Big Summer Send-Off Nail Art!

It's been between 65 and 75 degrees for two weeks (except for last Sunday, which was 86) here in Maryland, so now that it's technically fall, it actually feels like it, too!  But I wanted to hang on to neon nails and tank tops for at least a few more days!

I also wanted to show you Nails Inc, London's Knightbridge, since I mentioned in my previous post that I can't seem to find it online.  All I can find online is Knightsbridge Road, which is a gold-based glitter from the Galaxy collection with some pink and blue glitters.  The Knightsbridge that I found at ULTA is from the Special Effects collection and is pretty much a shattered disco ball - silver glitters with a rainbow reflection effect.  I suppose this was a limited edition polish and that's why I can't find it online - but I can't even find other bloggers swatching it because all that turns up is Knightsbridge Road!

So in order to do both of these things, I decided to do some braided nails to match one of my favorite summer shirts, and paint Knightsbridge over solid colors as well.

I meant to take pictures of my nails before adding Knightsbridge, so you could see the color underneath better, but oh well.  Isn't that glitter incredible?  It has a lot of really cool irregular-shaped glitters, as well as normal hex and micro glitters.  The irregular shaped ones especially add to the shattered disco ball look!  I really, REALLY like this glitter.

 

Application is a little tricky, even for a glitter top coat.  If you spread the brush over your nail as you normally would, the glitters will stay with the brush and swipe across the nail, leaving a hole where you started.  To correct this, I used two coats and sort of dabbed the glitters on, rather than spread them on.

 

Just... just LOOK at the way the glitter in the bottle reflected the sunlight onto my hand at the right!  I love it!

 

I was going to use this photo as a macro shot on my middle finger, but with my pinky out of focus, I really liked how you can see the rainbow effect in the sunlight.

 

Last photo focusing on the glitter, and then I'll talk about the braided pattern!  Here's a macro shot, on top of OPI "It's All Greek To Me."  I absolutely love the combination of different sizes and shapes of glitter here!

 

Now, let's focus on the way I matched my nails to my shirt!  From left to right, the colors that I used are: China Glaze "White on White" as a base; ORLY "Ablaze"; China Glaze "Sunset Sail"; ORLY "Saturated"; Zoya "Robyn"; Zoya "Mitzi"; and OPI "It's All Greek To Me."

 

Shazam!  For the braids, I used the technique in this YouTube video by Meliney, starting at 0:45.  I decided to only do the braids on two nails per hand because this design takes a long time, and of course because I wanted to have enough nails to show off Knightsbridge on!  I love this shirt and I love having so many colors on my nails at once!  The shirt also has some black in it, but I decided not to use any in my nails because it's a little too dark to use in the braids.  Though the purple in this photo does look almost black, while the matching color in the shirt looks a lot bluer than it is in person.

What's your favorite summer manicure design?  Are you excited for fall and the matching manis that are to come?  Let me know in the comments!