u/LadyWonkyMcjankey

- KBShimmer Stay Put hydrating base coat

- OPI "Alpine Snow"

- Sally Hansen InstaDri (red bottle) (to level it all out before stamping)

- Panda Hall "flower" plate

- Messy Mansion "Carbon" Stamping polish

- Maniology Aqua Topper

- Sally Hansen Volume Builder top coat

- Wonder Beauty Products Wondergloss QDTC

Pretty pleased with this monochrome look! It's been a while since I've worn something that wasn't sparkly. This was a last minute "screw it. I'm doing flowers." decision after a day full of analysis paralysis. Not bad for my second time stamping for realsies.

- KBShimmer Stay Put hydrating base coat

- OPI "Alpine Snow"

- Sally Hansen InstaDri (red bottle) (to smooth it all out before stamping)

- Panda Hall "flower" plate

- Messy Mansion "Carbon" Stamping polish

- Maniology Aqua Topper

- Sally Hansen Volume Builder top coat

- Wonder Beauty Products Wondergloss QDTC

Pretty pleased with this black and white look! It's been a while since I've worn something that wasn't sparkly. This was a last minute "screw it. I'm doing flowers." decision after a day full of analysis paralysis. Not bad for my second time stamping for realsies.

- Essie Strong Start

- Essie "Brave and True"

- BKL "Grumpy x Grumpy"

- I Scream Nails "Express Lane"

- KBShimmer Stay Put hydrating base coat

- Wonder Beauty Products Wondergloss QDTC (same ingredients as Cuticula and BKL QDTC and comes in bulk btw)

I refuse to let rage destroy whimsy. As a very weary American, seeing everyone come together to memorialize this absolute boondoggle has been uplifting.

I tried for a water ripple effect with Grumpy x Grumpy using some little magnetic beads. I only did one coat because I wanted the blue to show so it ended up being pretty subtle, but it still adds a really nice depth that shows differently in different lighting which is really fun. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it before adding the flakies so you'll have to use your imagination.

- Essie Strong Start

- Cracked Ridge Filler

- DIY hot pink jelly (Wonder Beauty Frankie's Plasma suspension base + drops of alcohol ink until I liked the color)

- ILNP Glowstick (glass bead style with 30lb horseshoe on a windchime spinner)

- KBShimmer Stay Put Hydrating base coat

- Bees Knees I'm Fast, Very Fast

My open-faced jelly sandwich turned out so pretty 😍 The plan was to do 2 coats of Glowstick between the jelly for a proper sandwich, but I ended up stopping at one coat of Glowstick for a sort of "nails Benedict" instead 😆 I did start adding a second coat of Glowstick to my pinky and that's when I decided I liked the brighter pink way better. I also decided to try a coat of the KBShimmer base coat over Glowstick to help with dispersion, but the magnetic effect is pretty subtle so it's hard to tell.

Feeling bad for all those that knew the song title but didn't know the right band today. Me remembering a thing because of my affinity for the musical Cats finally came in handy 😅

- Essie Strong Start

- Atomic Polish - "Pastel Neon Melon" (base color to hide holes in decal)

- the scientific method

- DIY clear fluid polish (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Invisible" + 1 pump of Dove 10 in 1 Bond Shield Super Serum)

- Atomic Polish "Pastel Neon Yellow," "Pastel Neon Green," "Pastel Neon Hot Pink," "Pastel Neon Orange"

​

I was having such a hard time coming up with something fun to do with my pretty new Atomic "pastel" neons until I was inspired by this lovely post. I took advantage of the motivation, looked up a few fluid art DIY tutorials, and got to work.

Most tutorials I found recommended adding a pump or two of Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Serum to a bottle of clear polish to make the magic base fluid. I do not own any of said sleek serum but as luck would have it I am a curly haired Lady in the obnoxiously humid southern United States so I have my very own graveyard of various hair products that failed at taming the frizz. Instead of adding another useless bottle to my collection I decided to look through the products that I had on hand. The different sources offered a variety of theories about which ingredients in the Garnier product is responsible for the fluid wizardry, but a common theme was silicone and silicone polymers like dimethecone. I tried to find the ingredients of available pre-made fluid art polishes to compare, but my initial search didn't yield enough helpful results so I decided that trial and error was the way to go. Thankfully for me the Dove serum I already had contains the two silicone based ingredients that are in the Garnier serum (Cyclopentasiloxane and dimethiconol for those curious).

Small scale testing went well so I moved to the decal making. I used plastic baggies as my canvas and just played around with different layering and patterns. The best way I found was to do a layer of color and then add blobs of the other colors on top. To create the cells I added drops of the DIY clear fluid polish and folded the baggie 2-3 times to smush all the polish together. Once the decals were dry I applied them and cleaned up with a detail brush and acetone.

This also happened to be my first try at decals and overall I'm really pleased with it all turned out. I learned loads and I can't wait to figure out how to add some sparkle to the mix ☺️ I'm still working on a few things like shaping but progress is progress!!

Edit: the reddit cropping is criminal 🤦‍♀️

I'm honoring the start of Pride Month with a mesmerizing mani that's nearly impossible to completely capture with the technology that I currently possess. I have lost count of how many times I've caught myself wiggling my fingers in the light to get a quick hit of that sweet, sweet glitter induced dopamine. It's not perfect, but I learn something new with every convoluted mani I do and I'm so stoked with how this one came together. It's the exact juicy glitter rainbow sparkle distraction that I needed right now.

- Essie Strong Start

- Cracked Ridge Filler

- Nails.inc Ring Light Ready (silver scattered holo I bought on a whim because shiny)

- Wet n' Wild I'm with the Band (silver hex glitter that is probably a decade old and could have used more thinner)

- DIY jellies (Wonder Beauty Frankie's Plasma suspension base + drops of alcohol ink until I liked the color)

- 5mL polish bottles from amazon

- Stickers from amazon

- Cuticula Limitless QDTC

- A can-do attitude