Marianne Nails Aquarelle Butterfly Vintage Paper Nail Art

Hey stamperistas,

I've been playing around with a new technique to add to my stamping nail art. In all honesty I follow a lot of freehand nail artists and bloggers and I'm always wowed by the things they do.  That's not to say I love stamping any less, but sometimes I really want to replicate some of the creations I see. However in general I wouldn't say I'm terribly good at freehand.  I'm ok at it and if I practiced more I'd probably get better, but my heart always ends up gravitating back toward stamping.  So today I added the elusive aquarelle technique into my stamping and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the results.  Depending on the feedback I get I will create a tutorial/separate blog post on how to accomplish this task.  The truth is this was one of most complicated mani's I've ever created both from a technique perspective and stamping perspective! I'm not joking in the slightest so I really hope you like it.

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: UNT Peel Off Basecoat / Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Base: Essie Sand Tropez

Stamping plates: MN17, MN52, MN82, and MN XXL3

Stamping polish:  Mundo de Unas 2, 42, and ; Handy Nails Wine

Brushes: Uretch Rond #2, Winstonia Store Kolinsky Brush #0

Paints:  Reeves Watercolor Paints (various)

Age before beauty lol!  Seriously detailed right? You see what I mean now about the complexity.  I really spent way too long putting this nail art together lol.  Insanity, but I was bound and determined. You know I actually did the Movember nails after doing these.  I was so conflicted with how these came out I didn't post it first.  The more I work with this technique the better I get.  I do recognize I need to keep practicing though to perfect it totally.

These are kind of "burnt paper" style right? I haven't done a burnt paper mani in ages. I forgot how much I love them and how you can really sink a lot of time into them trying to get the detailing perfect.  I didn't even "burn" anything here just "aged" the paper and it still took a significant amount of time.   Btw you may have noticed my nails aren't at their usual long length.  I've been cutting them back a lot lately.  I'm sort of favoring a shorter length these days (gasp!).

Detailing.  This is a color burst you can see it's not perfect, but I love how the colors are blending and ebbing away.  I really need to keep working to make this a "cleaner" process.  Still I really like how this turned out and the potential for better results.  I'll tell you something funny - the day after I created this the entire nail art popped right off because of the peel off basecoat.  I do not recommend using it if you want your mani to last.  I only use it because I like to change my nails frequently and for swatching, and even that was a little too much for me!  Bottom line that UNT Peel Off Basecoat is pretty legit!  So what do you think? Too much? Not enough? Ugly? Gah! Don't worry I can take it and I know its not perfect yet.  You can find the Marianne Nails plates I used here and btw a little birdy told me more of these should be releasing very soon.  Thanks for reading and I hope to see you next post...