This manicure is one that turned out much different than I expected. I had a lot of plans for it when I started, but my polishes had a mind of their own.
I originally wanted to do a reverse glitter gradient on my middle and ring fingers. But as you can see, that didn't happen. The glitter was harder to manage than I expected because the clear base is so thick. I had a lot of trouble moving the pieces around. They somehow formed into a point / diamond shape that I really liked.
I thought about doing the ring finger with this same design, but decided against it. I wasn't sure I would be able to replicate the shape, and it looked really awesome on the one finger.
My base color is Essie Play Date. I had been wanting another purple for a while, and this one caught my eye. I used A Cut Above from the Essie Luxe Effects top coat collection as a accent on my middle finger. It has metallic pink hex glitter, as well as some small dots of the same color. Finally, I finished with a top coat of SV.
After a few days, I really wasn't happy with this mani. I didn't like how the purple looked (it was much darker than I expected) and it just seemed wrong. At one point I looked at the color and thought, "It's not Easter. I can't wear this now." I took it off after only three days despite minimal chipping.
I decided that A Cut Above is great if you want to cover your whole nail, but if you want to manipulate it you're out of luck. As for Play Date, I think we need some space. Looking back, I think I was just in a bad mood. I felt extremely stressed while I was wearing and may have taken it out on nail polish. Healthy, right?
