It's time for another look from the 40 Great Nail Art Ideas Challenge! I don't know if you know this but I am actually really enjoying this challenge. Normally I get stressed during a challenge and struggle to get my looks done. But not this time! And you want to know why? This challenge is set up a bit differently than most. For starters there is the option to do weekly manicures with one week dedicated to themes, and one to colors. Or you can do every other week and stick with themes only or colors only. For the color portion of the challenge each person is also assigned a pattern. The end result is 40 different looks all done in the same colors. As most of you know I opted to do the color challenge and you can see my previous looks using Teal, Orange, Purple and Green, Black and White, Grey, Glitter toppers, Pale Blue and 3 shades of Purple. This posting every other week is just my speed and helps keep me relaxed and stress free for the challenge.
This week the color theme is Aqua or Turquoise and my pattern prompt is water color. The water color technique is one that I love but have been afraid to attempt until now. And to be completely honest this is one look that I didn't nail, but now I have a little more confidence and look forward to trying again. After I watch a few more YouTube videos on how's it's done of course.
For this manicure I started with Parallax Polish Arctic Ice from the newly released Secret of the 7 Seas Collection. You know how I mentioned watching some Youtube videos on how to do the water color manicure, yeah I probably should have watched a few before I attempted this manicure. I had no idea really what I was doing, but I jumped right in! I used the same technique as I did for my black and white swirl manicure from earlier in the challenge.
Doing one nail at a time I placed random dots of Milani Fresh Teal and Maybelline Day Glow Teal on the nail. Then I took a nail art brush dipped in acetone and dabbed at the center of the dots. I was going for a more translucent look for the centers rather than removing the color completely but as you can see that didn't work out. And I knew the more I tried the more frustrated I would become and end up ruining the whole thing. We've all had days like that right?
While this manicure didn't turn out exactly as I planned I still like it. Its kinds funky and fun, and very different from any manicure I've done before. Next time I try a water color manicure I'll be sure to use a few more colors and overlap the dots a bit more. See if I can get it to look a bit more like floating bubbles. For those of you who have successfully done this technique, do you have any words of wisdom or tips for the water color novice? Let me know in the comments and then be sure to check out the other looks created for the Aqua or Turquoise challenge. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!