Blue Zebra Stamping

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do today when I started doing my nails. I was pretty sure that I wanted to use grey and China Glaze Deviantly Daring. I started by testing bases. I started with a coat of Essence Grey-t to be Here. It's a gorgeous light grey with pink shimmer, but it went on very sheer so I wasn't sure I wanted to find out how many coats it would take to become opaque. Then I decided to try China Glaze Recycle. After one coat I could see it was darker than I wanted, so I finally decided to do 1 coat of the Essence over 1 coat of the China Glaze. 

Left to right: 1 coat Grey-t to be Here, 1 coat China Glaze Recycle, 1 coat GtbH over 1 coat recycle

You can't really tell in the picture below, but the grey base was a bit patchier than I would have liked and probably could have used a second coat of GtbH. Then once I started stamping with Deviantly Daring I didn't like the contrast, or lack thereof. You can see on my pinky the shades were too close in depth for my liking. So I did something I almost never do ... I took it all off and started over.

I used only Essence for the base this time and it was a perfect light grey with subtle pink shimmer and opaque enough after 3 coats. I also used a coat of OPI rapid dry top coat. 

3 coats Essence Grey-t to be Here

I used the same Bundle Monster plate for stamping, BM-223, but I chose a full nail image instead. Truth be told, I have just been waiting for an opportunity to stamp some zebra on my nails.

You can see I smudged the stamp a bit on my thumb, but the image was surprisingly easy to work with. If you're anything like me, some days the stamping goes exactly how you want and some days you can't get it to look good to save your life. Today was a good stamping day! And only my second try at using a full nail image. So if you're new to stamping, don't assume you are bad at it just because your stamps are being difficult that day.

Something I discovered as I was stamping this image was that I had to clean the plate about every 2-3 nails or polish would get built up in the sides of the image and the zebra stripes would get thinner and messier with each stamp. 

I would also recommend using an orange stick or anything with a thin flat edge to push the leftover stamp bits that stick onto your finger down into the crease between your nail and finger to make a clean break before you try to clean up, so that you don't end up peeling parts of the image off your nail. Then apply your favourite top coat. I used OPI rapid dry and be careful to apply it thick enough and not drag your brush over the same area too many times so you don't smudge your stamping.

I'm pretty excited about how this mani turned out, because I do love a good animal print. 

See you again soon!