HPB Presents: Beach Blog Link Up

So I had originally planned this as just a Stamping Saturday post but then realized it fits perfectly with a Facebook group link up, so thought I'd throw it together for that as well! So hi Hobby Polish Blogger friends!!!



I'm also throwing this up online before Saturday because I'll be in a cabin in the woods with mobile only internet access over the weekend, so I wanted to make sure to share with everyone while I was still in front of a computer.



I started this look out with two thin coats of OPI Thanks A Windmillion and then used a-England St. George to stamp the images on top. I just love a-Englands for stamping, they are too perfect.

For the middle three fingers I used my Mo You London Sailor 03 and 04 plates and for my thumb I and pinky I used Bundle Monster Sun Kissed Collection plates.



This image, from my Sailor 04 plate was the first image I picked and it is one of my favorites, it just screams beach to me!



So what do you think? I just love the combination of creme and holo and I often stamp over holo and I like switching it up because I forget I have some holo polishes that stamp very well too!

As usual during any link up, make sure you visit some of the other great bloggers in HPB Link Up, listed below!
   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Beach shore nail art

Today I am showing you one such a fun nail art I did when people so many people all around the internet started to do their ocean themed manicures I became inspired!



I started with a base of KBShimmer's In Bare Form – my ultimate most favorite nude polish, which I reviewed here.



I wanted to keep the holo going and I had the perfect polish for my waves crashing upon the shore. From Colors by Llarowe Summer Collection a beautiful blue called Surf my Wave, appropriate right? To make the waves appear as they did, I used a small portion of a kitchen sponge! It worked perfectly for creating the waves, as they have holes and it provided the perfect texture!



I topped the whole thing off a few sparkles from Deborah Lippmann's Va Va Voom and a crab stamp to indicate it is a shore!



How did you like it? Are you doing some beach themed nails for the summer? I love ocean themes on nails, I just love water all around! In fact right now I have blue holo skittles on my nails with wave-esque stamps – 'tis the season I suppose!

P.S. My MoYou London Stamping Plate Giveaway is still going on, check out this post to enter the Rafflecopter and good luck!

Sea star nail art

Recently I spent a weekend away visiting my family in Irvine, California, where I grew up. I knew I needed to do some fun nails that show my skills a bit, but also blingy and ocean like because I associate beautiful beaches with Southern California.

So here is the fun nail art I came up with!



After seeing numerous beach themed nail art, some of my own included, I saw somewhere someone who hand painted sea stars on their nails, and I thought "that doesn't look so hard, I could do that!" And so I did!



To create this look, I painted two thin coats of Color Club Over the Moon (which really, could be a one coater, so amazing!) and used a dotting tool to drag Zoya Heidi polish into the shape of a star. Then I used a finer dotting tool to make the white dots, to give the sea stars their typical appearance.



I absolutely loved this manicure, because the blue holo polish was the perfect aquatic color. As you can tell it practically matched the pool where I spent a few hours over that weekend! I was really impressed with out well Color Club Over the Moon held up. It was a dream to work with, and the sea stars were not that difficult to recreate either.

So have you tried to do a beach like manicure yet? What beach like nail art is your favorite?

Colors by Llarowe In Another Dimension with some beach-y nail stamping

One of my favorite nail colors is definitely teal. It's pretty obvious as my blog and Instagram feed show, I wear it A LOT. Anyway here is a beautiful teal holo I recently purchased on a whim, and boy I am super glad I did!



I eventually added some stamps, so here is a quick preview of that!



Anyway, some of the clean up isn't quite finished on these polishes, but I had to run out and see it in the sunshine and I just couldn't wait!



I feel this is a teal that leans blue, in the shade (below), you can see which way it wants to lean better.





To add a little flair and because I love any ocean themed nails, I added some wave stamps (from MoYou Sailor Plate 04) and some fun beachy stamps include a whale (Winstonia 108 plate) and a crab and palm tree (Winstonia 106 plate).



Application: Unfortunately the formula on In Another Dimension was not great. It was so thick upon opening I had to add thinner to it before even trying to properly apply. I've truly never had to do that with a polish before. Adding thinner did help a bit, but the polish is still quite a bit on the thick side. The polish did wear well (wore on another weekend out of town) and was topped with HK Girl Top Coat.

Where to Purchase: Colors by Llarowe In Another Dimension was part of their Spring release and they have already retired it. But fear not, Leah Ann has 31 new shades releasing for preorder very soon! I purchased this polish for $12. Colors by Llarowe are available on the Llarowe website, along with many great indie nail polish brands.