Sparkling Hearts

Salon Express plate #21, Zoya Lara, and a silver
Sally Hansen Color Quick nail polish pen.

Whee, I'm back with actual nail art! So exciting, even though this is not exactly a groundbreaking design. Still, it's fun and maybe I'm back in the saddle again?

This look started out simply enough. I was sick of looking at my bare nails, so I reached for my Sally Hansen Color Quick polish pen. Unfortunately, I have no idea what this color is called because this is the pen I keep in my purse for emergency manicures. You never know when you're going to need to paint someone's nails!

As a result, this pen looks like it's had a very interesting life! At first I wasn't very fond of these pens, but then I figured out how to use them. It's important to press the button enough times to have a drop of polish visible at the top of the brush. It will ease its way down the brush fibers to apply beautifully. If you don't have that much polish, you'll struggle to get the polish to apply even though the brush looks like it has enough color. Once I figured that out, I was really happy with these pens.

I've had this pen in my purse now for over a year, so I guess that's a good example of how sturdy they are. It's never leaked, either, and the cap stays on wonderfully. I definitely need a few more of these!

So, back to today's nails. Once my nails were painted silver, I realized I wanted a bit more something on them. I decided to go with Zoya's Lara, from the Summer 2012 Beach collection. It's a gorgeous pink creme that applies like a gorgeously. As you can see, it stamps nicely too!

I wasn't sure what sort of design I wanted to use, so I decided to go with the clustered hearts on SE21 from the Salon Express stamping kit. I've had trouble with the larger stamps, so I thought it would be good practice as well as being cute.

Also, instead of stamping the whole image in the center of the nails, I decided to place them more near the tips of my nails. This actually worked pretty nicely, and although I liked the final look, I felt like there was something missing. (I bet you can guess what it was, too, if you've been reading me for very long!)

That's right... I decided to add some glitter! I couldn't find a glitter polish that worked well with Lara's pink tones, so I pulled out my loose glitters. I ended up using a pot of glitter that Melissa from the Daily Nail sent me last halloween. It's a fun hot pink that seems unsure if it's a deep hot pink or an electric purple. Whatever it is, though, I absolutely LOVE it!

To use it, I put a few drops of clear polish onto a palette (the back of my stamping plate in this case), then put a bit of glitter on top. A quick mix and I had custom glitter polish to dab on top of a few hearts! This added just the kick I felt they needed, and I was finally happy with this look!

So what do you think? Does the glitter take it over the top? Is it something you'd wear? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this one.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.