Happy July! And happy July 4th to my American friends! This month is also exciting for me because it heralds in my last year of my neonatology fellowship. I am one short year away from being a real grownup Neonatologist… so exciting! I am going to be working pretty hard in the hospital for the next few weeks, so I will try to schedule my posts in advance so y’all have something to read from me.

July also brings the next theme from the Nail Challenge Collaborative: recreating your first 4 nail art manicures. Such a fun way to take a look back and reflect on improvements in technique, photos, etc. My first manicure on this blog was a simple red and white tape mani – fits so well since today’s July 4th!

Here’s my recreation:

I used my new favorite white creme polish, Rica’s Whiteout. Ashley from Plump and Polished suggested this when I asked about the best white polishes – thank you Ashley! For me (since I use pretty thin coats), it was a 2 coater – but so close to being opaque in 1 coat! I’m in love 🙂 I haven’t tried it yet, but apparently it’s a great stamping polish as well.

Then using striping tape I polished the base of my nails with Julep Cara, which is a beautiful cranberry red-pink shimmery polish.

Here’s another pic:

And now a look back. My very first nail art post on this blog – picture is obviously on the left and my recreation on the right.

I mean, everything from the cleanup to hand pose to photoediting – so much better!

Happy July 4th and check out the other ladies’ recreations: