Summer Floral

Sorry for the long time between posts-I've been equal parts uninspired and gloomy lately, which has not made for creative nail art. Lots of glitter gradients and back-to-the-well stuff. However, some sunshine has started to lift my mood, and thanks to a gift of a bunch of untried Sally Hansen polishes (thanks Mom!) my nails are slowly looking like me again. To celebrate the start of summer, I used a new color scheme on a favorite pattern.

Florals and stripes are so much fun together, and super versatile. With this classic rosettes and wallpaper type design, I usually use a mint or pale jade green as the base with pink rosettes and copper and green stripes. This time I went with a glowy pink and chrome green as my base colors for a brighter, more summery take on the same technique. For my pink, I used Julep Laree, a "golden pink taffeta shimmer" from my May Maven box. The fine gold shimmer in this color gives it a coral glow, and coral is my "I need all of them" color this spring. Laree is out of stock right now, but it's one that's worth waiting for- so pretty! I used my other Maven color, Saaya, as the peachy stripe in the wallpaper nail. I've decided, at least for now, that I don't care much for Saaya on its own, but it accents beautifully.

I used Laree and Saaya, with a touch of Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl, for my rosette accent nail details. Rosettes are done to death, but I just love them. For my leaves, I used Sinful Colors Rise & Shine. As the base of the rosette accent nail, I used a color that was the surprise standout of my recent haul, Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear in Ivy League. This bright green chrome looks fantastic with my medium-dark skin tone, and is a great pair up with these gold shimmers I'm loving this summer. It takes a few coats, but applies surprisingly well for such a chromy polish. Since Julep polishes tend to run a little darker than the swatches online, I also strongly suspect that it's a pretty close dupe for Julep Tatum, a color I've been on the fence about getting. Speaking of Julep dupes...




During my uninspired swatching, I do believe I found one! One of my very favorite colors is Julep's bright raspberry creme, Nellie. In trying on a few colors, I happened to notice that one of my new-to-me colors, Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in Sugar Plum, was almost an exact match. They're so close that I'm wearing Sugar Plum on my big toe and Nellie on the others, and you can't tell the difference. But don't take my word for it...

Sugar Plum on the right, Nellie on the left, no topcoat

See? Twins! Nellie applies a little thicker, which means one coat vs. two of Sugar Plum for best coverage, and Nellie is ever so slightly deeper, but at a glance, they're virtually identical. I'm not sure if Sugar Plum is easy to find anymore, but Nellie is out of stock right now, so it makes me happy to basically have a spare!

What do you think? Does a new color scheme make florals fresh, or do you prefer a different floral pattern for summer versus your cold weather look?