How To: Manicures from Work to WOW!

Posted in Indie Polish, Mainstream Polish, Manicures, Nail Art, Nail Swatches, pictures, Press Sample, Tutorials by Jessica W.

It’s Friday, hallelujah! Time to shed the work-week craziness and have some fun! So of course, I have a few manicures today to take you from work to WOW. Click through after the image to see all the beautiful manicures I have for you today!

When I was thinking about work appropriate manicures, I was really focused on neutral bases: soft pinks, greys, browns; polish colors that don’t stand out and offend. I also wanted to think of manicure additions that could be done easily before a night out.

For the first manicure, I started with OPI Man Repeller (prize). You could also use Wet n Wild’s 2% Milk, or OPI Don’t Burst My Bubble (which I showed you earlier this week on my Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness manicure). This is 3 coats, with no top coat. I then used 1 coat + dabbing of OPI Snowflakes in the Air. I really wanted a super glittery polish to really catch people’s attention.

For the next manicure, I started off with 2 coats of Verity Lite Grey (press sample). I then used the drip & spread method and Verity Soft Green (press sample) and Periwinkle (press sample). (Video tutorial of the drip & spread method can be found here.) If you’ll be doing this manicure after work, then I suggest doing another coat of your base color so it will be wet enough for the other polishes to spread. The only downside of this method is that it will take forever to dry – but it looks SO cool!

I, of course, couldn’t do this post without including an indie polish, and I decided to use ALIQUID Lacquer Make a Wish (prize). This is a beautiful grey polish with a green shimmer and red flakes (2 coats). I then used the ruffian method and ALIQUID Hidden City (green), and Quiet Night In (purple).

One of my favorite neutral polishes is Orly Dare to Bare (shown in 2 coats). I’ve used Orly Glowstick and Passionfruit in a water-spotted manicure. I love how the colors overlap and create a third color!

For my last manicure, I started off with a base of Sephora by OPI Caught with My Khakis Down. Using the saran wrap method, I dabbed on High Maintenance (red), and Havana Dreams (blue). The blue almost looks like smoke!

What are some of my other favorite neutral polishes? I really like (in no particular order): OPI My Vampire is Buff, OPI Don’t Burst My Bubble, Barielle Vintage Gown, L’Oreal Jennifer’s Nude, Zoya Godiva, Sinful Colors Easy Going, Sinful Colors Tread Gingerly, Mentality Wangari, Orly Nite Owl, Verity Cappuccino, and Pahlish Bad Wolf.

Later on this afternoon, I’m going to be sharing with you the top favorite work-appropriate polishes from Beauty Blog Coalition members (yay two posts in one day!), so keep an eye out for that. 🙂 I’d love to know what you think of these manicures – which one is your favorite? Do you have to abide by certain rules at your work for colors of your manicures?