Rhapsody in Blue

Today I have as much blue as I could cram into one manicure for Austism awareness month. 

I started with Essie protein base coat and 2 coats of no name brand Mondorama on all but my ring finger.  On my ring finger I used 2 coats of Finger Paints cerulean seascape. In retrospect, I may have just stamped on one finger and then called this manicure a day; it didn't end up quite how I had imagined it. 

To my ring finger I added some no name blue glitter polish to the tip and then put 3 blue rhinestones along the tip line. I usually dump a few rhinestones onto the parchment I'm working on and pick them up with a dotting tool dipped in a small dab of clear polish. 

On my index and middle finger, I sponged the tips with Revlon PetalChrome. I'm not sure I'm loving the effect of sponging with a chrome polish; it shows off every imperfection and any unevenness in your sponging. Sometimes the way it catches the light makes it looks like you got a glob of polish on your nail instead of purposeful sponging. 

Over top of the sponging, I did a coat of OPI rapid dry then I stamped with Konad special polish in blue and Bundle Monster plate BM-201. 

On my pinky and thumb, I water-marbled with PetalChrome, Cerulean Seascape, Mondorama and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue me away. I like the effect of chrome in the water marble, but it does tend to dry quite quickly, so you will have to work fast to swirl the polish. 

I finished my index and middle finger with a coat of Essie Matte About You. I smudged my left index finger after I put the matte on. Below is a before and after that shows why investing in a long thin striper brush is a must!

Maybe a little busy for me overall, but each individual technique turned out pretty well. 

Bonus! I apologize to those of you, like me, who hate feet. After I did my blue mani, I came across OPI's new Bond girl collection and had to buy a few. I couldn't not try them, so I took the pink off my toes (not too well, didn't want to ruin the new mani ... you can see the residue) and tried the blue one, of course! Tiffany Case is a textured glitter that shines like a blue disco ball - it's packed with so much small blue and silver glitter that you have to get super close before you notice the base is actually a matte polish. 

What do you think of the liquid sand trend?

See you again soon!