Thursday 25 September 2014

Distressed floral stamped glitter nail art

Hey y'all!

It's a weird time of year right now, weather-wise.  I really can't tell from one day to the next if I am going to need to put on socks and a sweater.  This transition into fall puts me into a weird mood, artistically.  I still feel like the weather is warm enough to wear bright summery colors, but I want to mute them out with more autumnal shades.  Today's nail art is one of those that doesn't really have any theme or direction - I just had some new polishes and started playing, and I think it pretty well captures this weird seasonal limbo. 

A seasonal transition mani, featuring a soft pink base, covered with duochrome microglitter, distressed with a warm frosty burgundy, and stamped with a white flower, using Sally Hansen Cotton Candy, Above the Curvy Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday, and stamped with CICI&SISI plate 12 in Konad White.

I used three different polishes to create this look, plus a matte topcoat and a stamping polish, which I forgot to put in the bottle shot.  Oops.

L-R: OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday!, Above the Curve Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, Sally Hansen Cotton Candy and big matte top coat.  Not pictured: Konad White.
This whole look began with two coats of Cotton Candy, a soft, shimmery pink that I picked up in a discount bin bundled with a red shade that I really wanted (and yet, somehow, ended up wearing the pink one first?  What the deuce?). 

A seasonal transition mani, featuring a soft pink base, covered with duochrome microglitter, distressed with a warm frosty burgundy, and stamped with a white flower, using Sally Hansen Cotton Candy, Above the Curvy Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday, and stamped with CICI&SISI plate 12 in Konad White.

Having just received in an order of clearance US indies from Sally Magpies, I couldn't resist getting Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey on my fingers, if not for the gorgeous duochrome microglitters, then for the name alone!  Okay, that may be half the reason I bought it.  This is my first Above the Curve, and I have to say I think I was expecting more opacity from this glitter topper.  It's pretty, but it took many, many coats to build it up.  I think I ended up painting on 4 coats with the bottle brush, and then sponging on another two layers on my ring finger, just to see how many it would take to be fully opaque.  The other fingers all have just two brushed-on coats.

A seasonal transition mani, featuring a soft pink base, covered with duochrome microglitter, distressed with a warm frosty burgundy, and stamped with a white flower, using Sally Hansen Cotton Candy, Above the Curvy Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday, and stamped with CICI&SISI plate 12 in Konad White.

My next move was to use the distressed dry brush technique to apply a few swaths of Thank Glogg It's Friday, which helped deepen the look.  I love the rich frosty wine tone of this polish, and really should give it a swatch post all its own soon.  I ended up coming back in with Cotton Candy and this same dry brush technique to balance out and add contrast.

A seasonal transition mani, featuring a soft pink base, covered with duochrome microglitter, distressed with a warm frosty burgundy, and stamped with a white flower, using Sally Hansen Cotton Candy, Above the Curvy Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday, and stamped with CICI&SISI plate 12 in Konad White.

To finish off, I stamped on pieces of a flower image from Cici & Sisi plate 12.  Most of the images in this set are too big for my fingers anymore, but that's okay.  I liked the random placement on the nails here.  After sealing it all in with SV, I added a matte topcoat to complete the look.

A seasonal transition mani, featuring a soft pink base, covered with duochrome microglitter, distressed with a warm frosty burgundy, and stamped with a white flower, using Sally Hansen Cotton Candy, Above the Curvy Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, OPI Thank Glogg It's Friday, and stamped with CICI&SISI plate 12 in Konad White.

Possibly not my favorite look ever, but sometimes it's nice just to see where my imagination takes me.  I like that there's a lot of frost and reflection underneath the matte - there's definitely a lot going on under there!  What do you think?

Hope you're all doing well, and I will see you tomorrow!