The Reader-Submitted Independence Day Manicure Round-Up!

After two weeks of taking your submissions, I'm delighted to finally share this Independence Day Manicure Round-Up with you!

I hope that these reader-submitted photos will give you inspiration if you plan to paint your nails for the upcoming holiday. It was so much fun going through all the photos and putting together this post! I love sharing designs that can be accomplished at every skill level, and you did NOT disappoint! We've got stars, we've got stripes, we've got fireworks and some other beautiful things to share with you today.

One quick thing:

If you don't see your photo here, there's a chance that when you sent me your email, one or more of the rules for submission were not followed. I apologize, but due to the volume of submissions received, I don't have enough hours in the day to respond to each email to say, "Hey, you forgot to tell me how you want to be credited" or "What shades did you use? You didn't list them." Like I mentioned in my submission post, if you didn't follow all of the rules, your photo was disqualified. Sorry!

Without further ado, let's begin the show! 

I think it's fun to get a guy's perspective and start the round-ups with "Mr. G's Pick" (sort of a tradition with these posts). So congrats, Kate! Your fireworks design was my boyfriend's favorite:

Kate from polish cart used the following to create her mani:

NYC Skin Tight Denim Creme

Revlon Buttercup

Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

A mix of Wet 'n Wild Wild French White Creme and Red Red to create the pink shade

A very small dotting tool to make the fireworks

Last call for Independence Day manicure submissions!

The deadline to submit your Independence-Day-inspired manicures for my holiday round-up is TOMORROW, Friday June 22nd at 11:59PM Pacific. So you've still got almost two full days to come with a simple, or intricate, design!

For all of the rules and details about submissions, click here.

And remember: ALL skill levels are encouraged to participate. I love showcasing simple designs as well as knock-your-socks off designs, so don't be intimidated. This round-up is about inspiring ALL of us, regardless of skill level. So let's see what you've got!

Independence Day Manicure Round-Up: it's submission time!

image source: unknown

It's that time, dear readers! The Independence Day Manicure Round-Up will be posted on Monday, June 25th, and I'm taking submissions NOW through Friday, June 22nd! 

PLEASE NOTE: this is not a US-specific round-up! If your country celebrates its own Independence Day, feel free to submit a manicure inspired by your country's holiday!

I'll select 40 pics to publish based on creativity, artistic ability, and also level of difficulty (or ease). I not only want to include intricate, detailed designs, but also manicures that are simple to achieve using just one or two colors, so that ALL of us can be inspired, no matter our level of expertise. NOVICES, EXPERTS AND EVERYONE IN-BETWEEN ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT A PHOTO!

As with the St. Patty's Day Manicure and Easter Manicure Round-Ups, please follow these rules (if you don't, your submission will not be counted):

1) Email me (my email address is available under the About/Contact tab in the upper menu bar of this blog) and attach ONE photo of your manicure to your email. Please limit your submissions to ONE MANICURE AND ONE PHOTO PER PERSON. If you submit more than one photo in your email, you will be disqualified.

2) In your email, please list ALL of the polishes (brands and shade names) you used to create your manicure.

3) By emailing me your photo, you are consenting to your photo being published on this blog for public viewing.

4) IMPORTANT: in your email, be sure to let me know how you would like to be credited in my blog post. If you do not tell me what name to use, your photo will be NOT be eligible.

DEADLINE FOR PHOTO SUBMISSION IS FRIDAY, JUNE 22ND AT 11:59PM PACIFIC.

Easter Manicure Round-Up! (pic heavy)

It's that time, my lovelies! About two weeks ago I put out the call for your Easter manicure pics and in those two weeks I received about 100 submissions for the Easter Manicure Round-Up. I'm so excited to share with you the 40 photos I selected!

From polka dots (lots and lots of polka dots!) to sponged-on gradients to nail art to water marbling to nail polish strips and everything in between, your Easter manicure submissions were chock full of creativity and CUTENESS and it was so incredibly difficult to narrow it down to 40 selections. I wish I could have included every single photo I received, but as with the St. Patrick's Day round-up, I based my criteria on a variety of things including creativity, artistic ability and also level of skill. It's important to me to not only include the manicures that bring out "oohs" and "aaahs" from the crowd, but also those that are beautiful in a  "Hey, I can do that!" sort of way. I really want this post to inspire you,  no matter what your skill level.

If you celebrate Easter and you don't already have a manicure planned out for the special day, I guarantee you'll have an idea (or several) by the time you get to the end of this post! So here we go:

Submitted by

 Jamie from The Posh Polish:

FINAL REMINDER: last call for Easter manicure pics!

The deadline for submitted your Easter manicure pics for my Easter Manicure Round-Up is THIS THURSDAY, March 29th at 11:59PM Pacific. 

Click here for all the details about how to submit your pic for possible inclusion in my round-up post.

I cannot wait to show you the pics I've received so far--they are all absolutely adorable and I hope even more of you submit pics before the deadline!

St. Patrick's Day Manicure Round-Up (pic heavy)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my lovelies! Last week I asked for reader photos of your St. Patrick's Day manicures and boy, you did NOT disappoint! In fact, the response was so overwhelming (200+ submissions!) that I'm unable to feature every photo I received in this post. After many hours of going over your submissions, I narrowed it down to 42 photos (please trust me when I say that this was more difficult to do than you can possibly imagine), but please know that I truly loved each and every photo sent to me, and I wish I could have featured them all.

I used a lot of different criteria for narrowing down this list. Of course artistic skill and creativity were important, but I also selected some designs that were executed in a way that is not only beautiful, but accessible for those of us who are not "hardcore nail people". I wanted this post to be full of "oohs" and "aahs" but also I wanted it to be about inspiration, so I deliberately chose some photos of manicures that might make you say, "Hey, I can do that!" and send the message that anyone can have pretty nails, even without the skill that comes with years and years of practice.

There's a little bit of everything here, from simple layering to intricate nail art to water marbling to stamping to frakening and everything in between, so I hope there's something here to inspire newbies, polish addicts, seasoned nail artists and anyone else who loves nail polish!

PLEASE NOTE: these photos are not in any sort of order. I love each and every one of these manicures and I would never try to "rank" anyone's skill or creativity!

That said, let's start with Mr. G's personal favorite (he didn't help me narrow down the list, but he did watch me look at all the photos and offered his "two cents" about the ones he loved). This first photo is the one that actually made him say, "WOW, that is AMAZING" so congrats, Sarah at Chalkboard Nails! My boyfriend's in love with your nails!

 Sarah at Chalkboard Nails blog submitted this free-hand white clover mani:

Sarah of Chalkboard Nails used:

Orly Fresh

Konad Special Polish White (but this design is not stamped)