Sponged Flowers

 

This week, I thought I'd try something a little different with the sponged designs. Since I didn't have time to edit video last week, I figured I'd just do another static tutorial this week. It was fun, though it did take quite awhile for this particular manicure...

I had a French manicure in mind, with delicate flowers just sort of hanging in the design. As usual, it turned out much differently on my nails then in my head, but I don't think it was too bad for a first try. The colors I used are OPI's "My Daddy's the King" and "Bubble Bath" (though I couldn't get BB open, so I substituted Finger Paint's "Well-Cultured Pearl" for the white), China Glaze "Wine Me, Dine Me" and another OPI, "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow".

To start, I layered two coats of "MDTK" over a coat of Seche Vite base coat:

I couldn't get my BB open, so two coats of "Well-Cultured Pearl" at the tips, and then one more thin coat of MDTK over the whole nail, to mute the white and blend.

Then I used Here "Today, Aragon Tomorrow" applied with a fine paintbrush to create stems and leaves for my flowers:

And then a small piece of natural sponge dipped into "Wine Me, Dine Me" to apply the flowers.

Two coats of Seche Vite top coat to seal, a little clean-up, and voila! Puffy flowers!

Next time, I'll cut the sponge smaller - the larger sponge tip made it hard to maintain control, but I think a smaller tip will do the job fine. I'll also use a nail art pen or striper brush for the stems...the regular paintbrush just didn't quite give me the control I would have liked.

Nonetheless, I've gotten several compliments on this one this week, so it's definitely getting noticed. :-)

I just got a package of goodies from Glamorous Cosmetics, so next week, a manicure featuring those! Until then, happy polishing...