Lately, I've been leaning towards simplistic manis. Solid colors or subtle gradients – nothing too nail art-intensive.

I just realized that I've never done the simplest tape mani before, so why not attempt it? So here's the half-nail horizontal colorblock, featuring two gorgeous Color Club colors. The original inspiration was an inverted purple version posted by karengnails on Instagram, a celebrity nail artist who frequently does sophisticated but miminalistic designs. 

Her post.

Me attempting to emulate her post. Color-corrected with a ridiculous amount of gamma correction.

It turned out pretty nicely, I think! Then again, you can't really go wrong with basic tier nail art techniques.

More pictures because I can.

Polishes used:

• Color Club [unlabeled] – semi-neon cerulean, dries matte, sheer
• Color Club Blue Heaven – baby blue linear holographic

Look at that holo pop.

In other news, I've just returned from the 2015 National Finals for Ocean Science Bowl! I had an absolute whale of a time, although it's a little surreal to think that I'll never seriously study marine science again. This is what I've been doing my entire high school tenure...and it's a little tough to seriously say goodbye. I am so proud to have captained my school's team for the past two years – my team is so incredibly talented, and 4th place out of over 1,500 teams! Say what??

I guess the formal whales part of Nails & Whales is coming to a close, but I'll never not love cetaceans. The URL will stay. Final shout out to my SquidSquad, and to our one sophomore Joshua: I look forward to seeing you keep slaying in OSB!

Thanks for reading :•)

Finally!

Believe me, these photos were a massive pain to handle. They're still far from reality, but this is the closest I'll ever get. (I know, I complain a lot. The color is worth the griping, though.)

FG Pony in natural light, indoors.

Floss Gloss Pony! My first ever Floss Gloss, after gazing at them for months on Instagram and Twitter. I was pretty surprised to learn that they're a local indie company – less than thirty minutes from where I live in the suburbs near San Francisco. Shipping consequently took only one day, and it was lovely.

Natural light, indoors.

The website describes Pony as a "neon peach pastel." Absolutely spot on! Though Pony is no longer on my fingers, it's on my toes, which are now very bright and easily visible from my towering height of 5'3". One of my friends dubbed Pony "summer in a bottle," which is just as accurate as FG's interpretation. These photos in no way do it justice – just trust me when I say it's truly neon. 

Floss Gloss Pony

Price: $8, standard retail

Size: 0.18 fl oz • 5.5 mL ($44.4/fl oz)

Color: Neon peach

Finish: Crème. Dried mostly shiny, but slightly muted. Not quite matte/satin like most other neons.

Application: Standard consistency, standard application.

Opacity: These pictures depict 4 coats with Essie All In One Base and no topcoat.

Brush/bottle: Moderately stiff bristles, with a clear wider side. Somewhat fans out during application with a little pressure. The bottle itself is absolutely adorable! Such a cute gilded cap with functional ridges and petite glass bottle. Awesome design.

+ : Super unique color. I haven't quite seen anything like it. I'm relatively new to the nail blogging community, but after refreshing myself on some of the more mainstream neon collections, I still can't say I've seen anything that quite matches up with Pony. 

– : Pigmentation. After four coats, I was still convinced that there were some thin streaks, but I didn't quite have the heart to put on a fifth coat either. But it's so bright it's hardly an issue! 

FG Pony, indoor yellow-ish light. Slightly color corrected.

Conclusion: Overall, an excellent first experience with Floss Gloss Pony! This is only my second dabble into the indie world (my first being I Love Nail Polish Birefringence), so I'm relatively awestruck by everything thus far. It might be a while before the thrill finally wears off, though, so I hope my reviews aren't too skewed. Still super exciting ;) 

Thanks for reading! :•)