Saturday, January 13, 2018

The Digit-al Dozen Does All That Glitters: Day 5


The Digit-al Dozen Does All That Glitters: Day 5

We arrived at the final day for January's theme, and I am looking forward to next month already! This was fun and I'm pleased with my finale - hope you enjoy it too!
 Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents

This mani was a 3 step process: smooshy base, flakie topper, and stamping!! I tried to take pics at each stage so forgive the length of the post!


White undies are SH Insta-Dri - this bottle got a lot of use this week!! And the smoosh was 5 Tonic Polish colors: Endless Shrimp, Lemons & Cream, I Pink You Blue Me Off, Light of Lyra, and Deep Sea-Crets.

Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC
At this point it looks like I'm gearing up for a Holi mani, and it would be a pretty neat one, but I had other ideas in mind...
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC
This is actually my second go at this specific design, I tried it over a year ago and every single picture was a giant fail so it all got scrapped. Peel off base coast also played a role in longevity not lasting that much so no re-takes..
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN
Give credit where credit is due..I was inspired by a rainbow opal mani that Lucy's Stash did a few years ago - see it here! But shockingly, I am not a big fan of the shattered glass *le gasp* so I didn't use it. My "substitution" is pretty simple but I'll give it a little back story..
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN
One lovely day, I went to visit my cousin and have a polish play date - I took my recently acquired silicone mat to show it off to her as it was still a new item at that time, and lo and behold - was super surprised to see some indie nail polish on her shelf. She's a mainstream kinda girl and hasn't gone down the indie rabbit hole, so what's F.U.N Lacquer doing on her shelf?! I didn't own any myself...it's still an expensive brand, imo. But there was Magnificent, twinkling at me like a pretty gem. My cousin let me use some, and by that I mean I painted strips of it on my silicone mat and reverently took it home to put together the opal mani I've been thinking about. I used about 4-5 coats and because the base is clear, they looked like floating flakes so the effect was super neat once I had a base color in place. My cousin, however, was confused on why I only painted 5 swatches when I have 10 nails..ha ha.. obviously Cindy wasn't getting something this glamorous!
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN
This time I decided to be quicker about it and just sponge it directly on the nail. As having 5 coats to try and mold on a la decal style is rather stiff. But the sponge takes in clear base and deposits flakies, so it ruined that suspended flakes look. I still kept applying coats until it glowed, probably 5 or 6 times per nail. Hello fill line! But that's why I bought my own bottle of Magnificent, to get this mani done!
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN
I'm using that "gemstones glitter" justification again for adding this to The Digit-al Dozen, :)
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN
Lighting shifts are key for the effect to come to life and I didn't plan to take this off until my nails grew out! I also didn't plan to stamp over this but then thought "I wouldn't be myself if I didn't stamp!"
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN


Did you catch the amazing stained glass design that Kimett Kolor did for day 3? I took a bit of inspiration from it for my own, but since I don't have any stained glass specific plates, I went with a succulent design from KADS Min 001 plate
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents
I used a thin brush to do a frame around the nail, I've always wanted to try that out!
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents
Although the flakies ended up giving more of a golden glow to the colors underneath, you can still see hints of them, they're just pastel now.
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents

Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents
Overall, I am happy with the final results. But still fantasizing about how it would look on my previous longer length *o* maybe round 2 in a few months??
Rainbow Opal Nail Art TONIC, FUN, Succulents

The link up is at the end, take a look at all the beautiful designs and The Digit-al Dozen will pick up next month!



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