Hello and welcome! This coming Monday is Memorial Day, and my first three day weekend of the year, so you know I have to be a little extra patriotic on my nails.
I desperately wanted to play with all my new polish from The Indie Shop (Plus I got tons of polish presents from an old friend that I met up with at the shop! Shout out to @sparkleandpolish). But, of course, I didn’t really get the proper red, white, and blue colors. I got lots of purples. So, most of my new polishes will just have to wait until next week.
As for the design this week, I decided to use these American flag stencil samples I got as a freebie from Whats Up Nails for one of my purchases. The only problem was that it only came with two stencils. So I had to think of a creative way to make them work for a whole manicure.
What I Used:
- Base Coat: Cuticula – Frooty Pebbles Silk Base Coat
- 1st Color: Cirque Colors – Clink!
- 2nd Color: Colors by Llarowe – The Mighty Red Baron (original)
- 3rd Color: OPI – Alpine Snow
- Top Coat: Glisten & Glow – Top Coat
- Top Coat: Cuticula – Sour Patch Candy Timeless Top Coat
- Bundle Monster Poli-peel cuticle protector
- makeup sponge
- What’s Up Nails American Flag stencils
- toothpick
- Twinkled T clean up brush, size #2
- nail polish remover
I started with one of my new base coats. And the most unique thing about this one is that it’s scented. I wasn’t sure how strong the scent would be, or how long it would last, but I was very happy with the results. It’s not too strong, and lasted most of the day that I applied it. Next, I started applying the mish-mash of base colors. The simple ones were first. Two coats of blue on my ring finger nails, and two coats of red on my middle nails.
Then while those nails were drying, I applied liquid latex around the rest of my nails. And I just sponged on random patches of red, white, and blue. I didn’t start with a white base color for the sponging because I was feeling lazy, and figured the colors would be plenty opaque. Plus, I just always have chipping when I gradient over a white. Luckily, I was right about the colors being opaque enough. It only took two rounds to get what I wanted.
When the blue and red were completely dry, I added the vinyls. And in order to make them go a little further, I cut them in half. I’m glad they were big enough, and my nails were small enough, for the stencils to work on that diagonal cut. As you can see, I put the stars on the blue nail, and stripes on the red. I debated on adding holo on top, but the only holographic topper that I own is just a little too overpowering for this design.
Everything was going great until the stars part of the vinyl stencils would not come off my nail. It was just peeling off in pieces. I had a mini panic attack because I was at the end of the mani, and I was so happy with how they were looking, and I didn’t want to redo them into something else. But before doing anything crazy, I grabbed a toothpick and slowly lifted each little section until they were completely off. Of course, that meant that some of the stars got screwed up. But I just took that same toothpick, dipped in white, and somewhat fixed the edges that went missing.
I planned on using my new Cuticula top coat, which is also scented, but once I used it on my pinky I knew I had to also grab my old one. The Cuticula top coat made the design smudge like crazy. (I’m just now realizing that I basically took no photos – sorry) I think it made the random patches look great, but I didn’t want the stars and stripes to smudge, so I used the Glisten & Glow top coat for those two nails. They still smudged, but I tried. And I still love this design. It’s just so bright, and only slightly obnoxious.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, spending it with their loved ones
Update:
Well if you need more confirmation that water and chlorine are not good for your nails, then you’ve got it. I spent the weekend outside, and in the pool, which made my polish slowly wear away at the tip. But what surprised me, was that I didn’t pick at them like I normally would. I just let them be their worn out selves. But you can see the most chipped are my pointer and thumb nails. Like always. What do I do to them?
Weekly Nail 