4th of July Nail Art

(Purchased By Me, Gift, Giveaway Prize)

Happy Fourth of July! If you guys are celebrating, then I hope you have a fun and safe holiday. To those who aren't, may you have a wonderful weekend as well.

I usually forget to do holiday manis, but this time I did 2 just for fun. The first one is a holo 4th of July mani with studs and some glitter placement, the second one is an incredibly sparkly striping tape mani with silver glitter stars. I've listed all the polishes I used at the end of the post like I usually do.

For the first mani, I chose a blue holo (Aria) for my index finger. On my middle and pinky I did a white base (Snow Me White), and on my ring finger I put on a silver base (Liquid Metal). I put on some top coat on my middle and pinky so I could lay down the striping tape, and then added the according polish on top. For the pinky, I did 2 "V" shapes with the striping tape, and filled in the top and bottom with red and blue. It was supposed to be white in the middle, but the red smeared, so I decided to add the glitter. I also added a silver holo glitter (Spice It Up) over the silver base on my ring finger to add some sparkle. The studs I added were originally neon colored, but I used the silver polish to paint the star stud, and the light blue holo to paint the circle stud.

Holding LACC Beauty "2013 Top Coat":

Close-Ups of Index/Ring Finger:

For my second mani, I decided I'd do something more flashy and sparkly. Who needs fireworks when you've got glitter, right? Oh, and not just any glitter but holo glitter. Hehe. Well, I used a blue jelly polish (Kinda Jazzy) on my index finger, and a red jelly polish (Angry Angel) on my middle and pinky. On my ring finger, I put down some striping tape and painted on the blue. Then I just added the red underneath very carefully, trying not to get it on the blue. When that all dried I added some top coat on all the nails on which I'd be using striping tape, and then proceeded to place it when dry. When I had all the striping tape placed on my nails, I sponged on the silver holo glitter (Spice It Up) on top. To finish off I placed the silver stars on the blue parts of my nails to complete the flag look, and I added top coat. I love how this mani turned out. It's so sparkly, and I like the texture it has.

Holding Stardust Polish "Angry Angel":

Close-Ups:

Well I hope you liked these 2 different 4th of July designs. If you have any questions, please leave them below. Also if you recreate these, make sure to tag me on Instagram, and use the hashtag #annypolishandpaint so I can see it. Thank you for stopping by, and may you all have a great weekend. Until next time guys.
-Ana

Polishes Used:
First Mani:
Blue Holo: Daily Hues Nail Lacquer "Aria"
Red Holo: Daily Hues Nail Lacquer "Carol"
White: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"
Silver: Elf Nail Polish "Liquid Metal"
Silver Glitter: Bonita Colors "Spice It Up"
Top Coat: LACC Beauty "2013 Top Coat"

Second Mani:
Blue: Stardust Polish "Kinda Jazzy" 
Red: Stardust Polish "Angry Angel"
Silver Glitter: Bonita Colors "Spice It Up"
Top Coat: LACC Beauty "2013 Top Coat"

Born Pretty Store Thermal Polish

(Press Sample: These items were sent to me for review)

Happy Monday guys, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today I have a review for you. I recently received 2 color changing polishes, or thermals (as most of us know them) from the Born Pretty Store. Please know that even though I received these items at no charge, the opinions and thoughts are my own.

First up is 103: a polish that is sky blue when warm, and a dark lavender when cold. It was streaky on the first and second coat, but pretty much leveled out on the third. The polish was a bit tough to work with at times, I'm not sure if the problem was the formula or the brush. It would go on okay on the first stroke down the nail, but as I applied the polish down the sides, it would go streaky. I did mention this to them, and I was told that I probably had trouble with it because of the temperature, since it's been a bit hot. But other than that, the color change did work like it was supposed to. The pictures show 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat.

Warm:

Cold:

Transition:

Next is 110: an icy blue polish with silver shimmer when warm, and a steel blue with silver shimmer when cold. It was sheer on the first coat, but covered nicely on the second. 2 coats would've been fine, but I did 3 to make sure it'd be opaque. The formula was good on this polish, and the color change was subtle, but it worked well. I was initially informed that the color change on this polish would most likely not work, but I decided to test it out anyways. I'm happy I gave it a shot because it ended up working, and to top it off, it's a gorgeous shade. The pictures show 3 coats plus top coat.

Warm:

Cold:

Transition:

I also did some nail art with the polishes, which I'm excited for you to see.

For the first nail art design, I used 103 as a base. I put on some striping tape to create a design on each nail, and used 110 over it. On the nail where I did the "x" design, I added a silver square stud. (The stud was part of some giveaway goodies I won.) I just love how it looks. You can see a bit of transition in the first picture.

Transition:

Cold:

For the second nail art design, I used 110 as my base color. I decided to do a mermaid design because I thought it'd be cool with the color change effect. So, I took some black acrylic paint and a brush, and painted on the scales. Afterwards, I took some loose glitter (I purchased from the Dollar Tree), and randomly filled in some of the scales. It turned out pretty cool, I just wish the scales looked better. Again, the first picture shows a bit of the polish transition.

Transition:

Cold:

So what do you guys think of these? I was very pleased with the fact that the color change worked so well on both polishes. I did struggle a bit with 103 being streaky, but it ended up looking ok in the end. I really liked 110, the formula was good and it was so pretty.

If you're thinking of trying out any of the Born Pretty Store color changing polishes, I'd totally recommend 110. The item ID for the thermal polish is #18931, and you can use my code ANNYW10 to get 10% off your purchase.

Thank you very much for stopping by, I hope you guys enjoyed this review. Until next time.

-Ana

Top Coat: LACC Beauty "2013" Top Coat