Mani Monday: I’m International {Polish Swap}

 Hi Beauties!

Today I am featuring a mani that I was able to put together from a package of amazingness that was sent to me by Emma, a dear blog friend who blogs over at the ever wonderful Subliminally Smitten! I participated in my very first international polish swap, from the shores of the USA to South Africa and it’s been an awesome experience!

Emma and I sent each other packages full of stunning nail polishes that we thought the other would like, favourite brands and country specific brands, all in all we aimed to totally spoil each other! I was completely spoilt by Emma and love everything that she sent me! We will both be featuring more of the nail polishes we sent each other over the next few weeks. Do mosey on over and check out Emma's stunning blog, Subliminally Smitten.

For my International Swap Mani, I used four colours that Emma sent to me. The four featured colours are Zoya in Harley, Barielle Shades in Now That’s Hot, China Glaze in For Audrey and Julep in Jordan – Boho Glam. I used Nail Care Calcium Gel Nail Hardener as a basecoat, Zoya in Harley as a base colour coat x3 coats, Barielle Shades in Now That’s Hot for half moon tips x1 coat, China Glaze in For Audrey on accent nail for added half moon nail art x1 coat, Julep in Jordan – Boho Glam for half moon nail art x1 coat and Revlon Nail Care ColorStay Gold Standard Top Coat as a top coat. 

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour coat nail polish (I chose silver)
• Coloured nail polish for half moon tips (I chose hot pink)
• Silver glitter nail polish for half moon nail art
• Coloured nail polish for added half moon nail art (I chose mint)
• Toothpick
• Reinforcement stickers
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to nails, wait for it to dry completely  

2) Apply base colour coats to all nails, wait for it to dry completely  

3) Apply reinforcement stickers to all nails, apply each sticker so that half the sticker is on your nail and the other half on your finger. Basically you are placing the reinforcement stickers on all your nails in such a manner so that the curve of the sticker follows a half moon shape at the top of your nail. Ensure that the stickers are pressed down firmly and that there are no air bumps underneath the stickers…this will lead to messy half moon nail art

4) Apply pink nail polish to all nails excluding the ring finger nails, as these are the are accent nails, you will be painting the mint colour nail polish first. Apply the nail polish over the reinforcement stickers, don’t worry the reinforcement sticker will keep in tact the half moon shape underneath the pink nail polish. Carefully remove each reinforcement sticker from each nail, I prefer to do this immediately after the pink nail polish has been applied as I find it leaves a cleaner line

5) Apply mint nail polish to ring finger nails over the reinforcement stickers and carefully remove the stickers once the nail polish has been applied

Your nails should look like this before moving onto the next step!

6) While you are waiting for the half moon tips to dry you can start working on the glitter nail art in the half moon on your nails. I chose to paint the half moon design silver first as if there are any open spaces in between the glitter nail polish the half moon nail art will still look uniform as the silver nail polish blends in with the glitter nail polish

7) Pour a small pool of glitter nail polish onto a scrap piece of paper, then dip a toothpick into the glitter nail polish and dab, pat and drag the nail polish within the half moon detail on the nails. I found it was easiest using a toothpick than trying to use the nail polish brush. With the toothpick I was able to stay neatly within the half moon line. Complete this step on all nails including the accent nails

8) Once the mint nail polish on the accent nails is completely dry it’s time to apply the pink nail polish, this will provide uniformity as all the nails will have have pink half moon tips

9) Apply reinforcement stickers to ring finger nails. Place the stickers further down the nail so that two thirds of the sticker is on the nail and one third of the sticker is on the finger. You are ensuring that the band of mint nail polish will peek out below the silver half moon detailing by placing the reinforcement sticker in this way

10) Apply pink nail polish over the reinforcement sticker and carefully remove the sticker. The result will be a silver half moon, with a mint band below that and the pink half moon tip. Complete this step on other ring finger nail

11) Only the ring finger nails will have the band of mint nail polish in between the glitter half moon and the pink half moon tip. The ring finger nails and all other nails should resemble the following

12) Wait for nail art to dry completely, then apply top coat nail polish

13) Be stoked with this glittery, girly and feminine mani! 

What’s your fav girly mani ? Have your participated in an international project or swap of any kind before ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files. 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)