Seafoam and Sparkling Sand

I have a beachy mani for this week's post. I've been itchin' to try the "water spotted" technique that's been floating around the internet for a while now. Here's a link to the beach nails tutorial from elleandish that I used for this mani. I basically followed the tutorial and didn't get too creative with it for my first attempt with this technique.

For polish, I did a base layer of white (Zoya - Purity). Then, with a makeup sponge, I dabbed on a gradient using Essie - Sand Tropez, Zoya - Wednesday, and Zoya - Robyn. Next was the "foam" layer. I dabbed a little Essie - Pure Pearlfection over Sand Tropez for some sparkle. My ring finger is Zoya - Godiva for a sparkly, sandy effect. For the "foam," I used Zoya - Purity.

Direct sun

To add to the beachy effect, my camera opted to portray my hands in a lobstery shade of red.

Indirect sun

To make the foam, fill a cup with room temperature water and drop some white polish in it, waiting for the polish to spread in the water, as if doing a water marble. Then lightly mist a body spray that contains alcohol over the polish until you achieve your desired effect. Little holes form when the spray hits the polish. Then pick your spot and dip your finger in. It helps to tape around your nail or use some liquid latex for easy clean up. Slap on a top coat to smooth everything out and you're done.

It was exciting to see this mani come together. It really reminds me of foamy salt water at the seashore. I can't wait to try some more looks with this water and body spray technique.

Thanks for reading!

- Melissa

Metallic Floral Stamping

My goodness, how quickly the time passed between now and my previous post! During that time, I acquired a new job, which has limited my time for nail art (alas!). It has also resulted in plain manis that I felt weren't worthy of posting here. I do, however, have one for today. 

I was going for a monochromatic stamped look with this one, choosing a green base, Zoya Josie, and a green foil, Sally Hansen Color Foil- Minted Metal, for stamping. The metallic appears more silvery in this combo so it's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it looks nice, nonetheless. For the stamp, I used Vivid Lacquer plate, VL033.

Shiny! Direct sun lighting

I managed to get the stamp on the entire nail, well, except for a bit on my index finger. This, to me, was miraculous. I don't know if it's because my nails are rather curved, or if it's simply a practice thing, but I tend to have difficulty getting the stamp to cover my whole nail. So hooray.

Direct sun

The lighting really affects how the green polish looks. The indirect sun lighting below is more color accurate.

Outdoors, indirect sunlight

Metallic polishes are my favorite for stamping. They go on so easily. Pretty much any brand metallic foil polish will work, too.  If you're interested in Vivid Lacquer stamping plates, you can find them on their Etsy page.

Thanks for reading!

-Melissa

All polishes and products used in this post are from my personal collection and were not provided for review. All opinions are my own.