My 4th of July Manicure: Orly Royal Navy and a Patchwork Accent

Happy Independence Day to all the American readers out there!  And a belated Happy Canada Day to the Canadian ladies!  ;-)  I wanted to do something festive to celebrate, so here's what I came up with!  

I started with Orly Royal Navy - a royal blue jelly with aqua blue shimmer.  It's a smidge deeper in color than my photos show, but every bit as vibrant.  It just screams summer!  The formula is amazing, and I used two coats.  It's a jelly, so there's a little VNL (visible nail line), but I promise it's not nearly as noticeable in real life as it is in these photos. The only weird thing about this one is that the shimmer settles to the bottom of the bottle, and it's really hard to shake it back to life.  I usually shake the heck out of it, and then let it sit upside down in a cup while I'm filing, pushing back cuticles, etc.  Then by the time I'm ready for color, it just needs one more shake, and it's good to go!  :-)

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I really love Royal Navy, and I think it's a great jelly for anyone who's new to jellies and looking to get their feet wet.  Makes a great pedi, too!  You can pick it up for about $7 at Sally's or Ulta.

I was going to just leave my mani at Royal Navy, but I just had an itch to kick it up a bit for the holiday. My original idea was to do red and white dots across the tips of my ring fingers.  I don't have a dotting tool, so I tried using a toothpick.  NEGATIVE.  Bad idea.  I ended up getting polish everywhere and having to redo both ring fingers.  Argh!!

Next idea - a patchwork manicure!  You can find a way better tutorial on patchwork manicures than I could ever show you here from Erika at Chloe's Nails.  She pretty much pioneered the patchwork manicure, and her work is incredible!  The basic idea is to use Scotch tape to block off areas of your nail, then add other colors on top.  I think there's a bit of a learning curve when using tape for your manicures, but overall, it's a pretty simple process.  I used Milani White and China Glaze Ruby Pumps over my original Royal Navy manicure, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

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WOO-HOO!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!  May the fireworks be abundant and beautiful!!  :-D