Mardi Gras Manis

Let the fun and frivolity begin. Today's Fat Tuesday, which means it's all about the Big Easy, Bourbon Street, beads--and maybe a few brews.


Fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras, falls on the day before Ash Wednesday on the Catholic calendar. In the 12 days leading up to it, dozens of celebrations take place in the French Quarter of New Orleans with parades of fancy floats, and face-painted revelers wearing elaborate masks, wild costumes and tons of colorful beads. Call it Halloween on steroids with lots of sparkle. 


In honor of Fat Tuesday, we've created four shimmering Mardi Gras Manis. The traditional colors of the festivities--gold, purple and green--serve as the inspiration. 

SHINE: Dazzle Dry Grape Lollipop (purple), Sahara (yellow) and Emerald (green jewel effect). BEAUTY: Parade around in a purple mani featuring two accent nails of yellow (ring finger) and green (pinky).

BEACON: Vegan, and contains no formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate or nitrocellulose. 

Mani model/nail artist: Natalie J. Wilson

SHINE: Milani Nail Lacquer High Speed Fast Dry Yellow Whiz (warm canary cream) and Milani Nail Art Purple Outline (purple glitter). BEAUTY: Unmask the glory of yellow digits with shimmery purple tips.

BEACON: Free of dibutyl phthalate, toluene and formaldehyde.

SHINE: SpaRitual Disco Inferno Shimmer (iridescent purple), Enlightened Soul Creme (bright yellow) and Earth Matters (green glitter). BEAUTY: The party never ends with this color block mani. Begin with a top coat and then paint each nail with two coats of yellow. Next, apply two layers of green to the top two-thirds of each digit. Finish with two coats of a wide purple bar down the center of the yellow block and a top coat. 

BEACON: Vegan, and contains no synthetic dyes, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or formaldehyde.

Mani model/nail artist: Natalie J. Wilson

SHINE: Zoya Nail Polish Holly (gem-toned, metallic green), Charisma (neon magenta/purple cream) and Creamy (bright yet soft banana peel shade of yellow). BEAUTY: Enhance the fun and festivities of Fat Tuesday--or any other day of the week--with a sparkling green mani accented by a purple/magenta ring finger nail with a yellow tip.

BEACON: No animal testing. Also contains no toluene, camphor, formaldehyde or dibutyl phthalate.

Pretty in Purple

Luckily for Hollywood's biggest superstars at the Academy Awards, the weather held up and it didn't rain. However, purple reign showered the red carpet, as many celebs sizzled in every shade of the color with lovely lilac, lavender, plum and amethyst gowns.

Best Actress winner Natalie Portman wore a regal purple Rodarte silk chiffon dress, which elegantly draped her baby bump. The trim of the off-the-shoulder V-neck sparkled in Swarovski crystals. It inspired SHINE Beauty Beacon to create the Natalie Portman Pretty in Purple Oscar Manicure, which features shimmering tips.

The Natalie Portman Pretty in Purple Oscar Manicure Protocol:


Step 1: Apply a base coat to each nail and one layer of muted purple polish, such as mauve (pictured below; center).


Step 2: Paint a thin line along the length of each nail tip with a shimmery dark violet lacquer (pictured below; right) to mimic the trim of the neckline.


Step 3: Dot over the thin line of shimmery dark violet polish with a glittery raspberry lacquer (pictured below; left) to create a sparkle similar to the Swarovski crystals.


Step 4: Layer each nail with a top coat.

BEAUTY: The Natalie Portman Pretty in Purple Oscar Manicure uses Zoya nail lacquers--Nova (raspberry glitter), Demi (mauve) and Valerie (dark violet shimmer). BEACON: The polishes are made without toluene, formaldehyde, camphor or DBP (dibutyl phthalate).