Floral Mani Attempt...

So first things first--my 100 follower giveaway winner responded to my e-mail, horray!  So now that that is all said and done, I'm still trying to figure out what I should put in my next giveaway.  I'm at a complete loss because I've picked up a bunch of stuff lately and I don't know what I should and shouldn't put in this one ('cause I want to save some stuff for future giveaways, too!).  Ahhh.  But that should be decided by later today.

I want to show you guys my floral mani attempt.  I've had it on since Saturday and it's by far not my favorite, but I think I was just too lazy to take it off.  I initially thought I could do a little sponging and make it match the shirt I was wearing that day, which I definitely did not do.  The thought was good, though!  Here are the polishes I used:

I know...I over did it.

My initial thought was to sponge CG Anklets of Amethyst into flower looking circles, but it ended up being too light.

 L to R: Orly Ridgefiller, CG White on White, CG Anklets of Amethysts, Funky Fingers Tribal
 

I ended up using the Mood Swing polish for the petals and covered it all with CG Fairy Dust

L to R: Art Club Turquoise, Icing Mood Swing Stormy/Serene, Funky Fingers Ectoplasmic, CG Happy Go Lucky, and CG Fairy Dust

SO I started off with a base of CG White on White:

Unfortunately that's where my picture tutorial stops, haha.  Once I got started I completely forgot about taking pictures of the process, sorrrrry!!!  But anyway, WoW wasn't as great as I've heard...it was too liquidy, this is 3 coats, but I could've done 4.  There were some spots I saw but I figured I'd just cover them up with flowers.  Ohhh well!

Anywhere here's what it ended up like:

Outside...well pretty much all the pictures are taken outside

This was the shirt I was wearing I tried to copy.  After I started I realized it wouldn't be possible and just continued doing...whatever.  Maybe I'll try again.  I need a darker green!

Close up...epic fail!

Oh...also, the Mood Swing polish I used for the petals changes colors in hot and cold!  It's not super drastic, in fact I think it'd be better if I didn't have ninety coats of other things below and on top of it, but it did it a little! 

Darker with cold water

Lighter with warm water--ignore the giant water droplet

I added this one to show the grossness that accumulates after a few hours after applying a quick dry top coat.  If you zoom in you can see the crusties in the corners of my nails.  I guess I don't know how to apply it without flooding everywhere.  Boo!

Anyhow...it wasn't a complete failure, but it didn't end up the way I'd wanted it to initially.  I think it was too much for me...too many dark colors, I don't really do the pink/purple/blue combo often so it was odd for me.  But here's a "step by step" of what I did in case you're curious:

1. Applied 1 coat ORLY Ridge Filler
2. Applied 3 coats CG White on White, then cleaned up a bit w/acetone around edges
3. Sponged "dots" of CG Anklets of Amethyst on both hands--twice for a more opaque color
4. Painted curly-Q's and leafy looking swirls using FF Tribal and a small dotting tool
5. Painted over some of the swirls using the Art Club Turquoise
6. Made flower petals using Mood Swing Stormy/Serene and a small dotting tool
7. Placed dots in centers of flowers using a dotting tool and FF Ectoplasmic underneat CG Happy Go Lucky (I wanted to be able to see both colors...didn't work out haha)
8. Covered the whole thing with CG Fairy Dust
9. Cleaned up and top coated with Posche

Allll right so there you have it.  My semi-fail floral mani :) 

And like I said, I'll decide on the next giveaway items (since they're not spread out all over my table) and update again later.

<3 Whitney