Geometric art, tape manicure style!

Have you ever looked at a collection and had seasonal fever kick in? But then be torn? UGH! I'm so there right now. I'm a little over the summer heat, but I'm super loving going swimming with the kids every week. I love running around in flip flops (when I'm not at work), and the summer fruits and drinks, and camping. But fall.....oh fall.

Basically I'm trapped in between, and I'm pretty sure that's where this nail art came from. I got the August Julep box and the two colors that I fell instantly in love with are Julep Lizzy and Julep Ann. But I had stumbled across Julep Tatiana (an add-on I got months ago, but never played with) and BAM! The longing for fall...

Summer and fall got a little tangled up. But that's ok! I LOVE it so much! It's actually pretty simple to do too. You just need some nail vinyls (I got these in the Julep box this month, but about a million sellers on Etsy sell them too) and some scotch tape.

When you lay down your first color make sure it dries completely. I still stick the tape to my skin and pull it back off to keep the tape from pulling up the base color.

It's just a matter of taping from one edge of the nail to the other, paint, and pull the tape back up immediately. Wait to dry and repeat with the remaining color.

Ann is such an incredibly bright and summery pink and works so nicely against the coppery shimmer of Tatiana. Lizzy is a great base color and the vinyls just polish it all off.

Do you ever find yourself caught between seasonal fashion choices? I think it's just a great time to mix it up a bit. Thanks for reading! I still have that new monthly subscription coming so check back later!

Hubby's Picks: I'm still here! (HP24)

It's been a loooooooong week where, no matter how hard I tried, I just could not catch up. Up till one or two AM most evenings pushing myself to finish things and just falling short. So no preview of what Hubby picked BUT I did do a manicure! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

In order from nail tip to base and then up in layers is Sally Hansen HD Resolution, NYC Empire State Blue, Color Club Candy Cane, and Butter London The Black Knight.

Intentionally blurry so you can see that glitter. It was like BAM! GLITTER! The glowey base with the blingy glitter made for such a wonderfully eye-catching manicure.

So I think I'm going to try doing something a little different. I'll take you through the steps I took to achieve this look just in case you should want to try something like this on your own.

Step one: I created a gradient with Sally Hansen Resolution and NYC Empire State Blue. I used the makeup sponge method making sure to cut the sponge just slightly larger then my biggest nail. This is key for building up a solid look with sheer polishes. I sponged each nail making sure to sponger back and forth slightly to blend the meeting place in the center, let it dry, and then repeated. This is a solid 5 coats! These were very sheer and very thin polishes, but this shows it's doable.

Step two: After the base was COMPLETELY dry I taped a "v" shape up on the tip using painters tape. I've switch to painters tape because I feel I get cleaner lines and have less accidental pull up of the layer underneath the tape. I then applied Color Club Candy Cane and immediately removed the tape. This is essential for a clean line so you need a denser polish for this step to ensure full coverage.

Step three: The problem I ran into with the smaller "v" shape on top was that it's difficult to get perfect, tiny strips of tape so I can get the edges the same size. So I used striping tape and laid it down in the same fashion leaving a margin to ensure I got a thicker line of the Color Club to peek out from beneath. This was tricky as there was far less room for mess and error but with a nicer brush like on the Button London it's totally doable!

Step four: Wait until it's semi-dry to dry and top off with your favorite topcoat (Seche Vite in the case of mine) Enjoy your mixed media and very sparkly manicure! This would work sooo gorgeously with fashion chic colors like burgundy, mustard, navy, and pea green. Or in neutrals. Or neons. The possibilities are endless! Have fun :)

If you recreate this look either drop me a line or a post specific link in the comments - I'd love to do a weekly feature of inspired by Hubby's Picks!