I cheated and I don't feel the slightest bit bad about it. I've been behind in my challenges the past couple weeks (too many non-lacquer adventures) and have struggled to catch up. In order to make sure I'm ready for next week (Inspired by Candy!!) I combined the last week and this week!
Last week's theme: Under the Sea. This week: Inspired by a Tutorial.
I immediately though about a watercolor mani. I found a bunch of tutorials online and used their advice (which often differed) to create my bubbly ocean waters. It is such a shockingly easy mani compared to the effect you get! The greens in it didn't photo well, unfortunately.
One of my favorite pictures of myself is
one in which I'm high-fiving the giant starfish statue at Sea World. I
had to give props to my homies if I wanted to go underwater in style! To achieve this look I used a star shaped punch on a piece of scotch tape. Then, I stuck the tape to my hand to make it a bit less sticky before placing it on my nail and painted two coats of Julep's Sea Salt Textured Jill. Once tacky, I pulled it off and cleaned up the edges a bit.
The Sea Salt texture was exactly what I needed to make my starfish pop, but Jill is very much not a starfish color. I painted over it with Julep's Sasha and a detail brush. When it dried, I still had a good deal of that sandpapery texture. After finishing the other details, I painted the topcoat around the star to maintain the "roughness."
I kept my accent nails simple since I really wanted to showcase the watercolor background. Essie's Shine of the Times is PERFECT for the fishy scales and added just enough flash without being overwhelming . The bubbles were done with dotting tools and tacky black polish. I did have to go back in with a toothpick to finish a couple areas that weren't cooperative.
