Etsy iPhone Case Inspired

Hello!!

One of my favourite places to find inspiration is Etsy. I can easily whittle away several hours just browsing the beautiful creations. Today I have a manicure that was inspired by the cell phone cases from the Etsy store TheArtCity. I love their translucent studded iPhone cases. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to recreate one on my nails. Here's my interpretation!

I started with four coats of Barielle Barely There. I love this peachy/pinky nude color, it's one of my favorite subtle nude colors I own. I think the sort of squishy finish it has is a good representation of the background of the iPhone cases. Once that was dry I took a small nail art brush and framed my ring finger with China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. I then added the studs with just a bit of top coat, and then put a really thick coat of Seche Vite over the whole thing so the studs would have a bit more lasting power.

This is one of my favorite manicures I've ever done. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for reading!

Turquoise Lightening

Today I have a charcoal and turquoise skittlette manicure with a little bit of glitter!

I started with two coats of Barielle Coalest Day of the Year on my pointer, middle and pinky fingers. Coalest Day of the Year is a dark charcoal with silver shimmer in it. It could have been a one coater had I been careful in my application, but alas, I was not, thus two coats. I added a glitter gradient to my pinky finger using Sinful Colors Kissy and Nubar Sky Sparkle. The teal and blue glitters sparkle much more in person.

On my thumb and ring finger I started with three coats of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. Then I stamped using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Gone Grey using Bundle Monster plate 305. This was my first time stamping with Gone Grey and it was not as opaque as I had hoped. I think it worked out ok though, I like the sort of translucent quality that it has, it makes the stamping look subtle. I really love the lightening stamp, the whole time I wore this mani I kept staring at it and thinking ZAP! Well...when I wasn't staring at the glitter I thought that! :o

Then the next day, just to see what it would look like matte, I used NYC Matte Crazy. And I LOVED it matte. I wore it for another couple days this way. I especially loved how the glitter popped against the matte Coalest Day of the Year.

Which do you prefer? Matte or shiny?

Thanks for reading!