A Girls' Night In with Sally Hansen Nail Block Manicures

 *This post has been sponsored by Social Fabric and Sally Hansen. All opinions and experiences are my own. Full disclosure below.

I used to have all the latest shades for the season in nail polish. I loved experimenting with my nails and loved the fun splash of color they added to my wardrobe. Then I became a Mom.

During college I looked forward to my nail appointments. It was something fun I did just for me. I continued this into my working life after school. I looked forward to a new color, a simple design or even a good French Manicure. Then I became a Mom.

Now my cuticles are a little ragged. I tend to only wear hints of washable marker on my nails and I break my nails easily as I help my kids fix a toy or pry open a lid. *Sigh*. I am a Mom.

So what is a girl to do? #IHeartMyNailArt Well, with a little help from Sally Hansen and my local Walgreen's I decided to bite the bullet and jump on the most recent (and fun!) fashion trend of color block nail art. With little to no skills, and even less time I was going to grab some friends to see what fun we could have with our plain and abused nails.

Have you seen all the luscious Sally Hansen colors waiting for you at Walgreen's? I was impressed. I would love to own each and every one of them, but was sure I could grab enough to satisfy all my friends and their daughters for a Girls' Night In of pampering. I had requests for pinks, purples and lots of glitter. You can check out my entire Walgreen's shopping trip to see the complete selection at my store.

My shopping cart overflowed with everything I needed to throw a manicure party! From the base and top coat to assorted nail files and a whole range of Sally Hansen Extreme and Salon Effects polishes, 2/$5 w/ 1,000 points on the Walgreen's Balance Rewards Card (3/31-4/27).

If you have a local Walgreen's, I suggest downloading their app for your phone. I love the different services they offer, including the bar-code scanner, coupons as well as being able to keep my Balance Rewards Card right on my iPhone. I was able to rack up the rewards points during this visit with all the beauty supplies and munchies for the party.

For the party I whipped up some fun themed cupcakes with marshmallow polish bottles with tootsie roll lids or cotton ball mini marshmallows for the guests to enjoy and simple lemon or cucumber water for drinking.

Before the party I did a little research on color block nails. There seemed to be two main ways to achieve big blocks of fun vibrant colors, either you free hand it with the use of an item like the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen to dry lines and then touch-up afterwards.

Or you can use tape, I tried washi tape I had already, to mark off areas and create lines of color.

We experimented with both methods and I think it was a personal preference. I had an easier time using the nail art pen on someone else's hand than my own, but I can get pretty shaky.

So here is my favorite method for achieving a great home manicure:

1. File and buff the nails, trim or push back cuticles.
2. Apply a little hand cream
3. Apply a base coat like Sally Hansen's Diamond Shine
4. Apply the base color, usually the lightest color you selected
5. Apply tape and paint the remaining areas. Block out where you want the base color to show through
6. Outline with the Nail Art Pen, if desired
7. Apply a top coat
8. Show off your creation!

We were hard at work creating out nail art, want to see some of the results we had? Here are our nail block art creations.

To cheer on our local collegiate sports team, the University of Oregon Ducks, here are the "Go Ducks!" nails. We also had...

...sophisticated and pretty purple nails,

...bright and fun nails the kids loved,

...as well as attention grabbing purple chevrons.

It was a great time to chat while our nails dried and remember that even Moms are allowed a little fun and sparkly nail polish. 

If you end up getting in the "blocking mood" or just love your nail art, share with Sally Hansen on Facebook. Find inspiration through suggestions like, Block Party or Sweet Stripes. You can also connect with Sally Hansen on Twitter and Walgreen's on Twitter.

How would you design your nails?

*Disclaimer - I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and COTY #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions and experiences are my own.