Saran wrap poppies

After I was finished, I realized these are probably poppies. Was going for red nondescript flowers but they do look like poppies. I got this idea off, I think, Crumpet's FB group - but I can't remember. Looked pretty much the same so I will give credit and thanks out there in the wonderful wide web of nail art to someone!

The base is two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff - a neutral vanilla cream. This is a great base for art, not as stark as white but light enough to showcase what's on top. And it looks fab matte (as you will see below).

Using the saran wrap technique, I squished up a piece of saran wrap, dipped it in polish and applied it haphazardly to my nails. I used CND Vinylux Serene Green. This is a nice deep green. I didn't need much, probably one dip / hand.

I wanted a tomato-y red so chose China Glaze Hey Sailor and just did dot flowers. I pulled them together to form petals and then added Vampire dots on top of that and some black accents. Pulled it all together with top coat.

right hand

With whites and blacks (i.e. extreme darks and lights) I think it is a good idea to do cuticle clean up regardless. My lines were pretty good but these colours just seem to bring out the worst in a mani! I wore this a couple of days then decided to matte up the whole thing! There is something about pastels and lights that look great with a matte top coat.

In the photos it is hard to see a difference! But I can in real life. So, the three above pics are all with matte top coat. The mani is still looking pretty good after three days and I will also wear tomorrow to my second time out at the Queenstown faire. And I will continue to wear it tomorrow night (movie date night!) as I have no time to change. But am hoping to do something new on Sunday as I have some newbies that I am dying to wear.

Autumn leaves on a Zoya Godiva base

Another pixie dust!!! The Zoya Pixie Dust collections are so beautiful and I have just two (boo). I just received this in another destash (well, bought, not received!) and am so happy. This is Godiva, a beige nude, and I decided to draw some foliage for an autumnal look. This is a difficult mani to photograph. Not only are the leaves non-centered (so going in "wrong" directions), the glistening of the nails reflects.

I started with two costs of Godiva. This is probably a colour I would need to wear now or earlier towards summer. It is a great nude, and it looks darker towards my skin tone in real life. But it is still very light and beige-y. So am afraid I would look too washed out in winter. But as a base for art it is great! I top coated before continuing to 1) level out the pixie unevenness a bit and 2) no smudges! Oh, and 3) had to get dinner started.

I drew the leaves randomly on each finger. Then I used dotting tools to draw in the leaves, one colour at a time. So, all my nails with the burnt orange, then red, then gold.... Top coat followed and when that was dry I went back and added some black lines and accents to the leaves. Then more top coat to set that.

After the fact I notice that this looks a bit Xmasy. But that was not my intention! I was aiming for autumn and some of the leaves look really good. To give the whole manner more "fall shimmer" I top coated with Nfu Oh 49 flaky so that when the nails hit the light, they glisten in orange. That was followed by yet another coat of Out the Door. All in all there are four coats of top coat on my nails and they definitely do not feel uneven. Below a list of the colours used.

right hand

Colours used:

base: Zoya Pixie Dust Godiva
reds: Kyo burnt orange, Zoya Sooki
copper: China Glaze Harvest Moon
green: China Glaze Agro
gold: OPI Goldeneye
brown: China Glaze Midtown Magic
top: Nfu Oh 49