Nail Art Wednesday: Shooting Star Nails

I didn't set out to do today's particular bit of nail art on purpose. Sometimes, winging it produces results that careful planning just can't come up with. After all, just based on history, a whole bunch of the greatest scientific discoveries were made during the most inane moments. (Think Archimedes in his bath and Newton with his apple tree.) Now, that doesn't mean that I've come up with something monumental. To be quite honest, the idea for this design was something I had seen Lindsey from Neverland Nail Blog do earlier in April of this year. And she, in turn, got the idea from Asa Nisi Masa Nail Spot. I'm a sucker for ridiculously easy nail art and when I looked at the shimmery blue I already had on, a light bulb lit up somewhere.

"This would make a fantastic base for that shooting star design!", I thought. So here's my take on this cosmic mani:

To infinity...and beyond!

What I Used:
Blue base color: Maybelline Color Show Denim Dash
Shimmery yellow: China Glaze Lighthouse
Sparkly blue/aqua: Cult Nails Hypnotize Me
Star glitter: Love & Beauty Blue/Clear Unique (I swear, that's what the label says. You can also opt to use star rhinestones or loose glitter.)

How I Did It:

Super easy, right? The beauty of this is how you need practically little to no special tools to re-create the design. You can also play around with different color combinations so you're liable to have colors in your collection that'll work together. Again, no need to shell out $$$. Having star glitter handy is a major plus, too, but it's definitely nothing too hard to find. Forever21 carries the Love & Beauty line although store stock varies. Nabi and The Face Shop also carry star glitter nail polishes. If you're not averse to shopping online, Born Pretty Store has quite a bit of star glitter/rhinestone options for you to choose from. You'll probably want to use a thick top coat (like Nubar Diamont or Seche Vite) to smooth out the surface, especially if you have curved nails like mine as the pointy parts of the star can stick out some. That's a scratch waiting to happen, right there!

No tape required! (I did use some for my dominant hand, just to keep the lines nice and clean.)

Getting up close and personal with the shooting star.

The iridescence of the star glitter made for some tricky photography.

It's best under bright light where the stars stand out nicely in contrast to the base.

One last look!

So far so good with the post a day this week! I can't say I'm not relieved to see the shadow of the weekend, though. Have you ever done nail art on a whim because the color you had on was just perfect for a design you've been wanting to do? Do you prefer to copy the exact design of your nail art inspiration or do you like to put your own spin on things? How else have you used your star shaped glitter?