can see here. The combination creates a manicure that is edgy, fun, and artistic.

Even though I don't frequently wear glitter topper polishes, I'm really happy to have this one in my collection. The colourway is pretty versatile, since it is only one colour and a neutral, which allows it to be worn with a greater variety nail polish shades. Also, it is pretty unique (particulary for a mainstream polish). Overall, it's a really cool option for adding some visual interest to a simple manicure.